Autor: Tradutores

Tradução: Matheus
Revisão: Adriana Snape

Anelli, Melissa. “A princely Harry Potter adventure was the dream of a lifetime,” Staten Island Advance, July 18, 2005.

EDINBURGH, Scotland — The weekend has been like a dream, complete with the bits of fantasy that usually accompanies one.

Walking up the cobblestoned slope to Edinburgh Castle on Friday night, Emerson Spartz (who represented MuggleNet) and I (representing my site, The Leaky Cauldron) kept pinching each other, and I have the marks to prove it. It seemed too much to believe, that we were in Edinburgh, on our way up to a castle, for a “Harry Potter” launch event at which author J.K. Rowling would give a reading, that following that reading we would receive a book (“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”) for which we’ve been waiting two years, that we’d spend all night reading that book and that in the morning we’d be preparing for an afternoon interview of Jo Rowling at her home office.

The pinches were necessary.

At the castle, a projection of the cover art to the British edition of the books — Harry and his mentor, Professor Albus Dumbledore, at the center of some sort of fiery vortex — covered the face of the castle, making it look ablaze. A red carpet had been set up between two sets of stadium seats, and reporters swarmed one side of it while fans crowded the other.

We sat in the stadium until Ms. Rowling arrived, huddling against the rapidly dropping Scottish temperature and whooping loudly along with all the fans, who were being worked into a frenzy by an eager emcee.

When it was time to walk into the castle we looked back at the stadium in awe and reverence, and took deep breaths as we entered the dramatically lit location.

About 10 hours later, I finished the book. It is my favorite “Harry Potter” to date — dark, elaborate, whimsical, fast-paced and humorous, containing shining examples of all the best elements of Ms. Rowling’s writing, all braided tightly together in a plot that hurtled me through its depths.

There are few things better than being able to say such things about a book you love, and one of those things is being able to say it to the author’s face. Jo asked us immediately, when we met her at her spacious office later that day, if we had read the book and what we thought, and did so earnestly. Considering our situation, it probably sounded disingenuous to rave about it as we did, but there was nothing but honesty in our ebullience.

I had seriously wondered whether I would a) tense up, b) clam up or c) throw up as the interview started, but because Jo is so relaxed and welcoming, the interview — which was supposed to be one hour but somehow inflated to two — immediately launched into a funny and calming exchange of laughs and ideas, impressions and exclamations, and best of all, questions and answers. It felt as if we’d been pen pals together for a long time, and had just made the happy discovery that we could be friends in real life, too.

The full transcript of the interview will be posted on www.the-leaky-cauldron.org throughout this week, and it contains all kinds of tidbits about her life and her books, as well as several satisfying discussions about more sober and serious topics. For years, we as fans have watched journalists who know next to nothing about the books ask her how she got the idea for Harry Potter and whether there will be more than seven volumes in her series, things she has answered so many times, the responses can be recited off by heart by any committed fan. As much as that frustrated us is as big of a relief and welcome change as this interview became. By allowing us to interview her, Jo allowed the fans to skip the basics and go right to the good stuff.

It’s the interview we’ve wanted to read for a long time, and we got to conduct it.

Time for another good pinch.

Tradução: Luh B
Revisão: {patylda}

Spartz, Emerson. “Emerson’s Scotland Report: Part One,” Mugglenet, 18 July 2005

6:00pm GMT July 14th (Thursday)

The nine hour flight was uneventful, except for almost missing my connecting flight from London to Edinburgh and the airlines losing my luggage, which eventually came a half hour before the interview on Saturday. Better late than never, I guess. I met up with MuggleNet staffer Jamie, whom I stayed with the other three times I’ve been to England, at the Edinburgh airport and we took a bus to the hotel. On the way I got my first glimpse at the famous Edinburgh Castle, which is, if you didn’t know, perched on the top of “a big friggin’ mountain” (Melissa’s words). I can’t imagine how this castle could possibly have ever been overtaken, but apparently it has been done before.

Our room was roughly the size of a broom closet and the shower was about as wide as a box of cereal, but it was courtesy of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury so I’m not complaining (…really!). I hadn’t slept in 22 hours and I knew there wouldn’t be time for sleeping on Friday night so I passed out as soon as we checked in to the hotel.

12:00pm GMT July 15th (Friday)

Yes, you read that correctly. I was out cold for almost 18 hours, only waking once to eat dinner. We met up with Melissa and her two friends David and Kathleen who were in the rooms next to ours. Two Irish lads (GO IRISH!), Ciaran (pronounced “keer on”) of the MuggleNet staff and his friend Lachlan joined our troop a little later. Most of the day was spent getting ready for Saturday- sleeping, eating, sleeping, eating, etc.

The real fun began that night. At 9pm, Melissa and I headed over to the city council chambers for a reception with the 70 cub reporters and their parents. The Lord Provost (mayor) gave a short speech and shortly after, a man dressed in a loud, Victorian outfit appeared atop the balcony and introduced himself as Crispin the Curator. Eight “prefects” dressed in full Hogwarts garb appeared for Crispin’s over-the-top speech explaining how Edinburgh Castle is a museum and J.K. Rowling is a magical historian. The kids ate it up.

Our group of about two dozen Bloomsbury staff and VIPs followed behind the cub reporters as they set off in their Hogwarts-like carriages and made their dramatic entrance at the castle to 2000 screaming fans. We took our seats in the VIP section of the huge grandstand had been set up to cheer Jo and the contest winners on as they entered the castle… which, by the way, looked spectacular with an enormous image of Harry and Dumbledore projected on to the front. A massive screen was set up outside near the red carpet which would was broadcasting bits and pieces of the ITV1 special “Magic at Midnight” along with shots of the crowd and filler footage of the prefects talking about their lives at Hogwarts. An MC on the ground made sure the crowd made tons of noise for the TV cameras as the kids’ carriages arrived. The noise was deafening when Jo made her dramatic appearance riding a Thestral (kidding, of course). She looks terrific for a woman nearing 40.

I just happened to be sitting right next to the CEO of Bloomsbury and his daughter Alice (you know, “the girl who saved Harry Potter”?). I pestered them both with questions all night… real nice people.

At one point, while Jo made her way down the carpet five rows of seats in front of us cleared for reasons we are still unaware. I thought it looked bad, so I slid down a few rows to the middle of the ocean of empty seats. I have always had dreams of pursuing a career as an Oscar seat-filler, so this was my time to shine. Melissa made some excuses about a skirt but after much taunting, she joined me and we gave Jo several standing ovations as the night went on.

After Jo had smiled for about 300 photos and signed as many books, she walked in to the castle and we followed shortly. The crowd kept their seats to watch the book reading on the giant screen outside.

The castle was as magical on the inside as it was on the outside. Lining the path to “the chamber” were actors dressed up like grindylows and other magical creatures. The costumes were actually pretty cool-looking – the mechanical, fire-breathing horse was especially impressive. We didn’t go in the actual room where she did the reading as we had been promised originally because we would get in the way of the TV cameras, so we watched it on screens in a room outside with the parents of the cub reporters and Bloomsbury staff. Jo was originally planning to read the first chapter but she ended up reading from chapter six – see interview for explanation. Melissa cried during the reading (“it’s all too much!”) and much to her chagrin, I have tattled to every single person we’ve met since. I believe she is planning retaliation by announcing to the world in her write-up that I was doing Irish jigs all night. Come on. I’ve been going to Notre Dame football games (GO IRISH!) since I was a wee lad and I am kind of, you know, enrolled there. I’m practically a jigging expert.

We received our beloved books from Bloomsbury immediately after the reading. I jigged. Melissa cried some more. We took a moment to soak in their awesomeness (!) and raced, literally, back to the hotel. Poor Melissa had to make the four block jaunt barefoot – she was wearing high heels and you obviously can’t run in high heels. We made off with armloads of instant coffee packets from the hotel reception and plopped down on our beds to read.

Spartz, Emerson. “Emerson’s Scotland Report: Part Two,” Mugglenet, 20 July 2005

I turned the last page at 1pm – 12 hours after I first laid eyes on the precioussss. I didn’t read straight through – took frequent breaks to stay awake (and sane), but I still think I read half the lines in the book twice due to lack of focus.

I was expecting Harry to be more powerful of a wizard by now, but overall Half-Blood Prince was a big improvement over Order of the Phoenix and probably her best yet, but I have evolved too much as Harry Potter fan to objectively say it was or it wasn’t. Harry/Hermione shippers can expect me to be even more arrogant and cocky thanks to my recent vindication (see interview or just the last four books). “…Anvil-sized hints…”

The two hours before the interview were spent frantically thinking up last minute questions and arguing over what shirt I should wear (commence eye-rolling).

The phone rang. The car was here for us.

****

Jo’s PA (Personal Assistant) Fiddy gave us a tour of her office while we nervously waited for the queen herself. The room is covered – and I mean covered – in Harry Potter paraphernalia from the books, movies and video games. She even has copies of every book in every language.

Jo walked in five minutes later, followed by Neil and little Mackenzie, the cutest little chub you’ve ever seen. We hugged and I was caught momentarily speechless, which, I assure you, is very unlike me. We gave her the gifts we’d brought for her – shirts, Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, keys to cities, etc. – and she said she had gifts for us, but didn’t want us to open them until she’d left in case we didn’t like them (as if!).

We discussed non-HP things for a few minutes before we got down to business. Melissa and I were happy to hear she’s a huge West Wing fan, because we can’t get enough of that show either. She kept asking us questions about our sites and we were happy to answer, but we needed to get the interview going because we only were supposed to have an hour with her and, well, she’s the interesting one – not us!

I was very surprised at how easy it was to talk with her – she’s so personable and friendly it seemed ridiculous that I had ever been nervous about meeting her. At first, I kept thinking to myself, “I can’t possibly be in this room talking to this woman right now,” but it only took a few minutes before I became totally engrossed in the conversation and forgot about everything else.

It didn’t even feel like an interview, it was more like a chat with friends. Her sense of humor manifests itself well in the books, but she’s even funnier in person. The two hours flew by in what seemed like thirty minutes. I was very disappointed when I heard Fiddy knocking on the door, letting us know our car was here. Jo immediately said, “He hasn’t been waiting that long. Give us 10 more minutes.” Melissa and I each had about a dozen “last questions” and Jo didn’t end up leaving for about a half hour later. This is probably wishful thinking, but it seemed like she wanted to keep on going. Melissa chimed in several times, “We should do this again.” And every time, Jo laughed and said “It’s a possibility.” We should only be so lucky!

Far too soon, it was time to say goodbye. She signed our books, we took some photos together, hugged, and just like that, she was gone. Off to raise kids and the best-selling novels of the decade.

We opened her gifts on the way back to the hotel. She gave Melissa a neat-looking ring with a snake on it (“but that doesn’t mean you belong in Slytherin!” the note said). Melissa cried some more and for once, I didn’t mock her. She’s been wearing it since.

Her gift to me was a beautiful silver cup with ornate handles on either side. Her handwritten letter explained that it was a “Quaich”, a word she assures me she didn’t make up but is actually Gaelic and means “friendship cup”. My breath caught in my mouth when I saw that it was engraved.

“To Emerson, with love from J.K. Rowling”

What an incredibly thoughtful woman.

Back at the hotel, our Potter posse was waiting to hear everything. We talked HP for a few hours – everyone was dying to talk about the book and the interview – and went out for a celebratory dinner at a famous Edinburgh restaurant/pub.

I love my life.

SUNDAY

The kids’ press conference took place at the castle at 9am. Melissa and I sat in the back row and slumped in our seats so we wouldn’t stick out, being the only adults seated. (Yeah! I’m an adult now!) They asked a few good questions but we’ve heard most of them before. Read the transcript here. We waited around for a half hour afterwards for the transcript before they told us they’d just email it to us. Bloomsbury gave us gift bags like the cub reporters got and we headed off to the internet café to update our sites.

We had lunch with Lizo Mzimba, the CBBC guy who’s been able to interview Jo several times in the past. He really knows his HP… I was impressed. Then we had to go back to the hotel and get started writing our reports and transcribing the interview. When we both had satisfactory drafts done and the first part of the interview transcribed, we went out to dinner to celebrate nothing in particular. Hey, you’re not in Scotland every day – that’s enough reason to celebrate! Well, you might be, but I’m not.

MONDAY

Hellish. But the trip was so incredibly positive overall, I don’t want to leave a bad taste in your mouths by writing a blow-by-blow account of all the things that went horribly wrong this day. I did write it, actually, in vivid detail, but that was just to make myself feel better.

OVERALL

I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone when I was 11 – Harry’s age – so I have grown with Harry, laughed with Harry and cried with Harry. Every Harry Potter fan wishes they could go to Hogwarts, and after visiting the Goblet of Fire movie set in November and interviewing the creator, I think I have gotten as close to Harry’s world as it is possible for a fan to get. And I have you, MuggleNet fans, to thank for this. Without your support, MuggleNet surely would not have gotten this kind of attention and I would not have been presented with these wonderful opportunities.

I don’t know how mere words can express how grateful I am to J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury for allowing me this amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience. All the events surrounding the release were designed to reward Jo’s fans, which says a lot about the kind of caring person she really is. She is truly a figure to respect and admire.

Thanks, Jo, for everything.

Jones, Owen. “Autora de Harry Potter teme encerrar o capítulo final”. Ireland On-line, 17 de julho de 2005. A autora de Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, revelou hoje que está temerosa por encerrar o capí­tulo final de sua...