Finished it!

Last night I finished Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince. I liked it. It obviously was a big set up for the final book in the series, but it stood up well.

( WARNING: Horrifically large spoilers for HBP lurk underneath this cut. Seriously, I'm going to discuss all the big revelations and plot points. Go no further if you haven't finished the book yet! )

Help from my literary and British friends?

In the wake of HBP and general memories of good young adult fiction, I'm struggling to remember the name of a series of British YA fiction books i treasured as a kid. I think I got them (or Craig got them, and I stole them) from the British grandparents. The books (and there were several) concerns a group of four friends. In their early teens, they have Kipling-esque adventures all over the world. One of them owned a parrot, and one was obsessed with the Great Auk, an extinct seabird. From the writing, I suspect that the books were written in the 1920s or 30s.

Not much to go on, I know, but it's been bugging me for days.

A lot of great stuff from those days. Craig and I devored the Tom Swift series, along with The Hardy Boys and even the wonderfully English Biggles books.

Bwahahahahaa!!! Memes, glorious memes!

( Evil Genius Test )

( Punk Rock Test )

( Metalhead Test )

Fun stuff

Humm, BABY

Two on, two out, 2 balls, 2 strikes, the Giants down to their last pitch against the hated LA Dodgers, game tied at 1 each...

San Francisco Giants: 4
Los Angeles Dodgers: 1

... and Michael "Where did he come from?" Tucker smashes the ball into the right-field pavilion for a three-run homer! Giants win the four game series!