Well, darn. Guess that didn't work.
Curses! You have failed me for the last time, Boricua Wonder Shield!
Anyway, getting sunburnt kind of bummed me out. This is what happens when you wade around the wave pool at the water park in direct sunlight on an 100+ degree day, I guess, but my Puerto Rican powers rarely desert me in my time of need. Added to which we got back to IVC an hour later than we'd planned, and I still had to drive home in my dad's old manual transmission truck. I learned to drive on that thing, so I have no problems with stick shifts in general. We have owned that particular truck, however, since just before Joshua was born, and it is starting to show its age. First gear is especially unreliable; half the time it'll jump out of gear just as I'm trying to get going again after being stopped at a light, which is even more fun than it sounds when there are a bunch of impatient drivers behind you who are already annoyed because you actually go the speed limit.
Okay, cue forlorn Aida.
Sad pandas.
What could possibly cheer me up on a day like this?
That did the trick!
For the uninitiated, way back in ye olde 2009, a theatre group at the University of Michigan (known as StarKidPotter online) performed an affectionate musical parody of the Harry Potter series, cleverly titled A Very Potter Musical. That summer, they posted video of their play on YouTube. Somehow, the Harry Potter fansites found out about it, and, as a veteran of HP fandom, I can say from experience that once it's linked to on a major HP fansite, make sure you have a good server, or be prepared for a blue screen of death from thousands upon thousands of dedicated HP fans all headed for your site at once. If it's on YouTube, expect to get approximately 87 zillion more views. Case in point? See the Vlogbrothers. DFTBA!
Long story short, A Very Potter Musical became an overnight Internet sensation. It was hilarious, if occasionally a bit juvenile, the songs were catchy, the lyrics were solid, there was a surprising amount of content from the books considering it adapted many of the series' plotlines for a three-hour play, and Bonnie Gruesen's hair was far more Hermione-ish than Emma Watson's ever was. It was silly, but it was meant to be silly. It was also very much a play for college students, by college students, though the acting was great across the board. I loved it immediately, even if there were some aspects I didn't care for (their Dumbledore, for one. Also the one-sided Draco/Hermione, because what??? It did mostly follow the canon pairings, including Ron/Hermione (OTP yay), for what it's worth.)
Then, in January, the StarKidPotter team announced a sequel to their show was in the works. It was performed in Ann Arbor this past May, but it wouldn't go online until July 23. I waited impatiently for news, then kind of forgot about it.
So, when I logged onto my favorite HP news site, The Leaky Cauldron, what did I see but an announcement hailing the release of A Very Potter Sequel on YouTube. Joy!
Small confession to make: I may or may not have used some poetic license in the telling of this story, because I may or may not have been up until 4 o'clock this morning devouring this musical in one sitting, right away, the moment I found out it was online. Well, what can I say? I like my new Potter experiences to be in the middle of the night. Minds out of the gutter, please. I am just a midnight-release type of gal. No, you are not allowed to follow that accidental double entendre through to its logical conclusion. Grow up, won't you?
I jest, I jest. But if you're in the mood for first-class musical parody, and you don't mind fleeting profanity and sometimes slightly offensive humor, you're in for a treat!
Here is the video that started it all: A Very Potter Musical, Act One, Part One.
And here is the just released sequel, starting with A Very Potter Sequel, Act One, Part One.
Enjoy! My thoughts on the sequel will come tomorrow. I'm still too full of squee to write a coherent review.
