A whole month of Harry Potter goodness...

Yes, I know that you've all probably seen the naked pictures of Daniel Radcliffe. Yes, he's buff, but he's also jailbait, so that is not the topic of this post. :P

The new Harry Potter release date is out! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out on July 21, 2007. I'm already intrigued by the title. According to rumour, two people will die, and I know that I will spend the next few months debating who with my fellow Potterites. Will they die on All Hallow's Eve? Or is it something to do with Godric's Hollow? Or both? Oh, the fun! Reminds me of when my oldest friend and I spent weeks trying to figure out who the Half-Blood Prince was. Sadly to say, we were almost convinced it was Hagrid. (lol) Interestingly for this book, as someone pointed out to me, it is the seventh book, being released in the seventh month of the seventh year, and 3 x 7 = 21 (released on the 21st). Oh, I love Numerology. Did Hermione take that? Anyway, I'm digressing. I totally bought the book today, 46% off no less, so I will get to read it right away. Yes, I love Harry Potter that much. I bought the first four books the day before I left England, and read all of them on the flight back to Canada (yep, that's only a 7 hour flight.) I bought the 5th in Japan, because it was the only book in English that I could find in my whole town, and probably read it three times while I was there. Needless to say, I can't wait until this one arrives!

The other great part of this scenario is that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix premieres on July 13th. All sorts of Harry Potter goodness piling on top of itself- sweet! I can imagine that the theatre lineups are going to be insane, but I'll brave them. Harry Potter is the Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia of this generation, and while the series lacks the political and religious significance of the other two, it is still highly imaginative and entertaining. Everyone needs some escapism, and I like that with Harry Potter, I can do it in a world that a) I would love to belong to, b) is peopled with people whom I would love to meet and be friends with, c) deals with situations that, although magical, are ones that everyone can relate to on some level- love, friendship, decision making, trust, negotiating adult authority, I'd like to argue Nazism, embracing your given abilities, and carving out your path in life. I'll be sad when I turn the last page of this book, because then I won't have the anticipation of a new adventure to look forward to. I just hope that Harry is still alive at the end of it.