Harry Potter and The Great Big Movie Machine

I'm rereading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to remind myself of how the story (as opposed to the movie) is really supposed to go. I'm wondering how they are going to bring back the Room of Requirement for the sixth movie after blasting it apart in the fifth. The Room of Requirement is a critical scene for a lot of what happens in the sixth Harry Potter book (... and the Half Blood Prince).

Come to that, I'm wondering how they will overcome the mistake of having Voldemort call Lily Potter a muggle in the fourth movie when her accomplishments as a talented potions witch figure quite prominently in sixth book.

There's a rather large and silly contingent in Hollywood that seems to think they can rob creative vehicles and mangle them any way they choose without regard for the internal logic of the source piece. I'm still reeling from a director's assertion that there won't be any mention of God in the making of the movies for His Dark Materials as God is a critical plot point of Philip Pullman's trilogy. (The Golden Compass soon to be released.)

I expect they'll come up with some lame nefarious device to pull it all together. Perhaps spit balls?

impeach bush

Yesterday I visited In Other Words for the first time in days and read Viggo Mortensen's rant about Bush. Considering the other fine speeches Mr. Mortensen has made, the rant was uncharacteristically blunt and in ALL CAPS. I presume Mr. Mortensen has been around the net long enough to be fully aware of the conventions.

At the bottom of his tirade was a list of links for those interested in supporting the impeachment of President Bush. (Dick Cheney definitely needs impeaching, too, but I think the sanity squad will be rounding him up long before then.)

Here's the petition to impeach Bush. I signed it. You can, too! (Although, I don't think Belgians can. But you never know. Give it a whack.)

Extra: Perceval Press is giving away a book (you pay postage) to support the cause. Order yours now!

Twilight of Empire is ultimately an unflinching look at the corporate greed and manipulation at the bottom of what may be the most bungled foreign policy project in United States history. With the bodies piling up and no success in sight, Americans can no longer and sit idly by while their elected (and unelected) leaders gamble their future away.

(quoted from Perceval Press)

My Mood Cafe

shameless commerce

Since it's all Harry Potter time and all, I thought I'd promote a couple of things that I designed. These are quality items. I know. I've bought some of them myself.

"I see thestrals." Black T-Shirt
by
Elaine Greywalker

Get this custom shirt at Zazzle

Here's another big seller.

I know how it ends button
by
Elaine Greywalker

Get this custom button at Zazzle

Here's one no one has purchased yet. You could be the first!

I know how it ends. (button)
by
Elaine Greywalker

Get this custom button at Zazzle

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - some spoilers

I finished reading the book around 2 pm on Sunday. Wow! I waited until 4 pm to call my daughter so I could be relatively sure she had finished, too. Surprise! She had finished at 2 am, being still able to stay up all night. A thing I could no longer do at the tender age of 22.

Today at work I mentioned I had spent the weekend reading the final HP book and my manager asked me who died. She really wanted to know. She doesn't read the books but she wanted to know. So I told her, hoping she wouldn't spoil it for those who do read the books. As I was listing the dead, I noticed that at least one member of each genetic group died: politically correct dying (or killing). Also, it's not possible to get a sense of the books just from knowing who died. One character doesn't totally die. You kind of have to be there.

You can't really get a sense of the stories when I mention that the books have witches, wizards, werewolves, ghosts, elves, goblins and humans because the definition of each group isn't what you would expect. Neither is the application of the cultures. The list also leaves out Rowlings' fabulous plot twists, gadget inventions and original games. And you don't get to know her intriguing and entertaining characters.

So, READ THE BOOKS!! heh heh

Reading Book 7 - no spoilers

My book was delivered by a delightful postman at around 11:00 am this morning. I was still finishing off book 6 (for the second time) and cursorily finished it hitting only the bits I couldn't really remember. So I actually started reading around, oh, 11:45? I am now on page 388 (Chapter 20) and appear to be half-way through. Damn book must be nearly 900 pages long!!! I have irrational fears of spoilers jumping out at me and a likewise irrational urge to run to the grocery store (where the book is on sale) or the corner convenience store (where it is not). I'm reading mostly inside but it's such a heavenly day I read outside for about 2 hours.

Back to the shadows ...

My Mood Cafe

Entertainment for a geek: make this! Unfortunately, you have to reload the page to replay.


Suggested Activities:

1. Laze on the deck.
2. Listen to relaxed jazz like Neighborhood by Manu Katche.
3. Read a silly book.
4. Concentrate on the wind in the trees.
5. Watch shade patterns.
   

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (movie)

grumble grumble mumble mutter sigh
The movie is never like the book. The third movie was the best so far. They've got the characters right anyway. Luna is lovely (perfect actually) and Umbridge is awful (nearly perfect). I began to wonder how many kinds of pink one woman can wear. I was planning on waiting for the weekend, but I'm dying to dive into the site and see all there is to see. There is one little thing that really irked me but I can't really see how they could have translated it to the movie. I'll wait on that until I can be reasonably sure most everyone has seen it.

The Last Book
There should be a complete and total black out in all media until at least the evening of the 22nd. It is truly silly the shenanigans some people get up to just so they can spoil a surprise.

rat•a•too•eeeeeeee!

What a fun show! And what great blogger swag. A personal video player!

Have you seen it yet? I saw it with closed captioning. I didn't even know they did that.

If I were a kid, I'd definitely be getting my Mom to buy the Little Chef outfit for me and wearing it until way after Halloween.

today

Inspired by the Daily Dubai Photo I take and post this shot which is absolutely no competition. And to think that there are gifted photographers out there not using their talent.

other

some days I need something other than this. this is one of those days.

Forget ABC!

Yes. ABC.com has paid some lucky hobbyist programmer to recreate something that already exists: a movie player plug in. Why not just stick with Quicktime which works beautifully on loads of platforms and has for years. YEARS! Where have they been? The new improved player is much like the new improved mail service at work: worse! The "improved player" has worse playback quality than the "old" one. The main result I see of the "improved" player is bigger commercials and a direct link to the developer's blog. Oh yeah. That's why I watch TV shows, so I can read developer blogs. NOT! I also see hampered interactivity (pausing the show restarts the commercial!!!) and time lost to installing this piece of crap which leaves the potential that I may not come back. And I won't.

I watch shows on abc.com because I like them and it's real convenient for me, especially for shows like "Men In Trees" which comes on late at night. And what episodes are currently available on the site (labled as 6/28/07)? Only the pilot!!! What happened to six months of episodes?

If you really want to see some innovative web programming, check out the iTunes/iPod site. And you if you want high resolution video playback with solid performance, try Quicktime.

getting over writer's block

Just lower your standards. Good advice. Read the article and you'll understand.