Accio! (Harry Potter VI tickets!)

I've read and enjoyed the books. Unlike the poorly written tripe that is S. Meyers Twilight; JK Rowling pays attention to grammar and diction and created a whimsical children's fantasy world that I could buy into. Please note that I do not think she is the greatest of the contemporary children's authors, but she's decent enough. Phillip Pullman's Northern Light's; Louis Sachar's Holes; William Nicholson's Windsinger; Dianna Wynne Jones Howl's Moving Castle, Paul Stewart's Edge Chronicles, Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl and Lemony Snicket's Unfortunate Events were all superb publications in the same period but lacked the marketing engine of the Harry Potter empire.

Since then, there has been a plethora of horribly derivative, poorly written tween fantasy on the market (many with deceptive, gorgeously well-designed covers to entice the incautious buyer). This spilled over into the movie industry, which rapidly bought into the meme and churned out a myriad of insipid fantasy flicks to follow in the wake of a few that hit the spot.

I count Harry Potter as one of the few successful not-overly-inane book to movie adaptations.
I have followed the adventures at Hogwarts and have impatiently awaited for the next installment. I have booked tickets for Friday (the opening was booked out by those far more enthusiastic than I).

In secret, to while away the gray days, I rewatched my HP years 1 to 5.

And, started playing Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (EA) on my DS.
Ok, so I ruined my Coraline experience a bit by playing the game before the movie release.

But the HP 6 game is quite different from the film, and is a better game than the last one. But still not great. Anyway. I still want the wii version and politely request that some game developer gets it right one day so I can caste spells with deft wrist maneuvers of my wand/wiimote.

Accio! does work for me but is a bit unreliable, especially when my s.o. is not within hearing distance of my spellcasting ;-)

Invasion of the Jellyfish?

In 1995, when the first major reports of crop circles enchanted the imaginations of conspiracy nuts and casuist theorists, I was young and impressionable enough to want to believe. The X-Files might have had an influence on me too.

But now we know it's groups of talented hoaxers who have more to fear from an irate farmer none to pleased about the damage of his crops, than the Men in Black discovering their existence as aliens in our midst. This bunch artistically represented a threat far more scientifically valid than the recent end of the Mayan world symbol (in 2012 according dubious calculations based on the Mayan calender) . Yup, it's the invasion of the jellyfish!

The giant Nomura jellyfish (images below), found off the coast of Japan, is hypothesised to be caused by overfishing (not enough competition for food to keep jellyfish numbers/growth in check with fewer predators too). They are a bane to fishermen, wreaking havoc with nets and ruining catches, to such an extent that methods to kill these jellyfish are in development. But, it's not all bad news for the Asian market, since the Chinese have been exploiting the resource for centuries and jellyfishing is a multimillion dollar industry. Traditional processing methods use salt (NaCl) and alum to reduce the water content, decrease the pH, and firm the texture and the processed jellyfish have a unique crunchy and crispy texture. There's place in the Western health food trend market for these low carb jellyfishy delicacies, since studies prompted by invasions of other species off US (the cannonball jellyfish invasions) and UK coastlines reveal health benefits.

I mean, with all the research showing that we are rapidly depleting the oceans as a result of years of unchecked overfishing, you may soon be munching on a jellyfish sammich in lieu of a tuna one!