Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Movie Review

*Warning: Movie and Book Spoilers*

Yeah, they're tiny in that picture, but I couldn't find a better one. If you click on it, though, it's a lot bigger. Anyway, it says something about a movie when you can't find a close-up action scene you like. There were cool scenes in this movie, but I couldn't find any good stills. Mostly because it's all about Harry, and personally, I think it's gone to his head.

Overall Thoughts

To be fair I didn't like The Order of the Phoenix book, and I liked the film better than the book. I may have liked it better than the Goblet of Fire film. I'm not sure. The only thing I ever liked about Phoenix is that it's easily the most quotable of all the Harry Potter books. Sadly, only one of my favorite quotes (Dumbledore telling the aurors he's not going to go quietly) made the movie, and it wasn't delivered as I would have liked it. Micheal Gambon wasn't as bad in this movie as he was in The Goblet of Fire, where he alternated between strange outbursts and looking old and lost. In this movie he doesn't look like he's trying to beat Harry, and I was even able to sympathize better with Harry than I could in the book. When you see Dumbledore consistently and obviously purposely ignoring Harry, then you can better understand Harry's feelings of isolation and frustration much more than all the internal whining in the book.

At the same time, I think they hit the audience over the head with how alone Harry was. Too many scenes of him standing alone. At least a few minutes wasted that could have been used for something better. There's also a point in the movie (actual picture below) where Harry tells Sirius that he's "angry all the time." Sirius leans over to comfort him, and I wanted, more than anything else, for him to say, "Of course, Harry. You're fifteen!"

I was disappointed, and I can't even remember what he said. It was just something lamely encouraging. Gary Oldman is a fantastic actor, but he sadly did not get enough of his great lines from the book.

Many scenes also went too quickly. I think some of the Harry "I'm so alone" scenes could have been cut to extend the scene where Dumbledore escapes the aurors (give poor Phineas Nigellus his line dang it!). Also, Snape's Worst Memory was so short, and they cut Lily out completely. It might as well not be there the way it is.

Then there's the most important scene. Sirius's death. I cried when I read it in the book. Sirius was my favorite character. Now, it could just be because I've already grieved and no longer trust Rowling with my heart, but I didn't even blink when it happened. Yet I actually cried when Cedric died in the fourth film whereas my reaction in the book was "so what?" I don't know if this was a personal thing or if the scene really wasn't all that moving. However, it does seem like they don't address Sirius's death in the rest of the movie. It's like they're less broken up about it than they were about Cedric!

Special Effects

Despite my disappointment with Sirius's lack of good lines, I think the special effect of him in the fire was much better done than before. But they cut out the majority of the cool things in the department of mysteries. They just have all the glass orbs breaking. The entire ministry is an amazing set, but they didn't do as much with it as they could have. I also mourned the loss of the scene in the book where the statues came to life. That would have been awesome because those statues were impressive, and I was really looking forward to them fighting. Very unfortunate, that.

Characters

The Best

The best character in this entire movie was Luna Lovegood. I didn't like her in the book, but I loved her in the movie. She did the best job as an actress. She was not only perfect as Luna, she was more than perfect; she was better. I think the book Luna is nuts. But this Luna was someone I would love to have as a friend. Her voice is so beautiful and quiet, but it doesn't seem insane--just permanently contemplative.

The Teachers

Imelda Staunton is actually a perfect Umbridge as well, but because of that I couldn't like her character. I will just respect her as an actress.

Another excellent actress is Maggie Smith, but I was disappointed that McGonagall didn't stand up to Umbridge as much as she did in the book. As I already said, Dumbledore wasn't a complete loss but he still wasn't good enough to make me completely happy with his performance either.

Finally, Alan Rickman is brilliant as always and the perfect Snape. If anything he should have had more lines.

The Students

Harry was at least not worse than he was in the book, and Ron was actually better than he has been in the other movies and even in the book itself. Hermione was tolerable which is saying a lot because normally I don't care for her character or Emma Watson's acting.

Fred and George at least got a bigger part in this movie than in the other movies and they do very well, but it looks like this was at the expense of Percy getting NO LINES AT ALL! Gurgle. I know I'm weird, but I love Percy and Chris Rankin who plays him. So this was probably only a disappointment for me and a small minority of Percy fans. The reason I like him is because I think he'll redeem himself. If Rowling forgets about him, then I'll just pretend like he did.

Continuing on the Weasleys, I liked that whenever Ginny did a defensive spell she blew something up. In a good way and not a mistake way, if that makes any sense. She didn't get any good lines, but that was at least a visual way of showing that you should expect great things from her.

Another character who received a disappointing blow to his role was Neville. I know it wasn't of the utmost importance to the story but I love Neville so I was kinda sad about this. This is not the fault of Matthew Lewis, though. He's still an awesome Neville and...er...Matt, call me! Ahem, yeah. Just the limitations of the script.

The Order

You don't see the actual Order of the Phoenix much. They didn't do badly, but I wouldn't have felt anything for them if I hadn't read the books. The one time I really loved Sirius in this movie is when he punches Lucius and tells him to leave his godson alone. That was shortly before he died, though, so there's a bit of a pall over the triumph for those who know what's going to happen.

Other

Kreacher. Why are you here? Shrug. Kreature was a waste of special effects. He had no purpose in the film. I would have preferred at least one shot of Mrs. Black's portrait screaming.

Filch, on the other hand, is exactly as he should be. The actor who plays him is as I imagine him, and unlike Umbridge, I actually enjoy watching him be bad. So the picture where I make fun of him later is done with love.

What...?!

Here is my impression of three random things in the movie that bugged me or that I just raise an eyebrow at. As such, I've paired it with a completely random image.

1.) Cho Chang and the Veritaserum: Instead of having Cho's friend snitch on the group like in the book, it was Cho herself. Now, this actually would have tied up the story quite nicely and made everyone understand why Harry broke up with her instead of having the erroneous cafe scene. But then they say that Umbridge used Veritaserum on her. Then shouldn't they all forgive her? Except they don't.

2.) Voldie and his Pimp Suit: Perhaps it really is hard out there for a Dark Lord.

3.) Flashbacks? Two hours isn't long enough? We know Cedric died. They spend more time on that than they do on building up Sirius before his last hurrah.

Now all of this is appropriately followed by a couple movie stills I decided to make fun of--enjoy.

*song* ...Here's the story of a man named Brady, who was busy with three boys of his own... *song*

Rrrr...don't make Harry Hulk angry!

Final Rating: Not as exciting as Goblet of Fire, and neither is as good as Prisoner of Azkaban, but I was less annoyed with the bad parts. It is also Harry Potter, and just for Evanna Lynch's charming Luna, it deserves a nod of approval so: 9/10

Thirteenth Most Haunted Place on Earth

This would probably be a better post for Halloween, but it's best for me to do things when I'm thinking about them.

I've always been interested in ghosts even though I don't believe in them, so I was always just a little jealous that my sister went to Ohio University listed as one of the most haunted places on earth.

My sister does not believe in ghosts either, and she never saw one. She didn't live in a haunted dorm, though. However, all the dorms have a sound like dropping marbles which is supposedly the drip, drip, drip of blood. My sister did hear this, but suspected it was the pipes. I also heard strange noises in my own dorm at Denison University and my roommate immediately suspected small animals in the pipes. Come on, people, where's the fun in being sensible about these things? Denison ghosts are lame, by the way. Actually, I never heard any good ones of the college itself. There's an Inn in Granville that they say is haunted by a cat. Yes. A cat. Oooo...

Anyway, above is a picture of the Ridges, which doesn't look very scary with the "Weaving is Life" sign, but it used to be an old insane asylum. I went around the entire building and saw bars still on some of the windows. I don't know why I don't have any cooler pictures. But this was back when I first got my digital camera, so I didn't have a memory card yet. Probably ran out of space.

Here's also a couple of videos I found on YouTube about the OU ghosts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWgYLyfXXMI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SxTjmpSnl0

YouTube Fame: A Review and Requests to my Readers. (If I still have any)

Why is the flag of the Philippines here? Read on to find out.

I've recently found that the combination of insomnia and YouTube is really bad. But while finding this out, I came across two YouTube gems. I thought I could review them in relative safety since they're not likely to ever read my blog--just like everybody else. *Crickets chirp* But really, I'm not going to say anything bad about either of them since clearly I like them. I will critique them, though.

So, originally I only went to YouTube to look at things that technically aren't supposed to be there. I'm sure that's a common experience. I was very happy with all the music videos because I can just make a huge playlist of them, and it's like a radio without commercials. But the point is that, by happy chance, I was bored one day and clicked on a video of some girl speaking Gaelic. In the related videos was some guy doing something similar, but he looked vaguely Asian. Being vaguely Asian myself, this intrigued me. It turned out he was an Irish-Philippino mix. So this will lead into my review:

MokongX3M Review: http://www.youtube.com/user/MokongX3M

To be brutally honest I could tell his Gaelic wasn't that great, and I don't even speak it. His words were halting, and it was clear he wasn't that comfortable speaking it. He admitted as much himself, though. What I liked, as a language student myself, was that he clearly had respect for the language. From there I found his magic 8 ball videos. Basically he just asks his magic 8 ball a question for you. It's pretty simple, and I have something similar to a magic 8 ball myself, so why would I need to ask a question?

I'll tell you why.

The reason it's so engaging is for the simple reason that some guy in Ireland is answering (or getting his magic 8 ball to answer) the question of people hundreds of miles away. This was what I originally loved about the internet. It made the world a smaller place, and you could connect with anywhere in the world.

Sadly, for many years some of the shiny wore off of this magical ability, because when you get that many people together there's going to be a lot more people you don't like. That relates to another thing I like about Mokong's videos and something that I think is incredibly rare on the internet at large. He's just a nice guy. At least, he projects the image of one very well and nothing else matters because I'm not likely to meet him. One simple but very uncommon way he achieves this is by never swearing (or at least practically never--I can't remember) . The worst thing he generally says is "frack" which I know is a Battlestar Gallactica swear word that is supposed to mean the same thing as what it sort of sounds like, but I find the nerdiness of its use charming rather than off-putting. Even when he's really angry he doesn't degenerate in vulgarity. Actually, his rants are some of my favorite videos because usually he's angry about something that really matters (at least to him) instead of just being angry for the heck of it like some people on the net. I didn't even really notice that he generally didn't swear when I first watched the videos, it just unconsciously put me at ease and made me think of him as nice.

There's also the fact that he's a huge Legend of Zelda fan as is evident on the background of his YouTube channel. I have a soft spot for anyone who loves the Legend of Zelda. He even has the triforce tattooed on his arm and Link and Ganon's swords on the other arm!

Then of course, I have to admit, I like listening to his Irish accent, and he's pretty easy on the eyes. But he's got a fiancée, so just a warning to any girls who might be of the same opinion. I won't be chasing after him anyway, so it doesn't really matter. I just like his videos. Besides, his relationship with his fiancée is pretty endearing all on its own. She's in the Philippines and he's in Ireland, and it's quite touching that he's so devoted to her even though she's so far away. Another rare thing in my opinion.

Mokong's a bit of a diamond in the rough, though. Not all his videos are brilliant. But there's a lot of them and enough good ones to keep me interested. Only one last gripe--his sign off. He doesn't always do it, but a lot of the times he likes to shout out "Rock on!" and fake punch the camera. Now the words and the action itself don't bother me, but I find the shouting a bit unsettling. Still, I think I'm one of the few of his viewers who feels that way, so I've just accepted it and moved on.

Additionally I've made several comments on his videos, and he's even responded to some of them which I really appreciated. I almost feel as if a celebrity talked to me. Actually, it's more fun because I feel as if I know more about this guy than I do most celebrities. But I decided to do this review on my blog because I feel if I comment too much more, he'll think I'm stalking him...

Anyway, check him out if you're so inclined.

Onto the HappySlip Review: http://youtube.com/user/HappySlip

Now if we were going in order of popularity and professionalism, then HappySlip probably should have been first. But I thought I'd pay homage to the person who made me interested in normal people on YouTube in the first place. Besides, Mokong needs more press than HappySlip who currently has 53,334 subscribers (of which I am one). I don't have as much to say about her because I feel I don't need to convince you to like her. If you watch her stuff, you'll see it's good. She's a funny girl. I was skeptical when Mokong first recommended her. I know it's horrible since I am a girl, but I generally find guys funnier than girls. Not all guys. But the funniest comedians I know are usually guys. I figure it's something in a girl's genetic make-up thrown in to make girls want to continue the human race.

Anyway, HappySlip is also from the Philippines, so that's why I put the flag up. But she grew up in America so she's Asian-American like me. Her videos struck a good cord with me because she (lovingly) pokes fun at her Asian family. I may not be Philippino, but a lot of the characteristics she jokes about are similar to my own Asian family.

HappySlip also doesn't swear and, so she seems kinder and friendlier than 90% of most internet fare. She's also an aspiring actress, so there's a little more craftmanship into her video making than Mokong's.

***

So now you know the flag is in homage to these two YouTubers mostly cause I couldn't get any good pics of them. To see them, you'll just have to watch them. But, as a parting request, I'd like any of you to let me know if you find (or have found) someone interesting to watch on YouTube.

You'll also have to tell me if this post was too long or if you didn't read it. Right. Especially if you didn't read it.

... ?



While walking through Roseville I happened to see this sign and could not help but chuckle. Yes, I am sure the warriors famed for their austere lifestyle will have a happy summer frolicking in the sun.

However, I was further amused to find that this was not the mascot of a High School, as I had originally assumed, or even a Middle School. No. This was an elementary school. Ah, yes, the little Spartans. I can see it now. Their little league soccer team only has three teammates, but they are undefeated! Sadly, by the end of the season, none of these noble warriors has survived... Rough game, little league soccer.

Then there's lunch time:

"I'm hungry!"

"No, food dulls the senses."

"WAH!"

"Insolence! Give me fifty push-ups at once!"

Yeah. Anyway, I'm sure that's exactly what it's like.

Let's All Be Independent Together!



Happy 4th of July eveybody!

I am the Writing Queen

Since the month of June is passed, I thought I should say that I have so far fulfilled my goal of writing an average of 500 words a day or more. I do actually keep a word log as nerdy and weird as that sounds. One of my favorite childhood authors did the same which is where I got the idea. Does it make me a better writer? No. But I just like to know for some inexplicable reason. As a result, I know that the word total for the month of June is 19,479 words. Oh yeah! That's 31.5 single spaced pages in Word for anyone preferring the horribly inaccurate measure of a "page." However, this is not counting revisions in general. Since I'm a bit too lazy to keep track of every little sentence I go back and add, I only count what I like to call "forward writing," something that advances the story, rather than what is simply added to the back. I may count really large revisions, but I don't think I have so far. It seems like cheating somehow because you can rewrite the same 500 words 500 times and never make any progress. It needs to be done sometimes, but I just can't feel as good about it as normal writing. This is probably why I stink at editing.

The whole draft so far is 47,478 words and 76.75 pages. Anyone wondering what novel I am referring to I have to shamefacedly admit it is my fantasy novel which I thought I had finished. I can feel several friends losing all respect for me right now. The last draft was 800+ pages, but it had taken so long to write that my writing style had changed drastically from beginning to end. I still have hopes of using passages from the later part of the long draft, but the beginning most definitely needs to be entirely rewritten. I have changed so much about the plot and characters, though, I may just have to rewrite the whole thing. This was probably another reason my writing in general languished for so long because I was incredibly depressed by the state of what has always been the story closest to my heart. But I have new optimism. At this rate, the story should be finished a lot faster than the last (previously final) draft, giving the writing style a smoother feel. And as foolish as I feel for telling everyone I'd finally finished and that I would not write any more drafts, I think it's for the best. I now LOVE this story in a way I never did before, and I really believe that THIS is the final draft. But I'll understand if none of you believe me until it's in the bookstore.

If I remember, and it's not too embarrassing, I think I'll let you know my word total for each month. Yeah, gripping news, I know. How shall you bear the suspense for July?

The Legend of Zelda:
Twilight Princess Review

Tim asked me to review this game because he admitted he doesn't really care for a lot of my other book and movie reviews. If this is the case for any of you, please let me know and tell me what you would be interested in me reviewing. I can't promise I'll do it, but I might. Doesn't that make it worth a try?

Also unless you don't want to know anything about the game, this should be free of spoilers. I put the only spoiler, my personal opinion of the end, in difficult to read text at the very end. If you want to read it, you can highlight it. Otherwise, just don't try to decipher the dark text.

Anyway, onto the review:

The Story:

I originally played The Ocarina of Time purely for the storyline. This may seem incomprehensible to hardcore gamers, but I am still most interested by good stories and not necessarily games. That said, I do not feel the story of this game disappoints. It's possibly a better story than Ocarina. As with many of the other games, it takes place in Hyrule and stars the Link character, but it doesn't directly relate to the events of any of its predecessors. This game's storyline seems meant to give you a sense of Link's reincarnation over time, and there are several references that those who played Ocarina will appreciate, but they're only like echoes over a great distance and those just getting into the series won't be confused because of them.

The simple summary of the story is that Link is a simple goat-herder in a village called Ordon. But one day all the children of the village are kidnapped by monsters and Link sets out to find them. In doing so, Link is ambushed by the shadow beasts and turned into a beast himself, a wolf. Then Link finds out that the problem is bigger than his missing friends. All of Hyrule has been beseiged by the beasts of Twilight and Zelda herself asks for Link's assistance. Throughout the game Link goes between his wolf and human forms with the guidance of a strange imp from the twilight world, Midna.

The only characters from Ocarina are Link and Zelda. Otherwise, it's an entirely new cast. I think the best of all of them is Midna, and this was actually the biggest surprise of the game. Those who played Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask would probably be surprised as well after the annoyances of Navi and Tatl. Normally, the guide characters are the worst, clearly only there to tell you what to do. Midna, on the other hand, is actually a major character in the story, and by the end I completely fell in love with her unique mixture of good and evil. As a creature from the shadow realm you even get to explore Midna's world and you learn a lot about it and her as the game progresses.

Sound and Music:

Those who've played the previous Zelda games will recognize the old sounds and themes but there's also enough of an infusion of the new that people shouldn't be bored. The music also seems to be more complex, probably because the Gamecube and Wii systems can support better sounds. It sounds less like midis and more like the real soundtrack of an epic fantasy with a more real sounding orchestra. Much as I loved the music of Ocarina, a few of the tunes drove me a little nuts with their repetition. I didn't have that problem in Twilight Princess.

However, I was disappointed by the lack of a musical instument in this game. The wolf can howl which is used to play music instead. This is a cool idea but you don't have the freedom to howl whenever you want and it's a lot more difficult to do than the ocarina or any of the intruments in Majora's Mask. The rise and fall of the notes are controlled by the joystick on GC and this is problematic at best. Maybe if I'd been able to just settle down and howl to improve my technique, I would have gotten better and enjoyed it. But as it was, it was just a constant frustration.

Strange Extras:

You can pick up dogs and cats in this game, pet goats, and throw bones to play fetch with eagar dogs. None of this appears to have any relevance on the game at large.

One thing that was also more of the opposite of an extra was the inabillity to talk to people who are walking in Castle Town. I think any person who won't talk to you is just a lame waste of space.

You can also sumo wrestle a goron and snowboard against a yeti. While these were awesome, I was disappointed that the sumo wresting wasn't a mini-game of its own. Once you've done it in the course of the game, you can't go back and challenge the goron to wrestle with you. This made me sad. Happily, the yetis are always up for a race.

Graphics:



I know that the GameCube will never be a Playstation, but I was happy with the graphics. Everyone who plays Nintendo knows they don't do it because it has the best graphics. That being said, for the GC and the Wii the graphics are still awesome. You can even see actual detail in the irises of Link's eyes in certain scenes and some of his facial expressions are priceless. The better graphics allow the characters a wider range of emotion which, considering that Link is the strong silent type, really helps flesh out his own character.

The only gripe I have were the lights and darks. Now, my sister has rigged an old computer screen to play her video games on so it may just be because of this, but I could never get the color contrast to work properly. The beginning of the game even has a selection of color squares to help you adjust your screen but mine wasn't capable of the proper adjustment. As a result, some of the lights were a bit too buttery bright and the darks were a bit darker than they should have been. This made some of the text difficult to read at times. Still, as I said before, this could have just been because of the weird arrangement we had. If you have a normal TV, it's probably fine.

Gameplay:

You get to fight on horseback in this game, and while it looks cool, it's a bit hard on the fingers if you have more than one attacker. In the GC version you practically have to push every button frantically at once while jiggling the joystick to pull this off. I asked my friends with the Wii version if this was any better but they seemed to think it was just as difficult on the Wii.

Difficulty, however, was lacking in a lot of other aspects of this game. Now, keep in mind this comes from the girl with the cheat guide. But I had two cheat guides to Ocarina, and I still think it was a lot harder than this game. Maybe I've just gotten better, but even the final boss in this game didn't require me to use all of my heath potions, and you only have four bottles in this game to what I think was six in the other. Fairies also only restore eight hearts in this game, which I suppose was their attempt to make things more difficult, but it didn't. The bosses just aren't as hard. It was a bit more difficult for my sister who didn't know exactly how to defeat everything, but even she passed the game the same day I did and actually spent less time than me doing it without using the cheat guide at all.

The only truly difficult thing in this game is called "The Cave of Ordeals." I crawled out of there with only two hearts left, no healing potions, and a sprained L-targeting finger. It isn't necessary to pass the cave in order to pass the game, though. Bats in this game also seem faster and more difficult to shoot down. I remember in Ocarina and Majora's Mask I could clear a room of bats without blinking, but now I'm lucky if I can get one that's not in targeting range. Then there's rupees. For some inexplicable reason it's more difficult to get rupees in this game. You can still find them in the grass and other places, but it seems to take a lot longer to fill your wallet. Getting lost is a problem in this game too. I suppose this is good news for explorers and bad news for people like me who just want to get from point A to point B without a lot of running in circles. Everything is bigger. There isn't just one field; there are several. The fishing pond is even bigger! I would get lost in the town when I first started playing. Maybe players of the previous games asked for these changes, but if Nintendo purpousely made these things more difficult while making the bosses easier, then I still question their motives.

I don't want people to take any of this as an excuse not to get this game, though, because I still think it's lots of fun regardless. Just don't expect to be overwhelmed by the difficulty of the battles. I can't speak for all the puzzles since I hate puzzles and cheat on practically all of them. But I still felt the dungeons, though more numerous, were smaller and easier to get through in this game. There were, however, plenty of things I would not have been able to figure out so easily without my guide, so the puzzles weren't a complete loss.

All the same, I now have every poe, bug, heartpiece, and possible piece of equipment. I even caught the largest fish in the fishing pond. It's a bit sad really. It's all over for me.

But it doesn't have to be for you. If you haven't already played, I highly recommend it.

Overall Rating: 9.75/10

A few random scenes to leave you with:

***Spoilers!***
(Highlight the text below for easy reading. If you don't want to be spoiled, don't look too close!)

I think Link should marry Midna and have lots of sex and babies since she's cooler, hotter, and a better Princess than Zelda! Clearly Link thought so too at the end. That's right, Link. Run away from silly Zelda into Midna's arms. And I know what you're saying. You're saying, but Cherie, I thought YOU wanted to do all that with Link. Yeah. But Midna's definitely my video game alter ego. Twilight Princess all the way baby! Why did she have to seal the portal to her world? WHY?! Miiiiiidnaaaaa!!!! *Sobs inconsolably*

I even made a poem out of one of Midna's lines at the end.

"Zelda, your words are kind and your heart is true..."
But I am so much cooler than you!

http://www.karenfreberg.com/TwilightPrincess2006.JPG

Click the link to see a picture of human Midna to compare her beauty with Zelda's (above). I think the answer to her question is "Yes!"

Dragonflies!

Here are some pretty awesome pictures I took of a couple dragonflies I saw when I went for a walk the other day.

A+ for Tim

He got a 95% due to a slight mistake which I have listed in the comments of the quiz post.

Pop Quiz

I told Tim there would be a quiz on my blog, and then I realized what a good idea that was. If any of you take it and do well, I'll give you guys a more optimistic image. Otherwise you all fail by default. Can you really live with that?





1.) What is the name of Cherie's friend who writes a daily blog?

A.) Doris
B.) Moris
C.) Tortoise
D.) Boris

2.) Why does Cherie write? (Hint, you can copy and paste from somewhere on this blog.)

3.) What are Cherie's favorite video games?

A.) Grand Theft Auto and Barbie Groovy Games
B.) The Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess
C.) Cherie does not play video games because she lives in a small Amish community

4.) Who is Cherie's favorite classic writer?

A.) Jane Austen
B.) Charlotte "Brontosaurus" Brontë
C.) James "@#%" Joyce
(One of these answers will actually give you negative points)

5.) What movies should you have watched if you read Cherie's blog and had lots of free time and a fast internet connection?

A. Northanger Abbey and The Ruby in the Smoke
B. The Land Before Time 57 and Dracula 2000
C. None. You don't have to do what Cherie tells you. You're an independent, important person with--Mr. Tilney so hot...

6.) What is a samurai crab?

A. A crab that looks like a samurai
B. A samurai that looks like a crab
C. A grumpy samurai

7.) What is a Pika?

A. A small fuzzy endangered animal also known as a "whistling hare."
B. Pika, pika?
C. Pikachu

8.) Who did Cherie say got married?

A.) her friends Tim and Mag
B.) herself and Mr. Tilney

These next two are bonus questions that are not related to this blog.

9.) Which of these smells does Cherie not like?

A.) Roses
B.) Fresh baked cookies
C.) New car smell

10.) What classical composer is Cherie listening to as she writes this.

A.) Vivaldi
B.) Bach
C.) Macaroni

This last is a freebie.

Is Cherie just the vainest most-self centered person ever to write a quiz about herself?

Answer: Yes. And I enjoy every minute of it. Cornish pixies anyone?

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess -- Game Glitch?

In the fishing hole shop you can play a game called "Rollgoal." There's a marble on a raised surface and you have to maneuver it along with the joystick. However, while cursing the difficulties of rollgoal 1-7 I rather unexpectedly won. It was very unexpected considering I hadn't won. My marble had fallen off very close to the goal but had not reached it. I also sometimes wonder if I am actually getting the 10 rupees she says I am, but I don't pay enogh attention to the money I've spent to know for sure.

But when you begin to think imaginary people are stiffing you of imaginary money, you've been playing too many video games.

Still In My Pajamas


But that's the point of summer, is it not? To loll about in one's pajamas. If anything I mean to be especially lazy this summer since I doubt I'll get another chance at it for a long, long time. If ever. So I mean to enjoy it while I can.

I haven't been completely idle, though. My novel writing is still going as well as it was when I wrote my "Writer's Epiphany" entry. At least, it's going consistently. I've hit a bit of a rough patch, but since I've been writing an average of at least 500 words every day, I have far more hope of digging myself out of the difficult bit relatively quickly.

My blog writing, as anyone can see, is not so consistent. It occured to me that, in my entry about writing, I assumed everyone knew I was writing a novel and that I was referring to writing 500 words in that every day and not this blog. But if there was any confusion I'll state that now.

I admire my friend Boris's consistency in his blog, but fear I am not up to the same. Even when I used to keep a diary, I didn't write in it everyday. Writers are told that it is a good exercise to write everyday in a journal, but I cannot help but feel it is more important to write everyday in my novel. Plus, I am not inclined to go on the internet everyday during break, so that makes blogging more difficult as well.

Anyway, possibly one of the most difficult parts of spending my vacation in sunny California (I am to be greatly pitied indeed) is that I have no friends here. So if you're reading this, I'd love to hear from you.

Bittersweet: Massive Book and Movie Review

Book Review: Jane and the Ghosts of Netley

I'm a fan of ghost stories, but I should warn anyone with similar hopes that there are no ghosts in this story at all. I was vastly disappointed in that. Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor, the first book in the series, had a far more gothic bent than this book. Also, though I knew it would happen since I listened to the audio of the book after this, a favorite character of mine dies. The story is well constructed, no more complaints than I usually have for this author which I already outlined in my other review, but it is easily the most depressing of the series. As such, and since it would be extremely bad for me to reveal much more if you're planning on reading the book, I fear this book review shall remain short.

Movie Review: Northanger Abbey 2007
YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBLMpDihYp4

After I read the previous book I was seeking consolation while still in a Jane Austen mood, so I looked up news of the newest adaptation of my second favorite (and sometimes my first favorite depending on mood) Jane Austen novel, Northanger Abbey. It establishes Austen as the brilliant satirist that she is and so was the best choice to put me in a cheerful mood. There has only ever been one other film adaptation of this story to my greatest regret. It was made for TV back in the 1980s, and I could never bring myself to watch it because it looked so bad. I don't like to judge actors on how they look, but I should at least not be repulsed on sight by an Austen leading man, and that is the case with the old Northanger Abbey. I also never heard any particularly good reviews of the eighties version that would tempt me to change my mind and give it a chance.

Anyway, I only expected to find news of the new movie, so imagine how happy I was to find the whole thing on You Tube, especially since it's not yet available to buy or rent on DVD in the US. The link to the first part of the full movie on YouTube is right below the title. You should be able to find the other parts from there under the "related searches" bar or just type in Northanger Abbey Part 2, 3, 4, and so on for the rest. It's in segments of about 6 minutes each. There are 16 segments all together and please note the last one is titled "Northanger Abbey Last Part" instead of "Northanger Abbey Part 16" as one might expect. I didn't want anyone thinking I was so cruel as to show them something that didn't have an end.

Now that the technical stuff is out of the way, onto the review.

The screenplay for the 2007 adaptation of Northanger Abbey was written by Andrew Davies, the same man who wrote the screenplay of the beloved 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice. This is clearly a good sign already and it only gets better from there because Mr. Tilney is played by a very handsome actor, in my opinion at least, by the name of JJ Feild, and he does the job exeedingly well. Unfortunately I couldn't find a picture of him in the Mr. Tilney character, so I put up a picture of Felicity Jones who plays the heroine, Catherine Morland. But if you're curious as to what's in store, you need only look at the picture below this review. The man behind the blonde girl (sadly not as in focus) is also JJ Feild. More on that later.

In any case, Northanger Abbey will seem a bit different to fans of Austen's other novels and the film is thus, somewhat different than other Austen films. The film, although condensed, was reasonably close to the feel of the novel. At first I was a little bothered by its frequent use of surreal gothic dream sequences, but for a viewer denied Austen's brillant prose, I suppose it's the best way to show the audience the absurdity of the genre she's kicking the snot out of, and admittedly several of the sequences are quite funny. Also important is that the movie makes sure that you know they're laughing at gothic fiction. I heard the eighties version did not quite grasp this concept, but I assure you the new version certainly does.

The look of the movie was also flawless. It has the costumes, dances, and scenes of regency England down pat. I'm not a historical or cinematic expert but, for the common person, nothing seems out of place. I am, however, a bit of a lighting snob which is curious since I know nothing about it professionally, but I have trouble with movies that are not well-lit. So I am happy to report it has a good cinematic glow that doesn't look too made-for-TV but also happily isn't anywhere near the high-end-art-film-gritty-reality light. If that made any sense to anyone.

As for the acting itself, it's already clear that I liked Feild's Mr. Tilney. Admittedly the movie plays up the romance a little more than it actually did in the book, but because of my bias towards the actor, I can't really say I disliked this addition. They also are sure not to overdo it and it actually slightly improves the depth of Tilney's character for him to like Catherine for reasons other than the fact that she likes him (as it is explicitly stated in the book). The extra romance with Tilney also helps Catherine's character. Felicity Jones did a good job of portraying someone endearingly silly. The Catherine in this movie is like someone we all know, a best friend (or even ourselves) who we love but must guide towards reason from time to time. She may even be more endearing and a little less silly than the Catherine in the book since we have to believe Tilney's love for her. The book is also told from the humorous, though sometimes bitingly so, perspective of the narrator, whereas in the film, you inevitably feel closer to Catherine and more sympathetic of her feelings.

I would never say it's better than the book, because it can't be. But it's true to the spirit of the work which is all one can ask for in a film. It's also perfect for anyone wanting to be put in a good mood. I highly recommend it.

Movie Review: The Ruby in the Smoke
You Tube Link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ue8gMmyqHYo

Not Jane Austen, but as you see, there's still the lovely Mr. Tilney. The reason I found this movie was because I was looking up JJ Feild just out of curiosity to see if he'd been in any other movie I might like to see. Lo' and behold, I saw on IMBD that he had just finished making The Shadow in the North. Now this made me more excited than it might make some people because that is the sequel to a book written by Phillip Pullman. It's in a trilogy of three books of mysteries about a girl named Sally Lockhart that I enjoyed last summer. The Shadow in the North is not yet available and possibly has not yet aired, but when I searched it on YouTube, I found the first book, the Ruby in the Smoke, had also been made and, happily, was also on YouTube in its entirety. This time the movie is segmented into nine ten minute segments and you can find the first part by clicking the link at the top of this review. Find the other parts much in the same way you would for Northanger Abbey.

However, despite it being on YouTube, The Ruby in the Smoke is available to buy or rent and it is worth it in my opinion. However, the beauty of YouTube is you can see if you agree with me. If you've ever read the books, it's a well-done adaptation, keeping with the general flow and spirit of the novel. It remains to be seen if the movie versions will have the same problems as the books. Unless Pullman has not finished the series, then there are a few nagging loose ends he leaves. There is only one detail explained in the novel that is not in the film, but it is not really overly important to the plot and might even be inferred by the more astute. The conclusion of the movie also seemed a bit rushed. I believe Sally did a little more investigating in the book to justify her knowledge, but I can't recall for certain. It's still a fascinating, adventure story and much better adapted than I expected. My favorite character, Fred Garland, played by Feild, was not in it as much as I would have liked, but since the story does focus on Sally, this is only to be expected and he does, at least, have several scenes. Upon first seeing the girl who would play Sally, I thought she looked too mature. But she portrayed a nineteen year old girl very well. My only critique on her is that her eyebrows were strangely dark for a blonde, but this is a small detail that I soon learned to ignore.

Once again, if you like period dramas, it's an excellent one of Victorian England. However, unlike Northanger Abbey, it's a bit sad. It has a reasonably happy ending, but if you're already feeling depressed, probably not the best feel-good movie.

Writer's Epiphany

If I write a comfortable set number of words per day it accumulates far faster than if I try to push myself to write more. Usually, even if I wrote, I would feel guilty for not writing more. But I am not a particularly fast writer, and feelings of guilt tend to make me avoid work rather than motivating it. The other problem was I love writing, but it was beginnig to feel a lot like work. This was doing more than simply frustrating me. Writing is as important to my mental health as breathing is to my physical health. But with all the work my senior year, I didn't have the time to write as much as my conscience demanded I should. I practically gave up entirely and my psyche has been suffering for it. However, I was inspired by my favorite author Terry Pratchett. I read in the author's note of Good Omens that he always wrote 500 words per day, without fail. Now this may just mean "at least" 500 words or exactly 500. I'm not sure and he could write more than that now. He's quite prolific. But seeing as this was half of what I normally considered a respectable amount, I was shocked. Still, I figured if it was a good enough number for Terry Pratchett, then it was good enough for me. I didn't start doing this right away because I was still in school and still going quietly insane. But once summer started (and after a few weeks of absolutely no mental activity to recover from my burn out) I started writing regularly and it's been working wonderfully so far. I've only been doing it for about a week, but I find it gives me a much more positive attitude to set a goal I know I can reach and not feel guilty the rest of the day. I've also been taking it to mean "at least" 500 words, because I'm not the type of writer that can stop mid-sentence, and I find it tiresome to keep too close track. But 500 is amazingly a good average of about when I start running out of steam. Even if I can keep going it's good to stop rather than to just keep writing until I'm exhausted or blocked. It gives me something to look forward to when I start writing again.

As a note, Bethany has the honor of being my friend of the week! Thanks for reading Bethany!

Mom is, once again, Mom of the week.

My New U of M T-Shirt

Well, it's a few lightyears from Earth, but I think I can still make it home on weekends.

Happy Birthday Punya!



I would like everyone to know that the timestamp on my blog is somewhat off since I'm currently in Pacific time. But I believe it is Punya's birthday where she is, and although I'm not sure she reads my blog, I thought I'd wish her a happy birthday now.

Interesting Fact About Cherie #1

I seem to remind most boys my age of their mothers. My clothes, the books I read, my general maturity. They say guys date girls who remind them of their mothers, but I don't think this has helped my love life at all.

Louvie the Lori Takes Flight

Louvie may have thought he escaped blog notice once I graduated, but I still have so many pictures... Here you see Louvie preparing to rocket off the ground at the thought of his approaching trip to Japan. Click the picture for the best view.

Give Me a Sign!

If it seems like there's more posts on the first page, it's because there are. I'm going to try posting everyday. Or at least more frequently than before. But the downside to this was that my posts would disappear more quickly and once they're archived I always feel like they're less likely to be read. But if having more posts on the page messes with your internet connection, let me know. I like to respond to my lovely audience. Also please comment from time to time if you are reading. It's good to know someone's there.

That said. I've been thinking of birthdays recently. Around May 21-25 I usually have a panic attack that I've missed someone's birthday. This is curious since I don't actually know anyone with a birthday on these days and cannot remember ever having known anyone with such a birthday. I did forget my little brother's birthday this year which makes me feel like a horrible sister, but otherwise I've yet to forget another. My friend Punya's is May 30th. My mother's is a couple days after on June 1st. Tim's is June 25th. and my own (which I've yet to forget) is July 20th. Sorry if that list was boring to read, it's mostly to help me remember.

Useless Knowledge of the Week!

Here's a picture of a samurai crab. Look at its back; the markings look like the face of a samurai. The Japanese believed these crabs were reincarnations of ancient warriors, and biologists have speculated that the markings were genetically encouraged because people would refuse to eat the crabs that looked like samurai. However, the crab itself is rather small and not much of a meal, so the face might not have anything to do with that.

All my amazing knowledge comes from the book my sister's reading entitled: The Ancestor's Tale and Wikipedia.

Cherie News: Movies, Pikas and More*! (*Possibly...maybe later there will be)

Movie Review: Spider-man 3 (maybe spoilers?)

I went to Sacramento today and saw Spider-man 3 with my sister. My hopes of Mary Jane being killed in the first few seconds were dashed on the rocks (sorry if that spoiled the movie for anyone), but I was otherwise entertained. I've heard some others (namely Sam an my mom) complain there were too many villains, but I felt they managed to fit it all in well and it didn't really seem disjointed. Besides, evil people are cool.

Spider-man, unfortunately, is not cooler as a bad guy. He's actually incredibly pathetic as a villain and you want to look away at how much he's humiliating himself. But, to be fair, I'm pretty sure that was the point. I think the stage direction to Tobey was "Act like as much of an @#$ as possible." If that was the case, he executed it beautifully.

There were also plenty of special-effects and a reasonably good story, about as much as you can ask for in a sequel. Not the best but not the worst. The ending leaves a few loose-ends, but that's possibly if they ever decide to make another. I would give it a star rating, but I always feel those are rather arbitrary. If I had to grade this movie I'd give it an 89% solid B+. I laughed, I cried, I saw some of my favorite character (the editor of the Daily Bugle) and was able to forget some of my own mundane life for a little over two hours.


Pika, pika?

You thought Pokémon was fictional but it would seem that Pikachu isn't. Gone are the days when Pikachu was just another unidentified rodent. This pika hare is now suing for his rights and a share in the multi-million dollar business that has become his likeness.

One pika who wishes to remain anonymous voiced his plight. "Used to be people would say 'what is that thing?' But now I can't even walk out on the rocks anymore without the other animals shrieking 'pika, pika!' and then laughing! And that's not the half of it! One kid caught me one time and tried to plug me into a light socket! Please, people, that's not healthy. I don't push humans off a cliff after seeing one Sumperman movie."

So for anyone trying to make their pika have electrical super-powers please educate yourself on real pikas or "whistling hares" and remember that they're an endangered species.

Separated at birth?

Shout Out: to Tim and Mag who got married today. Now all the other married couples (except Kelly and Mike) are gonna be jealous of Tim and Mag's newfound blog stardom, but what's a girl to do? I just can't control this overwhelming audience.

Don't worry, Mag, you're far prettier than this lego girl. I only chose this pic because of how much the guy looks like Tim...

Book Review: Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House

What could possibly make Jane Austen's novels better than they already are? The answer: blood. The series of Jane Austen mysteries by Stephanie Barron mixes regency England with modern crime dramas all while teaching the readers fascinating tidbits about Jane's life, her family, and her social milieu. The books may be fictional but Barron has done actual research and throws in several historical truths, usually in her footnotes.

Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House is the sixth book in the series. I admit I could not read the fifth (Jane and the Stillroom Maid) because it involved the Illuminati, and all such plots seem over-the-top to me. This, book, however, reminded me of everything I like about the series. We got to see Jane's relationship with her brother Frank, a naval officer; meet a mysterious and dashingly handsome Frenchman; and get put in the thick of espionage and betrayal during the Napoleonic War.

This mystery, and all the others, of course, never happened, even though Barron pretends that she is merely editing old journals of Jane's. It is not just my own knowledge of Jane's real history, however, that reveals the fictional nature of the stories. Barron, while a good entertainer, does have certain stylistic flaws. Among these flaws is her tendency to refer to "the reader," clearly forgetting that she claimed these are supposed to be Jane's private journals, and thus, that authoress would never have intended for them to have been read. Barron also has the unfortunate habit of inserting lines straight from A&E's Pride and Prejudice. As good as that fine rendition of the novel was, it seems to show a lack of self-confidence to simply copy and paste dialogue. The truly irksome part is that Barron can write good dialogue of her own in a passably good imitation of Austen herself, so there's no need to resort to such lazy tactics.

Other than these quirks, Barron does tell a good story. I'm not the world's best puzzle-solver, but I have yet to guess the complete answer to one of her mysteries. Sometimes I admit that I still don't completely understand them at the end, but I'm not sure whether this can be blamed on Barron's writing or my unwillingness to put in too much mental effort. All the same, Barron will certainly never be another Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But that's not really the best part of these novels. What I truly enjoy is the historical fiction and the development of Jane as a living and breathing character with problems to which the modern reader can relate. It is something for an Austen fan girl to see even an imaginary version of her idol. No longer is this woman shrouded in the shadows of a mundane life that had few records and only one portrait drawn by her own sister. To meet Austen has always been a dream of mine. But to see how she might have lived (even if it is mixed with some adventurous though highly unlikely events) seems to be the next best thing.

Tiger/Pig Follow-Up and Scrabble Madness!

See! I told you they'd grow to look like their mother! A friend of mine found this pic for me so thank you Josh!



Here you see what I do when left entirely to my own devices with a Scrabble board.



Also, here's some random news. I found the high school I attended on Newsweek's list of the best public high schools. It's at #668 out of 1,200. I'm going to go feel superior now.

I would also like to announce that my friends of the month are Becky and Brian for letting me stay with them for a week! A big thank you to their dad as well. That's also their Scrabble board in the picture.

As Fun As...

A litter full of pigs! Look how proud the mother looks. Perhaps they'll grow to look like her?

My Favorite Neighbors

Last night wilst being kept awake once more by drunken revelry there were only a few neighbors I didn't hate. Here they are. Quiet and considerate.

Wii Mii!

To those who have not yet seen her magnificence I give you Cherie Wii! Her head is not normally so large. She is merely looking up because I have selected her on the screen. But she still has every reason to have a big head, what with my stunning good looks and her uncanny skills at bowling, we could take over the world!

As a note, this picture is probably best seen enlarged, so give it a click.

Funny Harry Potter Spoof

If anyone liked Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix as much as me (which is least of all the other books) then you have to see this movie. The joke at the end is cheap and juvenile, but the rest is hilarious.

Wizard Angst:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD-Huwlg2kY

The Saga Continues...

A long time ago (possibly back in March?)
At a university far, far away

STUDENT WARS

The noble Cherie must protect Gilpatrick (a peaceful Honors House with no weapons) from the evil machinations of the fearsome Darth Louvie!