sophieisgod | The Great Big Harry Potter Squee Bonanza

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The Great Big Harry Potter Squee Bonanza

This is it, my friends. The end is near. In a fortnight, it will all be over.

Basically, my Harry Potter Hysteria is reaching unchartable levels of nostalgia and squee, so I thought I would do the decent thing and encourage my fellow fanatics to engage in a wise and nuanced exchange of ideas (and SQUEE) about this monumentous literary occasion (I told you I was getting excited. This isn't healthy).

Basically... I want theories, I want memories, I want fic and video recs, I want favourite moments, favourite characters, thoughts on the films and any other jazz that might apply.

Please, guys. If I don't have an outlet for my excitement my head will explode and I'll die. Do you want that on your collective conscience, flisties? DO YOU?

Yours in pathetc desperation (and SQUEE),
Sophie

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And here I am drowning my woes in whole-wheat sandwiches and sparkling water.

We've got a pretty extensive thread of discussion on my LJ, so this will be my nostalgic stuff, favs, and recs.

I started reading Harry Potter in the summer of 1999, right before Prisoner of Azkaban came out. My friend had been pestering to me to read them, and my mother finally bought the first 2. Except our local Barnes and Noble had run out of Sorcerer's Stone so I read Chamber of Secrets first. Yes, the horror. This was also back in the day when the UK got the books way before the States, and my friend's family was already reading PoA because they had ordered a British copy. We got home from vacation and promptly did the same. Then there was the summer GoF came out. My previously mentioned friend and her family was going with my family to visit my grandparents around the same time that the book was being released. We got a copy for the car and out of the same book, we went through GoF. This is a picture of us reading it at my grandparent's. For OotP a bunch of my friends came over and we just sat there and read. For 24 hours. Quietest we've ever been around each other. My family was in Stratford when HBP came out. First and only midnight party I will ever attend. Our Irish B&B hostess in Warwick was so excited for us reading the book. It was pretty funny. I'm amazed I managed to finish it in 24 hours considering we were sight-seeing as well that day. Finished it when we got to Oxford. Started crying like crazy in the B&B we were at, and my parents and sister were all "WTF." I simply cannot believe this series which has spanned more of my life than any other fandom is ending. And I just love what it's done. I have so many great memories of my friends and I going to breakfast and staying diners for hours discussing and debating the finer points of the book. We're the generation that's grown up with Harry, and no one else will get this experience.

Favorite characters!
- The Weasleys! More specifically Ron and the twins, but seriously. They are the heart and soul of the books and I can't think of anyone who wouldn't want to be a part of their family. Except the delusionals, but they don't count. My absolute favorite part of OotP was the twins escape from Hogwarts. I liked OotP, but it certainly wasn't my favorite, but the twins made it worth it. Also, just any time Ron is Ron. Ron-haters can suck it.
- The Marauders. Okay, so mostly in mind they are the inebriated-pantsless creations of SBP, but they were the reason I love PoA the most. I love the history behind them, and the idea that there was a time when Hogwarts was normal. (If the 70's can be considered normal. Or Hogwarts.)

As for recs, I fail. I've been out of the fandom loop for HP for so long, (post-HBP Harmony backlash mostly... couldn't handle the stupidity. OBHWF!) I'm only just getting back in the swing of things. But I found Home for the Holidays, which is BRILLIANT. I just love it.

Okay, My Harry Potter Geek Manifesto.

I've always had a bit of a repuation as That Girl Who Reads A Lot, and when I was in year 5 (age 9), a boy called Tom in my class asked me if I'd read Harry Potter. I had no idea what he was jabbering on about, but he was so enthusastic that I was intruigued. Unfortunately, I wasn't intruigued enough to actually buy the book, so I didn't actually start reading the series until just before PoA came out. My mum bought me the first two, which were duly devoured, and the first seeds of my fangirlishness were planted.

Anyway, over the years, the books have been bought on the first day of release and there's been radio silence and a strict no-spoiler policy among my group of friends until we've all finished and squee can be had (slow reading is punsihable by shunning). Hours and hours have been devoted to analysis and flailing and doing the Harry Potter Quiz on the Scholastic website. After PoA, my best friend Emma and I had sleepovers devoted entirely to Harry Potter (Example of conversation: "So do you think something will happen with Harry and that Cho Chang girl?"). It was my fandom before I knew what fandom was.

Okay, favourite stuff.
CHARACTERS
- Ronald Weasley, without a doubt. There is so much that I love about this character that it's ridiculous. Out of al the characters in the series, it's him that makes me laugh the most. I feel for his whole massive-family-everyone's-awesome-inferiority-complex angst. I *love* watching him and Hermione stumble towards a relationship as it ever-so-slowly dawns on him. I love the fact that he gets dirt on his nose. He's unflinchingly loyal, and he's willing to sacrifice himself for his friends BUT HOPEFULLY NOT IN THE SEVENTH BOOK. He's ginger. He's ridiculous. I loves him. In fact, all the people I know who love Ron, *really* love Ron. Maybe it's that protective instinct (our boy has been savaged at the hands of those DELUSIONAL Harry/Hermione shippers), maybe it's just that there's something about him that makes you want to hug him. Maybe it's the ginger.

- All of the Marauders (not Peter, he doesn't count *spits*), but particularly Remus Lupin. He likes books. He likes chocolate. He's endearingly shabby. He's got a wonderfully dry sense of humour. He's the coolest teacher ever. Above all, there is ANGST. This is a man who, for twelve years, thought the murder of three of his best friends was caused by their other best friend. And he loses his best friend twice. Oh, and he's a werewolf. And then there are the scenes like him packing in PoA, which just make me ache because he's so dignified and wry in the face of something so horrible and humiliating. But there's also the whole Shrieking Shack sequence (possibly one of my favourite things in the whole series, and definitely the section I've reread the most) with, again, the fierce loyalty, and the resolution and the whole Marauders dynamic. And I am a huge, huge fan of the Tonks/Lupin relationship, pink werecubs and all. I live in fear that it's going to get cut from the films. And yes, I'm not ashamed to admit it. I do have a little bit of a thing for David Thewlis.

- There are a couple of characters who have grown on me immensely over the course of the books (and the films), and these are Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom, because they've had two of the most awesome character arcs. Ginny's gone from being in awe of Harry and all awkward and embarassed to being, frankly, a complete badass. Whereas Neville, while still being a bit of buffoon and loveable and all that (and I love Matthew Lewis' performance in the fillums) has grown up so much, with all the tragic backstory and, while still not a badass, is capable of great bravery and general goodosity.

SCENES/PLOTS/STUFF LIKE THAT
- Anything at all involving the Marauders in the slightest degree
- Won Won and Lavender
- Weasley's Wizard Wheezes
- The Ministry of Magic showdown in OotP
- Harry and Ginny's first kiss (bless)

And because I'm so cool that my comment was too long for one post...

THOUGHTS ON THE FILMS
I saw Philospher's Stone on the first day of general release, for my sister's birthday and I loved it, because it was basically the book on screen, which was exactly what I wanted to see. As I got older, the dodgy effects, Chris Columbus' hammy direction and the slightly dodgy child acting (Emma Watson's tendency to EMPHASISE lots of WORDS in a SENTENCE with her EYEBROWS) became more obvious, but, inexplicably, I still love it. It was on the telly this afternoon and I was smiling like a goon all the way though.

Really, they would have to butcher the books pretty badly for me *not* to love the films. The one thing that's pissed me off about the adaptations is the fact that Lupin never explained to Harry about the Marauders and the Map in PoA! It would not have taken long! It would have been awesome! Anyway, I'm looking forward to OotP more than any of the others, mainly because David Yates is directing. Now, he's a previously untested film director, but his television stiff includes The Way We Live Now and State Of Play, so AWESOME. And from the trailers and clips that I've seen, not only is Dan Radcliffe's acting *significantly* better, there seems to be a rather excellent 1984 totalitarian tonal thing going on, with wartime haircuts and cardigans and so on. Anyway, EXCITED.

RECS
-Videos

templa_otmena sent me these truly awesome Marauders videos. This (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CfNUT1qKKiM) and this (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xYN_cHIQIOs) both use footage of Sean Penn to represent James, and it's pretty effective. Plus, the second one is from Remus' point of view, set to "Empty Chairs At Empty Tables" from Les Miserables.

This (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FAvS290TYRw) is a Ron/Hermione video set to "Wonderwall", which is always good. This (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TaDLjGcImEo) is Harry-centric, to "Defying Gravity" from Wicked, and it works surprisingly well.

And everybody knows this (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1XIm6q4r4), but it's still classic.

I don't have very many fic recs (anyone?) but this (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1XIm6q4r4) made me laugh like a drain.

Wow, that was a really long comment.

I really like this idea and I loved reading the other comments.

Books:
From the books I have to say I'm the kind of OMG!DARKNESSZ!!2!@!~~ lover, and in a very fangirly way. I read the first two books because of a friend and I liked them alright. But then a more dark atmosphere started developing and the last books have been very sombre and well, dark. And I love it.

So it shouldn't come as a shock that my favourite characters are Snape and Bella :D I like Snape in a "real" way, I do like his personality and way of thinking, etc. Bella is just fun and wicked ;)Actually, I enjoy the Dark Lord and the Deatheaters in general. The trio is alright, they don't bother me but I don't love them. Actually, I might like Ron. Yeah, I do like him. On the opposite end, I HATE Sirius with a passion. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I love Snape and they don't get along. Anyway, I seriously don't like him. McGonagall is also a great character.

I don't know what else to say about the books. I just hope -and expect in a way- a decent ending for Snape. I mean, not the awww he's a good guy thing, because he's certainly NOT a good guy and I don't like to think about him in those terms, but not the obvious 'I've been working for my Dark Lord all the time' [read that with an extremely dull voice :DD] because there's so much more to do with him. So, if you ask me, I think Snape is bad but working for the good side... if that makes any sense.

Movies:
The casting is great, one of the things that I like the most from the movies. I like some more than others, but it's normal. I'm delighted with the 'all British cast'. Alan Rickman as Snape only made me love the character even more. Maggie Smith is perfect in her role, Kenneth Branagh was also amazing and I do like Gambon's Dumbledore. Oh, and Gary Oldman makes me like movie!Sirius heh. I don't care much for the young cast. I think the most talented one from the trio is Rupert and Luna looks promising. As everyone, Emma's mad eyebrow-movement got the worst out of me but she's working on that.. I think. And Daniel is improving :)

My favourite movie is PoA, although they changed or omitted several things from the book. But I watch an adaptation of the movie and I don't mind things being change -when they aren't major-. But the visual aspects are perfect, and I don't know, I just love this movie much more than the others. The last one was awful to me, the worst of all in my opinion. I still watched it countless times xD And I think OotP will be great.

Random: I tend to laugh when I hear/read run Ron or hurry Harry lol :D

My favourite theory was the Ron = Dumbledore (knight to king) theory :D do you know that one?
My favourite characters are Lupin, Ron and Lucius Malfoy.
I can't wait to read DH. I hope Lupin won't die! And Ron and Hermione must get together, it's 'bout time!
I like the movies in general, the second one is my favourite (Kenneth Branagh!!! Jason Isaacs!!!) and I loathe the PoA, because Cuaron (or rather Steven Kloves) butchered my favourite book.

13 DAYS TO GO ALJDAKSDLAJLDKADKAL

*runs over with Prongs icon galloping alongside*

I'm here for the HP love!! I don't want it to end :o( AND I WANT SIRIUS BACK. I think JK needs to write more Marauder scenes, personally. Preferably an OOTP-sized gargantuan scene.

Btw, did you see JK Rowling on Jonathan Ross on Friday? She seems so nice :D

I'm an incoherent ball of angst as of yet, my dear- as you well know. Was watching CoS special features earlier and I've taken to obsessing over Ron leaving us more than I have in the past. I was right about Percy being a gimp all those moons ago.

But what if Harry, Ron and Hermione see it all through? There is something lovely and not at all neat and cheesy about that xXx

So I never got involved in HP as a fandom so I have nothing to rec for you I'm afraid. However, we must exchange theories/ideas/SQUEE!!! about the books!!!!

Snape = good - yes/no? [I used to firmly believe yes, but after re-reading Half-Blood Prince last week I'm starting to have doubts....bad bad doubts....]

Ronny + Hermy = will we finally get to see (well, read) them kiss?!? (and does any aside from me want to see Viktor again?)

Harry + Ginny = will they get together for real this time and not break up again?!??

Will Harry die??!

I don't have time to read all the earlier comments so: thoughts?

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