+ Woooow, HP fandom. You are lame. I just do not even know where to start with regard to your complete and utter lamery. Instead of enjoying your canonical slash, please, continue to bitch about it incoherently like the bitter, paranoid twats you are. You do that. I will be over here having an awesome time reading the CANONICAL SLASH. Awesome times are the point of fandom, no? No? Well, that explains SO MUCH.

+ Avatar tonight was full of FAIL for the first time ever! At least it was unintentionally hilarious, what with all of the SECRET PAIN and emo hair. ( vaguely spoilery )

+ FNL is surprisingly better when you fast forward everything to do with Tyra/Landry.

+ Rob Thomas very nicely spoke to jujubee for a college project, and she very nicely decided to share the interview. It's very interesting, has some deets on the writer's strike (which I am dreading, although I fully support the writers guild) and some info on where the show would have been going in S4. Must say that the direction for the fourth season leaves me kind of cold, and that actually makes me feel a little better about the cancellation.

Potterdammerung sucks.

ETA: Check out this new eye-bleeding chat with JKR. She contradicts herself!

( Lots of interesting things... )

And look! seviet has illustrated a scene from Deathly Hallows! The most important and pivotal scene, obviously.

( I hate Jo Rowling. )

P.S. OMG, HAVE YOU SEEN THE AVATAR S3 PREVIEW?!?! (And here's one with a slightly better picture but worse sound.) HOLY CRAP, FIRE LORD.

HAI GUYZ. Look at this very excellent Harry/Hermione fanart! (Spoilers for DH!)

And this deserves it's own post, but I do not think she will mind...

Yesterday bactaqueen, one of my oldest and bestest Internet buddies, went and got herself hitched! Congratulations, Laura, and here's wishing you and Mr. Bacta a totally awesome life together.

P.S. Where should I send the booze?!

I have decided that, in addition to making Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Warner Brothers should also make Harry Potter and the Missing Hi-Jinks. Because I've just reached the part of HBP where Ron and Hermione are being completely awful to each other, and I will positively die when I see the movie next November and it's all been cut out. Right now I'm at the bit where Hermione tells Parvati that she only likes really good Quidditch players. And, lo, it is hilarious! They could totally fill up a whole movie with all of the awesome they've cut!

And, man, if you hate Harry Potter, I am very sorry. Especially as I have not even read Deathly Hallows yet and am therefore nowhere near done talking about Harry. *pities you*

OT: I watched Heather finish the new Zelda game today. Usually the ends of video games are completely anticlimactic and stupid, but I was actually surprised! I mean, it was totally tragic and woeful, but we were all very pleased that Zelda turned out not to be the love interest for the first freaking time ever. She should save her own damn kingdom for once. Same goes for Princess Peach.

Also, what is up with Eric Kripke saying that he'd never turn Supernatural into One Tree Hill with monsters? He literally said that he'd die first! I do not think you are supposed to say stuff like that about shows on your own network, no matter how much you think they suck.

The good news is that I have my book, and the dedication is lovely. I adore Jo Rowling something fierce.

The bad news -- and this is going to sound like attention-whoring, but it's the truth -- is that I, along with 200+ other fans, was spoiled by a rotten teenaged boy who crashed the costume contest. One second I'm cheering for two little kids dressed in pillowcases (house elves), and then this douche bag hops onto the pedestal for his turn, and instead of striking a pose and saying who he's dressed up as, he whips out a large piece of poster board from under his shirt with A Big Spoiler on it. Everyone was completely stricken. He was booed and pulled off the pedestal by the B&N employee, but that's it. He just slunk away.

Obviously, I am very unhappy. As much as I do not want to let someone like that ruin what was supposed to be a completely awesome time, it's pretty much knocked the wind out of my sails, which is why I am on LJ when I should be reading. You know the expression about stealing Christmas? That is how I feel. My Harry Potter Day has been stolen.

I had to heavily skim OotP and HBP, so I think I am probably going to go back and reread them before I begin DH, like I wanted to in the first place. I mean, there's no point in rushing now. I'm already spoiled, thanks to that creep.

It is lucky that it was just me and Kierra, though. Her friend from school was in the costume contest dressed up as Hermione, so I had taken her to do that while my mom, sister and her entourage were elsewhere participating in the House Cup activities. In retrospect, it would probably have been a better idea to go to a smaller book store, not the Mall of GA bookstore, which was probably one of the larger parties in the state. Although the party wouldn't have been as elaborate or fun.

GAH.

HAPPY HARRY POTTER DAY!

+ Actually, it's the last one. So it's more like Harry Fucking Potter Day, isn't it?

+ Just think! Today is the last day that everyone is still alive in the HP verse! Tomorrow your favorite character could be dead! Or worse!

+ Anyway. I do not even care who lives or dies. I am just terrified that I will hate the book or something. But that is silly, right? I have loved them all! I seriously doubt I will hate this one. IT WILL ALL BE OKAY.

+ I am not dressing up, and I have lent away my Republicans For Voldemort shirt, so I will be wearing a green and white striped shirt in honor of the fact that I totally believe Severus Snape is loyal to Dumbledore.

+ AND, HAHAHA, I SERIOUSLY DOUBT I WILL BE EATING THE PAGE THAT HARRY DIES ON. But I will totally do it if he does.

+ Oh, hey. I totally didn't finish my reread! I got all the way through GoF, and then I had to get Kelly to help me skim through OotP. Today I've got to skim my way through everything important in HBP. Anyway, I figure I'll just reread the last three books after I read Deathly Hallows. I've always said the last three books are sort of a three-part story, anyway. (Not really sure I believe that after rereading the end of GoF, though. Lots of hints about OotP and HBP in there.) And it's always really fun to reread Rowling's books after you have all the answers so you can see how she's laid the clues. (I'm still sore I never cottoned on to Rita Skeeter being a beetle. It was so OBVIOUS. "Maybe you've been bugged!" Gaaaah.)

+ I cannot believe this is over! I've been reading these books since I was FIFTEEN! I will never ever feel this way about any other series again, I am pretty sure. This is scary and sad and awesome all at the same time.

This whole debacle with the NYT reviewing Deathly Hallows is very interesting to me. Obviously, I have not and will not be reading the review and there will be NO SPOILERS in this post. But it brings up interesting questions about The Point of Criticism. Relevance, ethics, whether critics have journalistic obligations to their readers or whether criticism is just an extension of marketing. Are they gatekeepers? Do critics ultimately exist to point would-be audiences towards the hidden gems and the things that fall through the cracks, or should they focus their energies on what society has declared most relevant?

The idea that The Paper of Record would pay an exorbitant sum of money for a bootleg copy and then read and review it in a manner of hours (She received the book Wednesday "afternoon" and the review was posted later that same evening.) is pretty bizarre. In my opinion, that's unworthy of the Times. But the idea that the Times and the Baltimore Sun feel as if they are entitled to review the books in advance of their release, the idea that they feel they are entitled, even obligated, to report such information against the express wishes of the author, the publishers, and (in most cases) the fans... that's interesting to me. It calls to mind the hullabaloo surrounding Order of the Phoenix's release. OotP was the first book there was REALLY an embargo on. I remember reading about how The Daily Telegraph published a review in time for the next day's paper by buying several books at midnight, assigning several journalists specific parts and then briefing each other on what had happened. Afterwards, the (arts) editor hastily penned a resentful review, memorably lamenting that "no book should be released like this." (I do not think I need to point out the irony.)

So, you know. It is all veeeery iiiiinteresting.

P.S. Sooo, the leaked copy is a fake? That is GOOD NEWS if it is true! Because I was an eensy bit spoiled by my f'list yesterday (HEM HEM), and if the leaked copy is fake, I think that means I am still entirely unspoiled! Yay!

LiveJournal is so dead. *pokes* I guess everyone is trying to avoid HP spoilers. That's really screwed up, about that leaked copy.

Order of the Phoenix was AMAZING. It is far and away my favorite of the movie adaptations, which I generally have no use for.

( Comments from the Peanut Gallery )

It's kind of ironic how much I think everyone is going to like this movie. I feel kind of vindicated, actually! IMHO, Order of the Phoenix is vastly underrated by fandom. The story is sprawling and Harry's behavior is not always easy to read, but there's a lot of brilliance in there! Best of all, it was nothing like what fandom imagined it would be like, and I hope the same holds true of Deathly Hallows. 8 DAYS, WHOO!

P.S. Did anyone else catch The Dark is Rising trailer?! Watching that was like watching my childhood be raped. Just, oh my god.

I really enjoyed this Salon article about the Phoenix Rising convention, but I actually have a couple comments to make about it, including a defense of the Sirius/Remus shipper comments the author "bristled at." Yes, you read that right. I am defending Sirius/Remus shippers from accusations of Tonks bashing.

( I KNOW, CRAZY! )

However, I adored her summation of the big Snape debate, and I really wish there was a podcast of that. (Also, this reminds me that jasminelily never made her big post about why Snape should totally be evil!) I also really loved the bits about the teenaged architet-prodigy who gave the "Hogwarts: A History" presentation based on blueprints of Hogwarts she's been working on since she was in fourth grade. Really, it sounds like it was an awesome, geeky time.

Also, I was thinking a little more about the Spiderman 3, and I know it's stupid to nitpick a movie that was terrible in big, huge, glaringly obvious ways, but isn't Peter in super-duper advanced science classes at this point? Why on earth would Gwen Stacey be in his class if "science wasn't her best subject," as he told Mary Jane? Gwen is supposed to be a biochemistry major, after all! Gwen's modeling career? Also weird. I think Bryce Dallas-Howard is gorgeous, but she definitely doesn't have a model's body; I couldn't help but think how enormous she looked next to Kirsten Dunst. Gwen was supposed to have been a former beauty-queen, but there's kind of a big difference between that and modeling in New York. The changes all seemed nonsensical, unnecessary and weird.

Yeah, I know. You're looking at this entry all like PETER CHOREOGRAPHED A SONG AND DANCE NUMBER TO GET BACK AT HIS EX, AND YOU'RE COMPLAINING ABOUT BACKSTORY? I know, I know, I know. But I had high hopes for Gwen Stacey.

Universal Studios is building a Harry Potter theme park!

My initial reaction was QUELLE HORROR. But then I thought about it and realized that actually this is totally AWESOMESAUCE! My life will be made when I am able to walk into Honeydukes and buy a seven dollar pumpkin pasty. Or when I am able to sit in ninety-eight degree weather in an outdoor arena wearing a thirty dollar Gryffindor scarf to watch The Weird Sisters perform. Or when I am waiting in line to ride the Gringotts Rollercoaster. Or when I'm taking a picture with Severus Snape!

I AM SO THERE. WHO'S COMING WITH ME?

Hey, I was at Borders today with little miss NINE WHOLE YEARS to get the new Giada cookbook for my mom. And I saw Cassie Claire's book! It was much with the amusing, and it reminded me that it's only 68 days 'til Harry Potter! Two months and change! That's so close!

Word on the Interwebs is that VM is dead; allegedly the CW network would like to renew it but the corporate people aren't having it. Which is understandable considering how bad the ratings have been since it came back from hiatus. I guess we'll know for sure in a couple of days!

I didn't plan on making this post until we were a little closer to the release date of Deathly Hallows, but with the first (apparently fake?) spoilers showing up in fandom, I'm going to go ahead and make it now.

I do not want to be spoiled for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I love Harry Potter something fierce, and I absolutely do not want to know anything about the book, to the extent where I will attempt to avoid even the summary.

Two years ago, I was accidentally spoiled for the Remus/Tonks by a bad LJ-cut in an HP community I watched. I figured that it was just a shipping spoiler, so no sweat. I even discussed the spoiler with Lisa, and we had a laugh (under)estimating what fandom's reaction would be. But then Remus/Tonks turned out to be less of a ship and more of a red herring, and it affected the way I read the book. I immediately knew what was up with Tonks, and that was no fun.

I have always believed that people should take responsibility for their own unspoiledness, and so I have defriended all of the HP communities I watch. I will not be visiting Fandom Wank or MuggleNet or Leaky. So this is basically a plea -- if any of you plan on discussing or posting spoilers, please please please please PLEASE double-check your LJ cuts. If they end up in your comments, please add a warning. You all know the drill; I probably don't even have to make this post. But just in case. <3

I can't believe Gilmore Girls won the S.O.S. poll! I thought that was one show we could all agree needs to be put out to pasture. It's too bad Lauren Graham won't do the show without Alexis Bledel, because a Rory-lite Season 8 might actually be something that I'd watch.

Also, I dreamt last night that this stupid person at Barnes & Noble sold me Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows two months early. And in my dream Harry didn't die, so I didn't have to eat the page he (didn't) die on. Best dream ever, possibly.

+ Dial Idol breaks my spirit.

+ Addison's Anatomy has a name: Private Practice. (ETA: lodessa linked to an official summary of the show in the comments, and it sounds great to me.)

+ The U.S. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows cover art is awesome. I love that on the front you have GOOD and then it's like *flip* to the EVIL on the back. A+!

+ The new Potter Puppet Pals video made me laugh so hard I almost cried.

+ This political/The Office parody made me laugh so hard that I did cry.

+ Oh yeah. I got my Glarkware TWoP swag in the mail, finally. I bought the Go Pirates hoodie and The Fake News Is All I Need shirt when they had their big NoN Leftovers sale at the beginning of this month.

The door to JKR's study is open at her site, and our holiday gift this year is the title of Book 7. I could tell you what it is, but it's much more fun if you do it yourself. To find the key for the door, you just have to click around and make sure the hallway is clean and decorated.

I highly recommend that if you read Harry Potter that you go participate in prettyveela's second Blame Game. It's a fun time, although it really hammers home the things I hated most about the HP fandom. All of the moments in the poll have been the cause of controversy, and it's just so incredibly stupid that the HP fandom will seriously sit around and argue about whether or not Molly is a bad person because she didn't take an automatic shine to Fleur. HP Fen blows chunks, man.

Also, if I made the 2+ gigs of the BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre available through YSI or UpFile, would anyone besides themis love me forever?

ALSO! Brendan/Veronica (Brick/VM) equals BEST CROSSOVER EVER, Y/N?

I bitched about the trio's hair before PoA and GoF. Please excuse me while I do it again. But this time I'll cut, for superficiality.

( OMGWTFBBQHAIR )

Poll #829014
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Am I overreacting?