Friday, July 17, 2009

Hello, Blog. It's Thursday.

So now that I've had a little time to get out of my own head, I can tell you exactly how the Half-Blood Prince night went down.

Before Ben left for Germany, he gave me his Halloween costume Gryffindor robes. So I wore that, of course. I also wore my plaid skirt from my old school uniform with my "Voldemort Can't Stop Barack" shirt. I was working the schoolgirl vibe. I guess I was Ginny? Kind of. I don't really care about Ginny. Please don't kill me.

My brother and I got there a little over an hour early, and I'm pretty sure that everyone else was already there. I'd never seen so many people at a movie theater. EVER. This place is the second-biggest cinema in the city. It has 15 screens, and that night EVERY SINGLE SCREEN was showing Harry Potter. And they all sold out before the night even started!

A decent number of people dressed up. I was glad not to be the only one. The board that shows which movie is playing in which theatre, instead of just saying "Harry Potter" fifteen times, gave each screen a Hogwarts house name. Our tickets said we were in theater 8, which was a Ravenclaw. I know - fate, right? But we couldn't find good seats in there. We explored a few others before finding some pretty good seats in a Slytherin.

Then I got in line for candy and popcorn, and it took me FORTY MINUTES to get through the line. Holy poop. And then I had to give them $9 for my troubles. I stood in line for 40 minutes just to give them $9 in exchange for crappy junk food. I guess it was better than waiting in my seat for an hour. I'm glad I had the 40 minutes to spare.

A boy in Gryffindor robes approached me and asked if I would run into a Slytherin theater with him, shout "GRYFFINDOR RULES!!!" and run out. Sadly, I had to inform him that I'm a Ravenclaw, despite what my borrowed robes said.

Oh my gosh. I have red hair. I was wearing hand-me-down robes. I REALLY AM A WEASLEY!

Anyway, then we watched the movie, which was mostly enjoyable. Like me, most people weren't sure what to make of it when it ended. There was scattered, uneasy applause. Now I really do think that's it's one of the better films. I rank it right under 1 and 2. The first two will always be my favorites. I think they were wise to finally let another director do more than one film. There's something to be said from continuity as well as learning from your mistakes and improving. Yates definitely improved.

And then it took us 30 minutes to get out of the parking lot. That was awful.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm currently in a hotel room in Tennessee. I'm on vacation with the family. We're doing 2.5 weeks in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. We should be in Philly by tomorrow night. So excited!!!

Finally, you should check out the SHVP channel this week if you don't usually. The theme this week is Mr. Withakay, and the boys have written some brilliantly hilarious songs about me. :-D

Subscribers: 1,111

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Initial Reactions

I really can't decide how I feel about it. It was so different from what we've seen before.

I enjoyed watching it. It had some really lovely moments. It was a nice ride; it didn't feel nearly as long as it was. And I can't believe how funny it was. I've never laughed so hard at a Harry Potter movie. They're usually so bogged down with drama, and this one was so light most of the time.

From Azkaban on, I've felt that the movies move too fast. Every scene is just an overview, a glance at the intricate scenes you find in the books. The later movies (this one included) have almost no time for any real development. Everything is matter-of-fact. Really important characters have maybe five lines in the whole movie. The Spinner's End scene was so quick that I missed Snape mentioning that he'd been deceiving Dumbledore, and I've read the books! I knew it was coming! Then they mention once that Dumbledore was traveling, and they act like it was some huge revelation when we found out where he's been going. Most non-readers probably forgot about it. It was the same thing with Harry dreaming about the door in Order of the Phoenix. There's also very little recap. People have to remember everything that was ever mentioned in previous movies; there's no time to re-explain anything. I don't really know how to change these things without pushing the limits of your typical audience's attention span, though, so I guess that's why the films are the way they are. I picture the film as a long string connecting tons of little tiny boxes.

As usual, they changed a lot of things from how they were in the book. This time, though, it didn't bother me too much. This time it didn't feel like change for the sake of change. I can understand why they changed some things to make them play out better on-screen. Most of the changes enhanced the story rather than detract from it. Many changes in previous movies were tacky and not exactly necessary, and things like that are hard for me to ignore.

Edit: I forgot about the cornfield scene. That was LAME.

Some people mock Emma Watson's dramatic acting, especially her crying, but I really think she nailed it this time. When she saw Ron and Lavender kiss.....oh, man. I really felt it. I saw it on her face. And I've been there, so I know how it feels. We shared a moment. That was my biggest crying moment of the movie, actually. I did shed a quick tear for Dumbledore, though.

There weren't any moments that made me go, "HOLY SHIT THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!" like Phoenix and others have done. I was waiting for a really epic moment, but even the cave scene wasn't exactly grandiose. I guess it's not really that kind of story, though. I suppose this movie is right to be so different because the book itself is so different from the first five. I didn't think about that until now.

So basically I keep switching from feelings of "that was it?" to feelings of "hmm, that was really nice." It was a lovely film. I wouldn't mind watching it again right now. Well, maybe not right now. I have a HUGE headache, probably from concentrating too intensely. The movie really wasn't what I was expecting, but that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't right.

I wanted to get my initial thoughts out, but I'm really not in the mood to discuss it. Please don't be offended, but I really don't even want to hear your thoughts on the film right now. I know that seems hypocritical, considering I'm putting my own thoughts out there, but it's ok with me if you don't want to read them. I'm feeling really contemplative. I guess this is the "I" part of my INFP personality at work. So many thoughts are spinning around in my head, and I don't know what to make of any of them.

You know what? I feel like I need a Pensieve.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

And this is the part where I scare you all away.

Ok, time for a brief clarification. Commenter nonentity claims that he knows a few people who could give my love for Harry Potter a run for its money. When I read this comment I realized that I haven't shown you guys enough of the real me. Reading/watching everything I put on the internet doesn't mean you know me (not that I don't appreciate the people who do such things).

I guarantee you that my love for the Harry Potter books is greater than or equal to anyone else's in the world. See, I'm not even claiming to be "THE BIGGEST HARRY POTTER FAN EVER." I'm just saying that I'm tied for first place with possibly millions of other people.

The movies are whatever. I don't claim that crown.

In my school, a small liberal arts college where practically everyone is nerdy enough to love Harry Potter, I'm STILL known as the Harry Potter girl. When I show up at a costume party not dressed as a Harry Potter character, people are openly shocked. People approach me or text me with random questions about the books all the time. Just yesterday I received a text that said, "Random- parvati's twin is...?" I didn't even know who sent the text. The number was unknown. I just texted back, "padma." You should've seen the hilarity that went down when my school's newspaper printed a Harry Potter crossword puzzle. I was glued to my phone that day. Several times a day I have to stop myself from making an obscure Harry Potter reference about what someone just said, because (a.) I have to draw the line somewhere, and (b.) no one would get such an obscure reference anyway. I have actually spoken aloud the sentence, "I think Harry Potter is better than sex."

Yes, there are people who are more involved in the fandom than I am. No, I've never traveled thousands of miles to a conference or movie premiere. I'm not one to get starstruck. I would never scream my head off or cry at the sight of Daniel Radcliffe. I even had to look up the correct spelling of "Radcliffe." None of these things truly define what it means to love Harry Potter. It's about the heart, loving it with every fiber of your being, defending it to the death, truly believing its messages of love and sacrifice, and, mostly importantly, not abandoning it for Twilight. :-P

Oh, goodness. Look at me getting all hot and bothered over such sillyness. Now do you believe me? I hope I haven't frightened anyone. For the record, I'm not in any way angry, upset, or offended. I just wanted to make sure you guys know what I'm all about. I have an absolutely bottomless sense of humor, so it's pretty hard to offend me.

This time tomorrow I will have seen the new film. I wish I were more excited. Warner Brothers has made me so jaded. We've had to wait a lot longer than we expected, so this thing better be freakin' fantastic.

On an unrelated note, commenter Kristen asked when was I blonde, so here's a brief history of my hair. I was born with dark brown hair. Then it fell out, as baby fuzz often will. It grew back light blonde, and it stayed that way. Then I decided about 2 years ago that I was bored of the blonde, so I started dyeing it, much to my mother's chagrin. And that's it. I've almost always been blonde, and I'm still blonde underneath the red.

I suspect you'll see my thought on Half-Blood Prince fairly soon. Cheerio.

Heroes-watching status: Season 3, Episode 24 (just one more to go!!!)

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Potter Pooper

I really haven't been all that excited about Half-Blood Prince. I know I SHOULD be. No one in the world is a bigger Harry Potter fan than I am. Granted, I'm sure there are many people who are tied with me, but no one loves it MORE. Except maybe Jo Rowling. I guess she wins that one by default.

Actually, maybe that's why I'm not jazzed about the new movie. The movies are cool and all (well, even that's debatable), but the fact remains that there are no more books. The movies just don't do it for me like the books do, even with the ridiculously attractive starring trio (You know episode of 30 Rock where Frank is "ONLY gay for Jamie"? Well, I'm ONLY gay Emma Watson. Lolz. But seriously, she's hot.) I mean, I haven't even bought my tickets yet.

Canon snob aside, one little thing just happened that rekindled my excitement a little. I've been watching Heroes obsessively all summer. Season 3 is only on Hulu until August 1st, and my family is about to go on vacation for the rest of the month. So yeah, CRUNCH TIME! I just finished episode 17. At the end of the episode, Angela tells Bennet that he has to fully commit convincingly to that which he is trying to bring down from the inside. She says that he will have to make many difficult choices to prove his loyalty (i.e. capture and/or kill people if necessary). It all started to sound a little too familiar to me. Have you guessed why?.........

.......BENNET IS TOTALLY SNAPE IN THIS SITUATION!!!! OMG!!!!!!!! And now a have a bit of the Potter-anticipation butterflies in my stomach. :-P

And ok, I'll admit it. That seriously epic version of "Hedwig's Theme" at the end of the HBP really gets me going.

As far as real life goes, not much goes on. My mom, my brother, and I went to see The King and I at the little theatre last night. Mrs. Ellis, my former voice teacher, was Anna, and my old friend Mike was Lun Tha. My all-time favorite lesbian (lolz), Talia, was Tuptim. They were all fantastic. It was so great to see them again. Even Mrs. Ellis' two kids, whom I hadn't really seen since I was in high school, were in the show. They're so precious.

They announced the show for next summer - The Sound of Music. I've already been in this show 3 times (as Gretl, a nun, and Louisa). Still, I've decided I'm gonna go for it, as this is probably my last shot at playing Liesl. Everyone tells me I look 16, so I'm going milk this flat chest for all it's worth. I am babyface, hear me roar.

That's all for this installment of my preposterous blog. Catch you kids on the flip side.

Subscribers: 1,110

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Putting the "pot" in Potter, lolz.

So Jamie Waylett, who plays Crabbe in the Harry Potter films, was arrested for possession of marijuana. And then they found even more weed growing in his backyard. Looks like he could go to jail for up to five years.

I just saw the story on the news. Can you guys what the headline was? Yup. "Putting the 'pot' in Potter." Oh yes.

Now, if I were a responsible blogger, I would talk about how I'm so disappointed in Jamie and how people in the spotlight should be setting a good example. But I can't. Why? Because when I hear about something like this, I think, "Dude, this shit is awesome!!"

I don't know why, but I love it when this kind of thing happens. I think it's hilarious. It just makes me smile when someone who has so much to lose, who knows that EVERYONE will hear about it if he gets caught, is willing to stick it to the man like that. Remember all the hullaballoo surrounding Michael Phelps when he got caught? I didn't lose respect for him. I thought he was even more of a badass.

Granted, it totally sucks that Jamie's facing potential jail time. I hope that doesn't happen. Then again, I don't think that marijuana should be illegal.

But that's a story for another day.

On an unrelated note, I just watched Yes Man, and I was quite impressed. I think it's the first Jim Carrey comedy that didn't make me cringe. And I love love love Zooey Deschanel.

That's all for today. I'm gonna go Hulu some Heroes. Trying to finish season 3 by next Wednesday. Time has been crunched.

Heroes-watching status:Season 3, Episode 11
Subscribers: 1,105

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Emo Blog Redux

I just watched Eagle Eye, and now I'm torn. On the one hand, it would be super-exciting to be part of a secret mission and not know your next move until you read it on a random marquee. On the other hand, I'm really glad it's never happened to me. On the theoretical third hand, I think I'm starting to like Shia LeBeouf again. I do miss Louis Stevens, though.

I'm about to finish my third book of the summer. After The Bermudez Triangle, I moved on to Miley Cyrus: Miles To Go. I was curious!!! Lolz. Don't hate. I bought it used on Amazon. I actually enjoyed it. I might give it to my currently nonexistent little girl someday. You know, to get her through her awful preteen years and inspire her to follow her dreams and such. And finally, as you know, I picked up Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, which is always great. Next I'm thinking The Book Thief, maybe?

I keep slowing myself down by picking up Harry, A History, reading a little, and putting it down again. It's a great book, but it's taking me forever to get through it. Maybe it's because I'm so involved in Harry Potter already that rehashing it all is mentally exhausting.

I want to thank reader Kristen for her words of encouragement on my emo blog post from last week. I just love the online community. When no one IRL makes me feel special, people online will. YouTube will. People watch my videos. People leave comments. Even when I get ignorant hater comments, as infuriating as they are, deep down I still appreciate them (way, way, WAY deep down). Someone can click on my video, watch it for 10 seconds, hate it, and then click away. But you know what? They sought me out. They intentionally clicked on my video to hear what I have to say, hoping to be entertained. I may not always deliver, but I try. And if I get an awful comment, I try to think, "Hey, at least I'm not being ignored."

That's why I love YouTube. And, of course, all of you. Muchos gracias! :-)

Heroes-watching status: Season 3, Episode 10
Subscribers: 1,104 (Lolz. I love how I lose subs every time I post a video.)

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Dogs Galore

I watched Marley and Me a few days ago, and it filled me with great desire to spend time with my dogs while they and I are both still around. So today, for the first time in AGES, I walked one of my dogs around the block. [My dogs are outside dogs with a huge backyard. Not walking them is not mistreating them, I promise.] It was really fun. He got lazy toward the end, though, and begged me to carry him. And because (a.) it's so freakin' hot outside (100+ degrees every day), and (b.) he's so freakin' cute, I caved.

By the way, if you are a dog lover, don't watch Marley and Me if you don't want to cry. I mean, it's a great movie, but you WILL cry.

Life is full of dogs right now. My little brother is currently taking care of dogs for two different families who are out of town. Family A is out of town because the oldest son, one of my good friends in high school, is getting married on Thursday. I was going to be invited, but since they're getting married at super-expensive Disney World, the guest list had to be extremely small. On the bright side, Family B has a pool. So last night, my mom, my brother, and I swam in Family B's pool when we went to feed their dog / water their plants. My brother, who is a completely goober, said, "You know, you could've married John," to which I ROFL'd and said, "Gosh, Lane, if only you'd mentioned it sooner!" My brother is 16, but in my mind he will always be 7. And trust me, he still acts 7.

We all reminisced about that the fact that, while we were growing up, John's younger sister always told me I should date John. Actually, she would constantly ask me if I liked him, which was unbelievably annoying. Lane and Drew (John's younger brother) always wanted me to marry John so that they could be related. There was family pressure from both sides. John's a great guy, but we were clearly never going to date or marry (Lolz, sorry everyone). I'm incredibly happy for him.

At some point I sarcastically mention that I could always marry Drew if he and Lane want to be related that badly. Then my mother starts discussing it further. "You know, 16 and 21 seems like a big age difference now, but when you're 30 and 35, it won't matter at all." I point out that I'm technically almost 22, and she counters that he's almost 17. Then she tries to figure out exactly how far apart we are in age. "Uuuuuuuuugggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh, mom, stop it!!!" I found myself saying over and over again. Thinking about me and my littlest brother's friend CREEPS ME OUT, YO.

On a completely unrelated note, 2 days before Ben left I saw Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger in the massive landscape of books on his desk, and I said, "OMG CAN I BORROW THAT?!?!?!" And he said yes. And life is beautiful for it.

And finally, I posted a new video today! Yay!!! I really need to get back into the swing of video-making.

Heroes-watching status: Season 3, Episode 7 (Hooray for Hulu!)
Subscribers: 1,106