Potter Post 3 1/8

How awesome is this?  Hogwarts Toms.


Sorry for the short post.  It's the holidays and I'm currently in a muppet frame of mind.  Oh wait! Muppets!  Puppets!  Perfect Potter Post!  See below.

Always awesome.  
  

Thanksgiving Movie: The Muppets

Oh. My. Gosh.  What a wonderful movie.  It's time to meet the Muppets. 

After accidentally walking into the wrong movie theater I narrowly escaped watching Breaking Dawn again and found my way safely to The Muppets.

I wasn't super hyped about going to see The Muppets, but my mom really wanted to go see so Cameron and I went along.  I remember the muppets, I watched them a great deal growing up--including the muppet babies.  In fact, my favorite Christmas movie is The Muppet Christmas Carol--but I still would have chosen another movie to go see.  However, within 5 minutes I realized what a treasure of a movie this is.  It was cute, funny, and fresh.  And I'm not the only one who loved it.

The movie opened with a 98% critic review on Rotten Tomatoes---the highest this year (Breaking Dawn Part 2?  28%.  But that's a heck of a lot better than the new Adam Sandler movie-Jack and Jill-which got a 4%).  What I wasn't aware of was that Nicholas Stoller wrote the scrpit with Jason Segel---I already love Jason Segel, and now I love him even more.  His cuddly bear in a big body is always amazing and it continued to be in this movie.  And of course Amy Adams is as charming as ever and jaw droopingly better than most actresses out there these days.   If you  loved Enchanted then you really shouldn't miss this movie. 

The movie is bluntly honest and pokes fun of itself which really eases the audience in to fully enjoy it.   The plot is easy and--dare I say it--somewhat realistic?  The Muppets have been gone for awhile and when there is threat to tear down the Muppet's studio in order to drill for oil they attempt to reunite and reintroduce the world to the Muppets in order to save the studio.  It's realistic in the fact that is the Muppets were real--this is totally what would happen.  They have been gone awhile and Selena Gomez has no idea who they are (there are a TON of cameos in this movie-so brace yourself).  There are also tons of fun little lines like "Let's travel by map!" and "The was an expensive looking explosion.  I can't believe we had that in the budget."  and "It must have broke during the dance number I was just in."  And if you know me at all you'll know how much I love when characters reference the fact they are in a movie :) 

I laughed the entire time and thought it was incredibly heartwarming.  I recommend it to EVERYONE.  Even if you have no ties to the muppets or no idea who they are, go see it anyways because you'll still love it.  And remember that life's a happy song when there is someone by my side to sing along.

The Sidekick.

"No! No! No! Noooo-! This isn't about you.  Why does every conversation we have always have to turn into Potter talk?"
"It isn't Potter talk--"
"No! No! I'm miserable!  And all you can do is talk about yourself.  You're like the most self absorbed guy I know!  But if you were miserable I'd be there for you but you won't even listen to me and I'm sick of it.  So, so...good luck with whatever you were talking about and I hope that you and Voldemort live happily ever after.  Me?  I am never gonna be happy again.  So I'm just gonna go curl up in my sock drawer and sleep for days."  (from A Very Potter Musical)

Do you ever have moments where you feel like the sidekick in your own life?

Or do you know people who seem to stare at you blankly while you're talking, just waiting for their opportunity to talk again?  Or those people who seem to always wanna talk about what's going on with them and never ask about you?  Or when they do ask they always find a way to make it about them again--or just dismiss your response while they continue on about themselves?  I know several people like this--I'm sure everyone is like this sometimes but for some it just seems to be who they are. And it's fine.  It's just that after you spend so much time with someone like this you start to forget that you have a life to.  You aren't the sidekick in your own life despite how they constantly make you feel.

Take charge.  And remember that you are the star of your own life--not them.

Also remember that Frodo was awful and should have died. 

Breaking Dawn: Part 1. Review. If you loved the movie just don't read this.

To be completely honest--I didn't like the movie.  There were some good moments but mostly it was just bad.  To be fair, I didn't like the book either for many reasons.  But an hour and 45 minutes of watching the characters stare at each other left me feeling that the life was drained out them.  Any depth the characters had before is completely gone--except Jacob.

I did enjoy the wedding and honeymoon.  In all fairness those scenes were pretty good.

I was shocked to realize afterward that the move was under two hours because it felt incredibly long.  It felt like three hours.  There were so many moments where it felt like they were drawing out scenes to justify it being two movies....believe me I know what fluff looks like.  I've written many papers filled with fluff--I can see a fluff when I see it.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was split in two movies-and yes it had a couple of fluff moments but the split was done to finish off all aspects of the plot and to deepen the characters so you're more emotionally in touch during the final battle--and it was beautiful.  The plot in Breaking Dawn is basically the exact same plot of the others.  Bella loves Edward.  Edward loves Bella.  Jacob loves Bella.  Bella really really likes Jacob.  Bella wants to be a vampire.  Edward doesn't want to turn her.  Jacob wants Bella to leave Edward.   There is more plot introduced in Breaking Dawn (the book) but it could have been introduced and finished in one movie.   Sure, you would have had to skip some parts in the book--like the Denali sisters--but I could have lived without that part in the movie.  It was thrown in there awkwardly and I guarantee you non-readers had no idea what that was all about. 

To those ready to stone me--I'm sorry.  I've read the books, and enjoyed them (despite the fact that they are badly written) but I felt that this movie seemed more like a bad SyFy channel movie at some parts.  HOWEVER the very last scene and the clip after the credits were great and my favorite part of the movie and with that in mind, I think the next movie should be much much better than this one.

Potter Post 2 15/16--AVPS

Happy Saturday everyone.  How crazy is it that next week is Thanksgiving?  So while you're at home with nothing to do, you should take a look at the two Starkid productions, A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel...both of which can be found here

Here are clips from both of them for a brief look:
A Very Potter Musical:

A Very Potter Sequel:

May the odds be ever in your favor

Yes, yes, yes everyone is eagerly waiting for Breaking Dawn to come out.  I get it.  I'm going to see it a midnight myself.  But to be bluntly honesty, I'm not super excited about it.  I enjoyed Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse....I thought Breaking Dawn was ghastly.  But there are moments that are promising (like Jacob shirtless) and up until after the honeymoon I like the book.  In fact I didn't really hate it until the very end.

But I'm off topic.  Breaking Dawn's upcoming release might be overshadowing something amazing that happened today.  Today the new Hunger Games trailer was released.

What's the Hunger Games you ask?  Go read it.  It's fantastic. It's full of political, economical, and ethical issues that will stay with you as you read about a government so controlling that it throws 24 kids into an arena to fight to death once every year while forcing everyone to watch and celebrate.  Now for the squeamish out there--calm down.  The movie will be PG-13 and it's not a gladiator arena---it;s a huge wooded arena and the killing is very spread out. I devoured this book when I first read and immediately scarfed down the next two as quickly as possible.  I'm rereading the series now at a much slower pace to fully take in everything.

Anyways, here is the trailer.  Enjoy.  Look for Lenny Kravitz, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, and Jennifer Lawrence.

Potter Post 2 3/4

Guess what came out on DVD/Blu-Ray yesterday?

There are several different ways you can go about getting HP and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
-Standard DVD
-Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack
-Part 1 and Part 2 pack
-Harry Potter films 1-8 (no special features though)
-WB's Limited Edition Collectible

Which at first glance seems to be to one to get.  However it's only a three disc set. While Target has the...




-Target's Exclusive four-disc edition (Which is the one I got)  Sure...it doesn't have an awesome cover or book like WB's but it does that the documentary that I mention a few weeks ago: When Harry Left Hogwarts  and that's what I really wanted.   And it's the version I suggest.


Meanwhile, check out this awesome video I found:

To my college friends

I remember staying up till 3am writing papers and studying...sometimes till 6am.  I remember working on homework when my roommate came in and offered a trip to Cook Out at 11pm and my immediate response would be "Of course! It's only 11, I have plenty of time to write this eight page paper that I haven't even picked a topic for!"  I remember writing 3 page literary responses in my 45 minute break between classes.

Now I wake up at 6:30am, go to work, come home at 4:45pm, do whatever the evening activity is, retire to my room to read for an hour and I'm asleep by midnight.

Today and yesterday, however, I had the task of work, important paperwork, bills, lots of baking, improv class, work, delivery, and errand.  All of which kept me running like a chicken with his head cut off from Tuesday at 6pm to today at 4:30pm--with very little sleep.  I of course leaped at the the chance to nap today after work until my roommate's computer woke me up. 

My mid hectic middle of the week got me thinking...I can't imagine living the way I did a couple of years ago.  My roommate's boyfriend is in college and he stays up all hours of the night writing or studying and it exhausts me just to think about it.  If I'm up past midnight I feel like death. And it's not just me.  Nikki was just saying today how she gets sleep and cranky around 11pm and that's her end time of the day.

So to my college friends...I wish all the more power to you.  I remember those days and I promise that eventually you'll have this thing called--a sleep pattern.  Goodnight.

Potter Post 2 2/3--FOOD!

With the holiday season right around the corner (what am I saying?  It's already here!) our minds turn to food.  Pumpkin pie, dressing, honey baked ham, candied yams, green bean casserole, and the list goes on.   With thoughts of food filled days also comes the worries of weight gain and cholesterol levels--we can't completely indulge over the holidays for health reasons...but....but...what if we were witches and wizards?

 

This past weekend while standing in line for a haunted house in weather that felt below freezing, Andy and I were discussing how awesome it would be to be able to produce a bluebell flame to keep warm.  (It's a charm that produces a blue flame.  A charm that Hermione uses quite frequently in the books and puts them in jars to keep warm.)  This of course led to more Harry Potter discussion and eventually to food (don't the best conversations always end up being about food?).  But not just any food.  Food in Harry Potter.

There is a lot of food in Harry Potter.  Heavy traditional British food seems to be served at every meal.  It's never ending feast of fried sausages, shepherd's pie, cornish pasties, steak and kidney pudding, black pudding, baked pumpkin, potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, mint humbugs, apple pies, treacle tart, eclairs, doughnuts, and the list goes on and on.  And that's on an everyday basis.

As for food served when they are out and about in Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, or on the train?  Candy, candy, candy, chocolate balls with strawberry mousse and clotted cream, nougats, ice cream, coconut ice, toffee, chocolate everything, pumpkin tarts, butterbeer, soda with flavored syrups and again the list goes on.

Anything strike you as odd?  No? Nothing at all?  How about the lack of fresh fruit, salad, water, pasta salads...or really anything on the lighter side?  Those foods aren't there.  While living with his aunt and uncle, Harry may eat those foods--in fact, in the Goblet of Fire Dudley is on a strict diet and Harry lives off of meals of grapefruit and cottage cheese.  When his magical friends discover this they load him up with mince pies and cake. It seems that the only "healthy" eating that occurs is done by Muggles.  And that is rare, considering the Dursley's do not eat healthy.  Dudley is described as being the size of a small whale.

But you see, that's really interesting.  Dudley really doesn't eat all the differently from the Hogwarts students. Yet he's the size of a baby whale and Ron is described as being tall and lankly.  Something doesn't quite add up.

JKR stated once that witches and wizards generally live longer than muggles.  Well, considering what they eat on a daily basis this seems impossible.  Most likely, witches and wizards do not have the same health concerns as we do.  Something in them prevents them from having cholesterol problems or any other health issues that we have that keeps stuck to drinking water and eating salads.  They also seem to have a sort of immunity against obesity.  Sure Mrs. Weasley is described as being plump but my guess would be that comes from other factors, such as age.  If her weight reflected what she ate, she wouldn't be able to fit in the door.

Just another thing to make you jealous of the witches and wizards--they can eat whatever the heck they feel like eating.  And they do it with style.

Oh yeah.

For a fun essay, read this