Memorial Day

Posted: Monday, May 31, 2010 by Travis Cody in
12

I have a very simple message on this Memorial Day.  

Tomb of the Unknown.
 

Remember them today.
WWI Cemetery at Tyne Cot, Ypres, Belgium

Remember them tomorrow.
WWII Memorial, Washington DC


Remember them in all the days to come.
Korean War Memorial, Washington DC

Remember them.
Vietnam War Memorial, Washington DC


They made the ultimate sacrifice in service to honor, duty, and country.
For those lost in both Persian Gulf Wars
To those currently in harm's way, may you safely accomplish the mission and come home to enjoy all the tomorrows of your lives.


These images were all found on Google as public domain.

Five on Friday Set 18

Posted: Friday, May 28, 2010 by Travis Cody in
9

Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels kept coming up on my Ipod this week.  And that makes the band a prime candidate for Set 18.



Get a playlist! Standalone player Get Ringtones




Yeah I like that!

If you'd like to join us in the musical fun, the guidelines are basic and simple.

1. Grab the banner, make your post title Five on Friday, and be sure to link back here.
2. Go to Playlist.com to make your play list of five songs. You may choose a particular theme to share with us, or post random tunes if that's your vibe for the day. You can simply post the play list, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing.
2a. Don't feel restricted by the tracks listed on Playlist.com. And don't be discouraged if the Embed code won't work. You're welcome to use any type of media to share your Sets.
3. Be sure to sign Mr Linky so everyone can visit your Set.
4. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday.

Go forth and enjoy music!


11 down, 5 to go...

Posted: by Travis Cody in
3

...but it sure ain't easy.

 
My Lakers got a lay-up at the buzzer from Ron Artest to beat the Suns last night and take a 3-2 lead back to Phoenix on Saturday.  The Suns tied the game with 3.5 seconds to play.  Kobe took the ensuing inbound pass but missed his shot.

Artest was the opportunist on the miss.

The Phoenix bench, which scored 54 points at home on Tuesday, only managed 31.  That still out-scored the Laker bench by 12.  The difference last night was LA's defensive intensity which allowed them to control tempo.  They held Phoenix to 33% from the 3 point line and cut down on the fouling.


Kobe led my Lakers with 30 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists.

Based on the way the Suns played at home, they could still pull off another win and force a game 7 in LA.  But if that happens, I'm confident in the home court advantage.

It's game 6 from Boston tonight in the Eastern Conference final.  The Celtics are battered and bruised, but still have a 3-2 edge in the series.  The Magic are trying to do what nobody does...come back from a 3-0 deficit.  They've got to win tonight in Boston to take the series home for a deciding game 7. 

Hot in Cleveland

Posted: Thursday, May 27, 2010 by Travis Cody in
9

In case I never made it clear, I have had a crush on Valerie Bertinelli since forever.

OK, maybe not forever.  It started the first time I saw her as Barbara Cooper on One Day at a Time, back in 1975.  I was 11.  Girls sort of had cooties still, but some girls were cool.  Mostly girls were confusing.

That hasn't changed a lot.  Girls...women...sometimes still have cooties, or are cool, or are mostly confusing.

HA!

As we were sorting out whether it was cool or cooties with girls, my crew and I split over the kind of girl we were drawn to in our early crushes.  A lot of the fellas liked Tatum O'Neal...



...or Kim Richards... 



...or Kristy McNichol.  Kristy captured my pre-teen heart for awhile.




But then I fell hard for Valerie.




So how excited am I about Valerie's return to television?  I do the happy dance!


Valerie's new show is called Hot in Cleveland.  It airs on TV Land beginning 16 June at 10pm.



The show also stars Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick, with Betty White and John Schneider.  I suspect Ms White will steal the show, and I'm OK with that.  Anything for ratings so that I get more episodes!

The 2010 American Idol is...

Posted: by Travis Cody in
4

For the second straight season, we were not compelled to vote for any of the American Idol contestants.  We were satisfied to record the performance shows and fast forward through most of the stuff and the things to get to the music, then check the results online.


We did download quite a bit of the studio recordings from the two finalists, Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze. 

So who joined the list of winners?

Season 1, Kelly Clarkson
Season 2, Reuben Studdard
Season 3, Fantasia Barrino
Season 4, Carrie Underwood
Season 5, Taylor Hicks
Season 6, Jordin Sparks
Season 7, David Cook
Season 8, Kris Allen

And for Season 9, your 2010 American Idol is...


Lee DeWyze

Congratulations young man! 

Tune in tonight for the first round of auditions for Season 7 of So You Think You Can Dance! 

Cue that theme music...

Posted: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 by Travis Cody in
11

We've finally reached it!  Someone is going to dance away with the Glitter Ball of Glory and they are going to do it live from Hollywood!



In between all the frivolity, our remaining three pairs have two more competitive dances to perform for scores.  Those scores will be added to last night's scores and then combined with viewer votes to determine the winner.

But before we get that far, let's have our final encores of the season.  Here's what we liked from Monday's performance finale.

We liked the Viennese Waltz from Evan and Anna.  I liked this one even better the second time around.




We liked the Samba from Erin and Maks.  The assist from Bruno really helped her.




We really liked the freestyle from Nicole and Derek.  I hope the flub on the lift at the end reminds everyone how difficult this stuff is to do, no matter what your background.




Our dance of the night was the freestyle from Erin and Maks.  We loved this because they chose a style that separated them from the other two pairs.  And did you catch the comment about this not being the bed they rehearsed on?  So funny!





That's good stuff.


Here's a reminder of our leader board after Monday's performances:


55 Erin and Maks
55 Nicole and Derek
52 Evan and Anna

I still think it's anybody's Mirror Ball. 

And our eliminated couples lead off the show in a group number...sort of.  The celebrities are at the top of the stage while the pros kick it up on the floor.  


OK kids...we'll save the fluff and frivolity for later and start right away with the first round of dances for judges score.  These will be the favorite dance of the season, chosen by each couple.  The judges are going to rank these performances to hand out 30 points for 1st, 28 points for 2nd, and 26 points for 3rd.  Yikes!  Even if they all dance perfectly, only one pair can get a perfect score!


Nicole and Derek select Argentine Tango as their favorite and best performance.  This is a strong choice.  The choreography is difficult.  I like it because even though Tango is about passion and drama, all of that is controlled and contained so that we get to see the precision of the footwork.  And they are on point tonight with sophisticated intensity.  That was a predictably excellent performance.  I didn't see any technique breaks or any mistakes in footwork.  It was totally clean.  I'm really a fan of that dance.  It was professional level in terms of quality.  It's going to be a challenge for either of the other two pairs to top that for the 30 points.  

Evan and Anna select Argentine Tango as their favorite and best, so we get a direct comparison with Nicole and Derek.  I don't know how you dance better than perfect, because they scored 30 when they danced this a couple of weeks ago.  This was a break out performance for them, and the absolute best choice for the finale.  Evan demonstrates in this dance that he can be powerful and intense while maintaining the lyrical and artistic qualities that I enjoy.  And that spin!  They did it even faster this time.  I don't know if they'll top Nicole and Derek, but that was a great performance and they may have secured the second rank.  This is going to be a tough choice, because both couples would score 10's across for these performances...but this round is about ranking 1-2-3. 

Erin and Maks also select Argentine Tango as their favorite and best dance of the season.  Excellent!  Now we can see each pair dance the exact same dance.  But unfortunately the contentions rehearsal drama is back.  Sheesh!  Still, they are capable of performing this just as well as the other two pairs.  Gosh that jump of the top off the stage!  I love their position in hold with their upper bodies pressed tightly together.  That was excellent, except for the bend she had in her leg on that last spin.  These couples are so close, that a little detail like that is going to determine where they place in the rankings.  The question is going to be whether the big jump at the beginning and the close hold position will trump that bent leg.


I would score that Nicole and Derek with 30, Evan and Anna with 28, Erin and Maks with 26.

Judges say...26 to Erin and Maks, 28 to Evan and Anna, 30 to Nicole and Derek. 


Here's the leader board after the favorite dance round:


85 Nicole and Derek
81 Erin and Maks
80 Evan and Anna

The viewer votes will be factored into those scores, and one pair will finish 3rd.  But before that, the first three eliminated celebrities return to the ballroom.  After a video retrospective of the first three weeks, Shannen Doherty and Mark Ballas, Aiden Turner and Edyta Sliwinska, and Buzz Aldrin and Ashly Costa get to dance.


Here's another video review of the season, followed by a performance by Jake Pavelka and Chelsie Hightower.  Bonus...Jake's fiance gets to dance with Dmitry.  She's pretty good.  Now everybody say Awwwww as Jake and his Lady finish off the dance together.  Sweet!

Results..oh boy.  Erin Andrews and Maksim Chmerkovskiy finish in third place.  I'm glad the producers left the drama out of the rehearsal footage on Monday so that I could just enjoy her dancing.  They get to perform the Cha Cha Cha they would have danced if they had made the final two.  HA!  Their song is Relax Max.  They had a lot of fun with it.





Now it's down to Nicole Scherzinger and Derek Hough with 85 points vs Evan Lysacek and Anna Trebunskaya with 80 points.  That's a pretty significant gap.  But there is one dance left, designed specifically to please the judges.  It could still be anyone's trophy.


Before we get to that final competition, we get to see the college dance championship.  It's Purdue vs Utah Valley.


Purdue University dances Cha Cha Cha.  I like their performance energy.  But the dang camera shots aren't pulling back at the right times to see the formation changes, so I can't give you a real opinion of the full performance.  I enjoyed them.


Utah Valley University dances Samba.  This team commands the full floor.  And the choreography is so difficult.  It looked like they had way more pattern changes in their routine.  I think they were better.


I have to give that to UVU.  I enjoyed Purdue, but UVU stepped it up.  Judges say the winner is Utah Valley University!  And they get a Fabulous Mirror Ball trophy to take back to school.  






We're due for another video retrospective of the season, but what we get is a segment all about Kate Gosselin.  I could have done without that.  She said at one point during rehearsal footage...yes, they gave us more rehearsal footage of her whining to Tony Dovolani...that she was afraid she was going to look dumb.  Well my dear, why even show up if you feel that way?


Shake it off, shake it off...not gonna let that few minutes define the night.  Shake it off.


This is the rehearsal footage I wanted to see!  Nicole and Derek are going to dance Jive, while Evan and Anna are going to dance Quickstep.  Yup...Nicole with the energy and Evan with the precision.  The professional singer, dancer, and all around entertainer vs the lyrical artist Olympic champion.  They are both hyper competitive.  This is going to be good.


But first, it's Sexy Bits and Jiggly Bits back in the ballroom!  It's Pamela Anderson descending from the ceiling to entice Tony and Dmitry before settling into a sizzling dance with Damian Whitewood.  And now here comes Niecy Nash shaking it with Louis van Amstel and the boys.  Hehehehehe!  That's a couple of Hot Mamas right there.  Pamela says she misses the paddles and Niecy says she feels like a weave on a stick.  Bwahahahahahahaaaa!


Here we go now.  Nicole and Derek hit us with a Jive to Proud Mary.  Kick it up now.  High energy.  Sharp and quick flick kicks.  Controlled spins and turns.  That was about 60 seconds of Go Baby Go!  Nicole is so good that Derek can just let loose and dance, and I love to watch that kid dance.  I really enjoyed that performance.  Judges say 10's across for a total of 30.  Of course it was.


Now it's Evan and Anna trying to top that with a Quickstep.  Smart move to go with a ballroom style, since Evan's strength all season has been his technical precision and artistic focus.  I love how he has developed into such a strong lead.  His no nonsense approach to training and rehearsal allowed them to develop a real partnership.  That dance was fun.  His posture and frame were excellent, and he performed with great class, sophistication, and charm.  Their dancing made me smile.  Judges say 10,9,9 for a total of 28. 


Here's the final leader board:


115 Nicole and Derek
108 Evan and Anna


Those scores count for half, while viewer votes make up the rest.  Well, we know that the judges think the winner should be Nicole.  What say the viewers?

The champions of Season 10 are...Nicole and Derek!



That's it.  It's all over until September, when the fall season premiers.  Can I just say one thing?

Please please please please ask Valerie Bertinelli to be on Season 11!!!!! 
Phoenix rode 53 points from its bench, including a mega 3-point shooting explosion, to beat my Lakers again on its home floor.  That bench proved why it was considered the edge for the Suns against LA.  Even Kobe's 38 points and 10 assists couldn't overcome it.  So now the series heads back to southern California all tied up at 2 games each.

Now all Phoenix has to do is maintain the level of intensity and effort it was able to generate in front of its home fans against a Laker team that is headed home pissed off that it missed an opportunity to steal a game.

But the reality is that both teams have simply done what they were supposed to.  And if that pattern holds, LA has the home court advantage still.  We'll find out if they can capitalize on it Thursday.

Cue that theme music...

Posted: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 by Travis Cody in
7

It's the performance finale and it's live from Hollywood!



I love the performance finale, even though it means there's only one show left in the season.  This should be a hyper-competitive dance off between our remaining three pairs.


Nicole and Derek are widely considered to be the "best" pair of the season.  They've been consistently good, dance after dance.  I think Nicole had quite a few little details of technique that she has improved each week, as well as overcoming some backlash from viewers who maybe thought she had an unfair advantage over the rest of the celebrities. 

Evan and Anna have been right behind the "ringer pair" all season, and sometimes have surpassed them.  Early on it was Evan's feet that gave him trouble, but he seems to have solved that problem.  He has developed a commanding presence on the dance floor, combining lyrical artistry with athleticism to deliver some truly stunning performances.

Erin and Maks have been the queen and king of contentious and dramatic rehearsal footage, and that has turned me off for much of the season.  When they focus on the dancing, they have shown consistent improvement each week.  And remember, each of these pairs has won the viewer vote at some point in the season.  It would not surprise me if they snuck into the final two.

They are all chasing this...



...the Fabulous Mirror Ball trophy, or the Glitter Ball of Glory as Tom Bergeron called it last week.  And our pairs have 4 routines over 2 nights to stake their claim to it.

Let us proceed with the Redemption round, which is the dance the judges thought each pair should have performed better than they did the first time around.


Erin and Maks dance Samba, with an assist from Bruno.  Sometimes it helps to have another set of respected eyes that aren't specifically invested in the performance.  Erin has to be confident that she can actually do this dance.  Just let go and be sexy.  She's got it.  The hips are going full force.  She's got control of her legs.  Her musicality was excellent.  She didn't just dance...she performed.  The choreography captured the flavor of Samba.  It was fun and flirty.  It had high energy.  She really worked it.  She danced with confidence.  And more importantly, her technique was solid.  Her footwork was strong, and that allowed her to really get her hips working and to take the focus off how bow-legged she is.  I wasn't paying any attention to that.  Instead I was watching some sexy LEGSSES!  And you know how much I like the LEGSSES!  Judges say 10,10,9 for a total of 29.  I'm a bit surprised by the 10's, but I can't say they didn't earn them.


Evan and Anna dance Viennese Waltz, with an assist from Len.  Len helped with the little details that focus on the emotional connection between Evan and Anna.  This dance is so smooth.  I love all the turns.  The extensions and lines are beautiful.  And their side by side work is so well synchronized.  That was so good.  He took the time to meet Anna's eyes, and that makes all the difference.  The dance was fluid, elegant, and graceful.  I loved the sophistication in the romantic story.  I didn't see the collapsed leg that Len pointed out.  I was more focused on the musicality.  In an up tempo Waltz with so many turns and spins, there's a tendency to lose the connection between each movement.  But I didn't see any breaks in musicality.  One move flowed into the next into the next.  This is my favorite style of dance to watch Evan and Anna because it brings out his artistry.  Judges say 10,9,9 for a total of 28.  Bruno must have seen the collapsed leg as well.


Nicole and Derek dance Rumba with an assist from Carrie Ann.  This was probably the worst dance of the season for Nicole, because she let her nerves get the better of her.  This is immediately better than last time.  She's calm and in control.  But the one thing I don't like is some of the pose positions.  I'm surprised because Derek's choreography usually hi-lights his partner better.  Those poses just weren't attractive or sexy, and so I didn't feel the sensuality I expect from a Rumba.  When they were just dancing together, I could see more of that erotic quality.  But then came those poses again, and I sort of felt like they were thrown into the dance just because they could do them, rather than for any real emotional purpose.  She certainly performed this Rumba better than before, and she let go of that need to be perfect.  Still, I wasn't able to get into this dance.  Judges say 9,9,10 for a total of 28.  

Here's our leader board after Redemption round:


29 Erin and Maks
28 Evan and Anna
28 Nicole and Derek


And now the free style round with no rules!

Erin and Maks are up first.  I love the idea of going completely different with contemporary lyrical.  And Maks brought in Mandy Moore to assist with choreography.  This is a risk, but I love that they have decided to go for it.  This is well done.  Erin's performance is stunning.  Wow!  I hope this sets a trend for future free style dances because it was really terrific.  The dance had passion and emotion.  The difficulty for the judges would be that it veered so far away from standard and traditional ballroom show pieces, although there were a few elements of Rumba within the choreography.  The tricks and lifts were amazing.  It's so different than anything we've seen before on the show, and I think it really worked for them.  Judges say 9,8,9 for a total of 26.  Risk for reward.  The risk was that the judges might not "get" it.  But here's the thing...the viewers may love it and that could be where the reward kicks in.

Evan and Anna are up next.  There's a difference of opinion in rehearsal.  Evan wants something completely different, while Anna is feeling the pressure.  This is a first, because they have been on the same page all season.  So Anna brought in Bobby Newbury to assist with choreography in an effort to polish it up and make it shine.  We're dancing to Footloose.  There's a lot of energy and plenty of Jive elements.  The dance is fun, but it felt a little repetitive after awhile.  Don't get me wrong...I really enjoyed it and I thought they danced well.  But it just felt like they would throw a move, and then a few bars later they recycled it.  I think I would have preferred that they do a mega-intense version of Tango or Paso that capitalized more on Evan's ballroom strengths.  Or go full out and do a wild-walking-the-edge-of-sanity Lindy Hop.  The energy and excitement was in this dance, but unfortunately veered so far from Evan's strengths that the dance ended up missing on too many levels.  Judges say 8's across for a total of 24.  Ouch.  But I can't disagree with the score.  I was disappointed.


Nicole and Derek probably have the most pressure.  The expectation might be to go all Pussycat Doll here.  It wouldn't be a bad choice, but regardless of the style they choose, they must bring the wow factor.  Yeah, that's the WOW.  The choreography and tricks were so difficult.  They maintained high energy, but they also had control of what they were doing.  This is one of the best freestyle routines I've seen...GAH...right up until they missed on that last lift spin.  They were headed for a perfect score, but they just slipped a little.  I liked this dance because it mixed actual ballroom steps and moves with side by side routine.  That's what I want to see in a freestyle.  Mix in what you've learned over the course of the season, and then go out and do it better than you've ever done it.  Outstanding job!  Too bad about that slip, but I think that might just leave a better impression with voters than if they had been perfect.  Is that a weird thing to say?  Judges say 9's across for a total of 27.  That would have been 10's across without the flub on that last lift.


Here's our leader board after the first 2 of an unprecedented 4 dances:


55 Erin and Maks
55 Nicole and Derek
52 Evan and Anna

It's really anybody's game at this point.  

We cast our final votes.  I stuck with my man Evan.  I am loyal!  


But here's the news flash...Pam never did settle on her favorite.  She switched throughout the season.  So what did she do?  She went with Erin and Maks!  She waited until everyone danced, and she said Erin and Maks had the best night.


So there it is.  You never can be sure how the voters are going to go.


Tune in tonight and wear your fru-fru finery!  We'll have encores and frivolity and fun!  And finally, we'll award that Glitter Ball of Glory!






I should also mention that So You Think You Can Dance returns this week, on Thursday.  So we get a DWTS champion tonight, followed by a shiny new American Idol tomorrow night, and then we get introduced to some new young talented dancers.



What more could a Dancing Bee want???

Blogger in Draft

Posted: Monday, May 24, 2010 by Travis Cody in
14

Thanks to my blog pal Barb at WillThink4Wine, I have made another upgrade to my blogging.  You can't see this one, but I love it!

I didn't know about this Blogger in Draft feature.  Before I had the preview button at the top of my draft next to the Edit HTML and Compose buttons.  But now with BiD, the preview button is down below next to the Publish Post and Save Now buttons.  And when I click on the preview button, it allows me to see how my post is going to look in my template.


Cool!

If you want to try it, just go to your dashboard and scroll down to the bottom where the Other Stuff is.  In Tools and Resources, click the link for Blogger in Draft.  Then scroll back up to the top of your dashboard and click the little box next to Make Blogger in Draft my default dashboard.


Normally on Mondays you would see a post for the weekly feature called Take This Tune.  But my pal Jamie at Duward Discussion has made the decision to put the feature on hiatus.

I hope the break is just for the summer.  I really enjoyed participating.  The video and lyric prompts took my thoughts and emotions in so many different directions.    



As I suspected might happen, Phoenix played very well at home yesterday to win game 3 of the Western Conference finals.  Amar'e Stoudemire exploded for 42 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Suns.  


My Lakers didn't help themselves by turning the ball over 17 times and shooting 32 3-point shots.  The Suns' zone defense had a lot to do with forcing LA into so many outside shots.


So now my Lakers need to adjust and find a way to attack the interior of that zone more efficiently.  And more importantly, LA needs to take better care of the basketball.  


Game 4 is on Tuesday in Phoenix.



Tune in tonight for the performance finale of Dancing with the Stars!!  

Five on Friday Set 17

Posted: Friday, May 21, 2010 by Travis Cody in
12

I have no theme for Set 17.  It's just five pop songs from classic radio that I really like.



Get a playlist! Standalone player Get Ringtones



Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again was released in 1971 and reached #15 on US charts.

Everybody Loves a Clown was released in 1965 and reached #4.

Kind of a Drag was a #1 hit in 1967.

This Girl is a Woman Now was released in 1969 and reached #9.

You've Made Me So Very Happy was released in 1969 and reached #2.

If you'd like to join us in the musical fun, the guidelines are basic and simple.

1. Grab the banner, make your post title Five on Friday, and be sure to link back here.
2. Go to Playlist.com to make your play list of five songs. You may choose a particular theme to share with us, or post random tunes if that's your vibe for the day. You can simply post the play list, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing.
2a. Don't feel restricted by the tracks listed on Playlist.com. And don't be discouraged if the Embed code won't work. You're welcome to use any type of media to share your Sets.
3. Be sure to sign Mr Linky so everyone can visit your Set.
4. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday.

Go forth and enjoy music!

Random Thursday

Posted: Thursday, May 20, 2010 by Travis Cody in
21

I've gotten some good feedback about the new template, particularly the location of the comment link.  I understand that it can be difficult to find right away.  Plus after getting to the bottom of a longer post, you have to scroll back up to the top of the page to comment.  

Thanks to everyone who has taken that extra step.  I like to hear what you think and I love to read and respond to comments.

But I did just realize something as I was reviewing my post from yesterday...reading through to the bottom and then scrolling back up means that a visitor can see the doodads in the sidebar twice!  So that's something, right? 

Mr Tucker wanted to say hello, so here is our first official video.





Cute eh?  You got almost the full range of his speaking voice. 


Kobe has the face going against Phoenix.  

His teeth are clenched and his lower jaw is jutted out.  It's the focused face of a champion trying to create a special legacy.  He's doing whatever it takes.  If he needs to score, he does.  If he needs to drive and kick to the open shooter, he does.  If he needs to dig in on defense, he does.

And the rest of the crew is following his lead.


Kobe and the Lakers have rounded into championship form.  Right now, the Suns can't match them.  Phoenix is a good team.  They proved that by having a great 3rd quarter last night, harassing LA with a small line up.  The Suns shot the ball much better and battled to tie the Lakers heading into the 4th quarter.

Ultimately, the Lakers asserted their dominance to take a 2-0 lead in the series.  Pau Gasol led LA in scoring with 29 points, Lamar Odom had another big rebounding game with 11 boards, Kobe had a playoff career high with 13 assists, and the Lakers' bench outscored the Suns' bench 36-26.  The Lakers have scored 252 points in the 2 games with 5 of 8 quarters at 30 points or better.  I think Phoenix can win a game on its home floor.  But if the Lakers maintain this level of play, the Suns just don't have enough to take this series from LA.


This makes me happy!


And so does this!  There are only six months to go until the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.  The scheduled release date is 19 November 2010, to be followed by Part 2 on 15 July 2011.


I am so ready!

Let's see...the first book in the series was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, published in the US in 1997.  This book is also known as the Philosopher's Stone in the UK.  It was followed by Harry Potter and the...
  • Chamber of Secrets in 1999 (US)
  • Prisoner of Azkaban in 1999 (US)
  • Goblet of Fire in 2000
  • Order of the Phoenix in 2003
  • Half-Blood Prince in 2005
  • Deathly Hallows in 2007
The first film adaptation was released in 2001.  

For fans of the films, it's been wonderful to have the same actors filling the key roles throughout the series.  Michael Gambon stepped in beautifully to fill the shoes of Richard Harris, the actor who played Dumbledore in the first two films.  Mr Harris died in 2002.

The list of talent associated with the series includes Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Jason Isaacs, Helena Bonham Carter, Jim Broadbent, Brendan Gleeson, John Hurt, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branaugh, Miranda Richardson, Warwick Davis, Fiona Shaw, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis, Mark Williams, David Tennant, Bill Nighy, and Julie Walters.  The films have been directed by Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuaron, Mike Newell, and David Yates.


Of course, the core of the books and the films is Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.  We got to watch three terrific young actors grow and mature right along with the characters.  Danielle Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson all looked like I imagined the characters as I read the books.


Though it's a bit bittersweet that the end is just over a year away, I've enjoyed the last decade of Harry Potter adventure.