I'll be glad when you're dead you rascal you

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I've been enjoying my holidays - perhaps not as much as I thought I would because I've been so busy catching up on things I should have done during the year but postponed till the summer holidays. I'm basically filling my days with books, music, movies and shows, as per usual. It seems I don't get good results if I don't keep to that routine. Take today, for example. I had an appointment to see my doctor at noon, then I was supposed to eat and go see an exhibition on jazz music. I ended up going to the exhibition without eating, so I was starving all the way through. What a waste of money, I'm so disappointed. The posters and magazine covers were beautiful but the short scenes from movies I had already seen (not their fault) or if they were new, there was too much noise to hear anything. For an exhibition on jazz music, there was surprisingly little music - I wasn't able to hear a full song since we weren't provided with headsets and there was way too much noise (a group of pupils blocked my way during the whole exhibit and they were really loud). I paid good money to see this exhibition and didn't stay more than an hour. Cameras weren't allowed and I didn't even buy any bookmark at the shop afterwards, which is pretty rare for me since I always find a bookmark to buy - the only one I wanted (with a picture of Josephine Baker) ended up being out of stock by the time I got there (Saturday's the last day to see this exhibition). There was a copy-book at the end for visitors to comment on the exhibition. The comments were pretty harsh, so I figured mine wasn't going to be the one that would have the poor man who organised all this commit suicide. I wrote "I'm afraid I learnt more about jazz listening to it on my iPod."
On my way there, at the metro station, I saw about a thousand posters for the movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Call me stupid but I was taken aback: oh my god, there's a movie. Then I caught myself: you already know there's a movie, wake up, you've known for years. I can't believe I'm still not used to the idea of a Harry Potter movie. It still doesn't make sense to me. It lasted but a second, though, yet it was very awkward. It's like having a part of your heart ripped off and put on display for all to see. I remember the days when Harry Potter was still my little bubble of happiness that not many people knew about, this little treasure we buried with great care and suspicious glances and dug up from time to time just to stare at and hold to our hearts. It's still very dear to me, it'll always be, but it's very different now. I feel so vulnerable when I talk about it. Anyway, the poster I saw is really beautiful, and I can't help but think Alan Rickman is Snape come to life. I went straight to the Internet to post it and I'm astonished to find that it's not on the Internet. The poster is blue (of course, like the rest of them) and has Snape on the foreground, Draco on his left, Bellatrix on his right and Filch holding a wand (!) in the background and says "The time has come" (redundant if you ask me, since it was the tagline for Prisoner of Azkaban as well. Come to think of it, Azkaban had the best taglines of them all - Everything will change was used again for Goblet of Fire, The Time has come is used again here, Something wicked this way comes is a winner, I also like Order of the Phoenix's The rebellion begins, at least it's active and it's what the book is about). Had I known it wasn't even on the Internet, I would have taken a picture for sure. In the meantime, I'll just post a fanart by the wonderfully talented Makani who's my favourite artist when it comes to all things Potter. You might recognize this scene as taking place in Spinner's End, the second chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

"Severus, will you swear it? Will you make the Unbreakable Vow?"

And the character I got my nickname from (just for a laugh):

I finally received my copy of the Myrna Loy and William Powell collection. As you might know, they're my favourites. I had already seen 3 of the 5 movies in this boxset - Love Crazy, I Love You Again and to a lesser extent Double Wedding are absolute gems, so I was very pleasantly surprised when I discovered yesterday that Manhattan Melodrama was a very good movie too. Not in the same league as Crazy and Again, but then it's hard to beat those two and they're completely different. I've already said here that I think Clark Gable can't act and I stand by that but the story was pretty good nonetheless, he didn't ruin it for me for once. A reviewer on Amazon says the movie isn't about Powell and Loy but about Powell and Gable, and I agree with that. They both play childhood friends, Powell plays an attorney called Jim and Gable a gangster called Blackie who has just killed somebody and is convicted for murder due to Jim's rhetoric, he then has to choose between being loyal to a friend or loyal to the law. Powell is excellent in that role - I love this actor so much. Even though Myrna is in a supporting role, she still manages to shine with the little she's given. I thought the direction was top-notch and wasn't surprised when I looked up who the director was: none other than Van Dyke, who directed Myrna and William in the Thin Man series. Keep your eyes open at the beginning of the movie: there's the sinking of a ship and Mickey Rooney as a young Blackie.
The movie comes with a few extras: "goofy movies" (which are completely nutty, I couldn't believe my eyes) and a cartoon called The Old Pioneer, which was strange in its representation of Native Americans to say the least and I don't know why they thought it was a good idea to include it. Next is Evelyn Prentice and then I'll watch the extras of the three comedies and perhaps rewatch the comedies themselves.

I'm going back to sipping my ice tea and watching The Wire. I'll soon make a post about just music while I take the time to read some books I don't have much to say about . I like Shakespeare a lot. I've just finished Much Ado About Nothing and loved it, it's so witty and Beatrice is a great character. I recommend it for a good laugh and food for thought on gender differences, especially regarding Hero's relationship with Claudio and how Shakespeare deals with that throughout the play.
Please take the time to listen to Cab Calloway's music. He's amazing.

She had a million dollars worth of nickels and dimes
And she sat around and counted ´em all a million times

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Have a very funny day!

Sibylle