Relaxation...by Daleks

OMG yes. I just stumbled across this:


Dalek Relaxation Tape


YOUR TENSION HAS BEEN EXTERMINATED!

;-)


(One time in my songwriters' group, when we were preparing for a small local performance thingy, each learning harmony and/or instrumental parts to each others' songs, one of the group members said "COLLABORATE!" in a Dalek voice and I think I laughed the whole rest of the day. British TV nerd jokes!)

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On This Day

Also. Today, May 2, is the "anniversary" (in quotes because it is a fictional event, after all) of the Battle of Hogwarts. In what seems to be becoming an annual tradition for her, J. K. Rowling again apologized for the death of a beloved character: this time, Remus Lupin.

I get a shiver of grief when I think that thought: Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts.

And I can't quite decide what I think about the fact that I can experience actual grief over something that's fictional. Is it a good sign (the ability to feel emotions fully and deeply) or a worrying one (to care that much about people who don't even exist)?

I think on the whole I'm going to go with "good sign" – because on some level reading's all about empathy, right? The ability to experience someone else's emotions as our own? So if we're able to feel that deeply about fictional characters, presumably we're able to do the same when we encounter real people's suffering, too.

That's my thought for the evening, anyway.

And hey, here's a hopeful fictional fact to balance out the sad fictional fact: If it's the anniversary of the final battle, then it's also Victoire's birthday (since she was born on the anniversary of that victory, hence her name.) Happy birthday, Victoire! She would be, what, 16 today? Aw.

(Not gonna lie, I totally discussed the details of JKR tweeting on the day James Sirius "started Hogwarts" last September, with the seven and eight-year-olds I was teaching at the time!)