Voldemort's Dance

So, I know, I have failed at blogging once again. But I did go see Harry Potter (which I will hopefully one day tell you about more in full.) I just really wanted to share this little image with you, because I remember thinking something similar when I saw the movie.

Poe Movie



I love this classic picture of Poe because he looks so self-aware and mocking about how crazy he is.

 Apparently there's going to be a movie of one of my favorite poets, Poe!  I'm pretty excited for it. 
I'm still a little iffy on the casting of John Cusack.  He's such a light personality and I usually associate him with comedies, not the sort of horror and tragedies that Poe wrote.  (I know that Poe didn't write tragedies in the classical sense, but many of this stories ended on a note of despair, with families destroyed or people locked up and starving to death or in an obsessive quest for gold on an island.  Even poems like "The Raven" are about being haunted by a dead love one.  Hard to see that as cheerful.) 
When I think about who they should of cast, my first instinct was to go with Johnny Depp, but as I think about it, I feel like Stuart Townsend or Robert Downey Jr. would be great choices too.  Of course, I'd really like to see Brandon Lee do it, but, unfortunately, we'll never see him do anything anymore.  (R.I.P. Brandon!) 
But guess I'm going to have to eat crow (...oh, Brandon Lee!) on this one because I just saw some pictures of John Cusack as Poe and I have to admit, I'm impressed.  He doesn't really look like Poe, but he does look like a BAMF, a gothic, wizardry BAMF.  And it's making me intrigued as to what this movie is going to be like. 
I really love that Hollywood appears to be on a slight Victorian kick, with movies on Sherlock and Queen Victoria. 

Sequels

Was reading a pop culture blog today and came across this post that discussed sequels.  I love that the post described sequels as each being uniquely idiotic.  I find that really funny, because that's how I think of so many people I went to high school as.  They were idiots, but each in fairly different ways from each other, though I guess if I thought of it, I could put them into categories of stupidity. 
Back to the issue at hand: Mostly, it said, sequels are bad, and there's even a graph that proves it.  (We're so mathy about things.  So many people organize their lives in terms of graphs.)  I really take umbrage with putting The Silence of the Lambs as only slightly better than the original.  I love that movie; it could easily stand on its own as a well-played thriller. 

Cleopatra

There's a review out this week on a couple of books on Cleopatra.  Being a big history nerds, I think I'm going to need to read these two books.  Schiff apparently calls Cleopatra a monster, which makes me a little wary, since that sounds like male fear of women's power talking there. 

But the review had some good details.  For example, Egypt was a egalitarian (or at least more egalitarian society.)  I'd like to read a book on that, frankly, since socieites that allowed women significant power seem to be lacking and the books on them most certainly are. 

Also, there's apparently a movie coming out featuring Angelina Jolie!  I'm already excited. 

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

I went to see my Grandma.  She seems relatively okay.  We basically hung out and watched some tv.  She's not suppose to do much else without supervision from nurses.  (She does a little reading, but it's of those soap opera magazines.  I bought her two of them and gave them to her.) 

We watched the beginning of the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, one of the early Basil Rathbone depictions of the famed detective.  I wasn't sure if she would like it, but she does like old movies in general so I thought I would put it on. 
I couldn't help but compare this older movie with the latest one that came out recently, titled Sherlock Holmes.  The thing that struck me was that Professor Moriarty was such a big part of this movie.  In Sherlock Holmes, he was a unseen, evil presence.  I think I like Moriarty better in the new movie because he doesn't seem so farcical.  It's hard to imagine that Holmes even found Moriarty to be much of a challenge in this older film, he just seems like an ordinary man who's a little OCD about his plants. 

Night at Grandma's

It looks like I am going to spend tonight at my Grandma's.  It's not that big of a deal, but after all that has happened today, my Grandma threw up right as my Mom (who is also with me here tonight) got her into bed.  She was literally sitting on the side of the bed. 
I don't really want to spend the night here, since the power has gone back on now at home, but there's not a lot of choice in the matter.  I'm just grateful I don't have to go to church tomorrow. 

I watched a little of SNL tonight, which featured Taylor Lautner.  Like I've said before, I don't like Twilight, but I'm falling further in love with Taylor Lautner.  He's so sweet, and I get the feeling that he is at his happiest when performing, as all great actors are.  I love that he can't give an interview for beans. 

Oh God.  Am I emotionally cheating on my current celebrity boyfriend, Vincent?
I'm so sad Lautner is going to GVSU, a school not so far from my school.  In my imaginary world, I totally charm Lautner, not by throwing myself at him or by dolling myself up, but through my wit, like Elizabeth Bennet.  This is, I know, crazy talk. 
I texted my sister, since my Mom told me she likes Lautner.  This surprised me, because, well, she hates reading, so there's no way in hell she's read the books.  And she never mentioned the movies.  It's good to know that we have the same taste in men in at least one way.  Usually we totally disagree. 
Then I texted Nate, since he thinks Lautner is a moron.  He complains that he sounds like an idiot in interviews.  I disagree, obviously.  I just think he's nervous when he gives interviews, afraid he's going to say something stupid.  As someone who has given interviews before, I can tell you it's nerve wracking, especially when the interviewer comes at you with something you didn't expect.  And I've said some super stupid things during interviews.  It's like a curse I have. 
Nate and I talked a little, giggling over stuff.  I love him so much.  He's a nice boy.  
My Mom is falling in and out of sleep as I move around in the apartment doing things.  I'm trying to read through that romance novel that I mentioned. 
So far, it's been okay.  There's been some explaining of Amish culture, which I like.  The character keeps talking about how obedient she is, and that drives me nuts.  I hate hearing about women who are obedient.  Seriously, it's the most famous archetype for women, right behind women who are sluts and leave the narrator/stand-in for author all confused as to what women want. 
The other thing this book discusses is the tourist trade associated with the Amish.  Josie is into the Amish (she likes to take pictures of them, which I quietly disapprove of.)  But I was thinking, maybe if I ever make some money worth talking about, I'll buy her a weekend trip to Pennsylvania to see the Amish.  She'd love it.  And how expensive could it be, really, since the Amish are notoriously old-timey. 
Of course, what I should be doing is watching the end of this season of Doctor Who, but there are other distractions, like my Grandma getting up in the middle of the night. She just threw up again.  Christine has been talking about the season finale all day, making vague illusions to what happened.  I want to yell at her to stop, because, seriously, it's annoying me. 
This is the first time I've ever spent the night at her new place.  It's going to be kind of strange to see how it compares to when I was a kid and spent the night at her place. 

Movies Tonight

My sister and I went to go rent some movies for tonight.  (That's right, that's how old school we are.  We still rent videos from a store.)
As always, the young sales clerk flirted with us. 
I always have such a hard time picking out movies.  Should I be brave and try something new or go with something I've already seen but like?  I was thinking of going with Shakespeare in Love, which I know I like, or In the Name of the Rose, which I'm always hearing good things about.  And then I went with a rom-com that's based on a Shakespeare play, which I know is not the same thing, but it will hopefully give me the feel-goods.  

The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes

Sometimes I watch things and then wonder what the heck that was. That was the feeling I had when I watched The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes.
This was an odd little documentary charting the many forms of the world's most famous detective. It discussed the literary incarnation, and then the play adaptations, and then the movie and tv versions. It was kind of fun to see the detective change so many forms.
The one thing I don't understand was how they conned Christopher Lee into hosting this program. He's Christopher Lee! Guy could be doing anything with his time; why was he doing this?
I get the distinct impression this was created to promote a new Sherlock Holmes movie that was coming out right at the same time. (Around 1985)
But the program was set in the Sherlock Holmes Alehouse, which I've actually been too! And apparently, it hasn't changed in 25 years.
Of course, if this program was made now, it would have to talk about the awesome that is Robert Downey Jr. in the latest movie and Hugh Laurie as a Holmes-as-doctor in House.