At last night’s video music awards, Jennifer Lawrence (via video, as she’s still here in NC filming), introduced the first teaser trailer for the new Hunger Games film due out in March. The clip is the very epitome of brief, just a few shots of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss walking through the woods, some footage which is obviously the fire scene from chapter 13, spliced in with a neat shot of Lawrence shooting the silver bow (taken from later in the film, as she does not acquire the bow until chapter 14 (the center chapter in the novel, incidentally) and the arrow landing in the mockingjay symbol, which then catches on fire. There is a little bit of voice over from Liam Hemsworth as Gale with some of the post-Reaping pep talk, and the music is the same as that used by Scholastic in their book trailers.
Publishing Gamemakers Desperate to Conjure up Another Rowling
A recent Wall Street Journal article profiles newcomer author Erin Morgenstern, whose debut novel The Night Circus is due out next month. The article posits the question of how far publishers are willing to go to find something to replace the Harry Potter cash train they have been riding . Yet, in profiling Morgenstern, the WSJ (inadvertently, perhaps) reveals much about the way the machinery of the publishing industry resembles the Gamemakers of The Hunger Games, but without ever really noticing that the most popular books, like Hunger Games and Twilight are those which are not so much Harry copy-cats as those which draw on the “bag of tricks” used so adroitly by Rowling. Follow me after the jump for more observations on these paradoxes and more.
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What do they teach them in these schools? College courses in Harry Potter and Reading Selections we Actually Enjoy
Last week, I worked late registration at my college, helping students as they tried to get everything sorted out for their semester. Although I think our classes are plenty fun, some of the larger institutions obviously are way ahead of the game with classes that, at least in title, connect to Harry Potter. Even in non-Harry-themed courses in colleges, universities, high schools, junior high, and elementary schools across the country, students this fall will be reading some of the books we discuss here. In my own Expository Writing classes, my students will be reading The Hunger Games, which I began implementing a year ago. Join me after the jump to see a list of Fifteen Fascinating College Course for the Ultimate Potter Scholar (as posted on the Best Colleges Online website) and for some conversation about the books teachers are assigning this fall. [Read more…]
New Essay Collection Examines Religious Experience in Tolkien’s Work
Light Beyond All Shadow: Religious Experience in Tolkien’s Work Fairleigh
Dickinson University Press, 2011)is a new collection, edited by Paul E. Kerry and Sandra Miesel, friend of this blog, and looks at the ways in which Tolkien depicts religious experience throughout his work. This exciting new book has work from contributors hailing from Romania, Poland, Germany, and the United Kingdom as well as the United States and promises to be quite interesting. For more details and the table of contents, follow me after the jump! [Read more…]
2012 Tour at Wizarding World in Orlando
If you missed Leaky-con, or have otherwise not gotten your chance to enjoy The Wizarding World at Universal yet (or even if you have, but you just can’t get enough!), here’s your chance to enjoy the park and some other, very special experiences next year. Our friends at HP Fantrips have all the details on what looks to be a fantastic adventure. Check out the link, or follow the jump for some more details. And, as you are planning your Harry Potter-type travel for the next year, don’t forget the University of St. Andrews conference [Read more…]
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