A Blocky Harry Potter

As you probably have realized, I am guilty of not posting my weekend update for last week. You won’t be seeing one for this week, either. Instead I will give you a few posts about what I am playing.

Last weekend it was “LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7”. I have enjoyed all games of the LEGO adventures series I have played so far (which means all safe for LEGO Star Wars: Clone Wars). Some I have enjoyed more and some I have enjoyed less, however. The Harry Potter games I definitely have enjoyed more.

All LEGO adventure games have nice and very funny cutscenes, slapstick versions of what you see in the movies, normally. What goes for the others, goes for LEGO Harry Potter, too. As the game follows the movies rather than the novels, the second one has just as many levels as the first – since book 7 was split up into two movies.

The new game is just as great as the first one was. Between levels, you can explore Hogwarts or shop in Diagon Alley. There’s also the story and the free mode for each level – once you have finished the level in story mode, with the characters that you should control during the level, you can return to it in free mode. To find all secrets and enter all places in a level, you will need free mode, as you will need to take different characters with different abilities with you. This way, you earn golden stones for a special object, find new character coins (that allow you to buy the characters and use them in free mode) and earn more studs, the currency in all LEGO games that allows you to buy stuff in the first place.

Hogwarts alone is a place you can explore for hours, it’s full of secret places and objects to manipulate (and Weasley Wizarding Wheezes boxes – warning: only open with a Weasley character!). Add the levels you can replay various times, in order to find new stuff and earn more studs, and you will be occupied for a long time. After I had finished the complete story mode, I still had only solved 30.3% of the whole game!

The levels themselves are interesting, too. There’s new spells to learn for Harry and his friends, new abilities to discover in some characters and a lot of nice cutscenes. The story mode follows the story of the movies, including some memory scenes (such as Snape’s worst memory) and a very nice fairy tale part (the tale of the Deathly Hallows).

After the last new LEGO release (Pirates of the Caribbean), I had worried a bit about the series, as it seemed to have burned down to ‘same old’. This game, however, shows that there is still room for ‘more new’ instead. And will occupy my time for quite a while, between other games.

Weekend Update

Late again, I know. In my defence, however, I’d like to point out that we have something of a late summer right now. So what have I be doing and what will I be doing this weekend:

• DVD to watch: some German ones “Hannes und der Bürgermeister”
• Book to read: “Secrets” by Vorabiza (a Harry Potter fan-fiction from Feedbooks)
• Game to play: nothing special planned

Ah, weekend … warm, sunny and interesting.

Harry Potter Anime

I saw this picture online:

see more Lol Celebs

Now I want this anime … the character design looks great!

What a change

While browsing the internet (what else?) I stumbled over a couple of stills from the upcoming sixth “Harry Potter” movie (“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”) at movie tome. Two of them surprised me a bit. Why?

Well, this is a still from the first “Harry Potter” movie (“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” or “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”, depending on whether you’re British or American). Leave aside Daniel Radcliffe for a moment, okay? Have a look at the boy on the left side of this picture:

taken from movie tome

That’s Tom Felton, he’s playing Draco Malfoy. He’s there in all of the movies (just as his character plays an insignificant to significant role in the books as well). In the newest movie, Draco’s role gets a lot bigger (but I’m not going to give any details, just in case you haven’t read the books and wait for the movie - I don’t want to spoil). And he has changed quite a bit too, as this still from the latest movie shows:

taken from movie tome

Who would have thought he’d turn out to look like that? But then, most of the teenaged actors of “Harry Potter” have changed a lot. Not a wonder, they were eleven (or even younger) in the first movie and are adults now.

In addition, the pictures (check them out here, if you want to) have made me wait for the next movie a lot more impatient.

Success in the long run

Last Friday, on the 16th of November, the latest "Harry Potter" movie was released in Germany on DVD. And yesterday - on Sunday - it was still shown at the local movie theatre (although only once on Saturday and on Sunday, as some sort of matinee for the kids). That's one long-running movie.

The 14th of July was the starting date for the movie in Germany. Ever since then, the movie has been running non-stop in my hometown. Admittedly the number of shows each day was getting smaller and smaller, but until quite recently - maybe two or three weeks ago - the movie was shown regularly.

First of all I want to point out that I really like that movie. I didn't buy the DVD on the release date for nothing. I went to see it on the first Saturday after it started running. (And I like the novel even better.) But nevertheless, it happens rarely to see a movie running that long non-stop - although I have to admit that the first two "Harry Potter" movies ran quite long as well (as far as I can remember). Some other blockbusters - like the "Lord of the Ring" movies and the "Star Wars" prequels - were long-running as well, but they were considered 'adult' material while "Harry Potter" is still filed under 'for children' in Germany.

In the year which has given us the final novel and the fifth of seven movies, the series seems to be even more successful than ever before.

And that is remarkable - given the fact some publishers didn't want the first novel in the beginning. "Harry Potter" still is kind of a mystery - a series of novels written (mostly) for children that's read by adults as well. There's even a variant cover for adults for all of the novels (although not in Germany - and, as the cover to the left of this paragraph shows, the German covers are not exactly pretty).

Sometimes I wonder how Mrs. Rowling feels about this herself. I'm sure she didn't expect the novels to be that successful, either. And it shows, once again, that you can't predict or 'make' a bestseller.

And I have to admit they've found a good cast for the movies, among the young actors as well as among the adult ones. The new characters featuring in the fifth movie fit in well, whether it's Tonks (Natalia Tena) or Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter). And Ralph Fines as Voldemort surely is worth watching, too. (And I just love the duel between him and Dumbledore in the entrance hall of the Ministry. That's true magic, that is, far about the level of the 'ordinary' wizard or witch.) And, being the fan I am, I won't even start writing about Alan Rickman as Severus Snape...

So I hope the success will hold until all the movies are out. There's always something different in the movies, but given the length of some books (although with "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" we've reached the zenith of the longest book), that's only to be expected.

Harry Potter Weekend

This weekend, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" was released in German. Not very interesting for me (although, today, I've finally managed to put my English edition in my bookcase - don't ask!), as I've gotten the novel ages ago when it came out in English.

Of course, a lot of books were sold this weekend, that's just to be expected. And, of course, all online-magazines I read did an article about it. One even managed to talk about fan fiction. But, as quite often, they didn't seem to get it - fan fiction isn't restricted to "Harry Potter" and isn't starting now, because people don't like the end of the novel. Such stories have been around for ages - and not just for "Harry Potter" either. I've been doing some of it, actually (and I'm still working on my "Harry Potter" dystopia without Harry Potter).

The fifth movie is still running in my hometown, too (although this week will be the last, or so they claim).

And, even before the kids have finished the latest and last novel, there's already people worrying: Will children continue to read books after "Harry Potter?" To me, that's pretty much like asking "Will air continue to be the favoured breathing medium for mankind?" There's never been a generation in which all children were avid readers. Not when I was a kid, not when my father was a kid, not when his father (whoever he may have been) was a kid. But there have always been readers, too - like me, for example. (I need more bookshelves...)

Admittedly, "Harry Potter" has made reading more popular - and not just for kids, there's been a lot of adults who started reading again, too. That's a good thing and one more reason not to damn the novels. But what is even more important, from my point of view, at least, is that the novels have attracted such a wide variety of readers. Nominally, the novels were for kids, but a lot of adults read them with just as much fun.

During that time I've stumbled across at least two more series of novels I'd advise people of all ages to read as well: "Artemis Fowl" and "Skulduggery Pleasant." I'd also recommend "Half Moon Investigations" by Eoin Colfer (who has written "Artemis Fowl" as well - and added to my inspirations, see to the right of this blog).

I personally think, the main reason "Harry Potter" was so successful was the fact that it was one novel in a long time dealing with fantasy, magic and fairy tales - and that not in an old-fashioned way. Before this, most children's novels (and those for teenagers) seemed to be based solely on reality, history or other non-fantasy areas. Maybe people thought the children needed to learn about reality, forgetting that "you can't build with your hands what you haven't seen with your mind" (quote courtesy to "Tail Spin") - in other words: without fantasy no imagination and without imagination no innovation.

With the success of "Harry Potter" other novels of that type were once again published in Germany, giving children access to a wider range of different fantastic worlds. And that's a good thing.

So stop worrying about children not reading anything else after "Harry Potter" - better spent some time showing them there's other good books to read!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or why I hate spoilers

Yes, I admit it, I'm a real "Harry Potter" fan. And as a "Harry Potter" fan whose English is good enough to read the English version of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", I bought it right on Saturday when it came out. Now about the reason why I do hate spoilers.

I finished the book in record time - less than 6 hours for a little over 600 pages. Yes, that's fast, even for me - and I'm a fast reader. But no, I'm not going to spoiler. If you want to know what happens without reading the book, I'm sure you can find enough other sites on the web where people do spoiler.

I personally liked the book, but in a forum where I post regularly, a lot of people have been unsatisfied with the story and the outcome. But then, I'd like to see the story everyone likes. Still, for a Severus-Snape-fan like me, the book was good reading.

But the real tragedy for me was not in the book, it was on TV while I was still reading. I had the TV going in the background - I do that a lot, I'm a single and it makes the flat less silent. So while I was finishing chapter 5 or 6, a news magazine was on screen, telling me the ultimate outcome (which I won't tell here). Well, I kept on reading, but the thrill wasn't as strong any longer - which was exactly why I had refrained from reading the last few pages of the book first. Then a news anchor from Swiss TV had to tell me - growl. But still, the outcome says little about the things happening in between - and volume 7 changes quite a lot of what you have thought about some characters. Some people get pictured in a better light, others look a little less brilliant in the end. But knowing Miss Rowling (yes, I know she's married again), I did expect something like this would happen. And I'm currently considering changing my avatar in my favourite forum to this picture:

Currently it's this one:

After the last volume, I'm proud again to be a fan of Severus Snape. But then, I personally can cheer on Darth Vader (even before we knew Anakin Skywalker in person) or even, on a dark day, Voldemort himself. Go, Voldy, go!

What can I say? The good guys just don't really work for me.

But back to why I hate spoiler. I hate it when somebody tells me the outcome before I have read/seen it myself. Where's the point in that?

I created a spoiler thread at the forum, because with all the arguments and bets about the outcome of volume 7, I gathered a lot of people would want to know the end, especially those who don't want to read the book anyway. (The absolute end of the book, the final word, I will tell you: "well". But "all's well" or "nothing's well"? That's not mine to tell you.) But I did it properly, with a spoiler-tag (which means everything in between is hidden and will only be shown to people who press a button on screen). Th

is way, people have to decide whether they want the spoiler or not. If they do, I provide information about Harry's fate. If they don't, I will not force them to read it.

I personally also found the book very inspiring and currently I am working on a "Harry Potter" dystopia that won't feature Harry at all. Sounds

strange? Sure, but the main idea was born before I read the latest novel. I like such "what if" stories. That's the way I work. Or the way it works for me...

On the other hand, some people might say, that, in the light of the recent events, this avatar (created quite some time ago for "Potterpuffs") even features a spoiler.

But whose? Read the book to find out.

What I don't get about Harry Potter

First of all: I'm a fan of the novels and movies - as should be obvious from my previous post on this topic. I really like the story and the characters (although I still favour Harry dying at the end of the last novel - that's such an interesting way to end a story). What I don't get about it is the reaction of some people - especially religious people.

I can at least grasp the basic principle behind damning the stories because of the magic. After all, the Roman-Catholic church did burn witches in the past, they obviously don't like magic at all (or maybe just women using it ... but your guess is as good as mine on this subject).

So I can, to a certain degree, understand why religious people might think that "Harry Potter" could convert people to Occultism or Satanism (although I don't see why ... in the novels you have to have a special talent to use magic, it's not as if everyone in the streets could do it). I don't agree with that idea, but I can understand where it comes from - or maybe some people just don't like bestsellers ... who knows?

But there seem to be people who draw a link between Harry Potter and Jesus.

Hello?!

Can Mr. Potter - as good as his magical abilities may be - walk on water? I don't think so.

Was he a virgin birth? Nope, the only virgin birth I've come across lately was Anakin Skywalker - but that's a different story.

Did he do or say anything that might link him to Jesus? Not when I last checked.

Yes, he does have a special place in the Wizarding World, both for being the first person who survived a fatal curse and for being the person who seemed to vanquish the Dark Lord Voldemort as a child. But that doesn't turn him into the Son of God. He's the son of James and Lily Potter, two more or less normal people (depending on whether you ask their friends in the Wizarding World or Lily Potter's sister Petunia and her family).

He also seems to be destined to either kill the Dark Lord one day or be killed by him (the prophecy would work both ways, more about the outcome of the story on Sunday, when I'm finished with the last novel). That does make him a hero, but a hero isn't necessary a divine being. While gods and demigods have always been portrayed as heroes (from Hercules, who's a demigod, over Thor, who's a god, to Beowulf, who's not divine, but nevertheless a superhuman hero), the same goes for normal people.

If I were a conservative Christian, I'd worry more about George Lucas' work: there are people who have turned "Jedi" into a religion. I haven't heard of any "Potterism" lately.

So why worry about it? Because there's a lot of people reading the novels? In that case "Discworldism" or "Middle-Eartism" (God, does that word look scary...) are just as likely to happen - and if I add TV programs and movies to the list, I could probably give you new religions enough for the next 2,000 years. But I won't. Play the game for yourself, if you want to.

"Harry Potter" has managed to pull a lot of kids and teenagers back towards books - and any book that can - in a time with that many other media - do that should really be cherished and not condemned. The story is good and still interesting after six novels - and for me interesting enough to count the days until I will be able to go to the bookstore of my choice and buy volume seven. The story has given many people who don't read that much a good reason to pick up a book every now and then. It has inspired five good movies by now - movies without the usual Hollywood actors (as the largest percentage of the actors in the movies is British, not American).

Novels are no reality, they are not supposed to be. They are fictional and only meant to entertain. Everybody who sees more in them should seriously consider talking to a psychologist.

The Joy of Gossip

I'm pretty happy at the moment ... because only a couple of days ago I heard the title of the - probably - last "Harry Potter"-novel. This is an important stage in waiting for the new book to come out. It's what I call "The Gossip Stage", the time when virtually everything is possible.

"The Gossip Stage" starts with the first announcement of the new book (or movie or CD, enter the media of your choice here) and goes on until the very beautiful moment of the first selling date. You know that there's a new one coming up and it will be done soon enough (summer of 2007, as current gossip has it), but you still don't know what's going to happen - that you only can find out once the book is on sale. So gossip about the contents blooms.

Who's going to die in this novel? Ms. Rowling has announced that two people will die - and logic dictates one of them should be Voldemort, as this is supposed to be the last novel and he's the arch villain. I've heard two other names thrown in already: Severus Snape and Ron Weasley. I personally could also imagine her killing two birds with one stone (as the saying goes) and have Harry and the Dark Lord kill each other, but that's probably just my cynical way of thinking. Most others in the forum I read about it think Harry should live and be able to enjoy his life after seven years of danger and death - which I would really allow him to do, but it's not how real tragic stories work. Instead half of the people in the forum favour Severus Snape who could sacrifice himself in order to make up for killing Albus Dumbledore in the last book; the other half favours Ron Weasley, because this way he would once be in the centre of attention (talk about me being cynical...) and step out of his role of the sidekick.

I've got other questions I'd like to get answered. What happened to Draco Malfoy after the end of the last novel? Can he still be on Voldemort's side after a year of trying to live up to the expectations of a man like him? He surely must have realized himself he can't kill in cold blood. And what use is a Death Eater who can't kill in cold blood? Are the Dursleys going to realize how hard their 'freakish' relative's life really is? Not likely, if you ask me. How can Voldemort be killed for good? And what is really going to become of Harry after his enemy is dead? It wouldn't be the first time a hero goes over to the dark side after killing his enemy.

You see, in my mind the question of who's going to die isn't very important. I'm going to see that once I've got the book in my hands - which will be right after it came out in English, you can bet on that. Sooner or later the gossip will reach those questions as well.

But why do I think that "The Gossip Stage" is so important? Because it shows a lot of people care about what's going to happen. The books still have a lot of readers. For somebody who usually is not reading much mainstream, this is a thrilling feeling. I will enjoy every word of gossip written about the new novel ... knowing pretty well that probably most to all of us (people have, for example, prophesied Ron's death since the first gossip about a person dying in novel four, but last time I checked, he was still alive) will be wrong about what's going to happen. That's a good thing, because what use would it otherwise be to read the book?

About half a year until we can read the truth about it ... oh, glorious gossip.