I'm making this sticky at the top of the page until December to plot my progress. I am Slythy Tove. If I get a cover made for my manuscript I'll post that here, too.

Several rather enjoyable videos have been released. The first is a retrospective as some of the young actors try to describe their character's plotlines through movies 1-5 in sixty seconds. The second concerns the editing of the HBP scene in which Hermione smacks Harry on the head (Dan Rad says he was concussed at one point). Finally see the cast playing with Dark Mark Tattoos in the third.

A Duluth, Minnesota, NaNoWriMo group is famous now, including our own lemon_ashwinder.who is their regional liason. Way to go ladies!

Lemon has her book A Shunned Man on Amazon, and the sequal is coming soon, which will be great!
Article Here if you are registered for that newspaper, but if not I've put it below:

( Here Under the Cut )

Quick Link Post today, then back to writing. :)

The Star Trek Movie DVD comes out today! Later I'm going out in search of a copy. Target has it for $15.99.

Entertainment Weekly has the run down of the deleted scenes included on the DVD including little baby Spock's Birth on Vulcan!

The New Oxford American Dictionary picks Word of the Year ~ Unfriend As in Facebook

exhpfanhas a great essay on Perception. Don't we all have time to stop and listen to music? Let's take time to do that today.

His essay reminds me of this video:

Happy Friday! WB has released the Complete Script of HBP, and it's quite fascinating because we can read the directions given to the actors as well as seeing lines that were left out of the movie:

( Excerpts About Snape Under the Cut )

I wish WB would 'splain why they left out one of the most dramatic shots of Alan Rickman ever filmed for one of these movies? It's unbelievable. Are they just made of teh stoopid or what? That's a hypothetical question - I know the answer very well.

Inspired by THIS (thanks to Boushh on Chamber of Secrets) I did my own Google Search for "Snape Is." Look at today's heading ~ The Count from Sesame Street!




This is pretty funny, too:

Pictures of Young Dumbledore played by Toby Regbo from Snitchseeker. There are pictures and scans of an interview by Jamie Campbell Bower HERE in the Snitchseeker Gallery.

What do you think? Does this look like Young Michael Gambon?

I've had a good day of writing, although tomorrow of course the well may go dry. If you are taking a break from NaNoWriMo or you need some inspiration, maybe these videos may help:










( More Under the Cut )

This will be short and sweet but hopefully entertaining. I'm trying to stay focused on NaNoWriMo and my erstwhile novel that is moving at a snail's pace. I realized tonight that I needed a map of my imaginary county in Tennessee before I could write some of the scenes. So I had fun drawing it out in Tolkienesque detail, but it doesn't add to my word count, damn it!

My gorgeous icon about House Unity is by bombottosa, who has made so many great icons of Snape over the years.

Snape Knew This: Lying Can Make You Sick
Hive Mind: Balloon Boy's Vomit and the Science of Lying

For Language Buffs: Supernatural Collective Nouns




Permuto: The Most Popular Christmas Toys By Year since 1960 and yes, the Rubik's Cube is on the chart as the most popular of 1980. But my son ( who wasn't born until 1995) is still fascinated with that toy. So here is my youngest child who has become Master of the Rubik's Cube. This is the son I call "Little Snape" and you'll understand why after you watch him. *Apologies to anyone who has watched this before on Facebook ~ I just had to post it here as well.*

Those are my Halloween decorations, and it's sad to think of putting them away for another year. I've only got one child young enough to go Trick-or-Treating this year, and he didn't decide to go until yesterday. *sigh* We are dropping him off with a couple of kids in a neighborhood a few miles away. He thinks he's old enough to go alone, but I'm not sure. As I wrote the other day, I have "Empty Halloween Syndrome." But I still love it and always will!

If you don't have anything planned for tomorrow, here are some fun things to watch on TV:

Starting 9 A.M. Saturday ~ NCIS Scare-a-thon on USA network
All Day Tomorrow ~ Boris Karloff and Halloween Marathon on Turner Classic Movies
All Day Tomorrow ~ Monsterquest Marathon on the History Channel



( When Elf and Sprite Flit Through the Night on a Moony Sheen )

I get nostalgic for Canon Snape sometimes, considering the ways people spin his character on the forums or feel the need to spread the Snape-Hate around. Luckily many artists understand book-Snape perfectly because they aren't in denial about what actually happens in Deathly Hallows.  

Edited to Add: I intended this post to be some quick escapist fan art, and didn't realize I was expressing myself so badly.

After reading many of your comments, I realize that my view of Canon Snape may be somewhat different from the norm.  I was actually referring to people who hate Snape's character in general and are stuck in the past around PoA when his character still seemed like a cardboard villain. I talk to people like that every day on the forums.  They want to dwell on the dark side of his character rather than the redeemed man he became by the end of the series (with apologies to Mary J ~ we'll have to agree to disagree on that fact).

I don't know why fans of "Dark Snape" have a monopoly on the term "Canon Snape." I disagree with their view of Snape in the canon because I don't think of "Canon Snape" as just mean and cunning, and I shouldn't have used such a charged phrase. To me that is what Snape haters say when they accuse Snape fans of glossing over his faults - that we are missing Canon Snape and only seeing a romantic hero.

BUT ~ ( Read more... )

These are some pictures from DeviantArt that have touched me lately. Follow the links to see more from each artist. And of course, all these are much better seen at full size, so check that out also. The first one especially may be one of the best fan art pics ever done. Cheers to Vizen for her brilliant use of color, the blurry plaid on McGonagall's clothing, thhe sense of humor, Dumbledore's cocktail glass with a tiny umbrella, and Snape's spectacular nose.

Pictured Intensive for those on dial-up. No Slash.

 

The Banes of Her Existence by *Vizen on deviantART

( See More Pics Under the Cut )
 

The Snape-Haters say they see him that way, but in reality they want to believe Harry's view of his least-favorite teacher. There's a guy I know who continually says that Snape "whipped" Harry with a lash and pushed him to the ground at the end of HBP just for the enjoyment of it. I don't see that at all - but it's the allegedly the same canon.

So to me, Canon Snape is the guy in the books with his many faults and his good points. In my opinion, he is a sympathetic character by the end of the series, and not just a baddie or a mean old schoolteacher. He's a well-rounded character, and a very complex character, which is why we are still talking about him years later.
 

One of my Anony-Mice from the previous post directed me to this headline in the Daily Beast: Muggles Ruin Harry Potter Dinner originally from The Guardian UK. It seems a restaurateur in London whose daughter is an "obsessive" fan wanted to host a fun Harry Potter themed dinner on Halloween.

She didn't count on the Zombie Lawyers coming out of the Crypt:

( Everything Under the Cut... )

Some pages from JKR's comic book have been released. It's a retelling of her biography.

Wow. I really want to know what you think about these. I can't wait to read the comments. Take note that these are random pages and while they are in order timewise, there are parts missing.


( See Some of The Pages Under the Cut )

The stormchasers are back on Discovery Channel every Sunday night! I totally fear for their lives, but I guess they survived another tornado season on the Great Plains.



And the New Moon Trailer with Werewolf Action:



Links for some Light Reading...

Beliefnet: The Ten Commandments of Star Trek

Neatorama: Tales from the Muppet Show

Cinematical: Seven Great Horror Movie Theme Songs

The Internets may actually stimulate the brains of n00b users. ORLY? LOL

Strange blobby robot that can squish itself.

This is just a quick interview filmed interestingly outside the "Serpentine Gallery."




Pictures from the Gallery Party: Here on Fanpop

Transcript:

Q: Is it true that you've got a part in the next Harry Potter movie?

JCBowers: Yeah, Yeah - Deathly Hallows.

Q: What is your character?

JCBowers: I'm playing a character called Gellert Grindelwald, and um, he's sort of a young friend of Dumbledore's from way back when. And of course J. K. Rowling "outed" Dumbledore years ago so there's meant to be or possibly a thing between them. We don't know, and obviously it's not in the movie, but it's maybe there in the subtext. Who knows?

Q: You're doing, you're kind of into your ...

JCBowers: Dark

Q: No, with Potter and Twilight and - your sequels.

JCBowers: Yeah, I'm into my sequals. *laughs* Yeah, I'm into my franchises, one could say. I joked with someone last week that I"m a franchise whore and I truly believe that.

Snitchseeker has a Complete List of Half-Blood Prince DVD Release Dates, plus the news that footage from Deathly Hallows will be included on the discs. No word on what the footage will be yet, so stay tuned.

Also, Snitchseeker has a new Facebook Page if you want to become a fan and get Harry Potter News sent to your profile page.

Serbian Actor Rade Serbedzija will be playing Gregorovitch the Wandmaker in Deathly Hallows according to This Report.

Empire Magazine has added several of our favorite Potter stars to its list of 100 Sexiest Movie Stars. These include Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Robert Pattinson, and Helena Bonham Carter. But of course, there are two other guys on the list that I could easily vote for, so it will be difficult to choose (but I disagree that Snape is a bad boy - geesh, will someone give these people a clue?):

8. Alan Rickman
It's good to see that here, amid the chiselled cheekbones and perfectly coiffed heads, is a man who's sexy because he's smart, snarky and has a fine line in put-downs. Sure, everyone loves a bad(ish) boy, but Rickman's rogues' gallery is united by the fact that they're all strangely, unjustifiably sexy. Yes, even greasy-haired Snape. And as for his good guys, they're pretty irresistible.
Most alluring as... For Rickman as a good guy, as deceased cellist Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deeply (if you haven't seen it, it's like Ghost but better). For Rickman as a baddie, it's gotta be Hans Gruber in Die Hard.
Interests include... He's heavily involved in supporting theatre and lots of theatre causes, and holds a vice-chairmanship of RADA.

24. Jason Isaacs
Last time we ran a Sexiest poll, repeat voting by a hard core of Isaacs fans threatened to derail the whole thing. This time, he's in a slightly more sensible position, reflecting both the fact that he's not a hugely well-known leading man and the fact that he's devastatingly charming and handsome. Seriously, show us someone who doesn't fancy him, and we'll show you a corpse.
Most alluring as... Is it wrong that we fancied him as both Lucius Malfoy and Captain Hook in Peter Pan (2003)? It is? OK then, er, David in Friends With Money.
Interests include... Amusing all the Empire staff with scandalous anecdotes every Empire Awards night. Also, raising two children and speaking Spanish.

Warwick Davis, who plays both Prof. Flitwick and the Goblin Griphook in the movies, has been answering questions in the past week via Twitter.

"Could you possibly give us an insight as to why Flitwick's look was changed for the third HP movie?"
So many of you have asked me the 'New look Flitwick' question, so I will answer it here, once and for all. When it came time to shoot 'Azkaban', there was no mention of 'Flitwick'' in the script. However, the producer still wanted me to be in the movie, so he asked if I would play the role of 'Choir Master'. Of course, I said 'yes'. When it came time to shoot 'Goblet of Fire', the director, Michael Newell said he liked the look of the choir master, and from that moment, the character became known as 'Flitwick'.

( Read more... )
If you could play another Potter character which would it be?
Without doubt, Snape.

Interview with a Death Eater

James Williamson will play the role of a Death Eater in the final part of the JK Rowling series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  The 25-year-old, from Peartree Farm in Wood End, landed the role after going for an audition at Leavesden Studios in Watford.

( Read more... )

A great horned owl flew right in front of our car on Sunday night as we were driving through a wooded area. It was big and we missed it by scarcely a feather! It must have been swooping on a mouse or rabbit in the opposite lane, which was living dangerously. I even checked the front grill and light of the car when we got home to see if there was anything left behind, but there wasn't anything.


But it could have been a problem if our worlds had collided:

Pop-Fi Blog: Owl Versus Truck ~ Guess Who Won?

Also, you'll be glad to know the Whooping Cranes Began to Migrate today, following their "mother," an ultralight plane.

More Birding News on the HPN Bird Nerd's Blogroll.

Then there are the reptiles still on the move, even during the colder weather. Watch Out! This is why I don't venture into the woods until after the hard frost comes. And remember that the little baby ones have venom, too.

Atlanta Journal/Constitution: Grandson's Heroics Can't Overcome Rattler's Venom

Three generations of Ruperts entered the dense woods in rural Oglethorpe County last Saturday morning, rifles in hand.

Patriarch Dick Rupert, 68, loved these hunting trips with his son Russell and grandson Chad, though they'd spend much of the day apart, perched in their tree stands amid the familiar solitude.

Rupert, who lived in Winder with his wife of 50 years, escorted grandson Chad to the boy's tree stand around 7:30 a.m. With the 12-year-old safely situated, Rupert headed for his own quiet place in the woods. A sharp, shooting pain in his calf stopped him cold.

"I think I just got bit by a snake," he told his grandson. Chad heard the rattle.
( Read more... ).

Here's another story I missed back in September that has some macabre elements, especially for Snape fans! Eek!

Dothan, Alabama, Man Bitten on Neck by Rattlesnake

Henry County Coroner Derek Wright announced Larry D. Lewis, 65, of Brookhill Road, dead around 9 p.m. Wright said he initially thought Lewis died from heat stroke, but after taking him back to a funeral home he discovered two puncture wounds on Lewis’ body.
( Read more... )
“Most people can survive a snake bite, but this was in the neck that’s why it was so deadly,“ Wright said.

Seven Foot Long "Ratzilla" Diamondback Found in St. Augustine, Florida

( Scary Picture Under the Cut ) 

Finally, this is just weird! A Dragon Throwback, perhaps?
A Bizarre Footed Snake with talons found crawling up a wall in China

I've decided this year to participate in National Novel Writing Month, fondly known as NaNoWriMo.

I've had a great deal of encouragement from lemon_ashwinder. who is a past "winner." ~ it certainly worked for her with her first book A Shunned Man for sale now on Amazon and great sequals to come!

But your first question might be: What are you talking about, SIP?

 What is NaNoWriMo?
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

( Read more... )