Getting Excited!

Just 5 more days for the opening of the newest Harry Potter film, THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE, based on book 6 in the 7 book series.

Of course, I'm looking forward to seeing the film. Harry, Ron and Hermione are now legend!

Ron, Hermione, Harry. (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

I also love the Weasley twins, and Luna Lovegood. And even Draco Malfoy-bad boy extraordinaire.

Fred and George, or is that George and Fred? (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Luna Lovegood. (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Draco Malfoy. (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

New cast members include Freddie Stroma as Cormac McLaggen, the obnoxious Gryffindor who wants to play Quidditch keeper and whom Hermione invites out to make Ron jealous, Jessie Cave as Lavendar Brown, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin as 11-year old Tom Marvolo Riddle, Frank Dillane as 16 year old Riddle, Helen McCrory as Narcissa Malfoy and Jim Broadbent who plays Horace Slughorn.

Cormac McLaggen. (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Narcissa Malfoy. (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Lavendar Brown, in love with Ron Weasley. (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Horace Slughorn. (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Albus Dumbledore, Professor McGonagle, Hagrid, Lupin, Tonks, Mr. & Mrs. Weasley, and more are of course back in action. As is the evil one, Lord Voldemort.

The trailers are enticing. Here's one:


The HP chatter online is increasing, with discussions about the prolific talents of the supporting cast, a countdown until the movie opens at Mugglenet, and reports of fans and their many methods of expressing their own magic.

But nothing beats the wiki, which lists the entire cast, has a great synopsis, and three different trailers, with a list/links of all TV spots and other media releases collected in one place!
You can see tons more photos, like the ones posted in this blog, here.

Ginny Weasley. (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Bellatrix and Snape-(c) Warner Bros. Pictures.

The only gripe I have so far is that Romilda Vane is far too pretty!

Romilda Vane-(c) Warner Bros. Pictures.

The red carpet is already rolled out as early screenings are happening in various places.


And the reviews are predominantly good. Rotten Tomatoes gives a 96% score at this early stage of the game (and has a host of trailers and bits of the movie available for viewing, too).

While most of the HP news is positive, there's the bit about the actor who plays Vincent Crabbe, caught growing marijuana. Do you think that has anything to do with casting him as a bad guy?

And one final note: this current HP fix will have to do for a long time. The last book will be made into a movie, split into two parts. The first part is due out November 2010 and the second part isn't due until July 2011.

Ah, some dancing...

A Bit of News about U.S. Fish & Wildlife

Angelo has an interesting post on a plan to deposit "euro trash" in the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument.

We haven't been hearing enough lately about what's happening with the Monument. And this was not really good news. I suggested reporting on it to those in charge.

Remember who's in charge of the MTMNM? It's U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. And we've not been hearing anything about them lately.

So here's a tiny bit of news that I didn't see reported in our local newspapers (well, yes, it did make the Saipan Tribune, but I was gone from Saipan and didn't catch this...) President Obama has named a new director for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, subject to Senate confirmation. Sam D. Hamilton.

Ken Salazar, Interior Secretary, approves of the appointment. Mr. Hamilton also gets a thumbs up from two diametrically opposed groups: the National Wildlife Refuge Association (a conservation group) and "Ducks Unlimited" (a hunting group).

He's praised for his ability to balance competing interests--wildlife on the one hand and people on the other.

His record is not without problems. He has the weakest known record on enforcement of the Endangered Species Act, among all comparable officials, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. No wonder the hunters, anglers, and trappers like him!

Even more worrisome, in a 2005 survey of 1400 F&WS biologists, results from those working under Mr. Hamilton included the following:

"Nearly half (49%) of FWS respondents cited cases where "commercial interests have inappropriately induced the reversal or withdrawal of scientific conclusions or decisions through political intervention."

If this is not bad enough, it appears Mr. Hamilton also lacks experience with deep ocean environments. He helped with a (now defunct) congressional committee on merchant marines and fisheries. He's got some experience with fisheries and even with the Florida Everglades restoration. But even with this, his lack of ardor in protecting marine life, and concommitant lack of understanding of marine environments, seems evident.

For example, there was some criticism of the USFWS apparent failure to include relevant information about marine mammals--manatees--in an assessment approving of a new marina along the Orange River in Florida. And tourists were harrassing the manatees, which led to another complaint about USFWS's lack of enforcement of protections.

Perhaps this is the balance of interests he's known for?

Whether you agree with his philosophy on "balancing" competing "needs", there's no doubt Mr. Hamilton has a lot of experience, with many years at USF&WS. Yet none of his varied experience seems to be directly related to what will be at the heart of managing the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument--deep ocean ecology.

Which gets us back to that nitty gritty question: why USF&WS and not NOAA marine sanctuaries? aargh.

International Thespian Festival news

I've posted a long report on the International Thespian Festival on the CNMI Competitions blog, if you're interested.

A quick summary of some of the notable highlights:

19 TWPI students, 8 advisors/chaperones from Saipan.



About 2000 students from around the world (mostly the mainland USA, but also Dubai and of course, the CNMI).

More than 500 students competing in Individual Events (IEs).

4 TWPI students on the honorable mentions list (meaning they earned the highest overall rating-superior-given by the judges in their IEs): Aisha Joyner and Akeiko Dela Cruz in the top 6 of Duet Acting; Sung Yul (Tommy) Baik and Moon Hyo Lee in the top 9 of Mime.

And a new TWPI college auditions callback record--Kay Park (technical theatre--costume design; set design; and photography) with 21 colleges or universities putting her on their recruitment lists.

Somebody remind me...

Exactly what is Cinta Kaipat's position, that she can remove the Director of Labor from his position and appoint someone else in his place?

Oh yeah. Deputy Secretary of Labor. Wendy pretty much covers the topic, but I want to know why Barry has turned into a wimp and won't say anything. Is a job worth that?

Go Fish!

A game with interesting facts, and by playing you donate $1 to help prevent over-fishing. Go fish!

Photo by Mike & Faye Johnson

(thanks to Laurie P. for the link.)

The Long Arm of the Law

So Joey Arriola has been apprehended, at last.

This is good news, if you want to see all responsible parties face the music for the missing money from the Kaipat estate. I'm not sure whether it was Luis or Joey or Luis & Joey together who took the money, but they were both fiduciaries with a responsibility to protect the funds for all of the heirs. And they obviously didn't do that, as more than half a million dollars is reportedly missing.

I understand from the last trial, which ended in a hung jury, that Luis' defense is that he is a poor, stupid guy who relied on his lawyer and it is all the lawyer's fault. I think, as a fiduciary with a repsonsibility, this "defense" is insufficient as to the general duty to protect the fund. When he signed on to be administrator, he said he was capable of doing the job, so it's too late to claim ignorance and incompetence now. But I don't know enough about criminal law and the charges against him, or the evidence against him, to know whether he would be criminally guilty. However, I'm certainly glad he's being prosecuted so that the jury can figure that out.

And I'm glad that Joey will now have to face the same tune.

There were a lot of people who were going to share in that pot of money; it's really inexcusable that it went missing and they were robbed of their inheritance.

As for Joey's "capture"--can you imagine! What was he thinking when he went to the US embassy so he could get married in the Philippines?!! How polite of him to invite federal officials into his home when they came knocking, purportedly about his fiance's status.

He must have known that there was a federal criminal indictment out against him. He must have known that his passport had been revoked. He must have known it wasn't a good thing that law enforcement officials were at his door. Perhaps he wanted to be caught?