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Song Info (from Beatlesongs):”A Day in the Life” is on the BSgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album and authorship was 60% Lennon and 40% McCartney. The song was inspired by two newspaper articles. The Mellotron, a keyboard that electronically produces programmed taped sounds, was used for the first time. The final piano chord lasts either 42, 43.5, or 45 seconds, depending upon your source or your sense of hearing.

Today, at long last, sees the end of Beatles Week. Since I’ve procrastinated so long, it happened to fall on the day I’m hosting a Lord of the Rings marathon. As a result, you get to bear witness to a conflux of pop culture heretofore not seen – a Beatle-titled liveblog of The Lord of the Rings.

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9:02p – Everyone left a while ago, but the credits just now stopped rolling.  Full-day attendees were Kim, Marshall, Jen, Lance, Eric, Jeremiah, Pete, Wendy, and me, with a few others coming and going in-between.  It was a fun day.  I’m not sure what next year’s marathon will be…

8:41p – Movie done!  Credits are apparently 20 minutes long?

8:37p – Frodo saying goodbye always makes me tear up.  Not gonna lie.

8:26p – Aragorn: “Second official act: smooch this-a-here elf lady.”

8:24p – Aragorn: “As my first official act as king, I would like to sing y’all a little song.”

8:14p – The One Ring: “I’m melting, I’m melting!”
Sauron: “Aww, dang it :( “

8:13p – Aaaaaaand Gollum saves the day.   Inadvertently.

8:04p – Nutmeg has taken turns throughout the day glaring at different people.  It’s Eric’s turn currently.

8:00p – Aragorn ends negotiations.

7:41p – Sting is a way cooler sword than a musician.  I mean, the sword glows blue when orcs are around!  Does Sting the musician do that?  I doubt it.

7:36p – Lots of Princess Bride references now.

7:30p – Legolas just took down an Oliphant by himself, once again proving that Elves are Middle Earth’s ninjas.

7:28p – Nazgul King pwned by Eowyn, film at 11.

7:22p – Oliphants are the AT-ATs of the Lord of the Rings universe.

7:19p -Gandalf 2, Denethor 0

7:12p – Most of the battles now are being discussed in terms of RPG bonusus – +100 this and -30 that.

7:04p – Sam to the rescue!

6:55p – None of us like Shelob much.

6:36p – Gandalf 1, Denethor 0

6:33p – There was just a skull avalanche, but none of us are really sure why.

6:28p – Ordering pizza for a large group is complex.

6:03p – Poor Sam :(  All he wants to do is help.

5:58p – Denethor is slimy and a jerk.

5:38p – Gothmog just showed up.

5:30p – This part is too talky.

5:19p – Just discussed: Aragorn’s sword Narsil is way legendary, so it probably has a pretty low drop rate.  Like, less than a half percent, probably.  We’re also not sure if Aragorn is leveled-up enough to use it.

5:14p – Random elf: “Lady Arwen, we cannot delay!”
Arwen: “Nertz to that!”

5:04p – I’ve been neglecting to blog people exits.  There are 11 of us here currently: Ruth, Lance, Jeremiah, Eric, Dana, Jen, Marshall, Pete, Wendy, Kim, and me.

4:55p – Gotta give Eowyn props for persistence.

4:40p – Andy Serkis looks kinda creepy just regularly, not just when he’s Gollum.

4:35 – Beginning of The Return of the King.

4:10p – End of second movie.

4:04p – The arrival of Dana!

3:57p – Orcs: “Hey, trees!  We’re safe!”
Trees: “NOM NOM NOM”

3:49p – The Ents attack on Isengard is one of the most awesome things ever put to film.

3:44p – And now a Poltergeist reference – Frodo announces the arrival of the Nazgul, “They’re here.”

3:40p – Ruth showed up.

3:24p – Totally just heard the Wilhelm Scream!

3:22p – Battle of Helm’s Deep has officially begun.

3:04p – Seriously. elves are awesome.  

2:27p – Aragorn: “…so she (Arwen) went with her kind.”
Eowyn: “So… you’re available?”

(Interpretation courtesy of Eric)

2:34p -Eowyn: Great fighter. Lousy cook.

2:14p – “Potatoes! Boil ’em, mash ’em, stick ’em in a stew!”

2:08p – Poor Eowyn.  She can’t possibly know she has no chance with Aragorn because he loves an elf. Pointy ears FTW!

1:48p – You’d be surprised by how many ties to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Star Wars, and Spaceballs have been mentioned.

1:37 – Somewhere along the way Lee has fallen asleep.  Marshall looks like he might soon follow.

1:24p – Gandalf’s back!  Wooo!

1:14p – It has been decided that Gollum is like an overdramatic middle schooler.  “It hurtssssss ussss!” and “I’m famished!  I mussst starve!”

1:09p -Arrival of Treebeard, my favorite thing about this movie.

12:50 – “They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard!”

12:45p – Gollum is always freakier than I remember.

12:30p – Start of The Two Towers.

12:03p – Longest scheduled break of the day. Time for some Seinfeld Scene It.

11:53a – End of first movie.

11:41a – See ya, Boromir.  Thanks for playing!

11:22a – Samwise kinda gets the lousiest gift from Galadriel. I mean, Elven rope is cool and all, but everybody else got cool knives and stuff.

11:09a – Galadriel is awesome and scary at the same time.

10:58a – “You shall not pass!” Gandalf rocks.

10:53a – Enter the Balrog.  Run, dudes!

10:32a – The Fellowship is at the door to the Mines of Moria.

10:25a – The demon bird swarm spawns discussion about how demon birds probably poop fire.

10:12a – “One does not simply walk into Mordor.”

9:50a – Arwen is riding her horse for all get-out, and Pete makes a Monty Python-coconuts reference. FTW!

9:47 – Gandalf (still Grey!) talks to a moth. Saruman is mining for orcs.

9:30a – The Hobbits have arrived in Bree.

9:15a – “This is it.  If I take one more step, it’ll be the farthest from the Shire I’ve ever been.” – Samwise Gamgee

9:11a – Poor Frodo.  He just found out the ring is eeeeeeeevil.

9:09a – We have two people here who haven’t seen these movies, and at least one who hasn’t seen them more than once.

8:53a – Wendy and Pete show up.

8:37a – Abby shows up.

8:33a – Jeremiah, Kim, and Marshall show up.

8:30a – Start of The Fellowship of the Rings.

8:29a – Greg shows up

8:26a – Jen shows up.

8:15a – First guests show up: Lee, Eric, & Lance.

7:00a – Up and at ’em.

9:02 – So, in the final tally, four of us were here for all six movies, and two more were here for five of them, and there were nine different viewers over the course of the day. It was a lot of fun, and I can totally see doing a Lord of the Rings marathon at some point in the future…

Thanks for following along and joining in the fun vicariously!

8:55 – Emperor’s death = Galactic Party Time!

8:51 – Death Star II, R.I.P.

8:50 – Anakin Skywalker, R.I.P.

8:42 – Vader’s hand, R.I.P.

8:41 – I know it’s gotta be tough to be a Jedi, especially when you haven’t been one for long, but Luke really makes a lot of mistakes in the last battle with Vader – revealing the existence of his sister being a bit more major than most.

8:36 – “I know” – Leia, in a great reversal of roles from Empire.

8:30 – The Death Star is fully operational!

8:27 – I’m more easily convinced in the reality of lightsabers than with stick- and stone-wielding teddy bears beating Imperial troops.

8:16 – “Yub nub.” – Random Ewok

8:08 – “Leia, you need to stop kissing me, what with you being my sister and all.” -Luke

7:50 – The Ewoks have showed up. Bleah.

7:36 – Luke just figured out that Leia is is his sister. Nice work, Luke!

7:25 – Rancor is dead, Jabba is dead, and Boba Fett is Sarlacc Chow ™.

7:02 – Eric & Lance are making pancakes. Also, the Twi’lek dancer was just eaten by the Rancor.

6:59 – The return of Daniel.

6:51 – Also, sound has been restored to the left rear speaker! There was a loose wire. Woot!

6:48 – Start of Episode VI. I am happy to announce every episode started exactly when it was scheduled to do so.

6:37 – End of Episode V.

6:26 – “No, I am your father.” – Darth Vader

6:25 – Luke’s hand: R.I.P.

6:11 – “I know.” – Han Solo

6:09 – Exit Daniel (running errands for his mom, he says).

6:00 – “No, there is another.” – Yoda

5:53 – Exit Marshall.

5:46 – “And that is why you fail.” – Yoda

5:10 – Lee was awakened from dozing.

4:47 – Marshall has discovered that the left rear speaker is not producing any sound… Disconcerting.

4:40 – The arrival of Marshall!

4:39 – Luke just got hisself Wampa’d.

4:35 – The Empire Strikes Back: the best of the best!

4:25 – The Death Star has been successfully dealt with!

4:15 – Porkins: R.I.P.

4:02 – Obi Wan: R.I.P.

3:52 – C3-PO is the whiniest droid ever.

3:18 – Grrrrrrrrr. Greedo shot first. I got majorly ripped off here.

3:16 – The return of Eric!

3:05 – Another watcher has appeared.

2:53 – It would appear that these are NOT the original un-fiddled-with versions. GRRRRR.

2:28 – Now to the good stuff: Episode IV! Halfway there!

2:21 – Exit Jonell.

2:17 – End of Episode III.

2:12 – Jonell stopped by to pick up an extra Guitar Hero controller and also brought ice cream and root beer for floats!

2:11 – Darth Vader’s got a brand new suit. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

2:09 – Luke & Leia were just born.

1:51 – Update: Anakin’s bad, most Jedi are dead, and Yoda’s about to throw down with Darth Sidious.

1:18 – Mace Windu: R.I.P. :(

1:07 – In a surprising turn of events, a Sith Lord is revealed.

12:48 – Exit Eric. He had a prior engagement, but shall return.

12:29 – Hey, Padme’s pregnant!

12:26 – Daniel has arrived.

12:03 p.m. – Episode III begins!

11:36 – Pizza arrives! Lunch break!

11:35 – Episode II ends.

11:29 – Yoda vs. Dooku. FIGHT!

11:22 – Clone Troops versus Droid Army – EPIC!

10:41 – Anakin just killed a bunch Sand People. Tsk.

10:17 – The “romance” sections of this movie are some of the worst scenes ever committed to film, digital or otherwise.

9:33 – Yeesh… Hayden carries on the tradition of awful Anakins.

9:21 – Episode II started.

9:20 – Greg showed up.

9:10 – Episode I is done.

8:45 – Phantom Menace is a lot longer than a person remembers…

7:32 – Anakin speaks for the first time. Ugh. I realize good kid actors are hard to find, but seriously? This is the best we could do?

7:11 – Jar Jar’s first appearance. Up until this point, the movie seems like it’s going to be super cool. Jar Jar’s appearance is kind of like how when you’re leaning back in a chair and enjoying balancing, when all of a sudden you lean a little too far back and feel like you’re going to fall backwards — Jar Jar on screen is like feeling you’re falling backwards constantly.

7: 02 – The Wright brothers show up. This is pretty much the expected group for the first movie.

7:00 – Episode I begins!

6:55 – Lee shows up with donuts.

6:52 – Jeremiah is the first to show up.

5:42 a.m. – I woke up at 4:00 this morning and was wide awake, but like a fool I tried to go back to sleep. My plan was to get up at 5 and do some last minute preparing for guests. Instead, I kept hitting the snooze and now I’m late.