Order 66: The End of the Age of Heroes

Darkness. Footsteps slamming into stone, over flesh. Flames flashing, rising above the blackness below, lightening in stark relief the horror within.

Our death knell tools, with flashes like lightning; each time one of us falls, a light goes out. How much longer until it becomes pitch black? Nobody knows. And still the armored demons march, mowing us down with shards of red. But worse still is the hooded phantom, with the face of a hero; who now destroys, destroying us with a blade of shimmering blue, once a blade so pure but now...now its stained, defiled, with the blood of innocents. What happened, we ask in our final moments; where did this monster rise from? He rose from the corpse of a nine year old boy, who dreamed of saving everyone, he rose from a unsure young man who didn't know what he wanted from life; he rose from the ashes of the Hero with no Fear. He rose from the ashes of us all. What happened to the age of heroes? Are they dead and desolate? Are they broken inside, and alone, are they strewn dead upon the floor, unmourned by the multitudes.

Our death knell tolls, fading away as the smoke that spewed from our home's spire's did in the growing twilight. Our death knell tolls, and we are all gone.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Warning, spoilers! Awhile ago, I got back from Part 2 of the final installment of the Harry Potter film series. And I have to say, it was wicked, amazing, beautiful, sad, and happy all at the same time. So, to say the least, I LOVED it! The actors, again, were stunning, and the story followed very close to the second half of the novel. This time we start with re-showing of Voldemort stealing the Elder Want from Dumbledore's tomb. Next we are transported to Shell Cottage where Harry, Ron, and Hermione are currently staying after their escape from Malfoy Manor. What ensues afterwards is a break into the Wizarding bank of Grongotts where they steal a horcrux, which is Hufflepuff's cup, from Bellatrix's vault. After escaping from security on the back of a dragon they drop into a lake then decide to head to Hogsmeade after Harry has a vision of the next Horcrux, which is something of Ravenclaw's. After almost being caught by Death Eaters, Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth, sends them through a portal to Hogwarts, escorted by Neville. Everything following this point was beautiful; I loved every scene from here on till the end. Emotions begin running high while Harry confronts Snape about his murder of Albus Dumbledore. McGonagall then attacks Snape who blocks all her spells before fleeing from her onslaught. After this McGonagall promises to give Harry time while he does what he needs to do. Harry takes off to find the 'thing' of Ravenclaw's while Hermione and Ron head off the Chamber of Secret with Hufflepuff's cup to destroy it with a Basilisk fang. With some help from Luna Lovegood, Harry is able to find the only person who knows where Ravenclaw's 'thing', which her lost diadem. When he finds the person, who is the Gray Lady, he asks her where it is. At first she belligerently refuses but after begging and pleading, she finally gives him a riddle to where it is hidden. Knowing what she means, he sprints off to the Room of Requiter. Meanwhile, Hermione and Ron have entered the Chamber of Secrets and Ron gives Hermione the Basilisk fang so she can destroy the horcrux. After destroying it, a tidal wave nearly sweeps them away and after surviving it, they kiss each other for the first time.
After reaching the Room of Requirement, Harry searches for the diadem, and just when he finds it, Draco, Goyle, and Blaise enter, demanding why he is there. Goyle eggs Draco to attack but he hesitates. Hermione and Ron arrive and the three fend off Goyle's attacks. Soon, Goyle casts a spell, creating Fiendfyre, which starts to destroy the room. Harry, Ron, Hermione manage to find brooms and begin to fly away. Goyle falls to his death and burns to death in the flames while Draco and Blaise try to climb to safety. Harry convinces his friends to save the two doomed boys, and after they escape the room, they stab the horcrux whith a basilisk fan and Ron kicks it into the fire before slamming the doors on the fire which had roared up. Realizing through a vision that Voldemort's snake, Nagini, his also a horcrux, Harry tells his friends they need to get the boathouse where Voldemort is hiding out. They rush through the castle, which is filled with battling witches and wizards. Once they reach the boathouse they see Voldemort conferring with Snape, saying that he has to kill Snape in order to become the true Master of the Elder wand. Voldemort slits Snape's throat, then tells Nagini to bite him to finish the job. Voldemort then leaves taunts everyone on Hogwarts grounds, telling them to send Harry to him in the forest, before leaving Snape dying on the floor. Once he is gone, Harry, Ron, and Hermione enter. Harry bends down and presses his hand to Snape's neck, trying to staunch the viciously bleeding wound. What ensues is probably my favorite scene in the film. I absolutely love the emotion and sadness we see from Snape, a character who has always been so stoic. A droplet of memory leaks from Snape's eye, at first making it appear as if he is weeping. Begging Harry to take it, Harry takes a vial given to him by Hermione and lets the memory slide into it. Then Snape tells Harry to look at him, which he does. Snape then says "You have your're mother's eyes," before passing on. After walking through the Great Hall and seeing all the dead, including Fred, Remus Lupin, and Tonks, he decides to take a chance and see what Snape's memory was all about. Using the Pensieve in the Headmaster's office, he sees everything that Snape went through. Starting out about his childhood, and his unrequited love for Lily Evans and how his love for her caused him to turn on Voldemort and join Dumbledore. After this we see flashes of the past...and of the horrible thing expected of Harry. This point was definitely one of the most emotional parts in the whole film. In it we see Snape going to Godric's hollow and seeing Lily dead. Overcome with emotion he falls to his knees, weeping and cradles Lily's dead body to him. These scenes, touched me in a way few things have(some things include Obi-Wan's grief over Anakin's betrayal and everything else sad in his life, Order 66, Frodo's leaving, etc...) and you can see how love, even though its something I find hard to speak about aloud, is the strength in all things. Alan Rickman's performance here blew me away and I really would love to work with him in a film one day. I'll stop here and let you watch the rest of the film on your own. But I will say this, I fully recommend this movie to you. I have looked forward to this final installment since I was nine and listened to the first novel read to me. It fulfilled my expectations and now I can't wait for part 2 to come out on DVD so I can watch parts one and two back to back, alone in a dark room, so I can absorb everything the films have to offer. Now, if you haven't seen it yet, go buy tickets and see it now. You won't regret it! :)

Annie

Last month I had the wonderful importunity to be a part of our local community theater's production of Annie. I was cast as the role of Pepper, the toughest of the orphan girls in the orphanage ruled over my the tyrannical Miss Hannigan. This was definitely one of my favorite shows to do as well as one of my favorite roles to perform. Our cast was the best I have ever worked with; everyone was just so talented! We worked very hard on this production; for the last few weeks of practice, we attended the theater every night to practice. And I'm very glad we did. Our show became a phenomenal success. We sold out every night and even added a Saturday matinee the last week. Everyone who came loved it and complemented our show profusely, saying we were good, or better, then Broadway. And these were people who had BEEN to Broadway! Even someone who had down lighting on Broadway show said he was stunned. Lots of people complemented my acting and singing ability and how well I portrayed my character; which made me so glad I had done what I had wanted to do with my role. I also loved my role. I came to really care about her over the weeks I acted her out and came up with a way to appear as a mean and tough bully , yet sympathetic and downtrodden little girl as well. I am so glad I decided to audition for this production and would do it again in a heartbeat. Just so you know, I am the girl with the curly, honey blond hair in the blue (sometimes purple due to the lighting) sweater. By Shena Tokala :)