Original image by Orikunie at http://orikunie.deviantart.com/

This year we’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. The imposing tome is a massive collection of mythopoeic works that tell the creation myth of Middle Earth, and recount the ages that preceded the saga The Lord of the Rings. The Silmarillion is only for the hardest core hobbitphiles. It lacks the narrative drive of Tolkien’s classic stories while also being populated by a teeming host of unpronounceable creatures, characters and locales. It’s not without its charms, but readers definitely get a pass for not venturing very long into this very long book. With that in mind I think I’ve found an easier way: check out this video that uses some simple, charming animation to boil down the big bad book into a three-minute primer. This won’t substitute for reading the real thing, but it’s still a lot of fun for fantasy fans. Enjoy!

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In the opening of JRR TOLKIEN ’1892-1973′ – A Study Of The Maker Of Middle-earth, Tolkien’s son, Christopher, says that the attraction of Middle Earth and its stories can be found in his dad’s “…extraordinary power of compelling literary belief in an unreal world or what he called a secondary world.” You can say that again.

I first read the Middle Earth books as a preteen — about 30 years after their debut, and two decades after they’d become a countercultural sensation and then a mainstream hit in the 1960′s. Regardless, these timeless classics still rank among the greatest achievements I’ve come across for compelling my belief in an unreal world. When you’re eleven you don’t just believe these books when you reading them: you think about them when you’re not reading them, and you wish that they were true.

This week we’re celebrating Tolkien’s birthday on January 3, 1892. Here’s a great doc about the man and the world he created…

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While the second installment of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy has brought the J.R.R. Tolkien universe back into the pop culture spotlight, this treasure I just discovered is a crazy/beautiful Arkenstone of its own.

Made with no license from the Tolkien estate, this 1985, Soviet era, Russian language film of The Hobbit is as bizarre as it is beautiful. There are no subtitles here, but anyone interested in a Tolkien post must know the story well enough to follow along. This is a condensed telling of the tale that omits key characters like Beorn and beloved sequences like the dwarf company’s encounter with the trolls.

In the Peter Jackson films, his ability to bring the creatures and atmosphere of Middle Earth to life are part of the draw. Ironically, this film’s terrible effects and makeup are just as endearing for all the opposite reasons — they pulse with handmade charm and DIY resourcefulness, expressing an unfettered love for Tolkien’s great adventure book.

You may not be up to following this for over an hour, but hit play and skip around — the spider sequence is mind blowing and Smaug the dragon has to be seen to be believed.

Here is The Fairytale Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit.

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