Had a midwestern-style Christmas last week, in Ames, Iowa, with Veronica's family. A week of getting up at noon, then watching movies and playing video games until little Ana decided she wanted to play/watch cartoons/make a lot of noise/throw a fit. All in all, it was a relaxing time and allowed me to recharge the batteries a bit. I saw a few movies for the first time (and a lot for the eighth or ninth time) ...

• Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones - The Star Wars mystique grows ever smaller. Sure, the Yoda lightsaber duel was cool, but that doesn't make up for the groans I was making every time they went to a scene involving Anakin and Padme's sappy love story. Better than Episode 1? Perhaps. Probably. Who cares? I'd rather watch The Empire Strikes Back again instead.
• Black Hawk Down - Not at all what I expected. A really brutal war film in the tradition of Full Metal Jacket, only without Vincent D'Onofrio. I was crying by the end. A very powerful statement on modern war and the role of the United States as an international policeman.
• Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers - A movie I actually had to go to a theater to see! I made Veronica watch The Fellowship of the Ring the night before to prepare. It's a good movie, not fantastic, but worthwhile. I loved the Gollum/Sméagol scenes. The battle at Helm's Deep goes on for about 15 minutes too long, as do several other scenes. The whole movie feels like it could have used some more editing.

I also watched a lot of Father Ted and The Young Ones, as Veronica got those DVDs for Christmas. My presents included a nice new electric razor, a wireless Gamecube controller, and FIFA 2003 for the Gamecube. FIFA is good, definitely a beautiful game to look at. I haven't mastered the gameplay yet. The big advancement is the manual passing system, which allows you to pass not to where a player is, but to where a player is going. It's tough to get the hang of, but in the odd instances that I've done it correctly the quantum leap over previous soccer games becomes apparent. Must improve my skills so as I can once again raise my beloved Chelsea to the title of Champions of the Known Universe. Embarassing Manchester United 7-nil is a stress-reliever second only to beating the crap out of someone who cuts you off in Grand Theft Auto.

And yes, I finally picked up Splinter Cell for the Xbox yesterday, using some Best Buy gift cards (thanks Em!). I could just watch the lighting effects in this game, let alone actually play the game. Head and shoulders above the rest of the pack. It's a frigging hard game ... I can finish the training course no problem, but then I get dumped in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and all hell breaks loose. Got to work on my stealth skills.