Fearless on my breath...

So I've seen the first two eps of Dr. Who and overall I'm kinda "Eh" about them. The new companion strikes me as a little too Rose Mark II, I'd have preferred if they'd created a character a little more unique and dynamic but maybe they'll stop writing her as Rose in the not too distant future. Also disappointing was that the second ep was basically "Tooth and Claw" set in 1599 and kind of ignored all of the previous mentions of the Doctor having met Shakespeare. However, it did include two fabulous mentions of the Harry Potter series that made me squee like a little girl so that's something.

Made it as far as the beginning of Book 4 of the Dresden Files and I had to stop, put the book down, and walk away. First the entire series seems to be summed up in the following formula:

1. Harry is contacted about a case
2. Harry is warned not to take said case (by another character, fate in general, his own common sense, etc.) but ignores said warning
3. Harry gets the living snot beaten out of him.
4. Harry comes to the wrong conclusion about the bad guy and gets the snot beaten out of him again.
5. Harry makes a spectacularly bad decision and gets a friend/acquaintance/cop killed/maimed/injured giving him a chance to ANGST.
6. Harry gets captured and once again, has the living snot beaten out of him.
7. At the very last second all of the pieces fit into place and he manages to scrounge up some up til now unknown reserve of magical power and destroy the bad guys just in the nick of time.
8. The end.

It doesn't help that the author seems to find the "throw everything and the kitchen sink at the hero" approach too irresistible in every single book. But I was ok with that, it was when Harry was quite rightly dragged in front of the White Council and he, swear to god, Godwined the proceedings by comparing them all to Neville Chamberlain, that I had to put the book down. My gut said quite clearly, "This is wingnuttia for the fantasy crowd...don't you have better things to do with your time?" And my brain replied, "Why yes, yes I do."

I wish Harry was as interesting as, say Sam Spade, 'cause I might be inclined to stick around despite my gut reaction. But he's more like Dirty Harry with a wand, all catchphrases, tough guy attitude and black and white concepts of reality. I have no empathy for the character whatsoever, he's annoying, rash, and worst of all a complete boob. He's constantly telling others to think before acting and then completely ignores his own advice and throws magic at his problems until they go away...or until he gets the snot beaten out of him.

If I liked Harry I might be inclined to see the whole beaten up thing as a plus, I mean I like hurt/comfort as much as the next gal. But I don't like Harry so I'm generally rather happy he's getting his ass kicked. I do find the changes in the character Bob fascinating, though, and I can see why the tv writers went the direction that they did. In the books Bob is basically a snarky plot device, which is fine given how damn much else is going on in each of them. But for the tv series Harry did need a "sidekick" and that companion had to be an actual character. I'll be interested to see if they develop him any further, I hope so 'cause as I've said many times, lord do I love me some Terrence Mann and I do think his character has potential. I just wish they'd used a little more time in the last episode to do that, what a waste...

Oh and before I forget, episode 7 of the second season of Life on Mars, wow. The show has actually gotten better with each one, I honestly don't know how they do it. I get the feeling episode 8 is actually going to break me utterly and henceforth comparing all shows I see to its brilliance.

I could've sworn I'd heard that Emma wasn't signing on for the last two HP flicks, but apparently I am on the good crack. Straight from WB:

BURBANK, CA, March 23, 2007 – Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson will reprise the roles they have made their own: teen wizards Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, respectively, in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the final two motion picture adaptations of J.K. Rowling’s best-selling book series. The announcement was made today by Jeff Robinov, President of Production, Warner Bros. Pictures.
[...]
Both “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” are being produced by David Heyman, who has produced all of the Harry Potter films to date and was instrumental in bringing the franchise to the screen, beginning with the first blockbuster, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” David Barron, who served as an executive producer on “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” and “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” and is a producer on the upcoming “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” will also be producing the final two installments of the franchise.
[...]
Warner Bros. Pictures’ fifth film in the series, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” is slated for release in the U.S. on July 13, 2007.

The official grande-sized trailer is now up for OotP, you can catch lots more yummy details in this one.

Public Service Reminder:

The teaser trailer for “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” will make its online debut on Monday, November 20th at 12:00 p.m. PST / 3:00 p.m. EST on the “Happy Feet” site (www.happyfeetmovie.com).

I'm looking forward to seeing it in crystal clarity so I can hopefully pick up even more obscure details :)

And it's up, but bitty. Still you can freeze it and go through step by step which is helpful in catching some of the details. And you can do screencaps too, which I like very much :) BTW, divine_debris you must do a Bellatrix costume, I mean seriously, that would kick ass.

Ok first thing's first, the ( OotP trailer... )

( And as for Happy Feet... )

Sweet! New OoTP teaser poster here. Warner rep also says we can see a teaser trailer with Happy Feet starting this weekend. I'd intended to see HF anyway as my pretend robbing the cradle boyfriend Elijah Wood is the star, but this seals the deal. Anyone else in for a matinee either Saturday or Sunday?

Ok I'm a flaming geek girl, I've admitted this more times than I can even count. But listening to one of the Lumos presentations this morning on the way into work ("Severus Snape: Past, Present and Future") and laughing my ass off at most of it started my day off on the right foot. People in the cars beside me must've thought I'd taken leave of my senses.

Basically the three presenters each took a position on the character, bad guy, good guy, in-between guy and made their case. Steve Vander Ark, Dr. Edmund Kern, and George Beahm each made their cases, Ed's and Steve's being the best. Though I have to say Ed's take on Snape as the villain of the stories was a helluva lot weaker than his presentation "Snape's Eyes" that I caught the next day. You could tell his heart wasn't totally in it, and that simplifying what is an amazingly complex and fascinating character into a cookie cutter-style baddie just wasn't his thing.

George was not a terribly good debater or presenter from what I could tell, he just sort of mumbled his way through the old arguments not bringing much of anything new to the table, which was a bit disappointing.

Steve, however, was a hoot and I could see why audiences were eating out of the palm of his hand. His talk was about the fact that if Snape were a real person he'd hate him, but that as a character the series really wouldn't exist without him. He may not be the greatest guy in the world, but he's essential to the story. And if he is a villain, he's light years ahead of Voldemort.

Indeed Steve's take on the many failings of Voldemort as a leader is one of the funniest things I've heard in ages.

I'll try to get to "Teaching Obedience: Dumbledore as Starets to Snape" tonight, but I can't drive while I listen to that one because the end makes me cry. Yeah, it was that good. If anybody's interested in a copy, just let me know.

Dinosaur species named after Hogwarts:

The newly described horny-headed dinosaur Dracorex hogwartsia lived about 66 million years ago in South Dakota, just a million years short of the extinction of all dinosaurs. But its flat, almost storybook-style dragon head has overturned everything paleontologists thought they knew about the dome-head dinos called pachycephalosaurs.

BoingBoing adds:

A dragon-like dinosaur unearthed in South Dakota has been named "Dracorex hogwartsia" (Dragon King of Hogwarts) with the help of a group of kids at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. The name has received the blessing of JK Rowling, who says it will give her more cred with her "science-loving family."