mayoraasei: There is no such thing as coincidence (Squeak?)
2011-07-18 03:50 pm
Entry tags:

overina

So after submitting my clarinet to "instrument neglect" for about...20 months or so, I dug it out today to play my ode of farewell for the last of the Harry Potter movies.

I've come to the conclusion that a leaky clarinet 20 months overdue for a service sounds almost as bad as a poorly played violin Orz

It can't be helping that all the abdominal muscles that had such a workout during band has now undergone liquefaction...or lipidification LOL

I still love the sound of Hedwig's Theme on the clarinet though. It's the exact sort of haunting melody that fills with echos and dimensions when played with a clarinet's vibrato-less woody timbre XD

On the subject of Harry Potter, this article perfectly expressed my utter apathy for the titular character.

Harry Potter is an everyman, and that is why he sells. If he can save the world then so can a cat.


HAHAHAHAHA.

There are actually a lot of cats who can boast of being instrumental in saving the world. Like Aslan XDDDD

I also met the writers of Harry Potter porn, who like to imagine the characters in different sexual couplings: Harry and Dumbledore; Dumbledore and Hagrid; Hagrid and Dobby. (To understand how disturbing this is, you have to understand that Hagrid is a half-giant and Dobby is an elf who acts like a drinking alcoholic.)


Oh honey, you obviously haven't seen LotR fanfics. My brain died at the sight of Treant and Legolas. (To understand how disturbing this is, you have to understand that a Treant is...basically, a tree, and Legolas is an elf who acts like a ninja. And his OTL is so obviously Aragon. LOL.)

This article made me LOL at its dumbness.

Harry Potter is not a jock. He is a twerp, although that does not exclude him from being a jock since his dad is also a twerp and, actually, a jock. He may have had rich and beautiful parents but they're kinda dead by the start of the first novel and he grew up in a cupboard. Okay he grew up for a few months in a cupboard, but you don't get much humbler than that this side of living on the streets. Which I guess feeds perfectly back into the previous article about humble beginnings and being dropped into fame and eventually working your way to heroship through a series of well-placed misadventures and other plot devices being the representation of what readers, living in our mundane everyday ordinary lives, want. On the subject of dead parents, that has frequently been a source of wangst in the books and you can't possibly feel you're not an outcast when everyone's gone home to meet their families for the holidays.

Ron is a misfit because though his dad is in a ministry job, the guy is far too straight-laced and not ambitious enough to be cool. Ron's also the perpetual recipient of hand-me-downs and good-natured bullying from his elder brothers, which is just uncool, even if your elder brothers are awesome (or unpredictably embarrassing, like the twins). Also, his mum may be big in heart and body but is also embarrassing because of it, especially when you're thirteen and the guy bullying you has a dad who stole his perfect blonde hair from...since I mentioned him before, Legolas.

Hermione is an outcast in a similar way that Harry is, both of them are dropped into this wizarding world with no prior knowledge. They're ten years behind everyone else and the way they've formed their worldview is vastly different to, say, someone like Ron. She's made up for that by studying much harder than anyone else, but there are plenty of general knowledge, practices, values etc that you can't pick up from simple reading.

I watched the last 10 minutes of the movie. I have to say I'm amazed at the number of redheads, red hair being a recessive gene and all. Must be a wizard thing.
mayoraasei: There is no such thing as coincidence (Default)
2007-07-21 10:04 pm
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*snickers*...so it ends

It will forever go down in history as the "historical book release that would have had everyone at the edge of their seats if it weren't for a Canon digital camera and the internet and a really bored person".

So, the leaked book that was lovingly dubbed Carpet!book was real after all, in spite of everyone being convinced that it reads just like a giant, horrible fanfiction.

Albus Severus, really.

The Harry Potter slash community have won me over by creating, 2 days before official release, the ingeniously cheeky Albus Severus/Scorpius 'ship.

Abbreviated as the ASS ship.

HAHAHA!!!

While not too familiar with the Holocaust - given what we have down in history would be not too different from the British/American version - whoever wins gets to write the history books, right? - I enjoyed this little analysis on the WWII references.

My Harry Potter Spoiler of Doom is:
Hermione gets suspended by LJ Abuse for writing underage slash fic whilst eating spaghetti alfredo
Get your Harry Potter Spoiler of Doom


Because it was cute XD

Hermione writing slash fics......BWAHAHA. A side to Hermy we never knew.......
mayoraasei: (Ugh)
2007-07-19 04:02 pm
Entry tags:

this is so stupid

Helping kids cope if Harry dies.........HAHAHAHAHAHAHA OMG that's hilarious.

This could be devastating for some impressionable children who have grown up with the bespectacled boy wizard for the past 10 years.

GOD, what is with all this paranoia. Kids aren't stupid (well, some of them are - it must be hereditary). I read Romance of the Three Kingdoms when I was 5, and about half the people are dead by the end, the most sympathetic kingdom was destroyed and swallowed up by the most ruthless one. Even if The Three Kingdoms was classical Chinese literature, it still did deaths better than Harry Potter. And okay, it made me cry when my favourite people died, but traumatised? PFFFT.

And if they've "grown up" with Harry Potter "for the past 10 years", they're obviously NOT THAT YOUNG. GOD.

"I wouldn't want my kids to read it, and after all these years they die. They become so involved it becomes a little hard to take. I wouldn't want my 12-year-old to feel cheated, almost. I know they have to learn about a certain part of life but today's children grow up too fast."

DUDE, I so don't get this ridiculous American ideal of "protecting" their kids by not letting them even hear a breath of "bad things". Death is part of life; without death, life wouldn't be worth treasuring. Because there is an end, it makes the journey to that end all the more worthwhile.

Bridge to Terabithia was our reading book for year 6, when we were 11 or 12, and it was one of the best done deaths in children's literature. It was accidental, meaningless, abrupt, in-character, tragic, and its repercussions so elegantly played out. In year 6, I also read detailed narrative of the Knights of the Round Table, and don't tell me it wasn't sad when Arthur/Lancelot/Guinevere died/went on the ship/whatever.

If young children are impressionable and follow examples, then it might even be better to let them acquaint with death through fiction, to watch how fictional characters deal with death, to understand the different ways a death can impact on other people, to know the different ways in which different people react to a death, and to understand for themselves how to deal with it should a similar situation come up. These are things no lengthy talks by parents can explain, and can only really be learned through contact, even if it's through proxy.

"Some children are going to be asking questions - What is life? What is death? And ... what magic happened and is he going to be rescued?"

WHAT THE HELL is so wrong with children asking probing questions? What's wrong with children facing difficult issues, facing loss and sadness? The shallowest people are those who have grown up in bliss. It's when people don't understand how terrible death can be that they cease to treasure life. Because they don't know or understand life's other side, they're irresponsible, immature, narrow-minded, and shallow. It's knowing and feeling and understanding what is bad that makes someone realise what they want or don't want to happen, it gives them a marker, helps them decide what they want to protect in life.

By 13, I've read Isobelle Carmody's The Obernewtyn Chronicles, Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry, and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (non-fantasy). Compared to Harry Potter, any one of the deaths in their books is an exercise in masterly writing.

As much as the next person, I hate it when my favourite characters die, but people die in real life, and if the author chooses to reflect that, I don't see what the bloody problem is.

......Checking back on my (defunct) wide-reading list...I first read Pratchett in 2000?!??!?! =0=;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; Had no recollection. Well, it was Soul Music...maybe that's why ==;;

Anyway, I've always thought it was ridiculous how protective adults are of "sensitive issues". Children aren't stupid. Seeing fictional deaths early in life (although I'm sure it wasn't intentional by parents) didn't scar me, it didn't turn me into a homocidal criminal, and I don't feel all the more vulnerable because of this early exposure. I'm kinda glad that my first exposure was through historical fiction, where there were no magic and no fantastical means of resurrecting anyone. Death is final, so treasure the moments before it.

Video game violence, where killing is glorified, is a completely different story ==;
mayoraasei: There is no such thing as coincidence (Babbo)
2007-07-18 06:16 pm
Entry tags:

leaked harry potter

WARNING, SPOILERS IN FOLLOWING LINK

If these leaked spoilers for the final book are true.........

I officially pronounce myself possessing of an inborn gift at unerringly selecting favourite characters who ALL END UP DEAD.

FAR OUT.

WHY DO ALL MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS ALWAYS DIE RAAAARGH.

For the record, while Lupin and Sirius were my absolute favourites, with Dumbledore trailing a distance behind, I also did like scenes with Snape and Tonks and Mad-Eye Moody and Fred. Certainly far far far more than the three main characters.

DAMN IT.

All the characters who were WORTH READING ABOUT. DIED.

And what a stupid, creepy name Severus Albus is. Ugh. And thanks Harry for totally ignoring your Godfather and Lupin while NAMING YOUR KIDS, JAMES AND LILY AND SEVERUS ALBUS PFFFFFT after all Sirius and Lupin did for you.

Can only continue to hope the damn spoilers aren't true. Even though it consisted of photographed pages. It is funny reading people's arguments over them.
mayoraasei: There is no such thing as coincidence (Default)
2007-07-14 09:39 pm
Entry tags:

the end of the world

as they know it, for Harry Potter fans...............................

Ick.

WTH is this:

She said older readers would find plenty to entertain them in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, while younger readers might enjoy Emily Rodda's Deltora Quest series.

She said Garth Nix (Keys to the Kingdom) fitted the bill for older readers, while Isobelle Carmody (The Obernewtyn Chronicles) was another good choice for young readers who enjoy fantasy.

While I haven't read Deltora Quest or Keys to the Kingdom (which looks interesting), being well past library-going age when they came out (*cough* excuse for can't be bothered) .......................

And while I do recommend Pullman and Carmody......................

But Carmody for young readers?!? While I admit I read Obernewtyn in year 8, which might be "young", but that was also the age I read Elizabeth Moon's utterly un-child-safe The Deeds of Paksenarrion series (and which scarred me for life...)

Carmody's are never books I'd recommend for someone coming off Harry Potter. Likewise with Pullman's. While the merging of a magical world with ours might seem similar to HP, Pullman's world is much more humourless, much less affectionate, and is cold and intellectual and gloomy like the Northern Lights of its namesake.

Similarly, Carmody's world is extremely dark compared to Rowling's. While both have a huge cast of well-developed characters (although Carmody wins out on any day), Carmody's books are simply not on the same scope as Harry's. It's a "save-the-world" story where death and high stakes are recognised in the very first book. The death toll is much higher than HP, and imparts the same sense of helplessness one feels in real life.

Even Jik's death, something so senseless and accidental, something so swift and unexpected...something so like Sirius' death, one might say, the after effects are described with an emotional poignancy that HP has never managed to reach.

Ultimately, HP isn't really fantasy, and that might be exactly where its mass appeal lies. I've yet to meet any fantasy fan who thinks HP is the best thing since pasteurised milk =P


(O.T.: Wow, I totally didn't know Elizabeth Moon was a qualified paramedic.)
mayoraasei: There is no such thing as coincidence (Default)
2007-06-30 11:05 pm
Entry tags:

the deathly hallows

Spent the last 15 minutes reading this long rant about Harry Potter. It's by an English professor too!

I don't agree with half the things she says, but I'm just being resentful because two of my favourite characters have died, and I really don't give a damn about Harry. Which is why I particularly disagree with this:

Nobody wants Harry to die. - I do!

We want to see him slay Voldemort and live happily ever after with Ginny Weasley. - I don't!

While I agree that the parallel between Harry and Voldemort is intentional...this:

Harry is different because affliction does not make him frightened. On the contrary: great loss teaches Harry love and loyalty and the enduring strength that those emotions have when they are borne out of suffering.

I don't think that's the main reason of why Harry's different. Harry has people who love him - many, many people who love him very, very dearly. Tom Riddle had few, and if he had any, he pushed them away. Harry has had the protection of his friends and of his parents' friends from birth, the love and adoration of these people the moment he stepped into Hogwarts.

He's.....special, the moment Voldemort stuck a wand in his face and said "Avada Kedavra". Tom Riddle was just a weird Slytherin kid who was too smart, too ambitious and too vindictive for his own good. He's special because of circumstances beyond his control, and he receives so much love and attention again.....because of circumstances beyond his control. If I were Voldemort, and supposed to be some parallel of Harry, I'd be pretty pissed off at the different treatment too.

What made Harry different was the people around him. Not because he himself did anything.

Again.

Which is why I want him to die.

And the statement: Voldemort's experience of suffering has made him aspire to immortality is a jump of about 5 steps in logic =/
mayoraasei: There is no such thing as coincidence (Babbo)
2007-01-16 05:59 pm
Entry tags:

diatribe on ambition

Although I haven't touched a canon Harry Potter book in over 4 years >_> This rant has been a while in coming. Thanks to fanfics.

SLYTHERIN == AMBITIOUS =/= EVIL



I don't know why ambition has been equated to evil. Yes, Rowling has chosen to portray it in that light, and frankly I think it's inevitable, because a house of ambitious people around each other are bound to become bitchy.

But it's stupid to forget that ambition is a neutral quality. Some of the kindest - and some of the most terrible - leaders in history are extremely ambitious people. In the European feudal society where rank is passed on by blood, unfortunately ambition does often bear up as ugly bickering between the royals and the aristocrats.

It would be stupid to think that's the only path ambition can take you. The best emperors in Chinese history are ambitious - without ambition they wouldn't have led the people to revolt against an oppressive, corrupt government. Some of the best courtiers/ministers are highly ambitious without losing their loyalty to their emperor. Ambition doesn't define a person. You can be kind and ambitious, you can be loyal and ambitious, you can be brave and intelligent and compassionate, and ambitious. It's these people who will create wonders in society, who will toil for an ideal. Anyone who has ever sat down and said with conviction, "I want to change society" is ambitious, but society can be changed for good.

It's stupid to confine ambition to the thirst for world domination. Ambition can lead to bad things being done, and an obsession with ambition can lead to many terrible things being done. Ambition itself, however, is not inherently evil and is often what drives changes in society.

Let's not forget, all ye American fanfic writers, that ambition forms the essence of the American dream, of any "rags-to-riches" tale.
mayoraasei: There is no such thing as coincidence (Default)
2005-12-12 03:20 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

Harry Potter fanfic synopses
---- "Best of" collection

(Courtesy of Union Recorder...as written by the fanfic authors themselves, probably originating from a gathering place of highly intelligent and creative individuals, of course.)

[sic] and all:

* Draco and Harry are twins they were male morn in St. Merlin's hospital for male pregnancies.

* Brindi Lin Holliday Kariell was born naturaly, like most children are, except for the part about being burried six feet underground three days before she was born.

* "Don't judge a man until you've walked to moons in his moccasins," Ixchell the Anchoress warned Ron. What a grim omen that was.

* "I don't know where I belong!" Caleigh shouted exasperatedly. "What?" Draco asked, daring her to go on. "You belong in Slytherin, of course!" She stared at him for a moment, then glanced behind his shoulder, into the Great Hall. "Unless," he continued. "You believe Harry Potter has a much better life to give you." Eyes bulged, Caleigh looked back at the blonde with unimaginable features. He nodded with sinister intentions. "It's true. You are Potter's wench."

* Draco sends Harry to the store for ice cream and carrots, but he doesn't come back the same.

* Harry decides to be a vegetarian because of an accident that occured dealing with Ron and a pig.

* Harry wakes up in WHO's bed!

* Hrrry is raised by lions. Typical right? Not when Harry grows up in Africa, never knowing his ture heritage......

* If you love Sirius half as much as I do, this could make you cry. I would cry, but I haven't cried in years, so I forgot how too. Do me a favor; if you cry for Sirius, make sure you cry for me too, okay. Thank you, it's much appreciated.

* This is the world, of Ron Stoppable.

* A Harry/Hermione songfic of tragic proportions.

* Draco and Harry are sent to help the Slayer with an occuring evil. Sparks fly between Draco and Buffy. May or may not be as good as it sounds.

* Harry's life was miserable untill he met a bad- ass witch from Texas.



It just proves for once and for all that fanfiction is the best form of entertainment ever since stupidity was first invented.
mayoraasei: There is no such thing as coincidence (Default)
2005-11-16 01:11 pm
Entry tags:

Watched Rove Live yesterday

I don't usually watch it and it was such a coincidence I caught last night's episode...

Darren Hayes *___* He's so cool!

Daniel Radcliffe was cute (in a "aww he's so pattable" way XD)

Delta Goodrem was... ==;;;;

Hey, their first names all start with "D". I wonder if that's intentional XD

Darren Hayes was talking about the scar on his butt...cracked me up so much XDDD

And Daniel Radcliffe was asked what he thought when he watched the earlier movies, and he replied, "I had the misfortune of flicking through channels and seeing it on...and I noticed I was so small and I had this horrible squeaky little voice...and I thought there was something wrong with the sound on my TV, but apparently not...so I don't think I'll see it again until maybe thirty years later."

I was literally on the ground by then.

He's actually surprisingly likeable, in a kiddish sort of way.
mayoraasei: There is no such thing as coincidence (shigure)
2005-09-10 03:53 pm
Entry tags:

This is what happens when something gets really popular

...and you get irrational, bitchy fans.

In response for casting for Cho Chang (in case anyone needed reminding, Cho is the Asian girl that Harry falls in love with, but I think she liked Cedric, who is a really nice guy Harry's senior)

"...as the hopefuls shuffled through Pineapple Studios, it was stunning Katie Leung who put a spell on the casting panel and left them in no doubt - she was Cho Chang.

"...Despite being deliberately kept under wraps by Warner - without public appearances, interviews or official pictures - the slender and shy student has become a hate figure for obsessive Potter fans.

Scores of fake websites have sprung up, some apparently giving her thoughts and feelings in diary form. There are photographs purporting to be of Katie, and many are of obviously older, more experienced girls in revealing poses.

Most disturbing are several 'hate Katie' sites where youngsters are encouraged to explain in graphic detail why they loathe the dark-haired beauty. One site has e-mails with statements such as 'I hate Katie Leung till the end of time.'

Another states: 'I hate her because she is stupid, dumb, an idiot and gets to play Cho Chang, and oh...she gets to kiss Daniel Radcliffe [the Harry Potter actor].'

Other comments from fans in far-flung countries such as the Philippines and China attack her looks as 'ugly' and bizarrely too Eastern', poke fun at her Scottish background and mock her soft Scottish accent.

Ther are racist comments too crude to print, many using the coarsest language. Some come from angry fans of established Korean and Chinese actresses who failed to get an audition. This is because Potter creator J.K. Rowling insisted that the girl whose caress transforms the bespetacled Harry from boy to love-struck adolescent had to be a complete unknown."

Fans should respect that the casting was heavily influenced by Rowling, who wasn't looking for the most beautiful nor the most famous. She was looking for a girl like Cho Chang. Obviously Cho Chang isn't supposed to look like a megastar, because that was someone else's job...er, who was the girl who was supposed to be able to turn all heads? ==; Can't remember.

Anyway. Stupidness. Is all.