HP & HP

So, one of the consequences of never proofreading anything I blog, and always publishing whatever I write immediately is that there is almost inevitably more for me to write. So this might be considered a sequel or a part two to this morning’s post. But while that post focused on things that surprised me about myself, this one will focus on things I usually associate with my self-identity. Things like considering myself a writer, for example. But, upon reconsideration, I might take this somewhere else entirely.

Do you remember when Harry Potter first came out? I don’t. I remember when I first saw The Sorcerer’s Stone in the Scholastic Book orders though. Do you remember those? I don’t know how much money I spent on those things in elementary school, but it must’ve been a lot. At least, for a kid stuck on an allowance. I didn’t want to read Harry Potter. I didn’t like the cover art. I’m pretty sure I still don’t like the cover art of that one actually. So, being the judge-a-book-by-its-cover type, I refused to read it.

I suppose I should note at this point that I’m apparently rather picky about my art. I know next to nothing about art, but if I’m say reading a comic book, or a watching a cartoon or animated movie to this day my experience with it is greatly influenced by the quality and the style of the drawing. As a kid I never liked the movies Tarzan,Hercules, or The Hunchback of Notre Dame, just because I didn’t like the way the characters were drawn (Today I like Hercules because of the music, Tarzan because of Phil Collins, and I haven’t seen Hunchback since, though I am inclined to believe I still wouldn’t like that one). Watching Spider-Man unlimited a while ago I was greatly distracted by the drawing style, which was much more like a traditional comic book style, until I both adjusted to it, and Spider-Man left Earth for Counter-Earth. Watching Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (aka the Neal Patrick Harris series) I’m continually driven crazy by the 3D CGI graphics. I mean, I like the series overall. I like the dialogue and the voice acting, and I can tell the mark Brian Michael Bendis has made on this series, both in the dialogue and in some of the stories. But I feel like the episodes were placed out of order, and the 3D CGI animation as already mentioned is a huge detriment, except for those few minutes when it doesn’t look like 3D CGI. On the plus side, they did some really great action sequences with this animation that I’m pretty sure would have been impossible to do with more conventional/traditional animation techniques. Also I'm pretty sure the 90s Spider-Man long run had a lot to do with Joe Parry of Aerosmith fame doing that awesome theme song.

I think I was about in 5^th grade when I first starting seeing Harry Potter in those aforementioned book orders. The next year my English Teacher read the Sorcerer’s Stone to our class. Not long after, I owned all of the books that had come out to that point, meaning up to Prisoner of Azkaban. This was the beginning of an obsession of mine. Meaning Harry Potter of course. Fact: I share initials with Harry Potter. HP and HP. Of course, he’s HJP and I’m HLP but still. Fact: I share a birthday with Harry Potter, July 31 (I also share birthdays with JK Rowling and James E Faust). For the next few years, I had a tradition of reading the series each summer. At one point I had a schedule drawn up where I could read the whole series in a day. I knew exactly how long each book would take me too. This was back in the stone ages when the series was only through Goblet of Fire. It had me reading from like 7am to 9pm I think (In a related note, I had a similar schedule with Lord of the Rings. Only I gave myself I week. Not because I needed a week, I only needed 4 days, a book per, since I included The Hobbit in the read. But after two or three days doing nothing but reading I think everyone would need a break).

So, anyway, all this was basically just an intro for me to say I finally joined the pottermore bandwagon (username: AvisStrike2563 should anyone care to add me). It’s pretty cool, mostly because of the whole exclusive content from JK Rowling. The rest of the game I suck at. I’m a failure of a wizard. I can’t cast spells, and I can’t brew a potion worth beans. I’m okay at throwing gnomes over the hedge though. The thing that surprised me was being sorted into Gryffindor. I always assumed I was a Ravenclaw kinda guy. But apparently I’m not as smart as I think I am—what else is new? Apparently I am brave and chivalrous instead.

I guess that’s all, unless I want to pontificate about what my wand says about me. But, if you’re on pottermore you can find out for yourself. Alder with Unicorn, 14 ½ inches, hard.

Also, not posting onto facebook and twitter yields about the same amount of hits as not, so I probably won’t bother anymore.