Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Review *Spoilers*

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.)

Rated PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence, frightening images and brief sensuality.

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, Jamie Campbell Bower, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Frances de la Tour, Hazel Douglas, Tom Felton, Michael Gambon, Evanna Lynch, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Simon McBurney, Timothy Spall, Richard Griffiths, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Mark Williams, Domhnall Gleeson, Julie Walters, Fiona Shaw, Clémence Poésy, Brendan Gleeson, Andy Linden, Natalia Tena, David Thewlis, Rhys Ifans, Imelda Staunton, Miranda Richardson, Dave Legeno, Jason Isaacs, Bonnie Wright, Bill Nighy, Harry Melling, Helen McCrory, Peter Mullan, George Harris. (whew.)

Written by Steve Kloves, based on the novel by J. K. Rowling.

Directed by David Yates.



So with my Harry Potter Fanatic Loving friends having already PCS'd to the United States, (Maryland to be exact) I took it upon myslef to have DH in tow and youngest DD and watch HP & the Deathly Hallows. The build up wasn't as it has been in the past for me, but is it because I did not have my HP loving friends with me or is it because so much time has lapsed between the last two movies and it has lost some of its sheen?

I am hoping it is because of the former, that without my friends who love HP as much as I do that I wasn't all hyped to see it.

I have read the series many times and I have and continue to watch all of the movies repeated times, so much so my DH at times wants to toss them out of the window and my daughters can repeat scenes with the characters.

The trailer for the movie had me very intrigued. So on to the movie, we sit up in the balcony area middle seat in the second row with a full on view of the screen it was nice.

Having DH next to me was a bit annoying at times only because he has not read the books and the movie had him asking questions during which I of course had to answer because he was just not understanding (the same thing happened in Half Blood Prince though). The movie in my opinion ran a little slow and I wish they would have had the Dursleys leaving and the Dudley/Harry moment in the movie. I know they showed the Dursleys leaving just not how I expected it portrayed. The movie seemed slow and appropriately during scenes became anticipatory, like when Harry dove in to retrieve the sword. Another key point I think they should not have left out is when Harry & Hermione go to Godrics Hollow and they see the house where Voldemort killed his parents and they do not show that it is magically protected and or inscribed in anyway it just looks like a run down house.

I think I will see the movie one more time and though the movie was so so I am hoping part 2 doesn't leave too much out I know there are many side stories like Tonks being Pregnant, whats happening at Hogwarts, Potter Watch, Percy apologizing to the family soo much to put in 2 movies. I have a feeling that the second movie is going to be mostly fighting and very fast paced. It is a shame that we have to wait so long for the last movie..

Don't get me wrong it wasn't all negative, several of the scenes were on point with the book and I was excited to see them play out that way. You could feel the weariness of the situation in the movie. The disappearing witches and wizards, the attacks then there are the moments that at least for me I read and cried about and didn't really want to see.  I did find my self engaged with the screen watching the story unfold waiting and or holding my breathe for the story to open up. When Hermione erases her families memories my heart dropped for her it was definitely a well shot moment that pulls you in.


This is just one HP lover Fanatics opinion. Have a great night everyone!

Black Friday Deals?

So amid my Husbands Hail & Farewell, my working at my store location and helping at the Main Store prepping for Black Friday and on Black Friday in 72 hours I have only slept 11 hours. We have so much going on, I am juggling so many balls and wearing too many hats.

 Yet I was able to get some retail therapy and by far my best deal was a pair of Coach glasses for $59.00
What was your best deal?

I can NOT wait to be stateside and be able to take advantage of the scrapbooking deals at local stores. 39 more days until we are stateside!13 more days until my Birthday, I have been dropping DH hints about what I want for my B-day and Christmas since early November..

I hope everyone had a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. I give thanks everyday for the life made possible by God that I am living, my Family, my Friends and my Health. This last years has been the best by far I have grown as a person as mother and as a friend, I have shed some barriers and learned to be more accepting, understanding and I am still working on the being more patient. There were some rough times and without family, friends and prayers I don't know how I would have made it through, Leaving Japan is going to be hard because of the bonds and friendships I have made here and the way we lead our life here in Japan more carefree than we could ever be in the US.

BBC Booklist

The BBC believes the majority of people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here 

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Put a "/" next to those books of which you have read part.
3) Tally your total at the bottom.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien 
I never will- I am satisfied to have seen the movies, sorry...

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling xxxxxx

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee /

6 The Bible /
Well, not ALL of it...
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte /

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell (X)

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman /


10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens /

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (X)


12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles 


13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller 


14 Complete Works of Shakespeare /


15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier 

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien 

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (X)


19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger 

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell 

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (X)

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens


24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy 


25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 


26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh


27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky 

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck /

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (X)


30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame x


31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy 

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens 


33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis 


34 Emma - Jane Austen 

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen 

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis 


37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini 


38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden x

40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne x


41 Animal Farm - George Orwell x

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown x

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery 


47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood 


49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding (X)


50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel 

52 Dune - Frank Herbert 

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen 
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens


58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon 


60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck x

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov 

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt 

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold 
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas x

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy 

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding 


69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie 


70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville 

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (X)


72 Dracula - Bram Stoker x

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett 

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce 

76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath 

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens x


82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchel


83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker 


84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert 

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White (X)


88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom 

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad x

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (x)


93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks


94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole


96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas 


98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare ( X)


99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (X)


100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo 

A strange list for sure, I have read a small portion of this and will be looking into reading more of it.

Countdown!

Our time in Japan is winding down to it's end. I am trying to squeeze as much as I can in my last few weeks of the many sights activities I have yet to see and do..
With packing working and cleaning still to do I have to consider I may be taking on a bit too much or may even be a bit crazy with everything I want to do.

Sunday I am touring the Asahi Brewery and a Temple.. I am waitlisted for Kyoto sightseeing Tour and we are thinking about doing the Nikko Tour. I would like to stay at the New Sanno and take a trip to one of the Iron Chef Restaurants in Tokyo as well as check out the Vampire Cafe and Alice in Wonderland Cafe in Ginza. We are planning on driving up to Mt. Fuji ourselves I would personally like to take the tour, but having a day with the Fam Bam in car could be fun!

I am sad with Thanksgiving and the Black Friday sales and the fact that my place of employment is losing all associates which made me push my last day back by 2 weeks, we are just so busy have had so much going on. Grand Opening of the new improved NEX, all hands are asked to assist with the sales before and after when scheduling allows so some days I am scheduled for 10 hours a day to work at the Main Store and my store.. SOOO Crazy, right? I just can not say no.

So the lack of blogging and posting and creating has to do with the fact that I am juggling so many balls, moving overseas, working over time, kids, work, packing..etc etc..

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