Harry Potter

malickfan wrote:That is a really nice looking set.

Yeah, I like it a lot. The covers of the individual books are also pretty great.

Eldorion wrote: The wording in that announcement ("see how they can find out more" or whatever) makes it sound more like a glorified ad than anything else, though.

Which if true is a disappointment, I didn't bother joining Pottermore (like most people) because someone posted most of the new info online anyway.

Beautiful box set all the same, I would've liked to have one of those in by book shelf for the looks alone

I found that article as well, malick, really liked the illustration of Hogwarts. I'm probably buying the whole set when/if it is released. My copies are also in rather poor shape these days, so I wouldn't mind a new set. Will keep an eye on this, thanks for sharing

Eldorion wrote:

malickfan wrote:That is a really nice looking set.

Yeah, I like it a lot. The covers of the individual books are also pretty great.

Whilst those covers are indeed great, they do seem to be more or less based on dramatic shots in the movies/the bits everyone remembers, not knocking the artist as it is obviously working as a selling point, but I hope in the new illustrated edition they illustrate things we haven't seen before.

I often wonder if someone gave me a magic ticket to either Middle Earth or the Hogwarts Express which would I choose.

Still dont know, cos I loved HP a lot

Pretty sure HP-verse has a lot lower rate of cholera.

Eldorion wrote:Pretty sure HP-verse has a lot lower rate of cholera.

Judging by some of the trains you see in the UK, that might not be an entirely accurate statement.

Middle-Earth is not known for its diseases!

Yep, disease, excretion and sex are all curiously absent.

Lots of fan artwork to look through

http://hpcompanion.com/artists/

I'm not entirely convinced any of the styles displayed here will be similar to the upcoming illustrated editions, but it is interesting to note most of the fan art (that I've seen at least) illustrates key scenes from the book, instead of providing a backdrop or illustrating 'off camera' events and general 'life at hogwarts', given alot of the series impact depends on a readers imagaination I wonder which approach they'll take?

The Lee/Nasmith Tolkien editions were generally quite literal when it came to illustrating, as Potter is such a fantastical book, I'd quite like to see some new things illustrated that we may not expect to be...

Rude!

I'm pretty sure I've seen the HP Companion before (possibly from a link posted here in the past?), but I've been browsing through it a bit for the past couple days and I really like the comments and observations at the end of each chapter analysis. The essays are also really good. There are several points on which I'm pretty sure this guy has put more thought into the HP world than JK Rowling actually did (when it comes to trying to iron out inconsistencies), but it's really thought-provoking. I had long since given up trying to make sense of HP as a coherent secondary world due to the various implausibilities built into the setting, but this guy has done such an admirable effort that I need to re-examine some things for myself. Although he has reinforced my opinion that JKR should stop talking so much about the setting in interviews and let fans construct theories based on the actual text.

Some of the stuff that I've liked most so far.

Why Hermione can't have been the only student to have received a time-turner, and whether she might have ever met any of the others who did.
Whether Lucius Malfoy really intended to give Tom Riddle's diary to Ginny, and also how Dobby was able to help Harry without anyone noticing.
Why Hermione probably didn't have the best Christmas her first year.

I've kind of had the impression of looking to closely at the world of the Harry Potter books might not necesarily be a good idea because of the implausibilities you pointed out. If you know it's imperfect, thinking to hard about it perhaps not being the best thing to do. That someone has gone to the lenght of looking into it like this is interesting though. Gives you some new perspectives.

Regarding the time-turner. The article kind of got me thinking. Might not Dumbledore have organized to have Hermione lent a time-turner have been a one off thing. As Dumbledore might have forseen the trouble to come later in the year, clervoyance being a thing in the Harry Potter universe, or simply thought having a time turner in close proximity to Harry might have been a good idea? So, while other students handled colliding subjects with reorganising their study plan and so on, they as a one time thing gave Hermione a time-turner. That might also tell us why only her being given one makes little sense in regards to the wider story. As the fact that she had some colliding subjects always sounded a bit of a flimsy excuse to be the only one to be given one. If it was only an excuse, perhaps that's the reason it doesn't make sense. Just a thought.  

Though I'm not sure it works like that.

Thought this might be of interest:

https://chasingtheturtle.wordpress.com/2014/03/22/harry-potter-covers-from-around-the-world-which-one-is-your-favorite/

Always loved this quote.

❝ Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) actually came around the next morning, because we lived near each other at the time, and he said, ‘Have you seen the new book? We’ve got a lot of work to do, mate.’ He was quite happy, and I didn’t know how to break it to him. So I said, ‘Have you actually read it yet, Gaz?’ ‘No, just clicked through it.’ A few days later I’m in makeup and he comes in, and sits down, and goes ‘Have you heard the news?’ ‘What’s that, Gaz?’ ‘It’s terrible fucking news.’ ‘What is it?’ ‘You know how everyone is talking about who dies in book five? It’s fucking me! This woman puts the poor bastard in prison for 12 years, brings him back for a few scenes, and then she kills him!’ ❞
— David Thewlis (Remus Lupin)

Ugh, those "UK Adult" covers are hideously mundane. The whole idea of "adult covers" is quite ridiculous to me. As if the type of adult that would read Harry Potter needs a "grown-up" version with a boring and bleak cover on it. Stupid marketeers.


That is a good quote. I like how excited-sounding Oldman was for the upcoming filming.

‘You know how everyone is talking about who dies in book five? It’s fucking me! This woman puts the poor bastard in prison for 12 years, brings him back for a few scenes, and then she kills him!’

There's just so much disbelief and badly hidden outrage in that quote, I can't help but love him a little.

Because.. that's how we all felt.. right?

Bluebottle wrote:

Because.. that's how we all felt.. right?

Yeah (Though I remember being kinda weirded out by the whole Veil thing)

Oldman was perfect casting, though in the book he's only 35ish when he dies...

Oldman was pretty great, yeah.

The veil was like an execution thing, right? They had a court, so the veil was a place for public executions? Perhaps I was just infering..

Bluebottle wrote:Oldman was pretty great, yeah.

The veil was like an execution thing, right? They had a court, so the veil was a place for public executions? Perhaps I was just infering..

Wasn't the courtroom in a different department? The veil seems to be a portal between 'the world of the living and dead':

http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Veil

Rowling can be both heavy handed and extremely vague with her symbolism (there's also a room of 'pure love' in the department of mysteries)