Do you think the magic room in Hogwarts, The room of Requirement (forgot the name for a second), has a faulty mass-issue as well? Because following one idea, the room would only be able to get so big before it would start to conflict with rooms already stationary in the castle; therefore, it would only expand or shrink to a certain point. But that would defeat the purpose of the RoR!! It’s size or how much it can hold or even whats inside at any given time doesn’t and shouldn’t conflict with anything in the realm of common sense. “It’s magic homie, magic.”

So I see the magical purses in the same light. Maybe whatever’s put in them is (magically) transported so some huge purse shizz or some crap (lol). Infinite! The main point I’m saying (or trying to say) is this, if something seems a little off or un-magically impossible, just let it go. Not only is it a book, not just a FANTASY book, but it’s a story of magical happenings and beliefs that anything can happen! I feel like I sound like a 12 year old explaining a card trick to some old guy who has no imagination (not you, the royal you). But that’s what’s needed, imagination. I mean, if you have enough imagination for LOTR or really… any fantasy book out there, the Harry Potter books (I personally think) require less imagination than some other books. Being two reasons: 1, it may seem far-fetched, but usually in the book it comes across as so natural and common, it’s not as if something stange happens on every page that even the characters are bewildered. 2, I personally like that JK has come up with her own … well really everything. In the beginning of #1 Ron says some stupid ass spell… that obviously doesn’t work, because that’s the basic magic ALL other stories tell. JK’s magic has to do with wand motions, conviction, execution, correct pronunciation, and etc. Things that other stories don’t even begin to delve into! Little things like every wizard’s wand being a different wood with a different core. WOW! That’s so cool! ….so! Long story short (or more like a summary at this point), HP does include a few well placed dei ex machinis, but I don’t feel the bags or rooms of odd mass should be considered on that list. Thank you and have a great night. Nibb High rules!! (crowd goes crazy).

-Chris Vantress / Grand Noble

ps. I remember that blog thing. That was on this website? How did you recognize me? There were so many comments, I don’t think I even read half of them, too many!!

About LOTR, I agree with you. What is a fact that Tolkien’s universe is incomparable to HP’s because of its diversity and magnitude. What also is a fact that someone might not have the time/attention-span to delve deep into, or appreciate the Tolkien universe like others. I never said that anyone who doesn’t like LOTR and likes HP is stupid, I just said that comparing the two is quite a juvenile activity to do.

Similarly, you may enjoy seeing scenes from book acted in the movie but you’ll have to agree with the fact that movies are pretty bad adoptions. If books were overrated, the movies have actually put them to shame. Dan’s acting and all the fan-girls going “oooh-he’s-so-cute” is something which I find very disgruntling to say the least. That’s one of the reasons why I stopped watching HP movies after PoA came out. They’re embarrassing, but so was Bay-Watch :-p.

Dying for the greater good would actually have been an impressive theme — much closer to reality, and I’m sure that JKR would’ve pulled it off without much difficulty either. It would’ve also exemplified a very intriguing Aristotelean tragedy. Which would’ve made me happy, if no one else ;-) .

And yup, it is magic. But that’s also where personal preferences play their role (again!). While writing about those items, I explicitly said that I prefer magical fantasies that at least regard matter and mass as balanced entities. As pointed out in the post, too much wobbly mass-warps had started to sound like Dei Ex Machinis to me. Our literary preferences, quite evidently, conflict in this regard :-) .

Not a big LOTR fan. Started getting into the books but then the movies came out and the geek-freaks-of-nature arose from the underground. For that person to say people aren’t obsessed with LOTR, omg they’re wrong. Harry Potter has fanatics and weirdies.. yes. But LOTR is a fuggin cult. Having read a few books (not the books that the movies were made after, other ones), I CAN say that Tolkien more successfully created a whole new world with languages and the whole nine yards (I can still read Runes years after which I learned from one of the books) than Rowling did. But the LOTR stories and people and creatures never settled in my heart and mind the way Harry Potter characters did… so that’s 1 to 1 score, you could say.

Anywho. I don’t think you’re a hypocrite. But I do think saying that people who like to read a certain book, whatever their age, have dung-for-brains… is not only a little harsh but just flat out in accurate. It’s a personal choice of taste in story lines. I’m honestly not much of a reader, but I like fantasy stories above anything. Why read a CSI Crime Scene book? I live in USA, that shizz goes on enough. Books are like an escape. Are they not? The movies suck. But it’s still cool to see some of your favorite parts of the books acted out. I waited, more than anything else, to see the movie for book 5 (that just came out 2007) for the scene inside the Ministry with the prophecies and the battle and the smashing all around. They left a LOOOOOOT out of that chapter, but it was great nonetheless. And the veil! Come on. Awesome.

I guess I’m the only person in the world that like the Epilogue (from what I’ve heard). I was both excited AND downtrodden when I thought Harry was going to die (I’m not much into the Hollywood happy ending). But I think the ending sufficed beyond a normal “Okay he died for the greater good… somehow that weakened Voldemort and some odd Auror killed him, the end.” Harry killed him and married Ginny! That made me happy, if no one else.

Regarding the small pouches and odd items: It’s magic homie, magic.

-Chris Vantress / Grand Noble

I’m hoping you’ll respond, seeing as I think I came across to you, the way you came across in your writing. Sane and thought-provoking. Almost in a ‘well you’ve got admit’ sort of way. I don’t know if you’re still watching this though. Well have a great day man.

Joanne Rowling is an extremely talented writer which is precisely what explains the large fan following she has and it’s not because the books are overrated, not when other talented authors are big fans! True, there are bits in the seventh book where you feel there is rather too much magic to be digested, like small pouches accomodating a gazilleon big items and stuff (Don’t think you’re the only one who noticed those bits! and I don’t see anyone arrogantly making a fuss over it!)..but magic is boundless..in the Potter books, it is. And Rowling knew what she was doing when she wrote the parts, knew she could afford writing those bits ov magic because they didn’t clash with the magical world that she’s created and that everyone loves. The epilogue DID dissapoint a lot of fans including myself but Jo Rowling isn’t perfect, nor are her books..The plot is flawless though and people still love Harry Potter because it’s so amazing..and that’s what matters, isn’t it?
The reason LotR and HP are compared is that they DO have quite a few things in common:
http://www.mugglenet.com/hpvslotr.shtml
But comparing the plots and storyline is indeed very foolish because LotR is set centuries back and Harry Potter in the 20th century and so, they are very different in that way. But if you’re talking about comparing the books in popularity and brilliance, then I have to say: I’m not done with reading LotR so I don’t know exactly how brilliant it is. But I don’t see anyone OBSESSED with The Lord of the Rings like people are with Harry Potter and I haven’t seen many adults reading LotR either like they read HP! The reason: Harry Potter IS an amazing fantasy fiction..no one can deny that!
The only point that I do agree with you on is: The movies SUCK!..Yes, they do and bad! But even THAT doesn’t stop the books from being brilliant!=D
And I don’t see how the 3rd point is even a point! :S. Rowling “acting” emotional doesn’t count as a point suggesting the Harry Potter books suck!=P

In short, none of points you’ve mentioned above are meaningful in the slightest to suggest anyone who reads Harry Potter is a Dunghead!
You liked the books but didn’t appreciate the fact that you did, juvenile as some ignorant people call the books..And you couldn’t stop reading them either but when the 7th book was finally out and you’d read it, then was the perfect time to tell the world how Harry Potter sucks and shouldn’t be read by Grown ups, eh? You could have atleast pointed out some better reasons! Why don’t you just appreciate how good the books are and stop being a hypocrite?
Good Day to you!

Your statement clearly implies that the stereotype-influx is present in the Harry Potter books and that I’m supposed to accept it just because millions of Harry Potter fans and Stephen King have done so. Er.. I’m sorry, miss; but I don’t see how popularity of a thing should dictate its acceptance by anyone. Titanic’s corny scenes and cheap storyline are “accepted” by half-a-billion folks and yet all of that stuff still sucks per se.

You can’t kid anyone by saying you read the last book just so you could write a nasty comment on it. You read the book because you simply couldn’t resist knowing how the series ended and who survived..and it can’t have been just that! Because you could have easily asked another fan about it:P. But you took the trouble ov actually reading the whole book and no, not to simply form an opinion on them, but because the books are too good to be resisted. Come one now..you can’t deny you were a fan before the 7th book came out and so, you read it.. I’m afraid not many people share your dissapointment at seeing Harry alive at the end ov the series.

If you start watching a movie and you deduce that it sucks, it doesn’t mean that you’re bound to stop watching it at the very moment. Of course that’s also dependent on the amount of suckage involved. Harry Potter books don’t suck ass. They’re good but overrated and that’s the whole point of my post. BTW, I just repeated my last sentence for 238th time. To clear it up for one last time, let me restate how it actually happened:

- I started reading HP when I was 13.
- I was impressed.
- At 17, I figured out the books aren’t really worth all the crazy hype surrounding them. Nor are they worth spending thousands of hours of speculation.
- At 18, book 7 came out and I read it just to form a final opinion on the overall series. It’s just like you’d stick through a mediocre action movie in hope for an exciting ending.

The reason LotR and HP are compared is that they DO have quite a few things in common:
http://www.mugglenet.com/hpvslotr.shtml

I read that page 3 years back and it was precisely the reason why I decided to write that point. Harry Potter is a story; Lord of the Rings is a universe. Just because the two share things such as trolls and elves doesn’t make them comparable to say the least. Lord of the Rings is about cultures, languages, mythology and philosophy (more mature than the basic love/hate, good/evil themes, stereotypical protagonists found in HP). Lord of the Rings has its own languages, its own maps and its own universe in addition to its own cosmology. It explains the roots of magic through combination of all of the aforementioned stuff. On the other hand, JKR herself admitted that she isn’t a linguist and that she just named places “for fun”. Harry Potter is indispensably immature when compared to the diverse universe of Lord of the Rings.

But comparing the plots and storyline is indeed very foolish because LotR is set centuries back and Harry Potter in the 20th century and so, they are very different in that way.

Thanks for writing that sentence. It clearly proves how naive your knowledge is about LOTR. LOTR isn’t set “centuries back”. It’s set in its own universe with its own time-line.

I’m not done with reading LotR so I don’t know exactly how brilliant it is. But I don’t see anyone OBSESSED with The Lord of the Rings like people are with Harry Potter and I haven’t seen many adults reading LotR either like they read HP!

You must be joking. There’s just no other explanation :-/ .

If you had just visited the Wikipedia page for LOTR before writing that, you would’ve noticed a few lines:
- In the 2003 “Big Read” survey conducted by the BBC, The Lord of the Rings was found to be the “Nation’s Best-loved Book”. Australians voted The Lord of the Rings “My Favourite Book” in a 2004 survey conducted by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In a 1999 poll of Amazon.com customers, The Lord of the Rings was judged to be their “favourite book of the millennium.”
- Tolkien’s Legendarium is declared to be FA-Class project at Wikipedia. Which basically means that it’s rated as one of the most important series of articles for the encyclopedia.
- The books have spawned generations of people trying to educationally interpret the subtle philosophical and linguistic aspects of the books.

I’d hate to break it to you, but adults around you don’t constitute any criteria for judging popularity of something like LOTR specially when you’re living in Pakistan :-) .

And I don’t see how the 3rd point is even a point! :S. Rowling “acting” emotional doesn’t count as a point suggesting the Harry Potter books suck!=P

Well, all of those points were never intended to focus on books. They were there to state: (239th and counting …) the Harry Potter phenomenon is overrated. Do I have to like etch it across my chest or something to make it evident?

You liked the books but didn’t appreciate the fact that you did, juvenile as some ignorant people call the books..And you couldn’t stop reading them either but when the 7th book was finally out and you’d read it, then was the perfect time to tell the world how Harry Potter sucks and shouldn’t be read by Grown ups, eh? You could have atleast pointed out some better reasons! Why don’t you just appreciate how good the books are and stop being a hypocrite?

Re-read my movie point. If I say something sucks before I actually experience it, then I’d consider myself to be a hypocrite. Simply put: I’m not a critic but even critics don’t just say that a book sucks without reading it first :-/ . If you’re oblivious to this point, well … that would explain your status as an adult Harry Potter fan.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/13/AR2007071301730.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

But Mr.Harry-Potter-Fans-Have-Dung-For-Brains knows better!