Category: Fiction

This is taken from my Recent Readings page (which reminds me I want to put a link to it on my blogroll) in exactitude. I want people to be able to reply to it…

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J. K. Rowling. SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ if you do not want to have critical plot elements revealed to you. You are warned (again).

We waited in the Savannah, GA, Barnes & Noble from 10:00 PM on July 16th, 2005, along with 400 other people, for the stroke of midnight in order to buy the latest installment of the Harry Potter series. Despite wanting to cleave the skulls of some over-enthusiastic youths who were running around, it was a perfectly friendly environment, then…”attention Barnes & Noble Shoppers…” and the book was up for sale!

We bought our books (one for each of us to avoid any potential marital discord) and proceded to read them in our hotel room until around 3:00 AM. We had them finished by 2:00 AM the next morning. Not bad considering we were also in Savannah for sight-seeing purposes. We discussed the book at bit, but we had to get up early to move on to the next part of our trip, so sleep was more important.

R.A.B.? We had no clue to start. I know (or suspect) who it is now, from the J.K.Rowling interview alluded to in my blog entry of July 29th. It’s probably Regulus Black, and the locket is sitting in the cabinet inside Number 12 Grimmwauld Place, Harry’s new house. If you don’t believe me, see the opening chapters of The Order of the Phoenix, where Harry and Crew are cleaning the house and the cabinet in particular.

The Severus Snape Scenario? I personally think that Snape is a mean, cruel, horrible man, who is not a member of the Dark Side of the Force. I believe that Dumbledore knew (somehow) that he was going to die because of either his hand or picking up the locket horcrux, and enlisted Snape to kill him to further his infiltration of Voldemort’s dark league. Why do I think this? It’s a feeling. I feel that Ms. Rowling would not have harped eternally on Snape seeming evil yet being one the good merely to cast him aside now. There are hints that this is possible, from Dumbledore’s and Snapes argument in the book, but I must confess I do not have any hard data to cast on the waters. An argument against this would be the second chapter where Snape swears the Unbreakable Vow. Would Dumbledore have known almost a year in advance that he was going to die? Possibly, but we know from this book that Dumbledore is not a seer. I seem to be arguing against myself, but I’m merely confessing to no conclusive data.

The dilemma arises that if Snape is still a member-in-good-standing of the good side, how is he to explain what occurred on the top of the Astronomy tower? No one, least of all Harry, will be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, so there would need to be some ironclad proof to support that position. Another memory for the pensieve? One left to Harry by Dumbledore? I don’t know about that one. We know it’s possible to edit memories badly, as evidenced by Slughorn, and Dumbledore implies that it’s possible to do it well, therefore deceiving even the pensieve viewer. Perhaps the painting of Dumbledore in the Headmistress’s office will constitute unimpeachable testimony? Perhaps Snape is intending to sacrifice himself for the cause in the next book, thereby removing this question from play and showing his true colors? The last chapter of the book has a lengthy internal dialogue where Harry remarks that all of his protectors (James, Lily, Sirius, Dumbledore) are now gone and that it’s time to step up and be a man. Maybe the last, least-known, least-wanted protector will be Snape? Speculations, all, but it’s certainly ripe territory.

Ginny. It certainly seemed trite at first for Harry to cast aside Ginny in order to pursue his quest yet maintain the help and support of Hermione and Ron. However, after the second read of the book, I realized that we don’t know anything like that at all. Harry divorces himself from Ginny at the end of the funeral, then attempts the same thing with Ron and Hermione, who refuse to hear anything about it. Then the book ends! No more interaction between Harry and Ginny, but we know they’ll see each other soon at Bill and Fleur’s wedding. I think it’s equally possible that she will hook up with the three musketeers again as remaining Harry’s reward for completing the quest. We will see.

Godric’s Hollow. I look forward to seeing Harry visit Godric’s Hollow to pay respects to his Mom (mum) and Dad. I anticipate that there will be a Death Eater ambush there, resulting in useful intelligence for the good side. We shall see.

Half-Blood Prince (and his book). Will Harry return to the Room of Requirement to get the Advanced Potion Making text he secured there? Hmmmm… Will the book play any more role in the series. We, again, shall see.

What can I say about Mr. and Mrs. Smith?

This movie was exactly what I expected, alas. A mite bit disappointing, but it did not lack in eye candy.

Jenn and I watched the pilot for Lost (ABC) last night (again) and noticed that, after the monster? made it’s night-time, rip-up-trees-while-making-noise appearance, the black lady a.k.a. Lt. Uhura said something to the effect of, “Reminds me of something from home, in the Bronx.”

Hmmmm… Subway? Steam power?

I’ve added some books to my reading list at www.jbwr.net/web/bp/books/recent_books.html

SPOILERS!

We went to see Revenge of the Sith again last night. ‘Twas just as good action-wise last night as it was the first time, although I found myself daydreaming during any scene with Annakin talking to Padme (except for the end).

I’m still a bit disappointed by the beginning battle scene. It had the potential to be very edgy, and instead is sort of blah. The CGI is really cool, but the whole package is a bit thin.

The most well-done scene of the whole movie is probably when Newly Minted Darth Vader appears in the council room and all of the little paduwan come out of hiding. “Master Skywalker. There are too many of them. What are we going to do?” . . . Phzzzzz! Great scene.

Jenn and I also agree that the staring-across-Coruscant scene between Anakin and Padme was pretty good. Actually, I think Hayden Christensen did a great job in the movie as long as he didn’t talk. He made an excellent evil-transitional Jedi.

“So this is how liberty dies; with thunderous applause.” I can see where people would have drawn inferences to the current situation in America, but I think it’s merely coincidence. I will put money, though, that Lucas probably changed the line, “If you’re not with me, you’re my Enemy,” from “If you’re not with me, you’re against me.” ‘Course, I’m just guessing.

Apparently, this or last week’s Entertainment Weekly had a bunch of reasons why Episode III was odd. Included were some obvious ones like, “How come it took 19 years to build the first Death Star and only 4 to do the second?” Also, how did Obi-Wan, Owen, and Beru age so much between III and IV? My favorite was, “How come Padme just stares into space all of the time. Don’t they have books?”

My biggest physics issue with the movie was the fight on the lava planet. How come these guys didn’t just ignite and turn to ash? Molten rock is awfully hot, and to glow like it was, it needs to be something like 1500 degrees celsius (don’t quote me on this one). That’s enough thermal radiation to fry your average car, much less a Jedi.

It’s a good thing Yoda lost his lightsaber in the battle with Palpatine, or he might have helped train Luke to be better and then Luke wouldn’t have lost a hand leading to the meeting-of-the-mechanical-hands moment in the second death star which precluded a Darth Vader the Second murderous rampage and thus ending all hope for the rebellion. Or am I stretching?

I wonder how long it will take before the term “Order 66” becomes a pop-culture staple? Perhaps it will be relegated entirely to the more geekified sect of persons who are willing to sit out in front of a theater for hours waiting for a Star Wars film to debut.

I’ve been trying to come up with a way that it might slip into usage. Something along the lines of, “I tried to find her last night, but she was 404,” or something similar. I suppose that it could be applied to standard betrayal lexicon. “I was 66’d by the system,” or, “They told me they would be at the movies at 9:00, but they 66’d me.”

I bet it won’t take long to start hearing it, but I doubt that the people around me at work will be using it any time soon.

We saw it! The crowd who gathered at the theater in Kennesaw was much rowdier than the one we’d particpated with in Lubbock for Attack of the Clones. A lot of people were in costume. The majority dressed as Jedi. (I’ve got nothing against women role-players, but seeing a Darth Vader with boobs prominently on display is weird)

For now, to avoid persons accusing me of spoiling it ahead of time, I will only say this:

• Effects, mucho grande
• Acting, so so (I think Yoda did the best job)
• Story, not as tight as it could have been, but Lucas had to tie everything up
• Lightsaber Battles, awesome. Best part of the movie.

Don’t expect a lot of philosophising just yet on this topic. I need to see it again before I can make a good judgement.