Christina Maki

I’m a gigantic Harry Potter nerd. This is no secret to those who know me. My bookshelf contains hardback editions of all seven books, plus the three supplementals (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages, and Tales of Beetle the Bard) as well as some unofficial guides and reference books pertaining to the Potterverse.

Say whatever you want about it. I think the books are fantastically written and contain great lessons about life, love, and friendship.

The movies, on the other hand, are a pretty consistant disappointment.

As is my tradition for the past four films, I went to see the newest Harry Potter flick on opening day at midnight. People who have been to see a Harry Potter movie with me before can attest to the fact that I spend the majority of the film with my arms crossed, huffing at inaccuracies and growling when they’ve left out something I feel is important. This movie was no different.

I’d probably only be satisfied with a direct word-for-word interpretation.

So take this with a grain of salt and realize that it’s very biased.

Fair warning: **SPOILERUS MAXIMUS**

…

Let’s start at the beginning.

What. The. [Bleeeeeeep].

Who’s the random girl at the diner? Where’s Scrimgeour replacing Fudge? More importantly, where’s the scene with the Dursleys? I wanted to see Dumbledore rip them a new one. And bounce cups on their heads. The diner/train station scene just seemed completely out of place. Booo.

I did like Snape’s scene in Spinner’s End with Bella and Narcissa. I thought the Unbreakable Curse was translated well visually. Every time I see Bellatrix in a scene, I’m floored at how perfect the casting choice was. They could not have chosen a better fit than Helena Bonham Carter.

I was very, very excited to see the memory scenes, depicting Tom Riddle as he grew up and gradually became Voldemort. Imagine my disappointment, then, when there were only two of the scenes in the Pensieve.

TWO!

This leaves Film Harry in a bit of a pickle for the remainder of the story, since he has no clue about the Hufflepuff cup or Voldemort’s snake, Nagini, being a couple of the Horcruxes. At the end of the sixth novel, Book Harry had a list of pretty much everything he needed to find. Film Harry’s got no clue what he’s going after. Film Harry is a bit screwed.

The Quidditch scenes were okay. The tryouts did make me giggle, and I loved seeing Hermione use Confundus on Cormac. The actualy game scene was fun to watch, but it was very brief and I was kind of depressed that it was the only one. We haven’t seen Quidditch since the third film, and you give us ONE scene on the pitch? C’mon, guys, throw us a freakin’ Quaffle here.

The one scene I did truly love was after the Quidditch match, when Harry and Hermione discuss the feeling you get when the one you love doesn’t love you back. Watching Harry console Hermione was extra-sweet. And I’m sure all the H/H shippers were very pleased, as well.

The Christmas scenes I was not a fan of. First of all, Tonks and Lupin are clearly together. Tonks was pining in the book, and it wasn’t revealed until the end that she had feelings for Lupin. The film is too heavy-handed on that account.

Secondly, since when do Bella and Voldy’s goons attack the Burrow? Seems to me they could have left out that scene, which is certainly not canon, and put in something else that was more important. Like, oh, another memory. Or a scene explaining them learning non-verbal spells. Or the students learning to Apparate.

And while we’re talking about Apparation, what was with Harry and Dumbledore leaving the castle by Apparation? EVEN DUMBLEDORE CAN’T APPARATE INSIDE HOGWARTS! The books are pretty clear about that. Why was he allowed to do that? Bad screenwriter. No biscuit.

I also didn’t like the scene where Snape goes all Avada Kedavra on Dumbledore. Harry was supposed to be invisible and immobilized. Snape had NO contact with him before killing Albus. That shouldn’t have been changed.

And I really wish they would have left the line where Snape shouts at Harry not to call him a coward. I love that part in the book. And hey, way to not even remotely explain why Snape calls himself the Half-Blood Prince. Srsly.

Also, no final battle (which means no mention of Bill Weasley’s injuries), and no funeral for Dumbledore. Boo.

All in all, the movie had the effect on me that they always do. I enjoyed the casting and the special effects, but left very disappointed over the story’s adaptation to the big screen. They could have done so much more with the movie, even given the time constraints. (At 153 minutes, this wasn’t even the longest movie. That title goes to the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, coming in at 157 minutes.)

*sigh*

I need a Cheering Charm.

If any of you have seen the movie, I would love to hear your thoughts! Leave them in the comments. :)

So… I’ve had a bit of a rough month. You’re probably aware of this already if you’re following me on any of my other social networks, or if you’re lucky enough to know me in real life. (It’s not arrogance; I’m just well aware of my own awesomeness.)

Just in case you’re not up-to-date on my fabulous life, allow me to fill you in:

About a month ago, as I was walking home from work, I was stopped on the street by a young black man and robbed.

And he had a gun.

And he pointed it at my head.

It was the single most terrifying moment of my life. I seriously doubt it’s something I’ll ever fully overcome, and I know it’s something I’ll never forget.

For me, the worst part about the whole situation was feeling like I wasn’t in control. Those of you who know my personality can attest to the fact that I like to be in command of myself. I don’t like feeling like I’m helpless to get myself out of a bad situation. I take pride in my ability to take care of myself.

But when you throw a gun into the mix, that kind of offsets the balance of power.

However, there’s always a bright side to every situation, and I can usually find it if I look hard enough. The kid who robbed me was caught the same night he held me up, largely thanks to my über-detailed description of his face, hair, clothing, body structure, and weapon. (And that, my friends, is why you don’t fuck with an artist who has an excellent visual memory. Suck on that, robber.)

And, as an added little bonus, I learned some stuff. I feel like I would be remiss not to share these little nuggets of wisdom, so here goes.

1) Sync your iPhone often. One of the things the guy took was my iPhone. (And those of you who know me know how much that stung.) Fortunately, my business was in a position to replace it, so I had another one the very next day, but a lot of my stuff was gone. There were contacts and photos I hadn’t synced up in several weeks, and I almost lost them all. So seriously, sync your stuff at least a couple of times a week.

2) Trust your gut. Ladies, this especially applies to us. I’m not saying that to be sexist. It’s a statistical fact that women, especially women walking alone, are prime targets for violent crimes. As I was walking up to the guy on the sidewalk, I got a funny feeling about him. He totally gave me the wiggins. Why I didn’t duck into the nearest building when I got that feeling, I do not know. When I think about the fact that I could have been raped and/or killed on top of being robbed blind, it really makes me feel kinda dumb. I think it had a lot to do with him being black, and me wondering if I wasn’t just being an overly-paranoid and slightly racist Johnson County white girl. Had I acted on my instincts, though, I never would have become a victim. So if you’re about to pass someone who gives you a creepy feeling, avoid them. So you come off as racist. So what? It’s not worth laying your life on the line.

3) Always be aware of your surroundings, no matter what time of day it is or where you are. When I got robbed, it was just before 6:00 PM on a crowded street. The neighborhood isn’t great, but it was still broad daylight and end-of-day traffic was streaming by. I never in a million years would have guessed that someone would have the cajones to pull a gun on me in such a visible area. But he did. So don’t let the fact that it’s daylight or a busy area or even a good neighborhood give you a false sense of security.

4) Life is short. There were a lot of things going on in my life around this same time that were making me unhappy. When you have a gun pointed at your head, you start to analyze just how many of them are worth the trouble. I ended up making a lot of changes in the wake of this incident, and all for the better so far. In my opinion, if something is making you unhappy, you should get to work on fixing it. Don’t wait until tomorrow or next month or a year from now, because you might not have that long.

5) Being a good person totally pays off. The best part of this story is that I actually got my phone back. Apparently Mr. Robber Person wasn’t aware of the value of the phone, because he ditched it in some dude’s yard. I got a call a couple of days later after the guy went to mow his lawn and he found the thing in his grass. I can’t tell you how funny it was to see the looks on everyone’s face at the AT&T store when we went to return the replacement phone and I got to tell them I’d gotten the stolen one back. I’m a decent person, and the universe seems to respect that. So yay for good karma.

Needless to say, this whole ordeal has led me to adjust the way I do things. I’m not walking home anymore, for one. I’m also going to be looking into purchasing a stun gun for times when I do feel like walking around my neighborhood without fearing for my life.

I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to pass the place where this all went down without totally getting the creeps, or if I’ll ever be truly comfortable to be out walking alone, even in a decent neighborhood. But I made it out with my life (and my iPhone!), and I don’t really think I can ask for much more than that.

While Jenn and I were in Nebraska for BIG Omaha (post forthcoming on the Social Lites blog), we decided to catch an early IMAX screening of the new Star Trek movie.

First, allow me to just get this out of my system:

OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!

…Okay, I feel better now.

Now for an actual, constructive review. Let me preface this by saying that I don’t know nearly as much about the original series as I do about TNG, DS9, or Enterprise. So take anything I say with a grain of salt and understand that I’m not the biggest Trekkie evar. That’s Greg’s department.

YES, THERE ARE SPOILERS, so stop reading now if you don’t wanna know. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

I thought the casting was awesome. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto were amazing (and HOT!) as Kirk and Spock, and (”Dammit, Jim!”) I loved Karl Urban’s portrayal of McCoy. I also really enjoyed Simon Pegg’s Scotty, although I pretty much love everything Pegg does, and the actors playing Sulu and Chekov were great, as well. It took me forever to place Zoe Saldana, the actress who plays Uhura (who FINALLY has a first name!),  but I realized today where I know her from.

Drumline.

Shut up. It was on HBO one time and I was bored.

Anyway, casting… great job, JJ.

The plot I thought was pretty well done. I definitely like the backstory of all the characters and their relationships with one another, and I love the way they injected pieces of the characters’ personalities into their younger versions.

I didn’t like the whole thing between Spock and Uhura. (And NOT just because Spock is my new boyfriend and I wanted her to stop making out with him every 5 minutes.) It seemed out of character for Spock to have that kind of relationship, even if he is half-human.

I also wasn’t a huge fan of the whole time-travel bit. I’m not one of those people who can stop being a nitpicky asshole long enough to enjoy a movie when there’s time travel involved, especially when the character meets his future or past self. It just creates too much confusion for me, and I can’t wrap my brian around multiple timelines and all that crap.

As far as the special effects go, I was pretty impressed. They were realistic and done in a way that added to the plot and storyline, rather than detracting from it. Plus, things went ’splodey.

I like ’splosions.

Overall, I have to say this is one of the best movies I’ve seen in years. It ranks right up there with Iron Man and Dark Knight for me, and I would definitely reccomend that you go see it.

Right now.

Go.

And stay after the credits. I hear Nick Fury shows up.

Those of you who follow me on Twitter probably know that I recently got a job as the head vet tech at a local low-cost spay and neuter organization. (Those of you who don’t follow me on Twitter are missing out on lots of fun, and should rectify the problem immediately.) I’ve been writing on the organization’s blog about some general stuff, but I haven’t been able to really tell the stories there.

Here, I don’t have to worry about sugar-coating things or stepping around the issues.

Here, I can be blunt. I can tell you the full story. I’m not going to be graphic about it whenever I can help it, but I’m also not going to leave out the facts just to spare you from feeling uncomfortable about a difficult topic.

This isn’t my first job in a non-profit company, nor is it my first experience with animal welfare work. For almost two years, I worked in a local animal shelter as a vet tech, behavior analyst, and euthanasia technician. It was the hardest job I’ve ever had, both physically and emotionally.

After being out of the game since 2005, it’s very weird to be back in the animal welfare community. It’s sort of like falling asleep for four years, and then getting a bucket of ice water dumped all over you.

I’d forgotten how completely f*cked up people are.

Earlier this week, we acquired a young female pit bull who had recently had her ears cropped. It was done at home, probably with nothing more sophisticated than a pair of scissors. She literally has no ears left.

The “fighting crop” is a style of ear cropping on a pit bull that leaves less than 3/5 of the ear intact. This was originally done for dogs who were going to be used in the fighting rings. Now, however, dog fighting is a felony in all 50 states, and is punishable by heavy fines and jail time (as Michael Vick can certainly attest to).

I, myself, am against ear cropping in the first place. I consider it an unneccessary mutilation of a dog’s natural appearance, and I think that any unneccessary surgery purely for cosmetics should be considered cruelty. In my opinion, it’s no better than the gothic kittens incident from last month. That being said, however, I would much rather have seen this little girl go to a vet and have a professional do the procedure under anesthesia than to see the results of this homegrown hack job.

I wish that was the worst thing that I see at work.

Yesterday, I had to euthanize eight fetal puppies. Spaying a dog when it’s pregnant is a very common practice in clinics like ours. I know some of you are probably horrified by that, and I can understand why. Puppy abortions are not a pretty thing to think about. But it’s even worse to have to see them performed, and to administer the lethal doses to the unborn dogs.

I cried while I did it. I snuck off to the bathroom for a few minutes to compose myself about an hour later. I cried again on the way home.

I should clarify that I don’t have any sort of moral objection to doing the procedure under the circumstances. Pet overpopulation in America is a huge problem. Nearly 8 million animals go into our shelters every year, and only about half of those will leave through the front doors.

The rest go out the back door in black bags.

In this kind of situation, we have no choice but to abort full litters of unborn puppies and kittens, and to euthanize dogs and cats who are too old, too sick, too aggressive, or otherwise unadoptable. People always marvel at the fact that it was my job for two years to euthanize animals.

“How could you do that? I could never do that. I love animals too much.”

Yeah, well, guess what? I do the job because of how much I love animals. I don’t enjoy it. Each time I’ve put an animal to death, I’ve felt a little piece of my heart go with it.

People try to lay the blame on the shelters that utilize euthanasia, calling them “kill shelters” and sending their money to other organizations that refuse to do what needs to be done. I have news for you: “no-kill” shelters are only able to remain “no-kill” because they send the unadoptable animals to other shelters and make them do the dirty work. They just pass the killing on to someone else who has the courage to face what they can’t.

The thought that we can solve this problem without utilizing euthanasia sounds great, but the truth is that it’s naive.

The solution to the problem lies with each and every one of you out there.

If you have a pet, get them fixed. I don’t care if they’re indoor dogs and you think they’ll never get out and get pregnant or knock up the neighbor’s dog. Do it anyway. If, by some chance, they do get out, you’re covered. Plus, they’ll enjoy all the health benefits that come along with being spayed or neutered.

If you’re looking to get a pet, adopt from a shelter or a rescue. Even if you want a purebred, call or visit the local shelter. Almost 30% of shelter animals are purebreeds. If they don’t have any available, ask to be put on a waiting list, or see if they know of a local rescue that specializes in the breed you want. It’s worth waiting for the right dog. After all, you are saving a life.

If you have friends or family who have unaltered pets, or who are thinking about getting an animal from a pet store or breeder, please please please educate them.

Guys, I would love to not have job security. I would love for my position and our organization to become obsolete.

But we can’t fix the problem without your help.

Unemployment

We all know the economy’s in the crapper right now. Everyone’s asking for bailouts: banks, major auto companies, and even the porn industry. While Congress debates who’s going to get free money, those of us who have been most affected by the recession are left to wonder who’s thinking of us.

Unemployment rates have skyrocketed. More and more people are searching for jobs which are becoming increasingly more scarce, and thousands of people in Kansas City alone have been forced to file for unemployment insurance just to pay bills and keep food on the table.

Unemployment offices are experiencing problems dealing with the steadily increasing numbers. I found this out myself last month when I tried to contact the Kansas Deptartment of Labor’s Unemployment Insurance division in order to get information on my claim status. In December, I filed for an extension on my benefits, which were about to run dry. When the money still hadn’t shown up two weeks later, I called to check on my application. I got a busy signal. I tried again an hour or so later. Busy again.

This went on for three weeks, and I never actually got through to anyone. I tried every office I could find a number for: Kansas City, Topeka, Wichita. I even entertained finding a public TDD telephone at the airport and calling their hearing impaired line. I called the Department of Labor directly, where my name was taken and I was told I’d be called back in a week.

I did manage to get through to the automated line a couple of times, where I input my social security number and PIN, only to be put on hold for 45 minutes and then told that the office was too busy and I should call back later. Then the system promptly hung up on me.

Jay Leno made a funny remark on his show last night, and I said something similar to my mom last week when we were talking about the situation. If unemployment offices need to hire more people… um, hello? They have a list of thousands of people who are looking for jobs! Start calling people to come in and interview. There is absolutely no reason for people to have to deal with this kind of stress on top of looking for a job and wondering how they’re going to make ends meet in the meantime. Additionally, there should be some other way to contact the UI offices, other than the ever-busy phone lines. Have a team set up to answer e-mails.

For that matter, the Departments of Labor ought to be involved in social media. They should be looking at the Twitter stream and running Google Alerts and blog searches in order to find people who are seeking answers, and meet them at their point of need.

Epic fail.

Those Nazi Kids

So remember that story a couple of weeks ago about the couple in New Jersey who were all pissed that the local grocery store wouldn’t print “Happy Birthday, Adolf Hitler” on their son’s birthday cake? Well, apparently, little Adolf Hitler Campbell and his sisters JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell are now in state custody after being removed from their parents’ care last week.

According to the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services, the children were not removed from the home because of their names, although they certainly should have been. This is a perfect example of why I think we need to start testing people’s ability to function as parents before they’re allowed to procreate. (And no, Britney would NOT have made the cut.)

The father of the three supremacists-in-training stated that he gave the children these, erm… “unique” names because they were original, and as a way to honor his heritage.

‘Scuse me, please, but I’m half German, and I certainly don’t plan to name any of my children “Auschwitz Arbeit-Macht-Frei Maki.”

The Division of Youth and Family Services wouldn’t comment on the reason for taking custody of the children, but the police did state that there was no evidence of abuse or neglect. Makes you wonder what exactly is going on there, doesn’t it? The couple is scheduled to appear in court for a custody hearing next week.