Harry Potter and the Experience of a Lifetime

I will keep this post spoiler free!



So, I picked up the book on late Sunday afternoon and finished reading at around 7:00 pm on Monday evening. (Shh... I was reading at work! What? It was a slow day! Leave me alone!) Without going into any detail, I was duly impressed with the finale. More than anything, though, the weirdest part was the fact that it was the first time I had finished reading a Potter book without feeling the need to go and blab about it to someone, *anyone*. No more mysteries. No more wondering who is going to die next and who is actually good/evil and what do all the hints mean. It's done. And it was a helluva ride.

Sure, there are much more eloquently written books out there of much greater consequence. Sure, it's popcorn entertainment... but it was immensely satisfying. How often does a phenomenon like this come along where an entire nation... no, most of the modern world gets swept up along with you? While I can understand being upset at just how fevered the hype had grown around the latest book, what with all the stuff happening in the world, on a personal level, I had invested so much time and energy in following the series that I was so happy it had finally come to a close.

30 years ago, we had Star Wars. Harry Potter really was the next big thing to come along in the same way (actually, bigger). When is the next time something like this will happen? In another 30 years? 50 years? Who knows? I suppose that's part of the fun - geeking out with fellow fans, picking apart the characters and events afterwards, etc. While it's satisfying doing the same for other books, there are very few books that have "launch events" (god, I hate that term) like HP did for all the later books. Much like an online videogame, there is simply much more to do and talk about when you pick it up early and you know everyone is at the same place, experience-wise, as you are. You get to analyze it together, form your own theories, etc. before you get influenced by more well-established ideas. (I was correct on most of my theories in Half Blood Prince, but was maybe 50/50 for the last book...)

I'd personally like to meet JK Rowling and shake her hand on a job well done. She's no Shakespeare, but she certainly knows what she's doing. Hell, Lucas couldn't even write his third movie without screwing up details. Harry may be an insufferable twit most of the time, but the world she created was just so *perfect* for what it was created for. She knew what she wanted to say, she knew what her audience wanted, and walked that line quite carefully.

I think I'll go back and read all 7 books just for the hell of it.

Ratatouille - My thoughts

Warning! Some *very* small spoilers for Incredibles and Ratatouille...



Warmth - it's the one word that all of Brad Bird's movies (Iron Giant, Incredibles, and now, Ratatouille) have in common. He has an easiness about his writing that invites warmth without sappiness, and always keeps the primary themes of the stories front and center without losing himself in the usual writer's trap of sugar-coating everything until the story has lost any edge it had to begin with.

In the case of The Incredibles, Brad Bird tackled the clichés of the superhero genre with a dash of Nietzschean philosophy, sprinkled with a touch of family drama. The struggle of the protagonists was always front and center, and their problems as superheroes and as simple members of a nuclear family were interwoven so skillfully that the audience is not forced to over-focus on one aspect or the other - they are meant to take in the characters as wholes, rather than a sum of various clichéd parts. The marital issues the Parrs are faced with are never toned down as Mr. Incredible deals with his mid-life crisis (to an almost pitiful level at times) and Elastigirl is torn in agony over the question of her husband's fidelity. These are meant to be real people. This strong element of reality, despite the surreal context, is what helps keep the movie relevant and interesting to the audience.

Ratatouille is no different. The concept is absurd - a rat who aspires to be something more... a cook, no less! He has grandiose dreams of someday overcoming the trash-delving habits of his brethren and enjoying true cuisine. In the hands of any other writer or director, this would likely have turned into any other saccharine-sweet child's flick, full of cheap gags and not-so-subtle innuendo jokes aimed to keep the parents entertained. While there are certainly plenty of caricatures portrayed in the movie, the focus is never on any single shtick. There is no Robin Williams to keep the children over-stimulated (I love the guy as a comedian, though). Instead, we get a wonderful examination of the art and joy of cooking and of chasing one's dreams. The movie is never dumbed down and never resorts to cheap pop-culture references instead of good writing. While the story operates on multiple levels, there is no distinct "child level" and "parent level" - it is all one and the same, something completely unique to Brad Bird and Pixar these days.

And the animation! There is simply no other company in the entire industry that comes within miles of Pixar's level of craft. From their technological accomplishments (oh god, the lighting!) to their subtlety in presentation, every moment of the movie is visually perfect. Painstaking care has been poured into everything from the selection of colors for each scene to eerily realistic textures used on the foods. Above and beyond the simple visual appeal of the CG, Pixar's animators have once again proven that nobody is anywhere near them. Despite Shrek's monetary success, their characters remain wooden and stiff. Pixar has managed to make CG truly organic.

At the movie's climax, there is a scene that comes so suddenly and so elegantly that for anyone who has ever had a meal so beautiful, so *perfect* that it has brought tears to your eyes will have trouble fighting back tears once again. You will feel a rush that will call to mind every memorable meal you have had and will cause tears to well up not out of sadness or out of joy, but simply out of release - as if you yourself had been the one to take the bite out of that perfect meal. But, then again, that may be because I simply enjoy my food - and Brad Bird - a little too much.

An Unexpected Twist

So, the fiance and I went to see Ratatouille last night for her birthday... And I will post my review of the movie a little later. But on the way home, while we were reliving moments from the movie and discussing our opinions on the details, we pulled up slowly to an intersection to make a left turn when a plump woman slowly ran across the road (we weren't at the intersection yet, and she wasn't at a crosswalk). Since we had a red left arrow, we were already going slow, so I just slowed down a little more to make sure she was out of the way, but a car coming the other direction (he had a green light) obviously wasn't paying attention. Neither was she.

It all happened in slow motion... most likely because the guy was only going about 25-30mph, and she was running at a slow jog. Every nanosecond that passed, I expected one or the other to stop. I kept thinking to myself, "Do I honk? No, one of them has to notice the other... They're not *that* oblivious*. But what happens if I *don't* honk? But what if I honk and the lady looks at me, *then* gets hit by the other..." And then I had my answer. She was up on the hood, then on the street, moaning in pain.

I jumped out of my car and was about to dial 911 when luckily a cop drove by. I flagged him down and he immediately called for an ambulance. There wasn't any blood and she was certainly conscious (and the guy was driving slowly enough), so I don't think there was any immediate threat to her life, though I don't doubt she was in incredible pain. But still! How could neither one have seen the other? The guy should have been paying attention and had ample time to stop. The lady shouldn't have been crossing the road against a red light (and outside the crosswalk) in the middle of the night *and* she should have seen the car coming. I mean he had his headlights on, the engine was loud, etc.

Luckily, I didn't get dragged in to be a witness or anything, so I just got back in my car and drove off. She's lucky she's alive, but I can't help but think that both people involved are just idiots.