Even with the sound off, Geoffrey Rush is STILL the best actor in the room!

Naturally the first time a guest came on "The View" that I actually wanted to see, the speakers weren't working. They were interviewing Geoffrey Rush who is one of my favourite living actors (as opposed to Edwin Booth, one of my favourite dead ones), and they showed a clip from the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Even with no sound, even dressed up as an undead pirate, even in the trailer for a lame Disney summer block buster, he was still acting circles around Orlando Bloom. I thought I saw Orlando being swept overboard by a huge wave at one point, but it turns out that was just the sheer force of Geoffrey Rush's amazing talent.

In other news, I might have to kill my passive-aggressive co-worker. It's just very hard for me to get along with someone who doesn't respect my contribution to his being able to get his work done by taking ALL the phone calls, and who has actually said "I just tend to tune people out." Oh yeah? Well see if I take the time out of my busy surfing-for-Laurence Olivier-pics to answer the phone anymore! One more day. Breathe. Right now I am utilising all my discretionary skills and also practising Zen and the art of the snarky inner monolgue. PS: If all the people at Step-an-wulf are like this, count me out.

There was something else I wanted to write about, oh, yes, something very dear to my heart...or my left shoulder, as the case may be... Mugglenet announced today that Scholastic is going to release a special edition box of the entire Harry Potter books in hardcover. *whimper* *drools a little* The bad part is, of course I already own these books (sometimes multiple copies, British and American) so I can't really justify buying them all over again, but...I might have to. I'm sure that Bloomsbury is also going to release some kind of box set, and since we all know that the British books are better, maybe I'll invest in those.


The sad part about this picture is not the geeky kid, but the fact that I have a similar pic of me holding up the same book...only I'm in costume.

This is also a call for everyone to *not* buy their books from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc. I read an article about a small indie bookstore here, and they were explaining how stores like that utilise the "Wal-Mart" selling strategy, and smaller stores can't compete. IE, if the stores buy the books for 40% of the cover price and resell them for %50 of the cover price, they will still make millions because they're moving hundreds of copies. Now, I love Amazon.com as much as anyone, but I also love small independent bookstores. So come July, pay full price for once and support a local bookseller.

While we're on the subject of everyone's favourite boy wizard, is it just me or have HP movie posters gotten more and more stupid over the years? Even Chamber of Secrets, which is the worst of the bunch, has a better poster than the latest batch I've seen for Order of the Phoenix. Chamber had a picture of Harry and Ron in the Ford Anglia, looking scared, but the Phoenix posters are largely the standard Hogwarts-students with their wands out variety. I know that Warner Brothers probably doesn't want to give away the plotline, but come ON, who are we kidding here? That's why Chamber was such a good poster--you knew there was going to be a flying car, but the flying car was only in the first ten minutes. A hook, but something that wasn't overall important. (What kind of car is in book 2?" is an excellent trivia question, especially since the Anglia was never released in America. Much like the Ford Prefect. Anyone? Anyone? sigh.)



Even with no nose Ralph Fiennes can out-act anyone in the room!



I am so excited about Harry Potter coming out this summer it's ridiculous. I can't even think about it or I wiggle a little in excitement. The IMAX version is even going to feature twenty minutes in 3D. I think that might be the flight over the Thames...hopefully I'll manage not to explode from sheer overjoy'dness. *wiggle*

One of the treasures that was unearthed when Mr. P-A was cleaning out his desk was a book called "The Untied States of America" which I rescued from the trash. (a disrespecter of books!!! blasphemer!!) It is about how America is not the land united we all like to think it is, and how shifting perceptions could add or subtract states in the future. It's absolutely fascinating. The author, Juan Enriquez, used Britain as an example for how states in the US might reignite "national pride" --twenty years ago schools in Ireland started teaching (err, I'm going to screw this up) Gaelic, and now I meet people who speak it like a first language. The United Kingdom? Hardly. And I never knew Mexico used to stretch from Washington State to Panama. Also, it didn't sink in that Barack Obama (who will lead our country to prosperity and teach our children to read)is the ONLY black senator. And there are 40 million black Americans. hmm... "No taxation without representation!!" Now Rudy Giuliani is telling me he supports a woman's right to choose. Whoa--when did I fall into a black hole? Sorry Rudy--even if you are the least deadly head, you're still attached to that Republican hydra!

Ooh! And Tony Blair is not going to be prime minster starting on June 27th! I'd say let's have a party, but that would be inappropriate. We should have a wake instead.