RIP Robbie Coltrane

Ya know, it's weird. My geekery has traditionally been focused primarily on the things I grew up with. I've been told that I watched my first Star Trek episode the day my parents brought me home from the hospital. I was six when my mom took me to see the original theatrical screening of Return of the Jedi. I remember watching the original Battlestar Galactica when is was the new thing and that's why I got into the reboot. (And, all of my hatred of reboots aside the BSG reboot was better than the original.) I watched and collected GI Joe and Transformers. I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, read the comics and played the Tabletop Role Play Game by Palladium Books. Ditto Robotech.  I was into Green Lantern  when the only way to see him on screen were the old Super Friends/Justice League cartoons. Dungeons and Dragons and all of the related novels took up an amazing portion of my high school years. I've talked about my old school connection with Battletech here before. When I list my fannish favorites, those are the things I'll always list first.

Of course, I've learned to learn other things along the way. I'm a huge fan of Big Bang Theory and I absolutely love all things Babylon 5. The Walking Dead was an obsession until Rick left in a helicopter (yes, I get Andrew Lincoln's reasons for leaving. They're valid and I'm not hating. It's still not the same show.) If you don't know I love Declan Finn as an author and his Saint Tommy: NYPD series most of all this must be your first stop by the blog. Welcome.  The Honor Harrington Series is a huge part of my life. I'm part of the fan club and have met some very close friends through it, good people all. But...

For the most part the stuff I came to later lags behind as far as being one of my favorites. The problem isn't the newer product, it's me. When I first started reading the Honorverse I was already in my twenties. I wasn't as jaded as I am at forty-five, but I wasn't the wide-eyed youth I'd been at eight, either. I had hardened and the new stuff couldn't embed itself into me the way it could have when I was younger and softer.

The one exception is Harry Potter. J.K Rowling created a world so vibrant, so beautiful, so horrible and so scarred (true Harry Potter fans will get this) that it shines as well as the things I read in my youth. This is despite the fact that I was introduced to the HP franchise by my ex-wife who I don't exactly like much anymore.  And one of the greatest characters of the franchise has always been (and always will be) Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts. 

Hagrid was the warm and loving friend. The guy who will always do his best for his friends, come hell or high water. He didn't have the best impulse control, and his tongue may have wagged just a bit too freely,c but he always meant well and there really isn't anyone in the entire HP universe who would have been more loyal or loved more fiercely. I mean, seriously, who goes out to a giant camp to rescue their brother, who beats them up when they leave? Hagrid was the salt of the Earth and a guy whose example very few people would live up to. I'm still a bit miffed that Harry didn't give one of his sons the name Hagrid, but I suppose I should get over myself.

I probably need to stop here and explain something: I'm an American and I consume mainly American movies and television. That's not to denigrate any other country and their products. it's just a product of where and when I was raised. So when I started catching news of the HP movies and who was acting in them, I kind of just shrugged. I didn't know much about any of the actors or actresses because I hadn't seen them before. I guess I just don't watch enough of the Beeb. Also, I haven't been a fan since day one. By the time I picked up my first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire had already been released, the first movie was out and the second was only a week away. Fortunately for me, there was a local movie theater that ran older movies at a huge discount and I was able to see the first two movies on the big screen a week apart. I was blown away.  Yes, the books were better but WOW did those movies work. They came as close as any book to movie translation I had seen previously and only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has come closer since, but that took two movies.

And a huge, huge, HUUUUUGE part of that was Robbie Coltrane in the part of Hagrid. When in your life have you seen a better translation of a character? Part of it, admittedly, was the make-up. That part of the crew deserves a standing ovation, but it was a whole lot more than just looks. I mean it. If you're a fan of both the books and the movies (and you should be because both are awesome) I dare you to re-read the series and NOT hear Hagrid saying "I shouldn't have said that," in Robbie's voice. Go ahead, I'll wait.

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YOU FAILED!!!!!

Granted, it's not your fault. It's Robbie Coltrane's fault. He played that part so well that he ruined our ability to picture Hagrid as being other than the way Robbie played him. Well done, Robbie.  And you said it best, didn't you?<"The legacy of the movies is that my children's generation will show [the films] to their children," the clean-shaven actor said. "So you could be watching in 50 years time, easy. I'll not be here, sadly, but Hagrid will. Yes."

He has, sadly, been proven correct. Given how close that interview came to the end of his life, I'm forced to wonder if he knew something that we didn't. Then again, if he did, it wasn't really our business. That much having been said, I'm convinced that he'll also be proven correct in fifty years time. I mean that. Shakespeare's plays sold out the Globe Theater in his time and Dickens had more than one novel that was serialized in magazines before being bound and sold as a book. J.K Rowling's work is just as good and will stand the test of time. I'm calling it right now. 

And when I'm sitting on a couch somewhere in the future with one of my grandchildren (should God and my daughters be willing to provide me with them) we'll have Harry Potter on the television just like I had with their mothers. We'll be laughing at Hagrid when he goofs something up, we'll be crying when Norbert has to leae for the Dragon Sanctuary. We'll shake our heads at the injustice of it all when Hagrid is carrying Harry's body back to Hogwarts. 

And all through it, the work of Robbie Coltrane will shine through.  I don't want to know how much time he spent learning his craft. It was obviously too much to comprehend. I don't need to know how much time he spent rehearsing the part. That was obviously a large number too. I don't need to know what he was paid or what his benefits were. None of that matters to me. Here is what I do know:

As long as someone is watching the Harry Potter movies, as long as someone is reading the books and picturing the characters the way they looked on screen, as long as one group of Potterheads exists on the internet, until the last copy of the last existing Harry Potter crumbles into dust, the legacy of not just J.K. Rowling but EVERY ACTOR in the series lives on. Robbie Coltrane will be with us as long as we remember him. So will Alan Rickman and all the rest. So, may your body and soul rest in peace, Rubeu... err...

Robbie Coltrane. Lay down your woes and gaze upon what comes after this life. But know that you're not gone from our lives, nor will you be forgotten. You will live on in the lives and memories of generations not yet born until some English Literature student curses the series for its impenetrable language the way modern students curse Shakespearean actors. Fly high, my friend. I'll see you when I get there and a whole bunch of times between now and then on film.

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The Best Deaths in Science Fiction and Fantasy

(This whole post is full of spoilers.
You have been warned.

Now I know I did a post about being severely depressed awhile back, but nobody worry. This was triggered by a Facebook group that I'm in. (It's called Hogwart's Pensieve and if you love Harry Potter, goofy little fun activities and trying to win the House Cup you should join. I won't tell you what house I'm in because we're not supposed to recruit for specific houses, but if you join you'll see me there.) So know, I'm not like backsliding or anything however...

I've read a lot of books over the years. Most I enjoyed. Some I didn't. One I threw across the room and then gave to my sister who passed it on to my niece. (Why do people like Stephanie Meyer again?) I've noticed over time that there are many things that an author can throw into a story that have a big emotional impact: triumphs, defeats, first love, weddings, births, etc. But the one I want to talk about today is death. (Yes, that's why I wrote that first paragraph.)

In the Pensieve one of the Saturday activities was to write the death of one of the characters that passed at the Battle of Hogwarts (we had a few choices of which one) and I chose Fred, because out of all the deaths I've read, it hit me harder than any other, save one: That of Sturm Brightblade in The Dragonlance Chronicles. It got me to thinking though: There are a lot of deaths in a lot of books and a lot of shows/movies (and if we're counting movies we have to include the death of Spock in The Wrath of Khan) but there are few that really hit me the way those two did. So I set about trying to figure out why.

The death of Dumbledore sucked, but it was expected. His hand was rotting off and he was as old as the hills. Also, if you've ever studied story-telling in general you know that the mentor always gets it in the neck. Dumbledore was statistically overdue for an Avada Kedavra to the face. Falling from the tower has always seemed to me to be a bit extreme, but at the end of the day, it worked.

Obi-Wan Kenobi's death was kind of wasted. It could have been so much more if he had been around longer. Ditto the death of Yoda. Really, the only death in all of Star Wars that affected me was the death of Luke, and I'm not supposed to admit that out loud because I'm the only person who liked that movie. (Or at least it seems like it.)

Star Trek didn't lose many main big characters over the years, and no, redshirts don't count. Three come to mind. Trip (in the last episode), Jadzia Dax (in the last season) and Tasha Yar (in the first season). I may very well be missing someone. But the fact remains that Trip's death occurred too close to the end to really have the impact it should have, Tasha's death was almost pointless and happened due primarily to real world concerns (she hated the show) and Jadzia's...

Well, okay that one hurt. I loved the wedding with her and Worf. She was played by an awesome actress and she was a wonderful and valiant person. Then they brought Dax back as Ezri and... Uhhh..

What?

Yeah, I know, Trill, symbiote, whatever.

She was gone, but she wasn't but she was. And the slug that lived in her stomach got to continue. That one was so confusing it almost doesn't count as a death and yet it does, because the Jadzia half of the personality was gone.

Don't get me started on Firefly. Wash got hosed. Why they thought they needed to kill him off under those circumstances is beyond me. Whatever. I have Reavers. You hate Reavers. Even the Shepherd hates Reavers. But still that never should have happened when it did.

And of course there hasn't been a comic book death that mattered since the 90s. Yeah, so Hero A died and he took Hero B with him. Oh well, they'll both be back in six months. I get that the Death of Superman sold so well and so did his comeback but at some point you'd think they'd realize that it doesn't work anymore.

Uhh...

Sorry, you can have your soapbox back. I'm done using it.

And listen, if you're a fan of the Battletech novels and approve of what they did to Grayson Carlyle, you're not really a human being. I get the fact that they needed to kill him for the story to go forward, but dude. Really? REALLY?!?!?!?!?!?!?! THE MAN WAS THE WARRIOR'S WARRIOR AND HE DIED IN A HOSPITAL BED OF CANCER? ARE PRETEND BULLETS THAT EXPENSIVE!?!??!?! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

*SIGH*

Sorry. Carlyle was a personal favorite and he Really. Got. Hosed. I mean, I get the fact that George Patton (all private slapping and bad quote making aside) was the best general the US had in World War II and he got done in by a car accident. That was real life. Can my story-books please have story-book deaths for the big-timers? Please?

A well done death can stay with you forever though and it makes the story SOO much better. Seriously. Think about it this way:

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was released in 1982, and nearly forty years later (am I really that old?) it's still remembered by most Trek fans as the best Trek movie EV-AR! And there was a lot of action and some ugly bugs. There was an evil villain. Khan and his dreams of a Master Race were very Nazi-esque. There were good heroes: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, etc. I'm not denying any of that. Despite all of that what do most people remember about that movie? One scream and a speech. Let's not pretend that “KHAAAAAANNNNN!!!!” was anything other than classic Shatner. We love it because it's the actor that we love being the character that we love.

But what do people remember just as much? They remember Spock on his knees, his face covered with red splotches saying, “I have been, and always shall be, your friend.” The emotional impression, the lasting image, is of a great man breathing his last on the engineering deck while saving all of his friends. Now, we all know that he came back in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, but think about this: Which film is remembered as the better one? Who talks about when they actually found Spock? Wasn't that the whole point of the film?

I don't know how many of you have read the Dragonlance Chronicles, but if you have you remember the death of Sturm Brightblade, once dishonored, admitted to the knighthood on someone else's honor, not allowed to wear his father's armor and yet elected as the leader of the Knights of the Crown. When the Knights of the Sword and of the Rose had gone off to get themselves massacred, he had split the knighthood in an attempt to accomplish his mission while saving his men. When his men needed time, he went to the battlements and faced a dragon alone armed with nothing but a spear. Needless to say, he lost. Yet, his death ignited the Knights and made them heroes again. And it just so fit Sturm so well. He lived for the day when the knighthood would embrace him and the people would embrace the knights. He loved Huma and wanted to be everything Huma was. He achieved all of that. It was perfect. This one hurt to read, but without his sacrifice that whole trilogy doesn't work. If Hollywood ever gets off its hindquarters and decides to make good movies again, they need to make the Dragonlance Chronicles, either as live action or a cartoon. (And yes, I'm aware that Dragons of Autumn Twilight was made as an animated film. I haven't seen it, but I've heard bad things. I want a GOOD Dragonlance conversion.) This was one of two deaths in all of the literature that I've ever consumed that made me put the book down and back away for a second.

Est Solarus Oth Mithas, Sturm. You died like a man.

But the death that really got me thinking about writing this whole godforsaken mess was the Death of Fred Weasley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The death was one I never saw coming and it was a straight-up kick in the teeth, but it's one I hadn't dwelled on much. Fred's was the other death that made me put the book down and walk away and I went two nights straight without sleep when I had to work the next two mornings because I couldn't wait to get to the end. I was that fascinated. It's just that so many characters went down in that last fight. It was like reading Military SF for a bit there but that makes sense because the characters were at war.

But what got me back into thinking about it was my time in the aforementioned Hogwarts Pensieve. Every term we have a set of daily themes that changes. Last term Tuesday's theme was Twin Tuesday. I logged on that day excited. I've always loved the twins because of their genius (and let's face it, they invented an entire shop full of gags and jokes) and their sense of humor. The staff encourages everyone to post something about each days theme and they award House Points to everyone who does so. I logged on expecting to see a bunch of one-liners and pranks.

What I got was a bunch of “Poor George lost his brother.” I was a bit put off for a second, but the I realized that everyone who had posted something about that was right. Not only that, but I remembered when I had read it. Fred dying while fighting along his brothers Percy and Ron as well as Harry and She Who Would Be Sister-In-Law was unexpected, abrupt, unfair and shocking. In short, it captured the feeling of losing someone you love quickly really well and I can speak from experience. My father drowned in a boating accident. I had plans with him the next day. The feeling for a literary character wasn't as intense as losing my father was, but it was similar. In a way, I've always kind of felt jealous of Ron and Percy because they got to be there at the end where I didn't.

I write fiction, although I have a problem finishing things. I have a tendency to see another idea and be like “Ooh, shiny.” I honestly hope that one day I can put together something as intense as the death of Fred or the perfection of the death of Sturm. I don't know how they did it, but it all worked out.

If you've got a favorite/most hated character death leave it in the comments. I'm always looking for a new perspective or something new to check out.

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Great Sidekicks of Science Fiction and Fantasy

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(This is not my work. If I had any clue who made it I would credit them.)

So I saw this meme posted last night and it got me thinking. I love Ron (DON'T CALL ME WON WON) Weasley. I mean, who doesn't love a guy who does everything he can for his friends? Who doesn't love a guy who sacrifices himself to save others? I mean, there are times when I found Ron to be a bit dense and sometimes a little annoying. Let's face it though, even though sidekicks can get on our nerves sometimes, they're important and our heroes would frequently be in a huge bind without them. So without further ado (or any adon't for that matter. Why does everyone forget about that?) I present to you Jimbo's Totally Awesome List of Totally Awesome Sidekicks of Awesomeness. Or Sumfin'. Look, titles aren't my thing.


Ron Weasley: Whoever wrote that meme did a better job of this than I probably could, but you have to mention the kid. The way he sacrificed himself in Wizard's Chess would have earned him a medal in any military on Earth. He's heroic and self-sacrificing. He eats a lot and can't always see the obvious, but that's no his job. Ron is sidekick excellence personified and he amazes me because of it.

Chewbacca: Oh, I'm going to take some for this one. But yes, Chewie was totally Han's sidekick. He went where Han said. He did what Han did. He handled the little stuff. I mean, he had a bigger gun and that's cool, but when push came to shove, he followed Han. He made no move to better himself, really. He was the main supporting character in Solo. This dude is a sidekick.


Robin: Yeah, this one's obvious, I know. I can't leave it off though. Listen, I started reading comics in like the first grade but even before that I was watching the 1960s Batman live action TV show. I wanted to be Robin with the big yellow cape and all of the cool toys to play with. I mean, seriously, who doesn't want a Batarang to throw at bullies? So, yeah. I mean, he got to live in a big house and run around in a cave. He got to ride in a car that blew literal fire out of the tailpipe. He got to solve crimes and kick butt. And oh yeah, he helped Batman too. This is kind of an ironic pick for me because I stopped watching DC movies after Batman and Robin came out (the “Holey Rusted Metal comment set me off and I'm not sure why) but, let's face it. Dick Grayson/Burt Ward for the win! Screw the movies, they sucked anyway.


Samwise Gamgee:

Frodo: No, Sam. I'm going alone.

Sam: I know, Mr. Frodo. And I'm coming with ya!

So it's been a minute since I've read the books or watched the movies and I probably borked the quote. I blame you for remembering it wrong. Obviously, being the all-seeing and all-knowing Jimbo, I would know better than you what was said. Or sumfin'. Maybe I'm just talking to hear my head rattle. I'll never tell.

Sam is Ron's only real competition for best sidekick EV-AR!! I really mean that. This guy went the distance when no one else could. He stood by his main character through everything. Frodo's mission was Sam's life's work. He put up with Gollum when he didn't have a choice. He fought giant spiders and did whatever was necessary. He even ate crap food without complaining (much) and he was a freaking hobbit. He sought no glory for himself, he worked only to help his friend in one of the hardest times of his life. Of course, I'd have been making missing finger jokes all the way home from Mount Doom and, from what I can tell, he never did that but nobody's perfect. So should Frodo give him a four out of five or a nine out of ten? (Give it a minute and you'll get it. Maybe.)

The Narrator in the Mikey Mason song (Not Quite) The Chosen One: He wasn't given a name in the song, but he will be named Tiberious in an upcoming novel. I can't wait to read this one, because I bet it's going to be awesome. At any rate, this guy finds directions, holds torches and cleans dragon shit off of treasure. I mean, seriously, listen to the song (I hear his music is free on bandcamp.com right now due to Covid 19) and laugh your hindquarters off. Seriously, this guy rocks.

Andy Keaton: Somewhere out there someone under thirty-five is staring at their screen confused right now. Listen, if you haven't seen Family Ties I'd imagine that it's got to be available for streaming somewhere. This kid used to crack me up. At five he could itemize big-brother Alex's decuctions for him. He went everywhere and idolized his big brother. This kid was so fun to watch. And no, that's not Science Fiction or Fantasy, but what the hey?

Screech: While my opinion of Dustin Diamond is a bit lower than what it probably should be considering the fact that I'm a Christian, the fact remains that Screech was what made the rest of the gang work. His comic relief was epic. He was the classic spaz. I miss this guy. And besides, as a nerdish type myself I couldn't help but identify with him.

Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

I fought with this one, but it's true. Inigo Montoya is a man's man with his own goals, yet he sets them aside to help his buddy Westley. Montoya ultimately does realize his own goal but only while assisting in the pursuit of Westley's. He's a monster swordsman. I feel it every time he yells “I want my father back you son-of-a-bitch because I lost my dad a long time ago. The circumstances were different but the feeling is the same. But hey, they all rescued Buttercup and Montoya helped make the movie interesting in spite of the acting of Andre the Giant.
So that's what I've got. Feel free to drop some of your favorites in the comments.

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Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindlewald

I just finished watching Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindlewald about two hours ago and decided I'd share my thoughts about it.

*SIGH*

Once upon a time, during a decade of my life best forgotten, I was told that I should always start off with something positive when critiquing someone else's work. That's good advice, so let's start with this:

The special effects crew for Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindlewald deserves an Oscar. That was one of the most intense visual experiences of my life. The magical creatures lived and breathed. There was an underwater scene that looked better than anything similar I've seen in movies, TV or gaming. Barely a minute went by when there wasn't something awesome looking somewhere in my view. I seriously hope that whoever did the CGI for The Crimes of Grindlewald gets a raise or a promotion, or maybe a raise AND a promotion. I didn't watch the credits but WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW. I wonder if somewhere out there some other special effects people weren't watching this movie in awe wondering how they managed to pull some of this stuff off. It was that good.

Unfortunately, I have to wonder if they didn't spend too much of the budget on effects and not enough on a good team of writers. I mean that seriously. It hurts to write this because I've been a fan of Harry Potter since my then-GF (now ex-wife) put me in a spot where I had no choice but to read the first one. I loved all of the books. I loved the movies almost as much. The first Fantastic Beasts was awesome. That doesn't change the facts about The Crimes of Grindlewald though, and the fact is that this was not a very well written movie.

I remember way back in the day, during the same decade I mentioned earlier, I posted the first few chapters of my first attempt at a novel on a website known as Baen's Bar. It was a rough draft, but I thought it was non-sucktacular. That kind of scared me though, because most of the writers I know who feel confident about their work probably shouldn't. I was happy though because the community was very supportive. The worst comment I got was something along the lines of "This reads more like a collection of events than a story." I took that to heart, re-read what I had written and decided that the poster (I don't remember who it was) had a point. I re-worked it and made it suck less. It was a good experience.

It's also something that I wish the writers of Fantastic Beasts 2 had experienced because their work had the same problem. There was no plot here. There's no narrative thread. This happens over here. That happens over there. They're somewhat related, but let's face it, as a human being I'm somewhat related to the Pope. It's something that I can see happening to anyone in a rough draft. It's not something that makes sense in a script that has been edited enough times to appear on the big screen. Someone needed to take charge in a production meeting and get some stuff ironed out. It's glaringly apparent that no one did.

It's not that I'm opposed to large casts and stories taking place with widely dispersed points of view. I've read enough Harry Turtledove and David Weber to be used to it. Hell, I enjoy it. It has to be done well though, and in this case it really wasn't. I'm going to cast an aspersion in absence of knowledge of the facts here, but I honestly believe what I'm saying, even if I can't prove it.

The Crimes of Grindlewald feels like it was written more as a way to show off special effects than as an attempt to tell a good story. The underwater scene that I mentioned earlier was awesome but it had nothing to do with the plot. It just looked cool. Grindlewald did some really impressive looking magic but that's all it was. showed up and got everybody to do one really impressive looking spell but that's really all he was there for. That was as big a disappointment as anything else.

I've got to wonder if the reason this wasn't all that good is because J.K. Rowling wasn't writing it. She invented the universe. She created the characters. She engineered Hogwarts. She was conspicuous by her absence. I really missed her input here. She could have made this story sing. As it is, it barely hums and is badly off-key.

The Crimes of Grindlewald is such a disjointed mess that even when it tries to advance a relationship between two of the most important characters it falls flat. Seriously. The payoff, when it came, didn't move me at all. Seriously.

The worst thing about the movie is that it left me bored. Fortunately for me I went to see the two-thirty matinee and was the only person in the theater. That came in handy when I pulled out my phone and started Facebooking. There was no one around to complain. Yes, I really did need something to hold my attention while I was watching a movie that I had paid to see. I almost got up and left early. There really wasn't much there.

I'm up in the air as to whether or not I'll see the next one. This is, after all, the tenth movie (count again and remember that the seventh book was two movies) set in the Potterverse and they were just about due for a stinker. This should be a fairly easy act to follow as well. It's not like it could be all that much worse. On the other hand, what if it doesn't get better? I'm not rich and even a reduced price for a matinee is seven bucks. I might be better off spending that money on a couple of jerky sticks and a two liter. I guess I'll have to see how the trailers look.

Bottom Line: 2.5 out of 5 Broken Wands

Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindlewald
Warner Brothers, 2018

Thoughts on the Twenty Year Anniversary of Harry Potter

Long, long ago (circa 2002) in a galaxy far, far away (better known as Clinton Township, Michigan) I received a book for Christmas. It was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling. (Yeah. I'm an American. We're not smart enough to know what a Philosopher's Stone is.) It was a book I had sworn to never read. I mean, it was kid stuff, right? What adult was going to read it? There was only one problem: I was dating my ex-wife at the time and she loved it. She wanted me to read it so she gave it to me. I wasn't working at the time so I couldn't tell her I was too busy, so I read it.

I loved it. I had stayed over at her place one night and started reading it the next day while she was at work. By the time she got home that night I was halfway through Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I was hooked. It was that good. At the time, only books one through four were out. I read them all in a matter of days. I saw the first movie at the second run movie theater that only charged a dollar fifty that weekend. I saw the second movie a week later and paid full price. I attended the release parties for the next three novels sans children. I got a few weird looks but I got all three books on release night so it was worth it.

I have since read every HP book at least twice and watched the movies with my kids more time than I would care to count.  I'm actually pretty upset with myself that I didn't read these sooner. When I split with the ex one of the things I made sure to take were the HP books. I could live without that woman but I needed those books.  Yeah,  they're that good.

I've heard a lot of literati types hate on the Harry Potter series. Apparently the fact that the books are popular means that they're not true literature. You know what? Fuck that attitude. I mean that.

Rowling's works have popularized an entire genre of fiction. Before Harry Potter,  Young Adult fiction was a joke.  Now it's one of the fastest growing areas in all of publishing and every YA author that gets published owes a debt to Mrs.  Rowling.  She wrote the works that opened the way.

J.K. Rowling is literally the mist influential English language author of the last century. Only Tolkien comes close and for the same reason.  Tolkien revitalized the fantasy genre. What separates Rowling from Tolkien is that Rowling popularized a genre that had never been big where Tolkien brought back an old genre.

She did it not by kissing liberal ass with message fiction but by telling an awesome story with awesome characters. Rowling's characters are quirky and strange but they are believable in their actions and motivations. The conflicts escalate continuously. Every time Harry and friends win their enemy gets tougher. It's not till the end of the final book that a final victory occurs.

Let's talk about some compelling characters:

Harry Potter: He's an orphan. He's been, at the very least, mentally and emotionally abused by the Dursleys. He has to feel at least partially responsible for the deaths of his parents, who lost their lives defending him but he never gives up. Harry fights against a force that is bigger than him. No one would be able to blame him if he decided to pack it in and go home but he doesn't.

Looked at another way, he is the chosen one. He could easily let that go to his head and turn in to an arrogant snob but he doesn't. He's smart enough to know he needs help and brave enough to get the job done.

Hermione Granger: Raised by Muggles and starting off in a world like nothing she's ever seen before, Hermione thrives. Her amazing intellect and drive to excel push her toward greatness. Without Hermione, Harry fails. It's that simple. She even saves the day while petrified. But there's more to Hermione than just that.

Hermione is everything I teach my daughters to be. She is also a lot like my girlfriend. She is strong, proud, smart, tough and brave. I spend as much time rooting for Hermione as I do Harry. Plus she starts off the series as a nerd and that's something I can identify with. Oh and her drive to free the house elves amazes me. No one else even cared.

I'm intentionally omitting Ron as I see him as a cross between Samwise Gamgee and Carrot Top with a little bit of that fat kid from that one episode of Little House on the Prairie thrown in. He's a necessary character but not one of my favorites.

Speaking of Weasleys though, how about Molly? I love that Rowling cast her not just as the helpless housewife but as the mama bear. Molly is sweet as sugar until you endanger her family and then LOOK OUT. Her worst fear is something happening to her family as we see when she faces down a boggart. All this and she still manages to keep her whacky husband moving forward.

Even Tom Riddle, AKA Lord Voldemort, is a compelling character. He's a man who was mistreated as a child and now hates everybody like those who hurt him. He's mad for the power he needs to get back at them. No one likes this guy but his motivations make sense even if his methods are too extreme. He's sick and twisted yet we can see how he ended up that way. And despite all of that, Rowling makes us hate him enough that his death is a crowning achievement. I could go on for days.

It's also obvious to anyone that pays attention that Rowling has done her research. Almost all of the monsters come straight from mythology. The parallels between Nazi Germany and some of the actions taken by the Death Eaters are legion. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Triwizard Tournament was somehow inspired by the Labors of Hercules.

All of this adds up to one of the most amazing stories ever told. Rowling amazes me with what she managed to pack into those books. There are ups and downs. Nothing is ever quite what it seems. The books start off fairly laid back but by Deathly Hallows they're dark as all get out. No one and nothing is safe, even if we wish they were. It's a crazy world but it's entertaining. How entertaining you ask?

Rowling's books have sold hundred of millions of copies. She is considered to be the world's first billionaire author. All this because she created a story about a boy and his friends and refused to give up on it or herself. She submitted book one dozens of times before it was accepted and maybe that's
the biggest lesson of Harry Potter: The odds may be against you, but you should never give up. J.K. Rowling didn't. Harry Potter didn't. You shouldn't either and neither shall I.

Some Harry Potter related products are listed below:

RIP Alan Rickman

(BEWARE: Spoilers abound.)

I became a Harry Potter fan because I was forced to. I mean that literally. I, unlike many Potter fans, was an adult when the first book came to the United States in 1998. I was twenty-one at the time. I don't remember precisely when I first heard about the Potter phenomenon, but to me it was for kids. I couldn't get why all of these adults were reading this kids book. I was never going to do it. Then, I met this new girl (that I later married and eventually divorced) and she loved it... and there was still no way. She had a degree in Elementary Education and a collection of Captain Underpants books as well. I was now CONVINCED that this was kids stuff. Then a funny thing happened.

I lost my job less than two weeks before Christmas. I had no money saved. I was screwed. My only activities involved searching for a job, reading and sleep. Nicole got me a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for Christmas. I still wasn't going to read it, but I liked this chick. She bought me this book for Christmas and I wasn't working, so I didn't have an excuse. I figured I'd try to gut my way through the first ten pages and call it a day. I mean, she can't be mad if I at least TRIED, right? Then another funny thing happened.

I loved that book. I was sitting at her house one day while she was at work when I read it. When she got home from that work I was about halfway through Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I had taken it off of her bookshelf. I was also really hungry because I had forgotten to eat lunch. I'm a three-hundred pound man. That just doesn't happen. By the weekend I had read all the way through book four. That was as far as the series went at the time. I saw the first movie that weekend (at a second run discount theater) as well and the second one the following weekend. I was hooked.

Harry Potter is, of course, a work of fantasy. Fantasy does not work without a good villain. There has to be something to fight against to move the plot. The ultimate villain is Voldemort, but in the first few books - really until the death of Cedric Diggory - the more immediate villain is Snape. He hates Potter with a passion. Snape wants to fail Harry not because of his classwork but out of sheer Jealousy. Snape is an evil prick. If you don't want to slap Snape in his arrogant, overbearing face at least once you're not a Potter fan. I found out about Snape's good guy status much later, just like the rest of you but I'll never truly LIKE the character in the way I like Harry, Ron or Hermione. Respect, sure. Pity, yes. Hell, I'd trust him at my back in a battle, but I wouldn't want to have a beer with the guy, ever. I'd end up freaking out at the guy and walking out.

The movies cemented that opinion for me. Snape was an evil bastard. There was no two ways about it. Alan Rickman didn't just play that character. When the lights were on and the camera was rolling, Rickman WAS Snape. Seriously. How many of you out there can read those books and not HEAR Snape being a cocky, condescending, smarmy asshole in Rickman's voice. There may have been better actors from a technical standpoint as relates to some aspect of the craft that I have no clue about. I have never seen an actor so completely become a character though. I don't know if another actor anywhere in the world could have sold me so completely on Snape's face turn. This was the guy who had performed the Unbreakable Vow charm on Draco and killed Dumbledore. Somehow though, some way he got me through it as he sat on the floor dying and remembering his long-lost unrequited love. In like thirty seconds Rickman, through Snape changed my entire perspective on a character I had been following for years at that point. Rowling's writing hadn't managed that in the book. Rickman's performance did.

And today, I woke up on my day off and found out that we had lost Alan Rickman overnight. I posted a quick Facebook status about it and had planned to go on about my day. I've got stuff to get done, right? I mean I've got groceries to get, an apartment to clean and a head to shave. I haven't eaten yet today. We've lost countless famous people over the years and many who have had more influence over than Alan Rickman. Right? I mean, I just realized that Alan Rickman is one of my favorite actors but he's just an actor. Right? Well...

Not only am I a blogger, I am also an as yet unpublished writer of fiction. I have some well defined and measure goals and some that are quite subjective. One of the subjective goals is to one day write a character like Severus Snape. A character who can act like a villain for an entire series and then turn on a dime at the end and make the reader re-evaluate everything they know about him. A character that a member of the audience may have hated for years and then consider in an entirely new light at the end. Snape is one of the greatest characters I've ever read. Period. Dot. END OF SENTENCE.

And yet, it's not Rowling's words on a page that I remember when I think of Snape. I mean, she clearly deserves a ton credit for conceiving and writing the character. For me though, it was Rickman's voice, his facial expressions and his skill that really makes this character for me. When (if) I manage to hit that milestone and reach that goal it won't be Rowling I'll be thinking of and comparing myself to. It will be the performance of Rickman. He did it right.

So rest in peace Alan Rickman. Be assured that your fans will never forget you. I will never forget you. You will live on through your legacy of only God knows how many characters, most of which had nothing to do with Harry Potter. Yet, at the end of the day, you'll always be Snape to me. He was your greatest and meant the most to so many. Farewell and Godspeed.

Some Harry Potter titles are available at the links below: