One Day Lord Voldemort Tripped Down the Stairs and Died
Or something. Man, I hope that’s not what really happens or I’m going to be the most hated blogger in history.
Pottermania! at the downtown Silver Spring, MD Borders tonight, around 10:45pm, an hour and fifteen minutes to launch. We ran into Thomas Nephew and his delightful daughter M. Thomas talked about the upcoming Bush impeachment vote at the Takoma Park City Council. This is on one level silly and on another embarrassingly earnest, like when the place declared itself a nuclear-free zone. But I told Thomas that they should assert a unitary town council theory, declaring that they were responsible for the full commonweal of Tacky Park and that since the place couldn’t be truly secure and free while George Bush and Dick Cheney are in charge of any country TP is part of, they had jurisdiction. Also declare that if any of a list of Bush Administration officials set foot in town that the local government would put them on trial for war crimes.
But, hey, Potter. I don’t know how it comes out. We didn’t even buy the book. They only had copies for people who reserved it. I heard the city was having a party on the same block where Borders was selling the new book and the Majestic 20 was showing the new movie and I figured it would be exciting to be around. We took the kids and soaked in the anticipation. I found myself almost overflowing with elation despite not being a fan. I love books, stories, fantasy and commerce, so tonight was like a nexus of all realities. Talking on the phone earlier with my mother, she said, “I’ll bet you’re glad you’re out of the book business tonight.” But tonight must have been a great night to be in the book business. The best thing about that line of work is handing out happiness – it can pay off the low pay and crappy hours for far too many years if you’re of the right temperament. I felt like the prodigal sneaking in to the family reunion; nobody knows who he is, but he knows them, and knows he is among family.
The one thing the evening could have used is more capitalism. The eateries along Ellsworth stopped serving at 11. There were no truck vendors. Even the movie theater had its doors locked by midnight even though it was still letting people out. The demand curve for drinks and snacks was sloping seriously upward with no supply curve to meet it. Frustrating.
Borders had a countdown to midnight. 15-14-13 . . . Awesome. I hope all of you who were waiting for the book enjoyed it.
Comment by Jon H —
July 21, 2007 @ 12:41 am
Harvard Square and Harvard Yard were turned into Hogwarts Square and Hogwarts Yard today. Not sure what was going on in the Yard, but there were amplified children’s voices and the steps of Widener Library were packed.
Comment by Gsnorgathon —
July 21, 2007 @ 12:54 am
Jim, you’ve got a way with titles that no one else can touch.
Comment by Thoreau —
July 21, 2007 @ 9:13 am
My wife got back from selling books at 4am. She’s asleep right now, or I’d ask her what it’s like. But from what she told me before the event, they probably won’t make much money off of it. You’d think they would, but this is so big that every retailer on earth is trying to get a piece of that action. So prices have been slashed. (Even the technical bookstore at my research institute, a tiny place that mostly just sells a few textbooks, is selling Harry Potter.)
Toss in the cost of all these parties, and they’re basically just doing it to make the customers happy. Which is cool.
Comment by Jim Henley —
July 21, 2007 @ 9:15 am
Oh sure. Potter itself is a loss leader. I don’t know if there were enough add-on sales to produce any gross margin for Borders. But Chipotle and Potbelly’s and Jose’s Pupusa Wagon could have made a fortune: they’re not selling at a 40% discount.
Comment by Karen —
July 21, 2007 @ 9:40 am
Jim, you’re safe from the hordes of Pottermaniacs lynching anyone who spoils the ending. Wikipedia already had a plot summary up at 10 p.m. Central last night, which I, miserable wretch that I am, read. Then again, I don’t really like reading books where I don’t know the ending because getting to the plot resolution overcomes my pleasure at the rest of the book. Anyway, I’ll get my copy from BN Online sometime this morning and ignore the housework and grocery shopping and children and the file I brought home to analyze and everything else on the planet including any declarations of war until I finish it. Then I won’t tell anyone else what happened.
Comment by Nell —
July 21, 2007 @ 9:58 am
[Takoma Park] should assert a unitary town council theory, declaring that they were responsible for the full commonweal of Tacky Park and that since the place couldn’t be truly secure and free while George Bush and Dick Cheney are in charge of any country TP is part of, they had jurisdiction. Also declare that if any of a list of Bush Administration officials set foot in town that the local government would put them on trial for war crimes.
Much more trenchant and witty political analysis than was on offer in the Harry Potter line I waited in last night — and I wasn’t even there for the damned book!
The Kroger had apparently decided to stay open after midnight in order to be part of the HPExperience, but had for reasons best known to themselves closed all the self-serve checkouts and all but one of the human checkout lines. So those of us who stopped in at 11:30 for groceries and beer on our way home from working at America’s only community-owned drive-in had to wait in line so long that the window for alcohol purchases closed (Virginia bans sale of same between midnight and six in the morning).
Comment by Thomas Nephew —
July 21, 2007 @ 11:52 am
It was good to see you and your family at Border’s, Jim. The Pottermania was entertainingly over the top, it felt like a midsummer night’s Halloween, carnival, and community fair all rolled into one.
I will of course take mild issue with this: on one level silly and on another embarrassingly earnest, like when the place declared itself a nuclear-free zone.
I don’t think we deserve that. If Congress were showing signs of doing anything about impeachment, I might agree. But they aren’t. This is a legitimate “sense of the people” idea; assuming it passes — knock on wood — it would also tell our Congressman (and DCCC chair) Chris Van Hollen that many of his voters, many of the people he collects money from, and even many of the people he shares microphones with feel strongly about the Constitution, human rights, and the separation of powers. The resolution itself is pretty good, I think, mentioning the fraudulent case for the war, torture, indefinite detention, warrantless electronic surveillance, and signing statements as grounds for impeaching both Bush and Cheney.
There’s nothing wrong and a lot right about city councils making these kinds of things topics of respectable discussion — especially when politicians who *ought* to be doing so won’t. It gives those of us who support the idea a first rung up the ladder to work towards, and gives our reps higher up the political food chain a sense it’s not “just” DFHs who support the idea. Community petitions like this one are often a part of getting “oh it’s hopeless” ideas rolling — abolition, nuclear weapons freeze, to name a couple. Of course they don’t guarantee success. They’re just one way to start trying.
Comment by kishnevi —
July 21, 2007 @ 11:12 pm
Have you read any of the previous books?
Rowling’s description of how the Ministry of Magic works is probably good for a few illustrations of how government works (or doesn’t work). And apparently Valdemort maintains a dungeon and torture department in the Ministry of Magic once he takes it over in this volume.
I read the Wiki synopsis this morning, and if I read it all, I’ll wait until I can get it from the public library. If the latter overordered copies like it did for the previous two books, that won’t be too long a wait.
Comment by Thoreau —
July 22, 2007 @ 9:04 am
It’s not a torture department. It’s an enhanced interrogation department.
Such are the lessons of the era we live in.
Comment by Lawrence Krubner —
July 22, 2007 @ 6:03 pm
“The one thing the evening could have used is more capitalism.”
It could be argued, of course, that there were not enough people walking around past 11 PM to keep incoming revenue higher than the expenses of staying open, and therefore those businesses would have to operate at a loss if they were to stay open. So it could be argued that it was capitalism that caused them to close early.
Comment by Thomas Nephew —
July 22, 2007 @ 6:18 pm
it could be argued, of course, that there were not enough people walking around past 11 PM to keep incoming revenue higher than the expenses of staying open
Not if you were there. The place was rocking at 11:30 pm and probably at 12:30 and 1 am too. (We cut out around 11:30, we were just there for the fun of it, too.) Jim’s right, it was odd.
Comment by Lawrence Krubner —
July 22, 2007 @ 9:12 pm
“Not if you were there. The place was rocking at 11:30 pm and probably at 12:30 and 1 am too. (We cut out around 11:30, we were just there for the fun of it, too.) Jim’s right, it was odd.”
It could be argued, of course, that merchants gain some advantage by having fixed hours for each day of the week. It could be argued that there are subtle costs to varying the hours of operation, each day, based on perceived possible business. There might be unexpected labor costs (as in, female entrepreneur runs stand till 11 PM, baby sitter at home expects to be left off by 11:30, starts charging double if no one shows up by 11:45). Or perhaps varying the hours each day is like trying to time the market – you close 2 hours early one day because the streets are dead, and you miss the big surge that occurs at 9:30 PM when the new, popular movie ends.
Of course, it’s also possible that merchants are fundamentally irrational, and that store hours are determined by irrational forces. I’m just as happy with that explanation.
Comment by Jim Henley —
July 22, 2007 @ 9:17 pm
Personally, I blame big government! Montgomery County is one of those districts that’s tried to drive away tawdry, downmarket mobile vendors. No longer are there great crab and rib trucks on the shoulders of the arteries. Jose’s Pupusa Wagon probably couldn’t get a permit. Hell, two guys with hot dog stands could have retired by 1am Saturday.