rusty_halo

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The new Harry Potter trailer looks really awesome!

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.

( Just one of those random life posts )

[Cross-posted to my InsaneJournal]

I went to see Chris Cornell last night. It turned out to be one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen.

I'm a huge Soundgarden fan--I grew up with "Badmotorfinger" and "Superunknown"--but I figured he'd be playing solo stuff and Audioslave stuff and maybe grace us with one of two Soundgarden songs. But...

He opened with "Let Me Drown" (from "Superunknown") and followed it up with "Outshined" (from "Badmotorfinger") so I was ecstatic and knew that it was going to be a great show.

( the (INCREDIBLE) setlist )

Four from "Badmotorfinger"! Three from "Superunknown" (including "Let Me Drown" which wasn't a big hit and I'd never have expected to hear live)! Two from "Down on the Upside"! And "Say Hello to Heaven," which is from "Temple of the Dog"!! I cried through the whole song.

His voice was absolutely astounding and he was in such great spirits. He kept joking with the audience and laughing and telling stories about the songs. Then he brought out his two young children and kept them onstage with him for an entire song. It was adorable and so sweet. I've been a fan of his for um... 13 years! ... so it was wonderful to see him so happy. And it translated into an amazing performance and the whole room was just filled with the most incredible energy.

At the end, it was so cool to walk out of the venue and find myself surrounded by people in Soundgarden and Pearl Jam t-shirts. It was like traveling back in time. That was my era! (Yes, I know I was 12, but it was still my era. I love that music the way you can only love something that you fall for as a child and grow up being shaped by.)

There are some great photos down in this forum thread.

Unfortunately I missed the opening band, which was Juliette and the Licks. I arrived late and didn't realize that it was Juliette Lewis! But I did get to meet her and got her CD signed by her. I loved her singing in the movie "Strange Days" (one of my all time favorites) and she's been in a bunch of other movies I've liked as well ("From Dusk Till Dawn," "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?"). So I'll definitely have to catch her on tour next time....

Oh yeah, and in other good news: the reports coming back from San Diego Comic Con sound amazing. I'm so excited about Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man.

And the "Indiana Jones 4" panel sounded awesome. They're bringing back Marion! I loved Karen Allen in that role and I never thought they'd have the guts to bring her back.

Oh yeah, and I finally saw "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" in IMAX 3D. It was so cool--it felt like you were IN the Department of Mysteries during the final scene. And I love how IMAX lets you see every little detail. I want to go again! (And again and again...)

I realized that I hadn't posted about the movie at all (I saw it the first time a while ago, on opening night). I like it a lot. It's still not as good at the third one, but it's far better than the others. It felt true to the characters and story. And, though I'm annoyed with a few little cuts (Lily in the flashback; Snape, Sirius, and Remus interacting) I'm impressed with how much of the plot they managed to keep. The story flowed well and Daniel Radfcliffe is turning into quite an actor. I loved Luna and Bellatrix and Umbridge; they did an amazing job with the casting. And Jason Isaacs continues to kick ass as Lucius; I'm glad he was so prominent in this one. (I don't even need to say how awesome Gary Oldman and Alan Rickman are, do I?) The only one I continue to dislike is Michael Gambon, who captures Dumbledore's ruthlessness and but totally misses his sense of whimsy. Minor quibbles.

Anyway, yes. Must see it again....

There are NO SPOILERS in this post. None at all. This is just my observations of the four Harry Potter parties I went to on Friday night. I'll post my book reaction in my next post.

Wow, so um, I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I got started late because I went to four Harry Potter release parties. I mean, I figure, if you live in Manhattan and Manhattan gets taken over by Harry Potter mania, you ought to experience it. Once in a lifetime thing, you know?

( Union Square B&N )

( Scholastic's 'Harry Potter Alley' )

( McNally Robinson's 'Harry Potter for Adults' )

( And I finally get the book at the Lincoln Center B&N )

And my reaction is coming up, um, as soon as I write it....

SPOILER WARNING: Contains spoilers for the entire Harry Potter series

So I went to this thing called "Harry, Carrie, and Garp" at Radio City Music Hall last night. (In fact, I bought tickets months ago and nearly forgot about it; happily someone on LJ mentioned it and I remembered that afternoon!)

To my immense frustration, I learned that Jon Stewart had been there the previous night, but wasn't there the night I went. (WAH!!!)

However, I did get to see JK Rowling, Stephen King, and John Irving. They were introduced by Whoopi Goldberg, Tim Robbins, some actor I didn't know, and Kathy Bates. Each read a short amount, then answered a few questions (moderated by Soledad O'Brien, who I've only heard of because apparently Stephen Colbert has a crush on her).

Stephen King was very down to earth and funny. When asked what stories scared him, he answered that "Lord of the Flies" scared him as a child, and that the Death Eaters in Harry Potter scared him recently (in response Rowling exclaimed "I scared Stephen King!").

John Irving, who I've never read, was very articulate and thoughtful, and made me want to read some of his work. I wish the others had answered questions as sincerely as he did.

JK Rowling was rather quiet and apologetic (every time she gave a long answer she apologized, even though John Irving often rambled on much longer than her). She did announce that she had nicer shoes than the other panelists (they were pretty cool shoes). The other two had read stories involving vomit, so she apologized for not knowing that was going to be the theme, and instead read part of book 6 where Dumbledore first meets young Tom Riddle. She had noticed the audience cheering for Snape (during a video clip that introduced her) and said that while she could kind of understand us cheering on Snape, we should not cheer on Tom Riddle.

She was asked a few interesting questions. One wondered which of her characters she'd actually like to be real; she answered "Hagrid," (ick) then added "Because when I'm confronted with fundamentalist Christians, I could just say 'Would you like to discuss the matter with Hagrid?'" That I liked.

( spoilers )

At the end the three were asked which five of their characters would they most like to sit down to dinner with. Stephen King wanted to sit down with other people's characters, not his own. JK Rowling finally answered "Harry, so I could apologize," then added Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore ( spoiler ) and finally Hagrid. (Gaaaah!! How boring! People were yelling out "Sirius!" and "Snape!" of course).

This got me to thinking which five of her characters I would want to have dinner with: Sirius, obviously, and you can't have Sirius without Remus. Snape, for the conflict, and Tom Riddle, who'd be fascinating to observe. I was a little torn on the final slot--maybe Bellatrix or Draco. Probably Draco, actually, since he's a more layered, morally-ambiguous character than Bellatrix.

Anyway, it was pretty cool to see these people in person, and to hear them read from their stories. Wish the answers had been a little more interesting, though. I suspect JK Rowling will be a lot more interesting once the series is over and she doesn't have to worry about revealing spoilers with every answer.

I asked for VM fic recs the other day, and amerella totally went above and beyond. If anyone else is looking for non-LoVe Logan fic, check out the recs she posted for me. My favorite would be That's Amore by dark_roast (post 1x22). Well written, very disturbing, and totally Logan.

I've been so busy lately. Random life update:

Thanksgiving was fun. jaydk and her mom were really accomodating, and made the side dishes using vegan margarine and soy milk, so I could eat the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and green beans. And her mom bought me some frozen dinner type things, so I had plenty. Oh, and she made a yummy vegan pumpkin pie, using my favorite recipe. (Plus, they have a Trader Joe's, so I was able to stock up for the rest of the weekend.)

We watched 18 episodes of Veronica Mars, and jaydk got into it and was totally a Logan fan, despite starting with a "I hate Logan, I'm so sick of everyone raving about him" attitude. Hee! And she shared my utter lack of patience with the boringness of Duncan.

We also saw Harry Potter again (it was better the second time, felt less rushed) and saw Rent (awful, but of course, it made me cry my eyes out anyway). And we took care of her mom's dogs (cute, but man, dogs are annoying) and visited Target (huge! and creepy! but I did get season three of Family Guy for $18, so not entirely bad).

It was good to get home, though. I missed my cats so much, and I could tell they missed me too. Lucifer still hasn't stopped following me everywhere I go, and he's been much more patient toward my whole "picking him up and hugging him" thing. (He totally loves being held, but he usually has to pretend to get sick of it after a few minutes, otherwise he loses his cat credibility or something).

What else? Oh yeah, Writercon! There will be another Writercon in 2006! Of all the Buffy-related conventions I've been to (and there are many), Writercon is by far my favorite. There's really a great community of people who run and attend that convention. And this year I'm helping out! So, please do consider going, if you haven't already decided. :)

I've been busy.

Wednesday I saw Tim Burton's Corpse Bride with chenanceou, jerrymcl89, and drujan. I was ( minor spoilers )

Afterward I dragged Chen and Jerry to a vegetarian Thai place called Pukk. Chen was very skeptical, but as she soon discovered, the food there is delicious. :)

Afterward we ended up at this bar on St. Mark's that we've been at continually--the same place where we met the Irish guys and Chen had her first lemonade. We talked for a while, Jerry left, then we saw a rat so we left.... (Oh yeah, did I mention we found one of the Irish guys on google? Keith Keds. Alas, no info on his friend, though.)

Damn, these days are blurring together. I can't remember if we did anything after that or not.

On Thursday, we decided to go to Gobo, but it ended up being packed and having a half hour wait. So we went instead to Vegetarian's Paradise 2, which is also good. Chen couldn't believe that the Crispy Soul Chicken wasn't made from real chicken. Being a vegan in NYC is awesome. :)

After that we went to The Pyramid Club, because they have an 80s new wave night on Thursdays. We hung out there for a while--the music was good, and they were playing the Depeche Mode 86-98 video without its sound, and Chen danced for a bit. It was fun. We ended up leaving after a while, though--the crowd wasn't that great, lots of touristy types and young college kids.

Afterwards we ended up... where? We stopped by the bar on St. Mark's, and were told that they didn't have lemonade (despite Chen having it there like three days in a row beforehand). So we ended up back at the Mexican place on 3rd and 13th, where she had quesadillas, and I had rice and beans, and we both drank Negra Modelo.

Then we ended up back at my place, because Chen wanted to see some of my old Jon Stewart show tapes. I was more than happy to share the Jon Stewart love. So we watched the one with Marilyn Manson (the second-to-last episode) and cooed over how adorable Jon was. But Chen was very disturbed by Marilyn Manson, and insisted that she really dislikes him. I think the guy is smart, a talented artist with a lot to say, and at the worst, a dorky guy from Ohio wearing makeup and dealing with some inflated ego issues. Certainly nothing to get intimidated by.

So I showed her his book (which she started reading and quickly went out and bought). And I showed her his 1997 Politically Incorrect appearance with G. Gordon Liddy, Florence Henderson, and (some psychotic nut) Lakita Garth. That show is one of the most surreal and ridiculous things ever, but Manson is awesome on it. Chen went from cringing every time he appeared to listening, riveted, to his every word. Pretty cool. >:)

Anyway, so my roommate didn't really appreciate this (even though we had the volume as low as possible and were whispering to each other). So Chen eventually left (also, it was 4am).

I had Friday and Saturday to myself--I caught up on sleep, listed stuff on eBay, and finished The Goblet of Fire. *sigh* I love Sirius as much as ever, and am having a very hard time forcing myself to read The Order of the Phoenix. *sob*

Yesterday (Sunday) Chen was back. We went to see The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which was very funny, but strangely, not as funny as I expected given the massive praise it's received. ( spoilers )

Meh, but I'm being bitter. It was funny, and we were laughing our asses off during most of it. (Except when the assholes behind us started kicking Chen's chair and telling her to shut up. People really suck sometimes.)

Afterwards we went to Pukk again, which was as yummy as always. Oh, and on the way, as we were at Astor Place walking toward St. Mark's, guess who we passed. Seriously... think for a minute... who do I not know and yet see every weekend?

Yes, that's right, Voltaire! Poor guy must think he is being stalked. He was out with his son, and we were walking right past, so I smiled and Chen said hello, and we hurried by. I felt bad, even though, y'know, it's not my fault. We run in the same circles, or something. (I've never gone anywhere specifically to see him, yet we were both at ComicCon, that wacky Long Island con, Dragoncon, the Bella Morte show, the Neil Gaiman reading, and Astor Place last night. That was the fourth time I've seen him this month.)

Anyway, so after Pukk, Chen and I walked to TeaNY, which was delicious--we each had a pot of tea and shared tea sandwiches and a brownie. Later, I really wished I hadn't had a whole pot of tea, though--it took a very long time to fall asleep last night.

After TeaNY we headed back toward St. Mark's place, where the guy from the lemonade-and-Irish-guys bar saw us and invited us in. So we drank Negra Modelo and talked for quite a while, but left (relatively) early. I was home by 1:30am, since I had to work today.

It's been such fun--I live in such a wonderful neighborhood, and it's great to hang with someone who appreciates it and wants to explore it. And of course, Chen is awesome.

And now... back to work. :(


PS: How is "working" a mood? If I choose it, will it put me in the mood to get work done?

PPS: New Pig November 8!!!!!!!! :)

I read two good stories today:

The Philosophy of Breathing by regala_electra. (Harry Potter fandom.) Remus/Sirius, NC-17. It's Remus, after the war, believing he's been betrayed by Sirius. It's really beautifully written, one of the best versions I've read of how Remus would have dealt with that situation. Totally in character. Sad and hopeful at at the same time.

Pain by sophia_bee. (Veronica Mars fandom.) This is a Logan POV piece, post 1x18. Dark, angsty, nicely written. This is one of the best Logan characterizations I've read, and a plausible imagining of how he'd feel about the events of his life up until that point. Casts an interesting light on the Veronica/Logan relationship.

Look at me, all multi-fannish. ;)