So...

There's a chance that some people can get into Pottermore early. The site says "come back on the 31st of July".

I finish work at midnight tonight.

Guess what I'm checking as soon as I get home?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

 Of course, it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it's not real?

- Albus Dumbledore

So, seeing as I'm in the mood for blogging today, I thought I'd do a post about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. I did part one last year, so it seemed fitting to follow it up. Plus, I've already seen this movie twice :) 

SPOILER WARNING: If you haven't seen DH2 yet, I suggest that you don't read this. Unless of course you're not worried about ruining bits of the movie, then please proceed! 

Last post I skimmed over my favourite scenes of the movie, so this time I thought I'd do a best/worst moments kind of post for different categories: 

• 4 Best/Worst Scenes
• Best/Worst Dialogue
• Best/Worst Cinematography  

All right, let's start with the top 4 best and worst scenes. 4 seemed like a nice number so this is my opinion on the two best scenes in the film and the two worst. 

Best Scene Number One - Escaping Gringotts

Not only is this scene epic because of the music score and the dragon climbing up the underground cliffs with Harry, Ron and Hermione clinging to its back for dear life, the opening of this scene is also brilliant thanks to Helena Bonham Carter playing Hermione in Bellatrix's body. 

When Helena first walks up on the beach as Hermione, she's already captured all the little gestures that Emma Watson brings to Hermione. Watching her facial expressions, the little shoulder shrug, and the way she tucks her hair behind her ear, my brain was totally convinced that polyjuice potion actually worked. 

The second time I watched DH2 was in 3D, and the winding, rickety roller-coaster that is Gringott's mine-cart track was so much fun. After snatching up the Hufflepuff goblet, the trio escapes on the back of the dragon who smashes through the ceiling and flies them to safety. Wicked. 

Best Scene Number Two - Preparing Hogwarts for Battle

Someone give Maggie Smith a trophy for being such a badass McGonagall. She, and the special effects, made this scene so epic and emotive. I can't even describe it. 

It made me think back to Harry and Ron arriving in the little boat on the lake in the Philosopher's Stone and getting their first glimpse of the castle. You're watching the place that you've grown up in have to fight for its survival. You're watching all the characters you've come to love be forced to defend their lives. You're freaking getting all teary in the movie theatre because this is JK Rowling's epic series ending in front of your eyes. Someone get me a box of tissues..... 

Thought those scenes were too good to be true? Well, you were right. Here come the worst two scenes in the movie. 

Worst Scene Number One - Molly VS. Bellatrix

I almost don't want to get started on how much rage I felt at the crappy portrayal of this incredible duel. In the book, Hermione, Ginny and Luna are duelling Bellatrix, who is almost beating them because she's holding not only her own wand, but the wands from two wizards that she's just killed. That's epic in itself!! 

Then, a killing curse narrowly misses Ginny's head and sends Mrs. Weasley into a protective mother storm. She shoves the girls out of the way, screams her famous line and duels Bellatrix Lestrange to the death. Oh, and did I mention that in the book this scenes takes place IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM WITH EVERYONE ELSE WATCHING?? It's supposed to be amazing. So I'm sorry, but that bit off to the side where Bellatrix flicks a curse at Ginny, Mrs. Weasley steps in the way and says her line in an undertone, then turns Bellatrix to dust with a few snaps of her wand while no one else is watching? Yeah, I don't even know what the hell that was. 

Worst Scene Number Two - The Prince's Tale

 

There's a lot of scenes I could have put here, but none that bothered me so much that I wanted to write about them. What I've chosen is kind of a small thing, but it REALLY annoyed me. The bits of the Prince's Tale flashback that included Alan Rickman weren't so bad, but the childhood bit was awful.

Snape says, 'look at me' to Harry, because we all know that he wants to look into 'Lily's' eyes before he dies. Then we get a shot of Dan Rad's eyes and grudgingly forgive him once again for his stupid allergic reaction to green contacts. But it gets worst. The very next shot is of Lily as a child, and she looks like this: 

I'm sorry, but how does that kid look anything like Lily? At all? She has dark brown eyes for goodness sake! It's a small detail, I know, but I can't even begin to explain how annoyed I feel by it. 

Oh, and that indie shot of Severus and Lily lying in the grass? Um, can someone say Twilight? I was cringing in my chair. It's not cute. It's cliche. Now get out. 

Anyway, that brings me to the best and worst dialogue in the script.

Best Dialogue: 

(Ginny runs in and sees Harry, Ron and Hermione with Neville)

 

Ginny: Harry! 

Harry: Hi there. 

Ron: Six months she hasn't seen me, and it's like I'm a frankie First Year. I'm only her brother... 

Seamus: She's got lots of them, but there's only one Harry. 

Ron: Shut up, Seamus. 

I lol'd. 

Worst Dialogue: 

Ginny (after kissing Harry): I know. 

What? She knows what? That was so dumb. Not to mention that's a pretty awkward kiss.

While on the subject of bad dialogue, Neville's speech in front of Voldemort was pretty crappy. I mean, they've got the incredible dialogue that JK gave him from the book, why not use it? I was so excited to hear Neville shout to Voldemort, "I'll join you when hell freezes over!" Not to be, apparently. 

On to the cinematography! 

Best Cinematography: Wide Shot in the Chamber of Secrets

Pretty much just this shot. Out of the whole film it's my favorite shot. It's brilliant. It tells so much; reminding you Ginny and Harry in the Chamber of Secrets years ago, how a horcrux was destroyed once before in the exact same place. It shows the magnitude of what Hermione and Ron are about to do, and it makes you take a deep breath in and hold it before Hermione brings the fang down on the cup and Voldemort's angry dark piece of soul floods the chamber. 

Worst Cinematography: Following Crane Shot After Escaping Gringotts

Excuse me, Mr. Cameraman, WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP MOVING!? 

To avoid the awkwardness of Dan and Rupert's bare chests and Emma trying to look like she's doing something because she can't strip off her wet clothes like the boys, they thought it would be better to give the audience flipping motion sickness so that they wouldn't notice. If you have to go to such lengths to try and 'fix' a scene, maybe you should take the hint and not do it like that at all! 

Heh, anyways. In conclusion, if you look that this movie as nothing more than a film and don't compare it to the books, it's really great. If you're going to pick it apart and compare every little detail to JK Rowling's writing then don't bother seeing it because you'll come out feeling like you want to shred something (but not the Harry Potter books, of course). 

I still stand by The Prisoner of Azkaban as the best Harry Potter movie ever. 

ahem, not obsessed or anything...

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I'm struggling not to jump up and down for no reason or hyperventilate or something. I just stumbled across this beauty on the internet. It's one of J.K Rowling's plot spreadsheets for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I got it from here if anyone wants to know.

I'm so excited right now, just looking at the way she planned it all ... I think I need to try planning like this. See, she has columns for all the different subplots so that she can keep track of what happens regarding the particular subplot in each chapter. I also LOVE the little quotes at the top, they're hard to read but while she was planning the spreadsheet she thought of little lines that her characters would say (top left of the page), like "Didn't see that one coming, did she?" and "Then to Azkaban I must go. I trust I'm allowed a toothbrush?" Haha. Loving it. Feeling psyched now about planning my own story. This is just the kind of urge I needed to get planning my own story! Off to write now. Ta ta.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - SPOILER WARNING

Reviewing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1. If you have not yet seen the movie, I strongly suggest that you DO NOT read this. If you're not intending to see the movie, or you've already seen it, then by all means, proceed! :)

Firstly. The book is SO much better.

But.

Wow. I'm totally amazed by this Potter film. It's definitely the best by far, I think it was quite faithful to the book and I was so engaged the whole time. Sure, it got a little slow in the middle but the book is like that too. Overall I was satisfied with the film and really enjoyed it.

The openings scenes were brilliant - I always get SO excited when the title rolls up, so it was awesome not to be disappointed by what I saw immediately after it. The scene at the Malfoy manor was great, it really looked exactly like how I had pictured it when reading the book, and the death of Charity Burbage was so terrible. That scene really set up how dark this movie was going to be.

I would really love to add more on what I thought of the cinematography, etc, but I don't actually know what I thought of it! I really need to see the film again to be able to talk about details like that. Perhaps this is an excuse to go back again in a couple weeks....

I must say of the trio - Emma and Rupert stole this film. Sure Daniel is the hero as Harry, but as far as acting goes these two outshone him by far. I appreciated Emma Watson in this film much, much more than in the others - I really think she stepped up in this one and honestly, for the first time, I actually felt like I was completely watching Hermione than Emma. I've always had a bit of trouble watching her and Rupert play Hermione and Ron because they don't look anything like how I picture the characters ... I finally forgot all about that in this film.

I'm gonna talk about a few favorite scenes....

**SPOILER ALERT**

 1. The Seven Potters

First off. This scene. Hee. It was quite well-done, the way the characters changed into Harry. I loved watching their expressions and seeing Fred and George behind Harry's eyes, or Fleur's voice as Harry stripped off his shirt. Plus the lines in this scene were quite true to the book, which I love. Especially Fred and George saying, 'Hey, we're identical!' Also loving the way the girls are standing in Harry's body. Makes me giggle.

 2. Ginny and Harry

This shot is the moment when Ginny and Harry break apart from kissing and notice George standing in the kitchen. Hysterically awkward. Love it. Was disappointed that Ginny only had basically one scene in the whole movie. Ginny's one of my favorite characters, after all. Looking forward to seeing her appear again in part two.

3. The Ministry of Magic

Hehe I loved this whole bit of the movie. The three actors who played Harry, Ron and Hermione in this were so good, especially the guy who did Harry - he had Daniel's walk down-pat! So funny. And Ron's line "my wife's downstairs all alone" was so hilarious. Ron, you don't have a wife.

Also, after this scene, when Ron gets splinched - thought that was quite brilliant too. I loved the way they showed Hermione's protective spells when the Snatchers passed by. Great scene.

4. The Locket

As for this scene ... I have no words. I couldn't find a screenshot of what was in the locket ... but we don't really need to see it again do we? I am scarred for life. Thankfully it meant nothing!

5. Malfoy Manor - Hermione's torture

This scene. Oh my word. I felt like throwing up in the movie theatre, I was so freaked out. For me this was always such a chilling scene in the book - Ron's helpless and heartbreaking reaction was bad enough, but then Hermione actually comes up with a lie while being Cruicioed. She's tough, man. In the movie this scene was far scarier - I didn't even think that was possible. I was not prepared at all for them to show any of the torture because in the book you read it from Harry and Ron's perspective, and all you hear are Hermione's screams. It is so much worse when you actually see it happen.

Helena Bonham Carter plays Bellatrix's motive for torturing Hermione slightly differently than written in the book. She's doing it much more for 'fun' rather than the information. It's so chilling. Quite honestly scary. 

Oh ... and when Hermione awakens and sees the word 'mudblood' carved on her arm ... I wanted to cry.






6. Dobby's Death

So devastating. Not to mention it was right after we had to sit through Hermione screaming in pain for several heart-wrenching minutes. What a way to end the film. I love Dobby, and this scene was so so so sad. But so brilliant. I totally teared up when he said how beautiful the place was, and how happy he was to be with his friends. Dobby, you will always have a special place in my heart. Now I have to go on with the rest of this review before I cry....

7. The last screen shot

Oh, how I shiver with delight when I see this image. It's not over. Be afraid.

Other noteworthy scenes that I must mention - the scene in Bathilda Bagshot's house was the second most scary scene. It was the most frightening in the book, and when Harry and Hermione entered her house, the whole scene from the book came flooding back to me and I flipped out in my seat in the cinema and started watching through my fingers. Thankfully it wasn't quite so frightening as I imagined. Still so, so creepy. Loved it.

Another brilliant scene was The Tale of the Three Brothers, when we find out about the Deathly Hallows. Loved how they did that, and loved that Hermione did the voice-over. It was very cool.

Well, that was probably the darkest, scariest, most brilliant Harry Potter film ever. I give it four stars - although that is pushing it a little, because it's nothing compared to the book. Hoping I can give the last one 4.5. CAN'T WAIT!

oh we don't notice any time pass ... we don't notice anything....

La la la, long weekend.

So we helped the Deligiorgakis's move on Saturday. It all happened amazingly fast and neat! Well done everyone.

Sunday and Monday were awesome. 25 hours of The Katherine and Justin Show, 4 movies, 3 milkshakes, 2 a.m bedtime, 1 tricycle, and way too much food. Good weekend? I think so.

I'll start with moving day.

Got the Deli's at about 8, and the truck arrived right after. Spent a good portion of the morning sorting out all Karen's books with Beth and trying to figure out a solution to the books-to-shelf-space ratio problem we appeared to be having.

Oh, and enjoying their new living room rug:

These three promptly dove upon it the second it got laid down, to make sure they got to test it before they coffee table was put in place. I think the new rug has their approval.

I can't remember why Justin put his hand over Beth's mouth ... might've been trying to stop her talking while I took the picture....

Anyway. While Beth and I sorted the books on one shelf Justin and Katherine busied themselves attempting to put all the DVD's onto the other shelf. They didn't think it out very logically. Ended up putting ALL of them on the shelf and then took them ALL off again to sort them alphabetically. Silly kiddies.

And yeah. Arrived home that evening and watched Old Dogs with the family. Low expectations = hilariously funny film. That's how it's done.

Moving onto Sunday and Monday, I shall begin with a detailed account of the food us three persons (Justin, Katherine, and myself) consumed over the space of the 25 hours we were together. It was quite epic.

At 5pm on Sunday Katherine and her parents arrived at our house for dinner. Dinner consisted of:

• A huge salad of lettuce, cucumber, capsicum, carrots, tomatoes and feta cheese
• A choice of both beef and lamb (we all had both, of course)
• Cooked veggies - potatoes, pumpkin, eggplant and capsicum

It was so good. Thank you parentals for the lovely dinner. Sorry for giggling about Toy Story quotes during grace.

Dinner was followed afterward by:

• Milk and chocolate chip cookies from Aldi, eaten in the duration of the movie 9
• Popcorn - popped sometime in the middle of The Island
• Strawberry and chocolate milkshakes, made by me halfway through The Island
• Sour lollipops - given to us by Jackie, and sucked on whilst playing Little Big Planet
• Peanut butter slathered heavily on thick-cut bread - consumed at about 1am during Psycho - apparently too thickly for Katherine's liking! 

We fell asleep somewhere around 2:45 am, and accidentally missed the Australia/Germany soccer match. Dad put the replay on at 7 the next morning but Katherine and I determinedly slept through this as well, to try and make sure we wouldn't be insane for the rest of the day from lack of sleep.

At 10 a.m that morning I made French toast with maple syrup, and for lunch we had hot chips with ketchup. Yes that's right, Heinz tomato ketchup. Not tomato sauce. Munched on some apples during more Little Big Planet. Thoroughly enjoyed the array of vegetation and cheese mother produced later that afternoon when Katherine and I were snuggled on my bed watching Julie and Julia. Not that great a film, really.

Speaking of films, we watched 4 in the 25 hours and I wanted to give a short review on each, in the order we watched them.

9 was the first film we watched. 80 minutes wasted, in my opinion. I had hoped it would be better. Had wanted to see it for a long while; it seemed kind of interesting but the plot was lame and rather pointless. Long story short (or should I say, short story in a nutshell), the little sack creature 9 wakes up in a post apocalyptic, clockpunk world and goes searching for others. He meets 2, and 2 gets captured by a mechanical beast. 9 is discovered by 5, who takes him to meet all the others. 1 is the leader of the group and leads in fear, so he basically sucks at being a leader. 9 and 5 defy him and go to try and rescue 2. Upon rescuing him with the help of 7 who kills the beast, 2 is killed by a second, larger beast that 9 awakens. Got all that?

*SPOILER FOLLOWS*

The entire rest of the film involves most of the characters being killed off by this beast. 1 and 7 eventually destroy it and free all the souls of their dead friends from the belly of the monster. I had expected their friends to come back to life but instead their souls float up to heaven. The film ends with 7 saying, 'They're free now.' Fade out. Bor-ing. Don't watch it.

The second film was The Island. I quite liked this one. Appreciated the cinematography and the general mood of the movie. I can't say much about the plot because it gives away the movie, but it's essentially a sci-fi thriller starring Ewan McGregor (LOVE) and Scarlett Johansson (HATE). 

Basically in this movie Ewan McGregor, named Lincoln 6-Echo, questions his safe, enclosed environment to the point of annoying the antagonist enough that he wants to kill him. That sounds dumb but you have to see the movie, okay?!

Scarlett Johansson plays the best friend turned love interest ... yeah I know, I don't like her either.

BUT Ewan McGregor saves the world, so that's why you should see it.

Third film of the night was Psycho. Do I need to explain this one? It's Alfred Hitchcock! Very famous, very clever, and very creepy. Grab some friends and go watch it.

Final film was Julie and Julia. Meh. I mean, it was a film about food. So I wanted a bit more 'wow' factor when it came to the dishes that were incorporated into the actual plot. I also felt a bit like Julie Powell's mother concerning Julie's blog - 'No one cares!' It was a bit boring. I think Katherine fell asleep at one point. It wasn't a bad movie, just not my kind of film. Especially after watching movies such as The Island and Psycho, it was a bit bland. But Meryl Streep was good, if you like Meryl Streep.

 Anyway, back to Monday. After lunch we had an epic time doing the kind of stuff we Stanmore kids do on a regular basis, of course, such as...

Taking the Ford Anglia for a spin

Driving a bus

Stealing a tricycle

And doing crazy stunts

As you do. Yep, just a typical day in the life of me. :)

16 going on 17

Hello there. It's my birthday in less than two weeks, so I'll finally be able to do magic outside of the school. How exciting :) my friends and I are all going to see the new Alice in Wonderland on the 6th of March. I can't wait!!

Seeing as we're going out to the movies, I'm not expecting any presents from anyone (except my parents..), but a couple people have asked me what I want for my birthday ... sigh.

So, if you're one of those people insistent on getting me a gift, I'm just going to list a couple of things I wouldn't mind getting on my 17th, to help you out. Not to mention that mom reads my blog, so she'll see this list... Hehehe.

- John Mayer's first CD, Room for Squares
Jewelry:
- Earrings (studs, preferably, as I'm getting another piercing soon)
- Sautoir necklaces (pics here and here, but that second one is actually ridiculously expensive lol)
- Rings (but I'm not one for a ring triple the size of my knuckle, just so you know... :P )
- Posters of movies I like, or something else cool to hang on my bedroom wall
- ipod earphones
- An idea for a novel or a short film. Pretty please? I'm feeling very un-inspired....

There. Haha, now if anyone else asks me, I don't have to stammer and mumble, 'uhh... I don't know...'


Other ridiculously expensive things I wish I could get, but seeing as they are ridiculously expensive I won't be seeing them until a few years after I get a job, and I thought I'd just list them here because I like making lists:

- A video camera
- Final Cut Pro
- An iphone
- A Maton pick-up guitar
- A macbook

Expensive tastes and unemployment don't really go together.

I ♥ My Friends

So a lot has happened since my last blog. Let me explain.

Riding the train to LiT in the summer heat.

Eating Minties.

Getting pumped for Jesus with 200 other teenagers.

Texting.

Trying to sleep in a bunk bed when it's 30 degrees outside.

Watching Ed and John smash a gingerbread house with their head.

Praying.

Reading Matthew 5-7.

Wishing I could go swimming.

Playing Battleship with Patrick. 

Eating camp chicken schnitzel and dearly missing Jackie's schnitzel.

Listening to talks on the Beautitudes.

Loving God.

Loving my friends.

Hating camp organization.

Starting on Wuthering Heights.

Singing with Becky and Mark.

Writing "If I tell you I love you, can I keep you?" on Katherine's back with a Sharpie.

Hanging out til late, late late....

Talking til even later with Kristen, and feeling so much better.

Trying to commit to prayer. 

Getting everyone to sign my shirt.

Eating meatball sandwiches.

Leaving on the bus.

 Getting home.

Taking a long, hot shower.

Watching The Big Bang Theory with Katherine, Beth and Justin.

Sleeping in the living room with the girls and wanting to throttle my cat.

Waking up and making French Toast.

Getting my ear pierced with Katherine and squeezing Beth's hand.

Taking panadol for the pain >.<

Ana coming over.

Lazer tagging in the city.

Wandering in Newtown.

Driving to Katherine's for a 'secret mission' and giving her Wagon Wheels and Big Bang. 

Watching Slumdog Millionare - Ana had not seen it before!

Going to church.

Waking Ana the next morning to say goodbye.

Heading to Sydney Uni for Latin class.

Learning how to read Roman gravestones.

Writing a couple pages of my new idea during lunch. 

Snapping pictures at lunch and thinking the uni buildings look like Hogwarts.

Catching the packed 423 to Katherine's and walking down the road in the blazing sun.

Snapping a million photos down near Cook's River.

Spraying Katherine with the bubbler.

Walking back, hot, wet and itchy.

Eating stir fry.

Watching Zoolander and IT Crowd.

Planning on leaving at 9pm, but staying til 11.

Falling asleep from Katherine stroking my hair.

Getting home and crashing.

Seeing Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3D!

Going to Newcastle.

Sitting out in the heat for hours.

Planning an epic trip n the evening to the beach.

Being sorely disappointed when a cold change came and it rained.

Not going to the beach and watching the tennis and Up instead.

Playing Settlers of Catan.

Sleeping in.

Going to Drew's to watch Van Helsing and Jaws.

Playing Playstation 3.

Walking home.

Sitting down to write this blog while watching the tennis.

And that brings us to the present moment. Sorry if that bored you, but I needed to write this stuff down. I've had a pretty good holiday so far - two weeks left of it. Mum's cooking bacon. I'm seeing Kristen tomorrow. Good times still to come!

GET TO THE DARN EASTER EGG!!!

Just been fiddling around with the DVD special features of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone with Justin, trying to find the deleted scenes. Found the easter egg after a gruelling hour of googling and button mashing. All we got for it was about six minutes of random deleted clips. WHERE IS THE OTHER TWO AND A HALF HOURS CUT FROM THE FILM????

Ron, just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have.

Loving Harry Potter fan art. It's the coolest. Here's some more for you, the first being another one of Moony, Padfoot and Prongs because I like those. Most of these are by an artist called De Gerre. Awesome huh?

17

You know what's a little sad about turning 17 soon? Yes, I'm having another Peter Pan moment.You see, if Harry Potter were real, and had gone to Hogwarts, I'd be in my last year of school. If there was any year I wish I could've been at the school it would've been when Harry was in 3rd year, so I could have Professor Lupin for a teacher. He was the best. Here's a picture of Sirius, James and Remus in 5th year. I love Harry Potter fan art. It's tons better than the film.