What’s the most insane thing you’ve done trying to avoid a spoiler? (By the way, this post is spoiler-free, I promise.) Here’s why I’m asking: I’m forced to remember mine every time I spy someone reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
I felt like I had to finish the book its first weekend on shelves. Not crazy talk, especially since I work at EW and sit right outside the office of the man who edited the Potter cover package we closed the following Monday and Tuesday. No, the madness was the moment I decided I needed to see how many pages were in the book so that I could calculate the number I had left. What if my eyes drifted up the page and I saw a phrase or pronoun (yeah, I was worried about pronouns) that suggested whether Harry lived or died? I seriously spent a good 60 seconds trying to figure out whether I could trust myself — the person who, after catching 5 minutes of some episode of Supernatural a couple of years ago, occasionally finds herself standing in front of a mirror trying not to say the words "Bloody Mary" three times. I’m guessing I’m not the only one who had the Potter page panic.
If you have yet to read or finish the book, let me help you out: 759.
Your turn.
Related to that same book, my shipment from Amazon got screwed up (thanks USPS), so I ran out to Borders at 6:00pm Saturday to buy a second copy, then didn’t sleep Saturday night so I could finish it without seeing anything on tv or online. I finished by noon Sunday with a short break to walk in the Relay For Life, and now I’m very careful not to talk about it with people still reading. Even if I know where they are in the book, I don’t want to spoil anything for them.
759? Barry Bonds’career home-run total?
WARNING: THIS COMMENT CONTAINS SPOILERS CONCERNING HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE!! (But those of you who haven’t read that little nugget of gold yet aren’t really fans right?)
The day after the previously mentioned book came out, someone shoved plastic cups into a chainlink fence on an overpass which was over a busy road spelling out “Snape kills Dumbledore.”
I literally shut myself off from the world that weekend. I kept my computer off, my tv off, turned my cellphone to vibrate (yes i know, i couldn’t live w/o it!). But i too, wanted to check to see how long it was and deliberated on how to do so w/o being tempted to see words or character names on that final page. In the end i focused so long on a blank page that my vision became blurry and then quickly flipped to the last page where i couldn’t really make out anything but numbers. Now that i put that in writing i feel like such a dork
I’m not sure if this is crazy or inadvertantly healthy, but I stopped reading any comments sections on this or any other popular blog from the time the spoilers started showing up until I finished the book.
I do the same thing, checking the number of pages before I start a book (I’m not sure why). I didn’t put too much thought into why I needed to do it just how to check the Potter pages so I didn’t accidently see anything. I checked carefully like a card player guarding their cards and peeked making sure I didn’t see any text. Oh, and since I was alerted by EW.com about the special HP issue coming my way in the mail, I thought I would lock it in my safe if it arrived before I finished the book. It took me a little over a week to read the book. The magazine came the same day I finished the book. Thanks EW.
I didn’t visit any websites outside of my HEAVILY filtered LiveJournal friends list and my Gmail for a week before the book came out. I didn’t watch any television at all – except for the World Series of Pop culture, of course. But I avoided the news, newspapers, anything that could have spoiled me in the least bit. I had headphones playing at full volume the minute I entered the Barnes & Noble where I got my book.
And I made it. I didn’t get spoiled. I was so incredibly happy.
The most I’ve ever done to avoid spoilers also involves “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” I scheduled my vacation for the week after it came out, so I wouldn’t have to rush to finish the book before going to work on Monday. I also developed a fear of going out in public, in case I would overhear someone else’s conversation (in my mind, everyone else in the country was also reading the book that weekend). I was even concerned about going to church that Sunday morning (you know, in case the pastor had already read or at least heard about the details and decided to include something in the sermon, or in case the people sitting near me had read it and were going to discuss it during the service). I didn’t really go out in public (beyond drive-throughs) until I’d finished the book, when I was free from the fear of overhearing spoilers.
This is for any book I read…….I will put my hand over the last paragraph of a chapter so my eyes don’t inadvertantly flick to the last sentence which always holds a major reveal.
The most i’ve done was this summer with New Avenger’s 31 which is the biggest issue from Marvel comics this year. I had to go 4 days with out knowing the big new from the issue. It was all over the place Marvel.com wikipedia, Newsorama ect.
Whenever a Harry Potter book came out (after it became so popular), I would turn off my cell phone, shut down my computer, and stay in the house all day Saturday until I finished with the book. I had to make sure no one could accidentally let something slip!
I went to get my Deathly Hallows book at midnight on July 21. As we were all standing in line, books in hand – people were flipping to the last page and reading!! I was terrified someone would yell out “Harry dies” or “Harry lives” and spoil it for me. So I plugged my ears and hummed. Did I look crazy? Yes. Did the people in the parking lot slowly back away from me as I ran to my car book in hand, ears plugged? Maybe. Was it all worth it for a spoiler free start to the end of my Harry Potter journey? Absolutely.
I didn’t go online for the last couple of days before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released, and I didn’t even check my e-mail until I had finished reading the book on Saturday night. I stood in line at the store with my iPod on full volume in order to make sure that I wouldn’t hear anything as people started reading the last page. However, I made it without getting spoiled, and it was worth every effort.
For Deathly Hallows, when I went to buy the book on July 21st, I wouldn’t open the radio or talk to anyone in the store in case they would say anything about the book. After that, I locked the door, didn’t answer my phone and read for 18 hours straight until I was done. It was the only foolproof way to avoid spoilers!
RE: 759? Barry Bonds’career home-run total?
Hooray, let’s play a game of Number 23. Here’s a good one: The USS Jefferson City, (SSN-759), was launched in 1990, the SAME year J.K. Rowling got stranded on a train and thought up the Harry Potter series. Anyone else have chills?