Always Advent

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I’ve purposely refrained from commenting much on Harry Potter until the whole story was published, but I’ve finally finished reading the 7th and last installment, and I do have a few comments, which I’ll post later (it is past my bed time now and I am tired from being up til 2:30 am last night finishing the book…)

But first:

Terry Mattingly has a Harry Potter article on Catholic Exchange: Final Harry Potter Wars? The comments are as interesting as the article: they are numerous and as usual come no nearer to any kind of resolution of the controversy. The “nays” strike me as shrill and accusatory, the “yays” seemed puzzled by the rancor.

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…go to Altavista Babelfish of course (www.babelfish.altavista.com/tr) and translate the words from the theme song to “Shaft” from English to various languages and then back again to hilarious effect!

Original English:
Shaft! Can you dig it? They say this cat shaft is one bad mother—shut your mouth! Talkin’ ’bout Shaft.

Spanish
¡Eje! ¿Puede usted cavarlo? ¡Dicen que este gato que el eje es un malo madre-cierre su boca! Eje que habla.

…back into English:
Axis! Can you dig it? They say that this cat that the axis is a bad one mother-closes its mouth! Axis that speaks.

French
Axe ! Pouvez-vous le creuser ? Ils disent que ce chat que l’axe est l’un mauvais mère-fermez votre bouche ! Axe parlant.

…back into English:
Center! Can you dig it? They say that this cat that the axis is one bad mother-close your mouth! Center speaking.

Dutch
Schacht! Kunt u het graven? Zij zeggen deze kattenschacht één slecht uw mond moeder-geslotende is! Het spreken over Schacht.

…back into English:
Schacht! Can you digging? They say badly your mouth to these kattenschacht one mother is! Speaking concerning schacht.

Portugese
Eixo! Pode você escavá-lo? Dizem que este gato que o eixo é um bad mãe-feche sua boca! Falar sobre o eixo.

…back into English:
Axle! Can you excavate it? They say that this cat that the axle is one bad mother-closes its mouth! To speak on the axle.

Can you excavate it? LOL!

Italian
Albero! Potete scavarli? Dicono che questo gatto albero è un Male madre-chiuda la vostra bocca! Albero parlante.

…back into English:
Tree! You can dig them? They say that this cat tree is an Evil mother-closes your mouth! Speaking tree.

German
Welle! Können Sie sie graben? Sie sagen, daß dieser Katze, die Welle ein Schlechtes ist, Ihre Öffnung Mutter-schließen Sie! Sprechende Welle.

…back into English:
Wave! Can you dig it? They say that this cat, the wave is a bad, their opening nut/mother latches you! Speaking wave.

It’s funnier if you take the time to paste the foreign language translation into a newly loaded translation page.

Have fun! Should I even bother going to sleep now?