Running late. A BIT

[cleolinda]

I spent yesterday gleefully researching, and today, I... crashed a bit. Mood is high, though. I'm just kind of sleepy and scattered.

So, instead, I went and read through Mark Reads Harry Potter--the Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire blogs, at least. I'd kind of vaguely heard of it back when he was doing Mark Reads Twilight, and--God bless, but I was a bit Twilit-out. ("Even you?" ESPECIALLY me, people.) And quite honestly, it's way more fun to watch someone enjoy good books chapter by chapter than it is to watch them be appalled by bad ones. (Wait, is it? Then what have I been doing? Sudden existential crisis is sudden.) He's blogging a chapter or two of whichever book each day, so basically you're watching him read it in real time, and--well, the way I described it on Twitter was, "It's like Horrify the Twilight Noob with something that's actually good." Because someone linked me to it the other day when Mark got to the Third Task in the Triwizard Tournament in GOF and his head summarily exploded (complete with Gary Oldman gif), and that's the floor I came in on. And was rewarded when, later that day, he hit the Riddle cemetery and What Happens There. Never have the words "CEDRIC WAS A HUFFLEPUFF" carried so much despair. So basically, I laughed my ass off, but it's also great to relive the experience of reading the books for the first time by watching someone else do it. The most recent chapter blog, actually, is a very profound explanation of what the Harry Potter books have come to mean to him personally.

Also, he's on Twitter, and was very happy to see folks I sent over there. If nothing else, go start where I did, it won't take you long.

Also-also: Don't you dare go spoil him. Not even "I can't wait for you to get to chapter ##." I want him to be destroyed by the next three books the way the rest of us were: properly.

Linkspam!

Rorschach Cat has seen the city's true face.

Natalie Portman's 'Black Swan' Trailer Gives Us Chills And Many, Many Questions; Exclusive: The Vanishing on 7th Street Trailer; Naomi Watts plays former CIA agent Valerie Plame in the trailer for "Fair Game."

January Jones is Emma Frost in 'X-Men: First Class.'

J.J. Abrams Developing a Spooky '7 Minutes in Heaven' Project.

First Look: Hartnett, Perlman, Moore in Guy Moshe's Bunraku. I'm not sure what's going on here, except that Gackt is somehow involved. If I knew who Gackt was, beyond "his fans used to show up on Fandom Wank a lot," this might be clearer, who knows.

Review: Vampires Suck. "Quick! Think of the first Twilight joke that pops into your head! Was it about sparkling vampires? Maybe it was about shirtless werewolves? Either way, congratulations! You are now a professional screenwriter, on the same level as the writers of Vampires Suck." I am definitely putting this on my resume.

'True Grit' Photo Surfaces! First Official Still Of Jeff Bridges And Hailee Stanfield!

5 Reasons Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World Failed To Find An Audience. I'm really linking to this for the last paragraph: "When it hits Blu-ray, buy it and force it on your friends. Whether they're potheads or nerds, ravers or comic book readers, they'll thank you for it. It's Scott Pilgrim fans vs. the World." Because I won't. I really won't. Do you like it when missionaries of any religion come to your door? No, you don't. The hard sell--"forcing it"--is more likely to make your friend dig her heels in than actually want to see it, so all you'll really accomplish is making sure that she doesn't. Particularly if your friend is me. I'm telling you this to help you: for the love of whatever you love, please go about efangelizing it in a lower-key way. If you tell someone might like it, and they say, "I don't really think I want to see it," then let it go. Sure, they'll miss out on whatever orgasmic movie experience you have in mind--assuming they would, in fact, actually like it if they saw it--but they have the right to choose that. Maybe they'll discover it on their own later, on cable. Maybe they won't. That's okay. I hated Airbender, and some folks came back here and said they liked it; I loved Inception, and some commenters hated it. I thought my mother would like Shutter Island, and now I'm never allowed to choose movies ever again. You actually can't be sure that someone will like something, no matter how genius you think it is, nor should you take it upon yourself show up on their doorstep with a copy of the DVD in hand to "make" them, and doing so might actually turn them against it.

Please. Think of the movies.

/my being-forced-to-watch-things issues, let me show you them

Dracula: Year Zero is Moving Forward. Sam Worthington? Really?

A 'Jumper' Sequel? Hayden Christensen Says Talks Are Happening, 'Darker' Story Considered. 

New images from AMC's The Walking Dead.

'My Soul to Take' Trailer: Some Teenagers, a Killer, Wes Craven, You Get the Idea. 

Alex Aja Goes From 'Piranha 3D' To 'Cobra: Space Pirate.'

And finally:

RT @christylemire: Totally: RT @ADuralde I am risking breaking the embargo because I must tell you that PIRANHA 3D IS INSANELY ENTERTAINING.

Fin.

So to speak.

Comments

[cupcakery.livejournal.com]

I want him to be destroyed by the next three books the way the rest of us were: properly.

FUCKING YEARS BETWEEN BOOKS.

Not that I'm still bitter or anything.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, he's having to read it a chapter a day, which might even it out in terms of suffering. A bit.

[bumblebee-1983.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOSH. RORSCHACH KITTY IS THE CUTEST THING EVER.

And I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mark and reading his blogs. THEY ARE BRILLIANT.

I laughed my ass off at his Twilight commentary (and how he got rid of the books.) HE IS BRILLIANT.

I've only read a little bit of his Harry Potter ones, and I died at his love for Hagrid. DIED.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I may have to go back and try to read the Twilight ones, then. I dipped into the Eclipse posts for a random sampling, but then I got angry and wanted to throw things all over again.

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

I just don't know how I feel about the idea of Dracula: Year Zero. On the one hand, I've been pining for a(nother, I suppose, if you count the Coppola one) big-budget Dracula movie for ages. On the other hand ... I don't think D:YZ is going to be the one I wanted.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

It is my dream to screenwrite the next version of Dracula (it's only a matter of time). There was that long-ass entry I posted a few months back--I want to go back and use imagery/scenes from the book that don't get used as often.

(You know what would actually be great? If HBO picked something like that up for a 4-6 hour miniseries.)

[nb2000.livejournal.com]

I've been working my way through Mark Reads Harry Potter since you linked it on Twitter. It's bringing back all sorts of memories about reading the books for the first time, and then of when I went back and read them again. I'm now determined to give them another read through in the near future.

I couldn't agree with you more about trying to force films/books/anything else on people. It's just rude to push someone that much.

[bumblebee-1983.livejournal.com]

I'm going to re-read them before the next movie comes out. Which doesn't give me much time.

But I am getting one goal accomplished: I'm going to Orlando to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park at the end of the month.

SCOOORREEE!!!

[nore-fortuna.livejournal.com]

Oh thank you for saying something about forcing movies on people. I've had people do that to me over different movies, tv shows, books, music and it is freaking annoying!

It is one thing to recommend a favorite entertainment, it is another to harp on it until the cows come home... actually it makes me want to stay away from that media even more.

I don't care if you're a super fan (in general, not you specifically) and love it endlessly but if I say I am not interested then leave it be.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

thiiiiiis

[beth-shulman.livejournal.com]

So, to exactly which genre does The Black Swan belong? *shivers*

[fallen-soprano.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing it's on the lines of a Dark Drama/Psychological Thriller, but that's just my guess. Personally, I can't wait for this movie to come out, looks amazingly interesting. It has nothing to do for my love of dancers and the wear they put their bodies through year after year.

Really.

[aficat.livejournal.com]

Mark is liveblogging the movies as well, so if you're around whenever he decided to do it this weekend, it's a grand old time. Everyone starts the movie at once and comments all the way through...

[t4-flirt.livejournal.com]

Oh, of all the damn times to have loaned my dvds to my sister. *headdesk* And she lives a good hour away.

[tifaria.livejournal.com]

The hard sell--"forcing it"--is more likely to make your friend dig her heels in than actually want to see it, so all you'll really accomplish is making sure that she doesn't.

Oh, God, yes. That's what put me off of Firefly initially. The constant badgering from my friends made me want nothing to do with it. Finally, when they had moved on from it and the movie was coming out, I caught an episode on TV by accident, just flipping channels to see what was on, and loved it.

I greatly enjoyed Scott Pilgrim and I plan to see it again. But I understand how it feels when something is forced upon you, so the "it's the fans vs. the world" mentality really bugs me.

[metonymy.livejournal.com]

I have heard more people complain about this phenomenon perpetrated by Whedonites than any other fandom. Guys, I love Firefly and Buffy too, but you are not helping. Either the work stands on its own or it doesn't.

[aliaspiral.livejournal.com]

Gackt is a Japanese popstar. He's HUGE. He's also too cool for words, except when he's a giant dork.

Sometimes he looks like a girl. Sometimes he looks like Bowie. He talks to dead people. It's possible he's a vampire.

He's an interesting one, he is.

[maxineofarc.livejournal.com]

Is he still huge? I thought he was huge 10 years ago. If he's still huge, then good on him, man.

[glass-radical.livejournal.com]

I am ridiculously excited for Black Swan.

[nicolars.livejournal.com]

I didn't think I would be interested, but the trailer is so wonderfully creepy.

[barrelgoddess.livejournal.com]

FUCKING THANK YOU for that. I have being-forced-to-watch-things (or read, or play, etc.) issues too, majorly, and it's exactly why I tune out all Scott Pilgrim conversation in an online comm I'm a part of, because I KNOW people will pull that crap with me again if I express my disinterest, and I just don't have the energy or patience these days to deal with it.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

A "darker" sequel to Jumper? Meh. I'd settle for one that acknowledges that the life of a teleporting thief and thrill-seeker is not all adolescent wish-fulfillment but might be possibly just the teensiest bit immoral, and that Jackson's character might have some legitimate reason to be concerned about someone who can (potentially) go anywhere and kill anyone he feels like. But given the audience, I doubt that'll happen.

[t4-flirt.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, makes me wonder if Jumper's still listed in my On Demand movies. LOL

[bienegold.livejournal.com]

January Jones seems a really...unique choice for Emma Frost.

[nicolars.livejournal.com]

I had a mini-meltdown when I heard about this news yesterday, because Emma Frost is my favorite X-Men character and I just can't see January Jones doing her justice.

Black Swan

[bluehyacinth.livejournal.com]

Is it just me, or is anyone else getting the "Mila Kunis doesn't really exist a la Fight Club" vibe from the Black Swan trailer?

Re: Black Swan

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

Judging from the commentary in the linked article, a lot of people, it seems.

[manekikoneko.livejournal.com]

I loved Scott Pilgrim, and I think it's really ahead of its time, but I've been cautioning most people I know. I sincerely don't think anyone who isn't into games and comics is going to 'get' it, and I'd rather they remain ambivalent than be compelled to hate it for whatever reason, especially not because of anything I did. I think it will be huge on DVD, midnight movies; over the next five years, people will discover it for themselves and kick themselves for missing it the first time, but they will love it that much more.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, it's interesting--because of my age, I feel like I'm going to get Nintendo-based jokes that teen viewers might not get. At the same time? I've never played video games. I mean, I've had someone drag me over and hand me a controller a few times, but it's not something I ever did regularly or because I was actually interested. I mean, maybe it would totally be orgasms and hot fudge sundaes, I don't know, but... it's about something I'm not all that interested in. It looks like it has a really great visual style... based on something I don't care about. So.

[sarapada.livejournal.com]

I have explicitly told my friends, "Look, the more people tell me, 'Oh, God, you have to [ see this movie / watch this TV show / listen to this CD]', the more I will never, ever do it."

[sun-star-n-moon.livejournal.com]

Gods, reading GoF for the first time was intense. I had just discovered the Harry Potter books and GoF was the most recent one out.

I remember staying up very late at night (Oh gods, I think it might have even been storming heavily just for the added effect) and the GoF ending SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME. More so than what any of the other books did (or would do). I think that out of all the books, it had the most intense ending. It still blows my mind every time I reread it.

In other news, your comic reminds me of this (which is something I found running around tumblr)

[t4-flirt.livejournal.com]

Shortly after GoF came out, my mother bought the series up to that point in hard-back for my younger sister and I. (I was in high school at the time, sis was in junior high.)

I fell in love with the books, and remember my mind being absolutely BLOWN by what transpired in GoF. And of course, the rest of the series made my mind get even more blown. Right down to locking myself in my bedroom and handing my son of to my hubby for the day when DH came out. And bawling my eyes out for most of DH, especially towards the later chapters. I think I went through almost a full box of Kleenex that day.

[alpheratz.livejournal.com]

The cemetery scene is the reason Goblet of Fire is my favorite book. Nothing else is like reading that and having to wait three years, OMFG.

I just reread the books (like, literally finished two nights ago) and yeah - still my favorite scene. dkgjsasdlf

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

That scene in the movie is, I swear, where the entire movie series just levels up to being something completely different. I mean, forget "Kill the spare," Ralph Fiennes showing up in person is pretty much the exact moment that Shit Gets Real. Even having read the book, I was sitting in the theater just completely O_O when we got to "I'm going to kill you, Harry Potter."

[hopeandmemory.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you linked to Mark Reads Harry Potter, because I spent all of last night reading every entry and dying from laughter. I'm on the New Moon section of Mark Reads Twilight now and he is just... magnificent, good lord. I can't wait to read his reviews of the final three books. It's making me want to re-read them. :3

As for Scott Pilgrim... man, I know I'm judging without ever having read the graphic novel or anything, but it's a movie about a guy who has to defeat his crush's seven evil exes. WHAT. NO. GTFO. Also, I got tired of Michael Cera after seeing Juno seventy million times. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[barrelgoddess.livejournal.com]

Yeah, as soon as I found out the premise, I made a "D:" face and decided "No, this is definitely not for me." It is... disconcerting, to say the least, to see it getting jizzed over by people. Which makes me sad, because as a gamer I would love to see something so geeky and stuffed with video game refs, but the premise/plot are just such a huge "NO" that I don't think I could stomach it. Why can't I get a good, geeky movie aimed at girls? :/ /rant

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

I think his personal stories are interesting - his childhood and what-not. I don't remember which book he got into that, though.

[hopeandmemory.livejournal.com]

I think he really got into it in the review of POA, because he ran away from home and really identified with Harry's "SHIT WHAT DO I DO NOW" panic while he's wandering around waiting for the Knight Bus.

[barrelgoddess.livejournal.com]

I should really read through those blogs, it'd probably make me want to reread some of the books again. I remember well the wait for OotP, I blazed through the first four just after GoF came out and then had to wait.

PoA will forever be my favorite book/ending of the whole series. Everything in the plot was tied together so well, and I adored the Shrieking Shack sequence. Plus, Sirius. And Remus. Love those two for ever and always (and no, I haven't forgiven what happened to them, why DO you ask?).

[diddakoi.livejournal.com]

Ok, just read through Mark's last entry on Breaking Dawn, and... what's this about Jacob and his pack not being real werewolves?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

They're actually shapeshifters, and their ancestors could have chosen whichever animal, but they chose wolves. "Real" werewolves are apparently a lot nastier.

Interestingly, there's a similar distinction made in the True Blood books.

[shesnotallthere.livejournal.com]

"You actually can't be sure that someone will like something, no matter how genius you think it is..."

And even if they DO like the thing, they're not ever really going to love it like you do. Chances are you stumbled across the thing, so in addition to liking it, you also have a sense of discovery that no one you force the thing on can share.

YOU found buried treasure. THEY were called over to look at it after it'd been dug up and picked over. They will never react as strongly as you did.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah--that is a really great way of putting it.

[ladysugarquill]

OMG that first macro, it is amazing. :D

Also, yes, Jumper sequel! (What? I loved the first one! And it means moar Hayden :D)

[fallen-soprano.livejournal.com]

+1 for the macro. I lol'd. Hard.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

You know, as natural as the "I don't want to watch this if it's hyped so much" reaction is, I've learned to ignore it. Sure, I've seen some things I've hated based on other people's recommendations, but I've also seen a lot of awesome stuff I never would have found on my own.

It helps that I am not easily frightened/disgusted, though.

[barrelgoddess.livejournal.com]

I've found some stuff on recs that I absolutely loved - like Doctor Who, most recently - but other stuff, the way they forcefully tried to push it on me just turned me off to something I was already lukewarm about or just plain uninterested in trying. Strangely, it's come from the same people in a couple cases...