apparently it's better to be a parasite than a virus

Good lord. I just killed Canada. This is thoroughly antisocial and curiously rewarding. Watch out for Madagascar, if it closes its borders you're toast, and your goal of total extermination will never be achieved.

One of the things that narked me off about the success of Harry Potter was, in fact, the existence of Mary Stewart's novel The Little Broomstick, which is Exhibit A in the "wizard schools are nothing new" stakes. This combines standard kiddielit themes - a lonely child discovering friends through magical experiences - with some quite unsettling elements, since the magic school is sinister in the extreme, an opponent rather than a new environment. Mary Stewart's Arthurian series was always a bit gritty, and I think you can trace the suspense quotient of Little Broomstick back to her thriller/romances. The novel also has a definite animal anti-cruelty message, and I remember being a bit horrified by the nasty magical experiments; on the upside, cute cats, exciting broomstick flights and evil suitably trounced in the end. Her other children's fantasy I've read is Ludo and the Star Horse, which is about the zodiac, and rather charming, but this is my favourite.

Last Night I Dreamed: I was assisting Nathan Fillion in his brilliant plan to break a whole bunch of teen-aged schoolgirls out of a prison. The plot seemed to revolve around him leading large-scale synchronised dance moves. Also, lounging on a poolside chaise-longue engaging in witty banter with the prison authorities. While holding my hand, so score.