Hometown Glory

I love coming back home. Coming back home means an inevitable checkpoint where I can genuinely take a breather, and just stop to reflect on things. Coming back home means bookmarking a chapter in my journal of life, and comparing it with preceding others. Coming back home means food galore and shopping spree. Coming back home means seeing my family and hearing the exact same stories over and over again, though somehow they never get old. Coming back home means, well, a lot. Did I mention how much I love coming back home?

The Deathly Hollow

Yes, I know it's "Hallows", there's no typo there. In the latest and final stretch of the world-wide sensation septology, Harry, Ron and Hermione embarked on their epic journey to destroy the Horcruxes, and defeat the no-nose Dark Lord. The movie was, well, alright.

So I stopped following the books after dreading and ultimately failing in ploughing through the fifth one, where Harry turned into this angsty, whiny teenager lashing out to the magic universe. Basically, he turned into another us: an ordinary (well, may not exactly) blame-the-world ball of resentment, and no one wants to read that kind of stuff when they pick up a book about spells, Patronuses and wizards, especially not hundreds and hundreds of pages of it. Nonetheless, I came across tonnes of posts about the movie before I watched it, and what a sobfest they were. I guess I can't really judge those who are devastated by the closing of the series because I unfortunately fell out of love with the trio after the fourth book, but come on, how could you turn into an emotional wreck after watching the end of the movie? The end was ridiculous, almost farcical even. The 19-years-later versions of the characters look hideous: the make-up artists should really be shot. I'm fine with not replacing the characters with older actors, but the drag wig, the beer belly, the ghastly make-up that made them look like they hadn't slept since they came to Hogwards (and they probably hadn't with the amount of drama that went on), and the faux wrinkles did not work. They look cartoonish, and it robbed all seriousness and any opportunity for the audience to be awed by the ending. They should have hired look-alike actors to sub in.

However, I do like the beginning of the movie, first of all, the quality of video is fantastic. To compare it the first movie, there really has been an increase in the dollars (or pounds) spent and an improvement in the tech side. The acting for me was com si, com sa: I can't really judge their acting because the British accent kind of get in the way. To my Asian ears, they fall almost inevitably into their parts because they simply sound right, not really sure whether they act brilliantly, and as for the earlier movies, their kiddish charm sort of made up for everything else that was lacking. So the story went on, and I could follow what was going on even though I didn't read the novel beforehand, and then came the middle parts where Harry was sucked into this whitewashed, bad and budget-looking digital-effect train station of a dream and met Dumbledore. It went slightly too Chicken-Soup-for-the-Teenage-Soul for me, with the whole "Of course this is in your head, but what makes you think that this is not real?", and where Longbottom came forward to give his Captain America speech in front of you-know-who and his army. It felt like a middle-school after-school play to me. JK Rowling might have had the multibillion-pound imagination, but I hope I don't write they way she does.

The movie was essentially a war movie, and war movies always give me this sort of unsettling feeling, like things are in shambles and messy, which I don't particularly enjoy. And somehow the chemistry amongst the trio is lost in the movie, or may be it's because now there is now the supposed romance between Hermione and Ron, which felt so feigned and the kiss was awkward and uncomfortable, somewhat misplaced. I think I just don't really care much about the teen-drama side of the series, I would rather focus more on the magic side of it, which is the reason why I adore the first movie the most.

Anyway, I don't really mean to complain about the movie or the series, because insofar as the production aspect and the quality of it, it hasn't been anything less than amazing. But amazing does not necessarily mean likable. Guess this is just a perspective of a viewer who didn't grow up alongside Harry, Ron and Hermione, but outgrew them before vice versa.

Life Wonders

It's 3 am, some country song is playing in the background (it's The Once and Future Carpenter by The Avett Brothers), and my proudly-bought 20-dollar Ikea night light just sets the mood for musings.

I wonder what would have happened if I had

been born the eldest son.

sucked so badly in school.

been good at sports.

picked up the guitar in junior high.

not gotten the scholarship.

stayed on and gone to senior high.

sucked so badly that I was sent home.

actually made it to the drama auditions.

failed the dance auditions.

not moved to another junior college.

hated dance.

failed my law school dream.

been the badass kid in the family.

said yes.

stayed religious.

been simply mediocre.

Legal Fiction

I'm not sure whether I like Boston Legal. I still remember in my first year, right at the beginning of law school where everyone was a stranger and we had to do some introduction and say a thing or two about ourselves, someone said that he wanted to be the next Alan Shore. And the class broke into a laughter. The tutor then made some witty comeback, and another laughter ensued. Of course, I cracked a smile and laughed along, and lordly lord, I really thought that Alan Shore was some bigwig in the legal fora: a Chief Justice, a stellar judge, a minister, or someone of that stature. It does sound ludicrous but it may be surprising for you to know that right from the get-go some people did already have their legal chip plucked into them, which made me think there for a moment how come I didn't get the memo. Sometimes-- if not most of the times-- it did feel like I was in a secret club with a secret handshake. Only last week then I finally met this legal myth Alan Shore-- just in case you are like me then, he's the main character of the show-- and he was, well, okay. James Spader is definitely the best actor on the show (or poised to appear that way), and perhaps together with William Shatner and Candice Bergen they make the holy Boston Legal trinity. The rest just appear as pretty faces, accessory to these characters' larger-than-life (to say the least) closings and caricatural quirks. I think the biggest problem with the show is that it is very clear even after having watched just a few episodes how formulaic the plot is. Every episode will end with one or two closing statements (i.e. heroic lawyer attempting to convince the nodding-at-strategic-moments jury that their client deserves what they sue for), which more-often-than-not begin with a rendition of some statistics (which would have been dismissed in real court setting for want of relevance), followed by an argument (delivered with such a bravado, it borders on a melodramatic recitation), and end with a sound bite that necessarily triggers a couple of nods from the jury. Always. To be fair, the show tries to present an array of interesting (read: make-believe) cases to spice things up, and the same formulaic pattern is also noticeable in other cop shows or doctor shows, but something about it just does not connect. Perhaps it's the set (they simply jump from the lawyers' office, which is not exactly the happiest place on earth, to the court room, which is definitely not the happiest place on earth), or William Shatner's character Denny Crane, whose behaviour is harder to understand than is algebra. It's sad though because I really want to like the show, but I can't bring myself to do so. And bummer, there aren't that many lawyer shows out there anymore. Then again, I only watched half of the second season, hopefully it would get better in the following seasons.