More Harry Potter?

It was an idea that Rowling didn't toss away while she visited the White House for Easter. Sure, Harry's youngest generation of fans will be grown up by the time she re-considers writing more HP books, there is still hope. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a Malfoy series!

Rowling also said that she will write, and is writing, more books as we speak. I remember reading something about children's books, like picture books, that she was penning but I can't be sure. Still, if she writes more YA, even middle grade, I'd love to see her style outside of Harry Potter. Considering her knack for research and meticulous detail all woven around an amazing story, if she were to apply that same level of awesome to another book or series, it could be another hit. Granted her name alone could sell books.

What would you like to see Rowling writing? Will you read her books when she publishes more? What about the Harry Potter series? What would you like to see explored in more books that might not have been touched upon a lot in the canon?

You're Just Jealous

JK Rowling's got her boxing gloves on again. Well, I guess they're still on.

She's still fighting the estate of Adrian Jacobs over plagiarism charges for his book The Adventures of Willy the Wizard. And I feel really, really bad for her.

This was a nothing book. It sold a few dozen copies when it came out. Harry Potter came out afterwards and they saw it had some similar features. Everyone knows ideas are unique to each individual and it's totally impossible for two people to have similar ideas so OF COURSE JK Rowling stole this dude's ideas. O_o

You know, I'm usually disinclined to using the "you're jealous" argument because 99.9% of the time it's used by really stupid people that can't think up anything smart to argue with. But in this case, it is pure jealousy. Jacobs had a good idea for a book about a boy wizard. The waves of publishing weren't right for him and the book flopped. Rowling comes along and has a similar idea but the tides were in her favor and the pieces fell nicely into place.

Of course there's going to be jealousy. Anyone's going to be jealous of something like that but to try and claim plagiarism in an attempt to reap some benefits from a book that drove yours even further into the ground? It's just pathetic.

Admit defeat, you feeble estate. You're not going to win this one. If it was a nominal book with decent circulation, you might have had a chance. But considering it was as good as self-published, you're going down. Get some therapy and get over it. You got ninja'd on the boy wizard idea. It isn't the first time its happened and it won't be the last. Such is the animal of publishing.

WTF is this? Anyone?

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Exclusive Clip


I know it's been a little while since I've read HBP but I sure as hell don't remember this part. And please tell me that Frankenstein looking thing isn't supposed to be an Inferi . . .

You know, despite this, this one looks pretty good but it chaps my ass when the makers complain that the books are too long so they have to cut stuff out of it but then they go in and add stuff that was never in there to begin with. What the hell?

HP Creeping to Number 1

Like it's any surprise, the Harry Potter movie franchise is the second largest grossing series ever. The number one? James Bond with $5 billion worldwide. Since HP is already topped at $4.5 billion, it's pretty much a no-brainer that it'll leave Bond in the dust at number two for earnings. The thing is, they're not just shameless cash cows (*coughtwilightcough*) that are cranked out to sate a need. They're Academy Award nominated and all ranked with at least a B with Yahoo! movie ratings. While what the fans think of the films vary pretty widely, it's pretty much a common consensus that they're pretty damn good.

Be sure to click that link to see some great movie posters from Half Blood Prince.

Obama Starstruck

As it turns out, there is something that could goggle President Obama.

While at the G20 summit, the president made a beeline for Harry Potter author JK Rowling so he could introduce himself and tell her how he read her books to his daughters. Have I said lately how much Obama rocks my socks?

Among other Rowling fans at the summit were Russian president Medvedev and his wife Svetlana who actually asked for an autograph. Wouldn't you?

Half-Blood Prince a Near-Epic Fail

Apparently David Yates has gone off the deep end with deviating from the book on this one. All romance, removing pivotal memory scenes and Dumbledore survives? WTF? They're splitting the last movie in two because they don't want to compromise the story and they're ass-raping HBP? Why? There's so much important information in HBP that needs to be said in order to get to Deathly Hallows that it's just downright sacrilege to cut it out. And all of the romance was either comedic relief (Ron and Lavender) or underlying (Harry and Ginny). Why are those aspects being amped up? Why are they screwing with Harry Potter? Go mutilate Twilight. It's not like it's too far off. Preserve Harry Potter for the awesomeness that it is instead of cranking it out to please a particular target audience, or so they think.

Shouldn't they know by now that said target audience wants what's in the books and not what the studios think they want? Why haven't they gotten that yet? We're on the sixth damn movie already!

Harry Potter Rakes in the Bucks

Whoever said books today were expensive have never bid on a rare first edition of Harry Potter before. According to CNN.com, this limited print paperback sold for over $19,000. Damn. They're charity proceeds, of course, but still. Damn.

The way they describe it; a paperback limited printing of only 200 copies that were released before being mass produced. Does that sound like an ARC to anyone else? On top of all of that, it was autographed. Imagine getting your hands on an ARC of the Sorcerer's Stone. Holy shnikes. Depends might need to get involved. And credit counseling.

That still pales in comparison to the $50,000 winning bid of a hand-written and autographed prequel of the series. $19.99 doesn't seem like so much money anymore, does it?

HP7 Part 2 Release Date

According to Publisher's Weekly, the official release date for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2, to the theaters will be July 15th, 2011, with the first part being released November 19th, 2010.

Now, I'm still trying to figure out why they split the book to begin with. A good third of it could be completely eliminated with how often we were told the kids were, yet again, waiting in the woods. It was a little redundant. I mean, come on. Order of the Phoenix was more substantial and look how much of that was chopped.

I'm a little irked by this split. It just seems Warner Brothers is trying to leech more money from the franchise since it's the last book they can bank on (are we surprised? they are leeches). I'm just not seeing what could possibly be substantial enough in this book that it can't be condensed into one movie. Hell, even a three hour movie. It was done for LOTR and I'm sure fans would love to sit through three hours of Harry Potter, but two movies? Warner Brothers makes me want to go pumice myself.

Harry Potter Giveaway!

I don't know about you but I love free things. I also love to give things away. That's one of the reasons that the majority of my belongings that I no longer have any use for get donated, including my books. If I'm going to have a contest, I want to give away new copies of books, and books that I love instead of my cast-offs which is what the donations end up being. Considering the nature of my reviews, I just don't feel comfortable going, "I couldn't stand this book, you want it?" Doesn't seem right, does it? So any contest that I host will be books that I loved to read, and hope you would too, including this first one.

Now, while I said I want to give away new copies of books, which I do, that's not really an option with these. I spent 6 months living in London in 2006 and while there, I collected the paperback UK versions of the Harry Potter series (and one hardbound, which I still have, it's a first edition, would you give that up?).

While I think they're pretty neat keepsakes to have, I think they're more deserving of a bigger Harry Potter fan (not that I'm not a big fan but at this point I don't need two sets of the books). That's where you come in. What's up for grabs is the entire set of five paperback UK editions of the Harry Potter series. All of these books are pre-loved (and, uh, Goblet of Fire was pre-loved by my dog, Malfoy, just a little, he's a hellspawn) and they did travel with me so they're not pristine but their condition is nothing to complain about at all (considering what they went through, anyway).

You want them? All of them? Here's what you do - leave a comment on this post telling me what the craziest/wackiest/nuttiest thing you did for Harry Potter. I'll assign numbers to the posters and choose one at random when the contest is over. Simple, right?

Want some more slips of paper in the hat?

Link to my contest from your site +1
Follow my blog +1
Add me to your blog roll +2
Post about my contest on your blog +2
Something else? +3

Be sure to tell me what you've done in your comment (and link where needed) so I can allocate the points correctly. I don't want to gyp anyone! If you post multiple times, I'll only count it as one in terms of comment points.

The giveaway end date will be midnight, EST, on February 25th. Two weeks from today and the giveaway is open to US residents only (I'll have broader contests later on). I'll announce the winner on the 26th. If you don't leave me some way to contact you, you'll have a week to contact me about the prize (it's only fair, I only check my readers once a week myself). If I don't hear anything, you forfeit the prize and I pick another number. Got it?

Any questions? Just ask. Help me spread the Harry Potter love!