HBP

So we went to see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, which was meh compared to Alias, and i saw a featurette on the new Harry Potter and a preview of it which actually contained some snippets of Harry fighting Malfoy and Snape and some inferi... which look surprisingly like Gollum instead of zombies. i believe that it was Gambon who said that this is the best Potter film yet, and after seeing the preview, i do believe it. Have to laugh about Hermione beating Ron with the book and Ron bemoaning the fact that the girls are going to kill him. i am soooo looking forward to the moments with Ginny, they never feature her enough for my liking, and i am still annoyed that they changed her patronus to a horse (the original phoenix was so much more her, and meaningful because of the events in the Chamber). i simply cannot wait to see it, i will most likely attend the midnight viewing again. It makes me want to work on my Fair Ginny sweater and knit some more house scarves. Yeah, the preview gave me chills, and ironically enough... i don't think that Dumbledore looks ostentatious enough when he's going to see Tom for the first time. Wonder if it's actually different in the film? i hate how they wash all the colors out. ): Argh, i feel like reading the books, too, i don't know that i have the time, and it will only make me more aware of the differences between the book and the movie, but HBP is probably my favorite book of the series now, and OotP was disappointing enough. Only the Dumbledore's Army scenes really made the movie bearable.

Vulcan grieving

"...Vulcan philosophy acknowledged grief as a valid response to loss. 'I grieve with thee' was an ancient formula which Surak himself had refused to renounce. While Surak had cautioned against succumbing to the debilitating emotional effects of grief, and most especially against the tendency to transform grief into a desire for vengeance and violence, he had nonetheless taught that even the most logical, dispassionate civilization must cherish life and the ties of family and community and must acknowledge and reflect upon the great cost incurred when a life, particularly that of a kinsman, was lost. Otherwise, he had written, that dispassion would become callous self-absorption, nullifying the bonds that enabled individuals to function as part of a greater whole."
~ Star Trek Titan - Over a Torrent Sea, pg. 8-9

Yeah, this is kind of bothered me in the new Star Trek, how Spock was encouraged to take revenge and didn't want to offer the Romulans any help. That's not the Spock that i know and love, the kissing on the transporter pad bothers me far less because i'm used to emotional exchanges happening their on TOS, TNG and Voyager. In many ways, i just feel that Abrams and the rest of TPTB just didn't really... get what Star Trek is about. There were far too many moments where it felt like they were trying to copy Star Wars. Star Trek is so much better than that.