Friday Night Nerd News.

You know you love it.
by AC - permalink

Well, we have to start with Harry Potter, don't we? In an interview with The Today Show, geek superstar J.K. Rowling reveals a few nuggets of Potter lore that dorks like me are eating up. First up is the aftermath of Voldemort's death. Rowling envisions Harry and Ron not only fulfilling their fourth-year fantasies of becoming aurors, but that they "utterly revolutionize the auror department" at the Ministry of Magic, and sees Hermione high up in the department of magical law enforcement. She also reveals that McGonagall would probably be too old to assume the headmistress role at Hogwarts and that a new character would take the job. The Defense Against the Dark Arts position can now be held permanently, as the death of Voldemort has broken his curse against the position, but Harry won't take the job. He will, however, drop in occasionally for a guest lecture. I'm guessing nobody will be skieving off those classes.

Rowling also revealed that Arthur Weasley was scheduled to die in Order of the Phoenix, but was given a permanent reprieve because she just couldn't kill him (he is rather likable, isn't he, what with his fascination with batteries and parking meters?). Instead, another parent had to take his place in Deathly Hallows. I have to assume this means Lupin and Tonks. Rowling also said that she was leaning towards writing a Potter encyclopedia, as she still has reams of back-story and information about the universe that couldn't be worked into the books. I'm sure this will eventually be published, but don't be surprised if someone else is given the assignment with J.K. as a consultant.

Moving on to Trek, it was revealed at Comic-con that Leonard Nimoy will be reprising his role as Spock in some form in the J.J. Abrams-helmed Star Trek 11 project, and that young-Spock will be played by Zachary Quinto, best known as Sylar from geek favorite Heroes. It's currently unknown whether Spock will be slicing off the top of anyone's head to gain their powers in the new movie, but I'm guessing that yes, it will be an integral plot point, and only a meek Japanese guy serendipitously named Hiro can stop him.

Finally, movie nerds everywhere are flipping the fuck out about the DVD release of Hot Fuzz next Tuesday. The last Simon Pegg/Edgar Wright project, Shaun of the Dead, was not only a veritable geekgasm put to film, it was also one of the most feature-packed DVD's ever released. In related news, I'll be buying Hot Fuzz next Tuesday.

Harry Potter comes to the close.

Almost.
by AC - permalink

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows finally went on sale Saturday, and I'm nerd enough to admit that by Sunday evening I'd finished it. A book review here would be pointless, as this will be the most heavily commented-on novel so far this millennium. But I'll give it the highest praise I think a book so highly anticipated, by myself no less than anyone else, can receive: it works.

SPOILERS START HERE! -- you've been warned

It's a worthwhile end to the saga. And after seven novels, it is a saga, easily transcending childrens' lit, and earning a place in the fantasy pantheon. All the stray plot lines are neatly tied up, and all of our beloved characters' arcs are given satisfying finishes, assuming they survived what can only be described as a bloodbath. By my count, no fewer than ten regular characters are killed off in Deathly Hallows, more than the other six books combined. At a certain point it just became numbing, and I started to question whether the finale could be worth losing so many characters.

SECOND SPOILER WARNING -- stop now, you fool!

Fortunately, it was, though how we got there was a little too calculated for me. I loved Harry's final stand-off with Voldemort, and the inexorable duel between them was awesome, brief though it had to be. But it seems like Harry got off on a technicality, and one that doesn't follow the logic of six books worth of Potter lore. If the Elder Wand really belonged to Harry, then every time anyone successfully disarmed anyone, a wand changed ownership. Harry's wand would have rightfully been Lupin's since year three, for example.

It can be argued that this logic only applies to the Elder Wand, but if that's so, there's no precedent for it, and it isn't expressly laid out anywhere in the book. Still, it's the only explanation that makes sense, and I'm willing to accept it because I love the series so much.

Moving past my quibbles, I'm fucking thrilled at how fully Neville came into his own as the leader of the underground at Hogwarts. My favorite moment was when he pulled Gryffindor's sword out of the Sorting Hat. After all, no matter where the sword is (or which goblin has his hands on it), "Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the hat," and Neville spent his first few years at school worrying that he didn't deserve to be in Gryffindor house at all.

It was also awesome to finally get the Hog's Head barman, who we all suspected to be Aberforth Dumbledore, in on the action. And finally, I was right about Snape. I know a lot of other people have suspected this as well, but I'll say it again. I knew he was a double agent, not a triple agent! He killed Dumbledore at the end of Half-Blood Prince on Dumbledore's orders, and spared Harry's life again and again because he was on Harry's side all along. We didn't know it was because of his love for Lily, and not just his remorse for the Potters' fate, but of course we never believed that completely anyway.

As for the epilogue, I don't have much of a problem with it. As I read Deathly Hallows, I checked in a couple of times with Tasha and Genevieve's liveblogging at the A.V. Club, and neither of them were happy with it. But honestly, I was hoping for something of the sort. If Rowling is sincere about not writing any more novels in the Potter universe, I wanted some sort of look into the main characters' future, and contrite as it may be, she gave it to us. Personally, I thought Harry would end up as a teacher at Hogwarts, if not headmaster, but at least we know Neville is still there, teaching herbology, and he's probably head of Gryffindor house, assuming McGonagall is still headmistress.

I could ramble on forever, but there's no point, really. If you've read this far, you've read the entire series for yourself, and you can draw your own conclusions. But I'm glad that we still have the last two movies to look forward to. Three, in my case, as I won't see Order of the Phoenix until I pick it up on DVD. The movies are only cinematic reimaginings of the books, of course, but that doesn't make them any less valid. As a Tolkien fan who also loves the Rings films, I know how to appreciate both. In a few years, I'll have seven Harry Potter books sitting next to seven Harry Potter DVDs, and I'll be content.

Anniversary.

Holy shit.
by AC - permalink

God, I almost missed it. I looked at the archives on a whim after publishing that last post and realized it's been 730 days since my first post on this blog. So, happy two-year anniversary, blog.

I should probably write about something. Um. Okay, I got something. Anderson Che has been experimenting with a pretty radical new format for Avant Browser, and you can try out the Avant 11 betas on the development forum. If it means anything, I have IE7 beta 3 and Avant 11 beta 5, and I use the Avant beta all the time, and can't think of a reason to fire up IE7 at all.

What else... Oh, Valve released a pretty massive Counter-Strike: Source update this weekend. I'm not sure why Valve is so stingy with the HDR updates to CS: Source maps, but this time they're also including a major gameplay upgrade involving the HUD radar screen. So like, download it and stuff. You kind of have to, anyway.

And speaking of Steam, I downloaded the trailer for Portal because I couldn't understand what all the damn fuss was about. I get it now. Watch that trailer. There are all kinds of subleties to the portal-generation system that can't really be described in a write-up, you just have to watch it in action. Portal is supposed to be included, along with Team Fortress 2, with Half-Life 2: Episode 2, and I can hardly fucking wait. But apparently, I'll have to fucking wait, because Episode 2 has been pushed back to Q1 2007. Shit.

Anything else? No? Okay, enjoy two years of archived One Hunderd Horseless Carriages, and remember, the Harry Potter books are not just for kids, and our President doesn't really like you. Goodnight.

Harry Potter movies still don't suck.

Digital video discs? What's next, hover cars?
by AC - permalink

I picked up my copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on blind faith this Tuesday, since I hadn't seen it yet, but it was a good buy. Go get it. I bought the slightly more expensive two-disc edition, but I haven't actually watched disc 2 yet. Anyway, it's not as atmospheric or original as the previous movie, Prisoner of Azkaban, but it stands apart from the previous movies as a solid action/adventure. It's fast-paced, but still easily works in a subplot or two. And it's nice to see Neville getting a bigger role.

Maybe it's just me, but all I want to see in the movie adaptation of Order of the Phoenix is the DA stuff, particularly when they storm the Ministry of Magic. I love it when incidental characters start kicking ass and taking up screen time. Which is why I'm hoping a good ten to fifteen minutes of Half Blood Prince is devoted to Quidditch.

Have I lost any casual 100hc readers yet? Every now and then I need a Harry Potter or Star Trek post to keep me grounded. By the way, the TNG episode "Relics" aired on G4 last night, and I loved every goddamned second of it. Who could have kept themselves alive in the transporter pattern buffer after eighty years? Captain Montgomery fucking Scott, that's who.

Happy Birthday to 100hc

Believe it or not, today marks the first anniversary of AC's first post on 100hc. What started as an idle hobby has turned into a full-fledged blog, complete with a second contributer (me) and an actual focus on certain topics. It also represented an opportunity to reconnect with AC after being out of touch for a while. So that was pretty nice.

Since this blog was pretty much founded on Harry Potter, I have to disclose that I'm a huge HP fan myself. I work for a major mall-based book chain (guess which) and I've been present for the releases of the last three books. I devoured the latest book, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, in about 10 hours, and now I really can't wait for the next book.

So. Anyway. In gaming news, Microsoft announced the pricing structure for the Xbox 360. My first reaction is that the only reason they're selling the $299 package (no hard drive, wired controller) is to that they can say they are launching at $299. Only a complete moron would buy it in favor of the $399 package (hard drive, wireless controller and headset, remote control) since the added value over the cheaper package is over $200.

Given these prices, along with the prospect of $60 games, it's looking more and more like I'm sitting the 360's launch out for now, and will probably take the next-gen plunge late next year. I've got too damn many Xbox, Ps2, and Cube games to play until then.

More Mozilla Stuff and Potter 6

Firefox and Thunderbird 1.0.6 are out. These are quick-fix releases that correct some API changes in the 1.0.5 code that ended up breaking some extensions.

For the Mac people, Camino Browser 0.9 alpha 2 has been released. I've thought about buying a new Mac, maybe a Mini or iMac, just to be able to use Camino, but then I remember: I don't have a thousand dollars to blow. Oh well.

Asa pointed out a project at mozdev called Searchsidebar. It's a Firefox extension that creates a more advanced Mozilla Suite-style search in, obviously, the sidebar. I haven't tried it yet myself. Probably should have before writing about it. What if it's totally useless and breaks Firefox? Too late now.

Somebody at ZDNet UK really, really likes Firefox. Go read some Mozilla-flavored feature articles: Firefox: The alternative history, Mozilla: From obscurity to opportunity, Firefox: Doing it for love, and Behind the scenes at Mozilla HQ. Oh, and make sure Adblock is active. The whole site is just crawling with banners and flash ads.

I got hold of the new Harry Potter book just after it was released, and finished it within a day and a half (some minor spoilers are coming up here). I have to say that it depressed the hell out of me. The first third of the book is much funnier and lighter than book 5, Order of the Phoenix, but the plot is much less complex than any of the previous books, including the first one. We all knew someone was going to die in this one, and we already lost a major character in Phoenix, but this time it was just much more brutal. I can't imagine how little kids are going to deal with this. The last chapter in particular is one of the most beautiful pieces of fiction I've ever read, period. But, like I said, it's really rough on the long-time Potter fans, particularly the last few paragraphs. It almost makes me dread the next (and presumably last) book, but of course I'll have to read it.