Thoughts for the Serious Reader of Harry Potter
Return to Hogwarts in this exclusive featurette and see Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore only in theaters April 15. #SecretsOfDumbledore pic.twitter.com/SfbXGUMYhk
— Warner Bros. Pictures (@wbpictures) March 22, 2022
Do our cast Exceed Expectations? Let us know which O.W.L. grade you'd give them and don't miss Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, in cinemas April 2022! pic.twitter.com/8mZZMusITY
— Wizarding World (@wizardingworld) March 22, 2022
Rowling first revealed her friendship with Sean Harris by dedicating Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to him in 1997. “For Sean P. F. Harris, Getaway Driver and Foul-Weather Friend.” She has since dedicated Career of Evil to Sean and his brother, Matthew, and acknowledged Sean under the code-name ‘SOBE’ for his help with military details at the back of both Silkworm and Career. Harris and Rowling have each received Order of the British Empire or OBE honors from the Queen, which titles they have playfully changed, it seems to reflect their real standing, emphasis on the ‘SOB.’
Rowling explained her friendship debt to Sean Harris on her first web site’s biography page, one our friends at The Rowling Library have preserved and reposted.
My secondary school, Wyedean, where I went when I was eleven, was the place I met Sean Harris, to whom Chamber of Secrets is dedicated and who owned the original Ford Anglia. He was the first of my friends to learn to drive and that turquoise and white car meant FREEDOM and no more having to ask my father to give me lifts, which is the worst thing about living in the countryside when you are a teenager. Some of the happiest memories of my teenage years involve zooming off into the darkness in Sean’s car. He was the first person with whom I really discussed my serious ambition to be a writer and he was also the only person who thought I was bound to be a success at it, which meant much more to me than I ever told him at the time.
We all owe a debt, then, to Sean Harris. Rowling called him a “Foul-Weather Friend” in her Chamber dedication, though, because her debt at one time, the nadir of her personal and professional life on her return to the UK as single mom, was actually financial; Harris floated her an emergency loan that helped get her through the worst. Loyal as he is, he has also never participated in an interview about Rowling except in her presence. One such occasion was the BBC 2001 show ‘Harry Potter and Me’ in which the two friends appeared and Rowling revealed that Ron Weasley is in essence Sean Harris: [Read more…]
Earlier this month Rowling assured one twitter critic that she would not be giving up anytime soon her role in leading resistance to transgender overreach:
What you and your ilk fail to appreciate is how tediously familiar I find your tactics. I had a violent ex-husband who used to tell me life would be great if only I’d comply, but you’re making the same mistake he did. Women like me can’t be bullied out of resistance. pic.twitter.com/039pBtFtNT
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 9, 2022
She demonstrated her determination in this regard yesterday by tweeting out the stories of six women and the traumatic and life-damaging consequences they suffered after being hurried through transition to a transgender identity via hormone therapy and surgery. Read those heart-breaking autobiographical statements and Rowling’s encouraging words to each here, here, here, here, here, and here. In addition, she quoted with approval from and posted a link to a Guardian editorial in favor of opening up debate on gender ideology and medical ‘best practices’ around the transitioning of children.
Remember, these tweets are sent to The Presence’s almost 14 million followers on this social media platform. She has chosen to shift her rhetorical strategy from Contrarian Maven Feminist unashamed of bullying others herself to that of Story-Teller, sharing the experiences of women who have suffered grievously from the silencing of argument about the right and wrong of childhood and adolescent transitioning in the victims’ own words.
Rowling has said multiple times that she has been inundated with messages from such women and from health care professionals. Now she is giving them access to her global platform to share their testimony contrary to the party line that gender legislation saves lives rather than destroying them. This is a potential game-changer on this issue because of Rowling’s reach and the likely effect these stories will have on their new audience. [Read more…]
Hat tip to Beatrice Groves for this find — and for her suggestion to take a close look at the flowery tie noted by Elizabeth Hardy last week! What about the tie? Anyone?
The only spoiler I picked up was that our favorite No-Maj, Jacob, will have a taste of Cockroach Cluster in the new film. But I must have missed other clues…
I did enjoy that the actor playing Grindelwald has a daughter who is a serious student of everything Wizarding — shades of Richard Harris, no?
Released yesterday, the ‘Gameplay Reveal’ above is something of a trailer for the computer game, ‘Hogwarts Legacy.’ If, like me, you are totally clueless about this game, here is the Wikipedia summary of key details:
Hogwarts Legacy is an upcoming action role-playingvideo game developed by Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment under its Portkey Games label. It’s set in the Wizarding World universe which is based on the Harry Potter franchise. The game is set to be released in late 2022 for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Hogwarts Legacy will be set in the late 1800s, following a student at Hogwarts.The player will be allowed to choose their Hogwarts House and attend classes at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and explore an open world consisting of locations including the Forbidden Forest and Hogsmeade Village. In the game, the player character will learn to cast various magical spells, brew potions, tame magical beasts, and master other combat abilities. A morality system will play a role in the game.Players will also be able to customize their character’s voice, body type, wand type and whether they are a witch or wizard.
This looks very professionally done, though I am no judge of such games, and, given the prevalence of such games in people’s lives and the investment made here by Avalanche and Warner Brothers in development and promotion respectively, I think it fair to assume it may very well occupy as much head space among Potter fans as the movie adaptations.
Which is to say, unfortunately, that this ‘interactive’ game will be one more profit taking exercise that, while bringing some new readers to the series, changes — and I’ll say it, diminishes — the imaginative reading experience of those books. Supplanting imagined ideas of Hogwarts with these professionally crafted electronic scenes means the magic of the books, what Rowling has called their “real magic,” the meeting of her mind’s images and the readers,’ is in significant part lost, as we have seen with the film adaptations.
Please let me know what you think of this trailer for the new ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ computer game. Hat-tip to Chris Calderon for cluing me in to what millions of Harry Potter fans have already checked out online though it only appeared yesterday!
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