Yesterday, JKR made a revised statement on her Official Site about the future of the HP Encyclopedia ("The Scottish Book").

Via Leaky Cauldron

In an update on J. K. Rowling's website, the author makes quite clear that plans to publish a physical copy of a Harry Potter Encyclopaedia are not on the horizon. The entry, updated May 2012, reads:

What about the Harry Potter Encyclopaedia?
Updated May 2012
I have been enjoying sharing information about Harry’s world on Pottermore for free, and don’t have any firm plans to publish it in book form.

This statement replaces the April update on her website where she said "For a long time I have been promising an encyclopaedia of Harry’s world, and I have started work on this now – some of it forms the new content in Pottermore. It is likely to be a time-consuming job, but when finished I shall donate all royalties to charity.

Today Bloomsbury announced a three-book set called The Hogwarts Library that will include Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastic Beasts, and Beedle the Bard.

The set will reportedly be released sometime in the autumn, though a precise date has not yet been established.
http://www.digitalspy.com/celebrity/news...sbury.html

For larger view of the books, click Here

RIP to Robin Gibb of the BeeGees!
Obituary Here

I know I said I wasn't going to do as many political posts here on LJ anymore, but after compiling a list of quotes about Mitt Romney's days as a prep school bully on Snark Amendment I thought this topic in particular seemed appropriate.

The Washington Post reported that as a schoolboy at the posh Cranbrook School in Michigan, Mitt Romney allegedly attacked a long-haired student with scissors and cut his hair. And as the article notes, Romney often worked in tandem with other students during his so-called pranks.

From Paul Begala on Daily Beast:

. . . he didn’t confront his nonconformist classmate alone but rather took the coward's path: assembling a posse in an episode one classmate described as like "Lord of the Flies."

That sounds like Snape talking to Harry during Flight of the Prince when he says about James:

"Your father would never attack me unless it was four on one, what would you call him, I wonder?

One twitter compared Romney to a Slytherin student, but I thought the whole thing sounded much more Gryffindor! And as with the entitled and old-moneyed Sirius Black being somehow offended by Snape's appearance, Romney did not like the "looks" of the boy he attacked. But he swore he was not being homophobic.

From Romney:

I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school and some might have gone too far and for that, I apologize. I certainly don't believe that I thought the fellow was homosexual. That was the furthest thing from our minds back in the 1960s.

Fellow Cranbrook Alumnus Michael Barone also makes excuses: 

I think it’s worth noting that the framing of the Post story—the suggestion that Romney and the others picked on this schoolmate because they thought he was gay—is anachronistic. In spring 1965 long hair was associated with surfers (the Beach Boys had their first national hit record in 1964) and the Beatles (who made their first U.S. appearance in January 1965). And hair length was a big issue in the 1960s. Men of the World War II generation, who had memories of military short haircuts, took umbrage when teenagers left their hair grow, and fathers would badger their sons to get haircuts.

Am I the only one who finds it amusing that this guy used the word "umbrage" to describe how Romney felt? And he grew up into the "Man Who Likes to Fire People." Wow.  And the guy with the hair was what? The first hippie that Mitt Romney had ever encountered? The poor kid was just ahead of his time considering that the whole country got over their fear of human hair by the 1970s.

But does having a different hair style - or dare we say, greasy hair - justify the attack of a bully on an unsuspecting student? In the Harry Potter books, it's the conservative Petunia Dursley who attacks Harry with scissors, cutting his hair so short that he retaliates by growing it back overnight with magic. But certainly in terms of ingroup-outgroup behavior, Mitt was sending a strong message to a nonconformist that Big Brother Mitt was watching him.

From the original Washington Post Story by Jason Horowitz:

John Lauber, a soft-spoken new student one year behind Romney, was perpetually teased for his nonconformity and presumed homosexuality. Now he was walking around the all-boys school with bleached-blond hair that draped over one eye, and Romney wasn’t having it.
“He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!” an incensed Romney told Matthew Friedemann, his close friend in the Stevens Hall dorm, according to Friedemann’s recollection. Mitt, the teenage son of Michigan Gov. George Romney, kept complaining about Lauber’s look, Friedemann recalled.
A few days later, Friedemann entered Stevens Hall off the school’s collegiate quad to find Romney marching out of his own room ahead of a prep school posse shouting about their plan to cut Lauber’s hair. Friedemann followed them to a nearby room where they came upon Lauber, tackled him and pinned him to the ground.
As Lauber, his eyes filling with tears, screamed for help, Romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors.

If that was an isolated incident maybe we could forget and forgive - maybe. But unfortunately Romney, like James and Sirius. was an incorrigible serial bully. He even picked on a teacher!

One venerable English teacher, Carl G. Wonn­berger, nicknamed “the Bat” for his diminished eyesight, was known to walk into the trophy case and apologize, step into wastepaper baskets and stare blindly as students slipped out the back of the room to smoke by the open windows. . . . As an underclassman, Romney accompanied Wonnberger and Pierce Getsinger, another student, from the second floor of the main academic building to the library to retrieve a book the two boys needed. According to Getsinger, Romney opened a first set of doors for Wonnberger, but then at the next set, with other students around, he swept his hand forward, bidding the teacher into a closed door. Wonnberger walked right into it and Getsinger said Romney giggled hysterically as the teacher shrugged it off as another of life’s indignities.

Funny right? Not really -  I don't think Harry Potter would have wished that on Madam Trelawney, even though  he did think of her as a an Old Bat. But we never even see a single Slytherin pick on the blind seer, and Umbridge was the only bully who taunted her and wanted to give her the sack . . . wait, what?  Yeah, Umbridge liked to fire people too.

In hindsight, Romney says he almost can't remember any of this. It was a long time ago. He's sorry. He grew up, blah, blah. The other guy grew up, left school (kicked out for smoking - see article) and was forgotten. Romney moved on. There was success and money in the bank and the wife and kids at home, right?

It makes me think that if James Potter had lived, he would have been a perfect candidate for Minister of Magic. I don't think he would have won, though. People tend to remember this stuff even if the bullies have memory loss.

Read More Quotes from Romney and Others ~~~( Under the Cut )

Whoa, he's got lots of things going on!
Thanks to FifthOfFive for the links!

It figures that while we were offline from Harry Potter Network, and too busy to post about still another awards push, Alan actually won a huge fan award! I'm not complaining, actually - this is awesome considering that both he and his play Seminar were snubbed by the Tony Awards. The audience got Alan's character and appreciated his stellar performance, even if the Tony committee didn't (hmmm, reminds once again of the Oscars).

Broadway.com Announces Audience Choice Awards
Favorite Actor in a Play
Alan Rickman, Seminar


Hollywood.com: Rumors of a Love,Actually Sequal

Universal chief Eddie Cunningham is hoping to convince the film's mastermind to pen a sequel.
He tells Britain's Mail on Sunday, "I think there should be a Love Actually 2. I'd give it a green light. I think many American movies try to emulate that brilliant format where the stories interweave and no one's on screen for more than six minutes, but only Richard has achieved it. It really makes you appreciate the beauty of his writing."
Love Actually boasted an all-star cast, including Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman.

Collider: Gambit Release Moved to October 12

Michael Hoffman’s remake of the 1966 caper comedy Gambit has been moved up from January 11th, 2013 to October 12th of this year (per Box Office Mojo). Cameron Diaz and Colin Firth star as partners in a con to sell a fake Monet painting, and the film has a script by Joel and Ethan Coen. Given the caliber of talent involved, the January date was always a bit of a puzzler.

Alan Speaks at Leonard Cohen Tribute in Toronto
Rickman’s dry delivery had everyone beat. He quoted Cohen responding to a female fan at a London concert, suggesting it might be time he changed the Book of Longing to the Book of Fufillment.
“It was perfectly timed pause and then Mr. Cohen said, ‘What’s fufillment got to offer?’” said Rickman to huge laughs.



This last one is so cool!!! I can totally see AR playing the slow-talking Hilly Kristal, owner of the legendary CBGB's music club in the Bowery of NYC.
NYT: Alan to play CBGB Founder Hilly Kristal

The project has been in development for several years, but the filmmakers — Jody Savin and Randall Miller – say they are finally set to begin filming on June 25, with Mr. Rickman taking on the part of the iconoclastic bearded, flannel-wearing bar owner who played a key role in the birth of punk and new wave music in the 1970s, providing the scarred stage where the Ramones, Television, Talking Heads, Blondie and other seminal groups got their starts.
...“It’s mostly about his journey,” he said. “He’s like a modern-day salonist. It’s not his métier, the whole atmosphere of punk, but he became a supporter of the art.”
Mr. Miller said the club’s grubby and graffiti-covered interior would be recreated on a soundstage in Georgia. But the exterior scenes will be filmed in New York City. Several rock figures with ties to the club are expected to make cameo appearances, he said.
If all goes according to plan, he and Ms. Savin hope to have the film make its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January and release it later in 2013.

 We've been rebuilding parts of Harry Potter Network this weekend and I think everyone is going to love it. It's going to be a little smaller and simpler, but remember that we had some empty subforums at the old place. I'm sure the Grand Opening will be soon.

And I was thinking that what really matters is that the Snape fans will have their forum back.  Of course we have plenty of places now, but HPN is special because Nicc took us in when we were the Pariahs of Fandom and everyone wanted to throw us out. We didn't expect him to like us! Thanks to Nicc for sticking with us all these years and being such a good friend.

I saw this picture on Tumblr and just had to share. It made me laugh out loud.



From Whatever-Enjoy on Tumblr

Hey all: You've probably been wondering why I haven't posted much about the presidential election for several weeks.

That's because I decided a while back to split off my political posts into several new blogs. It's my way of campaigning in an election year and it gives me new places to vent away from HP Fandom, because honestly I know I bore people silly sometimes with politics when they came here looking for Harry Potter news. I enjoyed making the political blogs so much that I went ahead and did a Book Blog, too, but I will certainly keep posting about books here on Livejournal as well. I just see the Illuminated Dungeon remaining my Fandom and Entertainment blog. I will still probably do more quotes of the week here, but politics will play a smaller role.

My Political Blog: Life in the Snark Lane

Political Quotes Blog: Snark Amendment

Book Blog: Mighty Deep Reader

As always, my disclaimer is that I have strong opinions some of you may not share, and I don't pull punches or ride the fence when it comes to being a Democrat. Still, with Snark Amendment in particular, I think most people would enjoy reading some of the twitter uproars and jokes. Also, there are people on both sides of the political spectrum who come under scrutiny. For instance, I imagine VP Joe Biden may get a list of wacky quotes and tweets there before November, LOL.

For anyone just checking in, Ianus has a rescue group here on Livejournal:
Rescue boat for the islandless HPNers

Again, if you have an email for someone who hasn't shown up yet, and who might be worried about HPN, please let them know that we are working on a fix, and we will get things back together soon.

Message from Nicc:

Ah, and I do have good news (This is Nicc, by the way)... We have a new home! I'm sorry that it took this long, but we found a new island to call as home. So, yes, we'll still have to start all over again for the most part, but we've got a place to settle at now. Basically, we got a new host and installed forum software on it... Just what Li has done for us for all these years. The site is live, the forums are live, but we're not quite ready for business yet. I still have to set up all of the particulars of the forums, get the staff together, figure out the user features... There's still work to be done, but we already got the hard part out of the way. It won't be too long now and thanks again for your patience!

And since I have nothing else to tell everyone, here are some random videos for bored islanders:



More Videos Here
( ~~~~~~~~~~~~Under the Cut~~~~~~~~~~~~ )

I can't believe this is happening! Theresa Rebeck's play Seminar didn't get any Tony nominations, and of course it goes without saying that the biggest snub was for Alan Rickman's performance. And now the play is closing!

New York Times: Seminar to Close

The Tony Award nominating committee has claimed its first victim. Just hours after Theresa Rebeck’s “Seminar” was shut out of the Tony Award nominations, the producers of the comedy announced that it would close after the matinee performance on Sunday. The play, about students in a class taught by a famous but hot-headed novelist, opened on Nov. 20, 2011, at the Golden Theater. It will have played a total of 191 performances and 26 previews when it closes.
The likeliest nominee for “Seminar” was probably the original lead actor, Alan Rickman, ( Read more... )

From Playbill: Seminar a Closed Book

The production did not earn any 2012 Tony Award nominations on the morning of May 1. The closing was announced by afternoon.
"On behalf of all our producers, it's been an honor and a pleasure to produce Theresa Rebeck's Seminar," lead producer Jeffrey Finn said in a May 1 statement. "We're proud that this production was a world premiere; the Broadway debut of director Sam Gold; the return to Broadway of Alan Rickman leading a celebrated original cast; and now the return to Broadway of Jeff Goldblum. We're especially glad that Seminar will continue with future U.S. and international engagements, to be announced in the coming weeks."( Read more... )

Variety: Class Dismissed for Seminar

The fallout from the Tony nominations began almost instantly, with producers of Broadway play "Seminar" announcing the show would shutter Sunday. News came just hours after the announcement of the noms, from which "Seminar" was shut out. The comedy by Theresa Rebeck initially posted solid if unspectacular sales, fueled by generally positive reviews and the B.O. draw of topliner Alan Rickman. In general, weekly receipts hovered between $400,000 and $500,000 -- until Rickman exited the show in early April ( Read more... )

Pottermore working on release of Chamber of Secrets:
From Pottermore Insider Blog:

When will Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets be available?
We're currently working on book two, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and it’s looking great. We’ll give you more information over the coming weeks, so keep an eye on the Insider and @Pottermore for the latest details.

Deathly Hallows Part Two is up for several MTV Awards:
See the Full List of MTV Award Nominees


Next month, J. K. Rowling will receive the "Freedom of the City of London" award, a symbolic gesture that goes back some 800 years.
From LondonNet

“I am prouder than I can say to be given the Freedom of the City, which, (and few people realize this), entitles me to a free pint in The Leaky Cauldron and a ten Galleon voucher to spend in Diagon Alley,” said Rowling.
Rowling was also keen to stress her family connections to London.
“Both my parents were Londoners," she said.
"They met on a train departing from King’s Cross Station in 1964, and while neither of them ever lived in London again, both their daughters headed straight for the capital the moment that they were independent.
"To me, London is packed with personal memories, but it has never lost the aura of excitement and mystery that it had during trips to see family as a child."
Lord Mayor of London, Alderman David Wootton, said he was "delighted" that Rowling had accepted the City's Freedom.
“Her Freedom, which is bestowed on her for services to children’s literature, recognises two unique achievements - the astonishing success of the series, and the way in which Harry Potter’s adventures have not only enthralled book lovers, but also encouraged many young people to lose themselves in a book for the first time.”