The Final Trip to Hogwarts

I thought I was going to make it. I really did.

Yes, barring any sort of a confundus charm to dull my wits the end of Harry Potter was going to hurt. But with True Blood’s Eric Northman-heavy season heading into episode four, and filming of my other favorite television show The Walking Dead underway around Atlanta, I thought I’d make through today without shedding a tear.

Boy was I wrong. Repeatedly.

So what’s today? Premiere night for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 if you’re living under a rock …or just couldn’t make sense of the fools in cloaks gathering at your local movie theater.

Yes, this is it. The end of a decade-long fascination with the world of Harry Potter, of countless hours spent wandering the halls of Hogwarts thanks to the brilliant mind of one J.K. Rowling. And now, my mind feels as though it’s fallen victim to an evil wizard’s casting of a crucio spell. Like the spider tormented by Mad-Eye Moody (sob) in Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire I’m twitching, screaming silently, desperate for the pain to end… and yet, when the doors fly open for the midnight showings tonight I won’t be entering the theater.

A lot has been written over the last couple days about the worldwide phenomena that is Harry Potter. The series about a young wizard coming of age amidst a battle against the most evil wizard to ever live, the story of a young man forced to fight a grownup’s battle, a story of love and friendship and triumph that captured hearts worldwide. Harry Potter’s brave fight resonated across linguistic, cultural and societal barriers to unite fans around the world in Pottermania.

It was, and is,  ..well… magical.

As Chris Heller wrote for NPR, the Potter generation – those who were children when the series’ first book was published in 1995 – lived much of Harry’s experiences, identified with each growing pain, and recognized themselves in the boy wizard’s journey from awkward childhood to capable adult.

But what about the rest of us? What possible excuse could I, or any other adult, have for knowing precisely what “avada kedavra” does or why Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore never sought the coveted Minister of Magic position?

Love.

That is the true magic of Harry Potter. From the moment any of us met “The Boy Who Lived” we were smitten. As the characters of the Potterverse battled through jealousy, power struggles, discrimination, deception, self-doubt, betrayal and all the other ills that plague the human condition, love was their only true abiding hope.

So, yeah, I shed some tears today ….and I’m not ready to let go of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and least of all Severus Snape, even though I know going to the theater this weekend for “the end” is an absolute must.

But not tonight….as Muggles flock to the theater for the final battle of Hogwarts I’ll be starting (yet another) Harry Potter marathon from the very beginning and hoping, somehow, that the story doesn’t really have to end.

When did Le Freak become Le Norm?

There was a time when my magenta hair, black leather biker jacket, combat boots and black fingernail polish made me a bonfide freak…. At least in the eyes of my parents’ friends.

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I just liked what I liked. And odd?

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Well, sure, if you count that my favorite music was Metallica and Mozart, and my favorite books Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mysteries. And, yes, ok so my love for Ziggy Stardust and weekends that included a backpack full of toilet paper, rice and a squirt gun for the midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show might have gone a titch outside the boundaries of normal.

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Booklist for Eternity

 

What books would you take with you if the world was about to end?

Strange question, right? But think about it for a second. For most writers and academics, the end-of-the-world-is-coming packing list would surely involve some pained (though probably quick, given the bigger picture,) thought over which works to take from the family or work library.

The question has been bugging me since I caught an airing of 2012 – which, beside an awesomely odd performance by Woody Harrelson, some great special effects and an extremely engaging Russian pilot named Sasha, is little more than so-so — on the television.

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Twitpoll: Movies we watch over and over

This is how madness begins …

When the writing gets tough, my mind tends to wander. (Well, my mind tends to wander no matter what … but especially when the writing hits a snag. But, I digress ….) I long ago formed the habit of having the television on in the background because, well, my mind begins to wander if it’s too quiet. Of course I subsequently discovered that if I have on the news or TNT or HBO, I end up watching the television. Yes, dear readers, my mind wanders a lot.

My solution? Put a movie I love but have seen 100s of times in the DVD player and put it on a loop. Today, as I do quite often, I put in Resident Evil.

Somewhere around the third time through the zombie-with-the-axe-limping-towards-our-heroes scene I wondered exactly how many times I’ve seen the darned thing. Like any good #twitteraddict I promptly tweeted the thought out. And, yes, my mind started to wander …. #lesigh

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Fangtasm!

As a devoted fan of all things bloodsucker, I was delighted to read about all of the bloody creatures snapping up honors at last night’s Peoples’ Choice Awards.

The New Moon installment based on the Twilight saga phenomenon sucked up four awards, including favorite movie, franchise, on-screen team and breakout male actor for Tayler Lautner. My other current favorite fang-fare, HBO’s True Blood (based on Charlaine Harris’ series) grabbed favorite television obsession, while CW series The Vampire Diaries won for new television drama.

My joy in this news is twofold. One, it means we’re likely to see more bloodsuckers soon rising to feast in contemporary literary fiction works, on television and in the movies. Two, the popularity of these walking dead – who tend to either glory in the hunt or live in eternal torment – means that I am definitely NOT alone in my not-so-secret infatuations. (phew!!!!)

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