Obviously.
And now, summer.
On Friday I went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in IMAX with Marisa, Tim, Aisha, Jon, Rayme, and Amanda and I had an awesome time. The movie is good, about as good as Goblet of Fire, and they do a better job than ever of stripping down a massive (and in this case, messy, over-indulgent, and seemingly never-edited) book into a workable 140-minute movie with a driving story of its own. Even my beloved Prisoner of Azkaban film had some condensation issues. That said, it seems like now that Alfonso Cuaron crossed the adaptations over the border into "actual movies," the directors who followed haven't really brought their own style to the movies the way he did -- they just sort of follow his lead, rather than imprinting anything more personal. That works out fine, but I hope they get Cuaron back in for Deathly Hallows. Order of the Phoenix is still a lot of fun, and the climax is in 3-D on IMAX screens which, combined with sitting closer than expected due to lines down the stairs at 68th St even though we got there 75 minutes before the movie started, gave it this great sensory-overload feeling that I haven't experienced in awhile (not even at a Michael Bay movie). Some of the scenes feel a little truncated (anything with Snape training Harry should've been twice as long) but a lot of stuff that felt over-the-top or sloppy in Rowling's prose made a lot more sense in the movie. Oh, and it had Kreacher. Kreacher fucking rules. I honestly didn't remember much about Kreacher's part in Book 5 (and it was truncated for the movie, as Maggie reminded me on Saturday) but I got kinda excited when I read about how Rowling advised the filmmakers to put him back in the script in some capacity due to unspecificied plot developments in Deathly Hallows that will require the movie universe to already have him on deck, and once I saw him onscreen he pretty much became my favorite character in the series. I eagerly await his involvement in Deathly Hallows (see here and below).
Harry Potter as a cultural phenomenon is nothing if not generous; especially now, with the 5th movie coming out and the 7th movie upon us, there's all kinds of fun minutae to talk about even for people like me who just like, rather than love, obsess over, or fantasize about, this story and these characters. Even our small viewing party on Friday had this huge range of people with different levels of Potter commitment: some die-hards (Amanda, Rayme), some more measured but still faithful readers/watchers (Marisa, me, Tim), a huge fan of the movies who has never read the books (Aisha), and someone who hasn't read the books and only got into the movies because of Cuaron and still hasn't seen the first two (Jon). This means lots of good post-movie chatting on the sidewalk outside. Jon helped me flesh out my pitch for Book 7 being all about Dobby and Kreacher getting accidentally handcuffed together and driving cross-country so Dobby can lose his virginity. (In addition to his elf-movie-pitching skills, Jon is one of the best people I know for talking about comedy-theory and can give you a very convincing spiel about how and why the Get Smart movie isn't likely to work while appreciating the fact that the teaser trailer is actually pretty funny.)
Then on Saturday Marisa and I spent most of the day at FeeBQh4, which might've actually been called 4BQh, and which I keep wanting to call FeeBQ4h. Anyway, it was Katie's annual Prospect Park barbecue and it was super-fun. I had a hot dog and cookies and pasta salad and animal crackers and s'mores and sausage (no snausage). There was more Harry Potter talk and everything was nice. Katie and Derekh's friends in the NYC area may outnumber my lifetime total.
Today it was hot and I did a bunch of homework. Gross. But I also bought New Pornographers tickets for October once I found out that Neko Case and Dan Bejar are on board for this tour. Anyone else want in with me, Marisa, and Jon, you let me know.
On Friday I went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in IMAX with Marisa, Tim, Aisha, Jon, Rayme, and Amanda and I had an awesome time. The movie is good, about as good as Goblet of Fire, and they do a better job than ever of stripping down a massive (and in this case, messy, over-indulgent, and seemingly never-edited) book into a workable 140-minute movie with a driving story of its own. Even my beloved Prisoner of Azkaban film had some condensation issues. That said, it seems like now that Alfonso Cuaron crossed the adaptations over the border into "actual movies," the directors who followed haven't really brought their own style to the movies the way he did -- they just sort of follow his lead, rather than imprinting anything more personal. That works out fine, but I hope they get Cuaron back in for Deathly Hallows. Order of the Phoenix is still a lot of fun, and the climax is in 3-D on IMAX screens which, combined with sitting closer than expected due to lines down the stairs at 68th St even though we got there 75 minutes before the movie started, gave it this great sensory-overload feeling that I haven't experienced in awhile (not even at a Michael Bay movie). Some of the scenes feel a little truncated (anything with Snape training Harry should've been twice as long) but a lot of stuff that felt over-the-top or sloppy in Rowling's prose made a lot more sense in the movie. Oh, and it had Kreacher. Kreacher fucking rules. I honestly didn't remember much about Kreacher's part in Book 5 (and it was truncated for the movie, as Maggie reminded me on Saturday) but I got kinda excited when I read about how Rowling advised the filmmakers to put him back in the script in some capacity due to unspecificied plot developments in Deathly Hallows that will require the movie universe to already have him on deck, and once I saw him onscreen he pretty much became my favorite character in the series. I eagerly await his involvement in Deathly Hallows (see here and below).
Harry Potter as a cultural phenomenon is nothing if not generous; especially now, with the 5th movie coming out and the 7th movie upon us, there's all kinds of fun minutae to talk about even for people like me who just like, rather than love, obsess over, or fantasize about, this story and these characters. Even our small viewing party on Friday had this huge range of people with different levels of Potter commitment: some die-hards (Amanda, Rayme), some more measured but still faithful readers/watchers (Marisa, me, Tim), a huge fan of the movies who has never read the books (Aisha), and someone who hasn't read the books and only got into the movies because of Cuaron and still hasn't seen the first two (Jon). This means lots of good post-movie chatting on the sidewalk outside. Jon helped me flesh out my pitch for Book 7 being all about Dobby and Kreacher getting accidentally handcuffed together and driving cross-country so Dobby can lose his virginity. (In addition to his elf-movie-pitching skills, Jon is one of the best people I know for talking about comedy-theory and can give you a very convincing spiel about how and why the Get Smart movie isn't likely to work while appreciating the fact that the teaser trailer is actually pretty funny.)
Then on Saturday Marisa and I spent most of the day at FeeBQh4, which might've actually been called 4BQh, and which I keep wanting to call FeeBQ4h. Anyway, it was Katie's annual Prospect Park barbecue and it was super-fun. I had a hot dog and cookies and pasta salad and animal crackers and s'mores and sausage (no snausage). There was more Harry Potter talk and everything was nice. Katie and Derekh's friends in the NYC area may outnumber my lifetime total.
Today it was hot and I did a bunch of homework. Gross. But I also bought New Pornographers tickets for October once I found out that Neko Case and Dan Bejar are on board for this tour. Anyone else want in with me, Marisa, and Jon, you let me know.