Hanz and Franz

A few days after Thanksgiving we went for our Christmas Tree, which is usually a big production. Surprisingly, this year it wasn’t because my mom discovered a new place. We went there, and found a blue spruce Christmas Tree in short order. We didn’t even have to walk up or down any mountains to get there. I don’t think there are mountains where we usually go, but almost universally there are very, very steep hills.

We got it home, and over the next week or so it was decorated. I was running my train one day, and stopped with the horn blowing. Even when I shut off the transformer powering the train the horn wouldn’t shut off. Someone had to actually come downstairs, and take the battery out of the engine. Hopefully someone will eventually show me how to set up the train and so forth, or at least attempt to. I may not be able to since everything is small, but I’d like to try.

Most unfortunately, Mark came home on December 22nd, and stayed until the 26th. He mostly did absolutely nothing on the 22nd, but the next day he and I went to see the Deathly Hallows. I must admit it was a pretty good movie, but I have the same complaint about Harry Potter that I always do. The movie itself was well done except for the wedding at the beginning. That came out of nowhere for anyone who hasn’t read or listened to the books in my opinion. The movie moved along nicely, at least when compared to the book because there were long stretches where nothing was going on.

Now for the complaint. I understand why until book 3 or 4 the books were solely focused on Harry. The books were for young kids, and it’s easier to focus on one character. After book 4 is where my annoyance starts, and it crystallizes in the Deathly Hallows. The book could be mainly about Harry, but there are plenty of other perfectly good characters that could have points-of-view. As I said before, in the Deathly Hallows book there are extended passages where nothing is going on. I don’t have the book anymore, so I’m going from memory. I believe a few of these yawn scenes take place after Ron has left, yet the books remains centered on Harry. I for one would’ve rather read about what Ron was doing, or what was going on at Hogwarts. Do we really need to read how Harry tripped over a root and swore, and not once but 500 times. When the second part comes out I’ll finish my complaint.

The next day all four of us went to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which was also a very good movie. The biggest problem was the only showings were in 3D, and it ended up being a waste of $10. I have no idea, nor does anyone else why that was 3D except to get more money. I’ve seen good 3D, and there was nothing 3D about Dawn Treader. One of the audience members had to complain because they had Gulliver’s Travels in the projector. That wasn’t even scheduled to come out until the following day. This was the second time we’ve been to a movie that needed changing because they tried to show us Expendables instead of Despicable Me.