AndyP & Lenore
19th July 2007, 08:35 PM
Seem to remember back in the late 70's (I was just a tiny wee lad, so forgive me if I'm wrong), lines of Star Wars fans queuing for tickets to Star Wars or Empire Strikes Back.
Now they're doing it again. This time for the new (final) Harry Potter book. I accept that back in the 70's, there wasn't anything like the same proliferation of credit cards, I doubt the cinema's were selling tickets in advance, and online bookings were just a twinkle in Tim Berners-Lee's eye. So if you wanted a ticket to the movie you probably didn't have much choice but to wait in the queue. And if that meant queuing for days - so be it.
But what on earth are people queuing for the HP book NOW for? Every time I've gone into WHSmith for the past 3 months their staff keep asking me if I would like to pre-order the new HP book. When I say no, they seemed almost upset. So I would ask them if they will be getting enough in to satisfy pre-orders and have loads on the shelf. "Oh yes" they reply. Then they get even more upset when I ask them WTF is the point in me pre-ordering.
This BBC news article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6905873.stm) is more about Ms Rowling and Bloomsbury getting all pi$$ed off because reviews of the book are hitting the papers a couple of days earlier than they wanted. Ahem.... Does anyone else understand the concept of FREE ADVERTISING? But it also covers the fact the people are queuing for the book already.
Has the world gone nuts?
A.:p
Now they're doing it again. This time for the new (final) Harry Potter book. I accept that back in the 70's, there wasn't anything like the same proliferation of credit cards, I doubt the cinema's were selling tickets in advance, and online bookings were just a twinkle in Tim Berners-Lee's eye. So if you wanted a ticket to the movie you probably didn't have much choice but to wait in the queue. And if that meant queuing for days - so be it.
But what on earth are people queuing for the HP book NOW for? Every time I've gone into WHSmith for the past 3 months their staff keep asking me if I would like to pre-order the new HP book. When I say no, they seemed almost upset. So I would ask them if they will be getting enough in to satisfy pre-orders and have loads on the shelf. "Oh yes" they reply. Then they get even more upset when I ask them WTF is the point in me pre-ordering.
This BBC news article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6905873.stm) is more about Ms Rowling and Bloomsbury getting all pi$$ed off because reviews of the book are hitting the papers a couple of days earlier than they wanted. Ahem.... Does anyone else understand the concept of FREE ADVERTISING? But it also covers the fact the people are queuing for the book already.
Has the world gone nuts?
A.:p