JK Rowling's Commencement speech at Harvard
youtube.com
youtube.com
Another I liked: "Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two."
A very well done speech, and a quite decent speaker.
(edit) What I mean is that she should've not gone into elaborating on this subject at all. It would've been equally damaging if she would've called him a "ladies man" or a "sex bomb". It's a type of a character detail that I think is better not to be discussed explicitly. Not for this particular character.
I don't know about other people, but this comment of hers did spoil the reading of the last book for me.
-- Orson Scott Card, <http://www.linearpublishing.com/RhinoStory.html>;
> "A young kid growing up in an oppressive family situation suddenly learns that he is one of a special class of children with special abilities, who are to be educated in a remote training facility where student life is dominated by an intense game played by teams flying in midair, at which this kid turns out to be exceptionally talented and a natural leader. He trains other kids in unauthorized extra sessions, which enrages his enemies, who attack him with the intention of killing him; but he is protected by his loyal, brilliant friends and gains strength from the love of some of his family members. He is given special guidance by an older man of legendary accomplishments who previously kept the enemy at bay. He goes on to become the crucial figure in a struggle against an unseen enemy who threatens the whole world."
If so, that is both amusing and relieving. Since I know Ender backwords and forwards, I can save myself the time reading Harry Potter.
Regardless of the lady and her tactics in the publishing business, you have to admit this is quite a good speech. When I first saw it at the top, I thought to myself: "holy crap why is this on HN?" But after watching it, I can't help thinking how nice it was to have my optimism needle bumped up a notch.
Without the school aspect, it could be Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. Without the flying in mid-air, it could be Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic books or Sherwood Smith's Wren's Quest series.
Weird, I would never miss a chance to read a book that compares to another favorite book of mine.
I have noticed the similarity in themes, too, but I have enjoyed both Harry Potter and Enders Game. They are not similar in the sense of being clones. Also, the "flying game" is only a side plot in HP, and was for me the least interesting aspect of the books.
Since you probably missed Harry Potter because of it, I am going to claim that you miss some good things with the heuristic. On the other hand there is doubtless a lot of crap that is popular.
Would be interesting to see some statistics, but maybe people have to do that on an individual basis.
I think a big part of it is that I really don't like discussing books/movies with other people. I know that is odd. I just like to have the story in my head and interpret it as I please, without having to hash it over with everyone else in the world.
It's paid off for Harry Potter. I get perverse enjoyment out of rejecting my girlfriend's sister's desire to discuss whether such and such character is in love with such and such other character. Since I haven't read it, she won't ramble at me for more than a couple seconds. I fully plan on reading it someday, once the furor dies down and there is no risk of having a coversation about it. ;)
Given Rowling's position I don't think she feels a need to prove anything to anyone. Especially about being "up-to-date" and "politically correct".
This remark sounded more like something she'd said just to see how public would react. Or perhaps to intentionally annoy certain people (religious zaelots and such). I just can't imagine JKR sitting at home, bitting her fingernails and thinking "Damn, I am not politically correct enough .. I should really do something about it".
It's not canon anyway, so you can go on pretending he's straight or asexual or caprasexual. Hell, I pretend the epilogue doesn't exist, and that is canon.
She hit that nail on the head. And it goes not just for the Harvard graduates in the audience; a lot of people at Hacker News could 'settle' for a life most people would envy. It's nice to be reminded of that from time to time.
Thank you, JK Rowling. And thank you, ashwinl.
http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/faust/080605_comms...
It's long, but argues a controversial point well.
In a culture geared towards materialism and success defined by job status and the like, I often feel this is lost.