for those of you who know me well, you probably know that i have a ten-year long love affair with a little series known as HARRY POTTER! i've read all the books (i won't tell you how many times), and seen all the movies, of course. the sixth movie Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, comes out in theaters this wednesday, and as expected, i have tickets to go see it that night. however--i also happen to have a wonderful roomie who works for WB, and got passes for a screening of the film this saturday morning at 9 am. so, of course i had to go to that!!




i definitely don't want to spoil anything for any fans, but i'll just that it is absolutely worth seeing (duh), and that yeah, basically i loved it--no surprise! beyond the fact that it's always amazing to see some of my favorite books come to life on the screen, i really do think this is a well-made film, and, if you have a muggle friend (HP lingo, google it...) i still think they'd enjoy seeing it, as long as you gave them a brief overview of the main points of the series so they're not completely in the dark.



the screening was at mann's chinese theater in hollywood, which i'd never seen a movie in, so that was a cool la landmark to experience. and we got free popcorn and sodas. but the whole experience, and as you'll see from the pictures below, i shamelessly wore my homemade harry potter shirt and scarf, and holland even brought us a couple of "wands." please go see the movie, and definitely leave me a comment of how you liked it!!!

i know i constantly boast about how wonderful la is and how many free, fun things there are to do in this city, but i only do it because it's true! in keeping with the theme of 2009: best year ever (B.Y.E., for future reference), i took advantage of an afternoon excursion to the warner brothers lot in burbank. my friend, mj works for the ellen show there, and she recently told us that she could get us walk-on passes to the lot, and even take us on a free tour of the WB museum, which has an entire floor devoted to harry potter! now that was music to my ears (the harry potter theme song was actually stuck in my head all day)! so, holland, ali, and i met mj there this sunny thursday afternoon and our adventure began...





first off, i just love being on the lot; i feel so at home--like i just know i want to work there. secondly, we had some free time before going to the museum in which we sneaked around, peeking in and out of sound stages. we got a kick out of tour carts driving past us as their passengers whispered to each other and looked past our big sunglasses to see if we might be celebrities. :) here are some fun pics from around WB:



they were filming a new pilot for the on-screen adaptation of the book, "the witches of eastwick." if you're a gilmore girls watcher, this small town may look familiar because it's downtown of star's hollow, along with the following photo.





ali and me



hooray! we sought out the sound stage where they filmed friends! this is where i want to work someday :)



we even took a little detour to chicago during our afternoon out...ok, just the whole chicago portion of the lot, which was surprisingly realistic!




a street from the dog pee scene in bruce almighty



who said la doesn't have public transportation?!




only at a hollywood studio (well, burbank, really) could you find fake speed bumps painted on the roads...



the set of ER. apparently george clooney (and paul rudd!) was on the lot today, but we didn't catch a glimpse...curses!




when we finally made it to the museum, it was equally as fascinating! unfortunately, you couldn't take anything in with you, so there are no pictures. but, basically, they had props and costumes from a variety of WB films. i actually made a list of some of the exhibits so i could remember to tell you all...on the first floor we saw the following things (there's more but i just put some highlights):

-*dark knight--joker's suit and nurse costume, the bat costume, scary clown masks
-wardrobe selections from gossip girl, chuck, the departed, and supernatural
-sweeney todd--helena bonham carter and sasha baron cohen's costumes, meatpies
-matrix--about 10 creepy life-size dopplegangers of some character i don't know
-corpse bride--puppets and a miniature set used in the film
-*willy wonka (original 70s version)--costumes for charlie bucket (he was TINY!), willy wonka, veruca salt, an oompa loompa, boxes of chocolate bars, a golden ticket!, decorations from the candy room (i love this movie, so this was one of my favorite parts of the exhibit!)

then...we took a trip upstairs to "privet drive," where we saw the harry potter exhibit. is it sad that this may have been the most captivated i've ever felt at a museum? i think i read all the fine print on all the display cards! what we saw:

-(well, first we got sorted--boo, i was in hufflepuff!)
-the actual cupboard under the stairs set piece with props inside--ali and i kept remarking at how amazing all the details are that go into making a film. there were cobwebs, an old vacuum, action figures, wrapping paper, and even old dress patterns in there...it was incredible
-the dursley's fireplace, complete with letters spewing out
-costumes galore--robes, quidditch uniforms, yule ball gowns, hagrid's cloak, voldemort's cloak, umbridge's haughty pink dress suit, ron's R sweater
-wands
-mini dragon figurines from the triwizard tournament
-pages from the program of the quidditch world cup
-the egg
-the triwizard cup, itself!
-the goblet of fire (which, ironically is made of wood--intricately carved)
-the boot portkey
-weasley's skiving snackboxes
-the time turner
-life-sized petrified hermionie
-aragog
-the monster book of monsters
-the actual marauder's map!!

ok, i was elated!! it was seriously so cool. apologies to any muggles (non-harry potter folk) out there, for i'm sure the above appeared as nonsense... :) i encourage you all to read it, of course! highest recommendations!


after a long and hot afternoon's walk, we headed over to jamba juice--a california staple that i'd surprisingly never had. i ordered up a "strawberry wild" with extra 22 vitamin boost, and it was as delish as i expected. the perfect end to our exciting day! thanks again to our delightful tour guide, mj! (and, if anyone ever comes to visit and wants to go on this little tour, oh, we'll make it happen!) :)