Harry Potter!

[dmacburry2003]

Does anyone read Harry Potter? (all five novels)

[ntractv]

Not one, haven't even seen one of the movies. However, my fiance reads them and so does our twelve year old daughter. But, Lord of the Rings is starting to peak my interests.

[dmacburry2003]

LOTR are the BEST 8O movies. I wanted to copy one of them to my Pocket PC, but...

[Anthony Caruana]

Read all the Harry's at least a couple of times each and have both movies thus far released to DVD. I like them. OK, so they are not the most "grown up" books out there but Rowling really transports you to a different world in her writing.

The movies are OK. However, I find it hard to read the books now without visualising the actors as the characters in my imagination. However, the actors in the movies are a pretty close match to the characters I'd visualised.

As for LOTR - haven't read them or seen the movies. Not becuase I don't want to but I just haven't gotten around to them. I've got the books at home but can't seem to get started.

[Pat Logsdon]

I've read all of the Harry Potter books at least twice, and the LOTR books several times over many years. Potter is great, but LOTR is classic - it can't be touched.

If you haven't read LOTR, the best way to do it is to sort of ease into it. Read The Hobbit first (or re-read), and then pick up Fellowship. I've found that that's much easier for first-time readers to handle that way.

[dean_shan]

LOTR are the BEST 8O movies. I wanted to copy one of them to my Pocket PC, but...

But...

Do you need instructions on how to rip and compress a DVD onto a PPC?

[tanalasta]

Not sure what LOTR has to do with Harry Potter but I agree that LOTR is one of the best books/movies I've ever seen - although the third movie was disappointing compared to the first two. (It was nevertheless good)

I've read all 5 harry potter novels and am eagerly awaiting the 6th and 7th to finish the series. I'm hoping JKR won't do what some novelists have done and attempt to milk the series by writing an endless tirade of sequels (Anyone read the wheel of time books??? i gave up after the 10th)

How much do I like Harry Potter? Enough to have all five of them on my pocketpc :D

[dmacburry2003]

LOTR are the BEST 8O movies. I wanted to copy one of them to my Pocket PC, but...

But...

Do you need instructions on how to rip and compress a DVD onto a PPC?

I didn't want to because it would be illegal :wink:
EDIT: IT WAS RENTED!!!
I just wanted to know if anybody thought that Harry would become the real Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

It has been killing me since the thought popped into my head and I need to express myself.

A few reasons I thought so:
1. The DADA job is said to be cursed so it always has a new occupant.
2. Harry enjoyed the D.A. meetings.
3. Judging by my opinion on JK's style I don't think she will make Harry an auror.

[dean_shan]

LOTR are the BEST 8O movies. I wanted to copy one of them to my Pocket PC, but...

But...

Do you need instructions on how to rip and compress a DVD onto a PPC?

I didn't want to because it would be illegal :wink:


Not if you use your own DVD.

[PetiteFlower]

The legality of ripping DVDs for people living in the US, as well as the methods for same, have been EXTENSIVELY discussed in other threads. Check the multimedia forum for a start, and there have been some front page posts recently that garnered lots of legal talk, including posts from a real live copyright attorney!

Back on topic....I'm in the middle of reading them now. The 4th book is really a slow starter compared with the others but I'm getting into it. There's no comparison to LOTR--they have NOTHING in common. Ok they are both books and movies. But that's about it. They're not the same genre, they're not the same style, they don't deal with even REMOTELY similar subject matter, they don't take place in the same(or similar) world, there is simply zero reason to discuss them in the same thread. The only reason I guess people do is that the movies came out around the same time.

BTW if you want to talk about what happens in books or movies or whatever, it's nice to put a warning in the subject--may contain spoilers. That way people who haven't finished reading yet know to stay away if they don't want to know what happens :)

I think it's a reasonable theory that Harry will eventually get the DDA job but I don't think it will happen until after the series is over--I don't think he'd get the job immediately upon graduating after all. Maybe there will be an epilogue that will say what happens to the main characters in the years after they finish school, or maybe there will be a new series or several new series' about the post-hogwart's years....but so far it seems she is doing an EXCELLENT job about knowing what she wants to accomplish with this series of books and getting there without getting unreasonably sidetracked with non-essential subplots. She must have read Steven King's Dark Tower series as a How To Ruin An Epic Story ;) So she's sticking to her outline and I don't think she'll stray from it...when it's done then we can all speculate on if she'll do more and what.

Maybe she'll open it up to other authors like the Star Wars books, that might be neat :)

Anyway at the end of the series they will only be 17, still having most of their lives ahead of them; there don't seem to be any young teachers at Hogwarts, so he'll have to go off in the world and adventure for 10 years before even thinking about becoming a teacher!

[PetiteFlower]

Here is the DVD thread I was talking about (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23403&start=40)

[stitics]

I've read all 5 harry potter novels and am eagerly awaiting the 6th and 7th to finish the series.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the following, but my wife generally stays pretty up to date on the "entertainment world" things that she is interested in. My wife tells me that Rowling just got remarried and/or had a kid (I forget which) and says she won't be putting out any more books for a while (if ever).

[Pat Logsdon]

I've read all 5 harry potter novels and am eagerly awaiting the 6th and 7th to finish the series.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the following, but my wife generally stays pretty up to date on the "entertainment world" things that she is interested in. My wife tells me that Rowling just got remarried and/or had a kid (I forget which) and says she won't be putting out any more books for a while (if ever).
She's had a kid, she just got married, and she has a contract, so she HAS to put out more books. You can bet that Scholastic (the publisher) will make sure those books get published. :mrgreen:

Edit: Here's a good quote of hers:

"I want to finish these seven books and look back and think that whatever happened -- however much this hurricane whirled around me -- I stayed true to what I wanted to write.

This is my Holy Grail: that when I finish writing book seven, I can say -- hand on heart -- I didn't change a thing. I wrote the story I meant to write. If I lost readers along the way, so be it, but I still told my story. The one I wanted.

Without permitting it to sound too corny, that's what I owe to my characters. That we won't be deflected, either by adoration or by criticism."
Sounds to me like she's going to finish the books regardless of the new husband. :wink:

[dmacburry2003]

JK Rowling should get a Pocket PC :idea:

Or maybe she has one already :D

[PetiteFlower]

If she had a pocket pc, maybe she would have convinced her publisher to release her books as Ebooks. So I'm thinking no, she probably doesn't :)

I think this is one of those things where she already knows the story, it's written in her head(and probably put down in her notes!) and likely was before she even started them. I say that because she makes little passing references, that you wouldn't even notice your first time through, to things that happen much much later on. Like there's a one-sentence reference to Sirius Black in the very beginning of the very first book. If she didn't have a plan, then she couldn't have done that.

I have to go back to the Steven King comparison.....he made vague passing references to lots of things when he wrote the first Dark Tower book, but he clearly didn't have a CLUE what the references were really about, so when he went to write what they were later, he ended up turning it into a completely different story!

So anyway yeah I think she's going to finish, because in the truest sense of the world she IS already finished, she just has to write out the details--and if she doesn't, it will drive her slowly batty until she does!

[dmacburry2003]

If she had a pocket pc, maybe she would have convinced her publisher to release her books as Ebooks. So I'm thinking no, she probably doesn't :)

I think this is one of those things where she already knows the story, it's written in her head(and probably put down in her notes!) and likely was before she even started them. I say that because she makes little passing references, that you wouldn't even notice your first time through, to things that happen much much later on. Like there's a one-sentence reference to Sirius Black in the very beginning of the very first book. If she didn't have a plan, then she couldn't have done that.

I have to go back to the Steven King comparison.....he made vague passing references to lots of things when he wrote the first Dark Tower book, but he clearly didn't have a CLUE what the references were really about, so when he went to write what they were later, he ended up turning it into a completely different story!

So anyway yeah I think she's going to finish, because in the truest sense of the world she IS already finished, she just has to write out the details--and if she doesn't, it will drive her slowly batty until she does!

I TOTALLY agree with you. She makes many of those and I was thinking about that too. How could she make them without knowing what she was talking about?

Maybe the only reason Dumbledore (is that how you spell it? :wink: ) doesn't tell Harry about the prophecy was that JK couldn't think of that genius idea :idea: until the fifth :wink: After all, it sounds as though she is beautifully gifted.

She also sets her plot so that it perfectly reveals itself at the end of each book.

She probably had those notes written down for many, many years now :D

As a side note, I am a writer and I feel that my books don't come out right if I make the story up as I go along (or think of a simple plot and go from there). I now ALWAYS brainstorm (until I have a VERY detailed storyline that could be a book itself) before writing and make a timeline before even getting out that Pocket PC :wink: It just makes the reader more... into it when things are revealed (that the reader is totally clueless about) which consider the plot ahead.

And yeah, what is up with her? She has NO books out on the ebook/Audible market. I searched several times and all I could find was God, the Devil and Harry Potter or whatever it was called.

[karen]

I've read the first 4...I can't read giant hardback books. I devour books and the hardbound ones are just to painful to balance and carry.

K

[dmacburry2003]

When is the next book scheduled to appear?

By the looks of it, I'm gonna be sixty when the last movie comes out :wink:

[ironguy]

The Prisoner of Akzaban is due out June 4, 2004. Saw the trailer today.

[drop]

The paperback edition of Order of the Phoenix is to be released on July 10th, 2004 in England, and August 10th, 2004 in the US.

Prisoner of Azkaban trailers
Trailer 1 (http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/web/dailyprophet/index.jsp)

Trailer 2 (http://www.mugglenet.com/pics/poatrailer2.shtml)

I can't wait to get Harry Potter ebooks on my PPC so I can combine two obsessions. The way things go, we probably wouldn't see any HP ebooks until the publishers think they make enough money out of all 7 books :cry:.

[PetiteFlower]

Kinda sad that they're going to have to find different kids after this movie, the casting was really completely spot on IMO. Going to be hard to replace them.

[Jeff Rutledge]

Kinda sad that they're going to have to find different kids after this movie, the casting was really completely spot on IMO. Going to be hard to replace them.

I read an article that quoted the actress who plays Hermionie (Emma something) saying that her, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert (? -- Ron) will be back for #4.

They've already named the director for the fourth as well.

[Kati Compton]

Kinda sad that they're going to have to find different kids after this movie, the casting was really completely spot on IMO. Going to be hard to replace them.
I didn't know there were plans to replace them... Why would they? The books take place a year apart, so the kids should grow properly at pace with the characters as long as the movies are filmed a year apart...

The only problem is the "ugly" phase of adolescent development... Some bypass it, others don't.

[dmacburry2003]

Kinda sad that they're going to have to find different kids after this movie, the casting was really completely spot on IMO. Going to be hard to replace them.
I didn't know there were plans to replace them... Why would they? The books take place a year apart, so the kids should grow properly at pace with the characters as long as the movies are filmed a year apart...

The only problem is the "ugly" phase of adolescent development... Some bypass it, others don't.

Eeesh. I can see it now... Pimply Potter... :|

[DrtyBlvd]

This thread has made me think, for the nth time, about what it is and how they do it...

I mean, creation and composing such is not beyond the bounds of most people; witness the number of authors out there - but what is that mystical ingredient that some have and others don't?

And why do some 'lose' it and others not?? (Terry Goodkind as a case in point, as regards SF anyway)

I've always wondered when I came across such a 'loss' whether it was just me having 'moved on' mentally or what-have-you; but I, approaching some form or formulative reason possibly related to age, am now sure that when that is the case, I know so; I found it with Terry Pratchet for example - loved them to bits, but then just ran out of enthusiasm...

JKR hasn't lost it yet - but I have real difficulty in seeing her extend the series a great deal further.

I say this due to the belief that the certain 'something' diminishing in a writer often seems associated with accomplishment - almost akin to a fuel tank draining - they've got 'somewhere' and suddenly the tank is empty? (Jack Higgins as a case in point; Clive Cussler as another, sort of. Maybe Robert Ludlum too)

Makes me sad when it happens :( It's like losing a favourite thing.

Mind you - maybe some things have a certain shelf-life! :lol: Would Mr Tolks books have continued to enthrall I wonder? (Ooo heresy, heresy!) :D

[Pat Logsdon]

I think authors are frequently victims of their own success. An author can write something stunningly good that people love, and the bar is raised that much higher for the next book. The public then wants everything else to be as good, or better, and sometimes that just isn't possible.

It must be frustrating for the authors that experience that. One golden moment when their best work is being praised, and then a long series of criticisms thereafter, complaining that their current work "just isn't as good as X".

Personally, I'd like to have a series of books that are "very good", than a long line of "mediocre" punctuated by an "excellent" or two. Better on the ol' psyche as well. :wink:

[ironguy]

I think that we see ourselves in many of the 'popular' characters, or at least what we would hope to be. In the case of Harry Potter, we see the downtrodden young boy finding that he is something special (think Star Wars). I think many of us would like to have the sheer bravery that HP shows, or at least the ability to not waver in the face of adversity. Other, I imagine, want to take care of Harry Potter - take him home and give him a loving place to live (that's from one of my coworkers).

As we see these charaters grow, we also desire to see an endpoint. That is, to see them grow up and succeed and have a finishing point. I think many authors stretch this out too long. The stories start to repeat.

I learned in a literature class that there are really only nine different story lines - with combinations and variations of course. Compare HP to Star Wars. Parents killed, special powers, lost in obscurity as a child. Hiding from the 'evil' one who was killed but is yet alive. It goes on.

One series that has definitely become too drawn out is the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. 10,000 pages so far and we're not a whole lot farther along than 4000 pages ago!

[PetiteFlower]

Kinda sad that they're going to have to find different kids after this movie, the casting was really completely spot on IMO. Going to be hard to replace them.
I didn't know there were plans to replace them... Why would they? The books take place a year apart, so the kids should grow properly at pace with the characters as long as the movies are filmed a year apart...

Well I'm not saying I have any kind of authoritative source on it but I heard that this was the last one that was going to have these actors. Probably just a rumor.

The problem is though that the movies aren't being filmed a year apart, each book takes place in a year but the movies take 2 years to make. After a while that gets to be a big difference, if these kids were 10 when they started they'll be 24 when it's time to make the last movie and supposed to only look 17. They might or might not be able to pull the right look off. Especially for some of those in-between years--there's a pretty big physical difference between 14 and 18, and 15 and 20.

And of course that's depending also on whether Rowling is able to get all the books out on schedule, the last one took her an extra year to write. I said I thought she'd finish them but I can't say how long it will take her :) Extra years like that can make it even worse.

[Kati Compton]

The problem is though that the movies aren't being filmed a year apart, each book takes place in a year but the movies take 2 years to make. After a while that gets to be a big difference, if these kids were 10 when they started they'll be 24 when it's time to make the last movie and supposed to only look 17. They might or might not be able to pull the right look off. Especially for some of those in-between years--there's a pretty big physical difference between 14 and 18, and 15 and 20.
Ah - I thought they were coming out once a year - my sense of time has been very off the past few years.

How close in age are the actors to the characters currently? It will depend on how they look as they grow up, but traditionally, child and young adult characters are played by actors older than them. So that may help.

[Jeff Rutledge]

Personally, I think they'll do #4 and that will be it. It seems like a good place to split it. Then again, I thought #3 would be it (and it still may be). Who knows. It would be neat for the viewer if they stuck through all 7 (I think they could make them look believable). However, that's a huge commitment for the actors. It would probably end up being over a decade of making Harry Potter movies!

[dmacburry2003]

Its kinda sad when they have to use different actors. Sometimes it ruins the whole mood. (most actors use the same sense of personality no matter what movie they play in)

Maybe the fifth Potter movie will be animated :wink:

[drop]

The trio will stay to do Goblet of Fire.

GoF is still in pre production. The auditioning for Viktor Krum in Bulgaria has just completed. There was an audition for Cho Chang and Patil sisters. Last I heard they were still looking for French actresses for Madame Maxime and Fleur Delacour. No, I don't think a movie a year is possible.

It is actually quite nice to see the kids grow up as the characters grow grouchier.

[ctmagnus]

Not sure what LOTR has to do with Harry Potter

Some would argue that (portions of) Harry Potter is based on LOTR. I can't recall any of the exapmles I've seen stated atm, but comparisons have been done.

[PetiteFlower]

And the people who would argue that are on crack. Lots and lots of crack.