Top 10 best moments in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I'm gonna be spoiling the book here, so if you haven't read it yet but plan to, you should turn back now.

10. The locket tortures Ron
When the time finally came for Ron to destroy the locket-horcrux, it taunted and tortured him as it's final desperate act, exploiting all his insecurities and forcing him to overcome them. Also thanks to the locket, Emma Watson will get kissing scenes with both of her co-stars for the final movie. Hurrah!

9. King's Cross or whatever
This chapter reminds me a lot of the scene where Neo meets the Architect in The Matrix Reloaded. I don't completely comprehend it, but I understand that it is a pivotal chapter, and I can conclude that it was very cool. Plus, it closes with such a classic Dumbledore line: "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?"

8. Escape from Gringotts
After breaking into one of the most secure vaults of the wizarding bank Gringotts, how do you escape with all the alarms set off and all the angry goblin security forces in your way? By launching gloriously into the sky on the back of an uncontrollable dragon.

7. The death of Dobby
In a book with more than a dozen deaths, it's weird how the best death and the only proper burial goes to the house elf. It feels like a scene that's written with the movie in mind, and it plays out just as well as it should. An epic death, in a nerdy sort of way.

6. Harry visits the graveyard
For Harry to finally get to stand there and see his parents graves was a relief, even though nothing particularly important plotwise happened. Simply seeing the names and dates of birth and death on the white marble tombstone made the reality of the death of Harry's parents much more potent.

5. Mrs. Weasley and Bellatrix
During the ultimate climactic chapter of the series, of all the people to face off against Bellatrix Lestrange, nobody expects Molly Weasley. She calls her a bitch, shows what's she's made of, and then kills her. It was icing on the cake having Bellatrix' death echo Sirius' death.

4. Harry calls Voldemort "Riddle"
In Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore refused to call Voldemort by his chosen name, and it was painted as an act of defiance. In the climactic battle of Deathly Hallows, Harry bluntly calls Voldemort "Riddle" to his face, repeatedly, giving him a verbal thrashing and subtly reminding him of his own humanity.

3. Neville and the snake
The image of that forgetful and clumsy boy from the first book are all but a distant memory by now. Now Neville is the leader of Dumbledore's Army at Hogwarts, keeping the resistance alive and rallying the students. He finally gets the chance to prove his worth and stand up to Voldemort himself, then heroically charges forward to behead Nagini with the sword of Gryffindor.

2. Harry accepts his fate
That whole chapter, "The Forest Again"... Harry just came to the realization that he was never meant to ultimately survive in the fight against Voldemort, but he was to walk calmly into the arms of death. He isn't even angry or confused about it, but totally accepting that he has to do what he has to do. The way it was handled was very subdued and emotional and well done.

1. Snape's memories in the pensieve
In a book filled with revelations, this was the revelation chapter to top off the entire series. We learn that Snape loved Lily Potter, that he tried to stop Voldemort from killing the Potters, that Dumbledore's death was part of a greater plan, and that Snape had been helping Harry all along. Then you look back at Snape's death in the previous chapter and realize that Snape was looking into Lily's eyes as he died. So much of what we've already known is cast into a new light that it brings a huge wave of appreciation for how much thought and planning went into the entire epic tale.

Learn Filipino, by Victor Romero

This blog entry is long overdue, but I have to give my big thanks to Mr. Vic Romero, author of the Learn Filipino books.

Being the dork that I am, sometimes during vacations I take digital camera pictures with the express intent of uploading them for use in Wikipedia articles. Earlier this year Vic emailed me asking my permission to use some of my Wikipedia photographs for a book that he was writing. The pictures are actually published under the GNU Free Documentation License, a free license, meaning he could have used them even without asking, but he was considerate enough to contact me and ask for permission anyway (which, as always, I am more than happy to give).

Anyway, last month, Vic sent over to me one copy each of the fruits of his labor: Learn Filipino, Book One and Book Two (plus another copy of Book One to donate to the local library). Amazon.com lists the value of each of the books at $29.95, and getting anything at all of that much value is a treat in itself. Plus, peppered throughout the pages of Book Two are nearly a dozen of the maps and photos that I contributed to Wikipedia-- all with clear and well-placed attribution. I've sort of grown used to big companies (The Inquirer, Cebu Daily News, ABS-CBN News, Cebu Pacific, among others..) using the photos without bothering to credit me, so getting to see my work and my name appear in a real-life published book is quite a delight.

The books themselves are quite nice (and, for myself, so coincidentally appropriate!). It's got lessons and exercises and happy illustrations that make the gargantuan challenge of actually learning Filipino a bit less intimidating. I haven't seen many books like this that do their best to hold your hand and walk with you into discovering the Filipino language, without assuming that another person is available to guide you through the book.

Vic tells me he has several more books in progress, including a Learn Filipino Book 3 and a book on Philippine history. Keep it up, good sir!

Too much drama

Here's something that happened months ago and it isn't related to anything, but I'll tell the story anyway.

Late one night I was walking down the path back to my apartment, and since I walk pretty fast when I'm alone I caught up with my housemate and his girlfriend who were walking in the same direction. Actually I didn't realize it was them until I was pretty close, as in, right beside them. And they were having an argument. The guy was all agitated and crying, and he shouted at the girl (in Cebuano) "Don't you see Mike over there?!", and he stormed off to the apartment. I had no idea what that was about, and I was too nervous to even face the girl, so I just kept walking on my own pace. That was awkard enough, but when I actually got to the apartment he was waiting in tears outside the gate, because he didn't have the key. I unlock and open the door and say "Umm.. here you go" and he says "Naw that's alright" and I say "Ok I'll just leave it open", so I do, then go on inside.

About an hour later he knocks on the door to my room and apologizes, and I'm like "Yeah whatever man, it happens, I understand". But really I don't understand, and we never mentioned the incident again. Haha...