A comment i posted in news and lj_biz this morning:

LiveJournal, i loved you but i hate what you have become since Six Apart took over. I have just HAD ENOUGH. You've pushed me too far this time. I'm going it alone where i am free to post what i want without fear of idiotic censorship and such cruel insensitivity.

Happily, thanks to the wonders of RSS and OpenID (which is, by the way, one of the best inventions the Internet has ever seen - thank you Brad!) i will not miss LJ. I'm better off without you.

I'd tell you to sort out your priorities, but it seems clear that you have done that, and they are unfortunately not the kind of priorities that i wish to be associated with. So this is goodbye.

It's strange that no one has time to explain what is going on, and yet burr86 has time to mock the whole situation in a different post. That makes me so angry, and not just me either. I don't know whether somebody's hacking into LiveJournal right now, or if it's just cracking under the strain of all the people shouting at Six Apart in news but we're getting database errors all over the place. Now it's not just fandom who's pissed off, but the whole world of LiveJournal!

This icon will remain my default LJ icon for evermore as a tribute to exactly the reasons that i left.

For anyone who wishes to keep in touch with me, my new journal, self-hosted and self-controlled, using WordPress, is at aimee.mychores.co.uk. It has an RSS feed, and it allows OpenID commenting. I have set up an account with Bloglines.com, where i can keep track of friends and communities on LiveJournal, GreatestJournal, InsaneJournal, or wherever you decide to move to, including independent blogs, so long as they have an RSS feed.

I may miss some friends-only posts, but i don't feel too bad about it. I feel this is a return to the origins of blogging. I'll post what i'm interested in. If you find me interesting, you can follow my RSS feed, and comment if you like. I may do the same back. All this flamboyant "Can i friend you?" and "Will you friend me back?" and filtering to groups of friends ... it was such a LiveJournal thing, and quite frankly i've had enough of it.

I was going to leave a copy of the picture that got ponderosa121 deleted, but i know there will be friends who don't want to see it, and i don't especially want to annoy my hosting company right now either! If you want it, i'll email it to you. It was a really nice picture and, for the record, Harry does not look under-age.

Before i do go, though here are some nice things to see:
Revolt of the Fandoms - a very good banner showing that this affects all of fandom, not just Harry Potter fans.
Cross-dressing, cheerleading, underage Harry - oh noes!! ;D

These are totally work-safe! :)

So once again, anyone who wants to keep up with me, i'm still to be found at aimee.mychores.co.uk, kindly syndicated by lizw as aimee_mychores :)

and also and twitter.com/sermoa.


See you around.

Goodbye LiveJournal. You lose.

I wrote these on the Monday morning, just after finishing Deathly Hallows, before i had chance to speak to anyone else or read anyone else's reactions. I'm so glad i have this, because my opinions have been somewhat swayed since by other people's reviews, and it's nice to have this record of my own initial feelings.

As i have said plenty of times, i loved the book, i love the whole series, and that has not changed.

There are bound to be spoilers, not that i think there are many people left who have not read the book who want to avoid spoilers!

( My initial reaction )

Whew! So there it all is! All my thoughts as i read, and just after i finished Deathly Hallows. And with that, i leave LiveJournal. I will make one more post explaining my future plans, and how to stay in touch with me ... and then i'll be gone. Wheeee! :D

Okay, this does it. I've said it too many times before. I've just about had it with LJ. It is definitely time to leave. In the latest round of LJ drama two people were permanently deleted with no warning, just because they posted pictures of characters from Harry Potter in sexual situations. LJ said the characters looked underage. They did not. Believe me, there's plenty of pictures out there far more dubious than the two that were deleted.

I love LiveJournal, but i have absolutely no love for Six Apart. They are arbitrarily targetting Harry Potter fandom, they are singling out individuals for no good reason and with no sensible explanation, and they are making up the rules as they go along. Worst of all, they have overcome the strikethrough fiasco by changing the LJ code so that deleted users no longer appear with a strikethrough! They don't even get a link anymore! The username just appears in bold. Do Six Apart honestly think that removing the strikethrough makes it all okay? It's dishonest, disrespectful and devious.

I've been thinking for a long time that i need to let go of dependence. Any time you let other sites host stuff for you, you're at the mercy of any censoring they may decide to enforce. I boycotted all things Microsoft a few years ago, but moved to Yahoo for email. That's no longer good enough. I'm going to set up my own email address at my own domain, and i'm going to create my own journal that i will host myself. I believe we have the technology these days, with RSS and OpenID, to be dispersed and yet still connected. It just takes a bit of organisation, but i think Six Apart have just kick-started fandom into doing it.

I will finish up posting my comments of Deathly Hallows, i will finish the day-by-day review at deathly_cntdwn and then i will leave for good. As a parting farewell, i may even post the picture that got ponderosa121 banned.

I deleted my Vox account today. When it asked me why, i put something like, "Because Six Apart have ruined LiveJournal and i want nothing more to do with it".

Okay, now to finish up what i started ... with the final most exciting chapters! Unfortunately i was in rather a hurry to finish and get to bed, so i didn't write as much as i wish i had, but at least these thoughts will jog my memory for the future.

( Chapter 33 )

( Chapter 34 )

( Chapter 35 )

( Chapter 36 )

( Epilogue )

I will post some final thoughts later ... :)

Now we come to the REALLY EXCITING part of the book! I agree with blahflowers that Chapter 28 was the turning point and it's all super-super-amazing from here to the end! :)

There are spoilers, even if i just stumbled upon them by accident!

( Chapter 29 )

( Chapter 30 )

( Chapter 31 )

( Chapter 32 )

Okay, i'm going to save my very favourite chapters for another day ... :)

I've done all my chores, all ready for bed and prepared for the morning ... just time to write up a couple more chapters before Heroes at 9pm! :)

( Chapter 25 )

( Chapter 26 )

( Chapter 27 )

( Chapter 28 )

I was hoping to get this all written up before we start the chapter-a-day re-read of Deathly Hallows on 1st August in deathly_cntdwn. Not sure if that's going to happen, but here goes with a few more chapters ...

Yes, there are spoilers.

( Chapter 20 )

( Chapter 21 )

( Chapter 22 )

( Chapter 23 )

( Chapter 24 )

I should really get to bed. I'm glad i got that far; Chapter 24 was a very sad one for me; incredibly moving. I think i cried more in that chapter than i've ever cried in any other chapter of Harry Potter.

Haven't had time to write for the last two days (been busy with MyChores, unleashing a brand new design and new themes!)

Anyway, i'll carry on where i left off. There will be spoilers, obviously.

( Chapter 10 )

( Chapter 11 )

( Chapter 12 )

( Chapter 13 )

( Chapter 14 )

( Chapter 15 )

( Chapter 16 )

( Chapter 17 )

( Chapter 18 )

( Chapter 19 )

Ohhh, chapters 16 and 19 were two of my very favourites of the whole book. Such lovely tender stories contained within those two chapters. Beautiful! :)

Today i heard some wonderful news: JK Rowling is writing again! Something for children and something else for adults. Jo expects one to surpass the other after a while. I don't mind. I'll read anything JK Rowling writes! I also saw a video today where Jo was asked about doing an encylopaedia-type book of the Harry Potter universe. Jo said, "I probably will" - YAY!!!! :D

On with my read-along notes. Beware of spoilers!

( Chapter 7 )

( Chapter 8 )

( Chapter 9 )

Continuing my enormous write-up of what i was thinking as i read at the weekend.

As before, spoilers will be up to and including the chapter indicated, plus my own speculation on what may happen consequently.

( Chapter 3 )

( Chapter 4 )

( Chapter 5 )

( Chapter 6 )

I spent the whole entire weekend reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and making copious notes as i went. I didn't want to rush myself; i savoured every moment of reading, and loved the thrill of having a new Harry Potter book where i didn't know what was coming. I wanted to make a record of what i was thinking as i went along, because i knew when i got to the end i would quite likely forget all the theories that popped into my mind as i was reading.

I'm very glad that i did this, and i am pleased that i wrote a little summary of my thoughts on the book before reading anyone else's. This is the honest account of how i felt during and just after reading the book without being influenced by any other opinions. To summarise very broadly: i loved the book! It is without a doubt my favourite of the whole series!

Spoiler warning: obviously i wrote this as i went along so revelations will only be up to the chapter indicated. However, there is plenty of speculation, some of which proved to be correct. I promise this is exactly what i wrote it; no afterthoughts will be added or alterations made. If you haven't read the whole book you might not want to read any of this. Chapters will be clearly marked as i type it up.

( My Preamble )

( Dedications and Introductions )

( Chapter 1 )

( Chapter 2 )

Alright, that'll do for tonight. I have plenty of chores to catch up on, not having done any all weekend!

Say hey for Cedric Diggory! ;)

I was talking to becky44 who didn't think of me as Hufflepuff. I thought i was because i'm kind and loyal to my friends. I'm not particularly brave, clever or devious, so i was sure i belonged in Hufflepuff.

My sorting hat scores were:
Hufflepuff: 79
Ravenclaw: 66
Gryffindor: 52
Slytherin: 47

I'm wondering whether i have time to knit a Hufflepuff scarf in time for the book release! Probably not :(

Sorry for all the Harry Potter posts today. I'm procrastinating from cleaning the bathroom ...!

I was making my post to deathly_cntdwn the other day and Suzie came to help me. It was only after taking the photo that i realised Suzie was pointing something out to me ...



LOL! Many thanks to icanhascheezburger.com for their excellent LOLCAT Buildr, allowing me to add the caption. I have submitted it, but i doubt they'll use it since, well, Suzie isn't a cat! ;)

I saw Movie 5 yesterday ... absolutely loved it! I may get around to making a review sometime today.

I'm off to work! On a Saturday! Amazingly, i'm actually really looking forward to it! We have a major release in 6 days (on Friday 13th!) and there is so much still to do. I'm looking forward to a day when i can focus and get through things without people interrupting me and sending me emails with different things to do.

Two weeks to go until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!!!!!! I saw JK Rowling on Tonight with Jonathan Ross last night ... mmmm ... very interesting! (Video of the interview on Mugglenet)

( Possibly vaguely spoilery, but not really. At least, Jo didn't consider it to be ... )

What else? Oh yes ... loads of people who Jo used to know have been trying to claim that Harry's character is based on them. Which Jo says is very vain really, and not true! (Jonathan: "But do they have a scar on their forehead?")

Jo's husband has read the final book. The only other people to have read it are people that need to (editors, Stephen Fry, Mary Grand Pre). The last three book manuscripts have disappeared whilst at the publishers?!?! Fortunately they were recovered! Warner Brothers were only allowed to make the Harry Potter films on the proviso that they only do the official sequels. There will be no Harry Potter goes to Las Vegas, for example!

When asked about writing more books in the Harry Potter Universe, Jo couldn't rule it out, but said it's unlikely because Harry's story comes to a clear end. Yet, Jo said, "I'll never say never, and i don't know how i'll feel in ten years time".

The two little books for Comic Relief have raised £16 million! :)

( Movie 5 spoilery )

I have ordered my tickets to see Movie 5 on Saturday, a week today!! I am so excited!! :) :)

PS. Ms Rowling was looking extremely beautiful last night. Such gorgeous eyes, and a really lovely haircut! :)

"Bloody hell!" (as movie-Ron would say!)

There's this theory going around that links the Harry Potter books in a mirror fashion. People find all sorts of links between Books 3 and 5, and even more links between Books 2 and 6. They are using this to speculate that Book 7 will reflect a lot of Book 1, which seems really quite likely.

I have just been astonished, having read the first three chapters of Book 6 very closely, to notice links to the last four chapters in the same sort of mirror fashion. It's like a wind-up toy. Ms. Rowling spends half the book winding the story up, and then lets it unwind, pulling the threads out in reverse order.

The links i have found so far ... (spoiler warning!)

( Definitely spoilers for Half-Blood Prince ... )

I will update this as and when i find other foreshadowing and cross-references, and see whether they all follow this mirror pattern.

PS. Sorry for yet another Harry Potter post!! ;)

I just noticed that my last three posts have been Harry Potter related! I do have a life aside from Harry Pottering, honest i do ...!

Last night Kevin and i went to the Winchester School of Art. We were invited to the preview of their degree show, which is on all week, and definitely worth seeing! There is so much talent on display there, from fine art to abstract sculptures made of chairs!

There were multi-sensory exhibits, such as a video of someone kneading bread dough in a small dark room with 8 bread makers creating the smell of freshly baking bread! There was also a corridor with sounds coming out of little white boxes; birdsong from one, quiet conversation in another, and one with popcorn popping inside it!

The fashion display was great; very imaginitive, and the printing and woven materials were impressive. My favourite, however, was the sculpture area. There is a room in pitch darkness, where all you can see are floating ultra violet sea creatures. It is really beautiful; you feel immersed underwater, as the room has no perceptible boundaries. Another really incredible exhibition takes up a whole room. It is sticky sugar slowly dripping from the ceiling. It is cleverly arranged so it becomes a maze; there is only one way through the sugar drips and you have to be really careful not to let it touch you. I love that kind of art where you have people interacting with it, and the people become part of the art!

If anyone is in Winchester at all this week, do go and see the show! It's open 11am-4pm this weekend, and 10am-8pm from Monday to Friday.

Winchester School of Art: http://www.wsa.soton.ac.uk

This is not a spoiler, just a really exciting theory ...

I have come across two good Harry Potter theories this week. The one i want to talk about today is the Alchemy Theory. I have heard of various alchemy theories over the years, but never has one been presented in such an easy-to-understand way as this one.

http://community.livejournal.com/harryhermione/1748647.html

Okay it's in a Harry/Hermione community, and they're using it to try and back up their favourite 'ship. I don't think it necessarily proves a relationship between the two of them (though i wouldn't be terribly upset if that happens; it's better than Harry/Ginny in my opinion!) ... however, i think there's definitely a lot of merit to the theory besides the relationship idea.

More than anything i like it because it explains this symbol that has been doing all of our heads in for the last 6-7 weeks! But it does way more than that. It pulls together loads of threads, explaining Luna's role, and the significance of Neville's toad. It shows the meaning of the four Hogwarts houses. It tells us the importance of Harry's lightning bolt scar and the symbolism hidden in Quidditch. It casts light on JK Rowling's statement that Dumbledore's only failing is not having a partner or an equal. It explains why there are seven books and seven years at Hogwarts: seven stages of alchemy.

Best of all, it predicts a truly wonderful end to the series! For Harry to complete the alchemic process and metaphorically turn to gold! Looking at the American cover for Deathly Hallows i see a confident Harry with a glowing golden face! I would be extremely happy with this sort of an ending to the series!

Apparently "The Lord of the Rings" is an alchemy story, as is "The Little White Horse", JK Rowling's favourite book as a child, and which JK Rowling admits has heavily influenced the Harry Potter series. I haven't time to read it before Deathly Hallows comes out, but i borrowed the spoken word CD from the library and i began listening to it last night. I'm only two chapters in and already the Harry Potter references to this novel are noticeable! :)

WOW, now there are at least four theories that i'd love to see proved correct in Deathly Hallows!! :D

It is one month exactly until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is released, and i am more excited than i can ever begin to say! Having recently read the entire series so far, i am about to re-read Half-Blood Prince yet again, along with the deathly_cntdwn community. 30 days, 30 chapters, let's go!! :)

I would encourage anyone else who wants to re-read Half-Blood Prince, to read a chapter a day and follow the countdown community. There has been some fantastic speculation in there, and i can only imagine it's going to get more interesting as we will finally be allowed to discuss everything we have read so far.

Here's what i'll be looking out for on this re-read ...

( Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS follow, for the whole of Book 6 )

I've found a nice notebook and i'm looking forward to taking this re-read at a slower pace, making notes as i go along! :)

Right this doesn't make much sense. On MuggleCast this week they claim that the fact there is going to be a Harry Potter theme park is pretty much proof that Harry's going to live. Because after all, why would you want a theme park over a character who snuffed it in the final book?

Well, i don't actually think this works as an argument at all. JK Rowling is hardly going to go, "Er, hang about, you might all want to read Book 7 before you start planning your fancy big theme park!" because that would create too many rumours that Harry will die. So really we still just have to wait and see.

Anyway, it's supposed to be Spread MuggleCast Month and there are apparently banners that i can use, but i can't find them so instead i'll just do this:

MuggleNet.Com/MuggleCast

Go download a podcast. They're great! Really entertaining, and they get you thinking about things you'd never consider otherwise!

Today i discovered a new webapp from JanRain called Pibb. It's a neat mix of instant message and IRC-style chat, works directly in a browser with no downloading required ... and best of all it uses OpenID! There is no registration whatsoever, just authenticate with OpenID and you're ready to go!

I'll give this here button a try, but knowing LiveJournal it'll get rejected for being too much like javascript.

... nope, didn't work!

Best shout is to just go to http://pibb.com and look me up - i'm signing in as sermoa.livejournal.com. You can set up a private channel with me and leave me a message which i'll pick up next time i log in.