Ficticious Fridays: In Which Harry Potter Sings a Ditty

I still remember the first blissful notes of Wizard Rock (or wrock as it is more commonly referenced). I was about 12 years old so it had been two years since I'd discovered Harry Potter purely by accident one night when I was kicked out of my bed and slept under the living room bookshelf. My sister was going to art school in the city and getting to have a sleepover with her in her dorm. Oh the wonders of iTunes sharing, and my world was forever expanded!

There's no shortage of creativity inside the Harry Potter community. A simple google search will yield pages and pages of fanfiction (some of which should be read with caution), fan art, jewelry, clothing, poetry, films, costumes, furniture, and of course music. I've been a devoted HP fangirl since that initial reading (a self proclaimed Ravenclaw if you must know but sometiems I wish I was a Hufflepuff) and having gone to religious schools most of my life, I've spend a good deal of my time defending my passion. However, now that I'm older I realize it's not so much about the stoires themselves (though I'll always hold up the books as an example of great literature) but it's important because of the impact it had on its fans. It inspired us in so many ways and connected us together, one of the few books to create a true community.

So after all this rambling I should get back to my intended topic: wrock. Harry and the Potters were the ones that first taught me a book could be so much more than a book. They were the start of the whole movement, teaching us you don't really have to have a whole lot of musical talent to make unforgetable songs and inspiring a whole new group of musicians to pick up where they left off.

I'll post below a list of my favorite wrock bands. I hope my fellow HP fans among you will enjoy and get as inspirited as I have. Nox!

- Harry and the Potters
- The Remus Lupins
- Tom Riddle and Friends
- The Moaning Myrtles
- Gred and Forge
- The Whomping Willows
- The Quaffle Kids
- Ginny and the Heartbreakers

Chapter 4: Gothic Introductions

A possible reason for my sudden influx of posts is that I have recently started school again. For most this might cause a decline in reading but as an English major I find it quite the opposite. One of my more interesting classes that I've enrolled in is a study of Gothic Literature. Having gone to my first two classes I've realized how little I've known of this genre up until now. My only exposure so far has been Poe (and who doesn't like a little Pit and Pendulum?) and assorted Victorian poetry. To me, the word Gothic brought up pictures in my mind of ghosts and monsters and damsel's-in-distress (a la the intro sequence to Masterpiece Mystery which I used to both love and fear as a child). However my first forrays into the genre have revealed some things I wasn't quite expecting.


The first story I read was The Old English Baron by Clara Reeve and I hated it. Granted, it was an early Gothic novel and one that was trying to be minimalist about its Gothic elements but it was soooo boring. It really felt like one of those old courtly romances where all the characters are stock and perfect and way too obsessed with honor to do anything interesting. There were tiny glimmers of supernatural with a few ghostly visitors but they didn't even inspire interest in the characters, let alone me. I can see how it was important for setting up the boundaries of the genre but if I have to go through another 30 pages of epilogue and castle hopping I might go mad.

The Old English Baron by Clara Reeve (176 pages)
Judgement: Dreadfully Dull (1 out of 10)

The next one I read, which I later learned should have been the first if I was to read chronologically, was The Castle of Otronto by Horace Walpole. This, was a crazy book! If you're looking for complete ideas and fulfilled plot points this is probably not the book for you but there is certainly a good deal of excitement to be found, especially noting the giant helmet that falls from the sky and crushed a boy about halfway through page two. This became almost a humerous meme in my Gothic Lit class, along the lines of "Well, it wasn't like being crushed by a helmet but..." The author was a bit all over the place and it had a feeling of being unfinished but there was a lot of fun and humor (sometimes probably intentional). There were ghosts and spirits and miracles galore as well as love triangles and fights and revenge. It had the distinct feel of a Shakespearian play and I would suggest it as a fun, light read to anyone who's a fan of the bard. All in all, not one of my favorite books but definitely not the worst I've ever read for a school assignment (see above).

The Castle of Otronto by Horace Walpole (176 pages)
Judgement: Ridiculous but Readable (6.5 out of 10)

Chapter 3: Monsters, Vikings, Dragons... Oh My!

It is no secret to my family and friends (and probably my roommates as well who have to see the poster outside my door everyday) that one of my favorite movies of all times is How to Train you Dragon. Yes, I realize how much I fail at being an adult. When I was younger and my mom caught glimpses of what I was reading she would always make comments about how, though she appreciated that I liked children's or young adult literature, she wished I would read some books for adults some time. When I told her about my blog last night and that I was planning to write this article she seemed really excited but a little confused for a moment. Then out of nowhere she said, "You really do have a passion for adolescent literature. Maybe that's something you should pay attention to." That really meant a lot, thanks. If you're reading this now, hi mum!

Anyways, review! Anyone who enjoyed the movie and thinks they want to read the book I should put up this comment that the plot is nothing like the movie. In some ways I think that makes it better. In the movie, it's set up where all the vikings have a hatred of dragons and Hiccup is the first one that considers the idea that they could be trained. In the book, all vikings have a pet dragon that they train to fight and fish for them however their method for training comes from a book where the only advice is "Yell at it!" Hiccup develops a new way of training that involves learning dragonese and talking with them. Both are great stories and I loved that though I already knew most of these characters I got to explore them in a new world and with different circumstances. It was a whole new adventure. I personally think more book-->movie productions should be done that way, it keeps people from complaining about how important parts were left out, blah, blah, blah.

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell is one of the best children's books I've read. It's one of those stories that makes you laugh out loud with its ridiculous disregard for history, descriptions of characters so stereotypical they become caricatures, and silly details of viking life. The characters in this story really stand out. Though they may be vikings that lived thousands of years ago all of them are people you could recognize today. Everyone knows a Fishlegs, that asthmatic, allergy ridden, too talkative, nerdy kid whose good intentions don't always work well. Snotlout is another recognizable figure, that one person who is good at all the things you fail at and has no qualms about rubbing it in your face. My favorite was probably Old Wrinkly, and not just by hilarious name alone. He's Hiccup's grandfather who fancies himself a prophet purely on the grounds of his age, not that any of his predictions ever come true.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it's one of those series I want to buy every book of and someday read to my children. I'd recomend it to anyone who has an appreciation for the ridiculous and satire and, of course, dragons. Though, I have to admit that I didn't exactly "read" this book, I listened to the audiobook which is read by David Tennant (not kidding guys, I almost just wrote Doctor Tennant there XD) and I highly recommend it. He is great at doing voices and the way he does Toothless's voice is nothing short of hilarious. I've heard from some people that because I didn't read from the book itself I shouldn't be able to count it towards my word count but my response is, this is my blog. I say it counts.

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell (240 pages)
Judgement: Ridiculously Impressive (9 out of 10)

Note - I know I've been doing a lot of really impressed reviews here at the start but I've read some crap in the last couple of months so I promise some bad reviews are on their way!

Another Note - There was a mix up with scheduling last week, there should have been a special Friday article that was never posted (thanks a lot blogger...) but I've hopefully fixed it and there will be fun things next week! Sorry about that guys!

Chapter 2: Once More Baking... With Feeling

Since my last book was one I chose for myself, I decided this time to go with a recommendation. Perhaps that will be the pattern I will follow with the rest of this blog. This recommend came from one of my favorite yet probably most over looked resource - Genevieve. She recomends books, movies, and music to me all the time but saddly I think I only get around to about a quarter of them. Maybe after this book I'll pay more attention because it was, in a word, fantastic.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender was one of the best books I've read in a long time. It was the kind of book that I literally could not put down. I ate all my meals one handed, precariously with an unprecidentedly large number of ranch dressing related incidents, so I could hold the book open, I navigated via perepheral vision down the sidewalks with surprising success, and there were a couple of days where I didn't even open my laptop. Lemon Cake (as I have been reffering to it in my head and will continue to do here for the rest of the article) tells the story of a young girl who discovers, unhappily, on her birthday that she can taste the emotions of the people who prepare her food. It is through her chocolate frosted, lemon, birthday cake that she learns of her mother's crippling depression. The story follows her as she grows up, learning so much more about the people around her than she'd like to. Her "gift" or "curse" alienates her from others and reveals, frighteningly, the fragility of her own family.

I loved this book because it was such a unique and interesting concept told by such a striking narrator. The prose is beautiful and all the details just click and make perfect sense. Being an Empath in my own way, I can understand how hard it is for her to be bombarded constantly with the emotions of others but I can only sympathize with the entrapment she must feel being completely unable to escape it. I would highly recomend it to anyone who has an interest in psychology and tales that are slightly morbid.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (304 pages)
Judgement: Eye Opening (9.5 out of 10)