Went down to Borders to pick up the Harry Potter book.  It was MADNESS down there.  Thousands of people.  The line was a mile long.  Stayed for a while to gawk at the funny costumes, but I wouldn't be able to get my copy until long after midnight, and I'm too tired.

I gave up and will go back tomorrow.  Saw a girl in the parking lot reading the last page.  I said to her, "You're NOT reading the last page!", and she said, "Oh, my god, I can't believe this!"

It took every bit of self-control to just keep walking and not ask her what she read.

stupid book

Have you read any of them?

No, I am asshole today.  Sorry.

I was reading that people queued outside Waterstones in London for almost three days. Does seem a bit crazy.

I haven't read any of the books, but perhaps I will get the boxed set in due course and read them all in one go.

> No, I am asshole today.

Don't be so modest. Everyday is asshole day.

Protracted adolescence

We went to the Chapters here at about 1030pm.  Didn't buy the book, but they had little craft things to do (make a wand, or a bag puppet), a magic show, a little spider-web maze...  The lineup for pre-paid was already wrapped around one floor when we got there, the lineup to buy it was wrapped around two other floors and out the door by the time we left.  As they wheeled in the pallets of books, people were taking pictures, jumping up and down in excitement.  Lots of people in costume of course.

Just read the detailed summary on Wikipedia.  I was a bit surprised at some of the twists, others were as I expected.  Overall, I was wrong about the "who dies" stuff, Rowlings' choices make sense.

I don't really get the appeal of the whole series. The films were about as much as I could take and they were fine, but the books I found didn't really capture my interest.

i read the first two, after that I couldn't be fucked any more. jesus. why didn't she just write about them playing cricket and catching international war criminals armed only with a bicycle, a jam sandwich and home made lemonade laced with mescaline?

She did, it's just that the mescaline turned it into a land of flying broomsticks, evil curses, and house elves.

Also, the serious picked up significantly after the second book.  Prisoner of Azkaban was very good and a big departure from the previous two books.  I think it's where she discovered that she could be not just a popular writer but a good writer.

I went to the bookstore at midnight.  Very well organized here, you get a wristband that places you in order to receive the book based on how early you reserved and how early you got to the store.  Unfortunately, I got to the store very late and by 1:30 I realized that I wouldn't be getting my book until around 4am.  Given that I had a platelet donation and a wedding reception scheduled for the day, that looked like a non-starter, so I went home.

Wow, what a great idea. I'm going to register my wedding at Red Cross too.

Just have to make sure not to get the wedding gifts and the cocktail sauce mixed up.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C07%5C22%5Cstory_22-7-2007_pg9_8

"One Oregon couple’s wedding night was meant to be really magical. The couple headed straight from their wedding reception to a bookstore to get the final Harry Potter book."

We were able to pick up a copy with NO lines at all at Walmart at 10:00 AM Saturday.

On the one hand, I did feel a little dirty supporting Wallmart.  On the other hand, I didn't have to stand in line.

It was a very mixed blessing.