You're not famous until my mother has heard of you - jay Leno

What makes something so famous and popular?

My granddad has given me the next instalment of the Harry Potter series every year for my birthday until i had the entire series. Now, I'm not usually one for not

reading a book i own, but it was something about the popularity of the franchise that made me want to hide it deep in my book shelf. It's something I've always done when it comes to things that are HUGE in popularity. I have no idea why, it's just something I've always done. I did attempt to read the goblet of fire before it came out as a movie, but I just couldn't get through it. But now it has come to an end. Maybe I'm sad because I've grown up with the stories and the movies, that's why I've dug up the books and decided to read through them all as fast as

possible before I see the last movie. Or maybe it's because I want to

know how J.K Rowlings created something that is internationally known and loved, that has made millions from its name? If I could ever create anything half as famous that is 100% mine, I'd be happy. Not only is

the writing fantastic, but the story is just so brilliant and original.

I used to think that the plot of the series was too strange and complex for my liking, and I thought that other parts of it was random and unnecessary - like the Horcrux, I thought I must have missed a movie perhaps, because when I watched "part 1" i had no idea what was going on, except for the fact that harry wasn't at school anymore. My friend, theHarryManiac got sick of explaining what was going on about 15 minutes into the movie. But now I'm half way through the first, and I've realised that J.K Rowling is actually a fantastic writer. And I'm understanding a few things that I didn't get before. Of course I'm not going to be half as obsessed as some people are, like one friend of mine

who knows all the spells off by heart and what they do, but just knowing what's going on in the next movie would be nice.

I've been looking up the actors to see what they're doing now, and it's kind of weird to see them doing other projects. I mean, they've grown up on my dvd case and now they're completely different people. I know that's kind of stupid to say, because they're are tonnes of actors I've seen in different movies, but this franchise has been going on for so long, it'll just be surreal. Daniel Radcliffe is going to be in this horror film which comes out next year called, "the woman in black' which looks kind of interesting, except that the trailer is only half done, so i really don't know how it's going to turn out. all i know is that dan has got wicked 19th century sideburns and it's kind of funny.

"Harry Potter is about confronting fears, finding inner strength and doing what is right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend." — Stephen King

One thing though, that I have hated since it came

out and still hate today is the twilight series. There I have no explanation for why it is so popular, except for the fact that the entire female tween population has been blinded by the never ending forbidden love between the pasty vampire that looks like he's eaten a lemon every time he talks and and human girl that looks like a vampire and sounds emotionally dead. Actually, come to think of it, they're pretty perfect for each other.

Stephen King's quote above sums up exactly how I feel about the two stories. I read the first twilight book before the movie came out, not really knowing what I'd expect. It was sort of forced on me to read it before the movie came out so that my friends could have another screaming fan to take to all the "twilight" events. I would consider myself a pretty fast reader, but this book was so hard to get through that it almost took me two months to finish.

No, not because of its immense complexity, but because of its lack of complexity and because how many times i read something completely nauseatingly cheesy that I wanted to thrash my head against my wall. Twilight was written for 12 year olds. The content might not be typically liked by that age group, but the writing style is something that everyone could read. And I mean everyone, and that's not always a good thing when you want to deliver a more substantial story.

As for the movies and actors, one ironically from a harry potter movie, I have grown to dislike them as much as I dislike the books. Maybe for the fact, that as a typically romantic story I expected maybe a little more of an emotional connection, but no, the characters could be found in a zombie movie with little questioning from the audience.

And as for the fact that Edward refuses to have sex with Bella makes me want to slap some good sense in that stupid hundred year old brain of his, because seriously, he's the only guy in the world who doesn't. And Bella still likes him over Jacob??

Well, tell me what you think? Are you obsessed with either of these? Or do you hate them like they're the scum of the earth?