Happy Week-of-the-Solstice, Overthinkers! The longest day of the year heralds the longest Open Thread of the year. We hope.
The big news for all you book nerds: J.K. Rowling announced that the Harry Potter series will be available in e-format for the first time through her branded site Pottermore. Industry sources say that, by going outside of a traditional publishing house and keeping all royalties herself, Rowling stands to make all dollars. That’s all dollars, everywhere. They will all flow to her like the tide.
Some losses this week: Ryan Dunn, star of MTV’s “Jackass,” in a car crash probably brought on by alcohol; and a stagehand in the Daniel Radcliffe-starring Broadway production of “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying,” possibly brought on by heroin O.D. Tough business, that show business.
New movies out this week: indie darling A Better Life, trashy comedy Bad Teacher, and Conan O’Brien documentary Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop. Pixar is also releasing Cars 2, which, like Cars, will probably be “merely very good” and not “an instant classic for all generations” (a la Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo, Up, The Incredibles or WALL-E).
Comment of the Week goes to Svan on Larry Crowne, The 40 Year Old Virgin and American Transportation Policy:
I’m not satisfied with the narrative that this trope is purely the result of filmic convenience. I am partially satisfied to be sure, having a dramatic external change can be used as short hand for representing dramatic internal change. However, in the last Clichemaggedon, I suggested: include an experience where the main character purchases and is satisfied with a commercial product as staple Cinema Americana. This grows out of an internalized vision of self as an autonomous individual and of industry’s ability to equip them with the trinkets of a hero’s journey.
Americans tend to mythologize the origins of their possessions in a different way than other cultures. Of course most all character arc’s I’ve ever seen will start with the hero having some undesirable possessions and end with them holding something quite better. Where these things come from and how they reflect upon their user are usually a different story.
And that’s only half of it! Svan’s got something to say; check it out.
Will J.K. Rowling wreck her CGI-talking car on a drunk driving binge in West Goshen, PA? Or is there something we missed? Sound off in the comments, for this is your … Open Thread.