"Mr Potter. Our... new... celebrity"

On the 25th of May 2004 I sat by my postbox for the entire morning. A keen eye and an eager expectation overcame me. It was my 11th birthday, and I was desperately awaiting my Hogwarts letter. Ten o'clock, eleven o'clock, twelve o'clock; time ticked on - mocking me. Perhaps my trusty owl had been caught in a particular furious jet stream and had somehow ended up in Diagon Alley. ‘If my Hogwarts letter does not arrive’, I thought to myself ‘then how am I meant to harness my powers to destroy Voldemort’. I seriously considered that the fate of the world and wizardry rested on the counterfeit scar delineated on my forehead. Needless to say I didn’t receive my letter that day, it may have been lost in the post or intercepted by the dark lord to make his conquest easier.  

If you understood all the references in the paragraph above then you, like me, are part of what is known as the Harry Potter Generation. Us kids of the 90s grew up in anticipation of every different Rowling instalment, were lulled to sleep by the animated Stephen Fry and genuinely surprised at how good looking Rupert Grint had become over the space of seven movies.

So what is it about Harry Potter that makes it so successful? A series so tantalising and popular that the author J.K. Rowling is now richer than the Queen. In an article published online by Lee Kitcher in 2005, he commented that “there’s attention to detail that has helped to create such a believable fictional universe”. This could be the case, I won’t try to hide the fact that I shed a tear when I read about Dumbledore’s death (then another when I found out he was gay... another one turned, another conquest complete). Harry Potter recently caused young Devin from Florida to not remove his Harry Potter outfit for 8 months, convinced that Hagrid was on the way - he daily bounced round the garden with a kitchen broom wedged between his legs, screaming out curses on his slightly older, slightly more mature and slightly more sane brother.

Due to the connotations of dark magic that Harry Potter holds, a number of god-fearing Christians have forbidden their children from reading the childhood classics, good on them, why should any child enjoy reading? These beliefs can only be paralleled in there certainty to the working of Scientology.

The Harry Potter series also seems to be creeping it's way into my life ever so subtly, this morning I found myself humming the infamous 'Potter Puppets' song on the bus, as I jumped up and shouted (in a slightly pitchy tone) "Dumbledore", the old woman in front of me nearly had a heart attack. Bless her, she is not part of our kooky generation. Similar to this, in year 8 a bitch (she-who-must-not-be-named) threw some tacky insult at me. My return... "Avada Cadava". 

I don't think this particular blog has much direction, but it's been a while... and with all the recent hype about the latest film I feel a dedication to the world I once lived (and from time-to-time still do) needs a little mention. So this is for you Potter....

A SMALL (LARGE LETTERED) NOTE:

So as I'm sure you all know, because you simply aren't idiots, the student protests are back. With sit-ins all over the country in schools and mainly university's we need to pledge our support. Last night I sat in UCL til 2am, with people that really care about the cause, and they are still there. Continually, join me and many others at the protest on Tuesday 30th November. 

If you hadn't noticed I just used my popularity and media to enforce my political agenda. I've become everything I hate :'(.