halfwhiteboy

I've been Lord Voldemort for Halloween , been sorted on Pottermore in Slytherin , and was even born in the Year of the Snake (huh?). Without question I am a Slytherin.

A feeble attempt at recreating that 8th Harry Potter movie poster. I can't say it enough that I love Halloween and this year was probably one of the best, if not the best. First off My Bibe and I took leaps in the dressing-up department with her donning a Maleficent Halloween costume and me transforming into Voldemort . Yeah, they do make a good couple. Second, our department decided to join our HR's workplace decorating contest for the first time since it came to be 3 years ago. Interestingly, our building's 16th floor won this thing 3 friggin' years in a row. I showed my colleagues photos from last year where they went with a carnivale Halloween theme  and told them this is what we're up against. After firming up our collective decision to join, I pushed for a Hogwarts theme. We transformed our workplace into the famed witchcraft and wizardry school from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. Or at least we tried.

Expecto Patronum you say? Throughout my years of stay in this job, I've seen how Halloween has evolved into one of the most-awaited occasions here at our head office. From simple trick or treat activities organized by small groups many years ago, Halloween celebrations have since grown in scope that later involved decorating office areas and which have only become grander each year. Our HR has even been handing out prizes for the "best floor" for the last 3 years. Zooming in on our department, we first tried our hand at serious decorating 7 years ago in 2007. We held a contest where cubicles were clustered into teams, competing for cash prizes donated by our bosses. At the time we fondly called our area " Azkaban " after a floor re-layout that left us feeling we were in an enclosed pen or something. Anyway, we stuck with it and used it as our theme for the decorating contest.

Yes, I am magical! See this:

Obviously, I'm still in such a Harry Potter mode. I'm basically just clad in jeans and t-shirt today. The tee, which I had for a seriously long time now, is from Diesel. The jeans are Topman, and are slim enough to allow me to tuck them in my Aldo boots. But what really got me into this crazy shoot today is this cardigan I got from yesstyle.com . The extended length makes me feel like I have a cape or something, that it's so much fun moving around. I'm thinking Voldemort's graceful and fluid movements here. Or Snape's to some extent. Anyway, I unwittingly got myself stuck with loads of photos. Then there was the selection process. Then the editing since I had to make magic out of a chopstick. But I enjoyed it, no doubt. So here goes...

After mentioning in a  post last night  that  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2)  now holds the best single-day U.S. box office haul ever, the eighth and final Harry Potter film has now also scored the biggest U.S. weekend box office opening ever. I am ecstatic! Deathly Hallows 2  earned a whopping $169.2 million from Friday through Sunday (originally estimated at $168.6 million), a record previously held by  The Dark Knight , which took in $158.4 million. Even if box office receipts for Sunday are still based on estimates (as final figures are yet to be released), I don't think the figure will drop by $10 million if ever it does. So Harry and Voldemort are secured of their spot. For now, of course, until another mega-blockbuster knocks them off and steals their record. It remains to be seen, though, whether  Deathly Hallows 2  can surpass  Dark Knight 's domestic haul of $533.3 million, considering that ...

First off, I'm happy that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2)  has just broken the record for the biggest single-day box office gross (in the U.S.), which was previously held by The Twilight Saga: New Moon . Deathly Hallows (Part 2)  earned $92.1 million on its opening day, close to $20 million more than what that vampire-werewolf movie made when it opened. It's just wait and see until tomorrow if it knocks off The Dark Knight  (my all-time favorite movie) for the biggest opening weekend ever. I really don't care much except that I hope that this last Potter movie will be the one to finally breach the $1 billion mark for the franchise. It's like there's a protective charm around that figure. I hope Voldemort breaks through that just as he tore through the web of charms around Hogwarts. Moving on, we all know that Potter author J.K. Rowling has promised no more Harry Potter books. Okay, fine. But I do wish that she still write stuff, not necessarily ab...

And that was the end of it all, a decade of Potter madness that permeated my mind and of countless others. While it's undeniable that splitting J.K. Rowling's seventh book into two films was a money-making move by Warner Bros., I say that with what director David Yates gave us, it's justified. Although I am a fan, I'm taking a step back to afford a more objective view of the film I just watched. By watching  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2) , it's already assumed that either you've read all the books, or you've watched all seven films preceding it, or both. There's no time here to explain things anymore. Having been too familiar with the series already, it's a bit difficult to say whether someone with no Potter  knowledge whatsoever will enjoy the film. Okay, so maybe not. They may be in for the ride but they surely will only end up asking tons of questions. Who's Harry? Why is Voldemort so mad at him? What are horcruxes ? Why c...

Unlike My Bibe , who's a voracious reader, I don't care much about books. So at the turn of the new millennium when Warner Bros. announced that they have cast the three lead roles for the film version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone , I had no idea what it was. It was only when the film was about to debut that I got intrigued and borrowed a copy of the book. The moment I started reading, I was under its spell and didn't let go of it until I was finished. I was suddenly a child again. During the same time, J.K. Rowling's "baby" was much lauded for getting kids all over the world to read again. But hey, don't count the kids-at-heart out. Potter also got me reading again (at least at the time)! I became a fan but far from the rabid kind who put up fan sites and stake out before book launches and cinema screenings. I was just so into the world of "the boy who lived," fanatic enough to engage in office conversations with fellow fans ...