The · Fifth · Side · of · the · Pyramid

And the LORD God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife and clothed them.
Genesis 3:21

God, our master, gave Adam and Eve clothes when he cast them out of the Garden. In the wizarding world, a master must give his/her house elf clothes in order to free the elf. Also, most house elves do not want to be freed, just as Adam and Eve do not want to be cast out of the Garden.

Just an interesting parallel. Any thoughts?

I was reading through/thinking back on some theories about the prophecy. There a quite a few really good ones out there, with really pretty wild interpretations of it.

But then I realized something rather important:

The prophecy is portrayed as SELF-FULFILLING. The fact that it is self-fulfilling is vital to the theme of the story, that we are who we are by the choices we make.

Therefore, what we think about the prophecy matters little. How it COULD be interpretted matters little. Voldemort's and Harry's reading of it are all that matter.

Voldemort's Death Eaters were formerly known as the Knights of Walpurgis.

This is interesting for a few reasons:
1. Walpurgis Night is a pagan celebration of the coming of Summer.
2. Walpurgis Night is April 30. Hitler committed suicide on this night. One historian suggests this is symbolic - Hitler was offering himself up to evil. Note that Tom Riddle was in school during the second World War.* Also, Dumbledore defeated the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945 - the same year WWII ended and the same year Hitler committed suicide.
3. Saint Walburga's feast day is May 1. She converted pagans throughout Germany in the 700s, and is the patron saint against disease. Sirius's mother, Mrs. Black, shares her name.
4. Walpurgis Night is opposite Halloween on the calendar, the night Voldemort first fell.

I'm not quite sure what all this means quite yet. I do imagine, however, that the final battle will take place on the night of April the 30th.

Thoughts?

*Redhen wrote an essay, which I currently cannot locate, theorizing that Tom Riddle had alot to do with the downfall of Grindelwald, and that Tom Riddle derived alot of his power as Dark Lord from Grindelwald and his followers.

The book covers for HP7 have been released.

My Pottergasm is the culmination of the UK book cover and this essay written by mrs_wolf ages ago.

fdsnkajfj;dsak;lsa jkds;jfkldsa jidas;jfklshgjs dh;fdshfj;dsavb;u iahdfjhdfj klfdsgadls.

That pretty much covers it.

So, now that we know when the 7th book is coming out (JULY 21ST!), I feel that it is completely necessary for me to get over-involved in fandom again. I have an essay in mind (which I'll probably write some time next week), and I need to catch up on all the new, interesting theories that have come out in the past few months. Suggested reading?

Once all the noodles are gone, who really enjoys drinking the brothy part of the soup? Certainly not a younger version of myself. I can remember sitting at the kitchen table, slurping happily at my soup, eating every bit of chicken and every last noddle. I finish, with about a centimeter of polluted (rogue cracker particles and miniscule shreds of chicken) broth. I eye it, not particularly wanting to eat it, so I ask to be excused from the table (a habit of mine which has gone the way of chivalry). My mom looks into my bowl and repeats that favorite motherly adage, "There are children starving in China. Finish your soup." I cannot remember if I ate it, or sat at the table, watching it get cold, in boycott. It hardly matters now.

I was driving back to college with my mother the other day. "What you'll do with your life is still a mystery. I know whatever it is, it'll be great. You're good at English, but I still think that your thing is math. I can't help but think you'll do something with that," she says to me. I nod, wondering whether or not I should tell her I have been considering more and more going the way of the English major. I decide against it. My mother, who stopped understanding math half way through algrebra, thinks I am a mathmatical genius. I think back to the father in A Bronx Tale proudly telling his son not to "waste talent," a sentiment I know my mother shares.

I realized over a bowl of soup the other day that my mother is China. My mathmatical apptitude is the broth at the bottom of the bowl.

There are children starving in China. Finish your soup.

Did I drink the broth? Perhpas it matters more than I ever thought.

"Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things."
- Denis Diderot

I've been contemplating this recently, and a bizarre moment of clarity this morning I think I decided what I want to major/minor in. If I think about it too much I change my mind. When I think too much, logic gets in the way and says "but I'm good at this." I like this Diderot fellow. Screw the logic. You might be good at something, but it doesn't matter a rat's ass if you're not passionate about it. Nothing will come from empty genius.

According to imbd, Keith Richards will be making a cameo appearance in POTC 3 as Cptn. Jack's father. He won't be a main character (he probably won't even have any lines, as it is, reportedly, a cameo appearance), but I suspect he will be talked about. So, who exactly is Cptn. Jack Sparrow?

One possibility I've been toying with is that Jack Sparrow is a pseudonym.

Both "Jack" and "Sparrow" are significant in sailing. "Jack" refers to a sailor. A sparrow tattoo signified that a sailor had travelled over 5,000 nautical miles.

Cptn. Jack Sparrow, through his name, is referencing the fact that he is a well-travelled sailor. Notice also that "Captain" seems to be part of his name, or he views it as such.

So, what could Cptn. Jack's real name be?

Smith, perhaps?

It told you he was telling the truth, ;P

Mr. Loffredo went on to testify that a hypothetical "ChryslerDaimler" headquartered in the United States would face a 67.5 percent tax rate, while the actual Daimler-Chrysler, headquartered in Germany, pays only 44 percent.

The Fairtax Book, page 66

This knowledge pisses me off greatly. Here we have politicians leading us to believe that overseas corporations are being taxed practically nothing, so the logical thing to do to bring jobs back to American would be to raise tariffs. Am I the only one that sees a problem with this? 44% should NOT be a tax advantage.

Damned politicians.

I haven't updated in practically a month. That's a rather long time. I've been very busy. Senior memory book, AP tests, graduation related stuff, college related stuff, etc. It is about to get worse. I have a 2 day lull before things get crazy again. My grandparents and aunt are flying in this weekend. My graduation is next week. My grandparents leave the week after that. Shortly after they leave, leave for Europe. I fly back from Europe two weeks later to my new house. My family is moving while I am away. Then I have orrientation. Then my uncle is flying in from California to visit. By the time he leaves we'll be a week into July. Who knows whether or not I'll have internet. Who knows whether or not I will be able to get on livejournal secretly or not. Perhaps the library. *shrugs*

Anyways, that was my roundabout way of saying that I will not be around for a while, but I am not dead. I might not be able to post anything until September when I go to school. I will hopefully be lurking. Which leads to my request.

Please leave a comment on this entry with a link to particularly brilliant Harry Potter theories. If you have a LJ entry I absolutely must comment on, link to it here.

I should be able to check my e-mails on ocassion.

Past that dreary news, I have some random update-y-ness:

The DaVinci Code is coming out tomorrow! Squee!

( Harry Potter theory-ette 1: Tom Riddle Senior/Merope Gaunt )

( Harry Potter Theory-ette 2: Snape and the Parselmouth )

( I am so bizarre... )

"Lie back and think of England" in its intended context:

Directions given to a woman when presented with an inevitable (and probably undesired) sexual encounter.

"Lie back and think of England" with metonymy employed:

Metonymy could be used to suggest that England = the King.

Lie back and think of the King.

Aha. Right.

Interesting how the meaning changes...

I am writing this in response to the challenge sexy_bartok has passed along. Essentially, you have to write an entry in a way atypical to you. For instance, my journal consists mostly of random musings and Harry Potter essays. I will be writing a silly diary entry. It should be amusing. The rest is under the cut.

( Read more... )

This article, about the censorship of the Harry Potter books, appeared in the daily_snitch yesterday. As a fanatic HP fan and avid reader, I scoff at the notion. I retreat back into HP fandom. I might be subject to censorship at school, but at home, on my computer, I am safe.

Or perhaps not.

Incidentally, I am reading Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 for class. Two things I read today struck home for me.

It [censorship] didn't come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick..." (Page 58, 50th anniversary edition)

There's more than one way to burn a book. (Page 176, 50th anniversary edition)

The woman asking for Harry Potter to be taken off school bookshelves is a fireman, literally censoring the books.

So where does that leave us?

Don't get me wrong, a good portion of fandom is represented by the woman who will not leave her house as her books are burned, but that certainly is not all of us.

Let's look at fandom's response to HBP!Tonks (who, I would argue, is merely Tonks. gunderpants wrote a brilliant essay on the issue, so I won't dwell on it here).

Fandom's problem with Tonks is that, essentially, she has flaws. We put our hope in Tonks as the feminist of the HP series. And she couldn't be just any feminist, but the perfect feminist - a woman who is capable of standing strong no matter what. But she came up shy. Her emotions got to her (regardless of what you believe those emotions came from and whether or not her breakdown was understandable).

And so fandom reacted violently with a string of essays/fanfiction that bashed and/or ignored this new character development.

It is in the books. It is canon. It is JKR's book and her character.

We are entitled to our opinions, but is it Jo's job to cater to them? Is it her job to cater to the politics of her fans? Should she have written Tonks differently because she knew the feminist minority of the world would react to Tonks's portrayal?

Many fans seem to think that is precisely what JKR's job is, and expecting such from JKR is a form of censorship in itself.

We burn books in fandom. We merely use a different match.

A/N: I used Tonks and feminism as an example. It is in other places as well (racism, obesity, etc.).

sexy_bartok:
I was going to answer your challenge (well, technically, your friend's challenge) today, but this meta was just calling to me! lol. Some other day...

Law to Segregate Omaha Schools Divides Nebraska

The guy leading this is Ernie Chambers. He fought to end the apartheid in South Africa.

Apartheid:
1 : racial segregation; specifically : a policy of segregation and political and economic discrimination against non-European groups in the Republic of So. Africa
2 : SEPARATION, SEGREGATION [I favor apartheid of smokers -- L. E. Bellin] [sexual apartheid]

I just don't get it.

I watched Elizabethtown last night. I loved this movie so much, I deleted my Monty Python icon and replaced it with an Elizabethtown Icon. That is saying quite a bit.
( My Review )
( Favorite Quotations )

Blah. In a really crappy mood. College stuff, crazy mother, etc. I couldn't even stand to be in my house. Went outside in the woods and hacked this out (well, I've had the last stanza banging around in my head for the past couple of months). I hate that I can only write poetry when I'm in a pissy mood. It always makes me feel better though. *shrugs*

( Thank God! )

This is something I've been meaning to post. Not poetry. Just a random thought. Not written in fragmented sentences. Promise!

( 42 )

I've been looking at this poster in my Lit class all year. It's on the wall directly in front of my desk and it has an almost magical ability to catch my attention when I'm zoning out. On the poster is a girl with black hair in a messy braid. It reads:

Wabi-Sabi
the beauty of things
imperfect
impermanent
incomplete
modest
humble
unconventional

I am writing a Senior Letter to all of my friends, and yesterday I was wondering what I should write in them. Random memories? Inside jokes? Advice? None of these things seemed quite right, all though they should definitely be a part of the letter.

I started wondering why I love my friends so much. What is the common thread?

One of my friends is almost perfect. She is valedictorian of our class. She's nice, sweet, helpful, neat, and you couldn't hate her if you tried. She's not my friend for any of those reasons, however. She's my friend for what is underneath of that, what few people get to see.

She gives you the funniest look when you do something insane, and she has no sympathy for things you brought on yourself. She tells you what you need to hear, and never what you want to hear.

Her friends are the only people who could dislike her, but we don't. The things we could dislike her for are exactly why we love her so much.

Wabi-Sabi.

She's imperfect, as we all are. The imperfections make people interesting, however. 'Perfect' is a very boring place.

We are constantly striving for a state of perfection. We go to Church on Sundays. We have yearly check-ups. We work our asses off in school. We apply to the big schools. We get in. We go. We graduate with Honors. We land the Big Job. The list continues as we work towards completion.

But do we really want to be complete?

We are who we are because we are imperfect, we are incomplete, we are unique. We are constantly changing as we strive for something new.

I wouldn't want to be anything other than imperfect, incomplete, and unique. And I wish the same for my friends.

My friends say I'm "brutally honest," and their tone isn't always full of sunshine.

Take my honesty as a complement. I am pointing out the imperfections and the oddities, the things that make you perfect.

Wabi-Sabi.