Yesterday, long time friend of Hogwarts Professor, Chris Calderon shared his insights into the shared 1960’s heritage of both Dylan Thomas and the popularisation of The I Ching. For me the most remarkable part of this find is the existence of a documentary, filmed in 2000 as J. K. Rowling was approaching a similar level of fame, about the Beatles featuring Rowling herself. Today, Chris will take us through this film and her appearances – enjoy!
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Chris Calderon – J. K. Rowling, the Beatles and the Counterculture Revolution
April 15, 2023 by 3 Comments
Chris Calderon – The Beatles and Strike 7
April 14, 2023 by 3 Comments
With J. K. Rowling confirming that the epigraphs for The Running Grave are from the I Ching and the title seemingly derived from a Dylan Thomas poem, what can this tell us of the contents of Strike 7?
This is the question veteran Hogwarts Professor stalwart Chris Calderon explores, with some surprising help from the Fab Four!. [Read more…]
Harry Potter and the Streamed Television Series – Confirmed.
April 13, 2023 by 8 Comments
Yesterday at 1pm Eastern Time (and 6pm here in the UK) Warner Brothers Discovery held a press event to announce the launch of the new television streaming service Max. Rumours were spread, from sources within Warner Discovery, last week that they were close to closing a deal, that would see a new television adaptation of Harry Potter announced at the same time. Speculation from the ever reliable Rowling Library suggested that one reason for the leak was to increase pressure on Rowling Inc to sign before the press event so that the new series could be announced at the same, increasing the impact of Max in the increasingly competitive streaming market.
For this reason, the event was joined not just by investors and media journalists, but also a healthy number of Rowling and Potter watchers, myself among them. Right at the very end of the hour long presentation the announcement was made, clearly as the headline of the new service. Find out what we know, and the initial reactions after the jump:
Guest Post: “What’s With Robin?”
April 12, 2023 by 5 Comments
Today’s HogwartsProfessor post is from a Serious Striker writing under the pseudonym ‘Albus.’ It is more a cry of the heart about Robin Ellacott’s choices in Ink Black Heart than an analysis of the mythic or anagogical content of Strike6 or speculation about The Running Grave, which is to say, it represents a departure from most of what we write and discuss here. I publish it with some misgiving; I do not find the interrogation of Pierce a lapse in ethics or morality, as ‘Albus’ does, Puritanical as I must seem to many. The decision to ‘bug’ the offices of a Parliament office not mentioned in this piece, seemed a far greater jump into illicit behavior than Ms Ellacott’s manipulation of a sleazy character to tell all.
That caveat aside, I offer ‘What’s With Robin?’ for your reflection on how one thoughtful reader experienced the sea-change of Robin Ellacott in Ink Black Heart. If you are like me after my first reading, you may suspect that this experience of disappointment and confusion may have been the point of Rowling-Galbraith’s choices with respect to this character’s story-arc, the hardening of Robin into someone less sympathetic and admirable by conventional standards, into a woman able to journey through the psychological forge of hell successfully. See the post on the Psyche and Cupid mythic backdrop of Ink Black Heart for more on that possibility.
I hope readers will respond in the comment boxes with their take-away with respect to Robin’s choices in Strike6, especially with respect to the Pierce interview. Are you more with or against Albus’ reading of the mystery? Was it an aberration and mistake on the author’s part or a calculated move to disturb and challenge the reader? Make the jump for Albus’ “What’s With Robin?” [Read more…]
Mistakes Were NOT Made: An Anthem for Justice (Margaret Anna Alice)
April 11, 2023 by
Rowling-Galbraith has suggested that the Strike series of ten books will end before the Covid lockdowns of 2020, which gives an endpoint to the series as plotted currently.
Given how ‘on board’ the author was with the ‘Save the NHS’ messaging, the huzzahs for the medical professionals who participated in the Covid-19 pandemic, and her enthusiasm, even cheerleading, for mRNA inoculations, I have to wonder if this deadline of convenience has less to do ultimately with the difficulties of writing a detective story during London Lockdown than the commitment of the Guilty to ‘forget’ their part in the nightmare of the last three years. “Don’t Let Them Get Away With It.”
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