Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I remember way back when I was a student at McGill, I took a course on 20th century American Literature. Being Canadian, I was never required to read The Great Gatsby in High School so Fitzgerald was new to me. I took the course because I was interested in Hemmingway by I left a fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

When I was doing an essay on Gatsby, I came across a series of anecdotes about Fitzgerald's relationship with Charles Scribner. It turns out that in the early drafts of the novel, Gatsby's entire background was revealed toward the end of the story. My guess is that it was probably during the hotel scene. Scribner told Fitzgerald that it was boring, too much explanation for a final chapter where the story should be building to its climax. At the advice of his publisher, Fitzgerald changed this part of the novel around, placing more of Gatsby's past earlier in the novel. The result, of course, is tightly woven, fast paced and exciting story worthy of its reputation as an American Classic.

Too bad JK Rowling's publisher wasn't Charles Scribner.

Don't get me wrong. In my opinion, this woman's epic tale of young Harry Potter, the only person to ever survive the Avada Kedavra curse of the evil Lord Voldemort and the subject of the secret prophecy that foresees only Harry or Voldemort's survival is a classic in its own right. I've thoroughly enjoyed every installment to the series and the Half-Blood Prince is no exception. But, at the same time, I have to admit that The Half-Blood Prince is the weakest of the series.

Thanks to the great wizard Dumbledore, Harry takes us on a series of flashbacks into the life of his nemesis Lord Voldemorte, aka Tom Riddle. We see how Riddle started out in life and how he his desire for power eventually consumed him, despite the best efforts of Obi-Wan…err Dumbledore to keep him from turning to the Dark Side. We finally see what his evil plan actually is and, thankfully, learn what the ending to the second book, The Chamber of Secrets, actually has to do with the series' overall arc.

Unfortunately, it is just so much flashback, so much last-minute explanation that the main story of the novel, the penultimate of the series, gets short-changed.

The main story revolves around three points: the new Professor Slughorn, Draco Malfoy, and of course, the Half-Blood Prince.

Harry is finally getting good grades in Potions class thanks to the notes written in his used textbook, notes written by the mysterious Half-Blood Prince. One can't help but feel that if more time were devoted to this part of the novel that Rowling could have come up with a more satisfying explanation as to why Harry failed to see that the notes were ultimately dangerous.

Near the beginning of the story, Harry and Draco Malfoy have a violent confrontation that sets the stage for Harry to mistrust Malfoy more than he normally does. Despite warnings from his friends and teachers Harry finds himself stalking Malfoy, trying to catch his nemesis read handed.

And the new Professor Slughorn, gives Rowling the opportunity to take a few shots at British society. Previous volumes have dealt with Soccer Hooligans, critiques on the state of Education, and the British Government. This time she deals with British class snobbery. Only a few elite students are invited to Slughorn's tea parties. Ralph wants to be invited but never is, whereas Harry hates the occasions but always receives an invitation. Harry does his best to avoid Slughorn throughout the novel, until Dumbledore asks him several times to use his influence with the teacher to obtain a very important piece of information, something vital to winning the upcoming war with Lord Voldemort.

Rowling also uses this story to tie up loose character ends, presumably so the final installment can be devoted to Harry's final showdown with Voldemort. The characters now being sixteen, Rowling decides that she can finally delve into more romantic interests than in the previous volumes. Harry, having been disillusioned with the beautiful but shallow Cho in the previous volume, The Order of the Phoenix, now finds himself realizing that the girl for him has been right by his side for the past six years. The romance between Ralph and Hermione that had been hinted at since The Goblet of Fire, is finally resolved for better or for worse. The wizarding world at last believes Harry's story about his encounter with the Dark Lord a year earlier. Harry has a potions teacher that takes an interest in him. Hagrid is busy educating his half-brother.

Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, Harry flies off with Dumbledore on the quest that leads to the stories climax. A climax that even though, it comes out of nowhere, leads to some exciting twists and turns.

If you're one of the few people on the planet who has not heard about the novel's ending, then I'm not going to spoil it here. It does, however, raise some intriguing questions. Is Severus Snape evil or is there still some hope that he is not on the side of Voldemort? There seems to be a brief moment where Draco Malfoy is not as evil as he has been portrayed up until now and may have simply been a product of bad parenting, but is that moment gone forever? Are Harry's days at Hogwarts indeed over?

Without going into details, I couldn't help but be reminded of the final scene of the Spider-Man movie in the final pages of the book, to the point where the final lines could have been right there on the page.

Even with the scattered nature of this installment's story, the characters that Rowling has created are indeed heartwarming and lovable. We want to see them succeed. We want to see them happy. But with the increasingly foreboding nature of each volume in the Potter series, I'm forced to admit that the characters might not be as triumphant as we want them to be, nor will the series end with everyone truly happy.

Goal!

Okay, I admit that I'm a long time fan of sports films. They don't have to be classic films in order for me to find them enjoyable. Sure, some rise to the top for me. Field of Dreams is one of my favorite pieces of melodramatic cinema and still brings a tear to my eye (not that anyone will ever notice) whenever I watch it.

BEGIN SHORTREVIEW OF GOAL!

Make no mistake. Goal is not a classic film. But it is a decently put together piece and worth a rental from your local blockbuster if you like sports films. If you don't, then rent The 40 Year Old Virgin instead.

END SHORTREVIEW OF GOAL!

The story is about young Santiago Muñoz, a young illegal Mexican immigrant living in LA. He is a talented soccer player who just happens to catch the eye of a retired football scout, Glen Foy. Thanks to Foy's encouragement, Santiago travels to England in the hopes of playing for Newcastle United.

The story pulls in just about every sports-movie cliché ever used. Santiago has a poor relationship with his father who doesn't support his son's dream, Santiago fails his first time out but succeeds due to his perseverance and support from his friends, Santiago begins to hang out with another player who at first seems to be a bad influence but the two resolve their differences and become close friends, Santiago gets the woman that none of the other players on the team can get, Santiago suffers personal tragedy but then overcomes that tragedy to ultimate succeed.

Santiago also suffers an ailment, but the writers put a nice twist on this cliché. He suffers from Asthma, which of course will not hurt his chances of becoming a star, but since he is uneducated about his sickness, he keeps it a secret. This secret nearly costs him his career.

Where the movie succeeds, is in its low key nature. Unlike some of the more traditional Hollywood fair like Any Given Sunday or Remember the Titans (both films which I enjoyed, by the way), Goal! Simply seems more subdued and less over the top. Whereas the other films go out of their way to take their plots to the extremes, Goal is comfortable enough in its simplicity to just tell the story.

The other area where it succeeds is that it becomes the first major soccer film. It is simply because most high budget films are made in the US, practically the only country in the world that doesn't have a cultural emotional investment in the game, that the world's most popular sport has not received proper cinematic attention. The producers also shamelessly aimed this movie at two big non-US markets: England and Latin America.

From reading the comments of online posters, I noticed that the English audience tended to be highly critical of technical points in the film. They criticized the fact that Santiago wore a pendant on the field, that the soccer scenes weren't shot correctly, and that the Newcastle team wasn’t portrayed accurately, among other things. The Latin Americans with whom I watched the film didn't seem to care about those details and became thoroughly wrapped up in the story. Despite the obvious plot twists and predictable ending, they found Santiago to be a likeable character and enjoyed elements of the Mexican trying to make his way in English Premier League soccer.

I’m not sure how much money this film actually made, but it appears that there are two sequels in the works, one set in Spain and the other at the World Cup. It seems safe to say that Santiago Muñoz's career turns out to be a successful one.

The 40 Year Old Virgin

Often, our greatest enemies are the fears that we create in our own minds. The fear of getting into a relationship, falling in love, and being hurt can lead us to avoid the problem altogether by simply not getting into that relationship. In the age of the internet, we can have a reasonably fulfilling social life by chatting online with friends whom we've never met in real life, play games with them, have a beer with them, and avoid the emotional risk that we take every time we put our trust in someone in the real world, whether that trust be geared toward a friendship or a romantic attachment.

This fear is common for all of us, whether we are the extrovert at the party who is the first to get up and dance, or the introvert that sits in a corner sipping a soda and nervously engaging in small talk.

Whereas most romantic comedies go out of there way to make those people who quietly sit in the corner at parties feel nervous and inadequate about themselves, The 40 Year Old Virgin champions their cause. This time it is the extroverts who are squirming nervously in their seats as the movie progresses.

This is a movie, like Free Enterprise that came out a few years back, which champions the nerd. Unlike Free Enterprise, however, it doesn't feel that it has to lie to make people identify with the protagonist. If I may be so bold, it is probably the first time that I've seen a true nerd portrayed accurately in a movie.

Andy is our titular forty year old virgin. But he is not an unhappy man, wallowing in some sort of pathetic existence. In fact, as he tells us early in the movie his life is quite a fulfilling one, although it may be a little strange for the majority of the movie going public. He has an enviable collection of toy action figures, he plays all sorts of video games, and my personal favorite, enjoys painting metallic miniatures.

Nevertheless, the group of guys with whom he works, take it on as their mission to get him laid. It is at this point that the true comedy begins and we learn about the two main messages of the movie.

Andy is more than just a sexual virgin. His lack of luck in the bedroom, which really stems from a few embarrassing sexual incidents earlier in his life, has led him to become a social recluse. He doesn't really hang out with anybody other than the older couple upstairs, whom we only see interacting with him from their balcony. When he does start going out with the guys from work, they play a series of pranks on him. Sure, pranks seem horrible, but the truth of the matter is that in a guy's world it is these social pranks that build one's resistance to other embarrassing experiences in life. One gets the distinct impression that if Andy had had more experiences like this in High School, he wouldn't have let the two or three awkward sexual experiences we see on screen drive him into complete social reclusion.

The other point of the movie is that Andy's more sexually active buddies aren't any more capable of finding happiness than he is. One of his friends, David, is still trying to get over the girl he was in love with two years ago, a woman we find out who is so unstable herself that David is better off without her. His other friend, Jay, has a stable girlfriend but finds himself cheating on her to make up for his own lack of self-confidence. Meanwhile Seth is the guy who always talks big, but never really seems to score. Over the course of the film, Andy eventually learns that they really aren't any better off than he, and in fact, it is their friendship with Andy that helps the other guys fix their own lives.

Andy meets the love of his life early in the film. Trish, who runs an eBay store, has three mostly normal kids but whose life is as lonely and devoid of true romantic love as anybody else in the cast.

The scenes where Andy calls her up repeatedly, only to hang up the phone or pretend to be somebody else are classic, as is his discovery that it is really not that hard to meet a girl and have her interested in him.

The other important lesson that Andy learns in the film is that nobody really treats him like a pariah when they find out he is a virgin. In fact, one of his co-workers is relieved because it means that Andy is not a psychopathic killer. The other guys may give him a hard time, but they genuinely like and care about him and want him to be happy as he struggles with the fear of telling Trish that he is still a virgin entering into his fifth decade.

And like most of our fears, Andy learns his fears are more traumatic in his head than they are in real life.