Futhermore,

[aloysiusweasley]

This'll be the random post, for all the review goodies I've found, all the snarky quotes, icons, oh, and don't forget the interviews. *shudders*

Actually, let's start with those. Apparently, my e-mail holds LOTS more than the LJ posting limit, so I think I'm going to make this into a massive set of posts, with all sorts of fun things I found.

Comments

[catherinecookmn]

JKR's saying that "everything would have changed had Merope stayed to raised Tommy Jr." is so disingenuous, and so contradictory of what she actually depicts in the book; remember how Dumbledore keeps Harry from going to save the crying baby-Riddle? The implication being that Nature Trumps Nurture and just as Harry is Unstainable Good, Riddle is Unredeemable Evil.

She's retconning on the fly again, and she'll probably forget she said this (if she hasn't already). Tom's childhood in the orphanage was a damned sight better than Harry's with the Dursleys -- and does anyone think that Riddle would have turned out OK with such a weak-willed mother? Nope.

[aloysiusweasley]

Yes, yes, and YES! She made all this fuss about "it's all about the choices we maaake!!11", then presents Tom Riddle as a born sociopath! I really had issue with her saying everything would have been all right with Merope there, too, but couldn't find the words for it like you did - really, what's the best we could have gotten? They would have probably been utterly destitute, and Merope isn't exactly a Paragon of Goodness(tm) herself. Not only with the love potion, but deeper - much as she hated her family, what would she remember and consider "acceptable" in how to raise young Tom?

*snort* Maybe they would have gone up to the Riddle house for a family reunion? Hey, I smell Crack!Plotbunnies XD

[scholars]

It's a bit late (seriously late actually), but I noticed you just nitpick at the oddest things.
"Jess: How did nagini could see harry and hermione if they were under the invisibility cloak

J.K. Rowling: Snakes’ sense are very different from human ones. They can detect heat and movement in a way that we can’t.

Feh!"

What's with the "feh"? If you'd bothered to do something as simple as google about snakes, you'd find that some snakes actually DO detect prey by sensing body heat, which is why they can hunt in total darkness. There's nothing wrong with JK's answer.

[anitaray]

Uh, ok. But that cloak is a HALLOW, with all kinds of magic working through it, and it's supposed to hide you "perfectly". What good is it if it won't hide you any more simply because you haven't had a bath in two weeks? Are we supposed to think that Death only senses people by sight, and is unable to hear, smell, or feel them? If that's the case, any old invisibility cloak can hide you from Death, can't it, all you need to do is keep a stash of new cloaks for when an old one wears out

[scholars]

The whole Hallows thing annoys me. The horcruxes were fine because they were building up since like, the first few books, but it does seem like she threw the Hallows in randomly with the last. Maybe because she had to make it longer? D:

But I think if Harry breathing too loudly can cause him to be noticed (like in the first book when Snape did, but decided it was nothing because he didn't know Harry had the cloak) then maybe it's not totally impossible that Nagini could sense them. She's probably more powerful than a normal snake, having Voldemort's soul in her and all. Or something. I know JK tends to randomly make up answers in interviews so it's stopped bothering me.

And sorry 'bout the old comment, I was just annoyed because of all the 7th book bashing I was seeing that week. :D

[anitaray]

You're right about noises giving the cloak-wearer away, of course. Which is just another reason why the Cloak is such a lame-a$$ hallow. So people can't SEE you, big deal! They could still hear you, feel you, track your footsteps, smell you, catch hold of you, or simply sense you - it's not at all unusual for the hairs on the back of your neck to stand up ..

Ah well. Cheers, I was just cruising by to get my DH-hate fix today because I reread DH for the first time last weekend and I'm bored at work. :P