"Dumbledore is Gay" sez Rowling

Reading that Vulture article, every time a name of a character Rowling had invented came up, I wanted to spit blood. She's George Lucas-level.

it's easy to make up Rowling names

Ansel Thimbleknocker

Theo Bumblesnatch

Vera Spinabifida

It would so be helped if the Seeker could be assisted by the other players, who might notice the Snitch in passing and take time out from their bashing and hurling to relay the info idk

I literally wrote that bit as I thought it up

_I wonder what people get out of it on repeat reads once all the plot twists are known._

I'd say it's like wanting to crawl back into the womb, but instead it's the urge to live in a fantasy world that feels more welcoming and wonderful than their real life.

i liked these books tbh, I just think the hyperfandom is nauseating. but I feel for everybody who feels betrayed by Rowling - a lot of my LGBTQ+ friends who were megafans are still dealing with how to deal with Rowling's ultimate betrayal.

just realized I said betrayal twice. ooof...tired brain

xps - I would appreciate your explaining why that simile is unacceptable, instead of just darkly hinting about it. idgi and if there's something to 'get' I'd rather know it than stay ignorant.

Was also working in a bookshop when some of these were oozing out, which is a small part of why I hate them. So many adults wandering in, demanding to know when the next one would come out, insisting I put in a preorder for them for a book not yet announced, then wandering off and never coming back.

― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Tuesday, December 22, 2020 7

No offense, but I find this a weird take. I worked at an indie bookstore between 2001-2004 and Harry Potter adult fans, if they didn't buy other books, brought relatives, friends, etc. who did.

Rowling sales buoyed our other sales. I don't get the sneering.

they should be able to destroy the snitch and then nobody can ever stop playing

― Looking for Cape Penis house (Neanderthal), Tuesday, December 22, 2020 7:35 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

I once was told that they could easily be stitched up, so that shouldn't be an issue. Same person also told me to "watch yourself, PUNT" which is excellent advice for any quidditch player looking to improve their form.

The illogical and dumb rules of Quidditch was intentional I think. The wizarding world felt very small and sclerotic, with their political, media and education system rooted so firmly in tradition. (The slytherin house was still allowed to exist even after it was shown that its founder installed a monster in the school to kill minority students). In this world, there is no space for innovation and progress. The wizards know it which is why they seek “rejuvenation” through the Nazi-esque politics of Voldemort, who gains the support of the majority of the government, I think, almost immediately after regaining his bodily form. Theirs is a dying world, and its vulnerability lies precisely in its resistance to change.

I’ll take the fps.

agreed with Alfred. overwhelmingly Potter led to people buying other books they would not otherwise have bought. depending on the kid or the way the parent described the kid, you could at LEAST potentially steer them onto age-appropriate fantasy classics, and maybe even less genre-oriented stuff.

Yeah i agree with alfred too. These books are perfectly fine things for children and pre-teens and helped many kids kickstart a reading habit.

threesh i agree with your quidditch take, at least the part about it showing the limitations of the tradition-bound wizarding world, and that's how i always took it. however it didn't make it any less annoying to read about or watch actual adults try to retrofit for the real world.

During that era I had adults (no teens, alas) buying The Dispossessed, Borges, and Ballard when asked if I could recommend "anything like Rowling."

Maybe they threw these books in the rubbish bin. But they bought them.

I grew up on these books and I despise everything about them now. the cruel but saccharine worldview, the sub-blyton gender politics, the fanatical divine right of the author cult the writer encourages to shut down young fans' attempts at more imaginative readings. I think I would have been better off without them and so would the world

Thank you for your service, Alfred.

I grew up on these books and I despise everything about them now. the cruel but saccharine worldview, the sub-blyton gender politics, the fanatical divine right of the author cult the writer encourages to shut down young fans' attempts at more imaginative readings. I think I would have been better off without them and so would the world

― Left, Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Well, this is a novel interpretation.

No offense, but I find this a weird take. I worked at an indie bookstore between 2001-2004 and Harry Potter adult fans, if they didn't buy other books, brought relatives, friends, etc. who did.

― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 23 December 2020 11:26 (two hours ago)

Rowling sales buoyed our other sales. I don't get the sneering.

― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 23 December 2020 11:27 (two hours ago)

But that's the thing--there were numerous people who just seemed to wander into bookshops, demand an as-yet nonexistent book, and then leave, without buying or even looking at any other books.

Also, if someone buys a Dan Brown or a Jordan Peterson and also buys other books, I'm still going to sneer at them for buying a Dan Brown or a Jordan Peterson.

Part of the requirements of working at an indie bookstore is sneering at customers buying anything we don't like.

dan brown is such a bad writer it's kind of amazing in a way

Brown understands the need to move the plot along fast enough to glide past the other weaknesses of his novels, and knows how to select plot elements that readers will want to see resolved, so they keep reading with interest to the end. That's a talent, but it's just for making books people are excited by briefly, then forget a week later.

I suppose a person who doesn't watch sorts sports inventing a sport wasn't going to go well

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, December 22, 2020 4:38 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i'm a sports fan and probably my most unpopular opinion about any popular property is that rowling actually invented a good, well-balanced sport - she just had no idea what she was doing and clearly didn't spend a second thinking about how a game would actually play out, so she presented it in the stupidest way possible

i would lower the snitch value because 150 is ridiculous (just cut it to 75 to make ties impossible, but even 100 wouldn't be terrible) but it's good tbh, would be engrossing to watch assuming the teams are actually employing strategy to win which they never do in the books

But that's the thing--there were numerous people who just seemed to wander into bookshops, demand an as-yet nonexistent book, and then leave, without buying or even looking at any other books.

It definitely worked as a gateway to reading for many kids, as a very brief pathway to a bit of other reading for some kids, and I'm certain that James' personal experience is honestly reported.

none of those people read the Ballard. you just sold them paper

yeah, that's bad bookseller practice imo. sell 'em something that influenced Rowling but is very good, like Dianna Wynne Jones' Chrestomanci series and Archer The Goon, or is popular fantasy but excellent, like Pratchett, especially the witches and young-protagonist novels. stepping-stone them in towards literature.

treeship. at 1:19 23 Dec 20
The illogical and dumb rules of Quidditch was intentional I think. The wizarding world felt very small and sclerotic, with their political, media and education system rooted so firmly in tradition. (The slytherin house was still allowed to exist even after it was shown that its founder installed a monster in the school to kill minority students). In this world, there is no space for innovation and progress. The wizards know it which is why they seek “rejuvenation” through the Nazi-esque politics of Voldemort, who gains the support of the majority of the government, I think, almost immediately after regaining his bodily form. Theirs is a dying world, and its vulnerability lies precisely in its resistance to change.
I’ll take the fps.

yeah hermione/ron was where i was finally like oh wow - she doesn’t understand her own characters! very odd.

Lads I stg if this revival gets diverted into discussing one of the the internet’s most prolonged shipper grudges I’ll fp ye all, I don’t care if it’s Christmas.

Didnt you just divert it there

lol i had never seen any of that but i guess i did always assume there was a great seething mass of it out there just beyond the fringes of my vision

Have had a brief look at that, and yeah, once again her fans have spent 1000x more time thinking about this than she did.

none of those people read the Ballard. you just sold them paper

― plax (ico), Wednesday, December 23, 2020 2:56 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah, that's bad bookseller practice imo. sell 'em something that influenced Rowling but is very good, like Dianna Wynne Jones' Chrestomanci series and Archer The Goon, or is popular fantasy but excellent, like Pratchett, especially the witches and young-protagonist novels. stepping-stone them in towards literature.

― huge rant (sic), Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Eh, who cares? It was 20 years ago.

We sold books, I felt morally cleansed, and the customer felt flattered by the attention. Win-win for everyone, as Trump might say.

xp I mean, you did post that whole “and then everyone clapped” story without prompt, so you I guess?

War stories are occasionally fun.

tell us one

Our call centre (200 employees) was sent one copy of the books so far to enjoy and to make us feel included

They sat beside other such client offerings in the staff room: fat-reducing belt, micro-gym 3000 chair, epil spray (the burns calls here were numerous), three plates with the queen, the queen mum and a world war ii bomber on em, and a box of sex toy returns

returns

That's a great New York mag piece; especially the bit about that fantastically stupid 'Wimpund..' tweet. What a silly arse.

ffs theres totally a market for those returns ppl

shy market tbs

also george lucas is fine with names by comparison get a grip

tell us one

― plax (ico), Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Dip daily into the U.S. politics thread.

Now that evil Trump is gone all will be peace

https://media3.giphy.com/media/4fGVV61rsPT0s/200.gif

Vera Spinabifida

― Looking for Cape Penis house (Neanderthal), Tuesday, December 22, 2020 6:44 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Thanks for making me nearly choke to death on my breakfast, there.

Incredible content, this

Later on, they explained to the author that Harry Potter’s scar looks like the “Z”, the symbol used by the Russian on their military vehicles, and ask her to change it to the Ukrainian trident. Rowling took notes and said “I will look at that. It might be good for me to do something with that myself on social media, because I think that will get into the newspapers.”

ah, vanity plus stupidity, the magic combination