"Age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth..."
So, yeah, this has been a good week for the fangirl within, no?
Liam Neeson is voicing Aslan.
Captain Jack in leather pants *drools*
In addition to a new ep last night of Family Guy, I also got to see the firetruck episode. "The ambulances will have to wait their turn." Hehehe.
And, last, but certainly not least...Gwen Stefani has a new single! Haha, psych! I couldn't give a flying flip about Gwen Stefani sans No Doubt. As you probably guessed, I'm talking about Harry Potter and the Rabid Fangirls, er Half-Blood Prince.
Now, I did the whole routine. No internet until I finished the book. I promise I'll go around and read LJ's after I finish this post. I finished the book last night. I didn't sit and read it straight through, or I would've finished it sooner. (However, I thought closing the book just as the clock struck midnight was quite a nice coincidence.) Before I get to the HBP comments (which will be under a nice LJ-cut for spoilers for Kate and anybody else who doesn't know when they'll get the book).
Cassie and I decided we were going to go the Books-a-Million release party. Cassie came over Friday, and we went thrift shopping. No luck, though, but we did find some bedsheets at Walmart and a small piece of fabric. See, I just kind of figured "What the hell, let's get in the spirit" and Cassie appeared to think the same thing. We didn't have these all out costumes that some people had (including a middle-aged woman...) but we did simple and, well, cheap. Maybe like $3.50 for each of us. We just cut the bedsheet, threw it over our shoulders, and tied it around our neck. We also printed out the Ravenclaw crest on iron-on transfer sheets, then put them on the white fabric we bought at Wal-mart. I suck at cutting, so Cassie cut them out. We then used some safety pins and pinned them on the cloaks. Spur of the moment idea came and we went outside and got two sticks (for wands, all you perverts). After passing the time by watching the countdown clock on Mugglenet, Cassie and I set off for Lake Charles to meet Beth at CiCi's pizza. We just kind of talked about the books and made predictions. Best quote, of course, came from Beth "I think Harry needs to get drunk and have sex with somebody. I'd support J.K. Rowling through the controversy."
We finished quickly, and decided we'd just go early to the release party. Well, apparently the release party started a little earlier, so no big deal. When we walked in, a guy was holding a sorting hat puppet upside down and you had to draw pins to see what house you were in. This was to put people in activity groups for such things as face painting, trivia contests, and word finds. We, of course, took part in nothing, just drew the pins for souvenirs. I got Ravenclaw and didn't even have to cheat. The guy saw that Cassie wanted Ravenclaw, too, so he looked around the hat and handed one to her. Beth traded what she got with someone for Gryffindor. After Beth and Cassie got their vouchers, we went to the back and sat and read magazines and books while the festivities went on. I sat down on the floor and read an EW. I happened to look up and see a toddler who was there with is parents who appeared to be fans. I smiled at him. (See, I think that kids are silly and far too cheerful. However, on good days, I don't hate them for it, and I was having a good day.) Whenever I looked back up from my magazine later on, the toddler had moved right by my and was smiling. I just kind gave a nervous smile as his parents came and got him. Alas, kids. We talked with Paul and Erin on and off throughout the night. (They were wearing shirst of different fandoms. You don't do that! Rebels...) Beth was reading a "visual" look at the past century, which, as she pointed out, would figure it'd be in black and white. They had a rather nice picture of Oliver North and she asked me if it was bad that she thought he was cute. Looking at the picture, I told her not at all. She then got the "George Michael outed" page. She turned to me and told me she didn't know George Michael was gay. At first, Cassie and I thought she was kidding. However, we soon came to realize that she was in fact very surprised at the revelation. We pointed out the tell-tale signs throughout the night (from facial hair design to WHAM wardrobe to ass-shaking). Anyway, when she was reading the article they had in the book about him, you could tell when she got to the bathroom part. We got bored with the magazines and decided to go and do Beth's plan from earlier of rearranged the sex books so that little kids could see them. Eh, we didn't do it. But we did discover something we had never realized before: the study guides are on the same aisle as the sex books. If we had known that, we may have all done a little better on our standardized tests. (Although, I daresay, we did well anyway) After a few minutes we went to the front and Cassie picked up the pocket guide to apocalypses, which was quite entertaining. (JFK apparently was one of the people in history who fit the Anti-Christ description, interesting.) Then, Beth and Cassie went to get in line for the book. (Mine was pre-ordered from Amazon for my bday present from none other than Cassie.) I went and sat in the Humor section and read a litle while everyone waited. I read some of Eric Idle's journal on the Greedy Bastard Tour, which was quite funny, duh. I then also looked at a book of stupid quotes. An older man picked up the America book and, in true Louisiana fashion, just started making conversation with me. He said he watched The Daily Show every night but had yet to buy the book. I told him it was really funny and he should get it. After sitting down and reading it for a little while, he got up and said he was going to go stand in line with his nephew. As time grew nearer, you could hear the BAM people announce the countdown at ten-minute intervals. Much screaming ensued at each announcement. There was a random surge of screams and yells, so I got up to go and see what was going on. Sure enough, the news had come in and people were acting crazy for the camera. There was a guy standing at the edge of the aisle with whom I discussed how amusing some of the fans were. He actually shook my hand... His being a geek was confirmed when he said that he was seeing if he could a Star Wars novel that he hadn't read yet while waiting for the line to go down.
Eventually, I met up with Cassie, Beth, and some more of our friends up front. They had given their vouchers to Paul's mom who was further up in the line. She got them their books and then we left...our so I thought. As Cassie and I were saying goodbye, I went in to get my keys out of my purse, realizing that *gasp* I didn't have my purse! I never let go of my purse, so this was a true shocker. Cassie and I sneaked back in and retraced my steps. I wasn't worried out first(petty criminals don't hang out at Books-a-Million), it felt like worrying was just a formality. Then, when we asked a lady at the door if she knew if a purse had been turned in and the service desk said now, I started worrying. I had a lot of money in there, which was enough to panic about, but then I remembered that my social security card and birth certificate (and, well, shot record) were in there because I had had them still in there from when I got my driver's liscense renewed. It was a few minutes before Cassie spotted my purse at the far end of the counter. Finally, they passed down my purse and Cassie and I left after some hugging. We got in the car and I caught my breath. CASSIE:"One day we'll look back on this and laugh. Obviously, not tonight, though."
I'm not exactly going to sit here and give a full review, just make some comments.
First off, I loved the cover. Not the actual cover with art and such, the binding cover. My favorite color is purple. (But it's not a blanket liking. I really hate lighter purples like that lilac shade shit people try and use. The only time light purple should be used is when it is complimented by a darker shade of purple, such as here.) The cover of the book was a wonderful shade of purple, outdone only by the lettering on the spine, which was my favorite kind of purple. And the spine binding was black! Eeek! Purple on black rocks! (If you saw the new Doctor Who series, think of Rose's dress in The Unquiet Dead -- incidentally I adored that dress...)
Ahem, moving on.
I must say, a definite improvement from OotP. J.K. Rowling seems to not be as fascinated with capital letters and ellipses as she was in the previous two books. Also, we've lost (thankfully) Emo!Harry. He's now back to intuitive(Although, he still hasn't picked up on the importance of listening to Hermione...he obviously doesn't read his own books) yet somehow very, very reckless Harry. You know, Harry's paranoia and extreme distrust of the government would make him a Libertarian if he were American...I don't recall his putting on his seat belt when he entered that Ministry of Magic car. Hmm, interesting.
Now, the romance in the book. What a lot of people have been waiting for, I know. However, for me, well, some of it just made me really appreciate subtext.
The pervert in me had a good laugh, though. Heh, I probably wouldn't have found myself giggling at "Hermione's Helping Hand" if someone hadn't pointed out at AICN on the GoF movie review thread days back. Hehehe.
Now, while we're on stuff we've read on the internet, I'm sure I wasn't the only one whose eyes widened and jaw dropped when I read that released description in the first chapter.
While I was enjoying the exposition in the book, it seemed that that was the only thing worth reading the book for for a while. It had its dull moments sprinkled with interesting background information. It did get better, much better, towards the end.
As always, I loved JKR's literary allusions. Fenrir and Merope? Score!
Now for the death. I think it's safe to say everybody knew it was coming. I was kind of hoping for Hagrid (sorry, but he got on my nerves in the fifth book). Everyone knew Dumbledore would have to die. I think we were just hoping it wouldn't happen until sometime in the last book. However, all those nice archetypes and diction for foreshadowing were thrown in. The darkness mentions and so on leading up to it made it obvious, yet it still seemed shocking for some reason. Heh, I'll admit I got really nervous as it approached so I took a break and went and got some pretzels and grape kool-aid. (Even my drinks are purple.) When Dumbledore was talking with Draco, I was so into the book I completely forgot about the other part of the unbreakable vow until Snape ran in the room. I almost dropped the book when it was obvious what was coming. And alas, it happened. Then, when Snape revealed that he was the Half-Blood Prince, it was, wow. Looking back, it maybe shouldn't have been as big of a surprise as it was. Hints and clues were there. However, it was a really good plot twist. The last few chapters were page-turners. I really think the death and funeral were really well done. It was a wonderful ending. I absolutely cannot wait for the seventh book, although I imagine we'll have to wait quite awhile.
I just wanted to say kudos to a couple people.
Points to narcissusblack for calling Tonks/Lupin right after reading OotP!
I also have to give major points to krismioninny for calling Snape as the Half-Blood Prince from the beginning! :)
After reading HBP, I had this kind of excitement, you know? I couldn't sleep, so I popped in the season finale of Doctor Who. (Come on, what could be better than watching more of Captain Jack in leather pants?) Well, as it had the same kind of touching moments as HBP, I do NOT recommmend watching it right after you read the book. I do recommend watching it at some point, though, as it was very, very good.
And, I think I've rambled on enough. There's probably a lot I left out, but whatever. For those of you who remember last summer when we did the AIM and MSN chats for PoA, I've already talked to some of the old group, and they're in. If you want to do one for HBP, comment and let me know. If you have no idea what I'm talking about but are interested, comment and let me know. ;)
Now I'm off to read everybody's posts and thoughts. :)
Liam Neeson is voicing Aslan.
Captain Jack in leather pants *drools*
In addition to a new ep last night of Family Guy, I also got to see the firetruck episode. "The ambulances will have to wait their turn." Hehehe.
And, last, but certainly not least...Gwen Stefani has a new single! Haha, psych! I couldn't give a flying flip about Gwen Stefani sans No Doubt. As you probably guessed, I'm talking about Harry Potter and the Rabid Fangirls, er Half-Blood Prince.
Now, I did the whole routine. No internet until I finished the book. I promise I'll go around and read LJ's after I finish this post. I finished the book last night. I didn't sit and read it straight through, or I would've finished it sooner. (However, I thought closing the book just as the clock struck midnight was quite a nice coincidence.) Before I get to the HBP comments (which will be under a nice LJ-cut for spoilers for Kate and anybody else who doesn't know when they'll get the book).
Cassie and I decided we were going to go the Books-a-Million release party. Cassie came over Friday, and we went thrift shopping. No luck, though, but we did find some bedsheets at Walmart and a small piece of fabric. See, I just kind of figured "What the hell, let's get in the spirit" and Cassie appeared to think the same thing. We didn't have these all out costumes that some people had (including a middle-aged woman...) but we did simple and, well, cheap. Maybe like $3.50 for each of us. We just cut the bedsheet, threw it over our shoulders, and tied it around our neck. We also printed out the Ravenclaw crest on iron-on transfer sheets, then put them on the white fabric we bought at Wal-mart. I suck at cutting, so Cassie cut them out. We then used some safety pins and pinned them on the cloaks. Spur of the moment idea came and we went outside and got two sticks (for wands, all you perverts). After passing the time by watching the countdown clock on Mugglenet, Cassie and I set off for Lake Charles to meet Beth at CiCi's pizza. We just kind of talked about the books and made predictions. Best quote, of course, came from Beth "I think Harry needs to get drunk and have sex with somebody. I'd support J.K. Rowling through the controversy."
We finished quickly, and decided we'd just go early to the release party. Well, apparently the release party started a little earlier, so no big deal. When we walked in, a guy was holding a sorting hat puppet upside down and you had to draw pins to see what house you were in. This was to put people in activity groups for such things as face painting, trivia contests, and word finds. We, of course, took part in nothing, just drew the pins for souvenirs. I got Ravenclaw and didn't even have to cheat. The guy saw that Cassie wanted Ravenclaw, too, so he looked around the hat and handed one to her. Beth traded what she got with someone for Gryffindor. After Beth and Cassie got their vouchers, we went to the back and sat and read magazines and books while the festivities went on. I sat down on the floor and read an EW. I happened to look up and see a toddler who was there with is parents who appeared to be fans. I smiled at him. (See, I think that kids are silly and far too cheerful. However, on good days, I don't hate them for it, and I was having a good day.) Whenever I looked back up from my magazine later on, the toddler had moved right by my and was smiling. I just kind gave a nervous smile as his parents came and got him. Alas, kids. We talked with Paul and Erin on and off throughout the night. (They were wearing shirst of different fandoms. You don't do that! Rebels...) Beth was reading a "visual" look at the past century, which, as she pointed out, would figure it'd be in black and white. They had a rather nice picture of Oliver North and she asked me if it was bad that she thought he was cute. Looking at the picture, I told her not at all. She then got the "George Michael outed" page. She turned to me and told me she didn't know George Michael was gay. At first, Cassie and I thought she was kidding. However, we soon came to realize that she was in fact very surprised at the revelation. We pointed out the tell-tale signs throughout the night (from facial hair design to WHAM wardrobe to ass-shaking). Anyway, when she was reading the article they had in the book about him, you could tell when she got to the bathroom part. We got bored with the magazines and decided to go and do Beth's plan from earlier of rearranged the sex books so that little kids could see them. Eh, we didn't do it. But we did discover something we had never realized before: the study guides are on the same aisle as the sex books. If we had known that, we may have all done a little better on our standardized tests. (Although, I daresay, we did well anyway) After a few minutes we went to the front and Cassie picked up the pocket guide to apocalypses, which was quite entertaining. (JFK apparently was one of the people in history who fit the Anti-Christ description, interesting.) Then, Beth and Cassie went to get in line for the book. (Mine was pre-ordered from Amazon for my bday present from none other than Cassie.) I went and sat in the Humor section and read a litle while everyone waited. I read some of Eric Idle's journal on the Greedy Bastard Tour, which was quite funny, duh. I then also looked at a book of stupid quotes. An older man picked up the America book and, in true Louisiana fashion, just started making conversation with me. He said he watched The Daily Show every night but had yet to buy the book. I told him it was really funny and he should get it. After sitting down and reading it for a little while, he got up and said he was going to go stand in line with his nephew. As time grew nearer, you could hear the BAM people announce the countdown at ten-minute intervals. Much screaming ensued at each announcement. There was a random surge of screams and yells, so I got up to go and see what was going on. Sure enough, the news had come in and people were acting crazy for the camera. There was a guy standing at the edge of the aisle with whom I discussed how amusing some of the fans were. He actually shook my hand... His being a geek was confirmed when he said that he was seeing if he could a Star Wars novel that he hadn't read yet while waiting for the line to go down.
Eventually, I met up with Cassie, Beth, and some more of our friends up front. They had given their vouchers to Paul's mom who was further up in the line. She got them their books and then we left...our so I thought. As Cassie and I were saying goodbye, I went in to get my keys out of my purse, realizing that *gasp* I didn't have my purse! I never let go of my purse, so this was a true shocker. Cassie and I sneaked back in and retraced my steps. I wasn't worried out first(petty criminals don't hang out at Books-a-Million), it felt like worrying was just a formality. Then, when we asked a lady at the door if she knew if a purse had been turned in and the service desk said now, I started worrying. I had a lot of money in there, which was enough to panic about, but then I remembered that my social security card and birth certificate (and, well, shot record) were in there because I had had them still in there from when I got my driver's liscense renewed. It was a few minutes before Cassie spotted my purse at the far end of the counter. Finally, they passed down my purse and Cassie and I left after some hugging. We got in the car and I caught my breath. CASSIE:"One day we'll look back on this and laugh. Obviously, not tonight, though."
I'm not exactly going to sit here and give a full review, just make some comments.
First off, I loved the cover. Not the actual cover with art and such, the binding cover. My favorite color is purple. (But it's not a blanket liking. I really hate lighter purples like that lilac shade shit people try and use. The only time light purple should be used is when it is complimented by a darker shade of purple, such as here.) The cover of the book was a wonderful shade of purple, outdone only by the lettering on the spine, which was my favorite kind of purple. And the spine binding was black! Eeek! Purple on black rocks! (If you saw the new Doctor Who series, think of Rose's dress in The Unquiet Dead -- incidentally I adored that dress...)
Ahem, moving on.
I must say, a definite improvement from OotP. J.K. Rowling seems to not be as fascinated with capital letters and ellipses as she was in the previous two books. Also, we've lost (thankfully) Emo!Harry. He's now back to intuitive(Although, he still hasn't picked up on the importance of listening to Hermione...he obviously doesn't read his own books) yet somehow very, very reckless Harry. You know, Harry's paranoia and extreme distrust of the government would make him a Libertarian if he were American...I don't recall his putting on his seat belt when he entered that Ministry of Magic car. Hmm, interesting.
Now, the romance in the book. What a lot of people have been waiting for, I know. However, for me, well, some of it just made me really appreciate subtext.
The pervert in me had a good laugh, though. Heh, I probably wouldn't have found myself giggling at "Hermione's Helping Hand" if someone hadn't pointed out at AICN on the GoF movie review thread days back. Hehehe.
Now, while we're on stuff we've read on the internet, I'm sure I wasn't the only one whose eyes widened and jaw dropped when I read that released description in the first chapter.
While I was enjoying the exposition in the book, it seemed that that was the only thing worth reading the book for for a while. It had its dull moments sprinkled with interesting background information. It did get better, much better, towards the end.
As always, I loved JKR's literary allusions. Fenrir and Merope? Score!
Now for the death. I think it's safe to say everybody knew it was coming. I was kind of hoping for Hagrid (sorry, but he got on my nerves in the fifth book). Everyone knew Dumbledore would have to die. I think we were just hoping it wouldn't happen until sometime in the last book. However, all those nice archetypes and diction for foreshadowing were thrown in. The darkness mentions and so on leading up to it made it obvious, yet it still seemed shocking for some reason. Heh, I'll admit I got really nervous as it approached so I took a break and went and got some pretzels and grape kool-aid. (Even my drinks are purple.) When Dumbledore was talking with Draco, I was so into the book I completely forgot about the other part of the unbreakable vow until Snape ran in the room. I almost dropped the book when it was obvious what was coming. And alas, it happened. Then, when Snape revealed that he was the Half-Blood Prince, it was, wow. Looking back, it maybe shouldn't have been as big of a surprise as it was. Hints and clues were there. However, it was a really good plot twist. The last few chapters were page-turners. I really think the death and funeral were really well done. It was a wonderful ending. I absolutely cannot wait for the seventh book, although I imagine we'll have to wait quite awhile.
I just wanted to say kudos to a couple people.
Points to narcissusblack for calling Tonks/Lupin right after reading OotP!
I also have to give major points to krismioninny for calling Snape as the Half-Blood Prince from the beginning! :)
After reading HBP, I had this kind of excitement, you know? I couldn't sleep, so I popped in the season finale of Doctor Who. (Come on, what could be better than watching more of Captain Jack in leather pants?) Well, as it had the same kind of touching moments as HBP, I do NOT recommmend watching it right after you read the book. I do recommend watching it at some point, though, as it was very, very good.
And, I think I've rambled on enough. There's probably a lot I left out, but whatever. For those of you who remember last summer when we did the AIM and MSN chats for PoA, I've already talked to some of the old group, and they're in. If you want to do one for HBP, comment and let me know. If you have no idea what I'm talking about but are interested, comment and let me know. ;)
Now I'm off to read everybody's posts and thoughts. :)