All good things must come to an end" - Geoffrey Chaucer

In honor of finishing up the movie marathon tomorrow, I'm going to talk about Harry Potter a little more. This time I'm not going to hide character names in the post or be clever in my writing, I simply wish to convey my ideas on what Harry Potter had been and what it is now.
Recently Harry Potter has been all over the news. It is kind of like seeing an old friend you haven't seen for a while and it is a nice change of pace to see a familiar face on the news instead of the next newest and greatest thing out there. For those who might of missed this news, two very big events happened in the potter community this week. After 7 years since the last book being released, JK Rowling posted an "afterwards" short story from the view point of Rita Skeeter in honor of the world cup celebration. As a story from the Quidditch world cup, Rita speaks about what Harry, Ron, and Hermione are doing now. With this story being posted free of charge on the PotterMore website, the site quickly crashed once news spread of this new story. The other piece of news was about Universal Studio's Diagon Alley theme park expansion just opened up yesterday. It's amazing to think that there is now a standing "town" based off one women's imagined fictional world. The park has been very busy. In fact, there was a 7 HOUR waiting period for just one of the coaster rides! In many ways I'm glad to see the excitement and momentum is still keeping at a steady pace for the Harry Potter world.
For many, including myself, these books really reignited my love for reading and I have never been so excited for a book to arrive in the mail, just for me to completely read it within the next few days! Just the fact that there were so many in my generation that were impacted by these characters creates a lasting bond between people. If a complete stranger says they like Harry Potter, I immediately think higher of them and have a silent respect for them as a person. It is a kind of respect where we both know we went through a similar magical experience. Although the books are long, they are just long enough to make you fall in love with the characters and establish this new and exciting world. It takes you on adventures and you love with the characters and even cry with the characters. It all just becomes so real. SPOILER ALERT: During the filming of the final HP movie when Fred dies, the Oliver (the actor who played George) cannot stop crying, even after the end of the scene because it just became too real for him. Both brothers had a good cry that day during filming and it just brought them closer that day. It all is just a very magical experience. I'm very proud to say I am a Potter fan. I keep the books proudly on display in my office and I have to admit I brightened up a bit when one of my RAs in the fall told me they were a Potter fan as well.
Although the news listed above is currently going on and HP seems to have hit a bit of a rebound in a sense (not nearly as big as it had been before). I fear it will eventually all be replaced by the next big thing. Even as I speak now, both HP news pieces are no longer trending on Facebook and in their place is the new trailer for the Hunger Games Mocking-Jay movie. I used to do presentations on a HP programming series at conferences and about a year or two ago, it really wasn't worth doing based on the number of students who came to the presentation. It's a very sad commentary. But to all good things, comes an end. The HP theme park replaced the Jaws ride which used to be enormous in movie history. The same can be said about the Back to the Future Ride which was recently replaced by the Simpson's Theme Park. Although I am glad to think that the HP theme park will still survive for many years to come, I know need down that someday this too will be replaced. The only place it can never be replaced is within our hearts :) Goodnight all.
Question Time: What do you think will be the next big thing? Has it even hit yet?