02.11.08
Posted in Meta, Essays at 6:19 pm by Headmaster
As was previously covered on Blogging Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling is involved in a legal fight to stop Steven VanderArk from bringing his HP Lexicon from the internet into print.
The N.Y. Times has a very telling article this week on the subject. Read the whole thing, but here a few powerful excerpts:
JK Rowling on how she feels about the book:
“I feel as though my name and my works have been hijacked, against my wishes, for the personal gain and profit of others and diverted from the charities I intended to benefit,” she said in a declaration to the court.
What she really means is that VanderArk didn’t come kiss her ring:
“There have been a huge number of companion books that have been published,” Mr. Blair said. “Ninety-nine percent have come to speak to us. In every case they have made changes to ensure compliance. They fall in line.” But, he added: “These guys refused to contact us. They refused to answer any questions. They refused to show us any details.”
They fall in line. There, in that one sentence, lies the reason Mr. Falzone and his colleagues have agreed to help represent RDR Books. And it’s why Mr. Lessig decided to start the Fair Use Project in the first place.
Why we should all be chilled by this case:
During my conversation with her representative, Mr. Blair, he pointed me to Ms. Rowling’s Web site, suggesting that would be the best place to find her response to the RDR Books case and the Harry Potter Lexicon. “You have our permission to quote from her Web site,” he said.
I already have that right, Mr. Blair. But thanks anyway.
Isn’t JK rich enough already? Couldn’t she take some advice from Wilco’s “What Light”:
And if the whole world’s singing your songs
And all of your paintings have been hung
Just remember what was yours is everyone’s from now on
And that’s not wrong or right
But you can struggle with it all you like
You’ll only get uptight
Please reconsider, JK. Please.
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11.03.07
Posted in Scoops at 7:48 am by RavenclawWit
The Harry Potter world has been rocked this week with the news that J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. are suing Steven VanderArk, creator of The HP Lexicon, over a book that VanderArk had planned to publish. The book purportedly would contain the same information that is currently available on the Lexicon website.
This news was all the more shocking since Rowling has often mentioned and praised the site, even giving it one of her coveted (by HP fansites at least) Fan Site Awards in 2004.
Rowling has posted her view of the situation on her website; and VanderArk’s publisher, RDR Books has published their view (and presumably Mr. VanderArk’s) on theirs.
Rowling claims that the book VanderArk planned to publish is nothing more than a reorganization of her characters and plots. How she or Warner Bros. could know this, being that the book has not been published yet and therefore not yet read by anybody save Mr. VanderArk and his publisher, I don’t know. But by Mr. VanderArk’s own admission, the book will be largely taken verbatim from the Lexicon website.
Other reports have held that Rowling is suing because she fears competition with her own planned Harry Potter encyclopedia. I find that explanation much more plausible than the idea put forward by Rowling’s camp that it is wrong for VanderArk to profit from the work, thereby making it unavailable to those not able to buy the book. That idea is ludicrous frankly. VanderArk has no plans to shut the website down, which means the information will still be freely available even if the book is published.
But what about Rowling’s fear that VanderArk’s encyclopedia would compete with her own? Rubbish, I say, for two reasons. One, as a fan I can tell you that while I might enjoy VanderArk’s book, in no way would I see it as a good substitute for words written by Rowling herself. If she does publish an encyclopedia, which is by no means a certainty at this point, I would definitely buy/read it no matter how many times I had read VanderArk’s book, and I suspect many fans would do the same. It makes sense. I doubt very many people have opted to read VanderArk’s Lexicon website instead of reading the Harry Potter books themselves. Two, from what Rowling has said of the encyclopedia type book that she plans to write, her and VanderArk’s books are fundamentally different. Rowling has stated that the plan for her encyclopedia would be mainly information NOT included in the original seven Harry Potter novels. Mr. VanderArk’s book would be an encyclopedia/reference type book with some critical/literary commentary on information from the seven original novels, nothing more. Quite obviously, Mr. VanderArk has no access to information that as yet only lives within the author’s head. How these two works would compete with each other is beyond my understanding.
It is completely illogical for Rowling and Warner Bros. to be okay with Mr. VanderArk’s website, but disapproving of the identical book. Either the information infringes on Rowling’s copyrights or it doesn’t, whether it’s on a website or in a book. Yes, the book will make money, but not at the expense of the author making money on her own creation. Countless other Harry Potter reference books exist on the market and none of them are being sued. Even reference type books with little additional commentary are indeed covered under fully legal literary/critical analysis. I’m a Stephen King fan and I own several books that are little more than lists of the characters in the Stephen King novels with a few plot summaries. If these are legal, I guarantee that VanderArk’s are as well.
I really feel that this is a bad move on Rowling’s part. I can’t help but feel that now that she has released all seven books she feels at liberty to alienate as many fans as possible. By suing one of her most ardent fans, a fan who has spent countless hours in activities that could only serve to promote Rowling’s work, she is sending a message about what her fans really mean to her. Are we only dollar signs to you, Ms. Rowling?
I also feel that the press on the matter has been a scurrilous and shameful attempt to use Rowling’s legion of fans, most of whom are young enough to accept Rowling’s version of matters without question, to try the case in the court of public opinion instead of in the court of law. Badly done.
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10.20.07
Posted in Scoops at 11:30 am by RavenclawWit
Yesterday night, at a reading of Deathly Hallows reading at Carnegie Hall, author J.K. Rowling finally let the cat out of the bag, or in this case, the wizard out of the closet.
While taking questions about the series, one fan asked Rowling if Dumbledore ever found true love. Rowling responded, “I always saw Dumbledore as gay”. She went on to explain that Dumbledore was in love with Grindelwald, and that he was “”horribly, terribly let down” when he realized Grindelwald’s true nature. She even went on to say that she corrected a version of Steve Kloves’ script for Half-Blood Prince that had Dumbledore reminiscing about a past female love. She apparently crossed out the offending material and wrote over it, “Dumbledore is gay”.
So what do I think of all this? I think it’s awesome. Of course, Rowling faces little risk of a backlash now that all 7 books are out, but it’s still cool that she made one of her characters gay. Her books are largely about tolerance, and homosexuals are people that are badly discriminated against, especially in the United States. She was pretty gutsy to reveal this in front of an American audience, rather than overseas in front of what’s sure to be a more liberal audience, or at least a culture that’s more tolerant of gays.
For many readers of the Harry Potter series, “queerness” in the books is nothing new. Read this excellent Alternet piece on the matter for more on that.
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09.19.07
Posted in Scoops at 4:13 pm by RavenclawWit
via HPANA
Just as many fans predicted and hoped, British actor Jim Broadbent will be playing Horace Slughorn in the film version of Half-Blood Prince, due out in November 2008. Principle filming began today.
In other casting notes, MTV.com has an article out in which they speculate on who could play the remaining roles in the film version of Deathly Hallows. Among their more inspired choices: Mick Jagger as Mundungus Fletcher and Damian Lewis as Bill Weasley.
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Posted in Scoops at 3:50 pm by RavenclawWit
via HPANA
Warner Bros. has officially confirmed that the Order of the Phoenix DVD will be available on December 11th in the United States.
They have also announced what will be included on the DVDs by way of special features:
DVD ELEMENTS:
The 2-Disc Special Edition DVD contains the following special features:
– Additional Scenes: 17 minutes of never-before-seen footage.
– Trailing Tonks - Spend a day with Actress Nat Tena and receive a very personal and often wacky tour of the Harry Potter and
The Order of the Phoenix stages.
– Harry Potter: The Magic of Editing - Director David Yates and Editor Mark Day show what a difference a good edit makes to allow the viewers to edit a scene.
– A&E Documentary: The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter - Viewers take a thrilling look back at the past Harry Potter films in search of clues to the mysteries of the upcoming Harry Potter saga.
– ROM - This will include a timeline, a link to sneaks of HP6, along with other materials.
The HD/DVD combo contains the following special features:
– Additional Scenes: 17 minutes of never-before-seen footage.
– Trailing Tonks - Spend a day with Actress Nat Tena and receive a very personal and often wacky tour of the Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix stages.
– In Movie Experience - Join the cast from Dumbledore’s Army as they come together to share memorable moments.
– Harry Potter: The Magic of Editing - Director David Yates and Editor Mark Day show what a difference a good edit makes to allow the viewers to edit a scene.
– Web-Enabled Features:
– Pick Your Favorite Scene - Assemble favorite clips from the movie to create a montage.
– Live Community Screening - Viewers can create, organize, and invite their buddies to their very own screening.
– Mobile Downloads - Viewers can scan and select cool images and ringtones to send to their mobile phones.
The Blu-ray disc contains the following special features:
– Additional Scenes: 17 minutes of never-before-seen footage.
– A&E documentary: The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter - Viewers take a thrilling look back at the past Harry Potter films in search of clues to the mysteries of the upcoming Harry Potter saga.
– Trailing Tonks - Spend a day with Actress Nat Tena and receive a very personal and often wacky tour of the Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix stages.
– Focus Points - Enjoy these fun and fascinating “making of” featurettes to discover just what is involved to create those amazing scenes and characters.
– Harry Potter: The Magic of Editing - Director David Yates and Editor Mark Day show what a difference a good edit makes to allow the viewers to edit a scene.
The Limited Edition Gift Set contains the following additions:
– Hogwarts Challenge - A bonus disc containing a unique interactive DVD gaming experience with 14 adventure games based on the first three Harry Potter films, and containing clips from the fourth and fifth films.
– Bonus materials - A bonus disc containing more than three hours of all-new content from the past Harry Potter films.
– Collectibles:
– The Harry Potter Bookmark Collection - Five unique souvenir metal bookmarks made especially for this gift set.
– Harry Potter Trading Cards - Collect them all with these four packages containing cards from the first four films.
I’m kind of disappointed to see that they are including stuff on the HD DVD and the Blu Ray disc that they aren’t on the regular DVDs. However the HD DVD is a DVD combo release, so it will play on a regular DVD player. It will cost a few dollars more, but it may be worth it. I feel that instead of including that A&E Documentary: The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter on the regular DVD, which everyone who is an HP fan already saw when it was on A&E four months ago, they should replace it with the In Movie Experience - Join the cast from Dumbledore’s Army as they come together to share memorable moments that is included on the HD/DVD combo. Just my opinion.
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07.30.07
Posted in Scoops at 4:07 pm by RavenclawWit
SPOILERS!
via HPANA
This morning, J.K. Rowling participated in a web chat where she answered dozens of questions about Deathly Hallows and the series in general. You can read the transcript here.
Among the more interesting information? The Malfoys (Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco) were apparently never sent to Azkaban or punished for their Death Eater status due to the fact that in the end they colluded with Harry, albeit out of self interest. I can only assume that by “colluded”, Rowling was referring to A) When Draco was “unable” to identify the trio at Malfoy Manor, and B) when Narcissa lied to Voldemort about Harry being dead in the forest. It was obvious to me that Draco was being intentionally obtuse when he was asked to identify the trio when they were caught and brought to Malfoy Manor. He might have genuinely not been able to recognise Harry due to Hermione’s stinging hex, but there’s no way he didn’t recognise Hermione and Ron, two people that he had gone to school with for six years and who he’d delighted in tormenting. But as far as I know, Lucius himself did nothing to “help” Harry in the end. Yes, he didn’t join the other Death Eaters in assaulting people in the final battle, but that’s probably only because he no longer had a wand. In my view, not sending at least Lucius to Azkaban is a major oversight.
Another tidbit of information that’s a little puzzling is that Ron took Fred’s place at Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes. But in the interview that she gave to Meredith Viera, she stated that Ron is an Auror with Harry. Maybe he’s both?
There’s lots of other really interesting information in this transcript, so go ahead and read it and then come back here to discuss it if you want. Also, Rowling said that we should all keep an eye on her website, because she’ll be answering even more questions there over time.
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07.27.07
Posted in Scoops at 5:36 pm by RavenclawWit
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, actor Dan Radcliffe reveals his first impressions of the final Potter installment.
It’s full of spoilers, so if you haven’t read…yada yada yada. 
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Posted in Meta, Essays at 1:14 pm by Headmaster
NewTeeVee.com has an interesting post about the phenomenon of spoiling books, Harry Potter in particular.
If you haven’t finished Deathly Hallows yet, avoid all the videos except the Daily Show’s.
Anyone have a pet theory about why certain people lord over pop culture with an iron fist (and a spoiling tongue)?
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Posted in Scoops at 2:13 am by RavenclawWit
SPOILERS!
If you found the epilogue of Deathly Hallows less than satisfying, take heart. Rowling has revealed new details of what happened to the surviving characters of Deathly Hallows in the first of a two part interview on the TODAY show.
I won’t reveal any of the goodies here, you can click the link for that, but some of the information is really interesting. Rowling says more will be revealed in the encyclopedia she plans to write.
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