Can You Enjoy The Harry Potter Movie If You've Never Read The Books (or seen the other movies)??

Well, Himself would say a resounding NO!

As with anything involving our family there is a story involved in this.

The day had gone relatively well with a few minor hiccups to my well planned schedule.
The Doctor's surgery was closed due to power cuts (which were over by the time I got there so I was well irritated); the BA flew back in on the first leg of an international rather than a normal domestic flight which meant a few anxious moments in Sydney as she didn't have a passport and was initially not allowed to board! Once she arrived here she had to go through customs and immigration so it was 45 minutes before she came through the doors.
Nevertheless we were on-time for her netball match where she once again performed well; her team victorious: 48-30.

After a nice visit with Kindergarten Friend's mum who is the most remarkable, sprightly 85 year old I know, we arrived back home minutes before Himself and Small Boy returned from the football, all within the prescribed time frame in order to get to the 6.10pm session of Harry. There was only one small fly in the ointment whom I shall call 'Two Doors' (as in; Two Doors Down), Small Boy's bosom buddy from down the road. He'd been to the football with 'the boys' as he frequently does and bounced back in to plonk himself down in front of the X-Box immediately.

"Two Doors," I called from the kitchen,"You have to go home now because we're going out."
His eyes never left the screen. "Ummm, I don't think my mum's home."
"What do you mean your mum's not home?" my head shot around the corner, looking somewhat accusingly at Himself who was all wide eyed and innocent. Hadn't he checked this out before he took the lad with him?????
"Well, the house was all dark when we came past," Two Doors continued, still playing X-Box for all he was worth.
"Well Two Doors," I shrilled,"Hadn't you better go down and check because we're going out in about 10 minutes??!!!"

As ever, he was unperturbed and cheerfully agreed to go and see where she was. Well, she wasn't. There, I mean. Nope. House locked up and in darkness as it was now nearly 6 o'clock.
"Don't worry," he chirruped, "I'll ring her."

No reply on her mobile.

At this point I was starting to steam. Obviously Himself had not communicated to her that we were going out because no-one goes out while their kid is out and doesn't come home and doesn't let him know where she is, right? He called Grandma. Grandma didn't know where Mum was either but she agreed to come over and pick him up.

"I'll just wait outside our house for you Grandma," Two Doors announced to her and hung up. He is nothing if not stoic.

Well of course, there was no way I was leaving the kid waiting outside his house in the dark for his Grandma who might take 15-20minutes to arrive. We all drove down and sat outside his house in the car with the engine running and the clock ticking on the session commencement time. Eventually I said to Himself, "You take the kids down and get popcorn etc and I'll wait with him and catch up in my car when his Grandma gets here."

I thought this was a perfectly reasonable compromise. Had I been driving and Himself in the passenger seat, I may have suggested Himself wait whilst I drove but that was not the situation and so I suggested what I thought to be the best option. For some reason this did not meet with Himself's approval; he was insistent that we should all wait whilst I felt that it was a shame if the kids missed out on the first part of the movie. When I asked why he wasn't keen on my suggestion he rolled his eyes and said that it was 'all too hard'. I'm not very good at seeing the other side of a situation if it hasn't been explained to me so I became quite frustrated by this recalcitrant attitude. As the minutes ticked by and the session time clicked over I announced that they should get going, emphasising the point by getting out of the car with Two Doors. Himself wouldn't take the tickets so I gave them to the BA and proceeded up the darkened drive as Himself, realising that I meant it, took off in a less than pleasant temper.

So here is the scenario: Himself, who had not wanted to attend a Harry Potter movie (he's more of a Jean-Claude Van Damme man) is now alone with the kids, a situation with which he is never comfortable, on his way to Marion, a venue he loathes. Hmmmmm. This was not going well. I had intended, until the mix-up with Two Doors, to 'fill him in' on the Harry Potter plot on the way to the cinema but naturally, this didn't happen. As a result, by the time I had delivered Two Doors to his apologetic grandmother (less than 10 minutes later fortunately) and caught up with the family, Himself was seated in the theatre with Small Boy, a face like thunder and absolutely no idea what the story of Harry Potter was all about. The previews were just about over and there was no time to redress the plot deficit so the BA and I sat back to make the best of it.

Now, let me just say here that I was so proud of my girl. She was duly upset by Himself's bad humour but calmly organised him and took the responsibility for queuing for popcorn while the boys found their seats. She was prepared to miss out herself to ensure Small Boy had his dad with him and saw the beginning of the movie. As it turned out we all saw the beginning of the movie so all was well but I was just really impressed by the mature way she dealt with things. On the other hand I was a little annoyed that she had to deal with them. A little case of 'who's the adult here...?' :-(

Because we arrived later, I was about as far away from Himself as you can be in a group of four seats and so I did not even have the opportunity to fill him in as the film progressed. Consequently, as the lights went up at the end, his first words to all of us were that it was 'the worst movie he'd ever seen, it made no sense at all, had no plot, no recognisable good and bad guys and was basically a lot of pretty pictures!'

Unfortunately he would not let it go at that and was incensed that he'd had to sit for nearly 3 hours trying to make sense of something so ridiculous! I suggested that it was 'just nice for us all to be out together' with the type of eyebrow raising and eye rolling that was meant to communicate: 'keep your opinions to yourself and let the kids enjoy the experience' but it was clear he didn't really 'get' what I was on about.

Back at home I managed to get him alone on the balcony and explain how his reactions impacted on those around him.
"When you get angry like that the kids feel uncomfortable."
"But they know I'm not angry with them!" he protested.
"No, that's the point, they don't! They feel responsible and it spoils their night."
He was taken aback by this and, to his credit, later apologised to them for being 'grumpy' but we did not come to any agreement on the quality of the Harry Potter film.

I thoroughly enjoyed it although I could see why he didn't. I do maintain however that you could make more sense of it than he chose to. I mean, Draco was obviously a bad guy, as were the dudes who kept turning into black smoke and who torched The Warren (that wasn't in the book was it?). But it was full of riddles and I can understand why that would be frustrating if you were just coming into the story.

Himself's point was that in the first films which he had seen, there was a discernible 'plot' which went 'over' the back story. Even if you didn't know all the history, the spider plot, the Azkabhan escapee or the hidden Philosopher's Stone had enough to keep you entertained whereas this did not. To some degree I think he is right but I think that it's the nature of the beast. The closer we get to the all out battle between Voldemort and the powers of good, the more the plot centres on the mystery of Harry himself.

So what did I think of the film? Well I liked Slughorn (Jim Broadbent is always terrific) and the emerging relationships between the main characters. I always love Snape, and knowing what I now know about his motivation adds a whole new dimension to his role. In a way I felt this film condensed things a lot more than some of the previous ones did but I will need to go back and read the book again to confirm that. Obviously the main points were all there.

So what do you think? Do you think the film assumed to much prior knowledge? If so, is it inevitable or should they have been trying to make a 'stand-alone' film? And finally, do you think I should ever bother getting Himself to accompany us to the pictures again?

I am open to all points of view here. Don't be shy! Tell me what you think!

What Happened Next.

Thank you for all your sympathetic comments regarding the Harry Potter debacle.

Here's the update:

After trying to flog the tickets to you people :-) and on facebook, I offered them to the kids at rehearsals yesterday. I had two 'nibbles' but nothing came of it so as I left school at 5pm I decided to go down to Marion, pick up the tickets and try and sell them on to someone in the queue. I had already bought the replacement tickets for the correct night (tonight: oh boy oh boy) so it was looking like it was going to be a reeeeeeeally expensive birthday present for the Small Boy!!!!

Down at Marion I queued in the 'collect tickets here' line and then, I became that person that you really hate when you are running late for a film and all you have to do is collect two tickets which you've already bought and paid for online and the person in front of you asks for a refund!

Yes, that was me. I figured since I was there I might as well explain about the whole 'thought I was booking Saturday and forgot to check before I pressed the button' thing. I showed them that I had rebooked the tickets for the next night and explained that I had spent sometime on the phone during the day trying to get through to someone to talk about the error but had been unable to get an answer. Surprisingly, incredibly, they made a quick call and agreed to give me a refund!!!!!!!!

Of course, that's where it got messy and everyone behind me was wishing they had joined a different queue. For some reason they couldn't find one of my bookings and then they told me I'd actually booked two tickets for Gold Class (what???? I'm dumb but I'm not that dumb...they don't let kids in to Gold Class) and then I had to wait to one side while they found the manager and then I saw 2 of the BA's friends in the queue and they were with boys........

Talk about stressful. I actually tried to hide from the BA's friends but they spotted me and called out to me across the queue, wondering when she was coming back from Sydney. Then I realised that one of the boys was a lad from their class at school and the other, although I didn't know him, was cheerful, polite, articulate and charming. Hmph. As if that was going to win me over.

Result? I GOT THE REFUND!!!!!!!!!! I had to forgo the $4.00 booking fee but did I look worried about that???? :-D

So all's well that ends well. We're off to see Harry tonight with both kids and Himself!(I had to do some fast talking along the 'guilt guilt, Small Boy's birthday, guilt guilt, nice family outing, guilt guilt etc) but he eventually agreed to leave his work station and come with us :-D

Only two days of holidays left but the good news is that we start the term with a two day conference so NO KIDS and I still have 'til Thursday to mark those pesky exams. Today I pick up the BA from the airport, visit our dear friend Nellie, take BA to netball and then home for a few quick loads of washing before HARRY POTTER!

Life's pretty good really.

Theme Thursday: Silly

You see this?

This is silly.

This is booking a ticket ONLINE to see Harry Potter AND PAYING .......for the wrong night. The BA will not even be back from Sydney tomorrow and The Small Boy (whose birthday it is) will be celebrating with his Mum!!!!!! >:-(

****(insert expletive of your choice)

I hit that 'Purchase Now' button a nano second before my brain suggested I check my booking details.

Too late.

Have you read their exchange and refund policy?????

HOW COULD I BE SO SILLY???????

And of course the booking office is closed now so I can't call til the morning. :-(

Anyone wanna buy 4 tickets to Harry Potter for Friday night in Adelaide? I'll let you have 'em for $15.00 each ;-D

Check out Theme Thursday over at Cheese Party. Hopefully noone has been quite THIS silly!!!

Biting Off more Than I Can Chew: Annie The Musical

This second week of the holidays has seen the real start of rehearsals for the musical. About 40 kids and 5 teachers have been meeting in at school daily and the really hard yakka of blocking scenes, setting choreography and rehearsing the orchestra has started.

For my part, I am officially; Stage Manager, Costumes, Props and Assistant Director. Now you see where the title for this post comes in.

It started sensibly enough, I was Stage Manager and Costumes; that's what I did last time. The role of SM doesn't really start till you get into the theatre so before hand I was concentrating on costumes and just getting a basic idea of the show so I could work out the cues. This time somehow they've discovered my background in theatre and so I have been asked to block scenes and do character workshops as well. How I got landed with props I am not sure.

The thing is, I love it and would cheerfully give it my all. Unfortunately there are other areas of my life which require attention too. Marking exams for one (no I haven't done that yet :-( despite talking about it for the last week), what I'm going to teach next term for another, Kidzone at church, my family........oh and the house.

Which is why I was awake the other morning at 4am having a panic attack. But never fear, I have plans to off load some of this responsibility. If I have learned anything over the years it is how to delegate. And not a WORD out of you mother. This is one of the times I'm glad you DON'T comment very often.

Crafty Tuesday: Set Painting

I was arty/crafty this last week. For the first week of the school holidays, one of my colleagues and I were painting sets for the Year 12 production of 'The Importance of Being Earnest'.

Our brief involved 8 'flats' which needed to be undercoated (to get rid of a previous market scene) on both sides and then turned into two Regency drawing rooms and a neutral scene. The neutral scene was pink (for some reason) and the two drawing rooms were to be blue and yellow. The director had instructed us to paint stripes on the top two thirds and block colour on the bottom third to simulate wall panelling, a dado rail and wallpaper.

This is what we came up with. The yellow one is the city house and the blue one is the country. Now I can see all sorts of problems with them :-) The stripes are not right. They look more like circus tents than Regency wallpaper. The upside down fleurs de lys were a bit of a shortcut to a regency pattern because I had to cut a stencil and this was a lot easier to cut than a fiddly Regency motif. The blue one was an existing stencil which the Director had chosen and I just blew it up on the photocopier and re-cut it out of cardboard. I'm not sure it really works with the stripes. The other issue my colleague and I had was that we felt the stripes should have been on the bottom but the director felt with furniture and so forth standing in the way of the sets, you wouldn't see have seen them.

Anyway, since we took these shots, I have added a red brown stripe to the top and bottom of the yellow border, which helps to define it and add depth. I also want to add some 3D effects to the border pattern by high lighting the fleurs de lys again with the red brown colour. The blue needs something else too but I'm not sure what yet.

I may also add thinner stripes into the stripy part to make it more like a Regency stripe although everyone tells me 'it's just a play' and not to spend too much time over it :-D Anyhow, that my Crafty contribution this week!
Click over to see what others have been up to.

If You Want Something Done....

"Your son needs some new trousers," I informed Himself last week. Small Boy had arrived for his holiday visit with nothing but a few pairs of shorts, one pair made of that thin shiny fabric basketballers wear. It has been about 9C in the mornings here lately.
"Doesn't he have some in his drawer here?"
"Yes, but they're all too short for him now and he's refusing to wear them. Take him down to the shopping centre sometime."

I must admit I was surprised when I didn't get too much argument. Himself notoriously loathes all shopping centres and our nearest major shopping centre in particular. It's one of the larger mall complexes and for some reason it never has enough car parks, sin number one in Himself's eyes. It is also deliberately convoluted in order to make you walk past as many shops as possible and past the thousands of determined women shoppers, who, according to Himself, always have their elbows extended.

So I was naturally quietly delighted when he agreed to take on the task. Normally he would handball this sort of thing to me but the week with Small Boy had been a little fraught due to Himself's constant work and even he could see that Small Boy was in need of some serious dad time. You see, no matter how good your relationship with your step mother is, when you're a boy, there's no-one like dad.

Later that day he phoned me, "We've been shopping," he said.
"Great, what kind of trousers did you get?"
"Well, we didn't actually get any trousers."
"What do you mean you didn't get any trousers???"
"Well, we got some wheels for his scooter instead."

You think I make this stuff up don't you?

In Praise Of The Humble Card

Cards are having a tough time of it lately.

I mean, what with email and ecards and online flowers etc, I know my investment in the card industry has plummeted. Heck, I haven't even done Christmas cards for the last two years, a fact which I deeply regret as I have lost contact with some people as a result. This of course brings me to my point. There is nothing like a card really.

There is also nothing like a carefully chosen gift, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant. A carefully chosen gift can demonstrate your intimate knowledge of someone, or at least that you have enough respect for them to find out what they need/like and search it out. Which is what makes kids' birthday parties tricky; especially when you are a step parent and do not know the birthday boy.

Recently I have been landed witha number of last minute 'he's going to a party's. Dad of course makes no effort to buy gifts in advance because he just doesn't think like that >:-( so when I asked Small Boy what we needed to get for someone's present the other day he announced that we simply needed to put money in a card: 'That's what Mum does and anyway, that's what he was asking for.'

This rankles with me. It smacks of laziness. It stinks of not bothering to find out who the child is and what he likes/is interested in. It reeks of materialism. It's like paying to go to a party.

However, my hands were tied a little. It was last minute, it was an 'early start' party and things have not been all sunshine and roses with the Small Boy here this week and I didn't feel like another argument. So off to the shopping centre we went to buy a card and drop Small Boy off at the movies.

Once there I insisted Small Boy have a hand in choosing a card. His initial pick, which involved an analysis of different kinds of farts , I rejected as inappropriate. He then claimed he didn't know where to look for another one (give me strength) and also informed me that he wasn't sure how old his friend actually was! That ruled out the age related cards. Like pulling teeth, we finally and excruciatingly found a safe, cheerful, appropriately amusing card. Upon purchase I found a pen for him to write in the card.

"We don't need to," he snapped, keen to be getting to the party,"It's got writing in it already."

Is the counter of a card shop the place to lecture a child on the importance of a hand written message? Of the emotion that can be communicated through a few well thought out words? Ask the Bestie's mum. When I wrote out the card for her 80th birthday I wrote it through tears of love and she, equally, called me the next day to tell me how much it had meant to her.

Is it just women? Do men not get that? I don't believe that because my ex husband wrote the most beautiful cards to his little daughter as she grew (and he continues to do so). Whatever the reason, I felt it was a sad indictment on...what? Some people? I don't think we can tar the whole Gen Y with this particular brush although speed and immediacy of communication do discourage thoughtful reflection. No, I can't tar them because I know my daughter spends time choosing cards (or even making them and she hates craft), I think this one falls squarely on the shoulders of adult role modelling and is yet another example of where Himself and his ex and I differ.

I've been in at school this week in the holidays painting sets for the Year 12 production. Out of the blue, and much to my surprise, on Wednesday the Year12s arrived with cards and chocolate to say thank you. The chocolates are gone but the card is still here on my desk.

Image credit