"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"

"luxury cinema" : adjustable leather love-seats and a service-button!

Liked it. Particularly in the beginning they did not hasten the story, they did not flash-boom-bang you into everything again. They even slowly increased the volume so the end would be suitably boom-y.

the 3D worked well. Gritty images, and hardly any artifacts.

Acting and stuff: good enough, though Dumbledore (or his lines?) in the "trainstation" during Harry's death sounded very fake and silly. From the book I remember seriously "feeling" his death: there was no question about it that he was dead. In the film, it was obvious it was "just for now". A kind of deus ex machina, come to think of it, but perhaps the book did a better job of explaining it.

Music: not very interesting at all, but there were a few good soundeffects.

Any film that shows an army running across fields has a LotR feeling: they certainly set a standard.

No long ending stretching. Good.

Seriously enjoyed it. The bits I didn't enjoy, did definitely not ruin it.

But is it really never explained why Harry and Voldemort are arch-enemies? He killed his parents, yes, Harry carried part of Voldemort, yes, but why could Harry resist him? I cannot describe it, but an underlying, very deep motive or reason seems missing.

Blockhead - "You've got Maelstrom"

Just the title is a plus. Fun triphop with samples.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo9VCnw35LY

Philip Wesley - "Racing against the sunset" (Dark Night Of The Soul)

Nice, too much Philip Wesley can twang your mind though.

"Breakfast At Tiffany's"

Fun to watch it (completely now!) but I won't be extremely excited about it. Should figure out why it's such a famous film.

Don't take me home before I'm quite drunk, mind you.

The setting, the Hollywood Forever cemetary, with about 4000+ people picknicking, the sky a molten yolk's yellow, was amazing though.

"This is Hollywood. This is L.A. I'm in California," I thought numerous times.

Baxter - "Love Again" (Baxter)

Triphopish. Melancholy. It made me think of "My Dear Friend" from Immortel Ad Vitam. That one is sung by Julie Delphy: maybe look up a bit more of her music.
- minimalistic at times.

Gotye - "Coming Back"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfV2iVJqwwU

Not as good as "Somebody that I used to know" but catchy and rhythmic for sure.

Arrogant phrase and I like it

In my universe, the existential angst of the dictionary is selfreferential in a recursive fashion.

There you have it. I'm proud of that one. Let the record show it was I, H, who coined this phrase. Let google show it, let wikipedia prove it.

Hooverphonic - "Dictionary" (Blue Wonder Power Milk)

I've never become as big a fan of Hooverphonic as I used to be, but this is a fun song, not in the least because of the lyrics.

Won't you be my dictionary
Won't you translate fun
Into something necessary
Inter uni sun
Won't you be my dictionary
Can't I be very necessary
Inter uni fun
Comes back

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRQm92w2TO4

random French proverb

à l'impossible, nul n'est tenu

No one is bound to do what is impossible

Wax Tailor ft Charlotte Savary - "Our Dance" (Tales of Forgotten Melodies)

I'm not sure I really like her voice, but in this estranged song it is curiously alluring.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ACVtpokgU4&ob=av2e

David Mitchell - "The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet"

(author of that amazing book, "Cloud Atlas")

A Dutch clerk finds himself in Dejima, the only tradingpost of Japan with the outside world, just outside of Nagasaki. There he battles conspiracies, his love for the girl he left at home, the Japanese midwife who is imprisoned into a horror abby, an English dog of War and the very Japanese culture himself.

Again, amazingly written, with every character his own voice, a well-detailed background, an amazing rich narrative.

I wish I could compare it to James Clavell's "Shogun" or the like. Books that showed more of the Orient's thoughts and culture, but had less diverse and complicated characters.

A review of both this book and "Cloud Atlas" complained of the former that the many strange and difficult voices held the reader back from enjoying the story, but I disagree. It said about this book that it shows Mitchell's mastery, but that it is not yet his zenith.

We shall see. I do prefer "Cloud Atlas" to this; it was more diverse, richer and stranger, but those are all personal points of view. From a literary standpoint (whatever that might mean) they are both amazing.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - part 1"

Amusing enough, but I had Lord of the Rings flashback (carrying the amulet darkens one's mood, the three of them hiding) and there seemed many internal inconsistencies. Maybe I don't remember the books well enough.

It was fun to watch, but I looked at it through popcorn-eating eyes, and for just that, it was a good film.