Lost, But Making Good Time

Well, That Was Quick

870 pages in 25 hours (including a good night's sleep). Not too shabby.

Enjoyed the book, but it just didn't seem quite as fun as the last few. Maybe because I knew the plot line, maybe because of too much hype, maybe because I'm no fun.

Here's a quick review I wrote to Kirsty (no spoilers!):

A couple things that kept driving me nuts: I'm used to the American versions, and it seems like past editors have done a little more to translate British colloquialisms into American ones, but not in this volume. Ron kept saying "mate," which kept bugging me, and people were getting "into a row," which we don't say over here. I wouldn't have minded it, had the other books been like this, but seeing as though the first four books were "Americanized," the fact that this was wasn't kept bothering me. I assume you didn't have that problem? :>

Maybe I'm just too used to Rowling's style and the Harry Potter plot scheme, but I felt like I kind of knew the progression of the book a little too much. This one was a little more different, which was nice, but still, it seemed like once we got to Hogwarts, it was "Talk about Harry's classes, describe a Quidditch match, talk some more about classes, Ron and Hermione fight, Snape yells at Neville, Ron and Harry fight, Christmas time, more classes, a Hagrid story, big dramatic ending that leaves you wanting more and reveals the foreshadowing at the beginning of the book."

I felt like there were several chapters that were there only to allow some plot catch later in the book, and I wonder if they could have been introduced without a whole couple of chapters at St. Mungo's, or Grawp, or whatever.

I really enjoyed the book--couldn't put it down, in fact--and some of the chapters (the last four, as well as some others here and there) were really exciting and fun, but something just didn't feel right about the ending. Kind of anti-climatic.

Entertainment Overload

With so many fun, escapist movies coming out this summer (Charlie's Angels 2, Legally Blonde 2, Terminator 3, Dumb and Dumberer), and several that've already come out (X2, Finding Nemo, and, I guess The Matrix Revolutions), not to mention the more artistic/indy stuff (Spellbound, Winged Migration, to name a few), I'm totally been barraged with film entertainment, and I can't do much to fight the need to see all these in the theatre, shelling out a damn 9 bucks every time. I've been accused of being a frugal dork (definition: don't spend a lot on clothes, but buy gadgets and technology when you can afford it), and I'm not going to deny it. But part of the movie experience, at least for the best movies, is the crowded theatre, everyone experiencing the film together. A packed house (as long as you get seats) at a good movie makes the film so much better. Watching a DVD on my 19" computer monitor (or Kenji's 15" Tibook) doesn't cut it, and watching a tape on my 13" TV certainly doesn't do a good film justice, either. And that's just the movies.

There's books to be read--I loved Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser, and it made me stop eating beef--haven't touched the stuff for almost a year and a half. Now I want to read Schlosser's new one, Reefer Madness, but I don't smoke pot. So I'm not sure what effect it'll have on my white liberal guilt and disgust. There's also Harry Potter, I'd like to read Molly Ivins's new book and old one, as well as Eric Alterman's What Liberal Media, *and* Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. What a great name.

And, of course, you can't forget music. I just got Blue Man Group's new album, Complex, which is great. Throw in The White Stripes, this new band I just learned about called The Postal Service, Beck's Sea Change, Radiohead's Hail to the Chief, and the fact that Kenji's gotten Madonna's damn American Life stuck in my head ["Push the button. Don't push the button. Trip the station. Change the channel." Ugh.] and I'm in serious music overload, too.

Oh, did I mention I need to brush on my Spanish vocab before I start school? Err, Necisito aprender mi vocabulario espanol tambien antes de voy a la escuela medica?

Graham, Journalesque

I've been meaning to separate my personal weblogging from my politcal diatribes, and rants'n'raves, so hell, why not start out with Typepad. Boo-to-the-yah.

Reading a great new book, Fraud, by David Rakoff. He's got a similar wit to David Sedaris as well as a similar background--gay, New Yorker, slightly... off...

This is, of course, just a book to tide me over while I wait it in anticipation of Harry Potter 5. Sorry, Mr. Rakoff. Once Harry arrives from Amazon, you're finished.