My Thoughts On "Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them" (No Spoilers)

1. This is a LOT better than Cursed Child!  I think I'll have to nose about into some research and see if Rowling had a bigger hand in writing this script than she did Cursed Child.  Beasts does not have the plot holes or problems of breaking the rules of Rowling's magical world.
2. Love the 1920s setting!!  Fun!
3. There are very few children in this movie, and only one of them has even any significance.  Does this mean that the intended audience is adults?  Or that Rowling did not worry about having adults be the main characters in a show for children?
Newt is childlike enough, shy and unlikely to look people in the eye.  (That bothered me, incidentally.  I kept wanting him to look at people instead of past them!)  And, of course, there's no sex (a couple of kisses and one slightly sexual reference).  Still, it's weird to have a Harry Potter story without kids in it.
4. It was very interesting seeing a story from this world without knowing the plot first, and knowing that it was MADE to be a movie, not just a book ADAPTED (usually poorly) into a movie.  It will be interesting to read the script.
5. Rowling's distrust of government comes through in this tale again.  Was it her idea or someone else's to make the corrupt government official look like Mitt Romney?  I found that highly amusing. :D
6. There was no Easter egg at the end. :(
7. What happened to Modesty?  We last see her hiding in a corner, and then..... BIG CLIMAX SCENE.... and we never find out what happens to her. 
Unless, of course, her story continues in the next movie....... bump-bump-PAH!
8. Messages which were inserted into the film:
    A) Don't trust politicians.
    B) Beating kids is bad -- especially if they rebel and decide to get even.
    C) Religious extremists are evil cloaked in a facade of self-righteousness.
9. I liked how the wizarding world in America in the 1920s had women in powerful positions, which certainly was not true of the real world at the time.


Overall, it's a good show.  I will definitely buy the DVD when it comes out.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: My Thoughts As I Read It For the First Time

Before beginning: I can't wait!  After nine years, Rowling has given us MORE to the story, a part we never expected to get!
Oh wait. It says she didn't really write it; it's based on a STORY she wrote, so, probably one of those plot summaries she's been putting on pottermore.  Hmmm... That's not so exciting.
Also, is it "Curséd Child" or "Cursed Child"?  No one seems to know.  I like the former better.
Act I:
First few scenes:
This is like a skimpy version of the epilogue of Deathly Hallows, only they're changing details.

Several scenes in:
What is it with Rowling at ages of characters?  Amos Diggory is an old man in a wheelchair?  Why?  Even if we assume he was 35 when Cedric was born, then add 18 years for Cedric's life and the 25 years since Cedric's death, that still only make s him 78.  Why is in he in a care center?  Why is he in a wheelchair?  He's not THAT old!  McGonagall's got to be pushing 90 -- at least!  And she's still teaching at Hogwarts!
This is like the whole "What happened to Harry's grandparents?" bit.  Both James and Lily were born in 1960 and had a child at age 20.  If their parents had them that young, then their parents should only be in their early 40s by the time James and Lily are killed in 1981, yet they are apparently ALL dead.  Even if their sets of parents were older -- let's say the parents were 35 when  they had kids -- that still means that all Harry's grandparents -- muggle and magical -- are only in their late 50s when he becomes an orphan.  Why are ALL of them dead so young?
And now Aunt Petunia has died.  Her age is never specified in the books, but she can't be more than a couple of years older than Lily, based on her naive reactions to Lily's abilities and her own jealousies.  So, if Petunia was born in 1958 and we've now got the Cursed Child script up to 2020 when her death is mentioned, then she's still only 62 at the time of her death.  Why so young?!

Still in Act I:
Wait.  Is Hermione the Minister of Magic?  Cool!  Or wait.  Maybe she isn't.  It's not very clear.

OK.  This is lame.  Some scripts are beautiful to read: Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde.  Some less so but still with great depth of character: Tennessee Williams.  This stuff, however, is like reading really bad fan fiction.  I've seen junior high kids who can write more engaging stuff than this.  It's positively sketchy, and there is ZERO characterization.
It's like a cartoon.  No wait.  I think Scooby Doo had more characterization going on than this script has.
Gag.

The only reason for its existence is that everyone's desperate enough for more Harry that we're willing to stoop to this.  I certainly hope the actors are talented enough to bring life to this miserable script.

More to come........ (I WILL finish this!  I will!)

UPDATE: 8/14/16
I put off reading this because I was so disappointed, but I have now finished it.
It did get a bit better, but not much. It was like reading fan fiction.  And all the magic was dead.
I'm pretty sure I wish it had never been written.  Bleah.

Usually I'm Apathetic About Team Sports....

.... but when a former student of mine becomes chaser for the Utah State University quidditch team, I do feel a bit proud.  :)
(Yes, he's holding a broomstick between his legs.)

Random Acts of Harry Potter Fandom

On the campus of Southern Utah University, where I frequently attend the Shakespeare Festival and classes during the summer, there is an odd bit of landscaping near the General Classrooms Building.

Apparently, after someone made the side of the building all pretty with a fake stream and such, it became difficult to reach the outdoor power outlet.

I guess.

I'm not really sure, but I THINK that's the reason why someone constructed an ornamental bridge going smack into a wall.

However, one morning on my latest visit there, I noticed some Potter fan had come up with a better explanation for the bridge.

If you click on the pic to enlarge it, you'll see the handwritten sign says "Platform 9 3/4."

This made perfect sense to me.  :)

In Which I Get Really Geeky And Discuss Disney Characters Re-Imagined As Hogwarts Students

There are just so many, many things about which I can't write right now that I have slim pickings for entertaining blog posts.  Thus, when I saw a Buzzfeed article in which an artist who goes by Eira 1893 had re-imagined Disney royals as Hogwarts kids, I thought I'd do some psychoanalysis of their personalities and decide if I agree with which Hogwarts houses into which they were placed.

So, since Merida is my all-time favorite Disney princess, let's start with this drawing which contains her.  It looks like Eira has placed Merida in Griffindor, and I agree.  Merida climbs sheer cliffs by herself and fights off a bear.  Yeah, BRAVE is the word.  Seriously, where else would you put her?  Duh.  (But that's a horrible drawing of her.  Yuck.)
However, the artist has put Aladdin in Griffindor and Jasmine in Slytherin.  Huh?  I'd put him, with his criminal tendencies, into Slytherin, which is where Flynn Rider has been placed, but I'd put her into Hufflepuff, which is where those who are not particularly talented in anything go.  Also, I'd put Rapunzel into Hufflepuff as well.  She's nowhere near smart enough to be a Ravenclaw, which is where Eira has put her (based on the stripes of her socks).

This one is spot-on, though.  The slimy Naveen is Slytherin, and Tiana, who's dumb enough to fall for him and give up all her plans, is Hufflepuff.  Yes, I agree.

Prince Charming as Griffindor?  Really?  He doesn't even do anything in the story except look for the girl.  That's not brave.  I'd put him in Hufflepuff.  But Cinderella faces up to her wretched step-family every day, and then goes to the ball by herself in borrowed clothes, still hoping to avoid recognition by the evil women who demean and abuse her.  SHE should be Griffindor, not him!  Switch these two!

Tarzan, Mr. Buff Dude, as Griffindor.  Well, OK.  I'd think maybe more of Hufflepuff.  Jane as Ravenclaw?  Yeah, she is pretty bookish.  Now, Milo -- ah!  Steampunk Disney before it was even cool! -- Milo is definitely Ravenclaw, but I guess Kida could be Ravenclaw or the Griffindor shown.

Now, I can handle Philip as Griffindor; he does have to hack through all those vines and fight off Malificent, after all.  But Aurora as Ravenclaw?  If she's so smart, how come she pricked her finger on the spindle in the first place?  She doesn't even do anything in the show; she's only a prize to be won.  Nyah, this chick is Hufflepuff.

Eric as a Griffindor I can see, but Ariel's mostly just stupid.  I'd say Hufflepuff.  As for Snow White -- THAT'S Snow White??  Seriously?  That does not even resemble the Disney girl!  But yeah, I'd say stick her and her boring prince (He has a name? Florian?  Really?) in Hufflepuff.

Belle in Ravenclaw and Beast in Slytherin.  Perfect!!  (Now, kick him in the groin, girl, and avoid that whole Stockholm Syndrome thing before it's too late!  Hogwarts has a better library anyway!)

And now, our Frozen friends....  Hans as Slytherin -- definitely.  Anna as Hufflepuff, yup.  But Elsa should be there, too.  She's no Ravenclaw, by any means; she's not that smart.  Kristoff is a bit doofy, yes, but he's very brave.  I'd say he goes in Griffindor!

Thank you.  I shall now replace the Sorting Hat on the shelf in Professor Dumbledore's office and leave you to your regularly scheduled Saturday evening activities.

Harry Potter Tour In Edinburgh

Click here to see what I'm talking about.

It doesn't matter that I can already identify nearly every spot they mention and nearly every spot in the photo gallery.  It doesn't matter that I already know most of this stuff.
Sigh.
It's Edinburgh.  At Festival time.  And Harry Potter.
I am SO homesick!

Look, for those who don't already know it, I spent several summers and a full year living in Edinburgh. And it just so happened I was living there when Half-Blood Prince was released.  It was awesome to be running around that night taking photos of the carriages taking selected school children up to spend the night at a reading inside the castle.
And the Edinburgh International Book Festival is THE book festival.
Lately, I keep reading about Book Expo America.  Bloggers have been talking about it like it was the be-all and end-all of book festivals.  But after I had a look, I was not all that impressed.  It was what, 3 days?  And I counted 18 authors on their website.  Oh, whoop-ti-do.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival runs usually about 3 weeks.  It has around 800 events and 750 + authors.  It's hard to be impressed by BEA when I've been to the Edinburgh festival several times.
BEA this year had Chris Colfer, Lowis Lowry, and Dan Handler.  Not bad.
Wanna know whom I've met at the Edinburgh Book Festival before?  Try Neil Gaiman, Ian Rankin, Doris Lessing (yeah, she's a grouchy old lady -- but she's also a Nobel prize winning writer), Debbi Gliori, Stuart Hill, Meg Rosoff, Liz Lochead, and at least a dozen others.

Unfortunately, it's been since 2008 since I've been to the book festival.  Or seen the places that inspired Rowling as she wrote Harry Potter.  Or toured the castle.  Or walked the Crags.
Sigh.
I really want to go back.  Really.
Maybe that's why I keep writing Scotland into all my books...... :)