The kayaking looks lovely. :) Glad you're getting some chance to do that despite the cold weather!

Totally agree with Mr. Pink on Terminator 2, that's one of my favourite films and a tremendous masterpiece that remains really timeless and relevant. So many great characters and themes interwoven, and yeah, even today the effects still shine.

Fivel's gecko is pretty darn adorable! https://www.furaffinity.net/view/31483172/ Not a species you see as often, but those toes pressed all up against the glass like that are adorable. ^^ I love that paw-tease by KaoticJuju as well https://www.furaffinity.net/view/31507733/, so cute and such a perfect expression...

I need to send you some pics. :3 And don't worry - I have a drysuit, so I'm safe in the cold paddling water (in case I ended up in it).

OMG, yes - Terminator 2 is one of my favourite films of all time, and quite possibly the greatest Action Film ever (though I often struggle between that and Aliens for that title). In both cases, you really have to watch the director's cut - the 20+ minutes of added footage is incredible, and helps close out some gaps in the story from the shorter theatrical releases. And yes, the special effects in T2 were phenomenal. At the time, it was the most expensive movie ever made, and it's effects elevated CGI to entirely new boundaries. But I think what made it work even more was that they also were keenly aware of the "limits" of digital effects, and did their best not to overuse them. The result is movie magic that holds up just as well today as it did 28 years ago.

As for your picture picks - yes, very nice! You don't see geckos much (surprisingly) and rarely with such detailed paw-pads. And yes, I was reminded of you in that KaoticJuju pic. :3

yeah so you said! Drysuit seems very sensible if it's that cold out there.

Hah, yeah I have the same struggle myself between T2 and Aliens. ^^ They're both in my top 5 favourite films ever I think, probably both for similar reasons - they both have a lot of neat layers going on beyond just being really fantastically well-made action films. Themes and subtexts around motherhood, what defines humanity, how we respond to existential dread... and yeah, in both cases you really don't get that unless you get those extra few scenes that were in the director's cuts, which is a freaking crime.

Pawpads pressed against glass are always great, and I can see how ya might be reminded of me given the similar pose I drew once. ^,,^ It's too cute a pose to not use!

Yar - I was really glad to see that the group that arrived as I was heading out all had drysuits as well. There's nothing more cringe-worthy then when you see someone show up with cheap kayak they bought at Walmart, wearing nothing but a t-shirt, pants and flip-flops, then go to paddle on water that's 10°C (or less), just because the air temperature is "nice".

And yeah, agreed on ALL those points! Those movies are just incredible. Back in the day when they were shown, there was a serious concern that showing movies more than 100 minutes would not work with most audiences. Of course, the Lord of the Rings completely broke that trend (thankfully) and nowadays the directors cuts are pretty much the norm. Though... ironically, the Lord of the Rings movies were SO huge, there are actually directors cuts off them too. Return of the King is like 4 hours long! 8D

Indeed! When you're out on the water and it's that cold it isn't something you want to screw around with. I don't have your kayaking experience but the effects of cold water regardless of what the air feels like is something my parents were big on imparting when we were out fishing on Lake Michigan.

And yeah, it's funny how movie times have changed. You have the odd outlier among classics, things like 2001: A Space Odyssey which are long enough to have an intermission (though even if they started doing that again I can't see the intermissions being long enough to actually get another popcorn given how long that tends to take now) but they've certainly gotten a lot longer on average than they used to be. It's funny, for the most part I'm definitely a fan of the greater creative control that gives filmmakers when they can just tell a richer, more detailed story by having the extra time, but it's also nice sometimes to watch older films that are only an hour and a half long - it really forces the storytelling to be concise and efficient, while a lot of longer modern films can feel mired and confused with unnecessary time filler. So there are advantages to both. ^^