It's the late fall of 2001 and I'm in the office of my academic adviser. I've just arrived to finalize my schedule for the next season and a fellow student is on his way out. As he departs, he and our professor discuss the upcoming movie slate. This prompts my classmate to mention that he's already purchased his tickets for the following week's midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
I expressed a small measure of surprise at that, for while this friend was a massive Superman fan and possibly an even bigger Star Wars fan, at first glance, you'd probably totally make him for the kind of fan who was into the oeuvre of Michael Bay. A kid's movie about magic didn't seem like his bag. I mentioned that I'd not yet read the books and he assured me that they're more mature than the standard kiddie fare.
"So you sound pretty excited about this," I said. "You think the movie will do the books justice?"
"Looks like it," he replied. "And that girl who plays Herminoe is probably going to be really hot when she grows up."
With that, he departed, leaving me and the professor to shake our heads with bemusement. We had to be bemused, you see... for if we took him literally, it would probably have been a much creepier exchange.
A few years later, I'm watching Saturday Night Live and this Harry Potter sketch starring Lindsay Lohan shows up.
I can't help but think of my former classmate every time I see this. And every time Emma Watson shows up for a premiere looking glamorous, in the back of my head I think, "You can call him 'creepy,' but you can't call him 'wrong.'"
Fair warning to all of my friends - you never know what inappropriate comment I will forever remember you for.
