Goddammit I hate adult fanatic Harry Potter fans.

I went to Border's today to pick up a copy of Gore Vidal's "Clouds and Eclipses," which I'd been itching to read for the past few weeks. When I stepped into the (rather long) line to pay, I noticed that everyone--everyone else standing in it was ardently clutching the new Harry Potter book, and nothing else. A middle-aged lady behind me was immersed in conversation with another 20-something girl, discussing how much more "poetic" Rowling's writing grew by book.

What a sad, sad world in which we live. The one book people finally do read is a children's book, and every non-child who takes it seriously (I.E. who dresses up for premieres, who is on edge at every "harrowing" plot twist, who claims affiliation with a fictional school's dormitories) is either stupid, or only keeps up because everyone else does. But it's usually both.

I'll bet anyone five bucks that today and yesterday were first time in years that half of all Harry Potter fans nationwide have set foot in a bookstore.

I feel embarrassed just looking at this picture. Really.