Harry Potter and My Non-Review

I was thinking today about what I am going to do after the last Harry Potter movie is finished. The 18 month return to Hogwarts is something I have gotten used to in this past decade. It was a genius in casting to choose the three young actors they did for the roles of Harry, Ron and Hermione. They hardly seemed to have aged half the years that have actually gone by. Everyone I know has watched the previous five films in preparation for the newest one which I found to be much darker and more teen friendly than the previous films. If I didn't know better I would blame the whole 'Twilight' phenomenon for all the angst. I would take wizards over vampires any day. Vampires are just so moody and gloomy and tortured. No wonder the girls go crazy for them. I have been loving how Samurai Frog analyses the chapters of 'Twilight' as he slogs through the book. (Twilight Summarized By a Smartass) Clearly not written for anyone his age or sex. Or mine. I consider it a mitzvah that he is doing this for us Y 'chromosomites'. I hate to think I am missing out on something like I would have if I never got into Harry Potter back in the day. I remember when the first book was just becoming a sensation over in England. I was driving through the mountains where the only radio station you could get was CBC which has a reputation for being dryer than dry. I spent two hours on some of the worst winding Rocky Mountain roads between Golden and Kelowna listening to a book chat show where the host and his guest went on and on about Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. They were amazed that children were reading a book in excess of 500 pages and were not only reading it but RE-READING it. That got my attention as I was looking for something to read to my Junior High English students in the fall. It was part of a series and my faintest hope was maybe turning them onto a whole series of books. I never imagined what a phenomenon the whole world of Potter would become but I knew after the first book that it was something special. When movie 3 and 4 came out I could still not see the end of the series so it wasn't real. But now with movie 6 I watched with sadness. I don't think that is what the filmmaker intended but for me it wasn't enough. I was totally into the film and didn't want it to end. I loved it more for what it promised to give me in the future. It was thick with the great plot details that the author is so great at but I actually wanted more. Give me more detail, more moments to savour before, like a puff of smoke, the spell will be gone. One day it will be over and what imaginary worlds will there be left for me then?

http://samuraifrog.blogspot.com/2009/07/twilight-summarized-by-smartass-chapter.html