Harry Potter

[Reyneth]

With Book5, the company I was working for at the time was allowed to let employees read the books ahead of time as long as you swore that you would not reveal anything to customers.

Then some stupid chick at another store posted spoilers for the entire book plus her store's figures of "reserves" and how many they would be getting in (that was how they figured out who it was) and Scholastic put the smack down - all of the books had to be re-boxed and sealed immediately or they could cancel their contract with the entire company. I never read as fast as I did that afternoon - and made it *right* to the part where Sirius died. AHHHHHHH! That was the longest week of my life!

Strangely, the release for Book5 and two of the movies has been during the major USA gymnastics event each year that I go to. It was great seeing 1/4 of the people walking around with their copy of OotP with them.

I'm already thinking of ideas for the store I'm associated with's release party. And I need to start working on my costume!

That does remind me of the SCs who didn't reserve their copies and were furious we didn't have any left. Sorry guys - it's not like you didn't know ahead of time when it was coming out and that there are thousands and thousands of people wanting the same book. You'll have to find it somewhere else or wait for the next shipment.

[CellPhoneSlave]

At my store for the 6th, if we even opened the shipmet before 11:50, we were fired.. And we could only do that then to bring the boxes to the front..

We could not even take a knife to the boxes until 12:01....

But my sup loved me and I got to peer into the boxes 2 weeks before.. HeHe...


And also, she has posted that there are more deaths then she had thought would be in there.

[Reyneth]

At my store for the 6th, if we even opened the shipmet before 11:50, we were fired.. And we could only do that then to bring the boxes to the front..

We could not even take a knife to the boxes until 12:01....

I know! The store where I helped for the party had an extra surveilence cam on their shipment (covered in blankets) just so there wouldn't be any problems.

We got to open the boxes at midnight - man, was that fun. Sales were already done, people had to have vouchers or no book - so it was very easy. I don't remember how many we handed out in the first hour, I think 500? And not one SC in the bunch!

[Barefootgirl]

Fortunately Tescos always has piles of the HP books on the day of release, so no midnight queuing for me, thank you so much !

And seriously, The Satanic Verses? Its AWFUL. It reminded me of nothing so much as a little boy thumbing his nose and chalking "mummee iz a smelly-pants " on the wall to see what will happen to him.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I was blocked from going into a store that sold the Harry Potter books by a group of people protesting the book for the usual stuff.

I countered by reminding them that the Pope (John Paul II) made a ruling on them stating them to be good for children since it encourages them to read and that they are morality plays on a similar bend to the classic fairy tales. I then pushed past them and went in to buy the book.

On my way out I was told that I was going to hell. I replied..."I was baptized Catholic, never confirmed in the church, married outside my faith, got a divorce, married a second time (again outside my faith), became a Wiccan and activly practice magic. Harry Potter isn't going to tip my balance any further."

And then I went off and got in my car.

The people I really hate however was the [censored]smoker who drove past my store on release night of "HP and the Half Blood Prince" and shouted to the crowd which main character was killed before anyone of us could read it for ourselves. He's lucky his car wasn't likely to stall out or anything. The mob waiting to get in would have killed him.

M

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

I don't get how people rail against Harry Potter for being 'evil', but they turn around and praise Chronicles Of Narnia, which contains many of the exact same elements.
There's no difference in my eye.

There's one thing I've never gotten about the whole 'spellcasting' aversion that Christians seem to have.
Isn't prayer, when you really get down to it, spellcasting?
I mean, you're trying to employ supernatural means to your own end.
Wouldn't that make them the same thing?

[Noelegy]

My mom worked for some years as a feature reporter for a small-town newspaper. She did pretty well at searching out interesting stories on her own, but quite a few people would approach her with stories that they wanted to see written up in the paper. One of these people had a definite agenda against the Harry Potter books and wanted my mom to write an article denouncing them.

I should add at this point that my mother taught English for many years and is not a fan of censorship in any given form. I hung out at the public library a lot, and when the librarian called my mom when I was in the fifth grade to tell Mom that I wanted to check out a Stephen King book ("Carrie" as I recall) and they refused to let me do so, Mom told them that she (Mom) and I would determine what I was or wasn't ready to read, not the librarians. Mom's pretty cool that way.

Anyway, Mom has read at least one of the Harry Potter books, and when she asked the woman if SHE had read any of them, she had to admit that she hadn't. Mom told her to read them, and then come back if she still wanted a story written. She never heard from the woman on that topic again.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Then some stupid chick at another store posted spoilers for the entire book plus her store's figures of "reserves" and how many they would be getting in (that was how they figured out who it was) and Scholastic put the smack down - all of the books had to be re-boxed and sealed immediately or they could cancel their contract with the entire company. I never read as fast as I did that afternoon - and made it *right* to the part where Sirius died. AHHHHHHH! That was the longest week of my life!

That's bad. You get caught putting out a strict on sale title early and you can lose ALL new releases from that publisher. You don't get anything until AFTER it goes on sale, if they let you have it at all. And you're store/company can get fined.

I'm already thinking of ideas for the store I'm associated with's release party. And I need to start working on my costume!

Last time everyone in my store was assigned to a different house (GRYFFINDOR!!). Each led by an asst. or dept. manager. We had to at least wear the colors but some people dressed up in full costume, and one girl made a bunch of buttons that people STILL wear on their name tags. I wore the colors (or as close as I could get) but I worked during the day so I didn't go full out costume.

That does remind me of the SCs who didn't reserve their copies and were furious we didn't have any left. Sorry guys - it's not like you didn't know ahead of time when it was coming out and that there are thousands and thousands of people wanting the same book. You'll have to find it somewhere else or wait for the next shipment.

What amazed me the first time I worked on the Saturday morning was the people there who waited in the line that stretched ALLL the way to the far windows and weren't even buying the book. I was on register all day and I had one guy just buying some magazines and other stuff, most of which he could have gotten anywhere. He didn't even go to music to pay, where there were no HP people since all the books were up front. No one complained about that line and I didn't see the end of it for 4 hours.

[Crawling_Chaos]

I am glad I have never been approached by zealots condemning the Harry Potter series, otherwise I might be incited to show them the folly of their ways. I used to be a Lutheran but am now an avowed agnostic for personal and logical reasons.

Anyhow, I don't get these people who protest the series. It is like they pay attention to one thing, grab on like a rabid dog, and then put on horse blinders so that they don't see the other more "dangerous" things against their faith around them. I mean come on, I bet if person A walked up to a B&N counter with say the Avatar Trilogy from the Forgotten Realms D&D franchise, and person B walked up to the counter with any Harry Potter book, that person B would receive a load of crap from the zealots, even though the Avatar Trilogy is by far more bloody and magic laden. Sheesh, in one series you have a bunch of kids playing with fairytale-esque magic and in the other you have a guy who starts bleeding from his eyes, going through contortions, as his body is actively being overtaken by the essence of an EVIL DEITY! Its like going nuts over the chained Chihuahua standing next to you, while ignoring the slavering Rottwieler behind you that's ready to take your throat out.

Anyhow, to put it simply, they are either hypocrites or attention getters. I would have to say though if I did get approached by one of these people for buying a Harry Potter book, I would calmly go over to the fantasy section, pick up a copy of Elminster in Hell(Another Forgotten Realms book) and calmly state, "You seem to be a bit misguided. Perhaps you would want to take care of the falling mountain before you go shouting about the small anthill". You know what, I think I will carry around a copy of Elminster in Hell just for that reason. I hate being confrontational, but some things just irk me.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

I think Harry Potter is superior to Narnia and even Lord of the Rings (which seems to inspire the books) in a moral sense, for a different reason people like the former two series. It's not simply about good versus evil, which is just a ridiculously false dichotomy. Harry Potter challenges simple good versus evil. Harry Potter is about using your own judgement, (as opposed to the idea of "judge not," which makes it subversive) and that what we assume is good and evil, black and white, may be far more complicated than we think. Harry's world is just miles more "real" than either of the other series.

Maybe the ideas in the book are much more challenging to their moral system than they realize. They see witches and magic, when a far more subversive thing is going on: the story of a child growing/going against two opposing systems, Muggles vs Wizards, and claiming moral independance. Very Anarchic!

Plus I like the dragons.

[NightAngel]

I have a whole thought line about how Voldemort basically equates to Hitler.

Hitler: Born Jewish- hates Jewish people tries to wipe them out and take over the world.

Voldemort: Born a "Mudblood"- hates "Mudbloods" tries to wipe them out and take over the world.

If I was a teacher I would use this comparison to teach a History class.

[Reyneth]

And Fudge fits into that compairson quite well also. You can find some great articles out there - I think on The Leaky Culdron?

[BookstoreEscapee]

Its like going nuts over the chained Chihuahua standing next to you, while ignoring the slavering Rottwieler behind you that's ready to take your throat out.

You mean ^THIS chihuahua? (see avatar) Oh, yeah, he's scary. Pitifully so.

Honestly, though, I've been around for all the Harry Hoopla(tm) in the bookstores and I haven't really had anyone crazy ranting against it. I'm sure I've had people who didn't like it, but they kept their opinions to themselves, at least while they were in the store. Maybe cuz I'm in Jersey, not the Bible Belt, or maybe cuz they realize they can't do anything about it?? But then they ask for all kinds of unreasonable things we can't do anything about, so scratch that theory...

-ams-

[DesignFox]

Yea, Jersey people are crazy on a whole different level.

I can't wait for book 7! I think I might preorder it, only because I want to read it before everyone else ruins it for me. I know I won't be able to go out without hearing someone talking about it! and even though I have all the other books in soft cover...I certainly can't wait that long!!!! Book 6 left me in tears...and NOOO we can't stop here! so, I'm intrigued. I've read my collection of HP more times than I can count....I can't wait to see how it all turns out. But I will be sad when it's over... I really love the whole world Rowling created.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Yea, Jersey people are crazy on a whole different level.

I can't wait for book 7! I think I might preorder it, only because I want to read it before everyone else ruins it for me. I know I won't be able to go out without hearing someone talking about it! and even though I have all the other books in soft cover...I certainly can't wait that long!!!! Book 6 left me in tears...and NOOO we can't stop here! so, I'm intrigued. I've read my collection of HP more times than I can count....I can't wait to see how it all turns out. But I will be sad when it's over... I really love the whole world Rowling created.

Maybe I should start rereading...at my current reading pace, it'll take me till July to read them all again. I can't concentrate on anything. Maybe that's why I spend so much time on here...quick reads and I can jump around wherever my fancy takes me...