Category Archives: Art, Theatre, & Film

Potter News

For all of you who have been asking me (and why me?), the third Potter film is being released next May (yes, a Harry Potter film and the Hellboy film within the same month – it’s too much happiness).

Nifty photos:

Hermione threatening Malfoy

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin

Michael Gambon as the new Dumbledore

I was struck by how much older the kids look (yeah, yeah, I know, a year between films) until it was all put into persective for me. Someone at pointed out that if you calculate by the year in the first book (which is 1991), Harry (and Neville, come to think of it) turned 23 last week. Gulp.

Scattershot

I’m currently reading The Club Dumas and enjoying every moment. I do wish I had a copy of The Three Musketeers on hand, though, for easy access. The illustrations referred to in the other pertinent title in the story (the mythical “Book of the Nine Doors”) are actually included in the text, and believe me, there’s lots of reference and flipping of pages going on. I highly recommend it if you have any interest in the occult, the antiquarian book trade, or French history. And serial stories, of course.

I’ve been having trouble catching my breath all day. I wonder if it’s the humidity.

And about the Vatican issuing an official document opposing the legalisation of same-sex marriages: anyone else remember the phrase “seperation of church and state?”

Intelligent TV Forbidden

Warning: sputtering rant ahead.

Caitlin says:

According to [Bonnie Hammer, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Sci-Fi Channel], Farscape failed because it expected too much from the viewer.

Excuse me? Oh, heaven forbid that a creative team actually challenge the audience. Good gods, folks, this is how we push the envelope, evolve, mature – we challenge people!

Oh, wait. Sorry. I forgot. TV isn’t art, according to most channel execs. It’s money and ratings. Silly me. You’re not supposed to think when you switch on the tube; you’re supposed to leave the brain at the door and allow your eyes to glaze.

Whatever came over me?

(As an aside: Space gave me a birthday present by beginning the entire Farscape saga from episode one. I’ve seen three episodes, and I am of the opinion it’s one of, if not the, smartest thing(s) on TV. No wonder it was cancelled. But then, I’m one of those queer people in the minority that wants to use her brain while being entertained.)

CD Joy

I just experienced the most delicious shiver down my spine.

While I’ve been looking forward to The Return of the King this winter, I somehow completely overlooked the fact that the third installment in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film epic means a Return of the King soundtrack from Howard Shore.

I’d better start making room on my CD shelves now.

Random Religious And Literary Links

Found on a banner on a web page:

The Goddess is here, and She is organising.

Well, I laughed.

It’s on the interesting Christian Wicca page. Nope, I haven’t yet read it in entirety, but it’s nice to see that some people don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. Here’s an excerpt from an article entitled Christian Wicca: The Oxymoron Syndrome:

To be very honest, I am not the original person to set about Christianizing the practices and sacred Days of Power of The Wicca, Pagan religions, or any earth-based religions. As much as I would like to take credit for this – the Roman Catholic Church did this first. The Catholics are truly in many aspects the original Christian Wiccans or ChristoPagans.

Heh.

More oddness: S.A.L.V. (Slytherins Against Lord Voldemort). Aside from the spelling mistakes, it’s an intriguing idea.

A Curse Upon Hydro And Blogger

Joy. Remember I was growling about how the power was supposed to be turned off last week, and it never was, so I wasted a whole day of work? Guess what happened this morning with no warning at all.

Blogger had a hiccup yesterday and ate not only the penultimate post on the Hogwarts quiz, but the long and involved post I did on Frida Kahlo as well.

So, to recap:

Apparently Defence Against the Dark Arts would be my best class if I attended Hogwarts. Hmm. I thought for sure it would be History of Magic.

July 6, 1907 was Frida Kahlo’s birthday, although she popularised her birthdate as July 7, 1910 to identify herself with the new Mexico born with the outbreak of the Mexican revolution.

Currently, my favourite work of Kahlo’s is her Self-Portrait, 1926; I find it quite Mona Lisa-like: mysterious, solemn, quirky, and each time that I see it I come to a different decision regarding what lies behind those eyes. Here she is.

Self-Portrait, 1926

(The original post was longer, and more articulate. Really.)

Enthusiastic Endorsement, Complete With Muppet Nods

Some of my regular readers might not click randomly on links, so I want to draw your attention to t!, a man I’ve known for thirteen years. Long ago, we bonded over Shakespeare, Star Wars, pasta, and the Muppets.

[…] The real magic was on The Muppet Show.

It wasn’t aimed at kids. At least one third of it was musical numbers. It was vaudeville, on the medium that killed vaudeville. For those who could still appreciate vaudeville. Adults. But their children knew the Muppets, so we watched Kermit in his night job, when he wasn’t reporting for Muppet News.

And we got show tunes. Stand up comedy. And awful, awful puns. Plus just about every other entertainment staple you can think of: Stuntmen, jugglers, science fiction, hospital drama, sportscasting, westerns, educational science films (?!), Grand Guignol, a piano man, a full orchestra, a modern rock band, even heckling for crying out loud, and all of it aimed over our heads like a boomerang fish.

So what happened? We raised our heads.

He’s perfected the art of debating, pushing his limits and yours to force growth, and he also happens to be one of the most intelligent people I know. And, like the Muppets, his writing refuses to make it easier; you have to raise your head. What are you waiting for? Go read Baker’s 12.