Harry Potter and Snippets and Nippets

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The men may be the head of the house but the women are the neck…and they can turn the head any way they want." --Maria Portokalos, My Big Fat Greek Wedding

First off, a ROUSING rendition (preferably by a mob of drunken Scots) of Happy Birthday to my mom, Ana, who turns 58 today. (Heh heh, that will stop her from telling people about her daughter’s blog—I have revealed her age!) All kidding aside, have a good one, Mom!

In the news (this actually broke Friday but the full story is now available) a 19-year old publishing company security worker, (who apparently thought he was bloody brilliant) stole a copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from the printing facility and tried to sell it to the highest bidder (and in a show of complete brilliance—yes you’re detecting sarcasm here…he called NEWSPAPERS to start the bidding), and then, as if he hadn’t actually proven his stupidity enough, fired a shot from his really big gun to scare the SUN reporter who scoffed at his price, while the police and video crews closed in. You can read the full story here.

It just goes to show, you never mess with the sacredness of Jo Rowling’s books. The righteous indignation of fans over this git’s attempt to prematurely reveal the plot/details of the book to the news media is highly alarming. For them (and I know this because I read the threads at The Leaky Cauldron and HPANA respectively), hanging, disemboweling and being drawn and quartered aren’t punishment enough for this guy. Of course I am not of the “mob mentality”. Since it's not Book Seven, I am merely thinking: what a PRAT.

Poor Jo Rowling’s lawyers. They are going to have Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome when this is all over, from all the jumping around and imposing court-ordered injunctions and gag orders and lawsuits on unscrupulous would-be-spoiler people, as the publication dates of the books draw near.
I am also thinking, heaven help Bloomsbury and every other publisher when the currently untitled Book Seven (the Final book in the Harry Potter Series for those of you non-Potterheads) is being printed. They’re going to have to print it at Fort Knox for Cripes sake! I mean, if these crazies are coming out of the woodwork now, just for the identity of the Half Blood Prince, imagine the massive security measures that will need to be in place to protect the details of whether young Harry defeats You-know-who or not! I shudder to think...

And can I JUST SAY (little mini-rant here) that I saw the recent pictures from the new Goblet Of Fire movie, and what is the deal with the hair on the main actors? Ron and Harry are nothing short of scruffy and bushy, (Ron’s hair is downright long, you can barely see his nose poking out) and by the seventh movie they’re going to have to either A) braid Ron’s hair and wrap it about 50 times around his head to keep it from tripping him up, or B) carry it around behind him in a wheelbarrow.
CUT YOUR HAIR ALREADY BOYS!!! Last time I checked, Harry Potter DID NOT have a mullet, and Ron did NOT have a curled-under shag/mop do. End of rant.

In other news, this is officially the last week of school for my kids, and I am dreading….um…er…looking forward to all the quality time I’m going to get to provide for my children. Thank heaven they can at least entertain themselves, and don’t need me constantly by their side to do it. (Although they seem to all get along better together when I’m involved in the playing, as opposed to, say, sitting in my office and writing while observing their backyard play.)

Hubby left for New York today—he’ll be there a week, and apparently he was invited to a big to-do where they’re re-premiering one of James Dean’s movies (East of Eden? I can’t remember) and supposedly Tom Cruise and his hired girlfriend…oops, I mean LOVE OF HIS LIFE/ABOUT TO BE HIS WIFE #3 Katie will be there.
I’m jealous. I was a James Dean nut when I was younger, I had posters of him all over my walls. Funny, I had almost forgotten about my obsession with him. It seems so long ago now. I don’t think Hubby is going to the event—maybe I’ll have to smack him upside the head over that one…
ANYWAY, since I turn into a horrible insomniac when Hubby travels, I think I should get a fair amount of writing done. Or movie-watching (hee hee hee, Lara rubs her hands together in fiendish glee). Or not. Depends on how motivated I’m feeling.

Well, time to wake up the kids! I hope it's a good and busy week!