More Folks Wild About Harry Than Hamlet
STEPHEN M. SILVERMAN
people.com

Even though there are no Cliff's Notes for "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," the boy wizard's adventures are better known to English readers than Shakespeare's "Hamlet," according to a British poll reported by the BBC.

While 66 percent of those polled were able to recite the plot of J.K. Rowling 's "Sorcerer's Stone" (called "Philosopher's Stone" in the British edition), only 28 percent were able to describe the great Elizabethan drama -- or remember that the usually vacillating Hamlet had planned to kill his uncle, the polls reveals.

In other literary matters, 51 percent of the readers polled by Britain's Amazon.com were not aware that Mr. Darcy is a character in Jane Austen's classic "Pride and Prejudice," while 28 percent though he was an invention of author Helen Fielding for her novel "Bridget Jones's Diary."

Nearly half of the people polled also admitted that one of the major barriers to a well-rounded cultural education was simply knowing where to start
]]>

If anyone gets a chance to see the A&E miniseries of Pride and Prejudice with Mr. Firth - see it! I absolutely loved it

From Yahoo!

Here's one with a woman.  Not sure what it says at the bottom.

"Jackie" the dog and Nikaela Straus take a page from the "Harry Potter" books at the 13th annual Dog Halloween Parade in Tompkins Square Park in New York City(AFP/Getty Images/File/Mario Tama) ]]>

Rowling Highest Earning Author Ever
imdb.com

JK Rowling is the highest earning author ever, according to the new Sunday Times Pay List - which claims she made a massive $200 million in the past year. The Scottish Harry Potter creator - who was the highest woman earner, and the fifth highest overall, in the respected British list - eclipses billion-selling writers such as Agatha Christie as the highest earning author in history. The Pay List's author Philip Beresford says, "She is a money-making machine. The temptation to keep writing after she has finished the last of her seven planned Potter adventures must be irresistible. She could be the first billionaire author in history."

You guys think she'll start another series after Potter??


]]>

I just read the first book, loved it! On to book number 2!

They only get better! ]]>

COLLECTOR'S ITEM: A draft of the first Harry Potter book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which incorrectly identifies the author as J.A. Rowling, was sold at an auction Monday for $2,642.

Just finished book #2.
]]>

Wow! You read 2, 3 and 4 in a month!  They're good, aren't they? I'm listening to them again to and from work, just started book 4 a couple days ago. I think I've almost got them memorized. ]]>

Finished book 5 by the way.  I'm ready for 6 now.

Me too! I've been listening to the series again, just started book 5. I don't think I'll ever get tired of listening to them. What do you think is going to happen in book 6?]]>

NEVER SAY NEVER: Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling not ruling out the possibility of writing more Potter books after the seventh, and previously believed to be final, installment.


Well of course she'd never say never, but....
]]>

imdb.com

Harry Potter creator JK Rowling has hinted she may write an eight installment of the boy wizard's adventures. The British author has always insisted she will lay down her pen after inking the seventh Harry Potter novel, which promises to conclude his time at magical boarding school Hogwarts. But Rowling, who is currently working on book number six, says she may lay the franchise to rest - after a final installment about Harry as an adult. When asked on an internet web chat if she would write about a grown-up Harry, Rowling replied, "Probably not. But I'll never say never because every time I do I immediately break the vow." But the novelist - who has made an estimated $1 billion from the series, which has also spawned two Hollywood movies - kept tight-lipped about the much-anticipated release of the as-yet-unnamed book number six. She teased, "I can't say when it will be released because that's down to my publishers. But it's going really well. I am loving writing it."

]]>

here to read the transcript from the live chat.]]>

Zion,

]]>

What a great idea! I'm going to check with the library to see if they have any spanish ones. I talk to myself all the time in my car going over my lecture notes. LOL - I'm sure everything thinks I'm nuts but I don't care.

]]>

My MIL just called and said "You are the only person that will understand this. I finished book 5 on the way home last night and, when I went to my car this morning, I felt like I had lost my best friend." LOL, she didn't know what she was going to do without Potter for her drive to and from work. Poor woman, I told her I can't stop listening to them, those books are bewitched!!

I better stop by the library and get something else before I go completely mad. ]]>

This is just the actor's guesses, no spoilers.

EOnline.com

DARKER POTTER? Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson predicting a dark ending for the lightning-scarred magician. Radcliffe believes Harry may die, while Grint thinks his character, Ron Weasley, may turn evil.

'Harry Potter' Author Reveals Secrets on Website
Fri, May 28, 2004, 02:05 PM PT

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Pottermania has reached a fever pitch with Harry Potter's latest on-screen adventure just around the corner, and author J.K. Rowling is feeding the frenzy.

The 38-year-old British author recently revamped her personal website -- which previously consisted of links to publishers -- to include hints, trivia and other insights into all things Potter.

The site, www.jkrowling.com, requires Flash to view the main page, a visual representation of Rowling's desktop, which is littered with gum wrappers, pens, a mug, paperclips and other miscellaneous items. By mousing over these images, fans can access Harry Potter news, rumors, Rowling's bio, FAQs, the Wizard of the Month (Felix Summerbee for May), fan sites, links and extras.

Trivia galore is available in many of these sections and include: the meaning of the initial "K" in the author's name, descriptions of scenes and characters that were deleted from the novels, the color of Sirius Black's eyes, the Weasley twins' birthday and Crookshank's ancestry.

Diligent and perceptive fans will be rewarded with what Rowling refers to as "Potterania," such as a look at a page from the author's original typewritten manuscript for the first book in the series.

Rowling also uses the site for rumor control. In response to the speculation that the Evil Lord Voldemort is Harry Potter's real father, the author writes, "No, no, no, no, no. You lot have been watching much too much 'Star Wars.'"

She also recounts a recent undercover visit to the MuggleNet chat room, where her opinions about the seventh book were summarily ignored and where she was horrified to learn that fans referred to Voldemort as "Voldie." Rowling warns fans to keep an eye out in the future for her online, where she uses the handle "Squidward," a character from "Spongebob Squarepants."

As for the status of the highly anticipated sixth book, Rowling reports, "I am still at the stage where I have a large and complicated chart propped on the desk in front of me to remind me what happens where."

The film version of Rowling's third book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," will open worldwide on Friday, June 4.

Radcliffe Predicts Harry Potter's Death
Thu, May 27, 2004, 02:05 PM PT

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Harry Potter, the boy wizard with the dashing scar, will die in the seventh book. Well, that's what actor Daniel Radcliffe believes, anyway.

The contents of the two remaining books in the best-selling children's series by J.K. Rowling are closely guarded secrets, but Radcliffe, who plays Harry in the Warner Bros. films, has his theory about his alter ego's fate.

"I'm going to be really unpopular for saying this, but I've always had the suspicion that Harry might die," he says, according to the BBC. "Harry and Voldemort have the same core in them, and the only way he could die is if Harry dies as well."

Voldemort is the uber-villain who killed Harry's parents and in ways, complements the boy. Not only do the two wield identical wands, but they also both speak Parseltongue, the language of snakes. Although author Rowling has insisted that anything is possible in the final books, she has not confirmed nor denied Radcliffe's prediction.

In the meantime, Harry is alive and well in his latest big-screen adventure, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," which opens worldwide on Friday, June 4.

Rowling Planning 'Potter 8'
imdb.com

Author JK Rowling is planning to write an eighth Harry Potter novel. The English novelist - currently adding the finishing touches to her sixth Potter book - had previously vowed to only create seven adventures about the magical wizard. But she now wants to add an eighth entry, featuring outtakes she has edited from the series so far. Rowling will donate all proceeds from the book to charity, and publishers estimate the "Harry Potter Encyclopedia" could make in excess of $18 million. But the 39-year-old insists she's ready to retire when the hugely successful series ends. Rowling, who has made an estimated $960 million from Harry Potter, says, "I think it highly unlikely I'll write more novels. I've got enough for seven books and I never meant to carry the story beyond the end of book seven."


No idea if this is true, consider the source.

More Join Fourth "Harry Potter"
Posted: Thursday August 5th, 2004 12:36pm (Au-EST)
Author: Garth Franklin
Source: darkhorizons.com

HPANA reports that Warner Bros. today confirmed that Ralph Fiennes ("Red Dragon", "Schindler's List") and Miranda Richardson ("The Hours", "Sleepy Hollow") have joined the all-star cast of Warner Bros. Pictures' "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", the fourth film adaptation of J.K. Rowling's popular Harry Potter novel series. Fiennes will play Harry Potter's nemesis, the evil Lord Voldemort, and Richardson takes on the role of muckraking journalist Rita Skeeter.

Meanwhile actor Robbie Coltrane was recently asked by The Sunday Herald about whether he would participate playing Hagrid in the fifth, sixth and seventh film adaptations - "I don?t know. I really don?t know what the circumstances will be for the last three. I don?t know if I should be saying this, although if anyone has got any brains they?ll have worked it out, but if Jo Rowling hasn?t finished books six and seven within the next two years, the kids we?ve got at the moment will be too old to play the parts. And they may not even want to. So it depends on the variables. In some ways I would rather get on with something else, but I don?t want to say that because it sounds so ??. ungrateful. So, no, I don?t know if I?m going to do any more," he continues. "They will, of course, to enchant me back, offer me frightening amounts of money".

Thanks to 'Mel'.

Rowling Hints at Harry Potter's Future
Monday Aug 16, 2004 9:00am EST
By Stephen M. Silverman


J.K. Rowling
CREDIT: MARK STEWART/CAMERA PRESS/RETNA

Letting out only the slightest of hints about the future of her hero, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling told about 500 young fans in her native Scotland Sunday that the boy wizard would survive to the seventh book in her series ? but that's about all she said.

In a rare public appearance, Rowling, 39, read from her fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in the Scottish capital.

As for Harry's survival, she said he will live "mainly because I don't want to be strangled by you lot, but I don't want to say whether he grows any older than that," Rowling told the youngsters, according to the Associated Press.

She encouraged the fans to map out Harry's future for themselves, helpfully pointing a finger to why Harry's nemesis, the evil warlock Voldemort, had not been killed.

"There are two questions I don't think I've ever been asked and that I should have been asked, if you know what I mean," Rowling said.

The question at hand, she stressed, is that readers should be asking themselves "not, 'Why did Harry live?' but, 'Why didn't Voldemort die?'"

The other question, concerning the headmaster of the Hogwarts School, is: "Why didn't Dumbledore kill, or try to kill, Voldemort?"

Obviously she was tightlipped about the final outcome, saying of the finish of her proposed seventh book: "I'm not going to tell you, I'm sorry. The trouble I would be in if I did. My agent would have me hunted down and killed."

Rowling also kept the lid on how the budding romance between Harry's pals Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger might turn out.

"I'm not going to say. I can't say. I think I've given quite a lot of clues by now on this subject," she said. "You are going to have to read between the lines on that one."

J.K. Rowling Talks Harry Potter's Future
By James Wray Aug 16, 2004, 01:40 GMT
http://movies.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_857.php

Well here is a partial extract from the transcription to J.K. Rowlings reading and book signing at the Edinburgh Book Festival which M&C has been attending. The appearance was to promote the paperback publication of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

These are just some snippets that pertain to what may or may not happen in the upcoming books. As well as some things about some of the characters in the next movie.

Questions were asked by members of the audience, some 500 who were lucky enough to win tickets to the event, which took place on Sunday.

A full transcription is over in the book section, here.

You have probably had a lot of people trying to get information out of you about the books, but what is the strangest thing, or maybe the slyest thing, anyone has done? Have you ever slipped up?

Well, you are pretty sneaky. People ask questions like, ?Will there be an eighth novel and will Harry be in it?? There are questions that I simply can?t answer. Fans are very good at that, and I have to be very awake. I think that you want to know but you don?t want to know as well. You would all like me to tell you exactly what happens in books six and seven and then to erase your memories so that you can read them. I know, because that is how I feel about things that I really enjoy. I would kind of like to do it, but at the same time I know that I would ruin it for everyone.

I thought that I would give you something though, rather than get to the end of today and think that I have not given you a lot. There are two questions that I have never been asked but that I should have been asked, if you know what I mean. If you want to speculate on anything, you should speculate on these two things, which will point you in the right direction.

The first question that I have never been asked?it has probably been asked in a chatroom but no one has ever asked me?is, ?Why didn?t Voldemort die?? Not, ?Why did Harry live?? but, ?Why didn?t Voldemort die?? The killing curse rebounded, so he should have died. Why didn?t he? At the end of Goblet of Fire he says that one or more of the steps that he took enabled him to survive. You should be wondering what he did to make sure that he did not die?I will put it that way.

I don?t think that it is guessable. It may be?someone could guess it?but you should be asking yourself that question, particularly now that you know about the prophesy. I?d better stop there or I will really incriminate myself.

The other question that I am surprised no one has asked me since Phoenix came out?I thought that people would?is why Dumbledore did not kill or try to kill Voldemort in the scene in the ministry. I know that I am giving a lot away to people who have not read the book. Although Dumbledore gives a kind of reason to Voldemort, it is not the real reason.

When I mentioned that question to my husband?I told Neil that I was going to mention it to you?he said that it was because Voldemort knows that there are two more books to come. As you can see, we are on the same literary wavelength. That is not the answer; Dumbledore knows something slightly more profound than that. If you want to wonder about anything, I would advise you to concentrate on those two questions. That might take you a little bit further.

Can you tell me more about Rita Skeeter?

I love Rita. You know when Harry walks into the Leaky Cauldron for the first time, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher?s Stone? Everyone says, ?You?re back? and he realises for the first time that he is famous. In a very early draft, Rita, a journalist, was there and she ran up to him. For some reason she was called Bridget?I forget why.

Anyway, she detained him too long in the Leaky Cauldron and I really needed to get him moving, so I thought that I would not put her there. As I was writing book one, I was planning the rest, and book four was supposed to be where Harry?s fame became a burden to him. It really starts to weigh on him when he is exposed to the wider wizarding world so I thought that that would be the perfect place for Rita to come in. She was still called Bridget at the time.

I didn?t realise that by the time I wrote book four I would have met quite a lot of Ritas and people would assume that I was writing Rita in response to what had happened to me, which was not in fact the truth. However, I am not going to deny that writing Rita was a lot more fun having met a few people I had met. I actually quite like Rita. She is loathsome?morally, she?s horrible?but I can?t help admiring her toughness. She is very determined to do the job and there is something quite engaging about that. There is more to come on Rita. It is really enjoyable to write her and Hermione because they are such very different people.

The scene in which I had Hermione, Rita and Luna together in the pub was really fun to write because they are three very different women with very different points of view. You have this very cynical journalist, you have Hermione, who is very logical, upright and good, and you have Luna, who is completely out to lunch but fantastic. I really like Luna. You have these three people who are not on each other?s wavelengths making a deal. It was fun to write.

In your stories, will Harry Potter ever grow up as a wizard?

Well, I don?t think it is giving too much away to say that he will survive to book seven, mainly because I do not want to be strangled by you lot, but I am not going to say whether he grows any older than that because I have never said that. You are good at putting me on the spot!


It has recently been confirmed that Blaise Zabini is in fact a male character. Will we see more of him in the next few books?

That?s correct. You do.


Also, will we see more of Snape?

You always see a lot of Snape, because he is a gift of a character. I hesitate to say that I love him. [Audience member: I do]. You do? This is a very worrying thing. Are you thinking about Alan Rickman or about Snape? Isn?t this life, though? I make this hero?Harry, obviously?and there he is on the screen, the perfect Harry, because Dan is very much as I imagine Harry, but who does every girl under the age of 15 fall in love with? Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy. Girls, stop going for the bad guy. Go for a nice man in the first place. It took me 35 years to learn that, but I am giving you that nugget free, right now, at the beginning of your love lives.

So plenty to think about for those who know the books well.

Thanks to the Festival for transcribing so we did not have to.

For information and tickets on events over the next two weeks please visit the Festival site.

Who the heck is Blaise?? Could this be the prince??

Okay. Why didn't he die???

I don't recognize that name and, if it's in the books, I should. Damn, guess I'll have to read or listen to them again....

EOnline.com

MUGGLE ALERT! Hundreds of costumed Harry Potter fans gathering Saturday for the Witching Hour, a five-day convention dedicated to the boy wizard in Massachusetts' historic town of Salem.

21 December 2006

JK KEEPS DREAMING OF HARRY
By Richard Smith

JK Rowling is so stressed at writing the final instalment of Harry Potter that she's dreaming about him.

The 41-year-old author told about the "epic dream" on her website.

Now fans of the boy wizard will analyse it for clues on what could happen to him in the fifth book, Order of the Phoenix. JK has already hinted that two characters may be killed off - and one could be Harry.


In her dream she told about searching for a magical object called a Hor-crux in the Great Hall surrounded by 15ft tall waiters and waitresses.


JK wrote: "I don't think anyone who has not been in a similar situation can possibly know how this feels. I am alternately elated and overwrought."


She added: "For years now, people have asked me whether I ever dream that I am in Harry's world.


"The answer was No until a few nights ago when I had an epic dream in which I was Harry and the narrator."

Harry Potter Author Losing Her Damn Mind

J.K. Rowling is so into her work that she's dreaming that she's her main character. Oh, and she named the next one. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to camp outside my local Borders. *rolls eyes*

We now have a title for Book VII: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."
No publication date or other details were offered. Rowling is still working on the book, she explained on her Web site in an entry posted early Thursday.

"I'm now writing scenes that have been planned, in some cases, for a dozen years or even more," she wrote. "I don't think anyone who has not been in a similar situation can possibly know how this feels: I am alternately elated and overwrought. I both want, and don't want, to finish this book (don't worry, I will.)"

Rowling said she has been asked for years if she ever dreams she is in the boy wizard's world.

"The answer was 'no' until a few nights ago, when I had an epic dream in which I was, simultaneously, Harry and the narrator," she wrote.

"Perhaps I should cut back on the caffeine?" she joked.


Or the muscle relaxants, scary lady. I admire this chick, though. She came from nothing and made herself a mutli-million dollar empire. I've been trying to sell my stories about Debbie, an old hooker that drags around a mummified dead cat, for years. I guess I should have thrown in some friggin' magic wands and annoying adolescents who save the world. No one takes my art seriously. Bastards.

Harry Potter" pre-orders break bookseller record

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -

He is not expected to ride his flying broomstick into bookstores for 100 more days, but already British boy wizard Harry Potter is whipping up some magic at bookstore chain Barnes & Noble.


Barnes & Noble Inc. on Thursday said advance orders for author J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" have topped 500,000 copies, breaking the bookseller chain's record for the most advance requests in its history.

"Deathly Hallows" is the seventh book in the series of hit novels that have thrilled readers and been made into big-budget Hollywood movies.

Speculation has been rife that Rowling, who became the world's first billion-dollar author on the success of the Harry Potter books and films, may kill Harry off in book seven, but confirmation of Harry's possible demise awaits publication.

"Deathly Hallows" officially goes on sale on July 21.

Reuters/Nielsen

I informed Mr. Princess that we will be going to this one day





Sneak Peek: What Fans Will Find at Universal Orlando's World of Harry Potter
By Stephen M. Silverman

Thursday March 25, 2010 03:45 PM EDT
people.com

Muggles will be finally be permitted into Universal Orlando Resort's Wizarding World of Harry Potter on June 18 – but a certain Potter mogul won't be setting foot in the Florida amusement center until mid-summer, a source at Universal tells PEOPLE.

Still, Harry creator J.K. Rowling's presence has been integral in the creation of the 20-acre theme park since Day One. Her approvals – along with those from Warner Bros., which produces the Potter movie franchise – were not only necessarily for the look and feel of the land, but also for the taste – of the trademark Butterbeer at the theme park's Three Broomsticks Restaurant & Hog's Head Pub, that is. According to a source close to the brewer, the potion is a lot like cream soda spiked with butterscotch.

RELATED: Harry Potter's World Revealed, At Last
"Her input has been direct and continual, starting with the environments we created for the films," Alan Gilmore, art director for the new park as well as for the Harry Potter movies, told PEOPLE Thursday. Rowling, he said, "has a very clear vision of her world."

In particular, Gilmore said, Rowling wanted the 100 "moving" portraits in the gallery of Hogwarts just as she envisioned they should be. Over the past six years the project has been on the boards, Gilmore and his team, which totaled in the hundreds, "succeeded down to the last detail" in meeting her requirements, and, in the process, "achieved a new level of realism and authenticity," he says

As for what Potter fans will encounter when the gates open, a peek into Harry's World earlier this month revealed what resembles a highly realistic version of the snowcapped village of Hogsmeade, snuggled inside a verdant forest worthy of Hagrid and crowned by the towering parapets of Hogwarts Castle. Resting in the basin below are the winding cobblestone streets of the village, whose stores include Honeydukes Sweet Shop, with its window display of Pewking Pastilles (including sardine flavor), used to induce sickness for skipping classes at Hogwarts Academy.

The Hogwarts Express – steaming but stationary – greets guests at the World's entrance and serves as part of the boarding area for the Flight of the Hippogriff, a "family" roller-coaster, as opposed to the far more intense, high-speed Dragon Challenge, with its Tri-Wizard Tournament theme.


Raising the Bar
The main attraction of the World is Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, a ride "that will re-invent the theme-park experience," insists the park's creative director Thierry Coup, whose talents also went into Universal's Shrek 4-D and the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man as well as the revamp of Disney's Tomorrowland.

Entering through the castle dungeon within the Forbidden Journey's queue area, Coup tells PEOPLE, guests will meet the four founders of Hogwarts and be greeted by the academy's headmaster Dumbledore – before being sidetracked from a Dark Arts lecture by truants Harry, Ron and Hermione (as played by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint), who suggest a Quidditch match instead. From there, a magical bench helps get things going, dragon encounters notwithstanding.

"Even if you haven't read the books or seen the movies," says Coup, "you'll fly – and feel as you've never felt before."


Hogwarts Express arrives at Hogsmeade Station
Universal Orlando Resort

We were in Orlando in Feb on business and SOOOOOO bummed it wasn't open yet - we went to Universal anyway and had fun - but Harry Potter world would have been so much better....Next time!

Eonline.com
Warner Bros. Fights Against "Harry Popper" Condoms
Wed., Aug. 18, 2010 7:16 PM PDT by Bruna Nessif

You'd think it would be a major mojo boost for Daniel Radcliffe to get a condom company named after his Harry Potter character, but sadly Warner Bros. disagrees.

The Swiss condom brand "Harry Popper" is reportedly being sued for copyright infringement by the studio.

Read more: here/