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And, once again, I've totally neglected my lovely blog. I'm so sorry, blog. < petting head> You're a good blog. I'm just having the hardest time coming up with things to say lately!
You can add another stressor to the plate 'o burden. My grandfather passed away last Friday. Unexpectedly, on vacation with my grandma, he passed away in his sleep. So my dad & his siblings drove out to where they were to pick up my grandma & bring her & the car back. Now my grandma is getting the joyful task of trying to plan the funeral - making everybody happy & comfortable, as she put it. That just sucks. You lose your husband and you've got to worry about everybody's else's feelings?? What a load. I just told her that I'll do whatever she wants, however she wants it & not to worry about pleasing everybody. Everybody just wants to come & show respect for Art & remember him. WE all should be concerned with how we can make it as happy & comfortable for her & her children as we can. But, as we all have learned from other recent deaths, oftentimes people are selfish and piglike in their self-absorption.
So, that's what we'll be doing next weekend. Visitation & Masonic service on Friday. More visitation & funeral on Saturday followed by private interment. I'm getting a little too experienced at singing for funerals, y'all.
The remainder of our time has been filled with Harry Potter. I saw the movie once on my own & then again with Steve & Maggie. I must say, I liked it a lot. And, y'all?? After seeing this movie, you cannot convince me that Alan Rickman doesn't know EXACTLY what his fanbase loves about him & it doesn't color his acting choices. Simply. No. Way. From the way he stands, to the way he moves his hands, to the way he delivers his lines; all of it is designed to appeal to the contingent of Rickmaniacs who hang on every little movement & syllable he delivers. Carefully planned and snarkily enjoyed by him - no doubt about it.
Helena Bonham Carter was outstanding as Bellatrix. I loved her "itty.....bitty.....baby....Potter" line. And her taunting of Neville. And Lucius was luscious, as always. He was channeling just a bit of Tim Curry in the Ministry of Magic. I HATED his new wig, though. Choppy looking and very unflattering. Watching Lucius & Sirius' wand battle was so cool. I saw an interview with Jason Isaacs talking about that & how cool it was to try to come up with fun & unique ways to attack each other during that scene. Different flourishes and hand holds, etc. How fun would that be, y'all? Going to work every day & playing wand battles with Gary Oldman & Jason Isaacs?
I also loved Luna. I didn't really pay her much attention in the book, but Evanna Lynch did a great job with it. I really liked her.
Then, yesterday, our book #7 came from Amazon. I had to read it before Maggie - as a good parent should - and I started it at 4:30pm. Finished it exactly at midnight. And I don't know why the Potter fandom has to explode about it, because I really enjoyed it. I won't spoiler any of it here in case some of y'all are planning on reading it. I'll just say a couple things:
1. Neville wins the internet. He is hardcore & I love him.
2. Thank you, JK, for giving the middle-aged/older women some serious stuff to do.
3. I cried. 3 times to be exact.
4. I knew it. The whole time. Yes, I did. I called it 2 years ago.
5. Yes, there were some plotholes. Yes, there were some character changes I wasn't terribly pleased with. Yes, the Exposition of Expository Expositing was a little heavy handed at times. Yes, there were some sentences that were criminal in their poor construction & emotive nonsense. But it's a CHILDREN'S BOOK. It's not Dante. It's not Plato. It's not even Tolkien, fer cryin' out loud. It's a well-received, fairly well-written CHILDREN'S book. It's not meant to pass the test of GREAT LITERATURE. It's supposed to be a fun read.
And for all y'all who are peeved that Rowling didn't write it the way you wanted? Whoa. Seriously. Get a life. How someone can accuse the WRITER of the MADE UP STORY of not being canon is beyond me. It's HER STORY. Out of HER MIND. Whatever she writes is canon, y'all. Just because you believe that Harry+Hermione4evahOMG! doesn't mean anything. It's a BOOK. Read it, enjoy it & then put it down & get on with your life.
That said, I'm sad it's over. I've really enjoyed those books & looking forward to the next one. I'm sad they're done.
And, in the midst of all that, I finished a new kit. It will debut on Thursday. It's a tribute to my mother-in-law and based on her favorite color - rose mauve. I hope she likes it.