Forgive me, but I must vent…
This morning, I received a message in my Inbox. The subject line stated that someone – for the sake of privacy, let’s call him He Who Must Not Be Named – commented on my latest blog entry, “The Prequel.” How excited I was that someone finally noticed and commented on my blog. After all, I have been working on making MuggleGuide the go-to place for all things Harry Potter. It is a place for me to communicate to fellow Potter lovers my deep affection for the books, films, and all things Potter!
It was shocking, therefore, to discover that the person who commented on my blog didn’t do so in solidarity or support of my work, but to insult it and me, along with my fellow Harry Potter friends. Here is what he wrote:
"Get a life loser! harry potter sucks. plus dumbeldore’s so gay he loved harry. You people have no life LOSERS!!!!!!"
This type of rhetoric will not be tolerated. It is insulting, divisive, and prejudiced. (Further, this unnamed individual spelled the Greatest Sorcerer of All Time - Dumbledore's - name wrong. How dare you!) If Harry Potter has taught us anything, it has taught us morality, acceptance, kindness and friendship, and to act in accordance with one’s inherent good. He Who Must Not Be Named, you are an evil Death Eater and I condemn your comments!
I will not start a war.
Instead, I will encourage my fellow Potter lovers to come together and spread positive Potter messages. We shall call it Butterbeer Banter! It is for people like me, who are smitten with all things Harry Potter, to spread the love, using my blog as a portal. It’s simple – just post your positive comments to my stories! This way, comments made by He Who Must Not Be Named and other Death Eaters will be outnumbered and, eventually, vanquished from the Potter Fandom.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The Prequel
The text of the Potter prequel features a police car and motorcycle chase involving Harry's father, James, and Sirius, and concludes with the teasing words "from the prequel I am not working on - but that was fun!"
Indeed, it was.
It was around 10:00am this morning, after reading the news that the Harry Potter prequel fetched $50,000 in a charity auction, that I realized what day it was – Wednesday June 11, 2008. Today was the day that the 800 word handwritten prequel would be released to the public on the web.
I frantically got to my computer and visited the Waterstones’ website. There it was…handwritten by J.K. Rowling herself…all 800 words of the prequel I so long to read in its entirety.
I began reading… “The speeding motorcycle took the sharp corner so fast in the darkness…”
It wasn’t long until I became totally immersed. Once again, I found myself in a world that felt so familiar, so welcoming, so adventurous…so magical. Every word so incredibly captivating, so imaginative, and amazingly thought provoking; I didn’t want it to end.
The story is set three years before Harry’s birth and features Sirius Black and James Potter – this information was release earlier this month on various Potter fan sites. The story opens with a youthful Sirius and James cornered by two policemen at the end of a high-speed motorbike chase. After a cheeky exchange with the policemen, the two teenage characters make their escape - using broomsticks, “drumsticks” and just a little bit of magic.
The story is simple and adventurous – with no new plot twists or a remote sign that the war with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is ongoing. Rowling wonderfully uses the space she has to communicate some of the most important underlying themes in her Potter novels – adventure, friendship, and imagination. These words, touched with the ambiance of Rowling’s magical world, are exactly what Potter fans needed after the passing of a year since the final Potter book. These 800 words are filled with bittersweet moments to reflect on the boy wizard that captured our hearts, constantly curious to learn more yet knowing that we will never know the entire story.
It was around 10:00am this morning, after reading the news that the Harry Potter prequel fetched $50,000 in a charity auction, that I realized what day it was – Wednesday June 11, 2008. Today was the day that the 800 word handwritten prequel would be released to the public on the web.
I frantically got to my computer and visited the Waterstones’ website. There it was…handwritten by J.K. Rowling herself…all 800 words of the prequel I so long to read in its entirety.
I began reading… “The speeding motorcycle took the sharp corner so fast in the darkness…”
It wasn’t long until I became totally immersed. Once again, I found myself in a world that felt so familiar, so welcoming, so adventurous…so magical. Every word so incredibly captivating, so imaginative, and amazingly thought provoking; I didn’t want it to end.
The story is set three years before Harry’s birth and features Sirius Black and James Potter – this information was release earlier this month on various Potter fan sites. The story opens with a youthful Sirius and James cornered by two policemen at the end of a high-speed motorbike chase. After a cheeky exchange with the policemen, the two teenage characters make their escape - using broomsticks, “drumsticks” and just a little bit of magic.
The story is simple and adventurous – with no new plot twists or a remote sign that the war with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is ongoing. Rowling wonderfully uses the space she has to communicate some of the most important underlying themes in her Potter novels – adventure, friendship, and imagination. These words, touched with the ambiance of Rowling’s magical world, are exactly what Potter fans needed after the passing of a year since the final Potter book. These 800 words are filled with bittersweet moments to reflect on the boy wizard that captured our hearts, constantly curious to learn more yet knowing that we will never know the entire story.
Harry Potter Prequel Sold for $48,000!
This just in friends:
JK Rowling's handwritten prequel to the Harry Potter novels sold for 25,000 pounds - $48,910 -at a London charity auction last night. The buyer said he will use to raise more money for philanthropy.
And thanks to the magic of the Internet, you can read it for free on the Waterstone's website!
My commentary on the prequel shall follow soon! Stay tuned!
"It's gonna be a bumpy ride!"
JK Rowling's handwritten prequel to the Harry Potter novels sold for 25,000 pounds - $48,910 -at a London charity auction last night. The buyer said he will use to raise more money for philanthropy.
And thanks to the magic of the Internet, you can read it for free on the Waterstone's website!
My commentary on the prequel shall follow soon! Stay tuned!
"It's gonna be a bumpy ride!"
JK Rowling Delivers Commencement Address at Harvard
Is it lame to still geek out whenever J.K. Rowling makes a public appearance? NO , IT’S NOT! Which is why I’m going to update you all on her Harvard Commencement speech, entitled “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination.” She was the university's fifth female Commencement speaker since 1950. At the June 5 ceremony, she talked about her greatest challenges and achievements: failure and imagination. Awww!She didn’t give away any secrets on the level of last year’s surprising Dumbledore revelation - though she did riff about speaking “without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard”).
Her speech concentrated on two themes: failure and imagination.
She noted that she personally had “failed on an epic scale” nearly two decades ago and was thankful for her former lows because it set her free:
“My greatest fear had already been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."
Jo also talked about her pre-Potter experiences working at Amnesty International’s headquarters in London, noting that those “choosing to live in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the willfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.. And those who choose not to empathize may enable real monsters.”
After speaking about the challenges, Jo celebrated the power of imagination to help right wrongs around the world.
"Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand without having experienced. They can imagine themselves in other peoples' places. We do not need magic to transform the world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already. We have power to imagine better."
The speech also contained one great tidbit of Potter trivia, when Ms. Rowling referred to her naming inspiration for Lord Voldemort’s loyal supporters:
“The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. They are my children’s godparents, the people to whom I’ve been able to turn in times of trouble, friends who have been kind enough not to sue me when I’ve used their names for Death Eaters.”
Jo’s speech was full of poise and humor. It was heartfelt and inspiring. I loved it! I wish for nothing more that Jo would have been my commencement speaker. She is amazing! I love her!!! And for all those stupid Harvard yuppies out there who thought they deserved someone “more prominent” as their commencement speakers, I have this to say:
STOP BEING A BUNCH OF MUGGLES AND GROW UP BEFORE I CURSE YOU!
Part 1 of her speech:
Part 2 of her speech:
Sunday, June 1, 2008
More New Photos from "Half Blood Prince"
On Friday, I posted a new photo from the Half Blood Prince movie, which, from an initial look, seemed like a shot from Slughorn's Christmas party.Today, I have three more new photos to reveal! Well, perhaps two. One of them is an enlarged photo of a previously released picture of Harry standing in front of a chest or drawer. From this version, you can see potions in the background. Could this perhaps be the scene where he finds the Half Blood Prince's potions book?!
The second photo is of Snape looking at Draco as he walks away. Hmmm....
The final photo is of the trio - Harry, Ron, and Hermoine - sitting in a room, which looks like it could be Ron's room in the burrow. We know that an extra scene - one of an attack at the Burrow - has been added to this film, so perhaps this scene is a precursor to that scene?
Of note is that these photos are clearly marked as Warner Brother pictures and contain the proper Half Blood Prince logo.
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