I read today that The West Wing is up for a best drama series Emmy, which is great, it was on the upswing last year. The West Wing continues to be my favorite TV show, and the only one I make a point to watch. So, with that news, I went to a website I visit on occasion for news of the show and found that someone is selling this bumper sticker on Ebay. I'm all for the ticket, but you never know, they might put Vinick in to make for some drama. Rumors are that Richard Schiff is leaving after a few episodes and that Rob Lowe might be coming back. The new season is supposed to start in September on Sunday nights.
As my close friends know, I am a Harry Potter fan. I came into the fold after seeing the first movie. I watched it out of pure curiosity and was enchanted. I then started reading the books and became a fan. The first four books had already been released by this time, so I had plenty of reading to do, and never felt the agony of waiting for each to come out until I finished the first four and had to wait for book five which took two years to come out after my foray into the Potter universe. It has been two years since the release of book five and book six will be arriving by UPS to me tomorrow. (Yes, I pre-ordered my copy, as I did for book five). I am also one day away from the beginning of my shutdown week. One glorious week of sleeping in and spending time with my S.O....and reading book six. One thing I do remember when Potter-mania was sweeping the children of the land and I was not yet initiated into the world was the huge outcry of Catholics and Christians denouncing the book as teaching children evil when they had not read the book themselves. If they had read the book, it shows the fight between good and evil, and Harry is on the good side. I've heard rumor that Pope Benedict wrote letters about Harry Potter while still Cardinal basically denouncing Harry Potter as well. Today while reading one of the fan sites, The Leaky Cauldron, (Mugglenet is also a great fan site) according to transcripts of a Vatican radio address aired yesterday and made available by CatholicInsider.com, say that remarks made have been misinterpreted. Monsignor Fleedwood states in the radio address:"I was sent a letter from a lady in Germany who claimed to have written to the then Cardinal Ratzinger, saying that she thought Harry Potter was a bad thing. And the letter back, which I suspect was written by an assistant of the then cardinal Ratzinger in his office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, suggested that there was a subtle seduction in the books. What that subtle seduction was, was not specified, which makes me think it was a generic answer. And she had written a book on these subjects and so the Cardinal's signature was at the bottom of the letter, suggesting she should send me the book. She sent me the book, and I found it a very unsatisfactory book. I don't think she understands English humour." He goes on: "I remain firmly convinced that the Harry Potter novels are very well written. They are written on the classical plot of good versus evil in the standard way that the old myths were written. The characters are built up around that: the goodies and the baddies so to speak, and I can't see that that's a bad thing for children, when goodness, and the people on the side of goodness are portrayed as the ones who will eventually win. Harry's enemies resort to all sorts of evil things, and they are the ones who lose in the end. I don't see what's wrong with that, and I can't see that does any harm to children. What my advice would still be to parents: if you're in doubt, read the books yourselves, the first one, that's the shortest one, and see what you think. Don't simply rely on somebody else's opinion, not even on my opinion, since it's only an opinion."You still hear little blurbs from someone each time a book is released that Harry Potter is teaching children evil. This is refreshing. An opinion by a Catholic Monsignor that Harry Potter is basically good fantasy, just like old myths we all learn growing up. Thank you Monsignor for your words that will hopefully silence the narrow-minded thinking that has become so pervasive nowadays, at least on this subject.
Please welcome two new members to the blogroll, The Mind Village and Blue Grass Report.I believe The Mind Village found me from Walk In Brain, so welcome to my little corner of the sphere.I've really been neglecting my politiblogs lately, I just haven't been in that mind space (as you might have noticed), but I'm trying to remedy that since I know I'll be very involved once I move home. I can't remember how I came to Blue Grass Report, probably Blue Grass Roots, but I've been reading for a bit, and have been enjoying myself, so why not let y'all in on the fun too.
Happy 27th birthday to my S.O., Josh. He's feeling a bit old; I remember 27 sounding old too, but 30 sounds even older. Thanks for bringing immeasurable joy to my life.
We had quite the eventful Saturday this past weekend. First up was the couples bridal shower for my sister and her fiance. Even with too many cooks in the kitchen it came off quite well. It was fun watching the guys in an environment very foreign to them once the games and gifts got underway. Everyone had a good time, and they were showered with gifts; well, mostly.
There are 4 couples that are involved in the wedding, and two of them are myself and his sister & our S.O.'s (the bridesmaids), so we were going to throw the shower, since that is the norm. The other two couples (friends of the groom) wanted to be involved too, hence "too many cooks." Well, gift opening came, and as maid of honor, I had the usual job of writing down what they received so that later when they are writing out their thank you cards they know what they got, because really, in all the excitement you're not going to remember who got you what. We came to the end of the gifts and I noticed that I had not written down any shower gift for the friend of the groom couples. I found it odd, since this the fifth wedding I've been in and my third time being maid of honor, (and the countless other showers I've attended, too) and I cannot think of an instance where all attendees did not give a gift even if they did plan the entire part or portion of the shower. Is it just me or is this heading toward rude? Maybe they thought they were exempt as fellow hosts or have something else planned for them, but in my experience, regardless of how involved you are (or are not) and how many showers you're invited to (from 1 to 10) if you attend, you're expected to bring a gift to each one. Maybe there's some new custom out there, like couples showers for instance, that I'm just not aware of. If there is, please enlighten me, because I still have friends who are not married and I'd hate to look old-fashioned.
The second half of our eventful Saturday was Josh's high school 10 year reunion. We had a nice time, but it was of course over-priced for what it was, and you do see a lot of people you never cared for who either suddenly want to know everything that's happened to you over the last 10 years or can't remember you even being in their class. We spoke to the people he wanted to and high-tailed it out of there when he spotted someone he really didn't want to get stuck talking to for the rest of the night since she's working in Hollywood now and he knew we'd be stuck listening to her crow. This weekend brings the beginning of my week of shutdown, and it can't get here soon enough. I need a rest.
Today on my way back from lunch I got behind a car with a West Virginia license plate "commemorating" 9/11. (I'm not sure the right word to use here, maybe memorializing would be better?) I have never seen a 9/11 license plate before. On the left was written "We Will Not Forget" and then a 9 over an 11 then the rest of the random numbers for that plate. I checked WV's DMV, and they didn't list it, but you can get a square dancing one if you want. Good ole' West Virginia.
Being from Ohio, I've been a Cincinnati Reds fan my entire life. We still went to games a lot as a kid once we moved south, but eventually stopped going because they always lost when we went. I'll still watch them on TV from time to time. Josh, a Kentucky native, has also been a Reds fan his entire life, and has gone to many a game himself, and pays much more attention to them now than I do. He is still quite the fan.
My dad is in purchasing at an automotive supplier and lucky enough to have some vendors with sweet gifts, and the latest that we got to experience came on Sunday. My parents, Josh, and I went to see the Reds play this past Sunday against the Astros, with Roger Clemens pitching. Josh wanted this game in hopes that he might pitch since he considers him a living legend. We had 4 Diamond level seats, which is basically the area behind home plate, maybe the first 10 rows. These tickets also include entrance to the Diamond Club, which is a plush, air conditioned area that has a nice buffet and nice restrooms with wait staff. We visited the buffet, enjoyed the air conditioning on this sweltering day, and then headed up to our seats which were 5 rows back right next to the dugout. It was amazing being that close, and on top of the great seats, we had waiters coming around all day taking our food and drink orders, up to the 7th inning. All of this was free. All of it.
Mom and dad brought their camera, and we got a little crazy taking pictures, it just seemed like those once in a lifetime events. The Reds were shutout, and Clemens didn't pitch the whole game, but we had a great time even though it was so hot we were all soaked through. The pic above is of Josh and I not far from our seats, next to the Reds dugout and on deck. It was quite the memorable day. Thanks, Dad!
