star wars/harry potter synopsis.

-ap.

just so no one forgets.

07/17/09. five months and four days.

i have chills.

-ap.

welcome, class of 2013.

today is campus tour day apparently.

in my 5 years on this campus i've never once taken a campus tour. some of my friends get paid some meager cash to actually lead them, but i've never once felt the urge to jump in with the crowd and hear the particulars of the university i attend.

maybe it's because i'm a detective and i like to figure things out on my own? yep. thats probably it.

but these prospective students and their parents are everywhere today, and i can't help but think three things:
1. they're all wearing expressions like they've just discovered hogwarts*.
2. guaranteed none of them ever manage to utilize interlibrary loan to the degree i have.
3. probably most importantly - they look so young.

when i was entering college, these students were entering their second year of middle school. it makes me feel extremely old and somewhat uncomfortable. i'm happy for them though. they're about to enter into one of the most exciting, different - potentially regrettable - and memory filled years in their life. heck, their future husband/wife could be in the group tour with them right now.

college is great guys. don't grow up too fast, and don't be afraid to change your major as many times as you feel necessary.

-ap.

* - which they haven't yet, they are on the 2nd floor, and hogwarts is up on the 4th.

HP and the DH: Post-game.

i made the mistake of starting harry potter and the deathly hallows yesterday afternoon. this was only a mistake because i finished it at 5 am. but since i don't have class until 1 on tuesday then it wasn't necessarily a long term problem.

i read it in 22 hours the first time. round two took a couple months. round three: 11 hours. i'm not sure if i'm considering it a waste of time or not.

as i layed down to sleep late last night with the adrenaline pumping through my system it occurred to me that i hadn't written anything substantial in the wake of the release of HP and the DH in july of 07. i had written a fantastic pre-game entry with all my expectations, predictions and love confessions.

somehow i failed to write a post-game entry. i don't know how, i can't explain how i could've had anything more important cycling through my brain than the contents of this bulbous novel. i'll claim that i intentionally waited as to not spoil the book for any one who hadn't had the chance to pour through its pages yet. so here are the "more thoughts to come."

i made a list of predictions in my pre-game: a list of things i needed to have happen in the seventh book. let's see how if i came out on top in my predictions.

harry versus draco cage match: it didn't come as i anticipated. i wanted a full on duel, but i suppose one could argue that it did happen anyway. to some extent at least. harry swipes draco's wand (therefore - as far as the wand is concerned - defeating his opponent), and they did have somwhat of a row in the Room of Requirement, but not a "cage match". however, harry also saves his rear twice during the battle of hogwarts. my wish for ron and hermione to get involved was fulfilled though, coming to a climax when ron suckerpunches him from under the invisibility cloak after saving him the second time. i was somewhat correct, but not entirely. no points awarded or deducted. Correct/Incorrect: +0

snape has to be good: thank goodness. if snape was evil i would've been flabbergasted. however, he definitely had quite a bit of loyalty to voldemort and wished to follow him, but his love for harry's mom ran deep tipped the scale easily toward good. Correct: +1

snape under imperius curse in book 6: i should've known it wasn't going to be that easy, but being so in love with lily potter?! whoa. snape develops to be maybe the 4th or 6th most important character in the whole novel (depending on if you ran him above or below ron and hermione in importance, clearly he ranks after harry, voldemort and dumbledore.) the chapter late in the book when harry is in the penseive watching snape's memory was one of the most enlightening and answer-filled chapters in the whole series. Incorrect: -1

ron and hermione kiss: there were so many moments when i thought this was going to happen - starting all the way back in like book 2 - and when it actually did happen i dropped my book and gave a double fist pump. this is one of the things that could've really messed up the whole series for me if it hadn't happened. i've been banking on it for years and reading it like they were already a pseudo-couple forever. probably Rowling's exact intent. Correct: +1

ron dies: wrong. however, fred died...kinda a consolation. Incorrect -1

Hogwarts finale: candy from a baby. easiest prediction ever. where else would it have happened? Godric's Hallow? no way. the Ministry of Magic? so book five. Dursley's?! get real. it had to be Hogwarts. the only thing that would've enhanced it at ALL would've been if she'd incorporated two things: the Quidditch field and/or Harry on a broomstick (which we still got a taste of early in the book). i wish they'd kept all the Slytherins hostage too and made 'em squirm a bit. especially Pansy Parkinson. Correct: +1

lucious malfoy dies: wrong. the dude didn't even have a wand the entire book and he was scared the whole time. all he wanted was his son's safety - very unlike him. i thought he was done for when voldemort borrowed his wand and it didn't work. voldemort wasn't quite as merciless as i thought he'd be. Incorrect -1

draco is cornered by harry but harry is merciful: boom goes the dyno. starts to duel but then pulls him out of a flaming Room of Requirement and then saves him from a Death Eater. Correct +1

voldemort dies: this is like stealing. Correct +1

hagrid dies: wrong. i'm happy about it. Incorrect -1

peter pettigrew dies via grawp: got it, then missed it. Correct/Incorrect +0

Those-Who-Cannot-Die: " hermoine, ginny, neville, snape.....tonks." i got the first three, got snape wrong, but saved myself on tonks by my next call. 4/5 ain't bad. Correct: +1

Lupin/Tonks Combo Death: here lies my loophole prediction for tonks. i figured that whatever lupin did, she would do also. i'm on a roll here. Correct: +1

Neville is a badass: okay okay. i totally nailed this one. neville steps up huge and takes out Nangini, Voldy's snake Horcrux. this is what i would refer to as neville "saving the eve." it's the event immediately preceding the climax of the book (the harry potter/tom riddle duel, thus, neville flashes his chops and rules just as i'd called. Correct +1

Neville avenges his parents: man. this one surprised me, but i think i was just being idealistic in this prediciton. i thought neville would take out bellatrix lestrange for sure, avenging his parents' torture and death at the hands of the witch. turns out bellatrix was replaced by nangini and EFFING MOLLY WEASLEY WENT OFF INSTEAD. holy crap what a moment. never ever ever saw that coming. incredible. Incorrect -1

viktor krum is saved by ron: too bad he had an insignificant role and never shows up again after bill and fleur's wedding. Incorrect -1

fawkes is inherited by harry: i actually really thought this would happen. and then when hedwig dies in the first 100 pages i was certain that dumbledore's phoenix would show up to replace it. i figured that dumbledore was going to have a large role somehow, and i thought it would've been through fawkes somehow. dangit. i loved this prediction. Incorrect -1

minerva mcgonagall turns out to have some chops: as if we didn't all see this coming. dumbledore's gone, so it makes sense. when she runs off snape right before the battle - so much attitude. i'm pumped to see her duel when the movie comes out in a few years. Correct +1

overall: +1 i'm not sure what this tells me other than i predicted more things write than wrong. i suppose i'll give myself a pat on the back.

predictions about the movie still to come:
cameo appearance by either chris brown or beyonce.
linkin park for the credits music.

-ap.

a cloaking device.

Berkeley Researchers Take Big Step Toward Invisibility

so much for asking people if they'd rather be able to fly or be invisible. that's such a great question too - you can tell a lot about someone's character based on their answer...anyone who chooses invisible is a pervert. if you were offended by that statement and would like to act like you were going to use your invisibility for a nobler use* - don't. cause then i'll think you're a liar too.

the ones who want invisibility are deceivers. they're con artists. they look to spy and creep and sneak around. real sleuth types. they're shifty shifty characters and cannot be trusted.

now flying, on the other hand, makes perfect sense. it's practical on so many levels: gas prices, time, convenience, enjoyment - none of which are shifty. flying is the way to go.

but thats not what's important here. what IS important is that we're actually freaking doing it. like the article says, 'what is this, harry potter?'** science is advancing at a scary rate nowadays. we're tampering with rather unhealthy things. while technology is a great thing (i mean, hello, i'm typing this on my macbook, wirelessly on the internet - what did any of those things mean 15 years ago?) it's still scary. example: atomic bombs. example: airplanes. example: the internet. example: credit cards. all technologies that can be, and have been, utilized as something other than an asset to society.

so when berkeley claims they've made progress toward an invisibility cloak i can't help but shudder at the implications. i'm assuming that it won't be available to the public if it ever makes it for real - that just spells disaster in jails and locker rooms - but just the thought of it being possible is pretty unnerving. oh sure, harry, ron and the lovely hermione are able to utilize it in the vanquishing of voldemort, but lets be honest with ourselves, the wizarding community is, as a whole, a much nobler society than mankind...even if ron has had some less-than-pure thoughts about the cloak's use.

i guess it'll probably continue as long as the conveniences continue to outweigh the negative implications. why don't we work on genetically altering humans so we can fly instead? that seems like something i'd rather dabble in. however, when it comes to invisibility cloaks i might have to draw the line. i just can't see them ever being a betterment to society.

-ap.

* - military use is not noble either. why is it that with every new invention America's gut instinct is to use it militarily? does that seem slightly unhealthy to anyone else?

** - this isn't verbatim from the article, but it's undoubtedly the writer's initial thought.

HP6. HI OHH.

ohhhhhhhh man. get hyped.
i can hardly keep my heart in my chest its pounding so hard.
november 08.

-ap.