Not a great deal of news here, folks. Christmas is happening, with all usual activities. Tree is up, outside lights are up, cookies are baked, presents are wrapped. I took the boys shopping the other day, which was almost not as much of an ordeal as last year. When they know what sort of thing they’re looking for – they were better on this than last year – that’s half the battle. The other half is finding this stuff. Last year we managed it all at the mall, I think…this year took us from Books-a-Million to the mall to Circuit City to WalMart.

Oh – and I managed to go to the post office at Christmas time without crushing my finger. *bows* So my grad school applications are all mailed off.

Came home last week and got my nose buried into three books, as usual. I came home reading Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White, something I’ve wanted to find since I saw the musical based upon it when I was in London a year ago. Mmm, London. Mmm, Christmas lights in London.

I also picked up my German version of the first Harry Potter book in an effort to pull my Deutsch back again – I have a German lit course next term. Harry is, I find, a nice way to wade back in. I know the English well enough that it helps me out. Oh yeah, is that what merkwurdige means? Riiiight…

The third is a massive tome that my parents gave my brother for his birthday last spring. It falls in the “What to read after Harry Potter” advertising category, but between its size and his general busy-ness, he hadn’t started it yet. So I did. The first page or so is very clever, but then the 80 pages that follow are fairly slow. By pg. 80, though, I was hooked, and by 200 it hums right along quite nicely. The title is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and it’s set in the early 1800’s, as England is at war with Napoleon. Much magic and fairies and high society. Reminiscent of Patricia C. Wrede’s Mairelon books, but I have several hundred pages to destroy that illusion.

This Christmas has brought an unusually large number of movies I want to see! Since when does that happen, anyway? The Producers is out, as is Peter Jackson’s King Kong. There’s a new Pride and Prejudice, and I’m intrigued by the premise of Memiors of a Geisha (only sufficiently intrigued to rent it later, probably). This isn’t even counting the two (two!!) I saw last week, Rent and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Rent is a musical I hadn’t known anything about except that a lot of people really like it – I have one friend in particualr who is a big fan. When Pug and I went to see it at the mall, they were having some sound problems – way way way too much bass in some of the big numbers, so much so that you couldn’t hear the words…and the words were important. That whole setting up the plot and introducing the characters thing? Yeah. They evened out as the movie went on, and I really liked the show itself.

Narnia I enjoyed too. Pug, Tae, Elf, and I went out to dinner and saw the Narnia movie a week ago. Though I think the White Witch looked all wrong, there was a lot more that looked just right. The creatures were great (not the only way in which this production improves on the old BBC version with people in animal suits, but a major factor!), and the children were well cast. At first, I was a bit bothered by how much they seemed to be bickering, but when I looked back at the book later that night, I realized that they’d made a change for the realistic. No kids talk like they do in C.S. Lewis, not even British kids.

Personally, I’d been a little down on Narnia in recent years. Somehow, the more clearly I saw the Christian symbolism, the more I dismissed the tales. (Sad truth: I’m not as open-minded/tolerant/accepting as I like to think.) Seeing it all again reminded me that it is a good story all on its own. Christ figures don’t mean much to me, but dear old not-a-tame-lion Aslan does. That’s where the story is powerful to me. So I guess that’s what I liked best about it.

Categories: Harry Potter, books, home, mmm, London!, movies, theater
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or, Odette turns movie critic

In some respects, this is very possibly my favorite of the Potter films: the story is generally well handeled, there are distinct traces of creativity on the part of the director, and even characters who seemed all wrong at first glance (namely Mad Eye Moody) turned out to be spot on.

The beginning had me a little worried that this one would be hacked together in a desperate attempt to fit 734 pages into under five hours (GoF clocks in just over two and a half). Until we get Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons under one roof and the tournament gets underway, the story is little more than a series of flashes, each suggesting that it contains the kernel of a plot point. Riddle House? Check. Our heroes? Check. Portkey, World Cup, Victor Krum, Dark Mark? Check, check, double check. My favorite instance of this actually occurs in the first scene in the Great Hall. We see Moody enter, then flash to one of the Weasley twins. “It’s Mad Eye Moody!” Flash to other twin. “He’s an auror.” Flash to someone else: “What’s an auror?” Flash again, explanation. You don’t get much more condensed than that. It amused me.

Once things really get moving, though, the movie stretches its legs and actually creates a plot out of its plot points. I suspect that an uninitiated movie-goer would be lost as hell amidst the plot holes, but GoF makes a much better attempt than PoA, which never bothered to explain that Lupin, Sirius, Wormtail, and Snape were all at school with Harry’s father. Oops? I really missed Hermione’s triumphant revenge against Rita Skeeter, which might create problems in the next movie, except that I suspect that sub-plot will again get dropped. Sad. The image of Hermione, Rita Skeeter, and Luna Lovegood sitting together is priceless.

One sub-plot from the book that I didn’t miss at all was the presence of house-elves and Hermione’s obsession with SPEW. Neville even got a bit of Dobby’s part, which I thought was nice — the supporting cast who are so influential in forming the background of the books are rarely acknowledged in the movies.

On the other hand, I am liking Michael Gambon’s Dumbledore less and less. I picture Dumbledore as the sort of person who can command the attention of the room with his mere presence, and Gambon is all too easy to overlook. He must constantly exert a great deal of energy to force some semblance of control, which immediately suggests that he is completely out of control. While Dumbledore is indeed out of control of the larger situation as soon as Harry’s name pops out of the Goblet, I think his serenity (or facade thereof) is an important part of Dumbledore’s character. Arm-flapping and shouting is not. And can I add that his costume looks more like a nightgown than a wizard’s robe? The robes they designed for Richard Harris in the first film looked a lot better.

A character who did look right (I thought) was Cedric Diggory. I quite liked him, making the end that much more powerful — the moment that got me was his father’s reaction upon Harry’s return. Actually, I really liked that scene in general. Downright creepy to have Harry return from the graveyard to the brass band and loud cheers, then watch as slowly each character realizes that something is very, very wrong.

And big cheers here: Someone else has said it first, but the Weasley twins really hit their stride in GoF. They get plenty of screen time and they make the most of it!

image source

Categories: Harry Potter, movies
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I suspect no one will be surprised that I gave into temptation on Friday and joined the small crowd at the Toadstool bookshop here in Peterborough to wait for midnight and Harry Potter 6! They had a magician for the younger kids and it was a lovely evening. Plus, they were selling the book for 30% off, which was nice. I finished it Sunday around dinner time and look forward to comparing notes will all of you as you finish it! Harry is definately a year older than the last book – he makes some very mature decisions (like who he takes to the Christmas party) and I’m really rather proud of him! Will shut up now before you yell at me to give nothing away! Look for posts concerning book 6 sometime in the next few weeks – I will put spoiler warnings on them when applicable.

Saturday afternoon I took Harry and went off to the beach, which was lovely! The first public beach I came across was fairly crowded and parking required paying through the nose, so I went a little farther and found a quiet spot (and free parking). This was by and large a pebbley beach, though there was some sand it was up away from the water. And of course, not white – more dark brown with black specks. I was surprised at how much the color affects the temperature! – the sand was almost too hot to walk barefoot on. Down by the water, the ground was entirely rocks, tiny little pebbles, not as comfortable to walk on as sand. I waded some, but mostly I sat on my big flat rock and read Harry.

I came home in time to eat dinner and shower and then went off (same highway, other direction) into town for a concert I’d found out about the day before. Part of a concert series in the Town House (same sort of architecture as the local churches, only with a stage at the front), this was a vocal ensemble specializing in Renaissance polyphony. There were ten of them, mostly men, and they sang for a good hour and a half or two hours and were VERY good. Good accoustics, too, which helped – I had a great seat in the balcony.

Ha, just heard the AC is back on in this building, after having been out since Thursday. I didn’t even notice until people started complaining of the heat late Thursday and Friday (It’s been warm here, but nothing like post-Dennis in FWB without AC, I know.). Amusing. It WAS getting stuffy by late Friday, though, so when I was invited to leave early, I scurried out.

Categories: Harry Potter, internships
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Went to see Camelot at the formerly community college last night with my family, and quite enjoyed it! (It also gave me an opportunity to wear a gorgeous bracelet I recieved for my birthday.    )    ) It took me a bit to warm up to the actors, but I liked them more and more as it went on. Camelot isn’t Elf’s story, but it is mine. Has been for a long time and probably always will be, though I can certainly understand her desire to soundly slap some sense into Arthur, Gwen, and Lance. I was rather disappointed in their Merlin, who was entirely unconvincing, but (a) He doesn’t stick around long and (b) I’m a little sensative here anyway – I’m something of a Merlin fan. Oddly, they chopped out two songs after they printed the programs: “Then You May Take Me to the Fair” (a favorite of mine) and “Fie on Goodness”. But of course, it was plenty long enough as it was. I don’t think there’s such thing as a short musical.

I was amused to recognize Guenevere – the actress graduated from Niceville HS the same year we graduated from CHS, and I remember seeing her at All County and All State Choruses with me from 8th grade on or so. We were never really acquainted, but a familiar face and name. She did a lovely job.

Unfortunately, they were having some sound probablems – the actors’ microphones would blip off now and then. And more unfortunately, there was an old battle axe (Dad’s phrase, he was next to her) two seats away from me. She kept up a running commentary, and then at the end of the first act, she had the ever-loving gall to comment to her husband that she had just been dozing off the whole first act, never seen anything so boring in her life. After all she had seen this when Robert Goulet played Lancelot! (This would be the original Broadway production, circa 1960.) If it had been me sitting next to her, I’d've had some choice things to say to her, believe me. Ah well.

Following is the beginning of my travel journal from this month. It rambles a bit, so read at your own risk.

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Categories: Harry Potter, home, theater, travel
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