She stares blankly at the computer screen
Jul. 25th, 2005 04:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hafitalWhew, I am *tired*. I got no sleep at all this weekend. Why did I get no sleep, you ask? Well, I'll tell you, since you inquired so kindly. ;)
C&tCF
I saw this friday night. I was a bit apprehensive about it because I'd heard some negative critiques, and as much as I love (love!) Johnny Depp, and can never seem to dislike him in any movie he does, the bits I'd seen in trailers of his Willie (heeeeee. sorry. 12 year old moment there) were really too far into creepy for me to be comfortable with the portrayal. I mean, Willie Wonka should be odd, but...
Anyhoo, I liked the film if only for including the squirrels. What can I say, I'm easily pleased. Other then that, I also loved the design of the film (easy, since Tim Burton *always*, imo, has visually interesting movies, at least. Costume desgin-wise, the bit with Willie having purple latex surgical gloves was brilliant, for all my ambivalence on the father/son backstory), and the little boy who played Charlie (who I loved in Finding Neverland). Actually, I thought all the kids were great.
So, yeah. Could have done without the Michael Jackson-ified qualities shown in WW, but at least the film was pretty. *g* Like I said, easily pleased.
I was going to f-lock this mention of my HS reunion, but decided against it, and I'll say why in a minute.
I was, as is typical I'm sure, nervous about going to this reunion. It was an all-year reunion, which was great since my HS was very small and has a small student body each year and I'd also missed my ten year because I was in NYC at the time (and not at all inclined to go.) I got arm-twisted into going by some friends from HS that I'd met up with once I got back in town.
Well, I'm glad I went! It was a bit awkward. Some people don't ever change. Everyone said I looked great (and at the risk of sounding immodest, I must say I did look pretty good). Seeing all my old teachers was.... weird! but kinda cool, too. Everyone was thrilled about my grad school news. I managed not to freak out about seeing so many people I had successfully avoided for years and years. There weren't that many, actually, from my year there, but enough to make me glad I both saw them and don't see them very often, if that makes any sense.
There was one person there who I was very happy/sad/concerned/thrilled/somewhat ashamed/worried to see and that was a dear friend of mine who had an immense tragedy in her life -- her five year old child was kidnapped, sexually abused, and murdered about 3 years age. The child's name was Samantha Runnion. Many of you will know or remember her from recent news pieces her mother, my friend, has been doing, since the murderer was cought and the death penalty sentence was just recently given.
This is why I'm not f-locking this post. If you have the time please visit and learn more about The Joyful Child foundation. She was a beautiful, amazingly courageous, little girl. Her mother hardly less so.
*takes shaky breathe*
Aside from *that* bit of tension, the evening was really very nice, surprisingly so. And I didn't get home until 3am and didn't go to bed till 4:30am. *yawn*
HP&tHBP
All in all, I found book 6 immensely better than book 5. Probably the better written one of the whole series, although it cannot be my favorite. I'm not sure I can claim a favorite, actually. I like these books a lot, but after book 5 and Sirius' death, well, he was what really clicked for me. I'm just along for the ride, now.
Saying that...
* I was pretty sure Dumbledore would never survive to book 7, but it was still a shock and very sad, even expecting it. Although honestly, and this will tell you where my heart lies, I wasn't nearly as affected with Dumbledore dying as I was with Sirius' death, which, although I'm not really heavily involved with these books and not at all with the fandom, almost made me drop them all together.
* I'm absolutely *thrilled* about Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny. Remus/Tonks was pretty cool, too. I've been biding my time for both of these relationships to finally develop. I was never much in doubt of them becoming eventualities, but JKR is clever enough to make you doubt her own obvious clues.
* Speaking of doubting her obvious clues, I know there's a lot of speculation out there on whether or not Snape is truly on the side of the good or the bad. I don't really care either way. I like Snape quite a bit, as he's written, but either way, what does it matter? I mean, whether or not he's a double quadruple agent for Voldemort or for Dumbledore, his actions are the same, and if he's ever redeemed, it won't be without a lot of pain and loss, whether orchestrated by him or by Dumbledore or Voldemort. Personally, imo, I doubt he's truly on Voldemort's side even if he isn't really good or not evil -- the clues are pretty obvious. Most of me thinks he'd be more interesting, actually, if he were completely evil, because otherwise it's fairly standard anti-heroness. YMMV. Although, as Merry says, Snape is Vinnie Terranova! :D
* There are a lot of things I love about JKR's writing and a lot I find to critique (and she does seem to get better and better). She obviously loves the world she's created, but she's not afraid to chop it up, kill beloved characters (although she really did almost lose me killing Sirius like that), and go to rather scary places (for children's books. honestly, I wouldn't let someone younger then say 10, if that, read these, especially the last two). Some of them, particularly the earlier ones, could use a better edit, imo, but still. The true test, of course, is how she ends it. I'm really very easy to please, I'm the best audience/reader, doesn't take much, but an ending can make or break a lot of things. I'm not really worried.
The Island
Which I really liked. And I liked it for these reasons: a)Ewan was great and adorable and very cute, b) Scarlett was beautiful and I've always liked her, c) Djimon Hounsou gets better and better and more interesting in every film I see him in, and d) Sean Bean was utterly gorgeous and, as usual, stole the show.
Aside from these admittedly very deep reasons, I found it rather entertaining in a don't-have-to-think kind of way. Perfect popcorn movie.
Hm, it seems I get chatty when sleep deprived! I think that's enough parenthetical abuse for one post.
C&tCF
I saw this friday night. I was a bit apprehensive about it because I'd heard some negative critiques, and as much as I love (love!) Johnny Depp, and can never seem to dislike him in any movie he does, the bits I'd seen in trailers of his Willie (heeeeee. sorry. 12 year old moment there) were really too far into creepy for me to be comfortable with the portrayal. I mean, Willie Wonka should be odd, but...
Anyhoo, I liked the film if only for including the squirrels. What can I say, I'm easily pleased. Other then that, I also loved the design of the film (easy, since Tim Burton *always*, imo, has visually interesting movies, at least. Costume desgin-wise, the bit with Willie having purple latex surgical gloves was brilliant, for all my ambivalence on the father/son backstory), and the little boy who played Charlie (who I loved in Finding Neverland). Actually, I thought all the kids were great.
So, yeah. Could have done without the Michael Jackson-ified qualities shown in WW, but at least the film was pretty. *g* Like I said, easily pleased.
I was going to f-lock this mention of my HS reunion, but decided against it, and I'll say why in a minute.
I was, as is typical I'm sure, nervous about going to this reunion. It was an all-year reunion, which was great since my HS was very small and has a small student body each year and I'd also missed my ten year because I was in NYC at the time (and not at all inclined to go.) I got arm-twisted into going by some friends from HS that I'd met up with once I got back in town.
Well, I'm glad I went! It was a bit awkward. Some people don't ever change. Everyone said I looked great (and at the risk of sounding immodest, I must say I did look pretty good). Seeing all my old teachers was.... weird! but kinda cool, too. Everyone was thrilled about my grad school news. I managed not to freak out about seeing so many people I had successfully avoided for years and years. There weren't that many, actually, from my year there, but enough to make me glad I both saw them and don't see them very often, if that makes any sense.
There was one person there who I was very happy/sad/concerned/thrilled/somewhat ashamed/worried to see and that was a dear friend of mine who had an immense tragedy in her life -- her five year old child was kidnapped, sexually abused, and murdered about 3 years age. The child's name was Samantha Runnion. Many of you will know or remember her from recent news pieces her mother, my friend, has been doing, since the murderer was cought and the death penalty sentence was just recently given.
This is why I'm not f-locking this post. If you have the time please visit and learn more about The Joyful Child foundation. She was a beautiful, amazingly courageous, little girl. Her mother hardly less so.
*takes shaky breathe*
Aside from *that* bit of tension, the evening was really very nice, surprisingly so. And I didn't get home until 3am and didn't go to bed till 4:30am. *yawn*
HP&tHBP
All in all, I found book 6 immensely better than book 5. Probably the better written one of the whole series, although it cannot be my favorite. I'm not sure I can claim a favorite, actually. I like these books a lot, but after book 5 and Sirius' death, well, he was what really clicked for me. I'm just along for the ride, now.
Saying that...
* I was pretty sure Dumbledore would never survive to book 7, but it was still a shock and very sad, even expecting it. Although honestly, and this will tell you where my heart lies, I wasn't nearly as affected with Dumbledore dying as I was with Sirius' death, which, although I'm not really heavily involved with these books and not at all with the fandom, almost made me drop them all together.
* I'm absolutely *thrilled* about Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny. Remus/Tonks was pretty cool, too. I've been biding my time for both of these relationships to finally develop. I was never much in doubt of them becoming eventualities, but JKR is clever enough to make you doubt her own obvious clues.
* Speaking of doubting her obvious clues, I know there's a lot of speculation out there on whether or not Snape is truly on the side of the good or the bad. I don't really care either way. I like Snape quite a bit, as he's written, but either way, what does it matter? I mean, whether or not he's a double quadruple agent for Voldemort or for Dumbledore, his actions are the same, and if he's ever redeemed, it won't be without a lot of pain and loss, whether orchestrated by him or by Dumbledore or Voldemort. Personally, imo, I doubt he's truly on Voldemort's side even if he isn't really good or not evil -- the clues are pretty obvious. Most of me thinks he'd be more interesting, actually, if he were completely evil, because otherwise it's fairly standard anti-heroness. YMMV. Although, as Merry says, Snape is Vinnie Terranova! :D
* There are a lot of things I love about JKR's writing and a lot I find to critique (and she does seem to get better and better). She obviously loves the world she's created, but she's not afraid to chop it up, kill beloved characters (although she really did almost lose me killing Sirius like that), and go to rather scary places (for children's books. honestly, I wouldn't let someone younger then say 10, if that, read these, especially the last two). Some of them, particularly the earlier ones, could use a better edit, imo, but still. The true test, of course, is how she ends it. I'm really very easy to please, I'm the best audience/reader, doesn't take much, but an ending can make or break a lot of things. I'm not really worried.
The Island
Which I really liked. And I liked it for these reasons: a)Ewan was great and adorable and very cute, b) Scarlett was beautiful and I've always liked her, c) Djimon Hounsou gets better and better and more interesting in every film I see him in, and d) Sean Bean was utterly gorgeous and, as usual, stole the show.
Aside from these admittedly very deep reasons, I found it rather entertaining in a don't-have-to-think kind of way. Perfect popcorn movie.
Hm, it seems I get chatty when sleep deprived! I think that's enough parenthetical abuse for one post.
