Tag Archives: Harry Potter

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Procrastination Destination: ASMR Unboxing Videos

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Autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR, is a thing you’ve probably heard of. There have been internet communities devoted to the phenomenon for some time now. It all supposedly started with an internet forum founded in 2007 called “Weird sensation feels good.” Searching ‘ASMR’ on YouTube now produces more than 7 million results, and the term is now widespread in the meme vernacular. These videos typically consist of an ‘ASMRtist’ speaking softly into an ultra-sensitive microphone and generating other sounds from crinkling paper, tapping their nails, painting, you name it. And this is supposed to give you the tinglies.

Now, I didn’t want to do a Procrastination Destination post on ASMR writ large. That would be much too stale. Instead, I have decided to focus on a subgenre of ASMR videos that was founded at the intersection of another popular and inexplicable YouTube genre: Unboxing videos.

The genre has been around just a tad longer than ASMR videos. According to the Unboxing wiki, the first incarnation of the modern unboxing video was this one of a guy unboxing a Nokia E61, uploaded to YouTube in 2006. The gist of the genre: people open up shit that they buy and record their reactions.

Now, as with many intersections, the genesis of the ASMR unboxing subgenre is unclear. But, as you will see, it is heavily populated. Here are some vids, for your procrastination:

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EVENT
Harry Potter Trivia @ ADP

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Mike Glasser ’16 writes in with the following wizardly announcement:

Swish and flick! Are you a master of the dark arts? Do bubbling potions excite you? Do you spend hours looking over ancient runes? If so, come to Alpha Delt at 2 on Sunday to celebrate the wonders of the wizarding world. There may even be a sorting hat…

Where: Alpha Delta Phi Living Room
When: Sunday, 2/2, 2-5pm
Cost: 50 Galleons (conversion rate = 0 dollars)

EVENT
Survey for English Thesis

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Cardner Clark ’13 gives you an opportunity to get all Harry Potter-ish:

If you’re a fan of fan fiction, spare 3 minutes to complete a short survey! I’m writing an English thesis about Harry Potter fan fiction and your responses are greatly appreciated. And if you could forward it along outside the Wesleyan bubble, that would be awesome as well.

Link: HERE BRO OMG THIS SURVEY IS SO KEWL
Deadline: February 14th
Cost: 3 minutes of your beautiful time

English Majors Talk: Harry Potter Fan Fiction

English Majors Talk Series - Harry Potter Fan FictionInterested in what the English majors writing theses have been up to?   Next Tuesday, Cardner Clark ’13 will be giving a talk on her thesis topic, “The Magical World of Harry Potter Fan Fiction.”  Come listen to how she chose the topic, what research she has done so far, and whatever else you have questions about.  Whether you’re considering writing a thesis yourself or just a fan of Harry Potter, we’d love to have you.

The talk will be on  Tuesday, November 27 at 4:30pm in Downey House, Room 113.  This event is part of the English Major Talk Series sponsored by the Majors’ Committee, so stay tuned next semester for more thesis talks!

Attend on Facebook and like the Wesleyan English Department!

Date: Tuesday, November 27
Time: 4:30PM
Place: Downey 113

EVENT
A Very Potter Musical Auditions (CANCELLED)

[ATTENTION: Unfortunately, the producers have written in informing us that the auditions have been cancelled due to rather unfortunate unfortunances. Keep on the lookout, though, for other shows popping up.]

Come audition for A Very Potter Musical, presented by Second Stage!

Auditions will be Sunday, September 18 from 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM and Monday, September 19 from 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM, both in the Usdan Multipurpose Room in the basement. Please come prepared with a song (a capella) and something to make us giggle. If you’re not funny, we don’t want you. The show goes up Halloween weekend in the Chapel.

Bring your friends and come audition!

  • Date: Sunday, September 18; Monday, September 19
  • Time: 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM; 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM
  • Place: Usdan Multipurpose Room
  • Cost: Free!
  • To see the musical on YouTube: Click here!

File Under: Way Better Than "Kings"

These days you’ve got to look hard among the silly, fake petition groups (Revolt against donuts!) and silly, useless applications (Grow your own nosehair!) to find anything worthwhile on Facebook. Once in awhile, though, you can run across a diamond in the rough, and this month’s jewel is: Horcruxes (the drinking game). Developed by some devoted–and clearly ingenius– Harry Potter fans at SUNY Plattsburgh, the game (which has a facebook group devoted to it of the same name) has simple rules obviously derived from Kings. But way better. According to the group’s site:

“The new drinking game for Harry Potter fans everywhere:

THE RULES:
This game is played with two die. Sit in a circle and have the youngest person roll first.
2- The Twins: you either have to tell a joke or do a dare agreed upon by the rest of the circle in honor of Fred & George Weasley.
3- The Trio: you’re Harry. Pick a Ron and a Hermione to drink with.
4- The Dungeons: last person with their hands to the floor drinks
5- Quidditch: last person with their hands to the ceiling drinks
6- The Slytherin: pick one other person in the circle. they must drink
7- The End of Year Feast: everyone drinks
8- The Marauders Map: everyone lists a Harry Potter character until one is repeated or someone can’t think of one. this person drinks (go clockwise.)
9- The Hogwarts Express: the person that rolls starts drinking, then the next person starts drinking, and so on. you can not stop drinking until the person before you stops drinking. (go clockwise)
10- The Filch: you have to roll the dice and multiply whatever you roll by 3. if you roll doubles you’ve gotten out of detention and don’t have to drink.
11- The Dark Lord: you have gained a Horcrux.
12- Dumbledore’s Army: you have lost a Horcrux.

You begin the game with 1 Horcrux.
If you get to 7 you get to drink the Elixer of Life which will be in the middle of the circle.
Every time you make someone drink, you gain a Horcrux. When you roll an 12, you dump a drink into the middle (the Elixer).
If you’re down to zero Horcruxes you’re out of the game.”

The next time you’re wishing you were in Charms instead of Chemistry, quit taking notes and plan out a Horcruxes party instead. Happy Geek-ing!

Goes well with the Harry Potter Vagina Power theme


Comments from Amazon before the toy was pulled:

# This toy was #1 on my daughter’s Christmas list. So what the heck, although it has no educational value I figured it would be good for imaginative play. It wasn’t until after she opened her gift and started playing with it that I realized that the toy may offer a more than sensational experience. The broomstick has cute sound effects and ***VIBRATES*** when they put it between their legs to fly. Come on—what were the creators of this toy thinking? She’ll keep playing with the Nimbus 2000, but with the batteries removed.

# I recently bought this for my son, Vantro. He’s a HUGE Harry Potter fan. Seen the movie 32 times (in the theaters) and made the paper. This toy gives him the ability to fly around the house zapping things. My only problem I see with the toy is the batteries drain too fast and his sister fights him over it, so now I need to buy her one.

# When my 12 year old daughter asked for this for her birthday, I kind of wondered if she was too old for it, but she seems to LOVE it. Her friends love it too! They play for hours in her bedroom with this great toy. They really seem to like the special effects it offers (the sound effects and vibrating). My oldest daughter (17) really likes it too! I reccomend this for all children.

# My 12 year old daughter is a big Harry Potter fan, and loved the part with the Nimbus 2000, so I decided to buy her this toy. I was afraid she would think it was too babyish, but she LOVES this toy. Even my daughter’s friends enjoy playing with this fun toy. I was surprised at how long they can just sit in her room and play with this magic broomstick! A great buy for any Harry Potter fan! :)

Harry Potter Withdrawal?

Are you sad? I’m sad. It’s all over. I know how it ends. I know what happens. And granted, while I should be (and am) reading other, arguably more important things, I still don’t feel comfortable with the empty fantasy void that Harry Potter used to fill. Thus, I’ve already turned onto a new series which, conveniently, is being released as a major film later this year (I really like reading a book before the movie comes out because otherwise I can’t get the actors out of my head while reading it…like my Ron looked a helluva lot different than the Rupert Grint, for example).

His Dark Materials is a series that has been recommended to me near since birth because of the incessant insistence of my hometown best friend, who, if I were to rank her obsessions, it would be as follows: 1. Lord of the Rings, 2. Harry Potter, 3. Dragons, 4. Baking cookies, 5. Cigarettes and 6. His Dark Materials. Seeing as I don’t smoke, my choice seems obvious.

His Dark Materials Trilogy – This three-part series includes: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. The Golden Compass, starring Nicole Kidman, will be released in December. From the Amazon review: “In the epic trilogy His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman unlocks the door to worlds parallel to our own. Dæmons and winged creatures live side by side with humans, and a mysterious entity called Dust just might have the power to unite the universes–if it isn’t destroyed first.”

But some other books that I recommend for Post-Harry Rehab:

Some others that I’ve not gotten around to reading that I’ve been yelled at about by said friend:

Woo. Soak up the last of summer, guys, because soon it’ll be back to critical theory and chemistry for the lot of ya.

Got a favorite? Let us know!

Harry Potter 7 Leaked

If, like me, you enjoy your surprises, I would stop reading the confession board and all online forums now. Including the comments at Wesleying. The entire book has been leaked.

Until Saturday, Internetz, you are dead to me.