Is there anybody there?

[kneasy]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "Neil Ward" <neilward at d...> wrote:
> 
> Well... almost "all of the above", but "??" being the most interesting:
> after being tied up and robbed at gunpoint in my flat at the end of October,
> I'm moving into a rented flat this weekend.
> 
> No folks, that wasn't a joke.  And, Carolyn - your post was not tedious.
> 
> 
Kneasy:
Nasty. Very nasty.
Hope the shock is wearing off and that the after effects aren't unmanageable.

 
> 
> <<< It was the bastard off-spring of Gormenghast meets Malcolm in the
> Middle. >>>
> 

FFA:
> ~~Swoon~~  That sounds *just* perfect! I don't think it's quite that good
> though: to me it's not as grim and surreal as Gormenghast and not as sharp
> and funny and as MitM.  The kids in MitM are also far superior as actors to
> those in the HP series. IMHO.
> 

Kneasy:
'Scuse me a second. I must speak to my secretary.
"Madam Whiplash? Please make a note in the FFA file.
Intruigingly decadent with surrealist tendencies.
We may be able to induce him to invest in our next epic - 
"Pooh! It's 1984 - on Ice!" with WtP as Winston Smith, Tigger as Julia,
Owley as O'Brien and Christopher Robin as Big Brother. 
Put him on the Christmas card list. Thank  you."

Actually I agree with what you say.
The sad truth is that all the accretions to HP show all the characteristics of
a typical franchise, and like all franchises its sole primary function is to be
a cash cow. Understandable  and probably inevitable, but it does give the 
book purists an opportunity to rail against hubris - it was the fans that spread
the word about this fantastic story and the bottom line merchants saw an 
opportunity opening up, Warners included. Now if we'd kept quiet.... 

Being of a pessimistic bent, I foresee the film franchise's future offerings
degenerating from "a version" to "an adaptation" to "based on" - the final 
kiss of death.