A new phrase has entered the collective ISOM conscience thanks to master wordsmith and tennis ace Tinks. “Doing a Frodo” means breaking up the fellowship. Its usage may be thus demonstrated “Bloody Ioannis did a Frodo on us”, or “Thanks Ioannis, for doing a Frodo on us”, or “Trust Ioannis do go and do a stinking Frodo on our fellowship”. This implies letting down his friends and being a gay boy to boot. For a thrilling account of this, go to Gandalf’s page

Go to Boudica of Suburbia, riotously funny writing. This gal’s got style.

My pet tiger Hobbes. He is sarcastic, and always hungry. And he’s not potty trained. But if you stroke him he closes his eyes in appreciation. (I’ll have you know this is not my idea, but I’m playing along in a post-modern ironic way) Ohhh, isn’t he just the cutey-wuteiest ever!!

Oh, by the way, take your raincoats to Munich, the weather’s cloudy and windy over there. Almost like a home away from home then.

When I’m at home, I sometimes make little notes on my flip-pad to remind me to blog about when I come to uni and get on t’Net. Now I’ve got my pad open, so let’s see what’s there.
Starting off with yesterday’s telly (that’s practically all I do at home, watch telly and feed the cat)
ITV had a programme about the shots that shook the world, I think they named it “50 shots that shook the world in the last 50 years” (ITV is celebrating 50 years of news reporting), and quite aptly so in my humble judgement. This was of course a telephone vote so the good British Public could have their say (and the good channel ITV could make some money in their doing so).
So, top ten moments were, (amidst fanfare)
10 The toppling of the Berlin Wall
9 Liverpool FC’s comeback against AC Milan in the Champion’s League final
8 The massacre at Tian-an-men Square
7 The Ethiopian famine ’84-’85
6 Princess Diana’s wrecked car
5 England winning the World Cup in ’66
4 JFK’s assassination
3 The tsunami that struck South East Asia
2 The Apollo landing on the moon
and..
1 The plane flying into the Twin Towers

Now, call me what you will, but there are certain patterns I see emerging. I remember a book I had last year at uni, called Theories of the Info Society. In this reader, one guy (I think it’s Habermas) mentions the power of the Western media (here we go again) and how ‘world news’ isn’t really that, and most news reports put non-Western countries in a bad light by only reporting the events of disaster and Western Aid efforts. I see 3 non-Western events listed here, and Blimey! the words ‘massacre’, ‘famine’ & ‘tsunami’ are all I see.

Oh, and of course they had a mini-documentary of New Yorkers, and how they saved each others’ lives, and one guy said “Fear is now part of our life”. Surely you knew fear before 911, when crossing Central Park even in broad daylight, mate!

Of course, this wouldn’t be a British vote if there weren’t not one, but two football events in the top ten events that shook the WORLD these 50 years gone. Err.. I thought the Champions League finals were played every year.

Talking of footie, I had this quote down in my flip-pad. The commentator is speaking of the striker Yakubu latching on to a long fast pass and then scoring – “He killed it with his first touch, buried it with his second!” Ah, it’s an art!

But SURELY THERE WERE MORE NOTE-WORTHY GOINGS-ON IN THE FIELDS OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINE AND SPACE TRAVEL!!!!

And does anybody know what happened to the world’s first test-tube baby??? What does she do, where is she, etc.? She ought to be around my age now. (This is where my ‘friends’ get the opening for wisecracks about my age)

I watched an engrossing program on BBC four (I think it was) about the use of existing and emerging media channels by terrorists both home-grown and democratically elected. A plausible attempt at impartial reporting was made by the Beeb reporter, although obviously the Beeb itself never came in for any criticism. There was loads of stuff to think about. I remember one hardy reporter saying “It’s hard for people to understand what happens in a news room when we hear of a train crash. We say -that’s exciting, how many died. Not usual reactions one would expect in polite society”(not verbatim). And was this very program itself simply producing another program under the guise of ‘attempting to understand terrorism’ because it’s stuff that people will watch in today’s environment? I think not, but I also think that somewhere a studio executive is going “A terrorist program? Sure, they’re selling like hotcakes at the mo’! ”
A lot was made of the TV station Al-Jazeera who are accused often of being the main conduit for terrorsit messages to reach the majority of the Arab population, to whom it represents the main source of reliable information bar none. Why don’t people take a leaf out of India’s book, who have been fighting a propaganda war against the militant separatist group LTTE Tamil Tigers for a long time. In the state of Karnataka where I lived, there was a proto-Osama (called Prabhakaran I think)a self-styled smuggler and terrorist who staged similar press conferences with journalists. He had immense popular support with the people, which saved his hide from being caught many a time. The tactics were so like-for-like, that I was amazed when this wasn’t mentioned last night. But I’m sure there’s nothing unique about any case, except for the scale of Osama’s reach (he thanks Bush for creating him, both literally and in the media’s eyes, I’m sure). Oh, and of course the fact that they can now use the Internet, which can’t be banned.
As an aside, a reporter also said he sat through many focus groups who proved that the public loves to watch violent scenes, so the news will show them.

Well, for you there’s the Homeless World Cup, a mega extravaganza involving 27 teams and 60,000 spectators. Sounds like the average crowd I see around my neighbourhood Netto supermarket that! But guys, it’s for a good cause, raising awareness about poverty. And all by the good guys at ‘SuperConglomerateSportsManufacturing Corp.’ “Impoverished is nothing” “Just eat it”

There used to be a time when I had friends all around, laughing and whatnot. Then they found out I had a deadly disease called “Disso”. I guess it’s true what them song says, ain’t nobody knows you when you’re down and out. (SIGH!!) I’m gonna have to deal with it myself now. The lord god he knows I could’ve done with a helping hand. But it’s my bed and it’s what as I’m gonna lie in. Truth be told, I never trusted them fair feathered fair weather folk anyhow.

Jessy, Simon, Tinks, Wanjia and I all went to the 20:40 show at the Cornerhouse yesterday. Great colours and wonderful scenery, it was an interesting film to watch, if only it wasn’t so long. “Calcifer! Calcifer!” (an inside joke) Then we went to Kro2 to sink a pint each. It was nice fun sitting with good friends. I went off with Simon and Tinks for drinks and to watch ‘Dodgeball’, which I found highly unamusing, seeing as how it was full of predicatable gags and unbelievable plots. Managed to sleep at half-four in the morning after partially watching ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ that I borrowed from Tinks.

Okay, I’m just here for a random outburst of verbal haemorrhage! First of all, United lost to Blackburn, shame. Owen’s doing well for himself as I always knew he would.

We went to Tai Wu on Thursday, were seated in the buffet hall underground along one side of the hall. There were a lot of people. We managed to talk to some of the newbies, I forgot to mention Ina’s charitable act of donation. We discussed the issue of passing on the isom weblog to the new generation, but PK wasn’t there to offer to pay for it. Also we needed IT Support as well to thrash out the details, and how much we were going to relinquish control of what essentially is our online home. We went out after that for a couple of amphoras of nectar with some of the newbies, CCRM did the same so we hooked up in town. Then details start to get a bit hazy….

We’re going to see Howl’s Moving Castle at the Cornerhouse now, must be v.good.

Deutsche Boy has sent an email, here are some snippets.

Your personal driver will pick you up there in order to take you safely and entertained by good music to Bavaria-capital Munich.

I suggest hiking as we give Tinks the opportunity to balance the calories which she’s going to consume here. (We cannot let her get fatter anymore, can we?).

We could stay there overnight at a Hütte/hut, to enjoy the nature and quietness with chilled beer and proper Bavarian food. (overnight costs around 15 Euro – estimated).

O.k. any questions? Yes, what to bring: sleeping bags, good shoes for hiking, mini-skirt, warm clothes (if we stay overnight in the alpes).

Person to write Master’s level dissertation bearing the title “A secondary analysis of literature pertaining to the issue of resistance to changes in Information Systems”. Minimum requirements = O-Level English, medium height and GSOH. Will be paid handsomely in complementary phrases and plastic buttons.

Tinks and mua went to see ‘Red eye’ yesterday thanks to free fresher’s tickets at AMC. All I can say is that we had red eyes by the time the movie finished. First half- boring, second half- comic! Wes Craven’s directed a materpiece of crap! I also saw ’10 good ways to lose a guy’ with Matthew McConnaught or something, and ‘Ladykillers’ with Tom Hanks. I liked Tom Hanks, he does a beautiful impression of a professor; I just love the words he chooses! And the woman who owns the house is a stereotypical, god-fearing gospel-abiding woman. Went to bed at around 5-ish, hence the real red eyes today. Meeting my ubervisor at 2 pm., with a thoughtfully-created framework I just knocked up on the old PC.
On another note, regulars here might have noticed that Naz’s Weblog Inc. has linked up with Flickr to bring you, our dear customers, some great photos. I noticed that one particular picture I took required very precise settings to get the effect I wanted, namely:

Camera: Kodak C340 Zoom
Exposure: 0.011 sec (11930465/1073741824)
Aperture: f/3.5999999046326
Focal Length: 10.8 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash fired, auto mode

I wasn’t sure whether I should’ve maybe gone for a f/3.5999999046411, but I’ll let you be the judge. Perfection does come at a price

Time for you guys to learn something. You might find it interesting to know that:-
If you take a strip of paper, and glue one end of the strip to the other so it forms a band or belt, you can then cut along the middle of the strip down the length of it, or what is the circumference of the band, to divide the band into two separate bands. But if you give the strip of paper one twist before gluing the ends together, you have what is called a continuous loop or Mobius Band, and cutting along the middle will only give you a bigger loop. It is called a continuous loop because this object has only one surface, which can be verified simply by using a pen and drawing a line round the circumference.

I feeeeel each day, is slip-slipping a..way! Tinks and mua went to the Academy today to grab free loot from the freshers’ fair. (We’re going again tomorrow, so call us if you wanna get organised.) I just realised what I would be missing soon. A blog I was reading really hit home then; the man really made sense. I guess I’ll be visiting there quite often now. Ahh, of course, almost forgot to tell you sorry lot where to find this lovely blog. He’s (obviously male, because it’s funny and interesting) got some really good stuff. But the Useless Advice article should start you off. Now there’s a desparate struggle going on for soon-to-be ex-students to source a student card so that the fun may long continue. I’ve managed it, but I’m not telling how!!

Everyday I bait the hook and cast my lines, and no fish!! Anyhow, I’m off to pollinate the web. (Must comment, must comment)
I’m thinking of a song here:
“Everyday I bait the hook and cast my lines, and no fish!!
Everyday I catch the worms and set the traps, and no fish!!”
I’m guessing along the lines of pantomime, with the audience coming in at NO FISH. A spot of audience participation goes down a treat at panto, I’m told.

Then it must be OKTOBERFEST!!! Just got off the blower with my ATM, sorry, dad, so glad to talk to him and find out how he is, etc. (money money). Apparently many moons ago he went to beer land as well, and when I delicately broached the subject of sponsorship, he said eats and drinks are all free at the festival. Like I mentioned; MANY, MANY moons ago. Having gently been reminded of the fact that this happens to be 2005, he parted with some funds. Yippee. Munich is ON, I repeat ON. The eagle has taken off!!! The dolphin is swimming!!! The pied wagtail is wagging its tail!!! Houston, we are ok, I repeat, OK to go!

Ardent fans of mine (go on, admit it, you know you are one) will recall that I intended to watch Herzog’s film yesterday. But plans change, and none change as inscrutably as mine. Unless they’re plans made in Kyoto, that is. So I decided to see saw. Saw the film. I mean what I saw was saw the film. (Haha, can’t resist) The film ‘Saw’ is what I decided to see, and saw. (After some more jokes in this vein…) Real scary film in some parts, although you can’t help comparing it to an all-time great, ‘Seven’ with Morgan Freeman, and Prat Bidd (try saying his name properly after reading this out loud. I couldn’t). See, the problem I have with ‘Saw’, and a lot of movies of this genre, is that once they have a little character called “Psychopath”, they don’t bother explaining why he goes to all that effort to snuff a few random souls. The psychopath folder becomes a kind of hold-all, wherein any inexplicable acts can be stuffed and justified. e.g. “Mommy, why did the bad guy bother to cut the guy up and fry the steaks with tarragon sauce and a dash of lemon (including the rind, don’t waste the rind) when he was going to toss him to the sharks anyway?” “Weeell, he’s a Syko, innit? Stands to reason he dunno whats he doin’, innit? he’s just a fookin’ Syko. You complete set of bahstads, you” (No reason why Mommy talks like that, just giving more to the character to prevent it from becoming flat and two-dimensional. Avid readers might note the heavy borrowing from Mel B of ‘Spicy Girls’ fame. More avider readers might even notive the pun on ‘avid’, as in Avid Merrion, ginger-haired creator of the Mel B character). Seven (or Se7en, as it is also known) has the invaluable scene with Kevin Spacey (my mind keeps telling me it’s John Malkovich, for some reason. But you can’t argue with God. Especially God in google form) in the back of the cop car explaining his actions. If you see ‘Saw’ (it’s just pathetic now Naz) the (un)character of the killer is justified by some shots of a guy lying in bed with a tumour in the frontal lobe. That’s all folks!
Okay, deep breath…and….
I also saw ‘Wasabi’, from Luc Besson of Leon and Fifth Element fame. Basically we have Jean Reno again, with some young girl again (dunno what it is, but there seem to be a lot of young girls as co-stars who have crushes on him. Hmmm…), with some hilarious scenario again. I was too tired to pay much attention near the end, but there was some shooting and stuff. And $200 million. And a half-rabbit, half-hippo creature with fifteen foot tentacles growing out of its nose. Or maybe not.

Amazing change has come over my favourite town, apart from ZergbergBlasfreg, my hometown. Everywhere I see slack-jawed, gum-chewing freshers, some with their parents in tow, exploring Madchester with boggled eyes. Standing outside the Footage, I saw one mom and her son in a black Vauxhall Meriva drive the wrong way up a busy Grosvenor street. It wasn’t upto me to stop her. By the way, here’s something on the Worst Disaster to hit the US . The US is not alone in its suffering, I tell thee. I’m looking forward to a great Werner Herzog film at 1:40 tonight about what we will do if (when) Earth becomes uninhabitable.

I watched TSA Mary again. Great comedy, one of the few such films that I really like, although I must say it’s not typical in its storyline, only in the way it’s shot, if that makes sense. I mean that it’s not often you see a comedy about three stalkers, but the gags are pretty standard. I love the cheesy acting of Matt Dillon, whose part I think is extremely well-written. He loves retarded kids, as evident from-
“Those goofy bastards are about the best thing I’ve got going”, and
Matt: “I work with retards”
Mary: “Isn’t that a little politically incorrect?”
Matt: “Yeah, maybe, but hell, no one’s gonna tell me who I can and can’t work with”.
Cracking!!

Those of you who know ginger-haired Avid Merrion (this includes you, Deutsche Boy) from Bo’ Selecta and A Bear’s Tail, must have watched yesterday’s great one. The bear and family go to the cinema to watch “Star Wars: the empire strikes black”. And there’s Michael Jackson “Shamon, mother fucker” as Michael Moonwalker, Craig Dayyyvid as Princess Leia and Mel B as Mel B Wan Kanobi. What a hilarious sketch that was. They’re in a glove-shaped spaceship, and then they spot the death star, and Mel B goes:- “That’s no moon, that’s a fookin’ Death Star. You complete set of Bahstads, you!” I love it!!!

Went to Jessy’s pad yesterday, ostensibly to say goodbye to Bingboula & German Boy. Actually it was just an excuse to watch football on the telly with some friends!! Chelsea 1-0, looks like another season they’ll be grinding out such results without any style whatsoever despite the big names they boast. Well done Scousers, although Betis threw a lot at them. Highlight of yesterday’s clashes was Kaka of AC Milan walking through a defense from midfield to score his second of the match. Lowlight was Prso of Rangers first head-butting a Porto player, for which he should’ve been sent off, then preventing the keeper from saving a goal by actually pushing his hand away!! Shame on Rangers!! Farcical comedy was two own goals in the Olympiakos-Rosenberg match, the Greek own goal was one which will remain with me for a long time to come But the shocker of them all has to be Real Madrid going down to Lyon 3-0!! Ala Madrid?? Hasta la vista Madrid!!!
Man Utd tonight. Beer, anyone??

Ioannis the giant spider, sitting at the middle of his IT web, intimately connected and in tune with every twitching that signals a juicy fly has been snared.
This morning, I was watching ‘Survival’ on ITV2. Apparently, there’s a rare Congo Peacock that was last observed 13 years ago. And the Giant otter shrew is aptly named giant, because it’s about 100 times larger than a common jungle shrew.

As I neck another “red bull”, I feel like a hummingbird. Hummmmmming bird. hum hum hum hum hum. Ming bird. Humming board. Humming bored. hummmmmmmmmmmm. why are there no songs about hummmmming board’s? “Fly, like a hummming bird”.

My friends will testify to the fact that I really hate to blow my own trumpet (I tried once, but I couldn’t reach it ) but I had a couple of good ones in this conversation with cherryfairy today

Away with the fairies says:
I have but I’m putting it off. Sound familiar?

Cogito, ergo dumb (new mob no.079200xxxxx) http://naz.isom.org.uk/ says:
I’d love to procrastinate, but I guess I’ll have to do it tomorrow

Cogito, ergo dumb (new mob no.079200xxxxx) http://naz.isom.org.uk/ says:
Actually, that’s my new line now

Away with the fairies says:
Slick.

I’d love to procrastinate, but I guess I’ll have to do it tomorrow http://naz.isom.org.uk/ says:
slicker than an Exxon-Valdez beach party

“The hills are alive with the sound of bullshit”. I cannae go on lad. BTW, I found a CRACKING joke here.

“Where people are free there is music” – a line from the film ‘The Second Heimat’. Just thought it was nice. By the way, we (Helgi, Jana, Rayk & I) went to the Cornerhouse to watch the film ‘Last Days’. It’s the third of the trilogy by director Gus Van Sant. Loosely based upon Kurt Cobain of Nirvana fame. And we can say this to all, don’t go. Bloody boring, but we managed to get a few laughs out of it. Like how atleast this movie, being the third and final part, had an end to it. But the sufferers who sat through the first and second parts were denied even that pleasure. And you’d expect some decent music in the soundtrtack, wouldn’t you?? No, for some reason GVS thinks operatic music would give a ‘feel’ to his still camera shots. The only ‘feel’ I got was a pain in the old backside from sitting through that interminable film.

I found this gem in Rayk’s dissertation, and felt it had to be shared with the general public. I know this has appeared earlier in a comment I made on Jessy’s weblog, but given the miniscule amount of people that read that blog, I thought I had to put it here so that it could reach a much wider audience.

The focus thereby is on understanding, learning and finding new ways of doing things in order to innovate around these elements and leverage their strategic value contribution. As such, it challenges the status quo and fosters learning for competitive differentiation under strategic aspects.
(Grabosch, 2005)

There was a story in today’s Metro about Tesco making a mistake and putting porn on a kid’s phone. But this intrepid reporter read between the lines to bring you this story:-
A 14 year old boy got caught by his mom with porn on his mobile. The video clips especially “were so rude and you could see absolutely everything that was going on”. So atleast the kid knew where to get the proper stuff from, and wasn’t ripped off like I, I mean, my friend was. The boy, in a stroke of genius that, quite frankly, had me applauding, managed to point his greasy finger at Tesco’s and saved his spotty little hide. His mom felt that “a piece of his innocence has been taken away”. I agree the innocence has gone, but I’m betting it was less taken, and more voluntarily offered away.
On another, rather sadder, note: A young girl apparently committed suicide after being influenced by websites that talked about it. Basically that’s what I understood from the headlines, and I’ll be buggered sideways if I’m gonna read it for you lazy bums. Here’s the link. I’ve never seen an ‘Internet suicide site’, is it the Internet committing suicide, or are the visitors virtually dying when they get there (see what I did there?). I’m assuming as long as you make a backup copy you’ll be ok.

I have a new Ubervisor, CW. Met him today along with Mamie. And I must say I was pretty impressed. Very straightforward and relaxed guy, he managed to logically plan out a strategy for us to work by. Have to do a lot of work for the next meeting on Wednesday, but I get the feeling things are going to be alright. “Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it’s all right”

Is Heaton Park the biggest park in Europe?? Someone claimed that, and I immediately countered with “What about Brandenburg Park?” As if I know where the Dilbert that park is, but I had to say something. Gotta go google it now. Ok, Heaton’s one of the biggest municipal parks in Europe. 640 acres, 25% of the green space of Manchester. Also found out that Brandenburg Park is actually a business park in Berlin, so I was obviously just BS-ing. People who know me will find that very unusual.

A dream scenario:-
“I was acting in an advert for a stupid injury claims company when I fell off a ladder while attempting to imitate some stupid oaf claimant who fell off his ladder because he was too daft to make sure the legs wouldn’t slip. I injured my back severely, and wasn’t able to do any more wooden acting for 3 months. I called the stupid injury claims company, and they successfully sued themselves on my behalf. I got the grand sum of £3,540″
Only people with TV’s will get this (although ownership of a televisual apparatus doesn’t ensure understanding of this post). I hate these ‘injury claim’ ads, although I got 1000 squid claiming after I had an accident in my friend’s car and “suffered severe whiplash injuries to the neck” !

Today e-bay is celebrating its 10th birthday! And I’m still an e-bay virgin. I think I need to be broken in. Apparently there are over a 1/4 of a million things been bought every day in the UK alone. On a separate note, I can’t seem to be able to connect my phone to my computer, even after installing the drives 3 times. And Tinks’ phone works fine with my comp. So I guess all my dreams of being called by people to the ringtone of Rush will have to wait. Can’t even swap photos Where is IT Support when you need it most???

Finally got a new phone. Miss Fung accompanied me to drive a hard bargain. That salesperson didn’t know what hit him! I guess I could get used to the concept of buying something AND being given cash in hand for it. Sony Ericsson is really the Dog’s Bollocks!! Great stuff!

As I am visiting quite a number of photoblogs daily, and peppering them with my comments, I felt a comment on the “back-slapping phenomenon” was due in these pages. Jessy alerted me to a real crap photo the other day on Chris Kern’s website. look at it and you’ll see what I mean. A photoblog seems to attract a lot of self-seeking people, and even terrible photos are complimented in a sort of ‘quid pro quo’ manner, with inane remarks on how the “Depth of Field is great”, or the “Point of View is lovely”, or the “composition is unique”!. Well I say let’s put an end to this. If it’s a crap photo, then call it a crap photo!

I was forced today to reciprocate the kindness of our isom ladies by providing dinner for them. I rose to the occasion! Managed to get Ali to drive me to ASDA, where I spent a long time considering my options. Jessy had made it clear that I could cook anything as long as it was chicken. So I got some prime cuts of beef…Nah, jus’ kiddin’. I got some pieces of chicken breast, a sachet of Chargrilled Chicken and one of Bombay Potatoes. Bought some ASDA ‘stimulating drink’ to wash it down with. So the dishes of the day were Pasta Conchiglie con Chargrilled Chicky, i Patata a la Bombay. Yummax! Managed to cook it in record time as well, especially considering how hungover I was in t’morning. (Neat link into a description of last night’s shenanigans) Rayk & I went to the Cornerhouse for a movie reckoned to be one of the “great mind-fuck movies”. With accolades like that, it was irresistable. We managed to smuggle in a 4 pack of Grolsch (although it’s not exactly Fort Knox in there) and proceded to merry the time away. The movie, ‘Primer’ was absolutley amazing, have to see it atleast twice. I have to take back all my snide comments about American cinema now. We then decided to sink a few sweet ones in the Grand Central. After another couple, Rayk was ready for home, but he hadn’t counted on my persuasive charm. Revolution it was then, and when Ali joined us to head for Ponana, Rayk hardly put up any resistance at all. All in all, we were on to getting well blathered! Um.. then we caught a cab, no no, there was this cow, no, it was a kebab,… Anyway, lights out.

Ah, let me kiss this sweet Mancunian earth. As I was waiting for my luggage, I commented on how I’d never experienced any of the hilarious incidents of missing luggage, stolen stuff etc. on all my travels. Lo! I find my rucksack split open, and phone missing As well as my headphones. So I’m temporarily out of contact with all the hordes who wish to welcome me back home.
(Later on in Naz’s day)
I bought some top qwality headphones, £3.99 for both ears. I finished reading Harry Potter’s (yes, I know he didn’t write it, he’s only a kid) Order of Phoenix this morn, apparently it’s either him or Lord Volvofort that has to be killed. Surprised me, I’ll say! Also, all the teachers know that some kids are bad ‘uns, so why keep teaching them Dark Arts? So they’ll grow up and the good ‘uns will have somebody to fight? Why not screen the students? As for the magic fights, if I was a wizard confronted by a snotty-nosed, self-centred brat like Potter n Co, I’d jinx him good and proper! Cruciatus Maximus Screamus! Rowling seems to confuse magic with Star Wars sometimes, what with all the dodging of red light and green light going on.