All kinds of mish-mosh in this one...

So I finally went to see War of the Worlds this past weekend. Amazing... and quite disturbing. I figure that movie must have just barely scraped a PG-13 rating, but it's not surprising to me, seeing as how violence and brutalization of fellow humans is just hunky-dory in American society, as long as there's not a 1/2-second flash of a woman's nipple.

Anyway, the film. Of course it stars Tom Cruise, who would really like you to know that he's not gay, in a retooling of virtually every character he's played to date, including himself in real life. Brash, cocky guy who smiles a lot, is flippant with the ladies, and has some trouble with a key relationship (his dad, his One True Love, his kids, etc.) which is fixed right up by the end of the movie. As I was telling a friend of mine recently, Tom Cruise is a movie star. Not an actor... a movie star. So for me, it was a bit hard to see his character as anyone else but Tom Cruise the Extremely Heterosexual Movie Star.

Little Dakota Fanning, who has all Hollywood blubbering over her because hey, she's 11 and can actually act quite well, basically moved from one traumatizing scene to another. She screamed, she screamed a little more, she admonished her dad, Maverick, then screamed again. Then she went catatonic. But in the end, she was reunited with her mom, Éowyn, and everything ended happily. Given Spielberg's penchant for schlocky moments, I'm surprised Maverick and Éowyn didn't get back together at the end while the violins swelled rapturously.

Amazing, stupendous special effects though... and really, a pretty great movie all in all, with the exception of an ending which was the cinematic equivalent of blowing up a balloon until it was just short of the bursting point, then just letting the air all seep out of it. I liked the premise of the ending, because there was no way humans were going to just beat up on these aliens (their weapons were staggering... the wholesale casual massacre of people was one of several really horrifying and disturbing scenes), but it was presented in a manner that was so completely anticlimactic, it's like they just ran out of time or money and rushed an ending together.

Anyway, what's going on in Washington?

I thought for a fleeting moment that Bush might be a renaissance man and nominate a woman or a minority to the Supreme Court, but no... just one of his rich, white buddies. Honestly, this Roberts guy seems like a decent enough fellow, but does he really have the credentials at this point to sit on the highest court in the country? (For that matter, did Bush, with one entire term as governor of Texas, have the credentials to be elected President?)

Then there's Rove. It's good to know censorship is alive and well in this country, with several newspapers pulling a daily strip of Doonesbury because it referenced Rove in an unflattering manner. This is what Bush's administration seems to want though: government of the people, of the people, and of the people.

Meanwhile, down in the banana republic of Florida, NASA finally got on around to launching the space shuttle. Now they're trying their darndest to keep a stiff upper lip and say all the right things, but really, folks? Here's the nuts and bolts of it: They spent 2 1/2 years and north of a billion dollars to fix the damn thing, and the exact same problem that doomed Columbia happened again. The chunk of foam that fell off this time also hit the wing of the orbiter, and it's even almost the same size (bit smaller) than the piece that hit Columbia's wing. The same, identical problem!! Look, I understand that the space shuttle is an immensely, inordinately complex vehicle (to say the least). But given 30 months, a billion dollars, and presumably some of the best and brightest engineering minds in the country only to have the exact same problem crop up on the very next launch? I don't care how much spin you put on it, that's just fucking lame.

My review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Before I get into things, let me say at the outset that I will not reveal in this review what are probably the two biggest questions going into this book:

• Who is the Half-Blood Prince?
• Which character dies in the course of the book?

Everything else is fair game, so there will likely be some minor spoilers ahead, but the two biggies will be left unanswered.

First, a bit of background... I didn't get into the Harry Potter books until late 2000 or thereabouts. A friend of mine who worked in a bookstore was a huge fan and kept trying to get me to read them. Now, bear in mind, this is before any of the movies had been made, and the fourth installment in the book series, Goblet of Fire, had only just been published. The series was very popular, but certainly not the phenomenon it is today. Goblet of Fire is described on its dust jacket as being the "pivotal fourth novel in the seven-part tale" of Harry Potter. It was pivotal in many ways, to be sure. I think it was the release of this book that really began, in earnest, the late-night bookstore "Potter parties." It was surely the first book in the series where the drawings of people on the cover art actually resembled reality. On the covers of the first three books, Harry looked rather preposterous; a crudely drawn comic strip character. Beginning with the fourth novel, the cover art seemed to take on a slightly more realistic slant. (The cover art on the fifth book, Order of the Phoenix, is by far my favorite.) Goblet of Fire was also pivotal in the transition from reasonably light children's literature to a darker, more ominous and adult-type story (indeed, the book begins and ends with rather cold-blooded murders). Finally, the fourth novel marked a startling ramping-up of page numbers! Whereas the first three Harry Potter books were fairly long books, at 309, 341, and 435 pages, Goblet of Fire startled longtime readers by weighing in at an astounding 734 pages. Similarly, the chapter count rose precipitously, from 17 to 18 to 22 to 37.

I told my friend, "No, no, no... they're kids' books!" Still, he persisted, and I clearly recall the day I guiltily wandered into the children's section of my local library, feeling very out of place (as all the bookshelves were about waist-high). I finally found the "R" section in fiction and heard a woman's friendly voice behind me, "Someone's in the Harry Potter section!" It was one of the librarians. I was mortified. I told her I was considering checking out just the first book and seeing what all the hooey was about. She wouldn't hear of it and told me to take the lot. Before I knew it, I had all four published-to-date Harry Potter books in my arms and was being told, adamantly, by three librarians that I would doubtlessly love these books. I spent the bulk of the next few days immersed in the story, and by the time I finished the epic fourth novel, I was hooked. In fact, I challenged a few of my friends to read the first 3-4 chapters of the first book. "If you're not hooked by then, put it down," I said. "But trust me... you will be."

To date, Goblet of Fire has been my favorite of the series. I found the last installment, Order of the Phoenix, to be overindulgent and quite bloated. As if to trump the page count of its predecessor, the fifth novel contained a staggering 870 pages. Moreover, the font size used in the printing was slightly smaller than that in Goblet of Fire, so had the two fonts been the same size, I expect Order of the Phoenix would have been well over 900 pages. However, I felt several of the chapters and tertiary stories could have been excised completely (particularly the whole "Grawp" storyline... I had no use for it at all). There were some terrific moments, especially the introduction of Dolores Umbridge, quite possibly one of the most wretched and loathsome antagonists I've come across in literature in a long time. I also enjoyed the climactic dueling scenes between Voldemort and Dumbledore. But on the whole, I found it to be a somewhat tedious book. Harry was in full teenager mode, petulant and miserable most of the time, and even given 870 pages, I didn't feel that it really advanced the story all that much beyond Goblet of Fire. What it did to, I realize now, was set up a great deal for the penultimate novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

The latest installment opens quite differently, allowing us insight into the rare overlap between the Muggle world and the secret Wizarding world. Apparently the British Prime Minister is well aware of the existence of wizards and this unseen world of theirs and is alerted in the first chapter that the most feared wizard in hundreds of years, Lord Voldemort, has returned to power and that there is a war in progress between his followers and the Ministry of Magic. I couldn't suppress a grin at the line in the opening paragraph of the book, saying that the Prime Minister was awaiting a call from the President of a different country (it doesn't specify), wondering when "the wretched man would telephone." I'm not sure if there's any subtext there, but just the notion that J. K. Rowling might loathe George Bush as much as I do, well... it just makes me love her a little more.

By the end of the second chapter, I was stunned. It was revealed that Severus Snape was indeed still very much allied with Voldemort and every bit as wicked and evil as Harry suspected. Another chapter, curiously titled, "An Excess of Phlegm," isn't remotely about what it would seem. "Phlegm" is merely a none-too-kind nickname for Fleur Delacour, who has become engaged to Bill Weasley, much to the consternation of Mrs. Weasley and Ginny, the latter of whom emerges in this book to be an utterly delightful character, so much so that Harry becomes completely enamored of her. This is actually a joy to behold... Harry talking to himself, trying to rationalize away his feelings for Ginny... "But she's Ron's sister!"

The story is, for the most part, tautly written and briskly paced. It doesn't drag (for me) the way Order of the Phoenix did at times. I was hoping that Ron and Hermione would actually get together in this book, but although they come close, and although it becomes blatantly evident to everyone (including Harry) that they're retarded for each other (™Kevin Smith in "Mallrats"), in the end, it's still left unresolved.

At the forefront of this book is the relationship between Harry and Dumbledore. Together, they take trips via Dumbledore's Pensieve into a number of memories (both Dumbledore's and those of others, as well). They, and we, learn a good deal of backstory on Voldemort... what he was like as a child, some aspects of his years at Hogwarts, that he petitioned to be a teacher there after leaving the school... Rowling weaves together an immeasurably complex story that makes brilliant references back to many of the previous books, showing quite clearly that she has this all figured out in her head and isn't just making it up as she goes along.

An interesting plot device Rowling calls a "horcrux" enables a wizard to split his soul (although he must commit murder to do this), and place the split-off part of his soul in a secret place. Thus, when that wizard's mortal body is destroyed, a portion of his soul still exists. This hearkens back to Sorcerer's Stone, in which Voldemort is a disembodied spirit, in search of a proper body (which he ultimately achieves in Goblet of Fire). Well, it seems that Voldemort hasn't split his soul into two parts, but into seven. To prevent any possibility of Voldemort returning in the future, each of these horcruxes must be found and destroyed before Voldemort's mortal self is killed. This is surely an interesting plot twist to be introduced so late in a story, but it works well here.

At one point, Ron nearly dies from drinking a poison-laced beverage intended for someone else, saved only by Harry's quick thinking and a bit of good luck at having read something scribbled in a book by the mysterious "Half-Blood Prince," whose identity is not revealed until very late in the story. Mr. Weasley is quick to note that somewhere around half the Weasley family owe Harry their lives (Ginny, Mr. Weasley himself, and now Ron). Another near-death occurs during a vicious duel between Harry and Draco Malfoy, who is now emerging as a somewhat reluctant, almost sympathetic villain. Harry unleashes one of the Half-Blood Prince's spells on his nemesis without knowing what it will do, and, to Harry's horror, it slices Malfoy up like a Thanksgiving turkey. His face and chest are slashed open (as if by an invisible sword, we're told) and blood gushes everywhere. It's a fairly gruesome scene, but by no means the worst of the lot. For me, the best part of this whole thing was Harry witnessing Malfoy sobbing in the bathroom (before the duel), primarily in fear for his parents' and his life should he not carry out Voldemort's orders. I find myself wondering if there will be something of a redemption for Draco Malfoy in the final book.

The chapter titled, "The Cave" should definitely not be read by young children at night... it's seriously creepy. A new horror is introduced in this novel, something called an Inferus (plural Inferi) that is essentially a corpse which has been reanimated by a wizard's magic to do the bidding of that wizard. In this particular chapter, a lake is filled with Inferi... an army of the dead. As I was reading it, I was surprised at how vivid the imagery was. I could see the cave and the lake in my mind, with hundreds of dead, decaying bodies just beneath the surface of the water as Harry and Dumbledore tried to navigate through the darkness in their tiny boat, searching for one of Voldemort's hidden horcruxes. Chilling.

There is a maturity and depth in this book that was startling to me. I've enjoyed all the books (to varying degrees), and consider myself somewhat of a fan, but this is the first of the six books to date that's been truly affecting. The climax of the novel is as emotionally draining as anything I've read. I was reminded of how I felt as a kid when I read Charlotte's Web and Charlotte died. Just heartbroken and numb. That feeling permeates much of the final 60 pages of the book. I've no doubt that plenty of readers will be bawling their way through the last two chapters of this installment.

All in all, Half-Blood Prince has officially supplanted Goblet of Fire as my favorite book in the Harry Potter series... so far. :)

The Rove Less Traveled...

Pardon my somewhat lengthy absence of late. It's not that there has been a dearth of worthy news to snark on or anything, I've just been terribly busy. And wilting, too. Wilting in this ridiculous mid-July heat wave. Mid freaking 90s everyday. At least it's not humid.

So what is all this crap with Karl "If I spelled my first name that way in the 50s, I'd be thrown in prison for being a Commie" Rove? The guy has basically lied his ass off, and "outed" and endangered a covert CIA operative, one Valerie Plame, compromising national security in the process. And all Bush can do is give us his little monkey smirk and say he stands behind Rove. And this Rove character is the same piece of shit who said that liberals basically watched the horror of 9/11, then wanted to offer therapy and understanding to the terrorists. I promise you, undermining and basically destroying an intelligence agent of the CIA for petulant political reasons did far more to damage U.S. security than all the tree-hugging liberals put together. Like I saw on a bumper sticker recently, "Better to have a bleeding heart than none at all."

So Bush's reaction is to essentially ignore it and smirk at the cameras, waving like a little bobblehead doll, even though when this all started months ago, he specifically said he would fire anyone in his administration who had compromised (read: willfully and knowingly put at risk) any of our counter-terrorism operatives in the field. But then, what Bush said has never really meant a damn thing before, so why should it now, right?

And witness the GOP, flipping out completely over Hillary Clinton comparing Bush to MAD Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman, saying she was insulting the President, blah blah blah whatever. She wasn't saying that Bush looks like the little weirdo (although, in truth, he actually kinda does). No, she was saying that Bush's attitude towards the increasingly inarguable fact that everything on his watch is rather going to hell in a handbasket is much like that expressed by Mr. Neuman: "What, me worry?" But her comment was more than enough to work the Republican mouthpieces into a complete lather. They droned on and on about the Democratic party being "adrift and angry." Well, that's right on both counts. The "adrift" part, I presume, is being addressed and hopefully corrected. As for the "angry" part... well, why wouldn't they be angry? Look at the utter fools who are running the country (into the ground, I might add). Like another bumper sticker suggests, "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."

Only about 3 more days left until the midnight selling of the new Harry Potter book. I haven't decided yet if I'll go that night or wait until Saturday, but I'll be reading it this weekend either way... of that much, I'm certain. I have the sneaking suspicion Dumbledore will die in this volume. What I can hardly believe is how staggeringly wealthy this story has made Jo Rowling. It really is just an incredible story. It'll be interesting, in a way, to see the conclusion of this nearly decade-long ride come to an end when the final book is published.