Weekend at Hogwarts and Home

I read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Saturday after our infant CPR class and Eli read it yesterday. Although we were in each other's presence for entire weekend I feel like we didn't see much of each other. I guess that's what happens when you take turns gulping down a book.

In summary, I thought it was quite wonderful. In a day or so I'll post my thoughts about it, giving those who actually had a life this weekend a couple days to finish it. If you are one of those patient people who are waiting for a friend to lend it to you or for it to come out in paperback (have you no sense of urgency?!) then you'll just have to skip that damned post.

So, we are all set on infant CPR. I took a breast-feeding class last Wednesday. I feel informed, but I think it's like labor, there's only so much I can learn before I'm on the job. But it can't hurt to be armed with information. I also finished re-covering the chairs. Now I realize I should have taken before and after pics.

Friday night we went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I loved the book as a kid (yeah, yeah, Dahl was a huge anti-Semite, I know) and loathed the movie version with Gene Wilder that everyone is suddenly extolling like it was some kind of masterpiece. Maybe it's because I never saw it on acid but, except for a charming performance from Wilder, yo, it sucked. This was a much better film. Johnny Depp is such a wacky performer, more than any other actor working today he takes a role and truly makes it his own. I am a Danny Elfman freak from way back, so I enjoyed the songs tremendously. Tim Burton's forte is certainly art direction and the film doesn't disappoint on that count. But that guy certainly has mega father-son issues -- the only element of the movie for which I didn't care was the imposed back history of Willie Wonka and his father and their reconciliation. I thought Burton would have gotten that out of his system with Big Fish.

And finally, this picture is just too fabulous not to check out.