Brabbel's babble

Well, I finally managed to watch "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2"...

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The best part, though, was that I got to see the movie with my dear friend, quillscribe, who I had the opportunity to finally meet personally after years of emailing. And since we met through Harry Potter-fanfiction it was only too appropriate to watch the end of an era together. :)

Given the little spare time I have right now, I'll have to restrict my reviews to a few short comments... Otherwise, I'll never get anything posted here. *sighs

So, what movies caught my fancy in 2009 so far?

Australia - 4/10

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Ein Augenblick Freiheit (For a Moment, Freedom) - 7.5/10

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Doubt - 7.5/10

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Milk - 7/10

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Changeling - 8/10

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Star Trek - 8/10

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - 4/10

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Well, that rounds up my movie-year so far... not too bad all around.

On another note, due to a recurring eye injury I've to undergo laser treatment on Thursday. While I'm looking forward to finally deal with the issue once and for all, I'm still quite nervous... but that can't be helped, I guess.

Given that this will be my final entry before I go on holiday and it is 1 day before the release of Deathly Hallows, I do have to discuss all the rumours, but even more so the reactions by JKR and the media. I'll also mention my expectations... of course, under the following cut. Be warned, I'll mention some of the spoilers which make their way around the net nowadays!!!

SPOILER ALERT!!!

But before I go into that, I'd like to list my expectations for book 7.

( Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - expectations )

Well, and that brings me back to the spoilers in the internet.


Again, SPOILER ALERT!!!


SPOILER ALERT!!!


SPOILER ALERT!!!


SPOILER ALERT!!! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!


SPOILER ALERT!!! LAST WARNING!!!


( Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - SPOILERS!!! )

Well, I guess, we'll get our answer to that question tomorrow (or whenever I'll be able to obtain my copy in Ireland). I sure as hell am looking forward to reading "Deathly Hallows". I just hope it lives up to all the expectation surrounding it - and that it lives up to being the ending this series deserves! Happy reading!

And my "Harry Potter"-Alter Ego is...

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And yet again my alter ego is confirmed *sighs*. Who would have thought that I'm such an open book to those Internet-quizzes? *g*

I'll be going into more details later but let me say that I'm very impressed with what they've made of GoF. This is certainly the best movie out of the 4, and the one definitely sticking closest to the book.

Skeeter's a bit annoying as are those entry sequences of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students but otherwise I was suprised at how much stuff that could have been well used to show off special effects and/or promote a computer game was cut out. Loved McGonagall in this film, loved the twins and I loved the way they showed Harry's return from the graveyard. Very well done from all involved.

Well, that's it, more later.

Be aware that I'm in rant-mode.

Just these past days I had a discussion on some lj-community about facts in Harry Potter. What is considered to be canon? There's of course the famous HP-Lexicon, *the* source for every important and not so important fact pertaining to the HP-world. To be honest, though, while I appreciate all the effort that goes into this lexicon there are inconsistencies. Let's just take the "How old are Charlie and Bill Weasley"-question. I think I already mentioned my reasoning in an earlier entry, so I won't get into the whole thing again. I just want to point out that the date of Charlie's entry at Hogwarts given in the lexicon (September 1984) does *not* correspond with the facts given in the books. I know that JKR said so in some chat, and I also know that when someone asked her about the inconsistency she said that she's not good at maths... but quite frankly, we are not talking about difficult differentiation or probability-calculations here, not to mention that it was she in the first place who gave the hints to Charlie's age.

I'm sorry if I come across as overly critical, nitpicky or just outright bitchy. However, I'm sick of being attacked just because I dare point out such inconsistencies. I don't understand why it's considered a crime to disagree! In that discussion I was accused of thinking that JKR has to be perfect, that I simply don't appreciate the pressure she's under what with writing the books, dealing with her young children etc. But is it really so much to ask that she herself gets her own facts straight? Is it so much to ask of her that she doesn't reply to questions unless she's sure of the answer, that she simply stays consistent with the facts she's given? I don't understand why the fault lies with me instead of with those who demand those answers of her, who want to know every little detail instead of just reading between the lines or (dare I say it) using their own imagination.

I adore the HP-series, well at least the majority of it, and I think that my life has been enriched by these books because they brought back some of the magic I remember reading of and loving in my childhood. But I think to be a fan doesn't equal to take anything that an author, director, scriptwriter etc. publishes for absolute truth. It is entirely within my rights to form my own opinion and to voice criticism. It is my choice to read the HP-books and it's also my choice to like or dislike them. It's no secret that I think the editors of the HP-series haven't done a very good job since GoF in fact. Let's just take that Priori Incantatem-mess in the first edition of GoF and the lengths one had to wade through in both books 5 and 6 to actually arrive at the scenes that move the plot along. I'm not sure, though, why voicing those thoughts in some communities is considered a sin, why some people take a criticism to heart and act personally offended that's not even directed at themselves but at a person they most likely have never met. I do realize that it's sometimes difficult to swallow a negative comment about something or someone you adore. On the other hand, how you react to people with contradicting opinions is most telling of your character.

It's not even the discussions that annoy me - I *love* discussing Harry Potter, I even love heated discussions. What I absolutely despise, though, is people who repeat other people's words without actually thinking first. I was given the advice to just go with the majority and practically accept the lexicon as holding the truth. But why should I just abandon my opinion? I'm not one and hopefully never will be one to join the masses, clap whenever one urges me to and attack others because I'm told to or because everyone else does. And quite frankly, I wouldn't change a thing about that.

Here is my German review for amazon.at... all you German speaking readers, beware of mild spoilers!

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Hopefully I'll have a list of speculations and thoughts about book 7 up in a couple of days. HbP is full of conflicting material that invites discussion and speculation - and I'm already looking forward to meeting with my friends to talk about this book. *g*

You know what I really hate in fanfiction? Those abbreviations of names... I mean, Harry already is the short version for Harold, and it *really* isn't impossible to say that name quickly. So why call him "Har"? IMO this just sounds stupid. I'll ease up on "Mione" for Hermione but that's something that really annoys me in otherwise good stories. The characters authors play with have names - they are not called Har, Rem, Sir or anything like that in canon, so they shouldn't be in fanon either.

And if I'm already venting... then I'd like to know why people can't spell characters or places or spells correctly. Is it too much to ask that people actually know the stuff they're writing about? I often read about a guy called Volde*r*mort or someone called Hermoine (repeatedly throughout a story not once as a typing mistake) - Weasly instead of Weasley also seems popular, as well as Dursly instead of Dursley. Let's not forget Private Drive instead of Privet Drive. Or Sirus instead of Sirius. Or Serveus instead of Severus... well, you get the idea.

Most seem incapable of getting the spells right - the use of the Unforgivables, which are Imperius, Cruciatus and Avada Kedavra seems very popular in fanfiction... rightly so. But can't they be spelled correctly as well? IMO it takes much of the suspense away if I as a reader have to take time trying to decipher what spell was used! Particularly Cruciatus really seems to be a difficult word to spell - crusticus, cruscius etc. are just 2 examples I've stumbled upon. Also often times authors have problems with the difference between "Stupefy" and "Petrificus totalus" - the first one renders a person unconscious, the second one incapable of moving (but *not* unconscious). And of course, let's not forget Veritaserum (veritas = truth, serum = potion) - I've read that one in so many forms but hardly ever really spelled correctly. Is it so difficult to check the canon and get your facts straight before writing something? I'm not even going into those more often than not ridiculous new spells people come up with because I realise that latin isn't everyone's cup of tea (hey, I stuck through it for 6 years at school and loved it *g*) but sometimes it really, really hurts what translations people give for their newly invented spells.

Of course, apart from spelling things right there's also continuity to consider. I don't mind if stories deviate from canon - but some basic facts should be followed. For example, I *hate* it when a story that's supposed to take place during the summer holidays, suddenly is set in June (even better, the start of June). We know from GoF that the 3rd task took place on June 24 - Harry spent another few days at Hogwarts afterwards. So it's really quite safe to assume that summer holidays are from July 1st to August 31st, meaning the students leave for school Sept 1st and get back home on June 30. Is it impossible to stick to those facts? I won't even get into the "how old are Bill and Charlie"-question since not even JKR is able to get that right. She once said that Charlie was 3 years older than Percy, Bill another 2 years older than Charlie... And that does *not* correspond with the facts that we are given in the books. In PoA McGonagall says that Gryffindor would be "out of the running for the Quidditch Cup for the 8th year in a row", meaning that Gryffindor won the Cup last in 1986 (school year 1985/86). We also know from the twins in SS that Gryffindor hasn't won the Cup since Charlie left school, meaning that Charlie was in his 7th year in 1985/86. And now we'll just have to count backwards... Percy started at Hogwarts 1987/88 which makes Charlie at least 7 years older than Percy. As much as I love JKR's work, I hate such inconsistencies. This has nothing to do with not being able to do the maths but with not putting enough thought into the information one gives in various interviews etc. - and that's also why I don't give much on the information gained from those interviews and chats. Not to mention the fact that Hogwarts should house 1000 students, there are suddenly more than the 8 Gryffindors in Harry's year that we've seen from book 1 to 4 or that DADA classes suddenly comprise over 30 students... Nitpicks perhaps but the last two from OotP bothered the hell out of me.

Okay, now that I've talked about canon, let's turn to spelling mistakes in general. Sometimes I really have to wonder about people's spelling skills. I won't say anything about the occasional mistake but some stories clearly have never seen a spell check in their life - but not even those can't correct those awful "their" instead of "there", "threw" instead of "through" etc. mistakes.

... It certainly appears that I had to get this out of my system... Who would have thought what a rant a simple LotR-fanfic using "Thran" and "Rond" for Elrond and Thranduil could inspire...

Today I bought my PoA-DVD - and after watching it, I'm sorry to say that my opinion of this film isn't quite as positive as when I watched it in the cinema. The changes they made to the climax of the story just weigh too heavy to simply be dismissed - and quite frankly, they bother the hell out of me now because I still can't see the necessity for them in the first place. But here is my German review, like all the German entries - as well as the English one for "Cordelia's Honor" - in this livejournal recently it was written for amazon.de.

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