So last night being the last time there will ever be a big pre-release Harry Potter party, we took the kids over to Harvard Square, which had renamed itself Hogwart's Square for the evening.
In some respects, it was quite cool. As someone who writes books, it was just really cool to see all these people milling around who felt inspired by a book. Lots and lots of people were in costume--these ranged from pretty half-assed lightning scars to the full-on Death Eater regalia--well, that guy was actually wearing flip-flops under his Death Eater robe. I saw at least three women costumed as male authority figures from the Potter universe. (two Dumbledores and a Lucius Malfoy.) It was enough to make me wonder if this is some kind of subculture trend I had previously been blissfully unaware of. What I really enjoyed about the whole thing was people just lettin' their freak flags fly--grownups walking around in silly costumes, lining up to buy a book, and just not caring about how silly they looked. Or, rather, reveling in how silly they looked. Because irony is so '90's, I liked the way people were unashamed to reveal to the world how much a bunch of books about a kid wizard had moved them.
It was kinda poignant too seeing all these kids who were like 18. I was haunted by this line in Stephen King's column about how young adults who've been reading these books for the last ten years are now closing the book on their childhood.
Unfortunately nobody had really done anything decoration-wise to try to bring the whole Hogwarts/Diagon Alley thing to life.
We went into the Yard to see the "wizard rock" as provided by Harry and the Potters. The idea is inherently cheesy, but I have to say I really enjoyed their performance. Especially after the painfully earnest, excessively-long intro by some kid talking about how people who love Harry Potter can raise awareness about Darfur and save the world through the power of love. I must say that my embrace of sincerity and rejection of irony was sorely tested by this bit. Anyway, as for Harry and the Potters, they've definitely mastered rock and roll showmanship, and their songs are mostly two-minute guitar pop rockers about Potter-related material. I'm a whore for guitar pop, and I loved the fact that the songs were so short that you couldn't get sick of them. Having said that, though, every other member of my family absolutely hated them. I don't know what to make of the fact that I liked Harry Potter related rock a lot more than my 10 and 9 year olds.
And we haven't bought the book yet because there was no way we were staying out till midnight to buy a book. I do have my limits.
