Heads Up! My Power's Out!

Hello readers,


Just a little heads up, my power has been out since Monday morning due to the windstorms that came through Illinois earlier this week. 


Since I didn't pre-set any of my posts for the week, Harry Potter week, reviews, and any normal meme's are going to be delayed until the power is restored. Com Ed has no idea when that might actually happen, though! Being that we have a down pole in the yard three houses down, I don't see this being fixed soon...

Brooke's Box of Book will be back soon! Until then, I've placed a picture of a candle in this post, so you may experience what I have had to deal with for the past few nights... :-)


Till next time (which I hope is soon)!

Harry Potter Memes

Harry Potter Meme of All Memes by Osaku
Name/Username
Age
Gender
House	Gryffindor
Wand	Maple, 9", Phoenix Feather
Best Course	Defense Against the Dark Arts
Worst Course	Care of Magical Creatures
Pet	Eastern Screech-Owl
Patronus	Dragon
Quidditch Job	Security Wizard
Wizard Candy	Bertie Botts every Flavour Beans (Mmm! Earwax!)
Profession After School	Auror

And a few questions found via Tumblr. (Little fact, I had no idea those images with crazy captions were considered meme's. Made this a little harder to find than I thought it would be!)


• Least favorite character in the series? Wormtail.  He was such a worm throughout the whole series!!!

• How do you feel about the movies compared to the books? It depends on the book. I think the movie version of Prisoner of Azkaban was completely off. Too many things made too little sense in that adaptation (ie: Lupin knowing the marauders map, not telling harry why his patronus is a stag, far too little Ron, etc). However, I prefer watching Order of the Phoenix to reading it. I love, love, love the movie adaptation of Goblet of Fire, as well as the school year portion of the book.


• Which character do you most compare yourself to? Of the main three, I'm more like Ron. He seems to have a cool, funny attitude about him. Though to be totally honest, I'm probably more like Colin Creavey. His up beat nature and love for photography are very me. I should add a bit of Ginny, too. I'm an odd mixture of outgoing and shy.


• What would your Patronus be? A raven. And it's all due to my weird love for 'The Grey King' by Susan Cooper and her character Bran, the Raven boy.

• Would you rather have an owl, toad, or cat as your pet? Owl, hands down. They can be very helpful in two ways-- companionship and mail service!
• If you could invite seven characters from the series to a Hogwarts dinner party, who would they be?


• Pick your mode of transportation: Thestral, Broom, Floo, Apparation, Portkey, Hippogriff, or Dragon. I'd apparate. Floo would be my second option. I'd probably keep a flying car around, too.


• What would you see if you looked in the Mirror of Erised? I'd see me surrounded by my family-- husband, children, dog, etc.




• Which Deathly Hallows object would you like to have? The Cloak of Invisibility. That thing is so cool!


• Which character would you attend the Yule Ball dance with, if you had the chance? Harry, but I'd save a dance for Neville if he looked like Matthew Lewis!


• What would be your favorite Hogwarts class? Charms, Flying, and Care of Magical Creatures!


• Which Quidditch position would you play: Chaser, Keeper, Beater, Seeker, Referee, or Spectator? Probably spectator!

Quick Memories of Reading:
Sorcerers Stone: Loved the story. I had no idea that it would turn into the huge deal it has since the ARC arrived...
Chamber of Secrets: Liked it. It was a quick read.
Prisoner of Azkaban: LOVED it. My favorite book in the series. Sirius and Lupin are two shining stars in the Harry Potter Universe.
Goblet of Fire: Could stand to skip most of the Quidditch World Cup (and usually do upon re-reading). That was just too long. Loved the Hogwarts portion of the book, though. It was a very upbeat, even with the whole Cedric thing.
Order of the Phoenix: Ew... Too long. Too angsty. Too much of stubborn Harry. And above all, too many sentences in capital letters!
Half Blood Prince: The best parts of this were between Ginny and Harry. Such a cute love story.
Deathly Hallows: Wordy. I'm not a huge fan of the parts that take place outside of Hogwarts and not a huge fan of treasure hunts... The battle was great, though. Loved seeing everyone return to save the wizarding world. The epilogue was, er, interesting, to say the least.

There's my answers, how about yours?  Leave them below or if you blog them, leave a link!

Video Rewind: Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone

I'm re-watching all the Harry Potter movies as a lead in to the final film July 15th.  This post is dedicated to the movie adaptation of 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone'. 

My earliest memories of the film are watching the pre-release clips of the mail scene with the Dursleys and Harry. I think I had that entire scene memorized by the movies release!  As with all the Harry Potter films, my original viewing was in the movie theater, sometime during opening week.  There are certain series you need to see in the theater, and this is one of them!

The Best Moments:

• Love the classroom scenes.  They ground this movie.
• Of all 7, this is the one movie that really shows off Hogwarts, both in terms of the school and the culture.
• Oliver Wood!  Oh, why oh why, did you go away?  So darn cute with that accent!
• On a similar note, love the flying class scene.
• Oh, seeing Little Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, and Neville is so refreshing!  
• The Ghosts-- sadly, these guys got cut out of some of the other movies.  I miss them.
• Love watching the staircases and paintings move.
• Hagrid's "I shouldn't have said that" still makes me laugh.
• Great Christmas scene

That Could Have Been Better:

• Harry's pretty talented, being able to turn himself into a cartoon like CG version of himself when he's in danger.  :-)  Thank goodness they fixed the CG for future movies
• Harry's eyes blink unevenly throughout this movie.  I've gotten used to it, but it bugged the heck out of me originally.

Now, it's your turn.  What are your favorite scenes in this first movie in the Harry Potter series?

Fun Harry Potter Facts- Part 1

Think you know all there is about Harry Potter?  Here's a few fun facts about the movies!  I skowered IMDB and picked up a few good bits of triva for you to impress your friends with!  More can be found on the IMDB website.

Sorcerers Stone Movie Trivia:

• Did you know Hufflepuff Susan Bones (played by the prominent red headed extra from the first two movies) is actually Director Chris Columbus's daughter Eleanor Columbus?  Sisters Isabella (Chamber of Secrets, girl in bookshop) and Violet (Chamber of Secrets, girl with flowers) and brother Brendan (Chamber of Secrets, boy in study hall 1) can also be seen in the films, though not as prominently.
• JK Rowling insisted on British leads.
• If you want to visit the filming location for platform 9 3/4, you should really visit innercity platform 4 and 5.  Supposedly, platform 9 3/4 is actually marked at King Cross Station between the real platform 9 and 10, though that is not where the movie filmed.
• The trouble-making poltergeist Peeves (played by Rik Mayall) does not, in the end, appear in the movie.
  
• The only sets that were built for Hogwarts were the Great Hall, the Grand Staircase, and the Gryffindor Common Room. More were built for later movies
  
• Among the portraits on the shifting staircase, you can clearly see a painting of Anne Boleyn (King Henry VIII's second wife, mother of Queen Elizabeth I), who was condemned to death as a witch.

Chamber of Secrets Movie Trivia:

• Hugh Grant was cast to play Gilderoy Lockhart, but had to drop out at the last minute.
• Fourteen Ford Anglias were destroyed to create the scene where Harry and Ron crash into the Whomping Willow.
  
• Flourish and Botts is a redress of Olivanders Wand Shop (seen in Sorcerers Stone)
• Shirley Henderson, who played the fantastic Moaning Myrtle, is the oldest actress (age 37) to portray a Hogwarts student.
  
• The "Let's just hope Mr. Potter will always be around to save the day" dialogue (see quotes) was improvised by Daniel Radcliffe and Jason Isaacs.
  
• Foreign language translations had to change Tom Marvolo Riddle's name so that an appropriate anagram could be formed from "I am Lord Voldemort." In Spanish, his name became "Tom Sarvolo Ryddle," which transforms into "Soy Lorde Voldemort." In French, his name is "Tom Elvis Jedusor," which becomes "Je suis Voldemort." In Dutch, his name is "Marten Asmodom Vilijn" which is an anagram for "Mijn naam is Voldemort". In Turkish the name is "Tom Marvoldo Riddle" which makes up "Adim Lord Voldemort".
  
• The script originally said that Hermione would hug Harry and Ron in the final scene. As the then 11-year-old Emma Watson was embarrassed about having to hug the boys in front of the entire cast, Chris Columbus allowed her to change the scene so that Hermione just hugs Harry then starts to hug Ron but the two get embarrassed and resolve to only shake hands. Watson also stated in a recent interview that she kept letting Daniel Radcliffe go too quickly, so the film was "frozen" for a few seconds to make the hug look like it lasted longer than it actually did. Her hesitation with Ron is also taken by fans as a precursor to the relationship that will develop between the two characters.

Trivia from movies 3-8 will be posted a little later this week!  Enjoy the rest of the Harry Potter Week posts!

In Celebration of Harry Potter!

Happy Harry Potter week!  

With the final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, debuting July 15th, 2011, this little blog will be celebrating all that is Harry Potter!  While I was a reader well before Harry Potter, I can't help but agree that the Harry Potter books have made a huge impact on readers and writers, both young and old.

And in terms of the movies?  The Harry Potter movies are perfect examples of what all movies adapted from stories should strive to be.  Smart adapting, perfect casting, and a talented production crew have truly made these movies worthy of the term 'classics'.  And the impossible feat of getting the same cast members back year after year?  I only hope that when I succeed in the entertainment world, I can find such a wonderful cast of actors who care about my project so much that they keep their ego's in check and stay with the production!


Harry and his story will be alive for years and years to come and I'm very happy that I got to experience the whole 'Harry Potter' era from beginning to end.  And literally I mean from seeing the ARC of 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone', to attending special midnight events, working midnight events, and finally, to soon seeing the final movie!


So, stay tuned for more fun filled Harry Potter posts!

Field of Dreams 2: NFL Lockout

The Funny or Die trailer for 'Field of Dreams 2: NFL Lockout', starring Jacob Black himself, Taylor Lautner.

Field of Dreams 2: NFL Lockout with Taylor Lautner from Taylor Lautner

Happy 4th of July

To all those reading this little blog,

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

Update/TGIF

As promised, it was a bit busier on the blog this week!  With July here, pitch meetings are getting closer and closer!!!!


This week on the Blog:
Review: Wonderstruck
In My Mailbox
At the Movies: The Host
Review: Steel

The Question of the Week:
Mr & Mrs: Who are your favorite book couples?


Answer:
1: Harry and Ginny (Harry Potter)- They're just too cute for words. I love how their romance blossomed in the HP books.


2: Bran and Jane (The Dark Is Rising Sequence)- Okay. Bran and Jane never really hooked up. However, it was hinted at and they would be so cute together! A certain webmistress may have even started a fanfic about their eventual relationship...


3: Wanderer and Ian (The Host)- I love this couple even more than Edward and Bella. Yes, Ian was a jerk in the beginning, but once he saw that Wanderer was more than just a body snatcher, he became such a good guy!


4: Sophie and Archer (Hex Hall)- Both characters are so strong that they make a great couple.


5: Suze and Jesse (Mediator)- My first foray into a human/ghost couple.  They're perfect for eachother!


And that's it for this week! Happy Hop, all!