Tidbits on Final Fantasy, Harry Potter, and etc.

Final Fantasy XII
Started playing it two weeks ago. More than 10 hours into the game and still haven't gotten very far in the story, but that's because there's so much freedom right at the beginning of the game that I've mostly been trying to venture out as far as I can :D Being able to see the foes without needing to go through the battle sequence is very nice, too. The License system is a little confusing, and I'll probably mess up somehow, but it's refreshing. I am ambivalent about needing to buy the skills before using, though. At least now I won't have thousands of dollars just piled up, not being used.

I'm still fuzzy about how license points are rewarded and how it would affect the growth on my party members since there are still only 3 members allowed in an active party but the game is on a real-time battle system. (Gambits are ⌃)

The moogles...aren't so bad anymore. Especially since they can teleport me to places in Rabanastre :D

Final Fantasy VII Ultima
Started playing, but then it started to have more and more errors and unexplained crashes, so it was deleted from my computer. Currently looking forward to FFVII for PS3 instead. (Oh, and I think Cloud's been doing a bit of part time in addition to his delivery service... :))

Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
I utterly fail at shooting games, even if I've only started the game a little bit after going through the tutorials. I think the game would be more enjoyable if I had actually finished FFVII first...? (see above)

Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII
So pretty. Me wants.

"HP - what it's really about when you get right down to it" (AKA "Harry Potter in 5 seconds")


Discovered through LJ: Fourth-rose.

Dancing Harry & Draco elves
Um, lol.

etc.
Wah. Lament on my lack of artistic skillz and creativity.

Fanart rec (?): houseguest!Voldie, Animagus!Lucius/Narcissa, and more

■ "He doesn't want to be a bad house guest u guyzz." (cackles and dies from the "Animagus!"Lucius)

I love Makani, LoL. Her characterizations of the Malfoys and the DEs are...well, ridiculous :] Irk, she, among many others, also makes me jealous/envious~~

Dan Abrams: "At least they won't have to have abortions now, right?"

This is both funny and sad. But the bigotry and sideways logics is not so shocking as some found it. (Jaded, much?)

I've also heard much about fandom sniping about this...but honestly, this is JKR's book. I dislike the 7th book and almost loathe the epilogue, but that is how Harry & Co. went on being. I still read pre-DH stories and is being dragged on to the epilogue ships, but either way, that is what JK wants Dumbly to be. I can see where she comes from, actually, since I had thought, "wow, Dumbledore is pretty enthralled with Grindlewald back then" as I was reading.

Perhaps it is shocking because Dumbledore is a mentor figure, and generally no one wants to know who grandpas have the hots for, but is revealing so in the book going to make DH a better book? Would putting the Dumbledore/Grindlewald in there help the plot along, or would it be just another useless fact? I am of the latter opinion. It makes sense if he is gay, but it's not necessary in terms of the main plot, like the whole [spoiler]"OMG he helped keeping his squib sister locked up"[/spoiler] stuff. But all that only focuses on why JKR decides to not put it in the book.

As to her decision to reveal this fact at all...well, she was being honest to her fans—that was what she thought of Dumbledore. Perhaps she has an agenda, and perhaps she was trying to make a statement. It doesn't matter much to me, and I don't find searching for a conspiracy theory all that productive. Fans asked for the information; is it so wrong for her to answer to the fans' requests?

Perhaps I have too little of imagination to feel restricted by the abundance of detail JKR threw out since the last chapter of the book; while I have not much love for the epilogue, it is a detail that I like to see the fandom to work around. Certainly I gripe about Draco's receding hairline and the lack of substance of said chapter of Harry's life, but thats more the challenge. If the characters only has a bit of background and minimal personality, thrown into a vaguely described world (all of which the series is skimming the borders of, IMO), without certain cemented blocks, then wouldn't it feel similar to reading an original fiction?

Yes, it does restrict the creative space that "canon-whores" have. But it gives interesting insight on the subtext. Yes, it will stick the writers towards a certain road to make their ship work (coughH/Dcough), but to me, it's more of a thrill to read about how the writer wiggles their versions of the characters out from such a tight spot. Since there is more "history" (canon) to work with, the characters can have more conflict and background to make the story more interesting, as each writer creates their own solutions to the same problem. (I was going to say with more history, the characters would have been developed more and be more solid to write about...but then realized there hasn't been much chara development at all.)

As for Ginny being a JKR self-insert? I don't have evidence to argue against that :)

News: HP: Dumbledore and the rainbow

■ Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay.

With that, JK's Epilogue Sins are almost completely forgiven now.

ArtRec: Five Books H. James Potter Never Wrote or Published [HP/SS]

■ Five Books H. James Potter Never Wrote or Published

Well, this is more like a "haha, gotta save this" rather than a true rec, really. It's HP/SS, for one. But that last bit's got me grinning, so I shall keep this in my archives.