OBJECTIVE: Watch Avatar once per every week of 2014.

WHEN: December 5, 2014, 2:43 pm. (Week 49, November 30-December 6.)

WHERE: In my apartment in Portland, ME.

FORMAT: Blu-ray on a Vizio 47″ LCD HDTV.

COMPANY: Cinemanaut Bill, Lab Rat Phil, Former Cinemanaut Adam, my friends Elliot and Will.

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL STATE: Entirely surprised to have my house full of people.

My year of weekly Avatar viewings has been winding to a close, and I’ve been struggling to pay even a moderate amount of attention to the film every week. This has led to a string of painfully apathetic viewings, a trend that has shown no signs of letting up. Enter Bill.

Something suspicious is up.

Growing concerned at how unhappy my articles were becoming, Bill offered to come and join me for my 49th viewing. How could I say no? So as I’m on my way to pick Bill up, he lets me know that he’s run into our friend Adam, who would also like to watch Avatar. All well and good. So we get to my place and are about to pop in the movie, when Bill lets me know that our friend Will will be dropping by to drop something off really quick. Alright. So there’s a knock at the door and it isn’t Will at all, but my friend Elliot. Now I knew something wonky is up, since Elliot doesn’t normally just drop by my house for no reason. A minute later, Will shows up, accompanied by Phil. Yes, Bill, sneak that he is, had apparently invited all my friends over to watch Avatar.

Aww, it’s like the end of It’s a Wonderful Life.

And so we watched Avatar. And while the film wasn’t any better, the hours passed a lot quicker thanks to this cadre of fellow viewers. It is worth noting that the movie left everyone looking fairly drained…

 I know, guys, that’s how Avatar makes me feel every week.

So, I guess the Frank Capra ending for this week’s viewing would be, “No man is a failure who has friends, even if he spends an entire year watching Avatar every week for little to no reason.”

Merry Christmas, everyone!