Thing #7

Something technology related that interests me this week. Hmmmm, I did go see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at IMAX with the special 3-D ending which was excellent. Voldemort is especially creepy in 3-D. It's that slitty, snaky nose.
My, those Potter kids are growing up nicely. Kind of makes me feel like a dirty old woman. Daniel Radcliffe recently turned 18 and there were headlines in British papers proclaiming "Dan Radcliffe is legal!" as though THAT was what keeping all these people from him. Seriously, it was the same thing with Britney Spears here. I've been talking about all things Harry Potter with my teens in the book discussions and I'm amazed at how many of these 12, 13, 15 year old girls are drooling over Gary Oldman and David Thewlis and especially Alan Rickman. I love to see their faces when I tell them that Alan Rickman is 61!
But seriously, the best thing about that movie was the audience. There was every age, every race. I was looking around during all the obnoxious commercials that run before the previews and it made me so happy to see such a range of people all excited about the same film. Elementary aged kids and Seniors with canes, African American, Latino, Wonder bread-it was great!
I was similarly struck when I was reading the seventh book the day it came out. To think of how many millions of people were all reading the same book at the same time right round the globe. What an amazing accomplishment for JK Rowling (and I suppose her publishers) to have enthralled so many people.
Then again I see these books as a wonderful contribution to literature not an attempt to lure innocent children into evil. I came across an essay while playing around with, I think it was digg.com that proclaims Harry as the 'vanguard of the anti-Christ.' My favorite bit was this passage: " In a particularly distasteful and lewd display, Potter tries to tempt the rightfully furious Angel by raising his pant leg and showing him his nude ankle. In this way the Harry Potter books contribute to the hidden gay agenda. When this temptation is refused, he has a malignant house spirit who embodies all the evils of stem-cell research curse the angel down." Hmmm, who knew that Lucious Malfoy was an angel of Christ and Dobby is the 'embodiment of the evils of stem cell research'! Bearing in mind this a work related blog I'll end the discussion here!