** Some spoilers are below. **

I might be the last person on earth to see his first Harry Potter film in a theater. I’m not talking about seeing one of them on opening night — I mean seeing it in a theater at all. I’ve never done it. I’ve seen the majority of the movies recently, but until today, I didn’t see any on a screen bigger than my computer monitor.

Luckily, after spending most of my day filming then running to a book signing then running home to film more again, I managed to get to the theater and join my friend in line for the midnight showing of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 1. The crowd was immense, even two hours early.

I don’t know how they do it, but each Potter film continues to surpass the previous. As I am also one of the few people who have not read the entire Harry Potter series yet (I am up to the second audiobook) I was not familiar with the full story. Each thing came as a surprise, besides those bits that were so newsworthy when the novel came out that it was everywhere. I sat in a stupor when He died. I think I sat in a stupor through most of the movie.

Perhaps the most evocative part of the film, besides the death everyone is dreading, is Hermione’s telling of the Three Brothers story. It was an unexpected twist into a sinister world that might have been unfitting in a live action film if not for its careful execution. Rarely does one find a well-written fable in a modern story, especially one with such a deeply interwoven moral.

Some of the story went over my head since I haven’t read the books. But my mind was awake enough to fill in the blanks so that I wasn’t lost along the way. There are plenty of laughs throughout, especially between Ron and Hermione (though one especially badly-written scene that just came off as hilarious when I think it was meant to be serious). Either I’m overly perceptive, or the screenwriter tossed in a Twilight reference in the dialogue (RON, paraphrased, when arguing what time of night the story begins with: “…I actually like Twilight. Twilight is good.”). It was there a few more times in the scene. The theater made weird noises. I thought, in the voice of an exhausted Bilbo Baggins: “No thank you. Let us foreverafter keep these two franchises on their own separate turfs, lest the world erupt into massive, fiery war ne’er seen in Mordor’s darkest days”. It was amusing, and not just because I was hearing Bilbo Baggins’ voice in my head.

(Added: the above has been disproven. I can now stop missing sleep over it.)

Speaking of the Bagginses, who caught the bits of this story that were inspired by Lord Of The Rings? Also, watch for the innuendo. It’s hilarious if you catch it. The Potter franchise has really kept in touch with their fandom that way.

Five stars to the boy named Potter. And six stars to Emma Watson, to whom I directed this tweet while still standing in the theater.

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Posted in Reviews
Tags: harry potter

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I don’t have a short attention span. I have no attention span.

I go to Youtube for videos that are 3 minutes or less. I want to see explosions, quick vlogs, ranty people with Australian accents, and at least two flying cats. That’s why when I pulled up the latest parody from The Hillywood Show, my first reaction was to reach for my bag of poison-covered nails and prepare to swallow one for each of its thirteen minutes.

But having greatly enjoyed the group’s previous videos and performances I choked back my inhibitions and resolved to watch at least the beginning, if only because Drew from the group had once paid for my dinner after a convention (at which, despite the warnings of the waiter, I asked for the spicy Chicken Tikka Massala, suffering for this immediately and three hours after). What followed were thirteen minutes of cinematographic bliss.

This video is unlike any other parody you’ve seen, Twilight or otherwise. There’s an old argument in this Twilight fandom: is this even a parody? Is it a music video? Is it both? To me it’s neither. It’s a flashy, musically remixed, pop-culture referencing, Lady-Gaga-Meets-Edward-Cullen video casserole.

I hear you ask: “With such a combination of pale sparkliness and wild wigwork, how can our earth bear this weight and not spin out of orbit?”. I don’t know how to answer that question, and now I think you are slightly weird. But take all that and throw in some dance moves, and you’ve got The Hillywood Show Eclipse Parody. In a time where this fandom has been overrun with thousands upon thousands of fan-made productions, something fresh like this is a rare find. It was so good, I was even able to overlook all the male shirtlessness.

If you haven’t heard of The Hillywood Show, then you likely haven’t been keeping up with the Twilight fandom very much. Hillywood, made up of sisters Hilly and Hannah Hindi and a circle of talented costars, are well known for their Twilight Saga parodies / music videos, nabbing over 4 million views for their Twilight Parody and more than half of that for their New Moon Parody. They’ve toured in character for Creation Entertainment, appearing at Twi-Tours and Official Twilight Conventions all over the country.

I’ve been watching The Hillywood Show since their first Twilight parody video years ago, and they continue to impress me with each new project. Their Eclipse Parody was just another great video in a long line of great videos, and it’s certainly one you should take the time to watch. Even if there are no flying cats.

Watch it above and see more of their videos on Youtube (including many other non-Twilight parodies!).

This is cross-posted from TwilightGuy.com

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Posted in Reviews, Twilight, Videos
Tags: Hillywood Show

EDIT: Read a preview of ERUPTING STAR at Twimore.com (8/2/11) –>

Yesterday I posted on my blog about my book coming out next month and how hard we’re working to make it hit the New York Times bestseller list. I mentioned in passing that the only thing that might wreck our plans was if “Tomorrow, Stephenie Meyer might announce that ERUPTING STAR, her sequel to Breaking Dawn told from Charlie Swan’s perspective, will be out IMMEDIATELY, divided into 10 children’s paperbacks.”.

Great sparkly forearms…! The emails and tweets I’m still digging through…

This is not some insider information I have from Stephenie. There is no Erupting Star novel. There is a reason that post did not go on TwilightGuy.com. Stephenie is not writing a ten-book childrens series from the perspective of Bella’s father with the words “[...] WILL SURELY CRUSH KALEB NATION” quoted from USA Today on its cover.

The past 24 hours have been amusing. It brought me back to the day when I said I’d been cast as Edward Cullen and the world imploded. But no. This is a clever Photoshop, 4 teh lulz & teh lulz only.

But if Stephenie still wants to write a childrens series called Erupting Star from Charlie’s perspective, that’s alright by me. Just don’t put it out around 10/10/10

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Posted in Bran Hambric, Twilight

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In celebration of my Youtube channel reaching 50,000 subscribers earlier this month, I’m doing what you all know I do best — A CONTEST! You can win autographs from Twilight stars like Michael Welch, Justin Chon and Kiowa Gordon, a Bran Hambric prize pack from my book series, or a signed Stephenie Meyer postcard!

The contest is being sponsored by an awesome website called MyLikes! To enter our contest:

1. Click this link: http://bit.ly/MYLIKES

2. Sign up and “Like” something (Kaleb Nation? ).

3. Leave a comment on the video saying what you “Liked”

Be sure to subscribe to my Youtube channel for more videos!

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Posted in Bran Hambric, Twilight, Videos

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The Bella And Edward Remix features sounds from The Twilight Saga: Eclipse movie trailers mixed into a song. Enjoy

Be sure to subscribe to my Youtube channel for more videos!

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Posted in My Music, Twilight, Videos