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The Hype, The Anticipation, The Disappointment

J.K. Rowling is among the greatest storytellers. Her stories involve endless layers of character relationships, plot twists, and foreshadowing. I've read or listen to each of her books at least 3 times, and each time I find something new--another character trait, a new sub-plot, or a new clue.

Is it too much to ask that some of that be transferred to the movies?

With each new book the story becomes more complicated (and the books longer). But yet the movies are getting shorter and shorter. From the 309 page Sorcerer's Stone we saw a 152 minute film. Now with Goblet of Fire's 734 pages we were shown just 157 minutes, with over 10 minutes of ending credits.

Goblet of Fire is by far my favorite book. The story just has unending action and drama from the Quidditch World Cup to the return of He Who Must Not Be Named. And then it has the best plot twists with Rita Skeeter being an animagus, Hargid being a Giant, Moody being Barty Crouch, Junior, Dumbledore fighting with Fudge. Wow, at least the audience of the movie at least get to see the Moody twist. The others just fell on the editing room floor.

I know you can't include everything on screen, but at least hit the major plot points! Take a page from Peter Jackson and release a 3 hour movie followed by 4+ hour DVD's.

This is the greatest literary series ever, and the movies are turning out to be just average Hollywood flicks.

Here's a list of things left out of the movie:
-Molly Weasley
-The Dursley's
-Winkie
-Dobby
-Bellatrix Lestrange (my favorite villain)
-Hagrid being half Giant
-Rita Skeeter being an animagus
-The parting of the ways with Dumbledore and Fudge
-SPEW
-The actual Quidditch World Cup Match
-The death of Barty Crouch Junior
-The story of how Wormtail found Voldemort

Now how about some things that were wrong in the movie.

Where is the smooth, calm, fatherly, wise Dumbledore? The Dumbledore in Goblet of Fire looks like a hobo with his shaggy hair and dirty, grungy robes. And he acts like a mad dictator toward the students. Dumbledore physically shakes Harry and demands he answer whether or not Harry submitted his name to the Goblet. This is totally out of character for Dumbledore! In Book 6 Dumbledore restrains Umbridge from touching one of his students, but all the time remains calm! Then in several scenes Dumbledore is shown screaming at the school!

Continuing with this more violent Hogwarts, Snape is shown abusing Harry and Ron by slapping them with his hand and books.

The very first scene of the movie told me that JK was not very involved in the production. As Frank Bryce approaches Voldemort, Barty Crouch Jr. kneels before him and calls him Voldemort! First what is Barty Crouch Jr. doing in this scene! Why does he need to be there? And then to address him by his name? The Death Eaters are scared of the name and will barely make eye contact. Let alone address him so casually.

Then we reach the climax of the movie--the maze. I was looking forward to seeing Harry battle against the giant spider, the blast ended screwts, and the Sphinx. But the movie's maze didn't have any magical creatures or enchantments. It was little more than a foot race to the Tri-Wizard Cup.

On the positive side, the graveyard scene lived up to the hype. In fact that scene almost makes the rest of the film tolerable. Ray Fienes is a great villain! Volemort's return was one of the best scenes of the series.

With just 3 movies to go I hope JK decides to become more involved in the movie production! Otherwise we're likely to see the longest book reduced to an hour long TV movie of the week.

Where are tommorrow's musicians?

Tom Brokaw named the men and women of the WWII era the "Greatest Generation" because of thier morals, dedication, and character. Watching the Elton John concert Wednesday I realize they also produced a generation of great performers.

Looking at today's music "stars", where are the musicians? Sure Brittany Spears is great to look at, and "Opps I did it again" has a good beat. But Brittany, Beyonce, Christina, and other just can't match the musical genius of Elton John, Billy Joel, and Ray Charles.

And then where are the great bands of the future? The Rolling Stones, KISS, Areosmith will there be anyone to follow up on this generation of muscians?

South Carolina enters AP poll at No. 19

SI.com - NCAA Football - South Carolina enters AP poll at No. 19 - Sunday November 13, 2005 1:25PM

We did it! The Gamecocks are for real!

In just 10 games Spurrier's affect is already being seen. The team and the fans believe we can win against anyone!

As the clock ticked down to 0:00, the feeling in Williams Brice was amazing. Over 80,000 fans felt the relief from past seasons of unfulfilled greatness. Now we can truly celebrate!

It's a great time to be a Gamecock!!!