The band has a couple good gigs coming up. On Friday, January 23rd, we’ll be appearing at Borders Books in Tyson’s Corner. Then on Saturday, January 24th, we’ll be at a special house concert in D.C. sponsored by The Deej. (That link usually works but appears to be slow this morning. Try again later.) Reserve your seat now!

Good golly, I can’t believe I missed posting on Christmas. For anyone reading, I hope you had a great one. We enjoyed setting out treats on Christmas Eve for Santa and his reindeer with Evie, and she was tickled pink on Christmas morning when they were all gone! I got a bunch of cool swag, mostly some great books including Dave Eggers’ novel You Shall Know Our Velocity! and Neal Stephenson’s new novel Quicksilver. Also Eleya got me a couple supacool Kurosawa films on Criterion DVD. Plus we got a couple bags o’ doubloons from various relations and well-wishers. If you’re one of them, thank you for your generosity! (And yes, you can expect a formal written note of gratitude by U.S. Mail shortly.)

Yesterday, “The Boss” gave me clearance to go see The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King on opening day. Yessirree, first show of the day at the local THX screen! In a word: PHENOMENAL. No one should miss this movie — by far, it was the best film out of a trilogy in which the first two films were already outstanding, which hasn’t happened ever in American-financed cinema to the best of my knowledge. (And no, Star Wars doesn’t even come close.)

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p>I would dare say there wasn’t a dry eye in the theater, from teenage girls to grown men — and certainly not mine either. It is a story of selfless courage, perseverance in the face of unbearable odds, and the nature of true friendship. And, just as in the book, this film truly becomes Samwise Gamgee’s heroic tale. There are two scenes where he literally becomes the focus of his and Frodo’s journey, the first near Cirith Ungol defending Frodo, and the second on the slopes of Mount Doom, about which I’ll say no more. Especially at the second juncture, I completely lost it… even thinking about it now makes me a little misty. I can’t wait to see the film again, this time with my wife hopefully!

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p>I’ve read several reviews since seeing it that seem to indicate the end is overly protracted. I think that’s entirely wrong. I don’t want to go into too much detail for people who haven’t seen it yet, but the codas are absolutely essential in showing us the cost of victory is not limited to those we lose, but also that which is lost by those who survive war and strife. But yet, through this loss, there is an overall sense of closure and peace which shines through. I was overjoyed by the ending, and how close it came to capturing what, to me, was the bittersweetness of the book’s finale.

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p>If you haven’t seen them yet, it would do you well to watch the extended DVD cuts of both Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers before seeing Return of the King, but as long as you’ve seen the first two films nothing should be in the least confusing. The extended cuts add some depth to the backstory, and I look forward to seeing the third one next fall on DVD, but are not necessary to fully enjoy the film. MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Here’s the whole family (other than yours truly, who, let’s face it, would just bring the whole BQ* down a notch), enjoying a Fox News broadcast about Saddam Hussein’s capture in Iraq:

*BQ = Beauty Quotient

YES!

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p>Lest anyone get too out of control with the projections and predictions, however, let us remember that this is only a step in guiding the freedom-hungry people of Iraq to a more egalitarian future. Despite the pronouncements of some of the Iraqi Council members, and our own media, this will probably not stop the guerrilla attacks against our brave men and women of the military or the native law enforcement of Iraq. These attacks must be borne because it is and always has been the price of freedom. Keep the families of the victims of these attacks in your thoughts this holiday season, and remember above all to support our troops!

Today Evie is going with Grandma and Grandpa to see her first movie (Brother Bear). I wish we could take her but with the new baby, it’s a little more problematic than it would have been a few months ago. We think Evie’s at the point where she can sit still for 90 minutes in a dark theater, but who knows? I suppose Grandma and Grandpa will bear the brunt of any misbehavior. Cross your fingers….

What your kids are thinking.

Obviously things have been very busy here lately (see last entry), so this should have gone up earlier. I will be playing with Leah Morgan tonight at Common Grounds in Arlington. My wife is the ideal spouse for a musician (namely me), since she was OK with my doing the gig, as opposed to sitting around the hospital with her watching TV and playing cards. She didn’t make me beg, we just talked about it and came to a mutual beneficial decision. (If only all marital unions were as easy as ours.) Hopefully this way she can nap more, anyway, if you can call the miniscule amount of sleep you can get on top of all the staff interruptions “napping.” Honey, you are the greatest.

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Ethan Connor Frields

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Friday, December 5, 2003 – 2:21 p.m.
8 lbs, 9 oz – 20.5 inches

I’ve been amazed and gratified to see that, regardless of the comments of a few very immature (and obviously ignorant) naysayers, Fedora Core appears to be as popular, if not more so, than Red Hat Linux ever was. Clue: the servers are as jammed during major updates as they ever were in the past. You’ll see the odd posting from some clueless l337 teenage h4x0r wannabe, talking about how switching to Mandrake or SuSE is the only option, but that’s malarky. Any real Linux guru will tell you that Fedora Core is as good if not better than the best Red Hat Linux releases.