1) After Kath and Ariel caught the midnight opening night showing of “Harry Potter And the Rapidly Aging Cast,” I went (with Ariel again) to see it this evening. Definitely the best of the lot, as the kids truly come into their own as actors with this film. Certainly the most sophisticated and compelling plot (wisely not split into two as was originally considered) with many wonderful sequences allowing the increasingly sophisticated cast to bring many shadings to their performances. At Kath’s suggestion, we watched “Sorceror’s Stone” before Ariel and I went this evening, and it’s amazing to see how this franchise has grown from a rote condensation of the books to works of art in their own right.
There were some curious omissions (would it have killed them to take a minute of screen time to explain what happened with Harry’s and Voldemort’s wands?) but most of the cuts were correctly made and serve the course of the film story. Miranda Richardson was gloriously daffy as reporter Rita Skeeter, who I’m convinced is J.K. Rowling’s payback for reporters who have their stories written in their heads, regardless of what their subjects have to say. And Brendan Gleeson was so great as Mad Eye Moody that I wanted to see a whole film just about him. Plus Ralph Fiennes as a creepily chilling Voldemort and tons of great special effects makes this a must see. I should mention, though, that it’s a lousy jumping on point if you’ve never seen any of the films or read the books, because–like the second and third LoTR films–it just assumes you know everyone and everything involved.
2) We’re taking Caroline to her very first ice show tomorrow: “Disney on Ice,” featuring the Incredibles. We picked up one of the program books in advance and Caroline has been flipping through it for the past several days. We figure this way she’ll have a frame of visual reference (although “Incredibles” is already one of her favorite CGI films.)
3) Ariel is trying out for the high school bowling team. Tryouts go four days, so they can get a feel for the kids’ consistency. After all, a lousy player could have three great games and a great player can have three lousy games. This way the coach sees 12 games over four days. So far she’s doing very well, showing poise and confidence in her delivery and averaging a consistent 155-165. She’s not stringing together a lot of strikes but her spare shooting is remarkably consistent, and that’s really what it’s all about. Monday and Tuesday are the final two days, so fingers crossed.
PAD
• 
Recent Comments