1st argument about the owl – it’s the loss of one of Harry’s last ties to childhood. It’s an abstract shift away from the innocence he once had due to the responsibilities being forced onto him. And you should stop speculating intentions while the interpretations themselves remain lost on you. 2nd about voldemorts’s flying – this establishes [one] His isolation from everyone else [two] the extent of his power and [three] the tension from something that has a “hawk’s eye view” 3) Moody’s death made an impact that was literally ephasized throughout the story. You’re downplaying it way more than how it was written. 4) The pacing was fine. You probably didn’t catch on to the character development. Your mediocre attention span is not a valid argument for the quality of the book. 5) Bill and Fleur’s wedding had small but important plot developments that were hit upon more strongly later in the book. It was also to show the last salvaging of happiness in the war and the failure of even that to remain pure. 6) I disagree about the Dumbledore backstory part – that “somebody who was dead” was a major, MAJOR character in the first 6 books, not just a “somebody.” And the deeper look into Dumbedore’s early life is a theme of reality vs. illusion. And the focus was temporarily on Dumbledore; you act as if the story became “Albus Dumbledore” rather than “Harry Potter” and it really wasn’t like that. 7) Camping section complaints are more for character development, especially showing the transition in the trio’s friendship deterioration and survival. Again, it’s all on understanding and attention span dude. About Ron – it’s a little thing called the character’s fatal flaw. It’s a tool that gives a character more life and realistic behavior. Also, I’m kinda confused about you’re ideas of Ron; it’s like you’re trying as hard as you can to find a reason to hate him. You were given a list of his goods which you countered with bads. Big whoop, he’s imperfect – he’s as human as a literary character can get. What you didn’t do was explain how these bads outweigh the goods. 9) The horcruxes weren’t really that rushed, but it is a good point – however, it’s a great strategy when building to the climax – sort of a manifestation of the battle rushing quickly towards harry. 10) The deaths, although numerous compared to previous books, show the uncaring nature of the world – how life goes on even if yours doesn’t and that death doesn’t discriminate since everyone is fair game. Quite a few antagonists died as well so you can’t really say it’s just for shock value that she’s killing the characters people love. 11) About Ron not dying – /dude/ you’re just projecting your own fantasies now. Stick with fanfiction instead of the actual book if you don’t like the way the story ends, but don’t claim that the book sucks because it didn’t happen the way you wanted it to happen. That’s just ignorant. 12) About the feuds – Molly fought in place of Neville for several reasons. [one] Bellatrix was threatening her family [two] The characters are foils to each other, creating stark contrast and [three] The irony of Bellatrix being killed by someone who represents everything that she is not is clever and perfect. It also could have been Harry who killed Bellatrix since she severed his last ties to family, but again Molly’s maternal image vs. Bellatrix’s misanthropic image was at the very least a more richly paved path to take, literature-wise. And in regards to the choice not to have Neville kill her, it’s a simple matter of realizing the relationship between Neville and Harry; Neville is Harry’s emotional apprentice. He hadn’t yet lost his innocence as Harry had. 13) Harry vs. the slytherins – more fantasy, in my opinion. The fight built up over time – and Draco’s lack of involvement showed emotional transition to virtue that began in the previous book with the whole bathroom scene. This particular battle showed what making the wrong decisions led to, since they were sort of cut off from the outside war. It’s why he survived and Crabbe didn’t. Seriously, I recommend fanfiction.net if you don’t get it. You’d probably like those stories more. 14) The werewolf fight would have been cool, but that’s again fantasizing about what could have been – still not a valid argument against the alternative which Rowling went with. 15) About Ron and forgiveness – like, seriously? Did you not read the book? Or did you just completely miss the part where Ron saved Harry from drowning? And even then, Hermione’s forgiveness of Ron wasn’t as instant as Harry’s, since she didn’t have a near-death experience. 16) Percy’s return represents, or rather illustrates, the undying bond that holds a family together. Especially when death of any of them was imminent, a la George. 17) The final battle includes characters that were never forgotton but were actually included several times in other books, if you will recall. Maybe you just forgot, but I remember reading about a month back every book in order from the last to the first and J.K. Rowling doesn’t just stick them in there for the sake of sticking them in there. 18) The dueling ground at Hogwarts shows where Harry truly started his journey, where he was sorted in his first year. It’s not epic, but it has HUGE personal and consequently literary significance – which can also account for the collecting of all the major characters and species, at the greatest school – the center of all of the magic world. 19) About apparating – this is not an action movie. It’s not meant to be all fighting, and if that’s what you want, go watch a Steven Segal movie. Again, just because it didn’t happen the way you wanted it to doesn’t mean it was a bad move on Rowling’s part. 20) McGonagall vs. Snape – Snape wasn’t a bad guy; for him to actually hurt her instead of merely tricking her to get in Voldemort’s good graces would make him a bad guy, something which he is definitely not. The reflecting spells are meant to show their equality in power and equality as Dumbledore’s most trusted teachers. 21) The Snape-shaped window is comic relief. Um…yeah. 22) I just disagree with you on the part about the writing, but of course this is merely a preferential standpoint. 22) I previously said I agree about the Molly-swearing scene. 23) I don’t have a copy of HP7 on me right now to verify, but I don’t remember being confused about Voldemort’s death. And I found its structure to be a good syntactical strategy, but that’s just me  personally. 23) The cover shows the abstract struggle that was going on between Harry and Voldemort – for the wand, for the school, for Harry’s life, for EVERYONE’s lives, etc. But this can all be up to interpretation which I may be reading wrongly. 24) I agree about the chapter titles because I’ve yet to really find any significance in the titles that makes a “wow” moment. The exception is the last chapter however. The flaw in the plan was a great choice, since it reflects Voldemort’s as well as Dumbledore’s flawed plans and flawed logic.

Ken Starr, who led the campaign to impeach President Bill Clinton, filed a legal brief last month — on behalf of the “Yes on 8″ campaign — that would forcibly divorce 18,000 same-sex couples that were married in California last year before the passage of Prop 8.

Watch “Fidelity” and sign our letter to the state Supreme Court. Tell the Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 8, reject Ken Starr’s case, and let loving, committed couples marry:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/divorce

Please sign this petition to save the marriages of 18000 gay couples. Whether you like or don’t like gay people, I’m not going to decide for you. I can’t. But I’m asking you to sign this petition because it’s terrible that someone is going to try to destroy families for some fucked up selfish reason and I can only hope all of you will take part in preventing that – even if you don’t like the gay lifestyle, you shouldn’t wish that any family be torn apart.

Bad – I’m on my way to having a showdown with the principal of my highschool in order to debate the merits of a particular program ruining the lives of some kids at my school (next monday). I’m highly unprepared to say the least, but I hear that me and my friend have an appointment soo now we kinda have to say something. I’m solid though, so hopefully I’m not going to crack or anything. XD

Good/Bad – My crush may be fading, especially since our classes together have been reduced somewhat. But he was talking to me earlier and was a little sweaty and that inconveniently became a bit of a turn on. Not the sweaty as in shirt drenched and hair an absolute mess;  that’s a turn off to me. But the lightly coated sweat glistening on his forehead and temples was cute, especially when paired with his face being scrunched up in look of concentration, excitement, and friendship. Fortunately, we were leaving school and a crowd of people were starting to get in between us so nothing…interesting…was bound to happen. I stared back through the crowd at the back of his head, if but fleetingly, and then I turned my back.

Wonderful/Horrible – My friend’s birthday was this past Wednesday and it was much fun – she’s 18, by the way. Two months older than me. I got her chocolate, Cheezits (she loves ‘em like nothing else), a birthday card, and a CD I made for her. We’re celebrating Sunday at her house, so that should be fun, but her boyfriend is being a huge prick behind her back and she found out about it and told me about it before the day was over. She’s still desperate to see the good in him. I really hope things work out and that he just altogether cuts the shit because it’s a really conniving thing he’s doing. But to be honest, it’s all up to her and her happiness. I fully trust her and if she trusts him, I…well, I’ll accept him at most at this point in time. I don’t know enough about him to truly make any educated assumptions about him.

Bah. On to more fanfiction, sleep, and I leave you with a song dear to me for the universal emotion it emits, especially in my bipolar moments like this post. Enjoy Liama from Cirque du Soleil’s La Nouba.

SpankyKong

Okay, seriously though, there is some really good fanfiction out for those who feel like there’s gotta be more Harry Potter, or even those who didn’t like the story’s ending. There are some people that try to remain faithful to at least an interesting storyline. For example, this was quite a thrilling story to read, in my opinion, not to mention I wanted to cry by the end of it. Yeah. I’m a hopeless romantic. Damn story kept me up till 4-ish in the morning ’cause I wanted to finish it.

Anyhoo, I’m seriously lacking in the sleep department. I’ve got homework (of course) but right now, I don’t think I care. I’m gonna care later, probably, but not now. Not today. And I’ve just recently dropped within the last 3 weeks or so from 3rd in my class to 4th. What a disappointment. But all’s good, senioritis has caused me to lose all functions in the caring portion of my brain.

Also, I was recently exposed to one of the most amazing myspace experiments out there today, that I know of. Say hello to holladaddy, or ghettofreshness what have you, and prepare yourself for non-stop laughter after a few minutes in. Clever guy, that holladaddy. I was, of course, considering doing this type of thing years ago, at the inspiration of a friend of mine pulling off this same sort of experiment. Seeing this has recently rejuvenated my wish to do this. But first, I must get to doing that lit. combat for Harry Potter and Queen Rowling’s honor. I’ve also dedicated myself to reading a few more extensive fanfics, so bear with me on this.

Holla-caust, yo.

SpankyKong

SpankyKong

Also, I have very mixed feelings about my future.About college and moving away. About my love life and whether it’s even…alive anymore. About what I plan on doing for work soon. Blegh. It’s such a bother, for me to ponder these ridiculously trivial ideas in the hopes that I’ll decipher something useful for my nearby future. I’m always hoping for some good news. But anyhoo, today’s song of the day is Blurry from Puddle Of Mudd’s multiplatinum album Come Clean. This was my song for quite a while way back when. I heard it again recently and have been readdicted once again.

SpankyKong.

SpankyKong

Also, I just got my hands on some of Francesca Gagnon‘s solo music. I gotta say. I’m thoroughly impressed and her voice is like magic. Do yourselves a favor – go out and buy this woman’s work. I promise you won’t regret it. I know I don’t regret getting to listen to ANY of her songs, especially those from her album before Hybride. I wish I could find an mp3 online so you guys can listen to it right here, but the best I can give you is this. I’m assuming since this website appears to be promoting one of her tours officially that all music put up there is promotional and therefore legal. So enjoy.

Um…ah, so if I remember correctly, I told you all that I would share with you my myspace page for the Hamlet project once I had it completed. Well. Here it is:

see that boy called SpankyKong? See my url? Yeah. Make the connection yet? Anyhooo, before anybody starts warning me, good luck to all you stalker types. Even if you follow it up somehow, you’re not gonna get far in finding out any important information online that would jeopardize my safety. I’m like a needle in a haystack. A fish in the toilet bowl of fishes. A penis in a dildo factory.

Anyhoo, yeah. Before I go, I must also recommend as I post the song of the day [until my next post], the band E.S. Posthumus. Really great stuff, like a clash between new age and classical. It’s like perfect trailer music but they put the right amount of everything in there to pass for a band on their own. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, I leave you with one of my favorite songs, Isfahan. Ciao!

SpankyKong

Machinae Supremacy – Overworld

Anyhoo and away from my rant before I get over the top, here’s a new section – song of the day. This song has been on my mind all day, so now…you take it. It’s really catchy.Enjoy!

SpankyKong