Saturday: Where is Harry Potter?

Saturday - I was out of the house by noon I think, looking for a nice, cosy place to sit and read. Hermann Hesse's Narcissus and Goldmund was nearing its end. By a twist of fate too trivial to speak, I ended up at Bukit Batok library, which turned up to be a disappointment. There, you can hear kids screaming, running with their slippers flapping, and babies crying.

So it was back to my old hunt, Jurong Regional Library. Well, if you were to ask me where to take my date, JRL would be my choice; I know, that’s pathetic. That was where I spent most of the afternoon anyway. And the novel is excellent work, a real page-turner, no matter my occasional difficulty in understanding the underlying themes, time is the essence.

I got my ticket then for the Harry Potter's movie, and caught the early evening show. Not too bad, the movie, though it was much darker than the first instalment, and Harry, being all grown up, has lost much of his charm. What I like was how Harry has taken up more responsibilities, developed his leadership, become a teacher of magical spells, and of course, fallen in love. And how emotions, love and friendship, are perceived by Lord Voldemort as weaknesses.

At certain level, there are similarity between Japanese anime and Harry Potter, like Hell Girl, where the victims are misfits in school, bullied, often orphans and fighting for dignity, self-belief. So that is where the magic (or better magic) comes in handy, as a rebellion and privilege of sorts, against the in-crowd consisting of so-called influential, sophisticated students, which explains the people Harry is associated with: nerds, or those with less glamorous background. And at fourteen, Harry ought to have about out-grown all that.

To end the day, I had a great swim at Clementi after cutting my hair. Please don't call me a cheapstake for using the pool's shower to wash my hair.