With the holidays now over and life mostly back to normal, I thought it was time to post. On New Years Eve (before heading up to the city for New Year’s celebrations) I went with two good friends to see Doubt. All us had wanted to see the movie and even better we had three free passes.

During the after movie “did you like it?” discussion and ride home, it was determined that it was a good movie with good acting. We all agreed that this was a thinking movie. Doubt is one of those films that you come out and your brain is going a mile a minute trying to process it.

I enjoy thinking movies, (though I have to be in the right mood). I am always impressed when a film can leave me thinking about more then just where I want to go for dinner.  This film made me think about the assumptions I make about people, and their actions. Though the theme of the film was a bit heavy handed, it still made its point.

Spoilers Ahead!!

During the post film discussion an interesting thing happened. The two friends I had gone to see the film with are both teachers (one currently teaching high school and the other a former high school teacher now in graduate school). Both of them thought the priest should be removed from the school. They felt the relationship was inappropriate, even though they where unsure if anything inappropriate had actually taken place. In contrast, I left the film still unsure whether the priest had done anything wrong, and ready to give the man the benefit of the doubt.

It was interesting to me that both these friends saw the same thing. I’m not sure why they saw it, but I personally think it was because of their backgrounds as high school teachers. In their daily dealings with teenagers they have seen the results of abuse in many forms. This background I believe give them a desire to keep children away from anything that may cause them harm.

So overall my review is: Worth $10 admission

I’ve been living back in the world of Harry Potter the past few weeks.  I have bought and read the new Beedle the Bard stories from J. K. Rowling and Melissa Anelli’s book, Harry, A History. It has been great fun to be back in that world and I wanted to leave you my 2 cents on the books.

Beedle the Bard

I had heard much about the five stories that make up Beedle the Bard when one of the original books was auctioned. Amazon, the final buyer, was kind enough to all us Harry Potter fans to post summaries of the stories.

Even thought I knew the stories, I still greatly enjoyed the book.  If felt like reading a series of fairy tales, which had not been Disney-fied. I enjoyed all the stories, but I must say I found the Fountain of Fair Fortune my favorite. I too have always found that I learned more on journey then at the end.

Harry, A History

I was quite excited to read Melissa Anelli’s book ,Harry, a History. I’ve been a fan of PotterCast and the Leaky Cauldron website for quite a while.

I’ve been a bit a very tiny member of the Harry Potter fandom for a number of years and I was quite excited to see the fandom from her eyes. I greatly enjoyed her story of meeting J. K. Rowling for the first time. It was fun to see someone who has fans, act like a fan.

Though much of the book dealt with Ms. Anelli’s experiences directly, the book still provided a insiders look at the fun and chaos that makes up the Harry Potter fandom. Ms. Anelli’s writing style is very open. She makes the reader feel like she is talking with them and simply adding a story to the conversation. I’m excited to see what she does next. A definite good read.

I figured I would go ahead and post my thoughts on the movie version of Twilight. As I fan of the book series I was excited and apprehensive about the movie. I was a bit nervous about some of the cast (Carlisle looked to young), but felt like the movie was in good hands.

As of today I have seen the movie twice and I must say it got better the second time. I saw the movie opening night with a group of friends and I was a bit underwhelmed. I thought the first half of the movie was a bit slow and I missed the scene where Alice helps Bella get ready for the Prom. (Alice is my favorite character.) After watching the movie again this past Friday, the first half seemed to move at a better pace then the first time I saw it. Though I still wished that Alice and Bella’s friendship had been shown a bit more.

So overall I like the movie. My rating: Worth full price

I stumbled upon the new Star Trek and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailers yesterday.

The Pottercast gang also posted their reaction and breakdown of the new trailer at:

The new Star Trek trailer can be seen at: http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/startrek/

Okay so here is the first of the promised non-political posts, I stumbled upon a link to totallylookslike.com. There was posted a picture of a bathroom sink next to a blue-print of the Star Trek Enterprise. I couldn’t help but laugh (link) they had the same shape. I don’t think I’m going to be able to watch the upcoming Star Trek re-boot movie with out thinking of a bathroom sink.

Just for comparisons sake here is the new Star Trek movie trailer:

So with the election over my blog is now going back to its non-political roots. You will now see more posts about roller coasters, Harry Potter, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, and other fun/geeky stuff.

Since I think we all need a break from the election and politics discussion here are a few fun links that I like:

Potter, Potter, Potter Video (I may have posted this before, but it still makes me smile)
Azkatraz (Yep, I’m going)
Harry, A History by Melissa Anelli

I’ll try to post more links later.

I wanted to take a minute to address a comment that was posted on my blog. No on 8 posted the following comment yesterday:

AND YOU SUPPORT MARRIAGE WITHIN THE SAME RACE AS WELL RIGHT? AND ALSO SUPPORT THE BAN ON EQUAL RIGHTS FOR WOMEN TOO. YOU WOULD SUPPORT A ROLL BACK FOR BLACKS TO BE SLAVES AGAIN THEY DIDN’T ASK WHITES TO VOTE FOR THE FREEDOM OF SLAVES BECAUSE OF COURSE IT WOULD HAVE FAILED.

Normally I do not respond to comments posted on my blog. I chose to leave the comment feature turned on because I want people to be able to post their opinions (whether I agree with them or not). But the comment left by No on 8 insinuated some things about me personally.

As I have said in my numerous posts, I believe that marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman. That belief does not make me racist or homophobic. I do not belief in discriminating people because of their race, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation. Prop 8 does not take away rights. Same-sex couples have the same rights as married couples under the civil union laws of California. As I have posted before, this issue is about how we as a society define the institution of marriage.

I thought I should post proof that there is support for Prop 8 in the Bay Area. Plus, this youtube video includes some friends of mine.

So I figured the release of the International trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was a good excuse to stop with the Prop 8 talk for at least a little while. Plus, the election is starting to get to me, my house phone was ringing way to much this weekend!!!

So here is it (curtousity of HPProgs.com:

Here are a few new videos about why Prop 8 is important and why it is needed.

For more information on some of the cases mentioned in the video, check out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91486191