Tag: Rants

Quidditch: Transcending from fantasy through real-life

I was scrolling through Twitter this morning with no particular objective. Until I found this:

My first thought was, “This is insane!” And then I realized that it has been going on for a decade and I was like,

image

HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS?!

Apparently, I’ve been living under the Wizarding World rock because I was not made aware of this happening since 2005.

So here’s the gist of what is now called Muggle Quidditch. It doesn’t really veer that far away from the game J.K. Rowling created for Harry Potter and the rest of the Wizarding World. It’s a semi-contact sport, coed, and 7 on 7. We’ve got the 3 hoops that are the goals, 3 kinds of balls–the quaffle, the bludgers, and the snitch. And there’s the differences: the existence of a Snitcher, the absence of flight (because we can’t do that. Yet.), the presence of dodgeball instead of a rogue iron ball, and plenty more.

I won’t be talking too much about the rules and basic know-hows of Quidditch since that’s not my goal here. But I’ll link up some helpful articles and videos below for those who want to know more.

Moving on, what I want to talk here is how the birth of this sport is such an amazing phenomenon to witness in our lifetime.

For some hours as I watched highlight reels from last year’s Quidditch World Cup on YouTube, I was just so overwhelmed with amazement on how something fictional was turned by creative and inspiring people into a real thing. That a certain literary work could impact an entire generation so much that they have owned it and made it real.

But here’s the thing about creating something new and unique that has the potential to be big: people will find you weird at first. And the general population will for quite a while.

We see something new and different, the first thing that comes to your mind “That’s weird”. It’s a reaction that’s probably been passed down to us from our parents along with our DNAs.

Quidditch and the entire community, players and mere avid fans, are pushing to achieve the sport’s legitimacy. And the greatest obstacle that I see they are facing is this mindset that it was a fictional game from a fictional novel. And that’s why it’s taken less seriously in the sports world.

Read that again, and again, and again.

I feel infuriated about this. J.K. Rowling clearly described in her books that the sport can be very physical and aggressive at times. And in the many videos, including documentaries like Brooms Up! and Mudbloods, and articles I’ve watched and read regarding this 10-year-old sport, it certainly is not a game for the faint of heart.

But why the stigma? Because it came from a fictional world?

The world of literature has long been the source and inspiration of the birth of many hobbies or interests that are beyond its traditional sphere. Cosplays, roleplays, fanfictions, the freaking Medieval Festival. And they are all getting acceptance in the general society. What’s so different about Quidditch?

Here’s what I think: real-life Quidditch does not only transcend through the realms of fantasy and reality. It is also breaking this age-old wall, blurring this age-old line that separates stereotypical jocks and nerds. And it may look or feel uncomfortable to some.

In Mudbloods, Alex Benepe, commissioner of the sport’s highest governing body International Quidditch Association, shared a story when he and his friends were starting Quidditch and heard someone make fun of them. Calling them “freaks” and the sport a “nerd game” or some sort.

All in the basis of where the sport came from.

But here’s the thing, Quidditch and the rest of the other sports all came from the same place: from the imaginative minds of creative people.

The last decade and, hopefully shorter, the decade to follow are adjustment periods for the whole world to accept Quidditch as a true sport. And we, those who campaign on making it legitimate, can only push other people into a better understanding that, yes, Quidditch is real and it’s happening.

And hopefully, more of this unique, amazing and inspiring kind of things that came from literature will happen in the near future. I wonder which book/s will inspire the next generation?


Thirst for knowledge, eh? Here’s where to get some other helpful stuff:
Quidditch World Cup 8 Highlight Reel [Video]
The Complete Muggle’s Guide To Quidditch [Video]
Brooms Up! Quidditch World Cup IV Documentary [Video]
International Quidditch Association
Quidditch World Cup: Fantasy Game, Real Bruises | Time
Muggles, rejoice: Quidditch is Becoming a Serious Sport | Smithsonian Mag


YOUR TURN! Have you heard about real-life Quidditch before this? How do you feel about it and the sport’s legitimacy? What other kind of stuff from literary fiction do you think will possibly exist in real-life? (Hopefully, for the good of everyone, you aren’t thinking of Hunger Games.) Let’s discuss!

2016 discussion challenge

I Just Thought of This Like Literally Five Minutes Ago…

Okay, so here’s what happened. Our television was on because my parents were waiting for the five o’ clock news and before that was this local afternoon soap opera. I was just opening WordPress with no substantial plan on what I’m gonna do in my blog (it’s a force of habit when I use the computer: step one: open WordPress; step two: think of what you should do on WordPress). And then my father commented about how this certain actor doesn’t know how to act.

And then I commented how that’s no surprise to me because 60%* of the lead actors in our country were chosen because of their good looks.

I don’t watch local television series a lot. The great local television series that I’ve seen were series I’ve seen as a kid. And they had amazing plots and world-building. Over time, I feel like the quality of the stories that are the foundation of “hit” Filipino dramas and sitcoms are being reduced to having good-looking people and…that’s it.

What I’m trying to do here is not condemn good-looking people. Heck, I admire some of those gorg beasties. But I feel like here in my country, actors and actresses are simply good-looking people who can charm their way into anything. And while that in itself is a great skill, I don’t think it will be enough to create a critically and artistically great work.

Simply put, here’s my two cents: there are still people who judge (and admire) books by their cover. And that’s evident with the entertainment industry here in the Philippines. You see people here get platinum album when they aren’t even good singers, just really good-looking dudes. It’s preposterous, to be honest, because there are far more talented musicians who deserve that kind of break.

But that’s how the entertainment industry works here, I guess. (I don’t know about the rest of the world but then…there’s the Kardashians.)

And it’s just a sad thing to see. Which is why I don’t watch local TV unless it’s a documentary. So yeah, it’s an opinion that I have for quite a long time now but haven’t really mentioned in my blog and I thought it’s a good random topic.

Good morning/noon/afternoon/night, everyone! 🙂

*completely exaggerated statement. Not real statistics, people.

 

Your Self vs Your Labels (and your “About Me”s)

Funny how this is Katie and that’s my nickname. via Google images (source) Read the article if you want to. It’s pretty fun.

Big-headed as it sounds, I can easily say that I’m a person one can’t describe in one word. That’s most likely why I have these hoards of different topics to discuss on this blog. I tried talking about just one main topic in another blog once. That blog didn’t live long. It’s still there somewhere in the depths of the web. Not active but merely existing. (Whoa, I feel like I just described Kronos.) Single niche blogs doesn’t work for me, although I read TONS of them.

It’s the same thing with my self.

I don’t see me as just one type of person. I am so many things that can’t be coherent in one single word. So imagine the difficulty I face when filling in those “About Me” in my different accounts in different sites. I have to think of something that’s short but could summarize the basics of me. It takes me, at most, a few hours. That About page in this blog? Yeah, it took somewhere around 45 minutes to an hour. But still.

Then after a few “About Me” filled out, I learned something: I could never summarize myself. It’s not possible.

And the same goes for other people. I truly believe that no one is just a nerd or just a jock or just a popular girl at school. You don’t need to be a tomboy just because you’re a girl who is “one of the guys”. Go act something childish that you love to do even if you’re supposed to be an adult. Like collect toys or read comic books.

And let’s face it: the labeling? It’s not just others’ fault. I see all these people who have let themselves be absorbed by their labels and I feel sad and frustrated at the same time. Why can’t one just embrace his entire being instead of that one thing that people thinks of first? That person is just making his own wounds deeper by not becoming more than just a label.

We all know, in courtesy of Shrek, that ogres have layers. But the thing is, we have layers, too. The difference between us and Shrek (other than the complexion and ears) is that there are times when it’s not easy for us to see those layers.

I’m a blogger, an avid reader, movie and music junkie, frequent Pinner, less frequent Tweeter, art enthusiast, probably an accountant-to-be, and, most of all, hopefully the first unicorn rider. And I still have more in myself to discover. My tombstone has to be as tall as the Washington Monument for them to completely summarize who I am. (Imagine hundreds of Washington Monuments in graveyards. Burial would have been nasty expensive. No wonder we have eulogies.) And so does everyone else.

So how about you? Who are you?

(And unless the answer is “Human” or “Person” or “Girl/Boy/Man/Woman” try not answering with one word.)