Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Part 5

This entry is part 5 of 6 in the series Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.

HP Mirror

After a long Labor Day weekend, Prior Incantato is back, with the piece of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone that I’ve been waiting to cover ever since I first got the idea for this thing. We’re going to talk about mirrors, desires, phantoms and Flamels. At the end of Part 4, Harry vanquished a troll and got his Quidditch on. What’s next? Continue reading →

Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Part 4

This entry is part 4 of 6 in the series Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.

Harry Potter

And we’re back! This week we tackle the next three chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which gives us our awesome first game of Quidditch, trolls, tricks and leviosas. At the end of Part 3, Harry had just been sorted into Gryffindor, where he found out that Snape hated him and all was not quite what it seemed at Hogwarts. What mysteries will he stumble upon next? Continue reading →

Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Part 3

This entry is part 3 of 6 in the series Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Welcome, Muggles, to Part 3 of Prior Incantato, where we’re digging into the world of Harry Potter on a chapter by chapter basis with constant vigilance. At the end of Part 2, Harry received his ticket to the Hogwarts Express, and now eagerly awaits the escape from his evil captors, the Dursleys. Continue reading →

Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Part 2

This entry is part 2 of 6 in the series Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Welcome to Part 2 of my re-read of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. We last left Harry at the worst vacation ever, warming himself near a fire fueled by a bag of potato chips as he awaits his birthday. When the clock strikes midnight, someone knocks on the door. Continue reading →

Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Part 1

This entry is part 1 of 6 in the series Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.

I don’t want to introduce this thing too heavily, but if you’d like to know more about why I’m doing this blog series, see these two Harry Potter related posts. The story of the Boy Who Lived is, I feel, one of the greatest modern pieces of writing about death, redemption and sacrificial love – and I don’t know if anything will challenge that title for a long time to come.

I wanted to take some time to dig through the halls of Hogwarts again, to see Harry Potter grow up, to analyze the way J.K. Rowling develops characters and sows the seeds of mystery. Hopefully, I can become a better writer as a result, and we can grow to appreciate Harry’s tale a bit more together. After all, even though the Boy Who Lived is gone, the ones we love never truly leave us. Continue reading →

On Humor and Finding Community

Community

One of my recent obsessions the last couple of months has been the show Community, Dan Harmon’s meta-comedy that pokes fun at sitcoms and practically every other genre that has graced our TV sets.

I recently borrowed Season 1 of the show on DVD, and somehow I fell down the rabbit hole of listening to the commentary tracks for every single episode, something I’ve never really done before with a series like this. Or any series, for that matter. Continue reading →

The Harry Potter Re-Read

As many of you know (unless you have been in cryosleep since the 90’s, in which case, you really ought to avoid the Speed movies), all things Harry Potter have come to a crushing halt now that the eighth and final movie has released. For many of us aspiring Gryffindors and Aurors, Potterdom will never be the same.

This sad realization launched me on a consumicas totalus campaign for all things related to the Boy Who Lived, which included a re-watch of all the films and has now lead me to a re-read of the novels themselves. Continue reading →

More than You can Chew

As a dude that used to weigh 300 plus pounds, I think I can safely say that sometimes I bite off more than what is necessary or smart. I do this both literally and in my creative life. Although in the last couple of years, less in both.

Part of what kept me from writing for the longest time was that I was always overambitious in what I wanted to accomplish with a story. Continue reading →

The Cold Open

I believe I’ve said it here before, but starting things is always the most difficult part of any project for me. I tend to freeze up when it’s time for anything new in my life, mainly because I’m worried about getting the ball rolling improperly. I don’t know why, but somehow I feel as if a project that gets enough bad mojo behind it is going to crush me like that huge boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Which, coincidentally, is one brilliant way to start a movie. Continue reading →

The Dungeon Writer

When I was younger, we didn’t have a whole lot of limits on what we could and couldn’t consume in terms of media. I think I started watching rated R movies when I was around 6 or 7 years old. Of course, I started with the greats: Predator, Rambo III, Commando and the like. I guess my dad was really into burly dudes shooting machine guns, so I was into it, too.

However, through all of the blood and gore, there was one thing that my mom was always adamant that we couldn’t watch: anything with magic. Continue reading →

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