In presidings over a copyright lawsuit yesterday, a fan creating a "Harry Potter Lexicon" -- an encyclopedia of sorts about the world of Harry Potter -- cried. J.K. Rowling, the author of the infamous books, called the encyclopedia "sloppy, lazy and ... wholesale theft" of her work.
But it turns out Rowling likes Vander Ark's website, something the middle school librarian created as a companion site over the years. It's just that Rowling is concerned that the Lexicon could compete with her own forthcoming Harry Potter encyclopedia.
At this point, Rowling's creation has become to big for her to control. Harry Potter has become part of global culture. Clearly she has chosen to pick and choose which "copyright violations" she will go after -- and this one was targeted because it directly competed with something she herself planned to sell.
Time should give the nod to J.K. Rowling. True, she didn't change the way Americans think about climate change or sell nuclear material to Iran, but she did something just as notable: she got a lot of kids to enjoy reading.
By introducing the idea that reading is fun—full disclosure: I’m totally obsessed with the series—the books invite readers to examine literature beyond Rowling’s. Half of all Harry Potter readers planned to read a new series once Rowling’s ended; one third will re-read the Harry Potter series. That's pretty significant.
Rowling’s work fosters a sense of wonder, adventure and exploration—feelings that push readers to seek out more. The leap from Harry Potter to The Lord of the Rings or A Wrinkle in Time isn’t far, and Rowling deserves credit for making that leap easier.
Some of you no doubt think that a post on the Golden Compass is a week overdue, given that the movie came out last Friday. I'm aware of that, but I wanted to wait for the box office numbers, which sorta proves that New Line banking on this one was a bad idea. New Line will sadly almost certainly lose money on the film, which is well-enough done to be worth a rental but not a full price movie ticket, in this reviewer's opinion. But what's killed the movie is not the average quality (see "Ghost Rider" and "Fantastic Four" as two examples of bad, yet successful blockbusters); rather, the movie has simply been covered as a controversial film, and has been the victim of many a smear campaign by the Christian right, who apparently care more about this one than Harry Potter, which, one should note, glorifies magic, which is kinda technically maybe paganism. On the other hand, His Dark Materials (the name of the trilogy) comes in for far too much criticism, when, in this Catholic's opinion, it is by far the best fantasy novel ever written. More on the death of God, Death Eaters, and the spinelessness of directors after the jump. Read More »
J.K. Rowling told some fans at a reading in New York this weekend that Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Harry Potter's school, is gay. I think it's no coincidence that Rowling waited until after the publication of her final book to out the character. I have no doubt that many parents would be so horrified about a gay headmaster that they'd forbid their children from reading the books. Then again, such parents were probably already weirded out by the witchcraft.
Ok, my first post in a long time is about Harry Potter. Sue me.
The New York Times reported yesterday that along with toxic toothpaste and deadly pet food, China struggles to regulate a growing corner of the fraudulent market: Harry Potter books.
Some are pretty straightforward, like photocopies or unauthorized translations of the American version. Others are far more creative--entire books written by citizens and distributed illegally by publishers. My favorite Chinese additions to the series: "Harry Potter and the Hiking Dragon" and "Harry Potter and the Big Funnel." Awesome.
Of course, this is part of a much larger piracy issue in China--literary infringements are often bypassed by the government, which prefers to "fight harder [against] banned publications, like pornography, political books, such as things written about the leadership, the government, and historical matters like the Cultural Revolution," says Wei Bin, editor of the Writers' Publishing House, which examines book piracy.
So to infiltrate the Chinese system, disguise your controversial propaganda as Harry Potter fodder. Look for "Harry Potter and the Unfiltered Google" or "Harry Potter and the Elusive Civil Liberties" on bookshelves soon.
Via Reddit, I just read “Harry Potter and the Death of Reading,” a column by Ron Charles, a senior editor of the Washington Post’s book section. In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that I have yet to read a page of any of the Harry Potter books, nor have I seen any of the movies. So I’m not really in a position to criticize what has become a marketing juggernaut. Read More »
(As this is damn near completely off-topic for the purposes of the site, I'm going to refrain from front-paging this and instead will simply post it to my personal blog)
Since my wife and I just moved to Alexandria last week, I haven't really had a chance to explore the DC-area social scene. Last night, she and I changed that at the Potomac Yard theater at 11:59.
Yes, we're total "Harry Potter" nerds, and we freely admit it.
I think I've been to the midnight premiers of all five of the movies so far, including "Chamber of Secrets," which came out while I was doing a stint in rural Michigan and had to drive over an hour and a half through the snow to get to the theater.
Actually, it was my second movie of the day--my wife had an interview in Georgetown, so I had spent about an hour and a quarter watching "Transformers" at the Loew's Theater on K Street at 31st (I had little trouble walking out when she called to tell me her interview was over, though the fight scenes were cool enough, I suppose).
For decades, Tipper Gore has told parents how to raise their children. In her book Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society, she shamed parents who dare allow their children access to youth culture. She insisted that following her example of selecting your children’s music and TV programs for them, of chaperoning your teenaged children at concerts, etc. was the only way to ensure children would grow up right and become adults who make the right choices.
We recently saw the results of Tipper Gore-style parenting. The son Tipper Gore raised, Al Gore III, was caught endangering people’s lives by driving 100 mph on a public highway. When police pulled him over, they found in his car several illegal drugs. This was not Al Gore III’s first such experience, of course. In 2003, he was stopped for driving at night with his headlights off and police found drugs then, too. Not only has Tipper Gore raised a junkie who endangers other people’s lives, but she has raised a son who can’t even figure out that when you have a stash in your car, you don’t drive 100 mph.
Now that we’ve seen the results of Tipper Gore parenting, hopefully parents will stop emulating her example. Because Al Gore III is not the only victim.
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