*Waves*

Hiya! Believe or not, I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth after seeing Harry Potter. Hurrah! There’s just been a lot of work to get done over the weekend, and sadly, I can’t find the USB cord for my camera and I really really wanted to post a couple of pictures from the midnight premieres because everything was fantastic there.


But it’s been 4 days since the release of the movie, and it seems that the USB cord itself dropped off the face of the earth, so I don’t think I can put off writing about the movie any longer for a couple of pictures.

Tee hee, I can hear some of groaning, “No Nonie! Not another Potter post! The official teaser poster for the Hunger Games came out! That's the new movie news. Get with the times already!" but hey, I never got closure on last week. :D So here’s Day #1 (or Day -3) with just a couple of my thoughts on the film:

I walked out of the theater wanting to jump in the air and cheer with happiness. That never happened before with a movie before. Of course, it’s not fair to judge it like that since this series holds a sentimental value with many people but still; we have to acknowledge that the filmmakers did a good job here. Coming from the bottom of my heart, I think this is the best film in the series. :D

I'm pretty sure most of you who wanted to watch the movie have already seen it, but I can't be too sure, so beware of spoilers!

• The first part was all about the dynamic of the trio, and this second part is all about Hogwarts, and Harry himself of course. It was just a bit surprising seeing Emma and Rupert not having much to do.
• Call me silly, but in the first few shots of the Gringrotts heist scene, I actually thought it was Emma under all the Bellatrix make-up. Helena BC was that phenomenal. She nailed Emma's facial expressions.
• I loved Professor McGonagall’s geeky, happy giggle after setting the statues to life. And she had the first tear-inducing line in the movie: “It’s nice to see you Potter.” The audience burst into a big “AWWWWW” when she said that.
• Fred's death scene from the book is not here. The scene they replaced it with, where he's cornered, alone and wandless, by a Death Eater, is chilling. It's horrible to watch, but so cinematic.
• I can’t even talk about the Snape vs. McGonagall duel without getting speechless.
• Actually, there are so many scenes in this movie I couldn’t talk about without getting inarticulate, just because of the sheer awesomeness of it all. Like in my notes about this movie I wrote a couple days ago, I had "EEEEEEEEEEEEE" written out next to McGonagall’s name just because I just couldn’t explain it any other way.
• Next to Alan Rickman’s name I have this random scribble. It’s not even an “EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Just a large, random scribble on the page.
• And that, friends, should explain how incredible he was in this movie. Even an “EEEEEEEEEEEE!” can't describe him. He stole every scene he was in, and played broken-hearted-but-nevertheless-heroic Snape with perfection.
• I would like to hand over an award to the person who decided to to put in the line “You have your mother’s eyes” line in Snape’s death scene. That was GENIUS. Everyone says that to Harry, but it means so much more when said by Severus Snape. Everything else in his memories was heartbreaking, especially the scene where he's holding a dead Lily, crying, with baby Harry in the crib sobbing. Just heartbreaking.
• His death was also the most horrid. It's not shown directly, but seeing the silhouette of Snape and hearing it was dreadful. I hate Nagini.
• But hooray for Neville for cutting its head off! The whole scene is just epic. I think I cheered the loudest here. I’m very, very, very thankful that they didn’t mess up the Prince’s Tale or Neville’s role in the story. The character developments of Snape and Neville were my favorite parts of the book, so they were the two parts I was most anxious about, but they delivered. Thank you, thank you, thank you Steve Kloves and David Yates!
• Neville’s line about being mad about Luna was the cutest, and most spontaneous thing about the movie.
• I loved Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy)’s scene when he hesitates to go over to the Death Eaters, and loved Narcissa Malfoy too. The scene on the bridge where Draco and Narcissa kept on walking but Lucius turned around, looking around a bit lost and sad was a wonderful way to end the Malfoy family storyline.
• The third tear-inducing line after McGonagall’s and Snape’s was Dumbledore’s: “Harry, you wonderful boy. You brave, brave man.” Michael Gambon delivered that line faultlessly. Some people started crying so loudly that it got distracting. Heh.
• I loved how they showed a disgruntled Filch getting ready to clean up the castle during the final scenes. Once a Hogwarts caretaker, always a Hogwarts caretaker. ;)

Staring contest time.

The Technical Parts

• I’m sort of curious as to why they decided to not have the huge crowd of people during the final battle between Harry and Voldemort. To make the victory more subtle? I did like the Harry-Hagrid hug though.
• I'm also curious as to why they decided to make Bellatrix and Voldemort turn into confetti-like pieces when they died. (But evil people never die normally in fantasy movies so...hmm...)
• The screenwriting was great. They changed the book for sure, but it all fit somehow.
• But Tonks and Lupin deserved more (or they should've gotten in a line before the battle about Teddy!). Lupin's line about Teddy would appear to come out of nowhere for the audience members who didn't read the book.
• The music by Alexandre Desplat is beautifully haunting; it’s the ideal soundtrack for this movie. Just listen to "Severus and Lily," "Statues," "Courtyard Apocalypse" and "Lily's Theme."
• Um, though I love Desplat's score, I definitely burst into tears when I heard the original John Williams theme during the epilogue. Hearing John Williams sort of sealed the ending; It all started with John Williams and ended with John Williams. It was the perfect way to bring it to a full circle.
• I'm one of the HP epilogue-lovers *ducks from flying shoes* so I enjoyed how the epilogue played out here. I think they did good job aging the actors, and Albus Severus was adorable. (A couple of people did snort when Harry said his name, though.) :) I just wished it was longer though. Another two minutes wouldn't have hurt...
• Who else liked the Chocolate Frog jumping out the window like it did in the first movie? :) The little references to the other movies made me happy.

There's so much more I could talk about, but ah, I think I shall end here. :D

I think they ended the series in the best possible way. It still amazes me that they kept the series going for 10 years with almost the same cast and crew they started with. It was breathtaking really. This is a bit late, but thank you to all the directors, the crew who brought the world alive, and of course the actors, Daniel, Emma, Rupert, and all the supporting actors for bringing the characters, the ones we love or love to hate, alive. And of course, thank you JK Rowling for putting everything in motion. :D

Geekiness Alert: After discussing with friends and brother, we all realized that instead of comparing Voldemort with Darth Vader/Anakin, it should be Snape vs. Darth Vader.

Voldemort = Emperor Palpatine! Full character discussions likely to come soon. :D

Geekiness Alert over.

"Please excuse my mawkishness Harry but..."

Day #2

...In about 3 hours Deathly Hallows Part 2 is going to start rolling in the theater, and well, then it's going to end. It's been an emotionally draining week to be honest. I've finished rereading the books, and I just finished our HP movie rewatch. I hate being mawkish but MY CHILDHOOD IS ENDING IN 4 HOURS NOOOOOO!! it's going to be....strange, for the lack of a better word, to not be able to call up my friends about the new HP trailer or to not watch a new Rupert Grint interview on Mugglenet.

It is the last couple of hours before the movie so here are a couple of my favorite moments from the series: quotes, fanart and gif-wise. :)

"A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley...He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices:

"To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"

"But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve ft mountain troll is one of them."

- Sorcerer's Stone

What Hermione says (Order of the Phoenix film):

“Wit beyond measure is a man’s greatest treasure.”

-Luna (Order of the Phoenix)

"It is our choices, Harry, that show us who we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

- Dumbledore (Chamber of Secrets)

"When in doubt, go to the library."

- Ron (Chamber of Secrets)

"So top grade's O for Outstanding," Hermione was saying, "and then there's A-"

"No, E," George corrected her, "E for 'Exceeds Expectations.' And I've always thought Fred and I should've got E in everything, because we exceeded expectations just by turning up for the exams."

- Order of the Phoenix

"Percy wouldn't notice a joke if it danced naked in front of him wearing one of Dobby's hats."

- Ron (Order of the Phoenix)

(Neville by Forbis)

“We’ll all keep fighting, you know that right, Harry?”

-Neville (Deathly Hallows)

(Lily's Letter by Shyduck)

When I’m 80 years old and sitting in my rocking chair, I’ll be reading Harry Potter. And my family will say to me, “After all this time?” And I will say, “Always.”

- Alan Rickman

(Snape and Dumbledore by Kyla79)

‎"No story lives unless someone wants to listen. The stories we love best do live in us forever. So, whether you come back page by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”

-JK Rowling

I believe that this is what I'm going to be like when I watch the movie. NOOOOOOO I AM NOT PREPARED FOR THIS!!

The Artistic Talent of Harry Potter Fans aka Fanart

Day #3

SPOILERS FOR DH!

(Ron Weasley's Bloody Brilliant Day by yaytime)

(harry potter by Ekara)

(Neville Watercolor Sketch by feliciacano)

(Being Harry Potter's Friend by Kumul8--click for larger version! :D)

(teddy tries to remember by burdge-bug)

(Burrow Deluxe or Ron is rich by Vivalavida)

(Enough Responsibility by burdge-bug)

(Snape's Sense of Humor by girl2004)

And I could not stop laughing when I saw this. :D

Hogwarts Hogwarts Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, teach us something please...

Day #4

One of my favorite aspects of Harry Potter is Hogwarts. Any school student can connect to the

setting because there's always teachers: eccentric teachers, caring teachers, the everyone's-

favorite-teacher teachers, strict teachers who always assign you loads of homework even though there's something important coming up, and teachers who'll hate you no matter what you seem to do (very very rarely though).

(Hogwarts Staff image via link)

And our school has a team system. It's very similar to the four houses in Hogwarts except we don't get sorted in on our first day and we get randomly placed so it doesn't matter at all. What makes it fun is that some of our teachers care and instead of calling them teams, they call them houses. :D

Oh, and then there's the endless social drama that we have to try earnestly block out because it's nearly impossible to get back out when we're pulled into it. Not good.

Definitely more exciting than the drama are the classes. Learning our subjects is a bit different than learning Hogwart's subjects, because umm Harry's subjects are...magical. Writing an essay about the toxins in soap for Chemistry is not like writing up an essay on the purposes and benefits of a bezoar for Snape's Potion class, but the classes can get similar (or *cough* you can pretend they're similar if you're a desperate Harry Potter fan).

Last year my friend and I while thoroughly discussing how similar our school was to Hogwarts in Chemistry class compared our teachers to Hogwarts' teachers, and our classes to Harry's classes (because you know, it's important to learn the skills of comparing and contrasting!)

When we compared classes we saw that:

Chemistry = Potions.

US History = History of Magic

English = Charms (the comparison is a stretch but both classes are fun and we learn vocabulary and latin prefixes from both of them!)

Biology = Herbology

Personal Fitness = Quidditch class from the first book

Math = Arithmancy

Astronomy = Astronomy :D

Defense Against the Dark Arts was left out of the list unfortunately, because it's a bit too magical, unless you count Personal Fitness as DADA because you're definitely learning how to defend yourself sometimes (learning how to run quicker is part of defending yourself)...

And there's also Transfiguration but there's no hope at all with finding a class we can equate it with.

So yes, if you ignore DADA and Transfiguration, you'll see that there's not many differences between we learn and what Harry and his classmates learn or between our schools and Hogwarts (except the fact that Hogwarts is a boarding school and it's not real ). YEAH.

Who's your favorite Hogwarts teacher and what's the one class you would like to

if you got the chance to go there? My favorite teacher is McGonagall. I think she and I would've

gotten along splendidly...maybe. My favorite class probably would've been Charms though, or

maybe DADA? :D

"Now let's have a beach party...in London!"

Day #5: Harry Potter Youtube Frenzy

14 minutes and 37 seconds of Harry Potter spoofery for your viewing pleasure. Ah-ha! :D

An egoistical Harry is priceless. :P

This montage saved this year's Oscars. Hurrah!

(P&P trailer here because it's so much more funnier if you've

seen the original :D)

(Stranger than Fiction trailer here)

This is probably one of the weirdest parodies I've seen, but I'm saying that's a good thing. :D (It's produced by University of Michigan students (yay!) and the lyrics for Act 1 Scene 1 is right here)

GAH. There were so many more videos I couldn't find. I should think about bookmarking them next time if I ever find them again, don't you think? Heh.

And the final countdown begins

*cue the final countdown music*

Day #6

How it all began:

It was a TV Spot that changed everything. I think it was the TV spot below in fact, because I vaguely remember laughing at Ron's response to Professor McGonagall transforming into a cat, and this was the only spot I found with that scene in it.

My brother and I turned on the TV on a November night after working on what seemed like countless hours of homework. My dad just happened to walk in as soon as the spot started running, and watching it together, all three of us got amused with the various complications the characters were getting into in it (someone blew up a feather!). My dad especially liked the graphics in the McGonagall transforming part, so as soon as the spot ended, he immediately asked us if we wanted to see it. We answered with a yes, as eagerly as a 7 year old and a little 5 year old could.

So off to the movie theater we went a couple days later and I walked out of the matinee show blown away. Three best friends! Harry! Ron! Hermione! Magic! A mysterious school! Weird teachers! Hagrid! Dragons! Evil villain! It was my first foray into a fantasy world and I was delighted in every bit of it.

Then I got the real book for Christmas, which changed everything once again. JK Rowling became my author hero and the world of Hogwarts and the magic became real. (....And Dan, Emma, and Rupert became my favorite actors in the whole entire universe for portraying my literary heroes onscreen.)

It's strange to think it's been a decade from that point, but it has been a wonderful decade. :)

If you're a Harry Potter fan, how did you first get started on the series? Or...if you're not much of HP fan, where did you first hear about it? :D

I can hear the crickets chirping over here

Next week I'm planning to do something Harry Potter-y everyday because the end is coming on Friday (it's here already?!), and I've been a poor poor fan indeed. So everyday starting from tomorrow and ending on Friday, I'll be posting Harry Potter related videos, art or.....umm, oh, er...yeah...I haven't exactly planned out anything yet, but expect SOMETHING!

Meanwhile, here's John Green's video on conquering his biggest fear, heights. *shudders*

As someone who's downright terrified of high places, I found John Green's act very inspiring and heroic.

Tuesday Tribulations and Miscellany

the tribulations:

1) The release of Bridge of Clay by the awesome, clever, brilliant, awesome Markus Zusak has been delayed (yet again). I've read that it's supposed to come out this September (September 1st to be exact!), but it doesn't even have an amazon page yet. A little puzzled when I saw, I searched and searched the web until I came upon this answer about the book by Doubleday (Markus Zusak's publishing company).

If you don't feel like pressing the link, I'll spare you the news quickly: We now have to wait until 2013 for the book. Nooooooooooooo.

2) I landed on a spoilery review for Goliath. NOOOOOOOOOO The review though was only mildly spoilery, and my eyes only caught one thing before my mouse clicking reflexes started working again and I clicked out of the page. Of course, that one thing ended up being something something I was looking forward to seeing. EPIC FAIL.

I learned my lesson. I'm never ever ever going to look up reviews for it anymore.

Please excuse me while I weep and gnash my teeth on the other side of the room.

the miscellany:

1) Bill Gates read (and really liked) the Hunger Games. No really, it's true. That's pretty cool, yes? :)

2) I want to watch Super 8 sometime before it leaves the theater because it seems like the type of movie that should be seen in theaters.

A little tidbit about this movie which got me waayyy too over eager to see it: it's called Super 8 because the kids are shooting a film with a super 8 camera. (I like cleverly named movies.)

I should also mention that it came out on my birthday. That little birthday fact could be playing a big role in my increasing want to see the film more than other reasons. Heh...because really, when's the next time that a Steven Spielberg movie (a critically successful one at that too) is ever going to come out on my birthday?! ;)

3) It's happening again. Articles similar to the the Harry Potter farewell/in memoriam/good-bye articles that came out during the release of Deathly Hallows are now slowly coming out day by day.

The site I really want to point to for this is Tor, for their insightful and profound homages to JK Rowling and HP several of its bloggers are writing (as part of their Harry Potter celebration, Potterpalooza).

They're all worth a read, but some of my favorite essays are:

Bouncy Prose and Distant Threats: An Appreciation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's (or Sorcerer's) Stone

Mischief Managed: An Appreciation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Rewatching the Potter Films: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Genre in the Mainstream: The Literary Merits of Potter

The Boy Who Lived...With His Gran

Growing Up Potter

And though this essay's not part of the HP celebration, it's HP related and I've been wanting to link it since forever so, here you go:

Ron Weasley, Romantic Hero?

I would also suggest taking the time to read the comments too. Most of them are just as thought-provoking and touching as the essays themselves. :)

Hope everyone is having a good (and hopefully tribulation-less) Tuesday!

Because Thursday is the day before Friday

Because it’s Thursday and not Friday yet, I feel obligated to post this:

*****

Last week, I got my hands on a new camera so I scavenged around looking for good photo ops and angles and the like, and I ended up taking this picture:

I just like the colors....and the sun. :D

The sky turned into this like 10 min. later-

I realized that I take pictures of clouds...A LOT. But at least I'm not a cloudy person-hahaha!(All right, all right. I'll stop with the punny joking.)

*****

I JUST got the Girl Who Was on Fire from the library. (You know...it’s that anthology written by a group of YA authors about that one series...er...what was it? The Fire Games? The Hunting Games? The Hungery Games? Oh yeah, THE HUNGER GAMES!!!) I’m super duper excited to read this. I already read some essays that were available online for some time, and they were fantastic. Interesting, in-depth, thought-provoking, well-written, and fun, so I thought I would pick it up. And now it’s here so I can READ the whole thing!! I feel like jumping with happiness.

*****

Um...what else? Well, there’s the new (and pretty good) trailer for the last part of Harry Potter:



Heh. :P (I mean, I am a Harry Potter fan, so I had to stick the trailer in a post sometime.) And I sort of already watched it like 35 times (hmm...or was it 37?) Analyzation (aka Nonie’s ramblings about it): SNAPE! I’m overjoyed (really) to see Snape so many times (epic Snape apparation scene at 1:18 with some amazing music playing in the back) and a glimpse of the Prince’s Tale. I got depressed when I saw Tonks and Lupin reaching for each other’s hands, but the depression turned into happiness when I heard Ron speaking his one line, and when I saw (I think) Oliver Wood (yay!) flying over the castle. And the Battle at Hogwarts scenes with their brilliant special effects made the trailer even more fabulous than it already was (yay for Professor McGonagall’s army!).

Oh, and I really can’t tell you how much I love how the trailer starts with the original Harry Potter theme sort of. (I LOVED the whole trailer, but Harry Potter trailers are always good, and it’s been a while since I heard the original John Williams theme.) The most randomest/most amusing part was the Harry-grabbing-Voldemort-and-jumping-off-a-roof scene. My first thought about that: UMM...Harry/Daniel Radcliffe did NOT just grab Voldemort and jump of a roof. So I replayed it, and I realized that he did, and now I can’t wait to see what that’s all about on July 15th. :P

(And this is random but I just realized that Voldemort doesn’t wear any shoes and seeing him walk bare-footed threw me off for a min. Er, that’s probably because I never thought about Voldemort’s shoes before...that’s a bit weird...okay, I'll stop now.)

*****

Recent Book Recommendations:
Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones
A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
Smiles To Go by Jerry Spinelli

and

The Girl Who Was on Fire (because I already know that I'm going to think that it's amazing by the end of the read.)

I’ll write some reviews soon and actually put some bookish content here, hopefully as soon as AP testing week is over (in only two weeks...eek!). Right now, I need to go back to studying. :)


Happy Thursday!

The Beginning of the End. Or Probably Not.

I'm pretty sure the whole world knows about the Borders-filing-Chapter-11-bankruptcy right now. For my town (which has three Borders bookstores), there are some good news because of it and some bad news. The good news is that there will still be two Borders standing. The bad news is that one will be closing, and unfortunately, the one that's closing is mine (great, huh?).

Truthfully, when I first read the article about the closing in my town's newspaper, I was okay with it. Of course I was upset, but it all seemed gradual. Everyone knew that it had to happen one day or another. (I think I was still in denial- How can Borders (especially my Borders) close?! They're bookstores! They're educational! They help improve literacy! They apparently serve great hot chocolate and have an awesome Jane Austen/Charlotte Bronte collection!)

After finally going to visit the store, the news hit me. My Borders is closing. This is what I saw when I first walked in:

Isn't that just plain scary?

And then I turned around and saw HP and the Order of the Phoenix on a nearby shelf. Right there I realized that this is where I bought all the last three Harry Potter books. This was where my family, friends, and I stood eagerly in line until 4:00 in the morning of July 21st, 2007 to get Deathly Hallows in our hands. This was where I bought all my Percy Jackson books, the Hunger Games trilogy, and basically where I bought all the books I cherish deeply today (and also where a saleswomen first introduced Twilight to me- before it become a phenomenon), and now it's closing?

I don't know what else to say now; the denial's gone, but the truth is still settling in. There are only two things (entertainment-wise) I really need to function well in my life: a bookstore and a movie theater. Sadly, both seem to have unpredictable futures ahead of them. As we can see, the movie industry is suffering huge losses as well. Theaters are shutting down, studios are filing for bankruptcy, and Hollywood is facing uncertainty, just like the publishing industry has been from what's been happening to books and bookstores. There'll be unemployment now, and according to Shannon Hale, an estimation of 10% decrease in sales of books.

Does the bankruptcy of Borders signal what's going to happen to other bookstores in the future like Barnes & Nobles and indie bookstores because they can't keep up with online retail stores sales like Amazon? *cough cough* It better NOT. Because just like what Shannon Hale (again) wrote about the bankruptcy, brick-and-mortar stores still matter enormously.

This is wishful thinking but I'm 98% sure that bookstores will continue to thrive (as long as they sell e-books and e-readers now just like B&N), and so will movie theaters because one day movies will become reasonably priced again so theaters will be able to show them and people will be able to view them! And really, I like going to bookstores. To browse, and to find the books I really want to read. I especially love going over when there's a brand new release to see the excitement within everyone, and to see people quickly running over to the shelves to go get the shiny, new books before anyone else, or to stand in line to receive the book and break into a huge smile when the book finally lands into their hands.

It's just like how I love going to movie theaters during opening weekend to see everyone walk quickly into the theaters to grab the best seats, and to hear a hush fall over the crowd when the opening titles come on. Sometimes if the movie is really popular (as in the case of Harry Potter or Toy Story 3), roaring claps and cheers come on instead of the hush, and because I'm sentimental and weird, I start tearing up and start thinking about how amazing it is to be able to enjoy and celebrate something together (Yeah, like I said, I'm weird).

And I guess that's what they do, bookstores and movie theaters. They bring communities together, and I don't think we can survive without them. Well, I can't at least, so I'm hoping they're here to stay. *fingers crossed*

- Nonie

Yes, Tom, we really do say boo-yah.

To brighten up our Tuesday (or the couple of hours that's left of it), here's a hilarious video of the Harry Potter stars trying to speak American. Boo-yah!

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

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And from what my friend showed me in the morning, it looks like there's a new way to Hogwarts from New York City! :D As you can see in this picture, there's a new Platform 9 3/4 in the Union Square Subway Station.

Umm...how amazing is that? :D (In New York too!)

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On a totally unrelated note, Bookshelves of Doom, showed us the first couple of stills from the new Tin-Tin movie (directed by both Steven Spielberg *and* Peter Jackson, and slated for a release late 2011 or 2012). Anyone here a Tin-Tin fan? They're not well-known here, but they've been my favorite graphic novel series for a long time! (Okay, they're the only graphic novels I read...unless you count Calvin & Hobbes, and C&H comics are not exactly novels).

A lot of stills can be found here, and here. The movie is said to be based on Red Rackham's Treasure, but judging from a couple of the pictures, the film crew seem to be including bits of the Crab with the Golden Claw also. The animation looks...strange (aww...Snowy looks odd), but at least they got the signature pose right somewhat. I guess we'll just have to wait until next year to see the whole thing.

(But seriously, if you like mysteries, adventure, action, and a wonderful cast of characters, and you haven't read Tin-Tin yet, you're missing out!)

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Have a nice Thanksgiving break, everyone! Boo-yah!* :D

P.S. See Deathly Hallows if you haven't yet! It's wonderful; I think it's my favorite one after Prisoner of Azkaban. Everything is amazing about it, especially *spoilers* the first couple of scenes (so much emotion!), a certain dance to this song, Dobby (now who can forget Dobby?), the trio, the scenery, the acting, the editing, screenwriting, and the cinematography (chase scenes!). Yep, it's great. :) I do think that people who read the book will have a way easier time understanding everything though. My friends who haven't read the books didn't like it as much and got confused mucho, but my friends who read it said that it's their favorite of the series, and it looks like the same thing happened with the film critics.

*Wrong context, but very fun to say. :)

A Very Potter Friday

Something big is going on today.

Really big.

Really really big.

Really really really really big.

Really reall- All right, I think you already know what I’m going to say. ;)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!!!

Eeeeeeekkkk!!!!

Yes, I know that everyone already watched at midnight 17 hours ago, but my family and I (and a couple of friends) are going in just 1 hour and 28 minutes.

I’m a mix of nostalgia, happiness, sadness, and EXCITEMENT right now. I just can’t believe that it’s it’s ending. Like, really ending. NINE years ago, when I was tiny at the age of 7, I went to the movie theater with my family to watch Sorcerer’s Stone, because my brother and I (and my dad, I have to admit), really really liked one trailer. I completely adored it and fell IN LOVE with EVERYTHING- the characters (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Malfoy, Neville!!!), Hogwarts, the teachers, Hagrid, Fluffy, so yes, everything.

And then I got the book for Christmas.

And...it basically changed my life.

So, I totally had life changing moments and life changing people, but if I ever had to pick a life changing book, it would be Harry Potter. It was my childhood. And it created so many memories that I’ll never forget.

And it was all because of the movie (or the movie trailer). (Yes, I watched the movie before I read the book. :D) The past few days have been filled with the same excitement I’ve felt when Deathly Hallows came out. A couple of my friends and other students in my school wrote “The Chamber of Secrets Has Been Opened” on our basement wall, with fake blood...and teacher permission of course. ;) Last night I made brownies to celebrate with my friends at lunch today.

(Notice the scars I carved onto the brownies at the last minute? Hehe. :P)

Now, before I start getting all weepy and stuff (I can feel the tears coming on and I have to save them for the movie), I’m just going to say that Harry Potter is made of awesomeness and...I’m really really really really really really excited. (Hehe, I think you really get my point now, right?)

Have a Happy HP & the Deathly Hallow release day!

Oh yes, here’s the Sorcerer’s Stone trailer! (So many memories are suddenly jumping in my head now.)

Now I'm off to go to the theaters!




Things I Loved These Past Two Weeks

This song:

It’s hauntingly beautiful and I loves it. :)

This book: Umm...is it too late to mention Behemoth? I breezed through the book two weeks ago and I adored it. I can’t decide about whether or not I liked it more than Leviathan, but let’s just say that it rocked. :)

And another book: Well, we can't forget a little something called the Lost Hero! (I was going to make some brownies to celebrate when I got it last week, but I couldn’t. Hmm..maybe tomorrow?)

Anyways, I started it, and...I like it. :) It feels nice to go back to familiar grounds and be with old characters again. The only thing I’m sad about is the fact that several characters from the PJO series made no appearance, including Percy. *sob* Luckily, the next book in the series has his name in the title (or should I say his title in the title), and that right there confirms that it’s going to be spectacular.

This movie: I like documentaries and documentaries do sort of count as movies, right? The Cove is about Dolphins and... it’s interesting, to say the least. It is slightly disturbing, now that I think about it, but I enjoyed it when we had to watch it in class. Seeing it will make you want to pick up your picket signs and start advocating for animal rights everywhere. It's so...*shudder*

This picture:

Well, it's not the picture I like (sorry for the quality); it's the flower. I took this picture several days ago when I realized that it's the only living flower/plant outside anymore. Maybe I like this flower so much because it's becoming really, really cold here, but it's still surviving somehow. I guess that just amazed me...

Just seeing this movie poster in our theater made me jump up with joy:

Less than a month! :)

And, finally, this Calvin & Hobbes comic strip:

I never hate writing assignments, but after weeks of being buried under writing assignments about rhetoric and style, seeing this just made me smile. :)

AHHHH!!!!

Harry Potter trailers never cease to amaze me.
I. AM. SO. EXCITED.
Excited is not even the right word to describe my feelings right now.
The Deathly Hallows is going to be epic.
The music, the action, the dialogue. Everything is perfect in this trailer.
My favorite scene? At 1:33:
Voldemort-"Why do you live?"
Harry-"Because I have something worth living for." (<<----Very epic line, is it not?)

And..umm...did anyone else start tearing up when watching this trailer, or was it just me? As much as I am excited to see this movie, I don't feel like seeing it because it's the end of my favorite series ever, though, of course I'm going to go because I need to see the end. Er...

Passing on the ability to be Over the Top

Anyone love Quaker granola bars? I started eating them several weeks ago (I know! Only several weeks ago?), and now I feel silly for saying, but Quakers' granola bars (especially the chocolate chip granola bars or the fully covered by chocolate granola bars) are very addicting. They are yummmmmyyy.

Anyway, on to the important stuff:

Soo, I got the blog award from Elle (thank you so much again for my first award!), but I didn't give it to anyone. I just wanted to say that every blog I read is excellent, but I just wanted to make sure to give to people I know haven't received this yet..so, I hereby give the Your Blog is Over the Top to:


Rachel: Ummm, maybe it's because I myself can't bake to save my life, so I like people who can. I love her recipes, and basically anything else she has to say! Plus, I enjoy her English style. Though she's been gone for several months, she returned, saying that she'll be back for real in a couple of weeks, so I'm anxiously waiting for that to happen. :D

and...

Priya: A fellow Harry Potter obsessee (who by the way just posted the new thrilling Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I teaser trailer yesterday), who I'm starting to get to know. Her reviews are short, and sweet, she's usually the first one to post up awesome trailers. She can also write poetry, and well, basically, her blog is fun to read in general. :)

So yeah, that's it. Hope you like the award, guys. :) Have a nice rest of the week, everyone. And for a few of us who still have a couple weeks of school to go, hang in there. We can make it. :D

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I watched HP and the Half-Blood Prince yesterday! I've been waiting for this since last summer. I agree with all the critics that said it's the best HP movie yet.

The movie was amazing. I enjoyed it immensely. Everything was great. The comedy (hilarious!), the action, everything worked and no part was ever boring. I liked how the younger cast got a lot better with their acting! Rupert was impressive in the comedy scenes, and Daniel was excellent as Harry. In Order of the Pheonix, I felt that Emma Watson's acting was a little strained, but it was more natural in this movie. Tom Felton (Malfoy) awesome in all his scenes. I also liked that Bonnie Wright (Ginny) had a larger role in this one. The adult cast is great as usual, but I was sad that Hagrid was only in one scene and the Dursleys weren't in there at all!


The only two problems I had with the movie, was the romance and the battle at Hogwarts at the end. The romance wasn't bad, but sometimes it felt forced. You don't actually know when Harry starts liking Ginny in the movie. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think they handled it correctly. The Lavender/Ron/Hermione triangle was cute though. :) They also didn't have the battle at the end! It was only Harry chasing Snape for a while calling him a coward, and then Snape just runs away. I think they put in the scene with Bellatrix and Greyback at the Burrow to make up for the battle.They didn't have Dumbledore's funeral, but I agree with the producer,David Heyman, about how it would've ruined the tone. I thought the scene where they all gathered around him and lit up their wands was perfect. I'm going to miss Dumbledore a lot. :(


Overall, I loved this movie a lot! They captured the emotions of all the characters wonderfully. Now we all have to wait patiently for the next two parts. Oh my, they are going to be so intense and emotional...

The funny part is that after the movie, I couldn't stop thinking in British accent for a while. Does that happen to anyone else? After watching Australia, I started thinking in an Australian accent...

Flipped in Ann Arbor!!!!

Eeeek!! I'm sooooooo excited!!! *takes a deep breath* Ok, I just found out yesterday evening that the movie adaption of Flipped will be shot in Ann Arbor!!!!!!!! They're planning to shoot in Thurston Elementary School, Virgina Park, and Clague Middle School (most of my friends in high school went there!), and several other places!

Flipped, the movie adaption of the book with the same name written by Wendelin Van Draanen will be directed by Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride) will be directing the movie and it's scheduled to release in 2010. When I checked on IMDB, they've only cast Juli, the adults, and some minor characters, but according to Movieweb, they've also casted Bryce, and he's coming all the way from Australia to play him. :-D

Well, the only problem with this movie adaption so far that I see is that it's being set in the 1950's and 60's! Isn't it supposed to be in modern times?? So will Juli and the rest of the women be wearing skirts and dresses all the time? Hmmm....That'll be wierd.

Well, despite that little problem, I'm very excited for the movie!!! I couldn't believe it yesterday! I was literally jumping up and down! Flipped is one of my favorite books, and who knew back when I first read it that'll get shot in Ann Arbor? Hopefully we'll get to see the shooting. That'll be very cool. :)

Which Harry Potter Character Are You?

You are Hermione. You're a bookworm always in search of answers. When pressed, however, you can always be counted on to put away the books and help your friends.

Which Hogwarts House Would You Be In?

You would be in Gryffindor. You are bold, passionate, and brave. You have a highly-defined sense of right and wrong, and you are not afraid to speak your mind or fight for what you want.





(quiz @ brainfall.com)

Tee hee...As you can probably see, I'm having quite an enjoyable time taking these quizzes and learning more about myself. I'm a little astonished that I got sorted into Gryffindor. I thought I was going to go into Ravenclaw. But I got into Gryffindor! How cool is that? :-D