The Tolkien Professor, Dr. Corey Olsen

Looking for a short course on Tolkien this Summer?  Mythgard’s got just the thing for you!  For only $90, students who want to participate in this Summer’s Mythgard Academy course, “The Lord of the Rings I: The Road Goes Ever On” can sign up to audit.  The course will be taught by Dr. Corey Olsen and will cover The Fellowship of the Ring in detail! Auditing will give you access to all six live class sessions as well as the recordings of each so you can listen on your own schedule.

And for those of you who want to get practice with college writing, Mythgard Academy is also offering the courses with individual writing tutors for just $160.  There’s even a Harry Potter course if you want to branch out into new worlds!

The Tolkien course kicks off on July 9 and registration closes in the first week of July so visit Mythgard Academy to learn more and sign up!

Dr. Olsen and Dave Kale sat down for an emergency recording of Riddles in the Dark following “The CinemaCon Controversy”, as it’s come to be known.  Take a listen to Episode Eight for their takes on what was seen in the most recent footage!

After a slightly longer than usual delay, listeners will be delighted to know that Dr. Olsen and Dave Kale are back with another two installments of Riddles in the Dark.  Episodes Six and Seven will cover the much rumored about “split” between the two upcoming Peter Jackson Hobbit films.  Episode Seven even contains a special guest appearance by Fr. Roderick of SQPN!  Listen to both today!

The Mythgard Institute has just opened the doors on a new college prep opportunity for high school students interested in the books of both J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling.  Mythgard Academy will offer three week online courses that will offer students not only a chance to go in-depth with their favorite works but to also experience a college lecture hall and practice their writing – with individual tutoring.

The Mythgard Academy Summer Camp takes it one step further by offering students a unique chance to  study on-campus at Washington College.  Participants will be asked to write about either The Fellowship of the Ring or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – both the book and the film adaptation – using iPads and new media tools.

Learn more about both at Mythgard’s site.  If you have younger fans of the Tolkien Professor in your household, we’re sure they are going to love it!

The latest installment of Dr. Olsen’s Riddles in the Dark podcast series has just been posted over at Mythgard’s site.  Take a listen as he and Dave Kale discuss “Bombur and Buffoonery” – the beginnings of the talks on how humor might be incorporated into Peter Jackson’s celluloid adaptation of Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

Prof. Corey Olsen and Dave Kale tackle one of their favorite events in all of Middle-earth history: The Battle of Azanulbizar.  Heroic deeds, cinematic taunts, slaughter and death, and, of course, the burned dwarves: they cover it all.  They share some of their favorite passages from Appendix A of The Return of the King, delve into the geography of the valley of Azanulbizar and its appearance in The Lord of the Rings, and speculate about how the War of the Dwarves and the Orcs may factor into the The Hobbit film and its backstory.  They also address listener feedback about Thrain and Thror and share the “shadow and a threat” that have been growing in their minds: will the filmmakers conflate the Battle of Azanulbizar and the Battle of Five Armies?

Listen to Episode 3 now!

The Mythgard Institute, in conjunction with the Middle-earth Network, is proud to announce the long-awaited launch of the Riddles in the Dark prediction game attached to the RITD podcast by Corey Olsen and Dave Kale.

The prediction game brings together guest analysts, hailing from some of the most popular Tolkien websites and podcasts on the Internet.  These experts will take part in competitive speculation about how The Hobbit will make its transition from beloved book to epic film every two weeks!  All guesses will be aggregated in a giant prediction grid – and updates will be posted to the Mythgard site, Riddles in the Dark pages and Tolkien Professor iTunes feed.

Learn more in the News section over at mythgard.org!

In this session, Dave Kale and Corey Olsen discuss the extraordinary sequence of misfortunes that afflicted the House of Durin, especially Thror. They explore Thror’s story and gruesome death in Appendix A ofLOTR and The Quest for Erebor and connect it to the story of The Hobbit. Finally, they speculate on what role Thror may play in the upcoming film, particularly in the light of casting news.

Learn more and listen to Riddles in the Dark

A brand new chapter in the tolkienprofessor.com‘s history is opening in front of you, dear visitors!

With the help of Mythgard Institute, my recently-launched school for the study of Tolkien and related works, I have just completed a complete redesign of the Tolkien Professor website.  I think you’ll love it, but let me give you the tour!

To start, content will now be easier to find than ever before with spaces for featuring new materials as well as old favorites.  There will also be more opportunities to share exclusive content, especially as the three-fold happenings of the 75th anniversary of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the publication of my Exploring The Hobbit book and the premiere of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit film. An exciting 2012 for Tolkien fans, no doubt!

So poke around, have a look at the new tolkienprofessor.com and get comfy – and definitely stay tuned for more updates, announcements and much, much more!

The Mythgard Institute, in conjunction with the Middle-earth Network, is excited to announce a new bi-weekly podcast from The Tolkien Professor, Corey Olsen, and Middle-earth Network Radio Programming Director Dave Kale.

The 30-minute Riddles in the Dark podcasts began Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 10:00 am UTC-5 and will be broadcast live on Middle-earth Network Radio.  The archived podcasts will be available for listening 24/7 in a new addition to Mythgard’s Exclusives section.

Read more in the official press release…