Month: July 2005

Yesterday was a little surreal at the Boston Public Library. Much of the day was filled with Harry Potter control. I am amazed at the level of mania induced by this series of books, especially in the workplace when that workplace is a library. Personally I’ve never read any of the Harry Potter books; never had the desire to do so. This is a little strange, since I am a fan of the fantasy genre; you’d figure I would have tried one out by now. I have nothing against the books, and suspect that one day I will at least read the first one, if not the whole series. Anything that gets this many people, especially young people, is a good thing. I have seen the three movies that have been made so far, but I find them to be average to uninteresting and they haven’t inspired me to go back and read the books.

But I’m here to write about the strange hold Harry Potter took over the library yesterday. Libraries are notorious for not having new popular books; or rather, not having them on the shelf when someone comes to look for them. It makes sense: if a book is popular, it means many people want to read it. By their very nature, libraries only have one to several copies of any given book, and if a book is popular, it will be check out. Therefore new books, books with an advanced build-up of excitement, will all be on reserve for the people who have been waiting for its release. Nothing will be on the shelf when the books first comes out. Browsers who are not intimate with the “library way” will innocently walk into the building expecting to find the new Harry Potter book (I’m sure the library will own a couple of copies) and of course, it won’t be there.

The BPL decided to do something special for the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which, if you didn’t happen to know, is today. When we ordered our copies of this book, we wanted to try to have a copy for everyone who requested it in advance. We ordered 300 copies, thinking that might be enough. 300 copies of a single book (albeit for 28 locations)! Well, unfortunately, we ended up being about 88 copies short to cover everyone’s reserve copies.

At a recent manager’s meeting, we discussed the Harry Potter events that would be occurring on it’s release date (today) including multiple events, face-painting, screenings of the film, people dressed in costume. It dawned on us that it would be pretty sad to have these events running all day long, but not a single copy of the new book available for anyone attending these events, and not have the advance knowledge of the reserve system available in the building. We decided to try a radical new experiment. We would take 50 copies of the book and make them non-requestable. These books would not be used to fill customer requests and hence would be available for our customers who walk in looking for the book. You wouldn’t believe the planning and controversy that erupted from this decision. One branch librarian complained that this project would “violate” that sanctity of the reserve list. Most were thrilled that we would actually be serving that large section of our customer based who did not use the reserve system. This week was consumed by Harry Potter preparations.

Our 300 copies arrived on Thursday, were entered into the system and prepared for their release date of today. Yesterday was almost entirely consumed with preparations and tweaks to the system. The tension in the building was palpable, with so many copies present, but unable to be checked out until its actual release date. An early check out could suffer legal ramifications, after all. Glitches were found in the system, and solutions implemented. Now, it’s half an hour until the library opens, and the BPL is poised for the influx of Potter fans who will be in to pick up their advance requests, and the 50 people who will be lucky enough to actually see a copy on the shelves.

It’s quite an amazing phenomenon, and one that both mystifies and thrills me. To see such an amazing amount of excitement built around a book, an object that many people believe has become almost passe. Who said working in a library was boring?

I’m rather stunned at the findings of a study conducted by a team of psychologists in Chicago and Toronto who claim that bisexuality in men doesn’t exist. The findings were boldly reported in the New York Times last week. A pretty strong claim, and when you read the article, a pretty silly one based on the evidence. I found out about the article from AJ, and he does a good job pointing out all the flaw there. Check out his comments.

One of the comments in the article that I found particularly silly is this quote, “I’m not denying that bisexual behavior exists,” said Dr. Bailey, “but I am saying that in men there’s no hint that true bisexual arousal exists, and that for men arousal is orientation.” Not being a huge fan of the term ‘orientation’ to begin with, my homosexuality has just been reduced completely to my arousal. Well guess what, I make no claims to be even the slightest bit bisexual yet I have been aroused by women. How do you explain that one Dr. Bailey?

Sheesh.

This isn’t a review of this weekend’s summer blockbuster, FANTASTIC FOUR. Just click on the title and you’ll see that. As I read review after review about editing, plot and character development and very little about how much fun the film is, it suddenly struck me. Most critics are reviewing FANTASTIC FOUR as a movie, while I am reviewing it as a summer blockbuster.

I am an avowed movie snob who rarely shows his face in a multiplex. It takes a comic book adaptation, or going to a movie with Scot’s Mom to do it usually. I am so immersed in independent, quasi-independent or foreign-language films that I have very little time to get to the Hollywood blockbusters. Even films like SPIDER-MAN and its sequel, despite being comic book adaptations, are on my Netflix queue because I didn’t want to devote the time to a big summer blockbuster, no matter how good it was.

When I do go to a Hollywood summer smash, you can be sure I have supremely low expectations. Add to that, the story of FANTASTIC FOUR seems impossible to me to make into a serious film that grown-ups are going to enjoy unless they have already been immersed into the comic mythos. The filmmakers of FANTASTIC FOUR went the only way they could given these challenges: a big, slightly silly and fun-filled action film that your kids can enjoy. What’s wrong with that? FANTASTIC FOUR isn’t a dark comic like BATMAN. Giving it a serious, dark undertone would have been completely laughable. It worked for SPIDER-MAN 2, and it could work for FANTASTIC FOUR 2 if there is one, because the backstory is out of the way and there can be a focus on character development and the darker side of life. For a film that has to introduce us to these characters and get them through the motions of gaining their powers, enjoying some superheroic action and fighting their nemesis, it does a damn good job.

Was I expecting a great film, well-written, elegantly made? Absolutely not. The fact that X2: X-MEN UNITED was that as well is pretty amazing, but it does happen. Did the fact that it wasn’t lessen the enjoyment for me? Nope? And if you want to know why, check out my review.

Take a look. It’s pretty silly, but pretty funny. Thanks to Corky for posting this.