They just called the blue wristbands, so I'm finally, officially in line. :)

powered by Hipcast.com

source file

The first copies of Deathly Hallows are now being sold here at the West Town Mall Borders in Knoxville.

Long line moving fast

powered by Hipcast.com

source file

Many hundreds here, lots of them in costume. I, meanwhile, am listening to the HP5 soundtrack on my iPod. Less chance of overhearing spoilers that way. :)

Waiting.

Less than 90 minutes left. Whee!!

I think I’ll leave for Borders around 11:30, aiming to arrive at 11:40 or so. The wristband system makes arrival time irrelevant to when we get our books, and in light of the spoiler situation, I feel that the less time spent in the company of fellow human beings, the better. :)

I’ll be liveblogging tonight from the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows release party at Borders, and Jay may be liveblogging from Wal-Mart. If any other guestbloggers will be going to midnight release parties anywhere, and would like to liveblog via cell phone, shoot me an e-mail at brendanloy [at] alumni.usc.edu.

UPDATE: It looks like we’ll have bicoastal live coverage! Bea’s bridesmaid Helen is planning to liveblog from the Borders release party in West Hollywood. Stay tuned!

Dateline recently re-aired an episode called “Murder By the Sea.” I just got around to watching it on my DVR, and I can honestly say I have never seen a story about wrongful imprisonment where I was more convinced the inmate was innocent.

The gist of the story is that an American citizen, Eric Volz, was living in Nicaragua when his ex-girlfriend was brutally murdered. Eric claims (and has ten witnesses to support this) that he was two hours away when the murder took place. Although there is no physical evidence to tie him to the murder, and the prosecution’s only evidence is the testimony of an alcholic (who was granted immunity regarding the case in exchange for his testimony), Eric was found guilty. The Nicaraguan judge threw out the cell-phone records indicating he was in another town, threw out the testimony of his colleagues, and other evidence. Eric has two appeals pending. You can view the Dateline story here.

For more information, or to send Eric a message, go here.

No, no, I’m not talking about He Who Must Not Be Named, I’m talking about Vice President Cheney, who will serve as acting President tomorrow for a few hours while President Bush is under anesthetic for a colonoscopy. So for all of you who aren’t on the far right, that cold chill you feel tomorrow will be when Cheney takes charge.

These put us in the third "color group" out of six that will be called tonight. Festivities start at 9:30, and of course sales start at midnight. Borders employee in witch hat says they have more than twice as many reserved copies as they did for Book 6.