Pottermore Update

Uh, it's awesome, and ya'll should be counting down the days until you can join (except that would be really hard, because there isn't a specific date... the beta time was just extended. So. sorry.)

Anyway, I got a wand and everything. It's Unicorn Hair, Rowan wood, 11 inches long. I'm not going to lie-- I was a little sad about the unicorn hair. I mean, who doesn't want a Phoenix feather? I know I did. But then I thought about unicorns, and realized that they are really cool too. And no everyone can have everything that Harry has. Or else then it wouldn't be special. So I'm happy.

The vague "everything" referred to in the latter paragraph includes, most dramatically, the house I was sorted into. If you get on facebook at all, you would have seen that I was placed in the lovely house of Helga Hufflepuff. And I speak honestly when I say "lovely." I truly am proud to be a Hufflepuff. I know that it is generally the house that is cast aside and throw out as boring, lame, stupid, and "the house for all the leftovers" who aren't that smart, brave, or ambitious. BUT, Hufflepuffs are the pure in heart. They are the good ones. The ones that are kind and helpful to everyone (ex. Cedric Diggory). And as Cedric points out in the Very Potter Musical on YouTube (which is hardly canon, might I add), "Hufflepuffs are good finders!" So I'm proud to be a good one. And Hufflepuff colors are yellow and black. And yellow is my favorite, duh. PLUS, I know where the Hufflepuff Common Room is (exactly!), and YOU DON'T!

That is all.

holy.

I just got the welcome email from Pottermore. You guys. It's just as good and as cool and we thought it would be. I've just barely cracked the surface, and I'm trying to figure it out. But it's awesome. I cannot even handle it. And once I get my wand and get sorted, I'll be sure to tell ya'll about it.

yes.

Pottermore

I'm finally registered.

It took a couple of days, a lot of research on Mugglenet and Hypable.com (a new fansite for HP and other fandoms made by my friends at Mugglenet), a 3AM wake up call, a dash out of the center vault on the first floor following an informative tweet (I took my break early), a quiz question (that was easy), a changed URL, a Magical Quill, and finally, a confirmation email.

It was a process.

But I got in.

Now I just have to wait for the welcome email, which will come in the next couple of weeks, and will FINALLY allow me to view the site. I guess they did the welcome email thing to that everyone wouldn't try to log in at the same time and crash the site.

But can you tell? I'm excited. I want to read that bonus material!!!!!

So. Recap of an awesome yesterday.

1. Jimmer went to the Kings. As quoted by Andrew, "The sky just fell...looks like I'm now a Kings fan."
I for one, am please that he went to the Kings. I mean, I could have imagined a better possibility, but hey, what's wrong with the Kings? Andrew said they were one of the coolest teams ever, and that he was a fan when the Jazz were crappy post Stockton and Malone. So I'm a happy camper. I had a little convo with Andrew via text message yesterday:
Audrey: how are you feeling about Jimmer and the Kings?
Andrew: Terrible.
Audrey: Why?
Andrew: Jazz silly girl.
Audrey: No. We didn't want him at the Jazz. I didn't anyway. But do you have anything against the Kings?
Andrew: How could u possibly speak such a terrible treason?
Audrey: (thinking: woah. are we a wee bit dramatic, brother?) I wanted him to get outside of Utah a little bit. Plus I wanted a new nba team to like. But I don't know if I can like the Kings...
Andrew: He is from New York duppy lions! And one favorite nba team is plenty for a casual fan such as yourself! But the kings are one of the coolest teams in the nba.
Audrey: If the Kings are so cool, then what's the problem?
Audrey: Duppy lions?

end of conversation. 2 things: 1) where did duppy lions come from? and 2) does anyone else feel like this conversation was a little bit circular? Andrew. Why are you so mad about the Kings if they are such a cool team? You make no sense.

2. Pottermore. Yeah, so I set my alarm for 6:55am so I could get up and hear the announcement about Pottermore. And guess what it is? A new interactive Harry Potter website written by JK Rowling. It's going to include all the information that a published encyclopedia would have. I'm still holding out hope for an actual hard copy encyclopedia (dang it, I want one of those). And here's the kicker: the thing that makes me the most excited about it: that JK Rowling is actually going to devise the system that the sorting hat on the website will use to sort people into houses. Do you realize what this means? Everyone actually gets to be sorted FOR REAL. I'm so nervous. What if I get placed in the wrong house? What if I don't get placed in the house that I have been dreaming of since 2001? Again, I refer you to a texting conversation that took place yesterday, this time between my cousin Shawn and I. He is listed in my phone as "Slytherin Sirius."

Audrey: ...but I'm excited! Shawny, this means we get to be sorted for real!
Slytherin Sirius: have fun in Ravenclaw Pot-Pot. (he calls me Potter or Potty or Pot, or Pothead, or I guess, now, pot-pot)
Audrey: NOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Slytherin Sirius: haha. If you're not, the whole sorting can't be trusted.

Note to Slytherin Sirius: you will eat your words when JK Rowling herself puts me in Gryffindor.

check it out. pottermore.com

3. Lene's birthday: First thing in the morning: we started watching Armageddon, Lene's favorite movie. I had never seen it before, so it was a treat. Then Lene went to lunch at Communal by herself yesterday. I would have gone... but I have no money. But guess who she ran into at the restaurant? A certain Bachelorette jerk head from Utah and his little daughter. Yes. You guessed it. She saw him in person, and I could not be more jealous. I like want to go hang out in front of Communal just in case he comes back. That would rock.

Second, we went shopping and then to the Jimmer draft party with our ward... and then to dinner at Pizzeria 712 in Orem. Yummy margarita pizza please. I could eat one of those everyday. And Lene looked beautiful in her new birthday outfit! We went to Spark for drinks and dessert afterward and lounged on those sweet benches looking cool and gossiping. High class, right? It was a ton of fun (but did anyone else notice that there was no music playing in Spark? It was weird.)

Lene, you rock my world, and I am so glad we are roommates! I don't think I can survive without you in the fall. Who will I play truth or truth with (for hours on end)? Who will I count on to do sign language to the people in the other cars? Who will I turn to when I can't decide which of all the boys in the ward I would kiss (haha)? Let's face it, my life is going to be a lot less fun when you are gone.

So anyway, Happy Birthday. 

4. We forgot to pay our gas bill. oops.

The NBA Draft is on Thursday

Why do I care? Jimmer.

What else is on Thursday?
Well, I think our gas bill is due.
And. It's Lene's 25th birthday. The party begins at midnight.

Last: Um. HI. JK Rowling is making an announcement on Thursday. The YouTube countdown just informed me that the announcement is 2 days 17 hours 33 minutes and 5 seconds away. For more information see: www.pottermore.com

I like Thursday.

A mix.

A quick something.

JK Rowling was recently on Oprah. I meant to watch it (because I always know when she has an appearance coming up), but unfortunately, I forgot. But, I caught the recap. And with the help of my friend Liz, I found this out:

1. Quoted from a news report: "Fans, rejoice -- J.K. Rowling offered a bit of hope on Friday that, perhaps, the final Harry Potter story has yet to be told. "I could definitely write an eighth, ninth, tenth," the celebrated author, 45, told Oprah Winfrey during an interview scheduled to air Friday. "I'm not going to say I won't. I don't think I will ... I feel I am done, but you never know."

My reaction: You know I love Harry Potter. But. I don't think there should be more. However, if the brilliant Ms. Rowling things there should be more, well then, there should be. I trust the woman.

2. Quoted from the same article: "However, Rowling mentioned that she did turn down one opportunity -- when Michael Jackson said he wanted to make a musical based on the books."

My reaction: I'M SORRY. WHAT??!? I had heard the rumors about a musical, but it was never public knowledge until Friday that it was MICHAEL JACKSON'S IDEA!!!! Now, I'm not sure that those two things- Harry Potter and Michael Jackson- should EVER EVER mix, but STILL!! Imagine the possibilities. WORLDS COLLIDE!

Here's the article if ya wanna read it:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/celebrity.news.gossip/10/01/more.harry.potter.ppl/index.html?eref=rss_showbiz&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_showbiz+%28RSS%3A+Entertainment%29

And another one about Michael's idea:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/J-K-Rowling-rejected-Michael-Jacksons-idea-of-Harry-Potter-musical/articleshow/6670974.cms

Neither are very informative, but it's the best we can do. Very little information available.


Adios.

A double birthday party to remember.

July 31. Two birthdays. Joanne Kathleen Rowling and her fictional, yet somehow very realistic, memorable, lovable, and admirable character, Harry James Potter.

With the help of several of my friends, I threw a party. It took days of thought and preparation, but I think I did something worthy of the honorable JKR and HJP. We had been talking about this Harry Potter party for months, literally since May when I discovered that my friend Joey loves Harry Potter as much, perhaps more, than I do. I didn't think I would meet my match in this life, but Joey, I think, knows more about Harry Potter than I do. He is a trivia king. He listens to Harry Potter in his car like it's music. Over and over again.

So anyway, we decided to celebrate our love for HP and throw a party.

We planned, made assignments, and then everyone showed up at my house around 9PM, July 31, 2010.

The party consisted of:

• Lots of Harry Potter food: Cockroach Clusters, lemon drops (because they're Dumbledore's favorite muggle candy), Acid Pops, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Love Potion, Butterbeer, Cauldron Cakes (compliments of Scott Pew), Pumpkin Pasties (compliments of Sarie), and a muggle-style birthday cake for both JKR and Harry (compliments of Dani). I'm going to be honest: the food. was. awesome. You might want to click on that picture to see it all up close!
  

• Decorations. I made 4 large poster banners- one for each house. I hung them from my ceiling. Joey made a collage/drawing of a fat lady to put on the front door (so it's like you are entering Gryffindor tower. I made a sign for the bathroom that says, "Prefects Only" and then really small at the bottom, "Password: Pine Fresh." I also made a little pear to hang in the kitchen, you know, cause you have to tickle the pear in the fruit bowl painting to get into the Hogwarts kitchens.

• Costumes. I just wore my HP7 shirt, HP glasses, and carried my wand in my back pocket (yes, I got several warnings that a back pocket is a very dangerous place for a wand). Rachel, however, came dressed as Luna Lovegood, and it was perfect. She even had a necklace that looked like it was made of radishes. She had spectrespecks and a Quibbler. Tyler came as Malfoy. He wore a badge that said, "POTTER STINKS," and hand-carved his own wand. Joey wore a shirt that among many things, said, "Neville is my homeboy" and "I heart defeating evil" and "heroes don't sparkle." Caitlin came dressed as the cutest Ginny Weasley I've ever seen. And Melissa wore a Gryffindor scarf. Scott made a badge that said, "Team Hermione." Bryce and Isaac found sticks outside and brought them as wands. You gotta admire their ingenuity.

Me and Rachel. You see her Quibbler?

Draco Malfoy.

Luna (Rachel), Bryce, Isaac. So cool. Rachel is trying to look like Luna- mystified and like there are wrackspurts flying around. Bryce looks stoned on accident.

• Sorting. I made a sorting hat. I also made house badges for everyone to put on after they got sorted. (Some people were really excited about the badges and even wore them to church the next day. Tyler in particular). Joey wrote questions to help sort people, and then to begin, he told us a sorting hat song. From memory. The questions worked for like 3 people, and then it got too easy for people to pick the answers that they wanted for the house they wanted. That's when it got good. Joey, Ryan, and Michael became the sorting hat. They asked random HP-related questions and then made arbitrary decisions about houses. Then, they would yell the house name out together. Like, "HUFFLEPUFF!" in unison. I recorded the house decisions on a piece of parchment with my quill. Most people accepted their houses. Some Slytherins were mad though. They wanted Gryffindor. One unlucky Syltherin appealed to me: "But don't I get to choose? Harry got to choose. And Dumbledore says that it's our choices that make us what we are, not our abilities." I, of course, could not deny her argument. She pulled the Dumbledore authority card. No one can beat that. One Hufflepuff was unhappy with his house. Bryce. I told him it was a noble house, and that he could be like Cedric Diggory. He accepted that and finally put his badge on. I shook my head and recorded his name and house.

Dani getting sorted. Can you tell from the mean look on her face that she is a Slytherin?

The handsome sorters. This might be my favorite picture of all time. (Michael, Joey, Ryan) PS, they are drinking Butterbeer. Not an alcoholic beverage.

• Trivia. Rachel came up with over 200 questions. We started the trivia with a few words from Joey: "Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment, Tweak," and then broke up into two teams: boys against girls. We didn't keep score though- I have no accurate way of knowing who won. We just answered questions back and forth, and it was a lot of fun. After the team trivia, though, came the face off between me and Joey that everyone had been anticipating for months. I had been dreading it, because I knew in my heart of hearts that I was going to lose- no longer the master of HP trivia. Which is fine. We actually didn't keep score for this competition either, and we mostly just answered together. So it was fun too. Very low pressure. It was the best, though, when we would answer a really hard question in unison. Everyone would cheer. One of my proudest moments, though, was after the question, "What was written on the Potter's headstone in Godric's Hollow?" I knew it. Joey didn't. "The last enemy that shall be defeated is death." BAM. I think, though, that by far and away, he won. He says that I won. He's just being nice. He won. For sure. But we pretended that we both won, and we decided to share the prize: The Tri-Wizard cup that Scott made.

Trivia Champions? Maybe.

Didn't I have the best helpers in the world? Scott, Joey, Sarie, Rachel, and Dani really came through for me. We worked hard, and the party was a blast. It is way too fun to be nerdy with all my friends. Everyone nerdy together. Such a good lifestyle. It was just so great to have so many people involved who love Harry Potter as much as I do. It wasn't like my past Harry Potter parties where my best friends come and marvel at my eccentricities. I mean, that's fine, whatever, I know they think I'm cool or else they wouldn't hang out with me, but this party was like I was among peers who are just as crazy as I am. And that was so great. And there were lots of us too, like 30-35 people coming and going. My apartment was really cramped, anyway. I think the party was for sure a success.

So, Mr. Potter and Ms. Rowling. Happy Birthday.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

One of my favorite days of all time: July 21, 2007.

If the HP 5 and HP 6 releases were a fun and exciting, then the HP 7 release was THE MOST FUN AND EXCITING THING EVER.

I literally took 150 pictures, screamed so much I lost my voice, set up a Harry Potter shrine to shame all others (see pic above. Yes, 98% of that is MINE.), threw 2 book 7 preparation parties (the second of which was on July 16 to celebrate book 6 and to play a final jeopardy game to determine preparedness level for book 7), made HP7 T-shirts and bookmarks for all my friends and family, organized a binder full of editorials from Mugglenet that added to my ideas about book 7, made a schedule and re-read books 1-6 in June and July, made 2 different countdowns 100 days out (one was a chain and the other a little box with cards in it), spent hours and hours on Mugglenet and JKRowling.com to study, prepare, and check out new theories, rumors, and updates, recorded my own theories in detail, worked on a 3x5 HP character file system (complete with a note card giving details for each character in the series, and let's just say there are a lot), listened to Mugglenet's Mugglecast podcast everyday at the gym, collected more Harry Potter stuff, and so on.

I showed someone part of my Harry Potter collection the other day and they said, "wow. You have shown me a new way to be a fan." I think she got it. The enormity of the situation. The fact that when I am a fan of something, I am the biggest fan of something that you have ever come across. I am devoted.

And so, I once again spent the release with Nicole. And Judy and Shawn. My cousins and aunt who lovingly refer to me as "Potty." It originally came from "Audie Potty," but morphed into just "Potty" when the whole Harry Potter thing happened in my life.

We got our wristbands at the Bountiful Barnes and Noble at 3am on Friday morning (somehow we missed the wristbands at the Layton store- they did it a day early and didn't tell anyone. See picture on left with the green shirts), but still went to the Layton Barnes and Noble that night. Nobody cared. They did the bands in groups of the alphabet. We sat securely in line with our "A" bands. "A" is for "Audrey," "Awesome," and "Absolutely the most devoted Harry Potter fans ever because they came to get a wristband earlier than everyone else." We got our books at 12:01am, then rushed home to take even more pictures and read a ton. (picture below: Nicole and I being more excited than is probably healthy.)

The experience of reading those books for the first time is hard to describe. It just is. It. is. so. fun. so great. We laughed and cried and finished and then cried because we were done, and it was over. I mourned by joining the facebook group, "After page 759 in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, my childhood ended."

But I love Harry Potter.

PS, I listened to HP7 all day at work today. It was magical. (picture to right: the gang. Those of us in festive Harry Potter shirts are obviously the coolest)

Happy Harry Potter 6 day.

5 years ago today Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released. July 16, 2005.

In preparation, I read all the books and I made shirts in graphics class with Mr. Gardner. They were lime green with black letters so they matched the book.

I spent the weekend, once again, at my cousin Nicole's house in Syracuse, Utah. We went to Barnes and Noble in Layton, Utah, and were eleventh and twelfth in a line of hundreds of people. It was beautiful. I'm not sure I had ever been more excited about anything in my entire life.

We read and cried and did the Harry Potter Happy Dance (copyright Audrey and Nicole, 2005).

And when I got home I read it again and then again. And I used my experience at the midnight release for a paper I wrote for Mrs. Barben in AP Language. I think that makes me a big nerd. I then made the paper I wrote into a story book/scrapbook to forever cement the memories.

"I disagree with Dumbledore on many accounts... but you cannot deny he's got style." -Phineas Nigellus

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released on June 21, 2003. It was the first Harry Potter book that I had to wait for, and that is possibly the reason why the book means the most to me.

It really is my favorite. People think I'm crazy when I try to convince them it is the best Harry Potter book. But really. It is. The best. Many claim that Harry is grumpy and mean and full of "angst" in HP5, but I think that his random spurts of anger are totally legitimate (haha, watch "Potter Puppet Pals: Wizard Angst" for a perfect display of this attitude). HORRIBLE things were happening to him, and any normal person would lash out. Harry isn't perfect, and he shouldn't be. Perfect characters are boring (exhibit A: that one dumb vampire that I don't even want to say the name of on my blog). Harry acts like a normal adolescent BESIDES being totally justified in his reactions. AND, I promise that all you book 5 haters out there would like it better if you read it again from THAT perspective. I promise it all makes sense.

Plus, think about how pivotal the book is. It gives SO MUCH background and introduces key people and places (aka the Ministry, the Order, Umbridge, several Deatheaters (Bellatrix anyone?), THE PROPHECY). The fifth book sets up the next two. It is CRUCIAL to the development of the story, and is super entertaining at the same time. AND, it's the longest, and more Harry Potter is always a good thing.

Anyway, that book contains a solid chunk of three chapters that I claim as the best three chapters in Harry Potter. I don't want to argue why they are the best. They are the best because they are my favorite.

In fact, the quote in the title of this post comes from one of those three chapters.

And the chapters are: 27. The Centaur and the Sneak, 28. Snape's Worst Memory, and 29. Career Advice.

I love them. But I'm not going to describe what is in them because I am 100% anti-spoiler. My number one Harry Potter rule: no spoilers.

So anyway, the point of this post is to commemorate the seventh anniversary of this great book. Happy 7th year, book 5.

I got my copy of Harry Potter 5 at Media Play in Ogden. This was before I was a pro at Harry Potter release parties. I went up to Northern Utah that week and weekend to spend time with relatives. I was with my Uncle Dave and Aunt Sherry for about a week, but then went to my cousin Nicole's house to get the book. I remember being super worried about hanging out with her to buy and read the book, because I wasn't sure that she would want to read like ALL DAY like I wanted to. It is funny that she wondered the same thing. Worries were not necessary, however, we were equally excited to get that book into our hands and read and read until we were done.

I brought my wand and wore my Harry Potter pajama pants (they had flying cars on them) to the store, and we sat in line for hours. The party was fun because of what we were waiting for, but the really awesome Harry Potter release parties I experienced came in later years :).

I remember getting my book and not thinking that it was real. I had literally dreamed about holding that book in my hands for nearly 3 years. It was a tad overwhelming. And I remember screaming like the whole way home.

We took three days to read the book. We wanted to read a ton, but we didn't want it to be over too soon. I think three days was perfect. We read it chapter by chapter, pausing at the same parts together to talk everything over. We ate strawberries and pineapple when we took breaks from reading. And we slept out in the living room after falling asleep talking about the books, and then woke up to keep reading before breakfast.

It was the most fun that I had had with Nicole in several years. I love her so much, and Harry Potter gave us something to connect to, together.

And that is my commemoration for book 5. It is just such a good book. And I think it changed my life a little. :)

It's April, the second best month of the year.

Just some things of late:

1. New favorite music: Adam Lambert, almost the ENTIRE For Your Entertainment album. Except, I don't listen to the title track. It's, um, not uplifting. But the album is super fun. I actually like to listen to it while I do homework. Weird, I know. I never used to do that. But I love to now. "If I Had You" and "Pick You Up" are my favorite songs on the album. Except I really like "Aftermath" too.

2. I went to St. George this weekend. Dani came with me. :) She loves St. George now, and that makes me so so so so happy. Because I love St. George. And I want everyone I know to love it too. But while I was home, we had a picnic on the Sugar Loaf, went to the Art Festival, watched General Conference, celebrated both me and Elise's birthdays, celebrated Easter, showed Dani around St. George (yeah, I took her to the high school), went to Dairy Queen with Moe and Jen, and drew a picture of a pig for Elise to hang up in her bedroom while my sisters made headbands. It was a fabulous weekend of happiness and sunshine. And St. George. What could be better? Btw, Elise redecorated her room, and it looks AMAZING.  I'm so jealous of that's girl's decorating talents. She is so creative. Anyway.

3. Elise made me a shirt for my birthday that says, "I would've picked Duckie," on it. Pretty in Pink is one of my favorite movies, and Duckie is like my all-time favorite movie character. The girl, played by Molly Ringwald picks the dumb supposedly hot boy over Duckie, the sweet and quirky best friend. And well, I would've picked Duckie. And now I can declare that to the world when I wear my shirt.

4. My cousin Nicole is coming home from Hawaii to visit in May. We're going to set up the Harry Potter shrine and have a party. I'm SOOOOOOOO happy about that. I love that Harry boy. And Nicole. :) When I was home this weekend, and I showed Dani my room, I pulled out some of my old Harry Potter stuff. Dani thought I was a FREAK. I showed her my binder of editorials about Harry Potter that I printed off the internet and annotated in order to keep track of theories and devise my own. And then I showed her my character files. I have index cards with details of all the characters on them. She thought I was a weirdo and said she would have to re-think our friendship. haha. I told her that she had just underestimated my obsession. I mean you can only say, "yeah, I love Harry Potter" so many times, and people still just don't get it. It's funny, too, because while I was dating Josh I kept thinking, he just doesn't understand my obsessive nature... it'll be funny when he figures it out. Unfortunately or fortunately, I don't know which, he never figured it out.

5. I have two and a half weeks left of school. I am so utterly excited I can't even say. Summer is going to be relaxing and fantastic, and I will just get to lay out in the sun all day. Except for when I have to go to work.

6. Rachelle is graduating and moving out. That's going to be weird. Not living with her, I mean. I'll miss that girl.

7. Vanessa and Kennedy are coming home SO SOON. I am so sosososososo excited. I have to admit, I've been very much a failure at writing to them, but that doesn't mean that I don't love them! I do, I promise. Vanessa is coming home the 15th, and Kennedy the 21st. So like a week apart. That means that I'll have to go to St. George to homecoming TWO WEEKENDS in a row. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but it'll be all right. I do love St. George. The real problem is that it'll be right in the middle of finals. Oh, and I won't have money for gas. I'll just have to figure that one out.

8. I love reading books. I started a book blog at the beginning of the year. But it's private. And it only has like 6 posts on it. But it's super fun to write on. I can say whatever I want about books, and it doesn't matter. But I really do love reading. I had forgotten how much I loved it until this semester in my adolescent literature class. I have some new favorites: The Chocolate War, A Separate Peace, and Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones. Check 'em out. Read 'em. I do have to say, though, The Chocolate War is slightly controversial. I loved it. I read it in a day. But I was one of two students in my class who liked it. So beware, I guess. Rachelle liked it okay. She had some slight issues with it. Nothing big. But if you read it, make sure you let me know what you think. It's an interesting read.

9. Jen's baby is adorable, and Moe's is growing inside her. I love babies. And I love when my friends have them.

10. I finally saw Invictus in the dollar theater. I. loved. it. After like the first ten minutes, I turned to Dani and said, "I really like this movie." Cause I did. It was already super interesting, and I couldn't wait to watch the rest of it. It was a good one. Now I just have to see Blindside. I know, how in the world did I go so long without watching these movies?!??! I have no idea. Sports movies are like my fave.

11. Speaking of rugby, I love it now. Dani and I went to a rugby game last weekend, and it was SUPER COOL. Kind of scary because all players were getting in fights and stuff, but it was just so interesting! I kind of seemed like there were not rules. Like, players would punch each other and not even get in trouble! What kind of game is this?!? In Invictus they described it as "a barbarian game played by gentlemen." And football is "a gentlemen's game played by barbarians." Loved that. So, yeah, I just gotta find me a rugby player.

12. I'm in pretty much last place in my march madness competition. I was SOO winning at first... oh well. Maybe next year. Dumb upsets.

13. The color festival was last week. I love colors.

14. I found some new funny blogs to read. There is this one called the Daily Apple, and there is a random topic everyday to read interesting facts about. Like today, it was candy bars. I actually really like it. And if I read it everyday, then I'm bound to beat everyone at Trivial Pursuit and Jeopardy some time in my life. And that is the goal, right?

15. Did you hear about the people in Texas who are trying to take Thomas Jefferson out of history books? I'm not sure how valid that sentence is, it might not even be true. But we talked about it in on of my education classes, and I was shocked. And then there was something about it in the Daily Universe, which isn't exactly your most valid source. So I looked it up online, and all the reports were contradictory and confusing. So now I'm just hoping that good old TJ will stay in history textbooks forever, and everything will be back to normal. 'Cause we can't lose that guy.

16. I want a new build-a-bear. It'll be a koala named James Monroe. You know, the guy from the "Era of Good Feelings." Oh wait, that might have been James K. Polk. Oh well.

17. I need a hair cut.

18. There is a baseball game tomorrow. I'm going to it. Why? Because I love baseball games.

19. Did I already say I'm excited for summer?

20. I should go to bed now.

I prefer pure, unadulterated Harry Potter

The movie of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released a couple of weeks ago. I meant to write this post then, but I've been, well, busy.

The night that it came out, all my friends went to it at our theater in Georgetown. I however, stayed home. Everyone teased me when I claimed that I would not see the movie. I told them I was a purist. I prefer pure, unadulterated Harry Potter. The hardcore fans understood my aversion to the movies but claimed that they viewed the books and movies as separate entities. Somehow, it is not within my power to do that. I am too involved. There were some people who had only ever watched the movies, and loved them, and had never read the books. Those are my least favorite kind of people. They say, "oh, I love Harry Potter!" And then you find out that the only Harry Potter than they are not ignorant about is the slight amount that is put into the movies and messed with. I had a deep conversation with one such person. He was slightly offended once he realized that I viewed him a kind of a second-class person. I assured him, however, that we could still be friends. :)

Reasons why I don't watch the movies:
1) Plot lines are altered.
2) Emphasis is placed where it should not be.
3) Important scenes are screwed up for cinematographic purposes, screwing up key ideas.
4) Daniel Radcliffe is a horrible actor, and does not do Harry justice.
5) Dumbledore in the movie is crazy.
6) People who have not read the books watch the movies, and then feel as though reading the actual books is unimportant.
7) It gives people the wrong idea about Harry.
8) What makes Harry Potter so great is the detail- the analysis and the mystery. Movies ruin that.
9) They make me very very angry and frustrated. I simply cannot handle it.
10) I get some sort of weird pleasure out of boycotting the movies and being a purist. I like to be.

And there are many more... It's just so hard to explain.

So, when all my friends went to the movie, I walked down to the TV in the basement, and enjoyed an evening with JK Rowling. There was a primetime special on her and the process of writing Harry Potter. It was absolutely perfect and lovely, and could not have been more purely Harry Potter-ish.

And so, instead of falling to the dark side, I enjoyed an evening of pure Harry Potter.

Also, the second part of the story is that on July 7, the paperback edition of Harry Potter 7 was released. Ashley went to Barnes and Noble in Georgetown with me to buy it. I have been waiting for this paperback for 2 years!!! Now, I can read book 7 whenever I want and take it wherever I want and don't have to worry about it getting dirty! I buy the paperbacks so they can be loved and abused while the nice, pretty hardbacks sit safely on my precious book shelf.

A word of advice: read Harry Potter, and DON'T watch the movies.

Everything is better if you're wearing Harry Potter glasses

'

Reasons why wearing Harry Potter glasses make life better:
1) They are very funny.
2) Everyone looks at you funny.
3) They help you focus on your homework because Harry does homework too.
4) I happen to have a pair on display right next to my desk.
5) Harry Potter makes me happy.
6) They look kind of like Franklin the Turtle.
7) They look really awesome in pictures.
8) They make it hard to take serious things seriously. But seriously, who likes serious things anyway?
9) They are very very round.
10) They give me the opportunity to take dumb pictures and write a really dumb blog post.
11) They tell the world that I love Harry Potter.

Another thing that makes everything funnier: adding "...if you will" at the end of every sentence. For example: If you are talking about Harry Potter and someone is confused. You say, "Harry James Potter, if you will." Gets me every time.