J.K. Rowling - "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"

Books are increasing in size. I hope I'm not too much influenced by H,D.'s remark that "one of them kind of fell out".

J.K. Rowling - "Harry Potter and the goblet of fire"

Enjoyed the book, though a few things were too scarcily explained: Voldemort and Potter have a wand with a hair from the same unicorn. Bit too much of a coincedence? It is briefly explained that Harry tried a number of wands and he chose the one which "felt best". So ok, we can go along and assuming his ever-existing link with Voldemort, this kind of makes sense.

But suddenly explaining that two wands of the same source can "clash" at which point one of them starts to regurgerate his last spells... nah. Make it a battle of will, power, mind, emotion. This is pulled out of a sleeve.

Bert Visscher - "Stoffe Jongens" (Carré)

No show of him will ever be able to be as funny as "Fijne Nuances", but altogether it was quite an amusing evening in Carré. A bit too much repetition, the diashow (again) is simply a very weak point in his programme.

Nice detail, S,R. has had troubles with his health for quite some time now. Must rest a lot... and he joins us for this performance. 

Bert Visscher vs rest: 1-0

Moby - "Pale horses"

Pretty good. It has the sad vibe that DJ Shadow pulled off now and then. Particularly the violins sounded like the lovey "Gitana 1928" from Spy-Fi "The Shadow Knows" album.

J. K. Rowling - "Harry Potter and the goblet of fire"

Quite a lot bigger than the previous two. I wonder whether the success of the books caught up here and made Rowing write so much more. Right now, after a long description of the Quidditch World Championship, we finally seem to start heading towards the actual story.

It's written well, mind you, and it does indulge the reader into the magical world, but the other books seem much more focussed on the story without so much background.

It might be necessary for the story which is to unfold though. We'll see.

J. K. Rowling - "Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban"

Near the end I was afraid she'd pull a deus ex machina, but fortunately it was unfounded. Didn't keep extensive notes. Liked it.

Ok, in all honesty, it still did feel like a minor deus ex machina when Sirius Black turns out to be innocent. There seems to be no way of knowing this beforehand, no possible hints, which does make this feel like a trick. Not one which brings my opinion tumbing down, mind you, but still...