Chinese Sam came over today at long last. He convinced his friend Eric to drive, which amazes me. Eric must be one understanding guy. Anyway, I opened the door to find Sam there holding a bunch of white bud roses and a bag from China. I’ve never gotten flowers before. 🙂 That was rather fun. He came inside (and so did Eric, of course), and I went to try on the dress but I was feeling rather weird about modeling it for two teenage boys. I tried it on as quickly as I could and I think it’s just a little tight in one part, but at the time I was thankful for that since it meant I didn’t have to come out in it. 🙂 It’s gorgeous, though. The perfect shade of kick butt red, frogs (the clasps, not actual amphibious frogs) all along the side, slits to just the right height, and it has dragons embroidered on it. 🙂 Tee hee. Now I just need to figure out how to fit into it. It’s too small in an… awkward spot. So, no pictures until I can figure out if it can be adjusted somehow. Sorry.
We ended up watching ‘Galaxy Quest’ for a while until my Dad got home, then we all went out to dinner. Then, we came back home since we hadn’t finished the movie yet. Then, at 7:00, I had to run out to get something before my Dad had to go to a meeting at 7:30. They left, and then off I went to Blockbuster to pick up my reserved copy of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ on DVD. My mom preordered it a while ago as a surprise.
Being the good little pseudo-fan girl that I am, I watched it right away. I would have waited, since I was kind of in the mood to watch Daria, but Steve was too anxious to watch it. I rather love that movie. It’s just brilliantly shot, it’s beautiful from beginning to end (except for that blue goopy guy. Don’t quite like him), and I just love it. I haven’t even read the books, either. I’ve tried to read the Hobbit but I’m having a really hard time getting into it.
But, talking about being a fan girl, I’ve realized that I’ve completely lost my obsession with Harry Potter. I tried rereading Prisoner of Azkaban – my favorite out of the series – and I found it really hard to read. It felt dull, the descriptions seemed to lack grace, and it was just… boring. I know, I’m blaspheming by most standards, but I’ve completely lost it. I think what finally pushed me over the edge was the day before yesterday I received a not very pleasant letter from Christopher Little, J.K. Rowling’s literary agent. I had written to him at the request of a few fans, trying to convince them to set up a system to allow the print publication of fan fiction. The first paragraph I expected, it was all about how they won’t publish fan fiction. But the last two paragraphs were completely unnecessary and absolutely stupid. The first of the two said that while they were glad to see how much I have enjoyed the series, they don’t like seeing the series used in a “didactic educational manner.” Not only is that statement redundant (shouldn’t have stuck ‘educational’ in there since that’s what ‘didactic’ means), it was totally ludicrous. What’s all that talk been about, then, how J.K. Rowling, Warners, et al, just love to see the books enlighten the minds of young children?
The final paragraph was the clincher. A friendly mention of how they were surprised at my use of the phrase “The Daily Prophet”. You guessed it, they also mentioned that dreaded words; “trademark restrictions.” Excuse me, Mr. Little, but I’ve done my research. In fact, I just double checked. In the United States only one company owns a trademark on the phrase “The Daily Prophet”. It’s not Warner Brothers, it’s not J.K. Rowling, it’s not even anyone involved with Harry Potter. It’s Prophet Financial Systems, inc, a friendly and understanding stock market analysis and online investment company. I’ve spoken to their General Counsel this week to confirm that they still own that trademark, and I received yet another written statement from them clearly stating that they don’t mind my use of their trademark.
And furthermore, according to statements made by Senior VP Diane Nelson of WB and several head attorneys at Theodore Goddard, as a fan site I can use trademarks as long as I have a proper, clear disclaimer, and I am not making money in any way off the site. I’m clear on both of those issues. So there. 😛
This letter got me thinking about going to law school again. I’m not sure how I feel about it. If someone else will pay for me to go to law school I’d do it in an instant, but I really don’t want to go into debt over it. I think it’d be great to further my knowledge of trademark, copyright, and intellectual property law. I’ve already got a knack for it, I should follow throught. Right?
And going back to where this started (sorry, this got very round-about), it’s finally convinced me that maybe I’ve just completely out-grown it. Sure, the books can be enjoyed by adults. But I think I’m too jaded now. I’m too fed up with it all. I’ve lost my drive for the Daily Prophet. I can’t even read the books anymore.
But, I don’t think that means instant death for the Daily Prophet. I still like the ethics behind that project and when I’m reminded of the good that it does I get a little sugar-high about it and get to work again. Instead, I think I want to branch out from Harry Potter. If the creators of the book cannot accept their fans, if they’re going to keep bullying us despite the example set by PotterWar, then forget them. We’ll move on to bigger better things. We’ll start with Lord of the Rings, maybe. Then move on to other sections of literature, that way more fans from more areas can get involved and they can enjoy the same benefits offered by the Daily Prophet. To heck with Christopher Little, Warner Brothers, and – dare I even say it – J.k. Rowling. Let’s move on to the exciting world of Battle School in Orson Scott Card’s ‘Ender’s Game’ with an excited newspaper about the events in the school, on earth, and in the war. We could learn about political science and military strategy, not just literature and writing.
Or Lord of the Rings. We could study linguistics, mythology, ancient history, and culture. Imagine a newspaper covering the events of Middle Earth in sections devoted to its many different races and species. And who knows what else we could cover. Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis, Charles Dickens, any of them.
Of course, I couldn’t do all of this alone. I’d need experts on each series, maybe even multiple experts and editors. But it’d be great, and we’d finally and completely break free from Harry Potter. The books were great, but I think it’s gone downhill.
But, like I said, maybe I’m just jaded at the moment.
And now off I go to bed, laughing all the way at big business and greedy people. Ha… ha… ha.