Please enjoy

For all you anglophiles out there:


The panelists are Richard E. Grant, David Mitchell, Fern Britton, Martin Clunes, Lee Mack, and Sanjeev Bhaskar (from the Kumars at no. 42) and hosted by Rob Brydon.

The End of Harry Potter

In the space of two days, I watched both parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In general, the end of things always make me a little sad, and the last Harry Potter movies were no exception. I thought back to when I first read the Harry Potter books, which was during senior year of high school, when I devoured the first four books in the space of about a month. And then I read those four again during the first year of college around the time the first movie came out. So while I might have been outside of the target age group for the books, I still have an attachment to the series. I was reading them during a point in my life when I was starting to become an adult so it was provided a source of nostalgia while still having a bit of a dark/adult tone to it, especially in the later novels. I cried at the end of the Deathly Hallows the book and both movies. I have to give credit to J.K. Rowling for her excellent series and while there were times when I didn't enjoy every subplot, I still enjoyed the books. And the commitment of the people behind the movies is amazing to see. While the first two movies were a little rough, they really hit their stride by the third movie (my favorite book) all the way until the end. So thanks to all those who worked on the movies, I'm sure I'll revisit them all whenever I need a little reassurance.

Trailer Round-up

I've spent a lot of time at the movie theater today (almost 5 hours). And I saw a lot of trailers:

1. Contagion: Seems like a remake of Outbreak without the monkey but more A-list stars including Matt Damon, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Gwyneth Paltrow. But it does have Jennifer Ehle and Enrico Colantoni (aka Keith Mars). I might catch it on DVD in about 6 months.
   
2. Planet of Apes: Rise of Apes (I saw the trailer twice!): You know just once I would like a movie in which science did not run amok. Pass!
3. Cowboys and Aliens: I feel like a trailer for this movie is kind of unnecessary because it is all right there in the title. There are cowboys and there are aliens. Carnage ensues.
4. The Adventures of Tintin: Looks kind of interesting, but it uses that weird motion capture from The Polar Express and Beowulf. But I do enjoy the CGI cowlick on Tintin.
5. The Amazing Spiderman: I am totally in the tank for this movie. I love Andrew Garfield a ton and this movie looks pretty good. Plus, Emma Stone is a lot less annoying that Kirsten Dunst!
   
6. John Carter: Meh...looks a little like Disney is trying the whole Prince of Persia thing again.
   
7. Abduction: Taylor Lautner is some sort of asset for a shadowy government organization. It might be more believable if he didn't look like he was thirteen. On the bright side, it does feature Sigourney Weaver which is never a bad thing.
   
8. Arthur Christmas: Some sort of animated movie that has to do with Christmas. The trailer didn't really tell you anything and the animation was pretty run of the mill so it did not peak my interest at all.
   
9. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol: When I saw the Bad Robot vanity card (J.J. Abrams' production company), I was hoping it was the trailer for the next Star Wars movies. Alas, this one featured Tom Cruise. The presence of Simon Pegg sucked me in a little but that Tom Cruise hurdle is a big to clear for me to want to see this movie.
   

That's right, I sat through 9 trailers (well actually 10, but one was a repeat).

Reflections of the Supremes

So I just finished Toobin's "The Nine" and I have to say that I loved it (with no concern about any suggestions that I may be turning into Trey, though Trey would probably really enjoy this book). And here is a list of things I learned in last half of Toobin's book:

- Souter was assaulted by two men while on a run in 2004. And he made it to Court the next day.

- Breyer and O'Connor were BFFs. Ginsburg and Souter were BFFs. I can only hope that friendship bracelets were exchanged.

- O'Connor is/was a Goldwater Republican. Therefore, she was definitely not BFF with G.W. Bush.

- I love this response by Goldwater after Jerry Falwell suggested that "good Christians" should be wary of O'Connor's nomination: "I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell's ass".

- Since O'Connor left the Court, Kennedy is the new swing vote.

-Breyer found about O'Connor leaving the court by hearing about it on NPR. And Toobin made it sound like Breyer was a little heartbroken.

- Stephen Breyer had the Philly Phantic come to a dinner welcoming Alito to the Court (Alito is a huge Phillies fan). Can I tell you again that Breyer is my favorite Justice?

- Thomas really know how to hold a grudge...especially against Nina Totenburg and Harvard.

- Harry Reid might be a evil genius. He was one of the first people to suggest that G.W. Bush nominate Harriet Miers.

- The Rehnquists kind of got screwed by both Bush presidents. Two days after Nan Rehnquist died (William's wife), Bush the elder nominated Thomas to the Court. And then two days after William Rehnquist died, Bush the younger nominated Roberts to be Chief Justice (this was a clear political move, Roberts was already nominated to fill O'Connor's seat, but due to a really bad week that included the fallout of Hurricane Katrina, the Bush White House needed some positive news and Roberts was well liked by most of Congress).

- Ginsburg must have been so happy when Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

-O'Connor continues to be really interesting in her post-Court career. Since she left the Court to care for her husband (suffering from Alzheimer's), she been an advocate for Alzheimer's research (and even public sharing information about the difficulties of caring for an Alzheimer's patient) and working to educate both the youth of America and internationally about the importance of the Judicial branch.

- I think that in the end, O'Connor regretted stepping down from the Court. She left to care for her husband but he deteriorated to fast that she was really only able to take care of him for about 2 years before he entered an assisted living center.

-Stevens served in World War II. Due to his age this of course makes sense, but I had never thought about it before. He enlisted the day before Pearl Harbor and served in naval intelligence and worked on breaking Japanese codes.

Now I'm ready to start a new book. Right now it's a toss up between Jon Ronson's "The Psychopath Test" and John Waters' "Role Models". Or possible Agatha Cristie's "Pale Horse" to coincide with the Masterpiece Mystery adaptation from last week. Any suggestions/recommendations?

Other types of Nerdiness

I've established that I am a science nerd but I have to say living so near DC has expanded my interest in policy, history, and law. Compounding this is the fact that I am reading a book about the Supreme Court that is very well written and makes the Justices relatable (even Thomas to some extent, though I still kind of hate him). So is it weird that I want to attend an oral argument when the Court is back in session?

Supreme Update

I'm continuing to plug along reading the book The Nine and I and through the end of the Clinton years. And my favorite tidbit from this section is about when a snowstorm hit DC and Rehnquist refused to delay or stop the Court proceedings and Jeeps were sent out to pick-up all the justices. Except Souter, who being a New Englander and therefore adept at driving in snow, decided that he would drive his own car and then proceeded to get his car stuck in a snowdrift. As someone who has spent a winter in Vermont, I can't say this story surprises me. A close runner-up is the fact that the other Justices call Scalia "Nino". Oh and that Scalia and O'Connor didn't get along at all.

Reading Supreme

I'm about 100 pages into Jeffrey Toobin's great book "The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court" and so far I am really enjoying it. I'm reading the section covering the late period of the Rehnquist court, with Breyer just getting appointed to the court. And with all things, this book is really appealing to my nerdy side and I have the opportunity to do one thing that I do a lot which is ranking the justices (I do this all the time with things I enjoy, just ask me about my Jane Austen novel rankings). Now I've also had a soft spot for Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginesburg. But after starting to read this book, Stephen Breyer might be my favorite Supreme Court justice. He was considered for Ginsburg seat but was not selected due to a disastrous interview with Bill Clinton (he was recovering from a serious bicycle crash, so please imagine a Justice on a bike). And once appointed, Toobin says he was the most optimistic justice on the court. Breyer also attended every State of the Union address out of solidarity with the other branches of the government. How can you not like someone who is optimistic in the face of a job like Supreme Court Justice and is still so enthusiastic for his job? Furthermore, Stephen Breyer played Not My Job on NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. But beyond letting me pick my favorite Justice, there is a lot of interesting information about the impact of previous justices on the current justices. I really recommend it.