Ok, who else in here manages to catch Harry Potter on the first day of showing? Now, I’ve never been a fan of the movie franchise (it has always been the books for me) but I’ve managed to do so all four movies. I dunno why. I started it that way, now it has become a tradition of sorts. This year, I even got to watch for free because Accenture provided their employees with free first night tix, and my brother managed to get extra.
This year’s Harry movie, I can truthfully say is the best one yet. Yes, all the actors still can’t act to save their lives but the sets are gorgeous, and the movie adaptation is the most cohesive, albeit with a few gaping holes-which we think will be solved with a dvd edition including the cut scenes. The editing is choppy, with some scenes having no transition whatsoever but can be forgiven as we await the dvd. Heh. More on this later.
What I like about the new director is that he made this movie the funniest one, even though it’s supposedly the darkest to date (if he can do the same with book 6’s adaptation, assuming he lasts that far, then hats off to him). Even Snape had a scene which was a bit funny, and this is Snape. The audience was giggling every five minutes or so, it seemed.
Of course, as with all HP movies, you won’t leave the theater without complaints, especially if you follow the books. The first one would be NOT seeing any game in the Quidditch World Cup. When you see the movie, you’d understand. The scenes showing the fields of tents and the stadium (!) itself were spectacular. It’s a bit of a let down that they didn’t show even one game! Yes, waiting for the dvd.
One of the choppy scenes I mentioned earlier is during the ball, when Hermione lits into Ron. There’s no explanation why they fight, they just suddenly do. Oh, and did anyone else notice their on again-off again English accents? Well, not accents actually, more of their use of lower-income patoise. It's just weird because it wasn't consistent with this movie, or the ones that preceded it.
Oh, a major complaint is how the Tri-Wizard Tournament just focused on Harry, to the detriment of the other contestants. You don’t even get to see how the other contestants get through most of the challenges, you only see Harry. This is most detrimental to Fleur. It’s not enough that she already seems the token girl in the competition, the decision to just focus on Harry (time constraints?) shows her as not being fit for the competition at all. You’d end up thinking, “They couldn’t come up with a better girl contestant? They had to pick a wuss?”
Can I just say that I hate, hate, hate the part where the girls of Beauxbatons were introduced to Hogwarts? They had the most stupid dance and the ugliest uniforms I’ve ever seen. Kilabot sa kabaduyan ever. Blech.
Ok, enough HP, time for pictures.
Before posting pictures though, a couple more stories.
I was out last Thursday, busy shopping for my third calendar shoot. I was in my favorite place to source props: SM Megamall Department Store. Mind you, I had been there the whole afternoon. It was already past 730pm. I just came from paying in the basement level and went up to the first floor school supplies area. My sister was with me and we were there maybe fifteen minutes, getting the items I needed. When I went to the cashier to pay, lo and behold, MY WALLET WAS GONE.
Yes, it got stolen from my bag right under my, and my sister's, noses.
Damn it!
This is the third time this has happened. First was in Katipunan, I was with
the_sandstigs. That time, my whole bag was stolen, including my Fendi wallet.
Second time, I was in Glorietta. Only my Charriol wallet got taken then.
Now, it's my purple Coach wallet. Damn it. I was bummed about the wallet, not about the money. Bad thing is, while I was at the Information Counter reporting my stolen wallet, two more people came, reporting the same thing! It seems a ring of thives has infiltrated Megamall. Be careful guys! There's no safe place whether in Makati or Mandaluyong...or QC for that matter.
My shoot the next day finished early so I hitched a ride with the photographer to Podium. While window shopping (I had to window shop, I cancelled all my cards and didn't bring a lot of cash), I recieved a text message from the Megamall staff: they found my wallet!
WHOOOPEEEE!!!
I hurried to Megamall. Thankfully, walking distance from Podium. Sure enough, my wallet was there. Of course, no more cash but all the cards were there. Most importantly, I got my wallet back! Now friends and collegues are telling me that the wallet is lucky because it got returned to me. I'm not using it at the moment though, I want to air it out first. I'm using a black Guess one instead, which my sister gave me after my wallet got stolen. I'm gonna use non-branded (well, I don't consider Guess a "brand" if you get what I mean) muna, it seems I'm a bit unlucky with branded ones.
I don't know what it is about me, it seems I have a sign on my forehead that says "steal my wallet." Tsk. Don't tell me about being careful, I'm really praning about my wallet and stuff because it's happened several times already. I usually even put my wallet and cellphone in the inner compartments of whatever bag I'm using. It's just that on this day, i was using a large, floppy bag. Pretty easy to open. Plus, the inner pocket could only hold my phone, the darn wallet's too large.
Anyway, I'll be even more praning. Does anyone know how to modify a wallet so I can put a chain on it to attach to the bag? I'm seriuos!
Because I was sooooooo pleased on getting my wallet back, I decided to celebrate by buying a new blouse. Of course, back to Podium to my favorite store of the moment, Dorothy Perkins. It's the grown up sister of Topshop. I don't buy from Topshop because I don't seem to see items there that suit my personal style. It's too street for me. DP is more to my taste...though some of the items are a bit mommy-ish. Hehe. Asar nga coz before, median price for a blouse is around P1.5k, now it's P2k. Grrr. P500 din yun noh, that's another blouse entirely. Anyway, I was pretty happy with what I got:
Turning into Elphaba? Hee.
It's this long, loose brown blouse that's kinda like a dress. You can wear it until the upper hip area only, and it'll look like a regular blouse. Of course, I pull it down to my thighs and make a shift dress out of it. Since it's really loose, I kinda look pregnant. That's why I pair it with my skinniest pair of jeans. And gold dangly earrings, gold shoes and a gold bag. Milking mettalics for all it's worth before it fades away next year. Heh.
I decided to wear the blouse to the chritening of my first official apo over the weekend. Here, I'm just plain and simple camwhoring. I haven't done that in a bit. I was at the house of a friend, and was puting my makeup on. As usual, red is back in style for winter and I was trying to rock it. I really just dont look good in red lipstick. Blech.
Here are some pictures from the christening:
Why is this pic so small? Time to edit.
I don't have pictures with the baby because she's sooo tiny! I was kinda scared to hold her. I'm waiting until she's at least three months old before I do so. Hehe.
Ok, background info: Elle's parents are one of the couples I set up. I was maid of honor at their wedding, and now godparent to their kid. The ties that bind a mamasan, eh?
Blast from the past:
Anyway, gotta run...fotog's finally here. 9am shoot, he gets here 915. Galing.