Plain words, uncommon sense
Young-ha Kim, author of I Have the Right to Destroy Myself, will be touring universities this fall. He is sponsored by a Korean organization (not sure which one) and will be doing readings in Korean, but I suspect he might also promote his English books.
The media scoop is he’ll be in Vancouver and doing a reading a UBC. More details to come.
I just met a guy with an Apple iPhone.
Wow.
It is super cool. The screen resolution is amazing. The image rotates as you rotate the phone. You can double tap the image to get menus, you can make a pinching motion with your fingers to zoom in and out.
YouTube is pre-installed. The videos load quickly and look great. Better than on a PSP.
The internet browse is also cool. It understands divs so you can double tap areas of the website to zoom in.
Wow, wow, wow.
The screen uses optical glass and is really hard to scratch.
It’s much thinner than I expected. It’s like the size of a closed Motorola Razr phone, but a little wider and longer.
My geeky senses are tingling.
Oh, and Evan is a nice guy too.
For those of you who’ve asked for details about the Harry Potter Party at VanDusen Garden. Here they are.
We arrived and lined up along with thousands of other wizards along 37th. The line was huge. At one point some muggle or another with a megaphone started telling people he had the words of the next Harry Potter book. Did we want to hear it. The resounding answer was no. Go peddle madness elsewhere.
At 11 pm, the doors to the garden opened and the line was ushered through. We passed all sorts of secret wizard police dressed in traffic-directing gear. The path into the clearing was lit with orange twinkle lights. When we arrived at the end of the path we were met with the sight of thousands already gathered in the garden’s centre. There were little white tents around the outside of the circle. Each tent was numbered and decorated as a Ministry of Magic door.
There were also tents for refreshments–water or Happy Planet drinks–as well as ginger cookies and lots of candies. One tent had a stage and a wizard band. There were stilt walkers and dragons and costumes and lots of umbrellas because it was raining.
At midnight we had a big countdown and then the tent doors were opened.
I know I described all this before, but here it is again, in case I missed anything the first time. And for those of you not satisfied with photos, here’s a video.
Vancouver Kidsbooks held the best Harry Potter party. It was at Van Dusen Garden in Vancouver. Here are some photos.
Created with Paul’s flickrSLiDR.
My mother just called to find out what I’m wearing to the party tonight. We’re going to the Van Dusen Gardens to the biggest Harry Potter party in Vancouver.
I’ve gone to every single Kidsbooks party for Harry Potter. Not only do they do the best facade for their store, they do the best party.
I always want a pristine copy of the book but they put a sticker on the cover. With each book, the sticker is different so I’ve taken to collecting those, as well as the adult editions and then another kids edition, just so I have one with a clean jacket cover.
I know. It’s a bit much.
But I can’t tell you how much I’m dreading the end of this series. In many ways I’m so excited that another book is here. In other ways, I’m fairly certain that Harry’s life will end with the books. (I haven’t read any spoilers so don’t say if you know.)
I just finished book 6 an hour ago and I’m now wandering around the house demanding James help me find my lightning bolt tattoos. I have a small stack of them … somewhere.
He’s quite patient with my Harry obsession, and I know that for the next 24 hours, he’s going to leave me alone as much as possible so that I can read the book and get it over with. I used to savour Harry. Now I devour him so that no one can spoil the end for me. I do, however, read them over and over again looking for the clues I missed the first time around.
Again, I know. It’s a book. I’m an adult.
There are people who wear spock ears. I roll my eyes at them, yet if I could just find those tattoos.
The magic of Harry Potter for me is this collective experience. Going to a bookstore with thousands of people (no exaggeration) and getting excited about a story that we all know and have been anticipating for 2 years. We’ve speculated. We’ve searched for spoilers and theories, and now this is it. It’s exciting.
How many things do we do en masse anymore? Things together, regardless of age group. How often can you be silly and excited and run around in the dark listening to wizard music and pretending you can do magic?
This is it.
My mother is attaching the sequince lightning bolt to her cloak right now.
Since 1997, when J.K. Rowling published the first Harry Potter book, the Philosopher’s Stone has been compromised, the Chamber of Secrets has been re-opened, the prisoner of Azkaban has turned out to be Harry Potter’s godfather, the Goblet of Fire has become a portkey that tricks Harry Potter and brings him to Voldemort, the Order of the Phoenix have reconvened to fight the Death Eaters, the Half-Blood Prince has saved Harry at potions but has destroyed a beloved friend … and now we’re at the Deathly Hallows. The eve where the thin veil between the muggle world and the magic world disappears.
Tonight, at midnight, is the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
For many it is the end of a 10-year saga. For early fans of the book, Harry has gone from 11 to 17. He’s had his first kiss, he’s watched friends die, he’s had to make hard choices, he’s made the strongest friendships imaginable. For fans, some have gone from having the book read to them as children to graduating high school. They too have had first kisses, fights with friends, perhaps had family or friends die, and have had to make tough choices. For others, children have grown up and left home, there have been marriages, divorces, graduations, babies, retirement, happy times and sad times.
Ten years of Harry Potter–magic, madness and Pottermania–are coming to a close.
How will you remember this time? What’s happened in your life since 1997? If you’re a fan of the books, what’s happened in your life since Harry?
Tell your story on SinceHarry.com
Or take the Since Harry survey.
Aggregated results will be posted on SinceHarry.com.
UPDATE:
As of July 20, 2007: Early response to the survey shows that of 100 respondents:
* 86.8% had read at least one Harry Potter book
* 28.3% started reading Harry Potter in 1998
* 33% are planning to attend a midnight party for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
* 74% are planning to buy the book vs. borrow it from a library or friend (11%) or not read the book at all (15%)
In response to “What’s happened in your life since 1997”, the following life events are the most common:
* 72.6% travelled
* 71.6% changed jobs
* 66.3% saw all the Harry Potter movies
* 65.3% had a death in the family or of a friend
* 59% learned to pronounce Hermione
* 57.9% have gotten excited about a book launch
* 55.8% started a blog
It was a warm summer day in 1998 when I read my first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I was working as an intern in the catalogue department at Raincoast Books. We were struggling to get a more prominent display in our Spring catalogue for the 3 Harry Potter books.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was being published in the spring and the books were doing ok in BC. Vancouver Kidsbooks was selling them like hot cakes and begging us to print more. But the East coast and Toronto reps were unsure. The enthusiasm for the books hadn’t reached their territory.
We decided to put the book image on the front cover of the catalogue.
I was sick of hearing about Harry Potter. The UK press coverage billed J.K. Rowling as an up-and-coming writer, the kids were posting online about how awesome the books were, we were brainstorming how to help series along. I was tired of hearing about Harry Potter and never having read a chapter.
With the teen fiction I was promoting, I would read the first chapter, if it was good, I’d read the full book. If it was bad, I’d read a middle chapter, scan a couple of other pages and read the last chapter. That was my plan for Harry Potter.
My bus ride was an hour long, lots of time to decide if Harry Potter was good or bad. When I walked into Raincoast that morning, I told them that I couldn’t do any work. Harry Potter was stuck in the dungeon and I needed to see what was going to happen.
I was hooked.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone wasn’t the best writing that I’d ever read, but it was definitely fun. There was something captivating about the characters, poor Harry trapped in the cupboard under the stairs.
Since that morning in 1998 I have changed jobs at least 5 times; I’ve started my own business; I’ve joined Harry Potter fan sites, attended midnight parties and been fuelled by the excitement of so many kids (young and old) dressed up as wizards; and I’ve fallen deeper into Pottermania than I thought possible.
The friendships that I’ve gained because of the books have been deeper than I expected. This is the book series that I feel most passionate about. I hide that passion because when I worked at Raincoast I didn’t want my “outside” friends to badger me about the stories or inside-scoops they thought I might have. Now as the series comes to a close I want to celebrate the fun times that have been the last 10 years.
To that end, I’ve created a quick survey.
If you’re a Harry Potter reader, take my survey, see what kinds of experiences we’ve collectively shared during our time with the books. I’ll post the results on SinceHarry.com.
I read in the The Windsor Star today that Alistair MacLeod has been appointed to the Order of Canada by Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean.
Wahooooo!
MacLeod’s collection of short stories Lost Salt Gift of Blood is my all-time favourite collection. The stories are tight.
I also enjoyed As Birds Bring Forth the Sun, his second collection, and his novel No Great Mischief. The novel didn’t grab me as much as the short stories but as a fan of an author who publishes so rarely it was a treat nonetheless.
Via the Raincoast Harry Potter newsletter;
Lucky Matthew Pincin is going to London to attend the launch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, ” J.K. Rowling and The Moonlight Signing”.
Quote: 1,700 fans will gather on the evening of Friday July 20 and will have the opportunity to meet J.K. Rowling and have their book signed at the Natural History Museum starting at one minute past midnight. The first 500 randomly selected winners will attend the midnight reading. The subsequent signing is expected to last until dawn. Every ticket holder will receive a free book from Bloomsbury Publishing, the British publisher.
I particularly like the note about why Matthew loves reading Harry Potter.
Quote: When entering the contest, Matthew explained his attraction to Harry Potter. “I love reading Harry Potter because I enjoy all his adventures and wish that I had a pet owl and could go to a school like Hogwarts.” His mother Sandra added, “Matthew and I have read the books together and I am also a big fan, so having the chance to be in London for the launch of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows is a great thrill for both of us.”
Lucky ducks!
The Raincoast newsletter also announced that over 15,000 Canadian fans between 8 and 18 entered the contest.
Holy Hogwarts!
Via Morgan News
Adobe has released a new e-book software program: Adobe Digital Editions 1.0.
Adobe Digital Editions is available as a free download for Microsoft Windows and Apple systems. And according to the Adobe press release, it already has some industry support.
Quote: From Morgan News:
Digital Editions also offers its own support for PDF and XML-based publications. That means it’s already compatible with quite a few existing publications. It also supports Flash, which would allow authors to imbed audio and video. Finally, you would be able to set up bookmarks, do highlighting and make text notes in the publication.
The other interesting component of this is that Adobe’s InDesign CS3 is expected to include an export feature to create the ebooks. Bang zoom. The ebook race is off again.
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