[Rumori] Stay F---! host to Harry Potter's estranged relative

[Carrie McLaren]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Stay F---! magazine is pleased to announce an exciting new addition 
to the Illegal Art Exhibit:

WIZARD PEOPLE, DEAR READER is an unauthorized re-envisioning of HARRY 
POTTER AND THE SORCEROR'S STONE, by Brad Neely. To experience it, 
viewers need to get a copy of the first Harry Potter movie and watch 
it with the sound off, replacing the original soundtrack with Neely's 
narration.

The audio portion of Wizard People is available for public downloading at:
http://www.illegal-art.org/video/wizard.html

After spreading rapidly among Neely's friends in Austin, Wizard 
People made its theatrical debut at the New York Underground Film 
Festival in March 2004, to rapturous applause. We think Mr. Neely has 
crafted an as-of-yet-unnamed new art form, one everyone should 
experience for themselves.

Illegal Art is a multimedia exhibit that critically examines the 
impact of copyright law on art and ideas. Wizard People, Dear Reader, 
has no affiliation with Warner Brothers or the creators of Harry 
Potter.

Contact:	Carrie McLaren
	carrie at stayfreemagazine.org
	718 398 9324

	Brad Neely
	creasedcomics1 at hotmail.com


::::::


 From the forthcoming issue of Stay F---! magazine:

MY NEW FAVORITE THING: WIZARD PEOPLE, DEAR READER

by Carrie McLaren

Heads up, Harry Potter fans (and foes). Stay F---! was recently 
fortunate enough to sponsor a screening of WIZARD PEOPLE, DEAR READER 
at the NY Underground Film Festival and we're so taken with it that 
we have made it available for download on the Illegal Art Exhibit 
site.  

First, some background:  WIZARD PEOPLE, DEAR READER -- a retelling of 
HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCEROR's STONE -- is nothing short of 
brilliant. Its creator, Brad Neely of Austin, Texas, is a comic-book 
artist, but you won't find any of his images here. Instead, WIZARD 
PEOPLE uses the entire visual portion of the first Harry Potter 
movie, stripping out the sound and replacing it with Neely's own 
gravely voiced narration. That the movie is two-and-half hours long 
should indicate that the guy is a little, well, obsessive (which for 
me was one of the lures). But  novelty alone does not a movie make; 
even Neely's friends -- his intended audience -- would probably have 
a hard time sitting through this if it weren't so stunningly 
crafted.  

The characters in WIZARD PEOPLE are much like those in HARRY POTTER, 
and in the end, the key parts of the story are essentially unchanged. 
Neely's creation is of course a different version, and, despite a few 
"fuck words," it's an affectionate take on HP. As such, WIZARD PEOPLE 
owes less to Mystery Science Theater than to the musical cover song. 
Some will want to call this a parody, but to do so oversimplifies its 
art. Neely has taken a film widely considered to be a faithful 
rendering of a book and made it inescapably literary, a story in the 
old-time sense. Broken into chapters, Neely's words create images 
that flesh out the ones on screen. Harry's obnoxious cousin 
"Roastbeefy" is rendered "a mean little puke who is borderline 
retarded and must shout moistly every stupid sentence he manages to 
piece together."  

When Harry selects his first magic wand, the narrator clues us in:

"Ed Vanders rushes into Harry's view like a scarecrow carcass, a 
dreadful visage indeed... Master H is beginning to feel animosity 
toward his own celebrity. Harry gazes at the man's skin, a ketchupy 
callus of a face. 'I will make spells that save me from looking like 
him.' Harry [notes]... The mental notes are stacking."  

In a way, WIZARD PEOPLE almost seems to be a throwback to oral 
story-telling. The soundtrack makes a certain kind of sense without 
the accompanying movie, but that's like listening to the teacher read 
a picture book without the pictures. WIZARD PEOPLE is bookish but not 
quite a book, movie-like but not quite a movie. Neely has, one 
imagines, hit upon something entirely new. 

And that, dear readers, is a roundabout way of saying that you simply 
must check this out. We've posted the audio portion of WIZARD PEOPLE, 
which you can download and burn onto two CDs. You'll also need a copy 
of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," which you can rent or buy 
as you choose. See the website for complete instructions: 
http://www.illegal-art.org/video/wizard.html