“Harry Potter has lost his magic - he is not the nation’s favourite wizard, according to a new poll.”

The poll came as the book retailer Waterstones launched an online petition to save Potter.

It wants to persuade JK Rowling to continue writing the adventures of Harry Potter beyond the final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Favourite movie wizards
1. Gandalf (The Lord Of The Rings) 44%
2. Dumbledore (Harry Potter) 17%
3. Harry Potter (Harry Potter) 9%
4. Merlin (The Sword in the Stone) 6%
5. The Wizard of Oz (The Wizard of Oz) 2%

Can’t we let the woman rest already? She’s done her part… writing is WORK, for cry-yi-yi!

In other news, howstuffworks.com has an “Inside Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” article that looks fairly cool. It includes info on the crew, technical advances to special effects, “bringing Grawp and other creatures to life”, “prosthetic makeup, organic props and more”, “From Book to Film”, “The Half-Blood Prince and Beyond” and “Lots More Information.”

I shall go read it now. I’m getting more and more excited about my day off on Wednesday. I’ll be seeing the 9:15 a.m. showing of HP5 with my friend Krys. I’ve been reading every piece I’ve come across:

• “Not Another Teen Movie: The latest Potter is dark, dark, dark—and in need of some zit cream. It also one-ups the novel.” - from New York Magazine

• “Helena Bonham Carter gets out her magic wand in ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’” - International Herald Tribune *cheers, Helena… you play crazy divinely and I mean that as the highest of praise

• “The newest ‘Harry Potter’: Corruption, conspiracy and deceit in the wizard world” - International Herald Tribune (again)

• “‘The Order of the Phoenix’ is still this season’s star sequel” - Seattle Post Intelligencer

And I will stop now. You can check the Google News search results as easily as I.

Tonight, I had a visit with the good doctor and at one point, he asked me if I am bothered by the thought that I might never be in a relationship or get married.

I replied, “No, I don’t think it’s a problem.”

And he said, with more than a hint of disbelief, “You don’t think it’s a problem that you will never be in a relationship?”

And again, I replied, “No. I mean, if I was planning on it and it didn’t happen, it might be a problem.”

He just laughed a little, shook his head and moved onto the next topic of conversation.

I lost some points for not knowing what type of wrestling took place in “Old School”. Since I haven’t seen it and don’t plan on seeing it, I feel no regret.

NOTCOT.ORG is such a repository of coolness. If I didn’t already have three supremely sweet business card cases (only one of which is currently in use) I’d spend the $15 on the one here. That’s just nifty-looking. It might end up being a gift for someone on the occasion of a new job, though.

And then there’s THIS beauty over here on the right. Once this girl (me) has her debt paid down sufficiently enough that 75% of my monthly income stays in my bank account, the apartment hunt is ON again. And I’ll be able to wield my interior design chops and style some awesome digs. I mean, I have half the work done for me simply by virtue of having so many books and bookshelves - voila, almost-instant wall covering and really esthetically pleasing furnishing right there. Right now, my books aren’t in any order since I never quite had the chance to organize them when I moved back home from my apartment years ago, but thanks to the magic of LibraryThing, I have been cataloging and will be able to download a spreadsheet of all my books when that glorious day comes… and then shelve the books according to whatever I wish. Alphabetical by author? Title? Grouped by subject? Period in which written? According to Library of Congress subject headings? The way they are arranged right now (placed wherever I could find some room) achieves that much-sought-after look of randomness. There are some subject-oriented sections… my Alice in Wonderland sub-section, my web design/Photoshop/InDesign books section, and then a general reference section containing my various dictionaries and other such resources.

Basically, all I’ll need to get when I have digs of my own again is a couch and a table (either dinner, cafe or larger coffee table). Everything else is here or in storage.

…

And I just spent 45 minutes poring over listings on Craigslist (it’s looking like a solid $1000+ a month for a 1 bedroom anywhere around here that’s not in the ghetto) and rather than having the familiar sinking feeling that I will never be able to move out on my own again, I am thinking, “I’m doing well at work and if I continue to do well, there’s a good chance that I will advance and be rewarded with a higher salary that would allow me to pay rent AND continue paying down debts.”

Maybe it’s the antidepressants speaking, but I’ll take it. Feeling hopeful is good and far better than the alternative.

And speaking of work, I need to buy myself an inexpensive little flash drive since I have been burning things onto CDs at work to take home and work on them (Why? I have Photoshop at home and not at work. My boss and her boss both asked me if I need us to purchase a copy for our department, but I don’t think it’s worth it since I need it maybe once a month - whereas I end up using InDesign several times a month, if not several times a week). That’s annoying. A flash drive would make lots more sense.

I could spend $99 on the special edition Icky Thump flash drives (of Meg and Jack White) but I’m not a die-hard enough fan of the White Stripes for that to make sense to me.

I left work early today since I’d finished everything I could do this week with most people out of the office and unable to reply to email or anything.

Instead of going straight home, I drove up to a bookstore and sat there for two and a half hours, reading and listening to my iPod to drown out the music playing in-store (since they were playing some insufferably annoying band’s CD - the shit-storm that is Maroon 5, as it turns out, since I saw the CD case displayed on the way out).

I ended up buying three books, but flipped through about seven to narrow it down to the three. Actually, I narrowed it down to two and then one caught my eye on the way out of the store.

If you have Netflix, I highly recommend renting “This Film Is Not Yet Rated” - a documentary about the MPAA and the (often arbitrary) rating system. The Netflix summary says:

Kirby Dick’s provocative documentary investigates the secretive and inconsistent process by which the Motion Picture Association of America rates films. Dick questions whether certain studios get preferential treatment, exposes the discrepancies in how the MPAA views sex and violence, and reveals the association’s efforts to control culture.

It’s one of those documentaries that makes you laugh, teaches you something, and pisses you off grandly all at the same time. One of the many interesting things the filmmaker does is hire a private investigator to find out who the people on the MPAA ratings board and appeals board are - because that information is classified/secret… and, as it turns out, that serves a purpose since the people on the MPAA appeals board include COO’s and VP’s of movie studios and nationwide theatre chains, as well as clergy members and representatives of religious groups.

Freedom of speech or expression, anyone? Anyone?

Apparently, enough people got riled up about things, started a petition and some changes are being made. You can sign the petition, too - on the IFC site for the film.

I would like to have some tea.

Or if you aren’t really “in” the swing.

Which I haven’t been. These things happen, I suppose.

Anyway, I’ve been working on a redesign. And realizing that I haven’t been keeping up with things, and will now need to get a book (or spend some quality time in the bookstore) to figure out a few things.

Beyond that, I’ve been re-reading books a lot (just so I can rediscover some of the many books I own but haven’t read in over 5 or 6 years), trying to get out of this most recent funk, working late a lot (because I at least feel productive and useful and competent there) and such.

These last few days have been a flurry of summer movie activity. Last night, I saw the Michael Bay directed “Transformers” movie. I truly enjoyed it. It was the perfect summer movie - light on thought, big on explosions and computer-generated eye candy, and an enjoyable actor playing the lead and delivering some pretty hackneyed bits of double entendre, etc., with a good dose of John Cusack neurosis and humor. And there was lots of cheesy tongue-in-cheekness:

CHICK: “You think I’m shallow, don’t you?”
DUDE: “No - I think, with you, there’s more than meets the eye.”

…and other such self-referential silliness.

So that was fun. The night before that, I watched Michael Moore’s “Sicko” which made me tear up pretty regularly. I had my car accident when I had no health insurance during unemployment (COBRA was just too expensive for me) and were it not for the PIP (Personal Injury Protection) insurance on my car insurance policy, I would’ve been TOTALLY screwed. It didn’t take much to get me riled up about the US health care system in the first place (since I have friends and family in Europe, enjoying the benefits of national healthcare systems and have benefited from them while traveling abroad before) but this just drove everything home.

I was talking with some friends who’d also seen it, and one of these friends works for a hospital. She told me that several of her co-workers - adult women, in their 40s/50s - saw the movie and had had no idea whatsoever, prior to seeing that movie, that such a thing as a national health care system existed anywhere in the world. They just assumed that what goes on in America in terms of health care is how the rest of the world deals with it. I was pretty mortified to hear that adult women working in the health care field weren’t aware… I suppose I shouldn’t have been totally surprised, but GEEZ.

And before THAT, I also saw “Ratatouille.” It’s really a terrific movie. I can see why it didn’t make the $$$ that Disney perhaps wanted it to make opening weekend; generally speaking, any movie that needs to include a pronunciation guide in the previews and advertising isn’t going to do well in middle America. The fact that the pronunciation is of a French dish is just double-trouble since I feel there might still be some Franco-phobia in these here states.

But, seriously, it’s a really beautifully done, clever film that’s really a love story to food and the joys of food. I think it will be appreciated by anyone who really enjoys the process of cooking (or eating well) and who savors the process: the selecting of ingredients, putting together a menu - choosing dishes and elements that complement one another, understanding that a meal is not “meat and a side dish” but, rather, art for a multitude of the senses including smell, taste, sight and (to some extent) touch. Food texture is very important to me; it’s the reason behind my deep dislike of bananas and mushrooms. I love banana bread and mushroom soup, but in their natural state, I find them inedible due to their mushy non-texture. I’d have the same issue with tofu’s texture as well (if I wasn’t soy intolerant and incapable of eating it without getting ill very shortly thereafter).

Tonight, I watched a new Netflix arrival: “Keeping Mum.” I’m too tired to write about it, so maybe tomorrow. If I’m up to it. Tomorrow is back to work day… but there are only two days left in the week, so it will feel much like vacation.