The Internet has been buzzing about a recent interview with comedian Stephen Colbert and CNN’s Anderson Cooper. In it, Cooper asks Colbert, “You went on to say, ‘What punishments of God are not gifts?’ Do you really believe that?” Colbert responds by saying, “It’s a gift to exist and with existence comes suffering. There’s no […]
Why Death is a Gift: Stephen Colbert’s Tolkien reference explained Read More »
I had the opportunity to interview award winning actor John Rhys-Davies (Gimli in The Lord of the Rings) about a recent audio drama he participated in called, The Trials of Saint Patrick. It was a delightful conversation, one where he related to me much about his thoughts about St. Patrick’s role in Ireland and the preservation
“[Hobbits] love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-ordered and well-farmed countryside was their favourite haunt. They do not and did not understand or like machines more complicated than a forge-bellows, a water-mill, or a hand-loom, though they were skilful with tools” (Prologue to the Fellowship of the Ring, 1). Hobbits are well-known
Lessons from the Shire: How to live a simple life according to Tolkien’s Middle-Earth Read More »
When one is asked to think of comic book characters, the name Abraham Van Helsing probably does not immediately spring to mind. However, Van Helsing is a comic book character. In the 1970s, Marvel Comics published a series called The Tomb of Dracula. The series focused on Abraham’s granddaughter Rachel Van Helsing, but Abraham also
The Catholic faith of Abraham Van Helsing, vampire hunter Read More »
Great mystery has surrounded the upcoming Lord of the Rings series being produced for Amazon Prime. Very few details have been revealed until today, when a whole “fellowship” of creators were announced on Amazon’s social media pages. The announcement came in the form of a short video, which can be viewed below. Vulture has extracted the names
Amazon reveals “fellowship” of creators for new ‘Lord of the Rings’ series Read More »
“Therefore [Iluvatar] willed that the hearts of Men should seek beyond the world and should find no rest therein” (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, 36). This short passage from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion possesses such immense truth in regards to the very core of what it means to be human. In fact, this one line has the capacity
This one sentence from Tolkien’s ‘Silmarillion’ will change your life Read More »
Roughly a year after Amazon announced its plan to create a series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Netflix revealed plans to create a series and feature films based on the world of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. Netflix will develop new series and film projects based on C.S. Lewis’ beloved The Chronicles of
Netflix’s Narnia TV Series and Movies: Here’s everything we know Read More »
Images from the most recent trailers for Godzilla: King of the Monsters seem to suggest that director Michael Dougherty has more on his mind than giant monsters. A key image shows the film’s main antagonist, the three-headed King Ghidorah, perched upon a volcano, his enormous bat-like wings spread wide and the mountain beneath his colossal
The real villain is the devil in ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ Read More »
Unlike his friend, contemporary and fellow Inkling C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien did not approve of nor employ direct allegory. That means that, for example, none of his Christ figures are perfect representations of Christ. This is most clearly represented in Frodo, who ultimately falls to the power of the Ring (despite resisting far longer than any
How Galadriel, Arwen and Éowyn reflect the Virgin Mary Read More »
Unlike his friend, contemporary and fellow Inkling C.S. Lewis, Tolkien did not approve of nor employ direct allegory. In the Chronicles of Narnia, (contrary to what Liam Neeson would want you to be believe) Aslan IS Jesus. Lewis had the idea that if Jesus were to become incarnate, as He did on earth, in a world mostly
How Judas is the Gollum of the Gospels Read More »
