Kalo Pascha! Harry Potter Fandom Link Fest

April 24, 2014 by 1 Comment

Big Thank You’s to Rev George and James and the other HogPro All-Pros who kept me up to speed on events in the world of Harry Potter while I have been away from the blogosphere this past month. I’m back from wonderful trips to Stronghold Castle and Augustana College in Illinois, Pepperdine University and Biola’s Torrey Honors Institute in California, and beautiful Liberty, Tennessee, for Pascha celebrations with my family.

More on those adventures in the next few days — as well as letters from China — but “first, the news.” After the jump — Emma “spiritual, not religious,” Newt scheduled for three movies, Harry’s time under the stairs coming to West End, Casual Vacancy on teevee real soon, and the Tolkien/Rowling collaboration in China!

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Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes

Divergent Movie: First Impressions

March 30, 2014 by 2 Comments

It was a beautiful snowy night in beautiful downtown Staunton, Virginia, when, inspired by Elizabeth Baird Hardy’s outings with her Hunger Games readers, a colleague and I went with about 60 Mary Baldwin psychology students to see Divergent at  the historic Dixie theater.  Granted, it was March 25th, a few days after the movie’s big opening weekend, and, at that time of year, a beautiful spring evening would have been far more appropriate, but that wasn’t going to spoil our fun.

Judging from both the turnout for the film and the comments afterwards, this was a movie the students were eagerly anticipated and which lived up to their expectations.  Since my colleague is teaching personality psychology this term, we could not resist indoctrinating them on the Five Factor Hypothesis. But, with their finals coming up in only a couple of weeks, I figure the odds of the students remembering what O.C.E.A.N stands for are a bit more in their favor now.  At least two students have told me they were inspired to read the series now, which is always a desirable outcome.

Spoilers, ho!

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Filed Under: Divergent, Louise Freeman

A Heroic Achievement: Tolkien’s Beowulf Coming in May

March 25, 2014 by 1 Comment

I love teaching British Literature I, for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is a big scary fella with a heck of a grip: Beowulf. The translation I enjoy using is the absolutely fabulous Seamus Heaney one, but there is a new version forthcoming, one that has a variety of readers drooling like Grendel contemplating a mead hall full of yummy Danish warriors. J.R.R. Tolkien’s much anticipated translation, bound along with some of his scholarly and fiction work related to the epic poem, is slated for release May 22. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Ring Composition, Shared Text Tagged With: ,

Registration Now Open: LSU Young Adult Literature Conference

March 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment

The official website for the inaugural Young Adult Literature Conference and Symposium at Louisiana State University is up and registration is open, with an early bird discount if you register by April 15th and a hefty discount for students.  I will be teaching a short course on Divergent and leading a breakout session of Harry Potter. The other workshops look great, too and I’m planning my reading list to get familiar with some of the works of the guest authors.

Hoping some Hogpro regulars will come!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

All Aboard the Hogwarts Express! A Virtual Platform 9 3/4?

March 20, 2014 by 1 Comment

If you’re like me, you’re receiving a lot of email these days from the Wizarding World of Orlando about the new park opening this summer. For those who have missed out, you can see online versions here and here.

Is anyone headed to Platform 9 3/4 this July? Please let us know about the Hogwarts Express as well as the new exhibit. Did either or both enhance or diminish your personal, imaginative experience of the Hogwarts Saga?

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes