Funmurphys: the Blog

The Triumph of Hope over Experience

Posts Tagged Harry Potter

How Much Pain Can I Stand?

Jul 23

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Me | 3 Comments

I broke two of my toes three weeks ago. The last three weeks have been the busiest 3 for me of the year.

First off I managed to make the last three days of scout camp hobling around in my post-op shoe. Let me say one word: Ibuprofen. I was tapped out Thursday evening, which means I was selected by my fellow adults to be in the Order of the Arrow. Because of my toes, I sat out the rest of the evenings festivities and will have to make them up at a later date.

My son and I left summer camp and immediately attended my nephews wedding (Congratulations Bethany and Zach!) – and when I say immediately, I mean we drove home, showered, changed, and left again for Burnside Ill (population 75). It was a wonderful wedding, and the only mar was when somebody stepped on my toes at the reception. Fortunately they got one of the good ones on my left foot, which when examined later looked as bad as the two broken ones only with (somewhat) less pain.

We caught our breaths long enough for my son and I to then head off for Northern Tier, the Boy Scouts high adventure experience in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. I cleared my participation with the docter at the urgant care place that x-rayed my toes. He said broken toes are just a nuisance, and that my pariticipation was a matter of how much pain I could stand. When I told my wife that, she immediately remarked I wouldn’t be going (which pretty much insured I did go.) Four days of travel (22 scouts and scouters in 2 15 passenger vans), 5 days of canoeing, portaging, and camping in the wilderness. Have I mentioned Ibuprofen? I took enough for my toes that my arms never got sore from paddling. I noticed the first day in the van my post-op shoe was shot – delaminations and deep cracks in the sole. One of my co-travellers observed that shoes like that didn’t usually get the workout I was giving them.

We saw the Harry Potter movie on our return and yes we were at a book store at Midnight to pick up our reserved copy of The Deathly Hallows. My son finished the book on Saturday and was enjoined to secrecy until the whole family had finished it. I finished the book after a short break Sunday to mow the lawn and all I can say is that Ms. Rowling continues her fun and inventive ways all the way to the end. I expect that now I’ll have to read the entire series straight through from beginning to end.

The best thing is that despite the toes and the whirlwind of activity, after three weeks off from work I’m as relaxed as I ever get.

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Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire

Nov 28

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Movies | No Comments

The Murphy family did something it rarely does – venture out over the Thanksgiving Holidays and see a movie. While I prefer seeing comedies in full houses, I never have liked crowds, or standing in line to see a movie, or rushing to get a good seat. And by good, I mean with the people I came with, and not in the front row off to the side. Yes, we saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and I think the Potter movies just keep getting better. I saw it on a chain Imax screen (Ronnies 20 if you must know) which doesn’t compare to a real Imax theater, like at the St. Louis Science Center. But it is still a better movie going experience, especially enhanced because there were no previews – we went from a couple of slideshow adds straight to the main attraction without passing go. There is a scene in the movie about evil and our response to it that I wanted to blog, but sadly the rest of the weekend experience has driven from my mind. But let me say I enjoyed it, and the only negative for me was that there was a stetch that focused on the fact that Harry & Co. were 14 year olds and not on swashbuckling. I want my swash buckled, I don’t want teenage angst at the movies. I get enough of that at home.

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All You Need Is Love

Aug 10

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Fun | No Comments

Mark at Kaedrin linked to a great post at Armed and Dangerous about (some of) the motivations in Harry Potter. Mr. Raymond there falls squarely in the Severus is still against Voldemort camp (which I am part of), and I think he does a find job supporting his claims and I have to agree with him. I think Snape is a great character in many, many ways, and one of them is breaking down the bad guy/good guy duality – he’s far more complex than a simple good guy or bad guy. My own prediction for book 7 is that it ends with Snape as headmaster at Hogwarts and Harry as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

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Yes, I do Have A Life.

Jul 18

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Books | No Comments

I had a busy weekend. Saturday morning the Fruit of the Murphy Loin’s swim team won their conference meet which makes them undefeated on the all too short season — they were 5-0 in dual meets. Mid day Sunday I took my son Boy Scout camp where he’ll be for the next week. We watched movies – Napolean Dynamite (which isn’t), Hotel Rawanda (which is), and Cold Mountain (which my wife thought far more of than I did). And somehow I did manage to read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. This time, no waiting around for midnight for us, we sailed in after the swim meet and sailed out immediately afterwards.

For those of you who think I kept my kids from reading it, my son thought it best he didn’t take the book to camp where it could be damaged and my daughter wanted to finish her current book before starting a new one.

Yes, I like it, a lot, and I think part of it is how well Rowling writes Dumbledore, and he is in the book early and often. Gone is the teenage angst from the last book, and good riddance to bad rubbish. Rowling does some things very, very well — her wonderful imagination and warm sense of humor combine to form an amazing yet fun world of wizards and magic that is full of detail and fairly coherent. It’s so good though, that paradoxically I feel let down at those times when you reach it’s limits of making sense or being internally consistant. And with six books, of increasing complexity and scope, you start to bump into them a bit more. And just I so I can speak freely, that’s all I’m going to say unless you care to read the extended entry.


Where There Be Spoilers!

The books started out light and breezy, but they have gotten darker and darker, and yes, this book puts the lights out with the death of Dumbledore. But that’s one of the things I like best about Rowling – she isn’t afraid to kill off interesting characters who she clearly loves. I suppose a ton of money in the bank helps, but more likely is a trueness to her story, and an understanding that sacrifice is important.

The book also indicates that the seventh year won’t be spent at Hogwarts, thus breaking the mold. In fact, it promises to be a much different book than the rest. 

This book was also different in that Harry was pretty much a failure this time around. He never figured out what Malfoy was doing, he didn’t have a hand in winning the Quidditch cup, he relied on Snape’s notes in his old textbook in potions, he didn’t figure out who the Half Blood Prince was (neither did I), and he was unable to help Dumbledore in the end. His only success, really, was the result of the luck potion he took. It made me realize the Harry is pretty much a mediocre wizard, and his success hasn’t been built on his wizarding skills but his pluck, courage, and friendships, which is I suppose part of what Rowling is trying to say, especially in light of the discussion of the importance of love as a source of power. In a sense, the books aren’t about what you can do, but what you do.

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Jun 25

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Books, Family | No Comments

Yes, we had fun getting the book at midnight, but I have to admit I’m getting old (forty has turned out to be a brick wall in many respects) so that when midnight rolled around I was far more excited with the idea of finally being able to go home to bed than the idea of getting the new book in my hands. Thankfully, our friends got there very early so we had a very low line ticket number. I have finished the book, even with my policy of letting the kids have first priority and giving it to them whenever they asked. So now my own mini-review, with no spoilers:

Just as Goblet of Fire was something of a departure from the prior books, so too Order of the Phoenix is something of a departure from all the others. My nine year old who is still toward the beginning doesn’t seem to like it as much and calls it confusing. My twelve year old is much further along and seems pretty excited. I too wasn’t as enchanted in the beginning, what with adolescent Harry, but I was very satisfied by the end.

I still found it a page turner throughout, and I like that not only do we get new, memorable characters, but all the old ones, and I mean all, have a role in the book. While it has a bit less whimsy, and had something clearly added just because it was needed later, it does have more rounded characters, more Harry and friends rather than just Harry saving the day, more backstory, and the book still shows that character matters. Children and adults who liked the earlier books will like this one too.

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Harry Potter Mania

Jun 20

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Books, Family | No Comments

Yes, tonight you’ll find me in line at the Barnes and Noble in Des Peres waiting to buy a copy of the latest Harry Potter. At least we won’t be alone in our nuttiness — not only will there be a huge crowd, but we will be with our friends the O’Briens (they’re getting the line tickets — we’ll be at the swim team’s pool party). My son paid in advance at school (the publisher is named Scholastic for a reason) so he has his certificate, wand, and ball cap. Now all we need is the book.

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