DAY SEVENTEEN
Six people around a table at Tir Na Nog. Dimly lit and festive – a cozy, but not-a-dive. We were next to the door – a dog in a case above us. I could also see the head of a snarling fox from where I sat. G in a tweed jacket with leather elbow pads, a blue shirt, and his Ravenclaw tie that we had bought from Antony Marc on Madison Ave. the night before. Since he couldn’t find a white shirt, he had foregone being a Hogwarts student, and went for a professor instead. Actually, looked sort of what Lupin would have worn on a good day…Lupin was the only one really who looks like he could have stepped into Good-bye, Mr. Chips or Dead Poets Society with some Whitman or Ovid under his arm straight from Hogwarts and not looked amiss.
We were energetic, we were active talkers, we were a lively crew. At one point, V and I just sat back and took the table in. J & G going at it, sparring on, Br & T cackling, being emphatic, each getting louder. And whether their conversations were pleasant to themselves, I do not know, but it was nice for me to see them so engaged into one another. A little party - - that *I* orchestrated. Like Neville says when he creeps back into the boys’ dorm room late from the ball with his shoes around his neck, “I just got in. *Me.*” I have these odd Jerusha Abbott moments of feeling grown-up, feeling urbane, feeling like a *real girl*, like a Manhattan womyn, of being sophisticated and social and cool. Not stupid cool, like what high school kids think. Cool more in the twenties usage for ‘polished’ or a wit. But my friends are so real, so fun, so interesting, that I just have to put them together, and disappear. They take care of each other and themselves after that. And that’s such a mark of intelligence and liveliness – having lots of interesting and provocative and stimulating things to say, and having the curiosity to be interested, provoked, and stimulated yourself to ask tons of questions and find out about the people around you and their lives. Good things are:
Books
Travel
People
Food
Art
Music
Paintings
Poetry
Philosophy
Exercise
Spiritual practice
Love
Things We Love
Public Radio
Theater
Translations
Conservation
History
Economics
Statistics
Technology
Publishing
It was rainy, and G and I both looked like we’d step out of English prep schools for a pint at the pub in the village. Mmmmm…..If only I’d had enough memory & wherewithal to get into a real engaging hornlocker re: Thoreau or Homer, but instead stuck to taking pictures on our cell phones. Whiskeys, rums, jacks abound. I threw the coffees back, trying to save the Brazilian economy.
G & B have agreed to a drinking contest. I recalled Legolas & Gimli, and V laughed. V. nice to hear him laughing his true, hearty, deep, “Ha-Ha-Haaa.” There’s a three-pitch curve in it. I just cackle like a monkey, almost screaming. At one point during the night, B was almost so far gone, she was amazing. She was speaking very emphatically, as she tends to do in such occasions, and I think she was adjusting herself, and then speaking emphatically, gesticulating wildly – we both started to laugh with such joy. Not in ridicule of her, but in a deeply appreciative savoring of the love and liveliness that abound at this table.
Hands and phones and cups and cameras and glasses all over the place. V and I exchanging phones, checking out each other’s games and settings and texting (each other), B at one point had ask incredulously, “What are you guys doing?” to which J wryly replied, “They’re having text sex.” V doesn’t miss a beat to say, “You guys can join in too.” We had been taking pictures of everyone interacting, when it was too beautiful, except – predictably enough – this merely disrupted their beautiful interchanges and made them react to us taking pictures. B bellow, “Stop taking pictures, you assholes!” And we hadn’t even been taking pictures of her. ;)
In the theater, V had had to say during the movie, “Down, -----.!” when I was making mock sexy noises – growling, meowing, hissing --- at Daniel Radcliffe in the tub with no shirt on. Moaning Myrtle, apparently, had the same agenda. I just made the sounds for her – as an American would have some advantage in the carnal expressions. But it’s fine – the crew joined in, and the stranger beside me enjoyed it.
Here’s my review of the advance screening of GOF. There’s five of each.
Things Loved:
1. Beauxbatons’ & Durmstrang’s entry into the great hall. Chris Columbus style cheesiness, but good music.
2. The tons of love chemistry saturating the school, esp around Yule Ball time.
3. Moving the scene about asking people out from common room to study hall. Doesn’t work as well, but love Severus beating up the kids (and getting sick of it).
4. Ginny’s outfits – she could so move into Park Slope or Williamsburg right now, and no one would question her credentials to get a flat – or membership in an organic food co-op.
5. Everyone crying when they realize about Cedric – and no sound, no music, no background nothing – just the cacophonic collage of three or four individual voices wailing and sobbing. So powerful.
More:
*Labyrinth – bird’s eye shot.
*Girls fr Beauxbatons – didn’t realize it was an all-girls school – totally changes the dynamic.
*The World cup stadium
*Weasely tent. Much more lux digs then they get in the book.
Forgot the most important loved thing: Two words.
Bathtub scene. Mmmmm….Wuh-Reeeeeeoooowwww. Arrrrrrrrrr.
Things Hated:
1. Lack of subtlety with Hungarian horntail – HP *lulls* her away, he doesn’t get her into some intergalactic space chase. Plus takes way too much time that could have been given to any item in catergory “Things Missed/Disappointed.”
2. General physical casting. #3 wasn’t so bad; Oldman and Thewlis only mildly disappointing (looks only. Well, Thewlis did choose to do a wussier Lupin than the one in my head, but he was fantast – so it was fine.) Physical castings I disliked:
*Viktor, *Fleur *Cho * Mad-Eye
Characterizations I didn’t love:
*Viktor: didn’t think he was a meathead, thought he was a nerdy, clumsy, sullen, awkward, geekish almost Nemmish, except really good at quidditch
*Fleur: Need the haughtiness. Otherwise, Ron’s traumatic ask to the ball and her sudden turn after task #2 and kiss at the end has no meaning. And don’t even need her to necessarily be beautiful – Veelas are a tad scary, so could just have odd, almost too-much-work-done, eerie birdlike beauty – like a runway or haute couture model.
*Cho – too cute, too girl-next-door. She’s supposed to be intimidatingly pretty to HP. Cho’s not a Hogwarts Jennifer Aniston, she’s an Angelina Jolie. Scottishness adds mass points though. And if they wanted her to delivery cute and approachable – Katie was lovely.
*Mad-Eye. (sigh) I wanted Captain Jack Sparrow (pirates of the Caribbean) dressed like Nemo from The Matrix with the compromising scruffiness, ruggedness. Too gruff – wanted some more precision. A guy with a spinning eye and a wooden leg is going to already know how to move with some slickness.
3. Hermione saying excitedly at the end, “Everything’s changed. We have to write.” And having to strong-arm each boy into agreeing to write. Wrong, wrong, wrong. First, the major things that changed are: a student’s been killed, Voldemort is back. What’s the excitement about? Second, if the dark lord’s on the rise, y’all __better__ be sending owls by the hour – what are those boys being dumb about? JKR’s always depicted a close and tight correspondence b/w all three every summer – concern for birthdays, plans to meet in Diagon alley, invitations to for long sleepover visits. What is this sudden nonchalance, and exactly at the wrong moment in their lives?
4. All the sportswear, all the time. Started in #3 with Cuaron, and Newell can’t put a stop to it. We never see anybody jogging or rowing, or doing step aerobics, or even a single downward dog at Hogwarts, and yet people need to be in side-striped pants, hooded sweatshirts, sweatshirts with drawstrings, constantly. Chris Columbus had them in Lands End/Ralph Lauren/ preppy-New-England-holiday-at-home when they were out of robes. It worked, please stick with, nobody’s playing Lacrosse. Harry & Cedric’s color-block band collared shirts for Task 3??? Fleur in the monochromatic baby azure jogging suite??!?? These kids need to be Queer-Eyed…Someone call Lupin or Lockhart. Hey. Or you can just call Ginny.
5. Everything unfolds way too fast in the beginning. From the moment Nagini starts slithering toward Riddle House all the way till Barty Jr. walks the desolated, burnt campsite to cast the dark mark, didn’t get a mental breath. Didn’t expect movie to start instantly like that, with almost non-existent opening credits, and keep on striding on. Also don’t love that all the Death Eaters’ destruction seems long over by the time the dark mark is cast. I like the simultaneity of the chaos, and our Trio finding their safe nook in the forest together with the noise and running and shouting behind them.
5. Also, Sirius in the fire. That’s not how floo networks work.
Things Ambivalent:
1. Voldemort. Dull. Baby not freaky. Better to not show and use psychology of implication with weird camera angles. Overacting still not enough. No shoes is kind of weird. I’d never thought about whether Voldemort had shoes on during the duel. Never occurred to me he wouldn’t. Stepping on Cedric’s face is nice touch, made esp. gross with his bare feet. But otherwise? Dueling, threatening, and admonishing the death eaters, bombastically orating on his new rise to power, performing unforgivable curses - all with no shoes is a no-no.
2. Harry coming out to face Voldemort when he stops being scared and gets angry. I think in the book, he stays smart and agile and focused on staying alive – doesn’t let his ego or even Voldemort’s words get in the way. But it is cute seeing that exact moment his spirit turns, and he’s ready.
3. The Horntail tossing him around when he’s just stepped out into the Stadium. I like in the book that he summons the FIrebolt before doing *anything* and then quietly, slickly begins. In fact, we’re even told he’s got time to stand there and feel stupid, as it looks like he’s not doing anything while he’s praying for the summoning spell to work. Also, not getting to see him practice the summoning spell. But it does add a lot of tension, and the CGI is fabu.
4. Rita Skeeter’s sex thing. We know she’s ethically skeevy, and that may be one way of depicting her general, overall skeeviness, but kind of scary to see the Demi-Ashton in predatoriness, even if I participate. The “Hmm.Cozy.” line when she & H are in the broom closet is funny, and also sexy, because that’s what *we* are thinking (that is, if we are projecting our own inclination of being in a broom closet with H.) She also does a weird sex thing with her scarf when Viktor protests, “You should not be here. It’s only for champions and their friends,” with very cute delivery.
5. Barty Crouch’s tongue action. I don’t hate. I don’t love. But I don’t get it. Sort of creepy, sort of cute. This may be the most ambivalent item of all.
6. Dumbledore’s “choosing what’s right or what’s easy” line. Why does he give it only to Harry? It’s so powerful in the book, because he’s throwing down the moral gauntlet to the entire student body at a pivotal moment in global Wizard history – esp. in the light of international cooperation and friendship by extending a standing welcome to Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.
Things Missed/Disappointed:
1. The very corporal energy of Priori Incantatum – i.e. Rowling’s description of the vibrating beads that you need to concentrate to push toward the other wand.
2. Lily saying ‘Father’s Coming’ & Frank Bryce saying ‘You fight him, boy!’
3. The entire World Cup match
4. Sirius’ exposition on the twenty-year old history of politics and oppression and governance in the Wizarding world in the cave – including story of Barty Jr.
5. Dumbledore mobilizing everyone on his side to get on the move – to start immediately. Including Snape’s unnamed but heavy and dreadful task.
And one more – the lovely time Harry had at the Burrow before the cup. Could have done without Hermione’s vicious wake-up call and also less time to walk toward the Portkey, and had a nice shot of the heavy dining tables groaning under the weight of Mrs. Weasely’s incredible cooking and everyone laughing and loving each other instead.
Sorry, can’t stop at six, so just one more – more conviviality and depiction of the rarely seen Wizarding cosmopolitanism at the tent grounds before the match…close ups and quick conversations, with American, African wizards, tensions about the Middle Eastern wizard who wants the ban lifted on flying carpets, Barty trying to speak Albanian, etc. Sacrifice the stupid confrontation with the Malfoys – we already know they’re nasty, hate the Weasleys, and can’t even come up with even remotely witty darts to hurl.
OK, last one: Not seeing Harry get to ask out Pavarti & Lavender. I love that he’s in the middle of asking them out, and they get fixated on Hermione – “Oooh, who’s she going with?” and he replies, so Britishly, “No idea.” And has to bring them back to the conversation at hand – if they want to be his and Ron’s date.
5 People Would Sleep with in Order.
*Harry
*Viktor
*Cedric
*Seamus (tied with Fred Weasely)
*Severus Snape
We were energetic, we were active talkers, we were a lively crew. At one point, V and I just sat back and took the table in. J & G going at it, sparring on, Br & T cackling, being emphatic, each getting louder. And whether their conversations were pleasant to themselves, I do not know, but it was nice for me to see them so engaged into one another. A little party - - that *I* orchestrated. Like Neville says when he creeps back into the boys’ dorm room late from the ball with his shoes around his neck, “I just got in. *Me.*” I have these odd Jerusha Abbott moments of feeling grown-up, feeling urbane, feeling like a *real girl*, like a Manhattan womyn, of being sophisticated and social and cool. Not stupid cool, like what high school kids think. Cool more in the twenties usage for ‘polished’ or a wit. But my friends are so real, so fun, so interesting, that I just have to put them together, and disappear. They take care of each other and themselves after that. And that’s such a mark of intelligence and liveliness – having lots of interesting and provocative and stimulating things to say, and having the curiosity to be interested, provoked, and stimulated yourself to ask tons of questions and find out about the people around you and their lives. Good things are:
Books
Travel
People
Food
Art
Music
Paintings
Poetry
Philosophy
Exercise
Spiritual practice
Love
Things We Love
Public Radio
Theater
Translations
Conservation
History
Economics
Statistics
Technology
Publishing
It was rainy, and G and I both looked like we’d step out of English prep schools for a pint at the pub in the village. Mmmmm…..If only I’d had enough memory & wherewithal to get into a real engaging hornlocker re: Thoreau or Homer, but instead stuck to taking pictures on our cell phones. Whiskeys, rums, jacks abound. I threw the coffees back, trying to save the Brazilian economy.
G & B have agreed to a drinking contest. I recalled Legolas & Gimli, and V laughed. V. nice to hear him laughing his true, hearty, deep, “Ha-Ha-Haaa.” There’s a three-pitch curve in it. I just cackle like a monkey, almost screaming. At one point during the night, B was almost so far gone, she was amazing. She was speaking very emphatically, as she tends to do in such occasions, and I think she was adjusting herself, and then speaking emphatically, gesticulating wildly – we both started to laugh with such joy. Not in ridicule of her, but in a deeply appreciative savoring of the love and liveliness that abound at this table.
Hands and phones and cups and cameras and glasses all over the place. V and I exchanging phones, checking out each other’s games and settings and texting (each other), B at one point had ask incredulously, “What are you guys doing?” to which J wryly replied, “They’re having text sex.” V doesn’t miss a beat to say, “You guys can join in too.” We had been taking pictures of everyone interacting, when it was too beautiful, except – predictably enough – this merely disrupted their beautiful interchanges and made them react to us taking pictures. B bellow, “Stop taking pictures, you assholes!” And we hadn’t even been taking pictures of her. ;)
In the theater, V had had to say during the movie, “Down, -----.!” when I was making mock sexy noises – growling, meowing, hissing --- at Daniel Radcliffe in the tub with no shirt on. Moaning Myrtle, apparently, had the same agenda. I just made the sounds for her – as an American would have some advantage in the carnal expressions. But it’s fine – the crew joined in, and the stranger beside me enjoyed it.
Here’s my review of the advance screening of GOF. There’s five of each.
Things Loved:
1. Beauxbatons’ & Durmstrang’s entry into the great hall. Chris Columbus style cheesiness, but good music.
2. The tons of love chemistry saturating the school, esp around Yule Ball time.
3. Moving the scene about asking people out from common room to study hall. Doesn’t work as well, but love Severus beating up the kids (and getting sick of it).
4. Ginny’s outfits – she could so move into Park Slope or Williamsburg right now, and no one would question her credentials to get a flat – or membership in an organic food co-op.
5. Everyone crying when they realize about Cedric – and no sound, no music, no background nothing – just the cacophonic collage of three or four individual voices wailing and sobbing. So powerful.
More:
*Labyrinth – bird’s eye shot.
*Girls fr Beauxbatons – didn’t realize it was an all-girls school – totally changes the dynamic.
*The World cup stadium
*Weasely tent. Much more lux digs then they get in the book.
Forgot the most important loved thing: Two words.
Bathtub scene. Mmmmm….Wuh-Reeeeeeoooowwww. Arrrrrrrrrr.
Things Hated:
1. Lack of subtlety with Hungarian horntail – HP *lulls* her away, he doesn’t get her into some intergalactic space chase. Plus takes way too much time that could have been given to any item in catergory “Things Missed/Disappointed.”
2. General physical casting. #3 wasn’t so bad; Oldman and Thewlis only mildly disappointing (looks only. Well, Thewlis did choose to do a wussier Lupin than the one in my head, but he was fantast – so it was fine.) Physical castings I disliked:
*Viktor, *Fleur *Cho * Mad-Eye
Characterizations I didn’t love:
*Viktor: didn’t think he was a meathead, thought he was a nerdy, clumsy, sullen, awkward, geekish almost Nemmish, except really good at quidditch
*Fleur: Need the haughtiness. Otherwise, Ron’s traumatic ask to the ball and her sudden turn after task #2 and kiss at the end has no meaning. And don’t even need her to necessarily be beautiful – Veelas are a tad scary, so could just have odd, almost too-much-work-done, eerie birdlike beauty – like a runway or haute couture model.
*Cho – too cute, too girl-next-door. She’s supposed to be intimidatingly pretty to HP. Cho’s not a Hogwarts Jennifer Aniston, she’s an Angelina Jolie. Scottishness adds mass points though. And if they wanted her to delivery cute and approachable – Katie was lovely.
*Mad-Eye. (sigh) I wanted Captain Jack Sparrow (pirates of the Caribbean) dressed like Nemo from The Matrix with the compromising scruffiness, ruggedness. Too gruff – wanted some more precision. A guy with a spinning eye and a wooden leg is going to already know how to move with some slickness.
3. Hermione saying excitedly at the end, “Everything’s changed. We have to write.” And having to strong-arm each boy into agreeing to write. Wrong, wrong, wrong. First, the major things that changed are: a student’s been killed, Voldemort is back. What’s the excitement about? Second, if the dark lord’s on the rise, y’all __better__ be sending owls by the hour – what are those boys being dumb about? JKR’s always depicted a close and tight correspondence b/w all three every summer – concern for birthdays, plans to meet in Diagon alley, invitations to for long sleepover visits. What is this sudden nonchalance, and exactly at the wrong moment in their lives?
4. All the sportswear, all the time. Started in #3 with Cuaron, and Newell can’t put a stop to it. We never see anybody jogging or rowing, or doing step aerobics, or even a single downward dog at Hogwarts, and yet people need to be in side-striped pants, hooded sweatshirts, sweatshirts with drawstrings, constantly. Chris Columbus had them in Lands End/Ralph Lauren/ preppy-New-England-holiday-at-home when they were out of robes. It worked, please stick with, nobody’s playing Lacrosse. Harry & Cedric’s color-block band collared shirts for Task 3??? Fleur in the monochromatic baby azure jogging suite??!?? These kids need to be Queer-Eyed…Someone call Lupin or Lockhart. Hey. Or you can just call Ginny.
5. Everything unfolds way too fast in the beginning. From the moment Nagini starts slithering toward Riddle House all the way till Barty Jr. walks the desolated, burnt campsite to cast the dark mark, didn’t get a mental breath. Didn’t expect movie to start instantly like that, with almost non-existent opening credits, and keep on striding on. Also don’t love that all the Death Eaters’ destruction seems long over by the time the dark mark is cast. I like the simultaneity of the chaos, and our Trio finding their safe nook in the forest together with the noise and running and shouting behind them.
5. Also, Sirius in the fire. That’s not how floo networks work.
Things Ambivalent:
1. Voldemort. Dull. Baby not freaky. Better to not show and use psychology of implication with weird camera angles. Overacting still not enough. No shoes is kind of weird. I’d never thought about whether Voldemort had shoes on during the duel. Never occurred to me he wouldn’t. Stepping on Cedric’s face is nice touch, made esp. gross with his bare feet. But otherwise? Dueling, threatening, and admonishing the death eaters, bombastically orating on his new rise to power, performing unforgivable curses - all with no shoes is a no-no.
2. Harry coming out to face Voldemort when he stops being scared and gets angry. I think in the book, he stays smart and agile and focused on staying alive – doesn’t let his ego or even Voldemort’s words get in the way. But it is cute seeing that exact moment his spirit turns, and he’s ready.
3. The Horntail tossing him around when he’s just stepped out into the Stadium. I like in the book that he summons the FIrebolt before doing *anything* and then quietly, slickly begins. In fact, we’re even told he’s got time to stand there and feel stupid, as it looks like he’s not doing anything while he’s praying for the summoning spell to work. Also, not getting to see him practice the summoning spell. But it does add a lot of tension, and the CGI is fabu.
4. Rita Skeeter’s sex thing. We know she’s ethically skeevy, and that may be one way of depicting her general, overall skeeviness, but kind of scary to see the Demi-Ashton in predatoriness, even if I participate. The “Hmm.Cozy.” line when she & H are in the broom closet is funny, and also sexy, because that’s what *we* are thinking (that is, if we are projecting our own inclination of being in a broom closet with H.) She also does a weird sex thing with her scarf when Viktor protests, “You should not be here. It’s only for champions and their friends,” with very cute delivery.
5. Barty Crouch’s tongue action. I don’t hate. I don’t love. But I don’t get it. Sort of creepy, sort of cute. This may be the most ambivalent item of all.
6. Dumbledore’s “choosing what’s right or what’s easy” line. Why does he give it only to Harry? It’s so powerful in the book, because he’s throwing down the moral gauntlet to the entire student body at a pivotal moment in global Wizard history – esp. in the light of international cooperation and friendship by extending a standing welcome to Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.
Things Missed/Disappointed:
1. The very corporal energy of Priori Incantatum – i.e. Rowling’s description of the vibrating beads that you need to concentrate to push toward the other wand.
2. Lily saying ‘Father’s Coming’ & Frank Bryce saying ‘You fight him, boy!’
3. The entire World Cup match
4. Sirius’ exposition on the twenty-year old history of politics and oppression and governance in the Wizarding world in the cave – including story of Barty Jr.
5. Dumbledore mobilizing everyone on his side to get on the move – to start immediately. Including Snape’s unnamed but heavy and dreadful task.
And one more – the lovely time Harry had at the Burrow before the cup. Could have done without Hermione’s vicious wake-up call and also less time to walk toward the Portkey, and had a nice shot of the heavy dining tables groaning under the weight of Mrs. Weasely’s incredible cooking and everyone laughing and loving each other instead.
Sorry, can’t stop at six, so just one more – more conviviality and depiction of the rarely seen Wizarding cosmopolitanism at the tent grounds before the match…close ups and quick conversations, with American, African wizards, tensions about the Middle Eastern wizard who wants the ban lifted on flying carpets, Barty trying to speak Albanian, etc. Sacrifice the stupid confrontation with the Malfoys – we already know they’re nasty, hate the Weasleys, and can’t even come up with even remotely witty darts to hurl.
OK, last one: Not seeing Harry get to ask out Pavarti & Lavender. I love that he’s in the middle of asking them out, and they get fixated on Hermione – “Oooh, who’s she going with?” and he replies, so Britishly, “No idea.” And has to bring them back to the conversation at hand – if they want to be his and Ron’s date.
5 People Would Sleep with in Order.
*Harry
*Viktor
*Cedric
*Seamus (tied with Fred Weasely)
*Severus Snape
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