HARRY POTTER 3

We saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkhaban today. We both liked it a lot. I really felt this was the best "film" of the three so far. I really felt like the other two were visualization of the book rather than independent works of art. The first Harry Potter movie was magical and full of whimsy and looked just great. The actors were perfectly cast and the set design was superb. I just felt like it lumbered along, showing us the main points of the book. The third film was a lot darker and richer. There was very little stuff thrown in for fun. This was a much more adult film than the other three, and I don't mean dirty or scary. I just mean it was deeper and more character-driven. What I loathed about the first two films were the endings. I thought they were classic "deus ex machina" endings, with something out of left field swooping to save Harry. This one felt much more organic and natural.

The theater was about half full, and we were the only adults not accompanied by children. There were a few talkers at first, but nothing awful. About a half hour in, some kid sarted asking his dad questions very loudly. He was shushed roundly. A few minutes later, he piped up again and was shushed again, but this time another father told the loud kid's father to make his kid behave or take him outside! A very quick shouting match ensued and an usher came in to quiet things down. The rest of the movie went along without a hitch. During the credits, I overheard the shushing dad bragging to other patrons that yeah, he didn't want to start a scene, but he just had to do what was right...blah blah blah.

JUNE 21, 2004

Today was a day of trying new things. Since August of 2003, I've been growing a beard and letting my hair grow long. Today I cut my hair short and shaved my beard. It was just getting to be a pain in the ass to keep up and I got that nagging "Hello! You're a grown up!" voice going on. I know it's silly, but hey, it's my hair so go to hell if you have a problem with it. I wasn't asking your opinion, just reporting the news!

To continue with the day's quest for newness, I bought a bottle of Cherry Coke and one of Vanilla Coke. I brought them both home and mixed them together in one of those plastic lemonade pitchers. You know the ones, where you turn the top to change it from "full pour" to "no pour" to "pour, but no ice cubes, thanks"...anyway, I thought a cherry-vanilla Coke would be the dog's bollocks. I discovered that the vanilla taste is much stronger than the cherry taste, and that when you double the Coke taste, it pretty much buries the cherry taste and greatly diminishes the vanilla, leaving you with a pretty damn dull soda that vaguely tastes of Dr. Pepper, but not really.

Oh, did you know Camel cigarettes now comes in Piña Colada flavor? No kiddin'!

Bert
(I like to sign things "Bert" insted of Rob, because "Bert" is short for Robert and much easier to type. Look down, E, R and T are all right next to each other, so I type a B and then flap my fingers over E,R & T. It's much more fun.

I often find myself wanting to say something that's kinda dumb or only vaguely interesting. Now I have someone to tell it all to: You! Welcome to my Blog! Expect nothing, that way you won't be disappointed. I expect I'll pop on every few days and tell you something that happened that day, or something that pissed me off, or maybe I'll review a movie. You never can tell with me!