Harry Potter Part III

For some reason, I want to write this all down on one go. This post talks about racism in the Harry Potter-books, as the people are divided into "muggles" (humans who cant do magic), true-blood wizards (who are descending from other wizards, for hundreds of years) and half-bloods (other parent is a muggle and other true-blood). There are also "humanlike" races, such as centaurs, elfs and giants. and "halfhumans", who are nearly human, but who may have other blood in their veins as well.

While in the first books the Evilness of Lord Voldemort is taken at face value, in the later books it is revealed that what truly makes him evil is his shame of being halfblood. He collects followers by talking against muggles (of whose hunting should apparently be legal) and on the other hand by promising more rights to humanlike-races, such as giants and werewolves.

Many trueblood-wizards feel that wizards of whose both parents are muggles should not be teached magic at all. Thru the books, Hermione Granger is said to be "mudblood", which has about the same politeness value as the word "nigger". While Harry and friends are of course opposed of this, they dont see anything wrong with insulting and bothering TRUE muggles. The Minister of Magic dosen't much apriciate the Prime Minister (a muggle) of the Realm. In the sixth book the PM goes thru several flashbacks, which show that the Minister of Magic dosen't tell anything to his de facto boss. And when he does, it is very grudingly, without following the spirit of the rules. After long conversation about something else, while already going for the door, the Minister of Magic, Mr. Fudge goes;

'Oh, and I almost forgot,' Fudge had added. 'We're importing three foreign dragons and a sphinx for the Triwizard Tournament, quite routine, but the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures tells me that it's down in the rulebook that we have to notify you if we're bringing highly dangerous creatures into the country.'
'I -- what -- dragons?' spluttered the Prime Minister.
'Yes, three,' said Fudge. 'And a sphinx. Well, good day to you.'

Also, humanlike-creatures, however peaceful they are, don't got any rights. Hermione repeatedly talks about elfs being used as slaves. She is the only one who has any problem with the subject, and is repeatedly treated as a joke because of her concerns. The centaurs can only live in the forrest next to the school because the Ministry very kindly allows it to be used as reservation. Giants are nearly extinct, and the last one in Britain was nearly stoned to death before the headmaster of Hogswarts went inbetween.

The halfhumans who can pass as true humans do so, as it's the only way to be employed.

While some of the races are pretty violent and on average dumber than humans (it is agreed that giants are partly of blame for their own situation; when wizards forced them to the mountains, they started killing each other accoarding to ethnic problems), halfgiants are as smart and calm as normal humans, but are still treated like their full-giants. Werewolves, even those who got bitten by accident and take medicine not to be danger to society, are greatly disliked.

All in all, wizards, even those who think themselves as fairminded, are actually very closeminded.

Harry Potter Part II

The relationship between parents and the children in the books. In case you have not read the books, short description of my current topic should be in order. Harry and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger all go to the boarding school of Hogswarts, where the students start at the age of 11 and which consists of seven year-classes.
Trough the books the children and parents both show very little parental interest in their kids - and the kids, in turn, don't seem to need any.

If I understood correctly, the summer vacation from Hogswarts is six weeks, and the winter vacation is about two weeks, I suppose. Outside these vacations, the parents don't see their children. Also, it is possible to spend the Christmas vacation at school.

While Harry is an orphan and his adoptive parents are horrible, Hermione and Ron both come from loving families. Hermione is the only child of muggle-couple (eg. they cant do magic) and Ron is one of the six children of old wizard-family. In all the six books, Hermione's parents dont speak even once. As far as I remember, they were spotted once, from afar, but they never talked. From Hermione's dialogue, however, it can be seen that she dosen't resent her parents, and probaply loves them. Ron's parents are shown in much more detail. Harry and Hermione both spend days if not weeks at Ron's parents at a time. The mother is shown to be perfectly lovable house-wife, who washes the dishes, clothes and even knits by hand sweaters to all members of the family (and Harry and Hermione).

In the end of the first book and the beginning of the second book, it is told that Ron's younger sister Ginny would be starting at Hogswarts. She has - so we are told - expected it for years. The mother is sending her to the school happily, and both she and Ginny see this as the way things should be. She does not cry, nor is she missing her mother. Indeed, during winter vacations both Ginny, Ron and Hermione decide to stay at school to keep Harry company. Year after year.

The parents see their children up to six weeks a year. Less, some years, as Hermione stays with Ron's, to be with her best friends.

And parents think this ok. Not once during all the six books, do the children imply that they miss their parents, or parents miss their children.

The only expection is Harry himself, who is an orphan. His feelings toward his real parents are expressed several times during the books. He misses them. And in the later books, he wants to be like his dad. He is very angry of the way how his parents died when he was only a year old, and seeks openly revange against their killer (Lord Voldemort). It is very suprising, that all the rest children in the books don't have any feelings towards their parents. The only one who is expressing love is Ron's Mother, who in the fifth book is weeping for her loved ones, of whose life she is scared for. However, after a while, she recovers and sends her children once again to Hogswarts.

While I was wondering this, I tried to look up info about boarding schools. What sort of parent - in real life - sends hir child, who isin't yet even on hir teens, to place that means you will ever be able to see him/her few weeks every year? Isin't that cruel? And what does all that do to the psychological development of the child?
I tried to google some studies, but it didn't give me any results, only pages that wanted me to send my child to a boarding school.

Harry Potter Part I

I just finished reading the Harry Potter-series. I have known of the series since about 2001. However, I had not seen fit to read any of the books, mostly because I found the descriptions of the series dissapointing and the fans of the series annoying.

I once browsed thru book one, but didn't much think of it. Two weeks ago I loaned the first book from library again (I was really bored and I have mostly read everything else worthy there), so I thought to give it a try. The first one went down pretty badly. I didn't find it that interesting. Second was slightly better, and starting from book three I read the rest inside a day or two per book (the last book went in a day).

Anyway, now that I have finally educated myself in this phenomeon, you would be wise to expect that I will be writting several posts about the subject. That is why there is "Part I" in the topic.

Things I thought to bring up are:
1. The relationship between parents and children in the books
2. The concept of magic and "muggles" in the series.
3. How the concept of these stories relates to other stories in this and other genres.
4. Some problems I have with these series, particulary the target audience.

I do not yet know which of these concepts I will actually be talking about, it may be that I drop some of the topics in the list, and talk of other things entirely. There might even not be "Harry Potter Part II".

Anyway. I have noticed in myself that, when reading long stories on one go, I really start to live the stories. And when I close the last book, I start to feel very small and unimportant. It may be that I live thru much trough the stories, and my mundane life, that goes between school and computer (and friends during weekends) is not that interesting.

Stories that have previously caused myself such immersion could start with the David Eddings' Belgariad and its sequel Mallorean. I reread them last summer and noticed that they haven't really stood the test of time, but at the time (when I was 13) they were really great.
It was the first story I read that wasn't based just on adventure (Tarzan, Zorro, Blyton-books) or on story on epic levels (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings), but had some romance- and soap opera there too, if I may say it so bluntly. I may have talked of this previously in this blog. Since then I have felt so very strongly when I first read Rumiko Takahashi's Maison Ikkoku, Uncanny X-Men's "classic" stories (from #80's up to #250 or so), saw the 90s Superman-series (I watched the first three seasons nonstop) and a read Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth-series (before the very dissapointing last books).

Anyway, should I have any readers, I would ask you to recommend some similar stories for me to sample. Longish, with development between and with the characters.

Kypäristä

Viime vuosina elämänpidentäjät ovat muuttuneet parempaan suuntaan.

Ne ovat nykyään malliltaan sporttisia urheiluvälineitä, joita melkein tahtoisi pitää päässään kävellessäänkin. Varsinkin kesäaikaan sitä on huomaavinaan, että jotkut todella tekevät sitä; jättävät muovibaskerin päähän lukittuaan pyörän.

Johtopäätös; tätäkin viestiä lukevat nuoret henkilöt (ja miksei vanhemmatkin) jotka eivät pidä bufferia päässä pyöräillessään, ovat harvinaisen hyvää pullamössötaikinaa."Näyttää potalta" oli ihan hyvä perustelu vielä 90-luvun ensimmäisellä puoliskolla, kun puoliympyrät ekan kerran tulivat markkinoille. Silloin ne todella NÄYTTIVÄT potilta, ja todella typeriltä.
Sellainen päässä ja näytti heti jälkeenjääneeltä, jota ylihuolehtivainen äiti suojeli. Harvempi äidin helmoista päässyt niitä oikeastaan edes käytti.

Nykyään kypärät tuovat muotoilultaan mieleen lähinnä lihaksi tulleen nopeuden. Sellainen päässä ei näytä typerältä; ei, vaan ainoastaan KESKITTYNEELTÄ. Sillä todistat ettet ole et ole kuka tahansa sunnuntaipyöräilijä vaan joku joka tietää miten 15-vaihteista pyörää käsitellään.
Ja jos alla on mummon vanha pyörä 60-luvulta, niin se johtuu yksinomaan siitä että olet menossa ostamaan paikkaustarvikkeita kävelyteiden kauhuun, joka lepää satula alaspäin omakotitalosi autotallissa Westendissä, Ferrarin ja purjeveneen välissä.

Pyöräilykausi alkaa. Jos ei ole kypärää niin nyt voisi olla hyvä hetki ostaa. Älkää ostako sitä koska se on halpa. Älkää ostako sitä koska se voi pelastaa henkesi. Ostakaa se koska kypärä saa sinut näyttämään siltä kuin olisit matkalla Ranskan ympäriajoon.

Ostakaa pois. Kypärä on seksikäs. Sellainen päässä ja tyttöjen (poikien) sydämet alkavat iskeä Porilaisten marssin tahtiin ilmestyttyessänne näkökenttään. Ja seisoessanne heidän vieressään, tuntemattomat ihailijanne tahi rakkaat elämänkumppaninne eivät voi olla ajattelematta kuinka voisivat ikinä olla arvoisianne; niin, kuinka kehtaavat edes puhua Teille, joka olette niin keskittynyt? Pelkästään jalkojenne katselu saa heidän niskansa särkemään, niin korkealla heidän yläpuolellaan Te olette. Te, nykypäivän Anodis tai Afrodites. Ja jos joku kutsuu tuota ihmeellistä käyttöesinettä 'potaksi', suosittelisin olemaan kuuntelematta. Kaikkihan te tunnette tarinan Samsonista, hänen suurista lihaksistaan ja vallattomista kutreistaan? Eivät ne olleet Fonzieita ja Elviksiä ne, jotka halusivat niiden katoavan, vaan Malfoyn perillisiä ja Sarumanin kätyreitä.

Postcard to Australia

I got from school this really sucky postcard. When I was throwing it out, I noticed that it has POSTAGE PAID TO EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. I mentioned this at one irc channel, where one aussie wanted me to send it to his friend. This is what the postcard looks in the front and this is what it looks like from the back.

In the front it says "Be different kind of an adult. Study."

On the back it says, "My love, I want to thank you for the days I shall never forget. You are always in my thoughts. <3"


The whole stuff is in finnish, and the aussie who asked me to send this promised to keep me updated what happens to this piece of paper as I get rid of it tomorrow.