Weasley Is My King

After seeing Deathly Hallows Part 1 for a second time, I have decided to post my thoughts on it. The first time, I was too emotional after seeing it. I immediately loved it of course, but I figured I should see it at least one more time before I solidified my opinion on it.

Beware! This post will be riddled (not to be confused with Tom Riddle...Haha, a little Harry Potter humor there, courtesy of my niece, Emily) with spoilers from the movie and storyline from the 7th book of the series. I really, REALLY don't want to be responsible for ruining this fantastic story for someone who has yet to experience it, so please, think about it before you read on.

*********Seriously..... Spoilers. Storyline ruined. Beware.************

Brief summary of the story: The Ministry of Magic has been taken over by Voldemort and his Death Eaters (trying to rid the magic world of muggles). Harry, Ron and Hermione set off on a journey to track down the rest of Voldemort's horcruxes, in hopes to destroy him forever. (That is a VERY brief summary. Very brief.)

I often refer to this particular book in the series as "Harry Potter and The Very Long Camping Trip" or "Harry Potter and The Book Where Everyone Dies". The camping trip in the book (they are on the run from snatchers, death eaters and Voldemort, hence: the camping) is seemingly neverending the first time you read it (the second time is much more enjoyable) but in the movie, they did a brilliant job of keeping the pace going and adding in a lot of important information along the way. You get a sense of how long and tedious the camping trip is for them but it doesn't seem as long winded as it did in the book. As far as the "everyone dies" aspect of the movie, they stuck to the book just right and dealt with the deaths perfectly. I cried a lot. I'm overly emotional about these characters. 

It's no secret that Ron is my favorite character in the books/movies. Of course, I love Harry and Hermione but Ron always breaks the tension and keeps things light and he's super cute. Having Rupert Grint play Ron just adds to my fascination with the character. I love, love, love Rupert Grint. He has always been good in the movies but in Deathly Hallows he was brilliant. He has to play a moody, angsty, frustrated version of Ron and he does it SO well. There is a scene where he gets to play a bit of a hero and it's one of my favorites; When he saves Harry from the pond in The Forest of Dean and recovers the sword of Gryffindor. It was exactly as I saw it in my head while I was reading the book. So fantastic. 

I loved the music and the intensity of the scenes when they are in the ministry and running away from Yaxley.

I loved the part where Hermione is reading the story of the three brothers, that basically explains what the Deathly Hallows are. It was such a creative/simple way to explain the story. Also, I could listen to Emma Watson talk all the live long day, so that made it even better. 

I loved the scene with Harry and Hermione dancing. Ron has left and Hermione is sad, so Harry tries to cheer her up. It's just sweet and simple.

The parts with Bellatrix (Helena Bonham Carter) and Hermione were fantastic and frightening. Speaking of frightening, I don't like snakes. A great deal of the Harry Potter journey has to do with snakes, so it's sort of surprising that I love the series as much as I do. The snake scenes in the movie are crazy scary (to me, at least). I covered my eyes the second time I watched because they are FREAKING SCARY. Blech. That's all there is to say about that.

My only disappointment with the film is that Harry had no closure with the Dursley's. They were a huge part of his life and they were all so awful to him, that it was fulfilling when he had a bit of a happy ending with them in the book. Harry makes them leave their home, in order to keep them safe. Dudley more or less tells him that he thinks he's an okay guy. I am hoping there will be a deleted scene like this on the DVD.

I know it's a rambling, disjointed review of the story but honestly, it's really hard for me to sum up my feelings on this. I love the books and the movies so much that I just start to gush about everything when I talk about it. All in all, Part 1 was extremely well done. They stuck faithfully to the book (for the most part) and added in some stuff that made it better. It ended at just the right spot too. It was an emotional roller coaster and I couldn't stop thinking about it after I saw it. I know it's just a story/movie but it's so fantastic and it makes me happy. While I can't wait for Part 2, I am going to be so so sad when it's all over. For the past 10 years there has always been something to look forward to, whether it be the next book or the next movie. I love the world that J.K. Rowling created. It will be sad when there are no more to look forward to.

On a completely unrelated note: The TV show, The Sing-Off comes back tonight at 8pm on NBC. It's an all a capella singing contest that takes place over five nights. Ten groups compete, while being judged by Ben Folds (YAY!), Nicole Scherzinger and Shawn Stockman. It's a fun competition with absolutely no musical instruments whatsoever. Nick Lachey hosts but I promise, he's the only lame thing about the show. Last year's runners up (and mine and Jeff's favorite group), The Beelzebub's have been in the last two episodes of Glee. These are some seriously talented people. Check it out, it's fun!

Zombies, Flowers and Dragons.

So, there is this new show out right now, it's called The Walking Dead. Maybe you've heard of it? For those who haven't, it's on AMC, Sunday nights at 10pm and it's based on a series of graphic novels by Robert Kirkman. It's a brilliant show and has come to fill the void in my TV heart that Lost left when it ended. "But I don't like zombies" you say. Let me tell you, there is so much more to this show than the groaning, grunting, chewed off faced  "walkers".

*Mild Spoilers Ahead*

I have to give Dennis credit for telling me to watch the show before it debuted on Halloween. He has read the comics and the buzz surrounding the premiere was huge. All the pop culture sites I go to were talking about it and promoting it. I'll admit, I was hesitant. I am not a fan of horror films. At. All. They scare me (duh, that's the point) and I can't sleep and I think about them for weeks afterward. In other words, I am a huge baby. So, you will understand why I had issues with watching a show about flesh eating corpses. The basic premise is about zombies taking over Georgia (probably the whole world, though they haven't shown anywhere else). Deputy Sherriff, Rick Grimes (played by Andrew Lincoln, who is amazing and also played that super cute boy in Love Actually who told Keira Knightley she was perfect, aww.) is shot and ends up in a coma. When he wakes up, he discovers he's pretty much all alone and there are dead people walking around. I don't want to say too much more because I want you all to watch for yourselves but Andrew Lincoln is an awesome actor.I was riveted by his performance throughout the pilot episode. I'm sure it's not very common that a television show about zombies can make a person cry heartwarming tears (like it makes me do almost on a weekly basis). It has funny moments, it's incredibly intense and there are tons of moments that make your jaw hit the floor in surprise. It's like a breath of fresh air and I love it.

The season finale is this Sunday at 10pm.

"Sarah, why are you telling us about this super awesome show just days before the season finale??" Because friends, on December 5th (this Sunday) @330pm, AMC will be showing an all day marathon of The Walking Dead, so that you can catch up by the time the final episode airs. Hooray! It hasn't been announced when season 2 will begin but I am betting on next October. Seriously, check this show out. I promise it won't disappoint you. If nothing else, you can pick up pointers in case there ever really is a zombie apocalypse. YOU NEVER KNOW.

Let's discuss Flowers now, shall we? As in Mr. Brandon Flowers. I was lucky enough to see him in concert a few weeks ago at The Royal Oak Music Theater with some fantastic people. I was a teensy bit worried about the concert because of what happened the last time I was at ROMT for a recently gone solo artist (see previous post). There was no reason for my worries. This show was phenomenal. Yes, phenomenal. He came out (in suspenders! Eee!) and was energized and his voice sounded amazing. The whole crowd was singing along with him on several songs and I LOVE that. It was non-stop dancing, singing, screaming for an hour and a half. He was a billion percent better than Steven Page. It made me realize all the more how much Mr. Page has fallen and I am very proud to say that Brandon has replaced him as my #1 musical crush.

This is my favorite video that I could find from our show.  LOVE IT.


And Finally Dragons...
The past couple of weeks I have been reading Stieg Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series. It's a Swedish crime novel that I am sure most of you have heard of at some point. The main character is a kick ass girl named Lisbeth Salander. There are movies based on the books (In Sweden) and they are currently in production on the American version of the first film. I have yet to see the movies but the books are really good. The first one was a little slow at first. Ok, it was a lot slow to start off but halfway through the book it got really interesting. It at least hooked me enough to want to read the sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire. I finished that one last night and it is fantastic. I literally did not want to put it down. The way Larsson writes is like a giant puzzle that you have to figure out. The story is told from so many different points of view and that makes it more interesting, rather than confusing. I am looking forward to reading the third installment, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, as well as seeing all the films.

One last thing for my Lost friends, Jorge Garcia was cast in a new J.J. Abrams (yay!) show entitled Alcatraz. It's supposed to be on FOX and is about, you guessed it, the famous prison. It also has to do with FBI agents and of course time travel. Because you can't have a J.J. Abrams show that doesn't include some aspect of people traveling through time. We'll see how this turns out, though I don't really have high hopes because it's on FOX and things tend to get canceled very quickly on that network.