No, Cadence isn't a human female. Far from it. Even if it did decide to become sentient at some point, it would probably be a sluggish kitty like Garfield. It's the industry standard in design software, and it's left me impressed. Not at the software, but at the industry. Integrated Circuits have taken such giant strides using this? I'm hoping that it's the computers at school that aren't able to handle Cadence at it's full potential. If not, I can look forward to every parametric variation simulation to take an hour, for the rest of my life. Yippee.

Thanksgiving is around the corner, and I have an appropriate mountain of work to finish, not the least of which are four, count FOUR, projects. Yes, that's one project in each class. For one class, Computer Architecture, I don't even have a project partner yet! With nary a month left in this semester (and that's including finals week!), things are going to get a little rough from here.

And lastly, I've just discovered some stats on Google for the Blogger version of blog:
This is the 1st (first) result for "The Virtual Moleskine" (including quotes). This one's kinda obvious.
This is the 2nd (second) result for The Virtual Moleskine (no quotes this time)
This is the 6th (sixth) result for Virtual Moleskine

Not bad, huh? Well, I guess the lack of competition in the naming-department isn't hurting.

Hmm, where to start? I'll try to keep this as spoiler free as possible. But there may be some tidbits here and there -- nothing major, mind you.

First things first; The title could just as well have been Harry Potter and the Rush to Tie All Loose Ends. If it would have fit on the jacket, that is. As it stands, though, this is what J.K.Rowling has tried to do, and the result is a rushed experience. A series of coincidental events, linked together by strings of balonium. In fact, until the last third of the book, The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore dominate, and seasoned readers will piece together upcoming plot points well before JK would like to reveal them. The only truly startling events are the deaths.

And what sudden deaths they are.

I found myself wondering, every time one of the characters perished, if JK really knew what she was doing. Good thing, too, because the answer matched my expectation; she doesn't seem to. Hedwig, Dobby... These are not deaths that were warranted (although the centaurs adage of "Always the innocent are the first to die" does pop into mind), nor do they carry the plot forward in any significant way.

After seeing JK's seemingly superior talent at weaving together ornate plans in Order of the Phoenix, it is quite disappointing to see characters as well-developed as Ron spouting such inspired lines as, "Let's just wing it, Harry!"

It is interesting to see how she has progressed as a writer through the books. What started off as a schoolboy's tale in books 1-3 turned towards competition in book 4, suppressed curiosity in book 5, and adventure in book 6. Hallows continues the theme of adventure that book 6 ignited, but JK is no Tolkien. What attempts to be a LOTR: Two Towers with school-children turns into nothing more that location-hopping. Indeed, the attempt at imitating infiltration movies like Mission Impossible: III is laughable. There are entirely too many new facts in this book, and one can't help but feel that JK has, perhaps, not rationed them out correctly through the past two books.

There is talent, oh yes, and a thirst to prove herself. But where to put her? In the leagues of masters of fantasy epic, her inadequacy at planning shines forth; while in the competitive league of children's fiction, the complexity (and sometimes irrationality) of her tale's unnecessarily excessive plot-twists sets it apart from everything else.

After racking my brains for a plot with a balonium-filled ending that would be fit to compare Hallows' to, allow me leave you with this: If you think The Architect in Matrix Reloaded was the biggest pile of crap you've seen in a plot, let me just say that you're going to simply love this book. Should your sarcasm-detector be faulty or broken, please fix it, then read this last paragraph again. Good night.

I should change my name to Xenophilius. Catchy, really.