h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello Harry Potter fans everywhere. I am a big fan of harry potter. I have read all the books, listened to the tape and when ever I see or hear the words Harry Potter I have to read or listen on. Harry Potter is one of the best books I have ever read. Even my 15 and 17 year old brothers have read the book althrough they are not as big a fan as me. My favourite book out of the three is No 3 Harry Potter and the Prisonor of Azkaban ( Have I spelt Azkaban right i don't know)
Bye Harry Potter fans everywhere

I also looove HP.
I'm kool.
I hope you don't mind me correcting you if you worte the approved giude entry on HP it's the Sorcerer's Stone.
You spelled Azkaban right.
You can check out my page if you like.
you can E-mail me at [email protected].
Did you know that J.K. Rowling is releasing the 4th book this July?
I heard it's the best so far.
I'm excited about the movie aren't you?
I wish could have been in it.

Hello kool. I would really like to be in the movie to I can't wait until it comes out. The 4th book is due out on the 8th july.

> I hope you don't mind me correcting you if you worte the approved giude entry on HP it's the Sorcerer's Stone.
It's the Philosopher's Stone in Britian, where it was written. They changed the name for the Americans for some strange reason.

> Did you know that J.K. Rowling is releasing the 4th book this July?
It was "released" earlier for the British.

I've read the first Harry Potter book. I thought it was well written, and I like the concept of the series. I could have enjoyed more action and less agonizing about schoolwork and magic football games, though. But it's been 20 or more years since I had to worry about what the popular kids thought of me, so I'm really not the target audience here. B^{D>

If you like Harry Potter, you may like a comic book which DC Comics published, called "The Books of Magic". It features Timothy Hunter, a teenaged boy who's probably the world's most powerful sorceror. And it predates Harry Potter by several years. It's on hiatus right now, but you may be able to find back issues. The more recent, the better; the series improved greatly over time.

The title was changed from '... and the Philosopher's Stone' to '... and the Sorcerer's Stone' as part of the 'dumbing down' of the books for the American market that has been discussed at length in one of the other HP forums.

The reason? Apparently, it was assumed, or discovered, that the notion of 'the philosopher's stone' was less well understood in the US than in Britain. The Philosopher's Stone, in medieval philosophy, was the magical stone that turned everything into gold. It's mentioned in the poem/hymn by George Herbert: 'This is the famous stone/ that turneth all to gold;/ for that which God doth touch and own/ cannot for less be told.'

Does this sort of dumbing down really happen? It sure does. A few years ago, a film was made called 'The Madness of King George'. It was a film of a play called 'The Madness of George III' (ie, King George the Third). But when the film previewed in the US under the title 'The Madness of George III', the focus groups did not understand the title, believing it to be the third in a series of films 'The Madness of George'. So the title was changed. Sad, but true.

I know we generally think of Ye Folks Across Ye Ponde as being ignorant, vacuous and incapable of comprehending sarcasm, but let us not forget that some of the funniest people ever are, in fact, Americans. The late Charles Schultz, Gary Larson, the chaps from Who's Line Is It Anyway? everyone involved in the Simpsons, etc.
And the best wry observation of American behaviour is, of course, Bill Bryson's. Those who live surrounded by the stereotype are best-placed to make fun of it- which they do very well, and more importantly, have the right to. (Let's not forget that Bill gets just as much material out of us- and I for one loved it, because it was true. Anyone who could possibly be offended wouldn't be reading his books.)

It is sad that certain words were changed in the books for U.S audiences, even more sad that they're likely to stay changed in the movie; so that we have 'vacation', not holiday, 'jello', not jam. Now, I'm sure U.K readers aren't all that bothered, but surely part of the charm of reading JKR is how terribly english it all is?

If it stays that way for the movie, Chris Col can expect to have five points deducted by Snape ...

I am an american reader who has been greatly enjoying the Harry Potter books. I find them madly amusing and I read them from front to back within one day. I can kind of see your point for the "Americanization" of the Harry Potter books... it kind of confused me the way they kept talking about soccer when I was expecting them to say football. I spent a semester studying in England this past year, and it was just lovely reading the books and reading about all the lovely things that I miss about England, as well as all the fun wizardry parts.

I've just read something rather sweet ( although it won't help U.S audiences much, it'll make the DVD intresting .. ) it seems that the film will have two different titles: Socercer (sic) in the U.S, and Philospher in the U.K. In addition, any references to "soccer" or "football" will be recorded twice. It does seem a bit of bother, but it's nice to see that they're making the effort to placate thier British audiences ( and all the main cast is British! Shock! ).

I don't think the film will be any good because when you read the books you have a picture in your mined of what its going to look like, but when you see the film, it will be different to what you thought it would look like.

I know what you mean, the film is probably going to be a bit of a let-down, but it should be interesting to see how it's translated onto film. I might not go so far as to see it in theaters and be dissapointed, but I do want to see it eventually.

Ho, I never knew that.