I've heard it said that the male human body has enough blood to power the brain or the sexual organs, but not both at the same time. I'm not convinced women are any smarter, but this news report about the Third International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment goes far in proving the adage for men. (More)
This cannot be a detailed review, as too many of the people who read this blog have not yet read the book. But I will say that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince did not disappoint me. The fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I had found tedious, and I was disappointed in that I thought J. K. Rowling had set herself up for a great ending which never came.
Not so with the sixth book. It held my attention from beginning to end, not easy to do when the competition is an adorable 20-month old grandson, a flock of other wonderful family members and friends, and a lovely converted houseboat on the Connecticut shoreline. It did help that I found Harry's behavior less obnoxious this time. There were a few annoying points—I never did care to read about the tribulations of adolescent love—but they were minor.
Grace, sacrificial love, and persistent hope for the salvation even of one's enemies show more clearly here than in previous books. As always, Rowling's great contribution to children's literature is that she does not sugarcoat evil, nor minimize the cost of the battle, yet still manages to produce a book full of goodness, hope, and fun.
This afternoon, searching for a birthday gift for my nephew, I ventured
into long-forgotten territory: a Toys R Us store. Just as a
child's growth is more noticeable to one who has been away for a while,
so did I find the cultural changes represented by the toys and games to
be startling. While there were a few of what I might call generic
games, most were branded with characters from television shows and
movies. Even the old standby, Candyland, now comes in Dora the
Explorer and Winnie the Pooh (Disney version, of course) flavors. Back when I was a more regular visitor of toy stores, there were already a
few media-inspired toys, but now the genre has exploded. I did
not linger, but left with the impression that I would find more of
reality at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
Posted by
sursumcorda on
Monday, July 25, 2005 at
6:58 pm
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