Talkie Tuesday: Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Return to Hogwarts

 

"After all this time? Always." 

Hello everyone!

Happy New Year!

As is fitting, I chose something that I think most people have tuned into and loved to kick off the 2022 blog posts, even though I have some other topics and titles waiting on the backburner to be used and utilized.

BUT it's always good to take a look back memory lane, especially when it's something so beloved!

In case you haven't been paying attention, Harry Potter made a bit of a comeback recently, and it was SO much better than the book we won't even name.

No, seriously.

When you want to do something right, you go and do it in such a way that it actually makes sense and draws in viewers again.

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is just that.

Talkie Tuesday: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, P2

 

"Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived ... come to die."

Hello everyone!

Well, here we are.

After a great number of pauses, full stops and definite breaks while I was doing something else entirely, we've finally made it to the end of the Harry Potter franchise.

I consider Deathly Hallows to be the end, despite the whole Cursed Child debacle, because I haven't had the chance to see the show and I'm not particularly inclined to, given what I've read in the printed version of the script, anyway.

So this is where Harry's journey ends for me, and probably for a lot of others.

It's been a long and bumpy ride, and there's been some chaos along the way, but we're finally ready for the very last showdown.

After all, Voldemort is waiting. He's got what he's been looking for, and now all he desires lies within his grasp.

Why don't we stop keeping him in suspense? The Deathly Hallows, Part 2, is here.

Talkie Tuesday: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, P1

"Harry is the last hope we have. Trust him."

Hello everyone!

It's back to Hogwarts we go!

Or, well, that's the idea in theory.

Of course, considering it's been almost ten years since these movies were released, we all more or less know what's going on and who's going where, so we ALL know Harry Potter isn't going back to Hogwarts for his seventh and final year.

He said so himself at the end of Half-Blood Prince, anyway.

But considering everything that we have to cover in this chapter before ACTUALLY heading back to the old magical castle, we better take a deep breath.

This is the final stage before our resolution.

Patronus charms, enchanted lockets, travelling cross-country, heated arguments, a snake pretending she's alive, and that sort of ilk await us. 

The Deathly Hallows, Part 1, is calling.

Talkie Tuesday: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

"There's a storm coming, Harry."

Hello everyone!

You didn't think we were actually done with magic, did you?

Things are only just heating up!

This week is all about teen angst, magical spiritual connections, and a whole lot of dainty coughing when all you want to do is strangle the person who's actually doing the coughing.

You have to love it when an author comes up with a character that you hate even more than the antagonist. There's a certain kind of magic in THAT, for sure.

Last week, we were dealing with some early adolescence, but this week that's a full-blown thing, and you can't escape it, no matter how much you may want to.

And of course, there's still a heck of a lot of a lot of magic going on.

Voldemort is back, people. And so is the Order of the Phoenix.

Talkie Tuesday: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

"Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."

Hello everyone!

I hope you're well during this chilly September. 

And rainy. Never forget the rain. 

That being said, it's all very September-y and nobody should honestly complain about it. It IS autumn, after all, and it's officially so as well since it's in the last part of the month.

Which means it's time for some warm socks, over-sized sweaters, and warm mugs of tea.

It's also time to return to Hogwarts.

Last week we took our first train to the ancient castle, and this week we're boarding it yet again.

But what happens when the magical barrier that leads to Platform 9 3/4 is suddenly closed?

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. That's what happens.

Talkie Tuesday: Beauty and the Beast

"Tale as old as time ..."

Hello everyone!

Finally, Tuesday arrived so that I can sit down and properly get this going. And can you notice that I've been excited for this blog post since the moment I sat down in cinema to watch the movie? 

If you haven't figured it out by now, this post will undoubtedly make it all clear to you.

Now.

Beauty and the Beast, the Disney cartoon version, that is (and never did I think I'd have to make sure people knew what I was talking about ...) is my all-time favourite Disney movie. That wasn't made spectacularly clear to me prior to seeing the live-action movie, however, which is a shame. I was unsure about which princess I preferred, what storyline was the most awesome, but then, last Friday, as the first orchestral notes started and all the hair on my arms stood up straight, I just knew.

Obviously, my parents were already well aware of that fact.

Duh, said my father, that was the first ever Disney cartoon we got you and you saw as a kid when you were four or five years old. That kind of thing sticks with you forever.

Parental wisdom ...

But, without further ado, my review of the live-action Beauty and the Beast!

Saturday Snippet: Beauty and the Beast

Review forthcoming on Tuesday! Enjoy the magic :)

xx

*video not mine

Talkie Tuesday switch ... again

... because real life is trying to give me a good kicking.

Saturday is all about the movie though! For now, I leave you with something I'm sure you'll enjoy.

xx

*video not mine

Tome Thursday: The Queen of the Tearling

Hello everyone!

It's back to the books (not the drawing board this time) and I was honestly surprised in the past week when I noticed a lot of youtube reviews popping up for the one I'm going to talk about today. It's one of those coincidences I suppose, given that I honestly hadn't thought much about it to begin with (the review I man) and obviously I seem to have missed some of the reviews in the first place when I was looking through the internet to see whether or not anyone had ever said anything about this particular book before. And how did I find it? Well, to be honest, I didn't; I had seen it in the bookstore, but after checking the back of it and reading the summary, I wasn't initially drawn to it. My mother, on the other hand, thought it might be one of those easy romance books she enjoys on her downtime, but hey presto, there's no romance in this book! So it ended up with me.

I'm talking about 'The Queen of the Tearling' by Erika Johansen, which is an interesting title all in itself without knowing the details, AND there is supposedly a movie production in the works, with Emma Watson already attached to it. Hmm, this certainly did call for a read and review!

Talkie Tuesday: La Belle et la Bête

Hello everyone!

I wanted to watch a different movie for this blog, but it didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to because, with the weather turning nice and warm here, it's gardening season, and apparently, I'm helper #1 this year haha! Which means I am now intimately acquainted with vegetables all around and probably will be even more as we progress further towards the end fo April. That being said, I simply didn't have the time to sit down and watch something new, but I quickly skimmed through a movie I had already seen - and loved - and revently found a DVD of in my country! Which, for a foreign language film is unheard of when it isn't English, but there you have it, somehow, the stars aligned and it all worked out in my favour. 

I had noted the 2014 french version of 'Beauty and the Beast' when the first trailer came out and made a sort of post-it to watch it when I would eventually be able to, and I did not regret it the first time around, nor this second time when it was a little bit faster and more of a jumping through it all, really. But the story has always been one of my favourites (the Disney adaptation just brought it all home that much more) and seeing it in French was just amazing (also, how about Emma Watson as the new Belle?)