New Twitter Header from London’s Chinatown: #3 Rupert Court

April 20, 2023 by 5 Comments

A new and presumably The Running Grave header popped up yesterday.  As usual, our friends at Strikefans.com were quick to identify it as from London’s Rupert Court in the Soho area, near China Town. For fans of the TV series, it is the place where Robin laid flowers for Kara Wolfson.

What could it mean?  Possibilities abound.

  1. A hat-tip to Ron Weasley actor Rupert Grint?
  2. A connection to the mystery of the series, and particularly to the I Ching connection, given the location?
  3. As other Strike Fans on twitter have noted, the round sign on the right has the initials, “C & R” at the top.  The business itself is apparently a Malaysian restaurant.  Could one or both of our favorite detective duo take note of the suggestive letters if they pass by, or, better yet, stop for a bite to eat?
  4. Or, perhaps our heroes tail a suspect to the historic The Blue Posts pub?
  5. The business on the left is a reflexology establishment, a traditional Asian healing practice. Could we get an echo of Career of Evil’s visit to the Thai massage parlor, in search of a clue?  Although, with her two feet, Robin might be a more convincing client than Strike for this one.
  6. Though apparently upscale and respectable now, the area has a seedy history, with sex clubs and illegal gambling establishments predominating in the 1960’s.  Could some of these less-than savory establishments lingered into the 1970’s and have been part of Leda’s, as well as Kara’s, checkered past, perhaps even connecting somehow to the Norfolk commune?
  7. Or, if the TV clip was a preview/hint,  maybe this heralds a return of Kara Wolfson’s presumptive killers, the Ricci’s?

I’m going out on a limb and guessing reflexology, but any of those would be fun.  Or maybe we’ll just enjoy a few more helpings of takeaway Singapore noodles. In any case, here’s another potential stop on the Serious Strikers London tour.

Filed Under: Cormoran Strike, Louise Freeman

Shared Text: ‘Hogwarts and All’

April 19, 2023 by Leave a Comment

The Economist magazine published an article earlier this month on ‘School Voucher Schemes’ in the United States (they are profoundly skeptical, whence “schemes”). They titled it, ‘Hogwarts and All.’

There was not a single allusion to the famous school of witchcraft and wizardry in it, but the reference was meant to tease the Harry Potter fan into reading the piece and share its ‘warty’ conclusion.

Fifteen years after the publication of the last novel in the series, Deathly Hallows, in a world of ever-decreasing attention spans and cultural memory, the Hogwarts Saga — its characters, scenes, and events — remain a shared text across generations and all geography. No doubt the new teevee show will reinforce this social fact.

Filed Under: Shared Text

‘We Hymn Thy Resurrection, O Christ’

April 18, 2023 by Leave a Comment

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

Between services this Holy Week at St Philaret’s in Anderson, South Carolina, I had a discussion with a thoughtful young man, one who has studied Tolkien sufficiently, I think, to be able to read runes, about the parallelism of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I sent him the work done by Kelly Kerr and myself on this subject and he confessed to being astonished about the ring aspects of his favorite books.

That conversation reminded me during the celebration of Pascha of how this traditional story scaffolding permeates everything Orthodox Christian, holy scripture to services of the Church.

Several years ago I wrote a post here, ‘The Hymn of the Resurrection: Orthodox Hymnography and Ring Composition,‘ in which I parsed, in English and in Greek, the chiastic structure of a Paschaltide hymn sung by the Orthodox on the Feast of Feasts, during Bright Week, and on Sundays throughout the year. It’s worth a re-reading, I think, on this Bright Tuesday.

Enjoy, or, better, Rejoice!

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes

Wizard Rock – For Jo by RiddleTM

April 17, 2023 by 1 Comment

I was listening the latest episode of The Three Broomsticks podcast this weekend, where talk turned to Potter inspired music and Wizard Rock. As a latecomer to the fandom I was aware that Wizard Rock existed but otherwise entirely ignorant. One of the first bands mentioned was a duo called RiddleTM. Judging from their website they haven’t been active for more than ten years, but the music is still available on Sound Cloud. 

One of their songs has encapsulated to me how it must have felt to grow up with the Harry Potter stories and the growth of both the fandom and the author. For Jo by RiddleTM is a profoundly moving gratitude in ballad form, and because it moved me to tears, I’m sharing it with you here:

For Jo Lyrics
July 21st 1997 and no one had heard of you.
But one decade later there’s queues at the door
People placing their order and shouting for more.
How far you have come
How far you have come.
Enchanted the world with a story you wrote
Of a boy who was ordinary
And now parents read to children who have long been asleep
‘Cause they want to know more about wizard Harry.
How far you have come
How far you have come.

(Chorus)
So Ms Rowling
Here is a song I wrote for you
‘Cause I’m grateful for all that you’ve taught me
And inspired me to do.
You showed me good triumphs over evil
And you taught the whole world how to read
So thank you Ms JK Rowling
Thank you so much for Harry.

Though all 7 books have been finished and read
The magic is still burning strong.
And we who were there will never forget
The anticipation we felt for so long.
How far you have come
How far you have come.
And we grow up with Harry, the Boy Who Lived,
Who has helped us through all the bad times.
And the theories and mysteries, the questions and clues
Were the talk of the forums and in our hearts too.
How far you have come
How far you have come

(Chorus)

So we’ll raise our pumpkin juice and our butterbeer
And we’ll sing about the great things you’ve done.
And we’ll be happy now Voldemort’s defeated
And we’ll cheer for Harry who won.

(Chorus)

So Ms Rowling
This is the song I wrote for you.
Here’s to you now and to your future
And I just wanted to say thank you.

For Jo Lyrics by RiddleTM

Filed Under: Nick Jeffery, Potter Fandom, Shared Text

Ink Black Horcruxes

April 16, 2023 by 4 Comments

Much work has been done tracing the parallels between The Ink Black Heart and The Half Blood Prince. One of more intriguing ones is the plot point of horcruxes and the search for them. Anomie’s sock puppet Twitter accounts were first identified (I think) by Sandy, here in the comments, just a few weeks after the book was published:

– The sock puppet accounts seem to parallel horcruxes, especially when both are designed to bully and torture perceived enemies

Sandy in the Hogwarts Professor Comments

Is this a viable parallel or a reach to far? Find out what the top parallel-pundits think after the jump!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cormoran Strike, Louise Freeman