Well, today is the day. I am meeting Emily to pick up the Harry Potter books. Em recorded her thoughts before starting The Hobbit, so I thought I would do the same.
The main reason I have avoided the whole Harry Potter thing, is because I almost always avoid anything that gets shoved down your throat by mass marketing schemes and makes people stand in line for hours or even days. I immediately get turned off by it. When you can't buy a bag of chips or a Slurpee without a picture of whatever is the new hot thing on it, it pisses me off. I know my money is adding to the profits of something I don't really care about. When I can't watch the news without 2 or 3 segments about whatever the new hot things is, it really, really pisses me off. I'm not amused or interested when they have a news reporter interviewing people who've been in line for 3 days for the opening of Ikea, or to buy an Iphone. When I know everything about this new hot thing, because I've been forced to listen in on endless conversations at work, or the grocery store....well I think you get the idea.
Classic example: American Idol. I don't think words can explain how much I truly, truly hate that show with every fibre of my being. I know I am in the minority here, but that is just fine with me. I won't go on about it, that would be a blog all it's own.
Some of you might be thinking I'm being a bit hypocritical here. And you're right. There are some things that come out that I do really like, and get a bit excited about. For instance, a new Spiderman, X Men or LOTR movie gets me pretty excited. I wouldn't stand in line for hours to see one, I usually wait for most of the hype to go down, and go when the theatres aren't so crowded. I don't need to be the first one to see it. There are a couple of exceptions. I have stood in line overnight for a couple of concerts, but I think that is different. You only get that one chance to see it, it's not something I could see anytime over a couple of months. And one time my friend, Annalyn, won tickets to a pre-screening of X Men III, I went with her. So I did get to see that movie a couple of days before anyone else, that was kind of cool.
Another smaller reason I avoided Harry Potter. Is because I try to avoid things that come in a series. I am the type that forces myself to finish out something, even if I don't care for it. Like I've never walked out or turned off a movie I don't like. I make myself watch the whole thing no matter how dreadful it is. So something that comes in a series, like Harry Potter, I just try to avoid altogether, because I don't want to get trapped into something. I avoid those TV shows too. The ones you can't just watch occasionally, but have to watch every single episode or you can't follow it. One exception, Lost. I do like Lost, but didn't start watching it until the first 2 seasons were already out on DVD. And I only started watching it because a couple we are friends with started watching it and highly recommended it. We tend to have the same taste in movies, books and TV, so I started watching it, and I love it. Thank you Andy and Brenna. I know some of the other shows are good, like 24 looks like it is probably a really good show. But I think it's now in it's 20th season, and there is just no way I'm going to start from the beginning.
So there it is. It's really not because Harry Potter is about wizards and things. Well, it kind of is, but that is only like 20% of the reason. And yes, I am aware there are wizards in LOTR. But kids going to a wizard school, just seems kind of dumb to me. If those books came out when I was like 12, I'm sure I would have really, really liked them. But I was in my 30's when they started coming out, I'm a different person now. Harry Potter just seemed to go on forever. It seemed like every couple of months another book was coming out and it just drove me crazy. I had to share a cubicle at work with women knitting Harry Potter scarves for them and their kids to wear to the release of the newest book or movie. That stuff drives me insane! I think 7 books in a series is a bit much. 4 should be the limit.
I promise Em, I will read it with an open mind, and try not to roll my eyes too much while I'm reading.
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13 comments:
Well, it's nice to have a little more insight. I have to say, I think I really understand where you are coming from. I can get a bad taste in my mouth too when it comes to over-hyped things. I think my radar or gag reflex for such things is lower then yours.
I had a different Harry Potter ordeal before reading them then you, so that wasn't a problem. This is what I knew of Harry Potter before I read the books: One time I was walking into Barnes and Noble and there was a sign in the window that said that the Harry Potter books had sold out. I thought, "I think I have heard something about a popular children's book that is selling out, huh, it must be that".
The Halloween I was working at the Gap before I moved to New York, kids were trick or treating and one kid had a cape, a broom and glasses and I was like, "what are you supposed to be??" He and his mom looked at me like I was the stupidest person on earth and said "Harry Potter" like hello???
Then a few months later I was told to read them. Talking to my friends I figured out there was some sort of magic involved and they were fantasy, but I didn't even know he was a wizard until I read it in the book. I kind of pictured more of a kind of "Cosette" character or Cinderella and had to sweep a lot. This was before any movies, after the 4th book had come out. Anyway, a time when you could be a college age person and have no kids and therefore Harry Potter wasn't forced down your throat.
My thoughts on this topic: I have met people who completely ignore things simply because they are popular. There are some things that are fads and should drop off the planet (Crocs for anyone above 7, Chia pets, Fanny packs, Giga Pets, Spiderman, etc...). However, despite my moms aversion to all things popular, I have discovered that some things are so popular because they are FREAKING AWESOME(Michael Scott voice on those last 2 words). I.E. Twilight, LOTR, Harry Pot Pott, Count of Monte Cristo, Cafe Rio pork salads, the Office, scarves, Coca-Cola, etc... My mom would teach me that I shouldn't just "follow the crowd" but sometimes there is a large group of people that are very right. So I think it's a judgement call on things like that. I think you should investigate fads before completely discarding them; at least that's what I'm going to teach my kids.
B
P.S. I was totally kidding about Spiderman. I know that you and Matt have some weird obsession with those movies. Let you like them I shall.
Hear hear B! Good speech. I feel the same way, sometimes over popular stuff is that way because it is great. BUT, sometimes the over popularity bugs you so bad you can't move past it. That is something our modern day world likes to do, and I know what Sue is saying. It is REALLY irksome to see something like, oh say - Harry Potter on EVERYTHING in sight because a new movie is coming out and people milk it for all it's worth. That sucks. Sometimes it is nice to love something that feels like all your own. I think that is one of the reasons I remain so in love with my Radiohead. You really never hear them on the radio, you don't hear about them right and left on Entertainment Tonight. That is not because they aren't a good band, they have a huge following but they don't quite appeal to "the masses". It usually takes a few listens to their songs to appreciate it, then many more listens to appreciate it even more. The American consumer would rather listen to a catchy pop song that you hear 25 times a day on the radio. This fact makes me so happy, I can love them and not have them shoved down my throat like (insert a popular group right here, I don't keep up with that stuff and can't think of any).
It is really rare to mention Radiohead to someone and have them be able to name more then 1 song. That makes me happy in the way I think Sue is trying to make with her point.
Speaking of Sue, I wonder where she is today, maybe she can't put Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone down. HeeHee......
Sorry for the Radiohead soapbox, I have been having a Radiohead extravaganza weekend.
B-You are so lucky you added that PS about Spiderman. The hole in my soul that was torn over the whole Neil Young thing, would have gotten much bigger. And you do have a good point, some things are so popular because they are so good. Some of the things I like best were a big deal when they came out, ie Spiderman and LOTR movies. I also like the Twilight books, I resisted them at first. Well, actually I hadn't even heard of them until the first 3 were out, and I spent a weekend in Wyoming. I teased you all for a couple of weeks, then read them. They are about vampires after all, I couldn't resist.
However, things that are really popular, aren't always necessarily good. Let me give you a couple of examples. New Kids on the Block and the Spice Girls. When they were out, nothing was bigger at the time. Were they good? NO! No one could ever convince me otherwise, so don't even try.
I think my point came across, that it is really the hype that I try to avoid. But, let me give you this example on why I hate hype and commercialism. Every Christmas, a new toy comes out that everyone has to have, like Tickle Me Elmo. So the stores will allow mobs of people to stand outside their doors until they are ready to unlock them and let this mob push and shove their way to this "limited number" they have of this toy. Almost every year, you hear in the news that someone got trampled to death at one of these stores. TRAMPLED TO DEATH FOR A TOY! Because the commercials and the news told them they had to have that toy. I will not allow commercials or the news tell me what I should and should not like. I know this is a pretty extreme example, but it encompasses everything I hate about hype.
Harry Potter just fell under that whole hype thing I hate. I'm not trying to be cool or rebellous, it's just my nature to avoid those new things.
And Em, you're mostly right on why I wasn't on the computer yesterday. For one thing, I had spent a really obnoxious amount of time on my computer the day before, and decided I needed to avoid it for a day. And I pretty much did read the entire first book. I finished it this morning. I'll post my thoughts soon.
I think I get where you're coming from. I've never lived in a house with TV, and I don't spend endless hours searching the internet, so I am mainly out of the loop when it comes to hype. Plus I live in Wyoming. There has never been a pre-screening of a movie, and the longest you could stand in line for something is 1 day, even if the entire town showed up. So I learn about awesome things from friends of mine that don't live here, or who travel a lot. I've never been really on top of the latest stuff, but maybe I'd be as irritated with it if I was surrounded by it.
B
You know B, your last comment speaks volumes. I had no idea you grew up with no TV (doesn't surprise me now that I think of it). And you did grow up in Wyoming! You have actually grown up in a world that I am somewhat jealous of! Cam is too, maybe that is the reason he and I like Little House on the Prairie so much!
I really don't mean to come across as "soap boxy". But I'm sure I do. I just wish people could get into things because they really, deep down inside, like them. Not because everyone else does, or because their local anchormen talk about them endlessly. You seem to get that. You are so lucky that you hear about most things from someone's recommendation, rather from your local news station.
Because of things like this, I've mostly given up on local news. I remember there was a night a few years ago when more US soldiers died in one attack in Iraq than any other attack before then. I think like 67 of them died. That same day, a Harry Potter book or movie came out. The local news gave more attention to that, than what was happening in Iraq. Cam walked in the living room and I was actually crying. (I don't cry very often). He asked me what was wrong, and I told him that more people care about Harry Potter than 67 of our soldiers being killed. There is yet another reason I hate the hype over things like that.
This isn't meant to be directly pointed at you B. It is just a little more ranting on my part.
Sue-
Some things you have said, lead me to believe that you watch (or watched) Fox 13 news?
I almost brought up Christmas, but I chose the Radiohead tangent cause, well, it's me... and I remember that night with the soldiers and how lame we thought that was.
B-
I never looked at your "world" with quite the same eyes. That was indeed insightful. Sometimes I want to be where I am or even more so (New York City, right in Times Square) and other times I want to live in a little hole in Tibet. Just depends. I am (I guess I should say almost) always opposed to hype, but once in a while I get interested in it and want to see it with my own eyes, case in point, the Breaking Dawn release parties. I never would have gone except we needed to get Haley a book that night, and while we were at it..., AND we didn't actually go to one -in our defense but we did stand in line for a few hours to get a book that night (this was not because it was the latest fad, and it is, but because I had been waiting a long time for Bella to turn into a vampire! But ideally, I would have liked to experience a party in a penseive for like 4 minutes (Sue, this will make sense about book 5). Mostly I would make fun of all the people there and have a good laugh. I'd say about 96%, the other 4% of me would have been chanting, "Edward! Edward! Edward!"
It probably was Fox news, who I think are the absolute worst when it comes to things like that. But it comes on at 9pm and others come on at 10pm when the Simpsons is on!
Sue: That would kill me. What little news I watch I am always irritated by. I hate it when they have 20 seconds of something interesting and they drag it out to look like they have some huge breaking story. Nancy Grace is the worst at this, and that is what is always on at Mom and Dads. Anyways, the thing about the soldiers is ridiculous. I'm not sure where I stand on the war, but any real person dying is more important than Harry Potter any day. News teams suck.
Em: I might as well live in a hole in Tibet, and I am over it. I am sick of people taking me aside and telling me that they're offended that we spend so much time at the Phisters. I'm sick of having to drive 5 hours for culture and more than 2 choices for a decent restaurant. I'm sick of people looking at Matt like he's some sort of enigma just because he says hi to them after he's met them once. I can't take the backwoodsness anymore. But I don't think I'll ever get into hype, I've always wanted to be different than everyone else. I just don't get that hyped about anything.
More later,
B
Who in the world is taking you aside and telling you that they are offended by how much time you spend at the Phisters? And why are they offended? And who is looking at my little brother weird? I'll beat them up! I cannot stand Nancy Grace, she is so annoying!
I have an educated guess on who is offended at your "Phister time" and screw that!
As for people looking at Matt weird for saying hi, well I think you will get that anywhere, in fact, I think it would be better received in Wyoming then anywhere else, so keep that in mind.
Oh, and Nancy Grace sucks.
I guess Matt would get that anywhere, but he's so cute! I cannot make any kind of guess at who is offended. Except maybe it is one of the Phisters themselves because they are sick of them being over so much. hee hee
Haha! Em, you're right, they are some of them, but they're not the only ones! Isn't that ridiculous?! And maybe Matt would get those looks anywhere, but he's talked about how it bugs him, and wouldn't happen in Utah. I think he's so cute everyone should want to be his friend. He also has "friends" that do it too though.
Phisters probably are sick of us. We just spent 3 nights in a row over there! And in all that time I still can't find the LOTR books.
B
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