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Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban© James C. Hess
Malodorous.
The man was concerned about both his sons, so he went to see a wise man, and told of his woe. The wise man listened and then instructed the man to give his son, the pessimist, toys, and his son, the optimist, a large pile of horse dung. The man obeyed. Then a week later he returned to the wise man for further instructions. Visit your sons, the wise man said. And see how they are doing. The man once more obeyed: He visited his son, the pessimist, first, and found him in tears, crying, wailing. What's wrong, the man asked. My toys, the son said. My beautiful toys. What about them, the man asked. They are beautiful, the pessimist said. So beautiful. I am afraid to play with them, to enjoy them, because they might get ruined. The man just shook his head and went to find his other son, the optimist. He found his other son with little effort, and when he did, he was surprised to find the boy was flinging horse dung everywhere as he dug and dug. The man interrupted the affair, concerned. What are you doing, the man asked. His son just smiled at him. All this dung, he said. There must be a pony somewhere! I recently sat through one hundred thirty-six minutes of what was no doubt meant to be the cinematic equivalent of toys, a film entitled "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban". After more than two hours of this I desired for a substantial pile of horse dung I could dig through, because I want to believe, somewhere, there is a pony, waiting for me, to take me far, far away from this certain horror. Now when I say 'horror' I do not intend to suggest something on the order of a literary work by Stephen King or Dan Simmons, a horror so terrible that one can only escape it by pushing on to the end. No. Nothing like that. What I mean when I say 'horror', within this context' is this: Here is the story of Harry Potter and CO., a once delightful tale of a young lad who finds out, early on, he is a wizard with wonderful powers and abilities. A story, through iteration, that is anything but nice and sweet and kind and good. (Aside: There is rampant speculation that Harry Potter might meet his demise by the end of the series. . . whenever that might be.) Horror? Absolutely. How many have attended the first two movies in this series, only to attend the third and find that things are not what they were.
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