The Harry Potter Lexicon

Today I was asked about my position on the pending legistation in the US congress known as SOPA and PIPA. As the webmaster of a relatively popular website, as a published author, and as a dedicated fan of the Harry Potter series, I firmly oppose this legislation. These bills are intended to fight piracy and copyright infringement, but they are written in a way which is overly broad and which threatens legitimate websites. For example, many websites, including the Lexicon, could find themselves shut down if they link to some external site which includes possibly infringing content. Few site owners would have the resources to fight against such an unfair attack. As someone who has been the victim of piracy and copyright infringement, I support the goal of defending copyright owners and trying to stop illegal pirating of intellectual property. However, I am definitely against anyone who feels that the way to stop such things is to censor and damage the free and open way in which the internet operates. For more detailed information on SOPA, please visit this Wikipedia page.

Steve Vander Ark

I’ve been wandering around Pottermore lately. Everywhere I look, I find interesting canon information (along with the odd chocolate frog card or galleon). As I’ve mentioned before in the podcast, I won’t be posting all of that new canon information on the Lexicon. There’s no way I want the Lexicon to spoil anyone’s joy of finding for themselves things like the story of McGonagall’s lost love or the purposes of other hidden King’s Cross platforms. However, I have added to the Lexicon little tidbits here and there — Ollivander’s first name, for example. If you’re already on Pottermore you know how wonderful all of Rowling’s essays are and that there’s no substitute for reading these marvelous tales directly from her. If you’re not on Pottermore yet … well, let’s just say that you’re in for a treat when you finally get your owl, get your wand, and get Sorted. Me? I’m a Ravenclaw and my wand is hornbeam and unicorn hair.

There are a few other new things to mention. The latest episode of the HP Lexicon podcast went live over the weekend. You can find out more about it by clicking on the Podcast link on Lexicon pages (or just by clicking here). In this episode I talk about wandering down Charing Cross Road looking for the Leaky Cauldron, the purpose of book two and its connections to book six, and other odds and ends of Potter lore. You can download it from here on the Lexicon or get it on iTunes.

Also, I’ve released the first eBook in the Harry Potter Lexicon Reader’s Guide Series. This book, entitled The Reader’s Guide to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, consists of completely updated notes, trivia, connections, plot questions, and background details about the first Harry Potter book, presented chapter by chapter and even line by line. I’m working on the second book, not surprisingly covering Chamber of Secrets, and I expect that I’ll be releasing a new volume every six months or so.

The book doesn’t simply reproduce the readers’s guides from the Lexicon website. In fact, I intentionally avoided referring back to those notes since they were written many years ago without the benefit of the viewpoint of the entire series. Instead I went at the project with “fresh eyes,” bringing to the text of the book over a decade’s worth of research into the world of Harry Potter.

So far, the book is available on the Kindle and the Nook (whose online store seems to have problems with apostrophes in their book titles, for some reason). I’m looking into releasing it in other formats as well.

Thanks for all the emails and comments. It’s great to know that there’s still such a vibrant, creative, and exciting community of fans out there enjoying Harry Potter as much as I do.

Here’s the answer to the most common question I get in email: Yes, the Lexicon is still being updated and edited. The changes are kind of hard to notice, for the most part, since they consist mostly of reformatting pages and making small edits and corrections to the content, but they’re happening. I work on it almost every day.

There are also changes happening behind the scenes, thanks to Nick Moline who has taken on the role of tech guru. The search is fixed, for example. Registration works, too, which means we can finally mess around with the Portkey again (which I’ve really missed … I love the Portkey!). Nick’s been working on a lot of other things, too, getting the Lexicon running the way it’s supposed to.

Probably the biggest addition to the site lately has been the podcast. I’ve put four episodes online so far and I’m recording a new one in the next day or two. Check it out if you want to spend a little time chatting about the Harry Potter canon.

I will try to post here a little more often and let you know what’s happening with the Lexicon. You can also follow me on Twitter (Lexicon_Steve), add me to a circle on Google+, and visit the Facebook page.

Steve

This morning I was working through the emails I’ve received noting various Lexicon errors or edits. One email asked why the Minister for Magic page didn’t list Pius Thicknesse. I knew the answer to that one. The reason Thicknesse isn’t listed it that the Minister for Magic page hadn’t been updated for book seven yet. So I went in and edited it.

While I was at it, I changed the page over to the new layout. Then, as long as I was in that section of the site, I started converting the rest of the Ministry of Magic pages to the new page layout. Of course, as soon as I started doing that I realised that I also had to update ALL those pages for book seven. No problem. I had coffee. It was raining.

Seven hours later, I’m still not done with the Ministry of Magic pages. Amazing how long some of this updating and editing takes, especially when it involves editing code and struggling against rogue CSS stylesheets that crop up out of nowhere to change formatting on something when I least expect it. Now it’s evening and I’m going to set it aside. I’m tired of editing.

Still, it’s not a bad way to spend a the better part of a day … immersed in the wonderful, magical world of Harry Potter. I don’t get to do that very often.

I just received this email from Rose:

“Just thought you should know that Jo has updated her site. Where her diary used to be is now a notebook with multiple pages. It’s called “Everything You Might Want to Know”, and it has info on herself, her books, different awards and honors she’s received, her charity work, and the films.”

Thanks for the heads up!

I looked it over and quite honestly, it makes me sad. It’s a collection of information clearly written by a publicist somewhere, certainly not by Rowling herself. I can’t get over the strong feeling that Jo has abandoned the site and her personal contact with fans. I think it’s time to give up hoping that there will be new tidbits of information, answers to questions, rumours in the trash can, or even new Wizards of the Month.

*sigh*

It’s September the first, and young witches and wizards have converged on King’s Cross Station in London for the journey north to Hogwarts. Me, I’m just working through all the emails I’ve received with suggestions for edits, updates, corrections, and additions to the Lexicon. Unfortunately, there’s no Welcoming Feast awaiting me at the end of the day. On the other hand, I won’t have to travel the whole day on a train with nothing to eat but sweets from the trolley. I mean, seriously, I love Bertie Botts but for a day-long train trip I’d rather have a sandwich or two. Even corned beef. And maybe a nice ripe tomato. Okay, now I’m hungry. (If you enjoy the descriptions of food in Harry Potter like I do, you’ll appreciate the blog “Harry Potter Recipes“).

So another Hogwarts year begins. Let’s see, the defeat of Voldemort was in 1998, which is eleven years ago. The children starting school today will have been born, then, during that final terrifying year of danger and suspicion and war. Harry’s year was similar, having been born in 1980, at the height of Voldemort’s first rise to power. I wonder if the number of students this year is fairly small, just as the number of kids in Harry’s year seems to have been quite small. Ah, the fun of speculating and discussing Harry Potter!

This recommendation is way overdue, and I apologise for taking so long to post it. John Kearns, formerly an editor here at the Lexicon, is putting together a fantastic reader’s guide to the Harry Potter series called The Harry Potter Companion. The Companion offers commentary on each chapter of the books (currently covering the first three books and part of the fourth) and showcases fan artwork which illustrates each of those chapters. Take a look for yourself, don’t just take it from me. The site will win you over the moment you click on that first link.

I made it home at 3:30 this morning, my head buzzing. Did I like the “Half-Blood Prince” film? Absolutely! I loved it! I think this film captures more detail of the original book than any other of the films have managed to do. It’s what the film of “Prisoner of Azkaban” could have been if they’d included the parts of the book which actually mattered instead of replacing them with a frog-toting choir and talking shrunken heads.

Specifics … let me see. It’s always hard to come up with a definitive and detailed list after seeing a film of this complexity and scope just once and in the middle of the night.

I loved the humour (and romantic entanglements) which permeate the story. The Quidditch is spectacular and brutal and exciting — and played in the snow, which is totally cool. Thanks to a few well-placed moments between Harry and Ginny, I could almost believe that he was actually interested in the her when she’s been almost completely erased from the other films. I’m afraid Bonnie still looks like an eleven-year-old girl, and I just don’t think she captures any of the brash, daring, flirtatious Ginny of the books. But Yates and Kloves managed to give Harry and Ginny opportunities to connect as the film went along. Do I believe it? Well, almost.

The kids’ acting has really taken off. Remember when they could barely utter a line? Compare Emma’s wooden attempt at tears in Hagrid’s hut in the second film or Dan’s painful-to-watch crying scene in the third to the wonderful scene in this film with the two of them sitting on the stairs with her heart broken and his all twisted up and confused. Dan’s portrayal of Harry’s budding confidence works extremely well, particularly in counterpoint with his confusion over Ginny. He’s hilarious as he wanders the castle grounds giddy from Luck Potion. Rupert’s Ron is wonderful as well, from showing off at Quidditch to stumbling around under the influence of love potion. The kids have come a long way indeed.

Jim Broadbent is a perfect Slughorn, in my opinion — and that man can arch his eyebrows and look befuddled better than anyone I’ve ever seen. Maggie Smith is in great form. Other characters are almost non-existent, however, which I guess shouldn’t be a surprise when you consider the vast scope of the story being told. They just can’t include everything. But someone please tell me why, then, they added a whole scene of the Death Eaters attacking the Burrow? And for that we lost the entire Battle of the Tower. Luna was great with her weird glasses and lion hat, Lupin’s heated conversation with Harry gave us brief but important insight into that complicated and troubled character, and Lavender Brown was hilarious. Poor Neville, however, only gets one tiny line. At least Dean gets a kiss.

So okay, was it perfect? Clearly not. After we got past the surprisingly dull battle between Harry and Snape, the requisite Very Serious Talk at the end was almost as lame as the ending of the second film. I was about ready to push them all off the astronomy tower by the end of it. And please tell me why Ron was just looking pensive and sitting fifteen feet away from his best friends while they discussed the most important decisions of their lives, to go after Horcruxes. I was also annoyed by the lighting of the film … or rather, the lack of lighting. I know it’s a “dark film” and that it takes place in a dark and draughty old castle, but still. This is the magical world! It should be colourful and animated and alive, not black and white and dark blue.

All quibbling aside, I did love the film. It was exciting and funny, easily one of the best of the series. It did a remarkable job of capturing not only the major plot points of the book but also the nuances and delightful subplots. I can’t wait to see it again. I might have to wait until after Azkatraz, though! I fly out Friday morning!

Steve

I just finished two interesting Harry Potter books (and I’m starting on a third).

One is “Harry Potter Should Have Died” from our friends at MuggleNet. I wouldn’t call this a book of “literary analysis” — it’s too lightweight for that. But that’s not a criticism: I very much enjoyed reading this lively recap of some of the enduring mysteries of the series, such as whether Snape is ultimately good or evil, and it was fun reminding myself of the various fan ideas and opinions that have been debated endlessly for many years. Some sections were hampered by the fact that some of the reasonable options were never even considered (for example, choosing the “worst” book from only two choices instead of analysing all seven). Some entries included canon misinformation or incorrect assumptions, and some were just downright silly. But overall, the book makes for a fun read while sitting in the sun with an iced tea when you don’t feel like thinking too much and just want to splash around a little bit in Harry Potter lore.

If, on the other hand, you’re interested in diving in head-first, swimming to the deepest part of the pool, and seeing how long you can hold your breath, then Harry Potter’s Bookshelf is for you. Where the MuggleNet book makes a point of not taking itself too seriously, Harry Potter’s Bookshelf is very serious about its seriousness. This is literary analysis to the point of being a bit stuffy at times. However, this is the kind of brilliant, well-grounded stuffiness which I’ve always enjoyed; reading through (and at times wrestling with) a text of this kind leaves me feeling enlightened about Harry Potter books in a way nothing else does. John Granger is a wonderful guide on any such exploration of classic themes and connections, managing to make even the most dense analysis interesting and understandable. His penchant for lame word-play makes me groan sometimes and he, like the MuggleNet gang, makes the occasional canon misstep, but none of this in any way detracts from the book.

So which of these books would I take with me to the beach (if I went to the beach, which I don’t because, you know, I’m a nerd)? Frankly, I’d take both and shift between them. A bit of delightful fannishness, a bit of serious litarary-ness, with long sips of iced tea in between.

Eager to hear the entire soundtrack of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and don’t want to wait until it’s released on 14 July? AOL Radio just sent me this:

AOL Radio has an exclusive premiere of the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince soundtrack. The movie hits theaters July 15th, but if you can’t wait make sure to tune in to the Movie Scores station on AOL Radio. You’ll hear a track from the album every hour at the top of the hour!

Click here to go to the web page. I’m listening to Slughorn’s Confession right now … I do love Nicholas Hooper’s work …

Steve

I’ve been using my Twitter account to send out tidbits of Harry Potter trivia once or twice every day. I try to find particularly interesting odds and ends in the Lexicon book to send out. If that sounds like something that would brighten your day, follow Lexicon_Steve. And feel free to retweet.

Steve

I’ve been puttering around and editing pages over the past few days. Mostly, I’ve been fixing errors here and there, catching up on my rather lengthy to-do list. I’ve added a few of the new details from Tales of Beedle the Bard — Herbert Beery has now joined the character pages and the Hogwarts staff list, for example. I also updated the page for the Lexicon book and included a few entries from the book to give everyone an idea of what kind of information the book provides.

At some point in the near future I’m going to be looking to take on more editing staff and hopefully a programmer, someone who has experience with databases. If you know of anyone who might be interested in helping out, please let me know.

Steve