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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, November 16, 2001 7 P ——..—. .... jm— " ■ .■■ ■y*" CONTACT US I—I IA \/| I V THEY SAID IT ■ ■ ■ 1 i m/ ■ ■ / m CARON DE BEAUMARCHAIS: “It is Story ideas? Questions? Comments? H I I k I V I I / ~ not necessary to understand things Writeusatgamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com ■ ■ A f U U m * in order to argue about them.” V } Scars, Wands and The Boy Who Lived: The World of Harry Potter BY CARRIE PHILLIPS THE GAMECOCK Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past three years, you must be aware of a boy named Harry Potter. Many have scoffed at the Potter phenomenon, but ever more have been drawn in. In 1994. Joanne Kathleen Rowling was a single mother living a penniless life in Edinburgh, Scotland, but she had a manuscript. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone had been written on scraps of paper as she sat in a cafe and was Rowling’s way to escape from her unhappy conditions. But when Blloomsbury Press bought the book for a modest sum in 1996, her life began to look up. She had already begun work on the series’ second installment when Scholastic Press bought the American rights for $100,000, an unheard-of amount for any children’s book, much less one by an unknown author. Four books later, the Harry Potter series has captivated audiences all over the world. The books have been published in 130 countries and in at least 28 languages. The first book won the Federation of Children’s Books Group Award in 1998, along with the coveted British Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year Award. Not all of the response has been positive though. A huge movement in the Christian community aims to ban the books on the basis that they’re satanic, and many Christian leaders have denounced the series because they say it promotes witchcraft and occult practices. Several books have been written on the subject, including Connie Neal’s What’s A Christian To Do With Harry Potter? and Richard Abanes’ Harry Potter and the Bible. Many of the protestors suggest parents instead give their children C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series or J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings books. Both authors are noted for having been extremely Christian in then books and in their personal lives, yet they equal Rowling in their use of magic, violence and evil as thematic devices. These protests haven’t seemed to put a dent in the Harry Potter readership, however. The series is continually praised for reviving literacy among children who would normally never tear themselves away from the television. The movie retelling of the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, will be released in theaters nationwide today. Theaters in Columbia have been selling advance tickets since last week. If you’re planning to see the movie, you should probably have an idea of the story line; chances are, you’ll be surrounded by small children wearing pointy hats, waving wands and shouting spells at each other. So here is Harry Potter in 100 words: Harry is 10 years old, orphaned, lives under the stairs in his aunt and uncle’s house, they hate him, cousin Dudley torments him. One day, a letter comes for Harry, then a half-giant named Hagrid. Harry discovers his parents were famous wizards killed by evil wizard Voldemort (but don’t say his name!), who tried to kill him, too, but failed, so Harry has a lightning-bolt scar. Harry is a wizard, too, and must go off to Hogwarts to learn the tricks of his trade. At school, he makes two friends, Ron and Hermione, an enemy, Draco Malfoy, and many adventures. Got it? Good. Now, for all you muggles who don’t have the lingo down yet: MUGGLE: A person who is not part of the magical world and generally has no ♦ POTTER, SEE PAGE 9 WEEKEND HARRY POTTER MOVIETIMES Showtimes in parentheses are for Friday and Saturday only. Times read from a.m. to p.m. Columbiana Place Stadium Cinemas 1250 Bower Parkway, 407-9898 10:30,11:00.11:45,12:30,1:15,1:45, , 2:20,3:00,4:00,4:45,5:10,5:30, 6:30,7:i5,8:00,8:30,9:00,9:45, 10:30 Columbia Mall Cinema 8 Two Notch and Parklane roads, 788-7664 11:45,12:30,3:00,4:00,6:30,7:15, 9:45,10:20 Carmike Wynnsong 10 5320 Forest Drive, 782-8100 12:30,1:00,1:30.3:45.4:15,4:45, H.AA r.AA A.AA 1 A.1 “ 1 A. Jr i .uu, < x\j. i.U| iu.iu Dutch Square Cinema 14 800 Bush River Road, 750-3576 9:30,10:00,10:30,11:15,12:45,1:15, 1:45,2:30,4:00,4:30,5:00,5:45, 7:15,7:45,8:15,9:00,10:30, (11:00), (11:30) Movies at Polo Road 9700 Two Notch Road, 788-7818 1:10,2:50,4:00,5:40,6:50,8:30,9:40 Pastime Pavilion Cinema 8 Hwy 6, Lexington, 951-3604 11:45,12:30,3:00,4:00,6:30,7:15, 9:45,10:20 3RAPHIC BY RENE MOFFATT DRAWING AT TOP BY DAVID STAGG Five turbulent years of bliss DENISE LEVEREAUX GAMECOCKMIXEDITOR@HOTMAIL.COM Thursday was my anniversary. I’ve dated the same guy for five years. Five. Whole. Years. Half a decade. 1,825 days, to be exact. When I tell this to people who don’t know me, most get this glazed-over look and their jaws drop to the floor. Then I have to wait patiently for them to collect their wits. Once they do so, the questions start: “Are you going to get married? Are you engaged already? Do your parents like him? Do his parents like you? How could you date the same guy for that long? Is he hot or something? Were you dropped on your head repeatedly ' as a small child?” I just nod my head and smile. When my questioners finally run out of breath, they stand there and gawk at me like fish. This never fails to get a laugh out of me. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the norm for people in college. Some people have told me I’m downright.... weird. I won’t argue with them. What I will argue, however, is why I’ve stayed. Why I’ve dated the same guy for 1,825 days. My boyfriend and I are the last of the high-school sweethearts, a dying breed reminiscent of Grease and Can’t Hardly Wait. We’re the two everybody said would never make it, the two who faced every adversity and lived happily every after. Countless pop/country ballads have been written about us. Think Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One.” We’re a stereotype, a myth brought to life. We’re that couple that’s too cute, too mushy. We’re the couple that makes single people want to vomit. Don’t get me wrong — it’s not always bubble-gum pop and PG 13 love stories. Sometimes it’s more like the angst-ridden rock star and his redneck girlfriend. Think Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain at their worst. Think cussing, screaming, hair pulling, crying, no-holds-barred insult fests. Think pots and pans flying across the living room of a Horseshoe apartment. We’re the couple you don’t want to take out in public because you don’t know what we’re going to scream at each other next. The kind of couple everyone thinks would be better off breaking up and just getting il over with — everyone but them, that is. My boyfriend and I got through that stage, too. What comes after infatuation, and after the fighting-like-cats-and dogs phase, is a little harder to describe. It’s the phase where we sit on the couch eating popcorn and watching movies. It’s the phase where we start finishing each other’s sentences. We’re comfortable around each other — he’s seen me without makeup, and I’ve seen him cry. We’ve gone camping and seen what happens to each other when we’re stuck on the side of a mountain with no running water for three days. We go on vacation with his parents. He spends Christmas with my family. My little brother tentatively made peace with him a couple of months ago and apologized for slamming the door in my boyfriend’s face the first time he came to the house. It’s the little things that count, after all. My boyfriend has moved two times: first off to college, then off to grad school. It seems sometimes as if we’ve spent more time apart than we have together. We tear up the highways on Friday and Sunday nights just to visit each other. We have to keep doing it for two more years, until I graduate. Two more years of late-night phone calls, IM conversations and astronomical phone bills. Two more years of grasping at hours stolen from holidays and weekends. Two more years of my heart skipping a beat every time he walks through my door. I love you, David. CONCERT PREVIEW Keeping emo alive BY WILLIAM MILLS THE GAMECOCK Change seems to be a natural phase in the development of long-lasting bands, and geek rockers Piebald are no different. But one thing has remained constant in the band’s evolution: its intense sense of humor. It’s one of the most prevelant bands in the emo genre, emotionally charged punk rock, and has been around since the beginning of the emotional rock craze. Piebald’s early style was a little on the hard core side, with albums like its debut, Barely Legal. The whaling guitars and violent screams on this album are the very essence of hard core. Their very newest albums, like The Rock Revolution Will Not Be Televised, are a little on the whiney side and sappy to the core. The band’s latest release, Barely Legal and All Ages, is a double-disc set that’s Piebald, with Element 1Q1, Fairweather, Recover Sunday, Nov. 18 The Elbow Room practically a greatest hits album. Two discs split this release into hard and soft. The art on the inside of the CD, however, exemplifies the band’s jokey sense of humor. Pictures of the band members showering or bathing seem to be a very common theme. Pictures of an almost pre-pubescent band member in the shower covering himself grace the inside cover, along with a photo of another member having his head shaved, almost mask the serious nature of the emotion in its songs. This emotion is sung ♦ PIEBALD, SEE PAGE 9