Monday, July 18, 2005

Systemic Reviews

If anyone has actually bothered to notice, my hair is really really long. I think this is possibly the longest I've ever had it, and it's giving me some trouble now because it's getting all curly and the really curly bits are starting to stick up like demented antennae, which look awful. How many times have I said I wished I had straight hair and not curly? Sigh. Anyway I need to get a haircut soon, but I'm lazy and I don't know whether I should get a slope cut or not. And the longer your hair gets the more embarrassing it is to go to the barber because it looks like you're just trying to get as much of your money's worth by giving the barber more hair to cut off. How exciting, there are natural disasters occuring across the world and people are worrying about terrorists, and here I am fussing over my hair.

Okay, to the main point. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, a.k.a. insanely awaited sixth instalment of the greatest real world fantasy series known to Man. I finally finished reading it yesterday night at 11.36 p.m. after many intermittent hours of reading. I only completed less than 200 pages on Saturday, because I spent two hours in the evening watching Tian Long Ba Bu, which was really exciting (more than the first 200 pages, as those of you who have read the book will attest to), so most of the reading was done on Sunday. Spoilers ahead, but they're written in white font, so you don't have to read it unless you've read the book or you don't intend to, or don't care anyway.

I have told most people that the book was a bit of a disappointment overall, because I was expecting quite a lot more. Not as funny as OotP, or any other book in the series, for that matter, though subtle wit was still in some abundance. Unfortunately one of the major things I loved about the series was its humour. Plot-wise, so-so. Despite the book being titled Half-Blood Prince, which refers to Snape, he appears significantly only in a few chapters here and there, and you have hardly any mention of the DADA lessons which were taught by him. You would think that in a book where veritably the most significant act was committed by Severus Snape, JKR would have written a fair bit more than she did about him. And incidentally I found the Half-Blood Prince part quite poorly taken care of. A mere outburst by Snape, and then Hermione trying to explain the title by saying that Snape preferred his mother's side? I don't really buy it.

Sigh, Dumbledore died. Not really that much of a surprise in terms of the way news has been leaking about the death, and I was still hoping that it might be someone else (I thought it might be Draco, seriously, but he isn't that important to the story). At the end of the day despite knowing who it is that dies the manner of the death is more significant, and truly, the manner was pretty shocking to me. It seemed totally purposeless, but I'm sure JKR had a reason for doing it. Hate me if you want, but I've always had a soft spot for Snape, and I still can't believe that he is truly truly evil and in league with Voldemort, and there's still a tiny hope somewhere in me that thinks it was all a ploy Snape was using to win the trust of Voldemort, a ploy which Dumbledore knows about and perhaps was willing to die for (yes, I know how preposterous that sounds). Another theory is that he wanted to spare Draco from the ultimate evil act of murder, since it is very clearly shown that Draco was hesitant and can still be saved. Who knows?

Other than that, I found the inundation of kissing scenes and implied or explicit romances rather confusing, since it seems the characters are all falling in love with one person or another in rapid succession while nursing admiration for other characters. Quite unrealistic, if you ask me, but maybe it's like that in the U.K.? Generally it feels like JKR is trying to make the fandom happier with all the romances, especially RonXHermione (I think it's sweet, really) and HarryXGinny. But it's a good thing that the characters are generally less ansty and annoying as compared to OotP. You get the feeling that JKR now has to make an effort to wrap up a lot of plot directions so they set the stage for the last book, and somehow the entire book just has that hurriedness about it that reduces the enjoyment value. I thought the Pensieve episodes were rather tedious and perhaps a wee bit too long; she could have spent time on other things, maybe.

All in all, a bit disappointing, but still a good read, otherwise I wouldn't have finished it in 2 days. Tonnes of quotable quotes, like all other Harry Potter books, full of subtle wit. I probably need to read it again, perhaps 2 days was too quick for me to really enjoy the book.

In other news, I watched the Japanese movie Be With You (or Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu) last Friday, with K and SY, and it was a really heartbreaking movie. The movie synopsis actually sounds quite ridiculous: A mother who passed away 1 year ago returns in the rainy season to spend time with her husband and son. But the course of the story is touching, interspersed with lots of humour and heartwarming moments. The son is so cute and precocious you can't help but love him: he's the kind of child you wish you could have as your son. Of course, I'm totally in love with Takeuchi Yuko, who also plays Aki in Pride. She has the "woman of the last century" look, totally. A kind of classic beauty and grace that radiates in all directions, and also a deep strength of character. Yes, she plays the mother wonderfully: first the apprehensive curiosity of someone who has lost her memory and found herself in the company of two strange people who claim to be her husband and son, then the sweet happiness when she explores how she and her husband fell in love, and they fall in love a second time, and lastly her quiet determination in making sure that her son and husband will not have problems when she is no longer around.

Shindou Nakamura also plays Takumi really well, with all the insecurity of someone who has lost all purpose in life and is unable to do what he once excelled in and cannot be near crowds, the inner torment of a man who has no confidence in himself and thinks that nothing he does is right. Two great leads, a touching story, a heartrending movie. At the end almost everyone in the cinema was pulling out tissues and sniffing. The plot loophole that brought the mother back was rather baffling, though, and spoilt the feeling of the movie considerably. I went from sad to confused to bewildered, and my mood was quite spoilt for the rest of the movie, so thank goodness that part was right at the end. I haven't watched a good tearjerker in so long, so I was really happy to have watched this, no matter how weird that sounds.

Argh, I have no idea how to do this stupid CMCS presentation at all. I feel I'm going to die most spectacularly.

Avaris / 7/18/2005 07:56:00 PM

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