I think J.K. Rowling has done something marvelous by creating the Harry Potter series. She deserves every penny of the millions — or is it billions now? — she has earned.
Eric has read all of the Harry Potter books, of course. I’ve read the first two books and have seen the movies. In the second movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Jason Isaacs first appeared as Lucius Malfoy. He’s from Liverpool, but he doesn’t sound like it.
I’m of mostly British heritage. About 15 years ago I spent some time on business in England, and I felt very much at home there. Sometimes I wish I’d grown up in England, so that I might be able to speak with the flawless articulation and inflection that Isaacs displays with such panache in this scene. But it’s safer to assume that my speech would sound more like that of Mark Williams, who is in this scene as Ronald Weasley’s father, Arthur.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/APR07/HarryPotter.flv 425 232]© Warners
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has died. He wasn’t young, and he was way older than he had a right to be, considering he never quit smoking, but it still sucks that he’s gone. Vonnegut wrote The Sirens of Titan, a book that l enjoyed reading very much, and he wrote the wonderful TV movie called Between Time and Timbuktu. It was produced by WGBH in Boston for PBS, back when it was called National Educational Television. The movie opened with Cousin Brucie, so I had to love it. It’s not available on video, sorry to say. The show also featured the comedy team of Bob and Ray, who got their start on Boston radio. Ray Goulding was absolutely hilarious in Between Time and Timbuktu as Walter Gesundheit, a parody of the legendary TV newsman Walter Cronkite.
Sometimes the story behind something is more interesting than the something itself. And there is no better example of that than the independently produced documentary An Audience of One, premiering this weekend at the