It's like a pilgrimage with great special effects.

The annual watching of the extended Lord of the Rings trilogy has been completed. This year, I watched it on the computer, which was nice because I have a better sound system hooked up to this thing than the TV has. Théoden's speech before the Battle of the Pelennor Fields still ranks as one of the best of all time, in my opinion, right up there with the St. Crispen's Day speech.

"Forth! Down fear of darkness! Arise! Arise, Riders of Théoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword day... a red day... and the sun rises! Ride now... Ride now... Ride! Ride for ruin and the world's ending! Death!"

I will go to my grave grumbling about the poor design of Helm's Deep. A dry moat or two would have broken up the orc assault. Adding a 90 degree turn and a drawbridge to the causeway (Hell, you could have put several drop sections on that thing to isolate the gatehouse) would have made it impregnable. And the first thing I do as a defender is seal off that stupid drain! I guess pouring boiling oil down on besieging troops hasn't been thought of yet. Nor has the stunning concepts of murder holes and multiple gates to a city. Grr.

Still, epic and wonderful and well worth the 12 hour investment in time.

I'm not really expecting anything.

Kirsten and I are broke, so gift-giving this year is going to be pretty sparse. I've asked for the Giants season DVDs, and that's about it.

But, since it's a holiday tradition, I've updated my two wishlists.

Amazon - Doug's Page of Greed

ThinkGeek - Doug is a Geek

Like I said, not expecting anything. But if someone with more money than sense wants to buy me the camera and the associated memory kit, I really wouldn't complain that hard.