Holy Day of Obligation Preview

NOTE: GUESSES ONLY. NO SPOILERS. I WOULD NOT DO THAT TO YOU.

I've been far more absent from TNTM than I've planned lately, but wanted to get this up tonight.

And Harry remembered his first nightmarish trip into the forest, the first time he had ever encountered the thing that was Voldemort, and how he had faced him, and how he and Dumbledore had discussed fighting a losing battle not long thereafter. It was important, Dumbledore said, to fight, and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then could evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated. . . .

And Harry saw very clearly as he sat there under the hot sun how people who cared about him had stood in front of him one by one, his mother, his father, his godfather, and finally Dumbledore, all determined to protect him; but now that was over. He could not let anybody else stand [for him ...] There was no waking from his nightmare, no comforting whisper in the dark that he was safe really, that it was all in his imagination; the last and greatest of his protectors had died[.]

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, p.644-45 (US hardback first printing). Slightly over two years ago, I read those words, and something quite specific came to mind. I posted about it then, without explicitly making the connection clear, lest it be considered spoiler-ish. Now, on the eve of Deathly Hallows, I feel no such compunction.

What would you do / if you were asked to give up your dreams for freedom?
What would you do / if asked to make the ultimate sacrifice?
Would you think about all them people / who gave up everything they had?
Would you think about all them war vets / and would you start to feel bad?
Freedom isn't free / it costs folks like you and me
And if you don't all chip in / we'll never pay that bill
[...]
'Cause the only reason you're here / is 'cause folks died for you in the past
So maybe now it's your turn / to die kicking some ass

PREDICTIONS:
R.A.B. is Regulus Alphard Black.

The remaining Horcruxes are (1) Voldemort's remaining soul, (2) the locket, (3) the cup, (4) Nagini, and (5) the Marauder's Map.

We will return to the Room of Requirement. Snape's old Potions book is in there. So is a Horcrux, likely the brain of the Marauder's Map, which has some connection to Rowena Ravenclaw.

Voldemort will die.

Harry will "go on to the next great adventure" (i.e., die).

Snape will betray Harry to Voldemort, and Voldemort to Harry. While I'd like to see Harry kill him, Voldemort will.

Arthur Weasley will become Minister of Magic, though possibly not until the epilogue/last chapter.

Which is a good thing, because Mrs. Weasley will die. So will at least 2 Weasley children.

If Harry dies, Ron and Hermione will live. If I'm wrong and Harry lives, either Ron or Hermione will die.

Madam Sprout will die, likely in a battle at Hogwarts. This way Neville can be Herbology professor.

Peter Pettigrew will fail to deliver up Harry to Voldemort, and will die for it.

The Hepzibah Smith who owned the cup and the locket will prove to be kin to Zacharias Smith and his haughty father mentioned in HBP.

Really out on a limb: Regulus Black is still alive, and was the huge blond death eater who kept missing all the non-death eaters with jinxes in the battle at the end of HBP.

Aberforth Dumbledore is the bartender at the Hog's Head. Aside from JKR's wink and a nudge w/r/t RAB = Regulus Black in the LeakyMug interview when HBP came out, this is the common projection in which I place the most faith.

I think John Granger is probably right when he posted that Hagrid was the one character JKR planned to kill, then decided to save.

See also here for some of my predictions (name "tojgow"). I particularly stand by Malfoy gets to live because he's an idiot.

Ollivander will show up. The theory that he's been helping house elves get wands, and we'll see the house elves of Hogwarts defend the school is an interesting one, but not one I personally subscribe to.

Harry is NOT the Heir of Gryffindor. I can't remember if JKR has officially debunked this or not, but it certainly doesn't seem as popular as it did a few years ago.

Something will happen w/r/t the Dursleys, but I haven't figured out what exactly, nor do I know what Dudley is most scared of.

In all probability, I have overestimated the number of people to die.

Finally, a sure bet: after only sleeping from about 2:15 to 6:35 last night, I will be very tired when I finally go to bed tonight after finishing the book. I will likely write up spoilerrific material, but WILL NOT post them on here. I'll grab some webspace elsewhere, put them up there, and post a link here.

It's Been A Long Time

Too long, my friends, too long. So long that I feel a bit like I'm placing blog graffiti (blograffiti?) on Tom's work. But I found too cool a music service to stay silent about: last.fm.

Here's how it works: you download a couple of things, blah blah blah, and then it monitors your iTunes choices. After a sample of a few hundred songs, it finds other people with the same music taste as you, lets you make album cover collages, look at how each album you own is rated track-for-track by others, and other fun stuff.

I came upon last.fm via Slashdot, which reported on some analysis of all the online music programs. Last.fm is "by far" the best, they say. Plus, it has plug-ins for different players and alternative OSes like Linux.

Anyway, I will end this post by trying some embedded something or another, which will display my music faves for the week (I just played my iTunes top-rated songs all in-a-row this week, so this isn't indicative of my current listening habits). Here's hoping it works:

Hyde Park Restaurant Renaissance?

I haven't seen Hyde Park in a few months, but I ran across this post by Daniel Drezner indicating that culinary changes are at hand. Not that a Potbelly isn't a renaissance of its own.

Route 66

Thanks to Tom for the parting hymn. Turns out Nat (or the guy that wrote the song for Nat) knew what he was talking about - I went through all of those towns. Conspicuously absent from the lyrics, however, is my favorite stop - Santa Fe, NM. Reminded me of a less-commericalized Santa Barbara. I found both New Mexico and Arizona to be a welcome breath of beauty and culture into the trip.

Northern Texas was completely blah. Stopped off in Amarillo, thinking that a town I've heard of must have some kind of food to eat downtown. Boy was I wrong. Ain't nuthin' goin' on in main street Amarillo at 4:00 pm on a Thursday. I used my car's navigation system to find a Thai restaurant, which turned out just to be an office space with a few tables in a pseudo-living room. Interesting. But hey, a big plate of pad thai was $5.00. It was edible.

More surprising was St. Louis. Ain't nuthin' goin' at 4:00 pm on a Wednesday there either. That downtown was as dead as the Hypercolor T-Shirt Movement (that's very dead in my book - remember the arm pit accents?). "FOR LEASE" signs everywhere, hardly a person on the street, hardly a single decent spot to eat. Maybe I was missing something - are the hotspots in these South/Mid/West-ish towns in the periphery? I know that was sort of true in Atlanta. That's basically true in LA. Kinda true in DC too, though downtown at 4:00 pm would be lively in the latter two places regardless. Seattle and Chicago would be packed. Anyway, St. Louis left me nonplussed and a little disappointed. But the arch was cool.

Oh, and Tulsa, OK - no thanks. Can't comment on Oklahoma City, as I only gave it a drive-by.

A stat: total number of Acura TSXes (my car) seen on the entire trip: 1. Where? 110, downtown LA, in the last 20 minutes of the 4-day tour. In my first few days in Santa Monica, I've seen a half-dozen more. TSX's are not a hot-ticket item in the heart of Route 66 country, I guess.

Speaking of the car, let me recommend to all who might see a cross-country trip in their future: buy an XM radio if you can. Channel 133 - NPR, uninterrupted, across the country! 47 - Savvy rock selections, unedited, nonstop! 175-189 - every baseball game! Some random channel - an exclusive hour-long interview with Rush! Oh, and the navigation system on my new car was incredibly useful. I know they can be pretty expensive, but I'd still recommend one if you A. Love maps, and like to know where you are and where you're going at all times; B. Like to price shop. Yep, that's right - I'd call ahead to all hotels in a given town (the Nav system has all of them and their phone numbers), and then pick the cheapest. Worked like a charm. You can do the same thing for gas too. You can tell yourself that you're making up for the XM/Nav expenses with savings. Just stick with the system for 50-odd years and it'll be like you turned a profit!

And with that bit of business wisdom, I'm off to join the corporate world. Wish me luck. Clearly I'll need it.

Sunday Feature, Slightly Belated

M'pologies for the delay, but I've been helping my sister and her fiancee with suggestions for music for their wedding and reception. Pity that the Church has restrictions on what songs they can use, else I might have been able to talk them into using "Procession of the Nobles." In any event, this weekly selection is for Brian. No, it's not a Rush song, but instead Nat King Cole's "Route 66," in honor of his departure from the Windy City:

If you ever plan to motor west,
Travel my way, take the highway that's the best.
Get your kicks on Route Sixty-Six.

It winds from Chicago to LA,
More than two thousand miles all the way.
Get your kicks on Route Sixty-Six.

Now you go through Saint Louie,
Joplin, Missouri,
And Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty.
You see Amarillo,
Gallup, New Mexico,
Flagstaff, Arizona.
Don't forget Winona,
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernandino.

Won't you get hip to this timely tip:
When you make that California trip,
Get your kicks on Route Sixty-Six.

Won't you get hip to this timely tip:
When you make that California trip,
Get your kicks on Route Sixty-Six.
Get your kicks on Route Sixty-Six.
Get your kicks on Route Sixty-Six.