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Blue Fire :::: The Story of My Life
Hello! This is my blog . . . I post funny stuff, random bits and bobs, and what has been happening to me recently, as well as
useful articles that might help save your life or at least make it better in some way. Subscribe to my feed to see the
links I have posted to del.icio.ious and the photos I have uploaded to Flickr recently,
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Saturday, November 15, 2008

Software Review: Browser: Google Chrome

So, Google released a new web browser called Chrome. I followed the hype but didn't rush to download it - I use Firefox so why would I need to? It was only because Youtube started advertising Chrome amongst the videos (Try Youtube in a different browser) that I would decided I would give it a go. So, now I have been using Chrome for some time, I thought I might write a review (and basically compare it to Firefox).

Google says that "Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer and easier." I don't know about safer or easier, but it is faster.

Firstly, the install process, walks you through set up in no time, and then cleverly asks you if you wish to import your bookmarks, passwords and other settings from your default browser, i.e. Firefox for me.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

University of Gloucestershire Local Freshers Induction

3/08/08

Walked into Stroud to catch Bus with Hannah at 8:35 in town. Got off at bus stop next to park campus on main road, after first thinking that the stop we wanted was literally the one by the first set of traffic lights in Cheltenham, as my parents had said.

Arrived early at Park in Cheltenham, as next bus would have arrived to late for 10:30 start of meeting, so waited in reception area of park. Met lad, got chatting to him course place staying e.t.c. he went to get a drink, and we realised that we didn't know his name! Hannah and I decided that he looked like a John, although he may have a more interesting name, as he was quite fashionably dressed e.t.c. Anyway, he came back from the SU bar from where he was getting a drink, and we were like, oh sorry, we don't know your name, and was like "its John"!!! Crazy or what, but it gets crazier!

John had met girl at bar, introduced as Natalie, and so we got chatting, and found out that she went to Archway, a secondary school local to Downfield where Hannah and I went, she lives in Stroud, and has most of my interests in common. Made a great new friend, but also she was at Francis Close Hall (FCH) AND was staying in my halls! (Hannah is living at home.)

Anyway, when everyone arrived and the event started, we were introduced to the SU person, and we began playing really silly games and introducing ourselves, badly, to everyone. We were split into groups and sat in circles, wrote 5 interesting things about us on cards, put them in a box and picked another card, and then tried to link the card to someone else. Also, we played Cornflakes, where you say something like "I like blue" and people who do have to swap chairs with you, but if someone says 'cornflakes' everyone has to swap! There was also free cookies and drinks, which I heartily enjoyed!

Also played a finance game, like ludo, where you get paid at the beginning, travel round the board and either have to pick up life cards and then get life points, or pay bills, just like uni life. The winner is person who has most life points, and even though I didn't spend all my money on the student ball at the very beginning in the game, I still won. Played with Adam and Charlie and others. Explained about compact schools scheme at the Uog, and what we have to do to get extra bursaries e.t.c Good times, fun and humour, and the game was really fun!

John then walked Hannah, myself and Natalie into Cheltenham Town, a straight lien walk along the road for miles and miles, and we proceeded to chat and shop. Stopped at Pizza Hut for plasters, (John works there) and then went to Boots to get meal deal for lunch via self service. All four of us applied for Boots advantage cards to get four points for every pound on future meal deals e.t.c.

Then decided to walk towards mine and Natalie's accommodation, as John knew where it was and was in his homewards direction! Looked around outside of block and through windows, rooms looked massive but ground floor have bars across windows!

Anyway, realised it was time to go as had to catch bus home to get to work and have tea, so rushed nat and han back to bus on the prom. Got home, grabbed something to eat and went to town, had been shopping and put wallet in pocket, but couldn't find it when went to locker. Panicked, but asked to check car and was fine! Met Jeanette and Rebecca and told them, very excitedly about my adventures! The day was slightly marred by having to do the trolley in the rain for the last hour, but hey, still dam good times :D

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Portrait_Project_Sat_222

Me in the Greenbelt festival 08 portrait collection!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Exam Results

Final A Level results were received on 14th August and were as follows:

Final Grades: (Highest First)

RE (Philosophy/Ethics): A
English Lit: C
Psychology: C

As Level - IT: A

The grade system is as follows for both A Levels and AS Levels (half an A level):
A (Highest)
B
C
D (Lowest Pass)
E (Lowest)

U (Unclassified - fail!)

These grades fulfil my UCAS offer from the University of Gloucestershire, meaning that in September 08 (around the 14th), I will be moving to Cheltenham to Study English and Creative Writing at the University of Gloucestershire. :)

Friday, August 01, 2008

Heaven in the Morning, followed by Daily Entertainment

Waking up and watching Side B of the first Disk of Series 4 of Friends, and making breakfast - nice Warbutons Bread toast with Cheese and Jam - the smell of The luxurious strawberry jam mixing with my new deodorant smell (Sure Sport: a fresh, revitalising smell), and cheese and marmalade toast! A nice glass of lovely orange juice would have capped it off, but I had to have apple juice instead, to use it up.

Also, listening to Madonna:4 minutes followed by the Sweeny Todd soundtrack, and singing along at the top of my voice!

Then it is on to finishing watching the Top Gear Series 11, Episode 5 downloaded from BBC iplayer, and then DR Who Series 2, Volume 3 - The Cybermen are back!

Oo, and then Cloverfield, hired from the Waitrose social club for 50p for two nights!

When all that's finished, I then have Mr bean's holiday as well as highlights from youtube - such as Mock the Week, having just finished watching Keeping Up Appearances Series 5.

Also, I am in the mood to start blogging, or at least finish typing those posts I meant to post earlier . . .

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Nerds.

Being a nerd, I know exactly what I want to say. I have 10 statements:

1. Geeks are wanna-be nerds.
2. Nerds can be very preppy.
3. Nerds have fun, most of the time.
4. Nerds can be very popular.
5. Most nerds have a social life.
6. Most nerds get very good grades.
7. Not all nerds wear glasses. If you wear glasses, you're not always considered a nerd.
8. Most nerds don't spend their entire life on the computer. They actually have a life.
9. Those of you who are making fun of nerds.....go ahead. We don't care.
10. A nerd is probably going to be the one who drastically changes the structure of the world.


Point 9 again.

Those of you who are making fun of nerds.....go ahead. We don't care.

Those of you who are making fun of nerds.....go ahead. WE DON'T CARE!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

RIKS in full - Opinions on Flickr Photo 'RIKS'


RIKS in full
Originally uploaded by lkwrnr
In case some of this does't make sense, and to put this into context, this is the text undernearth the photo on my Flickr photostream.

-----

Right. Firstly, I know there are loads of different pictures in my 'stream of this piece. I know. Its because I took lots of different angles, and lost of close ups of various parts.

These are the same initials that were written over my old friend, the old blue skull in the Waitrose viaduct. (Viewable here: old skull: flickr.com/photos/lkwrnr/1969270578/ and here: new RIKS: www.flickr.com/photos/lkwrnr/2172786276/ ).

If you closely, (see the notes), you can see something that may have once been some kind of blue skull or demon, or at least was in the style of the old blue skull near Waitrose. Now this is interesting, because of that same skull, 'RIKS' in red and gold has appeared - yes they are a different style to these initials, but they are the same initials, so I am logically guessing that the two are the same person/group?. Now, this leads me to believe that 'RIKS' is painting over the blue skulls /creations with his new 'tag' of his 'RIKS', for whatever reason - he may have originally done the blue skulls / creations, and want to update or he may hate the blue skulls / creations and/or the person who did them and want to paint over them, or he couldn't find any more room for his 'RIKS' or whatever.

Either way, I think this is annoying, as I would have liked to have seen or at least photographed what is beneath the new 'RIKS', as I prefer it, as it is more artistic and this is the kind of graffiti I like. I don't suppose anyone has a photo of what was here before, and annoyingly, I haven't even seen what was here before.
This concept of painting over someone else's art/work/creation/piece annoys me, because I would prefer it if people left the old work there and found somewhere new. Or, if that can't stretch, or promotes people going to 'graffiti' over all buildings, only paint over what is bad, hopefully with something better. Of course, this depends on what one counts as bad and better, and obviously people's opinions differ. So never mind.

Also, I came here a couple of weeks before I took all the photos, just for a quick look around to see if there was much graffiti here. I didn't come up this far to see this piece however, so I didn't see what was here, but If i had come up I would have seen it and would probably have taken a picture on my phone, as I like blue. That would mean at some point I would upload it here to Flickr, and I would be able to see what was there before and so would you. But you can't, and I can't, because I didn't walk a few more steps and poke my head around the corner and come and see this. And that annoys me.

Also, an interesting thing to consider is that 'RIKS' has dated this with 2008, and assuming this to be true, and as I photographed this on the 6th Jan 08, one must assume that 'RIKs' painted/created this 5-6 days before I photographed it. This is interesting, but also annoying. 6 days before I photographed this, there was somethign else here. And now its gone and lost forever, and that annoys me.

And that might be another reason why I took so many pictures of this creation. To remind me (and you! ha!) about how annoying I thought this and other artists who paint over other peoples work are.

Monday, December 03, 2007

Email response to pictures of graffiti/art around Stroud being removed by the group moderator on Flickr.

I just sent this email to the moderator of :this group on Flickr:, (a group in which to post all pictures of Stroud), after he sent me this message:

Dear Luke,

Whilst I am not offended by the graf shots, there have been comments posted about you flooding the group with graf pics. You have just done it again - either you have not read the thread or you don't care. If you want to post pics to the stroud group please be a bit more discriminating - similar shots of the same graf are boring at best and you have already offended some people in the group. You are welcome to continue posting but please bear in mind the other people in the group. I have deleted from the group some of your pics to keep the peace, please don't take offence.

Best wishes,

David.


David,

Firstly, well done on realising my real name lol; some of my friends have had to ask me what 'lkwrnr' means as they haven't realised that it is actually my name!!

I am sorry if I have caused offence in the Stroud group; please accept my apologies on this somewhat sensitive topic, as I seem to have 'offended some people in the group'.

Please bear in mind that I am not a grafittiist, I merely take pictures of other people's work, and then upload them to Flickr. As all of the pictures have been taken in Stroud, I thought it would be OK to post all of them to the Stroud group. I have read the thread and I do care; as far as I can see, your 'About Stroud' section reads as follows:

'Express your Stroudness here, through pictures and comments.
You know this place is beautiful, quirky, and different from all other places. Lets show those shots.'

I believe that my photos of Stroud Graffiti portray this, as I view the pictures I have taken, and the subjects within them as 'art' in a loose sense, as opposed to the graffiti tags that are hideously scrawled over every wall. I recognise that several shots of the same piece of graffiti/art may be repetitive and boring, but I wish to defend my actions in terms of expressing some aspects of what I think represent Stroud.

I would also like to raise the point that I am confused as to how people can be offended over the pictures I have posted - are they offended over the content of the pictures, thinking that these hideous acts of vandalism that ruin their stereotypical view of their lovely town? Or are they offended that I have posted several shots of the same thing? The latter I can understand, and all I can say in my defence is that it is so much easier to drag all the pictures in one set and send them all to a group, rather than diligently picking some. If the people in your group hold the former view; then I believe they are contradicting the other thing I read on your group profile:

‘This group welcomes members who are happy living in a tolerant, liberal, multicultural society’.

I recognise that some people may not like seeing graffiti, even that some people may think all acts of graffiti are vandalism and hence that they are ugly, unwanted acts of intolerance with no reason behind them, but I am opposed to this view, and the view that the pictures I have posted are 'hideous acts of vandalism' as I wrote above.

Just to clarify: I think most of the pictures I posted to this group are works of art, by talented individuals; I certainly could never do something as impressive as the artist 'infinite' has. I believe that although they have vandalised someone’s property, the art they have produced is much more worthy and has much more reason to be on the buildings and on Flickr than an ugly scrawl of 'Disco' or 'Dub' with no artistic content or talent behind it. This is why I posted all of the pictures I have recently taken to the Stroud group.

In response to me 'flooding the group with graf[fiti] pics', I merely hold in my defence the ease of posting all pictures in a set to a particular group e.g. all pictures in my 'Stroud Graffiti' set to the 'Stroud' group . . .

I hope this email clarifies my viewpoint, whilst also defending my position and actions.

Lastly, may I say that I have not taken offence on you removing some of my pictures from the Stroud group for two reasons, one because you are the administrator and have that privilege to do so, which you have used responsively to keep the peace amongst the group members, but also (secondly) because you took the time to send me this email, for which I thank you.

I have taken the liberty of posting this email to the thread on the group forum in which one member has expressed their unrest about my photos, in the hope that this will explain my viewpoint, clear up any misunderstanding, and defend my actions, whilst apologising for any unnecessary stress this has caused.

Oh, in response to yercombe’s comment:
‘While neither for or against it.
What does it have to do with Stroud. There must be a more appropriate group to post this’
These photos are posted in the Stroud group because they are, in fact, taken in Stroud, as I suspect most, if not al, of the photos are. There are more appropriate groups for my Flickr photos to be in; if you care to look at my profile you will see that I have also sent the Stroud graffiti pictures to groups such as ‘Streetart’.

And in response to your comment Dave:

‘I put it down to the impetuousity [I assume you mean impetuosity] of youth.’ I hope that you and your group members are not judging me on the fact that because I am 17 and have taken pictures of graffiti around my town, I must be a graffitist/vandalist/hooligan/yob. I am not. I merely take pictures of things I like, respect, and am attracted to in a photographical sense, and upload them to Flickr. I then send them to groups that reflect the subject or the location of the photographs I have taken.

Best wishes also,
lkwrnr.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

A Scathing Review of a Scathing Article

I have just read :this article: and immediatly clicked the feedback link at the bottom of the page and sent them this scathing review:

'I think this is a very biased article, although I recognise it is someone's personal opinion.
It seems to me that the only people who are complaining about the reunion of the Spice Girls is the UK MSN Entertainment team, which does not surprise me. Firstly, you write many articles about how the comeback will and has failed, and then use this story you have created to write idiotic things like 'where did it all go wrong'.

Please bear in mind I am commenting on the content in this page, and not the design.

I find this statement the worst: 'the Spice Girls never could sing, dance, or do anything much other than shout slogans and pout, which is a hell of a lot less charming when you're over 30'.

This is complete tosh.

I am now not going to bother reading the UK MSN entertainment articles advertised so blatantly on Windows Live Today when I sign into Messenger'.


I think that told them?!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

understanding

i just want to sit, and read, and play on flickr, and watch comedy dvds, and listen to music, and go to sleep, and eat sweets, and not do naything else

i dont want to go to school and hand in essays that are half finsihed and find more work to do

and then not do it

i dont want homework, and schoolwork

"i want to go back to beliveing in everything, and knowing nothing at all"

but i want to go to uni and get away from it all
and be free

can't wash it all away
cant cry it all away

understanding:

"You hold the answers deep within your own mind.
Consciously, you've forgotten it.
That's the way the human mind works.
Whenever something is too unpleasant, to shameful for us
to entertain, we reject it.
We erase it from our memories.
But the imprint is always there."

(Can't wash it all away)
(Can't Wish it all away)
(Can't hope it all away)
(Can't cry it all away)

The pain that grips you
The fear that binds you
Releases life in me
In our mutual
Shame we idolize
To blind them from the truth
That finds a way from who we are
Please don't be afraid
When the darkness fades away
The dawn will break the silence
Screaming in our hearts
My love for you still grows
This I do for you
Before I try to fight the truth my final time

"We're supposed to try and be real.
And I feel alone, and we're not together. And that is real."

Can't wash it all away
Can't wish it all away
Can't cry it all away
Can't scratch it all away

Lying beside you
Listening to you breathe
The life that flows inside of you
Burns inside of me
Hold and speak to me
Of love without a sound
Tell me you will live through this
And I will die for you
Cast me not away
Say you'll be with me
For I know I cannot
Bear it all alone

"You're not alone, honey."
"Never... Never."

Can't fight it all away
Can't hope it all away
Can't scream it all away
It just won't fade away, No,no, no ,no.

Can't wash it all away
Can't wish it all away
Can't cry it all away
Can't scratch it all away

(Can't fight it all away)
(Can't hope it all away)
Can't scream it all away
Ooh, it all away
Ooh, it all away
(It all away)
"But the imprint is always there. Nothing is ever really forgotten."

Please God, dont hate me


"Because I'll die if you do"
"Because I'll die if you do"
"Because I'll die if you do"
"Because I'll die if you do"
"Because I'll die if you do"

A recent conversation with a friend

Following a very interesting philoposhy lesson at college, the person I was discussing things with posted on my facebook profile wall:

'after we realised god doesn't use burning bushes anymore to lower his carbon footprint, i have discovered that he has stopped feeding the 5,000 with fish and bread as cod is a protected species and wheat is remarkably bad for you...he is now using a low carb, low GI oat based bread substitute.'

I am still loling.

I replied:

'love it lol
together we are comic geniuses!!!
oh, and don't forget poor, dear, God's eyebrow.'

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Now playing: Madonna - Hung Up
via FoxyTunes

Friday, November 23, 2007

Pure Profile

Pure Profile is a site like cashcrate.com - you fill in your details, compnaies send you surveys to fill in and you get paid to fill them in - between £0.20 and £4.00 per survey.

My link is:

http://account.pureprofile.com/Login/?referrer=3055817

if you want to do this and join, then clcik this link, and use my referal. This means that i and you will both make money

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Marriage Quotes





Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Discovery


STA71342
Originally uploaded by lkwrnr
Self Discovery?
Exploration?


A photo speeks a thousand words.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Samsung d900i Phone Review

Wahey! I got my new phone - a shiny new, Samsung d900i sleek gorgeous looking slider phone.



Yes, it has actually got a whole host of lovely features, such as Bluetooth, 3 MP camera with auto focus, the good looks of a new slider phone (I think it is gorgeous), interesting features such as a background that changes at night time - a picture of Big Ben and one side of the Houses of Parliament that lights up at night time and shows fireworks, and birds flying across a changing sky in the daytime, a speaker phone, WAP access and animated textual messages, that when delivered type themselves on the screen and replaces some words with little animations, like 'house' and 'phone' for example. It also has a music player, an FM radio and has expandable memory in the form of a Micro SD card - I've got a 1GB card, but I think it can take at least a 2GB card. In the box, I got a shiny new phone, new sim card, new top up swipe card, charger, headphones (which are very nice in terms of looks and comfort and sound), and a small user guide, as well as plenty of plastic bags and plastic ties.

At first, I loved it. However, as I began to use it, I started to compare it to my old phone, a Motorola v545.



Let me just point out at this moment that my v545 was the first mobile I bought, and I have had no problems with it what-so-ever. Except that on the first day of buying it, I dropped it into a glass of drink that was sat on the table. Was NOT impressed. Luckily, it did no damage, but towards the end of its usage period (about a year, two years? after I bought it) I was having to put every call (outgoing and incoming) on speaker phone just so that I could here the caller, because I think the internal amplifier blew. I also had to buy several new aerials, as they kept falling out, and so I had little signal for small periods.
Ok, so no problems with the phone, much.

I believed when I bought the v545 that it was a really good phone, with enough features (at the time) to keep me entertained, and I was happy at the price - at £110 I think I got what I paid for, it was well worth it and I got what I wanted at the time. Oh, there were several problems with it: one, the bluetooth didn't allow me to surf other people's handsets very well, if at all, I could only receive files they sent me, or send files my self, and although this is probably the main function of bluetooth (it was designed to send sound wirelessly), I was not impressed as a secondary school student at break. Two, the camera really was bad, (it sufficed as a basic camera, but the picture quality/size e.t.c was poor. Thirdly, it had a distinct lack of memory, so to store all the pictures I wanted to take and had taken, I had to reduce the file size; fine but this also reduced image quality and pixels. Couple the large amount of photos with the games I downloaded and completed within two weeks of getting them, and all my textual messages, videos (entertaining ones form friends, such as Angry Kid), and downloaded ringtones - Mine was dare by Gorillaz, and I had virtually no memory for virtually all of the time. But, apart from these complaints, it is still in my opinion, a really good phone that was way ahead of the competition when it was released, and probably still is in some ways. The keys for instance, are set apart, are big enough to touch properly, but still look stylish.
The only really problem is that the large on aerial on the outside of the phone is sometime annoying when you want top get your phone out of your pocket, because it is playing Gorrilaz - dare at you.

The problems I have with my new phone basically stem from features not being present on the Samsung (called Samuel), which were present on my old phone, which is annoying. For instance, I can only change the ringtones and message tones, I can't change the alarm tone and the answerphone message tone at all, as this option simply does not exist. The alarm tone will suffice, but there are limited options just like the massage tone. This is annoying, as my old phone used to go 'ding dong' like a dorrbell when I received a textual message, but now it goes something like 'whir whir weeeup' which is different, but coll in its own way. I can also not change the name of my alarms, and I inly get three: a wake up one and two general ones, whereas on my old phone I had about 6 different ones. However, in all fairness, Samuel does make it easier to set the time for the alarm; I can just type it in now, instead having ot move up and down through all the minutes.
Another annoying thing is that my new phone can access the mobile internet at the touch of a button, and this costs me credit. My old phone could do this too, but no matter. It is more prevalent on my new phone as the button that accesses the net is in the centre of the control pad which I use to get to all my options.
A handy little feature on my new phone i 'My Menu' which allows me to short cut to certain features - I have create new sms text message, calculator, fm radio, and alarms, on mine. Oh, talking about messages:::

Main aggro at new phone comes from new textual messages I am composing:
1) Predictive text is weird, and doesn't work properly.
2) I have to manually select the option to 'save and send' if I want the message to go to my sent folder, rather than it doing it automatically.

In all fairness, these aren't terribly bad things, an I have got used to doing things slightly differently - typing a textual message by pressing lots of keys and selecting the option to save and send for instance.

Overall, I love my new phone. I love it's thickness, it's looks, it's camera, and its memory. I give it an 8/10, but my old phone gets a 7/10. It may have different features, or a lack of them, but it is still worth of this score due to being super duper straight from when it came out of the box.


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Now playing: Frankie Valli - Grease
via FoxyTunes
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Now playing: Dido - White Flag
via FoxyTunes

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Now playing: David Guetta Vs The Egg - Walking Away Vs Love Dont Let Me Go
via FoxyTunes

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Creating a Filter in Hotmail

I find filters infinitely useful.

To create filters in Hotmail just do the following:



Click Options, Top Right

Scroll to ' Customize Your Mail' and click on 'Automatically sort email into folders'

Click on 'New Filter'

Set 'Subject' to Cashcrate

and move to 'New Folder'

Enter name for new folder, e.g. 'Cashcrate'

Hit Ok



Da dah!



I have lots of these set up - ones for facebook and bebo are very useful if you use them a lot - and you don't even need to open the email, just read the subject and it tells you what has changed. Even better, you can just delete the message when you have read the subject, or just not as you have plenty of storage space on Hotmail. Simple!!!

Sunday, November 04, 2007

i'M - Windows Live Messenger



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Now playing: Mika - Over My Shoulder [Hidden Track]
via FoxyTunes

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Draculuke!!!!


Draculuke avec white background
Originally uploaded by lkwrnr
Exclusive picture of my halloween costume for Bag Rash . . check out my Flickr for more photos . . . you can get the addres by subscribing to my feed at the top of the page

Commentage

A recent commentage on Morgan's facebook, by me:

oh my good gracious so you did dear love it :P can you see i have now been converted form bebo and will now reside on facebok, hence the large amount of stuff on my profile . . . love it :P do you know whilst i were waiting for scotty to come pick me up for driving lesson, i entered in a terribly large amount of information about my books, cds and dvds (which i haven't finished yet)? it took ages lol!!! i have a tastefully large amount of stuff on my page because i was rejoicing in the brilliance of it compare to bebo, and how much i can actually add. :D
omg i had a driving lesson, it went quite well except for *certain parts*, such as taking a 90 degree corner to the left at over 40 mph (WOOPS :__ ), and making my worst night mare coming true and stalling on a roundabout in the middle of Stroud at rush hour. It was a bledy stupid little shitty roundabout as well, just by Stroud . .. and ive run out of characters now

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

A Thought on a Dumbledore Article

I just read this article:
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/commentary/hc-commentarygay1028.artoct28,0,6887411.story
with interest, and posted this commment in reply:

I read you article with interest. I have read all of the HP books, and loved them all; I might be what you might call ' fan'.

OK, so that was understatement of the year.

The reason why I disagree with your article however, is that homosexuality and the 'issues' surrounding it are not a key feature within the HP books, plot or characters.

JK Rowling was not trying to write a book that highlighted homosexuality to a wider audience. I believe that if she were trying to do as such, she would have outed Dumbledore in the books. However, and you said it yourself - "I always thought of Dumbledore as gay," Rowling replied.
I imagine her saying this quietly to the audience, as this is her own opinion, and how she imagined, in her own head, her character.
This is why I am defending JK's public revelation - she was simply answering someone's question.

However, I suppose I do take offence at her later statements: "If I'd known this would make you this happy," a beaming Rowling said, "I would have announced it years ago."
This makes me think that she would have only outed Dumbledore as Gay to get more publicity and so make more money overall, which are not ideas I hold to JK. I think your phrase "It's just an easy applause line" supports this.
JK Rowling, in my opinion, is very very good at writing everything she needs to create her story, and weave it to the reader, demonstrated throughout the HP series.
". . .if Dumbledore had wanted the world to know he was gay, he would have come out in the text." Exactly - He (through the mind of JK) obviously didn't. I do not think that this makes any difference to the plot, although we can read into several phrases or sections in a different light, but it aids to character development.

So, I think JK was right to "reveal" this, as I do not see it as a major or even minor issue in the story. It makes no difference to me if Dumbledore is gay - deep down I suppose that there was always that subconscious thought anyway.

"What I find objectionable is Rowling's decision to deliver this bombshell not within the pages of her books, where it belongs, but by casually announcing it in a public gathering." I do not share this opinion, as this "bombshell" was not delivered for the wrong reasons in my opinion. JK was not trying to write a book about a gay character, hence there is no real reason for it to be delivered in the pages of her books.

Also, I just want to say that from a perspective author's point of view, I like your "Characters tell their creators who they are and what they're going to do, not the other way round. . .with characters doing and saying things that may be contrary to the author's intentions" I think that this is a wonderful thing to say, and I fully agree with it! This is exactly the kind of thinking I adhere to when writing or planning anything I write.

Well done, a thought raising article.