I was in town this evening attending a birthday party for Padraig O'Mealoid's Irish SF News e-zine and after I left the party I wandered around Grafton Street and Dawson Street for a few minutes to look at the crowds assembling for the midnight launch of the Harry Potter Book. I passed another queue as I drove home along O'Connell Street and I was struck by the significance of it all. Those people - children and adults - weren't queuing to see a sports star, or a movie star, or someone who happned to be in a boy band or who just happened to be the last person voted out of the Big Brother house. No they were queuing becuase they couldn't wait to get their hands on a book. Ink on paper. A story.
It's good to know that in this age when television seems to be dumbing down everything - cf Big Brother, You're A Star, Pop Idol etc. ad nauseam - a story still has the power to attract children. There's hope for us yet.
12:57:56 AM  Google It!
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