General HP News

[hermoine]

In this thread you can post any news at all, whether it be an article you found online or in the local newspaper, some pictures, or anything at all you think may be of interest.

Please do not include any information regarding HBP or the HP movies as this would go in their respective boards.

(Ko I moved your post because I thought it would fit better here than in the DP thread.

koneko said:

Um, I'm not sure where to put this spot of news but Matthew Lewis (who plays Neville Longbottom in the HP films) will be on Mugglenet on 25th of August if anyone is interested in having a chat with him. Check Mugglenet for times and details!

[hermoine]

So here are yours HP news for today:

It has been reported that 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' is the third favourite holiday reading matter for British parliamentarians this year.

The 'Da Vinci Code' by Dan Brown came in first, while the biography of William Pitt the Younger, a former Conservative prime minister, taking second place.

So whenever you meet someone who thinks HP is just for kids, you just tell him that got it?


And now moving onto a different area of the HP universe:

Gamespot has given a Harry Potter game suitable for mobile phones a mediocre review because it feels that "Find Scabbers just doesn't embody the creative spirit of the work on which it's based."

They continued by expressing, "Couldn't Warner Bros. have offered resourceful players alternatives to finding Ron's beleaguered pet? Harry could visit a pet shop, then produce an identical rat. Maybe he could ignore the quest entirely and steal Hermione from the aptly named Master Weasley. Of course, the game's title would have to be changed to "Harry Potter...Find Scabbers?" In short, almost anything would prove more entertaining than this maze-based game.'"

Harry Potter finds Scabbers includes "various fearsome creatures, such as giant spiders and snakes, spawn from piles of bone or dirt on and around the Hogwarts campus. Harry must freeze the creatures, rendering them temporarily innocuous. This reinforces the old maxim "piles of bleached, old bones are to be avoided, unless you have a magic wand."

Gamespot also said, "As these enemies tend to attack in large groups, you'll sometimes have to freeze a half-dozen baddies at a time by rapidly slamming on the fire key. This is boring and pointless."

One must always remember that this is a mobile phone game, very limited in the amount of memory it can take up, the amount of sound which can be produced and the graphics.

The rest of the article can be found here

[Ritsu]

I didn't know where to put this, but on my occasional wanderings through SnitchSeeker I found the news about PotterCast, launched by The Leaky Cauldron people. And I think this is a big deal, and I listened to the first show and it's really, really cool, all the people interacting and everything, it's a lovely idea. Plus, on the first show, there are interviews with Bonnie Wright and Stuar Craig in the end... Bonnie's one is a bit hard to listen to, but definitely worthwhile. So here's the link:

PotterCast

I do hope you have a chance to listen to this. Maybe someday we could do something like that, huh? Maybe not so huge as a PodCast thing since I'm techonology illeterate, but with all of us interacting with each other, sharing theories and stuff... it'd be so cool.

[hermoine]

I have indeed checked it out Rita, but sadly I can't listen to it because you need to download iTunes or similar software. But I heard it's really cool.

Since I haven't posted here in a while, there'll be numerous news so hang on tight:

VH1 has a new article/interview with Harry and the Potters, a punk band who write and perform songs based on the Potter novels. They explain the purpose of the group and share some of their experiences.

"There are many purposes of the band," older brother Paul, the other Potter, said. "One is to encourage reading, definitely. We play a lot of libraries and bookstores and things like that.

The other is to kind of open kids up to some new musical ideas through somebody they're already familiar with, [like] Harry. We took these qualities we saw in Harry — he's got a problem with authority, he has a do-it-yourself mentality ... we took all these qualities that we think define a good punk rocker that Harry shares, and we exploit them and play off them in our shows and in our music.

If Harry did have a band, this is what they would sound like — or at least, we think so."

"I hear ('Potter' movie actor) Daniel Radcliffe is pretty into punk rock. We hold out that hope that someday there can be three Harry Potters, all rocking out onstage at the same time. That would be pretty rad."

The DeGeorge brothers also claim they would love to meet series author J.K. Rowling, even though they aren't sure how she'd react to their music.

"Maybe she'll show up to a show," Paul chuckled.

When asked whether the brothers had to secure the permission of Rowling before starting the band, Joe similarly laughs it off: "I don't think so."

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The rumour has risen before and was previously debunked. Now it has reared its head again. According to ContactMusic Dan Radcliffe is in the running to play a young James Bond in a film about the 007's early years.

A source says, "Daniel Radcliffe would be perfect but they are also looking at Jamie Bell. They want to make the young Bond a bit older so they can have one of those two names."

Nevertheless Dan is due to film 'December Boys' in the later months of this year. After that he is expected to return as Harry for 'Order of the Phoenix' which starts shooting in January/February 2006. In fact, this rumour has now been debunked again, even though the possibility of Dan being a future James Bond still lives.

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Terry Gilliam is interviewed in the September 2005 issue of Entertainment Weekly. The interviewer mentions that Rowling wanted Gilliam involved in the Potter films. The following is his response:

"I was reading the script as I was flying to Los Angeles for the [Warner Bros] meeting and thought, "Oh, she's seen Time Bandits, she's seen Monty Python." You know you're not going to get the job. It's just to keep her happy - due diligence.

The terrible thing about it was during the course of the meeting, I started getting enthusiastic - I was even getting myself excited. I remember leaving the meeting, getting in my car and driving for about two hours along Mulholland Drive just so angry I'd allowed myself to get excited about it.

I mean, Chris Columbus' versions are terrible. Just dull. Pedestrian. But I thought Alfonso Cuaron did a great job with the last one. I thought, Yeah, you got really close to it."

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The following contains HBP spoilers so if you haven't read the book yet, skip this part:

Newsday has an interesting article detailing how Potter fans are coping with the 'hangover' in the aftermath of 'Half-Blood Prince'. The article discusses some of the most popular theories on the net.

Snape - good or evil? The answer to this hinges on whether you think Dumbledore's death was a pact between the two, a necessary sacrifice to ensure Voldemort does not suspect Snape's betrayal. Or whether you believe Snape was a double-double agent, convincing the wise but trusting Dumbeldore that he was defying Voldemort's orders to spy on Hogwarts, but in truth keeping his promise to the Dark Lord.

Then there is the "crush" theory. Rowling has hinted there was someone else at Godric's Hollow the night Harry's parents died. And it was out of character for cranky Voldemort to give Lily Potter so many chances to step aside before he attempted to kill her son.

Was Snape at Godric's Hollow, and was it at his request that Voldemort agreed to spare Lily? And is that why Snape resents Harry so deeply - because Harry, with his mother's green eyes, reminds Snape of the woman who died in order for Harry to live?

[Sarah]

lol. that band sounds hilariously awesome!!!!

hmm, i hadn't heard the second rumour there....now that's interesting...and i've heard too many theories on dumbledore's death...so frankly, i want to talk to Rowling and know the truth!!!


hmm, it may be the image of dan playing harry stuck in my mind, but i can't picture him being the charming, sleeping-around type guy like bond. sure, the hero part, but never an agent...or a womanizer. *sigh*

[hermoine]

It's not that I don't think Dan could play the Bond part, but I've recently realised how at times his face remains to free of emotion whereas Rupert and Emma show every little detail; this has made me think that their acting capabilities have enhanced more than Dan's during these years.

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The Daily Express reports that in a poll conducted by books.co.uk, Hermione Granger was voted the 10th Greatest Literary Heroine of all time.

A scan of the article is seen hereunder:



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Very recently JK updated her site to make her fans, especially those of a younger age to beware from certain signed HP merchandise which can be found on e-bay because the signatures are forged. Since then a spokesman for ebay has said, 'it is the responsibility of the copyright owner to report any listings that violate their rights.'
JK has responded to these remarks:

Ebay might be interested to learn that most Harry Potter fans are children, whose ability to verify the authenticity of signatures is not to be entirely trusted. Meanwhile Hani Durzi seems unaware that I have advised Ebay repeatedly, through my legal representative, that many signatures for sale on their site appear to be fake, but have yet to see any reduction in the number of forgeries on offer. The same is true in respect to other pirate Harry Potter merchandise offered for sale by Ebay users, such as e-Books where we have pointed out to Ebay that 100% of the items being offered for sale are fake.

What I am calling for is prevention rather than cure (which has had limited effect here in any event). After all, reputable booksellers and auction houses take steps to ensure that signatures are genuine BEFORE they put them up for sale. The current situation has Ebay profiting from the Ebay users relentless scamming of Harry Potter fans while, in effect, telling them that they have no-one but themselves – or me – to blame.

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The Times of India has a new interview with Emma Watson in which she discusses her role in the Potter films as Hermione and how that may affect her career in the future.

"My biggest fear is getting stereotyped. I want to do other things. I would hate to have another actress in the role (of Hermione). There is so much of me in her. Of course, JK Rowling wrote the character, but, in film terms, I had a part in creating her".

"I am very careful to separate the two — there is Hermione, there is Emma. There is a professional life and a private life. I never mix the two."

The article on the site quotes Emma as swearing, but this is not true as it doesn't appear in the original interview seen here:



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The October issue of Glamour Magazine has featured a quote from J.K.Rowling talking about Harry Potter's love life.

JK is quoted as saying:

"Because of the demands of the adventure Harry is following, he has had less sexual experience than boys of his age might have had."

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BBC News reports that 'landscape paintings by a group of 19th Century American artists have been the unlikely source of inspiration for the look and feel of the new Harry Potter video game.'

"The aesthetic is growing up," explained the game's art director, Alex Laurent. "Earlier games were aimed at a younger audience so the game had to grow up with the films."

"We had to respect the look of the film," he explained, "but we had a certain amount of freedom to expand the world of the movie."

[KoNeko]

This just in... if you're in the US at this time and make it to this, I'd love to see what took place.

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JK Rowling to tour the US[/u]
Friday Jun 15 06:45 AEST
AP - JK Rowling is going on the road.

The British-born Harry Potter author will give four readings in the United States later this year, her first US promotional tour since 2000, when she was just becoming an international sensation and had yet to give birth to her second and third children.

"What JK Rowling loves most is to talk with her readers, and that is what she will be able to do on this very special US tour," Lisa Holton, president of Scholastic Trade and Book Fairs, said in a statement.

Rowling's seventh and final Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, comes out on July 21, but will surely remain deep in her fans' hearts when she arrives in the United States in October.

On October 15, she will read at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, followed three days later by an appearance at the Ernest N Morial Convention Centre in New Orleans, and two readings on October 19 at New York's Carnegie Hall.

Rowling, 41, will take questions at each of the readings and sign books.

For three of the readings, Scholastic will pick schools to send children.

For the fourth reading, at Carnegie Hall, 1,000 fans will be chosen from a Scholastic sweepstakes, with each winner receiving two passes.
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