Friday, July 18, 2008

New Mini-Trailer for Half Blood Prince!

Howdy Muggles! I have the Half Blood Prince mini-trailer to share with you...all 25 seconds of it!



The new trailer shows us nothing from the film, but rather, provides a voice over audio clip of Dumbledore. Rumors of this trailer being released with The Dark Knight have been circulating for about 2 weeks now, and they held true; it is indeed a mini-preview of the IMAX release of Half Blood Prince.

So, we continue to wait for a longer teaser trailer or a full length theatrical trailer. Rumor has it that it may appear with either the new Star Wars film next month or the third installment of The Mummy due out at the end of July. For now, I would definitely keep this in the rumor category, as I have yet to hear of any confirmation by Warner Brothers. My guess is that they are going to skip the teaser trailer entirely at this point, since we are about 4 months out before the release of the film. They will probably release a longer trailer whenever they do.

In the meantime, enjoy this trailer. I admit, it doesn't provide the Potter fix we are all itching for, but the it gives you the same goosebumps and lump in the throat that longer ones do.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Exclusive First Look at Half Blood Prince

Hello muggles!

This past 4th of July weekend had a different set of fireworks in the Potter fandom…a whole new set of photos from the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half Blood prince film. USA Today provided fans with an exclusive first look at the film and featured six new photos. You can check out the full article and the view the photos at http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-07-02-potter-first-look_N.htm

Also released over the weekend, is the photo posted here of Luna Lovegood in her Spectrespecs. I love this photo! OMG! OMG! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait for this movie to come out!

For the time being, I would suggest that my readers to check out all the newly released photos via the link provided above. I will soon post the pictures by their individual links for easier access.

In the meantime, keep twiddling those dials. The next password will be gurdyroot!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

The First Comment

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.

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.

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 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.