Let's Talk Harry Potter Details

First, I should say that I'm not a Harry Potter fanatic. Not at all. I think they're great books, but I don't own any of the movies or have a Harry Potter ringtone on my cell phone or anything. I just really appreciate the books and the world Rowling has invented.

That being said, I should say that I did love Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. For me, it was one of the best--if not THE best--of the seven books. While there were some problems, I think Rowling did a magnificent job balancing the expectations of her millions of readers with an ending to the series that felt organic and tied things together nicely.

Things I didn't particularly like:
1) Some of the pacing was off. Soooo much time was spent in the woods with Hermione and Ron. And stopping the major battle scene twice for extended "back story" issues made no sense to me.
2) Though Snape died protecting Harry to the end, I wish his death had been more "noble." You know, laughing at Voldemort and jumping in front of Harry to save him. And I hated that we only got to see Snape's memories, not here him talk to Harry.
3) And speaking of Snape, I wish there had been more of him in the book. He was in a total of three sections.
4) I was sure Sirius Black would come back from the "dead." I expected him to. I hoped for it. Sad it didn't happen. Though Harry has Ginny now, it'd be great if he had one defacto parent.
5) The actual Deathly Hallows didn't make much sense to me. It felt really tacked on.

Things I loved:
1) Neville killing the snake.
2) That Snape was good, and when Harry told his son that Snape was the bravest wizard he ever knew. (I'm even getting choked up writing this!)
3) The book tied up things nicely, from Harry's awful cousin Dudley caring about Harry, to Bellatrix getting her comeuppance from Mrs. Weasley.
4) I'm happy that no major good guys I cared about (other than Snape) bit the dust.
5) The battle at the end of the book will be great to see as a movie. I love that all the characters contributed in their own way. I was grinning ear to ear while reading those scenes. (How about McGonagall screaming "Charge!" as she led a group of Hogwart's desks into battle?)
6) The epilogue rocked my world. And while I would have liked to know more about Harry's present-day life, I realized the epilogue did was it was meant to do: bring the story full circle with Harry and Ginny's and Ron and Hermione's kids heading off to school.

On the Fear of Harry Potter Spoilers...

The Monday after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out, my friend Lars and I had lunch at a Greek restaurant to discuss the book. I had torn through the book and finished it that past Saturday afternoon, but Lars had only read the last few pages that morning. We decided we should compare notes.

As we began to discuss the book, a woman suddenly looked over and glared at us. I saw her clutching the tell-tale yellow hardcover book in her hands as tightly as if it were the ring in The Lord of the Rings, or even a horcrux you might say. Now, a small part of me understands her frustration, but what I can't comprehend is how she could expect to move through the world and not be spoiled by the fastest, best-selling book ever. It's like people who say to me, "don't go talking about Lost tomorrow, I'm not going to be able to watch it until this weekend." They say this knowing the season finale is all anyone will be talking about the next day. WTF?

Granted, I've got a big mouth. But I feel like the onus about not being spoiled is on the person terrified of being spoiled. And there's a really simple solution to not being spoiled: read the damn book.

I can already hear it from some of you: "easier said than done." Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure, I read blazingly fast. And yes, it's a 759 page book. (Oh, does that count as a spoiler?) But if you know that this book is coming out, plan ahead people. Go ahead and get the other books out of the way. Cancel that weekend trip you were gonna take.

Anyway...I wanted to get this off my chest. I have some very lovely friends--many many in fact--who have not finished the book. Most have asked politely, "Oh, please don't talk to me about Harry Potter until I'm done." And with that kind of request, I'm more than happy to oblige. It's just that every time I opened my mouth last week, about ANYTHING...some friends and colleagues would offer a loud SHHHHH! So I'm tired of it.

I'm free of my Harry Potter bonds and I'm coming out of the closet. Yes, I've read the last Harry Fucking Potter. Every page. Every word. And at any moment I can tell you whether he lives or dies. In fact, fair warning...tomorrow I'm discussing it in detail.

To Rub or to Lather?

A few weeks ago I was in Denver for a conference and one my colleagues gave me a cute little tube of hand cream. I'm glad she did because it was completely dry there in the shadow of the mountains with no humidity, and I had just come from Swampland, USA (Washington DC).

Most of the wording on the tube is in french, but the cream smells really really good. I've been using it for about a week--since she gave it to me. It's kind of silky and nice, and maybe a touch girly. But not too bad.

So today I'm on the phone talking to a friend, and I start putting the hand cream on. The one thing I've noticed is that it never really seems to be soaked up by my skin completely--it's just a bit greasier than I'd like. So I'm putting it on and as I screw back on the cap I catch a glimpse of the top of the tube where it says in bold green capital letters: SHAMPOO.