What is art? How is Potter?

I love art. I really do. But sometimes, some of them leave me baffled. I am standing there, scratching my head, and trying vainly to figure out what it is that I am suppose to see. What it is that is suppose to be speaking to me. And although I try my darnest, I still could not figure out the meaning behind the piece. I am starting to seriously wonder if I am missing out on something.

Anyway, moving on to a topic more suited for my intellectual level - I had finally seen Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Read that book ages ago and I nearly forgot everything but thanks to my friend (you know who you are if you are reading this), I could remember bits and pieces. The movie was just okay, there were a lot of things missing but I guess it is hard to condense a book that size into a movie that lasted around 2 hours 30 minutes. Although Harry's character is well developed - the movie is about Harry after all - the others were left in the shade. Ron and Hermione were sidelined and the camaraderie between the three in the earlier movies is missing. I love Luna Lovegood though; they had chosen the perfect person to play her. And forget about that kiss - it was over in a blink of an eye.

I am waiting to read Book 7! It is arriving tomorrow.


*UPDATED*

*Spoiler alert*










*Spoiler alert*









Hmmm.....Book 7 is much better than Book 6, but definitely not her best in the series. That book is still Book 3 for me. This is not to say that JK Rowling is not a good writer; her first three books were very good but ever since the fourth book, she just went downhill and Book 7 is no exception. Some people might say that being an armchair reader and critising the book is easy compared to actually writing it. I whole heartedly agree. BUT...this is not her first book, and she had actually showed that she could write well. And she herself had a hand in fanning the obsession of her book series and dropping hints etc to ensure that the readers would stay loyal. I stayed loyal; I bought all the books. I am a fan. Is it wrong for me to expect her to write well after all that? What happened to the author of the first three books?

I would have to say that there are some major flaws in book 7 and some parts of the plot were just way too convenient for me. Some questions were never really answered and left hanging. And I expected more people to die in the book considering it was an epic battle between good and evil, Dumbledore's army against the Death Eaters. Rather mind boggling that most of the wand-wielding "high-schoolers" could survived against hardened evil do-ers of Voldermort's army. And whatever happened to outside help? Where were the French wizards/witches? Or the Bulgarians? Sitting at home, sipping tea when the "terror" of the wizarding world is running rampant, killing people? The answer as to why Harry did not die was way to convenient for me and relied too much on co-incidences and luck. And what's up with the whole secrecy about the mission Harry and pals got to do? I frankly don't see the point of it being all hushed up; it is not as if Harry was the only one that can destroy the horcruxes since both Ron and Hermione and at the end, Neville had a go at them themselves, and earlier, in book 6, Dumbledore himself destroyed the ring. I think that more lives would have been saved if they had opened up in the first place or that the mission would have finished sooner instead of them camping around.

And I would also like to comment about the whole uproar about the New York Times publishing the review of the book early (two days early). Firstly, I read the review and it did not give away major spoilers. In fact, when you publish a book, as a courtesy to the would be buyer, you should write a brief description or outline of the book. So what the New York Times did was just precisely that, a brief outline of the book (hey, we were all flying blind here since everyone was so tight-lip about the plot). And (this is a major point here), it is a review - published in the book review section with the headlines stating that it is the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book review. What on earth did they expect the review to contain if not the "review" of the book? If you don't want to be spoiled, don't read it. Simple as that. Why blame the NYT when you yourself, made the choice to read the review ahead of time? Blame yourself. Please, it is only a book for god's sake. Books, magazines, movies are all reviewed ahead of time - why should this book be any different? And which children actually read NYT?

When a writer is good, she engages the reader with her prose, her style and her creativity. Regardless of whether or not the plot was given away or that the ending was spoilt, a good author would still manage to satisfy the reader with her way with words. That is the whole point of reading. All this uproar about spoilers makes this book just about who died and who didn't when it should be much more than that.

The Harry Potter series had come to an end. It was a bumpy ride, but we finally reach the end of the tunnel. I just hope that she does not succumb to pressure and write Book 8.

Mimuro Toji - The hydrangea series

Mimuro Toji is actually more famous for its hydrangea garden rather than the lotus plants. But since both flowers bloom at the same period, we decided to kill two birds with a stone and arrive at the temple earlier to catch the lotus flowers blooming.



There were approximately 10 000 (or was it 20 000?) hydrangea plants in the garden. We were actually a bit too late to see the "peak" of the garden's beauty but most of the flowers were still in bloom, though some were obviously dying and other shrubs, bare.



It was lovely walking along the small pathways, surrounded by the beautiful blue, white, pink flowers interspersed with the ramrod straight pine trees and seeing the hills beyond. It was very picturesque, made more so by the lack of people in the gardens.



As mentioned in my last post, we went there on a weekday - yes, yes, we had been naughty and skipped lab! So we were happily all by ourselves there, save for a few more tourists, but not enough to cause a headache and those inevitable photography-opportunity jams (yes, yes, I freely admit, I am guilty of it too which is why I prefer to go when there is less people or better still, no one!).



By the end of the pathway, I was freaking thirsty! Forgot to bring water with me and rushed to the vending machine to get myself one of my favourite thirst quencher - Lipton's Lemon Tea - cold. Ahhhh.......bliss! That or coke with ice or icy cold beer (of course, I am not a beer fan and after a sip or two, I would not drink it anymore - so I usually sip it from my friends' cups!)



Next up is Gion festival again! I hope that this time, during the main parade, it will not rain! I hope to get some good pictures with my Canon since my only copies were from my trusty Olympus! It does not bode well that the past few days had been raining....

Also, I have a photoblog - What Do I See? - where I post my pictures nearly daily and in larger sizes. So for those of you who want to see the pictures in larger sizes, please head over there. I just started it, so there are some pictures that are new, and some pictures that you had seen before. Enjoy!

Mimuro Toji - The Lotus Series

My friends and I decided to go to Mimuro Toji in Uji which is famous for its hydrangeas and lotus. Tis the season for hydrangea flowers now. Everywhere you look, you will be greeted with the purple, pink or white flowers. But in this post, I will focus first on the lotus plant.



We decided to go early, in order to catch the blooming lotus flowers. Yes, tis is also the season for the lovely lotus flowers, however, they bloom in the morning so we have to be there early.



We took the free shuttle bus from the main Kyoto University campus to the Uji campus. Along the way, I bumped into a friend of mine (you know who you are!) and along the way back, we bumped into another friend of ours! From there, we took the Keihan train to Uji station and took a bus to Mimuro Toji.



The lotus plant is one of my favourite plants because it is lovely to see as well as lovely to eat! Haha! I love the flowers - somehow they exude "serene-ness". I guess that has something to do with its association with Buddhism and Hinduism as well as the way they grow - floating on the calm pond, with the sudden brightness of pink, purple or white flowers against the dark pond.



However, the lotus plants found in Mimuro Toji are not grown in a pond. They are grown in individual pots and some of the leaves and flowers are taller than us. It was a hot and humid day, even though the sun was hidden in the haze. After I had finished photographing the flowers, my face was bright red and all my friends went "Are you alright?". Thank goodness we went there on a weekday so we avoided the weekend crowd.



As I mentioned earlier, I love the plant because I love to eat parts of it. I love lotus roots. Love, love, love lotus root. Here in Japan, they usually prepare it as a side dish as a part of their traditional lunch or dinner set. I like it that way but I really love lotus root soup. Ah....in winter, it was heaven! Alas, the price of the lotus root here is expensive so I can only cook it occasionally. I also love eating the lotus seed raw or when it is used as a paste for mooncakes.



Although the flowers are the main draw, I love the leaves as well and they come in many shapes, either round, or more heart shaped. And I love the look of the lotus seeds/pods, probably because they remind me of how delicious they taste! Haha!



I had always missed the lotus flowering season for the past three years I had been here and this is my first time actually viewing them. Back home, in our lake gardens, we used to have this pond filled with lotus plants but on my last trip back, the plants were dying. Now I regret not taking pictures of them before.

For more pictures, please visit my Flickr album - the link is on the right.

For bigger viewing pleasure of the pictures, please visit my Photoblog site ( What do I see? ) - the link is on the right.