“I got this one,” he indicated another slash to his face, “for asking how much Muggle blood she and her brother have got.”
“Blimey, Neville,” said Ron, “there’s a time and a place for getting a smart mouth.”
“You didn’t hear her,” said Neville. “You wouldn’t have stood it either. The thing is, it helps when people stand up to them, it gives everyone hope. I used to notice when you did it, Harry.”
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling
According to the assumptions by which Hollywood usually operates, Pitch Perfect should never have been an success. It was a musical about nerds, a film about women made mostly by women, with no box office stars to its name. It wasn’t a sequel, a remake, a superhero movie, or any of the typically bankable films that Hollywood regularly pumps out. Its eventual success happened not in spite of the things seemingly stacked against it, but because of them. It was a film that celebrated women the way it celebrated music, and served not the stereotypical male “geek culture” that movies like The Avengers cater to, but instead it embraced the nerd inside of us. The one that’s sometimes awkward or embarrassed, that hides from the world around us, but is immensely passionate about whatever it is that we love, music or otherwise. And in the end it made big stars out of its cast of familiar faces. There is no other movie among my friends and acquaintances that is as universally loved as Pitch Perfect, and it is always one of the first answers given to the question, “What should we watch?” Its passionate fanbase meant that a sequel was inevitable, and the only question was whether they could recapture lightning in a bottle and make something as special as the film that captured so many hearts. The answer isn’t quite so simple, but Pitch Perfect 2 is still a lot of fun, and it fills a niche that is too often ignored by Hollywood.
Buffy: Come on, Mom, please?
Joyce: I’m sorry, honey.
Buffy: Don’t you understand how important this is?
Joyce: It’s an outfit. An outfit that you may never buy.
Buffy: But I looked good in it.
Joyce: You looked like a streetwalker.
Buffy: But a thin streetwalker… That’s probably not gonna be the winning argument, is it?
Joyce: You’re just too young to wear that.
Buffy: Yeah, and I’m gonna be too young to wear it until I’m too old to wear it.
Joyce: That’s the idea.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 2: Episode 12 – “Bad Eggs”
They had each received an official notification the day before, and for some reason each had brought it with him, folded or rolled. After a while Babbington and Ricketts took to changing all the words they could into obscenities, secretly in a corner, while Mowett wrote and scratched out on the back of his, counting syllables on his fingers and silently mouthing. Lucock stared straight ahead of him into vacancy. Stephen intently watched the busy unsatisfied questing of a shining dark-red rat-flea on the chequered sailcloth floor.
Master and Commander – Patrick O’Brian
Before Tomorrowland is a bit of a difficult book to categorize, not that categories are necessarily important. It’s technically a prequel to the Disney film Tomorrowland, in theaters this weekend, but it features none of the characters from the new movie. It almost requires a familiarity with at least the premise if not the trailers for the film or even the Alternate Reality Game “The Optimist”, and the imagery that we’ve seen thus far continually floated through my mind as I read the book. It tells an interesting story on its own, but even more it serves as a palate whetter for the film, offering just enough backstory and explanation while still leaving the right amount of mystery and curiosity to energize my interest in the film (already at an all-time high, as Tomorrowland is my most anticipated film of the year, even ahead of Star Wars). The result is a novel that’s almost impossible to objectively view on its own, yet which is perfectly placed to capitalize on this exact moment, although I imagine that only the most die-hard fans will have sought it out. Yet it’s also a fun, exciting, fascinating story in its own right, with an interesting twist on some familiar faces from history as well as an intriguing look at what might have been and what we someday might accomplish together.
Jake Sisko: Any idea where you’re gonna live?
Miles O’Brien: No, Keiko and I’re still mulling over a few possibilities.
Worf: Have you ever considered Minsk?
Miles O’Brien: I don’t think that’s on our list.
Benjamin Sisko: New Orleans is a gorgeous city.
Kasidy Yates: I’ve heard great things about Paris.
Worf: Minsk.
Ezri Dax: Jadzia loved Rio.
Odo: Well, you’ve certainly got a lot of choices.
Miles O’Brien: Yeah, too many, hm?
Worf: Minsk.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 7: Episode 25 – “What You Leave Behind”
He started walking backward, beaming, drinking them in. “Never mind that stuff. . . . Is it true? Did you break into Gringotts? Did you escape on a dragon? It’s everywhere, everyone’s talking about it, Terry Boot got beaten up by Carrow for yelling about it in the Great Hall at dinner!”
“Yeah, it’s true,” said Harry.
Neville laughed gleefully.
“What did you do with the dragon?”
“Released it into the wild,” said Ron. “Hermione was all for keeping it as a pet —”
“Don’t exaggerate, Ron —”
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling
The Love Pirate 