A Bit of Magic A Dose of Morality
Apparently the naysayers are starting to gather and spread their gloom. Alex Knapp properly nails Joel Stein the author of the above linked drivel:
All of this, of course, just goes to show that Joel Stein doesn
Harry Potter
8 More Months
Well, slightly less until Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is released on July 16, 2005.
It is already number 1 at Amazon.
Hey, I like this series and I want it now!
And, I want more not less. These are pretty easy reads so if weight is a factor, and the last one was heavy, make the print smaller, use lighter paper, whatever, just don’t cut back on the content.
Who Dies?
Sure, you all hope it will not be one of your favorite characters:
“Yes, sorry,” Rowling said, when asked yesterday on her Web site whether there would be casualties in her upcoming book, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”But, I suspect that Professor Bainbridge has this one correct:
Personally, I suspect that Dumbledore’s days are numbered. Rowling has hewed pretty closely to Joseph Campbell’s Hero Myth thus far in the Harry Potter series.The Professor has more.
Just Wondering Why….
We have the complete set of Harry Potter books in our library. Two copies of some. And eagerly await the next volume.
But, I’m not quite sure who needs the Latin or Ancient Greek versions of Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone. Are they being published as teaching aids, or…?
I suppose the Latin version of Harry Potter might be a bit more absorbing to today’s young students than Cicero’s Orations was to me some years ago.
Wizard People, Dear Reader
Oh, cool!
…in a makeshift screening room in a Brooklyn warehouse, more than 75 filmgoers paid $7 each to watch the first film in the series, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” Sort of.
On the screen “The Sorcerer’s Stone” played as it was released by Warner Brothers. But the original soundtrack, dialogue and all, was turned down and replaced by an alternate version created by a 27-year-old comic book artist from Austin, Tex., named Brad Neely.
There is some chance that this type of creative endeavor will run smack up against some kind of copyright defense mounted by the MPAA folks. Blocking creativity based on existing works is clearly the goal of the folks who want forever copyrights. And as Paul Goyette says:
It would indeed be a shame. Creating and making as much as watching and listening? This could be the perfect remedy for our passive, bloated, consumption-driven culture.
I think this possibility frightens the content folks. Why if folks sitting at home are watching content created by other folks hanging out at home and serving it from home or their friendly hosting company what happens to the revenue streams of the cable companies, the moviemakers, the recording industry, etc. Massive disintermediation becomes a real possibility.
Which, I think, would be a great thing for everyone except the legacy industries. Creative destruction at its best!
Read the New York Times article.
Oh yea, on my cable connection the download of Wizard People, Dear Reader is currently taking less then 30 minutes!