758!

At the beginning of the season I was hoping to get a chance to see a record-breaking homerun this season. It turns out I did, only not the one I originally thought of. Every HR Barry hits from here on out is a record breaking one, so last night’s trip to AT&T afforded me the opportunity to witness history in the making. I know everyone has their opinions on Barry and “the record” but you can’t deny that the man knows how to hit a baseball.

You can feel it when he’s at the plate and see it in the pitcher’s eyes. No matter what the count is, the mound is never ahead when Barry’s at the plate. It seems like he takes pitchers to a full count just for fun. He learns from a pitcher the more times he’s up to bat. There was no doubt about HR 758…We were in a suite right above & behind home plate so we weren’t close enough to see everything, but the TVs all around the place give you a good idea. Looking down at the diamond I could just tell that he was about to hit another and it happened. The place went nuts. The frenzy for the ball was manic again. Barry trotted around the bases and tipped his cap to the crowd as usual. Another great hit.

But the Giants as a team are another story. Going down the tubes like a kid on the Coke slide…. They had a 4-run lead at the top of the 8th and managed to give up 6 runs that inning while turnstyling through 5 pitchers. There were chances in the bottom of the 8th and 9th but managed to turn a 6-2 into an 8-7 lost to the Pirates. Two teams battling for last place. What a joke.

The park is still a nice place to go, though. My camera batteries were dead and the charger nowhere to be found, so I didn’t get any photos/footage of the evening. Instead here is my trip from June…

Year 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Finished last night…Finally! (I won’t be discussing much of the plot for fear of spoilers)

I’ve had the book for two weeks but have been unable to get to it until this past weekend because I wanted to re-read all of the books in anticipation of the final one. My plan was to read each book then see each movie respectively (read1, watch1, read2, watch2, etc…). I thought if I started at the beginning of July I would be able to hit The Order of the Phoenix in stride, then read the Half Blood Prince immediately after that in preparation for the July 21 release of book7. I thought the plan was sound, but it didn’t quite work out that way.

Plans were set to watch OOTP on a Monday and by the Sunday before I still hadn’t finished reading Goblet of Fire, so I watched the movie instead and then watched Order the next night. Then the wheels came off…it took another 10 days to finish book5 and by then book7 was already collecting dust! I made up for it in the last week, though. It was really exhilirating reading and watching the 10-year plot (17, really)unfold over the past month. I’d recommend my plan to Potter fans and I plan to write some spoilers in the future dealing with essential items (imho) left out of the movies so that someone unfamiliar with the books will be able to understand some of the inner workings behind the scenes.

But enough about me, let’s talk about Harry some more.

Book6 was a mild departure from the standard HP story structure, even moreso than book5. Without spoiling anything (I hope), I’ll say you get to spend a lot of time with Harry & Dumbledore exclusively and learn a great deal about Tom Riddle. The setup at the end leaves you almost depressed (if you care about these fictional characters) because you realize it will really never be the same again. Dumbeldore tasks Harry with finding a way to kill Voldemort. You knew this was coming from book1, so it’s nothing new, but it brings a finality to the story you expect but never expected. It’s been an annual experience since 1998 - either a new HP book or movie -and now it’s finally over. Bittersweet.

Book7 finds Rowling both at the top of her game and succumbing to repetition to drive the point home. I’m certainly not one to criticize writing skills (English was my worst subject) but I’m sure 25 pages could have been saved by cutting out half of the references to either Harry’s scar hurting or Hermione repeating her “I told you so / Dumbledore told you so” schtick. We get it! Really we do! I know it makes them seem more real but it can bog down the story at times. This has happened more and more over the last 3 books as we learn of the mind meld between Harry & Voldemort. The scar hurts…he can see V’s mind…everyone tells him not to (Occlumency). But it keeps coming up over and over.

That’s a small gripe to have, though, in the grand scheme of things because when the story flies, it soars. The action is so fast-paced and fierce in this one you probably need the slowdowns to catch your breath. Major and minor deaths come aplenty and the final Battle For Hogwarts is a breathtaking sight to behold (in my mind’s eye anyway). The answers also come fast & furious but also subtely. I’ll probably need to read it again to grab everything, but it must now be clear that J.K. Rowling knew the entire story from the beginning.

This is no small feat which was begun in 1990 by happenstance. By the time the first book was finished it seems all 7 could have been finished. I’ve heard that the backstory notes she keeps have grown to quite a large size and that helps me realize again that this is possibly a once-in-a-lifetime (at least a generation) phenomenon. Many small details littered throughout the first six books yield a bounty of information at the end. Harry’s progression as a wizard and a person come to fruition as he finally becomes the hero we’d always hoped he’d be.

This is a highly emotional story with friendships and familial ties tested to their very core. I smiled & teared up many times and found myself inwardly cheering (with an outward “YES!” here and there) as Harry continually stepped up to the plate. I was on edge from reading the jacket cover & dedication which clearly state this is the end of Harry’s story and therefore our time with Harry as readers. Like I said, bittersweet.

It’s impossible to isolate book7 from the rest of the books (especially book6). I doubt someone could pick it up (even with just the movie knowledge) and feel moved by the details of the story. Maybe that’s a problem for people or publishers who think a book is supposed to stand on its own (I’m sure Scholastic and Bloomsbury are crying all the way to the bank) but it has never been presented as anything more or less than a 7-part story and that sense, as well as one of completion, comes by the time you finish the last page.