On lighter notes

[annathepiper]

I am no longer a Harry Potter heathen. After solarbird, spazzkat and I went and saw the second Harry Potter flick, I caved in and went "Okay FINE, I'll read 'em, I'll read 'em..." Since I did actually like the second flick better than the first one... and also, I am greatly amused that these old scarves that Dar and I have are exactly the style and color of the scarves worn by the kids in Gryffindor and Slytherin Houses, and we had them long before the Harry Potter books ever came out. The extra amusement value here is that mine is Slytherin's colors, green and silver, and Dar's is Gryffindor red and gold. The Harry Potter geeks in our social circle have been grinning about this, as it has been the universal opinion so far that they'd think I would be in Gryffindor and Dar in Slytherin.

Before Paul took off for his holiday in Virginia, he brought all four of his Harry Potter books upstairs, and I blew a good chunk of this weekend finishing off the first two books. Most of my enjoyment came out of just being charmed by J.K. Rowlings' writing, as she does have a very endearing way with a word, though I did note the bits of the first two books that weren't in the movies. The Dursleys were even more abominable in the books, and now that I've read the second book, I have an even greater appreciation for Kenneth Brannagh's performance as Gilderoy Lockhart.

We also liked Treasure Planet, I must note. Paul described it as "ten gallons of good in a five-gallon jar", which by itself I found a very charming description, and one with which I also quite agreed.

Dar and I kept Longest Night over the weekend, and were joined in the endeavor by risu and ssha, which was very nice. We spent the night watching movies (Moulin Rouge and Lilo and Stitch), playing video games (some Bust-A-Move as well as the very, very, VERY amusing Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee), eating snacks (mmmmm chocolate), futzing with assorted computers (I got five old logs posted to the Aether-related sections of my web page), and at least in the case of Dar and me, trading a couple of gifts at midnight. Dar gave me Lilo and Stitch; I bought Dar a long soft red robe from Victoria's Secret. About which Dar is very gratifyingly pleased. :)

Sunday was very quiet and laid back. Spent most of that finishing up the holiday cards that had to go out, though I had to call up my little brother to get his new address as well as our older brother's address. I was very charmed when Marc's son Charlie, who is three years old, grabbed the phone and tried to talk to me. I thought he was six-year-old Amanda at first since both their voices are high and piping, but no, he assured me he was Charlie. He thought I was "Granny", though, so I had to enlighten him that I was "Aunt Angie". He told me "I love you Angie!" Awwww. :)

Also got IM'd by my sister, who reported that she has acquired some Chieftains music, which she says she quite likes. And she's also developing a thing for nursing, as she's done some work in that area since leaving her first college. She's apparently working on going to a new school soon, where she still plans to major in psychology, though she's really liking the nursing work.

And cassieclaire has written a new Very Secret Diary for The Two Towers.

And Dar is happy, and it's a joy to watch.

Despite my job situation, life really isn't all that bad!

Comments

[shaylith.livejournal.com]

Haha! Another one falls to the charms of Harry Potter. ;) Welcome to the club. I hope you find a flash new job soon, 'cause no one deserves such a headache! 'Cept maybe Snape. ;)

Happy Holidays, mate! *cue the NZ accent*

~D

[annathepiper]

Ah nah, not even Snape deserves this job. ;p Thank you though hon! I'm weary enough of all this annoyance that at least for a week or two I'd really just rather be unemployed. But we'll see how fast I can scarf up a new job.

And happy holidays to you too! :)

[starfallz.livejournal.com]

Hm....I have a scarf that I made that is blue and white and another that is blue and grey...maybe I *am* meant for Ravenclaw.... ^_^
I was a nut enough that I ordered the 4 book set of the British editions from amazon.co.uk. They changed words around for the American editions.
I have a Gryffendor hocky-style jersey also. HP nut? Nooooo never....*looks innocent*

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

Another convert. Right wicked, that is.

And yes, Treasure Planet was cool.

[avram]

They changed the name of the Philosopher's Stone for the American editions! Unforgivable! I've been ordering the British editions all along, and refuse to buy the Scholastic editions. Also, the British editions come out in paperback much earlier.

Re:

[annathepiper]

Heh! I forget, is it Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff that's supposed to be the brainy, wise House? I'd probably be there, if not Gryffindor. ;)

How much changing DID they do between the UK and US versions? Was there noticeable difference in content between them aside from Philosopher's Stone vs. Sorceror's Stone?

Re:

[annathepiper]

I've started in on the third book, but only barely begun to scratch the surface as I have been reading a page or two here and there in between doing other things. I expect to put a larger dent in it either tomorrow, this weekend, or both.

Re:

[annathepiper]

See previous question re: other differences in content? Paul has the Scholastics at least for the first two books; I'll have to doublecheck the third and fourth which are hardbacks.

[starfallz.livejournal.com]

Ravenclaw is the brainy and clever house. Hufflepuff is the good sidekick, nice and ernest house.

They changed lots of words in the first book to words they thought Americans would understand better ("lemondrop" for "sherbert lemon" for example). They inserted a black boy character in the sorting hat scene so it would be more PC. They made changes to the 2nd too, but not as many, and hardly any to 3 and 4 I think.

Re:

[annathepiper]

Ah okay, I'd probably be Ravenclaw then rather than Hufflepuff. ^_^

Duly noted about the content changes. Hrmmm. I don't remember there being a black kid in the Sorting Hat scene in the book, though I did remember seeing glimpses of Token Black Wizard Child in the movie (the kid doing the commentating, during the Quidditch match).

[starfallz.livejournal.com]

That kid is in the book. I think he is Lee Jordan and is British or Jamaican. The other black child was American (I think) and existed in the book before, but they quite diliberately placed him in the sorting hat scene in the book. It isn't even well disguised. I shall quote (cause I'm a bloody great geek sometimes):

And now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined harry at the Gryffindor table. "Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. Harry crossed his fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him.

"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously across Harry as "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin.

...
Ok, tally up the people sorted and it is 4....not the three people left to be sorted as it says in the first sentence.
If you read the books and remember the names of the kids in his age group, it is easy to spot the characters even though their names aren't stated, like the Patil sisters. It was pleasing to me as a fan, anyway.

Re:

[annathepiper]

Hrmm. Yeah, I see the miscount there in the text. :) Though I left Paul's copy of the first book downstairs by his computer, so now I can't go look it up! But yeah, I can also see the amusement factor in spotting which character was which in the flick.

I have, by the way, now finished the third book. Liked it!