My partner and I went to see...Transformers...last night at Block E (even though Block E is hideously ugly, I love going there. Partially because I love movies, because Block E is so close to where I live, and because Block E has a clientele whose racial makeup echoes that of a Minneapolis public high school, and/or my neighborhood. African American, Latino American, Indian/Native American, East African American, South East Asian American, and White/Euro American. And the occasional Korean adoptee.) 
So, my partner was underwhelmed but I was fairly entertained by this movie. I thought the transformation process was really visually exciting. I experienced almost complete suspension of disbelief (what does this say about me?). I really enjoyed Shia LaBeouf's performance--he is the new John Cusack, but less hangdog, with more range. Maybe John Cusack and...someone else's love child? My partner thinks he looks like Russell Crowe. I don't get that. Anyway, I predict great things! From Wikipedia: Shia LaBeouf (pronounced [ˈʃajə lə'bʌf], "Shy-uh La-Buff"[8]) was born in Los Angeles, California, the only child of Shayna (née Saide), a dancer and ballerina turned visual artist and jewelry designer, and Jeffrey Craig LaBeouf, a Vietnam War veteran who "drifted" from job to job, working as a mime at a circus and as a rodeo clown. LaBeouf's maternal grandfather, who shared his first name, was a comedian who worked in the Borscht Belt of the Catskill Mountains, and his paternal grandmother was a Beatnik poet and lesbian who associated with Allen Ginsberg.[12][3][13] The name "Shia" is Hebrew for 'gift from God' and the surname "LaBeouf" is a misspelling of "Le Boeuf", the French term for 'the beef'.[12][14] LaBeouf has said that he comes from "five generations of performers" and was "acting when I came out of the womb".[11] LaBeouf's father is a Cajun (once described by LaBeouf as a "Ragin' Cajun") and his New York-born mother is Jewish, and LaBeouf was raised in the Jewish religion and had a Bar Mitzvah.[11][14][15][16][17][18][19] LaBeouf has described his parents as "hippies",
his father as "tough as nails and a different breed of man", and his
upbringing as similar to a "hippy lifestyle", stating that his parents
were "pretty weird people, but they loved me and I loved them".[11][20] LaBeouf's father used to grow cannabis, and the two smoked marijuana together when LaBeouf was ten.[9][11] LaBeouf has also said that his father was "on drugs" during his childhood, being addicted to heroin and placed in drug rehabilitation for heroin addiction, while LaBeouf's mother was "trying to hold down the fort".[9]
His parents eventually divorced, and he had what he has described as a
"good childhood", growing up poor with his mother (who worked selling
fabrics and brooches) in Echo Park, Los Angeles, California, and attending a predominantly Latino and African-American school,
Transformers on a racial/political/gender level was highly problematic/unimpressive--from the American soldiers in Qatar, to the South Asian telephone operator, to the two bimbo-y female characters (one who is supposed to be a signal analyst called in by the Pentagon) who are definitely there for eye candy and not for their acting skills or plausability...but...really, I don't need to spill any ink on that. It's all too obvious. The movie was basically The Iron Giant for teenage (and older) boys. These kinds of movies make me think--is the human species really worth protecting, when we are the ultimate destroyers of all other forms of life on this planet? Upsetting.
Before we got our tickets, we decided to buy a copy of HP for our daughter, who is currently with a friend on vacation. I started reading it last night. I'm only a few pages in. I always wonder, what is Voldemort's problem? I mean, clearly he's a sociopath and a psychopath. But what's his goal? World domination? Do the muggles actually bother him? What have the "mudbloods" ever done to him? Why does he care about ridding the magic world of mudbloods? And how does this magic work anyway, is it just people from Europe, which, in the book does include people of color such as the Patel sisters, Cho Chang, etc.? And why is Harry such a...dud...and Severus Snape actually the most interesting character?
My big hope is that Rowling will start a series after this one that has a female lead. Hermione Granger is also significantly more interesting than Harry Potter, who is generally so reactive, and kind of thick. I suppose he's the classic hero--more courage than brains, more love than intellect. That's OK. I guess. Maybe there will be a spin-off series where Cho Chang repatriates to Korea and becomes the next president of the ROK and peacefully reunites the peninsula, demilitarizes the south, reforms all the oppressive labor laws, ends intercountry adoption, perfects the social welfare system, and leads a worldwide movement of nuclear disarmament. Oh, and regains food sovereignty for all non-US countries. Now that would be a series I would order in advance. 
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