The Harry Potter Film Series
The Harry Potter film series
Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter
Of course the Harry Potter films are a big deal to me, how could they not be. To get into each one could be a bit much—so I’ll just go with the highlights. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, ha, it wasn’t until just after the troll was knocked out that I stopped yelling at the screen (yes, in the movie theatre) that it had it wrong—how we didn’t get kicked out I have no idea. This is also funny because the first three films, and especially the first two, are the ones that were able to most closely represent the books before too much started happening where a good portion had to be cut.
The fourth and fifth films, the fourth being highly regarded as the WORST of the franchise, had some major issues. For starters, they cut out the most both time wise and important detail wise. The fact that Harry Potter was able to start such a feminist revolution without Hermione’s organizations of SPEW represented in the films shows just how otherwise kickass these stories were. I hope if they could go back they’d split or extend the 4th film—focusing less on the ‘action!’ of the tasks and more of the changes starting to occur as they were realizing something was going on, but not yet what. While the fourth film was the worst in the franchise by far, no one can ever rightfully deny that the scene of Harry’s return with Cedric’s body truly captured the turning point of the series, while Harry has known death and loss for a long time this year and this moment is when he really begins becoming a man and stepping up to the challenges bestowed upon him.
The 7th year of Harry Potters’ education, or what was supposed to be, split between the 7th and 8th films was done pretty well. The last two films sort of encompass all the series had to offer; drama between Ron and Hermione, the friendship between Harry and Hermione and Ron and Harry separately, the trip to Gringotts brought me back to their more youthful adventures then there are the adult aspects of Neville’s and Draco’s development and the finale of Harry and Voldemort standoff with some beloved life lost that blanketed the series.
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Severus Snape
This picture, of this expression, is perfect for him because I am still so unsure of him. I remember reading the 6th book and becoming even more uncertain (thou, of course, a large part of that was probably confusion from reading it within 48 hours while travelling cross-country) and still am to this day. But as the biggest contradictory and confusion, he has a lot to teach us.
Bullying is horrendous. I remember that Lily separately both (1) ended her friendship with Snape because of the whispers/rumours of him and his friends that were all related to pre-Death Eater activities and (2) later dated, fell in love, and married James Potter (which is a whole different thing that I need more information on because he really was privileged asswipe). But while they both hurt Snape tremendously, this was just on top of the years of torment James, Lupin, Sirius and Peter bullied him. In the flashbacks and history, we know that Snape had a terrible home (unlike James) and then, with this hatred of the world, goes to a school where he thought things would get better and this guy just beats down on him for being poor and odd. Dumbledore’s statement that “maybe we sort too early” was accurate, and came a bit too late. As later expressed Snape was courageous in the moment and whom you are housed with matters and maybe had Snape been in a different house he would have had more time with positive and loving peer influencers like Lily and less with future Death Eaters. So yeah, things could have all been very different. That picture of Daniel Radcliffe probably not, but could have been an outcome for Harry with his parents being Lily and Snape but the things that happen to us when we’re young may not break us but do define us.
This one is also tricky and not one I 100% agree with but see accurately represented in the books. Albus always insisted Harry call him Professor Snape. While I don’t believe in “respecting your elders” and, yeah, Dumbledore could’ve done more to ease this relationship he was overall right. Snape had a very traumatic life and while he was selfish and only came thru when it came to Lily, he still did with great harm to himself and was someone who should be respected because there were things he could teach Harry, thou not easily as both were incredibly stubborn. But on the other side, while Snape really needed to grow up when it came to Harry personally, there are teachers who are truly terrible and because of tenure stick around and should be fired and looked at to more by parents and teachers. On the other hand, especially in the states, teachers do so much more than parents and students and outsiders who don’t listen to the teachers they know realize. In one of the best funded and elite public-school districts we have, there are still young teachers I know who shell out a minimum of $400.00 a semester for thing their students NEED, let alone extra things they think can help their students progress. So before we whine and moan, remember that in most cases our teachers (and most people in public service) do more than we realize and are human; but there is a chance they might not be and if after a bit of reflection see that a teacher is either lazy or a bully report them, and parents, please listen.
Touched on by both parts above, we are reminded by Snape that (1) Bullying is bad, and (2) People are Human, both of these combine and remind us about the terrible cycles that people and generations can get involved in. The bullied become the bullies, the abused become the abusers. You never know what someone is going thru. Like the Dementors, Snape (which I feel weird referring to him now from writing our passage two) represented a lot of rough and upsettings things that can happen in life. But as with most clouds, there is a silver lining. If given another chance Snape would have tried to have been a better person, hold his temper more, see evil for what it truly was earlier on. If not able to change a thing, then I have no doubt he would have relived his life again in order to save Harry for Lily, all in the name of love. Always.
Side note: As contradictory and confusing as Snape is, and why with no one really knowing him, Harry felt he and those like him should be honoured. I get that part. But I will never accept that a child was named after him instead of Hagrid. Never! (But that’s a different issue of course).
Robert California
Robert’s Best Moment: Season Eight, Episode Ten: Christmas Wishes
When he doesn’t sleep with Erin.
Robert’s Worst Moment: Season Eight, Episode Eighteen: Last Day In Florida
When he plans on firing whoever the VP is of the Sabre store.
Robert’s Best Line: Season Eight, Episode Five: Spooked
“When I was a boy, there was an empty house just up the hill from my family’s. It was rumored a man committed suicide there after being possessed by the devil. One day a young woman, Lydia, moved into the house with her infant child.
That very night, Lydia was awakened by a loud heinous hissing sound. She walked to the nursey and there in baby’s crib was a snake wrapped around baby’s neck. Squeezing tighter and tighter, the crib was full of dirt, baby struggled to free itself from underneath. Reaching and clawing, gasping for air, embalmed bodies rose from their sarcophagi, learching toward baby-- for they were mummies.
Amongst them was a man, tall, slim-- almost instinctively she turned to her husband, “oh, wait” she thought “I don’t have a husband”. For Lydia and her husband had had an argument, one they couldn’t get past. Each night they slept one inch farther apart until one-night Lydia left. It was about this time, she lost herself in imaginary worlds. She had quit the book club, the choir, citing something about their high expectations. Her lips slowly grew together from disuse, every time she wanted to act and didn’t another part of her face hardened until it was stone.
And that fevered night she rushed to the nursery, threw open the door “Baby are you okay?”. Baby sat up slowly, turned to mother, and said “I’m fine Bitch. I’m fine.”
Robert’s Most Memorable Moment: Season Eight, Episode One: The List
When he acts as if calling half of his subordinates losers is not a big deal; “it’s on them to prove him right or wrong”.
The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing
I got this book at a thrift store–which is a great practice on its own, just got a school textbook for less than $5.00—I didn’t get it thinking it was about Hunting and Fishing, but as I believed that it would be about raising strong women; but that it wasn’t either and I’m not going to lie, the reviews are right, this book is a bit of a mess but overall it reminds me a bit of Freaks and Geeks where it’s messy and authentic.
First on the mess, it doesn’t help and is unnecessary, the majority of the story is believed to be from one person’s point of view, but two chapters (one told from a character connected to the “main character”, and one not) are told from different people’s points of view. As the “main character” who actually isn’t depicted as the main character or is always portrayed the same but has memories from the earlier chapters—it’s the best you can go. This is confusing, and when I read this book the second time it was early in the second chapter that I remembered—oh right, this is why this book was annoying and confusing. But while poorly formatted and executed, that’s not really all that important, overall the story is snippets of most girls struggles with her personal romantic relationships, navigating different adult relationship as she gets older and changes, figuring out what she wants with her relationships and her changing relationship with her family.
What’s also crucial, and does make it a good story for young adult women and older, is that the love stories aren’t fairy-tale, they’re realistic. Loving someone you broke up with, how much pain can one handle or one should handle in a relationship, the weirdness of not wanting what you know is probably best for you, breaking up with your best friend; it’s not some dramatics of other books: woman finds herself after divorce, found her fiancé cheating, just got a makeover and became the ‘hot girl’ in school. It’s all the other parts of love, the common and more dramatic, heartbreaking and confusing stuff that there is no right answer for.
I’ve read this story a few times—and I still don’t get the title (really, it does not come up in the book, I’ve checked) but what’s great about it is that it’s accurate, and how you do feel the mess you’re in, isn’t unique to you—you’re not alone in feeling alone, even if no situation matches yours.
FINALLY!!!
The Common folk, Contribute to their Community
Australia has approximately 25.2 million people but because of the size that equates to only approximately 3 people every square kilometer (8 people every sq.mile). Similar population countries are Taiwan with 23.7 million (671 people every square kilometer) and North Korea with 25.6 (213 people every square kilometer). Countries with a similar people per mile are Iceland (3 people every square kilometer) and Canada (4 people every square kilometer). (1) Because it is so spread out, Australia has had to make some adjustments to how they hand local libraries.
Increased use of university libraries, high priority of public libraries supported by local state and government endeavors are only combined with school libraries when the community or local communities are not large enough for individual need. Ensuring all residents have at least one local library of access. Similar to the Netherlands, there are also specialized libraries that focus on art, feminism, Indigenous people, Lesbian and Gay history and legislative history and procedure. What is most telling about the importance, care and thought of those in Australia is the introduction page about how Australian’s public libraries and the Australian Public Library alliance meets” at least 10 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals” that do not focus on just environmental book policies
The Alliance itself is also a note to the goals of the country as it was only formed about ten years ago, July 2009, to work towards creating a national goal and concentration on resident’s free, equal and diverse access to information
(1) https://www.worldometers.info/
(2) https://www.alia.org.au/node/184/public-libraries
There is no attack against the police, there is no conspiracy or propaganda agenda AGAINST the police or law enforcement.
With decades worth of law and police shows such as Law and Order (and those spin-offs), CSI, NCIS, Blue Bloods, Sherlock, Bones, Homicide Hunter, Monk, Southland; we have received propaganda for the police- how we should trust them, they’re here to help us, they exist for us. Their slogans in NYC are Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect. But these are not true.
But our daily, real-life experiences fall fall-short than the ideals presented for our consumption in mass media. It is entertaining, but it is not real. They put a siren on to go race thru a red light, text and drive, park illegally everyday-so we are not surprised when they murder young black men and children without provocation, we are not surprised that they overreact and attack black woman or any citizens against their rights granted to them just being in this country and by being humans themselves.
Whether it comes from an actual fear out of racism, or just an authoritarian ideal that they can get away with it--it does not matter. We believe the true victims of those who are murdered because we see the proof every day, the murders are just the tip of the iceberg.
The best thing about modern technology is exposing the way cops fuck over black people to white people. Literally no black person is surprised that they would do this to a black mother grieving over her child.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Ugh, this movie hurts. It’s one to watch by yourself, in a overheated basement, in the middle of the day after you’ve already eaten--be as comfortable as you can get, because once you stop watching it, you can’t restart. So please, watch it, just know you can only watch it in one take
Many movies have stayed with me long after I have watched them, but this film remained on my Netflix que until it was going to be removed in a few days (I think it’s been put back one--regardless) I ended up seeing it around the time a friend of mine who had survived the Holocaust had just passed. While for most of the time I knew him he spoke very little, he lived to be 100, to “fuck the Nazis’”
I didn’t know too much about the film before I saw it, I had some understanding about the general synopsis but not even for sure that the boy was in an official Nazi camp. The ending of the story is of course heartbreaking and accurately works as the nail in the coffin. But the real heartbreak for me is the story for the mother and all parents who sees as we see with her, her daughter transform in one direction as we see her son transform in a different direction. Knowing and seemingly uncomfortable with the situation around her, she remains quiet and does very little to stand up for others and pays a very dear price for it. Now, this is not because I feel more for those caught between what is good and what is easy--no. But focusing on this story that focuses on a family that either just follows orders, chooses to ignore the truth of their world, follows the crowd or is too naive to know the difference (in his, and only his case it’s understandable as he is a child) and shows how choosing to be blind not only doesn’t make your inaction okay but it also may lead you to some ugly realities and consequences as we are all connected in this world.
While overall it is heartbreaking, I truly love and adore the story of Bruno and Shmuel’s friendship. While they are young they become friends and true friends, as while Bruno blames Shmuel out of fear, he apologizes and Shmuel both walks away and then later forgives Bruno. There is a lot of hate given to child-like wonder and this film should remind all how child-like wonder is a truly wonderful gift. While Bruno is clueless to the dangers and hate of the world around him, he takes things in as he sees them seeing those imprisoned as different than the “Jews” he’s being taught about and questions his adults--who should know and act better. He and Shmuel both also remind us how as people it is ourselves, and only ourselves, that stop us from living in a peaceful society
Dobby, the Great House Elf
In the beginning, the middle, and I’m sure to his end, had his final moments not been so serious and painful, Dobby could easily be considered very annoying. He wouldn’t listen and didn’t fully think things thru, making things a lot harder and sometimes more dangerous for Harry. But while I would consider him an adult, just with all the pitfalls of hanging out with a toddler, Dobby was fantastic and a great role model for those who are trying to accept themselves.
While at first Dobby loves Harry for being the boy who lived, his admiration for Harry grows more overtime for the simplicity of Harry treating him as an equal, something that Dobby didn’t experience in his life before and wouldn’t experience much in his lifetime at all. Overtime Dobby begins to love and appreciate himself more, becoming someone who stands up to bullies and is always there for his friends but he shows how rough of a battle it is. While he has always wanted his freedom, he wasn’t able to take the 10 galleons a week and weekends off provided by Dumbledore for wages thinking it to be too much, and wasn’t able to easily tell Harry about Umbridge considering she was his temporary master. While we can easily see Dobby’s friendship, loyalty, and equality with Harry Potter, it is the struggle to change and be yourself that is a lesson less shown or seen that we can grasp with Dobby as while Hermione and Luna were always confident with their intelligence and didn’t care for others, Dobby knew who he was and was proud but still struggled, something that is much more common, especially for young kids and teenagers.
Dobby knew what he was worth, was kind and giving, and did what was right—even against his friends. He struggled with his place in the world but knew to really only care about the opinions of those who matter
Best Man Down
People do not like this film, I do not know why people do not like this film. I liked this film mostly for Addison Timlin, her portrayal and the character’s story. Another film I haven’t been able to see for a while, I would agree with many complaints that it’s not a comedy in a traditional sense. It’s that difference between laughing at a joke and laughing at something, just because you laugh doesn’t mean it’s funny or fun. It’s more of a drama for the fact that Addison Timlin’s character Ramsey has a pretty shitty life, especially with Lumpy gone; and the dramatics of a best friend who you don’t really know dying on your wedding day. But again it’s not supposed to be haha funny, I think it’s more just about pushing you and reminding you to laugh at things that aren’t always funny but also aren’t always serious.
Addison Timlin in this story is remarkable. Perfectly seen as shy and scared but also understanding that she’s angry at the world and because of her life is shy and scared again. Both with her character and the “Best Man” Lumpy you’re pushed to look past a first glance and dig a little deeper. Ramsey (Addison Timlin) is torn, trying to do the right thing but maybe for the wrong reasons or the wrong thing for the right reasons and it’s overwhelmingly complicated. It’s mentioned that she should’ve told the whole story in the beginning, well not only would the movie had ended earlier but we know that she like Lumpy is one that takes a bit to warm up to and without the Bride and Groom getting to know her, they would have heard the story, felt proud to have Lumpy as their friend and left—missing the final points of Lumpy’s life and the film. While the ending wrap-ups are cliché and I could do without, I disagree that the film wasn’t funny and warm; and whether you like the film, you’re crazy if you don’t love Addison Timlin after this—because her and Lumpy are pretty typical people in your life that you love—thou they usually can’t stand each other.
PS “ But he wasn't your best friend. He was your oldest friend. There's a difference. “--Hella frickin accurate
