Yes, we realize this will remove any doubt about our official geek status, but we're throwing a birthday party for Bilbo Baggins.

Yes, that Bilbo Baggins: he of J. R. R. Tolkien's Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien made a particularly big deal about the specific date of Bilbo's birthday — September 22 — (shared with his nephew Frodo, by the way) that Ann and I couldn't resist scheming with our friend Brad Farris to dream up a party to celebrate the most adventurous of hobbits, the author who created them, and the filmmakers who have presented them to us so vividly over the last three years.

Full details of the party will be published at BilbosBirthday.com as soon as we finalize them. Until then, we hope you'll at least mark your calendars to join us for an all-day feast (literal and figurative) of Tolkieniana. You can expect lots of authentic Middle Earth food and an all-day screening marathon of the film trilogy. Not to mention fireworks!

first published Sep 2, 2004