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Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Movie Plot Leaves Out Too Many Key Components of Novel

Jul 17, 2009

Movie-goers will enjoy the newest installment of the Harry Potter franchise, but they will be left hanging when it ends.

Although author J.K. Rowling has said she believes last book was her best, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is much better because it deals with relationships. The book discusses personal relationships between students and teachers, males and females, Harry and Dumbledore, Harry and Draco, teachers and Dumbledore, parents and children, and teachers and teachers. This is a break from all the other novels where the magic and the link of Harry and Voldemort take center stage.

Harry Potter Follows Book Well

The movie did a wonderful job of keeping the story line focused on relationships. Movie-goers see from the beginning the struggles teens in love experience. The first scene has Harry about to go on a date with a muggle only to have Professor Dumbledore disrupt it. Viewers also get inside Draco’s head over his emotional struggle with his new task from Voldemort and his deteriorating relationship with Professor Snape. However, while Jim Broadbent played an excellent Professor Slughorn, the audience doesn’t really see his desire to surround himself with the top students or his desire to be part of Harry’s world. This also detracts from the book because Harry doesn’t like being part of Slughorn’s Slug Club and believes it’s unfair to those he loves. In the movie, he embraces the Slug Club to get the memory he needs.

In addition to discussing relationships expertly, the movie is funny. The funny parts keeps audiences interested when the action slows. The problem with the sixth novel is it lacks action in many parts because it focuses on building and keeping relationships. The comedy helps get passed this problem. In particular, the actress playing Lavender Brown is funny. Her scenes are well-done and mirror the book quite well.

Harry Potter Misses Key Components

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince helps Harry know why Voldemort didn’t die when the spell rebounded on him when Harry was baby. He learns Voldemort’s secret of the horcruxes and that he must destroy them. While the movie mentions the horcruxes, it fails to explain to Harry and the rest of us why they are important, how to know what objects Voldemort would want or what they are. In fact, Dumbledore didn’t even tell Harry two of them that he knew in the book. This is a key failing of the movie. The horcruxes are the main premise of the seventh book. Another problem was that Harry doesn’t know where he hides his potions book, but he hides it right next to a horcrux in the book.

The movie also downplayed Harry’s relationship with the Weasleys. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had very little air time compared to previous movies. The movie detracted from the book by attacking the burrow at Christmas. This left the audience wondering why except it’s possible that the producers might want to remove the burrow attack from the seventh movie and cut the wedding scene completely.

Audience members also never really knew when Ginny stops dating Dean. She seems to have always been with Harry.

Despite these flaws, Harry Potter fans will want to see the movie more than once. The movie lived up to its reputation and well worth the long wait.

Failed Banks Showed Red Flags Early, Report Says

OTS Failed to Heed Warning Signs of Troubled Banks

The credit and lending crisis might have been less severe if the Office of Thrift Supervision had acted on early warning signs of failed banks, a new report found.

According to the Center for Responsible Lending’s Second S&L Scandal: How OTS Allowed Reckless and Unfair Lending to Fleece Homeowners and Cripple the Nation’s Savings and Loan Industry, the federal government allowed banks to engage in high-risk lending practices, was slow to take aggressive action that could have reduced the economic fallout from bank failures and hid serious financial problems from investors and the public.

The report compared today’s problems with those of the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s. In 2008, five thrifts with assets totaling $354 billion collapsed compared to 1989 when thrifts with assets totaling $135 billion failed, the report said.

“Even when inflation is taken into account, the dollar total for 2008’s failures still exceeds those for 1989.”

Four Banks Provide Test Cases

Center for Responsible Lending looked at public records surrounding four case studies, Superior Bank, FSB; NetBank, FSB; IndyMac, FSB; and Washington Mutual Savings Bank. In each case, OTS failed to heed early warning signs, the report noted.

For example, lawsuits against Washington Mutual Finance proved the company was harming borrowers. In 2003, the Texas attorney general opened an investigation of lost mortgage payments after receiving more than 200 consumer complaints.

Some of the other warning signs included:

Three audits of the failed Superior Bank revealed OTS ignored growing risks in the bank’s business strategy since 1993.
In 2006, investors forced NetBank to buy back $182 million in questionable loans, which had increased in 2005.
IndyMac boosted loan volume by relying on risky, weakly underwritten mortgage products and ignoring borrowers’ ability to repay loans.
IndyMac also failed to document financial income of its borrowers and recorded huge losses from quarter to quarter.
Research companies ranking banks safety listed IndyMac at the bottom of their lists.
Washington Mutual increased its volume of subprime lending from $20 billion in 2003 to $36 billion in 2005.
By the end of 2007, Washington Mutual held $48 billion in payment option adjustable rate mortgages that resulted in negative amortization, meaning monthly payments weren’t enough to cover monthly interest charges.

Report Recommends Improvements

The Center for Responsible Lending recommended that the federal government should consolidate OTS into the Comptroller of the Currency Office. Federally chartered banks and thrifts would be overseen by the Comptroller of the Currency Office, bank holding companies would be overseen by the Federal Reserve Board and state-chartered thrifts would continue to operate under state regulators. The Comptroller of the Currency Office also should improve its consumer protection efforts and force lenders to follow state consumer laws and enforcement. In the report, the center also offered these standards.

State-chartered banks should continue to operate.
Federal officials should stop getting in the way of state laws designed to prevent predatory lending and protect consumers.
Mortgage lending should be based on sound underwriting.
Market incentives should be aligned to ensure no one can get out of its responsibility to make responsible lending.

Authors of the report said the lessons of the first S&L scandal were clear that weak regulation and reckless lending practices would lead to financial disaster. The country has an opportunity to put these lessons to work now to improve the financial situation, the report concluded.

Infrastructure Jobs Remain Key to Improving Economy

ASCE Says America’s Infrastructure Graded D

Engineers say the economy can improve and jobs can be created if the government acts to replace failing infrastructure, support green technologies and invest in research.

In its 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, released Jan. 29, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the country’s infrastructure a D grade. ASCE says not much as changed since its last assessment of the country’s roads, bridges, drinking water systems and public works equipment in 2005. But, the cost to renovate the infrastructure increased by more than a half of trillion dollars.

ASCE says a $2.2 trillion investment from all levels of government and the private sector to improve conditions. However, if this investment is put forth, construction workers will start to work again, improving the economy. The report card offers five solutions to improve the grade of the nation’s infrastructure.

Increase federal leadership in infrastructure
Promote sustainability and resilience
Develop federal, state and regional infrastructure plans
Address life-cycle costs and ongoing maintenance
Increase investment in infrastructure from all stakeholders

Besides infrastructure renovation, green technology also can spur the economy and create jobs, according to the California Green Innovation Index released Jan. 28, 2009. Since 2005, green jobs in California have grown at a rate 10 times faster than total job growth. Green technology investment from venture capitalists reached $3.3 billion in 2008, the report said. This was a record for the state.

The index is the brainchild of Next 10, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the state’s future. It offers statistics on green businesses and jobs based on empirical evidence not modeling.

In addition, the index reported that California led all states in patent registrations for green technology, cities in California have the most hybrid vehicles registered, and green job growth grew by 10 percent.

Pennsylvania also is committed to green jobs. Gov. Edward Rendell has provided $25 million to spur jobs and economic growth in renewable energy and manufacturing. Businesses, nonprofits, economic development organizations and political subdivisions are eligible to tap into the Renewable Energy Program for wind and geothermal projects. Other Alternative Energy Investment Fund programs are being developed, the governor said.

Another example of creating new jobs in this sluggish economy comes from Ohio. Battelle Institute will invest more than $200 million in central Ohio to construct and renovate manufacturing, office, child care centers and laboratory facilities in Columbus, Dublin and West Jefferson, Ohio. This investment will help to create 200 high-paying science and research jobs in a state that is struggling, said Jeff Wadsworth, president and chief executive officer of Battelle in a recent press release. The investment also will help 1,000 scientists to retain their jobs.

Infrastructure, new environmental technologies and research are three ways to improve the economy.

Parents Need to Watch for Eye Injuries

American Academy of Ophthalmology Warns Toys Can Hurt Eyes

Christmas toys can harm eyes, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. The organization recommends parents watch their children playing with new toys so they can avoid the most common injuries.

Injuries can range from a bump on the eyelids to possible blindness, said Dr. David Wheeler, a physician in Oregon. He said the most common injury from toys is a blunt injury where an object hits the lids and causes a bump on the eye. In some cases, the object hits when the eye is open, causing bleeding inside the eye. A cornea abrasion also is a common injury, which is a bruise on the cornea. More serious injuries include laceration to the eye or a cut in the wall of the eye. These could threaten vision, Wheeler said.

“Often, children don’t want to tell their parents that their eye hurts. They don’t want to be caught doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing, but the earlier we treat the injury, the better it is for the child,” Wheeler said.

Some Toys Are Known for Causing Injuries

Wheeler suggested parents be careful when children are playing with the following toys known for common injuries.

B.B. guns
Toys that fire projectiles
Anything that involves hand-to-hand combat
Toys that require direct interaction with two or more kids
Toys that are thrown

Most common injuries occur to children ages 6 to 14, Wheeler said. Boys are more likely to have an eye injury. But damage could be more serious for the children younger than seven, he added. A child younger than seven still is developing their vision and eye muscles. Because the younger children are still developing, any injury to the eye can disrupt their vision. Older children see the same as adults and wouldn’t have their vision disrupted as much.

In the United States, 2.5 million people suffer from eye injuries each year. About 50,000 of those suffer some type of permanent damage, Wheeler said. He added that half of accidents to the eyes occur in the home, and some injure the entire face.

Parents should be alert to possible injuries to eyes and ensure their children use their toys properly. He also noted that the American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends that all people, including children, use safety glasses when working with tools or doing projects at home.

These precautions will reduce the number of emergencies, he said.

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