Note: I swore up and down that I would not purchase this book until it came out in paperback, but I just couldn't resist after re-reading the fifth book. Especially since I knew, I just knew someone will post something in a livejournal, spoiling it for me. I didn't want it to be spoiled. Now I'm tempted to go hunt down Rowling and steal her manuscript for the next one. In any case, no spoilers here today. I promise.
Actually, I am full of lies! Other than the huge bruise on my foot from sparring which causes me to limp, today has treated me remarkably well. For no particular reason, and I despised the heat, but I feel good about the day!
Except that accursed Potter book. I've never really felt that they were remarkably well-written, or special in any astounding way. It's always bothered me that they're slightly corny about things like love, and oh, the way the characters are all named so predictably (Snape, Draco, Lupin, Maxime, et cetera). As
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
sutphin523 put it this afternoon, "It excels in its mediocrity."(I know I'm going to get the shit kicked out of me tomorrow by a bunch of groupies in homemade Gryffindor costumes with fake Cockney accents for saying this.)
Actually, this last book was my favorite. I have to admire an author who can kill off one of the main characters; it's like throwing away a watercolor painting you did of your family in the second grade. Also, I was afraid that Rowling would carefully skirt the issue of sex and pretend that teenagers don't do things like making out. She didn't, but she still managed to keep it clean for the kiddies who will undoubtedly be reading.
Though I must say I agree with
crazilla's feelings on the video game GTA: San Andreas and its fiasco with the video game rating board, from here:You ridicule the government-sponsored rating system that encourages 17-year-olds to join their younger siblings and friends to enjoy the gory deaths of the racist population of a crime-ridden city but not to exhibit the naked beauty of untarnished human bodies having consensual sex.
So, yes, killing people in Harry Potter is all good and well, but we better not show anything more than snogging, or the Christians (yes, even in Britain) will become enraged and the Apocalypse will come (e.g., they'll kill us all for being god-hating sex-loving liberals).
Now that I've completely contradicted myself concerning this book, I think I'm going to go take a shower or some shit like that.
EDIT: Ever notice those MPAA ratings that explain why movies are rated whatever they're rated? "Rated PG-13 for epic battles!" Yeah, that's Lord of the Rings. I'm pretty sure this one is going to be something like, "Rated PG-13 for language (cursing and hexing) and magical murders, along with hints of a drug culture in Hogwarts!" Those who have read the book will understand what this means. The rest of you may now go feel left out.
July 21 2005, 03:32:24 UTC 6 years ago
This picture is for your religious banter
What is a Cockney accent?July 21 2005, 06:03:03 UTC 6 years ago
Re: This picture is for your religious banter
Roight instead of right, and a tendency to drop consonants in favor of vocal stops. Think of that pirate in Pirates who says, "'ello, poppet!" That's pretty close.July 21 2005, 03:44:58 UTC 6 years ago
July 21 2005, 06:03:33 UTC 6 years ago
July 21 2005, 03:56:28 UTC 6 years ago
i think this is part of why the books are so damn popular. it's so the masses have a common discussion point. a feeling that "well everyone else has read it so i should, too. partly so i know what that person is talking about." harry potter and that damn "davinici code."
also, i think theres always a fascination with the supernatural. harry potter is good because it's fantasy but still within the bounds of our own world. close enough that it doesn't feel too forgein. the characters and gravity all work like we expect, more or less.
i don't know, i think i'd like the books a lot more if they weren't about whiny teens. maybe it's because i hated my teenage years and knew how annoying me and my friends were.
July 21 2005, 06:05:37 UTC 6 years ago
But what I really like about HP and Davinci Code (not to mention Brown's other books) is that I can't put them down, no matter what, until I finish them.
July 21 2005, 19:29:52 UTC 6 years ago
My point is that the Harry Potter books actually are good, and well-written, not just some washout hype that the masses eats up. It's a pretty rare gem, which is why she's making so much bloody money.
Also, I thought The Da Vinci Code was a load of boring, cheap nonsense that I got disgusted with before I could finish reading halfway through.
July 21 2005, 04:00:13 UTC 6 years ago
Oh right, because shock news stories make great planks in a campaign platform, and internet porn is mostly played out. I really expected better out of Hillary.
July 21 2005, 06:06:54 UTC 6 years ago
I'm seriously hoping McCain gets the Republican nomination so I don't have to vote for her. =)
July 21 2005, 15:32:16 UTC 6 years ago
That is, you will have to, not you will be the nominee--at least to my knowledge you aren't among the early front-runners for the GOP nod.
In truth I'm secretly hoping that Warner (M., not J.) runs for/wins the Dem. nomination (definite possibility) and George Allen will continue along his present trajectory and get that of the GOP, so it would be like a home-state showdown, in which Northern Virginia is pitted against all the rest of it, a la the Civil War.
And then there's Dem. Brian Schweitzer of Montana as a dark dark DARK horse, like Horse that Headless Horseman rode dark horse. He is just the most kickass bolo-tie wearing nutjob. As are most Montanans, to varying degrees of kick-assery.
July 21 2005, 15:37:56 UTC 6 years ago
P.S.
Her anti-GTA stance is, I'm pretty sure, a rather clumsy attempt to adopt (very visibly )a DLC/PPI pet policy, on which we recently released a series of reports; i.e. the cynical corporate manipulation of childhood for purposes of profit, and the corruption of "children's culture" more generally. As Bill did way back when, she's been aligning herself with us (or at least affiliating herself etc, because I'd argue she's always been something of a center-dweller) of late, and look where that got him.This in turn is part of a grander strategy of winning back the Family Vote, which we have been, distressingly, losing. It's all very calculating and has just about nothing to do with Autos or the Grand Theft thereof. It could have been any game, really. This one's just "sexier."
July 21 2005, 15:45:24 UTC 6 years ago
Re: P.S.
Can you guys link me up to this Hillary/GTA story? I haven't heard a thing about it. My general philosophy on this sort of thing is: children playing GTA = bad, censorship = much worse. And I really don't like it when Democrats are all "waaah, pop culture is scary."6 years ago
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July 21 2005, 04:58:00 UTC 6 years ago
Ha ha, you said 'cock.'
July 21 2005, 06:06:14 UTC 6 years ago
July 21 2005, 14:32:15 UTC 6 years ago
So when did Dr. Vicious, M.D. attain the rank of Sorting Hat?
July 21 2005, 14:58:23 UTC 6 years ago
They haven't shown us any actually good people from Slytherin, though.
Therefore, you are wrong. =P
I think you'd be a Gryffindor, sir.
July 21 2005, 15:41:47 UTC 6 years ago
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July 21 2005, 15:38:00 UTC 6 years ago
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July 21 2005, 16:15:02 UTC 6 years ago
And, yes, it is an opportunity to revert to childhood by dressing up in costume and acting silly. The teenagers, i admit, are young and naïve, and it'll be helpful for them to associate with the more mature fan audiences.
July 22 2005, 07:28:13 UTC 6 years ago
(saying this as a fan of both HP and Star Wars)
July 22 2005, 14:26:29 UTC 6 years ago
July 22 2005, 19:25:31 UTC 6 years ago
July 21 2005, 19:39:23 UTC 6 years ago
July 22 2005, 14:27:51 UTC 6 years ago
"Grown teenage girls" - 17-19 years old.