Can’t we at least for once be happy to see people-especially kids-being so excited about a book, instead of the latest DVD or video game system?
NO! :mad:
It’s not cool to be happy for people. Or really to be happy for any particular period of time. It’s far cooler to be unhappy and disaffected and unpleasant.
Why?
As someone who loves to read, and also loves movies and computer games, I don’t consider books inherently superior to a computer game or a good movie.
I mean, a case could be made that as long as kids are inside out of everyone’s way, they’re not outside shoplifting, spraypainting trains, or getting drunk/sniffing glue in parks.
It’s not a particularly solid case, mind you, but the fact is that I don’t see why something having been printed on paper automatically makes it superior to something recorded on a DVD or stored on a computer hard-drive.
There are bad books, just as there are bad movies and bad games; the format is irrelevant, IMHO- it’s the experience one gets from reading/watching/playing that matters most.
A) Nobody’s pitting kids for reading. We should dispense with that notion right now. “But, but, but, reading is gooooooooood…we should encooooooourage it…” Sure, reading is fine. I encourage kids to read. I have no problem with kids getting excited and staying up late and dressing up to read this book. I haven’t seen anyone in this thread pitting kids for reading.
B) This thread isn’t about the literary merits of the series. This thread is about the incessant droning of how this is EVEN BETTER THAN THE SECOND COMING!!!1111eleven! OMG LOLZ! by adults. This thread is about how, despite two threads being stickied in CS, one of which says:
There were no fewer than SIX OTHER threads posted to regarding the book (not counting one regarding the recent movie) after that sticky was put in place.
“But won’t somebody think of the children?!” used to be a cliche.
The folks blindly dismissing it as children’s lit are being a bit snobbish. The international best-seller The Da Vinci Code was written at the same reading level as Hank the Cowdog and yet received praise as a grown-up’s novel.
That something is ‘intended for children’ and adults should not be bothered with such triviality is a load of crap. You can keep to your books on the down and dirty world of real estate and financial planning. I swear I won’t give you shit for being dull and unimaginative.
People who like stuff suck.
Other people’s happiness oppresses me. I should sue someone.
Mostly, as I recall, tied to the series rather than the final book. Though I haven’t actually made a detailed search of Harry Potter threads and their various contents.
I have a life, see.
[sarcasm]
Except that you read a KID’S BOOK! It’s a book for KIDS! And you’re supposed to be an ADULT! Oh, and people who share some tastes with you start LOTS OF THREADS! And they all have a HERD MENTALITY!!! My outrage is UNCONTAINABLE!!!
[/sarcasm]
My God, you’re right. Everything I love is a lie. I will run out RIGHT NOW and get some serious books. How can I live if Max thinks I am foolish? Woe!
Oh, go strap on some poorly-made paper maché beaks, you two. :rolleyes:
You would think, for a bunch of people defending attitudes regarding a book, that they would be literate enough to actually read and comprehend the thread.
Your undoubtedly sophisticated and mature reference has sailed over my plebeian head.
Oh, and it’s papier-mâché.
I pit myself for enjoying anything.
See the video linked from post #21 in this thread to get the reference (but only if you don’t mind seeing HP7 spoilers in said video).
ETA: Thanks for the spelling correction. Really. That’s not sarcastic. I always like to know when I’ve fucked up in that department.
But “won’t somebody think of me?” never goes out of style. 
As far as I can tell, this thread boils down to “I want the Cafe Society forum to entertain me, damn it! Why can’t more people write threads I care about? Why don’t those boring threads all just go away where I can’t see them? Won’t somebody think of my needs?”
Bah. I post all my Harry Potter comments in the proper thread. Not part of the problem, not taking responsibility for finding a solution.
Won’t someone please think of the Potter. 
I have employees that were refusing to work assigned shifts because it would interfere with them getting their copy from the bookstore at The Appointed Time. I hold HP fans in the same esteem as any geek-chic minority, but this really pissed me off. No, I DON’T feel I have to accomodate that.
Nor should you; their actions show where their priorities are. I’d fire the obsessive little fuckers.
Well this is absolutely foolish. I might ask to have an altered lunch hour if I was working on a late shift, but I wouldn’t fuss if I couldn’t get one.
I guess I just don’t get the fuss. I don’t watch Lost, 24, Survivor, or American Idol. I’ve seen eps of the first two and they’re okay, I have seen bits of the last two and think they are rather sad tripe. But I don’t get upset about other people going crazy over them, either. It’s just a thing. It’s their thing. They get excited, they make a point to be in front of their television every week or whatever to catch another episode, and I just expect not to see my obsessed friends at that point. I don’t really care about pro football, but the Super Bowl furor doesn’t faze me, and people dress up REALLY foolishly for that. Loony hair and big glasses and a hundred shawls to play a fortuneteller are one thing, but getting naked and painting yourself in team colors in wintertime seems… ill-advised. And silly.
But I don’t spaz out over it.
neutron, dear, I can’t fathom why that girl was wearing a big yellow beak. I suppose she was trying, without any other costuming at all, to be an owl. I thought she looked rather silly, but I’m sure she was happy. I saw lots of people with big round glasses at the party I went to and several people who were quite impressively dressed – an excellent Karkoroff who glared for pictures and a fellow in a very well-made reproduction of Snape’s robes. Both men were in good shape and neatly groomed and did not look like scary freaks at all. They’ve put a leetle more work and effort into their fandom than I have, but they weren’t hurting anyone and seemed quite reasonable fellows.
Is there anything you like, neutron? Is there any author for whom you’d drop everything to go to a book signing? A movie or series of movies you would catch on opening weekend? A computer game or system you’d pick up on its first day on the shelves? A play for which you would pay a hundred dollars for a ticket? A band you would drive three hours to go see in concert? Is the entirety of media to you nothing but a quintessence of dust? If so, you are both unusual and – in my never very humble opinion – unfortunate.
Don’t worry, dear. Soon this phenomenon will be past and you can find something else to get tetchy about. Never fret. 