I neglected to mention that some friends and I saw Lord of the Rings on Wednesday. Being opening night made for a unique experience in a number of ways:

1. It was very crowded. So crowded that the people spilled over from the original theater, to two others. Luckily my group got to the door just as they began shunting people to the second theater, meaning that we scored some pretty good seats.

2. NERDS!!!

3. It was crowded (with nerds!)

4. These were the D&D; guys from high school (no offense to all you cool dungeon masters out there…uh I mean, I don’t know anything about D&D;, don’t be ridiculous!). These were the chess club guys, the band geeks, and the AV club dorks all rolled into one. These were the guys who I thought didn’t exist anymore…and I live in Silicon Valley. Only in retrospect did I realize that I never see them because they almost never go outside. These were the guys that still lived with their moms…literally…because I could hear them talking about their home life…loudly, in that self-confident nerd voice that signals the difference between a true dork, and just a techie poser. The true meek (of the shall-inherit-the-earth meeks) have that overly loud voice of bravado, showing that they know they are shunned, and they’re damn proud of it, too.

5. Oh, and the movie was good:

It was long, of course…almost 3 hours; and, like Star Wars, left you vaguely disappointed as the story’s not yet been fully told. The cinematography, in my opinion, was astounding (though it’s been somewhat lambasted by a few critics). The special effects were amazing as well, with whole orc hordes were created out of nothing, swirling and writhing over an equally impressive landscape.

The dialogue was engaging, and the story was as good as you’ll remember. I read 2 of the 3 books (or 3 of the 4 if you count The Hobbit) long ago, and the script seemed to coincide with my spotty memories. Either way, it was good enough to hold the entire theater’s rapt attention.

The experience was a lot like a suspense film. If you know the story, basically this guy gets chased all over hill and dale by people that want him dead. So, there were a lot of “Don’t open that door!” moments, followed by periods of nervous relaxation, followed again by “Look out behind you!” I left the theater feeling lsightly exerted from clenching and unclenching my muscles as the terror ebbed and flowed.

Oh, and despite the many many minutes of various battles, I saw nary a drop of spurting blood.