eleanor

[color=darkslateblue] I pretend to care sometimes, because I don't want to just stop them and say "I don't care about your problems, go talk about it to someone else." This mostly applies to minor problems like 'My mom got mad at me because blah blah blah' or something, because I really don't care. I don't feel the need to care over every single problem that my friends encounter. Actually, I have been blunt about the subject with my very close friends. Overall, my group of friends are all blunt. If we don't care, we will actually tell each other. I only do the pretending thing with casual friends (being that the problem is minimal. I WOULD care very much if one of my friends was going through some major obstacle in their life). About the book. Um. If you're going to waste your life making a bunch of friends you don't care about, go ahead. It is pointless, as you're only harming yourself. The point of a friend is that you can truly be yourself around them. As for the 'winning people over'...that's an entirely different thing. I do it all the time to teachers and directors at my school, because it only raises my reputation and will later on help me during the rest of my high school. Yeah, it sucks, but sometimes you have to learn how to suck up to the right people.[/color]

[color=darkslateblue] First of all...I was always under the impression that it was gay sex that was considered sinful by Christians, not being gay in itself. And that would make sense, since the actual sex would be going against God's wishes for humans to be fruitful (what a fun word) and multiply. Am I right here? Anyone?[/color] [i]I'd literally tear you apart in debates in real life in front of large audiences.[/i] [color=darkslateblue] And I think this where the problem with your argument starts, Otaku America. While I can do nothing about your core feelings on homosexuality, I think it would be unwise to bring such a huge religious overtone into an official debate (such as a debate tournament). As far as I'm concerned, I don't think it's allowed for anyone to start quoting the Bible or anything at debate tournaments...(and it would be impossible anyway, seeing as most of them are composed of you reading as much information as fast as you can. I always thought that was incredibly dumb, I ended up doing speech debates). While it's very acceptable that you have Christian-based morals, arguing over gut feelings such as this is...pretty dumb, to say it bluntly. [/color]

[color=darkslateblue] I [strike]like[/strike] love two actors that make me get in the movie theatre: [b]Ewan McGregor[/b] and [b]Edward Norton[/b]. They are the two guys that make me watch their movies no matter what. Fortunately, none of the movie they're in are too horrendous. And anything Edward Norton stars in as a main characer is worth watching just because of the movie itself (yeah, Edward Norton pwns Fight Club, not Brad Pitt). Other actors that intrigue me are [b]Will Smith[/b] and [b]Matt Damon[/b], because I really like them for some odd reason.[b]Tim Robbins[/b] also makes me watch movies as well, because I love him as an actor. As for directors... [b]Tim Burton[/b] and [b]Clint Eastwood[/b] are must-see movies for me. Anything Tim Burton touched turns into gold, yeah? Except maybe Planet of the Apes. Dear God, I hated that movie. [b]Baz Luhrman[/b] is also another director I love, simply because he made Moulin Rouge!. :) [/color]

[QUOTE=AzureWolf][COLOR=teal]No raw was secured while FMA was airing in the theatres. It would have been bad quality anyway. From what I heard, there was a ton of security checking for any recording devices, and no one was in a "I'll be bribed" mood. So be wary of any postings/listings of the FMA movie for download. It's probably spam, or a ton of gay porn like some of the Naruto movie torrents were. XD[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [color=darkslateblue] Shite, I hate it when people do that. Someone posted a bittorrent for some FMA special, and it ended up being [spoiler]vomit lesbian porn[/spoiler]. And yeah, I can't believe the sheer amount of people who were expecting a raw of the FMA movie. Even the Naruto fanbase (which is probably larger than FMA's) had to wait for about a year until they got anything. Other than that, does anyone know about the US release of the FMA manga? [/color]

[color=darkslateblue] Ok, so some *&$#(@ posted the three most giant spoilers for the FMA movie on Livejournal, and everything is sort of ruined for me. *head/desk* (it wasn't even a FMA community! It was a community for Naruto...argh...[dies]) Sigh. Well, I just wanted to ask. Do any of you know if the FMA movie is going to come out on DVD? I was browsing through a livejournal community and everyone was clawing their eyes out on July 23rd asking if there would be at least a raw version of the movie (although, I have to tell everyone that it is improbable, impossible, that we will be able to see anything unless a DVD comes out). [/color]

[color=darkslateblue] Ah, yes. *sheepish look* My results: Results Your Moralising Quotient is: 0.29. Your Interference Factor is: 0.50. Your Universalising Factor is: 0.00. It seems I have very different from you and Dagger, Azure. :] Although I admit I made some pretty dumb arguments in here, the entire subject matter is very touchy. Or...just hard. [/color]

[color=darkslateblue] I finished [b]Anthem[/b], and I have to say it was a very good read. I liked the last two chapters, and how [spoiler] the word 'I' was discovered[/spoiler]. So I started [b]Middlesex[/b], and for some reason it is a slow read for me. I found a bit boring at times, but I love the story that is going on about the history of the Stephanides. I also finished [b]The Kite Runner[/b], and I was sort of dissappointed. Everyone (really, [i]everyone[/i]) raved about how amazing it was. After [spoiler]the main character and his father arrvied in America[/spoiler], the book sort of lost something and I finished it only to finish it. It didn't leave me "haunted" or anything, as the New York Times or some other newspaper said.[/color]

[color=darkslateblue] Sugoi. I really do not see the problem with porn. Any kind, really (except for snuff ones, if they really exist). I'm assuming that over 50% of the people who watch porn are males, and seriously. Guys are guys. Yeah, it's not very cool when I'm working with some guys on a science project and they suddenly start talking about their latest porn-scapade (because I REALLY don't need to know what so-and-so did to that person in this porno), but I don't care about the fact that they do watch it. Don't read next paragraph is you're someone who is totally against porno or just doesn't like the idea of talking about it. [spoiler]And real porno, cartoon porno, whatever. I was browing through some magazines at B&N and there was some well-known Men's magazine on display (forgot the title...) and on the cover there was a article title that said "Is watch animated porn healthy?" I was actually intrigued as to whether or not some people had a preference, and wondered if the whole bodily perfection or some sort of magical realism thing was in the answer. *shrug* Ah, guess I'll never know (yes, I'm a bit of a weirdo sometimes).[/spoiler] [/color]

[color=darkslateblue] 100% Korean. 5' 8", size 9 shoes...I am sort of different from a lot of the Asian girls that live in my area. :D Black hair, brown eyes (secretly wants to get colored eye contacts that are gray), blah blah blah. Part of the standard second-generation immigrants...my parents moved here when they were 20-ish and I was born in the US. I've never been a fanatic of Korea or insanely proud of being Asian (I sort of despise Asian culture at times and some of the other asians at my school know me as the resident twinkie), but I don't have any intense dislike for being Asian, either. I dream of getting married to a white guy. >_> I always think it'd be insanely cool to be multi-racial. One of my friend's hertiage is in[b]sane[/b], he is basically the perfect mixture of every nation excluding Asian countries. We believe it contributes to his very, very, very nice hair. ^_^[/color]

[QUOTE=Siren]It's "clearly twisted" because people are being executed simply because they're gay. Is a woman getting stoned to death for not covering her entire body not "clearly twisted"? I suppose lynchings in the South aren't "clearly twisted"? I honestly can't believe you actually asked me why this current issue is "clearly twisted," Lunox. It worries me, quite frankly, that you would ask that, because the question carries two implications: 1) You just don't see a problem with it...which would make me wonder what you would have a problem with, because based on what you're using in your argument here...any Fascist movement and actions could easily be condoned. After all, Hitler's extermination squads did target gays, Jews, blacks, etc.--basically all those who did not conform to the so-called "Aryan" ideal. 2) You're taking the Devil's Advocate angle far enough so that you can't even make a reasonable argument anymore. Which is it? Lunox, when you know something is wrong, like Gavin has said (you can go and read through his posts about how he dislikes executing someone for anything), but then in the same paragraph say nobody has the right to criticize it because it's a different culture or religious belief...that's hiding behind moral relativity or religious doctrine. It's just a decorated way of saying: ...it's a cop-out of the worst kind...and we all know what Gavin had to say about those kinds of cop-outs. Good idea: Being excellent to each other. Bad idea: Executing each other. Lunox, taking religion seriously is one thing. Adhering to a religious moral code to the extent that you're executing 4,000 people, subjugating entire portions of the population, and ruling through fear and Fascism...is something completely different. Don't imply they're anywhere remotely close to each other, because they aren't.[/QUOTE] [color=darkslateblue] *bleh* I admit defeat! You've topped me. :) It didn't come to mind to me that just the fact that people perverted religion made all of its consequences twisted in at least one way or another. So, yeah, a humble surrender or whatever you want to call it. But I guess I could raise another question of how one would go about if they tried to change their government (note to self: never go into politics *head/desk*)[/color]

[QUOTE=Chabichou][COLOR=#004a6f]You know, Iran is a muslim country, so it follows islamic law, which muslims believe is the law of God. According to islam, people who perform homosexual acts are supposed to be executed. If you don't like the laws of a country, well, leave. I don't want to say anything offensive to gays, but well, a lot of people (including myself) believe that homosexual acts are are sinful, that they are hated and forbidden by God, and with very good reason I might add. So no matter what you say, no matter how hard you try, you're not going to make them (including myself) accept that homosexual acts are okay.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [color=darkslateblue] I only quoted Chabichou just to say that his last sentence is true. At least, partly. They won't accept homosexual acts for a very long time, as homosexually is a sin against God, as as Siren said, most laws are based off of religious morals. Now, I don't really agree with Chabichou's opinion on homosexualiy, but it's not exactly something you would flame. Many Christians don't like homosexuality and gays because it's a sin, simple as that. Of course, I'd have to say that God tells people to love everyone, but whatever. If those people want to go on hating gays, they'll eventually die and modern society will shape future generations' belief on the whole thing. No biggie.[/color] [QUOTE=Dagger] To draw an analogy, I don't think that adultery (heterosexual or otherwise) is okay, but this doesn't mean I necessarily want it to be punishable by torture and/or death. Siren's post about what constitutes a just law is perhaps the clearest and most relevant argument which has appeared in this thread so far, I think. From a religious perspective, wouldn't it be better to treat "wayward" sexual tendencies with attempts at rehabilitation? ~Dagger~[/QUOTE] [color=darkslateblue] Yes, but I think you missed everything I wrote about cultural differences. I tread cautiously as I even call it cultural. Maybe, just more like different governments. They beleive in execution. You must know by now that even if rehabilitating would be the ideal religious perspective (I do agree with that as well), [b]people pervert religion.[/b] This is why they're executing instead of helping. Or my take on it. Whatever.[/color] [QUOTE=Siren] I don't want to point out the irony there, but...you've been telling us we have no right to criticize a clearly twisted government that's violating all sorts of human rights, seemingly because we have no place there, because it isn't our place to judge.[/QUOTE] [color=darkslateblue] And it is "clearly twisted"...why? You have no right to universally create the 'theocratic perspective'. I find it impossible that there would ever even be a common ground base for theocracy. I don't believe Gavin is hiding behind some religious doctrine or moral relativity. He believes in the Christian faith. What do I conclude about the Christian faith when it comes to these things? Christians are supposed to be against homosexuality (as it IS a sin in their religion), but also to believe that everyone can be forgiven and redeemed without dying. What is the problem here? Gavin is simply following his faith, I have no idea where you're coming from. No one does have the right to tell Muslims to 'grow up'. Muslims take religion seriously. People have a tendency to pervert religion. We can connect two and two, right?[/color]

[QUOTE=Dagger][url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_relativism][u]Moral relativism[/u][/url] can only be carried so far before it becomes completely ridiculous. I don't think I'm being close-minded by asserting that [i]I personally believe[/i] people should not have to die brutally for their sexual behavior--customs, traditions, time & place be damned. To me your post doesn't necessarily seem arrogant, contrary to what you said (although the argument you're advancing does in a way smack of condescension, as it suggests Iranian society is so far removed from and so utterly unlike ours that there's simply no moral/cultural common ground and we must therefore blindly accept things like this as being "different" rather than wrong); it just seems apathetic. Moreover, as James mentioned (and now I'm speaking in a broader sense), it's not like Iran has been an uber-repressed society for thousands and thousands of years. I just don't see how "Oh, it's their culture" works as an adequate excuse for either them doing it or for us not condemning it... one could just as easily categorize the situation in North Korea (closed country, brainwashing, laws & policies which cause countless people to suffer in countless ways) as some kind of cultural thing that we simply have to tolerate because we're oh-so-civilized and enlightened. ~Dagger~[/QUOTE] [color=darkslateblue] Christ, don't get me wrong. I find that hanging two teens because they had gay sex is immoral, disgusting, and someone should lay a smack down on whoever wrote that law. Nonetheless, even if I think that's it's amazingly disgusting... I have to keep in mind that this is all a part of their culture. Whether Iran was recently oppressed or not. I don't see how any of this connects. I don't care about the fact that Iran didn't used to be like this, it has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm trying to say. What I'm thinking in my mind is hard to put down into words. I'm not saying we should blame everything on their culture. No doubt there are many people in Iran who disagree with this sort of thing, but it is their established order. We're not 'tolerating' this because we're so 'civilized' and 'enlightened', I'm sad that you had to throw such an insult to me. We're tolerating it simply because it is a different culture, no less or better than ours. Now, I'm going on a stretch here, because I don't know if this is true. What if the majority of the population in Iran truly believe that homosexuality is a sin and that it must be punishable, yeah? What can you do then? It would be a horrible move to come and tell them all of them are wrong and morally disgusting, and it's still horrible to us that gay people are dying simply because they are gay. Everything here is placed in such a gray area that we cannot be making black-and-white decisions. What Baron said, of course, rings true to every part of me. There is a fuzzy distinction between freedom and custom in every culture. It makes it all the more harder, because most of us has grown up learning one or two cultures. Even the most open-midned person could have a hard time swallowing some things that go on in other cultures. There are two quotes (from the same guy, :D)that can sort of sum up everything I believe when it comes to this subject. "At least two-thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity: idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religous or political ideas." "From their experience or from the recorded experience of others (history), men learn only what their passions and their metaphysical prejudices allow them to learn." -Aldous Huxley Yeah, I personally find everything that happened to the two teens to be everything I stand against. But my ideas on cultural differences also confilct with this. I'm not saying we should just let everything go because it is of another culture. What Baron said was true, freedom is freedom. But there is just always the fact that it IS part of another culture. I can't even explain it in words, it's just an intangible idea that runs in my head. There is no apathy here, as you put it. Oh, yes, I care very much. If this happened in the US, I'd be going crazy. But the simple fact that it did not makes all the difference to me, however cold-hearted that may seem.[/color]

[color=darkslateblue] Ha. I have always had a hard time with religion. I was born in a Christian family, and had believed in God and Jesus Christ and everything else until I hit middle school. I became agnostict, then athiest, and now I'm just something totally in between believing and not believing. For the last half-year, I have tried to believe in God, but there is just something that blocks me. I drift in-between believing that the world we see today is a product of evolution and believing that it is God that leads everything in the world. I hate the idea of fate, but I love the idea that you have a faith to follow for the rest of your life. I wish I could believe, anyway.[/color]

[QUOTE=Dagger]I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind around this. I wish I could formulate a better argument, but my reaction to what he said is a little more on the visceral side. The first thing I don't understand is why what we think doesn't matter. To me it seems like you and others are saying that we as outsiders cannot judge this situation as being wrong. Or, to put it differently, I feel as though if everyone throughout history had the type of attitude being presented here, no progress would have ever been made. The main sense I got from Gavin's post was "Well, it's an unfair law, but for their own sake they just shouldn't have done it in the first place." I submit that there are times when defying the law is the right thing to do. Gay sex may not seem to be as noble a cause as, say, the Underground Railroad, but loving who you want to love without getting killed for it is in my opinion just as valid a thing to fight for as women's suffrage and other inherently personal rights. That's why reducing it to a matter of breaking the law and being punished for it really rubs me the wrong way. It's not an incorrect way of looking at the situation, but to me it seems rather callous. Traditions & customs are all very well, but they can't be used to excuse everything. I feel that it's perfectly within my rights to look at their law, whatever it stems from, and say flat-out that I think it's morally abhorrent. ~Dagger~[/QUOTE] [color=darkslateblue] What I think a lot of people need to realize is that it is equally bad to force one culture's beliefs and ideas on taboo subjects such as this onto another culture. What you believe is morally abhorrent in another culture...is only saying that it conflicts with what you have grown up believing. In all truth, I'm totally against this sort of treatment towards gay people. The fact that people torture suspects in order to find out whether they had gay sex and then use that to kill them is disgusting to me. But really, perfectly within your rights? Whatever it stems from? I'm guessing that this stems from religion, and it is a well-known fact that it is people that distort and abuse religion, and we can't help that. We can't go over there and expect them to all of a sudden agree with us that killing gays is wrong. That is our belief. It is crushing to us that actions such as these exist when it is so against what we believe, but if we were to force one, same culture over the world... it is the same as stripping away freedom. I realize that I know what I am saying is totally radical, but please know that I am extremely saddened that people are dying because they are gay (or having gay sex). To my mind, it is something that is 100% wrong in my eyes, and that I yearning to just right a post saying 'everyone should be open-minded and except gays!'. But the fact that we cannot accept their customs, however horrible it may seem to us, is close-minded. This is another country. A totally different culture. How can we just intrude upon it? And in all words I also realize how arrogant this post seems, that I am doing this just to be open-minded. *head/desk* This is what studying post-colonial literature for three weeks does to you. It overwhelms me, all this stuff you learn from different people and classes and your own thoughts, and you have no idea how you should ever connect them in a way that works.[/color]

[QUOTE=Slightly cynica]If you notice, alot of them are girls. Isn't it that in Japan, the more high and girly a girls voice is the more of a cute women she is? I think it's from a different point of view being as we are American and not Japanese. To them it's probaly most adorable. While women with deep voices who are less annoying are either villians or tomboys.[/QUOTE] [color=darkslateblue] More like...innocent and naive. If you look at Japan's J-Pop stars, 90% of them give out this 'I'm so innocent, cute, naive, and sweet!' image. They wear school girl outfits and random puffy hair-things that are sometimes accompanied by pigtails. And other such things. A lot of Asian girls try and pull off the innocence look... no idea, really. [/color]

[color=darkslateblue] I just watched this yesterday, I just decided to post my random rant about it. Yeah, The Island was not a great movie... but it was mostly meant to entertain. Yeah, there were some philosophical stuff tied in, and it was supposed to make you think, but mostly it was made to entertain (Michael Bay, duh). And...it was entertaining enough. There are two awesome car-chase scenes and bunch of explosions, so I don't really see what everyone is complaining about. What the hell were they expecting, anyway? This is regular 'let's go see this flick for fun' thing. Um, anways. I guess it will entertain a lot of americans or something. It is your basic summer flick with a bunch of action and a plot that only goes so deep. The only think seriously 'bad' I can think of is that people were dissappointed because it could have been really amazing (like The Matrix or Minority Report) where both action and plot are excellent). Yeah, I am not surprised that it was a failure at the box office. Ewan and Scarlett are big enough stars, or whatever. But some people are calling this the worst sci-fi movie ever, and...it is not that bad, considering the bad sci-fi movies out there. I don't know why so many people are ragging on this film, did you really expect something that great? And yeah, The Island really is extremely similar to that old movie and that book (I don't remember their titles), but I'd like to tell everyone complaining to shut up. I mean, I'd understand if someone copied a movie that was made like one year ago, but The Island is merely taking it and re-doing it in present technology and filmography. Anyone who thinks that people should always be creating thing entirely original and not borrowing stories/ideas and recreating them should go live in a hole somewhere. To wrap it up, yeah, The Island has random plot holes and it doesn't nearly satisfy on an intellectual level, but did you really expect it to? It's entertainment. And it entertained.[/color]

[color=darkslateblue] Our house has caller ID and I know which places/numbers are advertising phonecalls and such, so once when my friends were over we waited for one and pretended that I was one of the legal guardians (I really sound like a guy over the phone). My friends randomly picked up a Harry Potter book lying around and I while I was heartily replying to the advertisor's offers, I would insert random quotes from the book. More specifically, I just read out the scene where Hagrid tells Harry that he is a wizard. And then at the end I started screaming 'OMG it's Voldemort! He's come to kill me!'. The guy on the other line got really pissed and hung up. :D My friends and I still want to call the KKK hotline (there is one, believe it or not), but we're sort of afraid at the same time.[/color]

[color=darkslateblue] I'm always confused as to what kind of threads you can bring back or not. *sigh* I will take a chance, anyway. I haven't been reading nearly enough, so I recently went to Barnes and Noble to stock up on book. For summer reading, I have to read [b]Anthem[/b] by Ayn Rand, which I don't really mind because I loved [b]Atlas Shrugged[/b] and [b]The Fountainhead[/b]. I also have to read [b]A Separate Peace[/b] again, which is a novel I have no strong opinions about. I just started reading [b]Anthem[/b], and I like it so far. Basically the book is about a man named Equality 7-2521 who lives in a dystopian society where men are raised to live as one, giant clump of order, equality, and mindless herd. No free expression, love, etc. I heard from a friend that it greatly resembled [b]The Giver[/b], and I agree with her to an extent, but it is already obvious that the two novels are still very different. The other books I got: [b]Middlesex[/b], Jeffrey Eugenides - I randomly picked this up while I was browsing the Summer Reading section B&N set up. :3 I've heard glowing reviews of it, though. [b]A Clockwork Orange[/b], Anthony Burgess - This novel was always near the bottom of my 'To-Read' list, but in a review of [b]Everything is Illuminated[/b], the book was mentioned, which intrigued my interest because I worship EiL. And I just recently watched the movie, which was excellent. My friend nearly killed me when he heard I hadn't read it yet. [b]The Kite Runner[/b], Khaled Hosseini - Many friends' advice to pick this book up. [b]Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books[/b], Azar Nafisif [b]The Namesake[/b], Jhumpa Lahiri (I loved [b]Interpreter of Maladies[/b]) [b]Saturday[/b], Ian McEwan - Has anyone read this? I was sort of 50/50 on getting it, because it was either this or [b]A Long Way Down[/b], by Nick Hornby. [/color]

[QUOTE=Syk3] Predictions $ [spoiler]Snape is actually a good guy, if Rowling is presenting information that contradicts what his actions showed in HBP, having someone on the other side to ensure that Harry reached his goal[/spoiler] # [spoiler]Dumbledore is related to Godric Gryffindor, handed down his sword through generations[/spoiler] # [spoiler]If not, then maybe we find out more about Aberforth, Dumbledore's brother[/spoiler] @ [spoiler]Harry is a horcrux himself, explaining his connection to Voldemort through his scar[/spoiler] ^ [spoiler]R.A.B. is Regulus Black[/spoiler] ^ [spoiler]The heavy locket they found and couldn?t open in Black's house was a horcrux[/spoiler] @ [spoiler]Harry will die in order to kill Voldemort[/spoiler] % [spoiler]Lily was sent to Azkaban at one point[/spoiler] * [spoiler]Lily dated Snape before James, maybe because she felt sorry for him[/spoiler] & [spoiler]This will turn out to play a role in causing Voldemort?s downfall[/spoiler] [color=darkslateblue] [spoiler] I was just wondering, that is Snape and Dumbledore are skilled in occlumency, could they have been secretly talking to each other during the long stare before Snape killed Dumbledore? I'm shooting in the dark here, because I haven't re-read OotP in a very long while, and I don't really know if they can mind-talk to each other. And yes, a fine guess indeed. I hope it is Regulus Black. And speaking of which, I love your prediction with the locket being one of the horcruxes. :D It would fit in nicely with Regulus being R.A.B. I'm also fond of the Harry being a horcrux thing (my friend actually started bouncing up and down while she was reading the part about the horcruxes and grabbed my arm shouting 'HARRY IS A HORCRUX! OMG!'), which would explain his scar, and possibly why the color of his eyes are important. I do not think Dumbledore is a heir of Godric Gryffindor, but Harry. I don't really want him to be the heir of Gryffindor, but if I had to choose one character, I'd choose Harry. *would die of happiness if Neville was heir, even though it will probably never happen* I, too, am guessing that Harry might die. But then comes to mind what Dumbledore said about prophecies in HBP, which I thought was cool. My mind is split 50/50 as to whether Harry will die or not. And I think Snape had hatred for Gryffindors deep enough that he would never go out with Lily Evans, even if she offered. But it might explain James' serious hating of Snape and why he was such a jerk to him. James' saving of Snape's life really was just him being himself, it's extremely possible James really hated Snape. As for Voldemort's downfall, I think Peter Pettigrew will play a huge role in it. I'm guessing he'll provide some information...or my better guess that he'll die saving Harry from a near-death grip with Voldemort, leaving Harry another chance to defeat Voldemort. I'm sure Lupin will have something to do with what Peter does, seeing as Lupin and Peter are the remaining Marauders. And my extreme hope for the seventh book: One of the first chapters will tell, in present tense, the events that happened the day James and Lily were murdered. I will go insane with excitement if JK Rowling does this. [/spoiler][/color]

[color=darkslateblue] When I'm out alone and it's late out (or very dark), I always look over my shoulder, or at least I always keep my head moving so that I see a 360 degree view (even though I look an idiot while doing it, that's ok). Staying up in bed [i]all[/i] night? Even when I just finish watching some freaked out horror movie and there are random noises in my bedroom, I'm a sleep-whore, so I usually fall asleep immediately and forget about it, lol. The only thing that gets to me while I'm in bed is if I have a nightmare in which someone tries to kill me. :/ I wake up from it, and then I'm stock stll in bed with my eyes open for about thirty minutes, and then will myeslf back to sleep. Music definately helps. I don't sing to myself, but I just put my iPod on and wait until I go back to sleep. Yes, nothing like listening to Ewan McGregor confess his love to you via music after waking up from a dream in which some satanist was trying to kill you. And... I freaking hate bugs. I'm one of those people who go 'EEEE!' at the sight of anything bigger than half an inch. I hate them. Urgh. And am also scared of them. *shudder*[/color]

[color=darkslateblue] They're a fun bunch to listen to. :) I really like the combination of techno/classical music, as I always have, so I was bound to like them. It's sad that they've had to take a mass-media approach and dress up scantily-clad on the CD covers, but whatever. I haven't actually bought their CDs, but I've listened to them a lot on my friends' iPods in orchestra, and I have been planning to get one for some time. :3 [/color]

[color=darkslateblue] I think a lot of Japanese veiwers think they are the cutest things ever, or something. Mostly I am annoyed with the sheer amount of stupidity anime creators give some female characters. I guess that is what Japanese guys find attractice in their culture, or maybe they just want to make us irritated. i.e. I watched the first episode of Elfen Lied yesterday, and there was this [spoiler]girl with brown hair who wouldn't shut up or recognize anything, and sat there going 'huuuuh?!' while there was 6023895720 people armed with guns looking shocked in front of her, and some freaked out crazy blood-thirty chick behind her. I am sort of glad she died.[/spoiler] And that girl from Loveless. She also made me go crazy. Which is also bad for me, because as Raiyuu said, they serve the plot. Unfortunately, it is one of the reasons I have not been watching anime lately.[/color]

[color=darkslateblue] Ok, so I definately remember there was an artPad thread, but I also remember mods hounding people for bringing up old threads, so I'm making this thread with caution. :/ Basically ever since that 'draw yourself as an anime character' thing came up, I've become obsessed artPad. :D I've probably made about 5 drawing on it already, but I made this one this morning. It's Tom Riddle from HP, but not canon. This [i]was[/i] how I imagined him, though (yes, I know red eyes and black hair is impossible). And...I hate my mouse. I need to get a new one. [url]http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?ijyq5c1ksimg[/url] And everyone else please post your artPad stuff in here! ^_^[/color]

[color=darkslateblue] Ergh, so I am on my break from work, and I've decided to make a list of stuff I liked in HBP, because I still love the Harry Potter fandom so. Draco Draco Draco [dracodracodracodracodraco...*combust*] Considering that Draco used to be one of my least favorite characters... my sudden love for him says a lot. After I finished reading Order of the Pheonix, I was *guh* very hoping that JK Rowling would go more into Draco's character. Delivered and well-done, I say. When [spoiler]Draco hexed Harry and left him on the train[/spoiler], I was already turning into a Draco fangirl. It's like [spoiler] he magically transformed into something awesome when the pressure was put on him. It was *so* in-character to see both the clumsiness and determination that was in Draco's plots to kill Dumbledore... and when he couldn't kill him in the end. I was loving how Harry was so irritated by all of it, because Draco was not being the same as he used to be, and how no one would believe Harry about Draco doing something evil. Actually, that was odd. Was it REALLY that improbable that Draco would be doing something? If I were Harry's friend I'd probably agree with him. Ok, anyways. Yeah, Draco was freaking awesome. And along with Draco, I started to love Crabbe and Goyle. Whether or not they're being loyal to Draco because they're idiots and fear or whether they're loyal...they were girls. Tee-hee. [/spoiler] *grudgingly* [size=1]Snape[/size] [spoiler]Even though I still don't like how JK built everything up, Snape... became a likable character for me (seriously, this book made me like a lot of characters I used to hate). Snape's character? I will sum it up: Snape is a good guy pretending to be a bad guy pretending to be a good buy pretending to be a bay guy pretending...confused yet? I still believe that Snape is drifting somewhere along the river of doubt, and that the reason he killed Dumbledore was because it was something planned (the far-fetched theory) or...maybe just because he really does love Draco. Or whatever. I hope JK Rowling really does a fantastic job in the next book of bringing out the human in Snape. [/spoiler] Not really something I liked, but found interesting: [spoiler] Dumbledore's withered hand. I know that we do not know the reason why he has this (though I think he got it from trying to break one of Tom Riddle's horcruxes), but I looked for withered hands in literature. Of course, there is a bible story about a man with a withered hand. What interested me about this certain story was that when Jesus noticed the man (who was outcast because people thought the withered hand was some sort of...bad thing), he told the man to "stretch out his hand", which could stand in meaning for the man to, in a sense, come out of his hiding and vulnerability and to heal himself by his response. Don't want to think much into this, but I just thought it was interesting. And I only vaguely remember a man with a withered hand who made trouble in Arthurian literature, so the words 'made trouble' jump out at me. Yes. So. I think too much. Anyways... I am still very suspicious of Dumbledore's character in HBP. I also wish for a more drawn out explanation as to why Dumbledore trusted Snape, which I assume will be given in the next book. The fact that Dumbledore is wise and eager to see the good in people doesn't really...eh. Tom Riddle's History [spoiler]I really liked the old-styled fantasy-esque things that came about with Tom Riddle's backstory. Ok, not so much 'old-styled fantasy-esque', but something different and...don't know. Like a surreal (bad word choice) history. It reminded me a lot of the novel Everything is Illuminated, and the story that told the history of a village, although not as prominent or well-decribed. I'm only sad that there wasn't more. [/spoiler] Hermione & Fleur [spoiler] Hermione annoyed me a lot in this book for some unexplainable reason, but I also liked the way JK Rowling presented her. I loved it when Hermione made it so Ron won the Quidditch try-outs. :) And how she was getting irritated that Harry was getting so good in Potions because of Snape's notes, but was still truly concerned a bit...deep, deep...deep down. lol (jk) I am a Fleur fangirl now. I loved her at the end of the book. Love.[/spoiler] In conclusion... I am cautiously expecting that the seventh book will be awesome. As much as I did not enjoy this one, it created many, many awesome openings that could make something incredible happen in the next book. [/color]

[color=darkslateblue] ^_^ And it would fit in with the prophecy thing, because then [spoiler]Harry would have to die...or sacrifice himself. But I think JK Rowling will make it more original...or better, in a sense. I read on Mugglenet that JK Rowling said that the color of Harry's eyes are of importance, so maybe that somehow ties into it. I mean...remember when Dumbledore and Harry were getting that horcrux, there was a green potion? Eh? *dork moment* Or more possibly his scar.[/spoiler][/color]