Friday, April 18, 2008

Two worlds become one


My two favorite things have finally merged: books and food. That's right! All around the world on April 1st bibliophiles, book artists, and food lovers gather to celebrate the book arts and the (literal!) ingestion of culture for the Edible Book Festival. Participants create edible books that are exhibited, documented then consumed. Some of my personal favorites from this year event held at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign are: Robinson Mouss-o, Grape Moments in Literary History, Clockwork Orange & Lard of the Rings.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

I love Harry Potter. I no longer love J.K. Rowling.


I don't know if you are following this, but a gentleman has been keeping a Harry Potter Encyclopedia online, which Rowling has said that she loves. Now the Encyclopediast, Steven Vander Ark, is being sued by Rowling for copyright infringement.
That's fine. I don't mind that. What is the problem? This:
"Rowling (her name rhymes with bowling, rather than howling), testified Monday that the Harry Potter characters she created are as dear as her children, too precious to allow an inferior Potter encyclopedia to be published without letting the world know the ordeal is draining her of her will to write."
Apparently someone existing, who loves her work so much that he has devoted 9 years to her work (albeit as an "inferior writer," sorry dude) and wants to add something to the understanding of the Potter world is "draining her of the will to write?"
It's a good thing Tolkien or C.S. Lewis or you know, every popular writer that has ever written a book had a bit stronger of a constitution regarding their reading public.