(no subject)

[cleolinda]

Writers' meeting with the Lovely Emily and--to coin a nickname for her--the Amazing McRachel went fine. I had a peach freeze and it was gooood. I think I recognized the guy sitting at the table behind us from Milton class and a workshop, but I'm not sure--I'm used to seeing his profile, not full face. We talked about boys and work and Livejournal and message boards and eventually even got around to poetry, astonishingly enough, so now I have homework for our next meeting.

We got out of the hurricane just fine, obviously, although our next-door neighbor lost a tree. I did spent the whole night lying in bed as the power flashed on and off--which was why I went to bed at 8 pm, because it was pointless to do anything but just turn everything off and practice my lucid dreaming. My poor alarm clock--you could look at it and, since there was no point in resetting it every time, basically use it as a No Blackouts in ## Minutes sign. Once we got through more than an hour. I think the shortest interval without a blackout was about ten minutes.

(By the way--my other post was meant to be a declaration of defiance, not a reckless flaunting of lack of damage, because... seriously, don't smite me, okay, weather gods?)

My mother, however, spent the afternoon before the hurricane hit baking a cake. This after the brownies and cookies from the day before. And I'll tell you what, this cake turned out to be exceptionally moist. It actually falls apart on the fork and is really, really good. I have no idea what's up with that.



Something interesting about Harry Potter and the publishing industry in general:

Demand for the book is higher than ever. Scholastic, Inc., Rowling’s American publisher, has announced a first printing of 10.8 million, seven times the first run of Bill Clinton’s “My Life” and 4 million more than for “Order of the Phoenix.” Meanwhile, Random House’s Listening Library has commissioned 635,000 copies of the audio version, again read by the beloved Jim Dale.

Pre-orders from Barnes & Noble, Inc., and Amazon.com have already made “Half-Blood Prince” a million seller.

“We will sell about 50,000 copies per hour in the first 24 hours,” says Barnes & Noble CEO Steve Riggio. “Less than 1 percent of all books sell that many in their lifetime.”

Speaking of which, I've never been to a midnight book party before--what do the stores do, exactly?

The Lovely Emily and some other folks are going to an art thing before the party, so Sister Girl and I are going to pre-order tickets and try to get into Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at 7 pm. Poor movie--who's going to go see it after they've got Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince clutched in their hot little hands? Bad marketing department! Bad!

I also really wanted to go see this screening of Murderball tonight, but I read in the paper yesterday that it had already sold out. I hadn't realized that they actually filmed part of it here, where the players trained for the Paralympics, which explains the burst of local interest. It won't be back until July 29, woe, but at least I have Empire tonight, and... oh, shit. I still haven't written last week's recap, have I?

Comments

[ruination.livejournal.com]

OOh! The midnight thing is awesome! At boarders they have HP themed food (pumpkin juice, berty botts ever flavoured beans) and it's very fun! I went last time and had alot of fun :D I loooove it!

[meredith-mae.livejournal.com]

A great recipe for butterbeer my friend found is one cup butterscotch schnapps and 11 cups cream soda. Sounds delectable...

[shoiryu.livejournal.com]

Speaking of which, I've never been to a midnight book party before--what do the stores do, exactly?

The one we went to had games and stuff, it was mostly for kids... but at eleven thirty the lineup started. (kativy and I were first on the line and first to get our books, and the whole store erupted into applause and cheering for us as we left, it was pretty neat.)

[meredith-mae.livejournal.com]

My friend (and head of my cough*Harry Potter meet-up group*cough) is helping plan a party at the west coast flagship Barnes and noble store (huge, 3 stories, and they have 3,000 pre-orders for the book so far). Lots of people dress up, so they have costume contests. I'm going to be running a scavenger hunt. Another friend is making a trivia test. (which she tested out on our group - and I got the highest score!) So - games, arts and crafts, candy, wireless internet access for laptops, and general last minute reading and specualtion I imagine. I've actually never been to one before either (for OotP, I just bought it the day it came out). And... my friends and I got a hotel room for the weekend so we can read without distractions, and with cabana boys and room service. Because we're dorks like that.

Glad you made it out of the hurricaine ok!

[meredith-mae.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I hear some places are making replicas of Diagon Alley, and one store in Chicago has a broom flying simulator.

[bluestocking7.livejournal.com]

Speaking of which, I've never been to a midnight book party before--what do the stores do, exactly?

I posted about my experiences working at the HP 4 release at Barnes and Noble, if you want to read about it...HERE (http://www.livejournal.com/users/bluestocking7/913633.html?mode=reply)

[scary-lullabies.livejournal.com]

Midnight book parties are fun... I think. I have only been to a couple on Hawaii, where ppl are way more mellow and the manager did get on the intercom and joke that she had just got off the phone with the mainland and it was total chaos there......but book parties in Hawaii are fun! They have games and raffles and usually something edible and complimentary (bertie botts!). Bring something to do though, cuz with a Harry Potter party, alot of the games are more for little kids.

[katcat.livejournal.com]

OMG! Icon.is.amazing.must.steal!

Seriously! I'm stealing that, where did you get it?

[ararejul.livejournal.com]

i'm going to a midnight book release for the first time ever. A friend who went to the last one promised me butterbeer and i will kill him if there is none. I went to the stores websited and it looked little kiddish but it did boast a gryffindor common room and prizes....so i'll find out for ya ;)

[alitaorg.livejournal.com]

i love your icon! is there one for ravenclaw??

[silverjewel7.livejournal.com]

Midnight parties are fun, but hectic. There's about four million people there, and at the ones I've been to, there have been trivia contests and fake dueling for the little ones, as well as a lot of general mayhem. Then you get in line and pray you're not, like, 467,000,000th.

[meredith-mae.livejournal.com]

That's why they're giving out wristbands at our party. WRISTBANDS! Like for concert tickets and CD signings. And they hand those out at 6, party starts at 8.

[grnarmadillo.livejournal.com]

At the local Border's party for the last HP book, they basically had the store open as if it weren't midnight, with a line that didn't start moving until midnight for those actually there to get the book. (There was a separate register for other book purchases.) The books were all just stored behind the counter in a huge stack of "do not open until midnight" crates, and they'd hand you however many you'd pre-reserved when you got to the counter. They were spinning some "if you haven't pre-ordered, we'll see if any are left" BS, but every book, record, video, and even grocery store in the area had copies the next morning at the same markdown, so I think all the shortage talk was just designed to make sure you paid THEM for the book instead of someone else. So unless you actually stayed up all night reading it, you got the thing no sooner than you would have without the hoopla (perhaps even delaying your reading experience while you slept off having gotten home from Border's after 2 AM).

[enthroned.livejournal.com]

ooh! which midnight party are you going to? I'm gonna be going and probably dressing up, but I haven't exactly chosen a bookstore. I'm thinking either the B&N behind the galleria or the one at the summit?

[allysonsedai.livejournal.com]

The one at the Summit is where it's at! I'll be the one with the Guns & Handcuffs t-shirt on. :)

[cattikins.livejournal.com]

I went to a midnight party for OotP. It was kind of boring. My friends and I got drinks and snacks at Starbucks (it was a Barnes and Noble with the Starbucks inside), and sat and read magazines for like three hours.

[stareyednight.livejournal.com]

The midnight parties are fun, if not just for the excitement. It gets tense and everyone is excited and dressed up and trading conspirousy (sp?) theories and comparing costumes. For OotP, I went to one even though I had ordered my book to be delivered at my house the next morning. I ended up helping the overwhelmed staff at Chapters who obviously had not expected quite an outpouring.

[atalantapendrag.livejournal.com]

Gotta wonder how many hormonal Snape fangirls are gonna descend on that Fort Worth store... (anyone in Austin up for a road trip?)

[chocotaku.livejournal.com]

Preordered at borders when they first allowed it. I've already scoped out whats going on at that bookstore. They will be giving out line tickets at 3pm. Then at 11:45pm, they will start lining people up at the registers 100 at a time. Thats the official plan. The chocotaku plan is to get there at 12pm, play psp till a line forms, then jump in it, get a ticket, go home for a nap, come back around 6pm and enjoy the party, get book around 12am-2am, read till 12pm saturday when I post a review having finished the book. XD

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

The Potter excitement has me vibrating like an unbalanced washing machine. My advisor comes back from China tomorrow, and I really need to get things done, but Must—Reread—Fifth—Book. It's terrible, really, what this series has done to me. Back in college I was so much more productive.

I hope we don't see any more of the Harry!Rage in book six. It's no fun. I'm curious about what's going to happen with Fudge— the Quibbler isn't the most accurate newsrag, but I have a hunch there's something to that business about Fudge and the goblins.

[soleta-nf.livejournal.com]

The Potter excitement has me vibrating like an unbalanced washing machine. My advisor comes back from China tomorrow, and I really need to get things done, but Must—Reread—Fifth—Book.

OMG, that is so me right now. I was getting super stressed that I wouldn't have them all re-read by Friday, but I am now happily 3/4 through GoF, and so I can kind of see the end of the tunnel now.

[caitiedid.livejournal.com]

I went to the OotP midnight party last year at a local Border's, and it was a little boring. It was aimed mostly for kids, with trivia games and little arts a crafts, and there were also HP-themed refreshments at the cafe, including butterbeer (I think it was apple cider and ginger ale; not the greatest). I'm going to one at Barnes & Noble this time.

[ambiguousreason.livejournal.com]

Mmmmcake. Now I want some cake. Dammit.

Glad to hear you made it through the hurricane okay. :D

[draconifers.livejournal.com]

I want that book sooo badly!

Check out potterparties.com or mugglenet, they'll tell you.

[sunshine95.livejournal.com]

oh man. can i come over and have some cookies/brownies/cake? lol. i'm sitting here with my animal crackers, and...don't get me wrong, i love animal crackers, but all i can think right now is, "caaaaake." =P

[kira002.livejournal.com]

Hurricake. *snicker*

Chiming in with my midnight book party comments: my little independent bookstore (http://www.towncrierbookstore.com) is expanding our party this time to cover the entire block. The city is shutting down that block so we can shove all the kids outdoors instead of trying to contain them in the store (that was a nightmare last time...cram 100 already super-excited-about-HP5 kids into our small store, add sugary snacks past their bedtime, and voila! insanity). We're doing arts'n'crafts (face painting, decorate your own wand), showing HP3 on a giant screen outside, serving snacks, the docents are bringing rats and snakes and owls from the zoo, etc. Then at 12:01, we can sell boatloads of books. By 12:20, we should be able to start cleaning up and be outta there by 1:00AM. Then I get to turn around and work the Saturday morning shift. *headdesk*

[texansasha.livejournal.com]

I LOVE your icon! Can I snag it?

[texansasha.livejournal.com]

I think it's funny that they thought the HP Merchandise would do well. It all looked bad, was thought out bad and just plain sucked. I'm glad they've decided to take it off the market.

[herigstad.livejournal.com]

Heeeeee. Hurricake.
I bet you anything that the air pressure from the storm has something to do with how moist and crubly the cake was.
Of course I know what I'm talking about. I bought a piece of paper off the intar-web that says I am a weather expert...

[promise19.livejournal.com]

Heeeeee. Hurricake.

hee! good one!

[ulicqel-droma.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to hear you got through the hurricane unscathed.

[starr234.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to go as early as necessary to be first in line. As soon as I have the book in my hands, I'm flipping to the last few pages, falling to my knees, throwing my arms up at the sky, and wailing "NO, NOT RON, DON'T TAKE RON FROM US, WHYYYYYYYYYY??????"

Actually, that would probably result in my death, so maybe I'll pay a friend to do it and just watch.

[megathy27.livejournal.com]

I usually just lurk here, but I had to come out of the shadows to say that great minds must think alike - my friends and I have the same plan as you, to see Charlie & the Chocolate Factory at 7 and then go to the party (my first one as well). Funny world ^_^

[edda.livejournal.com]

*wants hurricake*

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

1. Yellow cake mix, any brand you want.

2. Find hurricane.

3. Bake.

4. Slather on whatever icing you've got in the cabinet. Two completely different kinds of chocolate? BRING IT ON.

5.

6. Profit! Hurricake!