Is Quentin Tarantino crying foul yet?

It was reported today that the final Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be split into two movies. Not being a Harry Potter fan, I'm not that excited by this news. But being a movie lover, I'm reminded of Quentin Tarantino's kung-fu epic Kill Bill, and how it was split into two films—which in turn makes me wonder if Tarantino will pitch a fit that Harry Potter is ripping off his idea (remember, if you will, Tarantino's less-than-enthusiastic thoughts on The Matrix and its computer-generated effects). Though wouldn't such a claim be hypocritical, since much of Tarantino's work walks an extremely thin line between paying homage and flagrantly ripping off?

Now THIS is a shocker!

And the shock waves rang out throughout Harry Potter-land as author J.K. Rowling made the surprise announcement that Dumbledore was, in fact, gay!

I am officially Switzerland when it comes to Harry Potter, but even from here I can see the super-conservatives who have already been lashing out at Harry Potter frothing at the bit.

Thoughts on Harry Potter (II)

(This was actually going to be my original posting today, but after careful consideration, I decided against it—in the interests of credibility. So I'm posting it now merely for a chuckle.)

My thoughts on tomorrow's release of the final Harry Potter novel:

Thoughts on Harry Potter

Sorry, but I gotta get this out of my system.

The buzz is everywhere about tomorrow's release of the final Harry Potter novel. Amazon's got trillions of pre-orders to fill, and I'm sure Harry Potter parties tonight will rival any frat party. (And as icing on the cake, they've just released the latest film in the series.) I've honestly never read the books, and to be honest, I don't have any particular desire to. I did see the first two films (so no, you can't poo-poo me for dissing the series without having been exposed to it), and while the stories were original and innovative, they just didn't appeal to me. (Nor, for that matter, did any of the Tolkien stories—i.e., The Hobbitt or Lord of the Rings.)

I can commend the fact that Harry Potter has incentivized a lot of children to read (which is something our culture has needed badly for some time), but all the same, the stories just never appealed to me personally. So I can't get excited about book seven being released tomorrow.