Another care package from The Great Wet North arrived today. No brownies this time, but I did get some music CDs and…

Hey look, it’s a mug, and cocoa to drink from that mug! But wait… whose image is that on the mug? Let’s take a closer look:

It’s Sumomo! I have a Sumomo mug! Yay!

Wow. Whoever sent me this must be one heck of a nice person, huh?

Today was the first of three scheduled movie viewings this month, all of movies that include the words “Lord” and “Rings” in their bipartite titles.

Ben, John, Constance and I went to the before-noon showing of the extended edition of Fellowship. And when you extend a movie that was already three hours in length, you can expect numb buttocks when you’re through. Still, it’s a damned good movie, and I had damned good company. I miss hanging out with Ben, dammitall.

This was my first time watching the extended version, and my eighth viewing of the movie itself. I still like it just as much as I ever did, I must say. The added bits were, well, added bits. Some were entire scenes originally cut, while others were extended versions of scenes. Whole scenes include a brief bit between Gandalf and Frodo just before they arrive at the entrance to Moria, and another short sequence in which Aragorn and Boromir spot Gollum trailing behind the Fellowship along the river. And let’s not forget Singing Aragorn. (I like Viggo, yeah, but sadly he just can’t sing.) Gimli has some material restored that balances his use as Comic Relief Dwarf, and that’s a damned good thing.

As for extended versions of scenes, those were mostly in the fight sequences. We watch Legolas showing off his ability to draw down and shoot nearby targets in rapid succession, towards the end; in the original edit, we see him get off three shots, while in this edit it’s more like six or seven. The cave troll battle is almost twice as long, and this edit answers the question of how the troll ends up with the spear he uses to impale Frodo. Boromir, in the same sequence, gets a fabulous “oh, hell” take as he realizes that being chained to an angry cave troll might be a bad idea.

Nothing significant about the movie is changed, and only a few of the restored clips feel jarring, forced or out of place. You walk away from the extended version feeling much the way you do about the original: “Okay, I’m ready for the next one… just let me go to the bathroom, stretch my legs, and grab a bite to eat, please.”

Actually, I need to amend that. One major thing is different: The feel of things at the beginning. In the original edit, there’s a real feel of complete innocence and lightness in the early Shire scenes. Now, however, with the much-revised opening sequences, the ambience is darkened somewhat. It’s a subtle change, but it colors your viewing of the rest of the early part of the movie. I leave it to better minds than mine to determine if this is a good or bad thing… for me, it is merely different.

Next week? The Two Towers… extended edition. I’m really looking forward to that one, since I’ve only seen Towers a couple of times in the theater and never on DVD…

Remember just a few days ago when I wrote about how “back” I was? I had all of this drive, determination and motivation? Yeah. That went nowhere in a big screaming hurry, didn’t it? It’s sure as hell gone, now.

I’ve tried no less than three times today to pick up and delve into Blender, the 3D animation studio. I just… can’t… do it. Between times I’ve tried to come up with a good music video idea. Nope, I can’t do that either. How about some writing? A couple of false starts, but nothing to (*cough*) write home about.

I’m so frustrated I could scream. But that would be a bad idea, don’t you know. There’s enough tension around here right now, who cares about one whiney guy who can’t get his creative juices flowing? It’s not the end of the world, after all.

Just because I’ve thought of myself my entire life as a creative sort of person, that shouldn’t mean the fact that I’m really not ought to send me into a dark pit of despair, right?

I guess I’ll go back to playing games. I can do that…

I needed a vacation. It turns out I needed one from my online life as well as my job and home life. Correction, I needed two vacations. In November, I took them.

And now, I’m back. I’m back here, I’m back there, I’m back everywhere. Look for updates to the Anime Site, look for more frequent postings here, look for more frequent postings to the fora I frequent (all two of them, sure). Hell, if I can really get going, there’ll be creative video goodness in the not-too-distant future. No, I’m serious. Stop snickering. Stop it, I say! Thpppt.

It’s time to shake off the doldrums, stand up straight and bring my gaze back up to the horizon.

I’m ready. And it’s about damned time.

I’m thankful to be trusted as a friend and confidant by people I care about and admire.

I’m thankful that I was able to sleep in a little bit this morning.

I’m thankful to have a friend like Mari who trusts me to mind her cat and her game consoles for a week or so. (Dark Cloud 2? The jury’s still out on that one…)

I’m thankful for the guy who yelled across the street at me that I’d just missed my bus and suggested I get on the one heading the other direction instead. He turned out to be a strange guy who liked making a gun shape with his hand and yelling “Pow!” at passing cars, but he was helpful when it counted. I got to the house a lot faster than I would have otherwise, and spent a lot less time freezing my buttocks.

I’m thankful to live in Portland, Oregon, even if it is going through some rough times lately. We still have one of the better municipal mass transit systems in the country, and you just can’t beat the combination of mountains, rivers and greenery that you find here.

I’m thankful, speaking of those rough times, to be gainfully employed doing something that I’m reasonably good at, at a company that generally allows me to go about my job in whatever fashion I see fit.

I’m thankful for Blender, which I finally got installed on a computer for Alex’s use. Within an hour he was turning out some imaginative stuff, including a short clip involving a tube that vacuums the “eyes” and “nose” off the face of a cylindrical creature. Damn, that boy’s clever and talented.

I’m thankful, speaking of which, for Alex and Erica. The experience of being a father has made me a better man in so many ways, and they constantly enrich my life just by being the excellent young persons that they are.

I’m thankful, still, for Wendi. Even if we ended up falling apart, the last decade wasn’t all bad, dammit.

I’m thankful that my in-laws can tolerate my presence, considering everything that’s happened.

I’m thankful to be happily full of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and pumpkin pie.

I’m thankful that I have a number of really wonderful people in my life, friends and family alike. Thank you, one and all.

I’m even thankful to be me. Today, I can do that. Who knows, maybe I’ll start a trend or something.

We’re all entitled to an occasional lapse in judgement. How about we all just pretend that the previous (now-unavailable) entry never happened? It was a phenomenally bad idea, really. Bad form. I should know better. I’m sorry.

Friends don’t trick friends. Period.