End of Harry Potter spoilers

This is a post-dated post. If the date and time indicated for this post have not yet passed, there may be new material underneath.

There are no Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince spoilers below this post. There is speculation, including speculation based on the book covers and jkrowling.com. However, all material below this post was written before I'd read HBP.

Fun with Polish

The Polish masculine noun for homosexual (homosexualista) declines in the feminine.

I would love to see someone write a paper on that!

Parents and children, please read this first

If you are underage, especially if you are under 13:

Even though I write about Harry Potter a lot, I am an adult. I am writing for other adults, not for children. This means that some of the things I write might be boring, or might upset you, or might upset your parents.

If you are not sure whether it is okay for you to read my blog, please get one of your parents to look at it first. They'll probably say yes, and trust you more because you chose to go to them.

If you are a parent:

This disclaimer is here because some children seem to be finding my blog by searching for Harry Potter.

I am an adult and am writing without consideration for the fact that children might read my blog. I don't have children of my own and don't know anything about child development, but if I had to guess I'd say this blog is just as appropriate for children as your average daily broadsheet newspaper, although probably more partisan and of less educational value. Please feel free to have a look around and peruse my archives, and use your own judgement to decide whether it is appropriate for your child to read my blog.

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Final pre-HBP Harry Potter roundup

1. On the deluxe edition cover, I think the house is Godric's Hollow.

2. I think that Harry and Dumbledore on the deluxe edition cover are in a Pensieve memory - the same Pensieve that is on the cover of the green version

3. I think we will see Norbert the dragon again.

4. I think Cho Chang gets a short shrift in fandom. There is nothing wrong with her, it's just she and Harry had different needs. She wants a dashing knight in shining armour who can hold her hand and dry her tears, and she sees the knight in shining armour potential in the brave and heroic Harry. Harry is attracted to her because she's pretty, and has this abstract idea that a girlfriend is "fun", and doesn't understand why she's sad and lacks the ability to empathize with her. The impression I get of Cho's character is that she's still in mourning for Cedric, but people are encouraging her to "move on" or "get on with your life" or whatever platitudes people like to spout, so she pursues Harry because of physical attraction and/or because of the knight in shining armour potential and/or because he has expressed interest in her in the past. Just because Harry has disdain for her tears doesn't mean that her tears are deserving of disdain. She's grieving and confused, and just because Harry is so insensitive so as not to see that doesn't mean that we as readers need be.

5. A lot of people make mistakes and bad choices in OOTP. I, even as an adult, learned a few things about how to generally make better choices from watching the mistakes of these characters. This makes me wonder if kids closer to Harry's age can also learn from this book about the benefits of being open and transparent and going to the appropriate authorities when you have problems.

6. I think we will hear more about Unspeakables.

What kinds of losersaurus steals a laundry hamper?

I was doing laundry, and someone stole my hamper out of the laundry room! WTF??? The ridiculous application procedures to get into this building, all the hoops I had to jump through, and they can't even keep out people who steal laundry hampers??? I am not impressed.

Not dead yet

Yes, there was a bomb scare at Sheppard station

No, there was not a bomb

No, I did not die, or suffer anything worse than a 20-minute inconvenience, because there was no bomb

Yes, I may be incommunicado (or should that be incommunicada?) for parts of today, but that's because I'm doing laundry, not because I'm dead

Thank you

Harry Potter fanfic patterns

I've noticed that when religion is introduced into HP fanfic, almost always the author is male. I've also noticed that whenever I read a fic that has religion, it also has a rather bizarre sense of machismo. Of course, I have read male authors that don't use religion and I have read machismo that doesn't use religion, but when there is religion I'd say 95% of the time you're going to have a male author and a macho Harry.

Nuviana Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot

This wine is very interesting, because it's tannic but still easy to drink. I can't explain why or how this happens, but it's good to know. This is a wine for if you're a vegetarian sharing a bottle with someone who's eating a steak dinner.

The purpose of the Triwizard Tournament

I just realized that the Triwizard Tournament has an important purpose in the overall narrative: because Harry is a contestant in the tournament, he learns all kinds of Defence skills that he never would have learned otherwise! This allows him to run the DA in book 5, and will doubtless help him eventually defeat Voldemort!

Hagrid for Half-Blood Prince!

I just noticed in GOF (at least according to a Rita Skeeter article, which, of course, may be way off) that Hagrid's mother's "whereabouts are unknown." That certainly leaves a nice little blank to fill in!

Brilliant Ideas that will Never Work: Ask a bad guy

Imagine if they came up with a way where you could have a civil, rational and honest conversation with a "bad guy" to find out what they are thinking. A "bad guy" could be a thief, murderer, rapist, bully, terrorist, torturer - any kind of person who does things that average people don't understand. Actually, they could have the reverse too - a "good guy" could be asked questions by a "bad guy" and they could share points of view.

I have absolutely no idea how this could be carried off logisitcally and how you would get the participants to be honest (I could make it work using the technology available in the Potterverse, but that's neither here nor there).

I can think of all kinds of questions I'd like to ask all kinds of people. Ask a bully: "What were you hoping to achieve? Did you realize that other people are human beings with thoughts and feelings? How did you pick your victims?" Ask the people I've heard of that stick their hands up girls' skirts in the subway: "How do you pick your victims? Why do you think you're entitled to do this?" Ask homophobics: "What specific negative effects do you think same-sex marriage is going to have on opposite-sex marriage, and why?" Ask religious fanatics of all stripes: "What specific aspects of my everyday behaviour do you think are harmful to you and your loved ones and why?"

The point of this is not to debate or convert, it's simply to understand what the other person is thinking. You don't have to agree with them, the goal is just to see how their mind works. I haven't the slightest idea how this could be successfully carried off, but it would be brilliant if it could.

Chuck Cadman died!

Chuck Cadman died yesterday of skin cancer.

Harry Potter recurring items

I've noticed that Harry's broomstick servicing kit (which Hermione bought him for his 13th birthday) has been mention quite a few times.

Hoya de Cadenas Reserva Tempranillo

I like this one. It's very fruity. There are bits of smokey undertones and I'm usually not that fond of smokey flavours, but I do like it as a whole. It's also quite reasonably priced considering the vintage - the 1999 costs what you'd usually pay for a 2003.

And while we're on the subject of terrorism...

Another thing I don't understand is the attitude I've seen from some corners where they don't care at all what the terrorists' motivation is. Some people are acting like even inquiring into what the motivation might be is like saying the terrorists are right. I can't understand this - not just because understanding the motive seems to be a good first step in preventing the crime from reoccurring in the future, but also because I'm always fascinated by learning the motives of people who do things that I would never do or that it would never occur to me to do. I'm interested in why terrorists choose to be terrorists for the same reason I'm interested in why people become rapists or murderers or bullies, or why a person would not want to be an organ donor, or why a person would got terribly sick and puking and miserable for days from having 17 drinks last weekend would have 17 drinks again this weekend.

"They hate our freedom"

With the recent London bombings, I'm hearing phrases like "They hate our freedom" being bandied about once again as explanations for why terrorists are bombing things.

I'll be the first to admit that I haven't read extensively on terrorist motivation, but I can't help thinking that "They hate our freedom" reminds me of the useless platitudes that grownups would say about bullies when I was a kid. "They're just trying to get attention, just ignore them." "They just want you to react. Don't react and they'll go away." "They're just jealous of you." "They just have low self-esteem." Just as I cannot imagine someone thinking "I want attention. I think I will call the girl behind me names that imply that she engages in degrading sex acts that she hasn't even heard of yet" or "I am going to put spiders in the hair of the class arachnophobic because I want to see her react," I cannot imagine someone thinking "Those people are free. I hate that. I shall bomb them." (Particularly since anyone who can organize a terror campaign must have at least as much personal freedom as I do.)

Based on the limited reading I have done so far plus applying simple logic and reasoning to my knowledge of the global socio-political situation, I'd assume that this terrorism is more in response to certain elements of foreign policy that the terrorists construe as military occupation of their holy lands or attacks on their religious values and/or way of life. I've read that they're unhappy with the Israel/Palestine situation and the fact that the US (and maybe some of its allies? I don't know offhand) has a military presence in Saudi Arabia and perhaps some other Arab countries, and this makes more sense to me as a motivation for terrorism than hating the freedom in some distant country.

I wonder what the terrorist think of being told that they hate our freedom?

Censorship

There's a newspaper ad for Blue Cross that depicts a little baby on the beach, being held up in a standing position by his hand by an adult, so that he can play at walking. I can't tell you numerically how old the baby would be, but he's too young to walk by himself, but old enough to walk in a walker or when held up by a grownup. He's just a bit taller than up to his parent's knees. The photo is taken from the back, so we see the back of the baby framed by his parent's legs, and the slogan says "Protection doesn't get any better than this," with a blurb on the side about Blue Cross. The ad is on the bottom of page A22 of today's Toronto Star, if you want to see it.

I've seen this ad before. When I saw it before, the baby was naked. Today, the baby has a blue bathing suit rather obviously edited on. It's rather funny, because if the bathing suit were real it wouldn't leave any room for a diaper, and I seriously doubt anyone would take a baby that age out in clothing without a diaper.

I'm kind of surprised that people would complain. In retrospect I can see their point, because the nudity was completely gratuitous and I'd assume this would be the sort of thing that would titillate a pedophile, but it would never have occurred to me upon seeing the original ad that someone might complain.

So...yeah...London

I haven't written about London yet because I'm not feeling anything about it. I realize this sounds cold and callous and reflects poorly on me. I certainly realize it's a tragedy and sympathy is called for etc. But my strong emotional reactions to tragedies tend to come from empathy with the victims and their families. I imagine "OMG! What if that was me?" and then I picture myself in that situation and fret about whatever would I do.

The thing about London though, is between Sept. 11 and the blackout in 2003, I've already fretted about everything that the London bombings would normally cause me to fret about. I've already played over dozens of worst-case scenarios in my head and subconsciously come up with action plans for each of them. I've already been through the drastic emotional reaction, and it just doesn't seem to be happening again. I've left appropriate wishes and condoleances in appropriate places, read the newspaper coverage thoroughly, checked to see if they could use donations of anything, nodded solemnly at the half-mast flag and given a grateful smile to the transit cops who are suddenly showing up everywhere. But I just don't think the tears are going to happen.

It is possible that I've lost all fear of terrorism. When I think about the possibility of my getting caught in a bombing, I'm surprisingly zen about it. If I die, I die. My death is inevitable anyway, it's just a question of when. If I am maimed, I am maimed. I have disability insurance, a particularly good computer that would certainly be willing to take on any necessary adaptations to accommodate disabilities, and a job that I could do from home. If someone important to me dies, that would upset me more, but, given my genetics and my strange habit of befriending people who happen to have health issues, in the back of my mind I've always assumed I'll outlive everyone I know anyway. Que sera sera.

Potterverse science

If a Parselmouth becomes an Animagus, but their Animagus form is not a snake, can they still speak Parseltongue?