20 July 2006

Barry Trotter and the Shameless Parody

Have any of you read the book mentioned above? It's a parody of the famous Harry Potter series.

The book's about Barry Trotter, obviously.. He's 22. In this book, he's to stop the movie Barry Trotter and the Inevitable Attempt to Cash-In. Forget about the Dork Lord, Lord Valumart. Barry, Ermine Cringer and Lon Measly must try to defeat the most powerful force of grasping sleazoids the world has ever known: Hollywood.

Is this parody funny? Is it worth your money? Why don't you decide. Here's an exerpt:

Quiddit, as everybody knows, is a game where wizards and witches fly around on mops trying to put a ball through a hoop. The hoop is guarded by a goalkeeper. In addition to goalies, there are Bashers, whose job is to hit things: Brainers (the very type of ball that took a core sample of Lon's bean), other players and in particular slow matches, themselves. When Bashers would hit people, their victims would invariably yell, 'Quit it!' - hence, the game's name. It's pointless, and very violent.

Finally, there are the Sic'ers, who chase a flying, sentient meat patty called a Sneetch. Whoever catches the Sneetch gets a zillion points and wins the match. This is a very stupid rule because it renders all other facets of the game meaningless; on the other hand, it is very useful from a literary standpoint, since it allows for a speedy, dramatic conclusion whenever the narration begins to drag. Barry was one of the best amateur Sic'ers ever. He loved this mindless, brutal, guts-freezingly dangerous sport.

Ermine, predictably, didn't. 'If you guys don't mind, I'll take a miss,' said Ermine. 'Kate Spade has the cutest wands on sale.'

'Kate Spade!' Barry said, aggrieved. 'You said you were poor!'

'Priorities, Barry, priorities,' Ermine said.

(Gerber 2001, p. 108-7)

There are the Earth Eaters... They were called this because Lord Valumart made them eat copiuos amounts of dirt as proof of their loyalty to him. (Gerber 2001, p. 24) There's also J.G. Rollins live-in companion, Trevor Nunnally, who thinks that the world's problems can be solved through wooden car racing.

The book is an enjoyable read. But I've read things far more funny at www.FictionAlley.org or www.FanFiction.net. Eg. Clam Chowder's The Ultimate Harry Potter Cliche Catalogue. Now that is probably one of the most hilarious thing I've read. But you gotta read a lot of fanfics to understand it though.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

yeah i've read abt barry trotter haha. u should read Tanya Grotter as well. damn stupid haha.

oh i thought ure like, over HP already. looks like ure not hehe =p

me_yasmin said...

Nysa will NEVER be over Harry Potter. Kan Nysa, kan? kan? We are HP mates forEVER! *smiles and giggles crazily*

Nisa said...

How can I be over HP?! Ack! I mean.. the 7th book is not out yet..!!

Btw, it'll be out next summer. Along with the 5th movie.

Wheeeeeeeee~!

I mean... oh no! The last book! Gasp! No more HP! More dramatic gasssppp!!!