Hot drinks? + HP review from Indy

Randomly clicking on people commenting in friends journals, I see this:

Does anybody know of any hot drinks that don't contain caffeine (tea), make you wee excessively (hot chocolate), or taste like dishwater (camomile), sweat (ginger and lemon) or battery acid (fruit tea)? I have an inkling I'm going to be drinking a lot of hot squash this winter...

I hate camomile, so I go with the hot chocolate option. Camomile dos help me sleep (mapp, have you ever tried it? It may help), but, well, that's not a big enough benefit to buy it. Drinking it when it's supplied is another issue though.

Shame faeriecween's offline at the moment, 'tis her who keeps giving me the stuff to drink.

( Ah, feck it, might as well quote the HP review )

Welcome back to Hogwarts, a school with such a shameful record of appointing teachers who are actually murderous demons in disguise that it should have been shut down by Ofsted( ...backstory... )

the malevolent minions of Voldemort ( try to kill him (again) )

. Just as frightening for Harry ( there are some steretyped foreigners )

at Hogwarts for ( a pretext that isn't really explained very well. We have )

the jeunes filles from France(  and )

the Durmstrang Institute's crewcut stormtroopers.( It's probably )

the most gratifying film of the series ( the first that's )

a distinct entity in its own right ( and not )

a scene-by-scene re-enactment ( It's funny at times, you can follow the plot without having read the book and )

J K Rowling's notorious ( overblown prose is )

pared back to basics, ( and, if you're a dull witted reviewer who needs to get out more, )

The action set-pieces are genuinely thrilling ( although, to be fair, I did laugh a lot )

. Mike Newell has made no bones about sending his young stars to acting classes, and it's a move that's paid off ( it has? That's news to me, Harry was wooden throughout, maybe the ability to emote isn't needed in a child star )

Mind you, the idea that Hermione might fancy Ron seems a lot more convincing in the book than in a film where, frankly, she's out of his Quidditch league.

That last bit is true, she almost looked good in the ballgown. For a kid far to young for me, anyway.

Rape, consent and inebriation

innerbrat is a friend from London I mostly know through LJ, but have met at Synthetic Culture and the Head of Steam a few times. We've been talking serious stuff; specifically, about her experience of rape. Entry from nolittleengland that I just his submit on:

Reading the Britblog roundup guest hosted by Philobiblion this week, there are several articles on the worrying Amnesty Report on British attitudes to rape. Unsurprisingly, this has also been a topic of conversation amongst some of my friends, and, well, I've already chosen my nomination for next weeks round up.

It's from a friends personal journal, normally the source of frivolity and light hearted banter. Not today however. You see, she, like Rachel has also, in the past, been the victim of a rapist. And she wants to do something about it. ( Read more... )

Is it right that a sober man can have sex with someone unable to think for themselves and not face any consequences? If it was Rohipnol, then no. But if it's alcohol? Debi thinks the law should be changed. She's persuaded me of her case. Now I want to get others to join in, or, if you do disagree, explain why, and give reasons we can try to answer. I find rape to be the most reprehensible of crimes, and I find the attitudes of certain sectors within society to be, well, wrong. No means no, but yes should not be the assumed state.

Any takers?

Please, regardless of opinion one way or another, go comment on her journal or on my blog post? Either support and agree, or try and find holes, if the law is to be changed, the argument for the change has to be solid.

*I know, I didn't get to Exeter today as planned, I was in an antisocial mood, so stayed in and got myself involved in something, again. Edit changed the opening paragraph because that's what Bloggers backlinks quote, and a few of the blogs I've linked to are showing this entry up.