“The story of Potter has all along been a story of its fans, and, like everything else about Potter, the fan websites are in a special class, for their size, and for their influence. The Potter sites have long advanced from the slow pace, simple texts and dull backgrounds of the early years, and now have all the latest accessories: blogs, podcasts, audio and video. They no longer just comment on the news, but participate. Rowling has praised the sites by name, granted them rare interviews, even used one site, the Harry Potter Lexicon, to check facts.”
Tag: 04.15.07
When Did “Ho” Go Mainstream?
“The word ‘ho’ or ‘whore,’ moreover, has become a routine bit of slang. It’s tossed about on television and in mainstream publications as if it is now officially unmoored from its literal meaning. Some people blame the rap music industry and the tendency of hip-hop to employ the word with impunity. But you don’t have to plug in an iPod to be reminded of the word’s ubiquity.”
Prescription For The NY Phil: Shake Things Up!
“The New York Philharmonic is poised to announce the successor as music director to Lorin Maazel, who leaves at the end of the 2008-9 season (the same time, intriguingly, that Mr. Salonen will be free). After Mr. Masur and Mr. Maazel — two formidable but very Old World maestros whose combined tenures at the Philharmonic will have totaled 18 years — it would surely seem time for a generational jolt.”
Don Ho, 76
“Mr. Ho was a durable spokesman for the image of Hawaii as a tourist playground. His rise as a popular singer dovetailed with a visitor boom that followed statehood in 1959 and the advent of affordable air travel. For 40 years, his name was synonymous with Pacific Island leisure, as was “Tiny Bubbles,” his signature hit, which helped turn him into a national figure.”