I am Going to See Harry Potter!!!

And I am so excited.

My Dad has ordered the tickets and we are going Saturday. I can't wait.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (Scream of Joy)

The celebrities – movie, music and sports – have come out to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and so, too, have the fans.

I love movies. I often spend my hour-long commute spending the money I would make if I was a celebrity.

I don’t, however, want to be a celebrity.

Other than my inability to act, make music and play sports, the main reason why I couldn’t be a celebrity is I wouldn’t want to be followed by screaming, shouting, gasping fans, and the photographers who capture my every moment for those same people.

I heard one person tell a radio reporter yesterday the reason he stands on the red carpet or outside a hotel room is so he can catch a glimpse of an actor and make a connection.

Do people really believe this is a connection?

Does meeting one’s eye count for a connection? Say it went further and you had an actor stop and chat with you, hug you for a picture or sign an autograph, is this considered a connection? Will this person remember you among the hundreds he meets each day?

To be truthful, there are a few people I would like to meet.

However, I am not interested in a quick wave and a dashing smile. I would want to sit down with a hot chocolate, a homemade cookie – or six – and get to know you and your family.

I would want to ask questions and see you in action.

I would want a real connection.

Too Sensitive

I just finished reading The Two Little Girls In Blue by Mary Higgins Clark.

Since having our son, I realize I shouldn’t be reading these types of books. I can’t get the images that Clark created out of my mind. I keep replaying how it must have felt to get a call from the police saying something had happened and arriving home to discover my children gone.

While I have always been sensitive to the ills of the world, it seems I have less ability to handle it now that my own beautiful boy is here.

My husband and I watched the second Zorro movie the other night. I watched it pre-baby, but I must say I had a new perspective during this viewing. It made me physically sick when the bad guys discovered the baby alone, and what could have happened to the little guy if the mother lost the fight.

Perhaps it’s time for me to take a break from books and movies that involve children getting injured.

And it’s certainly time for me to enjoy my own little one. Good night.

Weekend From Hell

What a weekend.

This past weekend was supposed to be the big date. Instead, my son and I went off to my parents’ house by ourselves, while my husband stayed home and tried to fix our water crisis.

That is to say, we didn’t have any.

We are on the well and thought the pressure tank finally had its last click but turns out not only was the presssure tank done, but the well’s pump also had to be replaced. So almost $1,000 later, we still have no pressure and the water still smells like sulphur and has a lovely brown tinge, but we do have it and that’s a good thing.

So with my husband at home, my son played with Nana while Papa and I went off to see Harry Potter. Poor Dad, he not only hasn’t read any of the books, but he has only seen the first one, and he thought Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince was the last movie. Despite all that, and a lot of teenaged snogging, Dad said he liked the movie.

I, too, liked it for what it was - a Harry Potter movie that is setting the scene for the final book/movie.

While it wasn’t my favourite movie - Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix has that honour - it was an enjoyable two and a half hours. Many of my favourite scenes in the book were in it (and quite humourous), there were some added scenes and many parts had been taken out. As expected, I am extremely excited for the last movie, or two.

Harry Potter, here I come ....

My stepdaughter saw the new Harry Potter movie. She said it was dreadful.

It doesn’t matter. I am still going to see it. My husband and I are going on a date Saturday and that is the movie I choose. My husband was actually quite excited we were going to the movies, a first since our son was born, but was disappointed when he heard what we are actually going to see.

But since he chose Meet the Spartans for his birthday movie several years ago, he has been banned from getting full rein in the movie-choosing department.

As far as Harry Potter is concerned, my stepdaughter said the important part that was at the end of the book (no not THAT important part) wasn’t in the movie.

I am not overly concerned.

I don’t go to Harry Potter movies because the books are great, I go because I enjoy the movies. I am not often disappointed because I go in with the thought that the movie is a completely different entity than the book.

If you go in with that attitude, you have no expectations and the movies are good in their own right.

In my opinion there has only ever been two book-turned-movies that were better than the original: Misery by Stephen King and starring Kathy Bates and James Caan, and Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice and starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise.

I remember someone once said they were disappointed that Interview with the Vampire was so different from the book. The response was of course the movie was different, otherwise it would have been 13 hours long. It was an incredibly long and boring book. Watch the movie.