Movies, Music and Mayhem
Jun. 7th, 2004 11:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liptonrm_backupThis was my second weekend of 'vacation' in a row. Spent the time in Ann Arbor with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hlgraban and had a blast. I will be chronological in my report, so first I will speak of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and my subsequent reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
I can officially say that PoA is the first Harry Potter movie that I have really, really enjoyed. Alfonso Cuaron did an amazing job, he made the wizarding world real in a way that Chris Columbus could have never accomplished, ever. When I was a kid I never realized that directors did anything important in a movie but PoA reemphasized the fact that a good director can turn a boring, tired, cliched format into something of brilliance; he can bring worlds and characters to rich, glowing life. That is what Cuaron did in PoA, something neither Columbus or Rowling have ever been able to do for me. Alfonso, dear, I do think you've done the impossible;-).
There was magic, there was mystique, there was wonder and there was extreme beauty. The shots and cinemetography took my breath away and the vista of the Northern Scotland had my heart singing. Suddenly I need to go to Scotland as much as I need to go to New Zealand. It wasn't a movie, it was poetry.
And have I said how cute all of the kids were? Oh my gosh, I just wanted to pinch their cheeks and give them chocolate and spoil them all rotten. I love Ron, love him, love him, love him. The people I saw the movie with don't quite understand my deep and abiding love for the character and tend to worship and the altar of Hermione, but my love is pure;-). I've also finally realized why people dote on Remus so much because he is very much a sweety. And the twins scene was just perfect. I suprisingly and whole-heartedly adored this movie and its cuteness buoyed me up for hours after I had seen it. Bravissimo to everyone involved.
My newly discovered love for Harry Potter inspired my to read Order of the Phoenix on Friday night and I was subsequently reminded why I hadn't loved Potter and friends before. No offense intended, but Ms. Rowling just cannot write a book that I want to read. Her imagination is vast and her characters are cute but her prose makes me want to scream and her plots wouldn't know how to focus if Tolkien were writing them. So frustrating! The story was simply not engaging, the villains were dropped on our heads like anvils and I frankly just didn't care. JKR needs a saint of a beta-reader to tell her what she's doing wrong and help her pare down her verbiage cause that book did not need to be nearly 1000 pages long! The Harry Potter fandom is the first one wherein I prefer the fanfiction (of which movies are a part) over the actual printed works. So, if anyone can shoot me towards some good Ron-fic I'd be most obliged (Weasley is our King!;-).
Saturday we watched movies. Saw Kill Bill vol. 1 and Girl with a Pearl Earring finally. They were very...interesting. They were different and intriguing, very well acted (though Quentin's dialogue is a leeeetle too much like a thesaurus) and neither was wholly satisfying, in a way. I'll reserve final judgement on Kill Bill until I see the final part.
Saw Dido in concert on Sunday. That was a kick-ass presentation. We went to the Fox Theatre in Detroit, which is absolutely gorgeous, and the music blew me away. She had a percussionist, people, with a huge drum and bongos and a rain stick and so many nifty instruments! Great, frenetic performance and it was all enhanced by the 40-something married couple in front of us who was just about the cutest couple I had ever seen. They held each other and danced to the slower songs and swayed to the faster ones and I want to be like that when I grow up;-). If you get a chance to see Dido in concert I would highly recommend it. A great time was had by all.
And now, it's back to life and work and stuff. That's okay, I have some great memories to sustain me through the weeks ahead;-). Yay!
hlgraban and had a blast. I will be chronological in my report, so first I will speak of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and my subsequent reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the PhoenixI can officially say that PoA is the first Harry Potter movie that I have really, really enjoyed. Alfonso Cuaron did an amazing job, he made the wizarding world real in a way that Chris Columbus could have never accomplished, ever. When I was a kid I never realized that directors did anything important in a movie but PoA reemphasized the fact that a good director can turn a boring, tired, cliched format into something of brilliance; he can bring worlds and characters to rich, glowing life. That is what Cuaron did in PoA, something neither Columbus or Rowling have ever been able to do for me. Alfonso, dear, I do think you've done the impossible;-).
There was magic, there was mystique, there was wonder and there was extreme beauty. The shots and cinemetography took my breath away and the vista of the Northern Scotland had my heart singing. Suddenly I need to go to Scotland as much as I need to go to New Zealand. It wasn't a movie, it was poetry.
And have I said how cute all of the kids were? Oh my gosh, I just wanted to pinch their cheeks and give them chocolate and spoil them all rotten. I love Ron, love him, love him, love him. The people I saw the movie with don't quite understand my deep and abiding love for the character and tend to worship and the altar of Hermione, but my love is pure;-). I've also finally realized why people dote on Remus so much because he is very much a sweety. And the twins scene was just perfect. I suprisingly and whole-heartedly adored this movie and its cuteness buoyed me up for hours after I had seen it. Bravissimo to everyone involved.
My newly discovered love for Harry Potter inspired my to read Order of the Phoenix on Friday night and I was subsequently reminded why I hadn't loved Potter and friends before. No offense intended, but Ms. Rowling just cannot write a book that I want to read. Her imagination is vast and her characters are cute but her prose makes me want to scream and her plots wouldn't know how to focus if Tolkien were writing them. So frustrating! The story was simply not engaging, the villains were dropped on our heads like anvils and I frankly just didn't care. JKR needs a saint of a beta-reader to tell her what she's doing wrong and help her pare down her verbiage cause that book did not need to be nearly 1000 pages long! The Harry Potter fandom is the first one wherein I prefer the fanfiction (of which movies are a part) over the actual printed works. So, if anyone can shoot me towards some good Ron-fic I'd be most obliged (Weasley is our King!;-).
Saturday we watched movies. Saw Kill Bill vol. 1 and Girl with a Pearl Earring finally. They were very...interesting. They were different and intriguing, very well acted (though Quentin's dialogue is a leeeetle too much like a thesaurus) and neither was wholly satisfying, in a way. I'll reserve final judgement on Kill Bill until I see the final part.
Saw Dido in concert on Sunday. That was a kick-ass presentation. We went to the Fox Theatre in Detroit, which is absolutely gorgeous, and the music blew me away. She had a percussionist, people, with a huge drum and bongos and a rain stick and so many nifty instruments! Great, frenetic performance and it was all enhanced by the 40-something married couple in front of us who was just about the cutest couple I had ever seen. They held each other and danced to the slower songs and swayed to the faster ones and I want to be like that when I grow up;-). If you get a chance to see Dido in concert I would highly recommend it. A great time was had by all.
And now, it's back to life and work and stuff. That's okay, I have some great memories to sustain me through the weeks ahead;-). Yay!
