But I am the choosen one!

At 12:01 July 15th, I sat on starring at the black screen as the lights slowly dimmed in the movie theater I had been sitting in for about 45 minutes. My first thoughts as my eyes readjusted to the darkness were these: ABOUT TIME! and I can't believe I waited this long to see this movie and I'm still this excited.

So before I delve into the magical world of Harry Potter I think it only fair to talk about the awesome trailers. I want to focus on two trailers of note, one that was actually on the movie and the other that I found out was one some of the showings of Harry Potter that night but I had to find it online around 3 am when I got home. Sherlock Holmes was nearly the last trailer before the movie started and it looked amazing. Sometimes I think that my love for trailers sets me up to be disappointed by movies that don't live up, but a person should live life being excited. Looking forward to something is one of the best feelings in the world, even if sometimes those things don't live up to all your hopes and expectations. So Sherlock Holmes looks like its going to be action packed and visually stunning, and I can not wait. Be sure to go check out the trailer if you haven't had a chance to see it.

The other trailer, that I had to find upon discovery that it was released at all yesterday was for the Percy and the Olympians: The Lighting Thief. I almost burst with excitement because I discovered that they were making the movie out of my newest favorite character. But then to find out that Chris Columbus, my hero from the first two Harry Potters and Rent, was directing! Now as a cherry on top, Logan Lerman is playing Percy himself. Logan is a boy that I've been following by chance over the years, having seen him in the Patriot, 3:10 to Yuma and Bobby. I have high hopes for Logan being a very good Percy. The trailer was only a teaser, with the movie not being released until Presidents Day but it was just enough for me to be truly giddy with anticipation. The interesting thing is they told the story with no verbal cues, there was no speaking within the trailer at all and very few words. The trailer was just of Percy walking into the Empire State building, getting into the elevator and heading up to Mount Olympus. The beautiful weaving of the images of such a small action sequence with the words printed white on a black screen I thought was a nice tip of a hat to the fact that the movie is based on a book inspired by ancient stories. All in all it was thrilling and well recommend.

The lights were completely dimmed now and the music started signalling the start of the shouting and clapping. For all of our anger at Warner Brothers for delaying this moment for so many months, we were still an auditorium of very excited and happy hogwarts students (yes, people we're dressed up). I had read that David Yates had wanted to start the movie with a bang, and indeed he achieved the bang enough. The movie was almost everything I expected, a dark tale with a surprising humorous undertone that was enjoyable. Dan Radcliff was marvelous, he has truly grown into his acting and was captivating to watch on screen. My favorite scene was possibly the Felix Liquid Luck Scene, Dan really brought that to life for me. And Horace Slughorn was perfect, everything I imagined he would be on screen come to life. It was pleasing to still have the scenes, though however small, with Fred and George and Lupin and Tonks. And though I wish the set up at the end might have included the parts of the old D.A. members and the actual battle that happened, I was mostly ok with the change. The Burrow being attacked, not so much okay with, but we will see how they fix that story line within movie 7 part 1. Also the music within the movie was well played, in particular I enjoyed the usage of the weasley score (the twins music) for the end credits.

The muse of this Harry Potter film was laughter and love, the essence of growing up and being able to deal with the pains and tribulations that might bring. A story can be sad but it is a proven fact that you can smile while crying. So I take from my first time seeing Harry Potter, the importance to remember to make them smile once in a while.

As a story teller you love all stories...

I pride myself on being a story teller, crafting a tale is something I enjoy more than most things in life. But I have discovered throughout the years that to be a story teller, I must seek out others creativity to inspire my own. I don't know what it is, if maybe a realization that others have succeed. Or possibly it works something like a candle, the artist, or writer, or director, or musician is holding out their flame (awesome work) and ignites my own candle (blank page of some sort). But here I have decided to share my steps on my journey, my constant search for my muse of sorts. It's a creative process of enjoying others work, while creating my own.  

So currently I'm watching Merlin, one of the newest series of NBC and I'm enthralled. I might be on a mystical kick, drawn to the magic and wonder of ancient worlds long forgotten. It might be the fault of Percy Jackson, a charming young demigod that entered my world last week. A school teacher friend of mine shoved the first three books of the series at me last week, claiming there was little way I wouldn't fall in love with Mr. Jackson. In her words, he was just my sort of trouble maker. Her assumptions were correct of course, I started reading the Lighting thief on Thursday of last week and finished The Last Olympian this morning at sunrise. Rick Riordan was indeed graced with the present of a muse in his writings, the entire series of Percy Jackson and the Olympians was fantastic from beginning to end.  

I have a particular fascination with the Greeks already, their myths and their societies. While reading The Titan's Curse (Book 3), I watched Troy and realized what might draw me to the Greeks and Romans so very much. In those ancient societies, or at least the ways that we understand them through our media, it seems they understood their morality in the same capacity as their immortality. But I think what has been refreshing and engaging about Percy and currently Merlin is this distinct and solid path for our characters, their chosen and given destinies. These stories and these characters have a path, understand their purpose and live inside of it with their own personal trials and outside of it by still trudging forward for the bigger picture. Part of me feels that society as a whole might currently be looking for flawed heroes, with personal flaws that might make us think they can fail but persevere in the end. Personally I love that flawed perfection more than perfection itself. 

So today's muse has sparked some light on being a story teller! Maybe people aren't over magic, we might still like a sword fight or two, a dragon here and there and damsels that aren't so distressed but still cause some conflict. Maybe we still like stories not about the heroes, or the most powerful but about the people who support them like the demigods for the Greek Gods and Goddess or Merlin for King Arthur. And maybe we like it more than we care to admit when there are obstacles in our way to get to the happy ending, because let's face it if Merlin just popped up being powerful and Percy was just accepted and understood then why would we even like them?