Half Blood Prince from bookish, a weblog by George Girton

Half Blood Prince . . . . . jul 18 2005 — bookish125.dat

If you always drive everywhere, you can lose the sense of how easy it is to walk, even for relatively long distances. With gas prices the way they are, I walked over to a nearby park in Culver City, where the Shakespeare Scum were putting on the Shrew Cycle, or as they named it "Shrew Variations."

The 'Scum started off with Shakespeare as playwright, but Kate became dissatisfied with the result, and quit the play just before the intermission, unable to finish her famous speech "why are we soft?" Instead she shouted "I'M OUT", and walked offstage, returning for a few moments to berate Will Shakespeare himself for a bit before her final exit. After intermission the story resumed as "The Shrew Orchard," with Petrucchio a rich Moscow nightclub owner there to buy the prune orchard. Next stop, "Waiting for the Shrew," soon followed by "Shrew on a Hot Tin Roof. The show continues next week, in that little park at the intersection of Braddock and Motor, and is free. Sit on the grass, or bring your own chairs, and bring a dollar for the freshly popped popcorn at intermission.

Of course, I also walked over to the local supermarket on Friday and picked up a copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince [buy at amazon] . by J.K. Rowling. This means that I know (since I have read the book) who the Half Blood Prince is, who was killed, and who did the killing. Children's literature? Perhaps. In this sixth tome of the series the world is already well on its way to a dark wasteland, with death and destruction at every turn. The frightful dementors (if given an opportunity they suck your soul out through your face, after which you're not good for much) have escaped from their role as prison guards at Askhaban State Prison, but fortunately don't put in an appearance. Harry and Professor Dumbledore take many a trip down memory lane through the illuminative magic of the 'pensieve' a bowl into which you pour a silvery strand of (yours or someone else's) memory, and inhabit it realistically for a few moments of present time, sharing the experience with your guest. And a good thing, too. Harry will need the knowledge of Lord Voldemort's early childhood in the seventh and one presumes final tome of the series, which can appear not a moment too soon.