Another Freaky Dream: Voldemort Edition

I've told you before that I have strange dreams and they come in cycles and are super bizarre.  This is another one.  It's kind of disgusting so if you're feeling exceedingly sensitive or nauseous, don't read.

Ok, so it was decided that I had to fight Voldemort.  My own pals in real life were there supporting me as were Harry, Ron, and Hermione.  I was getting all prepped, but was not magical.  At my disposal I had a few magical items.  It was almost a ring fight type of situation with everyone watching and keeping their hands off.  I started by just attacking him physically.  It wasn't really working so I moved on to something else.  Then my dream kind of fast forwarded like I wasn't paying attention to a movie and all of a sudden I was winning (how the heck I was beating Voldemort without being magical is beyond me).

I had him down and injured (injured bad), but he was regenerating quickly.  His wounds would just heal themselves if given any amount of time.  I was getting tired and I knew I couldn't go much longer.  Then I found something awesome in my bag: some aerosol hairspray with some sort of essence of phoenix in it.  I started spraying old Voldy and he started rotting away like that guy in The Last Crusade.  He was basically a skeleton with sticky brown and yellow and black goo attached to his bones at this time (and he was still talking to me and taunting).  The magic phoenix hairspray prevented him from regenerating as quickly as he was, but given time without being killed he would still continue to rebuild and take over again.  I wasn't sure what to do.

Suddenly I realized the solution: I had to destroy his heart (it was somehow still stuck in his rib cage chest, though it was a little shrunken).  The problem was, I ran out of phoenix hairspray.  With no better options in sight I grabbed a knife and started to cut the heart apart.  The pieces just rejoined or continued beating separately.  Voldemort was still taunting me.  How the heck to destroy the heart and Voldemort?  I was out out of ideas and time was running out as the rest of his body continued its slow regrowth.

If you're thinking of the solution already, then you're gross and I want to know how you got there.  In my dream it just came to me.  The only way to destroy the heart once and for all was... to eat it.  So, I quickly cut the heart into the smallest pieces possible and mashed it together into a form similar to a hot dog.  Then, I ate it.  One: it was disgusting.  Two: even if it wasn't, knowing you have Voldemort's heart in your stomach will make you nauseous.  I finished off the Voldy-heart hot dog and that was the end.  At the end of my dream just before I woke up I remember being uneasy and wondering if when it passed through my digestive track if it would begin to join together again or if it would happen while still inside.  My friends (and my character friends) assured me it was ok and before the outcome could be ascertained positively, I woke up.  Did I want to eat breakfast when I woke up?

Not at all.

The end.

Watch This Now

Sarah posted this on my facebook wall.  It's amazing.  Watch it this moment (especially you Brittany), but warning: NSFW as the song "Forget You" by Cee-Lo is used and it's not the edited forget you version.  I love this so much.

Pottermore

Yes, it's after 4am here. Who cares because check it.

Why Bellatrix Scares Me

Before I talk about Bellatrix let me tell you something about Ginny.  Why doesn't she get a bigger part in the movies?  She's such a BAMF in the books.

Oh, and a follow-up to yesterday's horcrux post.  Why does it seem like everyone in the movies knows about horcruxes?  Hermione is in the vault and she's like "Accio horcrux" and Griphook doesn't even bat an eye.  Neither does Aberforth when they're mentioned.  I was under the impression that they were relatively unknown.  Also, who else out there has horcruxes?

Now to Bellatrix.  She's terrifying.  To me, she's scarier by far than Voldemort.

Like when she tortures Hermione because she's so awful.  Not to mention this turns my stomach every freaking time I see it.

And please stop looking at Hermione like she is your dinner.

So, why is she so scary to me and by far worse than Voldemort who is the most evil of all evilness?  It's because she's so unhinged.  Voldemort seems mostly in control of himself most of the time.  Sure, he's doing awful things and is crazy, but it's not an unplanned unpredictable crazy.  Bellatrix, on the other hand, seems capable of anything at anytime.  You have no idea what she might do and when except that whatever she does is going to be evil.  Also add to that that Helena Bonham Carter does an absolutely amazingly terrifying job acting the part.  Remember in Prisoner of Azkaban when she licks her dark mark?

Yeah, ew.  Scary.  All we can know for sure about Bellatrix is that she's absolutely evil, she's completely devoted to Voldemort, and Molly Weasley totally kicks her trash.

Goodbye, Bellatrix, until the next time you haunt my dreams.

On Horcruxes

Listen, I know it's not ok for me to blog only about Harry Potter, but I can't help it.  I saw the movie again tonight and I want to talk about it a little more.  So far of the three times I've seen it the first was the best, the second was good, and the third was almost as good as the first.

Completely unrelated sidenote: is that comma I used before "and the third" what is known as the Oxford comma and according to the Oxford style bible or whatever the heck it is isn't even supposed to be used anymore? I'm not a grammar/usage person so I don't really know.

Back to Harry Potter.  Most of this is about Horcruxes but I do want to say to unrelated things.  One is that Cho Chang finally learned how not to be such an obnoxious uptalker (in the other movies EVERY sentence she said sounded like a question).  Also, I'm in love with the tiny Slytherin boy in the great hall scene.

Now, about horcruxes.  I just want the destruction of all of them to be more dramatic like the locket.  Did I say this already? I think maybe I did so I guess I'll shut up.  It just seemed like they were all easy apart from the locket.  I read or heard this next thing somewhere and would love to hear your thoughts.  Basilisk fangs/venom can destroy horcruxes.  Why, then, did Harry not get destroyed in the chamber when he was bitten?  Ok, sorry. I'm way too into this.  Tell me to stop.

Oh by the way if you have a Muvico theater near you go to the 21 and up movie.  Leather chairs, food delivered to your seat, super comfortable and amazing.  Also, you should get some amazing family members like mine (I'm talking Mom and Laurel taking me on a Harry Potter date tonight).  Also, inappropriate confession (second of the week, yes?) why does Harry look best in the inappropriate fan art of him and Draco together?  I don't like the art because it's weird and that's so not what happened or would happen but Harry looks freaking great (see the pictures Conan showed Tom Felton when he was on the show the other day if you want to know what I'm talking about.  I'm not putting it here).

Because I don't have any good pictures to put here because I'm a bad blogger, please go here and enjoy all these moment appropriate gifs.  As Stefanie said, "Somebody on the internet totally gets me."

Note: I need to make clear that Sarah linked me originally to that site with all the gifs.  Props to her for always finding great Harry Potter things and making me consider joining Pinterest because all her Harry Potter pins make me cry and I definitely can't have another internet thing to do and obsess over and even the titles of Brittany's boards that she mentioned in her blog make me want to go there. (Oh my gosh most disjointed run-on sentence ever). 

Other HP and the DH pt 2 Thoughts

The title explains the purpose of this post.

- As Brittany pointed out I forgot to mention the awkward Voldemort/Draco hug.

- Why didn't the treasure in Bellatrix's vault burn them as it multiplied?

- I loved that the filmmakers chose to show the sword disappearing from Griphook's dead hand.

- Freaking a the dragon scene was awesome, thank you.

- Why does Daniel Radcliffe almost always have a mullet as Harry Potter but decently attractive hair other times?  This bothers me.  Also, WHY IS HE SO PALE?

- Ginny Weasley is gorgeous and I don't care what you say, but you are not Hermione.  I sometimes get bothered by people who dress up as Hermione because I'm so her in my mind that I get protective.

- I love when Aberforth comes out and does his patronus and totally owns a ton of dementors.

- Why are patronuses (patroni?) not animals for the most part in these movies? (sidenote: expecto patronads)

I'm going to see the movie again tomorrow. Take three. (I didn't get to go and have amorentia because of scheduling conflicts - sad).

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

I guess it's time to face the music and blog about the movie.  I really was trying to avoid it, but Niccole specifically requested (via comment on Sarah's blog) my opinions and who am I to turn down a chance to voice my opinion?  You can call me a copycat if you want, but I'm going to go short bullet point style because it's easiest and I can jump around as thoughts come to me.

- I haven't sobbed yet.  I feel sad but the first time I was too hyped up on caffeine and the second time I was trying to get over throwing up a cheese dog.  TMI? Yes, I think so.  I feel sad and I feel the Harry shaped hole in my life, but I have yet to cry my eyes out during the movie (though I did tear up repeatedly both times).

-Not helpful: my dad comparing my sadness to his as a kid when the took Roadrunner off the air.  Thanks for minimizing my pain, dad.

- Only slightly related: Hopefully I'm going to Alamo Drafthouse with my sister when I go home to see the movie and eat the Harry Potter themed food including Amorentia.  I'll update you.

- The beginning was perfect.  I loved how there weren't logos or sound effects it just went straight from trailer into Harry Potter.

- Oh my gosh all action all the time! I was afraid of falling asleep during the movie the first time (because really, movies make me sleepy) but I needn't have worried because you'd have to be dead to sleep.  I suppose it's time to get specific.

- First thing that bothered me: Why didn't Harry fix his wand?  Is he just all of a sudden ok with having Draco's wand?  I think not.  Dear Harry, fix the stupid pheonix and holly wand so you can be Harry Potter.

- I thought Daniel Radcliffe rocked the epilogue.  The others did well, but he rocked it.

- One friend blogged that the way Naigini attacked Snape repeatedly was too graphic and violent, I thought it was appropriately so.

- I could have done with more verbal spells.  I wanted Harry to have that final expelliarmus.  I also wanted Harry to get to explain to Voldemort why and how he was wrong and why his plan failed and to rub in his humanity by calling him Tom.  Also, I wasn't a fan of the blowing away in the wind of Voldemort as he died.  It made me think of the dust storm Quirrel/Voldemort for Sorcerer's Stone in which case he wasn't really dead.

- I've never been a huge Snape fan, but this movie made me a believer out of me.  I still think he's mostly evil and self-interested, but the movie redeemed him a little.

- Why in the world did his memories come out of his tears?  Weird.  Also, the pensieve was all strange this time.

- I know I'm coming across ultra-critical right now, but I LOVED this movie.  I'm ready to see it for the third time.  One thing I loved: Harry hiding among the students in the Great Hall then confronting Snape.  I thought it was very stunning.

- The twins crying and having their moment on the roof is so tender to me, but why didn't we address Fred being dead a little more directly?

- Where did Blaise Zabini disappear to?

- Also, what happened to the Hallows story line?  If you read the book you know Harry's cloak is THE invisibility cloak, but that wasn't addressed.  In fact, the whole uniting the Hallows plot didn't even exist.

- Ditto Dumbledore's past.  I was wondering if they would make it seem like he loved Gridewald (which didn't come across in the book).

- Why does my dad (and apparently other people) think they wanted the audience to believe that Snape was Harry's dad?  How dare you sully the name of Lilly Potter that way.

- Going into the forest scene?  Oh my gosh I was going to die.  All the people he loved were there and his momma and his dad and it was so precious.  I wish he had hugged Ron before he left.

- Thank you movie makers for giving us a look into the Chamber of Secrets for horcrux destruction.

- My friend Sam is a hater and blogged about it.  It's depressing.  He basically called out everybody having a sad heart over the end of their childhood and dresser-uppers and said JKR isn't that great of a writer.  Rant over on that.

- I loved the Snape flashbacks, but I wanted a little more.  I think I want a lot because I'm such a fan of the books.

- Like Sarah, Hermione as Bellatrix was amazingly done.  Helena Bonham Carter is pure genius and so scary.

- McGonagall is such a BAMF.  She was funny and also amazing and hardcore.  Loved when she called the statues to protect Hogwarts.  Also loved Seamus.

- I don't know what else to say right now.  I have an opinion on pretty much every part so if you have a specific question please ask.

Sidenote: most overused costumes are Luna and Trelawney.

P.S. This is my 199th post.  I didn't do anything for 100, what should I do for 200?

It's That Important

I need to explain to you what Harry Potter means to me and why it's so important.  Because it is.  You can say that to you Harry is just a character in a book, but I grew up with Harry and I love Harry.  For a pretty good summation of my feelings about the end of it all, read this article.

When I was in fifth grade all the posters for the book fair at school had the cover of Sorcerer's Stone on them.  I thought it was all stupid.  A few of my friends told me to read the books and I pretty openly mocked the idea.  What could be so great about a kid who finds out he's a wizard then goes to magic school?  Dumb.  A few weeks (maybe months?) later I finally decided to read the books.  Our small school library only had one copy of each of the [then three] books and there weren't any copies of the first, so I started with Chamber of Secrets and loved it.  Within the week I was reading Prisoner of Azkaban and finally Sorcerer's Stone.  After I finished, I started them again.  In those early days number two was my favorite because it terrified the living daylights out of me.  I read them all repeatedly, but that one over and over again.

My mom worked at Wal-Mart when the fourth one was coming out.  She brought me some of the buttons that they wore to promote the release of Goblet of Fire.  I could hardly stand it when she would come home and tell me stories of walking past the readied display case of books.  Over and over I begged her to steal me one.  Before long my first experience with a midnight release arrived.  Perhaps it was just our small Wal-Mart, but there really was just one display case of books, nothing compared to the precariously stacked pallets that came later.  I remember being livid as an older lady stepped in front of me to take the first book.

And thus my obsession continued.  The first movie was the first movie I ever bought tickets for in advance.  I dressed up as Hermione as often as possible.  When I was a senior in high school (or I guess the summer just after) and the last book came out I got up at five am to stand in line to get a wristband to stand in line.  We were back at Border's by noon.  Luckily when I came to college I was able to find friends that also loved Harry Potter.  My very first roommate (Sarah) was just as obsessed as I was.

No joke when I was a kid I used to pray that I wouldn't die before the final book was released because I had to know how the story ended.  After I finished book seven I figured I could die anytime.  I am not exaggerating.  This actually happened.

And so tonight, it all ends.  The last movie is released and, as many have said, an era ends.  I grew up with Harry.  I am a part of the Harry Potter generation.  It's been a part of me for so long.  I choose to end with a quote from JK Rowling herself.  She summed up what we all needed when she said, "Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home."

You are probably aware of how I usually like to include pictures in my posts, but this is too personal.  I don't want to just throw in pictures willy-nilly.  I want what this means to stand for itself. 

Recap

I'm going to get in line at around noon tomorrow for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, but in case you missed some of the others or need a refresher course I thought I'd post this.  

I think it's quite well done and the guys are hilarious and really keep all the important stuff in there content wise.  Also, as I stated on facebook, this is one of the few Harry Potter related things not making me cry these days. 

My life isn't exciting enough for a single topic post.

I'm just creepy enough to love the new "coment view" of albums on facebook.

Good friends might bring you a gift when they go out of town.  Great friends bring you rocks.

Playing mom is hard and exhausting.  No matter how smart the seven year old is, there's no way to seamlessly insert one into a singles life.

I'm addicted to the Provo Farmer's market even though they have almost exactly the same thing every week.

Pottermore was announced and I'm stoked and confused and excited, but we have one problem.  When you sign up you have to register a magical username and I only have a few months to come up with one that is adequately awesome without being too cheesy.  

Seven Peaks = yes.  Destiny and I have been there three times in the past week.  The new slide is epic.  the funky feces smell by the slide tower is not.  

I'm ready for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 and to take another trip to Orlando.  For someone that hates Florida as much as I do I sure loved Orlando and felt at home there. 

I love summertime.  Humidity can stay away from me forever and that's fine.  It's also ok with me if the 92 degree day we had this week is the only one of the summer.  I love mild summer.

June 23rd

Three reasons June 23rd will be the best day in a long time:

• I'm going to the Kid History episode five premiere with some awesome people.
• Jimmer and the NBA draft.
• POTTERMORE announcement (I love the way the horned owls twitch).

The end. Sorry for the boringness of my blog lately. 

Dying and Crying

This is making me die and cry and be sad and get goosebumps.  Enjoy.

Vacation: "Showing off for your muggle admirers, Potter?"

I had this whole list of things I wanted to blog about and I made little notes of them on a note pad. Then my family came to town before I got to blogging them and now I have no idea what half of those little notes meant. Oh yeah, I guess I should mention that all of these were in regards to the Disney/Universal trip. It'd be a shame to completely skip that on my blog, so you're getting the mass dump here.

One: I miss vacation.

I'm ready to go back. It was beautiful and only one day was unbearably hot. The hotel (Hard Rock) was awesome and spending time with Sarah was a blast. There was a water shuttle and Disney has the monorail and the ferry. Plus, real life is boring (and scary).

Two: The surprise.

The first day we got there was, of course, exhausting. Travel and getting up early and the plane and shuttling and everything make me want to sleep all day long. I was so happy to see the hotel and our hotel room.

(please excuse how awful I look)

We did have one confusion checking in when the guy told us we were staying for seven nights (we thought it was four). Long story short, I called Laurel and she confirmed that our vacation did indeed go seven nights, which we had somehow missed. Cue freaking out.

Three: First day

Since we were so tired and it was late w decided to go over to City Walk and grab some food. Once we had eaten (Moe's, if you care) we thought we'd just walk around Islands of Adventure (one of two Universal parks) for a little bit and maybe catch a glimpse of Hogwarts. Once we saw the towers I started getting goosebumps and couldn't resist.

We, of course, had to go into Hogsmeade. Because it was getting late there was almost no line for Forbidden Journey so we went on the ride (we're Harry Potter nerds, there was no controlling it) which was AWESOME. Amazing first day.

Four: Side note.

A brief break from the narrative of the vacation for a comment. Disney and Universal do so many things in such a genius way! Universal is extremely shaded and amazingly well air conditioned. Both places have water misters all over the place. Popular rides have conveyor belts and are constantly loading and unloading people without stopping which obviously makes it so the lines keep moving (the longest we waited was 40 minutes for a safari which was SO worth it). The decor and the tiny details leading up to the rides (hello, all of Hogwarts castleincluding moving pictures) keep the visitors entertained. So smart, way to keep us happy at the happiest places on earth. That is all.

Five: "I'm drunk on butterbeer."

The food was great on vacation. Most of the time Sarah and I shared a plate between the two of us which was plenty and makes it not really that expensive. I have to admit I didn't love pumpkin juice or butterbeer (though Sarah did). I will say, however, that the cream on top of the butterbeer is absolutely DELICIOUS.

Six: The happiest place on Earth.

Seeing Disney for the first time is amazingly exciting (even as an adult). It's hard not to act like a tiny child and be insanely giddy all time time and want to take a picture with every princess.

I now have a slight obsession with all things Disney (and Harry Potter, obviously). Also, the fireworks and the Main Street Electrical Parade and all the nighttime events are definitely worth attending. I maybe cried a little bit. Hush and stop judging me immediately.

Seven: Rides that shouldn't be missed/favorites.

Forbidden Journey (obviously, it's freaking Harry Potter).

The random dinosaur ride in Epcot (I think Epcot in general is AWESOME).

It's a small world (class for good reason).

The tea cups (you get pictures like this).

The carousel of progress (old school and gets really bizarre at the end).

Space mountain (I'm unique NOT AT ALL).

There were about a million others, but I can't and won't list them all.

Eight: Closing thoughts.

This trip was absolutely amazing. It wouldn't have been near as awesome without a few people. Of course my parents and the Alveys that helped make it all possible. Laurel - she put it all together and had the largest hand in getting us there. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Sarah. I wouldn't have had a fraction of the fun if I'd gone with anyone else. We had such a good vacation and she was even nice when I was sick one day and we stayed in the hotel room most of the day. To her, grat thanks and love. I could go on forever (or at least a really long time) about the nitty gritty details and happenings of my trip, but I'll stop. I'm no expert on Disney or Universal, but if you want my thoughts/opinions on something specific leave a comment or email me and I'll get at you. Also, go to Orlando. It's worth it.

Nine: Addendum

I don't know why the pictures are strange and varied sizes. It makes no sense to me as I stole them all from Sarah's facebook. She was the official picture taker while we were there and it was great because then I didn't have to take any (which I'm bad about). If you want to see more, go to her page.

Authenticating the Experience

Most of you know that I went here.

And also to Disney World. Do you know what makes the experience of going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter even more awesome and authentic? THE WHOLE COUNTRY OF ENGLAND ON SPRING BREAK APPARENTLY. Everyone was British on our vacation to Orlando! One time the people next to me were not British, they were Scottish. It was kind of awesome, but basically shocking. I was told Disney World was full of Asians and there were a lot of Asians, but not near as many as British people. I loved it. Especially one British mom that sounded like Molly Weasley hanging out in Zonko's talking about Puking Pastilles and U No Poo. Awesome.