One of the biggest bummers in my life is that I was born a Muggle (which I don't find too terrible if that's my biggest bummer). If only Rowling's world of witchcraft and wizardry was real and I had been born in the lovely British Isles, I believe I would have had a good chance of the magic quill jotting my name in the big book of baby wizards when I was born. (Random fact: Harry Potter was born in 1980, so we're the same age.) All of this is simply to convey my adoration for the entire book series. I read the entire set of books at least once a year and always discover something new or that I had forgotten.
Even though I find the books 100 times greater than the films, the movies also captivate my attention. They are a great way to keep the story fresh in my mind between readings. Besides, I really enjoy casting characters and creating scenes that aren't in the film versions that I believe should be.
Another reason I enjoy the films is for all the extra stuff like deleted scenes. Actually, that's one of my quirks. I get a kick out of bonus material. Seriously. I like hearing the director's thoughts and learning about costuming and set design, etc. So after the final installment of the Harry Potter films showed in theaters, I vowed to own all eight films on Blu-Ray with as much bonus footage as possible. I knew it would be costly but didn't care. The real problem was waiting for such a thing to exist.
Two weeks ago it happened.
While looking through my inbox I spotted one of the usual promotional e-mails from Warner Brothers. They were going to pre-sale the Harry Potter Wizard's Collection (what I will call a Wizard's Box)! It would contain all eight films in Blu-Ray, DVD, and digital formats! Not to mention 40+ hours of BONUS MATERIAL including the series Creating the World of Harry Potter which I have been trying to purchase for about a year. There was also mentioned something about HP memorabilia, but I didn't pay too much attention because I was finally going to get the movies with all the extras I had so long anticipated. Even better was the fact that they were offering this $500 treasure for a measly $350 because I am special.
It was ordered.
Oddly enough once it shipped, the UPS information said the package weighed 26.50 pounds. I figured this had to be a mistake. Eight discs and a couple of HP trinkets probably weighed 2-3 pounds and UPS had screwed up. See, I had envisioned this Wizard's Box being relative small. It would nicely and neatly hold the 8 or so discs in one small block like my Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Star Wars. I even removed my DVD copies of each individual movie to leave a block of space for this average sized box. It was going to slide in comfortably next to my John Hughes boxed set.
Three days ago the package arrived. I came downstairs to find a rather large box in the living room. My response was simply, "I didn't order an actual wizard!" Well, I opened the first box to find a slightly smaller (but not much) box. I opened that box to find the Harry Potter Wizard's Collection packaging not much smaller than the previous two boxes. It was at this point I realized I probably should have paid closer attention to the description on the Warner Brother's site.
When all was said and done, this is what I had purchased:
I suppose as "riddikulus" as my Wizard's Box is, I should take solace in the fact that I'm still a far cry from this guy:
