This post is an expanded, much longer version of a comment I left over at Afton's blog, so A. - feel free to skip ahead. :-)
As Afton notes, this is Harry Potter Eve. I have been toying all day with the idea of going to get it at midnight. I’m not such a rabid fanatic that I can’t wait; in fact, with items like my RazR phone, video game systems, video games, iPods, etc. I rather prefer to wait until the crowds thin out, the hype dies down (and in many of those cases, the price goes down). While I have gone to 2 - or maybe 3, I disremember - midnight Harry Potter book releases and quite a few midnight premieres of movies (movies in general, not just Harry Potter ones) usually my motivation is less about being first or extreme anticipation of the book/movie itself and more about having something fun to do with like-minded friends. For example, I saw the first Harry Potter movie at 12:01 AM with Cheryl and Christine. I was curious to see the film version and wild to see 'real' Quidditch, planned on seeing it eventually, but the primary impetus for that excursion was hey, Christine's in town from D.C., I want to hang out with her and Cheryl and this will be something fun to do as a Girls' Night Out.
This time, Alan is working the late shift at the data center so he won't be home anyway, and fetching home Deathly Hallows might be a diverting way to spend the time. My house is less than 2 miles from Borders and I know from those previous midnight book releases that my Borders is generally not very crowded. There are other, larger Borders in the metro area that draw the huge crowds, like the one in Buckhead or the big Barnes & Noble on Peachtree. So it's not like it will take a monstrous amount of effort, time, fighting traffic, etc.
Another big motivator for me is that it’s kinda fun to think that I’m participating in a pop culture phenomenon. I read in an article (don't remember where or I'd cite my source properly, sorry) that the public as a whole hasn't been this excited about a book/fiction series since Dickens wrote novels that were published as serialized newspaper installments; readers of The Old Curiosity Shop practically frothed at the mouth to learn whether Nell lived or died, much like they're doing today with Harry. Well, erm, not those same people. And this same palpable excitement will never happen again so it is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. That is, the public might get as excited and enthralled by works of fiction/literature, (though who knows when another tale as captivating and compelling may come along?) but Harry Potter excitement will only happen this once because as new readers and younger people discover the HP series, they won’t have to wait on writing, publishing, release dates etc. to know the ending.
So I might go just to be a part of something big/historic. Although I already know parts of the ending - assuming the copy my brother saw was an actual leaked copy of the book and not an internet hoax. [You can keep reading - this post is spoiler-free.] Really, the things I asked Bo to tell me don't spoil the book or the tale in the slightest because I'm still dying to see how everything fits together, how everyone conducts themselves, how the tale unfolds - like in a certain movie series I've watched a time or three, you KNOW Obi-Wan Kenobi wins the fight with Anakin on Mustafar and that Anakin becomes Darth Vader, or they wouldn't have been there in the first three movies, but it's still a great thrill ride to see how Lucas gets us there.
Actually, I wasn't that curious about the Big Question everyone seems to want to know: whether Harry lives or dies. Honestly, I could deal with it either way, depending on how it went down and what else happened; happy endings are, well, happier, but there's a certain dignity and purity in a noble death that, if well-written, I could appreciate. No, the major thing I was salivating to learn was: where do Severus Snape's loyalties truly lie? Bo was kind enough to answer that one and also tell me who in the 'supporting cast' gets killed - again, assuming he's seen a real copy. Want to know? I'll tell you at midnight-thirty! :-)
Well, wait - here's a major death/plot point for you: NELL DIES.
BWHAHAHAHAHA!
As Afton notes, this is Harry Potter Eve. I have been toying all day with the idea of going to get it at midnight. I’m not such a rabid fanatic that I can’t wait; in fact, with items like my RazR phone, video game systems, video games, iPods, etc. I rather prefer to wait until the crowds thin out, the hype dies down (and in many of those cases, the price goes down). While I have gone to 2 - or maybe 3, I disremember - midnight Harry Potter book releases and quite a few midnight premieres of movies (movies in general, not just Harry Potter ones) usually my motivation is less about being first or extreme anticipation of the book/movie itself and more about having something fun to do with like-minded friends. For example, I saw the first Harry Potter movie at 12:01 AM with Cheryl and Christine. I was curious to see the film version and wild to see 'real' Quidditch, planned on seeing it eventually, but the primary impetus for that excursion was hey, Christine's in town from D.C., I want to hang out with her and Cheryl and this will be something fun to do as a Girls' Night Out.
This time, Alan is working the late shift at the data center so he won't be home anyway, and fetching home Deathly Hallows might be a diverting way to spend the time. My house is less than 2 miles from Borders and I know from those previous midnight book releases that my Borders is generally not very crowded. There are other, larger Borders in the metro area that draw the huge crowds, like the one in Buckhead or the big Barnes & Noble on Peachtree. So it's not like it will take a monstrous amount of effort, time, fighting traffic, etc.
Another big motivator for me is that it’s kinda fun to think that I’m participating in a pop culture phenomenon. I read in an article (don't remember where or I'd cite my source properly, sorry) that the public as a whole hasn't been this excited about a book/fiction series since Dickens wrote novels that were published as serialized newspaper installments; readers of The Old Curiosity Shop practically frothed at the mouth to learn whether Nell lived or died, much like they're doing today with Harry. Well, erm, not those same people. And this same palpable excitement will never happen again so it is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. That is, the public might get as excited and enthralled by works of fiction/literature, (though who knows when another tale as captivating and compelling may come along?) but Harry Potter excitement will only happen this once because as new readers and younger people discover the HP series, they won’t have to wait on writing, publishing, release dates etc. to know the ending.
So I might go just to be a part of something big/historic. Although I already know parts of the ending - assuming the copy my brother saw was an actual leaked copy of the book and not an internet hoax. [You can keep reading - this post is spoiler-free.] Really, the things I asked Bo to tell me don't spoil the book or the tale in the slightest because I'm still dying to see how everything fits together, how everyone conducts themselves, how the tale unfolds - like in a certain movie series I've watched a time or three, you KNOW Obi-Wan Kenobi wins the fight with Anakin on Mustafar and that Anakin becomes Darth Vader, or they wouldn't have been there in the first three movies, but it's still a great thrill ride to see how Lucas gets us there.
Actually, I wasn't that curious about the Big Question everyone seems to want to know: whether Harry lives or dies. Honestly, I could deal with it either way, depending on how it went down and what else happened; happy endings are, well, happier, but there's a certain dignity and purity in a noble death that, if well-written, I could appreciate. No, the major thing I was salivating to learn was: where do Severus Snape's loyalties truly lie? Bo was kind enough to answer that one and also tell me who in the 'supporting cast' gets killed - again, assuming he's seen a real copy. Want to know? I'll tell you at midnight-thirty! :-)
Well, wait - here's a major death/plot point for you: NELL DIES.
BWHAHAHAHAHA!
3 Comments:
The copy I saw was, in fact, the real deal-something I'm somewhat stunned about. I bought the book today and finished it this evening...(SPOILER FREE COMMENTS AHEAD)-and it is a home run. Probably my favorite in the series. And actually, knowing a bit of the future helped me enjoy the book-because, odd as this sounds, there were times when I was like..."No way they get out of this...maybe I read a hallucination or something". Great job, JK!
By
Valentine Wolfe, at 11:33 PM
We had it delivered by Amazon today, as we do every HP book, except for maybe the first one. I just took pictures of the packaging, as we did last year. And, Leigh-Ann gets first crack at it. We're both spoiler-free, although we think the Toronto Star wrote a headline that's a spoiler. Stupid of them (and annoying) if it is, but if it's true, it won't lessen our enjoyment of the book, luckily for them, or I'd give them a piece of my mind, I would.
By
Anonymous, at 1:32 AM
I loved it, too!
By
Still Trying, at 11:26 AM
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