[heisha]

Yo Kuchumberkid- the expansion i figured out was something very rude, which of course, is not possible coming from you... so we shall have to figure out something benign and complimentary, wont we? ;D

Goodfood, it wasn't half bad, less scary than the last one, but more indignation inducing... still gripping though; no quidditch matches

Anyway, I'd better get off this topic before Kuchumber comes up with some more names for me....

[kombuchakid]

me rude never! a bit politically incorrect perhaps

TCWFHPATOOTP is of course-THE CHICK WHAT FINISHED HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.

a diatribe by me earlier today-TO AVOID GETTING FANS TONGUES IN A TWIST "HPATOOTP" IS THE OFFICIALLY DESIGNATED ACRONYM, FOR THE FIFTH BOOK.

HPATOOTP also contains the secret to death of "a main character" you see it doesn't really matter who gets snuffed because as long as there is a guy from TOOTP around the dead character can arise from the ashes in time to join the fun and games in book six

Now that the world has gone truly Potty what next?
Why Becks of course


DAVID Beckham's three-hour medical at Real Madrid on July 1 is expected to be televised live to a world-wide paying audience.

Subscribers to the Spanish club's television station will be joined by a global viewers as broadcasting rights go under the hammer across the world. Following the huge success of the pilot screening of Ronaldo's medical last summer, TV executives at Madrid are confident there will be massive interest in seeing Beckham put through his paces by the club's medical staff.

The bizarre sight of the most famous footballer on the planet stripping down to his boxer shorts will make for compelling viewing. A senior executive at Madrid said: "Viewers were gripped by Ronaldo's medical. It was a complete first and was a massive success. But judging by the hysteria surrounding Beckham, demands to see his medical will be far greater."

Beckham will undergo a thorough examination overseen by the club's medical staff and independent physicians.

At the moment the city is gripped by Beckham-mania and president Florentino Perez isn't missing a trick as he looks to cash in. If Beckham, 28, passes his medical as expected, a global TV audience will also witness his unveiling while 90,000 paying fans are expected to be in attendance.

Perez has even set a price of £2million for a one-off sponsor to receive prime location on a board immediately behind the player when he is introduced to the world as a Real Madrid man on July 2.

A measure of Beckham's popularity is that Madrid have already received more than two million inquiries for shirts with his name and number on the back. That's twice as many as the record, held by Brazilian striker Ronaldo who sold one million shirts when he was unveiled last season.

A club spokesman said: "We've been inundated with requests from places as far away as Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Chile. But it's a bit tricky because we don't know what number Beckham will get - and we may not know for quite some time."

Financial experts claim Beckham's popularity is growing at such a rate that Perez, who has attained 50 per cent of the player's image rights, is likely to have paid off the entire transfer fee inside three years.

[heisha]

THE CHICK WHAT FINISHED HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.
groaaaan but what a relief!

now this Beckham mania is something I dont understand. That and blood sports such as boxing. How people get a kick out of seeing other people being hurt is TRULY beyond me. ugh.

Ah well. Strange world we live in.

[kombuchakid]

from today's scmp

[kombuchakid]

Busybee died in 2000, so this is his bit on HP 1, as far as I know the only one he read or reviewed.

I must confess, I have bought a Harry Potter.
I must confess, I have bought a Harry Potter. The sales pitch was too high, I had to know what it was all about, never mind if it was a children's book.
I bought it yesterday from good old Mr. Shanbagh, who is and will always remain my favourite bookseller, in spite of all these new shops with attached coffee bars. It is the first in the series, Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone. I think it is wise to start with the first, since it introduces and explains the characters and sets the theme.
And since yesterday evening, I have been dipping into it, in between a dinner engagement, reading carefully and trying to find the reason for its success. I am a slow reader and I don't skip pages. And if it is a detective book, which is my favorite genre, I frequently go back to the earlier parts of the story in order to pick up clues I may have missed.
The Potter book is a children's book, there are no two questions about that. And it is not a two-level book, as some people have claimed, where adults and children may read it at different levels, and extract their own separate meanings from the book. This book has this wonderful magic that allows children and adults to read and enjoy it for the same reasons. I am already discovering this and I am not too far into the book yet. Perhaps, after I have read all the four books, as I intend to at the moment, I shall have a better idea.
I understand that eventually there are going to be seven books, one for Harry Potter's each year in school. All very neat and tidy, as the writing is.
From what I have read, about flying owls (in the daytime), wizards in party clothes, cats that turn into countesses and vice versa, and strange spells and omens and magic, it reads like a fairy tale, but with feet planted firmly on earth. Possibly it is a modern day fairy tale, though the best thing that may be said about it, and the most appropriate, is that it is a good yarn.
I think I am going to enjoy it as much as I did when I first started reading the James Bond books. Those were genuine adult fairy tales, I can go back to them any time. Somehow, I have not been able to enjoy the Bond movies to the same extent. I think it is the sophistication in Ian Fleming's writing that is so important and which the movies cannot capture, not even those with Sean Connery.
But right now I am on the Hogwarts Express, going to Hogwarts School, whose headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, is the greatest wizard of modern times, known for his discovery of the 12 uses of dragon's blood.
On a day such as this, I would love to lie in bed and continue the book. But duty calls, we have to go to work. We are not children any more, though we may be reading children's books.