Friday, December 31

thoughts on harry potter....

actually more about professor snape....
i'm generally not that sharp when it comes to following the subtleties of a story - bea's normally a lot better than i am. but having decided to work through all 5 harry potter books in order, right after each other, i've been trying to figure out snape - whats he about, and i think i'm getting to it.
for a long time i couldnt work out why he seems to be a blatant death-eater (mark an' all) yet dumbledore would trust and defend him.
then, at the end of hp4, when voldemort returns and gathers the remaining death-eaters, the 2 that are missing, are described, as one who has run away (karkarov) and one at hogwarts who wil be killed (snape).
so when voldemort lost it 13 years or previously, and all the death-eaters went into hiding etc, snape obviously found himself taken in by dumbledore at hogwarts.
i'm guessing that having an ex-death-eater that cant go back to voldemort (for fear of death) in the order is a pretty useful thing to have - which i'm guessing is something to do with the secret stuff that snapes been doing since the end of hp4.
which also allows him to hate harry and sirius etc, whilst still being tied to dumbledore ands helping harry with occlumency etc.
but then i s'pose there'll come a point when snaspe really has too choose between dumbledore/ order of the phoenix/ hogwarts etc and being head of slytherin house - its good having him currently positioned in slytherin to stay close to malfoy, crabb etc - keep your friendas close, your enemies closer. snapes is reluctantly in debt to dumbledore.

sorry if all that's obvious to everyone else.

Tuesday, December 21

it only takes a few minutes to make a big difference...

The European Commission is writing an action plan to
improve air quality in Europe. It will include
measures having a direct influence on our day to day
life. The way we move, the way we produce and use
energy, the air quality we want, the price of products
and services are all at issue in this plan. Therefore
your opinion on air pollution and its effects is of
great importance to us. It will help us finalize the
plan.

The questions are of importance to the future action
plan. The links provide you with background
information on where emissions come from, their impact
on health and ecosystems and on how the emissions and
their impacts might evolve up to the year 2020.

This consultation will remain open until 31 January
2005. The results will be published in March 2005.
Your answers will remain totally anonymous, except for
the organisations choosing to give their name.

http://europa.eu.int/yourvoice/forms/dispatch?form=356〈=EN

Friday, December 17

a bee in bea's bonnet!

i'm getting increasingly passionate about issues in the world which a lot of society tries to avoid so that they don't ahve to make changes. Well, I have started making changes and ity seems the bug is catching!

a few books:
"not on the label" by felicity lawrence
"take it personally" by anita roddick
"the good shopping guide" by ? (i got mine through Christian Aid and i know that kate hamilton/naomi fennel have a copy)

a few websites:
www.anitaroddick.com
www.takeitpersonally.com
www.christianaid.org.uk
www.oxfam.org.uk
http://www.wateraid.org/

"Human rights are the dignity, stature, humanity, respect, and freedom belonging to all people by right of their birth." -- Dick Gregory

"The unexamined life is not worth living." -- Plato

"if many little poeple, in many little places, do many little things; we can change the face of the earth." -- african proverb

Thursday, December 16

harry potter and the goblet of fire

i was wondering the other day whilst listening to the goblet of fire at work, and thinking about the prisoner of azkhaban dvd i'm getting and was then wondering who they'd get for playing all the new roles in the new film, and thought i'd see what other people though.
and then i checked the internet and the whole cast has already been confirmed. no big names really - i really thought they'd go to town for mad-eye moody at least. brian blessed was one suggestion i heard. oh well. ralph feinnes is playing "you know who", which'll be good.
am also a bit gutted the guy who directed hp3 isnt doing hp4.

Wednesday, December 8

this mornings walk

whilst slowly wandering around the block this morning at some hour i have little recollection of, all in th effort of sending robin to sleep, i thought i'd take my mp3 player and carry on listening to harry potter to take my mind off the task in hand.
i was on my way back down freedom road when i heard a owl hoot - thinking it was odd enough i should hear an owl hoot whilst listening to harry potter, i looked up and there was one sitting on a tv arial on someones roof. it was just looking around and then flew off after a minute or so.
i'm not sure i've ever seen an owl before, or if i have, i dont remember it.
it certainly was a lovely thing to see this morning, seeing as i really was not in the mood for staggering around walkley when i (and robin!) should have been asleep!