Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Part 4

This entry is part 4 of 6 in the series Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.

Harry Potter

And we’re back! This week we tackle the next three chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which gives us our awesome first game of Quidditch, trolls, tricks and leviosas. At the end of Part 3, Harry had just been sorted into Gryffindor, where he found out that Snape hated him and all was not quite what it seemed at Hogwarts. What mysteries will he stumble upon next? Continue reading →

Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Part 3

This entry is part 3 of 6 in the series Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Welcome, Muggles, to Part 3 of Prior Incantato, where we’re digging into the world of Harry Potter on a chapter by chapter basis with constant vigilance. At the end of Part 2, Harry received his ticket to the Hogwarts Express, and now eagerly awaits the escape from his evil captors, the Dursleys. Continue reading →

Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Part 2

This entry is part 2 of 6 in the series Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Welcome to Part 2 of my re-read of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. We last left Harry at the worst vacation ever, warming himself near a fire fueled by a bag of potato chips as he awaits his birthday. When the clock strikes midnight, someone knocks on the door. Continue reading →

Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Part 1

This entry is part 1 of 6 in the series Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.

I don’t want to introduce this thing too heavily, but if you’d like to know more about why I’m doing this blog series, see these two Harry Potter related posts. The story of the Boy Who Lived is, I feel, one of the greatest modern pieces of writing about death, redemption and sacrificial love – and I don’t know if anything will challenge that title for a long time to come.

I wanted to take some time to dig through the halls of Hogwarts again, to see Harry Potter grow up, to analyze the way J.K. Rowling develops characters and sows the seeds of mystery. Hopefully, I can become a better writer as a result, and we can grow to appreciate Harry’s tale a bit more together. After all, even though the Boy Who Lived is gone, the ones we love never truly leave us. Continue reading →

The Harry Potter Re-Read

As many of you know (unless you have been in cryosleep since the 90’s, in which case, you really ought to avoid the Speed movies), all things Harry Potter have come to a crushing halt now that the eighth and final movie has released. For many of us aspiring Gryffindors and Aurors, Potterdom will never be the same.

This sad realization launched me on a consumicas totalus campaign for all things related to the Boy Who Lived, which included a re-watch of all the films and has now lead me to a re-read of the novels themselves. Continue reading →

The Dungeon Writer

When I was younger, we didn’t have a whole lot of limits on what we could and couldn’t consume in terms of media. I think I started watching rated R movies when I was around 6 or 7 years old. Of course, I started with the greats: Predator, Rambo III, Commando and the like. I guess my dad was really into burly dudes shooting machine guns, so I was into it, too.

However, through all of the blood and gore, there was one thing that my mom was always adamant that we couldn’t watch: anything with magic. Continue reading →

To Be a Kid Again

It’s very rare that I see something that stirs that special spot in my heart reserved for fond childhood memories, but it has been known to happen on occasion. As much as looking back on being a kid offers a mixed bag of whatever, there really is something magical about that place where imagination ran wild with unfettered gusto. To be a kid was to attempt the impossible on a daily basis, and much of that fire is missing as a guy in my late twenties that sits in a cubicle writing Web copy.

In the last week or so, I’ve hit two media examples that poked at those halcyon days of youth. Continue reading →

What A Game Can Do: Final Fantasy 7

Final Fantasy 7

Growing up, I was always a big reader. You could also insert nerd, dork and dweeb following that sentence, and it would sit just as well. While I enjoyed watching shows on TV or even Empire Strikes Back on VHS – which was my favorite movie until Jurassic Park came out – I never got quite the same satisfaction as I did reading a fun adventure on paper. There was something about holding the story in my grubby hands, interacting with it by turning pages, seeing the words as they formed whatever pictures I dictated and really having time to connect with characters. Sure, movies had people that I loved, but spending several weeks with a character in my brain was infinitely more satisfying than just a few hours on a screen.

But I never knew a video game could do the same thing until Final Fantasy 7. Continue reading →

The Movie “Sick List”

Empire Strikes Back

I’ve talked about this on the blog before (and a number of other places), but I’ve never been one of those people that cares too much about spoilers. Granted, I’m not going to go out and search for them to satiate that “I gotta know” need, but I’m also not going to flip a dude for accidentally spilling some details. In fact, one of my biggest pet peeves is when I tell somebody that I loved a new movie or an episode of a show, only to have them contort their bodies and shout “don’t tell me!”

To me, the thrill of any story or movie is its execution, the beats that stories take as they unfold, the sharpness of the characters and the journey that the storyteller takes you on. Because really, if a story is only as good as its twist or its ending, then it falls apart upon the scrutiny of a second viewing.

As such, I’m the kind of guy that can watch a movie a dozen times over and never grow tired of it. Continue reading →

Things I Wish I Learned In College

Portal Companion CubeWhenever I talk to a friend of mine that says they can’t wait to finish college, I have to fight the urge to grab them by the shoulders and shake the truth into them. While I love my life, you will be hard pressed to get me to admit that I wouldn’t time travel back to college if I could. Not so I could change stuff, but just so I can hang out in a limbo of awesomeness without responsibilities.

They were the greatest years of my life, if I’m being honest. And that’s not damning my current situation in the slightest. It’s just, when you boil it down, I would rather sit on my butt and play video games and consume food like a black hole without consequences like I used to. Granted, the being broke part wasn’t fun, but it added a nice little challenge, right? Continue reading →

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