Films Set in Alaska ... Aren't

The idea of a vampire movie set in Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost city in the United States, where darkness sets in for weeks on end each winter, was chilling.

Only 30 Days of Night wasn't really showing Barrow. It was filmed in the land of hobbits and sheep: New Zealand. And you remember that daring rescue in the Kevin Costner film about the Coast Guard, The Guardian, purported to take place 100 miles off the coast of Alaska? Actually, it was off the coast of Shreveport, La. (Which I would have picked as about the last place in the United States that could double for Alaska.) And in the upcoming Sandra Bullock film about Sitka, Alaska, you'll likely be seeing beautiful Massachusetts.

Talk about an identity crisis.

Day to Day reports that last week, a group of politicians, chamber of commerce members and filmmakers got together to talk about why nobody wants to make movies and TV shows set in Alaska in Alaska. A former Hollywood executive told them that it takes more than natural beauty to get filmmakers to show up. Alaska is one of the five states that don't offer filmmakers financial incentives like rebates or loans.

For instance, New Zealand offered the makers of 30 Days a 15 percent rebate. Canada, where the TV show Men in Trees is shot, has been a leader in offering these kinds of incentives.

Alaskans are hoping that the new Sean Penn film Into the Wild, which was shot in the 49th state, will increase people's interest in working there. But some are also looking to introduce incentive legislation, figuring the state is going to have to cough up some cash to prevent filmmakers from having Shreveport stand in.

4:39 PM ET | 11-13-2007 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

But Is It Art?

I love the doodles and scribbles of my four young children, but I would never venture to call them "art" (except maybe to their grandmother). Can kids even create art?

Elizabeth Blair examined that question and others in her All Things Considered story about Marla Olmstead, who became a media phenomenon at age 4. Her large, abstract paintings have sold for as much as $25,000.

Now she's the subject of a film by Amir Bar-Lev, My Kid Could Paint That. The film asks whether Marla actually painted the canvases herself. But as Bar-Lev told Elizabeth, it also raises larger questions about the essence of art.

"The fact that she was being called a prodigy in abstract expressionism raises a bunch of questions in my mind," Bar-Lev said. "Who decides what's great art, how does art get valued, what is art?"

Now, Mozart was composing music when he was 5, so young genius is not unheard of. And many people have valued Marla's work enough to pay thousands of dollars for it. On the other hand, people in the contemporary art field don't think Marla should get so much attention. So is it possible for a 4-year-old to make art, or is this just a case of media attention and trendy collectors creating a prodigy out of a little girl having fun with paint?

11:11 AM ET | 11- 1-2007 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post

Iraq War, Terrorism Seem to Dominate the Big Screen

Reese Witherspoon in Rendition, one of several films this season dealing with post-Sept. 11 themes.

Sam Emerson/New Line Cinema

There seems to be as much "coverage" of the war on terror and its various themes in theaters these days as there is on television and radio and in the papers. But as All Things Considered noted Tuesday, none of these films with post-Sept. 11 themes have been doing well at the box office. The Kingdom, an action thriller about terrorists and FBI agents set in Saudi Arabia, has done the best of the bunch so far, but it has brought in only $44 million and cost $70 million to make.

Last week's entry was Rendition (not to be confused with Brian DePalma's Redacted, due out soon). Even though it stars Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal, it took in only $4 million its first weekend.

So is it just that America is not ready for a spate of movies about terrorism, torture and the Iraq war? Not necessarily.

NPR film critic Bob Mondello says October is the month when "serious" movies tend to move center stage (can you say Oscar bait?), but these films are not designed to be blockbusters. If you check out box office totals, top-grossing movies tend to make around $15 million in their opening weekend this time of the year, Bob says. (Sure enough, this weekend's top-grossing movie, 30 Days of Night, made just a tad below $16 million.)

Bob also points out that many of the films with post-Sept. 11 themes have not gotten great reviews. For instance, The Kingdom was rated just 52 percent positive at RottenTomatoes.com, and Rendition only 43 percent (that means both are ranked "rotten") at last check. In the Valley of Elah did better at 63 percent (but still barely made the "fresh" category).

So it may be that Americans aren't turned off by these themes so much as that these movies aren't intended to be big moneymakers or just aren't good. But what do you think? Bad movies or bad subject matter?

4:10 PM ET | 10-24-2007 | permalink | comments (11) | e-mail post

'I'm Not in the Business. I Am the Business.'

Director Ridley Scott attends the Blade Runner premiere at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month.

Chris Jackson/Getty Images

I just got off the phone with Tom Bullock, our head foreign producer. When both of us are in the country, we share a very small, very messy office. He's in Baghdad right now, but I called him with the news that Ridley Scott is releasing yet another version of Blade Runner in the coming months.

We have had a long-running conversation about various top fives (obviously inspired by High Fidelity), and Blade Runner makes both of our lists. As does The Empire Strikes Back, as well as Alien and Aliens. We disagree about the last entry, but that's simply because he's wrong in thinking 2001 is better than Terminator.

But yet another cut of Blade Runner? The movie was released 25 years ago, the director's cut 15 years ago, and now a five-disc set.

Blade Runner, in my opinion, still works. It feels real. It feels like a dirty, rainy, global megalopolis that could exist today. It still feels like an accurate portrayal of an ever-approaching future.

Why? Well, Wired has an interview with Scott this week. Here's what he says about how he approached the design of the film:

In this instance, my special effect was the world. That's why I put together people like [industrial designer] Syd Mead who were actually serious futurists. The big test is saying, Draw me a car in 30 years' time, without it looking like bad science fiction. Or, Draw me an electric iron that will be pressing shirts in 20 years without it looking silly. I wanted the world to be futuristic and yet feel — not familiar, because it won't be — but feel authentic. One of the hardest sets to design was the kitchen. It's easy to fantasize about Tyrell's giant neo-Egyptianesque boardroom, but imagining a bathroom and kitchen in those times, that's tricky. Nevertheless, fascinating. I love the problem.

It's on my Netflix list. You all rate the top five differently?

- JJ Sutherland

12:17 PM ET | 09-28-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Music Industry Plays Tough in File-Sharing Suit

It's not often that a radio piece makes me really angry. But that's exactly how I felt when I heard a Marketplace report about the way the Recording Industry Association of America targeted Tanya Andersen of Oregon in its quest to sue people who are illegally downloading music. The problem? Andersen said she didn't do it and could prove it. But that didn't seem to make a difference to the RIAA.

Andersen's case illustrates what many see as the RIAA's "scorched earth" policy to curtail file-sharing. Her lawyer told Marketplace that after Andersen decided to fight back against the erroneous accusations, someone from the RIAA's law firm called her apartment manager and threatened to get him in a lot of trouble if he didn't give out Andersen's personal information.

For its part, the RIAA says people accused of illegally downloading files frequently say they have been wrongly targeted. Mitch Bainwol, the head of the RIAA, says people can be "creative" with the way they portray the facts.

However, Andersen's fight with the RIAA, which dragged on for a couple of years, ended when a federal court told the group that it had to prove Andersen had made the downloads. The association then dropped the suit, leaving her with thousands of dollars in legal fees. But as Marketplace notes, the courts may be losing patience with this tactic. A judge recently ordered the organization to pay a Texas woman's $68,000 legal bill.

Now Andersen has turned the tables and is suing the RIAA, accusing the group of "fraud, malicious prosecution, libel and slander, invasion of privacy, deceptive business practices, misuse of copyright laws and colluding to engage in widespread extortion and racketeering."

1:41 PM ET | 09-18-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Author Scolded by Oprah Gets New Book Deal

Proving once again that there is no such thing as bad publicity, James Frey, the author who acknowledged making up sections of his best-selling memoir A Million Little Pieces, has landed safely a year later. The New York Times reports that Frey has signed a new deal with HarperCollins for his novel Bright Shiny Morning.

Frey will forever be remembered as the author Oprah Winfrey chewed out on national television for lying to her. Seldom has there been such a public tongue-lashing — outside of reality TV.

But Frey should not have any problems with this new book. People already know it's fiction.

4:55 PM ET | 09-13-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

The Story of the Lackawanna Six

I treated myself Wednesday evening. Instead of heading straight home to do the dishes, I went to hear my NPR colleague Dina Temple-Raston talk about her new book, The Jihad Next Door. It's the story of the Lackawanna Six, a group of young Muslim men from the Buffalo, N.Y., area who were arrested and described by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft as an al-Qaida sleeper cell. But it's not quite that simple, as Dina's book so ably illustrates.

As someone who wrote about terrorism and security for several years in my old job and frequently blogged about the original arrests and subsequent trial, I came to believe that there was a great deal of nuance in this and similar stories. Despite the often black-and-white portrayals from law enforcement officials (particularly in the first few years of this administration) and the media, there were many gray areas. Dina's book captures this complexity.

I was struck by two things Dina said during her talk. First, that the FBI has gotten much better at working with the Muslim community. For instance, when the bureau was about to announce the indictment of the Fort Dix Six, agents first phoned all the top imams in the country and explained the situation to them. Basically, they wanted to give the details to the community before they were manipulated in the media. Dina, who called the imams to check this out, said they really appreciated it and that it made a difference in their communities' reactions.

The second — and rather chilling — thing is that public officials are absolutely certain that there will be another attack in the U.S. And it probably will be either a car bomb or someone wearing a suicide vest. It may be homegrown or it may be imported, but it will happen, they say.

4:15 PM ET | 09-13-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Remembering the World's Best-Known Opera Singer

Luciano Pavarotti in 2005.

Henning Kaiser/AFP/Getty Images

Thirty-two years ago this fall, I was a theater student at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Every now and then, I would try to pick up a few extra credit hours by working on productions at the local arts auditorium, which was on campus. And that's how I met Luciano Pavarotti.

He was just starting to become famous then (or else, to be quite honest, he probably wouldn't have been in Halifax). I can still see him walking down the hall. Huge grin, oozing confidence, dressed with a flair, his fisherman's cap on his head, with a small entourage following behind him. Later, I ended up standing beside him and started up a brief conversation. I told him that my best friend was an opera singer, and when we had roomed together the previous summer while working at a resort hotel, I would wake up many mornings to the sounds of Pavarotti blasting on the stereo. I could tell he was pleased with that news, and he laughed.

It was just one of those brief moments you have with someone famous that don't mean anything to the celebrity but add a little sparkle to life. Sometimes they are fun, sometimes a little weird (one day I'll tell you about being introduced to singer Paul Anka when I was about 8 years old).

I always was a Pavarotti fan after that day. (I'm probably one of the few people who actually went to see Yes, Giorgio.) It's sad to think that he's gone now.

2:46 PM ET | 09- 6-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Mother Teresa's Spiritual Crisis at Center of New Book

Mother Teresa in April 1995.

AFP/Getty Images

She was easily one of the most recognizable women in the world. She was seen as a living saint by many. And she was a particular inspiration to Catholics.

But a new book about Mother Teresa, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, based on the many letters she wrote to her spiritual counselors and confessors over an almost 50-year period, show a spiritual life that was, as she described it, dry, dark and lonely.

Three months before she accepted her Nobel Peace Prize, she wrote to a spiritual confidant: "Jesus has a very special love for you ... [but] as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see, — Listen and do not hear — the tongue moves [in prayer] but does not speak ... I want you to pray for me — that I let Him have [a] free hand."

It's not uncommon to hear of religious people going through periods of doubt. For instance, Father James Martin, in a commentary on All Things Considered, says Mother Teresa's spiritual struggles remind him of his own during a recent retreat.

But Mother Teresa's extensive spiritual crisis is surprising for a woman of her influence ... and ammunition for her critics. Time quotes well-known atheist Christopher Hitchens (who also wrote The Missionary Position, a scathing attack on Mother Teresa), who says, "She was no more exempt from the realization that religion is a human fabrication than any other person, and that her attempted cure was more and more professions of faith could only have deepened the pit that she had dug for herself."

But in the same piece, the Rev. Matthew Lamb, chairman of the theology department at the conservative Ave Maria University in Florida, said Come Be My Light — compiled and edited by the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk — will one day rank with "St. Augustine's Confessions and Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain as an autobiography of spiritual ascent."

4:50 PM ET | 08-23-2007 | permalink | comments (73) | e-mail post

Dave Robicheaux Finally Tackles Katrina

Oh, I have been waiting for this for the past two years.

There are two detective characters whose stories I never miss -- Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch and James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux. And ever since Hurricane Katrina tore apart my favorite city in America, New Orleans, I wanted to see how Burke and his Cajun detective would deal with it. Martha Woodroof reported on Day to Day that my answer has come: The Tin Roof Blowdown.

I have next week off, and you can bet I'm headed down to the bookstore to get my copy. Summer reading here I come. (You can read an excerpt of Burke's latest Robicheaux novel at Simon & Schuster's Web site.)

5:42 PM ET | 07-30-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

What Should the Future Hold for Harry Potter?

(Spoiler alert: Don't read any further if you haven't had a chance to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yet.)

It didn't take very long for this idea to surface.

In her glowing review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for Forbes, writer Lisa LaMotta argues that Harry must keep going and that the series should not end. But who should take over from J.K. Rowling now that Harry is grown up? Apparently, book chain Borders polled 1,500 people in Britain, and "their favorite, by far, is Irvine Welsh, author of the drug- and sex-filled novels Trainspotting and Porno."

Oh my. That would make for, er, interesting reading, indeed. But what do you think? Is Harry done? Or should he have some grown-up (although not necessary "adult") adventures as well?

11:38 AM ET | 07-30-2007 | permalink | comments (15) | e-mail post

Learning About Bergman from His Film Editor

While I never had the pleasure of meeting Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish film director who died today, I did have the opportunity to learn from someone who worked very closely with him on some of his greatest films.

In the mid-1980s, I was chosen to learn about screenwriting as part of a Canadian film program called DramaLab. The person who was supposed to teach us dropped out at the last second, and Ulla Ryghe stepped in. I had no idea who she was. But one of the DramaLab organizers told us that she had edited some of Bergman's films: Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, The Silence, Persona, Hour of the Wolf, to name a few.

Some of my fellow screenwriters grumbled because screenwriting wasn't her specialty. But no way was I going to waste a chance to learn from a person who had worked with one of the world's greatest directors. Ryghe saw I was interested and, as a result, made me work pretty hard. But I learned a lot about making movies.

Occasionally she would talk about working with Bergman, how hard he pushed her, how creative he was, how intimidating he could be at times. I knew a lot of what she was teaching me was what she had learned from him, combined with her own deep knowledge about film.

In particular, the things she taught me about how to observe the world -- to pay attention to the obvious things we miss every day -- serve me very well in my current job.

9:18 AM ET | 07-30-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Simpsons, Meet the Simpsons ...

A Simpsonized Tom Regan

Simpsonizeme.com/Meghan Gallery

OK, two things right off the bat.

First, I've been a Simpsons fan from the beginning. Second, no way is Springfield in Vermont. It's in Massachusetts. Springfield, Mass., may not have a nuclear reactor, but if you've ever been there it has the same, er, outstanding qualities as Homer's Springfield. Sort of. In a way. If you close your eyes and imagine.

Now that I have that off my chest, we're all set for today's opening of The Simpsons Movie. Mark Jordan Legan of Slate gave the lowdown on what critics had to say about the movie on Day to Day. In short, they like it; they really, really like it.

Meanwhile, Morning Edition talked to the man behind the Simpsons curtain, creator Matt Groening, on his, well, inspiration for the crazy family.

Better yet, you can Simpsonize yourself. Burger King has created the site, which allows you to upload a headshot that will be used to create a Simpsons character who looks like you. (But be prepared to wait; it's taking a long time, probably due to the demands on the Web server.)

That's it for this week. If you see anything interesting, you can e-mail us at newsblog@npr.org.

(Tom's Update: OK, we finally got through to the Simpsonizeme site, and the result is above. I was momentarily excited when I thought that it had given me brown hair -- my hair hasn't been brown since Jimmy Carter was president. But alas, my editor told me it was steel gray. Rats. Darn color-blindness.)

5:52 PM ET | 07-27-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Mr. Spock Makes a Logical Return

Leonard Nimoy

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Fans at San Diego's big Comic-Con festival got more Spocks for their money than they had anticipated.

During a Paramount Pictures panel Thursday about the new Star Trek movie, which will feature the crew of the Enterprise during their early years in Starfleet, director J.J. Abrams (known for his work in Mission: Impossible III and Lost) introduced the actor who will play the young Spock -- Zachary Quinto of Heroes. But then Abrams told the audience he had more casting news ... and he introduced Leonard Nimoy, who will also have a small role in the film as the older Spock.

When asked why he was returning to the Trek film universe, Nimoy said the decision was logical.

Well, what else would you expect him to say? All I can say is that I hope the film lives long and prospers.

11:29 AM ET | 07-27-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Drew Carey Agrees to Host 'The Price Is Right'

Drew Carey speaks about another game show he's hosting, Power of 10, at the Television Critics Association Press Tour in California earlier this month.

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

At first, I thought I was hearing things. Driving to Dulles airport around 3 a.m. to pick up my wife, home from a month overseas, I heard the announcer say the new host of The Price Is Right -- an American institution rivaled only by Mount Rushmore and Old Faithful for longevity and durability -- was going to be ... Drew Carey.

Drew Carey?! The host of the hilarious, frequently ribald Whose Line Is It Anyway? taking over one of my long-dead grandmother's favorite shows? Drew Carey, who admitted in his autobiography that he got frustrated with censors while filming his eponymous TV show because they wouldn't let him tell more dirty jokes? It was like having an out-of-body experience.

But when I looked online later this morning, there was the news: Carey is taking the reins from Bob Barker, who had hosted the show since FDR was president. (OK, actually, it was Nixon.)

The Associated Press reports:

The deal was set shortly before a taping of CBS' Late Show with David Letterman, where Carey confirmed it. "I realize what a big responsibility this is," he said. "It's only a game show, but it's the longest-running game show in American television and I plan to keep it that way."

Twenty years ago, when I worked in Nova Scotia, I interviewed a popular local DJ, who told me that his real goal in life was to be a game-show host. I almost laughed out loud. What kind of ambition was that?

But I think I've changed my position. Game shows are a lot more fun now than they were 20 years ago. (Think Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!) Hosting one could actually be kinda cool.

11:39 AM ET | 07-24-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

No More Harry Potter Books Is a Daunting Thought

Stacks of the seventh and last installment of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, at a bookstore in Washington.

Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

I just finished it. The seventh book.

Yes, yes, I know I was reading at work. But it was just the last five pages. And a journalist has to research the important stories of the day, right? Since I picked up a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on Saturday around 4 p.m., I've been reading the more-than-700-page book non-stop.

And here is what you've all wanted to know: It is FABULOUS. By far the best of the series. I could not put it down. I read until 3 a.m. Sunday. I read at the swimming pool. I read during meals. I read at the dentist's office this morning while waiting for my cleaning. I read it on the subway to work. And I just finished reading it at my desk.

I'm not going to discuss the ending. I can confirm that some really important characters die; some of them totally unexpected. And you do learn things about deceased headmaster Albus Dumbledore and the villains Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy that will surprise you.

Here's JJ Sutherland's take on the book from Morning Edition. (I lent him several of the earlier movies so he could have a Harry Potter film festival before reviewing Deathly Hallows.)

So now I've read all the books and seen all the films made so far. And the best things about these books are what they teach children -- and, it must be said, adults -- about what's important in life: family, loyalty, friendship and love. (This is why I think it's a mistake to ban Potter books for their "magic.") But most of all, it may be about the choices that we make, and how they determine who we really are, despite what we say or think.

I'm sorry there won't be an eighth Harry Potter. But then again, seven seems a very good number for J.K. Rowling.

2:23 PM ET | 07-23-2007 | permalink | comments (13) | e-mail post

Wizard Rock Casts a Spell over Harry Potter Fans

Every night after supper for the past month, my four children and I have curled up on our couch and read aloud another chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The kids are so into the book that they don't want to go and see the movie before I finish.

But there's even another way they can enjoy the trials of Mr. Potter -- "wizard rock." While I remember hearing vaguely about a band whose members dressed like Harry and even named their group after him, I confess I was unaware of just how popular this new musical genre had become until I heard Melody Kramer's piece on Day to Day.

(It was one of those moments when I realized just how old I am. How had I missed this stuff when my house is full of kids who want nothing more in life than to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?)

The trend started with a couple of guys from Boston who called themselves Harry and the Potters, and there are now bands called Draco and the Malfoys, The Whomping Willow and The Remus Lupins. The groups are particularly popular with -- go figure -- librarians.

Cindy B. Haynes, the children's librarian at the Fairfield Public Library in Fairfield, Conn., says she's amazed that more than 100 people have showed up to the library on a Friday night to see Draco and the Malfoys and The Whomping Willow. A typical Friday, she says, draws maybe 10.

If you want to listen to some wizard rock, you can find songs posted along with Melody's piece. You can also check out the MySpace pages of Harry and the Potters (if you're in Seattle, you can catch them tonight at the main public library) and Draco and the Malfoys.

This leads me, of course, to come up with ideas for other band names inspired by literary figures ... Ahab and the White Whales ... Hawkeye and the Mohicans ... The Catch-22's ... The possibilities are endless.

4:08 PM ET | 07-13-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

A Totally Subjective Top 10 Movies List

Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly star in Rear Window, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Paramount Pictures/Archive Photos/Getty Images

After I posted an entry late Friday on the American Film Institute's top 100 films of all time, commenting that the list was just too subjective to be taken seriously, a friend at NPR challenged me to name my 10 favorite films and then ask you guys to send in your nominations.

So here goes. My top 10 desert-island films, in no particular order:

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: Absolutely the best (and darkest) of the six-movie set.
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: The best trilogy in film, but this one gives the other two that feeling of magic.
Wings of Desire: Wim Wenders' version, not the dumb one with Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan.
To Kill a Mockingbird: Atticus Finch for president!
Rear Window: Hitchcock's best. But who could look out the back window with Grace Kelly in the room?
Three Kings: A great, flawed film about the first Gulf War.
Casablanca: More great lines per minute than any other movie ever made.
Toy Story 2: The only cartoon film with a message deeper than "buy our toys."
The Life of Brian: Brilliant, brilliant satire.
Apocalypse Now: I can still remember walking out of the theater with several hundred other people, all of us completely speechless.

Close but No Top Ten Cigar: When Harry Met Sally, It's a Wonderful Life, Bull Durham, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, A Clockwork Orange, Singin' in the Rain.

Now, over to you ...

4:39 PM ET | 06-25-2007 | permalink | comments (87) | e-mail post

AFI: 'Citizen Kane' Still Greatest Film of All Time

Finally this week, the American Film Institute has released a new version of its top 100 films of all time, and the winner is the same film that topped the list when it first appeared a decade ago -- Orson Welles' Citizen Kane.

Which makes sense with all those flashbacks and camera stunts that Welles practically invented. The only thing missing was bullet time.

And I'm sorry, I love The Godfather, but it's no Casablanca. I totally disagree with them switching places at two and three. DeNiro and Brando together couldn't carry Bogie's dinner jacket.

And Hitchcock's 1958 thriller Vertigo going from No. 61 to No. 9? ... What's up with that? How does a film move 50 places in 10 years? It just goes to show how subjective this list is -- it has all the authority of my kids picking their favorite ice cream flavor this week.

There is one change I heartily approve of. Dances with Wolves, which had been No. 75, disappeared from the list. Woo hoo! I still have nightmares about Kevin Costner in buckskin. OK film, but top 100 of all time? Not a chance.

We'll see you on Monday. Don't forget to e-mail us at newsblog@npr.org if you see something interesting.

5:06 PM ET | 06-22-2007 | permalink | comments (9) | e-mail post

Would Rowling Really Kill Off Her Golden Goose?

July looks like it's shaping up to be national Harry Potter Month.

USA Today gives a preview of the coming Potter onslaught. On July 11, the fifth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, will hit (and I do mean hit) theaters across America. Then 10 days later, at midnight, the last book, Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows, will take over the country's bookstores.

Some Potter fans are calling it a cross-promotional nightmare. Emerson Spartz, who founded the Potter fan site MuggleNet.com eight years ago, when he was 12, says, "I would think that both Warner Bros. and Scholastic would want to spread the buzz out for a longer period of time."

Oh, nonsense, I say. Won't make a philosopher's stone worth of difference. Both the book and the film will generate millions, dare I say, a billion or more dollars, for these companies and for author J.K. Rowling.

And this leads us to the question that has dominated Potter talk ever since Rowling hinted she might kill Harry off. Allow me to offer an answer:

It won't happen. Because (as we saw above) it's all about the Benjamins.

Harry Potter is an economic engine of a ferocious nature. I know this because I have four children who have read the books, seen the movies, bought themed Lego sets, wands, costumes, computer games, etc. They LOVE Potter. But if Potter were not to survive the final book ... I'm not so sure their attention would either.

I can see young and old fans not going to the final two movies if they knew of such an outcome, regardless of how noble it might be. And future fans hesitating. (Would Star Wars be as popular if Luke died in the final episode?) And all the peripheral marketing bits would suffer as well.

Rowling may still risk all by killing Harry (Arthur Conan Doyle tried the same tactic with Sherlock Holmes and it didn't work), but I can't see her walking away from her Golden Goose.

2:48 PM ET | 06-21-2007 | permalink | comments (12) | e-mail post