Preparations for Trilogy Tuesday
I am definitely going to Rochester to watch The Lord of the Rings Trilogy on December 16. If you haven't been keeping up, the final film in the LOTR Trilogy, The Return of the King, will open in the U.S. on December 17. In preparation for this event, New Line is releasing special extended editions of the first two films in selected theaters: The Fellowship of the Ring (December 5-11) and The Two Towers (December 12-15). And, on the December 16, there will be a special back-to-back-to-back screening of all three films called "Trilogy Tuesday". I anticipate this to be the Woodstock for fantasy-geeks across America.
As I have written in this blog, I missed out on tickets for the New York City screenings, but was lucky (or crazy) enough to find some in Rochester. The last time I checked, the New York City tickets were bidding at the $300 range on eBay. Using this as my I'm-not-as-crazy-as-those-other-guys barometer, I look at my trip as "cheap".
Courtesy of the powers of Google and Typepad, I got in touch with someone in Rochester who offered to pick me up at the bus station and provide me meals -- he's having a tailgating party with his buds -- in exchange for the extra tickets I have. He'll also drop me off at the airport after the show... What? The airport?!? Yup... And so, my itinerary goes:
Dec. 15:
Various subway rides to Port Authority bus station
Dec. 16:
1 am - Begin 7 hour bus ride from NYC to Rochester, try to and hopefully end up sleeping on bus
8 am - Arrive in Rochester, Meet with Rochester contact, Drive to movie theater 1 mile away, Claim tickets in box office, Exchange "some" cash for tickets with Rochester contact, Get in line, which should be festive (but freezing) at this point, Make new acquaintances (for therapy)
1 pm - Start of 720-minute extravaganza, during the breaks between movies pee, stretch, eat
Dec 17:
1 am - Return of the King ends, contact drives me to airport, then I wait for flight back to NYC
6 am - Board jetplane
7:30 am - Arrive in JFK, take AirTrain (if its open already) to LIRR
9 am - Back at work! Work, work, work, blog, work, work, work
I know this all sounds crazy, but it also looks like a great adventure. I'll take pictures. Meanwhile I have to plan the other stuff like extra food and things to read if I get bored during the commute. And I also have to buy the plane and bus tickets.