Matthew's Journal

I'm retiring the use of this software to run my journal and I've switched to Wordpress. The transition is still a work in progress, but, for the moment, you should use the URL millercommmatt.com/wordpress. Eventually, you'll just be able to use millercommamatt.com to view my journal, photos, and anything else I put up.

I'd like to recommend what I'm pretty sure is the longest single fan fiction story that I've ever read. Weighing in at over 1 million words, Sunset/Sunrise Over Britain, by Bob and Alyx, is a sprawling, imaginative story that covers the the fall and eventual liberation of Britain from the forces of Voldemort. This story isn't perfect, but it's a good read. I will warn readers that the characterizations of Ron Weasley, Molly Weasley, and Dumbledore are jarring if you're not prepared. However, once you've accepted the changes you can delve into what is a well written tale of epic size. Enjoy!

Sunset Over Britain (part 1)
Sunrise Over Britain (part 2)

Those who know me well know that I'm a fan of Harry Potter fan fiction. Fan fiction is a very peculiar thing. Everyone who writes it does so for fun and as a creative outlet. However, skill is by no means equal between authors. Sadly, the majority of fan fiction is written by people who would fail sixth grade composition. Nevertheless, there are a handful of exceptional fan fiction authors out there and I'm in a continual search for more.

Fortunately, the good authors tend to band together at websites like fanficauthors.net. However, there are other good authors that can be found at other places. One of those authors goes by the name nonjon. Nonjon is a talented writer and most of his work is comedic genius. However, one of his more serious stories is entitled, Browncoat, Green Eyes, and is a crossover story between the Harry Potter universe and the Firefly universe.

A crossover story is simply a fan fiction story that combines characters and elements from two or more different fictional universes. For example, a story where Darth Vader has to match wits with the valiant crew of the USS Enterprise would be a Star Wars / Star Trek crossover.

Browncoat, Green Eyes is a very well written story that follows up two years after the end of the Firefly movie, Serenity. The author is very clever in how they incorporate elements from the Harry Potter universe into the Firefly universe and they do so in a way that is both plausible and significant to both storylines. I highly recommend Browncoat, Green Eyes to anyone who is a fan of both Harry Potter and Firefly. To get the most out of this story, I recommend that potential readers be quite familiar with the Harry Potter series through the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and with all 14 Firefly episodes as well as the movie. You can catch up on the the 14 Firefly episodes for free at Hulu.

As for nonjon's other work, I highly recommend it. It's very zany and quite hilarious. If you don't literally laugh out loud at least once a chapter, I suggest consulting a medical or psychological professional. Specifically I recommend:

A Black Comedy

The Where in the World is Harry Potter Series
Where in the World is Harry Potter?
The Untitled Cheekquel Project
You Did What!

Another author, Rorschach's Blot, has a story in the the same vein as nonjon's comedic work entitled, Larceny, Lechery, and Luna Lovegood!. It's hilarious and I also recommend it.

Good reading everyone!

Spoiler Warning: This post will contain details about the contents of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. If you don't want to know anything about the book, I'd starting looking at another website right about now.

Late Saturday morning, I found myself sitting on my front porch, waiting with a very minimal amount of patience for my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to arrive. It was finally delivered at half past noon. After few breaks for food and the occasional phone call later, I finished the book at quarter to three in the morning. Since then, my wife and I have talked about the the various details of the book and the entire series now that it's complete. I've been thinking about how I really feel about the book. I'm now ready to share my thoughts about the book, to talk about what I did and did not like, and to discuss a little bit about how the last book fits into the series as a whole.

Read more »

The movie portrayal of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was exactly what I expected it to be given the earlier films in the series. As the books become longer and the plots more complex, the medium of film, especially with the unwillingness of the movie production studios to expand the running times, becomes unable to portray the true depth of the Harry Potter story and the movies themselves become something akin to a visual “Cliff’s Notes” supplement to the books. Because of this, I would advise anyone who has not read the Order of the Phoenix book, even if they have seen the previous films, not to see the Order of the Phoenix movie. The Order of the Phoenix film is disjointed and incapable of conveying the depth of the plot unless the viewer is already aware of it from having read the book. If you haven't read the book, prepare to be lost.

Read more »

I spent last week away on my honeymoon, so I'm a little late reporting this, but the Harry Potter publishers have released the cover artwork for the US deluxe edition. The cover will depict Harry, Hermione, and Ron riding on the back of a flying dragon. How cool is that. We can make some speculation about the location they are flying over and rather or not the dragon is one that we've seen before, but we don't have enough information to make any sort of conclusion. I'm just excited that I have something awesome like dragon riding to look forward to in the upcoming book.

US Deluxe Edition Cover for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (front and back)[cropped]

To the new deluxe edition cover in its full sized glory, please check out the following link: http://www.mugglenet.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=2097&pos=0

Attention copyright holders: This is not my image and I make no claim of ownership. If you do not wish this image to be here, merely ask and I will be happy to comply.

I developed a cold over the weekend. I guess it started about Thursday when I had a sore throat. By Saturday around lunch time I started getting congested and by late that evening, my nose was running like a faucet. My head was fairly clear this morning, but now that I'm at school in my office, I'm back to being stuffy again. It sucks, but I've dealt with worse. Sometimes it just helps to whine a little bit.

My wedding to 2 weeks away. It's real close and I'm starting to worry about having all of the details wrapped up. I got the music for the service figured out last night, but who knows what I may have forgotten. I'm sure that between Christina, myself, and our parents, just about everything has been seen to. At this point, anything that we did forget about probably wouldn't been that big of a deal anyway. Nevertheless, with so many people handling different things, I just have to trust that it will all work out. Frankly, as long as everything is legal and I get to see Christina and all our family and friends smile at the end of the day, the ceremony could be beset by rabid wombats and I wouldn't care too much (Note to my fraternity brothers who read this: Don't get any cute ideas).

In other news, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is only 60 days from release. The Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie release is a even closer than that. I'm excited about both of those events. July is going to be a heavily Harry Potter centered month for me. I'm pretty sure I'm going to try and catch Order of the Phoenix on opening night and I'm going to lock myself in a room without external communication when I get my copy of Deathly Hallows. I'm going to be one excited and happy Harry Potter nerd.

To start the fourth thread of this entry, I'll report that my good friend Stephen's blog (buildingthepeace.blogspot.com) has been offline for almost a week now. Stephen is an engineer for the Navy attached to a provincial reconstruction team in Farah Province, Afghanistan. His job is to basically manage construction across Farah province. Many places in that part of the world have been damaged from decades of warfare or, for one reason or another, are unchanged from ancient times and require the building blocks of modern life. Stephen used his blog to chronicle his adventures in Afghanistan. The blog gave an easily accessible window through which friends and family could see what Stephen was up to on a day-to-day basis and it also served as a ground-level report of life and events in the region.

I don't know why Stephen's blog isn't online anymore. Google might just be having a very localized and very extended problem with their blogging service. However, I really doubt that. I think it's more likely he was pressured to take it down by his commanders or he was directly ordered to do so. It may also be the case that the Department of Defense (DoD) went directly to Google to have it removed. I know the military recently put in place several new rules concerning soldier's blogs, but I don't know how they may or may not have affected Stephen.

My problem with the whole situation is two-fold. First, I like to know what my friend is up to. I take comfort in knowing that he's safe, happy, and productive. Finally, Stephen's blog from Afghanistan was a very honest and usually positive overview of his mission. It not like anything he was writing was making bad press for the military. Stephen is a great writer and a gifted storyteller. If anything, the DoD should have used his blog as a positive example of the good things that came come from soldiers sharing their first hand experiences.

I've archived everything Stephen wrote and posted on his blog, including pictures and comments, since before it went offline. If he needs an alternate host, I'm willing to post all of his material here, on my personal website. I won't do it without his permission because it may get him in trouble and frankly, it's not my material to do with as I please. Who knows, you might be able to read about Stephen's adventures here one day.

Last night a received an e-mail that made me want to throw things. As a result of that e-mail, I now wish many terrible things to happen to the decision makers at Amazon.com. The e-mail basically said that unless I agreed to pay them more money for shipping, they would not guarantee that I would receive my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on release day.

A few weeks ago, I pre-ordered three copies of Deathly Hallows. I ordered two copies of the standard edition so that Christina and I won't have to fight over one copy of the book. I also ordered a deluxe edition to add to my extensive collection of Harry Potter books. My total order adds up to more than $75.

At Amazon.com, most orders over $25 qualify for free “super-saver” shipping. Last night's e-mail informed me that unless I chose to upgrade my shipping from free to standard (at additional cost), they would not guarantee that I would receive my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on release day.

I am really angry over this. I would try to better describe my anger, but it would probably require more four-letter-words than most people want to read. In the past, when I have pre-ordered Harry Potter books, I have never had to pay more for shipping just to get the book on the initially promised release day. I feel that this is just a greedy excuse from Amazon to extort more money from their customers. Now, I understand that they are making little to no money on the standard edition of the new Harry Potter books. In fact, with the free shipping deal they are probably looking at a loss. However, I know that they are making money off my deluxe edition. Furthermore, I feel that the fact that Amazon didn't disclose this information while I was making my pre-order amounts to little more than a bait-and-switch tactic. If they are worried about taking a financial hit over their own sales and marketing strategies, I think that's their problem and that they shouldn't try to make up their loss with veiled threats of late deliveries to this customers.

I'm just angry. My only source of solace in this situation is the fact that I live fairly close to an Amazon distribution center and I'm confident that I'll get my book on the release day even if I refuse to have more money extorted from my pockets. If Amazon was looking for a way to get me to hate them, then interfering with my Harry Potter obsession was a good choice.