Rumorville: Harry Potter & the Graphic Novel?

Now that the title and release date for the last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, has been announced, much speculation has begun on what could happen next for the beloved series that many do not want to see come to an end. For example, one comic book site has a new article online asking if the Harry Potter books would perhaps make a good comic book or graphic novel series, in the form similar to the new Stephen King Dark Tower Comics. Newsarama let us know about a short interview they had with a rep from Scholastic (US publishers of the Potter books) if they had any interest in producing a Harry Potter graphic novel series for their Graphix line.

The Leaky Cauldron - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (book 7), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (movie 5) news, images, videos, podcast and more

Head to The Leaky Cauldron’s news site: leakynews.com (GREAT HP site, btw. I listen to their podcast regularly) and read what David Saylor of Scholastic/Graphix says. It’s barely a twinkle in an eye– but the mere fact that it was mentioned makes me curious.

First thought: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I feel like the Masterful Guru herself, JK Rowling, has said repetitively that she needs to move away from the series, and that she had contemplated Harry’s death just to ensure that no one else could pick up the pen in her steed. I agree with her.

Second thought: As a muggle wishing to be a wizard, oh the joy I would have in exploring HP’s world beyond ‘the boy who lived.’ Like, namely, what is the American school of Wizardry like? Where is it? What about other kids at Hogwarts– generations AFTER Harry, Ron, and Hermione?

I hope to be in London for the premiere of the next movie. I was in the selected-fan stadium seating around the Odeon in London for both of the 1st and 2nd movies (I was the only whacked-out adult without a kid in the crowd).

Oh the memories– I happened to recognize Cher when she showed up with the platinum do of ‘03. I chanted her name like a crazy person, and she came up, took my hand and said “Thank you.” I was the only one who knew who she was. Poor thing.

The camp counselor inside me managed to get the crowd of 8+ year old British children chanting:

Izzy: “Give me an H”
Crowd: “Haaaayshhh!”
Izzy: “Give me an A”
Crowd: “Aye!”
Izzy: “Give me an R”
Crowd: “Awwwwr”
Izzy: “Give me another R”

Crowd: “Awwwwr”
Izzy: “Give me a Y”
Crowd: “Y!”
Izzy: “What’s that spell?”
Crowd: “Arrrry Paw-er”

Or when Robbie Coltrane arrived and I managed to get the crowd chanting “Robbie, Robbie!” And our dearest Hagrid thought we were cheering for Robbie Williams. Oh bless.

I was amongst my people those two separate days in London– 2002, 2003.

technorati tags:Harry, Potter

UGC, Social Networking, Branding, and the future…

In the past year, more and more advertisers have flocked to social networking sites to promote their products to the tens of millions of users there, hopefully winning over a few influencers in the process. Burger King set up a MySpace page. The American Brewer, Anheuser Busch, is sponsoring MingleNow’s Clink section where the object apparently is to share photos of semi-inebriated community members. Others, like Southwest Airlines, Pepsi and Doritos, are going an extra step, asking consumers to submit ideas for the next ad campaign. The hope is that the homework assignment will get consumers to think creatively about the brands in their lives and potentially spur a series of user-generated spots worthy of the tube, or better, on YouTube.

Winning over the cool kids is no small task. Advertisers have been trying this for years, with varying results. The emergence of social networks, with their well-defined user profiles, makes the task of finding the influencers easier. But getting them to do a marketer’s bidding may actually be more difficult than ever. One of the biggest problems is getting their attention.

Teens and twenty-somethings may be multi-tasking masters, but they tend to be a suspicious lot when it comes to overt marketing messages. They can smell a product endorsement a mile away.

Social networkers go to MySpace and Facebook to chat with friends, not to champion brands. But, they do chat
about the things they are most passionate about, and often that means brands, cool brands. And, in this multimedia age, the web chatter can look just as slick as anything Madison Avenue produces. Case in point: as of this morning, there are 47,600 videos on YouTube dedicated to Nintendo’s gaming platform, Wii. That’s
influential.

Win friends and influence consumers-News-Tech & Web-The Web-TimesOnline

Ack! They’re on to us! At least Star Farm is ahead of the game with acknowledging our fans, allowing them to alter their content (as well as some AWESOME things behind the big red curtain that we’re itching to reveal for branding & online platforms).

When Cyberbullies get Expelled…

Four Sherwood Park junior high school students have been expelled and more than 20 have been handed out-of-school suspensions after creating fake Nexopia accounts of teachers and posting negative comments on the sites.

Nexopia is an interactive online community that is popular with teens. Users make profiles and can comment and rate other users on their profiles.

Four female students created profiles pretending to be two of the school’s teachers. Then more than 20 students posted comments on the profiles that were “derogatory, defamatory and libelous in nature” according to a statement released by Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS.)

According to Tanya Orr, spokesperson for the division, the four that were responsible for creating the profiles were expelled. Their future is now up to the board of trustees, who could send the students to another school, outreach program or a special needs school.The students who visited and posted on the site received suspensions that ranged from one to five days in length.

“EIPS does not tolerate student conduct that’s detrimental to the physical or mental well-being of others in the school,” said Superintendent Egbert Stang in the division’s statement.

Const. Rick Green, a school resource officer with the Strathcona County RCMP, said no charges will be laid as the problem was being dealt with at the school level.  He said RCMP did investigate the incident and it was the first time he has had to deal with such a matter.

“It was a first for me but hopefully a last,” said Green. “It was really disappointing to see.”

Green urged people not to use any type of communication with the intent to leave negative comments that could ruin a person’s reputation.

Sherwood Park News, Sherwood Park, AB

HA! “It was really disappointing to see”– if that isn’t an understatement.

Dear Teens,

The Web isn’t a Fort for you and your friends and your secrets.  It’s not a game where you make up your own rules.  And things that you say aren’t as temporary a something spoken aloud. 

When you post an inside joke, it’s no longer an inside joke.  When you post information about yourself– maybe one or two friends reply, but at least a hundred strangers (lurkers) have read it.

When you post or email pictures to one friend… you can GARUNTEE that picture is going to be passed to at least one friend, who then will pass it to at least another friend, and so on… down the line, until your entire school has seen your picture. 

Every action, every word, every sentence is read. 

So think before you decide to do anything.  Want to do something stupid like cyberbully? Well, good luck.  You’ll be busted and put through the ringer soon enough. 

Slowly now the Eye of Mordor has been focused on cyberbullying, and this is only the beginning.  The more stupid kids that engage in such activities, the more negativity will be unleashed PUBLICLY.  One day when you’re looking for a job… and your employeer does a background check you– it’s going to be common place to “google” your name.  And what will pop up?  Your nefarious behavior as documented by teachers, principals, parents, other teens, etc.  People don’t let people get away with vicious public behavior.  Good luck trying to explain that you were just being a “kid.”

It’s like tattooing inappropriate things to your skin– you can try and cover ‘em up with clothes or make-up, and you can even try to get it removed.  No matter how hard you try, that black mark of cyberbullying isn’t going to go away, and you’re going to have to deal with it until the day you die.

Sound harsh? Good. Get a clue. 

technorati tags:teens, cyberbullying