sundries

[rm]

Just got email about my 20th high school reunion. How is that even possible? On the survey about possible dates for it, it offered a list of check-boxes for why we might be attending including things like "reconnecting with friends" and "networking." I resisted saying something intolerably snarky in the "other" box.

If you are a New York resident wishing to contact your state senator about the possible gay marriage vote today, Empire State Pride Agenda makes it easy. Thanks regyt. You think, "hey, it's New York, this'll be easy." Wrong, aside from all sorts of weird state politics that this thing has gotten tangled up with, New York is actually a largely conservative state on social issues that just happens to have New York City (and apparently Albany and its environs) attached to it. And then there's this guy. In the Bronx.

jimhines has some interesting things to say about unconscious bias and the all-male Publisher's Weekly list.

via lipsum: AMA comes out against DADT.

Scalzi on why writers are often broke. I can't really emphasize enough how poorly most types of writing pay. Once you have multiple books out that you've earned out your advance on and are providing you with regular meager royalty checks, things start to get better, but do you know how hard it is to develop that sort of income stream? And how long it takes? And I say that as someone who doesn't have a lot stuff out there and still makes more dosh from writing than a lot of writers I know for a variety of weird reasons.

Deleted scene from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. This! This is the universe as it lives in my heart. ETA: new working link

Last night, while in the midst of a very bizarre phone call and simultaneously cooking dinner, I accidentally stabbed my thumb with a knife. Today it hurts a tad.

Dude makes his garage cosplay PanAm.

It bugs me so much that journalists can't seem to figure out the difference between hijab, niqab and burqua.

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

Rickman was, like most of the adult HP actors, always too old for the role (these are young men when the series opens; Snape dies before his 40th birthday), but here I can see that this was supposed to be the tragedy of young men in his eyes, and I'm SO PISSED IT WAS CUT.

[drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com]

I remember the moment I realized Snape was 31 when he refereed Harry's Quidditch match and then spat on the ground. He was just a baby.

I thought the first couple of movies did a good job of making Rickman look like a younger man who was prematurely aged, before he got too old to pull that off.

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

Snape was 31 when he refereed Harry's Quidditch match

You know, I must have known that, but I never really thought about it for Snape. It makes a huge difference in understanding his behavior. He's still so young, and in a sense he's never been allowed to leave school; of course he's still caught up in the bullying and misery he experienced as a boy. It hasn't been that long since he was a boy.

[gallo-de-pelea.livejournal.com]

You know, I never really thought about Snape's permanent residence at Hogwarts affecting his mindset / prolonging those feelings. Hmm!

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

Much as Rickman can't help but be awesome, I've been utterly impaled with flail since discovering Tim Roth was initially considered for the part (and declined to do Planet of the Apes - whoops). He'd have such a different energy it's hard to even imagine how that might have gone, but I really would have liked to see it.

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

Me, too! I keep wishing that the HP movies were plays instead, so that we got to see different actors in the various roles.

I think Tim Roth would've made an EXCELLENT Snape. I'd love to see Ewen McGregor or James Marsters as either Sirius or Lupin. I'd love to see Judi Dench as McGonagall, Umbrage, or Molly Weasley. The list actually goes on quite a ways. (John Barrowman as Guilderoy Lockheart)

[delchi.livejournal.com]

I think time will tell on this one. I'm sure stage plays, musicals , and other formats of the story are inevitable.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

The only real way to tell it properly is as a series that lasts for several years, or a miniseries per book (which is much the same thing).

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit torn because I loved David Thewlis as Lupin, and I'm not sure he could have pulled off being a contemporary of a much younger Snape. But then I'd overlook more than that for the scenery-eating epicness of Roth!Snape

I do agree it would be interesting to see different interpretations, and it would also, to be honest, have been nice to see some less known British actors in some roles rather than a parade of bankable cameos from all our biggest luvvies. A lot of the adult characters particularly felt a bit pantomimey rather than like people who were actually feeling the parts.

[dsmoen.livejournal.com]

OMG. Barrowman as Lockheart.

This.

[eandh99.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't he have been completely perfect? When they do the musical version.