pop culture, reviewed

So, in the last nine days, I’ve read the first five Harry Potter books and 2/3 of the sixth one, but since Saturday, I’ve found myself… stalled.  It’s possible that I am dreading the end so much that I have developed a psychological block that will only allow me to read The Half-Blood Prince in twenty page increments.  I’m dying to know what happens, of course — I can’t wait to read the last one — but I also don’t want it to be over so I guess I’m prolonging it.  I’ll finish The Half-Blood Prince tonight, though, so by tomorrow or Wednesday I should be ready to discuss the ending.  As part of my total immersion plan, I saw The Order of the Phoenix on Sunday and I was pretty impressed that they managed to squeeze almost all of the significant events into a movie of reasonable length.  I was dreadfully disappointed with Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange, though.  Bellatrix should be as scary as Voldemort — truly evil incarnate — but she was played like such an over-the-top ridiculous nutjob that it was hard to be very threatened  by her. 

In other news, I’m still obsessed with the movie Once, its soundtrack, and the album Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova did together prior to that, The Swell Season.   I told Jake I sure will miss him when I run off with Glen Hansard after the Swell Season show at the 9:30 Club on Thursday night.  (Thursday! Night! Omg!) 

What have I been doing besides crying over the pages of J.K. Rowling while listening to the Once soundtrack?  Well, aside from working on the novel (no, it’s not finished, but it’s still on track to be close-to-ready in October, which is my self-imposed deadline), I’ve finished the first season of Felicity and put a dent in the ol’ credit card buying tickets for upcoming shows.  On tap: Band of Horses, The Format, Ryan, Rilo Kiley, Brandi Carlile, Josh Ritter, and The New Pornographers. 

Now, I have to get back to Hogwarts, if you will excuse me.  Deep breaths.