Hogwarts Professor

Part One and Part Two. There is plenty of material here to comment on; your thoughts, please!

FYI: I will do a separate post on the flood of new names we learned in the preview of the interview being aired 30 December 07. Let’s focus on the TLC interview contents on this thread.

What do I want to talk about? Who cares?

Well, three things:

(1) the quasi-sentience of wands (given what we know about the most powerful cores),
(2) the “fountain or well” in the center of the Department of Mysteries room devoted to the study of love, and
(3) the discussion of how Harry is and is not a Horcrux (because a Horcrux cannot be made accidentally).

Bring that up in your thoughts and I’ll share what I’m thinking and wondering about. I look forward to it!

Before we start, a Christmas story to pull you out of the post-feast ennui: the reason for the season.

Okay, back to the usual stuff.

I think we’ve had enough end-of-year recognition from other sources that Harry Potter was a big part of the cultural landscape this year. How about we end our year here with a list of what we thought the biggest Potter stories of 2007 were?

My nominations, in rough order of media frenzy and with links to our discussions of each, are: [Read more…]

The seventh book and the DVD of the fifth movie.

Was anyone else startled that four of the Amazon top five best selling items were DVDs — and that Order of the Phoenix made it to number two on the list in a little over two weeks of sales time?

It is interesting to see the author talking in what seems to be an almost private conversation (neglecting the camera crew and others that had to have been there).

Your thoughts?

Ms. Rowling has won another Celebrity Newsmaker Award from the MSM! I think her placement at the end of the list means (1) she is the most important women newsmaker, (2) the least important on this list, or (3) the most/least like Hilary Clinton, the first woman profiled — but I cannot tell which one it is.

Is anyone keeping track of the year end awards for which she hasn’t been nominated? I don’t remember her name being mentioned in the run-up to the selection of the Heisman Trophy winner. Anything else she’s missed out on?