Review: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Last night I attended my first midnight showing of a movie. Yes, sports fans, I stayed up way past my bedtime in order to experience the very early opening of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

This morning, several people have asked the question "Was it worth it?"

The answer is yes. Yes, it was worth it. If for no other reason than the experience, it was worth it.

The other question I've received is, of course, "How was the movie?"

It was better than I expected. After Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I wasn't looking forward to this film. However, it turned out to be a good adaptation. Of course, there were some added scenes and many more deleted scenes, which always happens going from book to film. I felt there were some very crucial scenes deleted from the end, but I understand the idea behind the adaptation.

The acting was very good. I was delighted by Alan Rickman's performance, and liked him more in this film than in the previous five. Jim Broadbent was a nice addition to the cast, and Helena Bonham Carter was brilliant as usual in her role as Bellatrix.

Going to a midnight showing is like no other experience. I have seen movies on opening day, standing in line for a few hours with friends. There is little comparison. The midnight showing brings out a very interesting group of people. I saw kids there as young as 10, and adults as old as 60 (a very generous guess, I might add).

Though I don't plan to make a habit of going to midnight showings, I must admit that I really enjoyed myself and would probably do it again if the opportunity presented itself.

As for the film, I think it deserves 4 out 5 stars.

The Big Day Approacheth!

No, no! Not THAT big day. I'm talking about Shakespeare's 445th birthday on Thursday. Perhaps you weren't aware that he was getting to be that old. Yes, my friends, he has aged well.

Fortunately, and most likely, to my family's distress, I have just learned that Thursday, April 23rd, is Talk Like Shakespeare Day. Yes, you read that right. Talk Like Shakespeare Day. Awesome, right?

Don't worry if you aren't a Shakespearean scholar, it just so happens that there is a website (Talk Like Shakespeare.org) to help you prepare to talk like Shakespeare on Thursday.

While I can't guarantee I will talk like Shakespeare all day (I do have to answer phones, and our customers may not understand why I'm talking like that), I do plan to try to talk like Shakespeare as much as possible on Thursday. My hope is that we'll have family dinner Thursday night so that I can drive my family crazy with my thees and thous.

So, talk like Shakespeare on Thursday. People may think you are crazy, but I bet it'll be fun!

"ER", Good-bye

Today there are hundreds of news articles, blog posts, and recaps all over the internet about the finale. My "dime a dozen" post won't mean much to anyone except me. I'm writing anyway.

It ended last night. After 15 years of ups, downs, and everything in between, "ER" closed it's proverbial doors and said good night. I openly admit that I cried during more than 50% of the 3 hour "ER" window last night.

I started watching "ER" in season one, and maybe missed only half or possibly one whole season during the 15 year run. I was remembering last night that I started watching the show because Michael Crichton was the creator. In high school, I was really into Crichton, reading everything of his I could get my hands on. When I heard he was attached to a television series, I was right there, on Thursday nights, ready to watch. I didn't care who the actors were, I just wanted to see his genius at work.

And genius it was.

The show took the viewers places they had never been. Yes, we had been in an ER. Shows like "Trapper John, M.D." and "St. Elsewhere" were both based on the idea of a teaching hospital, and there were probably numerous others with a similar concept. I vaguely remember seeing the shows. Of course, my mother was a fan of Knots Landing and Dallas, so our evenings were filled with the prime time soap opera antics of Larry Hagman and William Devane. Medical dramas weren't really the thing in our house. However, "ER" was more than a medical drama. It was a soap opera, of sorts. It was a comedy, at times. It was heart wrenching and sappy and amazing. The show always made me cry, more than once a season, sometimes once a week. It moved me. And yes, even when it got too political for my liking, I still loved it.

"ER" has been part of my life for 15 years, and even though it is just a TV show, I will miss it. My Thursday nights have been an "event", as "ER" writers always billed it. The writers weren't afraid to shock us and make us angry. They were willing to push the envelope. They took us places we never thought we'd go. They toyed with our emotions. They created characters we hated, taught us to love them, and then cruelly took them away from us in explosions and helicopter crashes.

It was epic television, and they knew it. And now, that season of television is over.

Yes, there will be other shows that create "epic" television, but there will never be another "ER".

I realized that the show has been on for half of my life. It has been the show I watched throughout so many different seasons of my own personal journey, and like a warm blanket, I let the show become the outlet for my tears and frustrations when I met them in my own life. Many of the tears I cried for "ER" over the years represented tears I couldn't cry any place else. "ER" gave me an excuse to be vulnerable.

Perhaps that seems a little extreme to some, but, looking back, I realize how true it is.

So many of my favorite shows have ended in the past few years, and it feels like television is slipping into the background. It is becoming less "Must See" and more "Will Watch". Now what will I do? I will probably watch something else that doesn't move me quite like "ER" did. And I will probably like it. "ER" will disappear from the minds of television viewers the same as every other epic show has done. I'll catch the occasional rerun, and perhaps buy a season or two, maybe all. Life will go on the same as it did when other shows have ended. This is not a tragedy. Still, let me mourn. Let me cry once more as the camera pans out and the ambulances come in, then I'll be content to let the screen go black.

And believe it or not, the tea didn't help

Well, I've been sick. It started on Monday afternoon, quite suddenly with a dry cough. It turned into a terrible hacking cough with fever that lasted two days.

So for two days, all I have been able to drink is white grape juice on the rocks, and I have eaten less than I have ever eaten in my life. On Tuesday night, I ate half a bowl of shells and cheese, prepared by my gorgeous Stan. On Wednesday, I had a banana, and most of a grilled cheese sandwich. Today? Well, today it is the juice, and I officially ate less than half a cup of soup.

Is it starve a fever, feed a cold; or starve a cold, feed a fever? I can never remember.

Anyway, I'm sure no one cares about my meals, or lack thereof, over the past few days.

The real reason for the post is that (1) I haven't posted in ages, and (2) I couldn't drink tea. For two days. And I haven't had any today. The tea didn't help. I tried to drink tea the first day. I took one sip, and just couldn't finish the cup. I wanted to. I thought it would be tremendously soothing on my throat, but it wasn't.

So, I drank the white grape juice. I'm sure I'll be back to my old tea drinking self in no time, but it made me sad that tea couldn't soothe me in my time of need.

Anyway, to anyone that is actually still reading this blog, I'm sure there is more to post, and maybe I'll post later. I'm just a little more interested in reading right now than writing.

Sometimes I Love My Classes

Today my English professor asked me the most awesome question I have ever been asked.

We are about to study The Tempest, and he asked those of us in the class who have studied Shakespeare before to think about and have some answers ready on Monday to the following question:

"What is the most important thing about Shakespeare?"

Greatest.Homework.Assignment.EVER!

Grammar Lesson #406

The word "their" is naturally possessive. There is no need to add 's. Type "theirs" if you need the word to be plural, and an amazing thing happens -- it becomes plural possessive.

Remarkable, huh?

I'm actually speechless

I just saw this headline on Yahoo! news:

'Spider-Man' set for Feb. 2010 Broadway opening

That's Broadway, as in musical.

I kid you not.

316

Please go read this post by my friend Emily, titled "LOST Theology".

It will rock you.

Now, That's Customer Satisfaction!

During the lunch break, Stan and I decided to go to a local place called Pappa's. The link is to my raving review of the place on the Taco Blog.

I take it back.

Seriously.

I mean it.

Okay, so their food is still good, but they lost my business today. Here's the story . . . (Of a lovely lady) . . .

Background info:
In the post linked above, I talked about how lunch at Pappa's is different from dinner. During lunch, you used to go to the counter, place and pay for your order, then find a seat to wait until they brought it out to you. During dinner, you sat down, ordered from a menu, and paid at the end. It worked great.

Now, both lunch and dinner are sit, order, then pay.

Today:
We walked in, were told to sit and the waitress would bring us a menu. So, we sat. While we sat the waitress went to another table to give them their menus, and she took both their drink order and lunch order. She then went to another table to give them menus, and take both their drink and lunch order. Then she went behind the counter and put away the menus and started doing something with the cash register. Then, she started working on the drink orders for the two tables whose order she had taken. During all of this time, we were ignored by the waitress, who didn't even bother to give us menus.

We walked out.

When I called back to complain to the owner, she told me that she was very busy, and I told her that she had lost our business.

I probably shouldn't have been so upset. They were really busy. However, Stan and I have a very strict lunch schedule. We just didn't have time to be ignored. Plus, at one point, the waitress looked over at us, so I know that she knew we were there waiting.

Anyway, as you know, I joined Twitter so that I could follow Adagio Teas. I blogged about it yesterday. Today I found out that Teavana is on Twitter.

Well, if you glance at yesterday's blog post, you'll see that Adagio responded with a comment. And if you glance at my Twitter page, you'll see that Teavana sent me a tweet after I exclaimed my happiness at finding them.

Now, guess which two of the three businesses mentioned in this post have my complete devotion.

Writing, Reading, Writing

I didn't do it. I tried, but I just wasn't motivated. I didn't keep my commitment. I didn't blog every day. I didn't read 10 poems every day. And I certainly didn't write for 20 minutes every day. I've been feeling a little unmotivated over all lately, and I didn't push myself to get motivated.

Anyway, moving on to other news. I finally gave in and joined Twitter. It is because of Adagio. They have a Twitter page, and I wanted to follow them. So, I added the Twitter updates to my sidebar here. If you twitter, find me. Just search for coleyboley.

I'm full of random thoughts, so that is how I'm typing.

I need a haircut, badly.

I don't want to do my English assignment because I think it is stupid. Basically, we are writing a paper to prove to our professor that we know how to do research for a paper. It isn't even a formal paper. It is basically just a list of resources. I shouldn't have to prove that I know how to do something I've been doing in a university setting for over 10 years.

I'm 31. I really am. I still can't really process the fact that I'm 31. I don't feel like I've been alive that long, but I have.

I really miss my friend Kelli today. I don't know why. I just do.

That's the end of my thoughts for now.