1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,640
This is MJ, I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer.

2
00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:06,320
You can find all my work at MJMUNOZ.COM

3
00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:09,720
Welcome to Skimming Leaves.

4
00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:15,160
This is a sub-episode, sub-series of Story of Everything, and in this episode I'm going

5
00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:19,200
to be talking about Harry Potter Book 4, Goblet of Fire.

6
00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:24,280
So to start it off, I'm going to give you some fun facts about the book, and then I

7
00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:30,520
will hand things off to my past self to discuss my thoughts on the book right after finishing

8
00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:31,520
it.

9
00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:34,520
Like, minutes after I finished the book, I was sharing my thoughts on it, so you'll get

10
00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:35,520
to hear that.

11
00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:37,000
Excuse me.

12
00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:43,320
So the book was published July 8, 2000.

13
00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:48,720
Scholastic in the US and Bloomsbury, apparently which is a thing that publishes books in the

14
00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:52,080
UK, published them simultaneously.

15
00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:57,280
There was also a midnight release of the book in the year 2000, when it was released.

16
00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:02,440
I believe I've mentioned this before, but I vaguely remember my sister going to a midnight

17
00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:03,440
release.

18
00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,300
It may have been for this book because this, you know, Book 4, was the first one to get

19
00:01:07,300 --> 00:01:12,720
a midnight release, and then apparently 5, 6, and 7 all got midnight releases as well,

20
00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:16,940
and yeah, I had no idea what this was, but obviously, you know, there's people outside

21
00:01:16,940 --> 00:01:21,720
of America, and there are people who weren't me, I was like 13, you know, who had been

22
00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:26,320
reading these books and other books at the time, and were excited about this thing.

23
00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:30,040
So that's kind of crazy to think there was a midnight release, and it's burned in my

24
00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:35,360
mind that my sister and her friend went to this store for the release of a book at midnight,

25
00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:37,520
and I just thought, that's crazy, how do you do that?

26
00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:42,480
And now it's interesting, all these years later, I'm finding out that it was a thing

27
00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:50,360
that happened, and apparently it happened with Goblet of Fire, so that's kind of neat.

28
00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:58,560
There's, according to, this is so funny, the word count is approximately 190,637, which

29
00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:03,360
I don't know how you do that, and apparently the UK and American, or US versions of them

30
00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:09,000
are different, the UK comes in at 636 pages, and the US is at 734, is that because the

31
00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:13,440
font size is different, is it because the size of the books is different generally,

32
00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:17,120
I know there's different cuts of paper from all around the world, if you've ever messed

33
00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:23,240
around with a printer you'll see all these different sizes for printing out documents,

34
00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:25,840
so maybe that's what that's about.

35
00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:34,080
And I think, let me see, some of the Triwizard Tournament here, Flordy LeCour, Victor Crum,

36
00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:39,440
Mad Eye Moody, these characters were introduced, as well as Barty Crouch Jr., although I thought

37
00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:44,360
both Crouch's Jr. and Sr. were introduced here, but maybe that's a spoiler, I can't

38
00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:51,680
remember now, so I won't dwell on it, don't think about the spoilers, and hmm, what else,

39
00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:52,680
what else?

40
00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:58,520
There's a bunch of romance in this book, which I will talk about later, and I guess that's

41
00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:01,040
a fun fact, let me see, what else?

42
00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:06,320
Yeah, I think that's about it for the fun facts that I'm going to share, because the

43
00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:10,240
rest of these aren't as fun as they could be, and I don't want to bring you down, I

44
00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:15,880
don't want to harsh your mellow, so anyway, this was a good book, and I enjoyed it a lot,

45
00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:23,320
and there's lots I have to say about it, and I'll let you hear what all that is.

46
00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:29,400
It has been moments since I have finished listening to the audiobook of J.K. Rowling's

47
00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:36,200
Harry Potter and, hold on, it'll come to me, I'm not going to tell you which book number

48
00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:41,080
it is, because it'll be funnier this way, oh, The Goblet of Fire, yes, so that's book

49
00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:49,320
four, and I thought it was interesting, I was shocked by the fact that the first Harry

50
00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:56,720
Potter book was seven hours long, and the fourth had exploded, bloomed, blossomed,

51
00:03:56,720 --> 00:04:04,800
inflated like Aunt Margaret, to be a twenty hour long book, however, unlike Aunt Margaret,

52
00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:11,800
every bit of it was welcome and enjoyable to experience, I don't know why I'm using

53
00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:17,600
that metaphor, it's really weird, and I do apologize, but I can't go back now, so we're

54
00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:21,800
just going to move forward, that's all we can do.

55
00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:28,240
So I liked the book, I was shocked by it, there were a lot of interesting twists and

56
00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:38,840
turns, and I don't want to spoil, so I'll just say it like this, the last hour or so,

57
00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:46,120
which was I think the last two chapters, two plus, was interesting because it was basically

58
00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:56,680
a, it was like a reverse heist, or it was like the bad guy had done a heist, basically,

59
00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:05,200
and we got to unravel and see flowing backwards from the point at which the bad guy had achieved

60
00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:10,800
victory, yeah, had achieved victory, how that all came together and all the work that went

61
00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:15,720
into it, and it was really interesting for me, because I thought that the Prisoner of

62
00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:21,680
Azkaban had a little bit of an aspect of it, not like a heist, but like a mystery, and

63
00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:26,520
we really got to unravel that mystery in the end of the book, in the last leg of the book,

64
00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:33,080
however much, whatever percentage that equates to, which I'm not going to guess.

65
00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:39,080
In the bomb books, the Wizard of Oz, it's always like 75% through, there's a turn for

66
00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:45,300
the positive, and then the heroes have a triumphant march or a triumphant campaign where they

67
00:05:45,300 --> 00:05:50,840
just like are mowing through things for the last quarter of the book, and then it just

68
00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:56,760
ends suddenly at like 99.9% of the book, it's like, and it's over.

69
00:05:56,760 --> 00:06:02,160
However that is not what happened here, and I do think it's, so touching back on bomb

70
00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:07,920
briefly, all of the Wizard of Oz books, the 14 original Elfrick Bomb Wizard of Oz books,

71
00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:11,240
that is, are about four hours long.

72
00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:14,200
I think they're all 20 to 24 chapters.

73
00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:19,640
I knew it better when I was, I went on a spurt, or on a marathon basically, where I was downing

74
00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:25,160
those like every couple days, one of those a day basically, every day or so.

75
00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:30,040
So I saw the formula and I understood it better, and I can't remember if it's 20 or 24 chapters,

76
00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:34,400
but it's one of the two, or it's somewhere between them, and it's very consistent.

77
00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:37,320
The chapters are pretty consistently about 10 minutes long.

78
00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:40,680
In some books you have a five minute chapter and a 15 minute chapter, not necessarily back

79
00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:45,320
to back, but somewhere in and around each other, and it all bounces out to about 10

80
00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:49,560
minutes a chapter, and about, well no, because they're four hour books, how does that work?

81
00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:50,560
I don't know.

82
00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:51,560
Maybe I'm wrong.

83
00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:55,160
Maybe they're closer to 15 minute chapters, but regardless, we're talking about Harry

84
00:06:55,160 --> 00:07:00,080
Potter here and Rowling's work, not Bomb's work, but I was really surprised, I don't

85
00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:05,000
know if I mentioned this last time, that Rowling writes long chapters, a la Tolkien.

86
00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,480
I don't like Tolkien's long chapters.

87
00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:17,160
I kind of got spoiled entering into the British fantasy authors books by reading the Chronicles

88
00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:24,920
of Narnia and enjoying how Lewis kept them consistent and paced a certain way, and then

89
00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:30,320
I went to The Hobbit, or yeah, I think I went to The Hobbit and I said of the first chapter

90
00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:33,600
to myself, this is a 45 minute long chapter, how is that possible?

91
00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:36,840
But apparently it is, and it's something that other authors do.

92
00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:43,880
Again, it's something Rowling does here, and it's interesting because while it all took

93
00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:50,160
a long time, this is supposed to be encapsulating about a year, 10 months, of these characters'

94
00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:51,160
lives.

95
00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:58,640
So this is a 20 hour book, 10 months, that's two hours a month basically, that works.

96
00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:02,640
Two hours a month, that's 30 minutes a week, that makes sense.

97
00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:07,880
If you watch a TV show every week, that could be a 30 minute experience, approximately.

98
00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,720
So it's very understandable, it makes sense, and there were how many?

99
00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:15,200
There were 32, 33, maybe 34 chapters.

100
00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:21,280
Again, that's fairly reasonable, but I was surprised by how long the book is, and again,

101
00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:25,720
I'm trying not to go into too many details of the book, this is supposed to be casual

102
00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:30,280
and kind of spoiler free, and put your appetite for the book, so I don't want to go into too

103
00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:38,800
much of it, but I'm putting a button or a bow on that, I'm surprised how long the book

104
00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:39,800
is.

105
00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:45,840
The length of the book is enjoyable, and I don't think it overstays its welcome at all,

106
00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:51,680
and actually towards, at like 70%, like 17 hours in, I was thinking, alright, this is

107
00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:57,040
getting a little long, well there were two things actually, around 15 to 16 hours I thought,

108
00:08:57,040 --> 00:08:59,520
how are they going to put two more tasks in here?

109
00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:06,560
I won't hide the fact that the Goblet of Fire is about this, you know, a, something it's

110
00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:10,960
about, part of what it's about is this Triwizard Tournament, where these other two wizarding

111
00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:15,680
schools from somewhere in France and maybe somewhere in Germany, Bulgaria, Russia, I

112
00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:23,120
don't know, they come along and they have some of their class, the fourth year, fifth

113
00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:28,280
year, I don't know what, I think it's the fifth years, some of their fifth year class

114
00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:36,220
at Hogwarts for most of the year, and during that time, there's a competition called the

115
00:09:36,220 --> 00:09:42,880
Triwizard Tournament that features three tasks or deals, trials, however you want to call

116
00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:48,680
it, that each of the wizards from the school is supposed to be conquering, and at the end

117
00:09:48,680 --> 00:09:55,000
of it, whoever gets the most points will win the Triwizard Cup, win the Triwizard Tournament,

118
00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:59,600
and there's prestige for the school and the student, and there's also money for the student.

119
00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:06,400
However, what's strange about this year's Triwizard Tournament is that Harry is a fourth

120
00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:13,880
year, he should be age restricted from getting in, and he actually is in the tournament as

121
00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:20,000
a fourth champion, they're called champions, and he's not supposed to be there, and his

122
00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:25,680
uncle or his father, his godfather is worried about him and thinks that he's putting his

123
00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:30,720
life in danger and that somebody's trying to kill him through doing, by having him entered

124
00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:38,280
into the Triwizard Tournament, and it's interesting because Harry's a little flippant, so I'll

125
00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:44,320
talk about Harry for a little bit, it's interesting to me that he is a little flippant and cavalier

126
00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:51,600
about the fact that death is on the line, and he makes the classic of underestimating

127
00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:58,040
how serious that is for himself, I shouldn't laugh at my own jokes like that, he makes

128
00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:04,120
the foolish mistake of underestimating how serious the stakes are, and he really doesn't

129
00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:05,400
take things seriously.

130
00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:11,040
I do enjoy that this comes back, because I ended up telling my eldest about this, I said

131
00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:15,960
I can't believe what an idiot Harry is, although I kind of, I don't understand the concept

132
00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:24,000
of the idiot protagonist or the idiot hero, yeah whatever, I'm not into this anymore,

133
00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:30,120
this is part of my past life, but Ash from the Evil Dead series, or the Army of Darkness

134
00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:34,880
is where I was introduced to him, and that's the most benign, and that's where this really

135
00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:39,240
comes to the fore, he's an idiot, but he's really good at killing these deadites, these

136
00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:45,680
monsters that he has to fight, and that kind of makes up for it, you kind of enjoy seeing

137
00:11:45,680 --> 00:11:49,440
him get kicked around and beat around though, and then ultimately having a victory, not

138
00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:53,080
because you're cheering for him, but because it's fun to watch him get kicked around, which

139
00:11:53,080 --> 00:12:00,920
is weird, and that's mostly I think Sam Raimi's, that's from him, and anyway, that's kind of

140
00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:07,160
odd, but I enjoy Jokasatsu, I enjoy Power Rangers, there's a lot of idiot Red Rangers,

141
00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:13,840
especially in Super Sentai I would say, they're like dumbly optimistic in the American versions,

142
00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:18,160
the Power Rangers versions I would say, or they just don't make sense, but everybody

143
00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:21,240
goes along with them, like that guy's the leader, even though Black Ranger, or Blue

144
00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:25,840
Ranger, or whoever should be the leader instead, but in Super Sentai they're almost literally

145
00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:32,440
idiot protagonists, and in other Japanese media, in the Shonen manga, or Shonen manga

146
00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:39,200
and anime, you also have an idiot protagonist, hero, who for some reason, even though he

147
00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:43,960
doesn't try hard enough, he doesn't work at it hard enough, he doesn't study, he doesn't

148
00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:49,080
whatever, the power of friendship and his tenacity and optimism make him so that he's

149
00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:54,520
more powerful than the Dark Lord who spent decades honing his craft and his evil and

150
00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:59,480
sacrificing everything, and then this guy comes along and is able to fumble through

151
00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:04,280
things because he's got a good attitude, he's able to overcome all challenges, and it doesn't

152
00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:09,160
make any sense, it strains credulity, and there's a little bit of that with Harry, so

153
00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:15,760
it's a little odd, but after a certain point he does start taking things more seriously,

154
00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:19,520
coming up to the third trial really, he takes things seriously, but it's funny because even

155
00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:24,720
the villain who I explained, we get this reverse heist explanation from this villain, he explains,

156
00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:28,880
yeah, I was worried about you, that you're such an idiot Harry, that you were going to

157
00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:35,080
spoil all my plans, so I had to do all these things to orchestrate you coming out on top

158
00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:45,200
of this trial, and I thought that was delightful and hilarious, and yeah, I really dug it.

159
00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:50,560
It is interesting though that he did have that turnaround towards the third one, so

160
00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:55,080
there is this maturity going with Harry, even though he was in a weird place for a lot of

161
00:13:55,080 --> 00:14:04,240
this book, and I guess he's fourteen years old, to me that's no excuse, but then again,

162
00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:09,040
I was more of a Hermione than a Ron or a Harry at fourteen, even though I was not Hermione,

163
00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:14,280
so yeah, that's kind of interesting.

164
00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:17,800
Okay because I don't want these to be too long, I think I'm just going to touch on three

165
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:24,560
more things, romance, Hermione, and media, so hopefully I remember those quite well,

166
00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:27,520
romance, Hermione, and media, romance, Hermione, and media.

167
00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:37,280
Okay, here we go, so on the subject of romance, I do not appreciate the fact that this wizarding

168
00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:46,200
world full of all sorts of supernatural, ridiculous things has to include romance for children.

169
00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:54,480
I am not naive to the fact that kids like each other and quote unquote date and definitely

170
00:14:54,480 --> 00:15:00,440
fall in love at young tender ages.

171
00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:10,560
I have anecdotal experience and I have eyewitness experience as well, so yeah, there's no doubt

172
00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:11,840
that that does happen.

173
00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:16,960
However, I do not need it in my fiction, and I think my children certainly do not need

174
00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:24,440
it in their fiction, and I think you can easily go by for three books without mentioning anything

175
00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:27,880
like that, and if you can do it for three, you can certainly do it for four.

176
00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:34,200
So I'm a little disappointed or irritated or frustrated with the nascent romances that

177
00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:40,000
Rowling put into this book for whatever strange reason, and I'm not casting aspersions or

178
00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:48,120
saying she's doing anything ridiculous or out of the norm for your standard modern day

179
00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:50,840
author, I'll just call it that.

180
00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:56,080
I think people would excuse me of being a little more prosaic if I'm using that word

181
00:15:56,080 --> 00:16:03,240
properly, and I'm definitely more traditional, and therefore that's not necessary in this

182
00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:04,240
kind of thing.

183
00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:07,960
And besides, the fans are going to do that for you, so you don't have to worry about

184
00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:10,040
it.

185
00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:16,360
I was impressed, in fact, last book, that there was never really hints at a romance

186
00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:22,520
between Hermione and either Ron or Harry, and when they got into their fight, Ron and

187
00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:23,520
Harry in...

188
00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:27,120
Oh, I guess that's this book.

189
00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:28,120
Whoops!

190
00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:29,120
Spoilers!

191
00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:34,000
Well, they end up having a confrontation and spending time apart from each other, Ron

192
00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:40,600
and Harry, in this book, and I'm happy that it wasn't over Hermione.

193
00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:45,120
There is not a love triangle or any weird sort of romance thing going on between the

194
00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:48,120
three of them, which I think is wonderful.

195
00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:54,520
So it's commendable in some ways, but not so commendable in other ways, and I don't

196
00:16:54,520 --> 00:17:02,240
think Rowling dwelled on it overly long, as some children's authors are willing and excited

197
00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:09,320
to do, which seems really weird to me, but anyway, I don't want to go on with that for

198
00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:11,840
too much longer.

199
00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:14,240
Hagrid has a romantic interest in the book.

200
00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:15,920
It doesn't go...

201
00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:21,000
Like most things for Hagrid, it does not go how he planned, and that's kind of funny and

202
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,960
kind of interesting, but it's also understandable.

203
00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:26,960
We also get to see Hagrid get drunk in one of these books.

204
00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:33,480
I think it was in the last book, and actually, I thought he should have gotten drunk in Azkaban,

205
00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:38,480
but I think he got drunk in Chamber of Secrets.

206
00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:43,800
Anyway, regardless, the kids see him drunk, and it's not a big deal.

207
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:45,120
I'm okay with that.

208
00:17:45,120 --> 00:17:48,160
That makes a little more sense to me than...

209
00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:53,080
It makes more sense to me to have an adult romance and an adult getting drunk in a children's

210
00:17:53,080 --> 00:18:00,000
book than it does to have an adult romance witnessed by these kids, and then also have

211
00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:01,520
kid romances in the same book.

212
00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:06,520
I don't know if that makes sense to you, but I'm drawing a parallel and saying, this makes

213
00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:11,240
sense and this is good and acceptable, whereas this other thing doesn't make as much sense

214
00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:14,480
to me and is less acceptable, or at least objectionable.

215
00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:16,600
So again, that's my opinion.

216
00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:19,560
You don't have to have my opinion, you don't have to agree, but I think the book would

217
00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:27,080
have worked just fine without those undertones, and maybe even the accusations made around

218
00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:31,480
that subject would have been fine to have if it wasn't directly explored through the

219
00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:32,480
characters' perspectives.

220
00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,480
I'd be okay with that.

221
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:43,160
That is all I want to say about that subject, which was romance.

222
00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:45,880
Then I think it was Hermione, then media.

223
00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:53,800
So in regards to Hermione, I let it slip that Ron and Harry get into a fight, and just as

224
00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:58,040
in Prisoner of Azkaban, where Hermione is taken out of...

225
00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:00,040
Wait, was that Azkaban?

226
00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:02,040
No, it was the other one.

227
00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:03,040
Ah!

228
00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:04,040
Anyway.

229
00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:16,480
Ron is taken out of play, as I say, all day, for some time, and that leaves Harry and Hermione

230
00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:24,000
to spend a lot of time together and to explore different aspects of their relationship as

231
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,000
friends, and I thought it was lovely.

232
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:33,240
I enjoyed seeing more of their interactions, and it was interesting to kind of separate

233
00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:40,760
Harry and Ron so that we could see different dynamics come to the fore, and I just thought

234
00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:44,120
it made it more interesting that there was that conflict, and then it resulted in the

235
00:19:44,120 --> 00:19:47,360
shifting of the dynamics, which was the same thing I thought when Hermione was taken out

236
00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:53,120
of play previously, so that was cool.

237
00:19:53,120 --> 00:19:59,040
On the other side of that, I do like how the whole issue was resolved with Harry and Ron,

238
00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:04,140
even if I thought their fight was a little silly.

239
00:20:04,140 --> 00:20:11,100
I liked the fight, but it was a little silly, and the resolution to it was basically spot-on.

240
00:20:11,100 --> 00:20:18,400
I think it was excellently done, so I liked that.

241
00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:23,880
And talking about media, it's interesting that for some reason a Wizarding World journalist

242
00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:34,320
comes into the story and causes a lot of damage, and even newspapers are used to convey useful

243
00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:41,600
and cogent and clear information to different people, like Harry's godfather.

244
00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:46,200
Somebody else, maybe even Arthur Weasley, no, he doesn't directly do it, but somebody

245
00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:51,000
else is said to have seen the Muggle newspapers, how they are picking up on some things in

246
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:55,240
the Wizarding World relating to Voldemort.

247
00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:56,240
I like that.

248
00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:59,320
I think it's interesting that the media is brought in as another aspect, even though

249
00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:03,360
I think today it's definitely overdone and over-saturated, and I hope it doesn't continue

250
00:21:03,360 --> 00:21:05,120
too much throughout the other books.

251
00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:09,200
It makes sense for this one now, I guess.

252
00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:12,480
I can concede it for this book, but if it carries on as a huge aspect of it, I'm going

253
00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:17,320
to be a little irritated or less than thrilled about it, but that's okay.

254
00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:27,240
There's a reporter, Rita Skeeter, who is a particularly acrimonious media woman, and

255
00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:36,240
she's basically a liar and libeler, because when you say that a newspaperman is doing slander,

256
00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:42,560
he can simply respond to you that he objects to that, because in print it's libel.

257
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:51,560
But anyway, she's a libelous, lying, scandal-monger, and an awful character, and I really dislike

258
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:52,600
her.

259
00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:57,320
She plays an interesting role in the book, but it also is like a weird role, and I don't

260
00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:58,320
quite...

261
00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:02,880
Maybe this is Rowling setting up something for future books that she wants to do, and

262
00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:06,240
I can't remember specifically all the stuff, because it was such a big book, that she tied

263
00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:12,640
in from Azkaban to Goblet of Fire, but I know there was stuff.

264
00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:17,160
So yeah, that was really interesting.

265
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:25,040
It's interesting that Rowling, maybe inadvertently in the story, tells you to question and be

266
00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:28,880
careful, be wary of the media, because sometimes they spread lies and say things just for their

267
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:36,200
own benefit, and then as time has gone on, she's been slandered in the media, or libeled

268
00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:40,240
in the media, and I just kind of find that interesting.

269
00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:43,960
But she does offer truths about that, but I know, it's interesting, there's a more nuanced

270
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:51,480
conversation that needs to be had, but the character was very unlikable, very dislikeable,

271
00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:53,880
bordering on hateable.

272
00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:58,400
And I don't know, some of the stuff in the book could be considered fluff, but it's brought

273
00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:01,480
on by Rita Skeeter, or Skeeter, whatever.

274
00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:07,800
And I don't know, it might branch off into something that's more profound in the following

275
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,760
books, but I don't know, it was just interesting.

276
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:16,280
It was a really interesting side thing that was in there for some reason, and that was

277
00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:22,760
doing something there, and I didn't understand it, and I could see the utility in it, and

278
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:28,160
it was enjoyable in some ways, and very unenjoyable in others, but I just kind of wondered what

279
00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:29,160
it was all about.

280
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:32,840
So I'm going to stop there, I'm not going to say too much more about it, or the rest

281
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:33,840
of the book.

282
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:37,240
I liked the book, I thought it was very interesting, I liked that the stakes had been ratcheted

283
00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:42,200
up, and I'm actually going to go right into the next book, which I think is very long,

284
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:46,880
and I don't have much more time until I have to return it to the cloud library that I'm

285
00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:47,880
borrowing it from.

286
00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:54,120
So yeah, that's all I have to say for now, and I will let Future Me wrap this up, as

287
00:23:54,120 --> 00:23:59,920
well as put an intro on it for this issue of skimming leaves that this will be found

288
00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:00,920
in.

289
00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:06,960
So until next time folks, take care, this is MJ signing out.

290
00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:08,560
I hope you enjoyed that.

291
00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:15,360
Go to MJMunoz.com to leave any questions, comments, or other feedback you might have.

292
00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:19,120
There you can find all of my analysis, art, and fiction.

293
00:24:19,120 --> 00:24:24,440
I cover books, tokusatsu, comic books, anime, and more.

294
00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:28,080
Look around, you're sure to find something else that you'll enjoy as well.

295
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:50,960
This has been a Story Over Everything production.