J.K. Rowling is the author of the most successful book series in history, but her attempt to take on a new career as a screenwriter hasn’t been as smooth as she may have thought it would be. The sequel(续篇), “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”, shows that even the most successful author in the world is in need of checks and balances when making the transition to cinema.

Following the sale of half a billion copies of the Harry Potter series, Rowling is working hard to extend and enrich the mythology she created around the child wizard. In contrast to the eight Harry Potter movies, which were based on the seven books and most of which were written by experienced screenwriter Steve Kloves, the “Fantastic Beasts” series is scripted only by Rowling. This time she skipped the bookstores and went straight to the movie theater.

The “Fantastic Beasts” series takes its title from one of Harry Potter’s textbooks. The leap backward in time, a new set of adult heroes and a globe-spanning background show that Rowling is in tune with her fans and the spirit of the times. Harry Potter and his friends started out as a typical product of 1990s naivety, but since then the loyal veteran audience has experienced the shocks of the 21^st century and grown mature and discouraged. The “Fantastic Beasts” series feel less like children’s fare; they deal with adults and frightening events that occurred in Europe at the end of the 1920s.

It’s 1927, and the criminal Grindelwald has escaped from prison to Europe. The hero, Newt Scamander, a zoologist of fantastic beasts, prefers to distance himself from politics and maintain his improvised nature reserve in London. But the young Prof. Dumbledore reminds him that neutrality is not an option in hard times. Dumbledore urges him to cross the Channel to Paris and stop Grindelwald, who is trying to plot a war to ensure the purity of the wizard race.

The rough outline of the plot constitutes only part of the movie. There are many other characters who appear in the mystery. I will mention the boy Credence who continues to have a central role in the struggle between the hero and the villain, even as his background remains a mystery. Similarly, Newt’s brother and partner, the snake-woman Nagini, and other new and old characters hint at an obscure past and future. Rowling populates her world with characters large and small, odd beasts and simplifies its story to lay the foundation work of the universe. The film lays strong foundations of mystery, but forgets to build any sort of structure above them. It’s like a construction site where the budget ran out too fast.

With movie screens full of superheroes and fantasy films, and every studio trying to float a fictional universe, Rowling is today’s most creative builder of cinema worlds, but there’s still a difference between her and a mega-corporation like Disney. Every character and beast is there because Rowling said so, not because the marketing division thought it would promote sales of merchandise. Rowling clearly has a true passion to create a mythology, and just as clearly, she hasn’t yet finished creating it.

The “Fantastic Beasts” series offers a world even fuller than that of Harry Potter. Once more she collaborates with David Yates, who directed the last four Harry Potter movies and now the two “Fantastic Beasts” pictures. Still, the world she’s created would be even more wondrous if Rowling had only filled it out with a crystallized or at least coherent plot. In the Harry Potter series, she mostly succeeded in making the films into independent works. But without experienced screenwriters to mediate between her imagination and the screen, the two “Fantastic Beasts” episodes are more like a chess game in which the creator moves characters from A to B as part of a broader strategy---which remains unclear.

“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is a film made for existing fans and doesn’t bother to appeal to a new audience. Not by chance does it offer a more mature world for fans who have grown up at least as much as Daniel Radcliffe. For them, the movie delivers the goods, but little of the magic remains. If Rowling continues to put out films without a beginning and an end, her world will collapse, leaving only the middle. It may be entertainment with captivating characters and effects, but it’s not a movie.

Lynn Colwell is a mixed-media artist in Redmond, Washington. In grade school, a teacher told her that she had no artistic talent and Lynn believed her. However, in 2015 when she retired, she hoped to have a new interest and began to take year-long online painting class.

"It blew me away," she says. She started painting striking portraits of women's faces, combined with short messages of hope almost every day. In five years, she's completed about 1,000 paintings.

Lynn gives her paintings away. She started with friends, but that only went so far. Then she read about a movement called Art Abandonment, which encourages artists to leave their art in public places for anyone to pick up. That gave her the idea of putting her work into the hands of strangers through Facebook.

Nearly every day, Lynn posts a painting on her Facebook page. The first person who responds saying they're interested in it has 24 hours to make a donation of $ 25 or more to their favorite nonprofit or an individual in need. Then the painting is theirs. Lynn doesn't' ask for proof(证明). She trusts that the people who want her paintings share her ideas.

Five years later, she's still amazed at the results. Her paintings have raised more than $ 57,000 for nonprofits such as animal rescue centers, homeless shelters as well as for people who have lost their jobs. Sometimes Lynn hears that a painting helped someone at the moment they needed it most. "That give me chills," she says.

To be a part of Lynn Colwell's art-for-a-cause effort, send her a friend request at facebook.com/lynncolwell. Then keep an eye out for a painting that speaks to you. Lynn personally approves each request, so she asks for your patience. Also, she spends most of her time in her art studio-there's painting to be done. "I wake up every day and can't wait to get started," she says.

I recently had dinner with someone who told me that one of his best friends had been killed in a private plane crash, and something happened at the memorial service that he'll never forget. He shared the story with me.

At the memorial service, his friend's wife walked to the platform to speak to the gathering. She said a friend had asked her the best memory she had of their life together. At the moment, she had been too sad to answer, but she had thought about it since and wanted to answer the question.

They were in their late forties when he died, and she began talking about a time in their life almost twenty years earlier. She had quit her job to obtain her master's degree, and her husband never hesitated in his support.

He held down his own job and also did the cooking, cleaning, and other housework while she studied for her degree.

One time they both stayed up all night. She was finishing her paper, and he was preparing for an important business meeting. That morning, she walked out of her study, leaned against the door by the stairs, looked at her husband downstairs and just thought about how much she loved him. She knew how important this meeting was to his future, and she was feeling guilty that she didn't even have time to make his breakfast. He took his briefcase and hurried out. She heard the garage door open and close, but much to her surprise, she heard it open again about thirty seconds later. From above, she watched her husband dash into the house and walk over to the forgotten coffee table. Marking the surface of it with his finger through the dust with the words "I love you", then he raced back to his car.

The new widow then looked out at her audience and said, "John and I had a wonderful life together. We have been around the world several times. We've had everything money can buy. . . but nothing comes close to that moment."

Hearing this, I was deeply moved. "Love makes life worthwhile. "