July 2005 - Posts
EDIT: I got into Simmons hall. The room is on the 10th floor. I'm so happy!
[body]
The
37th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) has ended yesterday evening at the Grand Hotel of Taipei, Taiwan.
This year has been extremely succesful for our (Kyrgyz) team. Before yesterday we had only one bronze medal from this competition, now we have 3 more :D
team members: Munar Aitiev, Altyn Isabekov and Artem Skabeev are all my close friends, and I'm extremely happy for them!
here's the photo of me with them (taken this March)!
(Munar, Artem, Me, Altyn)
IChO is the third oldest high school competition and it started in 1968 in Slovakia. This year in Taiwan there were 225 student from 59 countries. The top scorer is again Alexei Zeifman, whom I also know, from Russia. The best team is from South Korea. But there was no China for known reasons, so, for the first time in 7 years they gave their place to Korea. BTW, the next, 38th IChO is going to be held in Pohang, South Korea.
check out
this catalyzer, you can find our fellow '09ner there, who's got a silver medal, Congrats!
For about 16 years I was Meder Jyldyzbekovich Kamalov. But when I got my new passport (about two year ago) passport agency for some reason omitted my middle name. That’s why I normally use only my first and last names. But in my US F-1 visa my full name is written. So, now I’m officially again Jyldyzbekovich.
Some people have problems with the pronunciation of Meder. I’m tired of “midders” and “MED-ers”. That’s why I have decided to use my initials :D. From now on I’m just MJ Kamalov, so my friends can call me MJ. What do you guys think?
spoilerish!!!! not recommended for people who haven't read the HBP
Harry Potter is again on his broomstick!
Yeah, here we have the old haryy-potter-styled book. Harry gets rid of Dursleys, meets his friends and travels to school, gets to know his new DADA teacher (our favorite Half-Blood Prince), plays quidditch, tries to uncover mysteries, has problems with Snape and in the end there's a great fight and we find answers to all questions that appeared in our heads while reading the previous 25 chapters.
I'm not saying that i didn't like the book, it was great and could be placed second in my rating of the potter-books (right after the Goblet of Fire). This book reminded me of "the revenge of the sith", same dark in the end, you know. The chapter about the cave looked more like to be written by Stephen King...
"No ..." he groaned, as Harry lowered the goblet back into the basin and refilled it for him. "I don't want to. ... I don't want to. . . . Let me go. . . ."
"Its all right, Professor," said Harry, his hand shaking. "Its all right, I'm here —"
well... wow... that was something new.
there's still another feature of this book that makes it different from all other Harry Potters: too much feelings! Ron-Hermione (+Lavender, + McLaggen), Harry-Ginny (she's just Ron's sisiter! - I loved it), Lupin-Tonks, Billy-Phlegm... don't you think that that's a bit of overflow? It was like reading another fanfiction.
The thing that I loved the most was the Felix Felicis, though. It was trully an amazing idea. JKR knows how to insert magic into her book, even though we got quite used to magic.
so... i think that now it's clear that the seventh book is going to be different from all the others. If Harry said that he's not coming, then he's not coming... What makes us all a little sad, because it means that the adventures of the "boy who lived" (or the 'chosen one", if you like) in Hogwarts have finished... I'm really sorry about it.
2 years.... for some people it's nothing, for others it was like eternity. I believe that for me and for people like me it was the second. 2 years.
Today is the second most important day in the history of the boy who lived. The first will come in a couple of years, but today is the second.
Today...
Joanne Rowling's sixth book of the Harry Potter series: "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" comes out TODAY!!!
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Release Date: July 16th, 2005
Length (US):
- Trade version: 672 pages
- Deluxe edition: 704 pages
Length (UK):
- Trade version: 608 pages
Chapters: The deluxe edition includes 32 additional pages of artwork; the same pictures throughout the book before each chapter, just larger versions. Considering there is also 1 or 2 pieces of artwork before the story begins, we can expect about 30 chapters.
Additionally, the door on JKR's site opened on Halloween revealing 3 of the chapter titles. You can see/read about them here.
Other Info: On August 16th, the door on JKR's site opened giving us the following excerpt of book 6, which describes the Half-Blood Prince:
(He) looked rather like an old lion. There were streaks of grey in his mane of tawny hair and his bushy eyebrows; he had keen yellowish eyes behind a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles and a certain rangy, loping grace even though he walked with a slight limp.
Random facts about the book
- We will learn a lot more about Voldemort in this book.
- HBP will be an intense book, but with light-hearted moments.
- Harry will leave Privet Drive early again, for a "much pleasanter" reason than in book 5.
- The opening chapter of book 6 was originally planned for the early parts of book 1, perhaps we get a more in-depth story of what happened the night Harry's parents died.
- Neither Harry or Voldemort (including Tom Riddle) are the Half-Blood Prince
- Arthur Weasley will not be the new Minister of Magic
- By the ends of books 6 and 7 "you'll have all the back story you'll need", says JK Rowling, and a prequel will not be necessary
- There will be a new Minister of Magic, no more Mr. Fudge.
- We will find out what happened to Hagrid's half brother Grawp. He will be a bit more controllable in book 6.
- The Dursleys are in the next book, but Harry's stay with them will be the shortest yet. In book 5 he stayed for 4 weeks, so we know his stay will be less than 4 weeks.
- Cho Chang will not be a romantic interest of Harry in Book 6, however there will be a "little romance" for Harry says JK.
- In books 6 and 7 we will find out exactly why JK killed off Sirius.
- Harry becomes even more powerful in book 6.
- In books 6 and 7 we will find out why Dumbledore trusts Snape.
- We will find out what happened to Wormtail AKA Peter Pettigrew
- More about the animosity between Snape and Sirius will be revealed in the last 2 books.
- JK has said that giving away the form of Snape's boggart and patronus says too much. We'll definitely find out what Snape's worst fear is, and it'll be important.
- Hermione and Draco will NOT end up together in book 6 or 7.
- We will find out what exactly Dudley saw when he looked at the dementors.
- The reason Voldemort and Harry both didn't die when Voldemort tried to kill Harry, will be revealed.
- We will see more of Draco's mother, Narcissa Malfoy, now that Lucius is busy.
- We'll learn more about Harry's scar in the last 2 books.
- Moaning Myrtle will make an appearance again, as will Tonks.
- More about Voldemort's birth will be revealed, thus helping us understand why he is so evil.
- Muggles begin to notice "more and more odd" occurrences in book 6, says JK.
- The wizarding world is really at war in the sixth book.
- Harry will tell his dearest friends about the prophesy after it sinks in to him.
- We will learn more about Harry's relatives, including his grandparents (though JK says they aren't really important to the story)
- We will find out what happened to Sirius's motorbike.
- Book 6 will be shorter than the 5th book (or at least JK's 99% sure, but will not swear on her children's lives)
- There will be no "new" nationalities of children at Hogwarts. Hogwarts is a British school, and JK says that adding foreigners for the sake of it is not in her plans.
- During an interview, when JKR was asked in which Hogwarts room she'd like to be for 1 hour, she said it would be a room in which Harry has been before, but doesn't know its importance. Yet. (this could have happened in book 5, but we're unsure)
- It's very important in the plot that Harry has his mother's eyes, and that her wand was very good for charms.
- During an interview for Kids BBC, Victor Greensteet (reporter) asked Rowling if Harry would have a dragon for a pet. This is what she replied: "You can't tame a dragon, no matter what Hagrid thinks. It's simply impossible. So no. He has more common sense. He MAY have a different pet in the future, but for now, I won't say anything else". (This could have been buckbeak, but I'm sure we can expect more pets)
- In the same interview for Kids BBC, the reporter asked J. K. if Harry had ever used the internet, and this is what she had to say: "No. They (the Dursleys) won't let him go near Dudley's computer, and Dudley is the only one who has a computer. They hit him if he gets too near to the keyboard. So the answer would be No. I use it a lot, but Harry doesn't. Wizards don't really need to go on the web. They have an even better way to find out what's happening in the outside world, which I think is a lot more fun than the Internet, but I'm going to keep quiet on this one."
- The choice between what's right and what's easy will be a pillar of the plot in Harry's last 2 years at Hogwarts
- Harry's parents' profession will be a big part of the plot.
- Something HUGE will be revealed about Lily Potter.
[thanks to mugglenet]
book covers: UK-full, UK-adult, USA, USA-back, USA-Deluxe
I love Harry Potter and I just can't believe that it's less than a week to the release of the pre-final book. I started to count the days when it was about 100, and now the countdown shows that 6 days 20 hours and 45 minutes left. Can't wait! But unfortunately, it's impossible for me to start reading before 20th, because it has to be delivered to Kyrgyzstan from the UK.
about the spoilers: please, do not write ANYTHING about Harry Potter in my blog comments or in the emails that you send me until I say that I have finished reading and that I very much liked it :D
and keep in mind: there's another premiere this year
=======
for GMAIL users:
I'm sure you haven't used even 5% of your incredible 2 gb space. There's a program that allows you to use that space in any way you want! This program displays in your My Computer a new drive, Gmail drive. You can download the program from here (no viruses).
Here goes my 50th post. Whoa, that's a lot!
I'm going to tell that till the beginning of the August nothing much will happen around here, because till August I'll sit at home and prepare for the ASEs. I really want to place out freshman Chemistry along with some Organics. Then, there's a Harry Potter crazyness in ten days (we will talk more about it soon).
So what about the August? I really want to visit my granny in Issyk Kule till I go to US (what will happen in the evening of August 18th: a bus from Bishkek to Almaty, provided by Lufthansa, a plane from Almaty to Frankfurt to Boston, also provided by Lufthansa). Did you ever hear about our super lake? It's located in north-west of our country and it's amazing. Every summer a lot of tourists from Russia and Kazakhstan come there to have some rest. It's cheap and cool. You know, if anyone wants to come here next summer, I would be happy to be a guide ;)
Some cool views of our lake (ripped from some other site):
So what do you think?
about the movies: Went to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, yesterday. A very cool movie. Especially, the place where Angelina Jolie (Mrs. Smith) tells that she's got 312 kills and Mr. Smith only about 60 :D
And I also watched the War of the Worlds today, which was also cool. I loved the way the story is shown. But you know, I was expecting a bit more from Spielberg. Wells' book was my favorite 6-7 years ago, and martians shouldn't be that stupid in the movie as they were in the book (I understand the author, it was the beginning of the XIX), I mean at the end of the film. Dakota Fanning played extremely well...
ok then... my 51st post will be all about Harry Potter
===edit===
here's the pic from the 36th International Physics Olympiad's Opening Ceremony. Kyrgyz Team! Good Luck to them!
