The headlines over the last week have said it all.

"Parents angry as Harry Potter strips," the Chinese news service, Xinhua said.

"Anger over Harry's horseplay," read London's Daily Telegraph.

"The not-so-pure blood projects of 'Harry Potter' star Daniel Radcliffe," said Hudson Valley, N.Y.'s Times-Herald Record.

"Hogwarts and all: Actor strips down," was the headline from the Chicago Tribune.

Even Airlock Alpha had a story on this one. "Harry Potter: All grown up in 'Equus' photos."

So what is the big deal, anyway? Daniel Radcliffe, a professional actor who takes professional acting jobs, took a job in a play called "Equus" where he sheds his good-boy image from the "Harry Potter" movies and shows how much of him is still really a boy (not much from what we have seen).

I just don't see the problem. From what I can tell, many of the people protesting the move are those who see Radcliffe as nothing more than Harry Potter. In our fantasy worlds, that might be great, merging Radcliffe and Potter into one being. But they are not the same person, and Radcliffe only plays Harry Potter on the big screen. He's still a very talented actor who does not want his primary acting career to end when he films the seventh and final movie.

Is that so much to ask? Radcliffe is hardly spitting in the face of Warner Bros., or J.K. Rowling, or even his fictional character that he portrays. He's spreading his wings as an actor, to show that he's more than that boy with the round-frame glasses and the lightning bolt on his head. You can't do that by playing Jimmy Olsen in a Superman movie, or even a starring role in a romantic comedy. When you have to break a typecast as large as Harry Potter, you really have to break it.

Before I rattle on some more, I did ask some of our readers ahead of time what they thought about all this, and I wanted to share a few of their responses.

It will not spoil my image of Harry Potter in the least since Potter is a character and can stay as he was written. Daniel Radcliffe is a real person, not a character. So why shuldn't he branch out? It is not as if it was Harry Potter doing a nude scene.
-- Martha Peplinski of Milwaukee, Wis.

Is it a stupid idea for a 17-year-old kid to appear naked in a play? Damned straight. Almost as stupid as Dakota Fanning at 12 years old playing a provocative role in the upcoming movie that is just screening at Sundance this past week. But to put it very bluntly, these people are almost freaks. Their lives ar enot liek you or I or any normal Joe on the street. They live in this world where anything goes to further their career.
-- Ralph L. Angelo Jr.

This is what I just don't understand. Why is the world so hell-bent against the human body? Sure, what Radcliffe is doing obviously is meant to be a bit titillating and is not just the art of the human body, and the photos that were released obviously would further that cause. But how is it that if we show someone nude, someone having sex, or something of the like, it gets slapped by the Motion Picture Association of America with an R rating, or maybe even NC-17. Yet, some of the most violent movies ever made, with gore, death, murder and all that slips by with lower ratings, and are even geared toward young kids and teenagers?

I never hear the outrage on that. Appearing naked has never resulted in the death of someone that I know of. Beating them with a steel pipe until you can't recognize them anymore, I'm sure that has ended in death more times than not. Where were the people yelling out about "Pan's Labyrinth"? About "Apocalypto"? I guess teaching audiences that they should be ashamed of their bodies while at the same time showing them that running over your neighbor in your driveway multiple times is cool is how we as a society think. Seems almost a bit barbaric to me.

I know some people will have a problem with the nudity and nothing else. Why should people be ashamed of their bodies? Why should people be offended by seeing someone nude, especially someone who looks as good as Daniel? God gave us whate we have and meant for it to be attractive. It is his choice, after all. Seventeen or 70, if this is what he wants to do, then by all means, do it.
-- Anonymous

It's hard to top that, so I'm giving anonymous the last word.

SyBits
If you want to see some other select comments from people who wrote to Airlock Alpha about the Daniel Radcliffe, I will post them here (along with the FULL text of some of the comments seen above).

Also, because some British lawyer or whatever they are called over there has nothing better to do than surmise I could ever claim to take such great pictures of Daniel Radcliffe, I wanted to point out that the picture used in this story (used thanks to the great American law of Fair Use) was owned by David Pugh. It's in the alt tag on the photo, but Macs don't exactly do mouseover alt alerts, so just in case you can't see that and for whatever reason think that I took the picture (I have no idea why you would), then you know. If you ever have any questions about our copyright information, look at the bottom of every single page for "Copyright" and click it!

Remember that there is no "Battlestar Galactica" or "The Dresden Files" this week because of the Super Bowl. I know this isn't science-fiction, but I don't know who to go for in the Super Bowl this year. Both Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith coached in Tampa together when they were part of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (my local team, obviously), and I think they are both excellent coaches. I will probably lean toward the Indianapolis Colts because I have always been a big personal fan of Dungy, and he's been very nice the few times I've met him and had a chance to talk to him. And you know what? He deserves to be a Super Bowl-winning coach.

So there you have it ... go Colts!

Send us your questions or comments or whatever you want to talk about to me at mhinman@airlockalpha.com, and if you're lucky, you might even have it included in an upcoming SciFriday column. Please include a name we can use, as well as where you're writing from.

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Have a great week, and don't be a stranger!

Michael Hinman, recently named Time magazine's Person of the Year, is the founder and site coordinator for Airlock Alpha, writing out of Tampa, Fla. He can be reached at mhinman@airlockalpha.com.