Warning: Combined unboxed spoiler for Half-Blood Prince and Revenge of the Sith
[spoiler]After Episode III, came out, You The Man Now Dog had a whole series of jokes playing on Darth Vader’s scream of “NOOOOOOOO!” after he learned that Padme had died. I think the sound bite would have been funnier if the Vader scream was added in.
“Hey, Snape kills Dumbledore.”
“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”[/spoiler]
Added spoiler tags–Veb
More importantly,
Rosebud is his sled.
Some folks – live in a “world” where everyone they know, everyone they see, everyone they may hapen to run into, has already read the entire Potter series to date.
Some other folks – live in a “world” where nobody they know, nobody they see, nobody they may hapen to run into, has already read the entire Potter series to date.
Now, which “world” is more bizzare (no value judgment implied)?
It just flummoxes me that Harry Potter is so pervasive in some places that a total stranger can even have half of a chance to spoil the recent book.
I guess it’s like participation in the blogosphere. Those that read/write blogs think everyone is in on it, and think it’s really huge. Those who don’t participate think it’s like 100 people blogging worldwide, and that it’s just not on their day-to-day radar.
See, I don’t understand this. How can you appreciate how the story is told if you know what’s going to happen? If you know going in that [blank] does [blank] (and please don’t anyone make a sex joke outta that), you’re not going to have the same reaction to scenes where that action is possible that you otherwise would.
There’s no comparison for reading something for the first time. When I was reading Two Towers for the first time, Mr. Rilch ordered me to the bedroom when he saw that I was approaching the end. “You don’t want any distractions when you read that last chapter.” And he was right. And if I’d known how it ended and what happened in ROTK, it just wouldn’t have been the same. Writers, even JKR, the Queen of Typos, go to a lot of trouble not to telegraph plot developments, and when someone blurts out a spoiler, it’s as if they’d dropped a birthday cake. Sure, it’s still edible…but it’s just not the same.
On another tack, however, I should note that the likelihood of having HP spoiled is really pretty slim. There’s just such a mystique built up around it. One of the Onion’s standalone headlines is (as usual) frighteningly accurate: “Unreleased Harry Potter Book More Secure Than U.S. Trains.” Sure, there are a few clueless dolts like the waitress in the OP, but they just stand out in the midst of all the people who keep secrets so well that they might be actual Secret Keepers.
Now if only people would extend the same courtesy to fans of Harry Turtledove’s TL-191 series. There are spoilers in the reviews, FFS, and last year, someone blurted out a character death right here on the boards. That’s the book I’m going to have to go into a soundproof chamber for.
Uh…mobo…it’s still a little early for that. The warning isn’t enough; I didn’t see it until I opened the reply window. That’s the first time that spoiler has been unboxed so far in this thread, and it’s the biggie, the one Sampiro was griping about in the first place, for pete’s sake.
Fortunately I’d already read the book.
Sampiro, that OP was the funniest damned thing I’ve read in months. Just thought you should know.
And I quite understand what you mean. My sister spoiled Goblet of Fire for me, and it’s been an effort to avoid the gloating of faster readers as each new book has been released.
I am reminded, though, of when I went to see Titanic. While standing in line, I was chatting with my brother and talking about the actual historical event. At one point in my conversation, the teenage girl standing in front of me turns around, looks at me in shock, and says “the ship SINKS?”
:smack: Oy.
The onl;y thing as stupid as an unboxed spoiler, is someone repeating the unboxed spoiler to say how stupid it is. Oh good, this is the pit.
Hey you fucking maroons cut out showing unboxed spoilers, yeah I’m talking to
shit for brains mobo85 and the uncurably dim EleventyOne .
Unfortunately, I haven’t, as I just got a chance to buy the book yesterday. I was hoping it was a joke. Thanks.
Sorry EleventyOne my wrath runneth other and spilled unfairly upon your lap. You Snipped the offending bit, and deserver my appology.
Maybe I’m missing something but EleventyOne doesn’t quote the unboxed spoiler but instead writes “—SPOILER SNIPPED HERE—”. I think you owe an apology.
Maybe you missed my apology 
Warning There Is An Unboxed Spoiler On Page 1, Don"t Look At That Page Until A Mod Cleans It Up !!!
Bah, the best tidbit from the new book is
Trinity dies.
I dunno. I mean, sure, you’d appreciate it more if it were a complete surprise to you, but I know the endings of many classic books and movies, and it doesn’t keep me from enjoying reading or watching them. I just don’t care. I don’t go out of my way to find spoilers, but I don’t go out of my way to avoid them. A story told well is a story told well, regardless of whether you know the plot twists or not.
Hell, when I read Potter, I read all the books completely out-of-sequence. I first read the third book, then read the second book, then saw the first movie, then read the fourth and fifth in sequence. Obviously, a lot had already been spoiled for me by starting with the third book. But it just doesn’t bug me.
Yeah, you beat me to it. Sorry.
Harrumph. So I guess you’re one of those people who doesn’t care if a collection of The Chronicles of Narnia has Magician’s Nephew first, eh?
Don’t apologize, as badbadrubberpiggy pointed out, what I wrote up confirmed that it was in fact a spoiler and not a joke. :smack: Wiser would have been to just report it and not draw further attention to it.
Of course, an impending removal by mod would also confirm the spoiler, but still…
I wasn’t really angry at you, as it makes sense in context with the amount I’ve read, I was just hoping I was being wooshed. 
My remark was really directed at the original spoiler.
I’ve never read The Chronicles, so unfortunately, the reference is lost on me…
Obviously, on the bookshelf they should be kept in order. However, I’m not one of those people who insist on reading a sequence of books in order. If I’m in the middle of an extended series when my interest is piqued, I won’t start at the first book. I’ll start at the latest book. Or whatever is lying around.