Here's my review for the final Harry Potter book. Warning: There are SPOILERS in this review. If you haven't read the book and are planning on it, I suggest you don't read this. If you have or don't care about reading the book, then continue on. :)
In this book, Harry, Ron and Hermione, have all left Hogwarts in order to search for Horcruxes- different items that Voldemort put parts of his soul into- and destroy them. The book certainly should not bore the average reader, as every page is action packed. However, the book is very dark, and there are many many deaths. For example, Mad Eye, Lupin and Tonks, Fred Weasly, Dobby, and even poor old Hedwig are all killed off in this one. Towards the end of the book, Harry discovers that he, himself, is an actual horcrux. Thus, he willingly lets Voldemort kill him, so as to destroy that bit of Voldemort's soul living in him. However, Harry's mother's love protects him, and allows him to return. He then defeats Voldemort by using the Elder Wand (you'll have to read the book to find out more about that) in a very thrilling scene in the last chapter.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The writing was excellent, and I really enjoyed the ending. I do not see how Christians can believe this book is evil. Harry is obviously a Christ figure in this book. I mean think about it. He sacrifices himself, and comes back from the dead. Remind you of anyone? The book was very dark, however, and quite depressing at times. Overall, I give the book 4 out of 5 stars. It was definitely one of my favorite HP books.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Driving
Yesterday I got to have my first ever driving lesson. And by the fact that I'm still alive to post this, you can assume that I didn't do too bad. :) We did it in our church's parking lot, and my brothers (who for some reason decided to tag along) decided it would be funny to poke their heads out the door of the church and make loud noises which sounded like boos for the first few minutes. They got bored with that after a little while though. :) haha. I started off driving a little shakily, which resulted in me running into a flower bed. But once I warmed up I think I did pretty good. And I managed to avoid the one car parked in the parking lot. :)
Believe it or not I'm still working on the Nancy Drew computer game "The Secret of the Old Clock". If you remember back in my very first blog in December, I mentioned how I was about to start that game. It has to be the most frustrating ND game out there. :) First of all I got stuck on this sewing machine part. Neither me or my friend could beat it, but believe it or not my brother managed to. And now I'm stuck on rearranging this wierd picture that looks like it's completely right to me. *sigh* And on the other extreme I bought another one of those games last week, started it Wednesday, and beat it the next day. It was a bit too short in my opinion. That just shows you how different those games can be. haha
Believe it or not I'm still working on the Nancy Drew computer game "The Secret of the Old Clock". If you remember back in my very first blog in December, I mentioned how I was about to start that game. It has to be the most frustrating ND game out there. :) First of all I got stuck on this sewing machine part. Neither me or my friend could beat it, but believe it or not my brother managed to. And now I'm stuck on rearranging this wierd picture that looks like it's completely right to me. *sigh* And on the other extreme I bought another one of those games last week, started it Wednesday, and beat it the next day. It was a bit too short in my opinion. That just shows you how different those games can be. haha
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Back
Well we made it back from vacation yesterday after a great trip. The first two days of vacation we spent in a city about halfway to our destination, and during that time we swam some, and my dad endlessly shopped at used bookstores. :) Then on Friday we arrived in Pennsylvania, and that night there was a square dance in honor of the wedding. And let me tell you square dancing is not at all like ballet, (which I used to take.) haha. The next day we got the last Harry Potter book (we just couldn't make it to midnight the night before), and I had the book finished by the next day. I just couldn't put it down. :) Probably later on I'll post a review for it.
The wedding was on Saturday, and then the rest of the days we just spent relaxing. On Sunday we went to Longwood Gardens which was very nice, but extremely expensive. (My dad kept bringing up the fact that it cost 1oo dollars just to get in and eat lunch.) Anyways thanks very much for praying for safe travel, and it's good to be back on here. :) Hope everybody had a great week.
The wedding was on Saturday, and then the rest of the days we just spent relaxing. On Sunday we went to Longwood Gardens which was very nice, but extremely expensive. (My dad kept bringing up the fact that it cost 1oo dollars just to get in and eat lunch.) Anyways thanks very much for praying for safe travel, and it's good to be back on here. :) Hope everybody had a great week.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Vacation
Just wanted to let everyone know that me and my family are leaving for Pennsylvania tomorrow due to the fact that my cousin is getting married. We won't be back till Wednesday July 25th, so I won't be blogging here for a while. Have a great week, and try not to miss me too much. :) Hopefully I can survive long nights in hotel rooms with my brothers yelling their heads off. haha. ttyl
Monday, July 16, 2007
Random
Time for another one of those posts where I post on a few totally random topics. :)
*Well I'll be 15 this fall, so hopefully after we get back from vacation my dad will start teaching me how to drive. Also hopefully I won't have to take driver's ed at the public school. I mean I probably wouldn't mind too much, but I was talking to one of my friends about it, and it doesn't sound very pleasant. From what she said it sounded like there were about 200 students being taught at one time with several kids per car. For one thing I'm really not used to a huge class setting like that. I could handle a normal size class of course, but 200 is a bit much. Also I'm afraid I might get assigned to a car with a wierd maniac person who doesn't know a thing about driving. Well I guess most people who come to driver's ed don't know much about driving, but still. hehe. I'll let you know what happens with all that.
*If you asked me what the most important thing I learned from church camp was, I would say that I learned several new card games. Haha just kidding, but I did learn some pretty good ones. For example there's this rather interesting game called Moffia (which could be considered by some as quite violent :) ). Each person is given a card that they must keep secret from the rest of the group. If you get the ace, then you're the Moffia. If you get the queen you're the nurse, the jack you're the sherriff, and a normal card you're just a townsperson. The narrator knows who everybody is, and it's good to have a narrator who can tell pretty funny stories. The narrator tells everyone to go to sleep (close their eyes) and the Moffia points at a person they want to kill off. Then the nurse wakes up and points at somebody she wants to heal, etc. Then everybody wakes up, the narrator tells who died and how (unless the nurse managed to heal them), and all the other players (including the Moffia) vote on who they think the Moffia is. There are quite a few more details, but that's the main jist of it. And let me tell you it is hilarious. :)
Well that's all I have to say. Till later.
*Well I'll be 15 this fall, so hopefully after we get back from vacation my dad will start teaching me how to drive. Also hopefully I won't have to take driver's ed at the public school. I mean I probably wouldn't mind too much, but I was talking to one of my friends about it, and it doesn't sound very pleasant. From what she said it sounded like there were about 200 students being taught at one time with several kids per car. For one thing I'm really not used to a huge class setting like that. I could handle a normal size class of course, but 200 is a bit much. Also I'm afraid I might get assigned to a car with a wierd maniac person who doesn't know a thing about driving. Well I guess most people who come to driver's ed don't know much about driving, but still. hehe. I'll let you know what happens with all that.
*If you asked me what the most important thing I learned from church camp was, I would say that I learned several new card games. Haha just kidding, but I did learn some pretty good ones. For example there's this rather interesting game called Moffia (which could be considered by some as quite violent :) ). Each person is given a card that they must keep secret from the rest of the group. If you get the ace, then you're the Moffia. If you get the queen you're the nurse, the jack you're the sherriff, and a normal card you're just a townsperson. The narrator knows who everybody is, and it's good to have a narrator who can tell pretty funny stories. The narrator tells everyone to go to sleep (close their eyes) and the Moffia points at a person they want to kill off. Then the nurse wakes up and points at somebody she wants to heal, etc. Then everybody wakes up, the narrator tells who died and how (unless the nurse managed to heal them), and all the other players (including the Moffia) vote on who they think the Moffia is. There are quite a few more details, but that's the main jist of it. And let me tell you it is hilarious. :)
Well that's all I have to say. Till later.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Order of the Phoenix
Today I got to see the 5th Harry Potter installment, and I quite enjoyed it. Warning. If you haven't read the book or seen the movie and would like to in the future, don't read any further or a suprise might be ruined. So don't say I didn't warn you. :) The move overall was very well done. A lot of scenes that were main in the book had to be left out of course, seeing as how the book was 800 something pages long. I thought the director did a very good job compressing everything together though, even though some parts were a tad bit confusing. For example for those who hadn't read the book, the part about the prophecy might have been a bit confusing. Also my dad was particularly irked at how short the ending fight between Dumbeldore and Voldemort was. I agree it could have been a bit longer, and also the ending could have been a little bit better if they had followed the ending in the book. Other than those few things though, the screenplay was really quite good. The move also really brought out how all the good guys (like Harry) had what Voldemort didn't have, love. So I really don't understand how Christians can think that Harry Potter is completely evil and has no Christian themes, etc. But more on this later. I don't want to cause a riot. :)
The actors did a very good job, and the graphics were of course excellent. I thought the actress who played Luna Lovegood did a very good job (her voice was perfect), and the actress who did Dolores Umbridge was excellent as well. (She made you want to wring her neck.) Also the movie was pretty fast paced compared to the earlier ones, and I really like that. So all in all I give the movie 4 1/2 stars out of 5. Watching the movie has gotten me particularly excited about next Saturday when the final book comes out. I can assure you I will be reading it next weekend. :)
The actors did a very good job, and the graphics were of course excellent. I thought the actress who played Luna Lovegood did a very good job (her voice was perfect), and the actress who did Dolores Umbridge was excellent as well. (She made you want to wring her neck.) Also the movie was pretty fast paced compared to the earlier ones, and I really like that. So all in all I give the movie 4 1/2 stars out of 5. Watching the movie has gotten me particularly excited about next Saturday when the final book comes out. I can assure you I will be reading it next weekend. :)
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Sickness and Other Random Stuff
About two days after I got back from camp I came down with the cold that's been going around in my family. Just my luck huh? Luckily I don't have it too severe, but I was sure that this time I wasn't going to get it. After all my family had come down with while I was away, and I assumed it would have been too late for me to get it. Think again, Hannah. *sigh* But I am determined to get better before tomorrow because I have a voice lesson and choir tomorrow which are things I really don't want to miss just because I have some dumb cold. I'm so determined in fact that this morning I drank a glass filled to the brim with orange juice (not my favorite drink in the world.) If it hadn't been watered down some I think it would have killed me. :) So we'll just have to see about tomorrow then.
On to more pleasant topics, this summer I've been doing a lot of reading for two reasons: 1: I absolutely loove to read; and 2: Each summer I keep a log of all the books I read, and at the start of school my dad gives me one buck for every book I read. So far I've chalked up about 18 bucks. Sorry there, Dad. :) Recently I read Troubling a Star by Madeline L'Engle which was so good I could hardly put it down. Some of the details about Antartica got a bit tedious at times, but it was still a great read. I also recently read two National Park mysteries entitled Wolf Stalker and Rage of Fire. They were overall very well written and had some pretty neat facts in them. Sure I read them all very quickly (there wasn't a whole lot too them) but they were still pretty dang good. :)
Well hopefully this week I'll be able to convince my dad to take us to see the new Harry Potter movie that's coming out Wednesday. I'll be sure to let you know my opinion of it after I see it. (If I see it that is.) That's it for now.
On to more pleasant topics, this summer I've been doing a lot of reading for two reasons: 1: I absolutely loove to read; and 2: Each summer I keep a log of all the books I read, and at the start of school my dad gives me one buck for every book I read. So far I've chalked up about 18 bucks. Sorry there, Dad. :) Recently I read Troubling a Star by Madeline L'Engle which was so good I could hardly put it down. Some of the details about Antartica got a bit tedious at times, but it was still a great read. I also recently read two National Park mysteries entitled Wolf Stalker and Rage of Fire. They were overall very well written and had some pretty neat facts in them. Sure I read them all very quickly (there wasn't a whole lot too them) but they were still pretty dang good. :)
Well hopefully this week I'll be able to convince my dad to take us to see the new Harry Potter movie that's coming out Wednesday. I'll be sure to let you know my opinion of it after I see it. (If I see it that is.) That's it for now.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Look Who's Back
Well I made it back from camp a few hours ago. Overall it was a very enjoyable experience, but of course there are always a few downers to these things. :) For example my voice is pretty darn tired due to the fact that every day we had three-four singing rehearsals all leading up to a concert Friday night. We also found out we had to memorize the two pieces the day before we were due to sing them. Miraculously enough all 50 something members (or however many were in the choir) managed to pull it off without making any serious errors. Yes the rehearsals did get extremely tedious at times and I had to mouth a lot of the words as I felt like I had plaster on my throat toward the end of the week, but it all paid off in the end. :)
During our free time we played a game called Bacci (I think that's how it's spelled), got ice cream, enjoyed the gorgeous ocean (which I had never seen before in person), and did other random things. It's nice to be home though where I can get on the internet, take a shower when I want to, not have to worry about my stuff being thrown around, etc. But it was still a great week and sometimes it's good to get a break from the electronics and stuff like that and just focus on God. Well I think I'm going to bed early tonight as I'm thorougly exhausted. I went to bed at 11:30 last night and had to get up at 5:20. *sigh* Well that's it for now. Great to be back on here!
During our free time we played a game called Bacci (I think that's how it's spelled), got ice cream, enjoyed the gorgeous ocean (which I had never seen before in person), and did other random things. It's nice to be home though where I can get on the internet, take a shower when I want to, not have to worry about my stuff being thrown around, etc. But it was still a great week and sometimes it's good to get a break from the electronics and stuff like that and just focus on God. Well I think I'm going to bed early tonight as I'm thorougly exhausted. I went to bed at 11:30 last night and had to get up at 5:20. *sigh* Well that's it for now. Great to be back on here!
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Leaving for Camp
Well just wanted to let everybody know that I'm leaving for church camp tomorrow so I won't be blogging here for a little while. We're leaving tomorrow at 6:30 AM (ugh) and we're getting back sometime Saturday afternoon. I might be too tired to blog again Saturday, but I'll definitely try to blog again Sunday to let you know how it went. We're going to music week so it will be a tonn of singing. Hopefully I'll still have my voice when I get back. :) So if you all could pray that we have a safe trip there and back it would be much appreciated. :) Well hope everybody has a great week, and I'll talk to you when I get back.
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