So I finished the book Sunday. Took a few days to sink in, I think. So, what did I think about the book? Well, it wasn't bad. I'm not a fan of the ending. Seemed a bit of a cop out. What happened to Luna, for instance? And with all the death eaters in charge of the ministry, surely it wasn't just an instant change. There's got to be a lot of things happening there. Then there's the entire career of Harry as an auror. Jumping ahead 19 years was nice, but without a single bit of information on what happened between Voldemort's death and then, it just isn't a satisfying ending. There's a reason for this.
If anyone has studied storytelling they will know about The Hero's Journey. There is a series of events that a typical story goes through. It's not something that anyone enforces, it's just something that fits in with what we have come to expect from stories. If a story doesn't fit in with this pattern, then it doesn't seem like a full story to us. This is a confirmed fact. Unfortunately Harry Potter 7 does not follow this pattern completely. Now, I admit that almost no story actually follows the Hero's Journey completely, and the stories that do usually seem cliched and predictable, there were important things left out of the end of HP7.
We don't get to see the return to the real world at all. Voldemort is dead and then it's 19 years later. There is no final scene with Ginny before they're married and have 3 kids. There was no final reconciliation with the Dursley's. You might say the scene with them at the beginning of the book did that, but they were sent into hiding with wizards, then they were never mentioned again. You can't make a big deal about something in a story and then just leave it to assumption and the reader's imagination. The Dursley's needed a Return of their own. It just wasn't enough. Also, what about Harry, Ron, and Hermione's last year at Hogwart's? Technically they're not finished with school yet. So are they going to have to go back or do they get a pass? And if they do, what about the tests that told whether or not they'd be able to do the jobs they want. J.K. Rowling, do you hear me?! We need more than this! This story is not finished!
So, on that note, I have a proposal. A TV show, based on what happened after Voldemort's death. Start with them after school. Maybe start with some sort of graduation or something. Then jump ahead a bit to Harry and Ron being Aurors. Then you have the setup for an action crime drama type show with magic. How cool would that be? And you know who would do a great job of it? The same people that are doing the Dr. Who show now. That show is so great. It's got that British charm and humor that would fit into Harry Potter's world very well. They're also willing to go absolutely random with the sci-fi aspect, imagine what they could come up with when they have wizards under their control. It'd be great. Plus it's not Hollywood, so they can do things Hollywood would never do, like come up with truly original story lines and actually kill off major characters. Or at the least take them out of the show. The Harry Potter world is dangerous and needs to continue in that vein. Many people have died, why suddenly make everyone invulnerable? If Hollywood get ahold of this show it would end up like another Smallville. An interesting idea that ends up just another teen romance drama.
Not that anyone's ever going to listen to me, but if suddenly they announce this in a couple years, you heard it here first.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Sunday, July 8, 2007
It was my fault, Transformers are awesome, I can't wait for Cloverfield, and the flu sucks...
So, really, the Braves have suddenly picked back up this last couple weeks. Guess what? I solved my money problems and haven't been depressed about it. So suddenly they're playing better. It really is my fault! Guess I'd better keep myself happy.
Transformers was freaking awesome. Wait, not was, is. It is freaking awesome! I've seen it twice and I plan to see it at least one more time in the theatre and I will own it when it comes out on DVD. Have you seen it? If not, watch it. I never liked Michael Bay movies all that much before, although The Island was decent, but this movie is a masterpiece. OK, it has a couple plot holes. Some elements of the story are just kinda ignored. And the ending is a little weak. But it doesn't matter. It's no weaker than the old TV show was, and in many ways the story is much better done, and I still loved the old TV shows. Of course, it all comes down to graphics. If they hadn't made the robots look so good, it would have been an awful movie. Seriously terrible. But there isn't a moment in this movie where the robots aren't believable.
One of my biggest worries was that the robots would be just robots. Not really autonomous characters on their own, but just big machines that in the end just did what the humans told them. Instead they are full characters. Not quite the main characters in the movie. The hero is still the kid. But that's ok, because we got to see Optimus shove a sword through Bonecrusher's head. Just freaking awesome.
Ok, so the movie was great and I don't want to knock it at all, but after raving about the movie all the way home from the theatre, I immediately got online to try to find out more about another movie. The preview shot with a home camera. Starts with the kids throwing a going away party, then suddenly they hear a noise and feel a rumble. They go outside in time to see a huge explosion in downtown NYC and hear the noise again, now distinguishable as a roar. At the end you see the Statue of Liberty's head go flying through the air and then a date and producer, but no name. How cool was that? Well I looked and I looked and barely found anything other than the fact that no one really knows anything. It's a monster movie that is, apparantly, shot all with handcams. So you see the whole thing from the point of view of the people running from the monster. Pretty darn cool. Produced by JJ Abrams. Good producer. You can check out the wiki at :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloverfield, but there's not a lot on there.
They're running an ARG. I'm a sucker for ARG's. If you don't know what ARG means it's Alternate Reality Game. Or something like that. Basically it's a game that pretends it's not a game. Look up I Love Bees if you want to find out about them. That was a really well done one for Halo2. It's kind of like advertising for nerds. We really get into it for some reason. So far the ARG for Cloverfield is kinda leading some people to think the movie might be about Cthulhu. Could be interesting.
I have the flu. It sucks. Had it all weekend. So that means I've been sitting in my house all weekend. I did go out friday night, but probably shouldn't have. Hope I didn't infect the whole movie theatre. Although that would be mildly amusing, in a terrible kind of way. "Tonight at 7, an entire movie theatre packed with people all become infected with flesh eating virus." Man, I hope it's not a flesh eating virus. That'd really suck. I have to stop writing before I get too random.
Transformers was freaking awesome. Wait, not was, is. It is freaking awesome! I've seen it twice and I plan to see it at least one more time in the theatre and I will own it when it comes out on DVD. Have you seen it? If not, watch it. I never liked Michael Bay movies all that much before, although The Island was decent, but this movie is a masterpiece. OK, it has a couple plot holes. Some elements of the story are just kinda ignored. And the ending is a little weak. But it doesn't matter. It's no weaker than the old TV show was, and in many ways the story is much better done, and I still loved the old TV shows. Of course, it all comes down to graphics. If they hadn't made the robots look so good, it would have been an awful movie. Seriously terrible. But there isn't a moment in this movie where the robots aren't believable.
One of my biggest worries was that the robots would be just robots. Not really autonomous characters on their own, but just big machines that in the end just did what the humans told them. Instead they are full characters. Not quite the main characters in the movie. The hero is still the kid. But that's ok, because we got to see Optimus shove a sword through Bonecrusher's head. Just freaking awesome.
Ok, so the movie was great and I don't want to knock it at all, but after raving about the movie all the way home from the theatre, I immediately got online to try to find out more about another movie. The preview shot with a home camera. Starts with the kids throwing a going away party, then suddenly they hear a noise and feel a rumble. They go outside in time to see a huge explosion in downtown NYC and hear the noise again, now distinguishable as a roar. At the end you see the Statue of Liberty's head go flying through the air and then a date and producer, but no name. How cool was that? Well I looked and I looked and barely found anything other than the fact that no one really knows anything. It's a monster movie that is, apparantly, shot all with handcams. So you see the whole thing from the point of view of the people running from the monster. Pretty darn cool. Produced by JJ Abrams. Good producer. You can check out the wiki at :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloverfield, but there's not a lot on there.
They're running an ARG. I'm a sucker for ARG's. If you don't know what ARG means it's Alternate Reality Game. Or something like that. Basically it's a game that pretends it's not a game. Look up I Love Bees if you want to find out about them. That was a really well done one for Halo2. It's kind of like advertising for nerds. We really get into it for some reason. So far the ARG for Cloverfield is kinda leading some people to think the movie might be about Cthulhu. Could be interesting.
I have the flu. It sucks. Had it all weekend. So that means I've been sitting in my house all weekend. I did go out friday night, but probably shouldn't have. Hope I didn't infect the whole movie theatre. Although that would be mildly amusing, in a terrible kind of way. "Tonight at 7, an entire movie theatre packed with people all become infected with flesh eating virus." Man, I hope it's not a flesh eating virus. That'd really suck. I have to stop writing before I get too random.
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