A Night of Harry

A few weeks ago, it was announced that the trivia people that run our weekly trivia games would be holding a Harry Potter Trivia night.  Being big nerds we were very excited about the prospect - as was the rest of Baltimore.  It turns out everyone in Baltimore seems to be over the moon for Harry Potter because so many people signed up, that they had to draw names from a hat.  4 bars turned into 7 bars, and still teams were turned away.  Luckily for us, Team Buy me a Butterbeer First (a fabulous, if I do say so myself, take on our usual name of Team Buy me a Drink First).

Anyway, I learned a few things during this experience.  For one, I'm so not a big a Harry Potter fan as I thought I was.  In one entire evening, I knew the answer to exactly 2 questions.  Well, I'm not even sure you can call it 2 questions - it was more like 2/6 of a single question since it was half time and the question was 6 parts.  

Other people, like 2 of my team mates and seemingly the rest of the bar, are HUGE fans.  Like, fans to the N'th degree.  They were naming patronuses, and lines that people spoke, and spells, and a million other things that I read about and then immediately forgot. Like I said, it was embarassing - for me.  I had the nerve to call myself a fan, and yet here was about 100 other people that were blowing me out of the water.

There I was in my Harry Potter gear - a borrowed Gryffindor sweater and Hogwarts scarf (though that was not perfect, since I'm undoubtedly a Hufflepuff), and a custom made wand (thanks to one of the super fans in the group) and I didn't even know the answer to the very first question!  Abysmal!

However, even with all of my unknowing, we managed to have a blast.  And as it turns out, it was perfectly ok that I didn't know anything because the 2 super fans in the group knew enough for the rest of us and we managed to win.  Not even just win.  We won with more points than we've ever gotten at regular trivia.  It was pretty impressive.  Though, for all of our hard work we were gifted with a gift card for the bar we were playing in, and a one piece pair of pjs (just one - even though there were 5 people on the team...)  But I suppose the bragging rights were more important.  Now if I could just get them to hold a Doctor Who trivia, I may do just a tad bit better! : )

School Matters

So I'm currently reading the first 2 books in a new/old (she wrote them a few years ago under a pseudonym but now that she's famous her publishers are re-releasing them under her own name - all very confusing!) series by Jenny Colgan.  She's my favorite and these books are just as wonderful as her others. I'm hoping these 2 sell well enough that they publish the next 4 because I just love a good series.

But all of that is beside the point.  The point to this post is that I've learned a few things reading these books, some of which is slightly embarrassing to admit.  You see, I read all the Harry Potter books and loved them.  They're some of the best books ever written, in my opinion.  But based on my very limited knowledge - even though I pride myself on knowledge of England - of British boarding schools, I sort of assumed that some of the terms that were thrown about were made up solely for the residents of Hogwarts. It would seem I was very wrong about this.

Prefects exist - and are normally just as snobby as Percy Weasley was.  Different houses also exist.  It wouldn't seem there are points for each house or competitions but girls (My only knowledge is of girls boarding schools as this is what the series is about...) definitely are sorted (unfortunately not by a magic hat) into houses where they reside for their entire time at the school.

Boarding schools also tend to look just like Castles with beautiful towers and huge fire places where students sit around studying for their exams.  Though I'm guessing that's not typical in the real, real-world. : ) 

So there you have it, I'm as shocked by my assumptions as I was when I heard Hermione's name pronounced out loud for the first time and realized I'd been butchering it in my head for the last 3 books.  But you have to admit, even when you read fluff - utterly fantastic and super-amazing fluff, mind you - you still learn something new every day! So, if there is a beautiful castle like girls school on the banks of Cornwall looking for a teacher, I'm now ready to assume my position...

Thoughts on Harry Potter 2.0

So I wasn't even going to read it.  I was going to wait to see the show - hopefully I'll be in England some time next year - and be surprised by it.  But then Costco had a great sale and the book was all anyone could talk about.  And basically here we are and it's been finished over the course of the last 24 hours.  So what did I think?

If you'd asked me about it last night, after I had put it down after reading about 80 pages, I would have said - Ehh.  I didn't like the play format.  I read plays all the time, but for some reason this material was difficult to read in that format.  However, now that it's through, my mind has changed.  It was marvelous!  I just loved having another Harry Potter story to read after all these years.  It was a lovely story that included almost all of the beloved characters while keeping the heart and the humor that the original books had.  

That's not to say that I don't have bones to pick.  One being that I'm still not crazy for the play format.  It would have been awesome if it was written in novel format, if for no other reason than it would have been a much more involved story.  The second issue I have is a question.  Who in the world is the kid on the front of the book?  I could guess one of 2 characters, neither one is a blondish kid about 10 years old.  

Last but not least, is more of a pondering rather than a bone to pick.  How on earth did the directors and production people manage to pull off the insane amount of magic and scenery changes?  This performance must cost a fortune, which is why I'm guessing they chose to run it in rep.  2 shows means twice the ticket sales.  Even knowing that, I'm still ridiculously excited to somehow get tickets to see it, because let's face it, it's another Harry Potter when we had heard there wouldn't be any more.  Who wouldn't be excited?

Friday Five

1. Because the current election cycle is what it is, I'm just going to keep on dreaming that President Bartlet is actually running and will one day be the actual President of the United States, especially when he says such dreamy things.  Somehow, I doubt this President ever called for wall around the US...

2. If you're a fan of Harry Potter, or a fan of Hamilton or just a fan of smart people saying delightful things, you owe it to yourself to watch these 4 videos of Emma Watson interviewing Lin Manuel Miranda for HeforShe.  It's a fantastic interview full of smart things being said, Hogwarts house sorting and even some freestyle rap thrown in for good measure. Such a great use of 40 minutes!

3. This little guy courtesy of the Baltimore Sun is about the cutest St. Paddy's Day leprechaun ever!  Of course he also looks like he's silently cursing his owner for putting him in this outfit...

4. Super excited that the James Beard Nominations came out this week - not only did Isaac Toups and Kevin Gillespie get nominated but Jonathan Waxman did as well.  And in the food media category, my personal favorite food blog - Serious Eats - did too!

5. I love creative commercials, and while these aren't groundbreaking, they are super cute.  I think my fave is Arnold Palmer - though I'm always up for Phil and Jordan too.

In Memoriam

Most of my friends were terribly upset by David Bowie's death last week.  And it was sad to see someone so prolific die so suddenly.  He was fairly young and was recording music up until his death. Imagine what he could have created over the next 20 years. Even though it was terribly unexpected and upsetting, I wasn't heartbroken like a lot of people were.  I was never a big fan of his, so while I thought it was sad, I wasn't broken up by his death like a lot of people were.

Today, I was.

I just can't seem to get Alan Rickman out of my head.  In all honesty, Love Actually may have been the only movie I've ever seen him in.  As a strictly Harry Potter book fan, I never saw the movies.  I know he was brilliant in them, but I've never watched them.  But he was always one of those actors that was consistently hailed as just so good.  He could play anything and play it perfectly.  But what I admired more about him was his personality off screen.  As someone who played bad guys so flawlessly, you'd think he'd be one in real life.  

But in every article and every interview I've seen of him and by all accounts, he was completely charming and wickedly funny.  He just seemed like one of those people you'd love to have dinner with just to chat.  I think that's why his death hit me hard. While David Bowie seemed like this other worldly performer, Alan Rickman seemed more down to earth and the type of actor that would always be there in Hollywood to make movies better. Imagine the performances he could have given and the good he could have done.  Rest in Peace Alan.

And not like it needs repeating, but #CancerSucks.

Friday Five

1. In preparation for vacation, I've been trying to clear out some un-listened to music off my iPhone to make room for some summery vacationy tunes.  In doing so, I discovered the genre function and determined you can shuffle all the music in a particular genre (Yep, I know, I'm nothing if not on top of things...).  Anyway, doing that, I realized just how great the song "Standing Outside the Fire" was.  I mean I used to love, love, love it but then others won out.  But discovering it again, I realized it's still as fabulous as it once was. (The Live version is infinitely better but I can't seem to find it on YouTube)
                           
2. I watch a lot of House Hunters.  And if you watch a lot of House Hunters you learn things. The number one thing being that Maryland is one of the most expensive areas of the country to live in, and Texas is one of the least expensive areas of the country to live in.  Therefore, due to some really annoying Maryland issues, I've been on a "I'm moving to Texas" kick lately.  And this little article comparing Austin to Baltimore, added some serious fuel to the fire.

3. Potato Skin Potatoes: I found this on Pinterest a few weeks ago, but didn't think they'd be anything special.  I was wrong.  They were delicious and so easy to make!  I probably could have eaten a lot more than I'd made, but my cookie sheet was only so big.

4. Surprisingly I'm not a Disney person.  Don't get me wrong, I love all the movies and the characters but I've only been to Disney World once and it was sort of a bust.  I'd rather see Paris than walk around a theme park for a week. But this opening of the rest of Harry Potter World has me dreaming of a trip to Orlando.  I cannot wait until it opens next month just so I can see what else they have in store because these previews of Diagon Alley are pretty darn drool-worthy.

5. A really great joke that tells me the bestie is finally starting to feel a bit better!

Friday Five

1. Who doesn't love a good cupcake?  I have to say that the best in Maryland (and outside of Maryland too, in my opinion) are from Kupcakes and Co. in Elkridge.  I'm usually partial to Elvis (Banana, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chips - Yum!) but that wasn't the special today so I opted for Hot Chocolate which was chocolate with marshamallow icing.  I have a feeling it's a special just for winter which is a real shame because it's just become my favorite! I'll need at least another dozen before the season ends...Absolutely delicious!

2. As a Harry Potter Fan, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Disney World, has been on my radar for a while.  But I'm not a huge fan of Disney World in general (ridiculous I know) so I haven't really felt the need to get down there too quickly.  However, after the unveiling of the new plans for this summer, I'm super ready to hop on a plane.  The best part is, I'd only need a weekend to get it all done.  It's most definitely on the itinerary for next summer or spring.   I can't even imagine how they're planning to recreate Leicester Square in central Florida but I can't wait to see it!

3. You just have to love Brit award shows!  Their winners just seem so much more heartfelt in their speeches and well-spoken than ours ; )

          

          
4 & 5.  There have been 2 fairly ridiculous things that have made me laugh like a fool this week.  Neither should be as funny as I think they are, but I hope others at least get a giggle. The first is the list of the 30 Naughtiest Puppies. (Whoever created Dog Shaming should receive a substantial award.  I can't help but laugh every time I see those photos!)  And the second is the Bad Lip Reading of the NFL.  (I have no idea how in the world these people make these videos, but they are perfect on every level.)

Harry Potter - Redux

One of my goals for this year was to re-read the Harry Potter series from start to finish.  As a lover of all things Hogwarts from the very beginning, I read each book as soon as they came out in the stores.  However, with the year lag time between each, I tended to forget what happened in the last book when the next would come out.  And there's the little matter of me hating the movies.  I tried to love them as much as I loved the books, but the truth is that they changed the way I thought of the characters and Hogwarts which just ticked me off.  So whereas everyone caught up with things they forgot in the movies, I've been blissfully ignorant.  

Now thanks to the slowness of work and my need to have something readable at all times, out popped Harry Potter again to end my ignorance.  I've just finished the first book and have loved it almost as much as I did the first time.  The story is still captivating, and the characters are just as wonderful as always. I had even completely forgotten who was the bad guy which made the ending, that much better.

The best part was that I picked up a few clues for things that happen in the future stories, which is the whole reason I started this re-read in the first place.  Little easter eggs like this really prove what a genius JK Rowling really is!