Sunday, July 22, 2007

I finished it.

It was wonderful.

Now I'm off on vacation!!

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Posted by: DVE / 12:43 PM
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Thursday, July 19, 2007

I'm At Hogwarts!




See You on July 22!
Posted by: DVE / 8:51 AM
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You may have heard that some bookseller (we hatessss them, curssseedd be their namesessss) has shipped out a bunch of Harry Potter books early. The upshot is of course that there are about a billion sites online leaking spoilers, and even the New York Times, which one would think would uphold, oh, I don't know, journalistic standards, has printed an early review of the book. (If you want to send them an angry letter, the Leaky Cauldron has a good template.) The upshot is that I'm taking a little break from the internet (and TV and radio and epecially newspapers) until after July 21. To keep you busy until then, here are my last two favorite things from the Harry Potter books:

Number 1: Ginny Weasley. Ok, I have been a fan of the Harry/Ginny relationship from Book 2 on. (Although the scene where Harry rides away on the train in Book 1, watching Ginny get smaller and smaller on the platform, is awfully sweet too.) But I for one know what it's like to have a crush on someone who doesn't like you back, so I was endeared to Ginny right from the start. And then, as her personality starts to come out more and more in the books--how she's good at Quidditch, and super powerful, and gutsy, and a little rebellious, and the master of perfect funny little sarcastic remarks--I just like her more and more. She's one who I desperately hope makes it through Book 7--so she and Harry can live a long happy life together with lots of little baby wizards and witches.

Number 2: Hermione Granger. She is definitely the character I am most like--I love the way she's always so eager to give the answer in class, and how she obsesses over every single question on tests. I just finished rereading Order of the Phoenix, and I was laughing at how she wants to go over her O.W.L. tests step by step after they're over, and Ron's like, "No, they were bad enough the first time!" I also love how she's always right in her advice to Harry and yet never listened to. She's very perceptive of how others feel, though she doesn't always know the right thing to say to them about it. And she has absolute faith in Dumbledore and loyalty to Harry.

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Posted by: DVE / 8:32 AM
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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The Internet has become a dangerous place. Spoilers are lurking in unexpected places, ready to jump out and ruin my Harry Potter experience. Plus, I've been busy, making hundreds of phone calls: "Hi, this is Devon from Van Essen Nursery in Lebanon, Oregon. We're sending out our catalogs this week, so I'm calling to verify that your address is..." I don't get hung up on too often--nursery people are a nice lot for the most part, I guess. Plus, it's not like I'm calling them at home during dinner to try to sell them something they have no interest in. Which means I'm in no way a telemarketer. Just so you get that straight.

Anyway, all that to say I haven't been faithful with my list. But here's the last few:

Number 3: Apparition. If I could have one wizarding power from the Harry Potter books, this would be it. Obviously it's because I'm constantly torn between my two favorite places: here and Nampa. If I could Apparate, it wouldn't matter which one I lived in, I could travel back and forth instantly. Have dinner with Mom and Dad and go to the movies with my friends from NNU on the same night. Perfect!

Number 4: The Mauraders. I know that Rowling has said about a million times that this is the last Harry Potter book, but if she ever does return to this universe with another book, I for one would love a book about the adventures of the Mauraders. I want to know how Sirius, James, and Peter became Animagi, and all about their adventures in the Shrieking Shack, and how Lily and James fell in love, and why James and Sirius hated Snape so much. The little hints that we've gotten from time to time are so tantalizing...

You know, there are only two Mauraders left at this point, and I suspect by the end of Book 7, there won't be any...how sad. Plus, I just feel cheated (like we're meant to, I suppose) that we don't ever get to meet James and Lily properly, when you can tell that they are such cool characters--noble, heroic, fun-loving, compassionate, brave... *sigh* Jo Rowling is a literary tease.

Number 5: Diagon Alley. I was in England a few years ago and I visited some little town that had a street that looked exactly like Diagon Alley (as it was pictured in my mind, and without all the people in wizard's cloaks). The upper stories on all the buildings were leaning in precariously and everything was uneven and vaguely Tudor looking. It was super cool. So I like it because it's all British and old, and also because you can buy everything a young wizard needs: an owl, a broomstick, potions ingredients, spellbooks, cauldrons, candy, butterbeer, and more. Plus, all the hustle and bustle of wizard business, goblins running here and there.... Talk about the best shopping trip ever!

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Posted by: DVE / 10:18 AM
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Sunday, July 15, 2007

Number 6: The Restricted Section. The Hogwarts library has a certain section that is roped off and prohibited to students without a teacher's note. Like Hermione, I have an overwhelming curiosity about the content of the books in this section (I'm convinced Hermione only did the Polyjuice potion in Book 2 so she could sneak into the Restricted section).

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Posted by: DVE / 11:45 PM
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Saturday, July 14, 2007

Number 7: S.P.E.W. AKA The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. Hermione's sincere and well-intentioned if somewhat misguided approach to elf advocacy. I really, really hope that Book 7 offers some surprise paybacks for all of Hermione's efforts elf-ward.

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Posted by: DVE / 10:26 PM
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Friday, July 13, 2007

Number 8: the Lily/Snape Theory. Ok, so this entry is slightly cheating, since it hasn't technically been confirmed in the book (but I think there's a fair amount of canon evidence, so I'm keeping it). If you haven't heard it, the theory goes like this: The chapter, "Snape's Worst Memory," shows a scene of young Severus being tormented by his classmates and arch-enemies, Sirius Black and James Potter. Lily Evans, who is not yet dating James, tries to persuade the boys to let Snape alone, but Snape lashes out at her and calls her a "Mudblood." Flash forward to Godric's Hollow: Voldemort is coming after baby Harry, he kills James, but offers Lily Potter the chance to live if she steps aside and lets him kill her kid. Now, the question many fans have asked is, why would Voldemort, who has killed scores of people, bother to try to spare Lily's life?

Well, what if one of his (supposedly) most loyal Death-Eaters asked him to? What if Snape was in love with Lily, since she's the only one who was kind to him back when he was the outcast loner in his Hogwarts days? What if the reason that memory was his "worst" was not because he was being teased, but because he called Lily a Mudblood and hurt her feelings? This explains his hatred of James and his eagerness to let the Dementors get Sirius back in Book 3 (since he would have thought that Sirius was the reason Lily was dead). It even allows for a future resolution of all the "you have your mother's eyes, Harry" hints throughout all the books: instead of continuing to see Harry as a reincarnation of his father, Snape will eventually see Lily in him as well, which will inspire him to make a similar sacrifice for Harry himself. :)

I personally love this theory because I'm a fan of all tragic, thwarted love stories, the sappier the better. Incidently, I'm in the "Snape is on the right side, though still a foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach deep down" camp. I truly despise him--not for his treatment of Harry (since I can forgive him based on the above theory) but for his treatment of Neville, which is completely unforgivable and unexplainable. However, if he suffers enough for the cause of good in Book 7--hopefully to include a noble, sacrificial death (which may or may not include drowning in a vat of shampoo)--he will be admitted back into my good graces as a character.

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Posted by: DVE / 4:44 PM
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Thursday, July 12, 2007

Number 9: The Room of Requirement.

"...it is a room that a person can only enter...when they have real need of it. Sometimes it is there, and sometimes it is not, but when it appears, it is always equipped for the seeker's needs" (OotP 386).

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Posted by: DVE / 11:12 PM
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Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Number 10: Fred and George. No children's book is complete without a few perfectly executed pranks. In Harry Potter, said pranks are performed to exquisite perfection by those consummate red-headed twins, Fred and George Weasley. I think that my very favorite moment in any of the books so far is the Weasley twins' exit from Hogwarts in Book 5, culminating in Peeves' salute to their "Give her hell from us, Peeves." It was brilliant!

So, you're pacing your house, trying to find some way to fill the next ten days until you can start reading Book 7, are you? I thought so. And once again, I come to your rescue with a great way to spend your time between now and July 21: catch up on your Wizard Rock.

What's Wizard Rock? I'm glad you asked. You see, ever since the world began to realize what an amazing set of books were starting to fill their bookshelves, people have wanted to spend more time in Harry's world. Well, you can only read a book so many times. So some people started websites and chat rooms and podcasts, and other people started writing songs about Harry Potter and performing them at libraries and bookstores and anywhere else people would come to hear a song about Harry and Ron and Hermione. And Wizard Rock was born.

Now, many wizard rockers exist primarily (or solely) on Myspace, and we all know what a labyrinth that is, so here's a few links--of my favorite HP songs--to get y'all started on your new adventure in "wrock."

Save Ginny Weasley by Harry and the Potters
And Then I Died by The Moaning Myrtles (also "Prefects are Hot")
Looking For Trouble by the Remus Lupins
Snape vs. Snape by The Ministry of Magic (the end of this song is the best part, so wait for it...)
Which Witch is Which by the Hungarian Horntails
Potions Yesterday by Draco and the Malfoys
The House of Awesome by The Whomping Willows (and though I in no way endorse the content of this song, if you really want a laugh, listen to "Draco and Harry" by this same artist)
Get Me To An Apothecary by Roonil Wazlib
Hermione Granger by Ginny and the Heartbreakers
I'm Going to Hogwarts by Hermione and the Grangers
End of an Era by Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls (my new Myspace song!)
Norbert Will Eat You by the Mudbloods

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Posted by: DVE / 3:09 PM
3 comments

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Number 11: Hedwig. Who doesn't love Hedwig? I think if Voldemort himself had a letter to send, he could find nothing wrong with Hedwig's delivery. The perfect post owl. (I love those scenes in the first HP movies with Hedwig soaring around the castle. Oh. Speaking of which, I'm going to see the Order of the Phoenix. Pretty much now.)

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Posted by: DVE / 10:30 PM
2 comments

Monday, July 09, 2007

The end of Harry Potter, according to Andrea Dezso and the New York Times:

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Posted by: DVE / 6:45 PM
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Number 12: the Portraits

What I love about the portraits in the Hogwart's castle (besides just their existence--because I mean what's cooler than having all your walls lined edge to edge with old paintings? We should do that here...) is how they all seem to know each other and can travel from portrait to portrait, like the Fat Lady and her friend Vi, who always get together on holidays and work their way through several crates of chocolate liqueurs. Also, I love how the portraits always conceal hidden passageways and secret rooms and protect them with kooky passwords. I wonder if the portraits will have any role to play in the final battle--assuming it takes place at Hogwarts. They could be like spies--alert everybody if the Death Eaters try to sneak into the place, that sort of thing.
There's a pretty big theory that the way we're going to "see" Dumbledore in the next book (because of course we won't see him alive again--he's really really completely undisputably dead--so says JKR) is in a portrait in the Headmaster's Office. It's unclear, though, how much advice he'll be able to dispense to Harry as a portrait; it seems like the portraits can't really think for themselves so much... but who knows?

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Posted by: DVE / 9:21 AM
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Sunday, July 08, 2007

Number 13: Felix Felicis. Because what's not to love about a potion that makes you extraordinarily lucky all day long? Perfect for a big stressful day when you just need everything to go right.

I just love how there are all kind of TV specials and everything going on right now, as we get closer to the release of the movie and book. I went over to Mugglenet and watched an interview of JK Rowling on some British show. She said that after writing one of the last chapters, she said down and "howled." Awhile ago, I would have taken this for evidence that Harry dies, but now I think it's going to involve Harry making some other kind of huge sacrifice. There's a theory out there (in the fandom) that's been christened the "Time Travel Theory." It basically theorizes that perhaps the other person in attendance at Godric's Hollow (where Harry's parents were murdered) was Harry himself. (We know that someone else had to have been there, because someone had to tell Dumbledore that the Potters had been murdered and where baby Harry could be found.) This theory ties up several loose ends interestingly: Harry could be the one to give his dad's Invisibility Cloak to Dumbledore and tell Dumbledore all the necessary information about the murders; perhaps he ran into Snape there and had an encounter with him that explains the hatred that Snape greets him with when they next meet; perhaps he's even the one who convinces Dumbledore that Snape must be trusted. Of course, the emotional impact of this kind of plot would be that Harry would have to sit back and allow his parents to be killed, knowing that if they weren't the consequences could be catastrophic--both for him personally and for the wizarding world in general, since it is his mother's sacrifice that causes Voldemort's initial downfall. Anyway, I'm not sure how plausible this theory is, but I think it's brilliant, whether it ends up in the book or not.

Of course, Rowling could be howling about the death of some other character. I'm not sure who is near and dear enough to her heart to upset her that much--maybe Hagrid? Or Neville? I'm pretty sure the trio is going to make it through, and I'll be livid if Ginny snuffs it. I do think the Weasley family will have some casualties--probably Molly, maybe Percy. I also think we're going to lose Professor McGonagall and Professor Trelawney among the teachers--perhaps more (hopefully not Lupin, though *crosses fingers* I want him to live happily ever after with Tonks). More theories to come...

Also, in the interview, Rowling said she was twenty-five when she got the idea for the Harry Potter books. Twenty-five! As in, the age I'm turning in 23 days. I think I need to go on a nice, long train ride....

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Posted by: DVE / 7:40 PM
4 comments

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Allow me to draw your attention to the sidebar and the astonishing number to which it has dwindled. Thirteen days! I feel like I need to do something to celebrate the last few days. I know--I'll give you my fourteen favorite things from the Harry Potter universe: one per day!

Today's--in honor of the Pottercast that I saw last night--will be Wizarding Candy. Mmm...Chocolate frogs, Pepper Imps, Drooble's Best-Blowing Gum, Chocoballs...and the best of all: Sugar Quills! So you chew on your pen--er, quill--while you're thinking what to write and--surprise!--it's candy! Excellent.

So the live Pottercast last night was really fun. There were probably 60 or so people there. I got to go up and share a theory. Also, I got a Pottercast shirt and a few little souvenirs for a some certain HP fans I know. Then I hung around like a nerd until they left. Oh, and I talked to Melissa Anelli about Edna St. Vincent Millay, because I read her blog (see sidebar: Penbitten) and she posted a few Millay poems there awhile ago, which got me started reading Millay again. So I told Melissa all this, and she said I "looked like someone who would like Millay"--which in my book is totally a compliment. Then we talked excitedly about our favorite poems until people nearby who were waiting for autographs started clearing their throats and looking annoyed.

So, in light of that exciting moment in my life, here is my favorite Edna St. Vincent Millay poem:

We talk of taxes, and I call you friend;
Well, such you are --but well enough we know
How thick about us root, how rankly grow
Those weeds no man has need to tend
That flourish through neglect, and soon must send
Perfume too sweet upon us and overthrow
Our steady senses; how such matters go
We are aware, and how such matters end.
Yet shall be told no meagre passion here;
With lovers such as we forevermore
Isolde drinks the draught, and Guinevere
Receives the Table's ruin through her door,
Francesca, with the loud surf at her ear,
Lets fall the coloured book up on the floor.

So, the first time I read this poem, I had no idea who "Francesca" was and only the vaguest notion of "Isolde" and her "draught." So, assuming you know enough to figure out the Guinevere stuff, here are a couple links to make sense of the last four lines: Isolde, Francesca.

And, finally, if you're at all interested, I've changed my stance on the Harry Potter dying thing. See, there was this old interview with JK Rowling that surfaced not long ago--from before HP became so huge that she had to watch everything she said--where she was asked if the trio would survive until the end of the series and she said, "yes." So, although there's a slight possibility that Harry is one of the two characters whose fates she changed since that interview, I rather doubt it. So, yeah, I'm back in the "Harry lives" camp.

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Posted by: DVE / 12:22 PM
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Thursday, July 05, 2007

The hot days of summer have arrived. My car thermometer said it was 90 yesterday, and I've started with the summer ritual of strategic window opening and closing in a house without AC. Also, mapping out the front yard for sprinkler placement. (I think I need a wider sprinkler head.)

Most of this last week I spent camping with my family over by Bend. We camped at a surprisingly empty campground by a quite nice lake. The boys fished (I lost interest in fishing somewhere around age 13), and the girls snuck out to Bend for a very non-outdoorsy shopping trip. I can't say it was the best camping trip ever--our old camping trailer was recently inhabited by mice, and--though patched up and cleaned adequately--it also has the unfortunate habit of squeaking and rocking anytime anyone dares roll over at night. What's more, I forgot my bug spray, and as you may remember, I have a problem with mosquitoes. There were exactly three mosquitoes in our camper the first night, and between their buzzing in my ear, and my efforts to keep every square inch of my skin covered and protected, and the creaking and the general discomfort of not being in my own bed, I woke up in a--how shall we say?--foul mood the next morning. Not to mention itchy. I don't do well without sleep. Even now, three days later, I have five bites on my feet and two on my ankles that wake me up at night. I think I even itch in my dreams!



Another summer change to my appearance (in addition to the red welts on my extremeties) is a slight change in hair color:

Hee. Isn't that fun? We had a bit of a hair-dyeing party in Klamath Falls. :)

On the down-side, I have a problem in my back yard. Bugs. Big black and red beetly bugs. Hundreds and hundreds of them. (After an inordinant amount of time searching on Google, I think I'm dealing with a Box Elder Bug, or something like it.) Now, I know that there are worse bugs to be infested with. Wasps, for example, would be much worse. Or, really, anything that bites or stings. But when there are so many buzzing, swarming, black-and-red bugs that you can't even walk across your backyard without reenacting a scene from some kind of horror movie, any kind of bug is a problem. I set up a clothesline to dry my clothes yesterday morning, and by afternoon, I couldn't even get the clothes off the line. And let me tell you, there is nothing sadder than seeing your cute, green, summer dress hanging out on a clothesline, covered in a million black bugs, and being completely helpless to do anything about it. Today, however, I declared war. Armed with my bottle of Raid and a fly-swatter, I set out to deal some stern buggy death. Swatting and squishing bugs one by one (or two by two, as the case may be) might not be the most efficient way to rid yourself of your bug population, but no one can deny that it's the most satisfying.

Finally, I'm very excited to be attending the second live Pottercast of my life (and last, I suspect. Sad.) tomorrow night--this time in Eugene, rather than NYC. Unfortunately I have no friends my own age of suitable HP-obsessiveness (the closest being a bunch of my sister's 14-year-old friends--and yes, actually, I did ask them, but they have some kind of birthday party that apparently takes precedence), so I shall be going alone. Oh well. That's the price you pay when you're a devoted fan-girl.

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Posted by: DVE / 5:30 PM
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