The Ranting Room

And another ing thing is David ing Cameron's brief experience with da ganja while he was poncing about in ing Eton like any er gives a flying  I mean him and the majority of British teenagers over the last 50 years but what really ed me off was him maintaining a prissy ing silence and his PR people saying we all do things we regret - my ing arse! Not quite as bad as Bill ing Clinton's 'I did not inhale' cop out - too ing weak willed to say no, too ing scared to try it, more like - why can't one of those ing ers who presume to rule our lives just say 'I did it and what's more I ing enjoyed it and no ing regrets' - now that would get my vote even for a ing Tory ing  like Cameron!

heyitsthatguy wrote: Geck0 wrote: Harry Potter,  diehard Harry Potter fans and anything else that's weird about Harry Potter. Why why why!  Can't people wait patiently for the book to come out?  Fandom is weird and I've never understood it. I'm hoping Rowling kills him off.  I feel kind of sorry for her, she probably never invisaged all of this.  If I was her, I'd have killed him off much earlier, rather than having to deal with all that stress and silly fans. Meh, Harry Potter fever just gets to me. From The Guardian Online: Diehard fans will be planning just how they can get to the head of the queue at midnight on July 21 - named yesterday on JK Rowling's website as publication day for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the series. Bookshops were braced for the now traditional witching hour scrum and at least one said it planned to set up a helpline for fans after Rowling warned that two characters die in the final instalment - and hinted that they are central figures. This is what I mean.  It's just a book people! At this point, the only reason I'm going to read the book is just to see who dies...I hope Harry does, sheerly for the reaction of all the fanbois and gurls

There is nothing wrong with Harry Potter or The Lord Of The Rings - sure, they've been adopted by cinema (with varying degrees of success), but the film adaptations and the media hype detract from the fact these books are getting young people reading. They are getting parents reading to their kids - for the first time in God knows how long there is a genuine anticipation among children (and some adults ) for the release of a book - not some shoot-em-up game for their PC/X-Box/PS3/Commodore 64, but a book!

Of course it's being over hyped, and of course it's now become an industry, and of course there'll be kids pathetically dressed up as witches & wizards at midnight on the day of release... but the bottom line is, the Harry Potter books are well written fantasy for children - if you've read all the books (as have I), you'll know that each book has progressed in writing style and plot complexity - these are no 'Janet & John' books, you have to think. If just a small number of these kids go from JK Rowling to JRR Tolkein & then develop a love of books in general as a result of a combination of being enthused at an early age by the simple joy of reading and well made film adaptations, then it cannot be a bad thing.

I admit it freely - I am looking forward to the release of the next book - I have it pre-ordered on Amazon, so yah boo shucks to the lot of you!

I love to read, I am lost without a book...... my reading habit started VERY young with Enid Blyton, there has been a lot of talk about how these books were not good, ...... but hey, it started a habit that has stayed with me all my life!
My kids read a lot, especially my son.
I get bored with the HP "Hype" but I totally agree with Jim, HP and Tolkien..... great ways to fire the imaginations of kids!!! (cheaper than a PS2 too!!!)

fandango wrote: I genuinely wish they had been around back in 1974, when all we had was the Famous Five...

prog-chick wrote: my reading habit started VERY young with Enid Blyton

Ah, Enid Blyton - Famous Five, The Magical Wishing Chair, The Magical Faraway Tree, Mein Kampf - a childrens writer whos political sensibilities lay somewhere to the right of Atilla The Hun. My own book habit started with a gentleman called Sven Hassell's Wheels Of terror "The Book No German Publisher Dared Print!"

I have to say, both Vicky and I have appalling book habits - if we ever had a house fire (Gods forbid), the fire would burn for days!

Anyway - this is supposed to be the Ranting Room, so to bring back onto thread & continue on the HP theme (sort of)...

Rupert Grint = Ron Weasley, starts the series awkward & geeky:



& continues to be awkward & geeky:



Emma Watson = Hermione Granger:

Starts off as irritating swot:



And is still an irritating swot, but..... well the jury's still out as to what they're doing with her character:



But Daniel Radcliffe! He's Harry Potter, for God's sake!



He's not finished the Harry Potter films, yet, so how the F did he suddenly become Daniel Radcliffe the sex-symbol:



THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ALLOWED!

Tsk!



Edited by Jim Garten - February 27 2007 at 07:38

Jim Garten Ah, Enid Blyton - Famous Five, The Magical Wishing Chair, The Magical Faraway Tree, Mein Kampf - a childrens writer whos political sensibilities lay somewhere to the right of Atilla The Hun. [/QUOTE wrote:   What about the Secret Seven and the Adventurous Four?  I grew up with them.

Ok, I have to just get this off my chest..

If I hear that f***ing Scissor Sisters song again, you know the one about not feeling like dancing, you'll all be hearing about me on the evening news tonight..

Thats it for now. Back to work...

My glasses just broke

He's the son of James Hewitt, what does his family care? 

Oh bugger - now the royal family's been mentioned I can feel a rant coming on in regard to the heir to the British throne... I must there fore prevent myself from again ranting about how some inbred ing halfwit should keep his ing nose out of things he knows all about (or worse, things he thinks he has knowledge of), and concentrate on those things he does know about - ie, talking to ing vegetables (aka his family) & shooting things!