Why Harry Potter Should Be The Next President

I must confess that I am not one to succumb to pop culture. Nevertheless, even I cannot help but be drawn into the tale of Harry Potter and his band of friends. I wonder what it would like to have such a character as our president.

Of course today, the very characteristics that grace one with the presidency are more akin to Lord Voldamort, it would be a fantastic change of pace to see a man who is loyal, hardworking, talented, and excellent in the white house. Unfortunately, the characteristics that make the public love Harry are ironically, what we despise in a presidential candidate.

Loyalty – Harry is unwilling to sacrifice the relationships he has made over his life. In fact, he holds his friends to a higher standard of loyalty than they themselves are capable of producing on their own.

Honesty – Harry is not willing to deceive or let his friends be deceived. He is always vigilant and seeking the truth no matter what the cost.

Integrity – Harry’s main strength is his integrity, something we do not value in our leadership.

Strength of conviction – Harry is willing to sacrifice everything even his own reputation and life to fight for what he knows is right.

As Americans, we flock to the movies and idolize this character. Even his faults are not important because of the overriding desire of Harry’s heart to do right.

In contrast, Voldamort is every thing Harry is not. Is too is talented but has a talent for bullying, for being rash, narcissistic, destructive….

As Americans, while Harry would be the perfect president, one who would always look out for the interests of his friends and the interests of others, he is not popular. People do not want to believe the truth.

Rather we prefer the liar, the self-centered politician that only means to hurt and destroy what we all know to be right and good and true. Americans love the liar, badmouth, and make fun of the honest and good intentioned.

Lord Voldamort in 08!

Jonathan Dever is an attorney whose practice focus is real estate, finance, debt mitigation, business counsel, asset protection and estate planning. He is a frequent lecturer and has been named a Super Lawyer by Law and Politics for the last three years. He also publishes web sites and advises small businesses on best practices, strategic management, IT and Human Resource integration.

His Hobbies include Political Blogging and the Outdoors.

http://www.rightversusleft.com

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Harry Potter Wands - Where to Find One

If you're thinking about getting yourself a Harry Potter costume, you'll definitely need convincing Hogwarts robes, or perhaps a fashionable pointy hat. But there's just one more very important thing you need: A good wand. How and where do you find one?

You could always pick out a decent stick and pretend that's your wand. It's cheap-- can't get much better than free. You could even stain and varnish it. It'll get the idea across either way. Even so, you would still be waving around a stick. Wouldn't it be cool to wield a beautiful wand that looks like it was truly made by Ollivander himself?

If you don't mind shopping online, and you're willing to shell out some money for a decent wand, you have plenty of options. Amazon, for example, has a fair number of wands for sale. But if you want a quality wand, be careful: Most of the Harry Potter wands available on Amazon are cheap toys.

Now, if you want an accurate reproduction of a Harry Potter wand and can afford to spend at least $35, look into what Noble Collection has to offer. Noble Collection is known for recreating jewelry, swords, props, and other items you see in fantasy movies. The company sells wands modeled after the ones wielded by Harry, Ron, Hermione, and even Dolores Umbridge.

Unfortunately, the wands by Noble Collection aren't the most durable. Since each wand is made either partly or entirely from resin, they are quite fragile; they're for display only. If you want a beautiful wand that you wouldn't be afraid to take with you to a Halloween party, consider the wooden ones made by Whirlwood or Alivan's.

The Whirlwood wands are all handcrafted by Gary Hall, who's been creating fine art for over 30 years. Almost all his wands are made from solid maple wood. They are elegant and very strong-- even if you WANTED to break one, you'd have a hard time of it. You don't want to scuff them up, of course, but you don't have to be afraid to use one of these wands to complete your Harry Potter costume. They tend to start at $50, but they are high quality and worth the price.

Your other option is to buy a wooden wand from Alivan's. Although they don't look quite as nice as the Whirlwood wands, they are definitely worth looking into. They're cheaper, and Alivan's offers a wide variety.

Doubtless there are more options, but Noble Collection, Whirlwood, and Alivan's appear to offer the best.

Interested in learning more about Harry Potter wands and wandmakers? Stop by Harry Potter Wands on Squidoo for more information.

Victoria Neely is a freelance writer. You can read more articles by Victoria at Squidoo.

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Hero's Journey (Monomyth): Harry Potter and Star Wars

[From our deconstruction of hundreds of Hollywood blockbusters and sitcoms (see below for the URL of our Home Page) and our isolation and identification of more than 188 stages of the Hero's Journey that you need to know about...]

The Hero's Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the Hollywood movies we have deconstructed are based on this template.

Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.

The Hero's Journey:

a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.

b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.

c) Gives you a tangible process for building and releasing dissonance (establishing and achieving catharsis).

d) Gives you a universal structural template upon which you can superimpose your situational story.

and more...

Harry Potter and Star Wars

The Harry Potter and Star Wars stories are good examples of the applicability of the Hero's Journey (Monomyth)

Both are orphans living with distant relatives (foster parents or aunts and uncles).

Both meet magical wizards as mentors (Hagrid or Ben Kenobi).

Both have unique skills (a great little pilot and a quidditch player)

Learn more…

WRITE THAT SCREENPLAY!

The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.clickok.co.uk/

Managing Creativity and Innovation and related techniques and tools can be found at http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

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You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the author's name is retained and the link to our site URL remains active.

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Using Audio Books for Learning English

My children's knowledge of the English language is far better than their friends'. The only reason for it is the fact that they are using audio books for learning English. My elder son has just finishing listening to the last Harry Potter audio book. Of course he became a great fan of the story. I got him the original script along with the audio book so he can search for words he can not understand within the book. this Harry potter audio book was a book on tape and consisted of several 30 minutes audio book cassettes.

Students all over the world are learning English using audio books. Audio books are the most effective way of learning English. It is well known that the best way to learn a new language or to improve the existing knowledge of a language is listening or talking the language.

Learning English by using audio books broadens the vocabulary, helps understanding rapid speaking but more than all it is the only method that helps you learn the right pronunciation.

Using audio books to learn English is quite easy. You should only get audio books on Cd, books on tape or download audio books (You can also download free audio books).

You should find an audio book that best suits your needs. If you are a beginner, The speech should be clear and slow. I also recommend getting an audio book with more than one speaker.

I consider myself as a relatively good English speaker. Yet, listening to the English audio book version of Crime And Punishment by Feodor Dostoyevsky was not easy. I listened to each of the three audiobook cds at least a couple of times. I enjoyed broadening my vocabulary with rare words and listening to the british accent.

Henry James wrote : "Summer afternoon, Summer afternoon... The two most beautiful words in the english language", so get your children the harry potter audio books on cd, get out for the summer afternoon and let him enjoy learning english using audio books.

911 Corp. has executed an independent research to find the best place to get audio books from. Find out the clear results and all about audio books only on the Audio books bible.

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