Guess What? I'm Posting About Akage no Anne Again!

Let's have another bullet point list, shall we?

• I'm enjoying this so much. I really might like it better than the Sullivan films. Sure, it's anime and it's in Japanese, but it's so well-made I don't even care. I can't believe I haven't watched this before now!
• I ought to finish the entire series tomorrow. In some ways I'm sad, because I've loved it so much and I don't want it to end. That's what the books are for, though! I even had the forethought not to put my copy of Anne of Green Gables in storage with the rest of my books, so once I finish Howl's Moving Castle I think I'll reread Anne.
• I finally thought to take notes while I was watching today, so here are my scattered thoughts:
• According to the subtitles, Japanese promos are so much politer than American ones. Instead of telling their viewers to "Tune in next week!" or "Don't miss the next episode!" they respectfully implore you to "please watch" or "please wait and see." It makes me laugh.
• The English loan words are easy to decipher. "Cake," "ice cream," "Christmas," and "present" are all as they are in English. None of the names have been changed either, so you get to listen to Japanese voice actors pronounce "Anne Shirley," "Gilbert Blythe," and "Marilla Cuthbert." I think my favorite bit is when Anne calls Diana's mother "Barry-san," haha.
• I was amused by the Anne-dyes-her-hair-green fiasco as always, but I call shenanigans on Anne having her hair pixie-cut in March and then it all being back to normal (almost waist-length) by August. Nope. Speaking from experience, hair growth doesn't work that way.
• The English writing in the backgrounds is usually quite good, but every once in a while I'll catch some errors. When Anne and Diana went to visit Aunt Josephine in Charlottetown, they walked under a banner proclaiming the "83th" exhibition. Then in Anne's nightmare, Ruby Gillis's name was spelt with two b's.
• Speaking of Ruby, there was a moment when she was in hysterics over being caught in a snowstorm at school, and Miss Stacy slapped her! It sounds terrible, but in context it was so funny. I actually laughed out loud.
• Funny visual: Aunt Josephine rides a carousel with Anne and Diana.
• There was an anecdote I don't remember from the book where the hired man, Jerry, tricks Anne into thinking she'd eaten poisoned apples and was about to die. She then goes on to write farewell notes to Matthew, Marilla, and Diana, and they were so melodramatic I nearly keeled over myself from laughing so hard. Oh, Anne.
• The most recent episode I watched (#37) had Charlottetown mistranslated as "Charlottesville" in the subtitles. Of course it was completely unintentional, but as someone who left home to go to school in a city called Charlottesville, it made me unexpectedly emotional.
• This episode also happened to feature Marilla reflecting on Anne growing up. There was even a shot of fifteen-year-old Anne holding up the dress she had come to Green Gables from the orphanage in and laughing at how small it was. Are you trying to break my heart, show? Marilla cried and I have to admit, I sniffled a little, too. Many of my friends talk about how now that the Harry Potter movies are over, so are their childhoods. I don't quite feel that way, since I think that that series ended with the books anyway, but something about watching Anne grow up really hit home. And I'm just the growing up one. I can't imagine how my mother would feel, especially seeing as she's about to send my brother off to college, too.
• Gilbert is growing up very nicely indeed. (Note to self: He's fictional and still a teenager, at least in this story. Stop thinking what you're thinking at once!)
• I will never not love the "Unfortunate Lily Maid" sequence, in any incarnation. 
• Some pics from Akage no Anne:

Anne and Matthew

Marilla. Strangely, whenever an important character is introduced, they are surrounded by a flowery frame, as seen above. I think this is probably a Japanese thing.

Anne and Diana, making their vow of friendship.

Young Gilbert

Why so adorable, Gilbert?

Older Anne.

Continued Thoughts on Akage No Anne (or Anne of Green Gables, the Anime)

• First off, it's wonderful. I don't even like anime that much. I usually don't find it aesthetically pleasing. However, as no one in Akage no Anne has green hair (yet :P), I'll let the look of it slide. Actually, the backgrounds are beautiful, and all the writing is in English. The attention to detail is really astonishing. After Marilla makes Anne new dresses, she gradually stops wearing her wincey dress from the orphan asylum. Once she breaks her slate over Gilbert's head, it's just a wooden frame with a few scant pieces of slate here and there. The other little girls have fancier dresses with puffed sleeves. I'm quite impressed with the effort that went into making this!
• Eleven-year-old Anne simultaneously breaks my heart and cracks me up. How she can be so hilarious and still say such sad things like, "I'm sure [my previous, neglectful guardians] meant to be good to me" is beyond my understanding.
• The subtitles are for the most part quite good, but sometimes they phrase things rather awkwardly. Maybe it's just a Japanese thing, but for the first three episodes or so Anne was constantly addressing Matthew and Marilla as "Aunty" and "Uncle," which is especially jarring considering they kept that bit about Marilla refusing to let Anne call her "Aunt Marilla" later on in. I'm just going to attribute that issue to cultural differences and move on, though.
• Not a huge fan of the voice acting, but I'll fully admit this is probably because I understand maybe five words of Japanese and the inflection just sounds really off to my Western ears. That's why there are subtitles, though!
• Gilbert is appropriately hunky. :D The strange thing is that this was made in 1979, more than five years before the Kevin Sullivan production, and Gilbert looks freakishly like an anime version of Jonathan Crombie. Observe:

 

• Not that I mind. Anne is my favorite, but like any respectable Anne of Green Gables fan, I love Gilbert. He's definitely one of my (many) literary boyfriends.
• Diana is perfect, although her hair makes me think of Princess Leia's Bespin do:

Full disclosure: I used to style my hair like this once a week in junior high. The reason I used to have waist-length hair was because I wanted to be like Leia in every way, including her righteous quasi-Scandinavian hairstyles.

• More praise for Akage no Anne's attention to detail: Diana's little sister Minnie May is nearly always shown when Anne goes to Orchard Slope, in a great bit of subtle foreshadowing. Also, she and Diana have a very strong resemblance, as opposed to the little girl chosen to play Minnie May in the Sullivan films, who looked nothing like Schuyler Grant.
• Like I said before, this is nearly a word-perfect adaptation. I love the faithfulness to the novel. This is basically the treatment I want to be given to Harry Potter, although I could do without the anime.
• In short, I love it. I'm spending all my free time watching it, which is really a great way to move things along when there aren't a lot of people around Cville. Yay I'm a social recluse!
• Off to watch the next few episodes!

The Pigeon Hole and Akage no Anne

Things really do get better. Everything about today was lovely; I had a nice morning, spent my afternoon playing games and listening to music with the boys (I won at chess, which considering my opponent is saying something!), talked on the phone with my mother, went to dinner at The Pigeon Hole with some Brown friends, and am now watching Akage no Anne, a Japanese anime from 1979, which so far is pretty much word-faithful to Anne of Green Gables. Admittedly I'm not a huge anime fan, but I almost like it as much as the Kevin Sullivan TV movie from the 80s, which is a really high compliment coming from me. I do wish it was in English instead of Japanese with subtitles, though. And yeah, there are some weird anime moments; the title sequence features Anne driving a pony cart through the sky, surrounded by apple blossoms. Don't get me wrong, that's totally something I could see Anne imagining, but it's just a little strange to actually see it on screen. Anyway, I think I've found my evening entertainment for the rest of the summer!

So Okay It's Average

Today was not my day. It started out well enough; I slept in until about 10:30, had quiche for breakfast, and played Sims until I had to leave for work. Then I lost to a six-year-old at Monopoly again, which did wonders for my ego, let me tell you, especially since I really did start this game at the beginning instead of taking over for his grandmother. The one thing I was looking forward to was going for a swim when I finished up with the kids - I was wearing my swimsuit underneath my work clothes and had my towel stuffed into my bag and everything. Instead, by the time I hiked up to Washington Park to use their pool, I discovered it was closed for a special event (of which there was no notice on their website, by the way). I know it's silly, but I was irritated after my long afternoon (which had ended with said six-year-old deciding we would play "dodgeball" and proceeding to throw rubber balls at my head), and I honestly felt a little like crying when I saw I'd walked all the way out there in my swimsuit for nothing.

Well, at least the evening has been pretty satisfactory. I took the bus home, made dinner (corn on the cob, toast with hummus, and a hard-boiled egg, because I need to get my protein from somewhere), and watched a few episodes of Mad Men now that it's on Netflix Instant Watch. I've also just finished reading Meg Cabot's Pants on Fire, which admittedly is not her best work, but it was a fairly nice way to spend a few hours. Meg Cabot's books are my comfort reads. They're like pink lemonade pie: sweet, simple, and sometimes with a surprising, but ever-satisfying finish. Also, many of them happen to be pink.

I'm not a huge fan of this one in particular, though. Cabot isn't Shakespeare, but normally I can get past her writing quirks because she usually comes through with a decent plot. I did like the conclusion to this book, for the most part. I did get annoyed with the constant use of the word "macking," and the protagonist's tendency to forget her anger with her love interest because of his "hotness." Sorry, that just rubs me the wrong way. I realize Cabot's narrators are highly subjective, and their love interests seem so perfect because that's how they appear in the narrators' eyes, but in this case I think Tommy Sullivan was a little too perfect, and while I was fine with SPOILER SPOILER Katie ending up with him, I would have been happier if they'd agreed to put things on hold for a while as Katie sorted her life out, like she'd been intending to do END SPOILERS. Of course, while I certainly like boys, I've never exactly been boy-crazy (guess who's 20 and still hasn't had a boyfriend? Yay, I'm so lame), so maybe I just don't understand Katie's predicament very well. Anyway, on to Howl's Moving Castle tomorrow!

C'est la vie. As Anne Shirley says, "Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it." Plus, Pooja's coming over for dinner, so how can it not be awesome? Good night!

Ugh

Not feeling well tonight. On the other hand, I've just been informed I won't have to work weekends for the rest of the summer, so I'll have a lot more free time to catch up on rest. You win some, you lose some.

Time to sleep for a million years.

Business as Usual

Today was a pretty standard day. I ordered my textbooks, went to work, played Sims, and talked to my mother. Exciting news, at least for me: My mom is coming to visit in October! She'll be here for three full days just before my birthday, which means I'll actually get to celebrate with her in person for the first time since my eighteenth. She'll also get to see my dorm room, which she's never been able to do before.

Explanation: I hadn't yet set foot on Grounds when I decided to come to UVa. My family and I made a cross-country road trip with all my stuff the summer before college, ending up at my aunt's house in Pennsylvania. From there we drove down to Charlottesville for a couple of days, about a month before the semester was due to start. As it was July, I didn't have key card access to my dorm, so my parents saw the outside of it, but by move-in day they had been back home for several weeks, and my aunt was the person who moved me in. Second year I took a plane instead of a car, and my parents didn't go with me. So this will be my mom's first official visit, for all intents and purposes. After all, none of us knew anything about Charlottesville when we drove down to see UVa. Now I've been living here for nearly two years, and I feel confident in my ability to give my mom a real tour.

Nothing much going on the rest of the week. That's okay. I'm happy to just spend my evenings reading novels and my days winning my bread.

My Day

• 7:36 AM: Wake up. Pull pillow over head because it's too early to be conscious on a Sunday morning, and suddenly realize you feel awful. Listen to NPR and watch the Legend of Korra trailer a few times, then fall asleep again.
• 10:42 AM: Open one eye. Look at clock. So much for church today. :/ Go back to sleep.
• 11:28 AM: Finally force self from bed. Decide you won't subject anyone to your presence today, because you look like hell and pretty much feel like it, too.
• 11:31 AM: Spend fifteen minutes looking for strawberry pancake recipes before you realize you have no baking powder/soda. Eat strawberries and graham crackers for breakfast instead.
• 11:57 AM: Read Facebook news feed and go through one of your ~forever alone~ moods, because it seems like everyone you know is in a relationship and you're still the perpetually single (not by choice) one.
• 12:13 PM: Stop wallowing. Update Tumblr with all your Korra excitement.
• 12:29 PM: Make toast and spread hummus on it for lunch. Win.
• 12:41 PM: Think you should probably get started on your laundry, but mostly just look at your dirty clothes for a while as you listen to Made of Fail podcast.
• 1:03 PM: Have some ice cream, because it's hot in your room, and why not?
• 1:45 PM: Get off Tumblr. Clean kitchen.
• 2:32 PM: Play Sims 2. Get one more family in line for rotation. Shudder when you realize you still have to do the same for at least five more households.
• 5:32 PM: Skype parentals.
• 6:48 PM: Start laundry.
• 7:11 PM: Make quiche and Skype brother.
• 7:26 PM: Spill about a fourth of the quiche mix on the floor/inside the oven as you try to put it to bake. Still successfully manage to keep most of it in the pie pan.
• 7:55 PM: Down two glasses of pineapple-orange-banana juice in a row, despite the fact that you've had enough sugar today to feed a small army.
• 8:24 PM: Finish laundry, but leave it in suitcase (your hamper for the summer) instead of folding it right away, because you just don't feel like doing it.
• 8:37 PM: Moar internet. Always moar internet.
• 9:16 PM: Think about updating blog/finishing The Great Gatsby/playing more Sims 2.
• 9:25 PM: Start writing blog post. Hope you can be at least halfway presentable tomorrow, although you are feeling slightly better.
• 9:49 PM: Finish blog post.

Korra, Fiddler on the Roof, and Bye-Bye Heat Wave!

Up until about fifteen minutes ago, I was so tired I thought I would collapse. Then I remembered that there was a Legend of Korra panel at ComicCon today and I got really excited. So much for sleeping. Here is the trailer. Ahh! Why do I have to wait until next year for this? All the awesome stuff is happening in 2012: my potential semester in France, Brave, Legend of Korra, President Obama's reelection (and my first real national campaign experience), and getting to make fun of all the people who think the world is going to end. Patience schmatience.

In other news, I'm nearly finished with The Great Gatsby. To be honest, I still don't know where all the love is coming from, but it's a short book, so I can move on to Meg Cabot and Diana Wynne Jones probably as soon as tomorrow. Plus, John Green is doing a series of videos on The Great Gatsby this summer, so anything I'm confused about will hopefully be cleared up then.

Pooja came over and watched "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen" with me after work. After she left, I went to have dinner with Hillary, Lauren, and Justine. By the way, Whole Foods makes fantastic hummus, possibly the best I've had. I'm actually looking forward to making my lunch this week. Anyway, Hillary and Co. came to watch Fiddler on the Roof at my apartment. I'd only ever seen the junior stage production, so it was nice to take in all the songs in their full glory. We only watched the first part (like I said, I was exhausted, and it's more fun to do it this way). I'm excited for next week, though! Fun times all around.

Heat wave is gone. Today wasn't terrible; my walk to work was a bit unpleasant, but we had a psuedo-thunderstorm (sans rain) while I was out, and then when Pooja was over it rained for a bit. When she left, it was quite nice outside. Hopefully that's the end of 100+ degree indexes for a while.

Okay, time to watch the Korra trailer about seven more times before bed. Eee!

Days Like This Make Me Wish I Was a Waterbender

So instead of being miserable in my own sweat, I could use it for the forces of awesome. At least there's only one more day of this heat wave to get through.

Went to work in exercise shorts and a t-shirt, and then spent my afternoon playing with the kids. My apartment has no air conditioning, so right now I'm sitting in front of my computer in the lightest clothing possible, watching The Golden Compass. It's been ages since I've read the book (incidentally, the only one of the His Dark Materials trilogy I really enjoyed), but this adaptation feels quite clunky and overly-expository. Well, I shall see how it turns out.

Until tomorrow!

I Keep Falling Asleep At My Computer

and then waking up because even with my fan on, my room is so hot and sticky. I never quite realized heat could be so unendurable until I experienced 100 degrees with humidity in central Virginia. Oy vey. Oh, and no matter how warm it is outside, taking a cold shower is still really unpleasant, as I discovered this evening. So much for that brilliant solution. Can't wait until this heat wave passes through and I can go back to feeling superior about dealing with 110+ temperatures on a daily basis back home.

In other news, Pooja and I watched the last episode of The West Wing's first season when she was over for dinner today. I know what happens and I still get sweaty and anxious every time I watch it. On the other hand, the season two opener is some of the best television I've ever seen, so I'm really looking forward to showing her that.

Okay, heat or no heat, time for bed. Aida out, dudes and dudettes.

Happenings

• I went to see Deathly Hallows again this afternoon. Compared to the midnight showing, this audience was dead quiet, but I was able to catch some lines I missed (like Ron's "That's my girlfriend, you numpties!") when sitting with the boisterous crowd from last week. There weren't many people in the theatre with me, but I was rather dismayed to see at least two young children with older relatives. Perhaps they had read all the books, knew what was coming, and had parents who knew they could handle mature content, in which case I don't really have a problem with them seeing the film. However, there was a little boy of maybe eight or nine who sat in my row with his father, and I heard him quietly ask if they could leave a couple of times. My suspicions are that there are plenty of parents operating under the misassumption that the Harry Potter films are kids' movies, and going to see one means fun for the whole family. 
• This is actually an issue I think about with regard to my own future children, because there's no way I'm not going to share Harry with them, but it's tough to know which age to start at. The first two or three are perfectly acceptable for six to nine-year-olds, but I'm really uncomfortable with the thought of someone in early elementary school reading about Hermione's torture in Deathly Hallows, for example. That scene was hard for me to read at sixteen, and while Josh handled it relatively well at eleven, I still don't know if I would be okay with a child that young experiencing it. Food for thought.
• Went back to Whole Foods to pick up some groceries after the movie. Yes, it is still my happy place.
• I don't mind not having a car, but it is rather annoying knowing I'll have to add on 30-45 minutes of travel time whenever I want to go shopping. Mostly this isn't a big deal, because especially during the school year I don't have much cause to run errands over in Seminole Square, but it is rather irksome knowing that, even if I get my groceries done at 3:30, I likely won't make it back to work for the rest of the afternoon because I have to take the bus all the way around, past Fashion Square, to get to the university area. Ugh.
• About to make a quiche on my own! I'm quite excited to see how it'll turn out.

A Six-Year-Old Beat Me at Monopoly Today

Among other things, although since I was taking over from his grandmother and only played about half the game, I'm not sure it really counts as a loss on my part. Why no, I'm not defensive at all. Do I sound defensive? I don't care...

Pretty normal day. Worked with the kids, Skyped with Meagan, and made more crepes than one person should really be eating in one day. I'm going to see Deathly Hallows again tomorrow, since I got a couple paychecks yesterday, and I might make another trip to Whole Foods while I'm out there. Not looking forward to the end of the week, when it's going to be 100 degrees or more with heat indexes up to 115. Those kinds of temperatures are only acceptable in El Centro in mid-May. I'm loving my Charlottesville life, but this is not going to be a fun week to be outside.

The Trio in Fanart: A Study in Reader's Perception

Continuing on with the theme of my life the week, today's post is devoted to my mental images of the three main characters, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. When I first read the books in November of 2000, the films were still a year away and I was free to picture the characters as I pleased. With the exception of Evanna Lynch as Luna and maybe Matthew Lewis as Neville, none of the actors have changed the way I see the characters in my head. I think this is probably because I see the films as a separate entity entirely. Anyway, this will be a long, image-heavy entry. All the artists whose work is shown are credited, with their real names if they have identified themselves as such online, or with their screennames otherwise. Here are the characters as I see them:

"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by Marta Tieves, artdungeon.net

"Our Home" by *Catching-Smoke

"Ron and Hermione, First Year" by cambryn

"Harry Potter" by Marta Tieves

"Ronald Weasley" by Marta Tieves

"Hermione Granger" by Marta Tieves

"First Meeting" by Marta Tieves

"Chess" by Marta Tieves

"Ron and Hermione Playing in the Snow" by Marta Tieves

"Philosopher's Stone" by mudblood428

"Hermione" by briarthorn

I may edit this post or do another shortly, but as you can see, Marta Tieves's Trio basically is my own. She was basically the first talented artist I came across in fandom, and while I'm not quite as enamored with her work as I once was (her characters often have stiff expressions, whereas those of artists like mudblood428 are more emotional), no one has really quite matched her drawings of the Trio in my head. Her Harry has messy hair, her Ron is long and lanky, and her Hermione is bookish and pretty in an understated way, unlike Emma Watson's bombshell, leading lady looks. At least to me, the Trio as portrayed in the art above feels far more like the Trio in Rowling's novels, and it is these characters I love so deeply, not the ones played by Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson. I encourage you to check out deviantart.com and browse the Harry Potter art sometime. It's a massive (and spoiler-filled) collection, and while there's a lot of poor-quality work, there are also some real gems.

How do you see the Harry Potter characters?

IntenseDebate and Further Thoughts on Deathly Hallows (Mostly the Book)

Hey everyone! In honor of Wordbender's first birthday, I've installed an easy-to-use comment system called IntenseDebate. While you are free to sign up for an account with them, I chose to enlist their services in the first place because logging in to leave comments is not required. I love hearing from people who read this blog, and now you can do it simpler than ever before! You don't even have to leave an email address. Please give it a try!

In other news, I'm still mulling over Deathly Hallows in my mind, and this morning I came to a realization. This isn't a movie spoiler because it applies primarily to the book. Four years ago when we all read it for the first time, I heard a lot of criticism to the effect of, "Harry and Voldemort's final showdown is anticlimactic! All they do is talk." Which is fair, and something I thought at first as well. But then it hit me: Harry and Voldemort's confrontation is anticlimactic because it's not the climax.

Stay with me here. In past Rowling interviews, I've heard her refer to the scene in the Great Hall as the denouement. This struck me as odd, but I figured she meant to say climax and had just misspoken. Now, though, I'd like to instead posit that everything after "The Forest Again" really does constitute the denouement, or the falling action. The climax is when Harry gives himself up, intends to die, and doesn't.

I think we've been trained to expect that a final showdown is automatically the climax of any piece of fiction. Certainly I think that's the route the film went with, hence all the gratuitous spell-casting and flying around Hogwarts. Take a look, though, at how Rowling builds tension throughout "The Prince's Tale" and especially "The Forest Again." Harry believes he is heading to his death, and I firmly believe that his walk through the Forest is some of Rowling's best and most emotional writing of the series. He thinks of his friends and of Ginny. He longs to have just a few more minutes to live, to experience. There's a note of finality to everything he says or does. I remember reading this chapter the first time, and feeling surprisingly angry. I was upset with Rowling for killing Harry off, when there was so much more I wanted for him. But I believed her. As much as my entire brain was protesting, once Harry accepted that he would have to die, so did I. So the chapter builds to the moment where Voldemort strikes Harry down, and it really does feel like a climax ought to. Examples:

"At that moment he felt that nobody mattered but Voldemort. It was just the two of them."
"Harry looked back into the red eyes, and wanted it to happen now, quickly, while he could still stand, before he lost control, before he betrayed fear."


Then, of course, Harry is hit with the AK. I remember feeling completely and utterly shocked. It really is one of the most important moments in the series, and rife with Christian symbolism. Indeed, if one looks at the Bible as literature (as I do, while also seeing it as its own Truth), what can the climax of the Gospels be other than Jesus's death on the Cross?


After this point in the novel, while there are exciting, tension-building moments (Molly and Bellatrix, Neville and Nagini), Harry has cleared the most significant hurdle. Sure, he does need to confront Voldemort, and explain. And there is something of a secondary climax, in that moment in the Great Hall where Voldemort is undone by his own killing curse just as the sun rises, and Harry catches the Elder Wand. But from "King's Cross" onward, we know Harry will come through this okay. "The Flaw in the Plan" resolves plotlines and finally puts an end to Voldemort, but this is characteristic of denouements. Much like in Goblet of Fire, where the climax lies firmly in the graveyard, but there are still exciting moments to come, like the revelation of Moody's true identity. Harry has faced down death with love, and won, and by the time he and Voldemort come face to face again, he knows it. Hence all the talking. This doesn't need to be action-heavy (although we do get some of that). We just need to understand as Harry does.


A lot of people hated the epilogue. Even I remember being a bit put-off by it on my first read. I think this is partially because, particularly if you're looking at the final showdown as a climax, you haven't really had time to catch your breath before a drastic time jump forward and a sudden change in tone. There's still probably some improvement that could be done there. But if you're looking at "The Forest Again" as the climax, I would argue that the epilogue's placement and setting are more natural. The themes of parental love, forgiveness, and family are all present in that chapter, and they're certainly present in the epilogue. In "The Forest Again," Harry is just starting to grasp the impact of Snape's actions; by the time the epilogue rolls around, his feelings have come full circle, and he's come to respect Snape's sacrifices so much he names his son after him. Lily and James stood beside Harry until the very end; now another Lily and James bring Harry comfort and happiness. Ginny, the last subject of Harry's thoughts before death, is now his loving wife. The epilogue also represents what Harry was willing to give his life for: a better future for a new generation. Teddy Lupin, whose story intentionally mirrors Harry's, has not had the same childhood full of pain and angst. He's now a young man in a loving relationship, who comes by his godfather's house for dinner several times a week and is adored by Harry's children. The Potter and Weasley children have their whole lives ahead of them, full of possibility and promise. Thanks to Harry's bravery, the worst anxiety Al and Rose have to face is what House they will be put into. Perhaps it is a bit cheesy, but it's also really powerful. Harry's journey and drive to do the right thing has given him exactly what he always wanted: a family.


Well, this started out as one realization and turned into a defense of the epilogue, but I think both points are valid. I might do another post tonight on my mental picture of the characters, since I'm on such an HP kick, but in the meantime, let me know what you think in the comments!

Thinky Thoughts About Deathly Hallows [SPOILERS, Natch] and a Blogiversary

As I have discovered with Order of the Phoenix and Deathly Hallows: Part 1, a person does not recover from a midnight showing in a day. Staying up until 4:30 in the morning really does take a lot out of you (who'd've thunk?). However, I'm basically back to normal now, other than a bit of residual sleepiness. First off, I loved it. Deathly Hallows is my favorite book in the history of ever, and I truly believe the films did it justice. Great job, David Yates and Co. That being said, I should note I purposely did not reread the book before seeing the movie. Most of the novel is pretty much seared into my memory anyway, but I find that having it fresh in mind just before seeing the film ruins my experience. I get annoyed enough about things the filmmakers do wrong without recently rereading. The books are always going to be better than the movies, but I do want to give the films the benefit of the doubt.
So, bearing in mind some of the finer points have escaped my memory since my last reread, here are my bullet points (below the cut, SPOILER ALERT):

Need Sleep, Post Later

Long story short, I loved Deathly Hallows. I really want to see it again but should wait for my next paycheck, so that probably won't be until later on in the week. In the meantime, I don't have the energy for a lengthy post; I had about four hours of sleep last night tops. Matt and I watched a bunch of Avatar: the Last Airbender episodes this evening, ending with Book Two's "The Chase." I have to say, I've never seen that particular episode feeling as sleepy as the Gaang was. Makes you appreciate sleep so much.

Hopefully I'll be in the mood for writing tomorrow!

4 Hours to Go and Counting!

See you on the other side!

Life of Aida

Some miscellany from this week:

• Still haven't been able to make Puerto Rican rice quite right, but it's definitely edible.
• Pooja and I are now two episodes away from The West Wing's first season finale. Eee!
• I have discovered that Noah loves my Sound of Music soundtrack, especially "The Lonely Goatherd." Of course he would like my least favorite song the best. :P
• Asher tried to follow me home again last week, and yesterday he was hiding my stuff so I would have to stay longer to look for it. It's hard to be stern with him when he's so adorable.
• Another weekend, another houseguest! This time it's Matt (roommate of the other Matt frequently mentioned in this blog). I predict fun times will be had!
• Passion fruit sorbetto is the best thing ever. It reminds me of the passion fruit ice cream you can buy at the beach in Puerto Rico.
• I'm reading The Great Gatsby because John Green told me to. Currently I'm up to chapter 5. I'll keep you updated as I go along.
• Yesterday was so incredibly hot. Yes, Californians, I am turning into a wimp. Sorry. I am ashamed.
• I bought a water bottle at CVS because it was pretty. Yay frivolity! Clearly I am emulating my favorite Firefly character (love you forever, Kaylee).
• Speaking of favorite Firefly characters, SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER LOOK AWAY RIGHT NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN SERENITY: Apparently Wash did leave Zoe Someone to Remember Him By. This makes me happy, but I'm still really pissed off at Joss Whedon. Most pointless character death ever. Why??? END OF SPOILERS, IT'S OKAY TO START READING AGAIN.
• I'm thinking Doctor Who will be my next series, which means I better get a move-on, because I'm still not sure what my Netflix plans are going to be come September. I love InstantWatch so much, but sometimes there are things you just can't find streaming (like Veronica Mars, and I was only twelve episodes from the end, argh). I hate pay increases. I'm a poor college student trying to save up to study abroad. Why can't my favorite movie-watching source be cheap?

And of course, the thing that's been consuming my life:

• Deathly Hallows: Part Two is at 95% on RottenTomatoes right now. So happy!
• Ahh so excited for the midnight show tomorrow. I already have my HP shirt picked out and everything. Plus I get to see Andi for the first time in practically forever. Yay!
• I may or may not have spent my afternoon reading HP reviews out loud and obsessively scanning Tumblr for gifs of the Ron/Hermione kiss. I regret nothing!
• Just over 24 hours to go! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I am an adult, I swear.

Serenity [SPOILERS]

Just finished watching Serenity, the feature film sequel to Joss Whedon's television series Firefly. I have some SPOILERY SPOILERY SPOILERY thoughts:

Whole Foods

I am a proud liberal Democrat. I registered to vote as soon as I was able, which in my case was June of 2008, right after California's local elections, the last elections before the general in November (the actual month of my birth). The West Wing is my favorite television show, I don't eat meat, and I get irrationally angry at my radio whenever John Boehner is speaking. But until this morning, I had never in my life set foot in a Whole Foods Market.

All that changed at 10:30 AM, when, after braving the Charlottesville Area Transit system and a particularly vicious bout of East Coast humidity, I pushed my shopping cart into the new Whole Foods store on Hydraulic Road. As it turns out, I entered through the exit, but that didn't make my first sight of the inside of a Whole Foods any less impressive. It was massive and filled to the brim with natural and organic goodness. True, it bothered me a little that the raspberries I was buying came from California, because I am just as pro-local food as I am pro-organic. Still, it was hard to keep an enormous and very silly grin from spreading across my face. There were dispensers and neat little paper bags for nuts and spices. I had to triple check the cheddar I was buying to be sure it was really milk-based cheese, and not a vegan alternative. There was a whole section devoted to almond milk, and another to gluten and dairy-free ice cream, made from coconut milk. I could buy passion fruit sorbetto and organic pecans. Sure, it was a bit pricier than I was comfortable with, and yes, Whole Foods's founder is a strident libertarian who opposed the healthcare bill. I didn't care. As I wandered through aisle after aisle of liberal heaven, I wondered what on earth I had been doing with my life all these years. My eyes could hardly take in such beauty.

Clearly I'm being hyperbolic; I'm not about to regularly patronize Whole Foods Market of Charlottesville, Virginia. I'm a college student. My wallet would never forgive me. But with this experience under my belt and a new Trader Joe's on the horizon, I feel as though I've gained some serious liberal cred. Oh how I love you, People's Republic of Charlottesville.

The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Men

Today got off to a good start; I was in church five minutes early and got to enjoy lots of fruit during fellowship time. I planned on going grocery shopping sometime in the midafternoon, after I'd had a chance to rest and goof around, but, alas, I left things a bit late and by the time I was ready to leave the bus schedule had ended for the day. On the bright side, I figured out which bus I should take to get to Whole Foods, so hopefully the next time I go out I'll be laden with quality organic fare.

I spent the rest of the afternoon Skyping Richie and then my mother and watching Firefly. I'm still not blown away by it but it's enjoyable. Just three more episodes and then Serenity to go!

Unexpected Day Off

My intention for this summer is to work as much as humanly possible, so I very rarely get a day off. In some ways it's nice, because I like to feel productive. But there are times when I'd just like a break and the chance to do things on my terms. I had every intention of working this afternoon, and then was caught flat-footed on my way out the door when I got a message from Mira letting me know some family plans had come up and she would see me Tuesday instead. Just like that, I had the day off!

Unlike Ferris Bueller, my days off are not particularly exciting. I went to the farmer's market, bought some hair ribbons at Stella Blue, and ran some errands on the Corner. Then I played Sims for a few hours, met Hillary and friends for dinner at Lemongrass, and watched Forrest Gump with them at Hillary's afterward. So no, I didn't exactly sneak my way into fancy restaurants or parades, but it was nice to have the day to myself. I have another day off tomorrow, and apart from church and grocery shopping, I'm as free as a bird. I'm in Charlottesville to work, don't get me wrong, but a free weekend is pretty darn great.

Firefly and Babysitting

For some reason I can't even muster the energy to walk to the living room tonight. Lazy Aida is lazy. However, as I spent most of the past three days caring for children between the ages of four and seven, I think some lethargy is well-deserved. All of my charges were well-behaved and fun to be with (and anyone who knows me well knows how much I love kids), but watching any young child is exhausting. At least I got to see Tangled (again) and make some brownies.

Since Netflix pulled Veronica Mars from Instant Watch I've been working my way through Firefly. I still don't really understand the devotion of its following. I do like it, and I think the premise is quite creative, but it hasn't captured me the way I thought it would. Maybe it's because I find Mal so irritating, although he improves with time. Out of the regular cast, I love Kaylee and Wash pretty unabashedly, and I like Zoe, Shepherd Book, and Inara. I vary between affection and indifference for the Tams, dislike Mal save for a few great moments, and can't stand Jayne. That being said, the loyalty Mal has to his crew, and their devotion to him, really resonate with me, I really like Zoe and Wash as a couple (and enjoy Kaylee/Simon and Mal/Inara), and I thought "Out of Gas" was one hell of an episode. I'm also really curious as to the origin of River's madness. That's about it, though. I'm about to start episode 10; maybe whatever makes people so addicted to Firefly will become evident then. 

Once Again, J. K. Rowling Makes Me a Blubbering Mess

The premiere of Deathly Hallows: Part 2 took place today in London. Confession: I like the films and will watch them continuously, but I'm actually pretty indifferent to them. However, I am definitely not indifferent to J. K. Rowling, and, as with her dedication in Deathly Hallows the novel, she is stunningly talented at making me cry. She was asked to give a speech at the premiere (along with Dan, Rupert, and Emma; you can see the entire collection of speeches here), and, well, just listen:



I lost it at the point when the crowd started shouting "Thank you!" back at her. I've said it before and I'll say it again, but these books really do mean everything in the world to me. If it weren't for Jo, I would have lived a life without Harry Potter. I just can't imagine it. And having seen as many of her interviews as it is in my power to find, I can say with all the conviction I can muster that the success and good fortune that have come to Jo through the series are 100% deserved. She seems so generous, kind-hearted, and down-to-earth, and she is absolutely my hero. If a simple speech at a premiere could get me this worked up (sobbing my heart out in the middle of my little sublet, really and truly), I don't even know how I would be able to say one syllable to her without bursting into tears. You are amazing, Jo.

The Time Traveler's Wife, Part II [SPOILERS]

Well, I just finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife. It took me five days to read the first half, but I flew through the second half in the usual Aida way. Some people run marathons; I marathon books. Anyway, I still don't know what I think of it. I almost cried at the end, and yet at the same time I was so frustrated with the characters, especially Clare, that I couldn't really bring myself to feel more than I actually did. When I read about time travel, I vastly prefer Stable Time Loops, which just make so much sense. But this fatalistic attitude Henry and Clare had, that everything was predestined, annoyed the hell out of me. It was downright depressing to read at times. Things did get considerably more interesting once Alba came into the picture (and yes, I was right about Henry meeting another time traveler, although I never dreamed it would be his own daughter), I will grant Niffenegger that. I did care about what happened to her, and I was sad for Clare throughout her miscarriages (although adoption is not pretending, Clare). Maybe it's because I have a burning desire to have a family of my own someday (not anytime soon, mind you; 20 is waaay too young to be having children), but I'm immensely interested in family dynamics in fiction. I digress. My point is that I'm still not sure I liked it as a complete work, but I definitely liked bits and pieces.

Other notes behind the cut:

The Time Traveler's Wife, Part I [SPOILERS]

I'm roughly at the halfway point in my reading of The Time Traveler's Wife. Honestly, I'm still not sure if I like it, but this is me we're talking about; I only put down a book if I would rather spork my eyes out than read it, and sometimes not even then (I did, after all, read the Twilight books). The Time Traveler's Wife is definitely readable. Niffenegger's prose is solid, though there are a few passages that read oddly, especially the constant mentions of bands I've only heard of because I'm friends with Sara Morrow. The problem is that in certain places Niffenegger thinks she's writing poetry, and it doesn't work. I have nothing against nice lyrical prose from time to time. Niffenegger overdoes it.

I guess I would say that I am not disliking it, but I don't love it. Henry and Clare are rather bland, inoffensive protagonists. I don't really care about them like I ought to. I suppose it's because I'm still having misgivings about their love story. Clare spends her entire life saving herself for Henry, practically worshipping him - there's even a line early on to the tune of "she was looking at [Henry] as if [he] were her own personal God." Meanwhile, Henry gets to mess around with every girl he meets until he and Clare finally come across each other in his present. Maybe it's just because I loathe the A Man is Not a Virgin double standard, but that aspect of their relationship is not sitting right with me. There's also not much of a plot at this point, and while I still have half the novel to go, I'm wondering where exactly Niffenegger is going with this. So Henry has his time traveling problem, and Clare is his Penelope, waiting patiently for him to come back to her every time he inadvertently slips off. Since Henry can't control his time traveling, is apparently the only person who experiences this problem, and has been talking to doctors about it, I'm guessing he'll either meet another time traveler, find a cure, or both. I also don't know what the significance of various characters warning Clare about Henry is. Maybe she'll realize that as much as she thinks she's destined to be with Henry, end of story, there's more their situation than meets the eye? Yeah, I don't know. I'll admit I'm not a fan of the concept of soulmates or fate, although at the same time I believe in God and an underlying pattern to the universe, so... welcome to another Aida paradox, I guess. We'll see if Niffenegger can make me buy it. I'll post again after I've finished the book.

How I Spent My Fourth of July

• Mostly, working. Mira asked me to come in today, so I spent my afternoon playing with the boys. They're fun to be with, so I'm certainly not complaining, but the walk over there and their boundless energy really wore me out.
• Eating pancakes. Hillary and Lauren invited me over for their Independence Day dinner, which consisted of raspberry-blueberry pancakes with whipped cream (and salmon, but I don't eat fish). It was nice not to have to cook, and even nicer to hang out with them and their friends.
• Playing the Sims 2. I'm going to need to institute some serious population control methods, goodness gracious. That, or I'll have to consolidate a bunch of households. More than ten families on the rotation is a bit too much to handle.
• Listening to, but not watching, fireworks. This is only the second Fourth of July in my memory that I didn't go out to see fireworks; the first was when I was living in Costa Rica ten years ago and the only place having a fireworks show in San Jose was the American embassy, which our lack of a car and/or political connections made difficult to work out.
• Cowering through yet another thunderstorm. I don't hide under the bed like I used to when I was five, but believe me, I'm following Julie Andrews's advice and thinking of my favorite things the entire time. Even twenty-year-olds need coping mechanisms, okay?

In Which Aida's Weekend Continues to Be Considerably More Eventful Than Usual

Wow, I don't think I've ever spent less time in the apartment on a Sunday before. Sara, Matt, and I went to Bodo's for breakfast around 9, Matt's treat, and then spent a couple of hours taking a leisurely walk around Grounds. I hadn't been out by McCormick or Alderman Road since I came back, but we basically took the most direct route past the stadium and then back toward JPA. As usual, UVa is dominated by construction. The Chem building still has ugly scaffolding on it and practically half of New Dorms have been torn down, I guess so more dorms can go in their place. Other than that, everything looks basically as it always has, except it's dead quiet. I've been on Grounds during fall break first and second year, and it's pretty slow then, but I've never seen it like this before. I know there are people living over in Gooch/Dillard and Hereford, but everything's so still you'd never guess. It was a bit disconcerting, to be honest, although I really enjoyed the walk otherwise.

We spent about an hour back at my place watching old Colbert Report and Daily Show segments and talking about the ineptitude of the Republican Party before Matt left to meet a friend for lunch. Sara and I hopped on the city bus and went to Barnes and Noble so she could see if they had a book she wanted (they didn't). There's a new Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book out, so I read the first couple of chapters while we were there. I was sad to have to put it down, but I can't really afford to be stocking up on hardcovers at the moment. Maybe the library has a copy. Anyway, Sara was discouraged about her book not being in stock, but she decided to salvage the outing by treating me to McDonald's. McDonald's is not the most vegetarian-friendly place in the world. You can't really go wrong with a parfait, though, so I had one of those and a small order of fries, which is more grease than I needed, but it was nice to have a roomie lunch, just Sara and me.

We took the bus back to Grounds and met Matt back at the apartment. Sara was hitching a ride back to Montpelier with Matt, so I made them some fluffernutters for the road (Cult of Fluffernutter for the win!) and said good-bye. I then had a lovely Skype session with Jackie, took a nap (we had a killer thunderstorm at 5 this morning), and updated my Tumblr. I have had a fairly lazy afternoon and evening, just eating leftovers and talking to Josh on the phone. Another thunderstorm has rolled in and I'm not sure how well the power is going to hold up, so I think I'll end this here. Suffice to say I had an excellent weekend, and I loved having friends over. Maybe this adulthood thing isn't so bad after all.

Playing Poker with Graham Crackers

What a great day! Sara and I got up around eight in the morning and I made breakfast, which was scrambled eggs and fried potatoes (so healthy, I know). It was the first time I tried making fried potatoes on my own and they turned out quite well, though they took longer than I had anticipated. We then went to the farmer's market after spending an absurd amount of time waiting for the trolley. There we purchased eggs and strawberries from friendly Mennonites, bought unusual fruit popsicles, and perused an excellent used book store. Then we headed back to my place for lunch.

Here I would like to make a public service announcement, since neither Sara nor Matt had ever heard of them before:

This is a fluffernutter. It is a sandwich comprised of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. It is one of the most delicious substances known to humankind. If you were not exposed to this as a child, you were either deprived or allergic to peanuts. The latter is excusable. The former is not. This is my childhood in sandwich form. Try it. You will not be sorry.

Ahem. Anyway, Sara had her first fluffernutter ever, and of course she liked it enough to immediately make herself a second. Vindication, you are a wonderful feeling.

Matt came by shortly after we finished our sandwiches, and we all headed out to Carter Mountain to enjoy the beautiful, if hot, day. Peach-picking was over for the afternoon (no loss to me, really, because I don't like peaches, but Sara and Matt were a little put out), but we were allowed to walk through the orchard and enjoy the view. It is quite something to see Charlottesville from atop a mountain. I'm kicking myself for leaving my good camera at home, but I did get some decent pictures from my phone.

We got back in plenty of time to veg out before dinner, so we watched a West Wing and then decided to play poker. None of us is the gambling type, but poker doesn't really work if you don't have some kind of chip. I dug around in the kitchen and came back with the leftover graham crackers from my pie-making exploits earlier this week. What followed was the most bizarre game of poker I've ever played (in my very limited experience, of course). Sara lost all her graham cracker bits in due course, so we let her play with some of the Mennonite strawberries so she could stay in the game. I got a straight in the first hand of the game, without having to exchange any cards. I think Matt won, but after Hillary came by a bit before seven we all lost interest.

With Sara's help I got the food ready (although evidently I didn't leave the rice and beans in the oven long enough; my microwave is kaput and I don't really know how to live without one). I had made salad, rice, and beans the day before; Hillary brought fajita vegetables. David arrived right on time, and we tucked in without further preamble. Like I said before, I wasn't happy with the temperature or quality of the rice and beans, but I got a lot of compliments on them, so even if they were just polite, I was pleased with the reception. After dinner I brought out the pink lemonade pie with my first attempt at graham cracker crust, and that met with tremendous acclaim, to my surprised delight. I was worried the crust wasn't right, because the YouTube video I watched explaining how to make it told me the graham crackers should be sand consistency before I added the margarine, but I just couldn't make it that small. But everyone really seemed to enjoy the pie, and the crust was unexpectedly delicious. Success!

We chatted good-naturedly for a while, exchanging stories about summer jobs, our classes, and bad 90s music. It came to light that Hillary had not yet seen the first half of Deathly Hallows, and since I happen to have it out from Netflix, I suggested we remedy this at once. This was met with approval, so we all settled in to watch. David left around eleven, with about an hour to go in the movie (understandably so; it was late and he lives farther away than Hillary does). The rest of us at least stayed in the living room, although in various states of awareness; I think Hillary and I were the only ones that didn't sleep through at least some of the movie. I avoided that ridiculous dance scene by doing the dishes but had to be back in the room for "The Silver Doe." The movie finished just before midnight. Hillary said that she had enjoyed it far more than she expected to. After she left, it was obvious that my houseguests weren't about to stay up much longer, so I put away the leftovers, distributed pillows, and turned in for the night. It was a pretty fabulous evening. I'm glad to have had experience playing the hostess for pretty much the first time, but mostly it was just great hanging out with friends. Right now, I'm nearly perfectly happy.

Entertainment 2011: June 1 - June 30 AND Sara Comes to Visit!

First things first, here are my entertainment stats for the month of June. This is the first month in a long while I actually really kept track of what I read and watched, so this should be quite accurate. I didn't include movies I saw part of on TV, like Finding Nemo and Clueless; everything on here I watched from beginning to end.

June 2011
BOOKS
Atonement by Ian McEwan (1st read)
Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones (1st read)
The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones (1st read)

MOVIES
Atonement (1st viewing)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (4th viewing)
Bridesmaids (1st viewing)
X-Men: First Class (1st viewing)
Goldfinger (1st viewing)
La Vie En Rose (1st viewing)
Sleeping Beauty (umpteenth viewing, but 1st in a long while)
Up (umpteenth viewing; I've seen this movie many, many times, and it may possibly be my favorite)

In other news, I have my first weekend houseguest! Sara arrived this afternoon about five. I made Puerto Rican food for her (simple arroz con habichuelas; the beans turned out quite well, especially the bits with the aceitunas, but I wasn't entirely happy with the rice, which was slightly too crispy) while she took a nap. After dinner we hung out on the Downtown Mall, where we mostly window shopped, although Sara bought her mother a birthday present and herself a Jefferson Airplane album. The trolley took forever but we eventually made it back to the apartment, and now I'm unwinding before bed. We have plenty of time to sleep in tomorrow before we have to be anywhere, which I think is refreshing for the both of us. Matt will be here in the afternoon! Yay!

Okay, time to update my Tumblr and maybe read some more of The Time Traveler's Wife. I'm really looking forward to the rest of this weekend, which is already off to an excellent start.

Mixed Bag

So last night, I painstakingly composed a blog post, only to have Blogger go down unexpectedly and eat everything I'd written. It was still down by the time I left for work this morning. Consequently, I'm rather annoyed and don't feel much like writing another post in its place. Expect an image (EDIT: or nine) of some kind instead.

Today was a good day, although the afternoon at Mira's just seemed to drag for some reason. I am now the proud owner of a shiny new library card, which I proceeded to use immediately. Currently I'm sixty-two pages into The Time Traveler's Wife. I like it so far, although I'm slightly squicked by the implication that Clare met her husband for the first time when she was six and he was a grown man in his 30s, and already married to her in the future. It feels a bit like child grooming to me, and that makes me uncomfortable. It's nowhere near as bad as imprinting, though (look, I read the Twilight series a) for the lulz, and b) so I could criticize it, don't judge me), so I'm willing to look past it for the time being. After The Time Traveler's Wife, I have The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot, and Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I kept telling myself to only check out two books at a time the entire walk to the library, and of course I left with twice that. Clearly I am great at listening to me.

Okay, time to finish off my leftover spaghetti so I can make Puerto Rican food tomorrow. Oh, and I successfully updated this blog every single day in the month of June. Yes! On to July!