We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.

"Rebecca told me to read the Hunger Games. I was going to, but they're just too mainstream."
For someone who doesn't know what a hipster is, Mike's a natural at being one.

It was so lovely having Mike here.  I got Rebecca, then Mike, now I just need the three of us together again and life is perfect.  Best fwends.

On another note, Rebecca tweets a lot.  I enjoy every word of every tweet, I just wish more of them were about her undying devotion to me.

I got to see my family last weekend! Wachusett Mountain was a lovely little day trip.  It was an easy enough mountain; we all (including Eric at the ripe old age of 12) skied multiple black diamonds and had a generally lovely day since the lift lines moved so quickly.  Whenever we took the lift to the top of the mountain, the trails started out smooth and relatively flat, but we'd all round a corner and the path would widen out and steepen, forcing you to see this beautiful panorama of trees and a lake and villages.  We went around bends that opened up this way practically every run, but it left us breathless every single time.

I'm sick again and super unamused.  I usually get one sinus infection per year and that's it.  This nonsense of getting the sniffles every few weeks is not working for me.

Today at work, a man's sandwich cost $6.97.  He handed me a ten dollar bill and his change was 3OH!3.
The next man then handed me three dollar bills and a quarter for a cupcake that cost 3.20.  I gave him a Nickelback.

True story.  It was all priceless.

I am a honeypot.  Thanks to Shannon, Lauren, Laura, Sarah, and Meredith for this otherworldly compliment.  Here's to the Bed & Breakfast we're destined to open!

The moon is a Cheshire Cat smile tonight.  Henceforth, I shall blog for every Cheshire Cat moon because they're so poignant for me.  Read Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and it will all click.

Honorable mentions of the week: Feinstein, for being a jokester in class on Friday; Andy, for having a laughing fit thinking about Laurey's face in Oklahoma!, and having to leave class; Hugh Jackman for being Hugh Jackman; the Ninth Floor for waking me up from an excellent nap to a chorus of God Bless the Broken Road; all those who drink coffee over tea (though drinking tea is acceptable if you're a girl or a fan of Alice); and Yiruma, for writing beautiful piano music.

Classy things like Poetry and Popcorn

Happy Valentine's Day, all!  I'm a bit belated, but I mean it so sincerely that it's alright.  

Today was relatively peppy enough, I suppose.  I believe holidays can never have enough pep in them though, so that's a biased comment.  

We just got back from seeing The Vow.  "We" being Shannon, Lauren, Lauren, Laura (thanks to me), Sarah, Meredith, myself, and a large popcorn doused in butter.  Meredith and I enjoyed the popcorn immensely, but we collectively feel ambiguously about the movie. Shannon was particularly moved, though.  It was such a weird mix of happy and sad and unresolved but realistic.  Whatever.  I'm over it.  

There have been numerous quotable moments lately.  

I was talking to Meredith and Lauren after getting home from work on Saturday.  The recurring quote of the conversation: "It started in an elevator, it could only get so good."

Two days ago Alaric and I got to discussing classic works of literature and their authors, initiated by the play Green Grow the Lilacs, which Andy and I had to have read by today (It's basically the work from whence Oklahoma came).  I mentioned that Huck Finn is a fantastic book despite being written in nine Southern dialects.  Since this was on Charles Dickens' would-be 200th birthday, Alaric said "Samuel Clemens is a bro, just not quite as much as Charles DickFIST was."  Me: "Where does F. Scott Fitzgerald fit into this hierarchy?"  Alaric: "He's ACE TIER."

Many (most) of you won't get it, but it was a fantastic line and reference.  He actually successfully sautéed the entire world with those three words.  Even if he did have to make a tally on his arm for using a contraction.  

Today at lunch as Andy, Alaric, and I stalked past crushes: 
Alaric: "Permission to call all your ex-crushes bitches?"

Today while seeing The Vow:
Meredith: "Sabrina, if you make love in a car, wear your seat belt."
Always looking out for me.  I'm so lucky and loved <3

I've been in a poetry mood all day.  I usually don't have the patience for it, but I do rather love e.e. cummings' work.  I shall now treat you all to some of my favorite lines of his, in the spirit of celebrating life and love on Saint Valentine's Day:

you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens her first rose

exists no miracle mightier than this:to feel

look up: and we’ll dance, i and you; high above anybody and fate and even Our whisper it Selves but don’t look down and tomorrow and yesterday and everything except love

nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

I wish I could entitle this post a series of notes and have you hear the music I hear.

I kinda miss Rock Ensemble.  I feel like a Has-Been Rockstar listening to all the songs we played last semester.  Right now it's a brilliant, nine-minute version of Africa.  I didn't even get to play Africa and I miss it.  


Listening to Somebody That I Used to Know, by Goyte, a lot lately.  Apart from having relevant and relatable lyrics, the music and music video are seemingly simplistic while actually deceitfully intricate.  I highly recommend it.  


I am sick and unhappy.  That's actually a lie.  An extended lunch with Meredith and Laura and an entertaining dinner with Laura, Lauren, Sean, and Chris today proved laughter to be the best medicine ever. 


Know how all cultures create calendars based on some traumatic or society- altering event, such as the birth of Christ, etc?  I've found my life calendar's focal point.  The day I met Meredith Bradley.  Everyone should know that this is Year One of Our Meredith.  We celebrate the New Year/Our Anniversary on Halloween. Therefore we have three holidays-Halloween, New Year's Eve, and an Anniversary-rolled into one.  That's three times the.. fun!


Work at 7am on weekends... this ought to be an interesting semester.  Consequently, less Rageous Band this semester, but more money in my pocket.  Fair tradeoff.


Laura said some funny things yesterday, I can't remember anything specific though, apart from "I can't believe it loaded so fast!"  I said some funny things last night too.  My favorites were Alaric and Andy's responses: "Verily, what the flying fuck?" and "Atheists can't explain that!" respectively.  


I owe Scott and Ben an apology.  I grievously insulted each of them by assuming that they did not know who Joe Walker was when in fact they did.  I apologize for underestimating them both.  This was followed by a lot of hugging and bopping around attempting to apologize, book stealing, and me being picked up and thrown around and generally bullied.  Oh, life.  


Musicals was so joke-y this morning.  Feinstein was sick and discombobulated and MUSIC MAN (imagine Andy saying this with his nyagga inflection) was derping all over the place and the play and movie didn't coincide... what a mess.  


She's So High, by Tal Bachman is also a fun song.

After This I'm Harry Potter-ed Out. LOL JK NEVER.

WE NOW PRESENT THE SEVENTH AN FINAL INSTALLMENT IN THE EPIC ANALYSIS OF HARRY POTTER.


DOES EVERYONE SEE WHAT I DID THERE?

To Recap:

Pros:

-BRILLIANT soundtrack.  John Williams did a fantastic job of setting up the main themes in the first three films (The third was particularly dynamic, and part of why this is my favorite movie is the fantastic soundtrack.  I should write an essay on the influence each of the directors has had... Anyway, I recommend sampling the middle of all the songs.  You can find all the soundtracks organized and available for free listening on Spotify.)   Then Patrick Doyle's takes on the Quidditch World Cup, Yule Ball, and Three Tasks in Goblet of Fire were absolutely superb (Wizard Rock is also fun), but Nicholas Hooper rather dropped the ball in Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince.  Don't misunderstand me: These pieces of music are beautiful as well as beautifully performed, but they don't have the same charm as their predecessors do, and don't work in the context of a soundtrack.  The music became less musical and more like a stream of sound effects in places.  Alexandre Desplat rather confuses me.  I enjoy his themes and variations, but dislike the general path the soundtrack takes for Part One.  It's just kind of generic.  Part Two, however, had wonderful interpretations of all Williams' main themes.  Everything from Lily's Theme to A New Beginning, the final track of Part Two, consists of an ideal blend of Hollywood drama, pleasingness to the ear, and a high level of musicality.  If I may make a suggestion, I'd listen to a New BEginning all the way through rather than just sampling it.  Listen attentively, not passively.  It's beautiful and perfect for the moment it portrays.  The same applies to this last musical link.  The coupling of the Epilogue with a freshly arranged version of Williams's Leaving Hogwarts, the former final track in the first film, is highly poignant and expressive.  A New Beginning and Leaving Hogwarts, right after each other, always leave me with tears running down my face and, to me, present a simultaneously emotional, visionary, heartbreaking, and heartwarming finale to the epic series.  Hats off to Mr. Desplat for his work on these two films.


(^^Guys, I cried writing this section.  Music and Harry Potter?  My two favorite things, together?  Was there really a doubt?)

-Tons of direct quotes.  All our favorites were there: "Here lies Dobby, a free elf."  "If we die for them, I'm gonna kill you, Harry!"  " 'After all this time?' 'Always.' "  " 'Does it hurt, dying?'  'Quicker than falling asleep.' "  " 'You'll stay with me?' 'Until the very end.' "  "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" "Do not pity the dead, Harry.  Pity the living and, above all, those who live without love."  My personal favorite: "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on Earth should that mean that it is not real?"  And they finally threw in: "You have your mother's eyes," from the right person, at the right time, even if it was not strictly cannon.  

-Covered plot decently.  A lot does happen in the last 300 pages, and Kloves does get us there in the end.  The right people lived and died in the right manner, the Gringotts heist and escape were loyal to the book, the horcruxes were the correct items destroyed in the correct order, the drastic changes in Hogwarts policies were noted, Helena Ravenclaw helped Harry when he needed her, the Room of Requirement went up in flames properly, the Deathly Hallows were (somewhat) explained, Snape's death was as cruel as it was written to be, Snape's memories were wonderfully poignant, the Resurrection Stone was used properly, Harry spoke to Dumbledore at Kings Cross in his head, and Harry was the owner of the Elder Wand, allowing him to beat Voldemort.  All the elements were there.  

Cons:

-Forgotten-about details.  In a book, you have to have all loopholes closed, and J.K. did that excellently.  When you translate to the screen, many of the small details are unnecessary and are assumed to be accounted for.  It seemed like a huge deal when, during Half Blood Prince, Kloves skipped most of the memories pertaining to Voldemort's ascent to power.  In the last two films, though, most of the lost information is glossed over and the deduction of correct answers are attributed to Hermione's brilliant guesswork and Harry's connection to horcruxes (because you know, they sing to him).   

-All the good scenes they changed.  I personally love the scene in Ravenclaw tower, for example.  It's much more suspenseful than his stepping out from the crowd to chastise Snape.  Instead of Fred telling his last joke, you see him cowering in fear.  That is not how a Weasley would cope.  They weirded up Ron and Hermione's kiss.  That was unforgivable. (The use of any unforgivable... sorry, I had to.)  Harry's dramatic speech in the Great Hall in which he addresses Voldemort as Tom Riddle in from of the whole school and Order disappeared.  We rather needed it there to explain how the hell Harry was still alive.  Also, it would have taken about ten more seconds to add in Harry repairing his wand at the end.  The movies don't even show how problematic the Elder Wand is, with all the bloodlust it attracts, so to non-readers, snapping it was a bit overdramatic on Harry's part.  This is a much more petty point, but since when does Hogwarts have a boat house?  It's not like they've got a sailing team or any team besides Quidditch.  

-The meaning of the book was lost.  The book is entitled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, yet the hallows make very few appearances.  Taking a step back, we also lose a lot of what we're supposed to learn about Dumbledore's family.  Although this isn't a huge part of the plot, it contributes a lot to how we feel about Dumbledore, power, love, and the power of love.  We learn that Dumbledore's weakness is his affinity for power, and that this is why he cannot be the master of all three Deathly Hallows.  Who can unite all three hallows then and become master, conqueror, vanquisher of death?  Why, Harry, of course.  The term Master of Death refers to Harry's ability to use the three hallows to greet death as a friend, to embrace it.  Harry chooses to walk to his own death to save those he loves.  Because Harry can do this, his life is spared.  It’s less about him surviving because he is the wizard that owns the Elder Wand, as the movie plot tells us, and more about the very human quality of being able to love strongly.  What the book teaches us is that the ability to love is stronger than magic in the end.  Those who have read the books know this already, but those who haven't will miss a major message by only seeing the movie.   

In my professional opinion, I’ve given up thinking about whether the movie is effective or not.  What matters is that we, the readers, or audience, or both, understand what J.K. Rowling clearly tells us: Love is all you need.  We all get attached to the very Romantic ideas of magic and Hogwarts and crusading for what’s right, and get caught up in the pen and paper world Rowling has offered us.  Quite apart from how heartwarming and fulfilling it would be to live in Harry’s world, love is all we need.  Nothing more, nothing less.  

Epilogue.  


Nobody likes the epilogue.  More than anything else though, it's incredibly sentimental that Harry, Ron, and Hermione return to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters as adults, the place where they actually broke the barrier that divides everything mundane that they knew from a whole unknown world they choose to dive into.  The number 9 3/4 is the most emotionally charged symbol in the whole series in my humble opinion.  Many people characterize the series by the Deathly Hallows symbol and accredit it for encompassing so much significance, but I disagree.  I’d poured six years of my life into Harry’s world before knowing that that symbol existed.  That symbol does represent Harry’s ability to face death due to his extreme capacity to love.  This is a major theme in the series, obviously, yet it’s less poignant than the sign in Kings Cross for Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.  Kings Cross is a train station, the starting point of a journey.  Rowling alludes to this by setting the scene that takes place in Harry’s head at the station.  Now imagine being eleven and running toward a brick wall.  How exciting, how beautiful would it be to charge straight through and embark on a voyage into the wild and untamed and unpredictable unknown?  Some days that's all I want.  I want to lose the mundane and familiar things.  I want my own personal platform nine and three-quarters to open up a gateway to somewhere full of big adventures and dreams, somewhere where I'm small compared to the rest of the world, and somewhere I can achieve more than I've ever conceived of.  And yet, how ungrateful, how ignorant of me.  Look out a window.  I don't need that gateway because I'm already in that world.  J.K. Rowling said it nicely: "We do not need magic to transform our world.  We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already." 

Always.

Quick Intermission from HPDH Analyses for some Fangirl Madness

These lists are the products of hours of serious thought and consideration.  


THE WAYS I ORGANIZE HARRY POTTER CHARACTERS:

Favorite Characters as People, aka Most Awesome People:

1. Nymphadora Tonks: Absolutely the coolest character in the series.  If I can't be her, I want to be her best friend.
2. Harry Potter: Okay, so like, he's the Chosen One.  Come on.
3. Ginny Weasley: She has an awesome personality according to the books.  Bonnie Wright doesn't quite do the character justice. (Side note, I love this in reference to Book Two.)
4. Fred/George Weasley:  Bloody brilliant.  
5. Sirius Black: Am I the only one who would give up multiple limbs for Rowling to put out books about the adventures and crazy shenanigans of the Marauders?  Particularly the devilishly handsome and ne'er-do-well teen heartthrob Sirius Black?  He sounds like Danny Zuko when I say it that way. 

Best Developed Characters over the seven books (SPOILER ALERT):

1. Harry Potter: Most obviously.  We see the development of his every action over the course of seven years.  He's always been a hero, but it takes us seven years to understand how and why he is so.
2. Tom Riddle:  A huge contributing factor to the extreme success of the series is the characterization and development of Tom Riddle.  The series works because he has a motive and solid reasons for turning out the way he does.
3. Severus Snape:  Although he's a static character for books one through six, his true psyche comes to light in book seven, resulting in intense sympathy from an audience who never saw it coming. 
4. Neville Longbottom:  Quite apart from all the fuss everyone makes about Matthew David Lewis going from an awkward kid to a god, Neville develops gradually from a complete bumblefuck, to a character we have sympathy for, to one who realizes and develops his strengths to save the day.  
5. Petunia Evans-Dursely: Although she appears stagnant in her development most of the time, details about how she became who she is  sneak in here and there in books one, five, and seven.  Like Snape, she never develops during the story, but by the end of the series, again, we understand why she turns out as sour as she does.  

Most important to the story (MORE SPOILERZ):

1. Harry Potter: No Harry, no story.  With any significantly different protagonist, the story doesn't work.  Rowling says the idea for Harry's character "strolled into [her] head fully formed," and she had to work backwards to find a story to go with him.  
2. Tom Riddle:  Again, you obviously need Voldemort for there to be a story here.  Of course, you could argue for Sybill Trelawney's relevance because you need the prophecy, but any prophet could have made the prophecy.  As far as Seers go, she's replaceable.
3. Dumbledore: Although we don't see Dumbledore develop very much (we hear about his past and almost can't believe it really happened because it's so unlike the Dumbledore we know and love), he is a very nuanced character whose ingenuity, talent, and persona are vital to the series.  
4. Severus Snape: Besides bequeathing his memories to Harry (and saving his life multiple times), Snape was more essential in the events that set up the story and circumstances that Harry would later encounter.  Point is, he's super important. (Can't resist.)
5. Tie: Lily and Hermione.  Lily obviously is never really in the series, but if she hadn't shielded Harry with love, Voldemort would have won and that would have been that.  On the other hand, Hermione serves the same purpose as a laptop with internet connection over the whole series.  The girl knows everything.  It's a tie between the woman who died to keep Harry alive and the girl who lives to keep Harry alive.  

Now the fun part!! 

Guys from the books that I’d date:

1. Sirius Black: Like I said, DANNY ZUKO. 
2. Fred/George: Whoever tries to make a case against Gingers must have overlooked these two.
3. James Potter: If Sirius was Danny Zuko, James is Kenicke, his equally attractive and mischievous best friend.
4. Harry Potter: The way I see Harry is not as Dan Radcliffe. There is a separate Harry who lives in my head, and "the collective consciousness of a generation."  I think Dan Radcliffe is a tremendously talented performer, but my Harry is more true to the book.  And a bit more desirable.  
5. Oliver Wood: Thinking of you, Danielle.  This is THE ONLY guy from both the books (my imagination) AND the movies (Sean Biggerstaff is ADORABLE) that I approve of.

Guys from the movies that I’d do-- I MEAN DATE: 

1. Draco Malfoy: I adore everything about Tom Felton.  End of discussion.
2. Scabior: The hipster snatcher with the ponytail and plaid pants.  A bit of a wild card, but he's a likable enough villain.  Actor: Nick Moran.
3. Older Tom Riddle:  Aside from being a teenage super-villain, he's a very sophisticated, classy-looking guy.  Actor: Christian Coulson.
4. Neville Longbottom:  Have we not dwelled enough on this? Actor: Matthew David Lewis.
5. Cormac McLaggen: I know he's annoying as a Cornish pixie in the books, but he's got a very preppy attractiveness about him in the film.  Me gusta. Actor: Freddie Stroma.

I'D REALLY REALLY LOVE IT IF YOU SHARED WHAT ACTORS/CHARACTERS YOU LIKE BEST FOR ANY OF THE ABOVE CATEGORIES! Especially the last two ;) Do it in a comment here or a post on Facebook or whatever.  Love you all.  Mwah <3

Don't we all wish?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows P2 All Encompassing Analysis PART SIX

Hagrid carried Harry's limp body back to the courtyard as he was supposed to, and then the movie sort of goes batshit crazy.  Voldemort asks the crowd to join his ranks, and I like how Lucius and Narcissa have to call Draco out to going them.  Guys, he's a good guy underneath it all, I swear.  Can we talk about how Voldemort hugs Draco?  This defies every bit of knowledge we've gleaned about Voldemort/Tom Riddle's character over the course of seven books and eight movies.  We know the whole reason Voldemort is that he grew up without any love.  He certainly is not about to go looking for love right after he kills The Chosen One and stands on the brink of endless power.  Then, Neville decides the time is right for a monologue about how Harry's death doesn't matter.  I get that they're trying to convey the overarching theme of love being the more powerful force, explaining Harry's self sacrifice.  It comes off more as Neville saying Harry died for the "Greater Good," though, which is Grindelwald's gig.  No me gusta.

Fight breaks out again and more weirdness happens.  Voldemort wraps Harry in his cloak, bondage/S&M style.  SO NOT OKAY.  How does he get out of that, anyhow?  Harry then grabs Voldemort by the shoulders as though to make out with him, and launches them both off a cliff.  They then fly around partly melded together, which is inconsistent with the recent separation of their souls.  They were, but no longer are, conjoined at the soul.  

To be fair, Neville was EPIC in beheading Nagini, and Molly Weasley delivered her revered line, "NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH." But those are the only highlights at this point.

Once the snake is gone from Voldemort's system (which Harry seems to feel as well even though he shouldn't, now that the horcrux is gone from his system, but he should never have felt anyway), Harry and Voldemort glare at each other in a final sort of way and move in slow motion and the music builds to a peak as they cast their final curses at each other.  The Elder Wand flies through the air and Harry, "with the unerring skill of the Seeker" catches the wand.  Voldemort then disintegrates into air pollution.  Although the actual duel and Harry’s victory were done well and dramatic enough,  there were definite issues.  The duel is supposed to be in front of everyone and in the Great Hall.  All those in the Order and who fought alongside Harry deserve to witness the downfall of the source of anguish in their lives.  Harry ought to address Voldemort as Tom Riddle and try to save him by making him feel remorse and repair himself.  Also, Voldemort is a mortal again.  When he dies, he needs a CORPSE.

The rest of the film, I like very much.  The atmosphere in the Great Hall, somewhere between relieved and triumphant and mournful, was just right.  Although I liked the scene in Dumbledore's Office with his portrait, the movie scene on the broken bridge was more poignant.  Despite the movie's flaws, I was crying at the end because it all means so much to me.  That Harry’s adventure is over is devastating, but for the rest of us, it’s only the beginning.