I would never call my buddy Scott over at Left of the Dial "obtuse"

...because then I'd have to go, and, like, look it up or something. But then again I'm annoyingly insensitive and slow to understand that way.

Plus, he'd create a new villain for Aquaman called "The LLamabutcher" who'd, well, get his butt kicked royally by a guy in green scaly tights.

It's one thing to get kicked around by Superman or Batman or something; but there's nothing worse than being a minor villain defeated by a minor super hero. I mean, think about it: you've worked as hard as you could in high school, missed the prom to study for the SATs, only to get in to Villain Tech but finish towards the bottom of your class. How hard is that, each year, when you get your Mom's Christmas letter:

"Louis Jr. and Joe and their families enjoyed a sunny vacation getaway in Hawaii, affording the luxury as each is thriving in their jobs as a corporate executive and brain surgeon, respectively. Steve is experiencing new frontiers of success in Gotham City, although his latest plans to rob Metropolis Savings and Loan were thwarted by Marvin and Wendy and Wonderdog, we are proud to report his crimes were reported to the Justice League as a whole---Batman, Superman, even Aquaman would've come but there was a sale on tofu at the Whole Foods. He'll make it big as a villain one of these days.

Anyhoo, there's what passes for a flame war in your mild-mannered suburban blogs over the question of integrity, cheating, and Harry Potter. I feel guilty as I was the Mrs. O'Leary's cow of the whole thing, and have been overdue with my full response, which follows below:

UPDATE: Okay, this is just downright disturbing, albeit only a wee bit less than the Snape/Hermione shippers.

UPDATE DEUX: See, this is the difference between The Bonny Glen and Stately LLama Manor: Top Management rides to Scott's defense after an old college friend accuses him of being obtuse; The Dear One, when informed of this, notes, while slicing cheese for dinner, "Well, if someone accused you of being obtuse I would say, '.....And...?'"

Some guys have all the luck.

UPDATE TROIS: DON'T LIVE BLOG FROM THE KITCHEN (OR AT LEAST TELL YOUR WIFE YOU ARE LIVEBLOGGING YOUR CONVERSATION): The Dear One: "Just one person has called you obtuse? That's probably due to the limited vocabulary of your circle of low-life friends."

Just for the record, officer, I walked right into that frying pan...

Okay, so my long-promised post on Harry Potter's universe: Just like our world, minus the Renaisance, the Enlightenment, and the Capitalist Revolution or, The Muggles have been to the Moon: whose the beeyatch now, witches! hasn't fully gelled yet. But it will, I promise!