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JULY 1, 2004 at 1:51 AM
Posted by CHEESER
Source: HPANA
After making international headlines and enduring the wrath
of Harry Potter author JK Rowling herself, the person responsible for releasing a false title -- Harry Potter and the Pillar of Storgé -- for the series' sixth book offers an apology and explanation in an interview with HPANA.
The real title of book 6 -- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince -- popped up on Rowling's official site just days after the hoax (perhaps because of the hoax?). It has since been confirmed by the author.
The prankster, a 19-year-old male student at the University of Florida, speaks:
Firstly I would like to offer two apologies. I owe an apology to all of the Harry Potter fans that I lied to; I never thought my hoax would go so far and I felt awful when some of you got so excited about knowing the title. I am sorry. I also would like to apologize to J.K. Rowling, as I did an awful thing by impersonating her. I consider her a literary genius.
In the end, the hoax was all in good fun. I thought the title was rather funny and had hoped that at least some people would get a good chuckle out of it.
And now, explained in full, here's what happened -- straight from the horse's mouth:
Do you have any official connection to JKR, Warner Bros., or the book publishers?
No, I have no connection to them whatsoever.
What made you think of doing this, and specifically, the timing of it?
I had recently finished a re-reading of Order of the Phoenix and it got me excited about the Harry Potter series again. As a result of that excitement, I stumbled upon JKR's website for the first time and was fascinated by the unopenable door. I also thought it was great that she was dispelling some of the rumors about the series. Somehow I put two and two together and the hoax clicked in my mind.
The timing of the event was never planned; it was simple dumb luck on my part that I released the hoax at the start of a weekend so that it [became] more effective.
How did you do it?
A hobby of mine is computer graphics/video editing, so I knew I could produce a realistic video. I realized that this was exactly what I needed to make the hoax believable.
I used two programs: Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects. In Photoshop I edited and manipulated pictures from JKR's site, and in After Effects I animated them into the finished video. I did not use [Macromedia] Flash at all. The blue bars (see image) at the bottom and top are a result of me changing the aspect ratio of the video without distorting it so that I could compress it into an MPEG file. I whipped the video up in about two hours.
As far as the "message" was concerned, I just tried to mimic JKR's style as much as possible. I came up with the title Pillar of Storgé, trying to formulate something with a hidden meaning that people would be able to figure out. It's an ugly title, but I'm quite fond of it.
What did you expect as a result of the hoax? Did you think it would receive the worldwide press it garnered?
I NEVER expected this much attention. I even wondered if anyone would believe it at all. My original goal of the hoax was that a rumor about the title would slowly creep through the Harry Potter community (much like the Green Flame Torch rumor), and that JKR would eventually dispel it as a myth (perhaps releasing some real information while doing so) on her site.
I never wanted the attention of all the Harry Potter fans; there was a clear and specific reason for the hoax and it involved the attention of only one woman. I was highly amused by the fervent guessing of the meaning of the title by eager fans and by the international press that it received.
Finally, a closing thought from the anonymous mountebank: "If I had not started the hoax, would we all know the real title to book 6 right now?" Read The Leaky Cauldron's analysis of that question. In the meantime, consider what an astute reader over there observed: Rowling said on her site that "as a little bonus, and compensation for having been messed around by Mr. or Ms. Storgé, I shall tell you one thing without making you shift any bricks at all: the HBP [half blood prince] is neither Harry nor Voldemort."
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Muggle
Points: 78
Declan Leau Potter says:
OK random posts ::harrylover:: erm three in a row! Carries on...
Well I think that he was clever and smart as a few others. I believe that people should forgive him as well everyone has done stupid and inconsiderate tings in their time and should be forgiven. He only started the rumour and didn't mean for it to go that far! XD! It was funny in his own sort of psychotic way!
Posted Feb 15, 2005 at 3:20 PM EST
Professor
Points: 1130
Billerina says:
He was just playing. but that was wrong. he just wanted attention. lots of people believed him. but at least he is sorry. and wouldnt do it again. he better not.
Posted Feb 15, 2005 at 9:32 PM EST
Head Girl
Points: 418
shimmeraei says:
All in all, it was a joke, no serious harm was done, it got us all talking, and the rumor was quickly dispelled. As a bonus, we found out information. Don't blow this out of proportion any more...it's a waste of your time. It's done, put it to bed.
Posted Feb 18, 2005 at 4:51 PM EST
Head Girl
Points: 424
potterheadluv says:
Brilliant!! ABSOLUTELY bRILLIANT!!! I say it serves us all right, including J.K. for making an unopenable door since WE can't just alohamara our way through. Plus, look at all our guessing and "all knowing" theories. you have to take this as bound to happen, and plain brilliant, genius, and hillarious. I have to ask.......Was it Fred Or George who thought of this one?!?!?!
Posted Feb 20, 2005 at 10:03 PM EST
Prefect
Points: 399
muggle21j says:
Hm, well I've finally clicked that in to place. I had no idea where the hoax name came from , but I can really see how it confused people because he really went through a lot of troulbe to do all of that computer graphics imaging!
Posted Feb 25, 2005 at 12:10 AM EST
Hogwarts Psychologist
Points: 4236
Patronus Wiz says:
This is so funny to me as well as frustrating. It's funny that this spread so rapidly and got everyone so excited. But it's frustrating because people do things and even though they say it's all in fun, it's really malicious.
Posted Feb 27, 2005 at 5:51 PM EST
Auror
Points: 2353
Loretta says:
You made a serious serious mistake;however, your future is spotless. Remember to keep it that way!
Posted Feb 28, 2005 at 2:07 AM EST
Prefect
Points: 338
Grandson of Dumbledore says:
Well I consider it a humorous and rather magical use of this thing you muggles call a "computer" to trick the world into believing an untruth. Although, belief of the untruth has long been a feature of human behaviour, so perhaps it is less magic than we think.
There is, in fact, a pillar of Storge. It was used in the late 17th century by German soothsayers to foretell the future. I believe that the Dark Lord Voldemort once visited the pillar and attempted to see his future. He saw only darkness.
Pray tell what that means, for even I, grandson of Dumbledore, cannot truly know.
Posted Mar 4, 2005 at 2:41 AM EST
Muggle
Points: 57
Vikki0lvsrg says:
Well, thats kinda stupid... Who would acually do that? Well him of course! Hes pretty lucky he didnt get in trouble for doing that. Very Lucky!!
~Vikki0LuvsRupertGrint!
*thats what my name standes for*
Posted Mar 4, 2005 at 9:06 AM EST
Obsessive Genius
Points: 3175
FeeLinG_bLuE says:
I thought this was really funny. It's amazing what you can do with technology these days...he he he. =]
Posted Mar 6, 2005 at 6:36 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 79
*** Aregent *** says:
Ah poor guy,didnt know what he was getting himself into,personally whoever was gullible enough to believe that bag of owl droppings deserves to feel very dumb!
Posted Mar 9, 2005 at 8:14 AM EST
Muggle
Points: 32
charmed says:
He is truly lucky that JK is not a vindictive person. Many worldwide computer problems started as harmless pranks! However, if he did get us the title early, yea!
Posted Mar 10, 2005 at 4:24 PM EST
Order of Merlin, 1st Class
Points: 1872
Potter Luver says:
(sigh) ...People these days... WHAT AN IDIODIC JERKBAG POO-HEAD!!!!!!! @$#@%#@#@$#%@!@$#@#$#$!!!!! Ahhh! I've got that out of my system! Man, he is lucky JK's such a nice person... If I were here, I'd have sued the little bugger... But lucky for me, I never found out about the Pillar of Storge thing, so I never got excited and dissapointed. But at least we know the real title now...
Posted Mar 10, 2005 at 9:27 PM EST
Wizard
Points: 724
The Half-Blood says:
It was so dumb that its almost funny. I hope he learned his lesson.
Posted Mar 12, 2005 at 7:46 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 42
Addicted2Draco says:
I saw posted on a website harry potter bathes in virgin blood book, and a review for it.. I was like, ok...
Posted Mar 13, 2005 at 7:41 AM EST
Witch
Points: 560
Cyril Caerphilly says:
At least he apologised. No one was seriously hurt, thankfully enough. I do hope he has learned his lesson.
Posted Mar 13, 2005 at 9:29 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 43
Phoebe Loki says:
Ah well, what's done is done, Macbeth right? OK so yeah that got really out of hand but I missed the whole hoax till after it was done. So I can laugh alot easier than others I suppose.
Posted Mar 15, 2005 at 12:59 AM EST
Slytherin's G Unit
Points: 6727
Billie Loves Adie says:
He should go to jail! Why would someone to that? And why that title? Strange.....
Posted Mar 15, 2005 at 10:12 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 21
Shiver me timbers! says:
I honestly don't know what the fuss is all about. I mean, it isn't his fault that the hoax got out of hand. Nobody in their right mind would want to get on the receiving end of a mega massive HP fan stampede.
Still, the title is very convincing, though I seriously doubt JK would come up with an impossible-to-pronounce title.
Personally, I think this man did quite a nice job. I don't think he's an attention-hog at all, though it's too bad it [the hoax] didn't last very long.
Posted Mar 18, 2005 at 7:51 AM EST
Witch
Points: 918
Moggiesmom says:
Just let's you know that EVERY website can be hacked! We all need to firewall anything that needs protection! ^..^
Posted Mar 23, 2005 at 1:22 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 25
harrynjames says:
Does this guy have ANY SENSE AT ALL??? How on earth did he think it wouldn't become worldwide news? This is Harry Potter, for Merlin's sake!!!
Posted Mar 26, 2005 at 9:00 AM EST
Muggle
Points: 32
SiriusScout says:
No, he doesn't have any sense at all! The point is that he confessed! But that was pretty stupid of him!
Posted Mar 28, 2005 at 4:55 PM EST
Student
Points: 283
basketcase says:
I wondered where the fake title came from. Sorry to say I'd never read this story before. Very impressed with his Photoshop and AfterEffects work. Not impressed at all with his common sense.
Posted Mar 28, 2005 at 10:06 PM EST
Harry's Mental Advisor
Points: 19432
Smileyradcliffe says:
I'm quite impressed with this person actually. I mean at least he was a fan of the series, and he only did it as a little joke, not to intentionally hurt anyone's feelings. I'm suprised he actually came out and told us exactly how he did it.
Posted Mar 29, 2005 at 8:19 AM EST
Muggle
Points: 20
lynettesharland says:
WOW, a lot of comments, considering I had not heard this and came upon this article browsing! I had read (apparently somewhere reliable) that the title would be Half-Blood Prince and before that all thoughts were just personal speculation. I must have been out of the misinformation loop for a while. Usually, I seem to hear everything that's wrong. Incredible.
Posted Mar 30, 2005 at 12:25 AM EST
Squib
Points: 164
natalie_2005 says:
wow i didnt know anything about this but came upon the story while browsing the site. I suposse he didnt set out to hurt anyone, however if he'd just put the rumor on some other site then meybe it wouldn't have got so out of hand i think it's because people trust jk's site. Bit of a stupid thing to do though.
Posted Mar 31, 2005 at 4:47 AM EST
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