Someone PLEASE explain to me. . .

What the craze is about Harry Potter? The book is already a best seller with pre-orders alone. WTF people. I understand there are book/movie empires like Star Wars, Star Trek (don't get me started on those conventions), etc. but what IS the appeal with this ambiguously gay 30 year old actor that plays a 15 year old wizard who has had a female best friend for all this time and, interestingly enough, has never bed her? Is he that admirable to imitate and dress up for in goth/wizard capes in public and wait in line for hours or days for the movie/book? I have heard of or seen (no one I know personally, thank God) a wide spectrum of HP cult followers. You have the unsuspecting, quiet midwesterners that secretly replay the HP movies every single night just to fall asleep (not making this up). Then you have the full-on "misfits" with dyed hair, black-polished nails that truly believe in wizardry. I hate to associate with this obsession in any way but even my 11 year old niece and 9 year old nephew are avid followers. Why do we, as normal, civilized, logical, progressive-thinking people--well, most of us anyway, maybe I'm giving people too much credit--have the need to find one object of obsession and focus on it wholeheartedly with so much energy and time, not to mention money? Take, for example, two brief stints with celebrity "obsessions" (if you want to even call them that) that I had years ago: New Kids on the Block, as a 10 year old, and Stone Temple Pilots, in my early teens. In retrospect, yes, I loved the music somehow and had a crush on a bandmember (Joey in NKOTB and Scott Weiland in STP), but what on EARTH compelled me to collect news articles, photos and join fan clubs? Any mention of either group in the media and I was the first to know. But for the love of God people, I wasn't even fully grown yet. Physically or mentally. I just really can't trust full-grown adults that have obsessions with fictional, imaginary characters. There is something inherently wrong with them. And I'm not even telling you how I REALLY feel :).