The Topic of Great Randomness

[Birdhead]

Yeah, that was her, the mother-person. She was OK in that.... probably better than her performance in The Matrix. But that's not really hard. Hmm. I think Judi dnech was the grandmother... she is REALLY GOOD. Great, great actress.
T

"We are philosophical geniuses [sic] who will one day rule the world!"
--Agent M
Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha!

[db_pr]

<b>My Inner Hero - Wizard!</b><br>
<br>
<center><img src="http://www.howtobeahero.com/images/type/wizard.gif" alt="I'm a Wizard!"></center><br>
There are many types of magic, but all require a sharp mind and a cool head. There is no puzzle I can't solve, no problem I can't think my way out of. When you feel confused or uncertain, you can always rely on me to untangle the knots and put everything back in order for you.<br>
<br>
How about you? <a href="http://www.howtobeahero.com" target="_blank">Click here to find your own inner hero</a>.

"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." -Bilbo Baggins (The Fellowship of the Ring: J.R.R. Tolkien)
"Not all who wander are lost"- J.R.R. Tolkien
"Thanks, you don't look so hot yourself." - (Yogi Berra)after being told he looked cool

[brokencello]

Um, maybe I left my brain in my closet, but that made no sense. Birdhead, I agree, JD is a great actress. I got Dido's new album! You're right, No Angel's better. The best song I've heard is Mary's In India...so sweet. Ciao!

brokencello
the crinkled paper bag
"Life isn't like the movies, Toto."
--Alfredo, Cinema Paradiso

[Sam]

db: That is soo cool, so am I! *squeal*

The guy that looks like Ronan, kinda acts like him, it is freaky.

We saw our dance costumes today, mine are SOOOOOOOOO cool. *happy*

~Sam (Hifun55) and Dog~

[KsSk8er]

major off topicness, but I am so mad. I was just about to have my first kiss, and my dad just then yelled up the street for me to come home. And he doesnt even know!! sorry again.
*sigh* *wanders off to talk to passing ladybugs and to think about the evilness of the world*

~*KsSk8er*~
Hogwarts Dropout
"She leaped off the table and tore into the living room. There was a brief sound of scrabbling, and then from the living room, Kit said, "Uh, Annie, your cat just went up the chimney..."
Dai Stiho

[db_pr]

Oh, bad situation. How old are you anyway?

"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." -Bilbo Baggins (The Fellowship of the Ring: J.R.R. Tolkien)
"Not all who wander are lost"- J.R.R. Tolkien
"Thanks, you don't look so hot yourself." - (Yogi Berra)after being told he looked cool

[brokencello]

I am so angry. I was protesting peace and I got in whopper trouble. Luckily, I had the support of my friends and others...like pieces of fruit. KsSk8er, that stinks. I feel sorry for you. Well, you can probably get together with that person again. I wouldn't know the art, being a juvenile politician of the G.E.E.K. category.

brokencello
the crinkled paper bag
"Life isn't like the movies, Toto."
--Alfredo, Cinema Paradiso

[Agent M]

OOh! I can't even imagine how that would feel. Really I can't, I've never had a guy like me that way but I can feel sorry for you. And you to bc, that sucks. *sends rays of happiness to everyone.*

*Agent~M*
"Those who refuse the Powers, become the tools of the Powers, Those who agree to help the powers, Themselves become the Powers. Beware the Choice! Beware refusing it!"-Young Wizards books.
"Do what the night tells you, and read the fine print before you sign!" -Peach.

[Rysade]

AIIIIEEEE! I don't understand how that hero thing works! I made "Wizard," sure, but what to do now? There aren't any quests or anything? the things that look like links are not!

--Dai Stihó

Bishie
'Mancer
Foam Poet
"It was a bad line and a prank call, someone spouting insane babble; I couldn't make sense of it. But I had an overwhelmeing sense of deja vu, and the caller's voice sounded oddly familiar."

[Birdhead]

Uhm... I tried, and you get all that e-mail stuff (Me=wizard also, surprise surprise...) and then you go and log on and, dum-dum-dum, you go into the Wizard Group bit (or somethign. Wizard tower? I dunno) And then you go into, uhm, oh, I can't remember. But it's assignments, or something...

*wince* KSk8rgrl.... Ouch. BC: you were protesting peace? Or you were protesting peacefully, a la Parihaka? (passive resistance)? Either way... sympathies!
T

"We are philosophical geniuses [sic] who will one day rule the world!"
--Agent M
Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha!

[db_pr]

it doesn't look so cool Rysade... i won't go there again. Try www.superdudes.com you create your character and you can upload a face and all...
Ok, look at this. I don't like the pone who wrote this. They make it look as if DD copied from Harry Potter and made it more scientifically and they make it look as if the Young Wizard series are not good enough or something and that you can read it as a secondary book while you're waiting for the next Harry Potter one. Is'nt that sick or what!?
Hungry for Harry? Try 'Wizards'

Tuesday, October 02, 2001

By Karen MacPherson, Post-Gazette Staff Writer



When young readers -- momentarily sated with rereading the "Harry Potter" series -- clamor to read another book about wizards, librarians often recommend the "Young Wizards" series by Diane Duane.

Since 1983, Duane has published five books in the series featuring two energetic teen-age wizards named Nita Callahan and Kit Rodriguez. The latest book in the critically acclaimed series, "The Wizard's Dilemma" (Harcourt, $17), has just been published.

Like the "Harry Potter" books by J.K. Rowling, the "Young Wizards" series is set in the real world -- on Long Island, to be exact. Like Harry, Nita and Kit are training to become wizards and are swept up in a fierce struggle of good vs. evil.

More "Potter" parallels: Like Rowling, Duane is a talented writer who can build suspense as she makes readers care about her characters. And, like Rowling, Duane combines a powerful imagination with a great sense of humor and a love of language that adds rich detail to her books.

But there are some differences. For example, Duane combines magic with various scientific concepts. In fact, many readers may be reminded of Madeline L'Engle's classic fantasy books, such as "A Wrinkle in Time."

Duane's books also delve more deeply into the nature of evil than the first three "Potter" books. Despite moments of lightheartedness, Duane's series is quite dark in its overall tone, recalling the fourth "Potter" book, "The Goblet of Fire." Duane makes readers face -- clearly and repeatedly -- the malevolent nature of the enemy that Nita and Kit are fighting.

Because of their sometimes disturbing tone, Duane's books are aimed at older readers, ages 10 and up. Younger readers who are fans of the first three "Harry Potter" books could be overwhelmed by the darkness in the "Young Wizards" series. While Duane's books are engrossing and hard to put down, they are also emotionally unsettling.

This is especially true of the latest book, "The Wizard's Dilemma." Here, Nita must decide whether to make a Faustian bargain with the Lone Power -- the source of all evil -- to try to save the life of her mother, who has cancer. The situation is further complicated by the strained friendship between Nita and Kit. In previous books, they had battled evil together. This time, it seems as though Nita is on her own, trying to match her wizard skills against the forces of the dark side.

It's a gripping story, made even more so by the poignancy of Nita's desperate efforts to save her mother. By the end of the book, Nita is exhausted, and so is the reader who has followed her through battles against both the cancer invading her mother's body and the Lone Power himself.

Nita's ordeal, however, provides a powerful learning experience. She comes to a better sense of herself, her mother and her relationship with Kit.

"The Wizard's Dilemma" builds on a story that began in the first book of the series, "So You Want to Be a Wizard" (Harcourt, $6.50). The "Young Wizards" books don't necessarily have to be read chronologically but, for readers unfamiliar with the series, it's a good idea to start with this first book.

It's here that Duane introduces Nita and Kit. She shows how they discovered they were wizards and how they learned to manipulate time and space to visit parallel universes.

Eventually, Nita and Kit find themselves in an alternate universe, engaged in a battle against the dark forces that have taken over New York.. Ruled by the Lone Power, the city is filled with evil, and it's up to Nita and Kit -- with the help of a "white hole" named Fred -- to make it right again.

Duane fleshes out her special brand of wizardry in the next three books in the series: "Deep Wizardry," "High Wizardry" and "A Wizard Abroad." Each are published by Harcourt and costs $6.50.

Overall, the "Young Wizards" books are great books in their own right, as well as a good bet to keep your young reader going until the next "Harry Potter" book is published.


"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." -Bilbo Baggins (The Fellowship of the Ring: J.R.R. Tolkien)
"Not all who wander are lost"- J.R.R. Tolkien
"Thanks, you don't look so hot yourself." - (Yogi Berra)after being told he looked cool

[Agent M]

GRRR!!!!!!! DON'T LET DD SEE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't like this Karen MacPherson person. GRRRR!!!! You're right db, it sounds like she's saying DD copied Harry Potter, the Young Wizards books came FIRST!!!!! How could she have copied Harry Potter if she made her books FIRST!?!?!?!?!??! And all this: Like Rowling, Duane is... It's like DD worked up to be as good as rich Queen Rowling and still isn't good enough. It's STUPID!!!! This lady should seriously be FIRED. Worse then fired, she shouldn't be allowed to publish anything for the rest of her stupid life!!!! The Worst part of this stupid report: "Overall, the "Young Wizards" books are great books in their own right, as well as a good bet to keep your young reader going until the next "Harry Potter" book is published." GRRRR!! I thought Harry Potter was GOOD for The Young Wizards books. I was WRONG. GRRR. *goes to look for an axe*

*Agent~M*
"Those who refuse the Powers, become the tools of the Powers, Those who agree to help the powers, Themselves become the Powers. Beware the Choice! Beware refusing it!"-Young Wizards books.
"Do what the night tells you, and read the fine print before you sign!" -Peach.

[Sam]

*shakes with anger at first then calms down* That lady is SO stupid, YW is 100 times better thatn HP, I mean I liked HP but YW is still much better. I agree with M about the worst line and wake that woman up YW CAME FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!! is they "are so much alike" then Rowling copied DD, DD wrote them first.
What do they mean "emotionally unsettling?" They are sad at points like when the ones that die die, but deaths happen. YW is also more realistic than HP, like you know wizardry isn't real (but you can wish ) but DD brings you to a place where it IS real, or she makes you wonder if it is, espically when you meet a person that is just like one of her characters.
She can also make great suspence at points such as the song of twelve, you hope what is supposed to happen doesn't and you read about their journey and the suspence draws out then they start and when it gets to that part something else happens and you (or at least I) just want to read ahead to find out how Nita lives.

~Sam (Hifun55) and Dog~

[This message was edited by Sam on 06 November 2003 at 14:15.]

[This message was edited by Sam on 06 November 2003 at 14:44.]

[Agent M]

I totlally one hundered percent agree. But Sam, not everyone has read dillema, maybe you wann a edit that post...

*Agent~M*
"Those who refuse the Powers, become the tools of the Powers, Those who agree to help the powers, Themselves become the Powers. Beware the Choice! Beware refusing it!"-Young Wizards books.
"Do what the night tells you, and read the fine print before you sign!" -Peach.

[KsSk8er]

*cough* evil *cough*
how could anyone say that?? I don't even think DD even READ the Harry Potter books, did she?? And now that I've found DD's books, rereading Harry Potter is a way for me to wait for the next YOUNG WIZARDS book. BTW, forget about my last post, will never happen again. nothing in my last post will ever happen again, mhmm. embarressment for both of us. I'm not even sure he was even gonna kiss me, he himself said people our age were too young for that sort of thing (??ohwell) oh well doesn't matter anymore. bc: don't worry, I am a geek, aka social outcast, and I met this kid by accident. he wasn't socially popular either, but I don't think.... uhm.... forgot what I was gonna say.... .... db: what do you care how old I am?? what are you a serial killer or something?? just kidding. oh well.... .... .... ....
btw-- superdudes.com under construction.

yeah, long and dumb essay on life. see ya.

*sends love and happiness to everyone here*

~*KsSk8er*~
Hogwarts Dropout
"She leaped off the table and tore into the living room. There was a brief sound of scrabbling, and then from the living room, Kit said, "Uh, Annie, your cat just went up the chimney..."
Dai Stiho