Some more Harry Potter

I'm currently re-reading the last book of the Harry Potter series and I'm still amazed at how strange the book feels to me. Parts of it are BRILLIANT while parts of it is actually boring!!!

The start of the book was excellent and a real page turner. I loved Dudley's part in it. The part where Harry and Hermione were going from place to place was dragging on and on. Nagini coming out of Bathilda Bagshot's body was just plain wierd. Even Xenophilius's part felt a bit wrong.

Now let me get into the parts of the book I LOVED.

• Dudley's parting words


• Ron and Hermione finally getting together (I wish there were more lovey dovey parts though!)


• Percy finally joining in the fighting


• Snape's story (God, it was so very touching... That chapter was so well written! My heart nearly broke reading it)


• Dobby dying (so sad!!!)


• Kreacher (totally unexpected!)


• The battle at Hogwarts (COOL!)


• Fred, Lupin and Tonks dying

I also finally got down to watching the "Order of the Phoenix" movie. There were some parts of the movie that were totally different to the book and parts which weren't shown at all.

• I can't believe that they made it out that Cho Chang betrayed the DA meetings instead of her friend!


• The valentines day meeting was also not shown...


• Sirius's mother's portrait was also not shown and Kreacher's part in Sirius dying was also missing.


• As I recall, Sirius died due to falling through the veil in the archway and not due to the "Avada Kadavra" killing curse!


• The other items in the Department of Mysteries were also missing (such as the tank full of brains and the bowl of time or whatever.


• Harry destroying Dumbledore's office was also not shown.


• The true version of how Harry finds out about the prophecy is missing

A review of the movie can be found here.

All in all, I'm sad that this great series has to end. I hope that J. K. Rowling comes up with a new series which is just as great as this one.

July : Month of Harry Potter!!!

Oh wow! It's July already! 19 more days until the world finds out what happens in the final book of the massively popular Harry Potter series.

I've started reading all the books and am now at the start of the third book. While reading the second book, I was amazed to find out that the cursed necklace and the magic cabinet that played such a huge part in the 6th book are mentioned quite clearly! J. K. Rowling is such a genius!

The "Order of the Phoenix" film is to be released on 13th July but the initial opening night was on the 01st. Some reviews of the film can be found here.

While reading through all the HP books, I keep coming up with various insane theories. I think the craziest one has to be the idea that Lord Voldemort could actually be related to Harry. Could that be possible? After all, the parents of Lily and James Potter is never discussed in detail. I think it would be less crazy to assume that the relationship could come from James Potter's side. After all, the Dursleys connected to Lord Voldemort!!! That's highly absurd!!! However, that could explain why they hate magic so very much! And another fact that could be explained is why Dumbledore always insists that Harry spends his summer holidays with the Dursleys.

The main reason for my theory about Harry and Voldemort being related is that in Book 2, it's mentioned somewhere that young Tom Riddle looks very much like Harry Potter, with his unruly black hair. Harry is supposed to bear a strong resemblance to his dad, James Potter. So that would mean that James also bore a resemblance to Lord Voldemort! Hmmmm.... Another clue could be Tom Riddle calling Lily Potter's sacrifice a counter curse. Could it be that the counter curse is actually the curse that is between 2 people who are related? Why is it that Lord Voldemort never tries to kill Lily Potter? Did he purposely wait to kill her after killing Harry so that he could enjoy the anguish of Lily when her only baby is killed? Or was there another reason?

Neville Longbottom is another of my favourite theories. I'm sure he could play a major role in the story. He's born on the same day as Harry. His parents were driven crazy by Lord Voldemort's magic. Why is it that he is so very forgetful? Always bear in mind that the prophecy was never fully revealed to us! And he was put in to Griffindor after all!!!

I guess I'll just have to wait and see! I hope that the last book is worth all this waiting and anticipating! The plot had better be mindblowing!

Not keeping your word is equivalent to lying, isn't it?

I had the unpleasant experience of being lied to last Friday. In my opinion, not keeping your word is equivalent to lying and breaking a promise.

I have so far led a comfortable life free from lies, deception and broken promises. Fortunately, (or unfortunately) for me, I can't lie. I have never been able to lie and stick to a lie making up so many stories in order to keep up with previously told lies. It's far easier to tell the truth and embrace the consequences.

I guess I'm lucky that for the last 23 years I have never been really lied to (or maybe it would be more realistic to say that I have never found out that I have been lied to!), and by the way, by lying, I mean the HUGE, unforgivable lies that people tell and not the small white ones.

Well anyway, last Friday all that changed. The worst part was that it was the organisation that I worked for, that broke its word to me. The part that really got to me was that this time it was what they had promised some time back after they had broken yet another promise. So, that would make it the 2nd promise that they broke.

It's such an awful feeling, knowing that the place you work for and respect does not reciprocate the same level of respect for its employees. How can people talk bulls*** about processes and procedures while changing them all the time to suit their needs?

It's so unbelievable! I kept thinking, "this can't be happening! Doesn't he remember how he promised us all those things? In front of all those people he told us that we can expect certain things at the end of June, and now everything is changed, again!!! WTF!!!"

I actually cried!!! It's so embarrassing! But it became impossible for me to continue speaking to someone who I realised had broken his promise to me and so many others, and now was skirting the issue and repeating rubbish about a process. What a parrot!

Anyway, I spoke to a few other people who got the issue resolved for me. But I really hate it when we have to go behind people in order to get we are supposed to get anyway! How come, when we're given work, we don't need to have our bosses coming behind us reminding us to get it done, but when we're supposed to get certain things that our contracts promise, we have to go behind everyone?

A few things I believe in...

I got an e-mail today with the attachment given below. It had some of the things that I strongly believed in.

One of them is that you always need to hold on to your values and do what you think is right. No matter how bad the situation is, and you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by selling out, don't do it! Even though you won't gain anything by doing the right thing, the plus point is that you don't have to deal with whatever repurcussions that come along with doing the wrong thing.

Another point is to always be aware that there are others in the world you have WAY bigger problems than us. Whenever I get really down or frustrated or unhappy, sometimes I remind myself of people who are living with AIDS or the little children in Africa who are starving for days. At least I'm not going through all of that! But there are times when nothing seems bigger than my problems!!! :)

The main things in life for me are:

• A house to live in a safe neighbourhood
• Good friends and family
• An interesting job with a reasonable salary

I guess I'm lucky to be blessed with the above, but you can never predict the future. There was a period of time in my life which was sheer hell. One day in Feb 2005 I lost everything I had taken for granted. I had to go through it for around 8-9 months, after which I regained everything I lost. The very first day was unbelievable, I never believed it possible to feel so miserable; cried till I was numb. But as time passed I grew used to it, and it didn't seem so bad. Human nature is such that you can get used to anything given enough time. That first day, I received an e-mail in office with a poem that inspired me so much! It went along the lines of no matter how bad it seems now, to cling on to the belief that it'll get better, and that nothing remains the same. Good times will come, you only need to survive the bad times. I dreamt last night that I was back at that awful time, or that it had happened again. I'm still getting over the nightmare, I guess! :)

Harry Potter Book 7 ending all over the Internet!!!

A hacker has allegedly broken into the computers of the publisher of the Harry Potter series and has obtained a digital copy of the 7th and final book. A summary of the ending can be found all over the Internet.

Unfortunately, I couldn't stop myself and visited the site and had a look. I would like to believe that it's all rubbish because if it is true, I am very disappointed. I expected a better ending. The good thing is that the plot is not given. Only who dies and who kills them.

If you want to have a look as well, click here. This will link to a news article which contains the link to the spoilers. Let's hope it's all a publicity stunt and not the true ending!

Loses vs. Looses

Here's one of my pet peeves. I can't stand it when people use the word "looses" for "loses". For people who can't figure out the difference:

• Loose - Baggy, slack, unrestricted, flowing, roomy, voluminous, ample
• Lose - misplace, be unable to find, mislay, drop, fail, suffer defeat, shake off, evade, free yourself, be bereaved.

The word "lose" has many many meanings as opposed to "loose" which has only one basic meaning.

People; please be aware of this very very common spelling mistake. I've come across so many instances of this mistake in so many posts!

Sorry, to sound like a real snob, but as I mentioned earlier, it's one of my pet peeves! :)

p.s. I may be wrong, but I don't think the word "looses" exists anyway!

Google vs. Microsoft

Looks like Microsoft is about to be sued again, or more likely protested against. This time it's Google who has opposed the software giant.

Google is claiming that the desktop search which is included in Windows Operating Systems and now Vista, competes with a free program distributed by Google. "So what?" you may ask. What's the big deal? The problem with this is that when Microsoft decides to couple programs such as desktop search programs and Internet Explorer, it greatly reduces the market for other software vendors such as Mozilla or Netscape who create independent programs. When you think about it, if you have Internet Explorer coupled with your operating system, would you really download Mozilla or Netscape? IT savvy people might, but the general public would not.

I remember doing an assignment about Microsoft and whether it was a Monopoly, an Oligopoly or in a free market. During the research, I went through all the law suits that Microsoft has been involved in. After you go through all the details, you end up really disliking Microsoft.

However, there are always 2 sides to a story. After all, this is a very competitive market! So many programs and so many vendors. Microsoft is just doing business and other companies should just deal with it! Recently I saw a news report in which Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, was talking about how they watched in amazement (and I guess disappointment!) Google rake in profits after improving their search engine and web mail. Hey, they aren't complaining, they're trying to improve their products, that's all.

At the end of the day, I can't really decide whether Microsoft is trying to become a monopoly. There are reasons for saying so, as well as reasons for not believing it. The conclusion that I came to during my research was also "I can't decide" (which by the way, my supervisor was not happy with!). At the end of the day, you try to be objective. I don't believe that Microsoft is trying to stamp out the competition by unfair methods. They're just trying to make more profit. But I also believe that they will try to cut other programs and vendors wherever possible. After all, that's competition!

Further details about Google's complaint is given here.