Randomnicity

It's Sunday Night after the release of Book Seven. (I still have trouble calling it 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' or 'DH' so bear with me...) It took me 7.5 hours to read, and I was done by 8:15 on Saturday morning. (And no, it isn't a contest, I just wanted to read it as fast as I could so that there was no possibility that I'd get spoiled.) I got my copy at a local 24 hour grocery store, and had no trouble at all getting it...which is more than I can say for some friends of mine. I was home and reading by 12:45am and read pretty much straight through until I was done except for the occasional small break to make a cup of tea.

Anyway, now that it's all over, I've been thinking a lot about the lyrics to a certain Dream Theater song called "The Spirit Carries On." That song is one of my favorite songs by what has become my favorite band. Here's an excerpt from the lyrics of that song:

I used to be frightened of dying
I used to think death was the end
But that was before
I'm not scared anymore
I know that my soul will transcend

I may never find all the answers
I may never understand why
I may never prove
What I know to be true
But I know that I still have to try

If I die tomorrow
I'd be allright
Because I believe
That after we're gone
The spirit carries on

Before you start thinking "WTF", my point here is about the HP fandom. Yes, we now know about Snape and pretty much all the other loose ends of JKR's brilliant story. There isn't a whole lot of room for any more theorising at this point. However, I keep thinking about the state of the fandom when I first became an editor for PotterCast, and how things have changed since then.

Anyway, I think the above lyrics relate to all of that because the spirit of the way things were BEFORE book seven will carry on no matter who is directly involved with the various elements of the HP fandom from this point on. The story of Harry Potter will gain new fans every year as new readers become old enough to appreciate the story. Of course the new readers will never have to endure the wait for a new book like most of us have, but it's still going to be a hell of a nail-biting story for many generations to come. So...

I believe
That after we're gone
The spirit carries on

JKR gave us all a hell of a ride, and I wouldn't trade in my experiences since I first met Harry for anything.

Now it's on to the next great adventure...

:)

A few hours ago I finished my regular work for PotterCast. I have at least one 'non-regular' thing left to do for the show/site, but the fact that my regular contributions to the show are over seems to have hit me in a way I didn't really expect. I always knew that at some point this day would come, where 'real-life' got in the way of making regular contributions to the show, but the fact that i no longer WILL be making regular contributions feels very weird. Working on PC has introduced me to some of the best friends that I've ever had in my life. I won't mention names but you know who you are. Online/Real-life blah blah those are labels. A friend is a friend. Full stop. I completely thank each of you that took the time to be a friend of mine. Just as Dumbledore would be glad to know there was a little more love in the world, I'm glad there are a few more friends in the world. I firmly believe that when you have REAL friends, ANYTHING is possible. So to those who are my friends, tonight I raise a glass to you. I may not be doing PC any more, but the memories of working on PC will last a lifetime.

May your broomstick always be true, and may your wand arm never waver.

:)

Mike

Today several things happened that all add up to the fact that Spring will be here VERY soon.

Thing one: I drove to work this morning with the windows down because it was too hot in the car and I really didn't want to turn on the AC in March. I absolutely love driving with the windows down, and the first time that happens in the Spring is ALWAYS a great time.

Thing two: When I got home tonight it was dark already, and the frogs in the pond down the hill from my house were singing. One of the reasons I live where I live is because hearing that sound at night is so hypnotic, peaceful, and familiar. And, in the 9 Springs since I moved into this house, the frogs have only started singing BEFORE the last snow once. So in the frogs' opinion, it looks like I might not get any more snow until next winter. Which is nice.

Thing Three: It's warm in my house. And it's not because I turned up the heat, it's because it was nearly 80 degrees here today. So for the first time since the end of last summer, I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt. In my house. I hate wearing jeans or sweats around the house, because neither of those items are particularly conducive to playing the drums whenever I damn well please. Jeans don't move properly and sweats are too, um, sweaty.

So yay windows, YAY frogs, and fuckin' YAY! shorts.

It's time for Spring to be Sprung...

"Brad Delp found dead at age 55."

Brad Delp was the original lead singer in the band "Boston." He is by no means the first member of a band that was influential or important to me to die, (that "honor" goes to John Lennon) but the loss of Brad is so unexpected that it's, well, sort of stunning. As the band's website says at the moment, "We've just lost the nicest guy in Rock n' Roll." I definitely can't argue with that.

Boston was always kind of a guilty pleasure for me. They are undeniably a pop band, and I usually have nothing but disdain for pop music. Brad's voice was the reason I am still listening to their music more than 30 years after I first heard "More Than A Feeling." It's those scary harmonies and soaring lead vocals that really (for me anyway) made Boston what it was, even though the "Boston guitar sound" is one of the most copied in rock. That's the key, I think. Copy the guitar sound all you want, but you'll never quite measure up to Brad's vocal performances.

The best concert I ever went to was the Boston concert in KC's Kemper Arena during the "Third Stage" tour. We had CRAP seats mid way up one of the sides of the arena, but it sounded completely amazing. If anything it sounded BETTER than the record, which was not something people used to say in the 80's at concerts EVER. Brad's voice had a LOT do do with that. When he wasn't confined to the rigors of singing for a recording he was more free to let his voice do some gymnastics, and that was one of the coolest things I remember about that concert.

Brad, may you always hit every high note from now on. After my time comes, I'd love to sing a duet with you...

You will be missed.

So. TV.

Home today because my allergies apparently dislike me profusely. I'm under the influence of antihistamines so fairly irritable to start with, and I thought I'd sit and watch some television because I can't be assed to do much of anything else.

Unholy GOD, tv is a festering, stinking, wasteland of endlessly pointless stupidity. I just sat there for a good 20 minutes doing nothing but flipping through ALL the channels I get (even the ones I know there's NEVER anything on them) in the vain hope that maybe, SOMEWHERE there'd be something I wanna watch.

Um no.

Television has become nothing but one interminably endless infomercial with a few breaks of inane 'programming' thrown in to keep the average chuckle-head watching from thinking he's paying for nothing but ads. What a load of CRAP.

When I was kid I used to love watching daytime television. There wasn't any Judge Judy or Judge tard-boy or ANY of that, there were just brainless sitcom reruns like 'Bewitched' or 'The Beverly Hillbillies' which by today's standards are actually fairly intellectualy shows.

No Jerry Springer or Oprah either.

Sigh.

Guess it's back to wikipedia then...

--Mike

Welcome to my first blog entry.

How unusual.

Merry Boxing Day.

And stuff.

--Mike