The only HP fanfic I've read is the one linked to in Farhad's piece, but at least I've actually read that one. The thing about fiction is, when it's any good it's about a lot more than fantasies or themes or political commentary. Writing fiction is a complex art, with a lot of elements to it, and Harry Potter and the Seventh Horcrux just doesn't cut it compared to the real thing. (I feel especially able to say this since I've also read the PDF photos of the Deathly Hallows and both "books" deal with similar scenes in the first chapters.) I mean no disrespect to Scarhead Steve, author of Seventh Horcrux, but his version is pretty typical of amateur fiction writing - very generalized and internalized, like journal writing, with hardly any concrete details, scene-setting, dramatic construction or characterization.

Compared to Rowling's work, it's drab and colorless and relies entirely on the world Rowling has already created to secure any kind of emotional connection to the characters and their situation. Rowling has her shortcomings as a writer, but one thing she's really good at is creating an entire, plausible imaginary world, and you don't do that by writing lines like "But over the course of the last couple of years she had begun to come into her own and he had finally seen her as a girl rather than as Ron's sister. He had finally found someone he truly and deeply cared about and she had made him feel as if he was living another life." That's how you talk *about* fiction, not how you write it. Scarhead Steve has obviously thought a lot about the characters in Rowling's books, and cares about them himself, but he doesn't understand how a real novelist achieves that connection with her readers.

This just goes to show what most of us realize when we watch American Idol: Real talent is a very rare thing, even if thinking that you have talent is pretty common.

I understood the scene in the parking lot to be a kind of dream. (The dead guy, by the way, is the guy who molested the lottery winner/motel owner when he was a kid.) I'm assuming it was John's dream, since he was asleep in the van while it was happening, but it's not really clear to me if the other people were dreaming or having some kind of waking vision as well. At any rate, none of them seemed able to see John (or the dead guy) with the possible exception of Cass. It was indeed confusing, especially John's dialogue, and Twin-Peaks-ish, but not totally baffling once I realized it wasn't meant to be happening in the material world. I actually like Fletcher. Sure he might seem "wooden," but this is exactly what my own brother was like at that age (and surfing).

Mad Men is a horror story for everyone who isn't a white man (and some who are, like the obviously gay colleague who draws the cigarette ad with the hunky guy). Besides the horrible OB/GYN and relegation to the secretarial pool/executive harem for the women, notice that all the blacks are servants and that the agency handles the Jewish client with (metaphorical) tongs. I love it!

My understanding, from the folks I've known in the exhibition business, is that all the income the theater gets comes from the concession stand. The studio or distributor takes pretty much all of the ticket price. That's why the snack prices are so ridiculous and why I will usually buy popcorn or something when I'm at a theater I like, with the hope that I'm helping it to stay open.

I don't really understand why people who claim not to watch TV are reading a TV column and posting comments -- unless it's because they're looking for an opportunity to boast about how they don't watch TV. And scouring the Web for chances to boast about how you don't watch TV is even more pathetic than watching too much TV.

There's a lot of good TV out there, much better than a lot of the movies that come out and a hell of a lot better than "the Internet for entertainment" (which means? YouTube? Video games? Please). You could TiVo Friday Night Lights, The Wire, Deadwood, 30 Rock, Rescue Me, etc. and not watch a bad show or a commercial on any night of the week. No one forces people to watch those cocktails-and-designer-shoes shows or the gossip shows or reality TV. I don't because they are toxic. But the best TV, which is plentiful nowadays, is the best thing out there.

I trust Heather's judgement completely, and so I've tried a few times with this show, unfortunately without being able to see the episodes in their proper order because I came in midway.

I can tell it's a really good show, and that there's a lot going on in it besides football, but I too hate, hate football -- not just the game, but the whole culture around it -- and there's enough football in FNL to keep me from being able to embrace the show. It's difficult to get engaged with characters who care so much about something that seems so stupid, trivial and boring. I might try to rent the DVD set to see if I can get past this if I watch in the right order. All this is helping me to understand why certain people can't get past the spaceship aspect of BSG. Sometimes when all the aesthetic paraphenalia of a setting really turns you off, it's impossible to screen it out. But I'm really trying!

http://www.salon.com/ent/iltw/2007/07/22/john/

There's a neo-Tiki bar in the East Village called Wakiki Wally's. Not as great as the Bali Hai from my SoCal childhood, but they make a real effort, with an artificial waterfall and live cockatoos. The drinks? I couldn't tell you whether they're authentic or not. I love these places for the decor.