Don't expect to leave happy

As you know, I saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire this weekend. I don't know what else to say about that, so now I'm going to tell you about it. If you haven't read the book and want to, stop reading now, because I'm assuming everyone knows what happens...and if you haven't read the book and want to....WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR????? Get off your duff and read the thing! Do NOT see the movie! READ THE BOOK!

The movie starts exactly like the book did, in dusty old mansion near a spooky graveyard, with tombstones bearing Tom Riddle's (You-Know-Who's father) name and the names of his parents. Those of us who read the book know why these people are no longer among the living. Inside the house, there is an additional person than there was in the book, but the movie needed to do that in order to compress the story. Understandable, and it works. Frank Bryce snuffs it, and Harry wakes up, thinking it was all a dream.

The Quidditch World Cup was fun. Ginny has a few lines, and they really show her slow development into the girl we know and love in Book 6. Then the chaos begins, and the Death-Eaters start marching. And chaos it is! It's a very frightening sequence, and I really felt...nervous...for the first time in a Harry Potter movie. The third movie has an overall sense of foreboding, but I was never really "scared." This fourth movie really makes you nervous.

The new teacher, Mad-Eye, makes you nervous too. I think that might be because he's always nervous. He even curses the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall in a funny moment. One thing I did miss though, was him always saying "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" But the movie did keep in a scene where Moody shows Malfoy what a ferrett he really is.

The two international schools of magic arrive at Hogwarts in very nice sequences - like Mr. Weasly says, "When we all get together, we can't help but show off." In a slight change from the book, Beauxbatons is a girls school and Durmstrang is a boys school. It works, and is cool. I gotta add, it's neat to see the characters we know and love interact with new folks - not just the one new teacher here and there.

Fred and George FINALLY get the chance to be Fred and George! Oh, it's so refreshing to see them act like they do. They are mischief-makers, and they do it in this one. For those curious, they do take the aging potion, and the age-line Dumbledore put around the Goblet does work on them....and Sirious is in the movie, but just in the fire, and that was good enough for me.

The Yule-Ball was perfect; the dancing was elegant and Ron and Hermione did have their row at the end of it, and I felt so bad for her. The tasks were all amazing. I swear that dragin was real. I don't know where they found a real dragon to act in a movie, but good lord! That this was real. The Black Lake was neat, and scary, and "zee grindylows" were very cool. The maze. The maze was impressive. No Blast-Ended Skrewts or anything, but I sat in a theater full of people, and a lot of them jumped in the maze sequence.

Then we get to the graveyard, back where the whole thing started. Wormtail comes out and gets right to work. Cedric is no more. He does the re-birthing spell in its entirety. Bone from the father, flesh from the servant, blood from the enemy. Arm-slicing and all. It's all there. And so is You-Know-Who. Scary. Great bad guy.

I also think a lot of the people I saw the movie with hadn't read the book, because when Lucious was unmasked, a lot of people gasped.

The wands connected, Harry saw his parents, and Cedric, who asks Harry to take his body back. Harry does. And they land back at Hogwarts, where no one realizes what wrong. They are all clapping and celebrating. Then, slowly, the realization comes over the crowd that something has gone horribly, irrevocably wrong. Harry sobs, the students stand silent, Cedric's dad runs out of the crowd and just wails, clutching his son, taken early from him by the whim of a madman. Seeing it was actually worse than reading it. People around me cried.

At the end of the movie come two lines that have come to define the Harry Potter series since the fourth book came out: "Everything's going to change now." "Dark times lie ahead. Soon we will all have to make the choice between what's right and what's easy." The Dark Mark has been cast, and it's not going to get any easier for Harry.

This movie was fantastic. Best HP movie yet. They did cut a lot, but they told they story, and that's what's important. I give it a 10 or **** or an A+ or whatever your grading system is. Just don't expect to leave the theater incredibly happy. That's not going to happen in a Harry Potter movie anymore. Not until number 7 at least.

Great site for readers!

OK, is this kosher to post a link here? Hope so. Anyway, I found a really great site for the truly nerdly, such as yours truly. Its called what should I read next? So far it only contains 14,000 books but continues to grow as you add your selections. Just type in a favorite book or author. For instance my favorite book of all time is Pride and Prejudice and I was awaiting the Kiera Knightly version only to find it won't be playing in this area!! Probably all the result of a bespectacled boy with a scar :). Anyhow, at http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/ I find I need to read The Other Boleyn Girl, Jane Eyre, and Gone with the Wind, all of which I did read and enjoy and I have now added Up Country by Nelson DeMille to my to-be-read pile. In searching for Harry Potter, I find that Harry Potter fans also enjoyed The First Men on the Moon by H. G. Wells. Now if only I can get my daughter to sleep early enough to get reading done....

Tickets to Goblet

Yessssssss! I have purchased a ticket to see Harry Potter and the Golblet of Fire for tonight!

It's not my favorite Harry Potter book, but the one that will make for the best movie...dragons, mermaids, giants, Mad-Eye, and what else? Oh yeah, only the baddest wizard to walk the earth. He makes quite an entrance too...

My favorite Harry Potter book is Chamber of Secrets, followed very closely by Half-Blood Prince. Now there's a movie I can't wait to see!

This'll be a good way to end a bad week, I think.

Not Lost...Just MIA

Apologizing to everyone as I know it has been a long time since I have posted. Especially apologizing to Quint as he has written four posts in a row with little help from the Lumpys. I like to write funny or at least mildly amusing posts. I'm not feeling either right now. A series of unfortunate events has been taking place in Lumpyville, though it is not nearly as tragicomic as the fine series of children's books under the same name. The youngest member of the Lumpy household has kept my time filled with visits to pediatricans, specialists, and all sorts of tests that even the most beastly should not have to undergo at 7 months. Meanwhile, I will try to get my muse into gear.

Uh.....it's Lost-day again?!

Wow. Has it really been a week? Where did the time go? Honestly? What happened on House last night? How about Supernatural? How did I miss those? Where was I?

Oh I remember...and now I remember why I didn't want to remember.

You know what? When I got in the car to drive to work today, the thermometer in the car said it was 70 degrees out. Still dark, but you could see the stars and the moon, and the sun was peeking up. Very nice. I wore short sleeves and a fleece.

30 minutes later, and 22 miles south, the car thermometer said it was now 54 degrees out. And the wind was blowing my car all over the road. And it was pouring rain.

Welcome to November in the Northeast.

It's Lost-day!

Headlines on CNN.com:
"Coming soon: lots of very small cars" Are you picturing a whole lot of Hot Wheels or MicroMachines falling from the sky, coming to take over the planet?

"Flood Wall Failures Probed" Shouldn't they be using concrete or something to fill in these failures, instead of probing them? There are holes! Fill them in! Don't stick probes in there! (I know, my imagination is weird)

Headline at Yahoo!:
"Fireballs over Germany spark UFO speculation" Flippin' sweet! I saw a UFO once, along with a few other people, and that was neat. Beam me up, Scotty. One quick note - keep a pair of sneakers by your bed. The chances of you getting abducted by aliens are apparently better after you go to sleep, and if you do get beamed up, you want to have sneakers available. You've seen how shiny the inside of those spaceships are. You don't want to be walking around in socks, you'll fall down! You don't want to be barefoot either. Those things look cold. They are probably a beast to heat.

Also on Yahoo! News: Two pandas in Thailand got married. Is that romantic? Or strange? I'm leaning toward strange. Do animals even know what marriage, or romance, is?
.
.
.
I got tickets to see the stage show of Disney's Lion King today. I've seen it once, but I just can't pass up the chance to see it again. Great story, amazing music, and people can say what they want about Disney, but they know how to entertain you.

Lost is new tonight. Make sure you watch it. Rumor has it that someone, a main character, will die. And the "who dies?" isn't the big shocker apparently - the real surprise is who does the killing. I'm such a dork, and I can't wait!

I'm real bored at work today. The last few weeks have been, like, super busy. Planning dinners and lunches and awards receptions and...I could go on, but you are bored with hearing about it and bored with typing it.

OK that's it. Thank you and goodnight.

quint's greatest hits

"Finally," you say, "quint has gotten around to posting his greatest hits."

Yes I have. Here you go:

1. Swim in the ocean. I don't care which one, just do it.
2. See the jungles of Costa Rica.
3. Read the "Harry Potter" series.
4. Eat a quint-style cuban burger - mmmm!
5. Watch one episode of "The Simpsons."
6. Eat at Hooters - have the buffalo chicken sandwich. And fries.
7. Read "Bag of Bones" by Stephen King.
8. Visit New York City and take to tour of the harbor.
9. When you're there, go to the Bethesda Fountain - prettiest place in the city.
10. See a stand-up comedian (one you've never heard of) at a comedy club.
11. Have a child (I haven't, but from what I hear, it's good stuff)
12. Read "Lord of the Rings."
13. See one of the following movies on the big screen: "The Two Towers," "Jaws," "The Empire Strikes Back," "Disney's Beauty and the Beast."
14. Go to Europe.
15. Go to a football/baseball/hockey game and be a part of a crowd of over 30,000 people.
16. Read "Angels & Demons."
17. Watch one episode of "Lost." And don't make me pick it for you because they're all good.
18. Have Thanksgiving dinner at my parent's house.
19. Have Fourth of July on a small-town lake.
20. See a concert.
21. Visit Disney World. (Lumpy, I'm buying you a ticket)
22. Scream as loud as you can.
23. Ride a roller-coaster.
24. Visit the Pyramids. Or the Grand Canyon. Or the Mayan ruins.
25. Sit down, in your favorite spot, with your favorite people and just talk to each other.
26. Fall asleep on a boat - one that's not tied up or anchored down.
27. Take your pants off in a public locker room area.
28. Is anyone still reading?
29. Get stuck in traffic and not get angry.
30. Get through a day without getting angry.
31. Go to a museum and just sit.
32. Look at the sky. At night. In the middle of nowhere.
33. Go to the top of a tall building and look down.
34. Laugh so hard you'll think you're going to pee.
35. Spaghetti and Meatballs.

That's what I've thought of. If you can do those things, you'll live a happy, full life. And you'll experience some of the most amazing things that exist in our world. So many of these things you couldn't do a hundred years ago, let alone 20 years ago. This planet has never been more diverse and exciting as it is right now. Yeah, there are some things on this list (see a movie? watch a TV show?) that might seem stupid. But think about it: A hundred years ago, there was no TV. There was no movies. But we can still go to the middle of nowhere and stargaze too. It blows my mind.

Here's something I try to do everyday: When I go to bed at night, I like to have a story to tell. If I don't have a story to tell, then I didn't live that day to its fullest. Simple as that. Don't waste a minute, we aren't here that long.

During Lent (yes, I'm catholic), we are supposed to give up something - some kind of crutch; something that is hard for us to live without. Some people give up chocolate, others try to quit smoking...Last spring, I realized that giving things up isn't a problem. It's starting something new that's an issue. So I decided that rather than give up one thing, I'd try something new. Each week. So for six weeks, I tried something I would normally not like or want to do. Not as easy as you'd think. Next year I'm going to try to do two things each week.

We all should try something new every week, all year. Start with my list. There's about 30 things on there. All you need is another 12, and that gives you a full year.

Do it! Before you can't!

**I'd also like to add that my next post will not be a list. I just noticed that I've done a lot of them...

Sick enough

Why do we humans have a need to prove our own worth? It's like a battle: who can come in to work sicker?

It's seriously a contest. At the last place I worked, in a box with three walls and no ceiling, people would come in to work near death, do no work because they feel so lousy, force everyone else to pick up the slack for them, look for sympathy from those who, at this point, don't care how sick they are, they just wish they'd get their mustache covered in snot away from their computer of their face. Then they'd do the same thing the next day, until they feel better and everyone else is sick.

BUT! If one of those people ended up "sick enough" to call in, the original sick person will complain: "Well, I came with a sore throat and body aches and a fever and a cough and a runny nose..." Yeah, like we all didn't notice the runny nose. I think it TOUCHED ME!

There's no need for a contest, people. Whatever you're doing, it's not that important. Think about it. If you don't input those numbers, the bread lines aren't gonna get any shorter. The world isn't gonna stop spinning (and if it did, everything would fall over, and it wouldn't matter anyway). Call in sick. Please. For all our own health. If you're miserable, and you make me miserable, I'm not going to like you. There is no "sick enough." If you're sick, stay home. We don't need your germs.

Some other things:

Hot apple cider kicks butt. With cinnoman. Cinoman. Cinnaman. I give up.
So does banana hot chocolate.
Last night, I met Spider-Man, Buzz Lightyear, Batman, Supergirl and two Harry Potters. If my life needs saving, I think I'm ok. Except, I wonder why they were all carrying pillowcases?
Waffles are a good breakfast.
Cold spaghetti is not.
Star Wars 3 came out on DVD today. Should I get it? Or are they going to come out with a Special Edition package and screw me all up?
My legs hurt. And my back, and my arms too. Does someone have a "quint voodoo doll"?

**Thanks a lot, Lump, I love ya man. And thanks for letting me use him Hipp. I owe you guys. It was very much appreciated.