Harry Potter Comes Out
Jul 20So not only are copies of the last Harry Potter novel leaking onto teh intarwhebhesetes, but they’ve also apparently been shipped early by a few online retailers. D’oh! Fire up your lawyers, DeepDiscount.com!
I’ll be the first to admit that all of this is getting a little…how do you say…IDIOTIC. Still, it’s a relatively safe and enjoyable way to stoke the flames of anticipation inside my own black-cold heart. And hell, maybe the leaks ARE a fake, and Scholastic invested a small chunk of change into hiring someone to write and fake-publish a false version, just to create this mania. Stranger things have happened (see Blue Harvest: Horror Beyond Imagination).
I love the part in CNN’s story where Scholastic asks those who have received the book early to keep it in the package and hidden until 12:01 a.m. on July 21.
Yeah, right. That’s gonna happen.
Countdown to Failure
Jul 20Once again, Dick Hyacinth is prompting some contemplation from me via his post on the state of DC Comics today in the era of Countdown.
The short version: I think he’s dead right, and DC is experiencing a creative, critical, and commercial landslide that is breathtaking to behold as a detached observer, and heartbreaking to suffer through as a fan.
Me so spoily…
Jul 18Ahoy! NO SPOILERS BELOW!
Right now, it’s taking physical restraint not to spoil myself silly on the last Harry Potter book.
I’m almost done re-reading book 5, and then it’s on to book 6. Then, hopefully, book 7 will be out and I can jump right in.
Until that moment, I already know that spoilers exist. Reliable spoilers. It took Slashdot a few days to pick up the story, but I found the photographed pages of what’s allegedly a library copy of the book on Demonoid Monday afternoon.
(Supposedly, the nimrod who took the photos left the camera’s serial number somewhere in the image–how dumb can you be? For that reason alone, I hope Scholastic lays the legal smackdown on his sorry ass–you have to be truly inept to screw up digital piracy in this day and age.)
It’s not so much that I want to download the book and read it–I just get this gut, visceral reaction knowing that a few Googles or clicks away, someone has written up all the dirty details that I’m craving. Who dies, who lives, and how it all goes down. Hell, I skim pages where I suspect I could even accidentally be spoiled, with this weird scary butterfly tingle in my belly, like I’m playing Russian Roulette.
I need a hobby. No, a REAL hobby, like curling or knitting. Something that doesn’t involve this goddamned machine.
Indy "Arrives" (Or: George, Cut Down on the Cheetos)
Jul 18As I continue to chronicle the pathetic attempt on the parts of three of our preeminent film juggernauts to recapture the vanished glory days of their youth, I submit the latest installment in my “How in the name of fucking GOD can Indiana Jones 4 actually be any good?” campaign:
Indiana Jones: Community | Video: Indy Arrives
Shot by Spielberg himself, it depicts three self-satisfied, fat and sad old men sitting around in the desert while a multi-million dollar film project takes place around them, a project pinned on the impossible possibility that maybe George Lucas (whose prequels mostly sucked), Harrison Ford (whose movies since…well, since FOREVER have mostly sucked), and Steven Spielberg (whose movies have…okay, they’ve been mostly good to great) can make lightning strike a fourth time.
Mark my words, genre fans: It vehemently AIN’T HAPPENIN’. If it does, I will literally eat Indy’s hat.
Seriously. If I see this movie–which I will–and it is good–which is impossible–then I will eat a fedora.
Only in Japan, pt. 1
Jul 17A flash-based game, in Japanese, where you (get ready) are a Victorian girl who gets into a series of ever-more bizarre slap fights. I like to think being able to read the Japanese text would provide some context for the game, but it’s not needed to play.
