Aside from going nuts with classes, I've been seeing movies! :D On the whole, I left much more satisfied with them than, say, Spiderman 3 or Shrek 3.

Anywhos, I saw Ratatouille and just today, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix!


I have always really enjoyed Pixar's movies, and this one was no exception. I don't think it was as OMG AMAZING YAY as, say, The Incredibles or Finding Nemo, but it was terrific in its own rights. And really, when the worst you can say about the movies from a company is "they're pretty good," that says something. My only real complaint was that I could very easily see what route the story was going to take, and maybe the romantic subplot between Linguini and Colette was a leeeettle unnecessary. Also, while the ending was quite satisfying, having everyone actually accept Remy as a great chef was stretching my belief a little too far. Linguini actually saw Remy in action; the other people and critics did not.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and got tons of laughs out of it. I love the way Pixar does their humor...they always bring the funny through the characters themselves, and they make it feel more natural, and opposed to trying to hard to be "hip" or "edgy." Yeah, "edgy" humor is funny today, but often it's not funny tomorrow, because it's not that edgy anymore. Pixar's humor stays humorous somehow, just like in movies such as The Lion King and Aladdin. And there were some pretty funny moments...the entire audience pretty much howled at the part where Remy's ratatouille makes the critic flashback to his childhood. And that was the climax of the movie, practically! XD Just...in that whole unspoken sequence, it all made perfect sense. I loved that the critic's house was shaped like a coffin, too. Heck, any time the critic came onscreen, it was this perfect mix of terror and hilarity. (I totally forgot his name.)

Loved the one suez-chef who KILLED A MAN WITH THIS THUMB. Was amazed at how well they did the wet-fur look on the rats. And the big WOAHWHAT technical aspect was just the way they choreographed some scenes, like with Remy darting in and out of these huge complex, moving sets from the rat's-eye view. I can't even imagine how much work went into those! I love movies where I can both enjoy the story, and say the effects were amazing.

ALSO. The short at the beginning of the movie pretty much had me rolling with laughter. Heck, anyone who's ever taken a driving test would be rolling with laughter. Their shorts were just brilliant.

And finally, somehow, the thing that made me happiest was the sticker at the very end of the credits: 100% ANIMATION: NO STOP MOTION USED! :D ...That made me glee in an oldschool animation way!


So today, I also went with my buddies ghettopeach and sir_snarksalot to see the next Harry Potter movie! And I can't believe I paid four bucks for a thing of candy...but I was hungry!


The long and the short of it is that I really enjoyed this movie version, and I thought they did a good job of condensing that much story into so little space! Everything seemed to flow together nicely, they focused on one main plot instead of jumping around to ten small ones like Spiderman did, and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.
And now, random thoughts:
- HOLY CRAP UMBRIDGE WAS SCARY. I got weird shivers pretty much every time a little "tee-hee!" came out of her mouth. They did an excellent job of keeping her just as eeeevil as she was in the book.
- NEEDS MOAR REMUS. And Tonks! I was all excited for Tonks, and she was barely in it! D:
- Glad Sirius got to shine more! :D WAS NOT HAPPY AT ALL WHEN HE DIED, AGAIN. Although that scene felt kinda played down.
- The Voldemort vs. Dumbledore fight was kickass, even without the statues coming to life to fight. Did not expect the whole Voldemort possessing Harry bit, though! It seemed to fit okay, however.
- A bit more time spent on Snape's Worst Memory, plz? They rushed through that whole bit.
- Fred and George = ♥♥♥ The scene where they bust up the O.W.L.s was sheer pwnage.
- UMBRIDGE IS STILL SCARY.
- IT IS LESS THAN TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE LAST BOOK OMGWTFFFFFFFFF.


Aaand that's about it. Also, tomorrow we are leaving at Early O'Clock to drive up to Tahoe for my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary/big family reunion. It's going to be an eight-hour drive there (oyyyy) so I will be bringing fanfic to write, comics to work on, and HBP to re-read in preparation for book 7. As such, I will be lacking the internets until, like, Monday night maybe. Otherwise not until Tuesday. So nothing important better happen until I get back! XO

Randomly: wyna_hiros, are you feeling free at all? I was thinking it might be kinda cool to collaborate on some artwork again. Maybe even try with the 3D stuff? :D

Drawing: Finished the next LG page; home to work on comics muchly over the weekend.

Writing: Will write on MWWBK up there as well...