Potter Heads Unite!

Let me start out this post by saying that I am not a fan of Harry Potter, fantasy is not really my bag anymore. I understand why the Harry Potter books appeal to their readers and there is no arguing J.K. Rowling is a great writer and marketer of her craft. With that said, the newest Harry Potter book is coming out tomorrow, and the entire literature world seems to be in a dither because it is going to break all kinds of records. Supposedly some of the books got loose in Canada earlier in the week and they had to put a gag order on the individuals who had them so they would not tell the ending.

Anyways, tonight my town is throwing a Potter celebration on Main Street. All the stores downtown are taking part in a Hogwart's themed scavenger hunt, with the finale being the two bookstores downtown opening their doors at midnight to all the fans who want to buy the book before anyone else. I must say that it is cool to see kids getting excited about reading what is no doubt some pretty good literature. At least this book may pry them away from the PlayStation for a few days.

Three Harry Potter observations:

• While buying milk tonight at the store around the corner from my house I ran into a teenage gang of "Potter Heads", all decked out in their wizard costumes. They were buying up all the Red Bull and Mountain Dew in the place. I guess if you are going to stay up all weekend reading the new book you gotta stay awake.
• A few summers back I happened to be flying cross-country on the day the 5th Potter book was released. Halfway through the flight I look over at the young kids (probably eight and eleven) sitting across the aisle from me, and instead of reading the book they were reading chapter summaries that their mom had printed for them from the net (bad mom). I asked them why they were not reading the actual book, and their response was that it was too long to read it, but all of their friends who did read the book would be talking about it on Monday, so they wanted to know the plot so they could pretend they read it. Frauds, and mom is to blame.
• I recently read a review about an indie band called "The Harry Potters", made up of two brothers who dress up like Harry for all their shows.