Righto.
I'm ashamed to admit this, but I'm a Harry Potter fan. Loved the books, loved the movies and when the opportunity came to be in America, in the home of bad Hollywood films, me and a couple of friends grabbed it with both hands. I'm not going to factor the cost of the flights into the cost of the weekend, since to be absolutely fair I was going to America anyway. The thing is though apart from car rental costs, hotel costs etc (which ate up an absolutely huge amount of money) even the basics cost a lot. It wasn't as though we were shopping in the most exclusive of boutiques (we'd have a look but not buy) we were simply getting normal sort of stuff. But for food in particular if you weren't willing to eat greasy hotdogs, pizza and burgers there was absolutely nothing that was of reasonable value. We're talking $9 for a pitiful looking salad in a box, or $40 dollars for a bowl of mediocre spaghetti.

The bills were mounting up. My family had been extremely decent and booked me the flights, but everything else was basically coming out a student loan that was shrinking by the day. It reached a point about two days before we were going to home that I was pretty much broke. My taxi fare was protected and safe as was my airline ticket and I had a $100 left. So me and my friends did what we had come to California for and went to see the Harry Potter tour at Universal Pictures. Which in itself was hugely expensive, I winced as I paid. But it was pretty much worth it to see the sets and props and so on. You might be thinking well this all sounds like reasonable costs. However there were signs up all over the place about not touching anything at all, it was like being in a china shop- being warned that if we broke anything then we would have to pay.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm clumsy- all elbows and tripping over my feet, so I was being incredibly careful with myself. And as always happens when I slow down and try to be steady, I fall behind everyone else. And walk in the wrong direction. Away from the bright, shiny lights and fellow tourers, and into what was basically the dark part of film. I was still repeating the mantra 'look, but don't touch' to myself and it was working (pretty much) until I came across what was obviously a prop room. Filled with broken props- nothing special and therefore nothing valuable (I can be a bit stupid sometimes) including a large stone plinth and bowl. Now any Harry Potter fans reading this will know exactly what I'm talking about, though there was some confusion since the bowl was filled with screws, nuts and bolts and obviously not serving it's original purpose as a holder of memories. Looking closer I realised that the reason this prop had been taken out of service and off display was that part of it had crumbled and broken off. And being incredibly stupid I tripped over and landed on it. Naturally the unstable part broke off and sent me to the floor clutching an even more broken prop.

That was my adventure with an ex-pensieve weak-end

Disclaimer: absolutely nothing in this story is true. I have sadly never even been to America, nor am I a Harry Potter fan
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 18 May 2010, 21:12, 13 replies)

you owe me 2 minutes.
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Tue 18 May 2010, 21:47, closed)

starts counting
sorry
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 18 May 2010, 21:48, closed)

you're not a harry potter fan
and yet you know what a pensieve is? i call bullshit ;)
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Tue 18 May 2010, 21:50, closed)

my memory is like a sieve
I can't remember anything important, couldn't tell you what I had for lunch. But read a book or watch a film once and it is pretty much imprinted for life.

Though you're right. I did read Harry Potter in my youth and enjoyed it. But fan has a different set of connotations in their world
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 18 May 2010, 21:53, closed)

i actually enjoy the films
they make a nice change to the horror i usually watch
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Tue 18 May 2010, 21:58, closed)

any good titles?
am on the outlook for some good horror films for a film night
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 18 May 2010, 21:59, closed)

depends if you want scary or a bit silly
the boneyard is a great film, very creepy to start with, but contains an unexpectedly hilarious scene or two.
demons is a good one, although dubbed. for pure gross-out gore, i'd recommend braindead, the goriest horror ever made.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Tue 18 May 2010, 22:03, closed)

Braindead is indeed a fabulous film.
For some Italian over the top horror watch some Dario Argento. Pure class..
( Herb Alpert's Taxi Driver I have very beautiful lips, Tue 18 May 2010, 23:52, closed)

yep
he wrote the screenplay for demons, one of my favourites
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Wed 19 May 2010, 0:23, closed)

Not sure whether to hold my head in my hands
or high-five you......*clicks*
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Tue 18 May 2010, 22:02, closed)

I have logged in
just to click this, marvellous
(insomniac-surfer oh go on then, just this once, Tue 18 May 2010, 22:04, closed)

oh, come on!
ssssssssspang!
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Wed 19 May 2010, 8:16, closed)

Halfway through there was no way I was clicking this
unless you finished up kicking Hedwig in the cunt and breaking her cunt bone and had to pay a big vet bill,

but, then, just for the words,

"nor am I a Harry Potter fan"

CLICK
(bad_advice QOTW survivor from the first trollocost!, Wed 19 May 2010, 8:47, closed)