The very first movie I ever remember seeing was The Sound of Music. It was on VHS, dubbed entirely in Farsi (including the songs), and I loved it.
I still love it. I grew up watching musicals and I have a very, very soft spot for them. It recently occurred to me that some of the best platitudes I ever heard have come in the form of a song smack in the middle of a movie musical.
Here are just a few:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Don't dream it, be it.
Rent
Forget regret, or life is yours to miss.
The Sound of Music
So, let them bring on all their problems.
I'll do better than my best.
I have confidence they'll put me to the test.
But I'll make them see I have confidence in me.
West Side Story
There's a place for us,
A time and place for us.
Hold my hand and we're halfway there.
Beauty and the Beast
Bittersweet and strange,
Finding you can change,
Learning you were wrong.
The Jungle Book
And don't spend your time lookin' around
For something you want that can't be found.
When you find out you can live without it
And go along not thinkin' about it,
I'll tell you something true:
The bare necessities of life will come to you.
Gypsy
Curtain up! Light the lights!
You got nothing to hit but the heights!
You'll be swell. You'll be great.
I can tell. Just you wait.
What about you? Any musical lyrics that inspire you?
And be honest, how many of these songs are stuck in your head now?
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Pottercast!
My friends Billy and Bryan are hilarious and have started a podcast called The Billy and Bryan Show (I said they were hilarious, not very original with titles.)
Last night, I was a guest on their show! We discuss a wide range of [Harry-Potter-related] topics. Including:
- our top 5 Harry Potter actors
- what is up with Cho Chang?
- the Neville/Luna movie conundrum
- Alec Guinness: the Dumbledore that could have been
- the genius of Gringotts Goblin #4
And so much more!
Got an hour to kill (and have seen the last movie 'cause here be spoilers)? Download it for free on iTunes here.
Last night, I was a guest on their show! We discuss a wide range of [Harry-Potter-related] topics. Including:
- our top 5 Harry Potter actors
- what is up with Cho Chang?
- the Neville/Luna movie conundrum
- Alec Guinness: the Dumbledore that could have been
- the genius of Gringotts Goblin #4
And so much more!
Got an hour to kill (and have seen the last movie 'cause here be spoilers)? Download it for free on iTunes here.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The Night I Was About to Go All Umbridge
If you're reading this, chances are you know I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. I started reading the books in 2001 and have been totally immersed in almost everything Harry ever since.
2001 is also the year the first movie came out. For, it I gathered a few of my friends, we stood in line for the opening night showing...and the rest was history. We've done that for every movie ever since.
As it was for a lot of people, the last movie coming out was very emotional for me. So was the last book, but I think that was offset--slightly--by the excitement of getting to read the final bit of the story. With the movie, I already knew how the story would end. It was just the last time I would experience the excitement in a large crowd like that: with my friends, waiting in line and feeling the love for HP in the air. Goodbyes are hard for me, people.
But I planned the outing anyway and sent out the usual email with the date and time. We decided that we would go to the Regal Cinema in Union Square (in NYC). That was where we had seen the very first movie and almost all of the movies since then. We considered going to a midnight showing on Thursday, but then opted for Friday night since we thought it'd be better if we didn't have to go to work the next day.
This turned out to be the wrong decision.
Although we have always gone to the late Friday showing at this theater, something was off from the very beginning. We waited in line for three hours (and were second in line), but when we got in, a good 50 or so people had somehow snuck in before us and already filled the theater. What was going on? Had they apparated in? That hardly seemed fair (especially since I hadn't known that was allowed! I would have studied up.).
Special Harry Potter 3D glasses: when my friend first noticed they were handing those out, my geek meter went off the charts. I mean, if you have to wear glasses to watch a Harry Potter movie, it would only make sense that they would be HARRY'S GLASSES, right?! Right. Except they ran out of them way before it was our screening time.
This has never happened to be before, but the 3D glasses gave me a massive headache literally a half an hour into the movie. You know that scene in Bellatrix's vault where the gold keeps dangerously multiplying: that could be a metaphor for Hollywood's love of 3D movies. Only replace the gold with poop. I don't need to pay an extra $10 to have things jumping out at me, Hollywood. I can get that for free on my daily commute on the NYC subway.
And then...there were the people in the row behind us.
Remember what I said about the communal magic and love for HP?!
Right. These Muggles did not get the memo.
Now, why you would want to wait in line for HOURS (because these people had decent seats--they must have been there for a long time...and, trust me, there's no way they passed their apparition test), just so you can sit back and snort, snicker and call Bellatrix "ugly" for two and a half hours is beyond me. And when I say WHYYYY, I mean that in the Cee Lo Green sense of the word.
And THEN...then...just as Harry and Ron were escaping the fiendfyre on their broomsticks, I got SMACKED IN THE BACK OF THE HEAD. No joke. Some girl was coming back from going to the bathroom, went to pull my seat back, and literally punched me in the head. If Mad-Eye Moody were around, he would have totally turned her into a weasel.
Afterwards, my friends asked me what I thought of the movie. My sad but honest answer: I don't even feel like I saw it.
My friends and I are going to go again (to a 2D version), but I am truly upset that I never got that final experience of seeing it on opening night with a theater chock full of fans. So much so that I have been reading tea leaves for each and every rude and loud person who was in that theater with me...and they ALL have the Grim.
Now the Thursday at midnight showing: those were my peeps! I should have stuck with them. So excuse me while I go dig out my Time Turner (and by dig out, I mean grab it from the prominent position it has in my living room).
In other news, I'm taping a podcast with my two friends tonight and we're discussing Potter! If you have any questions for any of us (or any particular Potter subject you'd really like me to geek out over), feel free to leave it in the comments section below.
2001 is also the year the first movie came out. For, it I gathered a few of my friends, we stood in line for the opening night showing...and the rest was history. We've done that for every movie ever since.
As it was for a lot of people, the last movie coming out was very emotional for me. So was the last book, but I think that was offset--slightly--by the excitement of getting to read the final bit of the story. With the movie, I already knew how the story would end. It was just the last time I would experience the excitement in a large crowd like that: with my friends, waiting in line and feeling the love for HP in the air. Goodbyes are hard for me, people.
But I planned the outing anyway and sent out the usual email with the date and time. We decided that we would go to the Regal Cinema in Union Square (in NYC). That was where we had seen the very first movie and almost all of the movies since then. We considered going to a midnight showing on Thursday, but then opted for Friday night since we thought it'd be better if we didn't have to go to work the next day.
This turned out to be the wrong decision.
Although we have always gone to the late Friday showing at this theater, something was off from the very beginning. We waited in line for three hours (and were second in line), but when we got in, a good 50 or so people had somehow snuck in before us and already filled the theater. What was going on? Had they apparated in? That hardly seemed fair (especially since I hadn't known that was allowed! I would have studied up.).
Special Harry Potter 3D glasses: when my friend first noticed they were handing those out, my geek meter went off the charts. I mean, if you have to wear glasses to watch a Harry Potter movie, it would only make sense that they would be HARRY'S GLASSES, right?! Right. Except they ran out of them way before it was our screening time.
This has never happened to be before, but the 3D glasses gave me a massive headache literally a half an hour into the movie. You know that scene in Bellatrix's vault where the gold keeps dangerously multiplying: that could be a metaphor for Hollywood's love of 3D movies. Only replace the gold with poop. I don't need to pay an extra $10 to have things jumping out at me, Hollywood. I can get that for free on my daily commute on the NYC subway.
And then...there were the people in the row behind us.
Remember what I said about the communal magic and love for HP?!
Right. These Muggles did not get the memo.
Now, why you would want to wait in line for HOURS (because these people had decent seats--they must have been there for a long time...and, trust me, there's no way they passed their apparition test), just so you can sit back and snort, snicker and call Bellatrix "ugly" for two and a half hours is beyond me. And when I say WHYYYY, I mean that in the Cee Lo Green sense of the word.
And THEN...then...just as Harry and Ron were escaping the fiendfyre on their broomsticks, I got SMACKED IN THE BACK OF THE HEAD. No joke. Some girl was coming back from going to the bathroom, went to pull my seat back, and literally punched me in the head. If Mad-Eye Moody were around, he would have totally turned her into a weasel.
Afterwards, my friends asked me what I thought of the movie. My sad but honest answer: I don't even feel like I saw it.
My friends and I are going to go again (to a 2D version), but I am truly upset that I never got that final experience of seeing it on opening night with a theater chock full of fans. So much so that I have been reading tea leaves for each and every rude and loud person who was in that theater with me...and they ALL have the Grim.
Now the Thursday at midnight showing: those were my peeps! I should have stuck with them. So excuse me while I go dig out my Time Turner (and by dig out, I mean grab it from the prominent position it has in my living room).
In other news, I'm taping a podcast with my two friends tonight and we're discussing Potter! If you have any questions for any of us (or any particular Potter subject you'd really like me to geek out over), feel free to leave it in the comments section below.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Geek-Off, Part Deux: Vote for the Winner!
Update:
And the winner of the 2nd Geek-Off is...Euric with his last-minute entry of Potter Bucks!
Although Euric has been laid up recovering from knee surgery, he has clearly decided to put that time to good use. Here are some close-ups of his winning artwork:
I especially like the captioned names. Extremely Geek-Off worthy! Euric, get ready to sit back and wash down some painkillers with your brand new Geek mug. (And feel better!)
And thanks SO much to everyone who entered. You all rock in the geekiest way possible.
Oh, geek-friends. You make me so happy with your stories and beloved objects of geekery. I thank the Internet for bringing us all together.
And now...it's time to vote for the winner of the second-ever Geek-Off! The poll will close on Sunday at 11:59 PM EST.
Before I leave you to it, I will present you with two entries that have a visual component.
Who will win the coveted title of Biggest Geek? Only you can decide! Vote away!
And the winner of the 2nd Geek-Off is...Euric with his last-minute entry of Potter Bucks!
Although Euric has been laid up recovering from knee surgery, he has clearly decided to put that time to good use. Here are some close-ups of his winning artwork:
I especially like the captioned names. Extremely Geek-Off worthy! Euric, get ready to sit back and wash down some painkillers with your brand new Geek mug. (And feel better!)
And thanks SO much to everyone who entered. You all rock in the geekiest way possible.
Oh, geek-friends. You make me so happy with your stories and beloved objects of geekery. I thank the Internet for bringing us all together.
And now...it's time to vote for the winner of the second-ever Geek-Off! The poll will close on Sunday at 11:59 PM EST.
Before I leave you to it, I will present you with two entries that have a visual component.
 |
| Glove Dinosaur |
 |
| Potter Bucks |
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Geek-Off, Part Deux!
It's time for the second official Geek-Off! Why? Because I said so...
Actually, it's because I have a geektastic new toy to show off and I figured why should I have all the fun?
In case you need a recap, the first ever Geek-Off involved a challenge: one that asked you to put your geekiest item or story up against the crest of Gryffindor which is painted on my fireplace. I collected your entries and then put them to a vote. The results were astonishing, delightful and highly geeky. You can see the entries here and the results here. (Yup, having the bat symbol engraved on your wedding ring pretty much makes you a winner of the Geek-Off and of life, in my opinion).
So...it's time for round two! Give me your geekiest object, story or experience. The only rule is that it can't be the same as anything you submitted for the first Geek-Off!
Behold my entry. It comes with a story (naturally).
On Friday, when I was standing in an almost-3-hour line for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, and feeling rather blue about it being the final movie, my boyfriend decided to cheer me up. He decided to do so by buying me a present from the store across the street. The store across the street was Forbidden Planet. And he emerged with THIS:
That is a sonic screwdriver. It's specifically the 10th doctor's (my favorite) sonic screwdriver. And it makes the sonic screwdriver noise, expands, and doubles as both a regular pen and a spy pen. That means I can write secret messages that can only be read by the light of the sonic screwdriver.
Like so:
Looks like an ordinary piece of paper? HA! It is actually a TOP SECRET message written by my friend, Jenny, which I have expertly decoded. With my sonic screwdriver pen. (She has one too, obviously. We geeks tend to flock together).
SO...hit me with your best shot, geeks! Leave me your entries in the comments section or tweet them to me. On Friday, we'll take another vote and the winner will receive:
This highly coveted Geek mug designed by yours truly.
Geek On!
Actually, it's because I have a geektastic new toy to show off and I figured why should I have all the fun?
In case you need a recap, the first ever Geek-Off involved a challenge: one that asked you to put your geekiest item or story up against the crest of Gryffindor which is painted on my fireplace. I collected your entries and then put them to a vote. The results were astonishing, delightful and highly geeky. You can see the entries here and the results here. (Yup, having the bat symbol engraved on your wedding ring pretty much makes you a winner of the Geek-Off and of life, in my opinion).
So...it's time for round two! Give me your geekiest object, story or experience. The only rule is that it can't be the same as anything you submitted for the first Geek-Off!
Behold my entry. It comes with a story (naturally).
On Friday, when I was standing in an almost-3-hour line for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, and feeling rather blue about it being the final movie, my boyfriend decided to cheer me up. He decided to do so by buying me a present from the store across the street. The store across the street was Forbidden Planet. And he emerged with THIS:
 |
| I'm using it to lock the door. |
Like so:
Looks like an ordinary piece of paper? HA! It is actually a TOP SECRET message written by my friend, Jenny, which I have expertly decoded. With my sonic screwdriver pen. (She has one too, obviously. We geeks tend to flock together).
SO...hit me with your best shot, geeks! Leave me your entries in the comments section or tweet them to me. On Friday, we'll take another vote and the winner will receive:
This highly coveted Geek mug designed by yours truly.
Geek On!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Swag: A Sneak Peek
It was a busy weekend. The final Harry Potter movie came out (and was attended with great excitement/sadness, of course) and two of my closest friends had their 30th birthday parties on Saturday and Sunday. During a few down hours somewhere along there, I decided to start thinking about some book "swag."
Swag are promotional items that are given out usually at signings, blog giveaways or other events: things like branded bookmarks, pens, buttons, etc. I've seen some really creative book swag recently. Gretchen McNeil had temporary tattoos made of the charm bracelet that her main character wears in her book, Possess. Bree Despain had branded nail polish that matched her book's (The Dark Divine) cover.
At the moment, there are two types of swag I'm thinking about getting. One are some fun map-related bookmarks. And the other are sticker books. Just because I spent all weekend working on it, here is a preview of one of the stickers. (There are five more designs.)
What do you think? I should be getting my order in a couple of weeks and am definitely looking forward to seeing how they turned out.
I'm still brainstorming other fun/creative items though. So if you have any suggestions--things you've seen that you've really liked or just your own original idea that you're willing to part with--please let me know in the comments section!
Swag are promotional items that are given out usually at signings, blog giveaways or other events: things like branded bookmarks, pens, buttons, etc. I've seen some really creative book swag recently. Gretchen McNeil had temporary tattoos made of the charm bracelet that her main character wears in her book, Possess. Bree Despain had branded nail polish that matched her book's (The Dark Divine) cover.
At the moment, there are two types of swag I'm thinking about getting. One are some fun map-related bookmarks. And the other are sticker books. Just because I spent all weekend working on it, here is a preview of one of the stickers. (There are five more designs.)
What do you think? I should be getting my order in a couple of weeks and am definitely looking forward to seeing how they turned out.
I'm still brainstorming other fun/creative items though. So if you have any suggestions--things you've seen that you've really liked or just your own original idea that you're willing to part with--please let me know in the comments section!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Acronym City: MG FAQs
I will begin this post with a completely unrelated anecdote.
When I was growing up, I loved the movie With Honors. It's about a Harvard student (Brendan Fraser) who loses the only copy of his thesis down a grate. It's found by a homeless man (Joe Pesci) who proceeds to give him back one page per favor. I found the movie both touching and funny. And the title of my post is reminding me of one particular bit of dialogue.
Joe Pesci is being interviewed by a social worker about receiving disability payments. He is, shall we say, a bit facetious.
Social Worker: DOB?
Joe Pesci: EFGHIK
This exchange has always cracked me up, even upon repeated viewing. I think it mostly has to do with the delivery.
Anyhoo, so acronyms. The title of this blog post...
Hey, I'm a guest over at YA author Gennifer Albin's blog today, answering some frequently asked questions about writing Middle Grade! Dying to know my thoughts on MG language, trends, marketing and more? Read it here.
When I was growing up, I loved the movie With Honors. It's about a Harvard student (Brendan Fraser) who loses the only copy of his thesis down a grate. It's found by a homeless man (Joe Pesci) who proceeds to give him back one page per favor. I found the movie both touching and funny. And the title of my post is reminding me of one particular bit of dialogue.
Joe Pesci is being interviewed by a social worker about receiving disability payments. He is, shall we say, a bit facetious.
Social Worker: DOB?
Joe Pesci: EFGHIK
This exchange has always cracked me up, even upon repeated viewing. I think it mostly has to do with the delivery.
Anyhoo, so acronyms. The title of this blog post...
Hey, I'm a guest over at YA author Gennifer Albin's blog today, answering some frequently asked questions about writing Middle Grade! Dying to know my thoughts on MG language, trends, marketing and more? Read it here.
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