So tonight was Harry Potter mania night...after work I met some friends for drinks and nibblies, rushed home to feed the Currie cat, and then out to the movies to meet some different friends and catch the latest Harry Potter flick. I can't even remember what it's called. I just call it Number Five. Seeing as how the book didn't wow me, I wasn't expecting the movie to, either, but it was quite enjoyable. Mostly in a disturbing way; watching the actors who started playing these roles as kids turn into semi-attractive adults is a little unsettling. Annie turned to me at one point and said, "Harry's RIPPED!" And it was true. He was ripped. Then she turned to her sister Megan and said, "His name should be Harry HOTTER." On the way out of the theatre Erin commented that when Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) kissed Cho Chang (nameless cute girl), it seemed like "he knew what he was doing. In the book, Harry was supposed to be nervous. But he looked like he knew what he was doing." Um, yeah. Again, a train of thought I didn't really want to embark upon: the sex life of Daniel Radcliffe. Shudder. It feels dirty.
The movie ended around 12:30, and we then made our way to the Chapters on Robson so Barb could pick up her pre-ordered copy of the book. I stood in a line that snaked from the front of the store to the back with those unlucky or unorganized persons who hadn't pre-ordered. One of the lawyers I work for was standing in the line; being the good mom that she is she had promised to bring it home, and she let me jump the queue with her. Behind us were some very obliging "tweens" who had dressed up for the occasion. They had their faces painted with various things-the Gryffindor crest, Fluffy the three-headed whatever...and were wearing school uniforms and carrying wands. One of them, a boy with slicked back blondish hair and wearing a Slytherin badge, thrust his arm in my face.
"Look at my dark mark! I'm Draco Malfoy!" I appropriately ooh'ed and aah'ed over the smear of black facepaint on his forearm. My colleague informed me that the kids had been interviewed by a correspondent from the Canadian Press. "Yeah," said Draco, with an ultra-casual air. "Like, half the people in the WORLD want our picture." Again, appropriate oohs and aahs. One of his friends, who was supposed to be Ginny Weasley and had sprayed her hair red, piped in that they had seen a really good Harry Potter costume earlier in the night. "Not as good as THIS one, though," said Draco, pointing to a magazine with Daniel Radcliffe on the cover. I agreed that he was a pretty good Harry Potter. "You know what? He got a cheque for fifty THOUSAND dollars," Draco informed me gravely. "That's like, the biggest cheque ever for a kid actor." I didn't have the heart to tell him it was fifty MILLION dollars...he seemed appropriately awed at the thought of fifty thousand dollars.
Most of the Chapters staff were making a night of it and were also dressed up. A woman in a black dress and a long platinum wig wearing a badge that said "Narcissa Malfoy" rang in my book. A very good Dolores Umbridge, in a pink dowdy suit with a pillbox hat, stamped my book to say that on the stroke of midnight on July 21, 2007, I had received my copy of the final Harry Potter book, and we were out the door and back on Robson Street.
So that's that. No more pre-ordering, no more waiting in line at midnight, no more leaked copies online...no more books. All that's left is the brainless consumerism of the remaining two movies and the eight zillion merchandise tie-ins. I didn't have a problem so much with Pottermania when it encouraged people to read...but now that there are no more books, can't it please just go away?
The movie ended around 12:30, and we then made our way to the Chapters on Robson so Barb could pick up her pre-ordered copy of the book. I stood in a line that snaked from the front of the store to the back with those unlucky or unorganized persons who hadn't pre-ordered. One of the lawyers I work for was standing in the line; being the good mom that she is she had promised to bring it home, and she let me jump the queue with her. Behind us were some very obliging "tweens" who had dressed up for the occasion. They had their faces painted with various things-the Gryffindor crest, Fluffy the three-headed whatever...and were wearing school uniforms and carrying wands. One of them, a boy with slicked back blondish hair and wearing a Slytherin badge, thrust his arm in my face.
"Look at my dark mark! I'm Draco Malfoy!" I appropriately ooh'ed and aah'ed over the smear of black facepaint on his forearm. My colleague informed me that the kids had been interviewed by a correspondent from the Canadian Press. "Yeah," said Draco, with an ultra-casual air. "Like, half the people in the WORLD want our picture." Again, appropriate oohs and aahs. One of his friends, who was supposed to be Ginny Weasley and had sprayed her hair red, piped in that they had seen a really good Harry Potter costume earlier in the night. "Not as good as THIS one, though," said Draco, pointing to a magazine with Daniel Radcliffe on the cover. I agreed that he was a pretty good Harry Potter. "You know what? He got a cheque for fifty THOUSAND dollars," Draco informed me gravely. "That's like, the biggest cheque ever for a kid actor." I didn't have the heart to tell him it was fifty MILLION dollars...he seemed appropriately awed at the thought of fifty thousand dollars.
Most of the Chapters staff were making a night of it and were also dressed up. A woman in a black dress and a long platinum wig wearing a badge that said "Narcissa Malfoy" rang in my book. A very good Dolores Umbridge, in a pink dowdy suit with a pillbox hat, stamped my book to say that on the stroke of midnight on July 21, 2007, I had received my copy of the final Harry Potter book, and we were out the door and back on Robson Street.
So that's that. No more pre-ordering, no more waiting in line at midnight, no more leaked copies online...no more books. All that's left is the brainless consumerism of the remaining two movies and the eight zillion merchandise tie-ins. I didn't have a problem so much with Pottermania when it encouraged people to read...but now that there are no more books, can't it please just go away?