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[Silver Ink Pot]

8 ) Lengthy scenes describing Crookshanks napping in a patch of sunshine.

Dearest Socrates: I bow to your superior ideas, however . . . you know the limitations of the human breed, and the way they insist upon plot details and characterization at the expense of cattology.  The publishing world, alas, demands that these books be sold to humans, and therefore, those lengthy scenes might not materialize as hoped.

But you know what they say: If you can't find a book you want to read, then write one.    Perhaps your "Servant" should start taking notes for a companion novel to Deathly Hallows, including much less about the Horcrux hunt, and more about feral felines in Godric's Hollow?

Monkshood:  Here is the "proof" that Rowling liked Rickman for the role:


Mugglenet says Here

"Tim Roth was a leading contender for the role of Professor Severus Snape. Roth dropped out of contention, however, to pursue his role as General Thade in Tim Burton's adaptation of Planet of the Apes."

"Alan Rickman was hand-picked to play Snape by J.K. Rowling."

And Mary Grandpre did not read the book descriptions of Snape closely enough, choosing her own "flathead" version. Also, there is JKR's own drawing of Snape which is nothing like the Grandpre version. Look at the difference:

I always think - Hey, Mary?  Where is the top of Snape's Head? 

[ignisia]

GrandPre at least gets his outfit somewhat similar.

I've never been too bothered by flathead Snape, but I agree that Snape himself probably doesn't look like the flathead version. I go more with JKR's drawing than either the illustrations or Rickman. Sorry everyone, I just think Alan's too good looking.

[vrlc50again]

TF ALERT!!

Yes, but Iggy....when Harry finally takes his stupid glasses off and gets to see what Snape really looks like, the character is going to have to metamorphose (is that the word) before the audience's eyes.  You wouldn't want the Snape on film to evolve into Don Knotts would you?   Alan Rickman will give a much better presentation since underneath all that oily hair, we're going to see someone who ISN'T an ugly git.

[ignisia]

Git? No way. Ugly? Hm, well, it's all in the eye of the beholder, isn't it? While I adore him no matter how he looks () I think I can safely say that he doesn't quite measure up to society's definition of beauty.

[Sstar]

well, as I've said before, I don't like Rickman as Snape and don't believe he portrays the ideal Snape, and I probably never will.  Tim Roth would have been better suited. 
 
I won't even discuss Grandpre Snape as I find that almost reprehensible. 

The closest any illustrations have come to depicting Snape as I envision him is the Lexicon portraits:

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/snape.html

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/snape-narrative.html

In the second link, the second picture at the right is by far the best Snape I've seen.  That's the one I almost always imagine when reading the books.

Perhaps that should be a demand for book 7: have Ms. Grandpre make proper illustrations of Severus Snape.

[Potency]

The thing is, even JKR's drawing is a caricature.  Which I guess fits the way Harry sees him...but man, those eyebrows are crazy! 

Mary GrandPre...really not a fan.  She's been getting better at the covers, but I would have much preferred a more realistic artist for the covers...and I could have done without the chapter pics altogether.  They just aren't necessarily, especially for a suspenseful novel. 

[Spirit]

Hey, I see Socrates is online again! Hiiiii!!!!!

Regarding Snape - I've seen a lot pictures and drawings of him on the DeviantArt page that are pretty accurate to what I envision...  Mary GrandPre I'll simply not comment on..

[Monkshood]

What a brilliant idea.... I see there is a fanfiction section here. Perhaps there is room for a Crookshanks POV? 

As for the Snape discussion, I have no opinion. One human is much like another. But I will say that I am pleased with the cat actor in the role my favorite character, who I feel portrays Crookshanks with an amazing depth, in spite of how little screentime he actually has.   

   Socrates, given your popularity with many of our forum members, perhaps you should consider starting your own thread in the Posting Games section which would be along the lines of Ask Socrates or some variant.  You apparently have a vast amount of knowledge to impress upon us inferior humans.  I, for one, would like to know if kneazles are equal to Muggle cats or superior to your kind.  What say you about your own column? 

[touchstone]

I still think the british actor Steve Valentine would have been the perfect Snape. Rickman is just too old. Other than that, he would have been perfect, about 20 years ago.

[weaver]

They change so many more important things in the movies that the age of the actors doesn't bother me at all.  In fact, the movies are so kid-centric, that the adult characters come off as little more than window-dressing.  That's fine.   For me, the movies are completely separate from the books.  They have, and deserve, a discussion area separate from the books.  The movies are telling the story of "Harry Potter Defeats Voldemort."  The books have a lot more subtext and back story than can possibly be portrayed in the films.

As for HPDH - I hope JKR doesn't spend half the book on a horcrux hunt.  There are too many more interesting story lines to resolve.  If we get a detective story with the trio checking every pawn shop in Great Britain for Slytherin's locket I think I'll scream.

[Shoehorn Diva]

Well said Weaver, I really don't want it to be 'Harry Potter and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego'. You can bet that at least one of the horcruxes (horcri?) will be very very frustrating to find; but I hope the context of the book isn't dominated by the difficulty of finding them, there's so much else to say.

[foryourmalice13]

hmmm....let's see
1.  weasley twins humor, we gotta have something to lighten up what is sure to be the darkest book yet
2.  i wanna see what happened to lockhart, not a huge part or anything, but maybe just a passing thing
3.  if neither of them die, i think at the very very end maybe hermione and ron should get together, it's been hinted at soooo much already, but i don't think it can happen while they're looking for the horcruxes, that would get in the way i think.
4.  dumbledore needs to come back in some way, even if it's just a portrait or i dunno, something, i mean, i know he's dead, but there's sooooo many ways for them to communicate with the dead, he's gotta do it somehow.
5.  harry dies,  it's gotta happen, i know it. 
6.  ron has to save the day, not necessarily the WHOLE day so to speak, like, he doesn't have to be the hero of the whole book, but he's gotta prevail at least once, he's always in harry's shadow, he's gotta have a turn
7.  i don't want malfoy and harry to become friends and fight voldy together, too much of a fairy tail "happily ever after" ending
8.  what does dudley see when the dementors are around?
9.  i think there's more to petunia than meets the eye, i'd like to find a little but more about her
10.  there was one thing i thought of the other day that i really wanted to happen, but i can't, for the life of me, think of what it was....hopefully it'll come back to me

[Last Unicorn]

Ah, but remember, your fate is not in your stars, but in yourself.  My person's zodiac sign is the Rat and she has yet to deliberately cut off any fingers or hands.   

I know, I know.   

I see there are many here who wish young Malfoy to be redeemed. I was reluctant to put that on my list, since I remember JKR had ever said once that he wouldn't be friends with Harry.

And I see that many people don't like Horcrux-hunt plot a la Indiana Jones.  Personally, I don't mind an Indy model, but more complex plotline is more welcome.

[Spirit]

[I see there are many here who wish young Malfoy to be redeemed. I was reluctant to put that on my list, since I remember JKR had ever said once that he wouldn't be friends with Harry.

OMG! I must have missed that - when did she say that?

[Last Unicorn]

I read it some years ago, prior to OotP release. I can't find the link (not that I haven't tried, Spirit. I have. Sorry.  ), but I can still remember her line, "Draco and Harry will not join forces against Voldemort."