Happy Birthday!

Today is Harry Potter's 27th birthday...and J. K. Rowling's 42nd! Happy Birthday to both of them. Here's an appropriate cake I found online:

Dear Severus

An Entertainment Weekly staff writer wrote the following for the "Goodbye, Harry" issue I received yesterday. WARNING: It contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Deathly Hallows and Half-Blood Prince, so proceed with caution if you haven't read them. Scroll over the invisible text below to read it.

Dear Severus,

I want to express my condolences on your untimely death. Yes, I know we've never met. Additionally, you are fictional. But in the same way you loved Lily Evans and risked everything in her name, I have always loved you. It was your hatred of children that drew me to you--that, and the fact that you'd never reciprocate my feelings (apparently my No. 1 criterion in choosing men). Some saw your Slytherin loyalties and torment of Harry as signs of betrayal, but my faith in you never wavered, not even when Dumbledore's body lay crumpled and lifeless. You were the bravest wizard who ever lived, and I was yours to the snakebitten end. With your final breath, you wanted to gaze into Lily's green eyes. Oh, how I wish my Muggle blues could have sufficed! I could have saved you. Or at least convinced you to wash your hair. Give my best to Alan Rickman.

xoxo,
Whitney

Three Cheers for Mary Grand-Pre!

I was browsing over at The Leaky Cauldron, trying to get over some of my post-Harry melancholy, when I came across their page displaying the book covers from many different editions of the Harry Potter books all over the world. My first thought was, "Wow! Look how many different languages and countries these books are published in!" My second thought was, "Thank God we get the American version!!" Seriously, some of these covers are so bad, they make the books look like a cheap, tacky, dime-a-dozen silly kids' series--at best. Allow me to demonstrate. Here, for example, is the Ukranian cover of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone:

Please, tell me where Dumbledore got his hat! I must know! Oh wait, I see...he's just growing out of the castle.

Here is the Czech version of Philosopher's Stone, in which, apparently, the Sorting Hat is a top hat with giant lips:

But my absolute favorite, I have to say, is this Iranian (Iranian?!) version of Prisoner of Azkaban:

Notice the creepy gargoyle heads on the castle. Notice that Harry looks about 9 years old, and appears to be riding a flying armadillo. But in particular, I ask you to please notice the flying squirrel, the toad, and the tiger. Who are they? How did they come to be there? In Book 5, will Harry show up on Platform 9 3/4 with a tiger padding along behind him, hoping Malfoy won't notice anything funny going on? Or, perhaps, is a toad a grim omen of death in Iranian culture? Who exactly is translating these books? And what, exactly, are they going to do when they get to Book 7...?

Giddy

I just got my confirmation email for my book reservation, complete with a nice little message from Jim Dale, voice of the Harry Potter books. I have my costume all ready, and I'm planning some extra fun little treats for those of us who will be attending (details later, as I don't want to spoil the surprises). Suzie and I will be wearing our Hogwarts uniforms, but we couldn't convince Bill or Chris to do the same (go figure!). Right now we're considering making them wear t-shirts with this "Hogwarts Arithmancy Team" logo I designed for them:

It scares me just a little how excited I am about all this... :-)

Pirate Master Update

Bad British Accent Guy (whose name is--I kid you not--Azmyth) is Captain again, and like Louie, he's decided that sharing is overrated. Long ago, he declared that everything was going to be fair and even, and he did split the money evenly the first two times he was Captain. Now a 60-40 split between officers and crew "sounds about right" to him. We'll see how long that lasts. Meanwhile, the women are grumbling about beating the other team so they can kick the boys out of power and have an all-girl trio of Officers. Ah, reality TV.