featherwizard

Awhile back - right after the House episode "A Simple Explanation" - I issued a challenge on highland_cross to write a House/Highlander crossover featuring a predictable character by the end of July. Unfortunately, I then had to move and change jobs. And I'm moving again tomorrow. So, I've written something. No promises on quality. Unbeta'd and very short. I'll have more up after the move, but right now I have a hundred things to do and about 24 hours to do them in.

So, without further ado, Lawrence the Long-Lived


( Lawrence the Long-Lived )

Watching the elections a couple days ago. MSNBC commentators talked to Obama's campaign staff and said that he was going to bring people who were "bipartisan and new" into his power structure.  Well, take a look at the list of proposed US Treasury Secretaries in.  NONE of them could possible qualify as "new", although a few are bipartisan (interesting - even the Democratic candidate would rather have a Republican overseeing the economy). 

The best pick -- the absolutely best pick, the one pick on that list that would reassure everyone that Obama is willing to do what's best for the American people instead of what's best for his cronies -- would be Paul Volcker. He's not new, but he is reliable and trustworthy on the economy. He was Fed chair in the 80s and eminently qualified to control the Treasury.  Unfortunately, the noises coming out of the Volcker spokespeople are sounds of "it's a great honor to be considered, and of course we wouldn't turn the future president down, but...."  

Another mentioned pick is a close buddy of Obama's, Lawrence Summers at Harvard University. You may remember him from the scandal a few years back when he nearly lost his job for promoting sexism at a conference through statements about how women were inherently bad at math. Which is complete BS, as years of neuroscientific studies have shown.  Overall, no difference in math ability between the sexes.

So will it be the publicly-pilloried crony-pick, the excellent-pick, or one of the random former officials thrown in their for contrast?  We'll just have to wait and see.



Another thing to watch is Obama's White House Chief of Staff pick.  New Politics? Yeah right. Obama picked the Democratic House whip.  The man wanted someone who would make people jump when wanted them to, and that's what he got. This isn't change, people. Obama isn't change.  He's a smart guy who looks sharp in suits, knows how to manage PR and can pick people who know what they're talking about. That may make his administration better than a McCain administration would have been. But it likely won't - Obama doesn't know a lot of people in the Capitol, which makes him vulnerable to the Democratic flunkies he's surrounded himself with. And Obama's a lot more liberal than people want to think.  The flap about Bill Ayers aside, Obama's a left-wing socialist. That's not always a bad thing, but it very easily can be. And given Obama's lack of governing experience, I think it will.

Hopefully, Obama will keep himself to the charismatic diplomatic roles he's had so far, and make decisions with lots of advice. That will likely save him from drastic missteps. But I wouldn't count on it.

And the latest advance in criminal law is:

http://news.cnet.com/surveillance-state/

Check it out - we can't beat people up, so we hire thugs to do it for us!  Entreprenuership in the public sphere.  I have never been so ashamed of my country.    This goes beyond incompetence, stupidity, detainees and faulty intelligence reports.  How on earth could a US official authorize this?

Why don't people like the epilogue?

The series needed to end. You couldn't honestly think there wouldn't be an epilogue. Structurally speaking and publishing-wise, an epilogue was definitely needed. I think JKr struck a nice balance between crushing any further Harry Potter publications and not crushing Harry Potter fanfiction. And if you did not expect that ending...where have you been for the past seven books? The anvil-sized hints? Everyone knew H/G and R/Hr was go back in book 5. It's an alchemical deep-magic myth-type story. The story's a pretty standard type.

The epilogue's not badly written; it's simply not as spare as the rest of the book. Which is as it should be. This is normal life now, not fighting a desperate guerilla war to defeat an evil oppressor. There should be more details, less wrenching emotion, and the fact that the scene was more reminiscent of the beginning chapters was entirely appropriate.

As for the names...Percival. Ginevra. Bilius. Arcturus. Narcissa. Five names, Dumbledore had. These are not your standard Western names.

Dumbledore's a real person now, instead of some slightly-creepy cult/mentor figure.

I think the very last line perfectly sums up Harry's view of his life. The shadow that destroyed his youth and childhood is gone. Life is good. The fact that people don't like the actual Harry's point of view isn't surprising though, given how many fics completely rearrange his personality.

Lament! For I have only gone to one Harry Potter publishing-date party, and can never do so again. Lament! An icon of the modern age is over, and I must find something new to look forward to in my life. Lament! Lament, Lament.

I loved the epilogue.

The story needed an ending. This series has been building, and building, and building. It needed closure to keep it vital and alive; to do other than write an epilogue would leave a bleeding wound draining the life out of the books into esoteric reams of fic. This is the Story that Never Ends; It Just Goes On and On, my friends.

The books ended just like they began. Harry through Harry's eyes, without really noticing what else is going on around him. After they leave the station, he'll find out what Hermione and Ginny were talking about, and who Ginny saw on the way in and what they wre doing and who said what about whom - Harry wasn't paying attention to that just then, just like his kids and the ]I]entire station[/I] was completely ignored. I've been saying it for years: Harry is an unreliable narrator. He doesn't see everything, we don't get told everything he sees, and what he thinks he sees isn't necessarily the way things really are.

I believe that Snape was loyal to the ideals of the good. He was a bitter, petty, vengeful, spiteful little man, whose final acts were to ensure that
1) Wizarding Britain would survive intact,
2) Harry's questions would all be answered, and
3) He (Snape) would get some recognition.
That suggests some pretty serious dedication to the light.

You don't kill your mentor because of a long-dead obsession. Snape's had a decade and a half to grow up since Lilly's death. There was doubtless some maturing in that time. His affection for Dumbledore (look carefully at that seen where he heals Albus up. That's love and friendship) and his desire to stop Voldemort (whom he betrayed of his own initiative; he wouldn't have done that if he actually believed what Voldemort was spouting. Snape's whole Death Eating career sounds a lot more like being abandoned by other avenues than anything else) were probably quite strong as well.

All the earlier characteristics - pride, bitterness, a need to prove himself - are there too. But in the memories Snape gave Harry, Snape's relationship with Lilly was the most important factor, because Harry needed to understand why he betrayed the Dark Lord, and why he kept on betraying him. The other characteristics that Snape displayed earlier simply weren't as important right then.

Characters are not as two-dimensional as a single situation portrays them, just as your behavior at work is not the only way you behave. The whole spectrum of experiences has to be considered.

I've been up for nearly 24 hours now, so I'm going to be so I'm coherent for D&D at 3 today.

http://www.godawful.net/

A fic that should go there:

Harry Potter and Fate's Debt by Intromit
"Hermione was sitting straight up, but unlike usual, she did not wear a face of rapt attention, but one of announce – obviously still made about house elf treatment. Dumbledore’s next statement though caused everyone to complete attention to him." 

"“Spew?” asked a fearful wrong." I had no idea that abstract concepts took an interest in Hermione's pursuits.

"“Founding members?” Ron ejaculated his fearful expression during to abject panic." So...he got rid of his face?

"Ron and Hermione were stunned and quickly agreed to help research ways to get passed a dragon." Well, one would stand next to someone trying to get rid of it, I would think.

And...new branches of magic! "Severus had not taken the news that he would be teaching Harry Potter Occulumency well," quite possibly because no one has ever heard of it.

I think that says it all.  A face of announce? A fearful wrong?  This person obviously needs English lessons (some of the verb tenses suggest that English is not their first, or even second, language).  The plot changes have about the same level of coherency.