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Hey folks...Padfoot here to let you in on some news on the process of our lovely t-shirts. I made a few designs here lately and I'd love to hear your thoughts on them; two from The Fountainhead and two from Alice in Wonderland. Also, once again, we would love to hear feedback on the other designs, as well as any new ideas from your favorite books.
Also, something even more exciting (to coffee-lovers anyway), we are going to be making coffee cups here soon as well. Also, look for bookmarks sometime later. But until then, we will have t-shirts and TOTES available here in the near future.
Also, we're curious to know...how did you feel about the new Harry Potter movie, if you saw it? Give us your thoughts! Prongs and I debated and have come to different conclusions. I left feeling very disappointed, and she was very happy with it. From intense research and many surveys, I have found that in general, the reactions are divided in half. So let us know what you liked or hated about it.
That's all the news we have for today, but look for a review to be up here in a few days, as I am reading The Stranger by Albert Camus, and Prongs is tackling Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence. Wish her luck.
I loved the new movie. It wasn't perfect, of course, but far better than the others. I wrote up a huge long post about it on my Ramblings blog, so I won't bore you with details here. :)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the new movie. In fact, I think it's my favorite of all the Potter films.
ReplyDeleteI'm an architect and am a very visual person. One of my biggest objections to "Order of the Phoenix" was the clumsy, flat footed camera work and uninspired visual compositions.
One example I gave to my friend in our Potter debate is a scene in "Order of the Phoenix" that really summed up how clumsily directed and filmed it was. The scene is Voldemort standing and threatening Harry and Dumbledort. He is holding his wand in front of Bellatrix's face. Bellatrix starts speaking, but you cannot see Helena Bonham Carter's face because it is blocked by Voldemort's wand. A good director would have done another take where her face wasn't blocked while she was speaking.
There were so many missed opportunities in "Order" for really spectacular visual sequences that were poorly framed. Harry and the gang running down the aisles at the Dept. of Mysteries. Instead of turning the shot to run lengthwise, they run up the center of the shot. It's totally cut off, stunted, and you don't get the full effect of the collapsing shelving. I was underwhelmed by the fight scene. The long distance camera work really made the actors look so ineffectual and the action appear flat footed. Add to that non-action scenes that were so poorly blocked and framed, the actors were constantly getting their heads cut off by close-ups that were too close or they were tripping over one another to get out of the way of very awkwardly positioned medium range shots.
I am a visual person. This kind of stuff drives me nuts.
I was so underwhelmed by "Order", I was quite concerned when David Yates was selected to direct "Half Blood" as well as the final two part "Deathly Hollows." I thought the movies would end up being pedestrian and uninspired.
I was totally wrong.
"Half Blood" was vivacious, energetic. Beautifully shot. Gorgeous framing. Great action sequences. Wonderful performances from the actors. No clumsy framing. No awkward shots. It's like David Yates grew artistic talent between the last movie and this one. At the very least, replacing the director of photography made a huge difference. I left the theater so happy and so impatient to see the final two movies.
Yes, I can see why huge fans of the books may be disappointed. There was a lot left out and a lot put in that was not in the books. I, however, was thrilled with this Potter movie and can't wait to see more.
Wow, I love the T-shirts! Every one is super fab! :D
ReplyDeleteWhen are you going to start selling them???????
Haven't seen HP yet... :( I know...bad, bad...LOL
I'll let you guys know what I think when I do. I have heard mixed reviews too.
Happy Playing!
@Amanda: Awesome! I look forward to reading that rambling! :)
ReplyDelete@Still Thinking: I am the exact opposite....Order was my favorite movie. I felt that the Dept. of Mysteries was one of the best scenes, especially the fight scene I thought was done so well, and visually fantastic. But I suppose if you are into the camera angles more and an Architect buff...then that would be understandable to feel that way.
I felt in general Half-Blood was good...but my two favorite scenes, Dumbledore drinking the potion, and his death scene, were very poor. The scene in which he drank the potion was my favorite in the book, and in the movie it was lacking passion. He should of been writhing on the floor, screaming in pain, like in the book.
And in general I felt like they were focusing on getting cheap laughs out of the audience. I loved the scene with Felix, and Ron's love potion scene, but other than that I felt like I was laughing too much, and this should of been the darkest movie to date.
And random scenes like th beginning with Harry and the girl...what was the use of that? They could of had a brilliant beginning scene with Dumbledore at the Dursley's.
But I get your points as well, but for me it didn't feel like a Harry Potter movie at all. I don't usually criticize the movies too much because I am good at realizing they will never be the books, however for some reason this movie was just too disappointing to me. But maybe next time I watch it it'll grow on me :)
@Chick: Thank you!! That makes us so happy. We are finishing up the designs, and after that we will have the finals posted, and hopefully be able to take some order and have them made here soon. Sorry for the wait, but we will definitely keep you updated :).
I'm excited for when you start selling the shirts (and coffee cups)!!
ReplyDeleteI liked the movie but I didn't love it. I really felt that they added unneccesary scenes while leaving out important story lines. I will say that the cinematography was beautiful.
I often have a hard time appreciating a movie separate from the book :)
Prongs here - Thanks we hope to have them up before the end of the summer so keep checking back!
ReplyDeleteWhile I respect Padfoot's opinion I however thought it was the best one. Yea the last 20 mins def were just not up to par, and a few scenes seemed pointless, at least there wasn't 20 mins of pure scenery shots in the past or 20 min long quidditch games. And yes the cinematography blew me away! The burrow scene might have been a bit pointless but god was it beautiful!
I really like the shirt designs, and coffee mugs sound cool, too.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't seen HP yet. :(
I am going to see HP next week and I'm a little worried that it might not live up to my expectations.
ReplyDeleteI love your shirt designs, especially the Alice in Wonderland ones.
I love the Alice in Wonderland designs, brilliant! Also this is my comment on a previous blog for an entry in the drawing:o) Oh and I'm stoked about the coffee cups!
ReplyDeleteI loved the Harry Potter movie, even though I never read the books. I thought the movie was full of laughter, a bit of tear, and a heartwarming ending which leads me wanting for more.
ReplyDeletecindyc725 at gmail dot com
I left disappointed. There were scenes that are crucial to the last movie that weren't in this movie. At the end of the book, before Dumbledor dies there is a battle between the order and the death eaters that doesn't happen, and Harry is stupefied and under his cloak when he dies, Snape doesn't know that he is there.
ReplyDeleteLove the new shirts.
ReplyDeleteI was extremely disappointed in the movie. I thought this movie focused to much on the snogging and canoddling and not enough on the story.
What a fun collection of t-shirts.
ReplyDeletechocolateandcroissants at yahoo dot com
The T-shirts are great! Are you designing more, too?
ReplyDeletethank you so much!! We are definitely designing more...we just wanted to try to get some ideas up to see what people want to see. And these are also just the rough designs, so once we tweak them a bit they will look sharper :)
ReplyDelete