Accio blog!
via CNN
Scientists in the United States and England are now saying that they could make an invisibility cloak similar to the one that the fictional Harry Potter uses in the books and films. They said it would be possible by using certain man-made materials that steer light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation around an object, rendering it as invisible.
via HPANA
A major casting change for Order of the Phoenix was announced this morning. Actress Helen McCrory is out for the role of Bellatrix Lestrange, due to her being pregnant. Instead, renowned actress Helena Bonham Carter will fill the role. I believe this to be an inspired casting choice, perhaps a better choice than McCrory.
In other news, the roles of the young marauders have also been cast and finalized. James Walters is to be young Sirius Black, James Utchen will play a young Remus Lupin and Alec Hopkins will portray young Severus Snape.
via HPANA
Sony Pictures Classics has bought the North American rights to Driving Lessons, a film starring Rupert Grint that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last month. There’s no word on a release date at this time.
I saw a clip of this film online, and Rupert looked quite good in it (I mean in the acting sense, not in the physical sense). I’m hoping to see this when it is released in the States.
via HPANA
A newly discovered dinosaur species has been named ‘Dracorex hogwartsia’ after the magical school in the Harry Potter series.
On May 22, there will be a satellite video feed of one of the scientists involved in the matter explaining the naming of the prehistoric animal.
Right now you’re asking what the heck George Bush has to do with Harry Potter. The answer is of course, nothing. But bear with me.
Google recently released a new tool called Google Trends. Trends allows you to search search terms and get all sorts of information about what people search for. One particularly cool feature is the ability to compare two different search terms. So, to try this out I put the boy wizard up against the leader of the free world.
And guess what? Harry won! Amazing right? Except for a brief period before the November 2004 election, Harry Potter has been a hotter search commodity than George Bush, wands down.
What does this mean? Am I making a political statement? No, not really*. It’s just interesting and maybe a little funny. And I’m a nerd with too much time on my hands.
*I’m not actually a fan of Bush, but I try to keep my political feelings to myself on this blog, since Potter fans of any political affiliation are welcome here.
As many of you have heard, J.K. Rowling is set to visit the U.S. soon. She will be doing a charity reading in NYC on August 1st and 2nd, along with authors Stephen King (who is a bog fan of the Harry Potter series) and John Irving. Leaky has more details on how to obtain tickets for the event.
It sounds awesome. I’d kill to go. Stephen King is my favorite author next to Rowling and I own every one of his books. But alas, it’s not really in my budget to travel to NYC this year!
via HPANA
The Goblet of Fire DVD has broken a Guinness World Record to become the fastest selling DVD of all time. Wow! It broke the previous records of Shrek 2 and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
via HPANA
An extra on the set of the upcoming Order of the Phoenix is reporting that the character of Sybil Trelawney, played by Emma Thompson does appear in the film. The scene that the extra references is the scene in which Umbridge fires her and attempts to eject her from the school. This is an unconfirmed report but it seems pretty reliable, so it sounds pretty good.
Here are a few:
Harry Potter and the Camping Weekend With Ron That Will Never Be Spoken Of Again
Harry Potter and the E Street Band
Harry Potter and the It Was All Only A Dream
Harry Potter and the Order of the Pizza
Harry Potter and the Incredibly Long Run-On Sentence That ALmost Makes It Look As If The First Three Paragraphs Of The Story Are Actually More Like The First Three Sentences And Then Hermione Says Harry That Dragon Is Attacking You and Ron Is In Danger So Harry Potter Reaches Into His Magic Bag And Removes A Magic Card That He Says Makeus Enlargitus and The Creature On The Card Which Is A Griffin With The Body Of A Zebra But Claws Of A Lion Comes Out Of It And When It (The Dragon) s Defeated Harry Says It Was Voldemort and Hermione Says How Do You Know And Harry Says I Just Know and Ron Goes Gulp!
[Via BoingBoing]
Actor, writer, director Terry Gilliam, of Monty Python fame, said in an interview in Entertainment weekly back in Septemnber 2005 that he had wanted to direct the first Potter film.
Now, IMDB is listing Gilliam as the director for Half-Blood Prince, due in 2008. Warner Bros. has not confirmed that this is true, but we’ll be watching all reports carefully to confirm.
Having seen some of Gilliam’s work, including the 1988 fantasy The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, I have some misgivings. I agree that Gilliam probably would have been perfect for some of the earlier films, especially Sorcerer’s Stone. He probably would have lent it some of the great comedy and wonderment that he’s known for. But I’m skeptical that he’ll be able to give Half-Blood Prince the wistful, brooding, sense of impending doom that the book evokes. Let’s hope that if the job is his, that he rises to the occasion.