Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 was Awesome!

I saw it last weekend - amazing! The cinematography was by far the best of any of the films, and I really appreciated all the character work they put in there. Even the weird dance sequence made sense... in a weird and pretty ridiculous way.

Anyone up for seeing it again? What did you all think?

In the meantime, for those in New York, you can take the subway to Hogwarts from the Union Square Station. Thanks, dedicated fan who stuck that sticker!

New Post on Puppies at Hyperbole and a Half!

New post up at Hyperbole and a Half! In which Allie finds herself and her boyfriend moving to Oregon, and their two dogs acting like insaneoids. And yes, that's a new word I just made up and it's awesome. Insaneoids - start spreading it, sixth graders who need a new word with which to insult your younger siblings!

The post is here.

I like all the drawings of dogs (I really need to learn how to draw dogs this well). The story's cute, too, but, I have to be honest, if I picked up and moved my life across the country, I'd be asking like a puppy who's gone all insaneoid, as well.

Are You Seeing Harry Potter 7: Part 1 This Weekend?

I know I am! I've got my ticket for Saturday afternoon and I cannot wait!

Plus, I have a sneaking suspicion that certain family members will want to see it over Thanksgiving, as well, so I should have plenty of chances to see Harry and the gang in action.

So far, it's gotten pretty awesome reviews, so that's a bonus, too.

What do you guys think? Are you excited?

My Life VS The Internet: A Blog Post

Lately, I’ve realized that the internet is out to destroy my life. And not in the way that I’m popular or rich enough to get destroyed by someone stealing my identity. Frankly, I think if a hacker got into my checking account, he’d be insulted. It would be a waste of his time - the little money I have in there would be way under his hourly rate. No, the internet is destroying my life because I cannot stop checking it. It’s like my child is having surgery and I keep checking in with the doctor to see if he’s ok or not - except I’m never going to have time to have a child because I can’t have unprotected sex with my computer - YET.

My former roommate is great with the internet. She and the internet are in the perfect relationship. They hang out all the time, sure, but they’ve also got mutual friends they hang out with, too. She’ll tweet and facebook about some hip new trend, but then all that tweeting and facebooking will get her invited to some shmancy event and then she’ll tweet all about it and then those tweets will lead to more events and so on and so forth. Whereas I’ll have plans to hang out with a friend I haven’t seen in years, but my uber-controlling boyfriend the internet is all, “No, you’re staying home to watch these tigers eating pumpkins. That’s what we’re doing tonight.” A stronger woman would walk out on it, but I’m weak and lazy, so I reply, “Fine, but you better still love me when I’m fat.” And that’s when it starts pushing free online pilates videos on me. The bastard.

We’re in one of those relationships where I cannot function without it for more than twenty minutes. The last time I was on a job interview, the interviewer asked, “So, what news stories are you interesed in right now?” I stared at her for over a minute, mouth agape. I couldn’t think of a single thing. I had forgotten everything I just read! It’s like I hadn’t been checking Google News in days instead of minutes. It’s even worse with my friends. There’s no pressure to know political theory with your friends, but you do have to have a basic knowledge of what’s going on in the world. They’ll all be laughing about the hilarious thing some idiot politician said, and I’ll pretend to go along with it, but I’m really just thinking, “What’s going on?” When I get back to my computer, I look it up and finally get the joke. But my computer can’t laugh with me. I’m so inundated with information that I can’t actually remember any of it. The internet has turned my brain into mush, and someday it will turn it into liquid. I'm hoping for Kool-Aid, preferably cherry-flavored.

But at the same time, like in any bad relationship, there are things about it I love. My main obsession: Google Reader. It’s a website that conglomerates all the blogs I follow into one uber-website. A number on the sidebar of the site states how many unread articles I have. Basically, it’s a game I can never win. The goal: to read the entire internet, even the boring parts I don’t like - like “Tom Selleck Sandwich Waterfall,” which hasn’t been cool for months, or “Men Staring at Bricks,” which is just plain boring - just so I can see the Google Reader number tick down from 1000+ to 500 to 5 to 0. But just when I think I’ve hit zero, Gawker’s all “Snooky just had a threeway with Tiger Woods and a pineapple! You’ll never guess who’s the better the lover? Spoiler alert: it’s the pineapple!” And then the game begins anew.

Plus, GReader (or “greader”) has these folders which you can file articles you like into. So when I come across something called “10 Best Financial Tips for 23 year olds,” I can just put that article in my “financial tips” file and then never read it, but think that I’m super smart for thinking I should read it. I’ve got book folders, gift folders, vacation folders - folders for safety tips, home tips, green tips, health tips, self improvement tips, waiter tips. I think if someone who doesn’t know me just learned about me by reading what I have saved on my GReader, they’d think I was really smart, talented, well rounded, and handy with a monkey wrench. But they’d also be really jealous of me because I’d be super perfect. When they found out I’ve never even read most of those articles, they’d think, “Yeah, that’s about right.” Not disappointed, just a little relieved. I’m like one of those old ladies who cuts out coupons from thousands of catalogues but never buys anything. And I always thought those ladies were super crazy. But it just turns out they were testing the waters for the internet generation. Now we’re all those crazy coupon ladies. And I say, let’s embrace it.

Because that’s how we are - we want to know more and do more and be more, but that takes a lot of effort. And you know what doesn’t take effort? Clicking on the “things I want at my wedding” tab when I see that recipe for sour apple cream cupcakes. Because I’m not going to set up a savings CD anytime soon (is that a thing? I think that's a thing), but I sure as shit want to make sure I remind myself to try those sour apple cream cupcakes when I start planning for my wedding at some indeterminate point in the future (I'm not even engaged). The internet may be this fun-fact spouting boyfriend who’s only pleasure in life is giving me just enough instant gratification so that I forget that there’s a real world out there I could be contributing to, but isn’t it a little hubristic of me to think that I could actually contribute something meaningful to society anyway? Then I think about posting something meaningful like this on my blog, but I forget about it and post that video of tigers eating pumpkins. Because that’s super cute and super fun and what else am I doing anyway?

So Many More Harry Potter Clips!

Making Of is jam-packed with clips to get us all hyped for the premiere of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" next week. I know I've already posted what feels like a million (but was actually only about six). Here are three more and they're well worth your time if you have any interest in filmmaking. They each comprise a series of short behind-the-scenes clips with no explanation or narrative and no clear beginning or end. I know that sounds weird, but it's a fascinating look into how they shoot each scene. If you're familiar with the books and interested in seeing how you can possibly film them, these are videos to watch.

On-Set 1 of HP 7: Part 1

On-Set 2 of HP 7: Part 1

On-Set 3 of HP7: Part 1

[Posted as links instead of embeds because of the, rather silly, automatic start]

Read this Article

It's about dialysis care in America and it's really interesting. I know it's a long article, but it's worth it to know how we are failing patients and how we can help.

Big Cat Halloween

I know it's past Halloween, but pumpkins are in season all Fall, so enjoy!

Just remember that as adorable as they are while playing with pumpkins, big cats will eat your face if you give them the chance. So respect them, protect them, and stay the heck away from them!