Living Harry - a field trip to EA block party

I've been in insane back pain for the last few months and no matter how many spells Julia tries, it just isn't healing as fast as I would like - where is Madame Pomfrey when I need her?

So our quiet apartment has been more filled with dulcet tones of Jim Dale reading to Julia for hours off of CD (I've been dumped!) and yes she's seen movie 1, 2, and last night for mother's day, 3 - Azkaban. The DVD player on select nights when I can't get off the bed and we need some mommy julia time is a godsend.

Now I must have seen Azkaban before - I know I have - but Julia was two then and my mommy brain must have hidden it away, so I was equally mesmerized, but not hiding under the covers at the Dementors like some little one. I have to say that she might have been scared but she wouldn't let me turn it off. Harry Potter is her crack.

And as a special special treat we were invited to Electronic Arts Summer Block Party on Friday. This is where they show off the new games that are out or about to come out for the Wii. And the new Harry Potter game was on display - not even all of it - just the dueling and the seeking and the potion making but holy crap was it fantastic. It was all Julia played with the whole time we were there (except for a side trip to the ice cream bar) - and even I got hooked on the Quidditch. Seriously, it's like you're flying. When this comes out it'll be extraordinary - you'll be able to walk through Hogwarts...all without leaving the comfort of my bed, which on some days is totally where I am all the time.

And Julia was wearing her I heart Harry Potter shirt which was the hit of the party...

It does make me wonder sometimes, how my fanciful little witch who still wants to go off to Hogwarts at 11 is going to grow up. Will she still see the world as a magical place when she's a teenager? Will she still escape by listening to Jim Dale? Will she only marry a man with dark floppy hair, a lightening bolt scar and the ability to enchant? Have I ruined her by introducing her to this alternate world or have I just nurtured her inner essence?...

a brief detour to Coraline

So my 6 year old has an unusually dark sensibility for a six year. Perhaps also genetic because I enjoy it to no end this little dark twist of her otherwise sunny soul.

Mike - in his magazine work - had received a copy of the graphic novel of Coraline which seemed to be most of the first more adult books she has pored over - I thought, perhaps too dark - but she was mesmerized by button eyes and the two worlds and I thought, perhaps this is a good lesson in wishing for better parents rather than the ones who are freelance writers and therefore seem glued to their computer screens 24/7.

Julia had been lobbying to see the movie and I was on the fence but while I ordering some Harry Potter related material for cousin J for Chanukah I happened to happen upon a Coraline adventure contest, the ultimate prize being a screening of the movie for 25 of our closest friends. I never win this stuff but on a lark, I entered...and I won.

So as of Tuesday I was in total Julie McCoy mom mode, putting out the word for folks to come to the screening which was 830(!) Saturday morning at the Century City AMC. I did the right thing and invited her entire grade (thank god for email) at the all inclusiveness school but got a LOT of "oh my god, my child could never handle that movie" responses (and a couple of ballet conflict issues and definitely some "too early"s). But a few intrepid 1st graders and their older sibs were on board, my friend who writes for all sorts of cool web blogs and LAist and her two daughters...the numbers started to rise. I thought about bringing a few dozen bagels and making it brunch but didn't know how much the theatre would go for it.

Let me just say that getting my daughter to school by 830 is a daily challenge. Getting her to the Coraline screening 15 minutes early was easy easy easy.

We did a little pre-scout by Tivo-ing the 15 minute "Making of Coraline" on HBO and watching it together - I did a little explanation of how stop-motion animation works and Julia was fascinated. She is dark and old-school.

Movie day - just the bunch of us in the theatre - a terribly excited row of kids with their 3-D glasses on. Mesmerized and totally drawn in. I sit directly in front of Julia and we grasp hands at the beautiful moment when Coraline makes pillow parents to substitute for her missing ones and sleeps between them - that's my girl.

This movie is so insanely beautiful I will want to watch it again. Painstaking in its precision and artistry - a compelling story ( I have but one feminist gripe with the plot that I won't go into for fear of spoiling), that allegory that takes a wish we've all had for a better family and turns it into a tale of appreciation without it being over the top and hallmark.

Julia has already put the DVD on her wish list and has altered her top "what I want to be when I grow up" choices to include set designer for stop motion animation on it, alongside writer and artist. It really does fit everything she is.

When I asked her if it was scary she said - "kind of, but not really"....The scariness seemed removed to me in a way, perhaps that it was animation, or so fantastical. I don't know.

And the lovely powers that be also gave us T-shirts and bookmarks and Coraline pens - and I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of first grader Coraline billboards at our school this week. By the way Julia has a bright blue wig that I'd be surprised if it doesn't surface at Halloween...perhaps eschewing Ginny Weasley for Coraline????

because I can't resist a shout out to J.K. Rowling...

Says Lisa Belkin on The Motherlode  -  

I admit to writer-envy - not just of Rowling having created a world so spectacular as that of Harry Potter and his wizarding cohorts - but of how many kids she has inspired to read.  My mom instilled the reading bug in me I think, but then again maybe it's just part of the genetic make-up. My mom went back to school to teach kids with reading disabilities and I think she chose that path because of what reading did for her, how much she enjoyed words.  She was a daily crossword puzzle do-er, always had books on the night table,  and introduced me to everything and everyone from Dr. Seuss to Anna Quindlen (I have a book she had signed to me by AQ "from one writer to another" that chokes me up because it means my mom told her I was a writer.)  She died in June 1998 so I don't know that HP ever crossed her path since it was released in the UK in 1997.  I think she would have been thrilled and moved deeply by what Rowling's Harry Potter has done for young (and not young) readers everywhere -  I know for sure she would have read it just to know what her two granddaughters were so obsessed with...

Can I sneak Julia in? Even it's PG?

Next Harry Potter movie is going to be rated PG, according to http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=77506.

Now that's not so much of a problem as that the last one is going to be PG-13....hmmm, guess I'll have to go. What a shame....

Books vs Movies

Niece J was in town last week for a whirlwind Disneyland in the icy rainstorm and a special trip to Diagon - I mean Whimsic Alley in Santa Monica.    And thus a monumental moment was born of the icy cold rainy Disney day where we stood on barely any lines and got a whole day in in 6 sopping wet hours.  

The first viewing by Julia of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.   She'd yet to see any of the movies (except excerpts on Scene - It), J is in town and it was in the pile of Chanukah gifts slated for the last night.  But leaving Disney early and J being in town and the second night of Chanukah is always cause for celebration and we broke it out early.   I have had a thing where I thought she should read all the books before any of the movies - and I'm glad I stuck it out til we had only a few hundred pages left of book 7.  I wanted her to make the books her own - not the hollywood version of her own.

Julia opened it and pretended to faint.  I probably could have gotten away with giving her only that for the whole 8 nights.  It's what she wanted for so long.  And certainly didn't expect to get.  

But as much as she loved it I have to say, she was a little disappointed.   Even in her 6 year old world the movie doesn't quite capture the book.    Though she did watch it again during vacation and she is begging to get to see #2....

...and the runner up is....Harry Potter and the art of losing

Been meaning to post this since my birthday, which coincided, serendipitously, with the book release of Beedle the Bard (which, yes, I bought, but for the low discounted Amazon price, not the millions of dollars hand bound version). We thought, before swinging on to another bash for a friend in town, we'd take Julia to a Beedle the Bard book release party at Scribble Press in West LA (a place we have great affection for, where Julia could spend days creating books they will bind for you.). She's missed all the other major book release parties - this really would be the last one she could go to.

She donned her Hogwarts robes and we set off. Of course the place is mad with Harry Potter fans - and she is definitely the youngest there. The owner's daughter seems to have read each HP book a dozen times (and I overheard her mother saying she had to make a rule she had to read several other books between re-reads now). She seemed about 10. There was drawing and several contests.

The first HP trivia quiz was 20 questions. 20 questions!!! Of trivia that I even don't know all the answers to! You have to get that Julia goes to a developmental elementary school which believes in an incredibly non-competitive childhood (that I think is cool but I'm not even sure I believe in). So this HP test was her FIRST TEST EVER. And it's 20 questions. And I have to help her spell and it's big effort, believe you me, for a 6 1/2 year old (because she turned that the day before ) to be spelling out things like LEVIOSA and AVADA KEDAVRA and CRUCIATIUS, even with help. It's slow and she's playing catch-up and wonderful owner's daughter nails the contest with a perfect score. Julia's really disappointed.

Then round two - the live quiz showdown - structured much like a spelling bee. Once again, not done at all at fantastic developmental school where nobody wins and nobody loses. All the kids line up - and Julia's first, the peanut of the group, for trivia questions thrown at her. Granted, they made sure that they gave her book questions since she hadn't seen any of the movies yet, but she was doing great. She answered a couple with very thoughtful almost essay-like answers. Then came the round where they asked her a question, she got it right, then they eliminated almost all of the rest of the line with the next question "What is a Bezoar?". Now, technically, since they all got it wrong, she should have won the game, but she couldn't get it right either when it came back around to her (look it up in the lexicon)and I wasn't going to do interfering-my-child-should-win mom thing.

And there's part of me that's enjoying this. Look, she really wants to win and part of that is being 6 and part of that is life and I'm pretty sure she's going to get dinged out because these kids are older and I think it's good for her to compete and it's good for her lose, and that's the way of the world. Maybe I'm a little bitter because in this playwriting/screenwriting business I am rejected at least once a day but it is always a question I have at developmental school - how will this teach my child to be in the real world if there's never any winning or losing in a competitive sense (this from the woman who as a kid never came close to winning anything sport-wise until my 9th birthday bowling party when I did win fair and square and my mother took my bowling trophy away and gave it to my cousin who came in second because it was unseemly for the birthday girl to win - which was just unfair and horrifying and probably says something about me now - after cake they caved and bought another trophy)??? What horror story will she be telling when she's older and blogging about how all this non-competitive stuff affected her in a competitive world?

And then it's down to her and a boy. An 11 year old boy who really really didn't want to lose to a 6 year old girl. Let's just put it this way - Julia will never forget the goblin Griphook again. And the prize goes to 11 year old boy.

She burst into tears. Genuine sad sad sad disappointed tears. Which - I must say - broke my heart because she did so well - she beat out all the other kids except one and now, now I'm thinking gee, I like developmental school because I don't have to deal with this kind of heartbreak in my kid on a daily basis.

And my eyes met the eyes of the woman running the contest as I'm telling Julia how great she was, really, and then she scrambles for a prize for the runner up (she's a goddess) and the irony is is that Julia gets the cherry flavored floo powder (which has disappeared into the black hole of her room, probably never to be eaten) and the BOY WHO WON got phoenix eggs so spicy that all the kids had to try them and then were gulping down water like they swallowed actual fire.

So it was somehow fitting that my daughter's first test was a Harry Potter one, and first "bee" a Harry Potter bee, but it left me really thinking about how I can and will handle her heartbreak for the rest of her life. Because as much as I would like to hope that candy will ameliorate all sadness, there are definitely going to be wounds I cannot fix - how will I teach her to roll with what happens when life hands her questions she can't answer?

A Very Harry Thanksgiving

My lovely (talented beautiful intelligent) 14 year niece arrived for Turkey day and the hero worshipping began. Julia may be obsessed with Harry Potter but worship JL from head to toe. And thankfully the two have something big to bond over - because how much do a 6 and 1/2 year and a 14 year old really have in common - but they do - Harry Potter.

The two of them chatter at each other in English accents and JL dives right into Julia's collection of wands and Harry Potter figurines, bookends, action figures (hell, the girl never really went Barbie wild so she's got a lot of HP stuff) but the most precious moment of HP loyalty displayed came towards the end of the trip when Julia showed her the Gryffindor sweatshirt and Slytherin sweatshirt that came via owl in the magical box of swag that our friend Prof. S, who works directly for Harry, it appears, sent earlier this summer. The sweatshirts are a little big for Julia but fit JL perfectly. Julia offered her the Slytherin sweatshirt (I'm sure because she never intends on wearing something from that evil house). But JL tried it on and couldn't bear the sight of herself in it. She felt like a traitor to her precious Ron, Hermione and Harry. Julia came up with a plan- - JL could put one of those red circles with a line through it over the Slytherin logo. Still no go. She couldn't bring herself to do it.

I have the feeling that sweatshirt may go unworn by both of my HP fanatics, unless they get a little bad boy Draco in their lives. And I love that they have values - and are fiercely loyal. School spirit, as it were....

back into the deathly hallows

so, we were on hiatus, not just with the starting of 1st grade at pre-Hogwarts, but J discovered a new treasure -  THE BORROWERS - and since she's been getting them out of the library, Harry had been stuck wandering the woods with Ron and Hermione far longer than he would have otherwise.   Part of it, I think, is that she really doesn't want the series to end so we're stretching it out.  There's been plenty of listening to earlier books on CD (ahhh the dulcet sounds of Jim Dale, fantastic, even if I think his Hermione is a touch too shrill/whiney) on drives for apple picking or just for school.  But now we've re-entered the Deathly Hallows and like any true addict, one little taste and little J was begging for more.

So we're back.  But let me tell you about the delightfulness of THE BORROWERS, the series set in the early part of the 1900s about the little people who live among us and steal (excuse me, "borrow") our possessions for their own use.   It's become J's fantasy - every time something goes missing (like where the hell are those pink American Girl pajamas?  curtains in a little family's room?)  Or what would the borrowers use this object for?  At PopPop's apartment she even left objects out for them to take.  

But still the love for Harry prevails.  As  I read to her tonight she gazed at her wall of HP pinups -  THREE different calendars, a cover of a magazine, little cake HP figures...aahhhh young love.