“The Return of the King” on DVD was waiting for me from Amazon.com when I got home late last night. (I’d been at the theater with Matt — more on that later.) I popped it into my DVD player and watched the first 10 minutes or so, and then I skipped ahead to the big climax, starting with Frodo at the Cracks of Doom, and watched the final 40 (!) minutes of the film, including closing credits. The 250-minute Extended Edition will come out in the fall, but for now, it’s nice to have the whole 3-hour-20-minute theatrical release on one DVD. I was curious to see what the exact halfway point of the film was — a mere 1 hour and 40 minutes into it (known in most films as “the end”) — and it turns out it’s Frodo getting tangled up in the webs of Shelob’s lair. Creepy. I look forward to sitting down and watching the whole movie in one sitting.

Then, of course, this fall, I’ll have to buy the Extended Edition, lock myself in my apartment for the day, and watch all three extended editions back to back. That’s 208 minutes plus 223 minutes plus 250 minutes for a grand total of 681 minutes — or 11 hours and 21 minutes.

And then the paramedics will have to come and peel me off the couch.

Here’s Jon Stewart’s commencement address at the College of William & Mary.

The mayor of Jersey City, Glenn Cunningham, died suddenly of a heart attack on Wednesday night. Now, I feel no allegiance to Jersey City and have no interest in Jersey City politics — I still consider myself a temporary resident — but still, wow. Jersey City’s one of the biggest cities in the state and this was so out of the blue. The mayor was just 60 years old.

I actually met the mayor last spring. As part of my job as a state lawyer, I have to be at a polling station on state election days to make sure that the state’s election laws are being followed, including making sure that eligible voters are not turned away and that ineligible voters do not get to vote. State judges are on hand to hear emergency voting cases, and they usually rule in favor of letting people vote. Last spring, on a state election day, I was working at the Hudsdon County building in Jersey City when the mayor and his wife walked in, accompanied by a lawyer.

Apparently there was some dumb technical thing wrong with Mrs. Cunningham’s voter registration, and she hadn’t been permitted to vote. And in this election, the mayor himself was running in a primary for a state senate seat. Mrs. Cunningham was essentially moving to have her ballot declared valid.

The case had to be heard by a judge on duty, and I had to go represent the state’s position. Based on a technical reading of the election laws, I had no choice but to oppose Mrs. Cunningham’s motion, even though I thought my position was dumb and I was sure the judge would disagree with me.

So on one side of the courtroom were Mayor Cunningham, Mrs. Cunningham, and their lawyer, and on the other side of the courtroom was me.

When it was my turn to speak, I said a couple of sentences about the legal reasons for opposing Mrs. Cunningham’s motion. I felt like an ass, standing there opposing the mayor and his wife on a technicality, but I had to do it. Guess I’ll never be getting any favors from City Hall, I thought.

The judge, of course, allowed Mrs. Cunningham to vote.

So that’s the story of how I met the mayor.

Rest in peace, Mayor Cunningham.