Meat and Magic

Well, Christmas has officially arrived. I came home yesterday to a familiar yule-tide sight on my front porch. A red and white box stamped with Perishable Meats, Open and Refrigerate Immediately! Not familiar with this symbol of Christmas cheer? The annual stash of breakfast meat has been a reliable treat at our home, yet it manages to surprise me every year. The generosity comes from one of the vendors J deals with. Nothing says Christmas like a selection of sausage and bacon from the midwest. To my dismay, there is no cheese, as one would expect from a package of edibles from Wisconsin. There is however, some maple syrup and pancake mix. Well, there was pancake mix. I left it on the counter and when we came back from an evening at the movies, there was a big, sloppy white goo-fest on our carpet. T, the dog, found the mix to be very tasty, as I'm sure the pancakes it would have produced would have been. Cleaning it up proved to be a bigger challenge that you would expect. Did you know that when Buttermilk pancake mix combines with doggy spit it becomes a nasty cement-like substance, impossible to remove from carpet fibers? Me neithe. My education continues.

Finally saw Harry Potter last night. It was enjoyable. As with all movies made from books, things seemed a little undeveloped and quick. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, I don’t want to spoil anything...but I'm sure anyone who wants to see the movie has read the book, so you already know. Just want to give you warning, because here are a few observations:

Um, what is up with that dress they put Hermione in? This was supposed to be her Pretty Woman/ Ugly Duckling moment and they throw her in a boob pinching, foo-foo, ruffled satin and chiffon monstrosity. And the hair...she looked like she came out of the North and South mini-series.

There was no appearance of Oliver Wood (boo). Cedric was not cute enough to make up for it. His head was shaped funny.

I still don’t think they play Dumbledore right in the movies. In the books, he comes across light-hearted and sorta goofy. Not so in the film. Way too serious.

Ok, enough of the bitching already...there was some good stuff too.

Special effects and sets worked well. Not too far off from the pictures in my head.

The maze. Cool...I mean, brilliant. (I’m considering adopting this aphorism. Cool has become overused in my personal vocabulary. And everyone knows, Harry Potter books also act as great Thesauruses.)

Ray Feines was bloody brilliant. His performance was spot on, playing that git Voldermort, though he was only in the very last bit. And blimey, those buggery Death Eaters were scary. It got a little dodgey, but luckily Harry got away and saved his arse.

That is all, off to nosh some bacon and snog my husband.

Editing note: After reading my entry, I became alarmed at the superfluous use of exclaimation points...so I removed them. I sounded like a hyper 13 year old.