ee-ee-ee-ee-ee eet eet eet

The latest Regina Spektor album, Far, came out here just after I left for the UK, so I didn't buy it until I got back to New Zealand - a wait of two months which was HARD.

But now I have it, and have basically made up for two months missed music by listening to it constantly. By launching into vocal aerobics of made-up words when my flatmates least expect it (much less skilfully than the singer, too).

There are several things I love about Regina Spektor's music. One is the lack of pretension in her voice. She doesn't pull out the silly little tricks less creative artists use; she's just plain good at singing. Another is her playfulness, with tunefulness. She uses her voice like a musical instrument.

Personally, I enjoy this album just as much as 'Begin to Hope', at least. At this point I think I like it more. It's a little less radio-friendly; it seems a little more creative. However, I have been known to change my mind about CDs that I listen to over and over again. For now, however, I'm loving it.

My favourites: Human of the Year, Eet, Genius Next Door, Wallet, Machine, Laughing With and Dance Anthem of the 80s. (But actually I like them all and find it very hard to choose.)

Has anyone else opinions to share? I have been completely unable to discuss it with anyone because no one else I know has listened to it yet.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on the weekend - surprisingly, loved it! The only Harry Potter movie that I liked up until now was the Prisoner of Azkaban, although the Goblet of Fire wasn't bad. So I wasn't expecting much.

I think they did a fantastic job of making a complicated book understandable. They cut things out, yeah, and the purists will have an issue with that, I guess. But we all know that when you turn a novel into a movie you have to change stuff, and I think they changed the right stuff.

The two stand-out performances were, for me, the young Tom Riddle of Dumbledore's memories - who looked like a choir-boy but was deliciously creepy. The other was Jim Broadbent as Horace Slughorn. I've always liked Jim Broadbent - it's difficult not to - but I don't know if I've ever liked him as much as I did in this movie. He was exactly the right choice for Slughorn. He also made me giggle with delight for approximately two minutes after his hilarious, PERFECT performance at the funeral of Aragog.