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.

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 )

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 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 )

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... )

Robert Pattinson and Rupert Grint are both in the running to play Prince Harry (the real Prince Harry, not the Chosen One) in a movie.
The Improper.com: Who Should Play Prince Harry in "The Spare" (no joke - real title as in "heir and a spare" William & Harry)

Helen McCrory, our Narcissa Malfoy, says quite a lot about the Deathly Hallows Movies without actually saying anything at all, probably due to her cast-iron secrecy clause with WB. Good work, Helen - you won't get sued, and you sound so pleasant all the same!
UK Rotten Tomatoes: Exclusive ~ Helen McCory Updates on Harry Potter 7

Here's a nice interview from Harry Potter's Page with Harry Melling, who plays Harry's bad-boy cousin Dudley Dursley. Dudders may have to wear padding in the Deathly Hallows movies since Melling has suddenly lost his baby fat. And I don't think he had to use Petunia's wilted lettuce diet either.



Fleur in Paris!
Snitchseeker: Clémence Poésy attended the Chanel show during Paris Fashion Week

And also JKR: According to the London Telegraph: J. K. Rowling dressed in black and purple was seen at Stella McCartney's show during Paris Fashion Week, and she made a statement about what she's writing these days. People who were excited by her Twitter last week that she was busy with pen and paper may be disappointed.

JK Rowling bid for three tickets to see Stella McCartney’s Paris show at a Gala Auction in London, in June, to raise funds for the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation, and bought along two friends. “I’m working on something, but it’s not Harry Potter,” she said. “I need a Harry break.” A Stella McCartney fan, she said she loved the designer’s clothes because “they’re so wearable.”

Note: See JKR's Own Words about Stick-Skinny Models in This Rant on her Website

Picture Via Snitchseeker

Mugglenet.com is celebrating it's 10 year anniversary!

Congratulations, Emerson, Ben, and the staff!



It's rather fun to see how the website has changed from Back in 1999 until Now

Mugglenet also wants to hear from the fans:

MuggleNet's success is thanks in large part to YOU - the visitors. Do you have a story about finding MuggleNet? About what MuggleNet has meant to you? About what MuggleNet has done for you? Then we want your stories! Please e-mail them to
mn10stories@staff.mugglenet.com.
Please keep your stories limited to no more than 3 paragraphs.
We'll take as many stories as possible and post them on MuggleNet later this month. Thanks!

My own story is that I was reading Mugglenet one day back in 2003 and idly clicked the link to Chamber of Secrets Forum out of curiousity, or I probably wouldn't be here right now. I just passed 8,000 posts on CoS, whatever that signifies. And I have to add that although they are TWO SEPARATE SITES, I still feel a close connection to Mugglenet for obvious reasons.

It was my door into Fandom for the better, and sometimes for the worse.

Some interesting "concept art" done for the HBP movie has been released (see links below). The picture of Dumbledore's funeral makes me wonder why they didn't just go ahead and film the scene.  It clearly shows a parallel to the death of Aragog in the movie with Hagrid standing over the dead body and the mountains behind them. Maybe that image was just too creepy of a parallel for the director, but in the book it's certainly meaningful that Aragog's children won't accept Hagrid anymore, while the Order members won't accept Snape anymore after the death of Dumbledore.

I'm biased. I loved Dumbledore's funeral and except for Dobby and Moody's eyeball, it's all we have of a ritualistic view of death. Eh, and the graveyards in GoF and DH.

From MasterofMystery in the Snitchseeker Gallery
More Art by Adam Broadbank on his Website

My newest Halloween Icons are HERE I must say I'm happy with the way these turned out.

Last year's icons HERE.

I cross-post at a great community called seasonal_icons. Just a joy to browse around over there, especially in the Fall.

I also gathered up a selection of Fandom comments from various sources about George W. Bush supposedly denying JKR the Presidential Medal of Freedom because of her connection to witchcraft.
Enjoy! Everyone has a strong opinion!

Fandomentalism

Now for the Nostalgia Part ~ Andy Griffith Haunted House, Fall Cartoons and Ads





( More Under Here )

JKR has a new Twitter Account, but vows that she isn't going to use it much because she prefers pen and paper. Does that mean she is actually writing a novel? Um, that would probably be a "no." Is anyone going to ask her questions on Twitter?  And will she answer? Probably also a "no."

Steve Vander Ark is touring the Heartland in October and heading to New York in November, so maybe you can catch one of his talks at the following locations. (RDR has two of the dates wrong there - Oct 1st and 2nd are Thursday and Friday, so I fixed those accordingly).

( Schedule Under the Cut... )

Matt Lewis and Evanna Lynch (Neville and Luna, respectively) were out and about releasing balloons tagged with special tickets from the Millenium Bridge in London for some sort of Deathly Hallows competition. They both talked about DH, but in rather vague terms:

"The big stuff is still to come," she told the BBC. "I like that because if it's all at the start it's a bit of an anti-climax, but they're keeping that bit until the end."

... Lewis: “I've done a few days which went fantastically,” he said. "You wouldn't be able to tell it was the last in the series because the atmosphere is electric –everybody is having such a great time.”

That star-kid Darren Criss from "A Very Potter Musical" is going to appear in the new TV series Eastwick based on The Witches of Eastwick. His first actual appearance is October 7th. This will be good for his career since his rating on IMDB has gone up over 300% in the past week. Here is his message from StarKidPotter:

News about the DVDs coming out later this year:

The US version ~ Tuesday, December 8th.
The UK editions ~ Monday, December 7th.
France ~ November 18th
Australia ~ November 30th.

Also, extended versions of the first two movies:

...Each include five hours of special features, theatrical and extended versions of the film, a 48-page photo book and other collectibles.

Among the special features will be screen tests, news featurettes with the cast and filmmakers and the first two one-hour installments of a new comprehensive documentary about the making of the movie franchise. Called Creating the World of Harry Potter, the eight-hour documentary will have one hour on each Ultimate Edition. Sorcerer's Stone will contain Creating the World of Harry Potter Part 1: The Magic Begins and Chamber of Secrets will have Part 2: Characters.

More information on Snitchseeker.

If you are like me and you never met a retro picture that you didn't like, then here is a website for you: Magazine Art. It's an archive of old magazine covers, some of them absolutely beautiful. Found via Neatorama.

A restaurant in Malaysia called "McCurry" has won a nine-year legal battle against McDonald's. They've insisted that the "MC" stands for "malaysian chicken curry." Since I love curry much more than a Big Mac, I'm very happy for them. :)

This article from Canada.com is a hoot: a list of stupid questions from visitors to Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies. Just a sampling ~ number 19 is my personal favorite:

From an unofficial survey of Banff tour operators, here are the top 20 outrageous questions, some with answers in case you've wondered the same thing. As for the rest, well, they stand on their own.

1. Are the animals with collars tame? (These animals have been fitted with tagged collars because they have had incidents with people. It is important to stay a safe distance away from wildlife.)

2. We are going into British Columbia. Do we need to change our money into Euros?

3. Can we drive our car onto a glacier anywhere? (Not to our knowledge, but you might enjoy a trip on the Ice Explorer across the Columbia Icefields.)

4. Do we need snow tires or chains to drive to Lake Louise in July?

5. Where are the igloos and the Eskimos?

( Read more... )

And speaking of wildlife, an amazingly Pettigrew-esque Giant Rat that has been discovered in a volcanic crator of Papua, New Guinea. Which makes me wonder - after Peter got the silver hand, could he still transform?  Or did he just become a rat with a silver paw?

See Newly Constructed Sets for the Harry Potter Theme Park, Orlando.

Deathly Hallows actor Jamie Bower Campbell talked about Gellert Grindelwald on Hollywood Crush.

I play Gellert Grindelwald, who is an old friend of Dumbledore's," explained the 21-year-old actor. "It's a flashback character, which is good fun. I did a little bit before I went off and did 'New Moon.'"

"No, I'm just doing number one," he answered when we asked if Grindelwald was scheduled to be in both halves of the split-for-the-cinema-sequels made from J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" novel. "Thus far, I mean. I haven't seen the script for the second one; I don't think anyone has seen the script for the second one."

( Cut for a sort of strange spoiler concerning Grindelwald's appearance... )

 

I'm just going to post this story from MTV and run away. It speaks for itself, and if I start writing about the picture below, I might not be able to stop, and then I would die from a fatal snark attack or the sarcasm lobe in my brain might rupture.

Edit: OK, I have to say one thing. That is the ugliest Unicorn I've ever seen anywhere!!!

From Bluewater Productions:

Her name is forever associated with a certain boy wizard whom she created while waiting for a delayed train. Now, nearly half a billion books sold later, J.K. Rowling will be the subject on an upcoming issue of Bluewater Productions’ Female Force biography comic series.

Female Force: J.K. Rowling, scheduled for release in December, follows Rowling’s rags to riches story of a woman receiving government financial assistance through her ascendancy in becoming one of the world’s most recognizable writers.


( Read more... )

Forget the fact that J. K. Rowling wasn't born in Scotland. We all know she is more of a "Local Heroine" who moved there to write her books in an Edinburgh Cafe.

But according to the Scottish Record, JKR is on the list of nominees for "Greatest Scot of All Time." You can see the list of nominees: HERE.
The writers nominated were:

Robert Burns
Robert Louis Stevenson
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
J. K. Rowling
David Hume
Adam Smith
John Muir (Environmentalist who was actually Scottish American, but born in Dunbar)

One huge writer was left off the list: Sir Walter Scott  and that seems incredible.

Other famous Scots-people omitted were: Annie Lennox from the Eurythmics (what?), Sean Connery (they must be joking), and amazingly, Mary Queen of Scots (what were they smoking?)

So what do you think ~ Does JKR belong amongst this "August Circle"?
(winks at the Snape fans)
Should her portrait hang among them while Sir Walter Scott's likeness is shoved into some Muggle dung heap?

For even more fun amongst the Scottish writers these days, there is the controversy over remarks made by James Kelman at the Edinburgh Book Festival slamming modern Scottish writing, especially mystery writers such as Ian Rankin and boy-wizard inventor Rowling:

"If the Nobel Prize came from Scotland they would give it to a writer of f****** detective fiction, or else some kind of child writer, or something that was not even new when Enid Blyton was writing The Faraway Tree, because she was writing about some upper middle-class young magician or some f****** crap," he said.

Contemporary literature, he said, was "derided and sneered at by the Scottish literary establishment" who were "Anglocentric" and bent on ignoring the edgier talent that is right under their noses - citing poet Tom Leonard as an example of one such cruelly marginalised Scot.

Another writer put it in Hogwartsian Terms:

Scottish crime writer Denise Mina, however, was far from taking Kelman's side in the row. Writing today in the Sunday Herald, she says: "Kelman is a beautiful writer and I love his books, but this debate actually drives readers toward genre fiction. It's like the prefects looking down on the juniors ... People in the arts are more concerned than anyone about status. And that's what this is: a play for status."

I cannot put into words how much I love this picture of the "Kudzu Jesus" in Raleigh, North Carolina, blessing the railroad tracks near a vacant lot.



Kudzu is a non-native Japanese vine that grows about 10 feet a day and creeps all over the Southern U.S. This particular oddity was discovered by blogger John Morris and posted on GoodNightRaleigh. A funny article in The Raleigh News-Observer states: "News, like kudzu, spread. So did jokes. Best yet: I am the way, the truth and the plant life."

Registration is now open for Infinitus 2010, a conference to be held in Orlando, Florida, near the new HP theme park.

Sign Up Here for Inifinitus 2010

...early bird registration price for $165.00 until midnight of September 7th, 2009. After that, registration will be $180.00 until March 31, 2010. It will then increase to $200.00 pending availability. Please note that your registration will include two meals and access to our Ball as well as all Formal Programming except for the Keynote Luncheons (which can be purchased at a later date). Information about park tickets will be available soon.

Interesting review of the entire Harry Potter series on Bookworms and Bibliophiles concerning a mixed message about "Elitism." Yes, it's true ~ the Slytherin bad guys are Elitists (although not all of them are Slytherins), but so are the Gryffindor good guys and gals. None of them would want their son or daughter to marry a Muggle.

I just started a group for Draco Malfoy fans on Chamber of Secrets: Draco Fidelius. It's open to the public, so whether you are a teenage fangirl or a mom like me who thinks Tom Felton is a cute kid, please join (you have to be a member of CoS forum).

Cinemablend has included Draco in Evil and Eviler: Ten Best Villains of the Summer. So move over Nero from Star Trek!

Also, we have this humorous Tom Felton Interview discussing the influence of Alan Rickman:

Watch more Moviefone videos on AOL Video

Also a nice Blog Review with a memorable line about Alan Rickman:

And, of course, I can't say enough about Alan Rickman as Snape. Nobody can say as much with just a glare as Rickman can. I especially love how he bites off the ends of his sentences like they were a chocolate bar, adding menace to everything he says, even "hello." And the way he often pauses....before....each...word in that clipped manner of disdain is just brilliant. I wish there had been more Snape in this movie, though thankfully there is a bit more than usual.