Sir Nerdalot...bear with me

So, in light of hearing so many people's opinion of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie, I've decided to put my two cents into this blog (well, more like twenty cents, actually)...

First and foremost, I stand by the fact that this was the best movie so far. It happens to be my favorite book in the series, so I was ready to be let down. It was not verbatim to the book and I certainly had some issues with it, but it was an amazing movie, nonetheless. More on that later. First, here were my majors beefs with the film:

-The subtraction of the Ministry plotline...ok, I get why. Scrimgeour can easily be introduced in the last two movies, and the muggle Prime Minister scene wasn't THAT significant. But, seeing as how the last movie had so much to do with the Ministry, a little shout out might have been appropriate...
-Ginny Weasley. Oh boy. As adorable as Bonnie Wright is, that girl did not have the sauce to pull off Ginny. And to be honest, I felt she was a bit imposing at parts. Her standing next to Harry on the Quidditch field barking orders instead with the rest of the team, her next to Harry when Dumbledore died instead of Hagrid...it just didn't feel right. Which sucks, because Ginny Weasley is an excellent character.
-The memories of Voldemort left something to be desired, but once again, I was ok with this. They'll find a way to explain the rest of the Horcruxes that Harry and Dumbledore talked about in the next two movies.
-Ginny and Harry in general. What was with the "Let me feed you" and "Let me tie your shoes" parts? Kinda creepy. Once again, if Bonnie Wright had a bit more sex appeal, it may have worked. I dunno.
-The Burrow fire scene....WTF. Totally and completely unneccessary. It didn't happen in the book, and I don't think it really added anything to the movie. And why didn't they "auguamenti" that shit? Is the Burrow just gone now? I could gone on about this, but I'll refrain.
-The cave scene, which is my FAVORITE chapter in all of the HP books, was heavily abbreviated. It still got the point across I suppose, but I wish they would have put a little more into this amazing and intense scene.
-And here is my BIGGEST problem with the movie: Harry isn't petrified when Dumbledore dies. Harry's entire character is based on the fact that he can never just stand by and let shit happen. And Snape shushing him did not justify it. How hard would it have been to petrificus totalis Harry? Ugh. Hated that.
-And, of course, the subtraction of the battle at the Astronomy Tower stairs, which really could have added some much needed drama in this scene. The Death Eaters simply walk out of Hogwarts la-di-da, with only Harry to stop them. Totally dumb.
-Is the Fleur and Bill sub-plot just going to be wiped out? So no wedding with Kingsley's Patronus saying "The Ministry has fallen, Scrimgeour is dead"? That's a pretty important part to leave out...
-Helena Bonham Carter a la Bellatrix LeStrange. Ok, I like HBC as an actress, but she has not impressed me in her role as Bellatrix. She's always slinking up behind people, touching them, and whispering in their ear in this seductive way and she is acted out so one-dimensionally. She's a major villian in the series and I really thought more could have been done that gave you more than just the Cliff's Notes to her character: sexy, evil, and fucking crazy.
-Lastly, the awkwardness between the trio at the end left the movie on a weird note. Ron was just sort of standing aside and not saying anything. I kinda get why they did that but it made him seem so distant and weird. no like.

Ok, so with all those issues, you'd think I hated the movie, right? Nope, not at all. I understand that the movie cannot be an exact copy of the book. The movies are meant to be an adaptation of the books that can still stand on their own as a good movie! This was my problem with the 5th movie...there was no depth to it. They didn't work on building the chemistry of the characters on screen in OotP, and the movie was a super sped up outline of the important parts of the book essentially. Don't get me wrong, there were some cool scenes, but overall I felt the 5th movie was just...empty.

The 6th movie had everything the 5th movie didn't. And the camera work/way it was filmed was so much better! It was even quite artful at some points. Namely, the scene where Draco is crying at the sink after just seeing Katie Bell, and there's a quick but effective wide-angle shot of him hunched down over the sink, shirt slightly untucked. Here's what else I liked:

-Hermione shooting birds at Ron (amazing that they put this in, so awesome)
-Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes
-The train scene where Draco broke Harry's nose...exactly as I imagined it. Complete with *CRUNCH* sound
-Draco Malfoy in general. Tom Felton kicked ass in this movie. He wa barely a footnote in the 5th movie, and he certainly made up for it here. You really feel bad for him, and even get a little bit of Draco that you didn't get in the books: his experiments with the Vanishing Cabinet. Oh, and can we say sa-whaaaank as far as his suits go? When he picked up his briefcase and exited the Hogwarts Express at the beginning, I turned to Blake and say "Oh look, it's Executive Draco". And he had the snarly-lip expression as usual to complete the effect. Very nicely done.
-Luna Lovegood. And her Lion headdress. She's perfect in the movies.
-the Pygmy-Puff cameo...
-Harry, Ron and Hermione. They were perfect. IMO, they never played their parts as well as they did in this movie. Ron was hilarious. Harry actually had a personality. Hermione was adorable and awkward and exactly as she should be.
-Cormac McLaggan. Skeezy and spot-on.
-The Potions class scene, where Hermione gets frazzled by Harry outperforming her.
-The Slug Club
-Lavendar Brown. Amazing.
-Sectumsempra scene
-Harry and Felix Felicis ("That would be counter-productive, sir!")
-Terrifying scene with the Inferi!
-The wands held alight when Dumbledore died (although I would have preferred the actual funeral) and the Phoenix in the sky.

Alright, off my soap box. Needless to say, I love Harry Potter and feel those who haven't read it blow it off as some children's book all about the power of love and friendship. It's so much more than that. And honestly, I really think the 6th movie gave the essence of HP as it is...and not just some cheesy recapping or summarizing.

Dope: off subject, learning Japanese is going very well for me. Learned how to say "where is...?" today and also the words "avenue", "here", "there/not here", and lots more. Watashi-wa Nihongo-ga skoshi wakarimasu.

Totally not dope: going to work this week, worrying about money after my arrival in Narita on the 1st, and general nervousness.

Let my love open the door

As someone who is a knitter, an artist, and a architectural designer, I have realized that I notice silly, tiny little things in tv/movies that other people do not. I notice knitted items in EVERY movie/tv show I watch, artwork framed distantly in the background, wallpaper and bedding, etc. And, while I consider this for the most part a wonderful thing, it does tend to suck up quite a bit of time on le interweb when I feel hellbent on finding, for example, a similiar wallpaper to the one used on Flight of the Conchords in Bret/Jermaine's bedroom...

And I don't think this happens because I lack originality...I think I am just someone who is very easily inspired by visual images...so I may stray from where I started, but the initial inspiration found in movies and some tv sends me into a frenzy...if I had no eyes, I would have no life....I guess that's a characteristic that is shared among us knitters.

Anyway, my point is, I have a lot of fun finding patterns for knitted items I've seen...and 90% of the time, some similiarly crazy knitter has already seen the item in question and written up a pattern for it. Here's a couple that I've been thinking of writing patterns for:
Mary's hat in "The Secret Garden"

Lily's hat in "Eagle Vs. Shark"...this one would be an easy one to write....you can't really tell, but all it is is a super-duper wide 1x1 ribbing around the bottom, and then a non-gradual cinch at the top....similiar to the Pithy Hat I'm working on...
And of course, all of the many many MANY HP-inspired knits...This still is from THE NEW HP. The best book...of the series. And so help me, if they mess it up like the 5th movie.....WHO'S EXCITED? Not quite nerdy enough, you say? Well, there was even a sweeeet book written on the subject of HP knits:This book has sweaters, hats, scarves (of course), socks....all from the HP movies. I hope she writes another one after they get done with all the movies, because I want to make that lacy cabled hat worn by Hermione in the image above from the 6th movie. Is anyone else annoyed that they made Daniel Ratcliffe's hair look stupid again for the new movie? It needs to be longer! Oh well.

So Blake and I have been watching a lot of "True Blood"...it's that show about vampires on HBO with Anna Paquin. It's pretty good! Cheesy dialogue, and well, it's about vampires, but there's something about it that I like.

Do you ever just want to skip town for a year and go to....I dunno, Japan or something? I've been thinking a lot about that lately. I guess it's because my undergraduate studies are over and I'm feeling adventurous for foreign countries. I think we're going to Europe next year. It'll do Blake and I a lot of good, I believe.

My mom used to (and still may) have this big box of winter wear in the closet nearest to the front door that we would all rustle through and wear when it was cold out. It was like a community winter gear box for all four of us kids....I'd like to see that stuff again and try to recreate it, as I remember a set of hats/mittens that were so vintage and adorable....I'll have to ask her about that.

Speaking of my mom's house, she's been cleaning the garage and she found a bunch of my old art stuff...and pictures of my family.My grandpa (Mom's dad) in the 1950s...in Casablanca....he was in the service and travelled everywhere.

One day I will get those scarves done...The August is For Melody scarf needs to be done by Thanksgiving....and I am just DRAGGING on it...Hopefully my resurgent interest in watching movies constantly will deplete some of my WIP woes.

Send me links to the stuff you guys have been making! Whether it's a Flickr image, something on your Ravelry/Craftster, whatever! Whip it out.