A Night With Harry, Carrie, and Garp: A Recap
On Sunday, while still in Vegas, I happened to acquire a ticket to this event from sabbrielle, who found that she could not attend at the last minute. For some reason, since I thought it might be fun, or because I thought her inclusion would make her more likely to let me go, I got tickets for myself and my mother.
The event started at 7:30, and the doors opened at 6:30, which means we had to leave by 5:00. So, naturally, we left at like, 3 or something. Well, I did want to find my self a Starbucks Bearista New York City bear from their Locals series. I have one from Dallas, Boston, Las Vegas, and now New York. There's also one in Philadelphia, I've seen. It's just tragic that I have absolutely no reason to go to Philly, with it being so close and all.
Penn Station is at 34th and 7th, I believe, and Radio City is around 50th and 6th. And we had to walk that distance, looking for Starbucks...es... at which to inquire about bears. And of course it was beastly hot. We visited four or five of them before finally finding the cutest little darling to bring home with us. I'd post a picture of him, but I'm lazy.
Then we proceeded to Radio City. I have been into the city many times, but never there before. It was slightly before 6:30, and already there was an insanely long line. It was seriously like a block long. There were people in the line with Harry Potter paraphernalia, making me regret that I had brought absolutely none of my own. There were Gryffindor ties, Harry Potter shirts, people carrying one book or another, and even one person with the so-called "House Unity" scarf. It was store bought, and those are thinner, but really, it was beastly hot so I was more or less glad I didn't have anything very hot on.
We were seated on the third mezzanine. While not the best ever, these seats were nonetheless fairly acceptable. The people on the stage were somewhat eensy-weensy, but there were screens to look at. And seeing them is mainly not the point. It's hearing them. And knowing you're in the exact. same. room. There were some girls sitting near us with something spelled out on pieces of paper. I'm not sure who they were trying to show it to, but it took me like, forever (well, maybe a minute or two), to figure out that it spelled "Shoebox" (for shoebox_project, I'm sure). I giggled and stuff. And then had to categorically refuse to tell my mother what the word "shoebox" could possibly refer to. I suppose I could've told her "It's fanfiction" or something, but I just couldn't do it. I'd just been reading Shoebox the night before.
After an hour in which I scribbled down inane fanfic bits about Remus and the prank (which I'm now turning into something less inane, but who cares, really?) and such things, the event started. Whoopi Goldberg introduced the event, which was totally cool. Because! Elmo and Whoopi! And she was on Star Trek which I am such a nerd about. She was in that terrible movie Ghost, with Patrick Swayze that used to be on TV all the time that I've never really seen all of, but I guess we can forgive her for that.
Stephen King was first. He was introduced by Stanley Tucci (if I'm remembering right), who was in an episode of Monk, as a method actor who is going to play Monk in a movie. I don't recall his connection to Stephen King, though I could probably look it up if I actually wanted to. Stephen King was great. I've never read anything of his besides The Dead Zone, and I don't believe I've seen any movies of his books, besides some of The Shining and Shawshank Redemption. But he was great. He was warm and funny, and just so personable. He read something about a pie eating contest and vomiting. It was actually mildly disturbing and left my stomach feeling unsettled, which I guess is the point.
John Irving was next. I'd never even heard of him before, though of course he's famous. He was introduced by some director type person... I'd never heard of him either. My mother was all like "Of course you know who he is, he did blah and blah..." and I think to myself, "Even if I've seen movies he directed, or have heard of them, that doesn't mean I know who he is." Because it doesn't, does it? Or... was one of the introducers the director of Shawshank Redemption? Well, either Stanley Tucci or the director of the Shawshank Redemption introduced John Irving... He read something about a Christmas pageant from a book called A Prayer for Owen Meany. He was cool, but not as cool as Stephen King.
While waiting on line, the person in front of us said that Kathy Bates would be there. I, of course, did not know who she was. Apparently she was in a movie called Misery, which I had also never heard of. I'm somewhat pathetic at times. My mother assured me that I'd know who she was if I saw her, but actually I didn't, I wouldn't have known her from my next door neighbor if my life depended on it. I don't know what my neighbors look like either, incidentally. We're not terribly friendly, it seems.
But, as it happens, Kathy Bates was introducing J. K. Rowling. I guess anyone actually connected with Harry Potter and the movies is British and lives very far away, and a lot of them are children, too. I don't remember a single thing Kathy Bates said. I do remember, however, that while I had screamed and cheered with the best of them all the way through the event, I could not join the screaming hordes of Harry Potter fans. I could not. I was finding myself somewhat breathless and giggly, as if intoxicated. It was actually a bit embarrassing, because my mother was there. And while she does have some vague awareness of fanfiction (I actually talked about it with her back those many years ago when I would read Tom/B'Elanna from Star Trek Voyager), and she does know that I have spent hundreds of dollars of my own money attending events devoted to Harry Potter, that is not at all the same as giggling and swooning. It quite honestly isn't.
Stephen King and John Irving had both commented about vomit, so J. K. Rowling said something about having missed the memo that that was the night's theme. She said something about her consolation being that her shoes were the best-- they were strappy, silver high heeled sandals, and quite posh. Her reading was from Half-Blood Prince, the trip into the Pensieve where Dumbledore tells Tom Riddle that he has a place at Hogwarts and is a wizard. The reading itself wasn't the most thrilling part, because I'd heard it before, and I'm not generally one for things being read aloud.
After finishing, J.K. Rowling answered a couple questions -- there were 12 in all, I think, which means that she answered 4 after her reading, and then they got all three of the authors on stage after that. Stephen King and John Irving answered 3 each, and J. K. Rowling answered two more. One of the initial questions of her was something about how Aunt Petunia reacted when Dumbledore told her that Harry would only be returning to Number 4, Privet Drive, once more. Her answer was that there is definitely more to Petunia that we will be finding out. I loved that. Another one was about who she would bring to life (like, real life, not book life), excepting Harry. The answer to that was Hagrid.
One of the questioners was a little boy who was definitely read something that someone else had written. He was nine. He said something about what if Snape wasn't really evil, what if it had all been a plan between him and Dumbledore. This theory somehow required Dumbledore not being actually dead for it to work. Or maybe I'm confusing things. A couple people asked about Dumbledore. The first time, I believe the person only said that Dumbledore was dead. I believe that might have been the little boy. My mother hasn't read Half-Blood Prince yet, and when I realized what he was about to say, I told my mother not to listen. Because she's kind of mad at me for telling her that Sirius died at the end of book five before she'd read it. And she keeps bringing up the fact that I told her Cedric had died at the end of book four, but she'd read that one, she just didn't remember. So that's not on me. J. K. Rowling looked really upset that it had been said right out that Dumbledore was dead. Maybe it was something else, but I read a quote from the previous evening where she seemed concerned about spoilers. Throughout all the questions, she looked as though she was having a very hard time not saying things. After the first question about Dumbledore being dead, she said something slightly wishy-washy about it. I don't recall precisely, because the next answer totally shocked me.
Salmon Rushdie (he's a famous author, right? He once read at my school on Reunion weekend.) came up with his son. His was the theory about it having been a plot between Snape and Dumbledore. This exposed the fact that not only was Dumbledore dead, but that Snape had killed him. J. K. Rowling, looking a bit put upon and not actually wanting to say it right out, said the following: "Dumbledore is definitely dead." I think that's verbatim, because I wrote it down right away. This revelation makes me, like, really happy. Not because he's dead, because that's tragic, but because I don't have to be disappointed, and because my logic won out.
And a last question was asked by the moderator, namely which five characters from your books would you have dinner with. I think J. K. Rowling chose Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore. I couldn't hear the fifth one she named, because people in the audience were screaming "Sirius" and I possibly swooned again. I was actually dizzy when we got out to the street, so maybe it wasn't all me being dumb. It could've been, like, the heat or something.
To finish out the evening. As we were walking out, I saw someone with a Lumos shirt on. I, of course, am not one to make a dork out of myself, so I just went right on by. I made my mother take the Subway to Penn Station. She grumbled the whole time, because it's only 20 blocks and we would've been there by now. She had not been on the Subway in New York in 30 some years. We didn't get to the station until about 10:41. And she's right, the trains did take a while to come, and it was fairly hot down there, but... Eh. There was a train at 10:44, and I tried to make my mother run for it, because there was still time, but she just can't dart like I can. Now, mostly I'm not too physical a person, but train catching is like a competitive sport to me, and I'm really pretty good at it. Especially now that I have all that practice darting through crowds wielding heavy luggage from all my travels.
We did get on the 10:44 train, and it did have seats free. But, of course, then we had to hear those terrible words... "making all local stops." That is, from New York City, Seacaucus, Newark's Penn Station, Newark Airport, North Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Linden, Rahway, Metropark, Metuchen, Edison, New Brunswick, Jersey Avenue, and finally Princeton Junction. The time between Jersey Ave and Princeton Junction is about 15 minutes, but of course people had to start lining up hours before that. Like they weren't going to be let off the train, or something.
It was pretty sketchy, though. I was a bit confused as to all the low platform announcements, as I know that our station does not have a low platform. It turns out that we pulled all the way through the platform on the middle rail, and had to climb a staircase to get off the train, walk across the tracks, and then go up a staircase, through a locked gate (well, they unlocked it. But we had to wait), and then all the way down the entire platform. It's rather inexplicable.
That description probably sounded manic and hyper more than anything else. It's sad... But I finished it, so I feel accomplished. Only I really wish I had someone to talk to, about my not-quite-Remus/Sirius, not-really-James/Sirius, really-definitely-not Snape/Black, terrible, horrible prank fallout fic. I really do.
The event started at 7:30, and the doors opened at 6:30, which means we had to leave by 5:00. So, naturally, we left at like, 3 or something. Well, I did want to find my self a Starbucks Bearista New York City bear from their Locals series. I have one from Dallas, Boston, Las Vegas, and now New York. There's also one in Philadelphia, I've seen. It's just tragic that I have absolutely no reason to go to Philly, with it being so close and all.
Penn Station is at 34th and 7th, I believe, and Radio City is around 50th and 6th. And we had to walk that distance, looking for Starbucks...es... at which to inquire about bears. And of course it was beastly hot. We visited four or five of them before finally finding the cutest little darling to bring home with us. I'd post a picture of him, but I'm lazy.
Then we proceeded to Radio City. I have been into the city many times, but never there before. It was slightly before 6:30, and already there was an insanely long line. It was seriously like a block long. There were people in the line with Harry Potter paraphernalia, making me regret that I had brought absolutely none of my own. There were Gryffindor ties, Harry Potter shirts, people carrying one book or another, and even one person with the so-called "House Unity" scarf. It was store bought, and those are thinner, but really, it was beastly hot so I was more or less glad I didn't have anything very hot on.
We were seated on the third mezzanine. While not the best ever, these seats were nonetheless fairly acceptable. The people on the stage were somewhat eensy-weensy, but there were screens to look at. And seeing them is mainly not the point. It's hearing them. And knowing you're in the exact. same. room. There were some girls sitting near us with something spelled out on pieces of paper. I'm not sure who they were trying to show it to, but it took me like, forever (well, maybe a minute or two), to figure out that it spelled "Shoebox" (for shoebox_project, I'm sure). I giggled and stuff. And then had to categorically refuse to tell my mother what the word "shoebox" could possibly refer to. I suppose I could've told her "It's fanfiction" or something, but I just couldn't do it. I'd just been reading Shoebox the night before.
After an hour in which I scribbled down inane fanfic bits about Remus and the prank (which I'm now turning into something less inane, but who cares, really?) and such things, the event started. Whoopi Goldberg introduced the event, which was totally cool. Because! Elmo and Whoopi! And she was on Star Trek which I am such a nerd about. She was in that terrible movie Ghost, with Patrick Swayze that used to be on TV all the time that I've never really seen all of, but I guess we can forgive her for that.
Stephen King was first. He was introduced by Stanley Tucci (if I'm remembering right), who was in an episode of Monk, as a method actor who is going to play Monk in a movie. I don't recall his connection to Stephen King, though I could probably look it up if I actually wanted to. Stephen King was great. I've never read anything of his besides The Dead Zone, and I don't believe I've seen any movies of his books, besides some of The Shining and Shawshank Redemption. But he was great. He was warm and funny, and just so personable. He read something about a pie eating contest and vomiting. It was actually mildly disturbing and left my stomach feeling unsettled, which I guess is the point.
John Irving was next. I'd never even heard of him before, though of course he's famous. He was introduced by some director type person... I'd never heard of him either. My mother was all like "Of course you know who he is, he did blah and blah..." and I think to myself, "Even if I've seen movies he directed, or have heard of them, that doesn't mean I know who he is." Because it doesn't, does it? Or... was one of the introducers the director of Shawshank Redemption? Well, either Stanley Tucci or the director of the Shawshank Redemption introduced John Irving... He read something about a Christmas pageant from a book called A Prayer for Owen Meany. He was cool, but not as cool as Stephen King.
While waiting on line, the person in front of us said that Kathy Bates would be there. I, of course, did not know who she was. Apparently she was in a movie called Misery, which I had also never heard of. I'm somewhat pathetic at times. My mother assured me that I'd know who she was if I saw her, but actually I didn't, I wouldn't have known her from my next door neighbor if my life depended on it. I don't know what my neighbors look like either, incidentally. We're not terribly friendly, it seems.
But, as it happens, Kathy Bates was introducing J. K. Rowling. I guess anyone actually connected with Harry Potter and the movies is British and lives very far away, and a lot of them are children, too. I don't remember a single thing Kathy Bates said. I do remember, however, that while I had screamed and cheered with the best of them all the way through the event, I could not join the screaming hordes of Harry Potter fans. I could not. I was finding myself somewhat breathless and giggly, as if intoxicated. It was actually a bit embarrassing, because my mother was there. And while she does have some vague awareness of fanfiction (I actually talked about it with her back those many years ago when I would read Tom/B'Elanna from Star Trek Voyager), and she does know that I have spent hundreds of dollars of my own money attending events devoted to Harry Potter, that is not at all the same as giggling and swooning. It quite honestly isn't.
Stephen King and John Irving had both commented about vomit, so J. K. Rowling said something about having missed the memo that that was the night's theme. She said something about her consolation being that her shoes were the best-- they were strappy, silver high heeled sandals, and quite posh. Her reading was from Half-Blood Prince, the trip into the Pensieve where Dumbledore tells Tom Riddle that he has a place at Hogwarts and is a wizard. The reading itself wasn't the most thrilling part, because I'd heard it before, and I'm not generally one for things being read aloud.
After finishing, J.K. Rowling answered a couple questions -- there were 12 in all, I think, which means that she answered 4 after her reading, and then they got all three of the authors on stage after that. Stephen King and John Irving answered 3 each, and J. K. Rowling answered two more. One of the initial questions of her was something about how Aunt Petunia reacted when Dumbledore told her that Harry would only be returning to Number 4, Privet Drive, once more. Her answer was that there is definitely more to Petunia that we will be finding out. I loved that. Another one was about who she would bring to life (like, real life, not book life), excepting Harry. The answer to that was Hagrid.
One of the questioners was a little boy who was definitely read something that someone else had written. He was nine. He said something about what if Snape wasn't really evil, what if it had all been a plan between him and Dumbledore. This theory somehow required Dumbledore not being actually dead for it to work. Or maybe I'm confusing things. A couple people asked about Dumbledore. The first time, I believe the person only said that Dumbledore was dead. I believe that might have been the little boy. My mother hasn't read Half-Blood Prince yet, and when I realized what he was about to say, I told my mother not to listen. Because she's kind of mad at me for telling her that Sirius died at the end of book five before she'd read it. And she keeps bringing up the fact that I told her Cedric had died at the end of book four, but she'd read that one, she just didn't remember. So that's not on me. J. K. Rowling looked really upset that it had been said right out that Dumbledore was dead. Maybe it was something else, but I read a quote from the previous evening where she seemed concerned about spoilers. Throughout all the questions, she looked as though she was having a very hard time not saying things. After the first question about Dumbledore being dead, she said something slightly wishy-washy about it. I don't recall precisely, because the next answer totally shocked me.
Salmon Rushdie (he's a famous author, right? He once read at my school on Reunion weekend.) came up with his son. His was the theory about it having been a plot between Snape and Dumbledore. This exposed the fact that not only was Dumbledore dead, but that Snape had killed him. J. K. Rowling, looking a bit put upon and not actually wanting to say it right out, said the following: "Dumbledore is definitely dead." I think that's verbatim, because I wrote it down right away. This revelation makes me, like, really happy. Not because he's dead, because that's tragic, but because I don't have to be disappointed, and because my logic won out.
And a last question was asked by the moderator, namely which five characters from your books would you have dinner with. I think J. K. Rowling chose Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore. I couldn't hear the fifth one she named, because people in the audience were screaming "Sirius" and I possibly swooned again. I was actually dizzy when we got out to the street, so maybe it wasn't all me being dumb. It could've been, like, the heat or something.
To finish out the evening. As we were walking out, I saw someone with a Lumos shirt on. I, of course, am not one to make a dork out of myself, so I just went right on by. I made my mother take the Subway to Penn Station. She grumbled the whole time, because it's only 20 blocks and we would've been there by now. She had not been on the Subway in New York in 30 some years. We didn't get to the station until about 10:41. And she's right, the trains did take a while to come, and it was fairly hot down there, but... Eh. There was a train at 10:44, and I tried to make my mother run for it, because there was still time, but she just can't dart like I can. Now, mostly I'm not too physical a person, but train catching is like a competitive sport to me, and I'm really pretty good at it. Especially now that I have all that practice darting through crowds wielding heavy luggage from all my travels.
We did get on the 10:44 train, and it did have seats free. But, of course, then we had to hear those terrible words... "making all local stops." That is, from New York City, Seacaucus, Newark's Penn Station, Newark Airport, North Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Linden, Rahway, Metropark, Metuchen, Edison, New Brunswick, Jersey Avenue, and finally Princeton Junction. The time between Jersey Ave and Princeton Junction is about 15 minutes, but of course people had to start lining up hours before that. Like they weren't going to be let off the train, or something.
It was pretty sketchy, though. I was a bit confused as to all the low platform announcements, as I know that our station does not have a low platform. It turns out that we pulled all the way through the platform on the middle rail, and had to climb a staircase to get off the train, walk across the tracks, and then go up a staircase, through a locked gate (well, they unlocked it. But we had to wait), and then all the way down the entire platform. It's rather inexplicable.
That description probably sounded manic and hyper more than anything else. It's sad... But I finished it, so I feel accomplished. Only I really wish I had someone to talk to, about my not-quite-Remus/Sirius, not-really-James/Sirius, really-definitely-not Snape/Black, terrible, horrible prank fallout fic. I really do.