Elewyn and I arranged for a bunch of our friends to go to the Free Screening of FOTR at a Future Shop in Mississauga. The movie was to start at 9:00pm, and at midnight, they were going to sell the DVDs and videos. A group of 8 of us went (one more and we could have had a fellowship!) and we got there three hours early.

They were just setting up the tent and projector systems, so we went inside and drooled all over the Gandalf stand-ups that were inside the door. After eating, we discovered that a line had already started to the tent, and we quickly made our way over and joined it. One man in front of us had brought his hobbits stand-up, claiming that they needed "to get out every so often". There was a costume contest, so there were a few people dressed as elves, hobbits and one guy (who eventually won) was full out dressed as Strider! It was great! A trio of characters from the movie (Legolas, Frodo and Gandalf) were making the rounds, taking pictures with people in line. (I got my picture taken...they were actually hired to do this...)

At about 8:30pm, they let people inside the tent, and we quickly ran to get seats in the third row. A DJ from a local radio station that was sponsoring the event, welcomed us and told us about the costume contest, and about the midnight sales for the DVD and video. At 8:50pm, the "Strider" lookalike won the contest (a $500 gift certificate to Future Shop) and at 8:55pm the movie started.

We saw the TTT trailer first, and then sat back for the next three hours to watch our wonderful movie! It was great! People cheered when Aragorn beheaded Lurtz, sniffling was heard when Gandalf fell in Moria and when Boromir died, laughter echoed whenever Pippin had a moment, and at the end, everyone cheered and applauded!

People got up to leave of course, and suddenly they showed the TTT trailer yet again...and then AGAIN!!! It was sweet! Then the line ups to get the DVD and video came into being...and my friend Glenn got in line. I decided to get mine the next morning, to take advantage of one of the "comes with a free...." deals at another store.

It was really great to see FOTR again on (a) big screen. A lot of people had only seen it three or four times, so when I yelled out that I had seen it ten times, I got that wide-eyed "you're nuts!" look that I've come to recognize easily. Go Ringers! We rule!