the journey has come to an end

***do not read this if you have not finished the seventh harry potter book. if you are foolish enough to read this post despite this disclaimer, and you find out things you didn't want to know, then it's your own goddamn fault.***


i have finished harry potter and the deathly hallows.


i am also sobbing.


i already know that there are some that will read my second sentence and their upper lip will curl in a sneer...who cries over a kids' book?


i do. i cry for the end of a long journey...for a story of love and family, courage and honor. i cry in relief that j.k. rowling realized that she had to let good triumph over evil.

but it was not an easy thing...characters i have liked, and even loved, were casualties. flaws were exposed. trials and tribulations were wrought.


but it all made for a great story...in book 7, as well as the preceeding books 1-6.


but i cry for another reason. an unexpected story turned children's lit legacy has come to an end. harry, ron, hermione, fred and george, luna, and the rest of rowling's cast of characters can be thanked for increasing reading amongst children and young adults, as well as a number of other quality books. but who will bear the torch now? what other talented writers will provide children with stories, stories that will teach the love of reading, growing it into a life-long love affair.

for me, those books were the chronicles of narnia, which my mother read to me when i was 5. yet again, another magical journey, where good versus evil drove the plot line. i don't care that c.s lewis was a hardcore christian, or that christian allegory can be found throughout the chronicles. they are good stories that have stood the test of time, and i can point to them as the seedling of my reading habit.

for children today, it will be harry potter. but what about children 10 years down the road? or 20?



i digress...



it has come to an end. i now know what happened to harry, and that at least is uplifting. a bit different from what my mother suggested, but nonetheless. his character has served us well, and perhaps it is a good thing that the books found their closure. in fact, it is a good thing.



i am not ashamed of my tears. it is the sign of a good story if it moves you to great emotion.

brillance

some days i seriously feel like flinging off the 40-hour work week chock full of stress and do this...

from page to screen

so last friday, the ominous 13th, i saw harry potter and the order of the phoenix on the IMAX at KoP. it was entertaining, despite the concern of sitting behind 19 children and their parents, but once the movie started they hushed.

the IMAX experience was interesting (i haven't seen anything on an IMAX in years), but the 3D battle in the ministry of magic was well...all right. like, seeing it on a regular screen would have been perfectly fine by me. plus the main complaint in my group of friends was that the glasses fit funny and the whole experience was a little distracting.

but no biggie. we'll just see it again and make emma watson and daniel radcliffe a little richer (ha, who am i kidding? i meant we'll see it again and make warner bros a little richer!).

so. the movie. i was a little bummed about what they left out (don't worry, i won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet), but then i had to remind myself this: the book is over 800 pages long. the movie is just over 2 hours, and it's the shortest movie of them all (whereas the book is the longest). was stuff left out? yes. were some details changed, most likely to make things more affordable for the production of the film? yes. however the most important question is this: does the movie still tell a good story?


yes.


my initial problem was that i had finished reading the book for a second time a day before we went to see it, so things were very fresh in my mind. that, and i'm a purist. the class i took in grad school on film adaptations of literature nearly killed me, in the sense that i would get all huffy when stuff was drastically changed or left out. i'm getting better though.

so all in all, it was a fun way to spend a friday night after work. but...i can tell you one thing: you are going to find the complete harry potter book series on my shelf before you find the complete dvd series...not just because the last book comes out this saturday, but because in the end, the books are the stories that i really enjoy.