Thursday, June 18, 2009

Uninspired

I'm sorry that I'm not terribly engaged with blogging tonight.

I charged out of the gate this year full of fire and determination. And for many months I kept that fire stoked and kept pushing and accomplished a constant string of posts that I (at least) found pretty remarkable.

And then, I let it slip one day . . . and like Ross Perot always warned us . . . a slippy slope of mediocrity jumped up and grabbed hold of my inner motivation. I shouldn't have let it come to this. Sure, I might not be able to claim one-post-a-day anymore, but I should still have the desire and the drive to do something worthwhile every day that I have left. Right? Isn't that how people faced with illness take charge of their lives, not letting the disease define them?

Am I going to let the beginnings of summertime malaise take me? Am I going to let the endless days of meetings/plannings/discussions/documents at work that spin in and out of each other day after day with little finality mash my brain into unworkable pulp? Am I going to let my Web-crush on Twitter cuckold my long-standing relationship with Blogger? That same Blogger that has always been with me, who made me what I am today?

NOOOOO!!!

I won't let it happen.

I'll write something if I kill me. And I'll try to make it interesting--at least to me.

*****

Tonight's topic: new posters for the upcoming film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

They are certainly striking. More striking than the older, more traditional posters from previous films.


But, what is it about them that bothers me? Is it the extremely heavy use of the blue? Is it the extremely artificial feel of the image composition? Is it that there is a feeling, here near the end of the saga, that the philosophy of the films presentation is shifting somehow?

(Really, that's probably stupid. There is no philosophy other than "Wring the money out! Wring it out of their pockets!!!" But why the dramatic change? I just don't know.)

Honestly, now that I am looking back at some of the other poster images, this isn't THAT strong a departure from the past. But, in order to salvage the effort I've put into this post, I'll say that I don't like how Hermione is presented in the most recent set of posters that are now available on the UK Web site. In this one, the image is meant to remind you of the romantic conflict she and Ron are having. But she is portrayed as exceedingly vulnerable and far too dependant upon his recognition than I think she should be. And in this one, she's skulking around in the background, diminishing her importance, her independence, her strength of character even further and making her seem vaguely creepy. (I could almost forgive the way Hermione is treated because of the sappy look on Romilda Vane's face here and the incredibly goofy jock face that Rupert Grint is trying to pull off for Ron.)

If you want to understand Hermione better than these posters indicate, why not listen to the excellent song "So Long" by The Hermione Crookshanks Experience. Click on this link, then when the automatic player loads in the top right corner, select the song "So Long" from the playlist. You'll hear a beautiful song that expresses Hermione's never described in text moment when she must make her parent's forget her existence in order to save their life.

That is who she is, a very smart girl filled with compassion for others. Not a goofy teenager who is so love-sick that she is alternatively moony and stalkery.

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