One Week to Go

As it's been a while since I read the first 6 Harry Potter books I was glad to find The Story So Far. I also found this list of unanswered questions (here):

—Just who is R.A.B.? Fans already have put forth the theory that R.A.B. is Sirius Black's brother Regulus, who is thought to be dead. Is he? Or could he have been in hiding all this time?

—What happened to that Horcrux? And is the Horcrux that strange, unopenable locket Harry and friends found at 12 Grimmauld Place in Book 5 — "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"? If so, will there be some connection to Mundungus Fletcher, who apparently has been stealing stuff from the house?

—What role will Dumbledore play? Yes, yes, we know that Dumbledore is dead. And Rowling has said she means REALLY dead, no unexpected returns a la Gandalf here. But does that mean he's out for the count? The dead have made their presence felt in the other books, so what does that mean for Dumbledore?

—What is the deal with Snape? Good guy? Bad guy? Good guy playing bad guy? Was a good guy but returned to Voldemort's side? Never really left Voldemort's side? What?

—What's up with Aunt Petunia? Harry's non-magical aunt (a Muggle) has always been mean to him, and ashamed of her magical sister (Harry's mom), but understands more than she has ever let on about the danger Voldemort represents. Rowling has hinted she has a role to play in the last book. What will it be?

—Who is going to die? Rowling has said she killed off two major characters. Who will they be? 

My question is what will be Peter Pettigrew's ultimate fate? I'm so hoping that Rowling will truly be able to tie up all the loose ends that she developed in the first 6 books as that would be quite an achievement. Well we'll know in a week.

I haven't seen "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" but after reading this article I've become curious about Evanna Lynch who plays Luna Lovegood. I'll probably see the movie later this summer (as you may have noticed I'm not much of a movie goer nor am I a HP fanatic. I once knew a girl who could recite the titles of every chapter - that is far beyond my interest in the books).

For anyone in need of help in refreshing their memory of the HP'verse Mugglenet and The Harry Potter Lexicon are 2 great sites for all sorts of info.

LJ Syndicated Feeds

I spent part of the other day going through LJ's Syndicated Feeds that you can put into your flist and ended up adding feministe, janeespenson, newyorkertoon, scifiwire and best of all lmb_myspace which links me to Lois McMaster Bujold's My Space page (she's my favorite SF/Fantasy writer). There were several others I was tempted to add but I have only so much time online. The abundance of things online is amazing. The funny thing is that it was basically not predicted by SF writers or TV shows/movies until it actually exsited. Did anyone on the Enterprise or Babylon 5 ever surf the web for fun? Nor did they have blogs only logs *pets my deprived heroes*

Oh When Will We Ever Learn?

I read a post at BoingBoing where someone had come across a 1952 comic that predicted Bush/Cheney's Iran policy. That over half a century this belief, that force is the answer to everything, still holds is troubling especially after the lessons we should've learnt in Viet Nam, Yugoslavia and Rwanda among others.,

This belief has led to more violence that will eventually come back to haunt us. Al-Qaeda did not exist in Iraq before we invaded but is now entrenched there, gathering those whose hatred for us, unfortunately, may seem justified - read here. The victims will remember what America has done to them because of Dubya's policies for generations to come and it is understandable if they should seek revenge. And those poor soldiers, thrust into battle within an alien culture by those who remain safely in Washington, are being forced to fight on with ever longer tours and shorter or even non-existant leaves and are reaching their breaking-points. They are treated as expendable by their Commander-in-Chief and being merely human can take only so much. Does anyone except Dumbya Dubya and company doubt that we will withdraw? He may want to hold out until he can hand his mess off to his successor but in doing so he is condemning his troops to more grievous harm, both physical and mental, and possible death. Since no one in his immediate family or those of his cronies are in harm's way, what does it matter to this administration as they cling to this fantasy that history will vindicate their stupidity?