I wonder why Slytherin House remained at Hogwarts after Salazar Slytherin left. It would seem that someone so passionate about his views on the worthiness of students might have left and started a competitive school – and surely the students/parents who agreed with him would have followed him. Along the same lines, it seems weirdContinue reading “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Chapter 11”
Category Archives: Culture & Content
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Chapter 10
On the topic of thestrals, this continues the theme of “mundanization” of magic found in the last book. The first books are all wide-eyed wonder at magic: carriages that pull themselves, a majestic feast that magically appears on the tables. Now we pull the curtains back and realize that those are the results of theContinue reading “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Chapter 10”
Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker Review
Tonight we attended the first showing of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker and boy do I have some thoughts. My TL;DR non-spoiler review is that the film isn’t terrible, but it’s very disappointing. It was mostly an OK film, but then a couple of key decisions ruined it for me. In hindsight,Continue reading “Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker Review”
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 4
Can we talk about how OP Hermione is? She’s the smartest (IQ) of the Power Trio by far and then this scene (when Harry arrives at 12 Grimmauld Place and Hermione anticipates how he must be feeling / how to talk him down from his lashing out) demonstrates how she has the highest EQ asContinue reading “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 4”
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 2
As we are winding down for bed each night, we read a little bit with our toddler. Currently we are making our way through the Harry Potter series and just finished book 4 / started book 5. Book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is where my online Harry Potter book clubContinue reading “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 2”
Is Vinyl Better Than Modern Media?
A friend recently asked what was going on with the recent popularity of vinyl records. Is vinyl “better” than more modern music media? Or is it just a hipster fad with no base? I am far from an expert but, as I have a fair bit of experience with vinyl (~100 LPs and a jukeboxContinue reading “Is Vinyl Better Than Modern Media?”
Fantastic Beasts 2 Review
Last night Katie and I went to our first movie in the theater since becoming parents – we’re so wild! We didn’t love the first Fantastic Beasts film, so didn’t have very high expectations for this one – and that’s about what we got. WARNING: THERE BE SPOILERS BELOW! THE GOOD THE BAD The charactersContinue reading “Fantastic Beasts 2 Review”
Review: Persepolis Rising
Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Corey duo hits it out of the park again. I was captivated from the very beginning and it kept me engaged until the very end. Once again the authors do an expert job of blending interesting new characters and plot arcs withContinue reading “Review: Persepolis Rising”
Review: The Last Jedi
The Last Jedi by Jason FryMy rating: 2 of 5 stars This adaptation was OK. Because it was released AFTER the film (vs The Force Awakens, which was not), it is more of a straight, 1:1 transliteration of the film and doesn’t offer much that you don’t see on screen (with the exception of aContinue reading “Review: The Last Jedi”
Review: Artemis
Artemis by Andy Weir My rating: 3 of 5 stars This was an enjoyable read, but . . . it wasn’t The Martian. Weir does a good job again of weaving real science into this novel, but it feels less organic this time and more . . . inserted. Weir establishes a good and consistentContinue reading “Review: Artemis”