Thanks again to Sharon for the passes to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was just swell. As I figured, since I hadn't read it recently, I had no idea what was missing and I thought the movie worked very well. Michael, the Potter maven in our house, thought as a movie it was fine but as an adaptation it was dreadful. He does get caught up in minutia sometimes, but he made a few points about things which are kind of important in the overall series. I do have one question, which I keep forgetting to ask him to explain but asking it here would require a spoiler warning, so I won't.

Michael didn't think that Imelda Staunton looked toad-like enough to be Dolores Umbridge. I thought she was absolutely the scariest villianess since Cruella de Ville (or maybe the character Glen Close played in Fatal Attraction.) Imelda Staunton played Hugh Laurie's post-partum, depressed, and grieving wife in Peter's Friends, which I cannot believe was released almost 15 years ago.

All in all, a fine night at the movies. My McGonagall hat was a hit (although hard to handle when I had to take it off for the film--I didn't want to break the feathers) and many people wanted the Hogwarts denim jacket I bought at the Warner Store in Times Square in 2001.

The screening was sponsored by a couple of radio stations, so there was a round of contests and give aways. Michael got a t-shirt by pointing out that they gave credit for a wrong answer about something in book six, and then managed to catch a second shirt. One's a tank-top, which I think he should wear to my birthday party. It will be just the thing poolside.