There actually exists-- just off of I-5 between Seattle and Portland-- a town called Vader, Washington.

I've often found it amusing to ponder what their school's football uniforms must look like.

Until recently, I had sort of been tentatively assuming that JKR would finish the manuscript of Book 7 sometime around the end of this year, and that it would be released sometime in the summer of 2007 (indeed, I was quite fond of the 7/7/07 theory, even while recognizing the uncertainty as to whether the publishers would release the book within a ( Read more... )

(Okay, yeah, I know they're called that for a reason. Still, at the moment it feels like "painful useless nuisance teeth" would be more apt ( Read more... )

In addition to being the birthday of one of my favorite characters, Neville Longbottom, today is also a bit of a fandom anniversary. Unfortunately, it’s not a terribly happy one. Five years ago today was my most extensive post in my least successful thread ever at SQ: “Through JKR’s Glasses.” (The thread is of course unavailable, as the old SQ ( Read more... )

Today marks one year since the release of HBP. Let me then mark the occasion with a few comments, in three categories:

(1) The Book, In Retrospect

At the time I commented: "Wow, what a book. Not always what I expected; but, I would say, the best installment since PoA." ( Read more... )

Presumably somebody has pointed this out somewhere before; but this week I noticed an amusing apparent example of "Lessons Harry Learned Between OotP and HBP":

"And it might have been a good idea to mention how ugly you think I am, too," Hermione added as an afterthought.

"But I don't think you're ugly," said Harry, bemused.

(OotP, ch. 26)

" ( Read more... )

I don't have anything particularly profound to say about the characters JKR has recently moved back and forth across the "will/won't survive" line for Book VII. This is because all I really think we can say is that the characters in question are secondary, along the lines of Neville, Luna, Weasleys-older-than-Ron, Hagrid, Lupin, Tonks, and maybe ( Read more... )

Saturday night was the concert I mentioned in my previous entry, and it went quite well. The String Quintet especially went well-- I had been a bit nervous beforehand, since I was still giving them advice and corrections through the last run-through before the performance, but then in the performance itself, they played almost everything just the ( Read more... )

This weekend, for the first time, I get to hear a couple of my compositions performed in public. It's only a student performance, mind you; but still, it'll be a first-in-my-lifetime experience.

This started one evening back in February, at the rehearsal of the local youth orchestra for which I volunteer. After the rehearsal, the principal ( Read more... )

Thanks to tartanboxers for posting screencap here (neither IE nor Firefox would let me grab the pen). In case anyone hasn't seen it already (although I'm sure somebody somewhere must have beaten me to it): ( Spoiler warning, if such you consider these )