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Messages - Aen Elderberry

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16
Books / Re: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ***Spoilers***
« on: August 08, 2007, 06:42:10 PM »
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I admit that most of this is nitpicking but I wanted to reach to previous posts, now that I've had a chance to read them.

Supporting Cast:

Neville and Luna are awesome.  But I was hoping to see more significant action from  Gawp, the house Elves, Krum, Hadrid's girlfriend, the Dursleys, and others.  But then I realized that the book was just too crowded as it was.  She crammed in a lot.  Some of these folks could have helped during the quest.

Loved the Bagshot chapter!

Hedwig:
How can the death of Hedwig carry so much weight?  I know people's pets are important to them but when you and all your best friends are about to die at the hands of death eaters then by comparison it just doesn't worry me much.  (I'll probably get labeled as an animal hater for this comment.)


Snape:

I felt sure that Rowling would redeem Snape.  It seemed obvious from Harry's previous view of Snape with Lily that Snape was in love with Lily.  But after Snape shot off George's ear I thought that possibly Snape wasn't good but just set on revenge against Voldemort or was just trying to usurp the Dark Lord's power.   I thought she did well with Snape.  Flawed but brave.  The only thing disappointing about his death was that he didn't fight back.  He seemed too smart and too quick to not react.  And since Voldemort had killed many of his own followers how could Snape be caught off guard?

When Harry went in the Headmaster's office I was hoping to see a new portrait of Snape hanging on the wall, sneering at him.

Kreatur:
I loved Kreatur's "Redemption"  It was one of my favorite parts of the book.  But as someone else mentioned, I expected a few more people to switch sides.  Which leads to . . .

Another wrong prediction:
I really thought that there would be a traitor to Harry, like Peter Petigrew was to James.  I really feared it would be Ron.  When Ron took off I was afraid he'd be captured by Death Eaters and turn.  When he smashed the locket I felt a huge sense of relief.  I thought "Ron's passed the test.  He'll be okay now."  After that I wasn't as concerned about a traitor.

Voldemort:

Considering what the sorting hat did the last time Voldemort encountered it, Chamber of Secrets, why would he summon it?  Seems pretty stupid.  Or does he have no memory of that because it was a Horcux that did it?  In any case the act of putting it on Neville and setting it on fire seemed juvenile.  I'd expect that from Malfoy or Crabbe but not Voldemort.

And I half expected Harry to tell everyone that Tom Riddle's father was a Muggle.  That would have been an excellent scoop for the Quibbler.

The Elder Wand:

If the wand works as it apparently did, being taken from Malfoy because Harry disarmed him, then Harry's comment that if no one takes it from him until he dies is not correct.

My son was making up new names for books and threw out the title "Dean Thomas and the Elder Wand."   

How could that happen?

Here's the beginning of my outline for my first Harry Potter fanboy fiction.   :)

Dean Thomas, as professor of Defense against the Dark Arts, invites Harry to Hogwarts to demonstrate dueling.   Harry doesn't try hard because he doesn't want to show off or disgrace the teacher in front of his students.  Dean disarms Harry.  (If what Harry did to Malfoy counts then why wouldn't this?)  This means that the Elder wand now belongs to Dean.   How does Dean find out?  While sailing on the lake by Hogwarts his boat tips and he drops his wand into the lake.  He borrows someone else's wand and says "Accio Wand."   Instead of summoning the wand that's sinking to the bottom of the lake it calls the Elder Wand, which bursts out of Dumbledore's tomb and flies to him.

That's the long way of saying "I don't buy Harry's little sermon about removing the power of the wand."

Question:
I thought that when Harry and Ron were in Slytherin's dungeon disguised as Crabbe and Goyle that Malfoy mentioned that his dad had stuff hidden under the floor of the Malfoy mansion.  Did that ever show up latter in the series?
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But on the whole I must bow before Rowling's genius.  Harry Potter is a marvelous creation.  I had a blast reading the books.   Still I think The Prizoner of Azkaban is my favorite.

17
Books / Re: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ***Spoilers***
« on: August 07, 2007, 11:49:52 PM »
Finished last night.   I thought I'd be fourth in line for the book but I nabbed it second, after my son.

I'm posting in part so I can see what everyone else is saying.

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Thought it was good.  But not as good as some of the others.

I felt like there wasn't enough of a "sacrifice."  I fully expected someone with more emotional weight, such as Ron, Hermoine or Hagrid to die.  Not that I wanted them to die but it felt too convenient.  With the innumerable dangers they passed through, not the least the final battle with all the Death Eats trying to kill them, it's hard to believe that the casualty rate was so low.  It felt like cheating.

I felt like the Hallows and Horcruxes and all the deep magic stuff got way too complex.  When you have to have a whole chapter near the end of the book where Dumbledore sits down and explains everything then it is Way too complex.
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But, hey, could I do any better?  Just wish she had submitted it to our writing group first.  The final version would have been much better.  :)

18
Books / Re: review: Blink
« on: August 02, 2007, 12:11:03 AM »
I enjoyed this book.  Highly recommend it.

The Silvan Tomkins stuff is particularly fascinating to me.  Reading micro expressions.   I would like to learn that skill.

19
Rants and Stuff / Re: Happy Things 2006:Generation X [part deux]
« on: July 03, 2007, 05:50:34 PM »
I have a job!  We're going to be moving to Maine in August, where I'll be the Information Technology Librarian at a small public liberal arts college there.

Awesome!  Congratulations!

I guess that rules you out of a new writing group here in Utah.  Good luck getting in to Stephen King's group.  From what I remember from his About Writing book it currently consists of one other person . . . his wife.

Quote
So if any of you ever feel like taking a jaunt way up Northeast--way up Northeast--then drop me a line. 

Be careful of what you ask for.  :)   My sister-in-law is talking about moving from Pennsylvania to Maine.  So we might be headed up there to visit her family.  We'll certainly stop by the library.

Sounds like an adventure.   Do they need any web programmers way up there in the Northeast?

20
Site News / Re: An Announcement You Will Not Be Interested In
« on: July 03, 2007, 05:36:52 PM »
What an interesting announcement.  Sorry I was out of town.  No, really, I'm sorry I couldn't be there.

21
Site News / Re: The 4th
« on: July 03, 2007, 05:26:42 PM »
I'll be running in Provo's Freedom Festival 10K.  I was going to run in my Mistborn Llama shirt but decided that if I did that I'd probably get sick at the end of the race and ruin it.  It's far too valuable to risk damaging it.  I need a TWG or Mistborn bandana to wear.

If anyone is watching the parade in Provo stop by 589 E. Center and say hi.  After the race I'll be joining the crowd by my mother's house.  If you need a place to hang out for the parade PM me and I'll give you more info.

22
Everything Else / Re: Star Wars and pants.
« on: June 29, 2007, 09:32:27 PM »
Same word replaced but in different scenes:

Scene one:
"A tremor in the Force. The last time I felt it was in the presence of my old pants."

Scene two:
"When I left you, I was but the learner; now *I* am the pants."
"Only a pants of evil, Darth."

Scene three:
"Curse my metal body. I wasn't fast enough. It's all my fault. My poor pants."

23
Everything Else / Re: Names?
« on: June 29, 2007, 09:19:57 PM »
When considering what to name our children I always bring up -
 
Bishop
Senator
Mister
General

and suggest that if we want a family name then we should consider

Grandma
Uncle

But we always end up using something else.  You may ask "where is my wife's sense of adventure?"

We have used real family names and biblical names.  I actually prefer names that you can spell.  Check out the chapter on names in Freakanomics before you decide to use a weird spelling.

24
Deadline is tomorrow!

(I submitted last Saturday.  Very unlike me to be a whole week early.)

25
Writing Group / Re: Plea for Help
« on: June 13, 2007, 05:07:46 PM »
Awesome!

Go Parker!

26
Rants and Stuff / ARPEEGY
« on: May 18, 2007, 05:32:51 PM »
Which of you drives the red Saturn Ion with the vanity plates that say ARPEEGY?   I saw you pull onto the freeway this morning at 500 East in American Fork.

Or maybe ARPEEGY means something different that what I think it means.   Someone please enlighten me one way or the other.  :)

27
Writing Group / Re: Vampire idea help
« on: May 18, 2007, 05:07:52 PM »
Depending on your setting and everything, it could be some sort of rare disease/virus, in which case it could be contracted by the normal virus ways--getting it in your blood stream somehow.  Depending on how prevalent vampires are in your world, the disease could be anywhere from easy to hard to contract.

Would you consider the things in The Cave to be vampires?  Were they created by a virus or a parasite passed by violent contact?

28
Everything Else / Re: Best Quote Lately Reincarnated
« on: May 18, 2007, 04:50:39 PM »
From someplace, can't remember where -

"It's bad luck to be superstitious."

(Didn't there used to be a spell check button?  Is stupertisious spelt write?)

29
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Belated Congratulations on Elantris
« on: May 18, 2007, 04:41:34 PM »
And so I got here at last, all the way from Poland :) Elantris will be out here within a month, we finished with the last touches this week.

Did you help with the Polish edition?  You said you do translations?

30
Brandon Sanderson / Re: Brandon made the 100 Hour Board
« on: May 18, 2007, 03:59:40 PM »
sandwiched between Ayn Rand and Watership Down. Let us hope you take more after the second than the first.

I like both authors.  But then I've never read Atlas Shrugged.  However I really liked The Fountainhead.  I loved Watership Down but couldn't get into Shardik.  I think Brandon is in excellent company.  :)

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