Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows 2 Destroys Twilight Box Office, Biggest Single Day Ever: New Moon's opening day and Eclipse's midnight record. Obviously I derive some conflicted enjoyment from sparklepires, but... GO GET 'EM.

So. I had to sleep on this a couple of nights because two hours of standing, one hour of waiting in seats, two hours of movie, and not going to sleep until 4 am wiped me out, for some reason. I'm also having trouble getting rehydrated, as a result of 1) sweating out on the street for two hours in line and 2) not drinking enough to compensate, since I didn't want to have to bolt out of the auditorium mid-movie or die of a burst bladder. So... I'm going to blame dehydration for the fact that I did not have one single urge to cry during Deathly Hallows. And here I literally broke open a box of Kleenex, pulled out the whole stack of tissues, and stuffed it in my purse. I had actually cried through the possession scene in Order of the Phoenix (omg you guys the flashbacks, look at the kids, they were babieeeeees) both times I saw it in the theater, so I fully expected to bawl through the entirety of this one. And yet... for some reason, I felt very detached from the whole experience. Maybe because if I had started crying, nothing but table salt would have sprung from my tear ducts. It was probably better this way.

These are my thoughts. These are not All the Thoughts, just mine. (In fact, having spent two days on this entry, I think I'm going to just cut it off here and save some of My Thoughts for the podcast that we're recording on Sunday.)

( MAJOR SPOILERS )

So I had to go to the DMV to renew my driver's license today, except that it's not a driver's license, it's a driver's permit (it looks exactly the same, except there are two "exception" codes on the back. A: Corrective lenses and Y: Not a license. Oh. You know. That), because I can't drive, because I get panic attacks, because I'm a neurotic loser, so on and so forth. For the last fifteen years, the Alabama Department of Motor Vehicles has peaceably taken my money and renewed it without question. Except... this time. And somehow, going in, I knew they wouldn't renew it. Somehow, I knew.

And it was, in fact, exactly as humiliating as I expected. ( Read more... )

Later this week: bloodwork. I'm afraid of what's going to show up in it, although it's on the order of my psych doctor, basically to rule out a few things, not omg you have all the cancers. I'm still afraid of what might turn up. Like, you know, full-blown diabetes, which runs in the family and I'm at risk for. I mean, obviously, whatever turns up is something I already have, not something the bloodwork bestows upon me, so just refusing to find out isn't going to help. However, I also have a deep fear of needles--( this may squick you out, depending on your own issues )

So. Bloodwork. Later this week.

P.S. No one can ever find my veins.

But so help me God, I have a state ID, which is good because I need a drink.


Meanwhile: The weekend's discussion of character deaths and your feelings thereunto was very good, and our querent wishes me to pass on to y'all that it helped a lot. Also, my inbox is on fire.

Linkspam! ( In which I get... a little riled up ) 

So, I've caught up on my sleep a bit... and started on a leisurely reread of the book, particularly since I'm not going to spend the whole thing terrified of what awful thing might happen next. As with the previous two books, I can't really say if I liked it or not, because I was too busy racing through it in terror, but it was funny and suspenseful and sad and the only thing I was really disappointed about, besides ( Read more... )

WARNING: From here on out, I will LJ-cut spoilers on this journal, but they will be in the comments. Read anything at your own risk.

Record First-Day Sales for Last ‘Harry Potter’ Book.

JK Rowling reading from Deathly Hallows (videos).

A fitting finale for Harry (review; some spoilers); Review: Rowling brings Potter to magical end; Final ''Potter'' book: ''Stunningly beautiful'' (no spoilers). What I find so interesting about this is that the mainstream press seems to love the book; it's (some of) the fans who seem pissed about it.

‘Fan’-tastic Wizards Cast Spell Over ‘Harry Potter’ Midnight Madness Event.

List of characters killed in DH, via Wikipedia.


( Part I: The McWane Center Party )

( Part II: The Obligatory List of Observations )

BRING ON THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE SET PICS!

HOW Y'ALL FEEEEEEL?

1. I have to repost this from the Snarkfest metaquotes because I still start crying with laughter every time I reread it. From a chat session, re: Pimp Mack Sirius: ( Shut your mouth Remus, did I say you could talk! )

2. ROCKS FALL, EVERYONE DIES: Discuss. Which means, yes, SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS. Don't click through and come crying to me. Also, caveat wanker: I'm going into internet lockdown pretty soon, so this will be unmoderated, and if I come back and find that y'all have started fighting, I will report it to Fandom Wank myself.

GOD! It's like being seven years old and waiting for Christmas over here. And you know, there's a point where it's not even about Harry Potter anymore. It's exciting knowing that millions of us are all waiting for the book to come out. It's exciting--and a little wrenching--to know that this is going to cap off a seven-book, ten-year series; that we're going to find out everything we've been wondering about, all the loose ends; that terrible things might happen to characters we care about; that there won't be more after this. And having OOTP come out in theaters just the week before multiplies the excitement by a factor of ten--it's exciting because it's exciting, if that makes any sense; it's getting excited for its own sake, a communal experience, a fannish high. I think the communal factor cannot be underestimated here; the last Lemony Snicket book had me champing at the bit, but it was relatively quiet in a fannish way, probably because fewer people read that series. The high dissipated pretty quickly. Deathly Hallows, you know people will be discussing this for months, and--bonus!--bitching at each other for years. For those of you who don't follow Fandom Wank, there are some violent, vicious differences of opinion over whether Harry should die, whether Snape is good or evil, whether Draco is a romantic antihero or a weaselly little bully, and, most importantly, who Harry ends up with. Some guy named Voldemort may be involved, but I hear that's just a rumor left over from the fake fanfic still circulating.

(Note: As of last night, all those links were spoiler-free.)

Another Pro Tip I heard on the interwebs today: Unsubscribe from email notifications of anyone who friends you (or defriends you, for that matter) until you've finished the book. When, oh, let's say dobbykillsharrypage606 friends you, you'll understand why.

Meanwhile, I've finally decided what I want to do on Friday night, and I am SO INCREDIBLY RELIEVED to have settled it. It's cost $40, but I'm going to the McWane Center for OOTP in IMAX at 8:30 pm ($10), and then hang around at their party ($5) until midnight, at which point they will have books right there ($25). Yeah, I probably could have gotten it cheaper, but four or five dollars is worth it to actually have something to do, since I was bored stupid for five hours at the HBP Barnes and Noble "party," and I suspect that people who would pay to get into McWane are less likely to shout spoilers out at midnight. SO. RELIEVED.

( Harry Potter minispam, for your clicking or skipping convenience )

( Linkspam proper )