Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

(Note: I've attempted to be free of major spoilers here, but I'm not guaranteeing anything. So read at your own risk.)

In lieu of writing a whole review of the new Harry Potter book, I wanted to share some of the ahem finer (??) posts I’ve run across on the Harry Potter Forums (http://www.hpforums.com/) regarding various subjects. Here goes:

With respect to the potion in the cave:

DD is injured, not as strong as before, so maybe that potion made him wrose, if he is better in his body, maybe the effect will not be wrose.

I can’t make any sense of that either. Maybe if they had run spell check??

i think in book 7 it will be explainedi think hte potion makes the body weak

Obviously the potion makes the body weak. Dumbledore couldn’t even stand after drinking it. Also, I hate people that post in theory threads and say things like "Maybe we'll see in the next book" or "We'll just have to wait and see." Thanks for sharing!

With respect to Draco and Snape:

I think i'm really weird because after this book, I like Draco and Snape even MORE! (Please don't kill me) Not at first mind you, i mean seeing/reading (spoiler deleted) really 'hurt' me, but after about two or three hours i was like, 'eh whatever.' What was done was done.

There are lots of freaks out there who think evil is something to be cheered:

Snape and Draco were so wonderfully evil in this book! It totally rocked!

But then there are people like this who give me hope for the future:

Malfoy can kiss my ass. The little bastard. Sorry for language. I found it necessary.

Amen to that.

With respect to the death of our Beloved Character Who Dies:

*sobs violently and uncontrollably*

Indeed. That was actually pretty well-stated.

With respect to the new relationships in the book:

I really didn't want H/G to happen, I'm more of a H/Hr/R shipper. But yeah, I suppose it's okay.

Doesn’t it sort of have to be okay if that’s the way the author wanted it to be??

Draco/Pansy - They deserve each other.

That they do, my friend, that they do.

Tonks/Lupin - Where did this one come from? With this it looks like JKR took a walk on the fanfiction side. I just don't see these two together, he's almost old enough to be her father!

This was posted by someone who hasn’t read any of the other books, I think, or isn’t clear on the ages of the characters or something. Who knows. I can’t make any sense of these people.

Ron/Hermione disturbed me, even though they never hooked up. Ron/Lavender made me want to vomit. I thought I was going to cry when Harry/Ginny began to appear-- and did cry, but not over relationships. Dean/Ginny was unexpected and sort of random... I always knew that Bill and Fleur would get married. As for Tonks and Lupin, I would have laughed out loud if I wasn't sobbing hysterically. And still am, for that matter.

This one was posted by someone I can’t stand and I’ve just put it here to snark on it. She just sounds like a nitwit to me.

On who the Half-Blood Prince is:

i kind of suspected that it was snape when harry used the sectumsempra on malfoy.. it was as if snape almost recognized the curse (i got ta vibe)... i was hoping that i was wrong, i mean, a harry potter book named after SNAPE? urgh... worse than ron and "lav-lav" snogging in public...

This one is nearly intelligent. Too bad they they use the word “ta” in place of “the.”

On favorite chapters:

However my favourite chapter had to be The White Tomb I thought JK did justice to the incredible wizard (spoiler deleted) was. Watching Harry getting lost in his feeling as the funeral preceeded was moving. It brought closure yet left us wanting, questioning and mourning. Hearing Harry tell Ron and Hermione that he would not be coming back to Hogwarts and thier pledge of support for him made me cry yet again. (I laughed and cried way to much for a 37 year old man reading a supposedly childerns book)

Didn’t we all. I mean, me as a 35-year-old woman, but otherwise, it’s similar.

On Felix Felicis:

when everyone thinks it's a wizard or something...dern, a potion!!!

And this:

A LIQUID LUCK, OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDD.

Actually, I thought it was some sort of spell. But it was sort of a letdown.

On Horcruxes:

regardless of what the proheciy says if harry dont get them last few horcuxes the whole world is in danger. dont think that voldemort will stop if he gets harry and the ministry out of the way 'cuase i don't think anyone will stop him then. so the pressure is on harry to get in gear track down the horcuxes and destroy them and voldemort everyone is in danger the weight of the world falls on one 16 year old boy.......talk about pressure.

As you can see, some total nitwit posted that one, and apparently they missed the parts in the first five books where Harry has already had the weight of the world on his very thin shoulders. Spelling is clearly not something this person is concerned with, or grammar. You would sort of hope that all this reading of books people are doing would make some of these things rub off on them, but apparently that only worked on me when I was young.

But yeah, great book. Can't wait for the next one!

Nice turn signal, Jackass!

Yeah, I'm talking to you. The same twit who can't move a finger half an inch to their left and flick the turn signal mechanism either up or down to indicate which way you might be going next while I'm forced to sit behind you and guess. I know, I know -- it's really hard to drive AND operate the finer points of the vehicle at the same time. Remind me not to get near you on the road when it rains, since you won't be able to see where you're going owing to your lack of ability to turn on the windshield wipers. What's odd though, is that you seem to have little or no trouble changing your radio station, or handing your kids stuff from your bag in the front seat to where they sit in the backseat, or yammering away on your cell phone while steering with just the one hand.

And I also love it when you're on the highway, doing 70 miles per hour, and I'm supposed to know you want to get into my lane based solely upon the fact that you're swivelling your head in my general direction. Sorry, man, I don't do head signals with complete strangers. I need your turn signal, and then, if, and only if, I'm in a position to do so, will I slow my own car down and let you in. Please re-read your drivers ed manual (they are free at the DMV) and attempt to comphrehend the part that says I am under NO obligation to let you in, especially if doing so will cause me to operate my motor vehicle in an unsafe manner.

And it goes without saying that there comes a point where you just shouldn't even bother with your turn signal -- like AFTER you've already swerved into my land and cut me off, or when you're halfway around the turn. At that point, it's just too damn late.

But if you weren't such a fucking jackass, you'd know that already.

Daniel on the butterfly ride at the Renaissance Festival.  

Daniel commandeered my bed after staying up way too late on a Saturday night. Note the dismantled books in the foreground -- these are my Star Wars: Heir to the Empire books, which Daniel likes to remove from my bookcase and stare at for hours on end. He looks quite comfy, really. I just wonder where the hell I'm supposed to sleep now, since he's got both pillows beneath him... 

It's Daniel and me at the Colorado Renaissance Festival! He was wielding his formidable new sword and a spiffy dragon-themed shield.  

Prayer

I found this on my church's website. It's appropriate any day, but particularly on a day like today when so many of us are in pain and uncertain of what our pain calls upon us to do.

Prayer by Reverend Bob Edgar,
General Secretary of National Council of Churches of Christ

May God bless you with discomfort…
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger…
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of the people
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears…
To shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them
And to turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness…
To believe that you can make a difference in this world
So that you can do what others claim can not be done.
Amen.

Intelligence

It's an interesting concept, the notion of intelligence, and even more interesting is what the powers that be do with the intelligence they supposedly collect. I myself just find it incredibly convenient that only AFTER four explosions rock the foundations of London do CIA officials find it necessary to say that they had intelligence suggesting that attacks of that type might take place. Surely it's a bit late now, isn't it, to be telling us you had intelligence pointing to the attacks??

I swore when I started blogging that I wasn't going to turn it into a political commentary, or at least nothing beyond the occasional snarky comment about W. and his Administration of Zero Accountability. My friends and family know where I stand, and I don't have any need to convince the rest of the world by blog that they should stand with me; for one thing, there are minds out there which are so closed, they can never be convinced. So politics have been put aside for the most part. But today, when people are hurt and dying (actually, how IS this day different than any other??), people who didn't sign up to possibly get hurt or possibly die, I just get so angry at all the morons who continue to support politicians who promise to protect them, saying that they would have felt unsafe any other way.

So let me ask you: Is this what safety feels like?? Do you feel safer because this didn't happen someplace in middle America, but in London, overseas, off American soil? Do you really believe that maybe those primitive Britons were somehow lax enough to ALLOW this to happen, and that it can't happen -- again -- here because W. and his guys are on it? Come now. Let's be real. We should all be panicking, and we should all be asking W. and his guys, "How could you let this happen? You promised us we'd be safe." Because if London isn't safe from psychotic zealots, you can bet your ass that Denver and L.A. and New York City and Washington D.C. and your own backyard aren't safe from them either.

Here's the deal -- and this has been the deal since September 11 and I think we all know it but just refuse to admit it because then we would be too uncomfortable to live our daily lives: There have been no further attacks on American soil simply because the terrorists haven't felt like attacking. That's it -- that's all there is to it. None of these powerful guys know how to stop it or do a damn thing to prevent it; no one really knows how to interpret the intelligence that may or may not suggest it's about to happen. Do any of us really think our airports and planes are any safer than they were 4 years ago? It's the same uneducated dolt holding the metal-detecting wand, but they've provided him with a gun now.

And no, you're all absolutely right, I don't have any answers or suggestions or anything, just lots of ire and head shaking. This is why I wanted someone smarter than me elected President. This is what we get when the common denominator is elected to represent us -- someone who's no more capable than the rest of us of doing anything about anything.

Maybe that's a bit harsh. I'm sure if I thought long enough and hard enough I'd come up with one or two good things he's done. But I have other crap to worry about today. Don't we all.