What is going to end? We still want Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings!As I exited the cinema complex, I was somewhat sleepy and hungry at the same time. I didn't really had extra money to find someplace else to eat and pretty much, I just wanted to go home and rest. I dragged my tired body out and then it hit me in the head real quick. It was my last time to walk out on a Harry Potter movie. I just watched the last and final Harry Potter movie. The story of the Boy-Who-Lived has finally ended. To think for a franchise that I was exposed with for 10 years, something that felt like it would never end, has finally came to a conclusion. Come to think of it, half my life, deep inside my retched heart, I was always a Harry Potter fanboy.
It was way back in 2001 when the world was struck by the Harry Potter phenomenon. When the movie came out, everyone was in awe of the story of a boy wizard with a lightning bolt for a scar, who survived a death cruse and seemingly defeated the dark wizard, He-who-must-not-be-named. At that time, I was still a bumbling 10 year old in my final year in Grade school. Back then, any movie that can get the attention of the people and becomes the talk of the town was an instant "must see" for me and my family. Add to the fact that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was aimed for children, no doubt it was a movie that I wanted to watch. The moment I heard the magical theme intro, I was hooked to it from beginning to end. I grew up always expose to superheroes and cartoons, so a world filled with magic and wizards really was new to me and easily caught the attention of my 10 year old brain.
The only wizard related I have here in our country before Harry Potter.
Coming to school, everyone was talking about Harry Potter. Me and my friends would spend our breaks talking about how cool it is to go to a wizarding school, shouting Wingardium Leviosa at objects by using our fingers as wands, and simply just get fascinated with the different characters, objects and creatures found in the movie. Then, one of my brainy classmates told us that Harry Potter was based on a book and she even brought the book. From there and there, I grew fascinated with the franchise, knowing it was the 1st of seven. But in all honesty, I didn't really thought about reading the books (and at that time I was never really into reading any books, ever) as me and my friends thought that as long as they make movies about it, who needs to read right?
Eight films, always about Harry surviving in the end, it doesn't get any complicated than that.
It has become a yearly tradition for the Harry Potter movies to come out, and it has reached new heights. Harry Potter was becoming popular. Shows, TV skits, magazines, everyone was riding the Harry Potter train. It was a cash cow no doubt. And despite facing another book-based/fantasy film like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy in the box office for a few years, it stood its ground and was clearly the best fantasy movie there is. And being a gamer, Harry Potter video games was something I didn't pass on. I was hooked in every Harry Potter video games I can hold my hands with, whether it is on a Gameboy Color, Playstation or PC, if I get to throw of speels and ride broomsticks, I pop the game and I play it for hours and hours, especially in the Gameboy.
"Or you can just walk it off. You survived a death curse, what is just a mouse bite right?"
Despite being emphasized as a book franchise, reading it was way out of the question for me. For one, I only like reading comic books and I don't even get to barely read all my school books. And then all of a sudden, my uncle sent us a balik-bayan box filled with gifts for us. It was around 2004 and pretty much I was way not into toys anymore. So a gift from my Uncle that time was intriguing. Included on the box was the first four Harry Potter books, instructed to be placed in his room. And then, he had another set of the 1st four books, in which for each book, was assigned to one of us cousins. My eldest cousin got the Chamber of Secrets book, her brother got the Sorcerer's Stone book, my sister got the Prisoner of Azkaban book and out of all the books, I got the thickest, which was the Goblet of Fire. Don't get me wrong, the books are great, but book reading was not really something I want to do. I tried to read it, but just holding the 734 page book really killed any notion for me to read it. The fourth movie wasn't released yet at that time and so my curiosity really pushed me to just read the book. But I needed a way to give me the focus to read it. And for me to take on a book filled with 734 pages, I needed to warm-up by reading the first book.
And I read all of these because I don't want to read my school books.
The moment I read the first sentence of the first book, my mind was simply divulged into the world of Harry Potter. It was more clear, the book had more details and from there and out, I wanted to know the story by reading it word per word. As every chapter past, I didn't notice that I was done with the first book already. And then I started with the second and then on to the third. I've been reading for two weeks straight. And when it was finally the time to read the fourth book, I didn't hesitate to even bother take a break. Every after assignments, I would quickly go to my bed and read the book. After a week, it was finally done. I have accomplished to read the entire four books. It was an accomplishment I never thought I'd be able to accomplish, to have read those books, never thought I'd even have the guts to read one. The Harry Potter books were known to be challenging to read, but no matter, for a non-book lover, I was able to do it. And around that time, the fifth book was released, and not long after, I borrowed one in our library and my reading reached new highs as I was reading the book during breaks at school. Everyone who knew me would never ever expect that I read Harry Potter books.
No one also expected that I watch porn either back then, but hey hey!
After the fifth book, I became what you would call a "Harry Potter Geek" Everything there is to Harry Potter at that point, I knew and I knew by heart like it was on the back of my hand. I familiarize more the history of Hogwarts more than El Filibusterismo. Even the hardest Harry Potter Quizzes felt like adding one number to another. And even before or while watching the movies that came after the third, I would be able catch the flaws, the lapses and tell all the differences. I would show a frowning face whenever someone spit wrong facts and use the knowledge as pick-up lines to girls who ask something about Harry Potter. The Harry Potter Mythology was something I never felt I would be able to master. It was one of my repertoire and strengths and I felt invincible. But of course, college came and things became different. I got busy and I couldn't hold on to the great Potter knowledge that I have. I was still lucky enough to read Half-Blood Prince, but it was rushed, and from there, I was just looking forward to watch the movies. When the final book came out, I got to read it but I jumped in a couple of chapters and read the juice of the story in some other sites like Wikipedia. All in all, I felt like I have outgrown the series. I still love it, but I just wasn't into it that much. Note that I was still a kid when Harry Potter came, it was part of my childhood that I have outgrown since. I've kept my interest at the Harry Potter franchise, but I couldn't remember anymore who is who and who did what. Being a HP geek really didn't last long and I was just back to being a plain fanboy.
Watching the final movie, for me it didn't have that epic feel for a final film of a series but it was still a great finale overall for every Potter fan. I'm not really much that nostalgic, but I am still grateful for the wonderful years that the Harry Potter series has provided for me. Up to this day, the HP series is the only set of fictional books that I have read completely and most probably the only series I will ever read. It has captured my imagination greatly to the point that it encouraged me back then to make a story about Baltazar Crane, a Hogwarts student who is secretly defending Harry Potter from any harm and danger and also has his own adventures around Hogwarts. I also remembered back then when promised that after college, I would take a break for a month and just read all the books but I didn't knew back then what post-college life would be so it never really pushed through. I could tell more stories about my experience with the Potterverse, movie, books, or games, but all in all, it was a great ride. Good things must come to an end and I can't really think of the best words to explain how fun the Harry Potter series has been. One of these days, I might write more stuff about Harry Potter, but for now, I am here to celebrate the success of the franchise. I never really believed that Harry Potter was for nerdy geeks and girls. It didn't matter what age, sex, anyone can enjoy the magic of Harry Potter. I enjoyed it and I am not ashamed of it. Indeed it all ended, but the magic of Harry Potter will never disappear in the hearts of every muggle that has been touched by the awe-inspiring story and bare-witnessed the glory of the Boy-Who-Lived.
And they lived happily ever after. But of course, you can only imagine how they had to clean that up.
It was way back in 2001 when the world was struck by the Harry Potter phenomenon. When the movie came out, everyone was in awe of the story of a boy wizard with a lightning bolt for a scar, who survived a death cruse and seemingly defeated the dark wizard, He-who-must-not-be-named. At that time, I was still a bumbling 10 year old in my final year in Grade school. Back then, any movie that can get the attention of the people and becomes the talk of the town was an instant "must see" for me and my family. Add to the fact that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was aimed for children, no doubt it was a movie that I wanted to watch. The moment I heard the magical theme intro, I was hooked to it from beginning to end. I grew up always expose to superheroes and cartoons, so a world filled with magic and wizards really was new to me and easily caught the attention of my 10 year old brain.
The only wizard related I have here in our country before Harry Potter.Coming to school, everyone was talking about Harry Potter. Me and my friends would spend our breaks talking about how cool it is to go to a wizarding school, shouting Wingardium Leviosa at objects by using our fingers as wands, and simply just get fascinated with the different characters, objects and creatures found in the movie. Then, one of my brainy classmates told us that Harry Potter was based on a book and she even brought the book. From there and there, I grew fascinated with the franchise, knowing it was the 1st of seven. But in all honesty, I didn't really thought about reading the books (and at that time I was never really into reading any books, ever) as me and my friends thought that as long as they make movies about it, who needs to read right?
Eight films, always about Harry surviving in the end, it doesn't get any complicated than that.It has become a yearly tradition for the Harry Potter movies to come out, and it has reached new heights. Harry Potter was becoming popular. Shows, TV skits, magazines, everyone was riding the Harry Potter train. It was a cash cow no doubt. And despite facing another book-based/fantasy film like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy in the box office for a few years, it stood its ground and was clearly the best fantasy movie there is. And being a gamer, Harry Potter video games was something I didn't pass on. I was hooked in every Harry Potter video games I can hold my hands with, whether it is on a Gameboy Color, Playstation or PC, if I get to throw of speels and ride broomsticks, I pop the game and I play it for hours and hours, especially in the Gameboy.
"Or you can just walk it off. You survived a death curse, what is just a mouse bite right?"Despite being emphasized as a book franchise, reading it was way out of the question for me. For one, I only like reading comic books and I don't even get to barely read all my school books. And then all of a sudden, my uncle sent us a balik-bayan box filled with gifts for us. It was around 2004 and pretty much I was way not into toys anymore. So a gift from my Uncle that time was intriguing. Included on the box was the first four Harry Potter books, instructed to be placed in his room. And then, he had another set of the 1st four books, in which for each book, was assigned to one of us cousins. My eldest cousin got the Chamber of Secrets book, her brother got the Sorcerer's Stone book, my sister got the Prisoner of Azkaban book and out of all the books, I got the thickest, which was the Goblet of Fire. Don't get me wrong, the books are great, but book reading was not really something I want to do. I tried to read it, but just holding the 734 page book really killed any notion for me to read it. The fourth movie wasn't released yet at that time and so my curiosity really pushed me to just read the book. But I needed a way to give me the focus to read it. And for me to take on a book filled with 734 pages, I needed to warm-up by reading the first book.
And I read all of these because I don't want to read my school books.The moment I read the first sentence of the first book, my mind was simply divulged into the world of Harry Potter. It was more clear, the book had more details and from there and out, I wanted to know the story by reading it word per word. As every chapter past, I didn't notice that I was done with the first book already. And then I started with the second and then on to the third. I've been reading for two weeks straight. And when it was finally the time to read the fourth book, I didn't hesitate to even bother take a break. Every after assignments, I would quickly go to my bed and read the book. After a week, it was finally done. I have accomplished to read the entire four books. It was an accomplishment I never thought I'd be able to accomplish, to have read those books, never thought I'd even have the guts to read one. The Harry Potter books were known to be challenging to read, but no matter, for a non-book lover, I was able to do it. And around that time, the fifth book was released, and not long after, I borrowed one in our library and my reading reached new highs as I was reading the book during breaks at school. Everyone who knew me would never ever expect that I read Harry Potter books.
No one also expected that I watch porn either back then, but hey hey!After the fifth book, I became what you would call a "Harry Potter Geek" Everything there is to Harry Potter at that point, I knew and I knew by heart like it was on the back of my hand. I familiarize more the history of Hogwarts more than El Filibusterismo. Even the hardest Harry Potter Quizzes felt like adding one number to another. And even before or while watching the movies that came after the third, I would be able catch the flaws, the lapses and tell all the differences. I would show a frowning face whenever someone spit wrong facts and use the knowledge as pick-up lines to girls who ask something about Harry Potter. The Harry Potter Mythology was something I never felt I would be able to master. It was one of my repertoire and strengths and I felt invincible. But of course, college came and things became different. I got busy and I couldn't hold on to the great Potter knowledge that I have. I was still lucky enough to read Half-Blood Prince, but it was rushed, and from there, I was just looking forward to watch the movies. When the final book came out, I got to read it but I jumped in a couple of chapters and read the juice of the story in some other sites like Wikipedia. All in all, I felt like I have outgrown the series. I still love it, but I just wasn't into it that much. Note that I was still a kid when Harry Potter came, it was part of my childhood that I have outgrown since. I've kept my interest at the Harry Potter franchise, but I couldn't remember anymore who is who and who did what. Being a HP geek really didn't last long and I was just back to being a plain fanboy.
. . . . .
Watching the final movie, for me it didn't have that epic feel for a final film of a series but it was still a great finale overall for every Potter fan. I'm not really much that nostalgic, but I am still grateful for the wonderful years that the Harry Potter series has provided for me. Up to this day, the HP series is the only set of fictional books that I have read completely and most probably the only series I will ever read. It has captured my imagination greatly to the point that it encouraged me back then to make a story about Baltazar Crane, a Hogwarts student who is secretly defending Harry Potter from any harm and danger and also has his own adventures around Hogwarts. I also remembered back then when promised that after college, I would take a break for a month and just read all the books but I didn't knew back then what post-college life would be so it never really pushed through. I could tell more stories about my experience with the Potterverse, movie, books, or games, but all in all, it was a great ride. Good things must come to an end and I can't really think of the best words to explain how fun the Harry Potter series has been. One of these days, I might write more stuff about Harry Potter, but for now, I am here to celebrate the success of the franchise. I never really believed that Harry Potter was for nerdy geeks and girls. It didn't matter what age, sex, anyone can enjoy the magic of Harry Potter. I enjoyed it and I am not ashamed of it. Indeed it all ended, but the magic of Harry Potter will never disappear in the hearts of every muggle that has been touched by the awe-inspiring story and bare-witnessed the glory of the Boy-Who-Lived.
And they lived happily ever after. But of course, you can only imagine how they had to clean that up.
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