I'll leave this thread up between now and Tuesday, and then do a chat thread on Tuesday night for the midnight showings. That way if anyone wants to drop in at 3 a.m. to discuss the movie we'll have a spoiler thread for that.
I have made a ton of new icons, but I'm not putting them up until Monday or Tuesday. However, if you see any new ones here they are free for the taking - just credit
There are a few interviews and new videos worth posting after all, but with spoilers of course.
A long interview from The Scotsman with Helen McCrory who plays Narcissa from Snitchseeker:
"Don't reach down for your popcorn, because by the time you do, I could be off the screen, in Half-Blood Prince I am literally like, whoa, there she goes! But everyone was like that. In our first scene, Helena Bonham Carter and I are rolling past this blue screen, and we knock on the door and Tim Spall comes out.
( Read more... )
Behind the Scenes with Snape, Draco, Fenrir, and Bellatrix.
Harry and Snape actually have a conversation, which is a vast improvement from the book.
( More Under the Cut )
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ditzy - Music:Atlanta Rhythm Section "Do It Or Die"
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I hit the wall today and now I am officially sick of waiting for HBP. I don't want anymore previews, behind-the-scenes teasers, or interviews from David Heyman and Dan Radcliffe. I cannot wait for Tuesday night at midnight - enough already!!!!
So here are a few scenes from great movies to watch while we wait. Warning: Some of these are violent because I'm in that sort of mood. But still, these all remind me of Harry Potter.
( More Videos Under the Cut )
- Location:Fandom with the Clock Ticking
- Music:Theme from "The Cowboys"
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Coffee May Lower Risk of Alzheimer's Risk
I was also relieved that police in Gastonia, North Carolina, caught this so-called "spree killer" who was terrorizing the small town of Gaffney, South Carolina. I was terrified by this because my daughter is getting ready to move to Columbia and this guy was rumored to be moving south. The whole thing was creepy - he was just randomly shooting people for fun. I actually spent one day listening to the police scanner, and they were following every lead from kids shooting off fireworks in the woods, to strangers driving through town.
Even Though Threat is Gone, Emotional Scars Linger in Cherokee County.
George R. R. Martin, author of the Song of Ice and Fire Books, and otherwise known on Livejournal as
Congratulations to Al Franken and the entire State of Minnesota on his Swearing In as Senator Number 60 for the Dems.
My nephew wondered on Facebook the other day how long it would be until Michael Jackson rose from the grave as a Zombie. It appears he didn't even wait until the burial because CNN picked up his ghost on camera!
And if that's not enough, someone has Seen his Face in a Birch Tree Stump in Stockton, California.
The Paranormal World is also mourning the death of their own enigmatical icon: Writer John Keel author of The Mothman Prophecies. He apparently died penniless and basically alone. Edit: Please read the comment below by his friend, Loren Coleman. I sincerely only mean to honor Mr. Keel and was just sorry to hear that he did not have an easy life towards the end in spite of the movie based on his life's work starring Richard Gere. I doubt the movie studio paid him half enough for his story, which is all I meant in my original post. I'm a huge fan of both Mr. Coleman and Mr. Keel, and only wanted to memorialize his work in a week when Michael Jackson got all the attention.
- Location:The Slow Lane
- Music:Supertramp "Goodbye Stranger"
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This is an open post for the London Premiere as the pictures come "rolling" in. I will be updating this throughout the evening.
( Pictures Under The Cut )
- Location:Fandom
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optimistic - Music:Beatles "I Feel Fine"
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So with that in mind, and recalling that I wrote a previous post about the HP Musical here are two parts of the new improved version from StarKidPotter otherwise known as Brian Holden. Now they are calling it "A Very Potter Musical" and of course that is Brian Criss playing Harry. These are Act I, Scene's 2 & 3. Snape is in Scene 2 Prof. Quirrell steals the scene! *LOL*
Note: JKR was probably offended by the use of the phrase "Totally Awesome." I doubt that JKR would see that as a British phrase. I kinda like it, though.
- Location:Fandom
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cheerful - Music:Gotta Get Back to Hogwarts
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Reviews are starting to pour in. I found most of these on Snitchseeker . These are just quotes, so I encourage everyone to read the entire reviews.
As we were discussing on HPN, it's obvious some of these reviewers have never read the books, and don't have a clue about Professor Snape.
"Potter Plotter is Hotter to Trotter"
~ Title of review in The Sun
At times like a High School rom-com. Hogwarts is Snogwarts as Ron lip locks with Lavender Brown, much to Hermione's annoyance.
~ The Sun
The death of Sirius Black in 2007's Order Of The Phoenix was an emotionless affair.
The demise of a beloved character here is told with heart and power. This is a full-blooded affair.
Rather than giving us a series of computer-generated action sequences (yawn again), Yates has gone for careful character development, building to a dramatic crescendo. And that is the biggest surprise of all - The Half-Blood Prince is masterful.
~ The Sun
( Read more... )
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calm - Music:Ian Gomm "Hold On"
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I hope all you other Americans are in a pleasant food coma just like me. I cooked steak, bbq pork chops,corn on the cob, squash casserole, baked beans, and cheesecake with strawberries. I hope all of you enjoy your holiday weekend!
- Location:U.S.A.
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good - Music:John Phillip Sousa
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( More Retro Police Drama Here )
- Location:The Seventies
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optimistic - Music:Police Woman Theme
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These new pictures of Spinner's End are amazing. But one of them that came out yesterday really shocked me. I already knew that Spinner's End was going to be full of books, and I knew I would love it. But as soon as I saw the picture I went and got my camera and took a picture of my own living room. The chair is even angled the same way!
Honestly, I could photoshop Snape out of his chair and put him in my chair and he would look right at home, which sounds good to me. My books are a little more colorful, but at least Snape doesn't have the same hideous 1975 wood panelling. Did I mention my house is also a Muggle dung heap? But trust me, I have way more junk than Snape does.
( Full Pic of Snape plus More from the SIP Library and Muggle Dung Heap Under the Cut )
- Location:North American Spinner's End
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cheerful - Music:Simon and Garfunkel "Bookends"
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There's a nice series of blog posts about Harry Potter and copyright from
Linda Austin of the St. Louis Examiner:
J. K. Rowling Copyright Suits Go Round and Round
Harry Potter The Lexicon Trial By Fire and Fair Use Implications
The second one is a follow-up after Roger Rapoport set the record straight that the Lexicon is indeed in print and you can buy it . What I liked about the second one is that she lists the books that were not singled out for lawsuits by JKR/WB including HAH, Harry Potter Should Have Died (about which I have more than a passing interest), and In Search of Harry Potter.
Next . . . for the Snape fans . . . I don't usually link to the WB websites, but the Online shop has a really great T-Shirt that says "Property of the Half-Blood Prince" written in (allegedly) Snape's handwriting from the HBP potions book. And of course it is basic black!
WB Shop ~ Half-Blood Prince Merchandise
Or you can shop elsewhere ~ this page has even more Snape-related clothing items for sale with the Silver Doe, lettering that says "Snape is my Hero," and lots more:
Zazzle.com ~ Snape Gifts
Thanks to Serpentine for tossing me the next story:
Dinosaur named in honor of Harry Potter ~ Dracorex Hogwartsia
Check out the Telegraph UK Gallery of Crop Circles for 2009
And I'll end with a weird video of strange Toy Related Movies - pretty funny, but also too close to the truth!
- Location:Fandom
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geeky - Music:Buffy "Going Through the Motions"
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I saw them HERE. The two musical videos have been taken down now, but you can see the guy who played Harry in a short parody (people are laughing!)called Goin' Back as in "going back to Hogwarts. The soundtrack isn't that great, but it's pretty good. Look fast in case this disappears too.
But what was their evil purpose in creating these videos? They are just fans, and that's not an easy thing to be sometimes.
HP the Musical was written and produced in early 2009 by a bunch of college kids/recent grads through a non-profit student-run theatre company. It was a free show that ran for three nights (five performances) and will never be done again... but luckily we taped it so everyone can get a chance to enjoy its magical silliness. The songs were written by Darren Criss (who plays Harry Potter) and AJ Holmes (who plays piano in the band). The script was written by Matt Lang (who also directed the show), Nick Lang (who assistant directed and made the dragon puppet) and Brian Holden (who was busy working at a real job while the rest of us were making a goofy play).And now they are having to rename their Musical to avoid . . . *whispers* . . . legal issues. They are even asking fans to send in suggestions for a new name to the YouTube account of the creators StarKidPotter.
HP the Musical was a completely non-for-profit unofficial parody show made by Potter-fans for Potter-fans. All of us involved love the books immensely (and strongly encourage everyone to read them if you haven't) and it is with the utmost admiration that we celebrate and poke fun at them with this musical inspired by our very favorite stories.
I wish someone could explain the difference between these videos and what the Wizard Rock kids do? Not to offend any fans ~ especially sorry to
But I think they got the legal message loud and clear. Stay with this next video all the way to the end because I promise you will enjoy it! The song at the end starts about 3:14 minutes. It is priceless!!!
( Read the Lyrics Under the Cut )
- Location:FandomCourt
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confused - Music:We Don't Want to Get Sued
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This picture is just fabulous. Could Alan Rickman look any better than this?
And the books are amazing too - just as I pictured them in Spinner's End.
Thanks to
( The Original with Narcissa and David Yates Under Here )
- Location:Spinner's End Slumber Party
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bouncy
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It's hard to believe that Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died on the same day. The day before that, Johnny Carson's intrepid sidekick Ed McMahon died. Last week, David Carradine of the TV show Kung Fu died mysteriously. Overshadowed by all those deaths is the news that CBS newsman Walter Cronkite may not have long to live.
It's strange to see the 1970s crumble in a few weeks. I'm sure everyone close to my age is wondering what's going to happen next?
All this is starting to affect me. LIFE is so short! I used to make fun of my father when he would get all weepy over Roy Rogers, but I get it now. I actually learned it when John Denver and Johnny Cash died.
I think from now on I will just run with my nostalgia and wallow in it on Friday. There will be plenty of Michael Jackson videos on TV so I won't bother posting one of those. But I was watching tennis on TV last week and all I could think about is how I'd rather be back in the 70s watching Bjorn Borg play again. Yes, he had the Farrah Hair, too. And please, I hope David Cassidy is having a healthy day!
- Location:Graveyard of the Seventies
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nostalgic - Music:David Cassidy "On My Way Back"
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I've been trying to collect some of the promo commercials that have recently come out. There are so many I've lost count, but here are a few. I especially like the first one here because Dumbledore gives Harry the lecture about "Do whatever I ask you to do without question." They are setting up Harry's experience as a parallel with Snape's there - both of them Dumbledore's men.
The second has Hagrid and Slughorn, the third is a nice compilation by MrUltimateHarry on Youtube with the first four promos together. The fourth is a featurette with Dumbledore and Harry. The fifth is the newest but the German version is all I can find - so enjoy hearing "Sectumsempra" in German! :)
( View the Rest of the Videos Here )
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I had planned to write only one post today, but the news about South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford today is getting more bizarre by the minute and I just have to make sure everyone sees this. My daughter is moving to Columbia, South Carolina, in one month to go to Law School, and I'm beginning to think there may be a new Governor by then. Let's hope the professors at her school don't also go walkabout just for the heck of it.
I tried to write down all the bizarro world details of this, but just watch this from yesterday when everyone thought Mark Sanford had gone for a hike on the Appalachian Trail.
Then Today, Sanford announced that he had gone to Buenos Aires ARGENTINA for seven days and he didn't know why his staff said he was on the Appalachian Trail! I thought it was snarky joking around when this headline appeared!
Sanford in Argentina ~ Not on the Appalachian Trail.
I missed the Press Conference at 2 p.m. Eastern time, but someone on Daily Kos liveblogged it:
Mark Sanford: Who is the Woman? (Presser Liveblog) and they have the nitty gritty details.
I want to share some quotes from the past 24 hours:
From Huffington Post
~ The Republican governor told the South Carolina newspaper he considering hiking, but at the last minute changed his mind.
"But I said 'no' I wanted to do something exotic," Sanford told the newspaper.
~ The governor's wife, Jenny Sanford, told The Associated Press she had not seen him since Thursday but was not concerned because he'd told her he wanted to get away and do some writing. "He was writing and wanted some time away from the kids."
~ "Unless he runs for president of Argentina, I think he has no chance of becoming president. The rest of the country wouldn't have taken him seriously anyway," said Dick Harpootlian, a former South Carolina Democratic Party chairman who rapped Sanford for "apparently taking off to run away from home like some hormone-infused adolescent."
From Daily Kos Comments
~ Appalachian Trial, Argentina... Such a natural mistake. I confuse them all the time.
Wait, what?
-Hudson
( More under the Cut... )
- Location:U. S. of Weirdness
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amused - Music:Don't Cry for me Appalachia
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Sadly there isn't a picture of Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar yet, but still these pics are bizarro and very Burtonish.
They also have a gallery of artwork HERE
MTV Movies Blog has a Retrospective of Alice Movies that is quite enjoyable. This movie is not due out till March 2010.
Snitchseeker has a nice Video Interview With Matt Lewis from a Dutch TV show. He says that hanging onto Trevor the Toad in the first movies was not easy: "You'd have to hold it close to your chest, a bit like a rabbit, but he'd just jump out and they are so strong, and you didn't want to squeeze too tight..." Also from Snitchseeker, there are a couple of clips of the Phelps Twins on the Blue Peter show, and there's a cute clip of the Weasley Joke Shop from HBP.
Total Film has a slideshow of 12 Things They Cut From the Harry Potter Movies.
I was glad to see they included two that we wrote about in the Mugglenet Book - Peeves the Poltergeist and Ron Playing Quidditch. But I was shocked they didn't include the one thing that drives me up the wall - the omission of Lily from Snape's Worst Memory in OotP. That is unforgivable as far as I'm concerned.
Groklaw blog asks the question: Could King Lear have been written under U.S. Copyright Law?
Attorney Julie Hilden takes sides (as she sometimes did during the Lexicon case) on Findlaw, and can't resist mentioning the Lexicon book in regards to The Salinger Lawsuit. She also fails to mention that the Lexicon actually got into print. Why aren't these people reading my blog? *LOL* Well, perhaps she just doesn't want to admit that her own predictions were wrong, so just in case Mr. Colting's book is deemed a parody by the court, Ms. Hilden believes she's found an out-of-court way to punish a rogue author:
"It's worth remembering, finally, that there is another way to protect Salinger: Boycott Colting. Colting may have a right to publish, but he has no right to be read. And while copyright suits always have an uneasy relationship to the First Amendment, well-informed boycotts (that is, ones that truly understand the works their members are boycotting) are perfectly consistent with it – and are themselves an expression of a First-Amendment-protected view."
Yeah, right, because a rich author and his attorneys cannot possibly punish this man enough for his crime. Deja vu? No wonder Rowling comes to mind.
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happy - Music:Chris Cross "Sailing"
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Michael Wolff on Newser.com has an essay about litigious authors, mentioning J. D. Salinger and J. K. Rowling as two of the most prominent:
From I Am Holden Caufield
The best client you could have if you are an intellectual property lawyer is JD Salinger. The second best is JK Rowling. This is because they are both extremely litigious, guarantee great publicity, and because their aura of great virtue, together with the belovedness of their creations, helps them win.
...Salinger and Rowling are examples of the current anomaly in which intellectual property becomes ever more protected in traditional media, and ever more impossible to protect in digital media.
I am writing this in the air so I cannot check if jdsalinger.com or holdencaufiled.com have been taken, but, if they aren’t, I will try to remember to grab them soon after I land. Alternatively, I will try for iamholdencaulfield.com—that could work, nicely. (At some point, we have all dreamed of being Holden Caulfield.)
But on iamholdencaulfield.com I can invite visitors to the site to write their own versions of what might have happened to Holden in the intervening years (perhaps I will link to the British version of the Swedish author’s book). This is fan fiction of the kind that piggybacks off many best-sellers and pop-culture characters with obsessive followers—and Catcher in the Rye, at 22 million copies and counting, has always had its obsessives. It’s probable that such explicit Holden sites and Holden fan fiction already exist—so much for my new pastime. Certainly Harry Potter is as finely documented on the web as Harry and friends could ever be in the reference book that Rowling has blocked from publication.
(Someone should write to him and let him know the Lexicon is in print!)
Rowling and Salinger and their lawyers do not pursue such possible web infringements because it is too penny-ante and time-consuming, and victories on the web tend to do nothing to discourage other infringements on the web. If Salinger and Rowling have deep pockets, they are not deep enough to sue the entire Internet.
The result is that, more and more, two worlds of intellectual property exist. One becomes increasingly a pretend world, or a world of principle but not of meaning. Lawyers and courts and obsessive creators (who inspire obsessive fans) and their heirs can have their way with books and expensive video productions, while a new sort of popular culture, unrestrained and unbothered, is being created...
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indescribable - Music:Edie Brickell "What I Am"
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You can listen to samples of music from the Half-Blood Prince Soundtrack in this video. Strangely, Hedwig's Theme seems to have become "Ginny's Theme."
There are also lots of new interviews out with
| MAJOR Spoilers |
These releases from WB are summarizing practically the entire movie, with input from the actors about their character's motivation. We've rarely gotten this much info a month before a movie in the past. So beware when you click!!!
Rounding Out Slughorn's Character
The Hermione-Ron-Lavender Love Triangle
Rough and Tumble Quidditch like Rollerball on Brooms
This next one is chock-full of stuff about Spinner's End, Narcissa, and Bellatrix.
Draco's Death Eater Turn
Voldemort's Past Explored
Snitchseeker says they have another interview about the Inferi Cave. I'll post the link when it appears.
- Location:Fandom
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curious - Music:"The Weasley Stomp"
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Almost anyone on earth who has ever had to share a room with a pesky fly in the summer knows how irritating it can be. I've often wished that I could zap one out of the air with a magic wand!
Teenage Snape does that in Order of the Phoenix:
A greasy-haired teenager sat alone in a dark bedroom, pointing his wand at the ceiling, shooting down flies...
Then I saw this video the other day and was reminded of that passage:
Some of you may recall the old "Development of Snape's Character" thread on which a certain poster used to rant that killing flies is sadistic and a sign of Snape's future as a Death Eater. So of course we would start writing things like "Flies breed in garbage and spread diseases" or "Flies are just potions ingredients."
Now PETA is saying that Obama shouldn't have killed the fly because it was inhumane.
The comedians are just having a field day with the whole thing.
POLITICO (Washington) - The president has been getting lots of kudos for a lightning-fast, Mr. Miyagi-worthy swipe he employed to slay a pesky house fly that was buzzing him in mid-interview during a taping with CNBC that aired Wednesday.
"He stopped the interview to track and kill the fly," said talk show host Conan O'Brien.
"That's some pretty impressive hand-eye coordination right there," Jimmy Fallon gushed. "Makes Obama look like a bad-ass."
( Read more... )
Several observers in the room gave congratulatory shout-outs. Obama pointed to the floor and instructed an obliging cameraman to get a close-up of the corpse.
"It's like he's got one of those fly Terminator targeting systems in his eyes," said an awed Jon Stewart.
- Location:Home
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cheerful - Music:"Fly Me to the Moon"
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There's a new interview with Steve Kloves, the screenwriter for the Harry Potter movies. Reading it exasperated me because he talks about what they threw out (Alot of Pensieve Memories, Dumbledore's Funeral) and what David Yates is proud that they left in (Quidditch of course).
Harry Potter Countdown: Steve Kloves on a Haunting Moment in Half-Blood Prince
just before he kills Dumbledore.

What, if anything, can you say about the climactic moment between Snape and Dumbledore?
In the book, it’s a short but intense scene.
Kloves: It is informed by everything [Potter readers] have come to know is true. So if you watch the film carefully, there are performance moments that are quite extraordinary, Alan Rickman [who plays Snape] especially. There is something we added that you can look forward to, a short scene between Harry and Snape prior to the big event. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays to the audience. It should be a haunting moment for Harry. While I was writing, I just had a notion about a moment between him and Snape, something Harry could look back on and question as to why he didn’t act differently.
~~~~~~~~~~
( Read more... )
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