Author: kanniduba

Harry Potter…A Review

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So if you haven’t gone to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince yet, please do NOT read this post.  If you haven’t read the book yet, do NOT read this post….SPOILERS GALORE AHEAD!!!  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big Girl and I went to see the movie last Thursday night.  Was it as epic and fantastic as I had anticipated based on the trailers???  Absolutely!!!!! 

Until the end that is, where it fell flat as a left-over pancake.  To say I felt cheated and deflated leaving the theatre is an understatement, and it took me a couple of days to sort it all out enough to feel capable of writing a fair review.  I even began to doubt my memory, wondering if I had made up JK Rowling’s ending…surely the director would never veer so far from the book at such a critical and climactic moment?  Surely Rowling herself wouldn’t have allowed the director to flatten the climax?  It must be me….Maybe I imagined the epic battle between the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix inside the walls of Hogwarts?  Maybe I made up the sick stomach I had when I knew that evil had breached the walls of the castle?  Perhaps the palpable fear within it’s walls was a figment of my overdeveloped sense of fantasy?  Maybe Harry DID just stand and watch as Dumbledore was Avada Kadavra’d off the planet?  I must have misread the part where Dumbledore rendered Harry incapable of interfering knowing it would lead to his demise….and what about Bill Weasley?  Wasn’t he there and attacked by that horrible werewolf guy??  Hmmm…maybe not…..

But no, it wasn’t me.  The very anticlimactic scene in the movie left out all the important elements that Rowling included in the book, boiling the ending down to the simple and unbelievably easy act of killing Dumbledore, most absurdly, as Harry stood by and watched from a short distance.  Apparently, the director felt that piece of the ending was the only part worth telling…but he was so wrong.  In my opinion, the director missed a potentially career-altering opportunity to make a great movie into a brilliant masterpiece. 

Now that I have that off my chest, and backing up to the first two hours or so of the movie, it was brilliant!  The special effects were overwhelmingly dazzling!  I found my jaw dropping more than once…beautiful, believable, and flawless, the special effects drew me into the world of magic and gave me goosebumps.  The cinematography was stunning as well….the best since Harry Potter 3 which was a visual feast.  Beautiful camera angles, and a gorgeous, yet darker set all helped draw us into the story.

The character focused storytelling was also fantastic.  (Which made the ending even more shocking to me….why why why spend all that time on the rich character development, only to drop the ball at the end???  Grrr!)  The young Tom Riddle (at both ages) was hauntingly creepy.  Both actors were intensely sinister….I wouldn’t have guessed they could have found the right mix of cunning, charm, and downright creepiness in a child actor, and they found it twice.  Standing ovation for both young men.   And I also give props to Draco…..I wasn’t sure that I would be capable of feeling the proper mix of horror and empathy that was conveyed in the book, but Tom Felton did a magnificent job with his character. 

All in all, it was a wonderful film, and even though I felt cheated by the ending, I will watch it again…this time better prepared to handle my disappointment.  I am more anxious to go back and re-read the entire series though.  I want Rowling’s version in my mind, not David Yates’.

Photographical Moments Dissolve into Snapshots…

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Anyone else feel they are taking a lot of “snapshots” this summer, but not a whole lot of “photographs?”  I know I am frustrated looking at my photos from the past month or two.  It seems as though summer events such as reunions, and beach days, and backyard barbecues lend themselves to the obligatory “plain’ol” shots of people, and I tend to forget my skills.  My focusing ability has been off more than it’s on, and since I’ve also been distracted keeping track of Mister at all these gatherings, I have fallen back on Aperture Priority and even “Auto” more often in the last month than I did in the prior six.  Not that there is anything inherently wrong with that, but I don’t like the quality of the colors quite as much on those settings.  I feel like I’ve forgotten everything I worked hard to learn!  Ugh.  Frustrating!

I have to recommit myself to learning the art.  I’ve gotten lazy.  Ah, well…maybe not so much lazy, as distracted.  Hoping I’m not alone in my standstill.

In any case, there are a couple of photos I kinda like.  The first is of a little visitor we had on our deck a few nights ago.  Very cute in an ugly sort of way!

And this was taken during a birthday party we attended over the weekend.

And lastly, taken at my nephew’s Eagle Scout Ceremony.

Hope you are all having a fantastic summer!

Disgusted

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So, we were away over the weekend and had a lovely time with family.  But apparently the basement freezer door didn’t catch and close all the way, so while we were gone the freezer contents had a heyday thawing themselves out,  turning brown, and dripping meat juices everywhere.  I am so disgusted I could vomit.  Of course, did this happen when the freezer was in need of re-stocking????  NOOOO. ..it has to happen four days after a 300 dollar trip to BJ’s in which I splurged for the first time in over a year on 10 pounds of NY strip steak for the grill.  Insult to injury.

So all told I lost:

9 lbs of NY strip steak

two roaster chickens

10 lbs of ground beef

7 lbs of chicken breasts

6 lbs of chicken parts

4-4lb bags of frozen veggies

6 containers of homemade soups

a case of freezer pops

a box of lava cakes

and one box of ice cream

But as luck would have it, I was able to salvage two boxes of Girl Scout Thin Mints.

Effer.

Happy Fourth!

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Hope everyone had as great a weekend as we did!  All of Zan’s siblings and their families were in town, with the exception of one brother-in-law and one nephew.  Good food, lots of swimming and digging, and relaxing lakeside whilst dreaming of new schemes to give my husband gray hairs.  (Suffice it to say, there is a camp for sale up the road from my in-law’s cabin.)   Although highly unlikely, it was fun to dream about making it ours. 

A few photos from the weekend:

 

And these were two little cutie patooties who were fishing on a nearby dock.  I couldn’t resist snapping their photo.

And another version….

Big Girl…

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…is on a mini-vacation…..without ME!  WHAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Okay, those were fake tears.  I am fine because I know she is fine, and more importantly, ready to take this step toward independence.  She is spending a few days with her Aunt and Uncle Mokturtle a few hours away.  We drove down for our annual picnic day spent with friends, and left her behind when we headed back home.  I will admit to a tiny squeeze of my throat as I drove away, watching her wave from the porch, but even more than her being separated from me and her Dad, I think I had a harder time knowing that the siblings would be separated from each other.  Thank goodness they are all very close…they get on each other’s nerves like any other siblings, but they really and truly love each other.  I think the first day or two will be like Heaven for them, and then their missers will get sore.

But, for her the time will go quickly.  They have a day of hiking planned (weather permitting) and a girly spa day for the ladies planned.  And they have a horse, and a swimming pond, and walking paths galore.  It will be a lovely vacation for her. 

I’ll have to see if they will let ME come and stay with them for a week next summer.  I promise to be good.  🙂