BLOBBY'S BLOG

Uncle Jonny

No - my name is not Jonny, but it is the only song I had in my music liberry with the word "uncle" in it. Sue me.

I'm not a complete geek, but I am a great uncle, if I say so myself. I saw the new Harry Potter twice this last weekend. Yes, twice.

It is not because I was looking for subtle nuances in the character development or seeing if there were any shots that were glaring mistakes. No, I went because my nephew asked me to take him.

Matt is 16 and was possibly the first person I knew to read the Harry Potter books. I'm not sure I ever heard of them before him. He devoured them. I saw the first three movies with him (and his parents) on their respective opening nights. After that, he wanted to see them with his friends - who could blame him?

And while he is an outgoing kid with lots of friends, he wanted to see the movie w/Denton and myself. The problem was, we had already made plans to see it with others. And while I love Matt, I wasn't sure how he'd feel about going with new people, and those folks being another gay couple.

He's 16. And while the world is much more progressive, 16 year old boys tend to be 16 year old boys. Uncomfortable in any number of situations - especially like that.

So I did what any good uncle would do - I told a white lie. Yes, we'd take him to see it, and no, we had not seen it yet. Had I told him we had, he would have said not to bother going again. But I wanted to do it with him.

I love doing stuff like this with him. I love the fact that he wants to do it with me or us. Not only was it never offered by any of my uncles while I was growing up, I think I would have prayed that I'd get ill if things like this were ever even suggested. I never had that kind of relationship with my uncles (or aunts).

Though I have no idea what my older nieces and nephews think of theirs and my relationship, I am constantly amazed they don't mind being around us. Maybe my sisters helped cultivate a different kind of relationship because of the ones we had with our relatives. Or didn't have. Who knows.

Anyway, it was just the three guys watching Harry Potter - and eating popcorn....and Milk Duds. Matt only gave it a B. I told him he was crazy.

But now, more on the movie. Ok....yes, I'm a little geeky. Seeing a second time was good. For the movie, not the experience.

No matter how many glares I have the family behind us, they would not shut-up. Not whispering either. It's like they were watching television in their own house. Finally, for the last 30 or so minutes, Mr. Talky (the probable dad) kept his mouth shut. Wanna know why? Huh? Do ya? Because.he.fell.asleep!!! He completely missed the ending. They should have stayed at home.

The audiences for each night could not have been more different. Age, gender and most strikingly, what they reacted to - or did not. Polar opposites. Weird. And there was no one there. Maybe 30 people in the entire theater. Did everyone see it on day one and two?

I did pick up on some stuff I completely missed in the first movie - things not many would have seen on first showing, just due to sequencing. And how suggestive was Ginny Weasley's shoe-lace tying scene? And what was up with Ron's broomstick during Quidditch try-outs (droopy) when he was floundering and then during the match (upward pointing) when he was succeeding? Yes - we get it!

And I really loved some of the edits - like the showdown out in the field between some Death Eaters at the Weasley's house. It was so well done. There were similar edits while looking for the Horcrux (well, one of them) too.

Oh, and I also mentioned in my initial post about Alan Rickman's answering machine during a Family Guy episode. I still kept snickering to myself during the movie thinking about it. So I thought I'd share it with all of you.



I know at least Becca and Jon will laugh.


Song by: the Killers