On J.K. Rowling: This Is Your Soundtrack

Okay, so most people who get their own Friday Not-Even-Random Ten do so because they've screwed up, usually exhibiting some monumental act of stupidity that turns them into a figure for ridicule. I'm not going to do that this week, because I need to get something off my chest.

I love the very concept of Harry Potter.

Not that you couldn't tell, probably, from Wednesday's post, but I do. I love the books because they're a good story well told, and that's my minimum standard for an entertaining book (add complex and identifiable characters and realistic moral/ethical/humanistic struggles in a fantastic environment, both of which these books have, and I'll bump it up to "good book"). I love the movies because, occasionally spotty acting aside, the directing is usually good and the art direction and musical score are wholly fantastic in every single scene. I love the stories because they're feminist, because Professor McGonagall kicks ass and Qudditch teams are gender-integrated and Hermione is smart and powerful and Emma Watson is a feminist (if only "a bit of" one). I love the concept of the empire, because J.K. Rowling started out as a single mother sitting in a cafe, trying to figure out how to make rent and feed her kid and scribbling a story about a kid who learns he's a wizard on a paper napkin, and now she's a millionaire. I love that kids are reading - reading anything - because I know that when I was growing up, I was the only kid I knew who really liked to read, and I felt bad for everyone who hadn't learned to love it like I did.

And, okay, I love it because only something like Harry Potter could cheese off the fundies this much:



"Had it been in the Old Testament, Harry Potter would have been put to death!" Like he doesn't have enough trouble with Voldemort coming after him all the damn time.

Anyway, that's why this Friday Not-Even-Random Ten is dedicated to J.K. Rowling, but in a good way, because not many books will keep me awake, reading, into the wee hours of the morning, and she's written seven of them. Because if it takes giving up my PowerBook and writing on cocktail napkins for the rest of my life, I'll do it, just for a quarter of what she has - and I'm not even talking money. She's done something awesome, and I hope she's got another universe tucked up in her brain right now, because I'm going to start going into withdrawal.

The Ten:

1. Carmen Consoli, "Fino all'ultimo"
2. Cake, "Open Book"
3. Kula Shaker, "Magic Theatre"
4. Depeche Mode, "World in My Eyes"
5. Ella Fitzgerald, "Witchcraft"
6. Eminem, "Lose Yourself"
7. The Police, "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"
8. Evanescence, "Imaginary"
9. The Faders, "No Sleep Tonight"
10. Garbage, "When I Grow Up"

And here's one last little tidbit for those of you who have read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (or don't intend to do so, or don't particularly care about knowing the ending) - it is rather spoilery - Potterdamerung.

Your Ten, random or no, and you guilty literary pleasures go in comments.