04.20.06
Aberforth Cast
via HPANA
The role of Aberforth Dumbledore has been cast for Order of the Phoenix. The actor cast is Jim McManus, a celebrated stage actor. You can see a picture of him over at The Leaky Cauldron.
Potter Personals
Livejournal user Wizzart, has posted some funny Harry Potter personal ads. They are quite funny. PG-13 for some mild sexual innuendo.
04.14.06
Mom wants to make ‘Harry Potter’ disappear
I live and work in the Atlanta (Georgia, USA) area and so when I heard about a mother in suburban Atlanta who wants the Harry Potter books removed from her children’s public schools, I had to post here.
Now the woman in question, Laura Mallory, doesn’t just want them gone from one elementary school her kids attend, but all school libraries in the state’s largest school district!
I’ve wasted space here previously debunking all the religious clap-trap against Harry Potter, JK Rowling and the books and movies. Suffice it say the stories have done more to teach values, morals and good judgement while at the same time encouraging reading than any other contemporary piece of literature of the last decade. Banning them or advocating such action flies in the face of Rowling’s intent and represents a complete lack of basic reading comprehension.
Now that I’m off my soapbox, I want to say that I’m confident Gwinnett County and the School Board will make the right decision. I can see them restricting Harry Potter to a certain age-range as they’ve done with Judy Blume books in the past, but an outright ban would be ludicrous.
If you live in Georgia, especially Gwinnett, and you’re a fan of the books, now might be a good time to go to a school board meeting, write your city council representative or go to AJC’s The Vent.
I really don’t want to seem dour, because I see this as just a bump in the road. An ignorant, uninformed bump that I wish wasn’t coming up in my neck of the woods, but just a bump nonetheless.
04.11.06
Rupert Takes The Wheel In Driving Lessons
via HPANA
Rupert Grint, who plays Ron in the Harry Potter films, has a movie premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival this week. The film is called Driving Lessons, and it costars Julie Walters, who plays Mrs. Weasley in the Potter films. In the film Grint plays a shy teenager named Ben, who eager to escape his religious mother (Laura Linney) accompanies a retired actress (Walters) to Edinburgh. You can see a clip of the film on the Tribeca Film Festival website.
I’ve seen the clip and Rupert is really quite good in it. I’m hoping that this film will go on general release here in the US at some point, or at least be released on video so those of us not going to Tribeca can see it.
04.08.06
W.O.M.B.A.T Scores In
Just want to let everyone know that the WOMBAT test scores are in at J.K. Rowling’s official site. When you get to the desktop, you’ll see a letter marked WOMBAT. Click on it and it will bring you to a page where you enter your Student ID to receive your test scores.
I’m immensely proud (and frankly astounded) to report that I got an Outstanding on the WOMBAT. The results indicate that other, more difficult tests will be forthcoming. Can’t wait!
04.06.06
Rowling Speaks Out On Weighty Issues
Like my headline? I think the New York Times should hire me, seriously. Anyways, J.K. Rowling has updated her site again. She posted a bit in the Rumours section about the April Fool’s wedding hoax at The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet. She also updated her Diary, in which she says that the book is going well and that she visited Leavesden studios the other day to visit with the actors on the set of Order of the Phoenix.
But the best part was the Extras section where she sounded off about our culture’s obsession with being thin, especially for females. She raised some great points, and it’s interesting to hear her take on some of these issues that face young people since she writes about teens for a living. My favorite quote from the piece:
I mean, is ‘fat’ really the worst thing a human being can be? Is ‘fat’ worse than ‘vindictive’, ‘jealous’, ’shallow’, ‘vain’, ‘boring’ or ‘cruel’? Not to me; but then, you might retort, what do I know about the pressure to be skinny? I’m not in the business of being judged on my looks, what with being a writer and earning my living by using my brain…
Go Rowling!
04.05.06
The Room of Requirement
The Headmaster asked me to “deconstruct” the whole behind the door process and WOMBAT test process, so I’ll give it a shot.
It is interesting that Rowling includes this door thing on her site. Usually when the door opens, it leads to a bit of information on the book she’s currently working on; this time it led to a rather difficult test.
I won’t go through the whole process of getting the door open. If you want to know how that worked (although getting through the door the next time will likely involve an entirely different process, if there is a next time), see here. I will say though that the mirror was interesting. I’ve always thought that the mirror perhaps represented the mirror of Erised. And the fact that you had to break it and that the note behind it spoke of “seven years of bad luck” didn’t escape me. Seven years. The story of Harry Potter, if the last book sticks to a one year time frame, takes place in seven years. You might even say seven years of exceedingly bad luck, depending on whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist.
Once you got in the door, you were treated to an aerial view of Jo’s desk. This in itself was interesting, since we usually only see a partial view of the desk, on the entrance page of the site. The full aerial view revealed her computer, a very messy floor, and interestingly enough a graduation cap. It was when you moved the tassel on the cap to point directly north that it moved aside to reveal the WOMBAT test. First the graduation cap. Maybe this represents that the seventh year for Harry, Hermione, and Ron is supposed to hold their graduation from Hogwarts. However, book 6 indicates that neither Harry or his friends intend to return to school, and there’s even some question as to whether Hogwarts will be open following the death of Dumbledore (oh please, if you haven’t read it by now…). Maybe Rowling is trying to tell us that the trio will graduate after all? Or maybe the “graduation” is for us, if we pass the WOMBAT.
Which brings me to the test itself. As Jo herself said in the beginning of the test, it was no ordinary test of Harry Potter trivia. It was a test on Wizarding law and custom, but it was subtle. It felt like a test about ethics. Most of the questions asked what you should do in a certain situation when a fellow wizard was breaking the law, some even involved asking which crime was worse than the other. For some of the questions it seemed that there was a clear “right” answer, but it didn’t feel right. It was indeed a very strange test. One of those tests where you get done and have no idea whether you passed or not. The kind of test Hermione Granger would hate, I think.
After you finished the test and submitted your answers, you received a Student ID code, and it said that your answers would be available soon. I can only assume that the door will open again sometime in the near future and that entering your code will get you the results and if you passed, perhaps some sort of reward. Usually rewards on J.K.R.’s site consist of either information or Harry Potter artifacts (drawings she’s done of the characters, snippets of her first drafts, etc.).
So, there it is. The door, deconstructed.
04.04.06
The Door Is Closed
The mysterious door on J.K. Rowling’s official site is now closed once again. This means if you didn’t get in this time around, you’ve missed the boat. But hopefully it means that those of us who did get in to take the WOMBAT test will get our results soon. Hold on to those Student ID codes!