The Harry Potter Week

I got my pre-ordered copy of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows from our local concierge last July 23. 

I already saw what the cover looked liked by then.  I hanged out at Powerbooks Megamall on the first day of its release, waiting for a friend before going to a birthday party.  Harry seemed to be conjuring something in a place I could not make out of.  It looked like an arena.  People were already doing some peaking at the table of contents, at the ending.  The book costs one thousand four hundred fifty.  I had to remind myself that I'll be getting my copy next working day because I wanted to pick up one already.

I started reading on the night of the 23rd.  It looked like a long read, and it's not just because I found the book thick.  About thirty-something chapters all-in-all, but as usual the story isn't going to go to the climax and denouma in a straightforward manner.  I read a minimum two chapters per night.  Everytime some peculiar past event or object was mentioned, I tried to recall which book it was and what happened, so it took some time.  That's aside from me picturing the characters (as I remembered them from the movie) acting out the print I was reading.  It provided a good distraction to all stress from all the problems in the office, both mine and other people.  I was so looking forward to the weekend when I'll have all the time to continue reading about Potter's adventure. When weekend came I had a big bag of cheese Munchies and a large glass of Coca-Cola filled with ice.  I was slumped in the sofa, finishing off the rest of the book.  Ate a bit of breakfast and lunch, but for the most part of the day, I was bouyed in DAKKI pillows, reading on Horcruxes and Hallows.

The story went, for the most part, as I had expected.  In Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix, I knew something was up with one of the major characters.  The backstory further strengthened in Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince.  I was thinking "I knew it!" but then again, all of Harry Potter reader knew about it also.  The book just offered the explanation and the chain of events.  I did have running commentaries in my mind, as probably anyone reading it would.  "Did it really have to happen during THAT time? Cheesy!", "Huh? How'd that happen?", "I didn't know those were not prohibited anymore".

I finished the book at about seven o'clock in the evening, not really sad nor happy.  It's just finished.  Harry Potter's story is finished.  Now the quest for Books One to Five begins for me.  I hope the hardbound prices don't skyrocket.  I still recall the five-thousand credit card charge slapped on me when I bought that Book Six special edition.

Diagnosing Purpose

I have been attending a study group since last week on Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life".  It was started by my teammate and I joined in.  Yes, I know.  I've never been the spiritually-hungry type.  I've always been very non-conformist in my beliefs, which run contrary to what is essential in a person to stay devout in a specific religion.

One reason I joined is to finish the book.  I bought a copy since last January 2007 and even though the book recommended finishing it within 40 days, I've been only able to finish up to Chapter 14 (When God Seems Distant).  Aside from that . . . .well, I guess I'd just like to explore more on my purpose.  Don't get me wrong.  Based on what is happening in my life now, I already have a hint of what my purpose is: help mentor people, help people to succeed in this company, take care of my family's needs, extend help to any needy relatives.  I'm O.K. with this in general, but then I ask, "Is this it?"  I think that if this is it, I better be having some sort of finality or closure so I can start accepting it as my lot in life.  Note that I didn't put "raising a family" as one of them.  And this is particularly because I have been unsuccessful thus far in getting a suitable girl.  I'm not sure if four frustrations is enough of a sign to tell me something (anything would do actually).  My friend Joy and I once had this YM chat about discerning if one was meant for single-blessedness.  Being the spiritual ignoramus that I am, I didn't know how this discernment went about.  Anyway, as I said, I probably need to know what is the plan before I start fighting, negotiating, or accepting "it". 

Discussions are scheduled once a week, during lunchtime.  Our first discussion went well considering nobody wanted to open up first.  My team mate said it would take about seven weeks to complete the book.  Hopefully I'll have the time to continue being part of the group.  I've never been really the devout Christian as some in the group are.  I grew up with minimal spiritual guidance from my family.  I studied in public schools where religion is more of an elective.  Education in U.P. further opened my mind to think freely, be open-minded to other points-of-view, and be critical of existing norms.  So in that sense, I can never be a devout follower of something I view as man-made.  I believe in basics: A loving, generous and merciful God; Tests to build one's self; Plans and purpose for everything that is happening; Trying one's best to live a good life according to basic moral values.  That's about it though.  So you're probably wondering what I'm still doing joining that group?  Well, I really do want to see where studying the book will lead me.  If I find another purpose from the ones I already acknowledge that I have now, then well and good.  If not, at least I got to finish the book, learned some basic truths, and (hopefully) come out a better man.

I can't believe I watched it twice

The book is probably the least popular in the series.  In my opinion, this film will be the least liked also. I have to admit that I only watched this "Harry Potter..." installment out of obligation.  It's part of the franchise so I had to watch it just to keep the continuity.  I'm not really that happy with the movie.  I've not always been a fan of how the Harry Potter movies are edited and the same kind of sloppy transition can be seen in this film.  Nothing is really notable on this movie, except that I really hated Dolores Umbridge's character.  It's the same kind of hate I felt while reading the book.  I never imagined her to look that way though.  She was described in the book as looking like a happy frog (who just swallowed a fly).  In the film she looked like an exaggerated Mrs.Weasley. Another worthwhile sight in this movie is Bellatrix Lestrange but she looks more deranged than in the book.  The battle scenes between the Death Eaters and the D.A. were not that good either.  *Sigh*.  And to think I have to bear watching two times because aside from watching it on the opening weekend, I signed up for a free screening sponsored by the company this week.

One thing I'm looking forward to is July 23, when I'll finally have my copy of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows at a discounted price from the company.  After that, I'll be buying the Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, and Order of the Phoenix books to complete the collection.  I wonder where I can get them though.  Some of the bookstores don't keep stock of these anymore.

Exciting Things

Yes.  My work is as stress-filled as can be.  Yes.  I have no love-life to speak of.  Never it be said though, that I have no more things that lift me up.  Here are some things I'm looking forward to.

• I just saw a movie preview of Neil Gaiman's "Startdust" while watching Harry Potter.  I can't believe it's on film!  It looks promising, based on the movie trailer.  Michelle Pfeiffer is the witch queen, Robert De Niro is the sky pirate, and Claire Danes is the Star.  On the rushes alone, I have this gut feel that the movie is loyal to the book, which makes me even more excited.  Cool.  As per Ces, it'll be shown this August (hopefully when I'm on my one-week birthday vacation leave).  I can't wait to see the three Stronghold princes kill each other.  Hehehe.  The love angle is not bad either.  Hm.  I wonder.  Can "Neverland" be far behind?
  
• By July 23, I will be getting my greatly-discounted copy of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows.  It's a company perk.  It'll be my second one.  Aside from getting a copy of this final installment, one thing I'm also excited about is the search for the other books I plan on collecting: Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and The Order Of the Phoenix.  All hard-bound of course.  I wonder where I'll get them though.  The bookstores I've seen so far don't carry all these titles.
  
• My team and I are having our monthly anniversary dinner or lunch at Fish and Co. in the coming weeks.  I'm not actually excited about the anniversary.  I'm more excited about the prospect of eating at Fish & Co.  I promised my team we'll celebrate there if our performance metrics goes up.  It did, so all we need now is a date.  Hopefully they'll all agree to have it in August instead, so the dinner will be my birthday treat as well.
  
• The DVD for 300 is already out.  It comes in three kinds: the 599 pesos kind, the 750 pesos kind, and the 1250 pesos kind.  The most expensive one probably has a Spartan inside.
  
• I'm going on (minimum) one-week vacation leave in August!!!!  I haven't figured out what to do yet.  For sure, whatever I'll do will cost a small fortune so I'm trying to lessen the fortune as I explore alternatives.  That means a trip to Bohol is out.  I fancy a mall-hopping week.  I haven't been to Trinoma, or Gateway, or Market!Market! yet.  Hm.  But I do want to go back to Baguio but I guess it'll be too rainy and too cold for my mother now.  Anyway, the mere prospect of being out of work for a week is enough to put me in a good mood.

By Far, the 2nd-Greatest Film for 2007

This movie blew me away.  It's now one of the top movies of 2007 for me, alongside 300.  This movie is sooo damn cool.

To think that when I initially saw the movie trailers a few months ago, I wasn't excited about it.  I didn't even sign up for the free movie screening offered by my company.  My initial reservation about it was that it would be more about the people and the drama.  And it was about people, and it did have drama.  But it was way too awesome.  When I was a kid, Autobots and Decepticons would battle it out with minimal collateral damage.  In this movie, viewers are given an idea of what would happen if we had gigantic robots fighting in our streets and we're caught in the crossfire.  There was destruction and chaos all cinematically orchestrated and arranged.  Walang itatapon sa pelikulang ito.  So cool.  All the scenes were great.  I wonder how long it took for the animators to finish the design of just one transformation for one scene.  The transformation scenes were so seamlessly "choreographed".  The battlescenes were also sooo cool.  Even the supposedly non-exciting moments -- Sam looking for his great grandfather's eyeglass while the Autobots invaded his front yard, Bumblebee going into soundtrack mode in helping Sam win the girl -- were funny at the very least.  My mouth was agape most of the time I had to check myself.  I'm not sure if there's another upcoming movie this year that can trump this one, or 300 in terms of cinematic experience.  Hopefully I can watch it again before Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix pushes it out of the moviehouses.  I'm definitely getting the DVD when it come out.  Did I mention that this movie is so damn cool?

Thoughts at Random

• I don't like the Spider-man 3 original soundtrack.  It's too loud, and the songs didn't have the same impact to me as the Spider-man 2 OST.  The only tracks I liked are Snow Patrol's Signal Fire and Rogue Wave's Sightlines.
  
• I just had framed two paintings:  the Mona Lisa imitation I bought from The Louvre in Paris, and the Picasso paiting that my friend Alisa gave me from her Italian Master-Of-Fashion-studies adventure.  All in all, it costed me about a thousand pesos.  Both ended up posted in my bedroom despite my protests to have them displayed at our living area.  I'm still getting used to having Mona Lisa stare at me while I'm lying in bed.  The only thing not yet framed now is the Linkin Park poster I got for free when I bought their Minutes To Midnight CD.
  
• After a long search, I finally completed my collection of the Barkada Trip figurines.  All seven of them are now atop my DVD player: Bok, Abantao, Derek, Norie, Marla, Nikki, and Trixie.
  
• It's been a while since I've been out on a gimik with my college friends.  These days, I usually go out with friends at work.  I kinda miss the olden days when everybody was still here and we were still not busy with other stuff.
  
• I just finished Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood.  A bit too warped for my taste.  It was nicely written though.  The next book in line would be Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.  Before that though, I'll be finishing a corporate required reading as part of my job level's curriculum.  Unbelievable.  Already n years in the corporate world and there are still required readings like in college.
  
• I saw stalls brandishing bootleg DVD copies of Heroes in Edsa Central station two weekends ago.  I was tempted to buy, but I heard on the radio that the original DVD is already out.  Not sure if it was released in Manila though.
  
• I'm starting to run out og space for my CDs, VCDs, and DVDs.  The CDs are i towers in the living area while the videos and in a cabinet drawer in my room.  I've always wanted to check out this store in Edsa Shangri-la Mall that sells stuff for space management but I always forget about it when I'm there.
  
• I just spent another two hours last weekend tidying up my room.  It's amazing how much paper I accumulate despite my efforts to be more conscious to what to keep and on what to crumple up.
  
• I bought a new pair of office shoes two weekends ago.
  
• Two Sundays ago, I chanced on this episode of Us Girls dealing with panties.  Angel Aquino was asking this gynecologist for some tips for the ladies and the doctor said, "Don't wear panties at night."  It turns out, that women's private parts need aeration.  Interesting....
  
• Why do I feel like I'm back in my old high school where people get so engrossed in extra-curricular activities to (obviously) get honors?  It's annoying.  Why, you ask?  Because we're not in high school anymore!!!!  You can't make up for lousy performance at your real work by taking extra credit for extra things! Grrrrr.....

My POV on PBB

The Big Night is over.  Bea was hailed the Big Winner of Pinoy Big Brother Season 2.  Buti na lang.  I think there would be a civil uprising if Wendy got the title instead.  In the latter part of the season, the issues have become so heated and personal that the last few weeks made up for the boring first months of the show.  People have their own take on it.  I have mine.

I for one, really think Wendy is a bitch and she deserves all the flak she got and is still getting.  She deserved all the boos and names directed at her during the Big Night.  She mistakes pagpapakatotoo (being true to one's self) as a license to show a lack of good breeding and proper upbringing.  And now she asks the public to spare her mother out of this.  Duh.  She showed how much of an uneducated welch she is inside the house, so she shouldn't blame people for concluding she wasn't raised well by her mother.  She accuses Bea and Gee-Ann of doing strategies to "manipulate" the viewers to their side, but she also does manipulation of her own.  She now represents herself a victim of harsh judgement since she says she only showed her true self inside the house.  She's not fooling this one.

It actually makes me wonder how she got 1.2 million text votes, landing her in the 3rd Big Placer slot.  Her supporters might be one of the following:

• dumb enough to waste cellphone load on somebody who, in order to spite people she doesn't like, cooks food good for 5 people when there are 7 people in the house.
  
• men who vote for her because she's a "hot c" slut.
  
• people who follow Wendy's rationale that being true to one's self is a blanket authorization to be uncouth, petty, and spiteful.
  
• fellow bitches who see themselves in Wendy and want to live vicariously through her.
  
• fans of the BrEndy (Bruce-Wendy) loveteam.

.

Anyway, that's that.  As she said in her speech (amidst the boos and catcalls thrown at her that she had to plead for people to stop so she can speak a little), there's a reason why she's there and why she landed the spot.  I guess one of the reason is so people will loathe her more for taking what is, in the majority of the people's minds, the slot meant for Gee-Ann or Bodie.  Now that they're all our of the PBB house, I look forward to what happens next.  I've always envisioned Wendy doing a sexy opening number in Wowowee, which would be a prelude to her joining the network's Showgirls stable.  In another few months, if she's still not a has-been, she'll have her boobs augmented in preparation for her first sex flick with Bruce.  Those two really deserve each other.

Congratulations Bea!