Harry Potter and The Real World

Like millions of others, I ventured to my local theater in the middle of the night to experience the first public showing of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Yes, I am a Harry Potter nerd and will admit so proudly. I am unashamed that I have attended midnight book release parties in wire rim glasses, fighting through crowds of tweens for my pre-reserved copy. I am proud to have dawned a Harry Potter costume on Halloween that perfectly represented the beloved character save for the fact that it was unmentionably short and I was blonde. I am not afraid to admit that I cried when (spoiler alert!) dear, dear Dumbledore met an untimely death (in the book ONLY, the movie really failed to create the same emotion). And, as of this very moment I am proud that Dumbledore is apparently a name recognized by the all powerful spell checker of Microsoft Word. Thank you Bill Gates for making my day.

But don’t worry, dear friends, I shall not regale you with a play by play of the movie. I will not tell you that the movie fails to include crucial plot points. Nor will I complain about the lack of action and emotion. I won’t tell you to read the book and take the movie with a grain of salt.

No, I will do none of those things. Rather, I will tell you about the awesome events revolving my movie going experience. You see, there was ever so much more to this outing than Harry Potter. There was mobile Trivial Pursuit while waiting in line, crazy people in shitty costumes, contraband candy smuggled in an oversized purse, awkwardly timed clapping and the realization that Diet Doctor Pepper now comes in the most exquisite cherry flavor.

Yet these midnight joys were not the highlight of my trip to Carmike. The highlight was picking theater 2, finding the only four open seats placed together and realizing whom I was sitting next to. There, directly to my left, was perhaps the closest thing Missoula, Montana has ever had to a celebrity: The Real World girl.

Allow me to elaborate. The last season of MTV’s original reality show, The Real World, took place in Brooklyn. Of the eight roommates picked to create canned drama, one was living in Missoula. Her name was Katelynn and if you don’t know about her you can read up on her here (after crawling out from under your rock of course). If you are too lazy to do some extra homework for this blog, I will save you the hassle and sum it all up and tell you she is a post-op, transgendered woman.

Sitting down, I realized how familiar she looked. It was one of those have I, haven’t I, have I seen this person before type of moments. Then, upon hearing her voice, I realized that this indeed was Katelynn who I have been dying to see for the last nine months. You see, Missoula is a small town and we take what excitement we can get; a girl on The Real World totally counts as excitement. So naturally, ever since I saw her say, “I’m living in Missoula” on national TV I have hoped to chance upon Katelynn.

And then I did, “Cor (awesome roommate who we shall examine in later posts), do you know who that is?!” I whispered in his ear. Needless to say Cor didn’t know when he casually glanced over, apparently he doesn’t watch quite as much shitty television as I do.

But before I managed to get out, “It’s Katelynn from The…”

“Holy shit, from The Real World?!” spilled out of Cor’s mouth. Reality stardom apparently is a big enough deal to overcome television-viewing preferences in a small town.

As I sat there enjoying the feeling of achieving a sad long-term goal, a Twilight preview flashed across the screen.

“Gag, I bet half the girls in here are falling in love right now. Stupid, stupid movie.”

Dear God she spoke! Quick, say something, “Yeah and the other half are smart enough to know the definition of stupid.”

And then she laughed. While making fun of Twilight, Katelynn and I shared a brief moment of bonding that can only be achieved over bashing fantasy films. Not only had I seen Katelynn, we’d shared a disgust for teenage vampire love stories. I was in awe. Midnight Harry Potter, illegal movie treats and Katelynn. Best. Movie night. Ever.