Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Book:

This is one of the examples of me liking the book more than the movie. This movie had dropped a few things that happened in the book that would have been really cool to see. This one took a step farther into the darkness. This time people were actually getting hurt, something within the school is hunting people down. The book was small but it had so much detail. Things got worse for Harry but him and his friends conquered it all.

Favorite scenes:
~The guests in the Dursley's house and Dobby. I loved Dobby since he was introduced! He is so awesome!
~The Weasley's flying the car and breaking Harry out.
~Duel class.
~The Polyjuice Potion, Hermione's little mix-up! Uh oh!
~Hermione kicking but and figuring out what the monster from the chamber is and how it's getting around the school.
~Harry saving Ginny.
~Harry freeing Dobby from the evil Lucius Malfoy

Movie:

This movie got just a tid bit darker. Still bright but not as much as the first one. The actors pulled everything off just perfect. My favorite was Dobby of course. He was so funny and adorable. Just perfect.

Favorite Scenes:

~Dobby!!!

~The Weasley's flying car was all made perfect. The Weasley's house and the Weasley family. They are the perfect cast for this family. I love them all.

~The Whomping Willow.

~Ron and Harry in the Forbidden Forest following the spiders. The spiders were so realistic and so many of them. (Personally I'm not afraid of spiders, I love them. I actually have a spider tattoo planned out for me.) Definitely scared my sister who is deathly afraid of them

~The Chamber of Secrets

Scenes from the book that should be in the movie:

~The Death Day party would have been so awesome to see. It's sad it's not in there but what can you do?

~Stealing Snape's potion ingredients. Harry uses a firecracker and Hermione steals them.

~Lockhart's Valentines! Hilarious!

~The Weasleys in the office when Harry walks in with Ginny. It was so dramatic and I thought it would have been a great idea to be included.

Favorite quotes:

"I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there." -Harry Potter

"If you had died, you'd have been welcome to share my toilet." -Moaning Myrtle (book)

"Why spiders? Why couldn't it be 'follow the butterflies'?" -Ron Weasley

"Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself." -Hermione Granger

"Now, Harry you must know all about Muggles, tell me, what exactly is the function of a rubber duck?" -Arthur Weasley

Next up: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban


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Monday, June 27, 2011

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Book:

This is a perfect start to the series. It's a calm book. No serious darkness. No one dies during this book (except Quirrel but he's a bad guy so it doesnt count) but they do talk about those who died and Harry's horrible past. Not too dramatic.

Favorite Scenes:
~The entire snake scene at the zoo.
~Meeting the Weasleys and Harry meeting Fred and George on the train.
~Christmas!
~The path to the stone. Especially Snape's potion challenge.





Movie:

The movie is not what it is today. The first movie is bright and fun. There are funny moments and we get introduced to the magic of Hogwarts and all it's awesomeness.

Favorite Scenes:
~The flying envelopes and all the owls. It was great.
~Hagrid meeting Harry for the first time. Harry making his cake and blowing the candles out at the moment that Hagrid pounds on the door. The cake, the twisting of the gun, the piggy tail, the entire thing was acted out perfect.
~Hedwig! Such a beautiful owl!
~The giant chess board scene was awesome.
~Nevile standing up to the trio.


Scenes that were in the book that should have been in the movie:

~After the troll scene I would have loved to see the moment between the trio. The part where they come to that agreement that they are going to be great friends. "There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a 12-foot mountain troll is one of them." (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

~Norbert being sent to Ron's brother Charlie. They rushed through the whole scene right away which works for the time but I would have loved to see the entire dragon scene.

~Snape's potion challenge when the trio were going for the stone. Well at that point it's just Harry and Heromine but I thougth it would be a great scene.

Favorite Quotes:

~"Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed or worse...expelled." -Hermione Granger

~"Books, cleverness. There are more important things. Friendship and bravery." -Hermione Granger

~"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends." -Albus Dumbledore


Next up: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.


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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Coming Reviews

I'm going to be starting to do book reviews so I decided that to start out that I am going to review a series I have already read.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out July 15th so I am going to spend any spare time I have rereading the entire series and reviewing them here. Not only will I be rereading it but I will also be comparing it to the movies. When I reach the last book I will end where Part 1 ends and then after I watch the movie (Part 2 in 3D!!) I will put up my last review on July 15th.

I pretty excited for this but also really sad. I don't want Harry Potter to end. This series took up a big part in my life. After the books ended we still had the movies so it was OK. I guess it's not really over since the whole Pottermore thing. I can't wait see what they came up for that.

Anyway, tomorrow I will start with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone!


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Friday, June 24, 2011

10 Writing Commandments

My 10 Commandments for writing. (I am not saying you should be following this. This is just what I think of when I write.)

1. Thou shall not plagiarize.

Come up with your ideas. Yes, some are going to be like others but they will be able to tell the difference if you are plagiarizing someones work.

2. You should always write straight from the heart.

What comes from your heart is always more interesting then just blah writing. If it comes from the heart we will know and feel it through your words.

3. You should never not write when you are in a 'mood', use that emotion in your writing.

Emotion is the best took you have besides your mind. People feel the emotions of the characters when they are reading. If you are putting your emotions into the text it will be more real then just saying "I am really upset." Instead use how you would be upset. Real emotion works.

4. Writer's Block? Doesn't exist unless you let it.

I have heard many writer's say it exists and the same amount say it doesn't. Personally I believe it's what you make it. Maybe it's writer's block and maybe it's just your head saying "I just don't feel like writing at the moment." If that is the case, stop and do something active and see if you can get right back into it. If not, do some free write. (Free write is where you just type whatever you are thinking about at the moment.)

5. Don't walk away until you are satisfied.

If there is something you want to do, do it. Don't worry about word count, or chapter size. Just do it. If you walk away from something without being completely satisfied that could possibly be how other people will feel. If you aren't happy with it then fix it until you are. Make it the best you can.

6. Come with a new bright idea.

There are a lot of books that get compared to each other. It's the way it is and for writers it sucks when you have created something completely on your own and people continue to accuse you of knocking off of someone else. So try your best to make it your own and create new ideas that you haven't seen

7. Beware of Book Karma.

I don't if you believe in Karma but I do. Do good to other writers and Karma will reward you. Don't steel books off the internet without paying for them, use a library. Don't buy knock off book merchandise. Let the authors get the credit they deserve by going through the official channels to buy stuff.

8. Edit until you cannot edit no more.

As I said in my last post, editing your own work is important. No agent/publisher will even look at your query letter or manuscript if it looks like a jumbled mess that makes no sense. Yes, editors edit your work but it's not just their job to catch typos. If you don't know what they all do then you need to do some more research on this career choice.

9. DO NOT bug authors about how they got published or if they can help you.

Some may answer you when you ask but others will tell you they can't help you. Being an author is a job and they have such hectic schedules that they won't be able to help you (most don't even read unpublished work). If you are serious about being a writer then you should do the research on how to become one yourself. It's how they made it to where they were and it could possibly be what gets you to where you are.

10. Don't let rejections put you down. Throw it away and move on to the next.

It is very rare that someone will get their first response as a yes. Chances are the first one you get back will be a rejection. Don't let it get to you though. It could be a long time before you get someone asking for more and letting each rejection get to you could make you stop what you're doing and give up. Rejection hurts, I know. But if you give up the one that was supposed to be next could have been THE ONE.

What do you think? Am I missing something that you think is important? Let me know, I would love to hear from you.


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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Facebook Madness

I have had no idea what I want to do with this blog. I have a list of ideas of things to do but I can't decide. So I decided just to start with something simple and sort of like filler posts.

There are so many things that bug me. A big one is people who don't think clearly. I know that's broad but still. A huge issue I have is those types of people on Facebook. There are a handful of sites that are dedicated to these people. They cover up the photo and name so no one knows who they are but they are hilarious. (Especially the typos section.)

Browsing one I found this:




This person makes no sense. You want to be an author yet it seems you can't even spell the simplest words correctly? Yes, editors edit your work, but no agent or publisher will read past the first page of your manuscript if it looks like this. They don't want to be your babysitter. They want to make money.

Another thing, J.K. Rowling has talent. That's how she got where she is today. Talent. The lack of money had nothing to do with it. She put a lot of hard work in her books. Here, you had a paragraph and all you managed to do is get yourself listed on sites like lamebook.com.

If someone is serious about being a writer you need to have some things down pat. If your manuscript has a few mistakes they won't care that much but if it looks like the picture above that would be unacceptable and your manuscript would be tossed. Don't let spelling ruin your chance of becoming a published writer.

Read your manuscript. Edit your mistakes. Still think you have them? Read it again. A great trick that works for checking for spelling mistakes is reading it backwards.

(Image from lamebook.com)


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Monday, June 20, 2011

My Blog is Now Finished!!

Well my design is done. Well, for now. I have changed everything so many times but now I finally found stuff that I like.

Now that I have that all done I can begin. Only have one follower though but that isn't important to me. Even if I end up talking to myself I will still write. :)

For those who end up coming to the site feel free to look around. I hope you enjoy my blog!


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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Reoccurring Nightmare

Sitting in a dim-lighted room, frantically looking about; of course the place looks familiar, but I just can’t place it. I always seem so out of breath with wide eyes, on the verge of turning red. He just sits there with his curious eyes, watching, waiting for me to break down. He knows where I am and what I am doing, even where I am going but I still can’t figure it out.

Why does he just sit there?

Can't he see me freaking out?

I am in a glass box filling quickly with water and he just stares. My life tumbles and crashes around me, the walls slowly collapse on top of me and he just stares. I am kneeling there begging for help, begging for freedom but all he does is stare. His eyes so captivating, I fall even farther. I love him so much but the more I look into his eyes the deeper I sink into emptiness.

Why does he just sit there? Maybe he just likes to feel in control, knowing how I fail time and time again, to pick myself up. He likes to watch me in all my pain, likes to watch me suffer. He gets lit up every time I fall.

The water starts to rise again and he just disappears. He likes to see me in pain but leaves me for my death. I finally decide I'm not going to give up and break through the glass. Dripping wet of steaming hot water, I look past my bloody tears. There he is again, just watching and waiting for it to fill up again.

I cry over the screaming of my hurting heart, but he can't hear me. The only thing he wants to hear is the screaming from my heart. I kneel before him begging him to just end my suffering, my bloody tears staining his perfectness. He just looks down at me with a smile on his face, the one he uses when he lies.

"I love you." He says as he takes my hand and leads me back to the glass box, "And I will love you forever."

I climb into the box and turn to him. "I love you too." I say as he walks backwards away from me. Back to where he stares. This glass box is where I stay for eternity.

Eternity under his watchful eyes.


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