Hello readers. I suppose now you're going to get a blow-by-blow account of my reactions to what is happening RE: hbp and my video on BestWishesFromNL.

I subbed for Jonneke yesterday on the channel, and it took a freaking NINE HOURS to upload and a lot of agonising but it's up and I'm so ~happy! Have to find synonyms for happy; I'm using it too much. Right. I feel lucky! delighted! joyful! ecstatic! glad! no not just glad but very very satisfied and um Ah Ha. I am THRILLED.

There's only 1 tiny problem: I can't bring myself to watch it. I mean after I've edited the video it's hard to watch myself once it's uploaded because it's so mortifying. The thought that other people have actually watched you... do stuff is so scary. [lack of vocabulary much?] Okay in short: I am embarrassed of myself.

And I find myself questioning, over and over and over again:
Was I in the right mind while doing this?
Do I need Prozac?
What the heck was I thinking?!
aaand ohmygoodness I can't believe people are actually watching this.

Am going to squee on the blog mostly, I think, because people in real life would go: "What's a nerdfighter?" And think I am crazy for screaming, happy-dancing and mock-fainting. Because that's what I was doing (embarrassingly) when I was watching HBP.

Speaking of HBP, *spoiler alert* did anyone catch the reference to the Parselmouths when Hermione is at dinner with Slughorn, and she's like: "My parents are dentists, that means they fix teeth." ?
From "What Kind of Name is Hermione?" :
Have you heard that her parents are dentists? (Dentists?)
That means they pick around in dirty muggles' teeth. (Ew!)

Okay on hindsight it may not be a reference, but if you actually watched the movie, slughorn's like: "Your parents are muggles?" And the whole table turns and stares at her.

And during the felix felicis part I just kept on thinking about the Harry and the Potters song!
There's a part where someone mentions "Slug Club", and I squealed aloud -_-' because then I thought of Scarhead and HatP.

After the movie Nat and I were chatting:

NAT: Did you see Snape? He was like: *scowls*
ME: More like *smoulders*. Did you see the part where he pushes draco up against the wall?

I was talking about all the smutty snape bits, and Nat (who is not the slashy type) had to shush me and go "That is not the focus! The point is his acting skills!"

I was a little disturbed by the part where Ginny goes to Harry: "Oh, shoelace." *bends down to tie it*
And then she rises, trying to keep as much eye contact with Harry as possible. It's so suggestive! No you have to go watch it's so funny.

After that it's "Merry Christmas, Harry." Loved the way Bonnie Wright delivered the line, packed with meaning and sadness and all. But... isn't this supposed to happen in DH? The part where Harry is leaving the Burrow and then Ginny invites him into her room and goes: "Here's your birthday present. *Snogs*"

Would jump at the chance to see it again, since geeru and michele haven't watched it yet. Will bring a notebook and write down all the references and nifty things I want to talk about.

[/edit] Amidst all the hype, I forgot to mention the ginny/harry kiss! For the record, it was so much better than the harry/cho one: quality trumps quantity. Just because cho got more action doesn't mean the scene was *good*-- there was no subtlety in the cho kiss, just a lot of "wow harry's first girlfriend wow better take your time!" The way ginny and harry kissed was more adult but they were more comfortable around each other, so you KNOW ginny's in it for the long run. Cho's kiss felt more like Harry liked the novelty of having a girlfriend-- very lavender brown, actually.

And! I absolutely adored Helena Bonham-Carter in this one-- she made bellatrix seem less like a bitch and more like a crazy person I'd make friends with. But she's not so much scary as schitzo, which might undermine her power/ meaness/ malice as a character.

--Reading Hayley's and Kristina's blogs, and Kayley's and alwayspureblood's videos, hence the intermittent commenting--

Think nat and I like the scriptwriter [Steve Kloves] this time because the lines were actually _good_ and packed with meaning. I mean within the constraints of a movie there's only so much you can say, but every line had a purpose. [comedic humour doesn't really count] Like you have to listen really carefully because the lines convey as much as they're supposed to, and more. It was also lovely that the first few bits of the movie were quoted word for word from the book, I kid you not.

Though. I sorely missed the King's Cross part; it was the scene I was looking forward to the most. Provides closure and everything. The underground scene at the beginning is a good effort to allude to King's Cross, though. OH I know why they couldn't do King's Cross-- they've renovated the station a lot, so it wouldn't look the same as Philosopher's Stone.

omg omg omg LOOK at the hbp posters in a nyc subway station!

I love this photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33124343@N07/3619082336/in/set-72157619574502635/

and and alan rickman and tom felton look so hot in this one!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33124343@N07/3618314885/in/set-72157619574502635/

*fangirls* I seriously CAN'T WAIT.
Especially with the stupid 7-month delay and all, and the trailer excitement... I can only be patient for so long!
*squee*
I think I'll have to catch up with mugglecast, pottercast, and snapecast.

In Neil Gaiman's blog it says that he and amanda palmer are dating and it is so !!! exciting. I mean they are both awesome people who produce things that are macabre, fantastical and intriguing-- I wonder if this will lead to more creative collaborations, like the coffeetable book.
Yes. Like a selfish, impersonal fan, their creations are the only things I'm worrying about.

Talking about the tabs I'm being led to here-- so neil gaiman links to kyle cassidy, the photographer of Who Killed Amanda Palmer, and I'm reading his lj. There's a post that talks about the value of hard work in a different way, and it kind of makes me hopeful that One Day I could volunteer at a harry potter conference or One Day I could be at an anthropological excavation site and discover something exciting or One Day I could be studying succession along the eroding coastline of south africa. As in if I really really want something and I really work hard at getting at it and looking out for opportunities the chances of me getting it are higher.

There's a similar trend of thought in on the nerdfighter blog by alan lustufka (fallofautumndistro) that talks about working at building up one's audience.

It's not that I've never heard about the value of hard work before, but to hear it from people I respect and admire puts another spin on it. Honestly though, who else to learn the value of hard work than from people whose jobs I would kill to have, and from people who have put in years of effort to get where they are?

another gaiman/palmer link: http://kylecassidy.livejournal.com/469136.html (watch the video!)

Kyle Cassidy quote: (taken from the comments of the post with the gaiman/palmer video)

"i can truly say that it doesn't capture the moment. it merely proves that it happened. it might have been lack of sleep, it might have been wearing the same clothes for a week ... it might have been a lot of things, all on top of one another ... but it was a Very Special Moment that i don't think can ever be explained or quantified.

sadly. because part of me would like to reach out and grasp it from time to time. but that's the lazy part. the rational part of me realizes that every day should be better than the one before. and we march onward -- trusting in sweat and luck. the harder we work, the luckier we are."

Right gtg offline now to attempt to cancel the effects of my mooning (WHAT was I thinking?!) and to make it for the WLC tomorrow. I need to remember to bring my camera!

[/edit] And I thought teenage girls were the only ones who did blogged in white font or small undecipherable letters. Blog link here: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/06/edinburgh-in-august.html Picture here: http://twitpic.com/7acx7