Brian On _______

Another title could be, I become the 8 gazillionth person to make the following observations about the Harry Potter series.

I freely admit it. I was a Harry Hater. Thankfully I wasn't one of those who thought the popular series smelled of the Occult*, but I still was adamantly opposed to the books (and by extension the movies). I worked in a book store my senior year of high school and had witnessed Harry Pottermania first hand. How could anything that popular among kids be worth while? Judging by the titles (by then I think only the first three books had been released), they seemed like a cheap, bastardized, dumbed-down version of Tolkien. I refused to jump onto the Magic Bandwagon, or even to "waste my time" giving it a fair shake.

That was until summer 2004 when I was reluctantly compelled to attend the opening night of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Although entering a book series had prejudged by seeing the third film adaptatgion was certainly not ideal. I was hooked. I was amazed at how intricate the plot was (and at how much more intricate the plot of the book must have been), the care with which the CGI was done (Buckbeak looks just as real as Hermione), but most off with the characterizations.

I've never exactly been a huge fan of Harry himself, but I instantly fell in love with the Hermione-Ron dynamic and I knew all the way through the movie there was something suspicious about Prof. Lupin (amazingly, I connected his name to "wolf" but failed to recognize him as a werewolf). Alan Rickman's (bless his British heart) performance was so spot on that I left the theater asking my much more Harry-proficient friend as to whether he was a good guy or bad guy.

And the things I loved about the movie were even more pronounced once I got home and ordered the books.

Rowling does an amazing job with her characters and making us care. I'm a 25-year grad student who enjoys a good dose of German cinema now and again, yet I'm so invested in Ron and Hermione hooking up, living happily ever after, and making lots of wizard and witch babies that I can't stand it. When rumors surfaced that two main characters would lose their lives in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, my concern was not about Harry (like the rest of the reading world) but for these two star-crossed should-be lovers. If they don't hook up when I read the new book in nine days I will scream.

Plot twists and misdirection are clearly two Rowling's strengths. We know the witch or wizard who helms the Defense Against the Dark Arts post will be hiding something each new year, but I defy you to guess what that something is. OK, so it was pretty obvious with Gilderoy Lockheart in Chamber of Secrets, but he's the exception. Did you have any idea that Mad Eye Moody was actually a death eater using the Polyjuice poition? No, and I defy you to tell me you weren't blown away when it turned out that Slughorn would be teaching potions and NOT DAtDA.

But the thing that amazes me most about Rowling's writing is her ability to mine the slightest detail from book one to make a major plot point in book 6. The polyjuice potion is one example, but so other more seemingly insignificant details. Characters pop in and out, previous throw away comments take on more meaning, etc. One example -and this one is from a single book! - if Ron hadn't broken his wand in the beginning of Chamber, how would he and Harry have escaped Lockhart? The Neville-Harry meta-physical connection is just another of a multitude of examples.

All this to say, I'm offically a member of the Harry Potter Nation. I happily showed up, ticket in hand for the 12:01 opening of HP and the Order of the Phoenix ** and I'm having my pre-ordered copy of HP and the Deathly Hallows sent to my grandmother's house because I'll be in OKC the day of the release.

The bottom line? HP rocks.




* for the record, Magic is used in the Harry Potter Universe not as "power" per se, but as a technological skill. Thus my logic for giving it a pass.

** I did NOT dress up.

I absolutley hate executive session.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I'm expecting six seperate packages in the mail in the next several days. Words can't express how happy I am just waiting for them.

I love fireworks. I love the BOOMS, the crackles, the sparkles and the faint smoke trails. I love the concussion of the shells being fired and the split second delay it takes the sound to reach my ears after my eyes have already seen the explosion of light. I love the oohs and ahhs. Set it all to a John Phillip Sousa march and I'm in Heaven.

That said, I'm just about fed up with the idiots in my neighborhood (I live just outside city limits) who think July 4 begins at 6 p.m. June 20 and doesn't stop until who knows when (God willing, July 4 at midnight). Judging by the constant bangs and stacatto pops, Either my neighbors are all pyromaniacs with too much money or there have been a lot of drive bys recently. "You young whipper-snappers are gonna set my house on fire!"

I remember loving shooting off Roman Candles and popping firecrackers as a kid, but looking back it seems so stupid. How did I not kill myself or maim my friends/family? And the cost! Good grief! It's kind of like my argument against cigarettes: how can you afford such a habit? My neighbors have probably each dropped $100, and that was before it was even July! I feel like shaking my fist from my front porch: "Get a savings account!"

Like I said, I LOVE fireworks and I LOVE celebratin our independence, it's just that in my old age I perfer to love it done by professionals and on the fourth day of the seventh month. I am old man. Sigh.

Then again, I've been an old man for a while now. I realized that the day I was at Falls Creek and thought the skirts were too short and the music too loud.

Someday, I'm going to throw out all my socks and just go out and buy like 20 pairs of the same brown socks. Then I'm going to throw them all in a drawer. I'm never going "fold them"/roll the up into pairs when I do laundry either... just throw 'em in the drawer. I'll never have to worry about an odd number of socks and they'll always be a perfect match.

You've got to have goals in life.

Ka-rip! Ka-rap! ka-rippolo tipollo tap,
O O rincto lincto hi-o totamus,
Hopula skipula copula gotamus,
Chink-ta-lak chink-ta-lee ka-willa ka-walla ka-victory!
Ooh Ooh hoog-u-la choog-u-la koog-u-la can,
Rag-u-la tag-u-la melcian man,
Let 'er go rip let 'er go ruse,
Ting-u-la tang-u-la turn 'em a loose,
ZIP! BANG! OBU!

Yep. Still can.

Life's Simple Pleasure #21

New windshield wipers.