Similarities between Percy Jackson and Harry Potter

Posted by David Speiser on November 30, 2008

On a scale of 1 to 10, there seem to be a LOT of similarities between these two series of books.

Let me be clear.  I do not mean to denigrate, descry or besmirch Rick Riordan’s books (the first of which came out after the first book in the HP series) in any way.  I love the Percy Jackson and the Olympians stories; Greek mythology has been a fascination of mine since I was eleven years old.  I think he’s brilliant, and that it’s a wonderful anthology of original, wonderful books.

That being said, there are a very large number of corollaries between the books.  Let me elucidate:

 

  • Harry = Percy
  • Harry starts preteen = Percy starts preteen
  • Harry ages 1 year per book = Percy ages 1 year per book (more or less)
  • Hermione = Annabeth
  • Ron = Grover
  • Dumbledore = Chiron
  • Mr. D = Snape
  • Fudge = Zeus
  • Malfoy = Luke
  • Voldemort = Chronos
  • Voldemort gets a body in book 4 = Chronos gets a body in book 4
  • Harry’s hair won’t stay flat = Percy’s hair won’t stay flat*
  • Malfoy starts to look weak, wasted and used late in book 6 (being used by Voldemort) = Luke starts to look weak and used late in book 4 (being used by Chronos)
To be fair, there are plenty of differences too.  Harry never gets to know either of his parents, while Percy knows both of his progenitors.  Hermione was never in love with Malfoy, Fudge was never as precipitously violent as Zeus, so on and so forth.   As I said, Riordan is a brilliant and original novelist, and I am enjoying the books immensely.  

 

However, I am also enjoying the examination of the many parallels between the two storylines.  The most significant ones seem to occur between archetypal characters found in both (the best friend, the mentor, the former friend turned villain, etc.)  Maybe there’s a reason that parallels exist; maybe it’s because both authors understand what plots and themes their readers identify with.   

 

 

If I were forced to give the similarities between PJ and HP a numeric rating between 1 and 10, I’d call it a 7.  There’re a lot of related story lines and characters.  I’m going to keep looking for more.  If you see any that I’ve missed, please leave a comment and I will update accordingly.  

 

*Sea Of Monsters (Book 2) on Circe’s Island, Percy is frustrated that his hair never lies flat = Harry’s discomfiture that his own unruly hair will never lie flat (throughout the HP series)

Netflix on the new XBOX 360 Live - disappointing so far 5

Posted by David Speiser on November 24, 2008

On a scale from 1 to 10, the Netflix / Xbox experience is slathered in weaksauce.

I have an Xbox 360. When I heard about the new Xbox Live experience (new UI, new architecture, more features, more customization, etc.) I thought it sounded really cool. I’ve always thought it was a neat product, but I also thought there was a better interactive experience waiting to be enjoyed, if only someone would come along and develop it. Last Thursday, November 20, 2008, that experience became available for everyone.

One of the features I was most interested in was the Netflix streaming directly to your Xbox 360. I believe that digital home media have a long way to go. Networked media PC’s are a pain to set up, streaming media servers even more so, and Apple TV (even with Apple’s vaunted user-experience) isn’t an elegant or simple solution. But I have an Xbox 360, a computer (for all intents and purposes,) already hooked up to my television and with an HDMI connection.   Netflix streaming directly onto my TV? Sounds excellent.

I even resurrected a membership for this. I had Netflix a long time ago, and ended up canceling because I just didn’t get enough value from it. I get lots of movies from the Library (I know, laugh all you want, but’s it free) and I felt like I was always forgetting to return the Netflix discs and just throwing money away on the membership. So I canceled. But this Xbox partnership seemed like a good reason to renew the subscription, because of the ease, convneience, and my sheer exuberance at the prospect of streaming it right on to my Xbox. Then reality set in.

I just re-subscribed to Netflix, activated my account on the Xbox, and added (hang on) 39 movies to my queue. Thirty-nine movies. Of those, not one is available to stream the Xbox 360.  Not one.

Now that, my friends, is weaksauce.

And before you retort smartly, let me say that this is not just a bunch of brand new, extra fun movies.  Among others I have indies (Run, Fat Bot, Run - 2007), thrillers (Revolver - 2005), TV (How I Met Your Mother Season 1 - 2005), Action (Blade - 1998), Sci-Fi (Resident Evil: Extinction - 2007), and comedy (Forgetting Sarah Marshall - 2008) to name just a few.  There’s a good blend, in my opinion, of older and newer, hotter and less-hot choices in my list.  And none of them are available to stream.  That’s not acceptable.

After searching diligently I did finally find one movie, National Treasure 2, that was available for streaming to Xbox Live, and I wasn’t wholly opposed to watching it.  It worked flawlessly.  I’ve never watched any of the National Treasure movies, but my wife convinced me that I might like them, so I gave it a shot.  Truthfully, I enjoyed the movie.  Low expectations help a lot, and the history is a lot of fun.  But more importantly, the Netflix experience on the Xbox 360 was fantastic.  Moments after adding the movie to my queue, the Xbox Live page displayed it as available.  I asked to watch the movie, and in 15 seconds it was ready to go.  The picture quality was excellent, and the controls all worked perfectly.  I was REALLY satisfied with the experience of using Netflix.   Unfortunately, there’s not much for me to watch.

Netflix and Xbox have bragged that there’s a library of 12,000 shows to choose from and stream to your Xbox 360.  That’s not real helpful, if I don’t want to watch any of them.  I am sadly unimpressed, and if I were forced to give this a numeric rating between 1 and 10, right now it would get a 4.  I like the idea and the service worked well, but there’s no content I’m interested in seeing.  No bueno.

Some Related Stories & Links:

News 4 Gamers

Gizmodo

CNET News

Tom’s Guide

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Update 11/30/08:

I’ve been thinking about this situation some more.  Jivebotic and Wunder both left very good comments (on 1to10) about what movies are available, and the benefits of the Xbox / Netflix experience.  I agree with both of them.  The way I see it, there are two major problems:

1. There’s still not enough good content available on the Xbox.  Jivebotic pointed out some good movies that I can watch, sure enough.  But they’re still not the ones I want  to watch.  I don’t know why that rubs me the wrong way, but it does.  Out of 40 or so movie titles that I want to watch, I should have been able to find a couple that were available.   For me, there was not one.  

2. Netflix needs to add some kind of serach and identification mechanism, and that right quick.  Currently they do identify their “instant” titles, but there are 4 or 5 different “instant” mechanisms for streaming movies, and not all titles are available for all mechanisms.  I need a way to search for Xbox-compatible films, they need to visibly tag those films with an Xbox logo, and they need to quickly add more titles if they want to keep my business.  

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There and back again: a Geek’s holiday - iPhone vs. Google Phone G1 1

Posted by David Speiser on November 02, 2008

On a scale from 1 to 10, the G1 was just not as good as the iPhone. 

I’ve had an iPhone for more that a year and a half.  I waited in line at an AT&T store the at the mall in Capitola in Santa Cruz, CA in June of 2007 to get the first iPhone.  I love my iPhone, and I’ve been generally happy with it since I’ve had it.  Sure, there a f ew things here  and there that I would change; I’d like better email service, and there should be a landscape keyboard available in every app, but on the whole it’s one of the best devices I’ve ever owned.  Everything was grand, until recently.  

In the last 2 or 3 months, I’ve had trouble talking on the phone.  Specifically if I just hold the phone to my face, sans bluetooth or headset (you know, like a normal phone) then people on the other end can’t hear me.  It’s an issue for me when my phone doesn’t let me talk to other people.  I went to my local Apple store and asked about getting it serviced.  They don’t do servicing.  If it’s outside of warranty (which mine is) then I can do one of three things:

  1. Deal with it
  2. Buy a new 3G phone
  3. Pay $200 and they’ll give me a brand new (or refurbished) phone of the same type
#3 doesn’t really sound like such a bad deal.  $200, a brand new phone that lets me talk and has no scratches… I’m thinking about it.  But, in the meantime, maybe I’d like a shiny new handset?  Maybe it’s time for a cool new gadget.  Voila, here comes the G1.  The new Google phone has some nifty features that sound very attractive:
  • Full size (and quality) screen, comparable to the iPhone
  • Multiple nav options (touchscreen, roly ball, keyboard)
  • Full QWERTY keyboard - that’s RAD!
  • Google branding and software - that’s a nice, reliable, comfortable thought
  • It’s new - always fun
  • Let’s me push back emotionally against the Mac Fan-Boy feeling I sometimes have (I don’t like feeling like a super-devotee to anyone)
  • It’s on T-Mobie - some people count this as a negative, but I’ve found T-Mobile to be very reliable in my home and work place, and they have the best customer servicve that I’ve ever encountered in a mobile carrier
  • 3MP camera - this is a nice upgrade from the 2MP camera on the iPhone, and I’m hopeful that they’ll come out with a video-recording application, which Apple steadfastly refuses to do (or allow)

So, in a fit exuberance I went down to my local T-Mobile store, checked out the device, and decided to just go for it.  I mean heck, I’m paying a steep price to live in California, I might as well take advantage of some of the beneftis.  In this case that includes a full 30 day trial period for any mobile carrier.  Worst case I just have to pay for 30 days of service, and then I can still return the handset and get out of my contract.  Low risk, possibly high reward. 

So I took home the Google phone, and I’ve played with it for a week now.  And I can tell you hands-down, it does not compare to the iPhone.  

There are lots of things I like.  The keyboard is great.  The applications are amazing.  I read Erick Schonfeld’s assessment on TC before I bought it, and I’ve found that I agree with him that the apps are the most fun and engaging part of the whole experience.  I also generally agree with Eric Benderoff’s article from the Chicago Tribune.  The G1 is not as pretty as the iPhone, but Google did manage to deliver an impressive first device. However, the overall experience just doesn’t compare.  Here are some of my issues and reasons:

  • The phone freezes up sometimes - apps can take 7-10 seconds to load
  • Email pull is actually slower than the iPhone, and I was hoping for an improvement
  • The SMS interface (and the email interface) just doesn’t compare with the iPhone
  • It’s a handsome device, but the quality / heft / experience of holding it and using it just isn’t as nice as the aluminum backing on my iPhone
  • As a media player (music and video) it just doesn’t come close

I have three major tasks (“Major Tasks”) for which I use my phone: calls, email, and media player.  SMS is a distant fourth.   I’d say with phone calls the two phones are about a wash.  For email, the iPhone has a nicer interface, accomodates more email services (G1 doesn’t play nice with Yahoo! mail) and has faster push and pull.  And as a MP3 player / video player, the iPhone is probably the best gadget I’ve ever used bar none.  The G1 can’t touch it.  

Given my personal requirements, the Google phone just doesn’t cut it as a replacement to my iPhone.  I’m better off to just suck it up and deal with the voice problem, or use the $180 + tax that I would have to spend on the G1 to buy a brand-new (or refurbished) iPhone.  

To summarize, I was having trouble with my iPhone.  I thought I could replace it with a G1, and have the joy of a new gadget while simultaneously supporting Google.  I was wrong.  The G1 is not a suitable replacement, or an improvement on any level (except the camera and keyboard.)  I’m stcking with my iPhone, until something better comes along.  

If I were forced to give the G1 a numeric rating between one and ten, I’d call it a seven.  That’s pretty good, but my iPhone is still a nine.  


iPhone vs. Google Phone on 12seconds.tv

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