User talk:Phil Bordelon/Archive 1

Oops! Did I really write Adam Ant vs. XTC? Erk.

Don't worry. You're forgiven. Now throw your copy of 'Flood' in the CD player and sing along for one full spin. Your sins shall be atoned. -- Phil Bordelon

You've read the entire book already? Good God, that was fast. Well, I'm going into hiding to avoid the spoilers... -- Oliver P. 16:41 21 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Amazon.com shipped a bit early to me, and I got it Friday. I read it over a period of ~6hrs. It's fantastic. Please /do/ go into hiding . . . I don't want to ruin it for anyone. Phil Bordelon 18:30 21 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Do have a look at Dolores Umbridge, I'm not sure I've done her justice! -- Someone else 00:08 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Done. I loved it; did some minor editing and timeline-shifting, but otherwise I think you did the cantankerous biddy more than she deserved. ;) Phil Bordelon 00:29 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

She is a ghastly thing, isn't she? Thanks for the editing help, I'm going to fix a link and one of my misspellings you missed (why is there no McGonagall article<G>?). "Misregarded" is a Britishism, though, that I don't understand. What does it mean? -- Someone else 00:34 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Ye gods, I meant 'disregarded'. I was trying to get the whole "Daily Prophet and Ministry of Magic totally diss this truth" without, you know, actually /typing/ that. Hrm. I'll ponder. I'm American, by the way, but an unabashed Anglophile, so blame any of my horrid destructions of Anglicization on my lack of native-born abilities. :) Phil Bordelon 00:36 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I've had a go at a reword, it's less clever but perhaps clearer. Revisions gratefully accepted<G>. -- Someone else!

Love it. Clever's nice, but when you have a choice between 'clever' and 'clear', especially on the W'pedia, I think the choice is always, er . . . clear. Ugh, that's a bad unintentional joke. Phil Bordelon 00:48 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Does 'anglicize' not strike you as self-contradictory? :) -- Jim Regan 00:47 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Indeed, and quite intentionally. -grins- Phil Bordelon 00:48 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Just saw it on PageHistory:Dolores Umbridge. I think I'll second you just for that :) -- Jim Regan 01:16 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

-laugh!- And just for the record, I didn't mention the rise and fall of Harry Potter's relationship with Cho Chang. Hmm . . . Phil Bordelon 01:26 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I think it's worth mentioning... probably the most realistic part of the book. It certainly reminded me of my dealings with girls when I was that age. This age too, come to think of it! :) -- Jim Regan 01:31 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I agree that it's worth mentioning; just pondering how and where to integrate it into the synopsis. I'll do it when I do my "heads-on" attack on the summary tomorrow or Tuesday. Phil Bordelon 01:39 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Go bravely, Sir Knight! I couldn't find a place for it either, and it wouldn't have looked right to just tack it on at the end. -- Jim Regan 01:50 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I reworked, fairly considerably, the article on Severus Snape. I'd like you to take a swing at it; over the next few days, I plan on rereading the first four HP books and working on integrating information from them into the various character pages, book pages, and so on. No idea if I'll actually do it, but you have to start somewhere . . . Phil Bordelon 01:52 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Damn. There's a sentence I want to put in, but I just can't phrase it. Must be tired. -- Jim Regan 01:57 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Although from your inactivity I assume that you did this, I recommend getting some sleep and adding it then. Phil Bordelon 05:35 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Yep. More like, passed out in my chair, but close enough. I think I'll re-read the first 4 books too - the sentence I wanted to add turned into a paragraph, and I'm not sure which books for which events, &c. Which surprised me, I don't think I've read any book as often as I've read those! -- Jim Regan 06:08 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

It's a toss-up between Ender's Game and Out of Phaze for me; I read Out of Phaze a whole lot in my horny teen years, and have since migrated to reading Ender's Game at least once every two years. I can't read it more often than that, because it makes me break down into tears at the end every freaking time. I've read the first four Harry Potter books twice, though, once in two days; that was a satisfying barrel-through, I'll tell you that! Phil Bordelon 06:26 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I was wrong - I've read Cryptonomicon 4 times. It just seemed like more with the Harry Potter books 'cos there were 4 of them :) -- Jim Regan 18:12 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Yeah. That almost makes them as long as Cryptonomicon. -grins- Phil Bordelon 19:32 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I know I should be bold &c, but I put some comments on Talk:Severus Snape, and I think it deserves a mention that the vision in the pesieve makes Harry re-evaluate Snape's characterising his father as arrogant. I may just do it in a few minutes. -- Jim Regan 20:23 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Indeed, please do be bold! The article can only benefit from additional information. I looked at the info on Talk:Severus Snape, and I think all of it should be integrated, along with more information that I'm sure we'll both discover as we (and others) reread (or read for the first time) the books. Phil Bordelon 20:32 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Right so, done. -- Jim Regan 21:28 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Thanks - why, oh why, doesn't Wikipedia have a spelchkcer? -- Jim Regan 21:33 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Actually, there's supposedly an automagic spelling fixer page, but I've never used it and it scares me the same way that anything which automagically runs rampant over 230946724 pages does. Phil Bordelon 22:08 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I'm getting the AbiWord plugin, maybe that'll help -- Jim Regan 23:11 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Abiword plugin for W'pedia?! Or do you just mean the Abiword spellchecking plugin? . . . and are you currently running your IM client? I sent you an authreq in ICQ. Phil Bordelon 23:15 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Plugin for Wikipedia. Haven't tried it yet -- Jim Regan 23:26 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Congratulations, you have just been made a sysop! You have volunteered for boring housekeeping activities which normal users sadly cannot participate in. Sysops basically can't do anything: They cannot delete pages arbitarily (only obvious junk like "jklasdfl,öasdf JOSH IS GAY"), they cannot protect pages in an edit war they are involved in, they cannot ban signed in users. What they can do is delete junk as it appears, ban anonymous vandals, remove pages that have been listed on Votes for deletion for more than a week, protect pages when asked to by other members, and help keep the few protected pages there are, among them the precious Main Page, up to date.

Note that almost everything you can do can be undone, so don't be too worried about making mistakes. You will find more information at Wikipedia:Administrators, please take a look before experimenting with your new powers. Drop me a message if there are any questions or if you want to stop being a sysop (could it be?). Have fun! --Eloquence 02:58 28 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I'll second your congratulations too! -- Jim Regan 07:52 28 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I made a start on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I'll do some more later, I have to watch my brothers' band play -- Jim Regan 18:19 28 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I like it, I like it. Phil Bordelon 21:02 29 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I'm still working on it s-l-o-w-l-y. I have to go fix the tenses at the very least - I'm writing it piecemeal, trying to flip over to different character pages—another bad habit I got from trying to do my homework in class :) -- Jim Regan 21:22 29 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Just finished the first draft. It's waaaay too long, I'm going to start pruning it tomorrow. -- Jim Regan 01:01 30 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Happy Birthday! -- Jim Regan 06:56 29 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I'm a moron. Phil Bordelon 07:28 29 Jun 2003 (UTC)

This got a "huh?" until I read the edit history :) If it makes you feel any better, this is only one of three days of the year where I'll remember anyone's birthday (the others being my own, and Christmas :) -- Jim Regan 07:39 29 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Understandably. And yes, it makes me feel a bit better. -grins- Phil Bordelon 21:02 29 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I pretty much forgot my brother's birthday, though that was more because of the amount of running around, tearing out hair &c that I was doing. I don't recommend throwing a birthday party for kids, ever :)-- Jim Regan 21:16 29 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Happy Birthday.

Again :) -- Jim Regan 05:53, 29 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I'll pass on your birthday greeting to Mark the next time I see him - he's on holiday in Germany with his mother right now - but I won't use your phrasing; he's 7, and pretty touchy about being treated like a baby and I don't think my shins can take another bout of kicking :) -- Jim Regan 09:58, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)