Hijacking Harry Potter, Quidditch Broom and All
''The Sorcerer's Stone'' played as it was released by Warner Brothers. But the original soundtrack, dialogue and all, was turned down and replaced by an alternate version created by a 27-year-old comic book artist from Austin, Tex., named Brad Neely. He calls his soundtrack ''Wizard People, Dear Reader,'' and it is one more breach of the media industry's control of its products.
With Mr. Neely's gravelly narration, the movie's tone shifts into darkly comic, pop-culture-savvy territory. Hagrid, Harry Potter's giant, hairy friend, becomes Hagar, the Horrible, and Harry's fat cousin becomes Roast Beefy. As imagined by Mr. Neely, the three main characters are child alcoholics with a penchant for cognac, the magical ballgame Quidditch takes on homoerotic overtones, and Harry is prone to delivering hyper-dramatic monologues. ''I am a destroyer of worlds,'' bellows Mr. Neely at one point, sending laughter reverberating through the warehouse Friday night. ''I am Harry'' expletive ''Potter!''
Mr. Neely, a fan of the series, created his alternate soundtrack last summer after joking about the notion with friends in an Austin nightspot. ''Usually those kinds of jokes just die in the bar,'' he said. This time Mr. Neely burned his creation to CD, sent copies to friends and gave some to local video rental stores; several bundled his soundtrack with rentals of ''The Sorcerer's Stone.''
The alternate soundtrack did not receive much attention until March, when it was shown at the New York Underground Film Festival. The festival's director, Kendra Gaeta, received a gift from her boyfriend weeks before the festival: a painting by Mr. Neely, who threw in a CD of his Potter narration. ''It was just so funny,'' she said.
Among those attending that festival was Carrie McLaren, whose Web site, Illegal-art.org, functions as an online museum for copyright-infringing art.
Ms. McLaren has since offered the huge digital file of ''Wizard People'' for download and raved about the soundtrack on her site.
''We think Neely has crafted an as of yet unnamed new art form,'' she wrote, ''one everyone should experience for themselves.''
''The Sorcerer's Stone'' played as it was released by Warner Brothers. But the original soundtrack, dialogue and all, was turned down and replaced by an alternate version created by a 27-year-old comic book artist from Austin, Tex., named Brad Neely. He calls his soundtrack ''Wizard People, Dear Reader,'' and it is one more breach of the media industry's control of its products.
With Mr. Neely's gravelly narration, the movie's tone shifts into darkly comic, pop-culture-savvy territory. Hagrid, Harry Potter's giant, hairy friend, becomes Hagar, the Horrible, and Harry's fat cousin becomes Roast Beefy. As imagined by Mr. Neely, the three main characters are child alcoholics with a penchant for cognac, the magical ballgame Quidditch takes on homoerotic overtones, and Harry is prone to delivering hyper-dramatic monologues. ''I am a destroyer of worlds,'' bellows Mr. Neely at one point, sending laughter reverberating through the warehouse Friday night. ''I am Harry'' expletive ''Potter!''
Mr. Neely, a fan of the series, created his alternate soundtrack last summer after joking about the notion with friends in an Austin nightspot. ''Usually those kinds of jokes just die in the bar,'' he said. This time Mr. Neely burned his creation to CD, sent copies to friends and gave some to local video rental stores; several bundled his soundtrack with rentals of ''The Sorcerer's Stone.''
The alternate soundtrack did not receive much attention until March, when it was shown at the New York Underground Film Festival. The festival's director, Kendra Gaeta, received a gift from her boyfriend weeks before the festival: a painting by Mr. Neely, who threw in a CD of his Potter narration. ''It was just so funny,'' she said.
Among those attending that festival was Carrie McLaren, whose Web site, Illegal-art.org, functions as an online museum for copyright-infringing art.
Ms. McLaren has since offered the huge digital file of ''Wizard People'' for download and raved about the soundtrack on her site.
''We think Neely has crafted an as of yet unnamed new art form,'' she wrote, ''one everyone should experience for themselves.''
Check it out Here.
Labels: Art?, giving convention the finger, Movies
posted by Cyemm at 10:37 AM
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