LOCALS VS. TOURISTS: A DISNEYLAND MEDITATION

When you grow up with Disneyland as your personal backyard theme park, you simply have a different approach to the park. You take it for granted.  You shrug off the lines.  You're not shocked by the prices.  

As it turns out, people who grow up around Disneyland are also observably different.  Local that I am, I spent a fair amount of time the past couple of days just people-watching.  (No, I didn't spend *all* my down time posting on Facebook!)  And I discovered just how easy it is to tell a Disneyland native from a Magic Kingdom tourist.

Here are some simple clues:

Shopping on the way in to the park (and carrying the bags around all day)?  Tourist.

Shopping?  Why would anyone shop at Disneyland?  Local.

Pushing a Disneyland rental stroller?  Tourist.

Pushing a fold-up umbrella stroller?  Local.

Pushing a stroller even though the youngest kid is 5, but it means you have somewhere to stow all the stuff and the kid is eventually going to wear out enough to climb into the stroller despite the embarrassment factor?  Really smart local.

A whole bunch of kids wearing matching-color t-shirts so the day camp leaders can keep track of them?  Local.

A whole bunch of kids wearing matching Mickey/Minnie/Incredibles t-shirts that also match their parents' t-shirts?  Tourist.

A big "Happy Birthday" pin with your name on it?  Local.

A big "Just Married" pin with your name on it?  Tourist.

Everyone in line for the Dole Pineapple Whip outside the Tiki Room?  Local.

Everyone who gets in line by mistake thinking they're going to the Tiki Room?  Tourist.

Looking up and around all the pictures as the entry room to the Haunted Mansion "stretches"?  Tourist.

Quoting the narration as the entry room stretches ("This room has no windows... and No Doors!")?  Local.

Speaking German?  Tourist.

Speaking Spanish?  Local.

Carrying a map?  Tourist.

Knows that if you cut through that one restaurant from Adventureland to Frontierland, you can avoid the crush around Pirates?  Local.

Rides the Trolley Car on Main Street into the park?  Tourist.

Rides the Trolley Car on Main Street out of the park?  Local with sore feet.

Upset that there was no dragon in this summer's Fantasmic?  Local.

Unaware that there was supposed to be a dragon?  Tourist.

Brought a picnic blanket to stake out your spot for Fantasmic starting at 5 pm?  Local who needs a life.

Watching the parade?  Tourist.

Avoiding the parade to go on rides?  Local.

Wearing a rain poncho on Splash Mountain?  Tourist.

Wearing a bikini top on Splash Mountain?  Local.

Lifting up your bikini top when the camera flashes on Splash Mountain?  Slut.

Goes on Tarzan's Treehouse?  Tourist.

Can't help but comment how much better it was when it was the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse?  Local.

Doesn't smoke, or at the very least, sneaks off to the designated smoking areas and knows where they all are?  Local.

Smokes on the Disneyland railroad in front of the No Smoking sign?  Rude European tourist.

Sees the 50 minute wait time at Indiana Jones and gets in line anyway?  Tourist.

Sees the 50 minute wait time at Indiana Jones and doesn't care because you rode Indiana Jones and Space Mountain twice each within your first hour in the park when no one else was there?  Local.

Goes to the Haunted Mansion because it's in between Pirates and Splash Mountain?  Tourist.

Goes to the Haunted Mansion because the air conditioning is really, really good, and besides, how *do* they do that thing where the cut-out statue busts follow you with their eyes, anyway?  Local.

Goes to the Haunted Mansion to make out?  Teenager.

Goes on It's a Small World when it's all dressed up for Christmas?  Local.

Goes on It's a Small World any other time?  Tourist.

Carries a big backpack with everything one might need throughout the park?  Tourist.

Carries nothing, but has cash, park ticket and a chapstick in one's pockets?  Local.

Woman wears full-makeup, heels, and a long skirt?  Tourist.

Woman wears a tank top, sunscreen and running shoes?  Local.

Takes a picture of the castle?  Tourist.

Takes a picture at every designated Kodak Photo Spot?  Asian tourist.

Takes a picture of one's friends making silly faces, ignoring the background?  Local.

Takes a picture of the inside of Club 33 every time the door actually opens?  Jealous local.

Spends $3.75 on a bottle of Vitamin Water when it's the hottest time of the day?  Tourist.

Goes in to the overly air-conditioned Innoventions to play video games when it's the hottest time of the day?  Local.

Thinks a Park Hopper ticket is normal?  Tourist.

Remembers not only what an E-ticket is, but can point out which attractions were E-tickets (the Bobsleds!  Pirates!), D-tickets (Tom Sawyer's Island!  The Skyway!  What, no Skyway? Well, they can show you where it used to run through the Matterhorn), and even A-tickets (the antique cars on Main Street)?  Local.

Rolls their eyes because they can't get their parents to stop talking about these stupid E-ticket thingies.  Preteen local child of local parent.

....And that was our trip to Disneyland....

JULY'S ALMOST OVER SO... I'M GOING TO DISNEYLAND!

Does it seem as if we've gone to Disneyland a lot this year? Well, we have.

Before Christmas, the kids were talking about how we hadn't been to D'Land in a couple of years.  So I picked up a set of 4-day tickets at Costco for about half-price.  A great deal, good till the last day of July.

We went down to Disneyland right after Christmas... Registered the tickets with guest services, or whatever it was we had to do.  

I don't remember that much about it, because I was suffering from, as you may or may not remember, an unexpected bout of asthmatic bronchitis, pleurisy, and two cracked ribs (from coughing), and I was on rather delightful doses of Vicodin.  Let me tell you, riding Space Mountain on Vicodin was the best roller coaster experience of my life.  (What?  You say I shouldn't have been on a roller coaster with broken ribs?  I shouldn't have been at Disneyland in winter weather with bronchitis and pleurisy?  Funny, my doctor said the same thing the very next week.)

But a funny thing happened when the ticket taker at the entrance to California Adventure scanned our ticket.  "Okay, you have three visits left!" she chirped.

Three?  But... We explained that we had been here the day before; clearly when we registered our tickets, something went wrong.  "Nope, you have three visits left!"  Um... okay.  Why not?

We headed back to Disneyland right after school, when we had our week of post-graduation vacation.  But when we got to Disneyland, before the park opened at 8 a.m., the lines were immense.  Turns out the ticket scanning computer was down.  So we waved our tickets at the ticket-taker and danced through the turnstile.

We did all the things we hadn't done on our 6-month earlier trip.  We played out the park.  Same with California Adventure the next day.  And before we left, we asked the ticket person to scan our tickets, just to see...  "You have two visits left!" she chirped.

Truth be told, I'm feeling just a tad Disneyed out.  But the extra visits are worth something like $500, not something to frown at.  And the kids don't seem to have that "too much Disneyland" feeling going.  (Nor did I, when I was their age, and Disneyland was our local theme park, and you could go in for just the evening, no rides, just hanging out, for about $5.  We went almost every week.)

So back we go tonight, to check in at a hotel just outside the gate.  (Hotel?  Don't we live close enough?  Well, it's about 40 miles or so, and as an old Disney hand, I know the only thing that matters when it comes to having a non-frustrating day is getting there early.  Of course, what's even more important is to avoid going when it's hot and crowded.  Like in the summer months when all the tourists are there.  Oops.)

We'll head in to Disneyland tomorrow.  Maybe check out at lunchtime, go back to the hotel, go to the pool, then back in to snag a spot for Fantasmic.  There's a new dragon, after all.  And even if the much-denied rumors about its head falling off in dress rehearsal are true, we're sure they've reattached it by now.  We'll see fireworks to make up for our wild, crazy, giggling-teenager dash to glimpse fireworks around the corners of buildings on the 4th of July.

We'll crash a block from the gate, then back to California Adventure for a calmer, less stressful day.  Yes, I know it's the "failed" park that no one wants to go to, but I love it.  We'll see if they've changed the jokes in the Aladdin show in the past 7 weeks (and I'm sure we'll be able to snag the same front row center mezzanine seats we always get -- but I'm not telling how!).  I'm determined to beat 125,000 on Toy Story Midway Mania this time.  And we'll go Soaring Over California -- never gets old.

And we'll end up dropping a ton of money on vastly overpriced food... enough that I'm sure the Walt Disney Co. won't mind at all that we're walking in twice for free.  

So I'm off to pack the sunscreen and the squirt bottles and the chapstick and the band-aids and the camera and all the other necessities for a day at Disneyland.  And oh yeah, that big wad of cash.  All as I wonder what we haven't done that could possibly make the third trip in seven months stand out.

Any ideas?  What hidden gems might we be missing?  (We've never been to Club 33... that's a hint, if there are any members out there!)

Off we go, hoping for no sunburn, blisters, or bad moods.  See you in a few days! 

REREADING HARRY: HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

If Order of the Phoenix was the book that pulled me into the online HP community, Half-Blood Prince was the book that locked the door behind me and threw away the key.

Which is odd, because it's actually my least favorite of all the Harry Potter books.

I know that is blasphemy to some.  But on my first read, I just wasn't as thrilled as I had been previously.  All those flashbacks.  All that exposition.  I didn't dislike it, mind you.  I just wasn't breathless upon reading it, as I had been with the two previous books.  (Sadly, I was not shocked at Dumbledore's death, having learned it in advance from those nasty people who were out there getting their kicks by being spoilers.  But I was shocked by who killed him.)

I remember sitting there, on the chaise lounge by the pool, under an umbrella, trying to figure out what to say to Lee when he'd bring me an iced drink and ask me how it was going.  Because all along, I was sort of waiting for something to happen.  (Maybe it's the screenwriter in me.)

For me, it was like reading half a murder mystery -- all the clues, but no climax or denouement.  We spend a lot of time learning how dangerous Voldemort is -- but Voldemort doesn't actually do anything in the book.  He even conveniently shuts down his mind connection with Harry that was so active in Order of the Phoenix and which will reignite in Deathly Hallows.

The irony, of course, is that while I enjoyed the actual reading the least, I got the most out of the book after reading it.  The murder mystery aspect, the figuring out of the clues turned out to be the real fun, the unraveling of "what happens next, " beginning with the Barnes & Noble University online classes moderated by John Granger, and ending with me writing my own book, What Will Harry Do?, lining up everything that had been set-up in the first six books and trying to prognosticate what might happen in the as-yet-unnamed Book 7.

When I sat down for the re-read, I sort of wondered if it would be any fun at all.  All my previous enjoyment of the book came from studying it rather than merely reading it.  And if all the fun came from the clues, what would it be like to re-read when I know where they're leading?

I did enjoy the re-read, though I can't say the book will ever rise to become one of my faves.  My problems with it continue to derive from its static nature:  Other than Dumbledore's death, really nothing does happen in the book.  

The whole "Half-Blood Prince" storyline, for one, turns out to be a red herring.  It tantalizes us about Snape, certainly, about whose side he's on, and gives us something to ponder as we wait for the "Prince's Tale" chapter of Deathly Hallows.  But nothing Harry learns from the Potions book comes into play in the fight against Voldemort.  

What else happens in Half-Blood Prince?  We learn a lot of information; exposition, as we would think of it in the screenwriting world. Some of it, regarding the Horcruxes, is vastly important to the working out of the story.  But we don't do anything with that information in this book.  Even the search for the locket turns into a temporary red herring, once we find out with Harry that the locket is a fake.

Let's look at it from my admittedly unusual point-of-view as a screenwriter:  In most big action/adventure epics, the second act of the story ends with a huge action sequence that may involve a partial victory for our hero, but more often involves huge losses and foreshadows the confrontation yet to come between the hero and the villain, the ultimate confrontation that will close out the entire story.  That moment is the massive Department of Mysteries sequence of Order of the Phoenix.

Following that sequence which ends Act Two, we usually stop to regroup at the top of Act Three.  We mourn our losses, acknowledge that the battle is over but the war is not yet won, and prepare ourselves for the even more climactic battle ahead of us.  Often this is the moment where the hero gets the girl (so we can get the romantic B-story out of the way before we blast into the action climax).  It's a calm sequence, a moment to catch our breath and think through what's come before and what's yet to come.  And the "regrouping" moment doesn't take much time, usually 5 to 10 minutes of an action movie...

And it's the entirety of Half-Blood Prince.  It's a book that's all about regrouping, preparing for the next battle, steeling ourselves for what lies ahead.  No wonder nothing much actually happens during the book.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy my re-read.  I think that accepting the passive nature of the book helped me to enjoy it much more than I have in any previous read.  I loved watching the clues fall into place, knowing now what they would add up to.  

I also deeply appreciated every moment Snape was on the page, feeling him cringe inside as Slughorn mentioned Lily (the name Snape has never, never mentioned), feeling him coil tighter and tighter as Dumbledore's inevitable death approaches, feeling him trying to keep an eye on Draco and an eye on Harry and his awareness of how clumsily he's doing both.

And I loved the romance.  I'd known Hermione and Ron were destined for each other from the first time Ron compared Hermione to his mother.  And I'd known Harry and Ginny were destined for each other from the first time Molly thought of Harry as her son.  So it was a delight to watch it all play out again, to see the sparks failing to catch between Ron and Hermione (Slughorn's party!), to see the "monster" rising up in Harry's stomach (Lee informs me this is the most accurate writing of that feeling he's ever seen), to see the magnificent first kiss between Harry and Ginny (so weak in the film).

Ultimately, I came to like and appreciate Half-Blood Prince more on this read than ever before.  But that doesn't mean that, upon finishing the re-read, I wasn't ready for something to happen!

Next up...  the re-read of Deathly Hallows...

SCL ON THE PRODIGAL SON

I have mentioned before how much I love Jon Acuff's blog "Stuff Christians Like."  I read, I laugh.

But every now and then he posts something that takes my breath away.  Which is what he did yesterday in "Thinking God Will Run Out of Welcome Home Banners," a meditation on the prodigal son.

I'll do some real posting again v. soon (coming up next:  more thoughts on Half-Blood Prince).  But I can't do better than this, so click over and read.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM A GAME OF MONOPOLY

Our kids don't just play video games when they're home for summer vacay.  Sometimes they play old school board games.

So that's how I found myself sitting down to a game of Monopoly with Sabrina last week.  Only this wasn't just any Monopoly.  We were playing Star Wars Monopoly.  And my little diecast figure going round the board was none other than Darth Vader himself.

Why that should have made a difference in my play, I don't know.  All I know is, suddenly I was playing cutthroat Monopoly as I've never played when I was a thimble or a scotty dog.  I wasn't playing to pass the time, or to have social fun.  I wasn't even playing to win.  I was playing to obliterate my opponent.  Because that's what Darth Vader would do.

Maybe people who are better Monopoly players (or better money managers) than I will scoff at the lessons I learned from that little game.  But here's what I learned:

1)  Invest early.  I remember previous games where I would pass up opportunities to buy property because I wanted to wait for Boardwalk.  But as Darth Vader, I bought everything I landed on.  I spent myself down to zero early on because I realized I needed to build a position of strength before my opponent could build her position of strength.  And every time I passed "Go" and collected my 200 credits (=$200), I bought a colony (=house).  

After a couple of hours of play, I was buying starships (=hotels).  I controlled whole sections of the board, and was collecting some very pleasant payouts.

But by then, my opponent had realized she was in trouble and better start doing some building of her own.  And she, as it turned out, owned Coruscant (=Boardwalk and Park Place).  Which led to my next lesson:

2)  Save up for a rainy day.  At this point in the game, I was firmly in control.  I owned 2/3 of the board, I was collecting "rent" several times each round, I had plenty of cash on hand (all neatly stacked in one pile so my opponent couldn't tell how much I had).

For a few rounds, it looked like I had the game won.  My opponent (as Darth Vader, I couldn't think of her as my daughter) had to mortgage several properties to pay rent to me, and I even made a couple of advantageous trades in lieu of rent.

But every time I rounded the corner toward "Go," I faced the dangers of landing on Coruscant.  And she was piling all her colonies on those two squares.  This meant I could sail freely around the board... but stood a big risk at the end of each round.  A risk that could, at that point, cost me 1200 credits... then 1600 credits.

So I pulled a bunch of money out of my neat stack and stashed it under the game board.  Just enough to buy my way out of landing on Coruscant.  After all, odds were, if I had to make a big payment, it'd be a few rounds till I landed there again, and I'd have time to rebuild my "Get out of Coruscant" stash.

And that's how it worked for a while.  I'd land on Coruscant.  Pay my 16oo credits.  Pass Go and collect 200 more.  And not buy any more properties until I'd amassed another safety net of 1600.  Everything looked good.  Until I learned my third lesson:

3) Sometimes the rain doesn't stop after just one day.  My system worked well for another couple of hours.  I amassed more properties, more cash.  Every now and then, I'd land on Coruscant and pay out my 2000 credits (for my opponent had by now bought a starship there).  I'd re-amass and keep going.

But then, against all odds (literally), I landed on Coruscant twice in a row.  I sold a couple of colonies back to the bank, paid my rent, collected my measly 200 credits.  I could rebuild.  I'd done it before.  But I landed on Coruscant for the third time in a row.  Uh-oh.  I sold some more properties, made a sharp deal or two in trade.  

And then I landed on Coruscant for the fourth time in a row.  And the fifth.  I could have sold everything back at foreclosure prices, put myself in debt to my opponent.  But Darth Vader would never do that.  I turned over all my properties and walked away....

...Because no matter how much you plan and invest, no matter how much you cling to your cash, sometimes there's a deluge that washes it all away.  Even if you're Darth Vader....

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE...MOVIE THOUGHTS

First, a big thank you to Sean for getting us into the pre-release screening last weekend!  Thanks, Sean!

For me, Harry Potter is all about the books, not the movies.  I recognize on a technical level how hard the adaptations are to pull off, and I think it's fun to see Hogwarts up on the screen, but the books are always pre-eminent.  In fact, as I re-read the books, I find that only two actors' portrayals have impinged on my own visualization and understanding of what the characters are like:  Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall, and Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid (but that's in part because Hagrid was always the character I could never get a handle on).

It does bother me when they get something really wrong (IMHO) in the movies.  I was never fully able to get on board with the love directed at Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban  (the movie) because Harry never asks Lupin, "How did you know that piece of parchment was a map?  Who are Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, anyway?" and because Lupin never bothers to explain.  The dragon-gone-wild sequence in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire/the movie drove me crazy -- frivolous, unnecessary, and self-indulgent.  And just last night I walked in as my kids were watching the ending of Goblet of Fire (the movie), and wanted to scream when Barty Crouch called He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named "Lord Voldemort" instead of "the Dark Lord."

Does that mean I've set the bar too low for the movies?  (Or too high?)  Maybe.  Be that as it may, I look at the movies as basically trailers for the books.  Too much deviation, too much re-invention, too many missing set-ups for what I know is coming... and I get a little grouchy.

So by my own admittedly idiosyncratic way of judging the movies, how does Half-Blood Prince (the movie) hold up?

Actually, pretty well.

SPOILERS AHEAD!  SPOILERS AHEAD!  SPOILERS AHEAD!

(Okay, not really.  Anyone who is reading this blog has almost certainly read the books and knows that Dumbledore dies, for instance.  I'm talking not plot spoilers, but movie spoilers.)

The good:  

Jim Broadbent is wonderful as Horace Slughorn.  He doesn't look much like the way he's described in the books, or the way I'd imagined him, but he captures the essence of the weak, manipulative (yet manipulated), fame-hungry professor of the books, but allowing us to see so clearly that Slughorn is not evil, that he wants to do the right thing but just doesn't have the spine to do so.  A lovely performance.  I wouldn't be surprised if Broadbent's portrayal of Slughorn starts to sneak in to my own imagination as I read.

The relationships.  Hermione.  Ron.  Harry.  Ginny.  Lavender Brown.  Cormac McLaggen.  Romilda Vane.  All the elements that drove the erstwhile "shippers" crazy are here, and delightfully played.  Very funny moments, with all the needed set-ups intact (though sometimes brief -- I have to wonder if anyone who hasn't read the books would catch the significance of the one set-up shot of Romilda Vane).  Even the opening shots of Harry flirting with a Muggle girl add to the sense that romance is going to play a big part in this movie.

Draco Malfoy.  Tom Felton has grown up and become a most interesting (and most interesting-looking) actor.  He plays his arrogance vying with his insecurity very well here, letting all the colors come through.  What a shame that (by contract, I'm sure) his name is waaay down in the credits, packed in a list of three.

Young Tom Riddle.  Played by Hero Fiennes Tiffin (nephew of Ralph Fiennes, who of course plays Lord Voldemort), Tom Marvolo Riddle is spot on.  The incipient evil is there, but so is the sense that he just wants to be accepted (as when he asks if his ability to talk to snakes is normal).

Michael Gambon as the young(er) Dumbledore.  I have never been a Michael Gambon fan, and find many of his moments as Dumbledore cringe-inducing.  But as short-haired, purple-suited Dumbledore visiting young Tom in the orphanage, he was terrific.  Which makes me wonder if he's just letting the hair and the beard and the robe do all the acting for him the rest of the time.

The not-so-great:

The ending feels rushed.  Most of the major beats are here -- the blood to open the door, the boat, the potion, the Inferi... but we race through them so quickly that they lose some of their horrific power.  It's all so easy to get to the potion, to get to the locket.  I wish they had taken their time to scare us, rather than rushing to get to the end, as it felt.  Yes, one good jump-out-of-your-seat scare, and the Inferi were appropriately creepy.  But it could have been so much better.  Why didn't Dumbledore see (and scream about) images from his past?  Why wasn't the potion green and glowing?

The limited exploration of Horcruxes.  We learn very late what a Horcrux is, and again, we're rushing so much that the horror of what Voldemort has done (and the consequences thereof) are barely indicated.  Our trips through the Pensieve (a terrific effect!) are limited to visits to young Master Riddle, with the visits to the Gaunts and to Hepzibah Smith completely cut out.  

The danger of the search for Horcruxes is also minimized.  Dumbledore's blackened hand is more grey than black, and looks like something one could recover from.  We don't hear any mention of how Dumbledore would have died in procuring the ring, were it not for Snape, and we don't see Snape making any potions for Dumbledore (thus tossing aside the entire "Stoppered Death" storyline).

 

  The actual "Half-Blood Prince" storyline is also minimized to the point of being almost completely offscreen.  Yes, Harry gets the potions book and uses it; Yes, Hermione is suspicioous about it; Yes, Harry uses Sectumsempra on Draco and Snape corrects the damage.  But Harry's whole focus is on what Draco is doing, not what Snape is doing, and his hatred of Snape for (in Harry's mind) causing Sirius's death is completely absent.  All research into who the "Half-Blood Prince" might be is also absent.  And Snape does little in the way of trying to figure out why Harry is suddenly so good at Potions class.  So when Snape, at the end, announces to Harry, "I am the Half-Blood Prince," it's pretty much out of nowhere.  Anyone seeing the movie who hasn't read the books must really wonder where the title came from.

It is a shame, I have to say, given how terrific Alan Rickman has consistently been as Severus Snape, that he doesn't get his time on screen in this movie, the movie that should have belonged to him.  Sigh.  Maybe there's a director's cut out there waiting for the DVD.

The what-were-they-thinking?:

In the middle of the movie, Harry visits the Burrow, which is attacked from out of nowhere by Bellatrix and Fenrir Greyback.  Harry chases them through the ring of fire that surrounds the Burrow (and Ginny is the only one who can or who chooses to dare the ring of fire to follow him), and the entire Burrow catches on fire and burns up.  Huh?  Why?  And how will they start the next movie, which of course has significant moments at the Burrow, what with Bill and Fleur's wedding (although maybe they're planning to cut that, as Fleur doesn't appear in this movie at all -- although, on the other hand, it would be easy to announce their engagement at the top of movie #7)?

My best guess is they realized the movie was short on action (as witness the PG rating rather then the PG-13 of the last two movies) and added some action just for the sake of action.  But nothing happens as a result of this sequence (which, for me as a writer, is the definition of something that should be cut), and I would certainly rather have seen them use those onscreen minutes for other purposes (either to boost Snape's presence, or perhaps to add back the battle of Hogwarts at the end of the book, which is also cut from the movie).

The bottom line:

Would I have made all the choices about what to keep and what to cut?  Not all of them, but certainly many of them.  I think this was a smart movie, an enjoyable one, and respectful to the book.

Some other set-ups that still need to be layered in:  Dumbledore's wand is not buried with him (at least not onscreen).  This is an easy one:  Harry just has to have some idea of where the wand is when he realizes its importance.  Also:  While Dumbledore quickly identifies the diary and the ring as Horcruxes, there is no discussion of what the other Horcruxes might be or how Tom Riddle might have chosen potential Horcruxes.  However, the filmmakers have also covered themselves (I think well) by having Dumbledore's memories stored in beautifully-designed vials in a glass-fronted cabinet -- presumably there for Harry to consult in movie #7.  

One could, in fact, make a very strong case for making Harry do more of his own detective work, rather than letting Dumbledore lead the way.  If the filmmakers have already thought through the consequences of some of these cuts, if they have already figured out how to get Harry to "The locket, the cup, the snake, something of Gryffindor's or Ravenclaw's," then I'm fine with what they've done here.

I will go back to see this movie again (Friday, it looks like).  And I haven't wanted to rewatch all the movies (I only own two of them).  So from me, that's pretty high praise.

And when I got home from the movie on Saturday, I realized that what I wanted to do more than anything was pick up the *book* of Half-Blood Prince and read it again.  As I snuggled into the couch, I looked across the room and realized that Sabrina was snuggling down into a reading chair with Deathly Hallows.  And this morning Cory got up and announced that instead of playing video games, he thought he'd start rereading all the Harry Potter books.

And that is the highest, and most well-directed, praise of all.

THE BOOKS OF THE SECOND QUARTER

Between moving to a new house and two graduations, the second quarter of 2009 didn't leave me as much time to read as I would have wanted.  Most of what I had time for were books I had to read for work purposes.  That being said, I feel quite lucky to get to read some pretty good books and call it "work"!

(And let me pause to pat myself on the back here for posting the second quarter's books so early in the third quarter.... unlike earlier this year.)

Okay, here are the books I read in April, May and June.  A lot of series, which will be listed as series, not as the separate books, for clarity...  And as always, I've linked to the amazon page for any title I really loved...

The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud

A delightful surprise.  The Bartimaeus Trilogy is set in an alternative-universe London where magicians hold all the political power because of their ability to control djinnis and other spirits, and follows precocious young magician Nathaniel and his relationship with "his" djinni, the 5000-year-old Bartimaeus, as Nathaniel flirts with power, is corrupted by it, and then struggles toward redemption from it.  The series switches point of view chapter by chapter, with Bartimaeus's first person accounts providing snap-crackle-and-pop counterpoint (often via hilarious footnotes) to the plot.

Book 1:  The Amulet of Samarkand

In which Nathaniel summons Bartimaeus (a deed far beyond the normal magical abilities of a boy his age), uses him for revenge on master magician Simon Lovelace, gets in over his head, and overturns Lovelace's plot to destabilize the government.  A terrific start to a story that will go far beyond the confines of the initial storyline, often LOL funny thanks to the witty and snide voice of Bartimaeus.  

Book 2:  The Golem's Eye

In which Nathaniel, now a rising star in the British government, is forced to re-summon Bartimaeus to fight off the Resistance, a political movement of "commoners" trying to wrest control of the government from the magicians; we (re-)meet Kitty, a girl with "resiliance" against magic and a true believer in the Resistance's cause; and a mysterious magician uses a golem to wreak havoc on London.  This second Bartimaeus book is not as fun as the first, due to its focus on Kitty (whom we met briefly in book 1) rather than on Bartimaeus.  It does expand the scope of the trilogy, however, so we start to realize the magicians are really the bad guys, and to recognize the extent of Nathaniel's corruption as his political star rises.  Kitty is a terrific character with a compelling story... it's just that we long for more Bartimaeus here.

Book 3:  Ptolemy's Gate

In which Nathaniel's political ambitions prove empty, the Resistance expands to the point of real danger, and Bartimaeus grows weak from overuse, weak to the point of... well, can djinnis die?  Finally, the return of Bartimaeus to the level we wanted in book 2, but here he's in real trouble.  Book 3 is unexpectedly emotionally affecting, as we learn more about Bartimae

us's past (seeing in flashback the one master he truly respected and cared for), as we long for Nathaniel to rise to the moral challenge before him and become a mensch (especially where Bartimaeus is concerned), and as Kitty fights injustice and expands her territory in most unexpected ways.  A terrific, challenging, and entirely unexpected ending to the trilogy.  Well worth the (long) read!

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

I read this over a year ago, and posted on it then... I had to reread it for work purposes this time around (one of the gigs we are up for, but nothing will happen fast on this one).  I enjoyed it a lot more this time, perhaps because I was prepared for the level of violence and coldness of tone.  (Lee, reading it for the first time, absolutely loved it, btw.)  Still recommended.

Ender's Shadow

by Orson Scott Card

Ender's Shadow is a "parallel" book to Ender's Game, telling much of the same story, but from the point of view of Bean, the very little kid who becomes Ender's lieutenant in the Dragon Army.  You'd think this would be an exercise in predictability (like, say, Gus van Sant's shot-by-shot remake of Psycho some years back).  Surprise!  Ender's Shadow is a terrific read, one I enjoyed even more than Game.  Bean's struggle to be a warrior while maintaining his humanity gives us a wonderful window on Ender's similar struggles, and the ending holds unexpected surprises, even as it remains absolutely consistent with what we already know happened.  A remarkable tour-de-force on Card's part.  I wouldn't recommend reading Ender's Shadow *without* reading Ender's Game...  but if you read Game, you should absolutely read Shadow immediately afterward.

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

Speaker for the Dead is putatively the sequel to Ender's Game.  However, it happens hundreds of years after Ender's Game ended (relativistic anomalies related to space travel cause the time differential), and really is not a sequel in tone or topic at all.  Ender, many years later (however you count it), seeking redemption for having destroyed an alien race back in the day, comes to a far-off planet to build bridges with another alien race and prevent their destruction.  A worthwhile (if slooooow) read, but if you're looking for a sequel to Ender's Game, read Ender's Shadow instead.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

Okay, here's one I'm not reading for work.  Yes, there will be a movie, but it's already well in the works without us.  No, I'm reading this series because Sabrina insists I do so.  In fact, she insists it's better than Harry Potter.  A fun series, yes, with a brilliant "high-concept" conceit at its heart, but she's not right about that.  I've read the first two books so far, and she has the next three piled up on my bedside table waiting.

Book 1:  The Lightning Thief

This series is based on a great idea:  The Greek gods never disappeared, they still exist, are still up to their shenanigans, and are based near the dominant city for the culture of any given era.  In the days of ancient Greece, that meant Athens; in the days of ancient Rome, that meant Rome; and now, it means New York.  And near New York is Camp Half-Blood, a haven for all the offspring resulting from Greek gods mating with humans (as they have always been wont to do).  Percy Jackson, it turns out, isn't just a dyslexic, ADD near-dropout -- he's the

 demigod son of the sea god Poseidon, who has recently been accused of stealing Zeus's lightning bolt.  Percy sets off across country to the gates of Hades (located under L.A. -- surprise!) to retrieve it with the help of geeky Grover (a satyr) and brainy Annabeth (the half-human daughter of Athena).T  They succeed, of course, but learn that there's a deeper plot going on:  The Titans are working to dethrone the Greek gods (to be continued).  Fun, and a great way for kids to learn the Greek myths inside and out... but for some reason, I found it really hard to remember anything I'd read whenever I put the book down.

Book 2:  The Sea of Monsters

More fun with dyslexic demigod Percy, as he sets off on a quest to the Sea of Monsters (aka the Bermuda Triangle) to rescue Grover and find the Golden Fleece, which alone has the power to save Camp Half-Blood from dying (I never quite understood why, but okay).  Percy and Annabeth are joined here by good Cyclops Tyson, who turns out to be Percy's half-brother, also a son of Poseidon.  Percy's relationship with Tyson adds a level of poignancy to the story that the first book didn't quite have, but otherwise it's pretty much more of the same.  The threat from the Titans is still out there, but doesn't really advance in this particular story and again, whenever I put the book down, I couldn't really remember 

what had just happened.

The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein

This was a re-read.  In fact, The Puppet Masters was the first Heinlein book I ever read, and the one that got me hooked on his work.  And yes, I read it for work -- not because there's a studio wanting to adapt it (alas), but because it's so exquisitely plotted, I wanted to review it while struggling to pull together a story for a very different project in search of a good plot.  Puppet Masters tells the story of three secret agents tasked with stopping a wickedly clever invasion by aliens who take the shape of "slugs" that, attached to a human's spinal cord, can control their hosts.  Dated, but still a terrific and exciting read.  Always recommended.

Pyrates by Chris Archer

This is a four-book kids' series that I don't want to say too much about at the moment (and besides, it really is a kids' series -- ages 9 to 12 -- so probably not of great interest to most readers of this blog anyway).  It's an adventure story based around a great idea:  A group of kids in New York City sets off underground to find the legendary treasure of Captain Kidd.  One of the kids is, in fact, the direct descendant of Captain Kidd, so has a personal reason to embark on the quest, and the whole story has some solid grounding in real history, which is something I always like to see.  My kids are too old for it now, but would have loved it had they picked it up a few years back.

...And that's it for now.  I know I will be reading the rest of the Percy Jackson series, and should get back to my readthrough of the works of Madeleine L'Engle (I believe Walking on Water is next), and I have some books written by friends on my reading table as well.  So if the summer remains quiet, I should be back in three months with a long list of thoughts!

What are you all reading this summer??

REREADING HARRY: ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

I've read the message boards over the years, and I know all about the people who really don't like Order of the Phoenix.  The people who just squirm at overly emo "CapsLock" Harry.  The people who think it's too long and wandering.  

I am not one of those people.

Order of the Phoenix was by far my favorite Harry Potter book upon my first reading.  I read it at our old house, staked out on the couch in my office, unaware of anything happening around me.  I was so completely immersed in the book, I remember sort of "coming to" at about 2 in the morning, realizing that surely the kids were in bed by now, and wondering if I read just one more chapter or go to bed.  I was at the end of the chapter "Seen and Unforeseen," with Firenze just showing up to teach Divination, and I decided that yes, I would go to bed and pick up the book in the morning.  It turned out to be a good choice, as from that point on, I don't know where I would have found a stopping point.

I also enjoyed the read-aloud of Order more than any of the other books when it came time to read the books to my family.  It was just out and out fun to shout out all of Harry's caps-locked anger.  And then there was Dolores Umbridge.  I found an absolute

ly wonderful voice for her, and could just feel the sticky sweetness of her banal evil oozing through my very pores as I read her.  (And I got to re-experience her when Half-Blood Prince came out -- because Sabrina had been too young to get caught up in my reading of Order, I got to do it all over again to prepare for the reading of Prince -- wonderful!)

What a great character Umbridge is!  In many ways, I recognize and relate to her expression of evil more than I do to Voldemort's -- the need for control, the bullying, the insistence that what she's doing is good and moral.  For me, the real horror of Umbridge was revealed when she first used her magical quill on Harry in detention -- and oh, did I love the moment when Harry was able to hold up his hand and toss back at her, "I must not tell lies!"  

...A Voldemort comes along every few generations.  Umbridges, on the other hand, thrive among us, and the battle against Umbridge was, I thought, just as stirring as the fight against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

So many of my favorite moments in the series come in Order.  The shock of realizing that Aunt Petunia knows what dementors are -- and to realize that, just like Harry, I had forgotten that Petunia was Lily's sister.  The feeling of righteous revolution that stirs as Dumbledore's Army is born.  The horror and grief of meeting Neville's parents at St. Mungo's, and the kindness and pain of Neville as he takes the gift of a chewing gum wrapper from his mum.  The jaw-dropping shock as Snape admits "Yes, that is my job" when Harry in essence accuses him of being a spy.  The fierce exultation I felt when Hermione turns out to have outwitted Umbridge months in advance by branding Marietta as a "Sneak" -- coupled with the shock of Dumbledore taking the fall for Harry.  The shock of Sirius's death.  And the absolute best moment of the book (and certainly in the top 5 for all 7 of the books put together):  Fred and George at the swamp, calling for their imprisoned brooms, telling Peeves to "give her hell" and flying off in rebellious triumph.

On the re-read, I found myself just aching over the lack of communication between Harry and Sirius.  Each of them so angry at the Order of the Phoenix in general, and at Dumbledore in specific.  What if they'd been able to talk to each other about it?  Would they have egged each other on to misdeeds (which is sort of what Harry does to Sirius anyway)?  Or would they have realized they weren't alone and worked it all through?  The lack of communication even extends to Harry's refusal to open the gift of the Two-Way Mirror, the use of which would almost certainly have saved Sirius's life.  On the second read, I just sobbed over Sirius's death, in way that I couldn't the first time through, perhaps because it was such a shock.

I also, through this entire re-read, have found myself drawn over and over again to Molly Weasley.  Here, I loved her arguing with Sirius over who has Harry's best interests at heart:  "He's not your son."  "He's as good as!"  And her seeing Harry dead on the floor along with her own children when she can't overcome that nasty boggart locked in the desk upstairs.

I also found myself noticing Harry's courage so much more.  Yes, it takes remarkable bravery to face Voldemort in the graveyard, as Harry had just done at the end of the previous book.  But it also takes courage to walk through the corridors or into the Great Hall when everyone thinks you're either an attention-grabbing narcissist, or just insane.  (Sort of the flip of C.S. Lewis's statement about how one can to Jesus:  Either he's a lunatic, a liar, or the Lord -- Well, that's how people react to Harry:  They think he's a liar, a lunatic... or, in rare cases, that he's telling the truth.)

And Umbridge again.  What an amazing character.  This time around, I noticed and appreciated even more the little moments in which other characters, particularly McGonagall, join the rebellion against Umbridge in little ways:  Telling Peeves how to unscrew the chandelier, standing up to Umbridge in her own evaluation, vowing that Harry will become an Auror no matter what, rushing to Hagrid's defense.

I appreciated so much on this read how Umbridge really drives the story, as a good villain should.  It would have been easy to make her nasty, and leave her there, but instead, Rowling lets Umbridge's petty evilness escalate to levels I would never have expected, and which still horrified on this read-through.  Not just the quill, but her glee in taking Quidditch away from Harry.  Her attempt to use Veritaserum on him.  The lengths she went to in order to catch Harry.  Her takeover of Hogwarts.  All truly frightening, and all so very real and present around us today.

And then there's Snape.  Order is where we begin to realize what an important character he is, where we are forced to wonder whose side he is really on, and whether the Order of the Phoenix is sealing its own doom by trusting him.  On this read-through, knowing now what's coming, I felt the interactions between Snape and Harry just crackled off the page, especially in the Occlumency lessons.  Not to mention the heart-stopping moment where Harry realizes that, yes, there still is an Order member at Hogwarts -- and is forced to trust him and shout out the coded message.

Is everything about the book wonderful?  No.  I could do without the long story about Grawp, especially since his final purpose in the whole saga seems to be to save the trio from the centaurs.  Ron's travails on the Quidditch team weren't that exciting to me, especially on the second read.  I was a bit frustrated with Dumbledore's final explanation here, since it doesn't quite jibe with the Dumbledore of  Deathly Hallows, he leaves so much out, and ultimately the prophecy won't matter as much as it seems to here... And while I enjoyed Harry getting his first kiss on the first read-through, this time around I just wanted to shake Harry and tell him what a ninny Cho would turn out to be.

But these are mere quibbles compared to the sheer enjoyment of reading (and re-reading) the book.  I was a bit concerned when I sat down to the re-read, remembering how much I loved it the first time around.  But how much of that, I wondered, was because I didn't know where the story was going?  How much would my enjoyment be diminished?

The answer, happily, was "not at all."  In Stephen King's review of the book, he stated that Order was not only much better than its predecessors, it was the book that moved the Harry Potter series into greatness, the book that proved it was destined to be a story not for its decade, but for the ages.

And upon the re-read, I am happy to agree.

Next... Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince -- hopefully posted here before the movie version (that is, the trailer for the book) opens in a couple of weeks!