How do we read Harry Potter?  How does our culture read it?  What are the effects of celebrity culture on the experience of Story?
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On Tap:

Harry Potter Conference: Searching for Platform 9 & 3/4
Daniel Radcliffe Naked: [...]

 

 Hog's Head PubCast #58: Movies, Books, and Culture: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (404)

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by Travis
I’m wondering what the marriage of celebrity culture to great literature is doing to Harry Potter.
The extent to which film has become normative in our culture is profound, especially as it relates to literature.  We all used to joke about getting the movie version in order to do book reports in school (much to [...]

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by Dave
An article on The Leaky Cauldron has touched on a different issue concerning the Harry Potter videogames: the potential that they might keep making them after Deathly Hallows. The game industry does have a habit of running moneymaking franchises into the ground, especially if they have marketing tie-ins that reach audiences outside of [...]

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I suggested, upon hearing the news of the delay of the Half-Blood Prince movie, that the only silver lining to the news would be for Azkatraz 2009 attendees.  The LA Times got a note from a member of Team Azkatraz, Heidi Tandy, saying that very thing.  There is no way they’ll be able to accommodate everyone [...]

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by Travis Prinzi
Despite the fact that the supposed next big Potter event - the release of the Half-Blood Prince film - has been delayed till next summer, the Potterverse will be alive and kicking, with lots of key events, until that film release.  Here’s a breakdown, in as close to chronological order as possible.  Consider this [...]

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If you haven’t yet seen the “real” Platform 9 & 3/4, check out this video from the Baby Blue Cafe.

a2a_linkname=”The “Real” Platform 9  3/4″;
a2a_linkurl=”http://thehogshead.org/2008/08/10/the-real-platform-9-34/”;

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Sadly, I’m unable to attend Terminus, the Harry Potter conference in Chicago which starts Thursday of this week.  I do, however, want to encourage any Hog’s Head readers, if you’re going, to make sure you attend James Thomas’s presentation.  Here is the abstract:

a2a_linkname=”Terminus This Week”;
a2a_linkurl=”http://thehogshead.org/2008/08/05/terminus-this-week/”;
[...]

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It should be a fun forthcoming week in Harry Potter’s world.
Tuesday, the 29th, the Half-Blood Prince Trailer will be appearing exclusively on AOL.  It will be our first live-action look at the new film.  I really enjoyed what Yates did with Order of the Phoenix, but I have to admit I’m a bit nervous about this [...]

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by Travis
What were you doing at this time last year?  You were reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  I remember dropping Sophia off with Tricia’s mom and heading to the park on two hours’ sleep (I had read until 5am), and then reading all day long.  
Today marks the anniversary of the release of Deathly [...]

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by Dave
Update: I edited this post for some grammatical mistakes. Sorry…I was in a bit of a hurry yesterday when I wrote it.
Jamie and I subscribe to Entertainment Weekly, my favorite section of which is Stephen King’s monthly column in the back of the magazine. While the magazine certainly isn’t especially [...]

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by Johnny
Last night I made my way to the Sidewalk Cafe on Avenue A and 6th in Manhattan to see Draco and the Malfoys perform. Before they went on stage, we were treated to performances by Swish & Flick, Justin Finch-Fletchley of the Sugar Quills, and Whompy from the Whomping Willows. It was something to [...]

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