Dane-isms of the day

"Start your day off the holy way with Christ Chex!"
"What was Mary doing putting her face near tires!" (or 'tyres' for you Brits out there)

And for a bonus Dane-ism:
Dane Cook's Car Alarm Song

Verse 1
Helooooooo! I'm a car!
Gas-O-Line Makes-me-run!
Back-seat! Trunk-space!

Verse 2
Helooooooo! Let's go for a ride!
Oi-l is my blood!
Seat-belts! Ra-dio knobs!

(To be sung to a car alarm when it's going off for 43 minutes at 1 AM. Repeat ad nauseum or make up more verses for yourself.)

Some More HP

I have a secret! Guess who owns the new Dane Cook comedy CD! Oh baby, yeah! Me and Stephanie are stoked to add so much more Dane into our daily vocabulary.
I hear that Jonathan Safran Foer's new opera (or whatever) is premiering soon in Germany. Maybe I can stow away to Munich and stay with my extended fam. Yeah, right.
For fellow Potter fans, I suggest picking up or browsing (for those of us who can't fit the $3.50) the new Entertainment Weekly. And, if you're dying for more Potter fun, write your own tale at ew.com. (No, I haven't sunk that low, yet. Although about the magazine cover to the right, me and Stephanie had a few "words" to share.) The articles have info about the fourth and fifth films, (Sadly, Mira Nair is no longer slated to direct the fifth one: Potter directors still remain male.) along with a section devoted to reactions to the sixth book--spoilers included. You can also check some info out here.

Done Duh-Duh-Done.

Of course I finished HP 6 more than a week ago, but I've been distracted by a rigorous week with Sarah that constituted (maybe) her parents getting a little bit jealous of me (wink, wink), but some Buffy watching (up to the return of Aneglus) which was great.
So Coye seems to think (according to his comment) that I need a new hobby. So I broke out the old sketch pad and started to work on something. He--no surprise--suggested drinking, which I do casually, but the whole thing is, if I have to choose between getting minutely sloshed and being sucked into character development, I'm gonna choose The Story every time, (unless I'm too depressed about what's going on in The Story).
I'd like to give a shout-out to Luke Schoenrock. I'll email back as soon as I feel funny and clever again, k Luke?
But now I have HP 6 to relate, then sometime soon I'm gonna have a good ole fashioned blog that constitutes clever words and interesting conceptual edges.


HARRY POTTER SPOILERS -- HARRY POTTER SPOILERS -- HARRY POTTER SPOILERS

I agree with Sarah that Snape is good. One of her friends thinks that Snape made an unbreakable vow with Dumbledore about keeping Harry safe, which I'm totally into. I agree that Dumbledore knew he would have to die in order for Harry to reach his full potential (that whole dying for Harry bc of love thing). AD's "Please, Severus." moment can be taken as either him pleading for his life (which really isn't anything like Dumbledore's style) or hoping that Snape will kill him so that Snape can go on protecting Harry (bc of the whole U.Vow with Draco's mom). At this point, I think Snape is the only one who can face the Dark Lord with Harry. Snape "is an accomplished Occlumens" as anyone who read the book noticed (bc it was repeated constantly), so there is a chance that he can defeat Voldemort in that way. But, we won't know for sure about Snape until the very last moments of the climax of the 7th book, of course. Damn you, Rowling!
The first thing I thought about when Harry discovered the Horcruxes was that Harry would be the final Horcrux that needed to be destroyed, not the snake, which freaked me out a little (even though I'm kind of on the boat that Harry may die, though I'm going back on that now). I don't know how that'll work what with Voldemort not being able to possess Harry bc of love, but. . . (shrug)
No vampires except the S-guy (big frowny face). Well, at least Draco isn't entirely evil, bc he couldn't kill AD, BUT that says nothing for what he's capable of doing to Harry.
Oh, Dumbledore's "white bird" that flew away from the white tomb at the funeral--I really want it to be a Pheonix and I really want it to be Harry's. The way I see it, Harry needs a Pheonix next book, whether or not it's Fawkes/Dumbledore in Pheonix form.
The Seventh book is gonna be great. I mean, it just will.

Halfway through The Half-Blood Prince

Well, I officially have HP Book 6 in my possession. Yes, I am on p. 324 already, does anyone have a problem with that? And, since I'm the only one I know who's been able to read non-stop since they got the book, I had to vent off some steam/predictions somewhere. So I figured cyberspace is as good a place as any. If you want something non-Book 6 related, read my previous post. If you want something non-HP related, you may have to wait awhile. (wink, wink)
I'm gonna list the spoilers in order by chapters. Must get theories out of my head before they kill me.
***Spoilers for 6th book***
First of all, the book's interesting, because unlike previous books in the series, there have been 2 English "versions" of the books: one using British slang, the other replacing certain words (line for queue, What's up for Wotcher) with English slang. But now! Hermione and Ron are snogging the same in the US as in Britian!

Chapter 4: Oh, I will not gloat, but I so called the whole using dead body thing (aka the Inferi) in my previous post. SO GREAT. Lily and James, I tell you, they're gonna be back.

Chapter 7: Tonks' new patronus and Snape's remark to it makes me think it's gotta be Sirius' animagus form: the black dog.

Chapter 8: Holy crap. Snape's DADA teacher. What the frick. I don't know what to do with this.

Chapter 12: Mundungus is the one who put the curse on Katie Bell, maybe?

Chapter 10, 13: The penseive is a brilliant device for Rowling to give the readers the backstory they need to understand the bigger picture. I love this, bc it's like the more Harry hears of Vold's story, the more power he understands, the more he can "defeat" him (although defeat is not the right word for me here). In other words, "story" has magical powers. Oh yes, narrative! Also, this tactic of Dumbledore proves his belief in the importance of past choices and circumstances. It's so great to see the difference b/w Harry and Tom when they were 11. Oh, and the whole thing with Vold. liking to keep trophies of ppl he's taken advantage of. I feel that this could be a huge weakness on his part in th future.

Chapter 14: Ok, at this pt. I'm completely convinced that Ginny is using an obsessive love potion with Harry. Also, I love Luna. She makes me happy.

On Stan Shunpike: this "mysterious Death-Eater" situation is tres interesting. It totally makes me think of the contemporary search for terrorists. This whole Wizard War, I feel, greatly parallels our own world's "war on terror." I must watch for any political commentary made by Rowling.

Chapter 2, 10, 13, 15: I don't believe that Snape is evil. Too easy. Most likey, he's playing both sides to see who ends up on top. But, certain things make me think he's fighting for the good guys. After Harry sees the second memory in the Penseive, Dumbledore goes on about how Voldy only ever trusted himself, that he believes himself set-apart. Snape, I think, uses this knowledge to his advantage when he confronts Bellatrix Lestrange in chapter 2. He comes off as Voldy's "most trusted advisor," which means that he could be making up information to give to Bella and her sister. Also, he tells Bella and Narcissa that he knows Draco's plan, but at the end of ch. 15 Snape's trying to get Draco to tell him what "the plan" is. Also, this Unbreakable vow thing has something to do with vampires. (cue roll of the eyes from reader) Draco looks sallow at Slughorn's party, so he's gotta be a vampire. Rowling uses the same description of Draco as he did the friggin vampire who was at the party. Then, maybe Snape is immuned to dying if he breaks the Unbreakable Vow, bc if he's a vamp he's already dead. Or, since the vow was made while Snape didn't know the plan, it makes the vow invalid?? But, I'm telling you. Something with vampires. It's gonna be big. It's coming.

There's Something About Harry

With the release of Book 6 on the horizon, I couldn't resist relaying some of my own thoughts/predictions of the Harry Potter saga post Book 5 (which I'm rapidly trying to reread before tonight). There are rumors and theories galore on the net, I just decided to add my 2 cents. Also, I'm making note of things to "keep an eye out for" in Book 6.
**Spoilers** if anyone is planning on reading Book 5 at any point in time and hasn't yet OR wants to see the fifth movie without too much ruined.
1. Sirius Black--I know he's "dead," but I bet he's not. What I mean is, I wouldn't put it past Voldemort to begin ressurrecting or possessing already-dead good guys. The description of Sirius "going beyond the veil" is tres vague. Of course, Rowling (<-- coolest website ever) was trying to recreate an old metaphor for death here. Maybe Sirius or James/Lily will reappear in incorporeal forms (hey, it's happened before). 2. Snape--Like I wrote previously, I feel like there are loads of hints pointing to him being a vampire. More specifically, he's probably a vampire/wizard half-breed. Either way, he is good good good in my opinion. He's been my fave ever since they found out he was helping Harry in the first book (during the Quidditch match). Hermione's finally taking a shine to him, and come on "Snape's Worst Memory" = best revelation that we all knew was there but never had tangible proof for until the penseive moment.

3. Harry's connection with Voldemort--is totally a metaphor for being a teenager. Just listen to this, "Nowadays, [Harry's] scar hardly ever stopped prickling, and he often felt lurches ofannoyance or cheerfulness that were unrelated to what was happening to him at the time" --"The Beetle At Bay," Order of the Pheonix

4. The Half-Blood Prince--ok, here are the candidates: Dumbledore, Harry, Hagrid, Grawp (Oh please no), Voldemort, Snape, Lupin, I guess the list can go on and on. It could be Hagrid, just bc I'd hate if it was true. More interesting would be Snape (if he's half vamp, half wizard). But, my guess is it's either Harry or Voldemort (bc his father was muggle, his mum a wizard).

5. Dobby--Amy Pedersen totally has credit for this one. When Harry makes Dobby promise never to save his life again, Amy's pretty sure this is bad news, meaning Harry will at some point in time NEED Dobby to save his life. I think it's a good theory.

6. Dumbledore--There's this rumor going around the net that Dumbledore is Ron, meaning that some time later in the series Ron uses a time turner to go back in time and becomes Dumbledore. I think this theory is bullocks, but this site seems to think otherwise. (Click on the "Weasley is Our King" link.) There are loads of things wrong with this theory in general, not to mention that Rowling herself discounts it. But some things are salvageable. Such as, Dumbledore is able to use the chocolate frog cards as spy devices. This is supported by the way Dumbledore uses the portraits in his office. This explains why Ron and Harry get so many Dumbledore cards and also why he says in the fifth book he doesn't care what they do to him as long as they don't "take him of the choc. frog cards" blah blah blah. I like thinking about how imperfect Dumbledore is, and maybe he'll do something else horrendous that will ruin Harry's life or something.

7. Harry and Ginny--I try to deny it, but--same as the Snape thing--I keep seeing signs of it! Ron's trying for it, anyway.

8. Lilly and James--totally stoked to find out what changes James from arrogant cock to stalwart hero.

9. The centaurs--Whatever happens here should be interesting.

10. Harry's failed attempt at the Cruciatus curse on Bellatrix Lestrange, Voldemort's possession of Harry--Will he try it again? Will Harry be tempted by the DARK SIDE?

11. "Loony" Lovegood--At the end of Book V, she represents Harry's distance from/strength against Voldemort in that Harry feels pity for her, an emotion Dumbledore's pretty much ruled out for Voldy. She gives Harry this great answer to his desire to contact Sirius again while he's on earth. It just gives me chills when she asks him, "Didn't you hear them? Just beyond the veil?" She'll be around loads sixth book, I would think.

12. And finally, the prophecy--Harry now has it hanging over his head that he'll be either "murderer or victim" by the end of the series. Here's what I think would be cool: Vold. and Harry kill each other. Then, Harry's ressurrected for some reason so that his savior complex can be made complete. Really, though, I just see the "ressurection" thing coming hard in Book 6.
The best part about all this predicting is how I can repost in a week with all new suggestions and then laugh at myself for being so off-base.
Also, if anyone's trying to bolster thier excitement for Book 6, try checking out the trailer for Movie #4 here.

Have fun Harry-ing!

Peace.
Out.

Let's play ketchup!

July 4th marked my Independence Day from high school baggage, as I packed many memories into a carboard box that used to house Scotts' tissue.
Charla visited this weekend and fun was had by all. Glad to have finally met George. Glad to spend time with Stephen again. Glad to catch up with Gawnald via going to see Batman Begins with he and Kristan. I've yet to see my "movie of the summer!!!"
T-minus 4 days until Sarahcita rolls into good ole Erie again/Harry Potter 6 comes out!!! By the way, I am totally convinced Professor Snape is a vampire (particularly from the whole him shutting the windows in the 3rd movie so as not to be hit with direct sunlight, also I'm rereading book 5 and the hints that are dropped! Such as "Snape stays for the meetings but not for the meals." and whatnot--total nod to him being VAMPY. But, really, Snape's character is interesting enough without the Vampire deal, so I'm wondering if Rowling is selling him short by just throwing him the vampire gimmick--if it's true that he is one.)

Real vamp.

Vampires appear to be the summer theme for me. No excuses for it really. Well, vampires and discovering that the McCune writing team is well on its way to selling hundreds, possibly dozens of "books." I mean, it's hard to decide which thematic thread is more creepy.
I do believe I received word that there is another Mazzarella living in the Wheaton area. Female, 7 pounds, 0 ounces.
Better looking vamp.







Here is a final thought:

EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED

For those interested in the new Warner Independent film based on Jonathan Safran Foer's first novel, here are some production stills. For those of you interested in Elijah Wood, here are some production stills.

Jonathan (Elijah) and Alex (Eugene Hutz) squaring off.

Alexi-stop-spleening-me, Jonathan and Grandfather (Boris Leskin).

Jonathan & Jonathan (taller, believe it or not)

This image feels Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close to the end of the film.

These photos were taken from http://movies.monstersandcritics.com/