"He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in future - there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will know his name!"
~Minerva McGonagall, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
when you read this line, you can't help but think how prophetic it turned out to be and wonder if rowling knew the literary monster she had on her hands from then. i mean, who hasn't heard of harry potter? even the people who have never read a word of the books or watched a minute of the movies can't miss the media attention and the merchandise and the references. right? i didnt think it was possible to not know harry potter.
and then i met the girl in my class.
my professor was talking about dictionary attacks (basically when you try and crack a password by guessing all the words in a dictionary) and how sometimes you need to create your own dictionary because something like webster's wouldn't have all possible words, like when literary references are used. he was telling us about a child pornography case where the encryption password was 'snape' and he found it by creating a dictionary by indexing the sites the suspect visited online.
girl in class: umm... what's a snape?
*me and professor look incredulous*
him: professor snape?
her: *stares blankly*
him: you know... from harry potter?
her: *stares blankly*
him: wow, you really need to read more. the boy wizard who fights an evil wizard...
her: ooohh is that the movie thing that's coming out?
him: yeah... but it was a book first.
after class she was telling me that she really should read more, but he couldn't expect everyone to be familiar with every book ever written. well, yeah, maybe not. but how in the world she's lived this long and managed to not know who harry potter is is beyond me.
anyway, i am off to try and write fifteen hundred plus words before bed. you can watch my nano progress throughout the month by that progress bar thingie on the left. you know, in case you missed it.
*I'm With You - Avril Lavigne
wow! i remember when i first heard of harry potter... i was in 8th grade...reading gone with the wind.. and these girls were talking about harry potter and how they had a huge crush on him. i thought he was some new tv character or something.
ReplyDeletebut that was when he was still just becoming popular...where has this girl been living?!
She has to be living under f'ing rock man! I mean seriously, who does that?
ReplyDeletea* :)
ReplyDeleteanonymous hippopotamus.. haha you're still a loser because i had already read it by that time so you should have known. plus, anisah talked about it before i read it.
ReplyDeletebut yeah, i dunno, i kinda feel sorry for her lol.
Anonymous... lool her apparently.