Harry Potter Is A Star Wars Rip-Off

I've always suspected it, but now hard solid proof has emerged that once and for all shows that J.K. Rowling (aka the great plagarist) stole her entire concept for Harry Potter from George Lucas' "Star Wars". For shame lady, for shame.

The following document was taken from Rowling's purse at a London airport. See for yourself below.

Many Bothans died to bring us this information.

Chanting Down Babylon

Evanescence shall always been known and remembered for their songs Bring Me To Life and My Immortal. Having said that, I thought the band broke up just before receiving their Best Newcomer Award at some MTV show? Then Ben Moody left and members of this band just keep vanishing and getting replaced. Taking notes from Duran Duran perhaps?

The Open Door, I wonder what they're referring to, perhaps their rejuvenated band that might just open the door to more movie soundtrack opportunities? This album was number 1 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart the first week it was released, big deal. It was attributed to the success of their first (and best) album Fallen and the long wait to get another album out, fans must have been hungry for more Evanescence music. What? They couldn't turn to other groups? You would think that listening to Fallen and now The Open Door, that there would be some evolution in their music, a new direction perhaps, especially after they had so many band member replacements, more new ideas would come into the picture.

Song after song after song just sounds similar! From Sweet Sacrifice to Call Me When You're Sober. The guitarist just strums the same few chords and rhythm over and over again in all the song tracks, almost like a machine gun firing in moderate staccato, utterly no imagination at all. Snow White Queen started to see some new direction in the rhythm of the music, but then it started going back to square one with The Only One. The same guitarist strumming the same rhythm in the chords again. Sigh. Listening to the whole album, I really didn't have any idea if I'd moved onto track 2 or 3, especially with such similar rhythms. Perhaps they were just recycling the rhythms from Bring Me To Live in their Fallen album, which fans seem to love so much.

The only saving grace in this entire album is Amy Lee's beautiful voice, but she needs a new lyric writer, the same screaming, yelling and moaning just doesn't do her voice justice. I strongly believe she should leave the band and start doing her own solo CDs, which I'm sure there are tons of fans out there who want her to do just that! I also believe she should try trip hop!

I know Gothic/Alternative/Rock/Pop/Whatever should sound almost like that, but with some form of imagination, it wouldn't be so tiresome to listen to! 1 star for effort, 1 star for Amy Lee's voice, the rest was just ear vomit!

[Nicole] I've already used my CD as a frisbee and surprisingly it sails rather well through the air and oh, hey, look, a dog caught it between its jaws.

Crunch!

2 out of 10 stars

Hallowed Are The Ori!

When Stargate the movie came out, I thought that it was a most interesting concept. Of course, the movie didn't do very well at the box office because it had a bad plot. I was amazed when they decided to create a Stargate series. This series based itself on the plot of the original movie and expanded upon it. Creating more worlds and more storylines for us to enjoy.

Fast forward to 9 seasons later. Stargate SG-1 is hailed as the longest running sci-fi series ever to hit the television. The characters and storylines are fantastic and after about 7 or 8 seasons later, they've finally found a way to topple the Goa'uld system lords who were based on the Egyptian Gods. However, with season 9, they've moved into the realm of the Arthurian legends, and have made it even more interesting to realise that all mythology on Earth were influenced by aliens, sounds almost like Scientology doesn't it?

In season 9, a new thread is introduced, one that transcend the Goa'ulds. This thread comes from that of the Ancients. The Ancients are a group of possibly humans who ascended beyond the physical to another plane of existence. They are extremely powerful and advance. Of course, before they ascended, they left behind quite a lot of undiscovered knowledge and artifacts that SG-1 has been gathering and using. For everything in this universe, there's a good and bad, right and wrong, ying and yang, call it balance if you must. For the Ancients are the good ones, while their evil ones are called the Ori (pronounced Or-eye).

This sounds like a sort of parallel between the TV series and real life, except not so extreme. With their Book of Origin, rejection of free will, and goal of subduing all heretics and unbelievers, the Ori resemble extreme fundamentalists of various stripes. On the other hand, when the U.S. military talks about crusades and "ridding the galaxy of evildoers," parallels to the Bush administration's war on terror are obvious and unavoidable.

Problem is, while we know that the Ori are relentless, devious, and bloated with the pride that always attaches itself to false gods, we can't actually see them. They have semi-human apostles, called Priors, who spread "enlightenment" and bad mojo (not to mention plagues of carnivorous bugs) all over the universe. They have mighty ships that that leave the good guys in dire straits in the climactic battle that ends the season (typically, little is resolved, leaving viewers to salivate for Season 10). But the Ori themselves are kin to the all-knowing Ancients, who exist not in recognizable physical form but as energy; unlike previous villains, from the Goa'uld to the Replicators to Stargate Atlantis' Wraith, when it comes to the Ori, there's no there there. Meanwhile, the writers' replacement of the ancient Egyptian iconography used in earlier seasons with various aspects of Arthurian legend (Merlin, Knights of the Round Table, sword in the stone) is sometimes cool, sometimes merely hokey.

The series has introduced Ben Browder as Lt. Col Cameron Mitchell and Claudia Black as Vala Mal Doran, both formerly from Farscape. They both bring such life and comedy to the series that it will have you in stitches. Vala is the vixen, her alliances shift back and forth and you never know whether or not you can trust her. Ben Browder brings the kind of fun akin to Richard Dean Anderson when he's acting and their on-screen chemistry with the other cast is amazing, it almost feels like Ben Browder has been on the series since the beginning. In season 9, she appears in the first 4 or 5 episodes in the beginning and last few episodes at the end. Both actors are a most welcome addition to the Stargate series. Of course, I almost forgot Beau Bridges, who plays Major General Hank Landry. He also adds his own bout of humour into this series. Honestly though, I prefer him to General Hammond, the other bald, fat General who was in charge of SG1 from season 1 through 8.

In the middle of the series, we learn the truth about the Ori. The Ori do not ascend their followers and only need worshippers from which to draw their powers. In some way, they draw on the worshipping itself that gives them more and more power, in effect, using everything and everyone, twisted for their own agenda. Sort of like how Bush draws power from all the people he lied to in order for them to vote for him.

I particularly love the way they made fun of the religion of Origin and how false Gods shouldn't be worshipped. There are no Gods in the universe, looking down at us and protecting us, and that human beings bow to no one. Hopefully this series drives this message into the thick skulls of the people of Earth.

Another thing I noticed about this season is that they have created something like a flowing story arc, which spans across all the episodes. Usually Stargate has a story arc, but usually the episodes are rather self-contained, with adventures here and there.

I recently found out that Stargate has been cancelled after 10 seasons of running and that 2 telemovies straight to DVD will be created to end the Ori storyline and another time travel tele-movie. I don't know if it will do as well, but I'm just enjoying the storylines in the meantime. Let's hope that some of the characters get to jump over to their spin-off Stargate: Atlantis and perhaps make a more permanent appearance over there.

Overall, season 9 is a pretty good prelude-cum-interlude to the final season 10. I wish it would go on, but they would just find more and more things to say, more and more legends and myths to write from. It will never end, it should never end, but all good things should end while they're ahead.

I highly recommend this series to anyone who's a sci-fi buff, looking for a TV series with a great adventure and good cast of characters and character development.

9 out of 10 stars

The Very Bottom Of The Barrel

I've been a Dune fan for a really long time. It all started when I was young, browsing around the bookshop, where the covers of the Dune novels always fascinated me. At that time, I didn't know what the story was about, but I did know it was sci-fi and probably one of those that caught my eye. I think I'll always remember the title God Emperor of Dune, I couldn't comprehend how an Emperor could also be God, that was one of the first sci-fi mysteries that mystified me.

Fast forward to present day, I've read all the Dune novels and have a complete set of all of them, which includes the most sort-after Dune Encyclopedia, which was painstakingly found in London. Looking back, I can't believe I turned into quite the fanatic when it came to Dune. I searched the Internet for forums, websites and reviews. There were also arguments and different interpretations to the story.

The long-awaited Dune 7 novel that Frank Herbert failed to finish before he died was released in August 2006. I rushed to get my hands on a copy of it. The hardcover version was expensive, so I settled for the tradepaperback edition from the UK. I just finished reading the book (I took my time to read in between the lines all the details!), and had mixed feelings about how the story continued after Chapterhouse: Dune, Frank's last novel before he died. I didn't know whether to feel elated, angry, sad, or disappointed. I'm reviewing the novel below, it will definitely contain spoilers, so if you haven't read the novel yet, do NOT proceed further!

The first thing that struck me was that the novel was written for kiddies. When Frank Herbert wrote any of his novels, there was a certain amount of mystery and intrigue which you had to read between the lines to find out more. It wasn't blantantly spelled out for all to read. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson spelled everything out for us, almost to the point of patronising their readers. It was most infuriating to have every single thing laid out for us, in this case, there was no longer any mysteries in the stories, expect the ones that they created.

Next, the character development was hideously abysmal. I can't believe that Duncan or Murbella or any of the other characters are all the same. Nothing much has changed or could it have in the time span since Chapterhouse: Dune. They brought back so many gholas it was ridiculous. What will the gholas do? Why didn't they create new characters? Was it so difficult to do? All the characters had 1 dimensional qualities and they were cheesy. Duncan having an addiction to Murbella? What on earth is that about?

Moving on, every chapter seems to have a reference to one of the prequel novels, or one of Frank's Dune novels. I prefer Frank's Dune novels, they were very grounded and had so much depth that you had to dig for information. The prequel novels were just as scratching the surface, to fill in all those gaps that Frank neglected to talk about. In some way, the prequel novels destroyed the mystery of Frank's 6 Dune novels. At the same time, I was confused when reading Hunters of Dune, whether it was a prequel, sequel or a very long summary of the entire history of Dune.

Even the plot went round and round, Duncan was being chased around and around by Daniel and Marty with their ever-present tachyon net, that seemed to stretch all across the universe to ensnare them. Even folding space and escaping it didn't seem to distance the no-ship from the net's limitless ability to catch them. What kind of net is that?

The unlimited us of labels, Mother Superior evolved into Mother Commander, probably justifying that Murbella commanded both the Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres. Proctor Superior, Matre Superior and the list goes on. In the prequel novels, they had Primero, Segunda, Viscount etc. All these labels, I'm guessing, are Kevin J. Anderson's doings. If you have read his other novels (and how he destroyed the Star Wars Universe!) you'll know that this was his evil work! Giving labels to all those characters didn't make them big, they just hid the fact that they couldn't write anything more about them, so attach something to them. It was disappointing!

Almost three quarters through the novel did I seem to appreciate that it was gaining a little bit more momentum. Many answers at last! The revelation that the Honored Matres are Tleilaxu females that were rescued from Tleilax and gained awareness instead of remaining as axlotl tanks was interesting, but a little too convenient, as I thought they were either Bene Gesserit renegades or Fish Speakers or a combination of both. But I shan't fault them, perhaps this was already written in Frank's outline. It will explain a great deal as to why they destroyed so many of the Tleilaxu planets and their Masters.

I was disappointed to find out that Daniel and Marty, the old man and woman, who were first introduced at the very end of Chapterhouse: Dune, turned out to be incarnations of Omnius and Erasmus. According to the final chapter in Hunters of Dune, they could change their flow-metal bodies to suit the needs of themselves, changing shape, changing faces, like Face Dancers, except without the Bene Gesserit detecting them.

I sincerely hope that Sandworms of Dune, the finale, would answer everything and would be much better written than Hunters of Dune. I suspect that Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are already scrapping the bottom of the barrel as to fresh and interesting new ideas for the Dune universe. Let us hope that they wouldn't cash in by writing more novels to destroy Frank Herbert's great work.

I recommend this book only to Dune fans who're out to find closure to one of Frank Herbert's sci-fi masterpiece.

5.5 out of 10 stars

Goliath

Terrorism. Acts of Oppression. The threat of nuclear war. What if one madman aboard a vessel could end these fears forever?

Commander Rochelle "Rocky" Jackson is aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan when the "unsinkable" naval vessel and its entire fleet are attacked from the depths and sunk by The Goliath: A nuclear submarine Rocky helped design almost a decade ago, a top secret DoD project cancelled when the schematics were destroyed by her former fiancé and U.S. Army Ranger, Gunnar Wolfe. Powered by its five jet-pump propulsors and hydrodynamically shaped to be virtually undetectable under water, the sub has one more feature that separates it from all other vessels on the open seas: SORCERESS-its biochemical computer brain.

Rocky eventually learns that the Goliath's plans were not destroyed but secretly sold to the Chinese. Having constructed the $8 billion dollar warship, the Chinese become victims themselves when the sub is hijacked by the project director, Simon Bela Covah, a computer genius and a man with a sad past who once served under Rocky's command at the Navy's Undersea Warfare Center. The attack on the carrier fleet indicates that Covah is hunting down warships in an attempt to arm himself with nuclear weapons.

Simon Covah and his crew share a common bond: They are all victims of violence and oppression. Covah, a Russian, witnessed his Chechan wife and daughters brutally murdered at the hands of his own people as he was tortured. Now the computer genius has one mission: to rid the world of oppressive governments while forcing humanity to disarm. To accomplish this, he plans on giving the world a real lesson in Armageddon. Armed with enough nuclear weapons to destroy North America, Covah issues his Declaration of Humanity to the world. If his demands are not met, consequences will be paid. Could the threat of violence forge a lasting peace? But there is another player in this life-and-death chess match. Unbeknownst to the Goliath crew, Sorceress has become self-aware, and is developing its own agenda. You'll have to read the novel to understand how scary a self-aware computer's agenda can be!

I've never read any of Steve Alten's novels. This one has gotten me hooked! It's like an underwater adventure the likes of Jule Verne's 20000 Leagues Under The Sea. I have always entertained the idea of a stealth boat, in this case, it's a stealth submarine along the lines of Seaquest DSV, but totally different.

Also, the idea that a computer becomes self-aware and the process leading it to its descent into madness is most illuminating. The more Sorceress couldn't understand, the more it experimented and slowly it moved to human experimentation, which led to the death of several, if not all of the crew of the Goliath. As a machine, it is devoid of feeling and pain, so there's a certain amount of violence in these pages that are almost gruesome to the point of Hannibal Lecter!

I've always enjoyed the notion that one day, some vigilante will take matters into his own hands and create a crusade to destroy violence in the world. This book highlights the extreme of what someone like that would do. Bomb the hell out of the country to scare them into submitting to disarmament terms, like in this novel, it almost makes you wish that it applied to the current volatile situation in the Middle East.

The love-hate-forgive relationship between Rocky and Gunnar was not exactly the best, but then again, all novels with these plots always seem to be uneasy and cheesy at some point. Also, the need for bigger and bigger ships, submarines and whatever electronic being run by computers begs the question of whether or not they will eventually achieve self-awareness and take on a life of its own.

A highly, highly recommended underwater adventure novel.

8.5 out of 10 stars

Death & Blame

In my line of work, if you make a mistake, somebody dies. Sometimes directly, but mostly indirectly. However, even if it's not your mistake, they always try to find a scapegoat to blame all their problems on. It's the way of the universe I guess. It's so sad that the people who are directly responsible don't get punished and worse, they get away with it, while the most innocent mistake the scapegoat makes can get fired for doing the wrong thing, at the wrong time, in the wrong place. It's so sad. I guess, sooner or later, as they say, what goes around, comes around x10!