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07.22.07 by Widge @ 6:32 pm  That's the word from Scholastic. 8.3 million copies in 24 hours. Two questions: 1. Did anybody make any money? Besides Rowling, I mean. 2. And what sort of publishing deal does she have for whatever she feels like doing next? Categorized as: Books and Headsup
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07.22.07 by Widge @ 6:13 pm  So Borders has announced today that they sold 1.2 million copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows worldwide. That's a single-title one-day record for the chain, apparently. They only sold 850,000 copies of Half-Blood Prince on its first day. Huh. I actually just said "only 850,000 copies." Anyway, they also announced that about 800,000 fans turned out for their midnight sale/celebration things. According to the press release, they're happy as hell, but here's my question: did they make any money? I know it sounds insane but bear in mind that with the steep discounts going on, some chains actually lost money on previous Potter releases. Even with those sales numbers. I guess we'll hear soon enough. Image: a galleon, for sale here. Categorized as: Books
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07.19.07 by Widge @ 6:57 pm  So I've posted the press release (or at least as much of it as I could stand) to the new Gabfest. But the more I think about it, the more pissed off I am. (Update: Full press release text here.) Gist: a "certified grief counselor" is using the release of Harry Potter's final book to pimp herself to the media, under the guise of helping parents and children deal with grief over the death of fictional characters. Because deaths are rumored to happen in Book 7, the press release states "This could have a serious impact on children, millions of whom have grown up reading, watching and profoundly enjoying the characters and storylines of the Harry Potter series." For crying out loud, people. It's not bad enough that anytime Something Bad Happens we trot out grief counselors to prop up children (who, for the most part, don't need propping up as often as they get propped up--they're children--they're resilient little bastards), now we're going to trot them out when Something Bad Doesn't Actually Happen. It's fiction! Categorized as: Books
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07.03.07 by Widge @ 11:41 pm  English Russia posts bits from books that were designed to frighten bad Russian kids into straightening up and flying right. Although I'm not certain how effective these actually were. Here's some samples: If you plan not to listen to father Now, what's that about? What if you don't like your brother? And the idea of him being jumped by wild black cats has some appeal to you? And what if the brother actually does listen to the father? Well, this would make him stop listening just to get back at the brother who got him jumped by wild black cats, wouldn't it? If you are greedy as old and don't share balls Probably? That's not very convincing, is it? I mean, I could probably be run over by a giant stampeding wombat as I sit and type this, couldn't I? If I was a little brat, I'd just take my chances: get your own goddamn ball. You like to fight with your fellow-friends? As opposed to the regular old snakes? Maybe it loses the terror in the translation...here in America we just make kids who misbehave watch the Hallmark Channel. Kids beg for different snakes after an hour of that. Categorized as: Books
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07.01.07 by Widge @ 6:52 am  So I was curious about what you fine folks are ordering from Amazon through the site. Because we have a really wacky demographic, hitting all kinds of ages and locations and whatnot. When I try to describe you, our readers, to various studios and such when they're deciding what stuff to send us to cover, they're a bit confused. But aren't we all? Anyway, so looking back over the last six months, here's the top five things you guys have ordered, listed here for your dancing and dining pleasure. #5. Heroes Season 1. As I've said before, you guys are mad for Heroes. And these are just pre-orders! Maybe when it hits on DVD (next month) I'll be able to actually watch the thing on my own time, but it's fairly obvious that the comic geeks among you crave the stuff. Categorized as: Books and DVD and Headsup
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