And Harry Potter comes to an end

The night before July 21, I could hardly sleep. The fact that in less than 24 hours I'd be able to read the final installment of the epic tale just wouldn't allow sleep to creep in. And when July 21 finally came, I had the book in my hands as early as 8am. The malls usually open at 10am, but in that particular day, bookstores were open as early as 7 to join the world in celebration of the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book of the Harry Potter series. Within two days, I'm done reading.

To our relief, most of the spoilers which surfaced before the release of the book turned out to be wrong. But it's true that some copies went on sale at New York even before July 21. A review of Michiko Kakutani published July 18, 2007 surfaced. It didn't mention spoilers, but still. I wish I were in New York during that time. Haha.

I hope that you did a little review on what transpired during the last 6 books because things, locations, and characters will resurface to play very significant parts. This will give you a feel that the the series is a one woven story and not independent installments.

Questions were finally given answers and satisfyingly so in this final installment. We finally know who RAB was (though I think it was pretty obvious), who died, if Snape really is a traitor, etc. And of course, will Harry be the one left standing at the very end? We will also learn more of Dumbledore's character, through his past, that would tell us that he was not as perfect as we thought he was. As for Snape, I knew it all along that there was a redemptive pattern on his character. I knew it! And for all of you who haven't read the book, he ended up a hero. One major spoiler! Hah! Haha. Sorry, I couldn't help it.

Now I can sleep soundly after two painful years of waiting. It's a little sad, though. No more Harry Potter books to look forward to. I started reading it 8 years ago. I can't believe it has been that long.

Harry Potter! Saw it!

I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on its first day of showing here in the Philippines. That's quite a feat for me. I usually am the last person to watch a movie after it has been shown for, like, weeks already. Anyway I watched it at Robinsons Galleria and when I was about to enter the cinema I saw, in full glory of their yellowish-colored uniforms, about 20 highschool Povedans queuing up at the door. I hesitated and checked my ticket. Yes, it's Cinema 3. Correct. So I watched the movie with about 4 rows of Povedans behind me. Simultaneous "eeeewwwww"s and "aawwww"s and "nooooo!"s (when Harry kissed Cho Chang), tormented me. Unfortunately they're the kids who love to mix English and Tagalog in one sentence. The kind of Taglish that usually gives me mental cramps.

Ok enough with them. The movie was good. You wouldn't go "OH MY GOD THAT WAS THE GREATEST MOVIE! EVER!" after watching it, but you can't deny it was good. Harry and Cho's relationship was close to nonexistent which is fine with me. I never liked Katie Leung as Cho Chang, anyway. Now there's nothing we can do about the movie's casting so it was good that they didn't play-up their romance.

I can't wait to read the final book! As we wait, go check the movie out. But first, look below. She friggin' creeps me out.

---

PS:
A big THANK YOU! to all the people who greeted me on my birthday. Does 22 really feel old?