So you simply already need to know what you're asking it, gotcha. Seems easy enough.
I had a coworker in the early 00s that would repeatedly fail to search for something because she would type "www.goggles.com" into the address bar.
I'm starting to feel like a shill because I say this so often, but Kagi is the only one I've found that actually does the job anymore. To me a search engine that works is worth the small cost each month, but unfortunately I don't see paying for search becoming mainstream anytime soon.
Something being entertaining to you when you're a kid that you can acknowledge was shit when you're an adult is a normal part of growing up.
Sure, I remember my twenties well enough. And then the next stage in growing up is forgiving your younger self and understanding that books can be good in different ways, and that some books are brilliant for kids and teenagers. Good detective fiction can also be brilliant for what it is. You're nearly there yourself in your original comment. No one is comparing Harry Potter to Gravity's Rainbow or Wuthering Heights here.
The argument that something should be considered good because there exists other things which can be considered significantly worse is not a very good framework for arguing for the quality of a work of fiction. This is classic "damning by faint praise."
I'm surprised you didn't link to Wikipedia...but that's not really the argument here. The point is one of context and being reasonable, and that in the field of young adult fiction, they stand out. Would I say they're the best childrens books? No. And if you had been more reasonable - not called them "shit" perhaps - it would have been a different story. And I see you skirt the issue, but the reason people go on and on about the failings of Harry Potter these days is very obvious, and it has little to do with literary value.
The foundational premise of this argument is that you know something to be true because you perceive it to be so. This is like me saying that I know I'm a good cook because I cook every day and enjoy the food that I make for myself.
Or like you saying "her books are simple, accessible, designed for mass appeal, relatively thematically shallow..." Of course it's my assessment, grounded in experience. I'm not going to do a close reading of the series in this format, I'm sorry. But I don't really see that level of effort from you, either. (And "accessible" is a weird thing to criticize in a work geared towards children, btw...)
because she did what J. J. Abrams does with every single t.v. show he's ever made and allude to an elaborate set of mysteries that actively drove fan engagement via wild speculation about the future of the series between novels.
Rowling delivered in the end though, which is what JJ never does and why he should be banned from ever making TV again. I don't see how the comparison is valid, readers may have been disappointed but there were answers and genuine surprises there.
He is obviously inflated, she has to hold him down or else he'll float to the ceiling.
The only meaningful use of the introvert/extrovert dichotomy in my experience is just that extroverts charge their batteries in social situations, introverts drain their batteries and need time to recharge. Knowing this is useful, but says absolutely nothing about social or conversational skills, charm, interests, etc - even if it might be easier to develop social strategies if you are extroverted. But there's certainly a lot of charmless extroverts around as well.
And I guess the reason you read the whole thing is...that it was so awful? Be honest with yourself.
It's certainly not without its faults. (One thing I NEVER see mentioned is the excessive fatshaming, I guess there's not room for more than one narrative at a time.) It is, however, a book written for children and teenagers. And for what it is, the plots and themes ask more of, and give more back to, young readers than so much of the other drivel that is readily available to them. I know this, since I read to my own children and teenagers every day, and buy them books to read for themselves. There is a reason the Potter books are still as popular as ever.
If we're being honest, the real issue is that Rowling is now le diable du jour, which means everything she ever did is now material for our daily two minutes of hate. The books have to be completely without merit as well because it's just not possible to hold even mildly conflicting views simultaneously.
Kids are extremely good at learning new things, and on average, old people are not. Whatever explanation to this state of things you prefer, and there's obviously exceptions, this is just how it is.
"It's a lovely morning in the village, and you are a horrible goose."
Plus it's an incredibly one-sided and myopic reading of the work that even a child can easily see through.
Surprised to see Yes on that list, but I guess I've only really listened to their 70s albums
I like this idea more and more. All computers off, noone is allowed to work, just a big new years party for everyone.
Sweden is ~22 hours long using the same technique. And that's taking the shortest route. I routinely drive 10-11 hours when visiting my parents (one way, excluding pauses).
Nazis are absolutely vilified in Sweden and Finland, I have no idea what you're talking about. I'd say NSBM bands is a lot more prevalent in Eastern Europe and Russia.
A city freeze Get on your knees Pray for warmth and green paper. A city drought You're down and out See your trousers don't taper. Saddle up Kick your feet Ride the range of a London street Travel to a local plane Turn around and come back again.
And at the chime of the city clock Put up your road block Hang on to your crown. For a stone in a tin can Is wealth to the city man Who leaves his armour down.
Stay indoors Beneath the floors Talk with neighbours only. The games you play Make people say You're either weird or lonely. A city star Won't shine too far On account of the way you are And the beads Around your face Make you sure to fit back in place.
And at the beat of the city drum See how your friends come in twos; Or threes or more. For the sound of a busy place Is fine for a pretty face Who knows what a face is for.
The city clown Will soon fall down Without a face to hide in. And he will lose If he won't choose The one he may confide in. Sonny boy With smokes for sale Went to ground with a face so pale And never heard About the change Showed his hand and fell out of range.
In the light of a city square Find out the face that's fair Keep it by your side. When the light of the city falls You fly to the city walls Take off with your bride.
But at the chime of a city clock Put up your road block Hang on to your crown. For a stone in a tin can Is wealth to the city man Who leaves his armour down.
As far as funky turkish psych goes, this is as far as it goes - to the other, far end of the spectrum. Surprisingly listenable for an album consisting entirely of lenghty apologies to why the keyboardist haven't yet learned to play his instrument, this unexpected hit record is the brain-child of Anatolian star producer and enfant terrible Hözte Ergüynaman, who had been dreaming of exploding the boundaries of recorded music since his childhood as a goat herder on the Anatolian Plateau. When he met Paytele "Paye" Peyman at a studio session for a Bariş Manço record, aborted because Paye obviously had no knowledge of the instrument he wad hired to play, he booked a recording studio immediately and the rest is history. This reissue box-set of "Tha'rihe Rayote Thal Navd" (Mother, how I ended up here I have no idea) contains two extra disc of outtakes that cast new light on the stressful sessions and a PAYE PAYE beanie. 5/5, truly essential.
This is one of those "Looks like an overlooked dirty funk classic ready to be re-discovered but actually only contains schmaltzy overproduced soul ballads and Bacharach covers"-type records that will leave you feeling really disappointed and hollow. The impeccable shred guitar from substitute teacher-turned-sex god Ret will unfortunately not make things any better. Will throw you into weeks of looping thoughts about selling your record collection and abandon record collecting as a hobby for something more productive. Absolutely essential.
"Reato", the artist name meaning "Photograph of a melting brother" in some Czech dialects, dedicated his third album entirely to short abstract vignettes each dedicated to a girl from his hometown Znojmo, of which there are only 13. Making it painfully obvious which girls of these he favours, side B should be skipped entirely. Side A however, comes highly recommended for fans of Gary Numan and Tajvor Czochov (not the one from Prajvuda, the other one). 180g vinyl with extensive liner notes. Rip it!!!
Abrasive and uncompromising, this groundbreaking album from the mysterious Latvian experimentalist Gattte Karret breaks new ground in self-invented yet traditional bowed goat-string zither instruments and non-traditional Latvian throat singing. Essential.
Impeccable reissue of brazilian flute virtuoso extraordinaire Sand Flos seminal album SOO LOC FOLE, filled to the brim with rare grooves, breezy bossa nova and understated samba excursions. Three-armed and four-handed from birth, she plays the Clarinoro exclusively, conceived in 1860 as a portugese alternative to the saxophone by inventor Adolphe Caro, Adolphe Sax' eternal rival and actual evil twin. Caro, who moved to portugal to escape the inevitable comparisons to his twin brother, became fiercely patriotic in his new country and could not stand the fact that Sax made Belgium famous as "la patrie du saxophone". Caro's Clarinoro was quickly lost and forgotten after Caro's death, everywhere but Brazil, where it was seen as the instrument of choice for the sem-tetos, the dominating subculture of brazil in the 1940s. It would be wrong to call the sound of the Clarinoro unique, as it sounds exacly like a clarinet, flugelhorn and flute combined into one instrument; this redundancy probably explains why the instrument never got popular anywhere else. 5/5, essential.