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I'm a teenage girl who enjoys a variety of things, such as flowers, colors, piano, music, henna, writing, animals, reading, acting, creating, talking, moving, learning, smiling, and playing. This blog is about my life, interests, and observations.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Harry Potter reading spree

I want to announce to everyone that I never read, but that would be a lie... counting the millions of key-written things I've read over the internet, seen in RPing. What with the WoW-inspired poems, WoW-inspired stories, and WoW-inspired RPing that has gone on for months on end, I read all the time. But if you're counting real, published books, I've only read about twenty. As I said in a past blog (which time I had been practically bursting at the seams because I wanted to go into my Harry Potter week so bad), I only really read on trips. That includes car trips, and plane trips, where I am left with nothing else to do. Such a habit changed as soon as I was on my trip in Washington D.C. with my mom, dad, Alec, Kyra, grandparents, uncle, and his two sons (read in my mom's blog (www.ourjoyfullife.blogspot.com) for further information on said trip). We had been watching TV when we saw they were interviewing J.K. Rowling on her new, and last Harry Potter book, which will be released this July. My mom convinced me to try reading them, because they're "very good reads!"

My god. I read through the first one so fast, and as soon as we got home, I got done with the second one in one read. Five hours straight. The third one I got done with just a few hours ago, and I plan on starting the fourth one soon. The more and more I read the books, the more and more I begin to dread and even hate the director of the Harry Potter MOVIES. I'll start naming the many errors they made in the movie. (P.S. These are some of my peeves... little details found in books, that they don't seem to bother adding in movies)

1. Dudley and Petunia Dursley are SUPPOSED to be BLONDE. Not brunette. Blonde. Other than that, I'd say they chose the actors quite well.


2. They don't even care to introduce Dudley's best friend (which would have been SIMPLE TO DO), Piers Polkiss. He's hanging out with Dudley at his birthday. Again, it would be easy for them to have just said "This is Dudley's friend, who is being invited to his birthday party." But no. They don't.


3. While watching the first and second movie (which I had seen before I read any of the books), Dumbledore was wise, and solemn. Always knowing what to do in whatever situation, in the most reasonable and practical fashion. I was furious when they had to hire a new actor (because the previous one died, rest his soul...), and this was one quirky! He was... weird! And careless! Once I began reading the real books, I found out something very strange...

...he was SUPPOSED to be that way! Here's a direct quote from the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone:

    Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.
    "Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!
    "Thank you!"
    He sat back down. Everyone clapped and cheered. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not.
    "Is he -- a bit mad?" he asked Percy uncertainly.
    "Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"


See? Quirky. And just to prove my point further, here's another quote.

    Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.
    "Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"
    And the school bellowed:

    "Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
    Teach us something please,
    Whether we be old and bald
    Or young with scabby knees,
    Our heads could do with filling
    With some interesting stuff,
    For now they're bare and full of air,
    Dead flies and bits of fluff,
    So teach us things worth knowing,
    Bring back what we've forgot,
    Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
    And learn until our brains all rot."


    "Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

I learned to love Dumbledore so much. He's great.


4. They don't have Lee Jordan (Fred and George Weasley's best friend) in the movie at all, except when he's commentating the Quidditch matches. He's a bigger part these books than the movie gives him credit for.


5. They hardly show the pompous and arrogance that's been leeching out into Percy in the movies! Being a Prefect and Head Boy has been getting to his head. The long and hard change that he's been going through in the books. Nothin' in the movies. Nada.


6. Hermione is more of a know-it-all than they let on in the movies.


7. Snape has a larger part in it all, too! They hardly show his back story in the movie. **NOTE, SLIGHT SPOILER COMING UP... skip if you haven't read the books, and want don't want the surprise spoiled by me**

They don't even mention why Snape loathes Harry so much in the movies... they say he was never on good terms with Harry's father, James, but they hardly go into detail when they say that Sirius had once played a trick on Snape, that nearly got him killed. If it weren't for James who saved his life, Snape might as well be dead!

**Tiny, insignificant spoiler over**


8. In the third MOVIE, when they left to see Hagrid in his hut to see how he's dealing with the Buckbeak incident, they go by daylight, and don't worry about the dementors at all. In the book, they enter by night, under the invisibility cloak! WHY did they change it that much? WHY couldn't they have just done it under cloak? Really, it wouldn't have been that hard for the director. It's as if he is doing this to intentionally aggrivate me.


9. In the third BOOK, they have an entire lawyer case for Hagrid when he was being sued for Buckbeak injuring Draco Malfoy. They go to court for it! Ron, Harry and Hermione all read up on the laws of Interesting Animals to find something that would help Hagrid out at the court date. Hagrid ends up losing the case, that's why they decided to behead Buckbeak. But in the movie, noo, it's just "You hurt Malfoy, so we're gonna cut off that hippogriff's head. Done deal." Oi! They left out that entire chunk! Ughhh.


I think I'm done rattling on for now, but only because it's pretty much the same thing over and over again, with other characters have been ignored by the director. Egh.

Oh! While reading the Harry Potter books, I was highly impressed with J.K. Rowling. I had spotted little to no spelling errors in the book, nor grammar errors! But I learned that no one is perfect. As I was reading further, a simple mistake shown clear to my eye. It was the very beginning of a chapter, the first word in the sentence. "Professorr McGonagall--"

Professerr? Professerrrr. Hah. Yes, I was already informed by mom that it could be the publisher's mistake, but it doesn't matter to me. All I know is that they made a mistake! Bwaha! No, I'm not evil, I just knew that it would be impossible for her to be impervious to the common mistake that is a spelling error. So nyeh.

That's all for now! Tee!


P.S. So far, I have only read up to the third book, so please don't make comments on this that may reveal anything that hasn't yet been said in these three books. Thanks muches!

2 comments:

Casey Moonshadow said...

Oh me, oh my... I think I must now go and put down Eldest AGAIN and rush to read all of these books before the last one comes out =P I have already listened to them on tape but that was still like, last September or sometime around there. I WAS just going to listen to the 6th on tape... Let's see, I think I have like, a month. Now I have to see if I can :)

Wow. You've never read harry Potter before? :o I didn't think there were any virgins left ;) Ah well, glad you're enjoying them.

Must go read now.

P.S.
In the 5th book Harry Turns into a NEWT! No, just kidding :) No spoilers from me :)

Casey Moonshadow said...

Oh also, just to warn you, the books from now on get very... dark.