This week my computer decided to stop booting up. It’s gotten a kick out of rebooting itself for a few months now, so I knew this day would come.

Sadly, all my pictures of Mr. Sméagol are on that computer and now I don’t have access to them. That means I have no new pictures to post this week

Of all weeks, this is actually a great week to have that happen. You see, none of the guesses from last week were wasn’t right. Now you have a second week to give it a try and see if you can win the prize.

That won’t be standard practice. Normally we’ll just move on to the next picture, but this week my computer troubles are going to work in your favor.

Good luck!

Mr. Sméagol wanted to try a little something new after his experience with the youth last week; something a little more relaxing. He’d never done anything like this before (and honestly wasn’t that good), but at least he didn’t scare any kids.

If you think you know where our dear gollum was spending his time this week, leave your guess in the comments. The winner will be chosen at random from the most specific guesses.

This week’s prize: Another $5 gift card to some place that sells them in denominations that low. I think Macey’s and Best Buy do. I haven’t checked yet. I should do that.

If you want to know the details, read the rules.

Good luck.

We have our first winner!

From Kicking off the New Year, our winner is Marissa! If you know her, congratulate her.

For the rest of you, don’t let your spirits get down. See if you can guess where Mr. Sméagol is now.

This is Mr. Sméagol’s first stop of the New Year. He had such a good time. You really should have been there. Can you guess where he is?

This week’s prize: A $5 gift card to . . . a place that actually has gift cards worth $5 (probably Best Buy or Maceys once I find it).

If you have an idea where this picture was taken, leave your guess in the comments below. Try to be as specific as possible to increase you chances. The winner will be chosen at random from the most specific correct answers. Good luck!

Remember, don’t include any personal information in the body of the comment (because it’ll get published on the interwebs), but make sure you enter your name, email address so you can be contacted if you win.

It’s a new year (2010).

Mr. Sméagol had a wild ride last year, but for a few months now he has been safe a sound in the care of his loving housemates. It’s good to have him around (though sometimes he can be quite startling when coming around a corner).

During this time of year, Mr. Sméagol has been doing some thinking about his life. It’s not easy being Gollum, and in order to make life more bearable, we tend to keep him inside, away from the disapproving looks of innocent citizens. But after having a taste of life outside these walls, Mr. Sméagol has come to realize that he’s missing out. After much consultation we’ve come to the conclusion that Mr. Sméagol should get out more, and we want to help him do it.

We want to get you involved too.

Mr. Sméagol will be doing a lot of traveling from now on. We’ll go with him and take pictures of all his adventures. Every week on this site, we’ll post a new picture of Mr. Sméagol at some landmark site he visited – but we won’t say where. It’s up to you to guess! Try to figure out exactly where he is and leave your best guess in the comments. Try to be as specific as possible. When the week is up, we’ll pick a winner. The winner gets a prize. Oh yes, a prize.

Check back every Saturday to see the new pictures and make your guesses. Good luck!