Harry Potter, being left out & Everton FC

I am finally glad that the last Harry Potter book is on sale. This phenomenon with this book series should finally end but there still remains the filming of the last two books. I have never really liked this phenomenon, partially due to the media attention devoted to it. For this reason and this reason only I have not read any of the Harry Potter books. Do not get me wrong - the Harry Potter books may have an excellent story - but sometimes I think most people read the books to be part of the Harry Potter phenomenon, so they won't be left out of the conversation with their friends or fellow peers. I remember watch the behind-the-scenes documentary for "Lord of the Rings" and the same thing happening. Even though the "Lord of the Rings" book trilogy was excellent, some people have taken the tales of Frodo and Aragon a bit too far with elaborate weddings and dressing up. It is just a book, as J.R.R. Tolkien said.

The media has played its part, oversaturating television, radio, newspapers, magazines and other types of media with Harry Potter, with the masses thinking if this book series has received this much attention it surely must be good. I thought so with "The Da Vinci Code" but to honest I thought that Dan Brown novel was very poor. I feel vindicated of my opinion when Stephen Fry (probably one of the cleverest men in the whole world) called "The Da Vinci Code", "loose stool water and arse gravy of the worst kind".

Maybe in a few years time, when the last movie has finally been shown on television and the media coverage has died down, I will to a bookstore and purchase the series to read. Maybe then I will do that for my children (if I have any) just to protect from the crap that is in this world.

********

At times I feel that the group I am attached to for Paediatrics is leaving me out of activities and conversation on purpose. Maybe it is my fault. I think I have come across as a blunt and sarcastic person which may not be to everybody's liking, especially to the American gal in my group. They don't engage me for conversation and just talk about stuff that I have no clue about. I know I should try to engage in conversation myself but I am very very shy plus I don't want to portrayed as intruding into what they are talking about. I just wished they tried to know me a bit more and engage me into activities more. I am not saying we should be good friends, just treat me with a bit more respect and regard me as invisible.

********

My view on Everton's manager, David Moyes, is very ambivalent. On one side he has picked players from obscurity like Joleon Lescott and Tim Cahill, brough the best out of them and helped Everton reach fourth and sixth, qualifying for European competition. On the other side Moyes has made Everton play very negatively with a 4-5-1 formation isolated very good players from the team, including Richard Wright, Andy Van der Meyde, James Beattie and James McFadden, with the rseult that Everton finish in the bottom half of the table.

Right now I am taking the later view on David Moyes. He has let good players such as Richard Wright and Gary Naysmith go and totally reinforced his central midfield with Phil Jaglieka and Steven Pienaar despite the fact that he already has a wealth of talent in this area. What he really needs is to reinforce his wide areas. He has not back up in either the wings or full back-positions. Like Bolton it seems that Everton will be packing their midfield and try to play negative football. All these tactics do win you points, they do not necessarily win you fans (although that is not a problem for Everton).

With the current squad Everton are incapable of maintaining a good Premier League campaign plus doing well in the UEFA Cup. They are more likely to finish in the top ten whilst doing reasonably well in Europe but there is still three to four weeks to go before the season starts.