Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Movie

★★★★★

This was the best film since the first one. The story basically involves Harry being persecuted by the government for telling the truth. There are some chilling comparisons between what happens in the movie and what is happening today with the current regime that is in power in this country. I was puzzled that I didn't pick up any of this when I read the book but when I got home I checked the copyright date and it was 2003. This means that either Rowlings is a prophet or that repressive tin pot dictators are pretty much all the same. No originality there at all.

But getting back to the movie, it is impossible to squeeze a 900 page book into a 2 1/2 hour movie without loosing a lot of the story. However the essential parts were there. I thought that the acting was the best ever and I loved/hated Imelda Staunton as Delores Umbridge and Helena Bonham Carter the demented Bellatrix LaStrange was excellent. I was surprised to see that Neville had grown so much. He must have shot up at least 4 or 5 inches since the last movie. Loved the battle scenes.

73. Zombies of the Gene Pool

By Sharon McCrumb
Rated ★★★

Engineering professor and famed science fiction author Jay Omega and his significant other, Marion Farley, a professor of SF, investigate the murder of another science fiction writer.

In the 1950's, a group of science fiction fans decided to drive to WorldCon to meet their writer idols (and basically to have a big blast). They didn't make it to WorldCon, but they did make it to Wall Hollow, Tennessee, where all the members each wrote a story and buried it in a time capsule.

30 years later, several of the members of the group have hit it big as SF writers. Their reunion at Wall Hollow becomes a huge media event, with publishers bidding on the rights to the stories buried in the time capsule. But just before the reunion starts, someone is murdered.