The Beginning of the End

Among the most highly anticipated events that occurred over my aforementioned bloggy hiatus has to be something that I've been waiting about 11 years for -- ever since I finally gave in to my Grandmom's persistence and begrudgingly opened the cover of a "silly children's book" one summer at Bethany Beach -- the beginning of the end...

Yep, that's right: The first installment of the last movie in the Harry Potter series... The Deathly Hallows.

I couldn't have been more excited. Or more prepared... I dressed up as Hermione last Halloween. I re-read books 6 and 7 over the summer. I intently watched as sneak peeks were featured throughout several Harry Potter Marathon Weekends on ABC Family (even though I own all but two of the DVD's...). I eagerly awaited every single new trailer release, and replayed it until no details were left unnoticed. I spent a recent Friday night (ok, two actually) watching the 6th movie, The Half-Blood Prince, with friends. I purchased tickets to the first midnight showing of HP7.1. I nerded out with some of my favorite fellow wizard-wannabes and stood in line with all of the other crazies for over an hour on a Thursday night. And then...

I laughed. I screamed. I hid my eyes. I cried. I woke up the next morning after 3 1/2 hours of magical dreams and was quite disappointed when my thoughts of "Accio Starbucks!!" went unanswered... In short: I loved it.

Sure, some purists are upset with slight deviations from the novel. But as a loyal fan for over a decade, I think that overall the movie did JK Rowling proud. And now I'm left to find ways to get my wizarding world fix until HP7.2 is released in July 2011...

Luckily, little gems like the following keep popping up. It probably comes as no surprise that Daniel Radcliffe has been among my Top 5 celeb crushes for quite some time... and this giggle-inducing video may have just edged him closer to the #1 spot (watch out, Henry Cavill...):

I Am Harry Potter from Daniel Radcliffe

Sigh. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: If loving a teenage wizard is wrong, then I don't want to be right.