Author Archives: Maria Langer

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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In the movies.

Last night I had the pleasure of watching the latest Harry Potter movie on a full-sized screen at Wickenburg’s historic Saguaro Theater.

Our Saguaro Theater

First, a few words about the theater. It was originally built in the 1920s (I believe) and, like all theaters from that era, only has one big screen. The theater was never cut into pieces by greedy theater owners, anxious to max out their profits on available real estate. (Unlike the old Closter and Tenafly theaters I went to in New Jersey as a child.) The seats, which are replaced every 10 or so years, are always replaced with another theater’s cast-offs, so they’re never quite new. But they’re comfortable and the current seats not only recline but have cup holders. The place is clean, too.

The theater owner, Brian, owns two theaters in Arizona. The other one is in Payson, where I believe he lives. He’s a great guy. Although he could stick us with older movies that have been around for weeks or months, he manages to get us a good bunch of first run movies every year. When we get a first run — like Harry Potter this week — we keep it for two weeks.

The theater is open every night for one showing and has three showings on Saturdays and Sundays. There’s a refreshment stand with the usual popcorn and candy. Everyone who works there is extremely friendly and pleasant. I get a discount because I run advertising slides in the theater and they actually recognize me when I come in and give me my discount without asking. Regular ticket prices are $8 per adult and $5 per child or senior. (I pay the child/senior price.)

The Saguaro theater is the only theater in Wickenburg. In fact, it’s the only theater within about 40 miles. So if you want to watch a movie and you don’t want to spend a lot of time driving, this is is.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5)Now I know a lot of people don’t like the Harry Potter phenomena, but I’m not one of them. Sure, I think there’s entirely too much hype about it — but isn’t there too much hype about everything these days? (Think iPhone and Paris Hilton.) The truth — at least the way I see it — is that the books are pretty well written and tell great stories that appeal to young people and adults looking for a fantasy escape. While the hype has pushed book sales far beyond what’s normal for books of this genre, I think most readers come away satisfied, if not pleased, about their reading experience.

The movies are well done. They’re true to the books, while cutting out a lot of the extra stuff that J.K. Rowling seems to have added to the later titles in the series. It’s a real pleasure to see the scenes from the books come to life on the screen. Casting is very good, special effects are incredible. What else could a reader want in a movie based on a book?

What I’m also enjoying as I watch each movie seeing the young cast members grow up. They were kids at the beginning of all this; now they’re becoming young men and women. The current movie features many flashbacks of Harry’s life and the footage is there to show him at every age. The characters are supposed to be 15 in this story and although they’re older in real life, they can pass as 15-year-olds. (The character that plays Malfoy does look considerably older than the others, though.) I’m hoping the production folks can keep up the pace and deliver the last two movies with the same actors.

As you might imagine, I highly recommend the movie to anyone who has been reading the Harry Potter books. It’s meant to be seen on a big screen (or as big a screen as is available to you) rather than on a television screen. We’ll probably see it again before it leaves town, perhaps from a seat near the back of the theater for a different view.

Did you see the movie? What did you think? Use the Comments link or form for this post to share your thoughts with the rest of us.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)And in case you’re wondering, I do have the last Harry Potter book on order at Amazon.com. I didn’t spring for the overnight shipping — I’m not a complete fangirl! — but I do look forward to reading it when it arives sometime next week.

New Spam Gimmick

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Another thing to watch out for.

The latest spam gimmick is to send you an e-mail message from a legitimate-sounding e-mail address but no subject line. The message includes an attached PDF and that’s all.

The only way to see what the message is about is to open the PDF.

I’ve gotten four of these in the last 24 hours and have managed to resist the temptation. I don’t know if a PDF can contain viruses — although I tend to think that it can’t — but I simply can’t be bothered opening attachments of any sort from people I don’t know.

Keep an eye out for this one. If you do happen to open one, use the Comments link or form to let us know what they’re selling this time.

Who Moved My Blackberry?

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by Lucy Kellaway.

While on the plane from Phoenix to Newark the other day, I read Who Moved My Blackberry? by Lucy Kellaway. It was a quick read, primarily because the entire book was written as a series of e-mail messages, most of which were from the main character, Martin Lukes.

It was a great example of the writer’s principle of “show, don’t tell.” By reading Martin’s outgoing messages and a handful of incoming messages he received from others, I got an excellent idea of what Martin was like. He’s full of himself, a chauvinist, not too bright, overweight, a bit lazy, somewhat manipulative, and not very honest to the people around him — or himself. After the first 25 or so pages, was used to the writing style or e-mail as a storytelling device. As amazing as it may seem, the e-mail messages moved a definite story forward, with multiple plot lines. What’s even funnier, however, is that by reading Martin’s answers to e-mail messages he received that weren’t in the book, I knew what other people were thinking about him and got a pretty good idea of what they’d written.

The book is also a look at the corporate culture. Although the book takes place primarily in Martin’s workplace at a multinational corporation, it’s impossible to know what the company does or sells. Martin, a marketing executive, is mostly concerned with corporate branding and public relations. But even though the reader never learns what his company does all over the world, it doesn’t matter. And I think that says a lot for today’s corporations. A lot of the employees are just glorified paper-shufflers that could be working for any company selling any product or service.

The book was very good and I highly recommend it. I left it at my brother’s house for my sister-in-law, who works in Human Resources, to read. I think she’ll be able to identify with what goes on between the lines of all those e-mail messages.

Looking for a fun read? Give Who Moved My Blackberry? a try.

Religion in Inappropriate Places

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Why I canceled a helicopter magazine subscription.

I am not a religious person. In fact, I lean toward atheism. I do, however, have a lot of respect for other people’s religious beliefs.

As long as they don’t try to push them on me.

So imagine my surprise when I realized that a 32-page, tabloid-format helicopter magazine I’d subscribed to included a full-page article by a Christian minister that attempted to relate Jesus to flying helicopters.

Every month.

What is the point of having a sermon — because that’s exactly what it is — appear in a helicopter magazine? Is the publisher trying to push his religious beliefs on the readers of this otherwise non-religious publication? Sure looks that way to me.

And I find that offensive. Not only does it disregard the beliefs of non-Christians like Jews and Muslims, but it also disregards the non-beliefs of atheists and people like me who simply don’t want to read about someone else’s religion. Or support a publication that pushes a religious beliefs where it’s not appropriate.

So I cancelled my subscription.

This is only one example of where religion is beginning to appear in inappropriate places. Can you think of other places? Use the Comments link or form to share your thoughts. Just don’t use them to preach to me.

Murphy’s Lesser-Known Laws

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Oh, so true.

I just got these in an email message. If anyone out there knows the original source of these pearls of wisdom, please pass that information along so I can properly credit him/her.

My favorite: the first one.

Murphy’s Lesser-Known Laws

  1. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
  2. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
  3. Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don’t.
  4. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
  5. The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there’s a 90% probability you’ll get it wrong.
  6. If you lined up all the cars in the world end to end, someone would be stupid enough to try to pass them, five or six at a time, on a hill, in the fog.
  7. The things that come to those who wait will be the scraggly junk left by those who got there first.
  8. The shin bone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room.
  9. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
  10. When you go into court, you are putting yourself into the hands of 12 people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.