Wow. A really great day for Harry Potter fans everywhere it is when the Newspaper of Record puts out some great guides and reading for serious readers!

In the Sunday New York Times this last week, we not only scored a Great Guide to the Potter Conventions and Events this summer but, incredibly, they printed four endings to the books by professional writers (not to worry, they’re all very funny in a sardonic way, no spoilers).

Read ’em all soon before you have to pay the Times to get them out of their archives!

Forbes Magazine announced its “Super Celebrity” list and, sure enough, Ms. Rowling is on it. She even made the top half of the list at #48 and, remember, this was in an “off year,” 2006, when she didn’t release a movie or publish a book. I think she has a very good shot at topping the poll next year, if she can make the $300 million it will take to displace Oprah Winfrey. 2007 promises to be very lucrative for our favorite blonde mother, author, and billionaire! Beat Oprah!

Even more fun is checking out where the Harry Potter writer finished compared to other authors. There are five on the list: Dan Brown, John Grisham, Rhonda Byrne, and Mitch Albom. Why Deepak Chopra wasn’t listed as an author, I don’t know, but he’s listed, too, at #82 (#2 on the “Self-Help/Pitchmen” list). [By the way, am I totally alone in not knowing who Ms. Byrne and Mr. Albom are?]

Even more mysterious, Rupert didn’t make the list but Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson did, at #79 and #97, respectively. Wassup with that? Maybe the Forbes folks are Harry/Hermione ‘shippers? How delusional is that? Look at how low they scaled other “kid stars.” Only Big Dan made the top 90. [Read more…]

Harry Potter: The Hidden Secrets®

Rated: TVPG Running Time: 60 Minutes

Upcoming Airings:
Sunday, July 08 @ 10pm/9C
Monday, July 09 @ 2am/1C
Thursday, July 12 @ 11pm/10C
Friday, July 13 @ 3am/2C
Saturday, July 14 @ 2pm/1C
Sunday, July 15 @ 3pm/2C

This one-hour special takes a thrilling look back at the first four Harry Potter books and movies, and looks ahead to Harry’s new film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, that’s based on the fifth book in author J.K. Rowling’s series. We’ll search for clues in the previous episodes that might tip us off to what’s coming up. We’ll look at Voldemort’s growing influence, the new Death-Eaters by his side, and the unsettling new turn by Cornelius Fudge and his minions. Includes interviews from the young stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, along with their veteran counterparts including Gary Oldman (Sirius Black), Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort) and many of the other returning cast members. We’ll also some of the newest cast members, including Imelda Staunton as the formidable Dolores Umbridge, and Helena Bonham Carter as the evil Bellatrix LeStrange. All in all, this program’s a delectable treat for Harry’s legions of fans, young and old.

Here is something I found today while searching for the article mentioned in the questions in the post under this one. It’s from a rambling 2005 Eurozine interview with Harold Bloom, “Breakfast with Brontosaurus“:

IL: Your insistence on what you call higher culture makes many people mad, and when you talk about your dismay at the decline of the book as a cultural phenomenon, they say that never before in history have there been as many books and bookstores as now.

HB: I spend a good part of my life in bookstores – I give readings there when a new book of mine has come out, I go there to read or simply to browse. But the question is what do these immense mountains of books consist of? You know, child, my electronic mailbox overflowing with daily mesages from Potterites who still cannot forgive me for the article I published in Wall Street Journal more than a year ago, entitled “Can 35 Million Harry Potter Fans Be Wrong? – Yes!” These people claim that Harry Potter does great things for their children. I think they are deceiving themselves. [Read more…]