200 pages

A conversation at lunch today:

Look, I read the first three Harry Potter books. I even started the fourth. But then I got to page 200 and they were still playing Quidditch. I mean, that's 200 pages and nothing's really happened. So I got bored and never read the rest of the books.

But it was the Quidditch World Cup! That takes time! And stuff happened!

Oh please. Nothing happened at all, and it was 200 pages, so I just stopped.

I have nothing to say to you.

Where I change my opinion about a Harry Potter movie

When I watched the first Deathly Hallows movie, three years ago, one of the things that bothered me the most about it was the scene where Harry and Hermione start dancing. It seemed random, pointless, out of character for both of them, and forced in there just to appease all the H/H shippers out there.

But over my last couple of watches of the movie (and I go back to these movies fairly often), I've grown fonder and fonder of this scene. It comes at a point in the movie when both of them are feeling down - for similar yet different reasons - and Harry just wants to cheer Hermione up a little. And I like how Hermione starts out grudgingly - almost rolling her eyes - then gets into the mood, but then loses her smile at the end. And they both go back to brooding in their own corners.

I was also reminded the last couple of times I wacthed this scene that at the end of the day, these two are 17 years old at this point. And just needed to act foolish for a while. Which is something I think I forgot at times during the last two movies.

That is all. Just wanted to share. Carry on then.

Moments of cheerfulness

Amidst all the madness, it doesn't take much to put me in a more cheerful frame of mind.



Having brunch on Saturday with a friend, before attacking the dozen-odd cover letters to be written over the weekend.

Finding a second hand first edition copy of a US hardcover version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.


Meeting the guy who runs the Indian store, and getting a free banana simply because. Making Maggi for dinner.

Waking up Sunday morning to an absolutely gorgeous video about Calcutta.

Getting to wear jeans and t-shirt to school after weeks of non-stop corporate presentations and office hours.

Receiving a Whastapp message from the BFF, reminding me of a note I had scribbled for her before leaving India, which she saw five months later on a visit home.

Having a late morning class, which meant I could watch Jon Stewart while having chai and toast for breakfast.


Nope, it doesn't take much to make me feel cheerful. What takes an effort is sustaining that feeling.

It all ends here

I have three half-written blog posts waiting to be finished and published before I leave tomorrow night, but the one that gets priority must be my thoughts on one of the two movies I saw on Friday - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

*SPOILER ALERT*

The move begins right where Part 2 ended, with Voldemort taking the Elder wand from Dumbledore's grave and Harry sitting besides Dobby's grave. David Yates assumes, quite fairly, that his audience will not have anyone who didn't see Part 1, and so spends no time on unnecessary recaps. And while Part 1 was necessarily slow, just like the first half of the book it covered, with a large part of it having little to no action, Part 2 moves rapidly, with no time to breathe as the scenes move from Shell Cottage to Gringotts to finally Hogwarts.

The performances were amazing in this movie. Every single actor stepped up, and how. McGonagall is brilliant when she takes on Snape (although I did wish her voice had been a tad bit stronger when she sets up the protections for the castle), Alan Rickman blows your mind away as Snape, and Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort gave me goosebumps. The threesome truly come of age in this movie. Rupert Grint's facial expressions and ability to deliver one-liners were always a delight, and his face when he's running in the Room of Requirement is hilarious. Emma Watson, after a very long time, did not annoy me, and Daniel Radcliffe brings Harry to life in this movie. Truly. Neville Longbottom, given a fair amount of screen time in this final installment, does a brilliant job as well.

And to a very large extent, the movie stays faithful to the book. The planning in Shell Cottage, the visit to Gringotts, the meeting with Aberforth and finally the arrival in Hogwarts are all dealt with quite fairly, with only the occasional straying. I had predicted right after the first part that Dumbledore's story would be left out - if Voldemort's history wasn't considered important enough for the movies, why would Dumbledore's family or friendship with Grindelwald be included? When the truth about Snape is revealed, you will have a lump in your throat. I was never as affected by his story in the book as I was when I saw him climb the stairs in the house Godric's Hollow on Halloween all those years ago. A bit of creative liberty on the scriptwriter's part, sure, but oh, it worked. The one moment in the movie where I had tears in my eyes was the same as the book - when Fred, Lupin and Tonks are last seen.

And my absolute favourite scene in the movie? When Harry comes back out of the Pensieve in the Headmaster's office, walks down three steps and sits down heavily on the steps. The background music (which was quite wonderful, by the way) stops, and there's about thirty seconds of silence, with the camera simply focused on Harry, as he realises what he must do next. That's when you realise he really has grown up, and is ready to meet his fate, if you will.

Where the movie falters is in the last half hour - the final battle, in the castle itself. Which is a great pity, because in book that was unnecessarily long and rambling in places, that scene was perhaps the most tightly written and impactful scenes. But the movie takes it all over the place, quite literally. Nagini's end, the battle between Bellatix Lestrange and Molly Weasley, and the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort are all drawn out to such an extent that when the end finally happens, you don't even realise it - that's now little impact it makes.

But the best part of a Friday morning screening of a Harry Potter movie, the day it releases? You get a fabulous fellow-audience, full of hardcore Potter fans. The father and I were surrounded by college kids, who would have grown up reading the books, and who like us, had come to say farewell. So the guy sitting next to me, who had clearly come alone, was muttering just as exasperatedly as me during the final battle. When the intermission was announced at the worst possible moment (well played, you idiots at DT), at least four girls sitting behind me exclaimed in chorus "NOW? Seriously?!?" When Molly Weasley points her wand at Bellatrix Lestrange and shouts, "not my daughter, you bitch", the entire audience was clapping and hooting. And the epilogue ends, and the credits began to roll, all of us burst out into applause.

And so endeth an eleven year long relationship for me, one I'll cherish for a very, very long time.

Finite Incantatem.

The beginning of the end: A review

Amidst the plethora of tweets I've been sending your way about sponsoring my run against Child Sexual Abuse, let us not forget that there was another, equally important, event this weekend: the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part I. And since my obsession for the series is fairly well-known by now to long-time readers of this blog, and since I have reviewed the last two movies on this blog, why not this one?

First things first, I had terrible expectations from this movie. No, really. I know I always say I go in for the HP movies with zero expectations, but this time I went in expecting it to be terrible. David Yates turned one of the best books in the series into the worst movie in the franchise, so I really didn't expect anything great with this one, even though I was marginally impressed with the one preceding that, also directed by him.

However, if I have to review the latest movie in one word, it is this: fabulous. No, really, after Prisoner of Azkaban, I really think this is one of the best in the entire franchise.

*SPOILER ALERT*

The movie starts off with the MoM addressing the media, and moves to the shots of the trio in their respective homes. Which brings up the first lump-in-the-throat moment of the movie - seeing Harry visit the cupboard-under-the-stairs, and Hermione leave her parents' home. The scene with the Death Eaters is suitably creepy, and the chase decent. The gathering at the Burrow could've been better, as could've some of the subsequent ones - no, I'm not going to do a scene-by-scene review, don't worry.

A few scenes do deserve a mention, however: Godric's Hollow was good. I had my face hidden in the father's shoulder in places, that's how scary they made it (and no, you don't get to call me a wimp). The father was chuckling and wishing we could've seen that scene in 3D; I swear, I would've walked out if that had been the case. The scene at Shell Cottage was heartbreaking; I was always very fond of Dobby, and the movie handled it so well. I also loved how they used animation for the Three Brother story - made it very cool.

I was disappointed in places of course. In terms of performance, both Rufus Scrimgeour and Xenolius Lovegood were utter disappointments - I don't think either of them brought to the screen what I imagined their characters to be. Their scenes were among the flattest parts of the movie.

I also didn't like how they left out fairly key stuff - but I think that is by now a common refrain by all HP fans for all the movies. For instance, however, in the Godric's Hollow scene, at no point does it get covered why Bertha Bagshot has been replaced, which made the entire scene fairly pointless, don't you think? One of my biggest problems with the HBP movie was that Voldemort's back-story and what and where the horcruxes could be was completely left out - so here, when these people are looking for the horcruxes, you really are as clueless as they are.

Also, I could shoot David Yates for the minor appeasement of Harry/Hermiones shippers that he tried to bring in. Pointless, silly, stupidly executed - WHY? Oh and given that they didn't show how Patronuses can be used as messages in HBP, Kingsley's voice coming out of a ball of light made no sense, and the doe, while well done, didn't link to anything, y'know? Which makes me wonder about Snapes' story.

I thought they ended the movie at the right moment - it made perfect sense. I've been having a discussion with Suprateek on twitter about the second part - he feels they've left too much to be covered in it. I disagree: if you go by the book, there are really three-four things to be covered, out of which I'm fairly sure they will discard Dumbledore's entire back-story. Snape gets practically no screen presence in this movie, so I don't know what they'll do with him in the second one. Which really isn't leaving much then, is it?

My BIGGEST bugbear with the movie however, is this: HOW could Harry walk all over the place as himself? Yates clearly missed the memo about Harry being listed as Undesirable No. 1 by the Ministry, even though there is a brief scene of such posters being printed. And given that this book is about the Hallows, where in the name of heaven was Harry's cloak?

I loved the movie, but like I was telling the brother last night, in retrospect, I think I loved it in a relative sense. In an absolute sense, I'm not so sure. It's by far the most faithful to the book of all the movies, and is really well made. As a Harry Potter fan, the movie was a delight. As a Harry Potter nut, it could have been better - but then we've always known that about the movies.

Fair warning though, if you haven't read the books, you won't understand a thing of what's happening. Yates makes no effort to give a context to anything, and assumes you know what's happening. Moreover, given the liberties taken with the script, there are places you will have no idea about what's happening if you haven't read the books. A friend wants to go without ever having read any of the books, and wants me to go along to explain what is happening - I don't know if I have the patience for that.

FINAL WORDS (promise): In terms of performances, I thought almost everyone was brilliant, particularly the trio, who have really grown into their roles with this movie. Of course my favourites, the Weasley twins, were brilliant and funny as always, in the brief role that they had. The Death Eaters were all terrifyingly awesome. The only performances I did have a problem with, honestly, were Rufus Scrimegeour and Xenolius Lovegood, and to an extent, Bill Weasley. He just wasn't... cool enough.

For more excellent reviews of the movie, go here, here, and here.

Also go and sponsor my run. Go on, shoo now.

From hibernation to the Half-Blood Prince

Well, at least Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince achieved something... it got me out of hibernation mode.

PVR was running "paid preview" shows of the movie tonight, a day before it officially releases in India. So of course, I went.

In a nutshell? Disappointing.

As people who have been following this blog since the beginning of time would know, I get all excited about the HP movies, but I also tend to go in for them with zero expectations. Now, the last two movies - Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix - managed to impress me somewhat, primarily thanks to their climax scenes, which were fairly well made.

The sixth movie, however, failed in two major areas: a, way too much importance and screen time given to the silly teen love angles, and it was done really stupidly, which meant that all through the movie, I was groaning in exasperation at regular intervals. (I mean, Ginny tying Harry's shoelaces? What the hell was that?) B, the climax scene was really, really, really lame. And the ending was plain dumb.

Of the two added scenes, the first one, which became the opening to the movie, was fairly cool, and you could see why it was added. I had an impact. The second one, however, was poorly done, pointless, and added nothing to the story.

The characters: Emma Watson continues to annoy me, and is really too pretty to be playing Hermione. Her hair's not even bushy! Ron's role was reduced dramatically for some odd reason, which was a pity I thought, and totally unnecessary. Yet again, not enough of the Weasley twins. Lupin's and Tonks' romance was mentioned rather dismissively. And Michael Gambon just doesn't work as Dumbledore. And I didn't see the point of showing Fenrir Greyback if they weren't going to build on it - almost all the incidents talking about him were cut out.

Voldemort's backstory was cut short ruthlessly - only the two critical scenes were shown. Dumbledore tells Harry nothing about what the horcruxes are likely to be, so God alone knows what they'll do in the next two movies.

I'm currently rereading the series - backwards. On the fifth book right now; four more to go!

My latest aversion

I have recently discovered that I do not like spiders. I don't screech at the sight of them, or refuse to enter a room just because there's one around, like some people I shall not name do where lizards are concerned. I would, however, appreciate it if they stayed as far away from me as possible.

I caught the last scene of Charlotte's Web on television the other day, and all I could think while Wilbur was cooing over the zillions of baby spiders crawling all over the place was "Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew!" Seriously, they were not cute.

And then I caught the Forbidden Forest scene from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I'm shuddering now even thinking of that scene. Have you seen how that thing landed on the car and grabbed Ron? Ugh.

Reading habits

Methinks the man speaketh sense.

I've never read Fear Street. I was into Sweet Valley at one point though - only Twins; tried one High, but by then I was already moving into my "Dear Lord, what's wrong with the world" mode anyway. I also read the Animorphs series; my brother and I made every effort to get as many of the 60-70 books there were in that damn series to understand what the devil was happening.

I was more into L.M. Alcott and L.M. Montgomery in my early teens; late teens brought Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer into my life. Then I came across M&Bs and my reading habits have gone for a six ever since. Sheesh.

This is my quickest and unplanned-est entry ever.

The countdown...!!!

In exactly nine hours from now, I shall be extremely busy. Busy reading the long-awaited last installment of the Harry Potter books.

I started reading these books when I was in Class X. The first four books had come out, my brother and father had been borrowing them from friends and were obsessed with them, and I was exasperated at the amount of time they spent discussing someone called "You-know-who", a term they used mainly to irritate me, I might add. That year, we gifted my brother all the four books for his birthday, soon after which my half-yearly exams got over and I vowed not to study for the next one week. Having nothing else to do, I started reading the books. And I was hooked.

In the seven years since, my kid brother has "completely outgrown" the books, as he puts it, but I've remained an ardent fan. For the first time ever, I have not read any spoilers (and those who know me will know what an achievement that is for me), I have stayed away from all potentially spoiling places, and like with the last book, tomorrow, starting 9 A.M. IST, I shall be reading the book non-stop till I finish it thank you very much.

As is usual with Harry Potter, the advent of the release has caused every freaking newspaper and news channel to go into a spin. One enterprising channel, Headlines Today, decided to have a different take on the hype: it decided to interview all those people who hate Potter on what they have to say about the books.

You know, something I really don't get is how people can pass judgment on things they've never been exposed to (OK, smoking doesn't count; that's just dumb). I mean, I can't stand SRK. I think the man just can't act. However, I have every right to pass such a statement, because I have sat through plenty of movies starring him, and have formed this opinion based on those movies. And that is something I am entitled to.

But when you freely admit you've never read the Harry Potter books, don't make an ass of yourself on national television comparing the Harry Potter books to Cinderella "where someone comes and waves a magic wand and everything will be fine". That's just embarrassing yourself. Or, for that matter, say that you would rather see a Govinda movie than the HP movies because when you go for a movie, you want "entertainment". What're the HP movies doing? Lecturing you on global warming?

Yes, the books' success has a lot to do with hype and sheer marketing genius. Yes, there are a lot of kids out there who pretend to read these books or maybe do read these books simply because their friends do - I know one such kid personally. But you cannot deny the fact that there are also a lot of people out there (of all ages I might add) who adore these books and will continue to do so for quite some time to come.

If you've read the books and haven't liked them, fine, that's your right. If you've chosen not to read the books because you think you won't enjoy such a genre, again, that's your right. But don't pass judgment on something you know nothing about while pretending to sound like an expert. Because all you do is sound like an idiot.

PS: Ten points to whoever figures out why the colour of this post is what it is.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: A review!

The thing about the Harry Potter movies is that I tend to go in for them with zero expectations. Yes, I look forward to them like crazy and whine till I am actually taken to see them, but when you're a hardcore fan of the books, you know the movie is bound to be something of a disappointment. The lines and scenes are never quite played out just how you had seen them in your head, your favourite parts are invariably cut out, and Michael Gambon is just one huge casting mistake as Albus Dumbledore.

I wasn't particularly impressed with the first two movies; the third, widely declared as the best of the first four, was reasonably good. I went for the fourth one expecting it to be really bad. However, the graveyard scene was done much better than I expected, Ralph Fiennes was just perfect as Voldemort, and my friend and I thoroughly embarassed my brother with our hooting with excitement and clapping loudly. Verdict: I loved the movie.

With Movie 5 releasing on July 13 (yes, I know, July 11 in the RotW, but what can I say? this is India.) and Book 7 releasing on July 21, you can imagine what kind of palpitations I've been having for the last month or so. Then came the news that we're travelling the weekend of the movie release (said travels should really get an entry all to themselves; it's been quite a fascinating trip). Adding insult to injury were loving friends all round to like to gloat when they get to see a movie I'm dying to see long before me. Luckily, Indore's a very cool place with an extremely cool PVR (which I might add, was the only hall in town showing the English version of the movie; everywhere else is showing the dubbed Hindi version).

So anyway, the movie: Extremely cool, edited just right to make the longest book in the series fit into just under 3 hours (a few personal favourite scenes missing notwithstanding), not enough of Michael Gambon shown to make him as annoying as usual, and the Ministry of Magic scene was dealt with pretty darn coolly. Yes, Cho Chang was annoying (but then I never liked her anyway), I don't get why Harry's Patronus wasn't shown to be a stag, they really should have shown more of Lupin and the Weasley twins (aren't they just brilliant? :D), and I was quite surprised they cut the scene with Ginny telling Harry how it feels like to be possessed by Voldemort. But those are minor details.

I thought the acting was quite decent, particularly Dan Radcliffe in the scene where Voldemort possessed him. Emma Watson is beginning to annoy me (Hermione does not pout so much), but the rest of the cast seems just right for their roles. Bellatrix Lestrange was scarily good, although Tonks looked a bit too scary if you ask me. Now Luna Lovegood didn't make much of an impact on me the first time I read Order of the Phoenix; she's one of those characters who really grows on you. But I have to say this: J K Rowling was right, Evanna Lynch is just perfect for the role!

All in all, I loved the movie. When you go in for a movie with zero expectations, the only two ways to go are be proven right or be pleasantly surprised; thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised. Now the 21st needs to get here faster. I can't wait much longer!

Oh my!

As a Harry Potter fan (what, you didn't know?!?), it was but obvious that I wouldn't take kindly to this article. I'd say more, but the 197 comments already there seem to have to said it all.

I wonder if there were people who did agree with Ms. Reid but didn't dare say so considering the kind of reactions she's got?

PS: In case you're wondering, I'm working up to a couple of rants. Thank you.

Snippets from sundry sources...

There are so many fascinating things you come across on the World Wide Web that just spur you to say something about them at times. When blogging began, way back in the 1990s (seems like a lifetime ago, dunnit?), it was used mainly as a list of websites any given blogger was in the habit of visiting, and his/her opinions on the same. These "Web-logs" soon evolved to become "blogs" which began to used as various other purposes than just as links to other sites. Yet, even today, many bloggers do use this pattern; they come across something interesting on the Internet, post a link to it on their blog, and add their own comments or opinions on the topic. Which, if you think about it, is a very effective way of dealing with the problem I very often have of not having enough to write about on any topic that catches my fancy.

It is one of the ironies of my life that people think I am a very well-read person. Reading all of Austen's works at the age of 16 just because I had nothing better to do with myself does not an intellect make. Yet, if you look at this article, I can honestly state (unlike 33% of the respondents) that I have read 5 and 1/3rd of the books named on this list. I ain't telling which though.

I am fascinated by the kind of patterns people are actually observant enough to pick up on. Did you know, for instance, that nearly every time Al Gore visits a place to talk about global warming, the temperatures in that place actually drop? Don't believe me? Take a look for yourself. Although Mr. Bolt is smart enough to deny any attempt to propose a theory or any such thing!

"You have a piece of bread and you are full enough to give it to someone else. In front of you, 10 guys are waiting for your charity. You can say only one sentence to them. But with only this one sentence, you need to find out who is the most hungry guy. What are you going to say?"

Reading India Uncut made me come across this article, which made me stop and think a bit. I stopped thinking once I read this. That pensive, I'm not.

So I was wondering...

I woke up yesterday morning with a question on my mind.

One of the symptoms of schizophrenia is a "disturbace of thought content" wherein a schizophrenic may experience various forms of delusions or false beliefs.

Now, in the Harry Potter universe, there is potion called Veritaserum. For the uninitiated, Veritaserum is a 'truth potion', just a few drops of which can cause the drinker to spill his/her deepest secrets.

So my question was, if a schizophrenic is given Veritaserum, would (s)he speak the truth as we, the supposedly "normal" people of the world, see it? Or would (s)he continue to express the truth as perceived by him/her?

For the schizophrenic, these delusions are very, very real. So my guess is, even Veritaserum wouldn't be able to make him/her perceive reality the way others around him/her do. Because it would make him/her speak the truth that (s)he sees.

I wake up with weird thoughts.