mistymind

Harry Potter Celebration: 23 Jan: J.K. Rowling - Official Twitter account

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:07:23 +1300

Harry Potter Celebration: 23 Jan: J.K. Rowling - Official Twitter account:

That’s right! J.K. Rowling created her own Twitter account on 25th September 2009. As of now, she has posted a total of only 5 tweets, but hopefully we will hear more from her in the near future.

Follow her on http://twitter.com/jk_rowling

Source: …

hpcelebration: Check out more funny Harry Potter-related posts...

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:40:54 +1300

hpcelebration:

Check out more funny Harry Potter-related posts at http://hpcelebration.tumblr.com/chocolate

hpcelebration: Check out more funny Harry Potter-related posts...

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:38:14 +1300

hpcelebration:

Check out more funny Harry Potter-related posts at http://hpcelebration.tumblr.com/chocolate

Santa Claus is definitely a wizard

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:34:00 +1300

hpcelebration:

How else can one make all the presents without the help of house-elves, fit all the presents in a sack without the Undetectable Extension Charm Hermione uses for her beaded bag, and visit all the houses in the world in one night without a Time Turner?

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Check out more funny Harry Potter-related posts at http://hpcelebration.tumblr.com/chocolate

hpcelebration: Source:...

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:28:37 +1300

hpcelebration:

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zawtowers/3979904314/

So do cats go to Beauxcatons?

hpcelebration: Oh Dumbledore…

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:09:11 +1300

hpcelebration:

Oh Dumbledore…

hpcelebration: What the Death Eaters didn’t want you to see…

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:07:18 +1300

hpcelebration:

What the Death Eaters didn’t want you to see…

Harry Potter Celebration: 30 Jan: J.K. Rowling - J.K. Rowling on being thin

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 21:15:27 +1300

Harry Potter Celebration: 30 Jan: J.K. Rowling - J.K. Rowling on being thin:

hpcelebration:

J.K. Rowling wrote an entry in her Extra Stuff section on her official website which talks about women and thinness. In the entry, she expresses her opinions on the concept of being thin and how she values other things in people much greater than their looks. Another reason why J.K. Rowling is a truly inspiring woman and an excellent role model for people all over the world.

As The Harry Potter Alliance is fighting the Body Bind Horcrux this month, we at Harry Potter Celebration think that this entry is highly relevant for this campaign.

Read her entry below:

Section: Extra Stuff
For Girls Only, Probably…

Being thin. Probably not a subject that you ever expected to read about on this website, but my recent trip to London got me thinking…

It started in the car on the way to Leavesden film studios. I whiled away part of the journey reading a magazine that featured several glossy photographs of a very young woman who is either seriously ill or suffering from an eating disorder (which is, of course, the same thing); anyway, there is no other explanation for the shape of her body. She can talk about eating absolutely loads, being terribly busy and having the world’s fastest metabolism until her tongue drops off (hooray! Another couple of ounces gone!), but her concave stomach, protruding ribs and stick-like arms tell a different story. This girl needs help, but, the world being what it is, they’re sticking her on magazine covers instead. All this passed through my mind as I read the interview, then I threw the horrible thing aside.

But blow me down if the subject of girls and thinness didn’t crop up shortly after I got out of the car. I was talking to one of the actors and, somehow or other, we got onto the subject of a girl he knows (not any of the Potter actresses – somebody from his life beyond the films) who had been dubbed ‘fat’ by certain charming classmates. (Could they possibly be jealous that she knows the boy in question? Surely not!)

‘But,’ said the actor, in honest perplexity, ‘she is really not fat.’

‘“Fat” is usually the first insult a girl throws at another girl when she wants to hurt her,’ I said; I could remember it happening when I was at school, and witnessing it among the teenagers I used to teach. Nevertheless, I could see that to him, a well-adjusted male, it was utterly bizarre behaviour, like yelling ‘thicko!’ at Stephen Hawking.

His bemusement at this everyday feature of female existence reminded me how strange and sick the ‘fat’ insult is. I mean, is ‘fat’ really the worst thing a human being can be? Is ‘fat’ worse than ‘vindictive’, ‘jealous’, ‘shallow’, ‘vain’, ‘boring’ or ‘cruel’? Not to me; but then, you might retort, what do I know about the pressure to be skinny? I’m not in the business of being judged on my looks, what with being a writer and earning my living by using my brain…

I went to the British Book Awards that evening. After the award ceremony I bumped into a woman I hadn’t seen for nearly three years. The first thing she said to me? ‘You’ve lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw you!’

‘Well,’ I said, slightly nonplussed, ‘the last time you saw me I’d just had a baby.’

What I felt like saying was, ‘I’ve produced my third child and my sixth novel since I last saw you. Aren’t either of those things more important, more interesting, than my size?’ But no – my waist looked smaller! Forget the kid and the book: finally, something to celebrate!

So the issue of size and women was (ha, ha) weighing on my mind as I flew home to Edinburgh the next day. Once up in the air, I opened a newspaper and my eyes fell, immediately, on an article about the pop star Pink.

Her latest single, ‘Stupid Girls’, is the antidote-anthem for everything I had been thinking about women and thinness. ‘Stupid Girls’ satirises the talking toothpicks held up to girls as role models: those celebrities whose greatest achievement is un-chipped nail polish, whose only aspiration seems to be getting photographed in a different outfit nine times a day, whose only function in the world appears to be supporting the trade in overpriced handbags and rat-sized dogs.

Maybe all this seems funny, or trivial, but it’s really not. It’s about what girls want to be, what they’re told they should be, and how they feel about who they are. I’ve got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed world, and it worries me, because I don’t want them to be empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones; I’d rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny – a thousand things, before ‘thin’. And frankly, I’d rather they didn’t give a gust of stinking chihuahua flatulence whether the woman standing next to them has fleshier knees than they do. Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons. Let them never be Stupid Girls. Rant over.

Source: http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=22

hpcelebration: Don’t forget, we’re celebrating the first Harry Potter book and movie this month!...

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:13:11 +1300

hpcelebration:

Don’t forget, we’re celebrating the first Harry Potter book and movie this month! Read/watch it now along with us and other fans! Tell all your Harry Potter friends and reblog this!

To all you Harry Potter fans out there, check out twitter.com/hpcelebration and...

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:11:21 +1300

To all you Harry Potter fans out there, check out twitter.com/hpcelebration and hpcelebration.tumblr.com and follow both accounts!

hpcelebration: There is nothing wrong with those who like Harry Potter. There is nothing wrong...

Sun, 26 Dec 2010 21:22:58 +1300

hpcelebration:

There is nothing wrong with those who like Harry Potter. There is nothing wrong with those who don’t like Harry Potter. Just something wrong with those who criticise those who like Harry Potter.

Harry Potter Celebration: Welcome to Harry Potter Celebration!

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 21:36:26 +1300

Harry Potter Celebration: Welcome to Harry Potter Celebration!:

hpcelebration:

Meaning of ‘celebration’:

(adapted from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/celebration)

- the action of celebrating an important day or event
- a social gathering or enjoyable activity held to celebrate something

Meaning of ‘Harry Potter’:

(adapted from …

Harry Potter Celebration: List of Celebration Events

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 21:35:20 +1300

Harry Potter Celebration: List of Celebration Events:

hpcelebration:

‘Harry Potter Celebration’: The Tumblr and Twitter account where we celebrate an aspect of the Harry Potter series and fandom every day, as well as other random things in between. Celebration will commence on 1 January 2011.

[Note: All times and dates will refer to GMT+07:00]

Daily Events:

…

Movie Review - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 20:10:00 +1300

* Major book and movie spoiler warning! *

Yesterday I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, which was released on Thursday 18 November, 2010 in New Zealand.

Before my views become influenced by reading/listening to other people’s reviews (as I have a tendency to do that sometimes), I first want to write my own review of the movie. And please note, all of the following statements are my personal opinions and I can’t speak for everyone. Being a huge fan of the Harry Potter books, I have obviously read all of them, so this review may be a bit biased from a reader and book fan perspective.

(Just as an aside, I purposely avoided seeing any of the pictures (although I had a very brief glimpse at a few of them before quickly closing the browser windows because they are absolutely everywhere online!), trailers or video clips to avoid being spoiled. It wasn’t easy, believe me. I also tried to avoid knowing where the split was going to be, but alas a Harry Potter podcast (Mu… *cough* *cough* …ast) put it in their shownotes without any kind of spoiler warning and I was very annoyed by that.)

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with this movie and it’s a movie that I would be happy to see again and again. And wow, this did not feel like a Harry Potter movie, or at least not like the past movies. The acting I felt was much more genuine and believable, although I think Dan’s crying scenes could have been better. I was so surprised and happy on how many of the lines from the book they kept in the movie. I had just re-read the book before watching the movie, so I recognised a lot of the lines. The uses of handheld camera techniques and fade outs/ins were interesting and I think they really added to the scenes. And the shots and scenery were beautiful to look at!

There were some parts of the movie where I felt that only readers would understand such as the mirror, the taboo and Kreacher, although I can’t help pointing this out: if you haven’t read all of the books, it’s pretty much your doing if you don’t fully understand the movies. It is expected that there will be things cut out or changed whenever a book is adapted to a movie. Books and films are two completely different media with different methods of storytelling. And if you are a pure Harry Potter movie watcher but is a fan of the movies, then I’m pretty sure that you will love the books, perhaps even more so than the movies, so I highly recommend reading the books if you haven’t already done so.

Point-by-point analysis/my thoughts while watching the movie (hopefully in chronological order if I can remember correctly):
- Introduction sequence: Awesome!
- How does doing Obliviate change photographs? Still looks cool though.
- Sad that pretty much the whole Dursleys scene was cut out. I expected that a lot of it would be cut out, but not that much.
- Didn’t see the albino peacock at Malfoy Manor, or did I just miss it?
- This didn’t stand out to me at first, but I agree: Hagrid’s size is not consistent throughout these movies.
- Did not imagine Mundungus to look like that, but eh whatever.
- The Seven Potters scene - needs another watching. Trying to look at all the Harrys at once is not easy.
- Aww, I wanted to see the plush toy Hedwigs…
- Using Hedwig to find the real Harry - I think it was a pretty smart idea if they were not going to do the whole Stan Shunpike thing.
- Are you blind, Muggles? There’s a flying motorbike and people flying on brooms!
- Too bad they couldn’t show Tonk’s parents’ house, but understandable why they cut it.
- The scene with the twins when George wakes up - aww…
- This is also a book thing, but shouldn’t everyone coming back to the Burrow get asked a question, and not just Harry and Lupin?
- Kind of disappointed that Scrimgeour didn’t do the whole questioning the trio thing during Dumbledore’s will scene.
- Ginny and her dress - okay, I don’t know about you, but I can zip up a dress myself. Lazy girl…
- Didn’t understand that one shot with Harry and the flying Snitch outside the wedding tent.
- Fleur’s wedding dress is beautiful!
- Glad to see that the scene with Aunt Muriel and Elphias Doge wasn’t cut out.
- Aww, I wanted to see Shacklebolt’s lynx patronus…
- Ron not knowing what a cappuccino was (or at least I think that was the joke they were trying to make) - haha
- Aww man, I forgot to look for the Equus poster in the cafe!
- I think they should have Obliviated the waitress as well.
- Ron and Hermione’s hands almost touching - aww!
- Why couldn’t the train just run over the Snatcher? (courtesy of MuggleCast)
- Disappointed by the lack of Lupin and Tonk’s storyline. I was really hoping to see it.
- Kind of disappointed that Kreacher’s tale and his change in character was not elaborated.
- The Ministry of Magic scene was hilarious, especially Cattermole.
- Kind of glad that they kept their voices for the Polyjuice scenes, although it really doesn’t make sense from a book perspective.
- Bit disappointed that the statue was different from the book’s description, but it still looks good.
- Glad to see the pamphlets there. Was afraid that they wouldn’t show that.
- Nice to see Mad-Eye’s eye on the door for the book fans.
- Hello?! Someone just walked out of Umbridge’s office! Surely someone is suspicious?
- What were the white, smokey things floating up towards the Dementors?
- Dementors. Don’t. Fly.
- Would have liked to see the coldness associated with Dementors incorporated in some way.
- Did not imagine the locket looking like that.
- Okay, why didn’t all their Polyjuice potions wear out at the same time during the Ministry scene (and possibly the Seven Potters scene, can’t remember)? But I guess they didn’t show that they did/didn’t all take it at the same time.
- Ronald Weasley and the Comic Faces.
- Still not sure about the non-existent Fidelius Charm on Grimmauld Place.
- Hermione cutting Harry’s hair - I guess for explaining “hair continuity”
- Rupert was awesome in the scene when Ron leaves.
- Hermione tying a scarf to a tree - don’t really understand that.
- Still trying to work out the Harry and Hermione dance scene.
- Graveyard scene - didn’t think it was as emotional as it was in the book.
- Disappointed to not see Nagini come out of Bathilda’s neck…
- This is also a book thing, but come on, Harry. At least tell Hermione that you’re going to follow some mysterious thing into the woods where you could be killed, trapped, fall into a hole or something.
- Horcrux attacking Harry while he is retrieving the sword - intense!
- Destroying the Horcrux - awesome scene. Illusions of Harry and Hermione were good.
- I think they should have kept the part after destroying the Horcrux where Ron starts crying, and Harry tells him that Hermione has been crying since he left and that he only loves her like a sister.
- Another book/movie thing: how is Ron able to pass through the enchantments around the camp?
- Hermione’s reaction to Ron was awesome.
- Why doesn’t Voldemort kill Grindelwald?
- The Tale of the Three Brothers - love it!
- Disappointed to not see Luna’s room, but I understand why they cut it out.
- How did the Snatchers find them? I don’t remember if they said Voldemort’s name, so confused about this.
- Harry’s blown up face - haha!
- Hermione being tortured - absolutely heartwrenching. I almost cried.
- Would have liked it if Ron was a bit more upset at Hermione’s screams like in the book.
- Why isn’t Pettigrew dead yet?
- Before they apparate out, why are they all just standing there?! Move! Get out! You can tell Bellatrix all this later in a letter, Dobby!
- Why are Ron and Hermione just standing there? Dobby is dying! Help him!
- I think they should have shown Bill and Fleur coming out of the cottage or something like that to make it clearer that it is their house.
- Could just be me, but I didn’t imagine Shell Cottage to be actually situated on the beach.
- Don’t think I like Dumbledore’s tomb…
- Wow Voldemort, can you get any closer to Dumbledore’s face?
- At this moment in time, I think they did a good job trying to explain the Horcruxes but I’ll need to watch the movie again to make a better judgment.
- I’m surprised and glad that they kept the parts where Harry can look into Voldemort’s mind. I was really worried that they would be cut out.

Some of the characters:
- Ron - Finally! Thank you for giving him some decent lines! So happy about his character development. I was extremely worried about what they would do with his character after he had absolutely no lines at the end of the Half-Blood Prince film.
- Hermione - Emma’s acting is so much better in this than the more recent previous films.
- Ginny - Not as bad as in the Half-Blood Prince film, thank goodness, but still worried about what they will do with her character after the disappointing, abysmal failure of Ginny in the Half-Blood Prince film.
- Fenrir Greyback - I thought he would have a much more prominent role in this, but I guess not.
- Narcissa Malfoy - Still disappointed about the hair decision…

Phew! Absolutely exhausted now from trying to recall everything. It may sound like there were a lot of bad things in the movie, but the good parts definitely outweigh them. After more than 24 hours from watching this movie, I’m still head over heels about it. I’m so glad that this book is split into two movies (and not just because this is possibly my favourite book out of the series). The book has so much stuff in it that to see it adapted into just one movie is just unimaginable. I think the films are now definitely taking a step in the right direction. If the final film is just as awesome as this film is, I will be very, very happy.