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Warning: May contain spoilers. It only takes these cats a minute to run through all the Harry Potter movies. I think they skipped some plot points, but what do I know… I haven’t seen any of the films. -via Buzzfeed
This is my last Harry Potter post for the day, I swear. Looks like some pranksters in Lexington, Kentucky, used the ol’ road sign hacking trick to warn Muggles about Death Eaters ahead. Sure hope they have enough Galleons to get bailed out of jail if they’re caught!
Link via PostSecret
If you’re one of those people who likes to add a certain flair to your wardrobe when seeing Harry Potter movies in the theaters, and if you think Gryffindor = a bunch of goody two shoes, then this is the perfect DIY craft for you. Instructables user TheGeek1984 provides a handy step-by-step guide to creating your own terrifying mask to support Voldemort.
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Got Potter-mania yet? Next Movie Blog came up with this clever post of 9 classic album covers re-imagined with the characters from Harry Potter. Snape as the King? We’re all shook up.
Link – Thanks Andie Taylor!
Charm City Cakes prove themselves to be true wizards of cake decorations with this fantastic Hogwarts cake for the Harry Potter premiere in New York City.
I so would’ve scarfed down the whole thing, had I not already been victimized by the evil "chubbify" spell 
That’s Nerdalicious blog has the pic: Link
There’s a ton of Harry Potter stuff floating around the interwebs this week – this one’s a couple of months old, but it’s still pretty sweet. Reddit user Trehlo hollowed out a book to hold the engagement ring he was going to present to his now-fiancee – but the tome was only partially carved out. As you can see, he stopped at a very specific chapter. Pretty clever.
Link via Geeks Are Sexy
In honor of the final movie’s upcoming release this weekend, Time has rounded up their 10 favorite spells from the series. That’s Hermione using the Lumos spell in the picture, which is #7 on the list. It’s a nice spell and all, but don’t most people use their cell phones to brighten dark corridors these days? They missed my favorite: Accio. I think it would be pretty handy to have a snack or a beverage come zooming across the room when you have a sleeping kid on your lap (or, you know, just don’t want to get up). Also missing from the list: the Bat-Bogey Hex. What spell from the series would you most like to be able to use in real life?
Just in time for the release of the new Harry Potter movie, enjoy artist Brittney Lee’s great artwork made from paper trimmings. She’s made other works based on popular movies out side of the series too, just in case you aren’t a fan of the wizarding school series.
Muggle Quidditch (that’s Quidditch for non-magical people) has been growing in popularity, and now a high school in North Texas is trying to get it recognized as an official sport. The eighty members of the club take their sport from the Harry Potter novels seriously and think that the University Interscholastic League, which regulates thirteen sports, should add muggle Quidditch. George Polaski, the Quidditch coach at Keller High School, explained how it’s played:
“It’s basically the same game you see in the movies, with a few tweeks. First off, no flying. However, everyone has to ‘ride’ a broom. In other words, the can only handle the ball with one hand.
They use the same balls: the quaffle, the bludger, and the golden switch. But, part of the fun of the snitch is it’s unpredictability. So, they strap it on a player. Tuesday, that was sophomore Brian Haywood.
“Our snitch is a person running around in all gold with a tennis ball in a sock tucked into a flag football belt,” explained Polaski.
Then two ‘chasers” try to catch him. You could probably say those three get the most cardio.
News Story and Official Website -via The Mary Sue
Best answer to a geometry quiz question ever. It would almost be worth missing the question just to use this clever answer.
Link via Geekologie
I’ve mentioned Lucy Knisley’s awesome comic book-style interpretation of the Harry Potter books before, but now she’s back with the latest installment of the series: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. My favorite Knisley-ism from this one? “Pensieve it up!”
p.s., Lucy also did a drawing of Kurt from Glee in his Warblers blazer, which made me squee a little (yes, I’m a total Gleek).
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Back in 2008, Stacy posted a roundup of wonderful quilts that included this Harry Potter quilt by Jennifer Ofenstein. This week, Jennifer was shocked to find that the Harry Potter quilt she completed years ago has gone viral. Better late than never! This quilt certainly deserves another look. Each block of the pattern is available if you want to make one yourself. Link
Artist Lucy Knisley has recreated the series (up through Order of the Phoenix) in comic book form, making it much easier to read for people who maybe just want to skim the plot lines instead of reading all seven books word-for-word. And for those of us who loved reading all seven books word-for-word, repeatedly, the comics are just plain funny. “Snakey talky” and “Yur Krumbelievable” are my favorites.
Sorcerer’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire
Link via Flavorwire
Remember the 1989 The Wizard about the greatest NES game player in the world, starring Fred Savage? (There’s a memorable scene where the coolest kid on the block, Lucas Barton, says how he loves the Power Glove … it’s so bad).
Well, fast forward to 2011 and our pal Nerd Approved has got the T-shirt in their new online store (on pre-order for May 19). Notice how it pays homage to the 1989 movie while referencing the most famous boy wizard ever? Clever!
Check it out: Link – Thanks Sean!
They can’t all be wizards and witches, even in the magical world of Harry Potter, someone’s got to do the PR, marketing and social media work in Diagon Alley … BuzzFeed’s Amy Sly imagined what the business books of Harry Potter (I wonder if they teach these subjects in Hogwarts): Link
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Montreal artist Kim Gadbois created three minimalist but adorable pillows depicting characters from the Harry Potter series. This one, of course, is Harry. See the pillows depicting Ron and Hermione at Pantoufle de Verre, and buy them at Etsy. Link -via Geeks Are Sexy
This picture shows a school restroom stall on which someone has written the entire first chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Schools have much nicer restrooms now than when I was a student. Link -via The Daily What
“The Burrow” is the name of the Weasley family home from Harry Potter. CraftSter user mezcraft made this impressive gingerbread house that looks quite like the one shown in the movies. She writes:
I made the shingles out of shreddies than sprayed them with colourmist icing colouring, then I did some undershading with brown icing.
My favourite part of the whole thing was these little sweaters on a laundry line that I added. I wanted to make something to reflect how much of an awesome D-I-Y-er Molly Weasley was by making all her kids monogrammed sweaters for Christmas. So each one of them is a like a wee tiny Gingerbread cookie.
Link via Geek Crafts
If you want to go to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you’ll have to board the train at Platform 9 3/4. Some prankster decided that New York City’s subway system should offer service to Hogwarts, and so put up a sticker for that platform on a sign at the 14th Street Union Square station:
The number is visible on the south side of 14th St., just around the corner from the Regal Cinemas Union Square 14, which shows the seventh installment of the wizard films based on author J.K. Rowling’s books, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1,” at least 16 times daily.
The charmed sticker is slapped in the slot that featured a “W” until June when that line went out of service. The design mimics standard Metropolitan Transportation Authority signage and at first glance could pass for a relic from the defunct No. 9 line.
It’s such a close match, in fact, it might lead wizard fans to suspect an inside job. An MTA spokesperson said the agency had no ties to the subtle Potter promotion. More likely, it was the work of a design savvy fan.
Link via Glenn Reynolds | Photo: Johnson/New York Daily News
CakeWrecks is celebrating the release of the new Harry Potter movie with two posts: one is a collection of terrible Harry Potter cakes, the other a celebration of awesome Harry Potter cakes. If you’ve never seen a Harry Potter cake at all, you’re in for a treat! Link to the wrecks. Link to the best.
Comments Off I don’t know about you guys, but I am super excited to catch the new Harry Potter movie! While critics of the series often complain that Rowling didn’t come up with most of the magical aspects of the story herself, they seem to be missing the point: rather than creating an alternate world where magic is real and wild beasts roam the countryside, she created a mythology that allows these fantasy elements to exist in our world, just out of sight of ordinary muggles like ourselves. To create this goal, it actually makes sense that she would use mythologies of cultures from around the world, as it allows the mythologies to work with the stories –muggles have seen dragons and unicorns in the past, but the wizarding community has hidden these things so well in the last centuries that muggles now accept them to be nothing more than stories.
To create this world within our world, Rowling had to do a lot of research into an array of mythologies and stories from all over the globe. She once explained, “children know that I didn’t invent unicorns, but I’ve had to explain frequently that I didn’t actually invent hippogriffs.” So what are some of the mythologies incorporated into her stories? Lets take a look, starting with those hippogriffs.
Image via Ben Dodson [Flickr]
Fans of the series are undoubtedly familiar with Buckbeak, the hippogriff that Harry and Hermoine saved from execution, but as Rowling pointed out, many people don’t realize that hippogriffs have been around much longer than the book series. The creatures entered the public consciousness in medieval times, where they were said to be a cross between a griffin and a horse. The cross breed creature was said to be even stronger, faster and more intelligent than either of its parents and could travel as fast as lightening. Fortunately, they were said to be much easier to tame than griffins, which is why Buckbeak was so willing to be ridden in the novels.
Hippogriffs were exceptionally rare beasts, largely because griffins considered horses to be food. In fact, the concept was considered to be so outlandish that “to mate griffins with horses” was a similar expression to “when pigs fly.” For this reason, hippogriffs were considered a symbol not only of impossibility, but of intense love.
Grindylows were one of the many dark creatures Harry had to face during his competition in the Triwizard Tournament. The nasty little creatures are known to live in the bottom of Hogwarts Lake and try to pull anyone who comes into their territory down to the bottom of the lake.
These creatures originally started being talked about in the English counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire, but their myth spread throughout England and Ireland, where they were used to scare children from pools, marshes and ponds in order to prevent drowning. Stories said that if a child came too close to the edge, the grindylows would grab them and pull them down to the water’s darkest depths.
Image via Giovanni Dall’Orto [Wikipedia]
The basilisk that almost took down Harry Potter in the Chamber of Secrets was monstrously large, stretching almost 50 feet, and at least 50 years old. Rowling credits the creation of the basilisk to Herpo the Foul, who hatched a chicken egg under a toad.
Classic tales of basilisks vary quite a bit from those of the Harry Potter universe. While both of the creatures can kill with a single glance and are exceptionally poisonous, Rowling’s 50 foot serpent is quite a bit larger than traditional basilisks, which were no more than five feet long (although they seemed to get longer as the stories aged). Notably, the creation of a basilisk in classic stories is through a rooster hatching a toad egg, if a toad hatched a chicken egg, a cockatrice (a similar creature with wings) would be born.
more …
In Harry Potter, the Daily Prophet is a newspaper that updates itself, complete with moving pictures. Now, thanks to a new children’s book, it has become reality:
[W]riter and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi is the author of the popular series The Spiderwick Chronicles has integrated augmented reality into his latest book.
Earlier this week, The Search for WondLa
hit bookshelves in U.S., and within it – it features an extraordinary interactive augmented reality experience that readers can unlock using their Web browsers. The book, published by Simon & Schuster, is one of the first of its kind and could be a glimpse into how kids will enjoy reading in the future.
Team StarKid, a troupe of University of Michigan students and grads came up with a sequel to the musical parody, A Very Potter Musical, that went viral last year.
Behold, A Very Potter Sequel:
The StarKid twenty-somethings, most of whom met at U-M’s musical theater department, became an Internet sensation last year when they uploaded their hilarious original production, ‘A Very Potter Musical’, to YouTube for their friends and family to see. What they thought would reach maybe a few hundred people in their extended social networks has been literally uploaded millions of times by Harry Potter fans around the world.
Written by U-M friends and fellow ‘Harry Potter’ fans Brian Holden, Matt Lang and Nick Lang (script) and Darren Criss and A.J. Homes (score), the musical, which became one of the viral videos of 2009, catapulted the young performers, especially the ones who played Harry (Darren Criss), Ron (Joey Richter), Hermione (Bonnie Gruesen) and Draco (Lauren Lopez, yes, Draco is played by a girl), into a level of fandom stardom that’s only slightly lower than the actual film actors. Considering the fan response, it’s no surprise that Team StarKid regrouped and developed ‘A Very Potter Sequel.’
Link – Thanks Brian Childs!
If you’ve ever wondered what a Dangerous Minds and Harry Potter mashup would look like, the geniuses at College Humor have got it for
you.
Behold, Dangerous Wands, where a grown-up Hermione Granger went to teach in an inner-city magic school. Screenplay by Ben Joseph (sound track lyrics here),
directed by Sam Reich.
Link (embedded video clip)
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Harry Potter of Portsmouth, England was born in 1989 and had eight years of peace before J.K. Rowling wrote the books that would make him miserable.
He said: ‘No one ever believes that I’m telling the truth about my name. I had to show my girlfriend my passport, my bank card, and my driving licence to convince her that I wasn’t lying.
‘Even getting my season ticket for Portsmouth FC was a bit of a pain – I’m a massive football fan, but I had problems at the ticket office.
‘First they didn’t believe that my name was genuine, and when I convinced them, they thought it was hilarious. It’s never-ending.
‘I play a lot of football as well in a local league, and the match reports are always full of puns – ‘Harry Potter cast a spell on the opposition and that kind of thing.’
The real Harry Potter also has a scar on his forehead like the book character, and is the same age as Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who plays Potter in the movies. Link -via Unique Daily
Just in case you haven’t had enough of Harry Mania this week, I thought we’d travel back to when the whole movie craze started. Enjoy, Muggles!
Other actors who auditioned for the role of Harry: William Moseley, who eventually got the role of Peter Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia. Liam Aiken also auditioned and later went on to star as Klaus in another hit based on a hugely popular children’s book – Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. Cody Linley was in fifth grade when he auditioned for the role of the Chosen One, but obviously didn’t make the cut. He is probably best known now for portraying Jake Ryan, Miley Stewart’s sometimes-love interest on Hannah Montana.
According to NotStarring.com, M. Night Shyamalan turned down directing the movie because he preferred to devote his time to Unbreakable. It’s likely – he has also expressed interest in directing the final film, saying his version would be exceptionally “dark and twisted.”
Rupert Grint, AKA Ron Weasley, got the part when he sent in a video of himself rapping about why he was perfect for the role.
Richard Harris, who played Dumbledore until his death in 2002, almost didn’t take the part. His granddaughter changed his mind, insisting that she would never speak to him again if he didn’t take the part.
Hagrid’s portrayer, Robbie Coltrane, was the only actor J.K. Rowling insisted on. Well, not insisted on, but suggested. Director Chris Columbus asked her if she had any actors in mind for any of the characters and, according to her, she said “RobbieColtraneforHagrid” all in one quick breath. Robbie Coltrane says the producers called him and said, “You’re playing Hagrid, and we’re having no arguments about it.” Luckily, he was already a fan of the books from reading them to his son and immediately agreed to the part.
Rik Mayall, whom children of the early ‘90s will remember as Drop Dead Fred, was cast as Peeves the Poltergeist. Sadly, his scenes were eventually cut from the film.
Gringotts Bank can be found on the Strand in London; it’s called the Australia House and it masquerades as the building for Australian muggles’ state and federal government agencies in the U.K.
It’s rumored that Rosie O’Donnell offered to play the part of Molly Weasley for free because she loved the books so much. She was turned down because J.K. Rowling very strongly wanted the cast to be primarily British.
Daniel Radcliffe has to wear contact lenses to portray Harry because his eyes are actually blue. Seems like a minor detail, but as any fan knows, Harry’s green eyes end up playing an important part in the series. However, sometimes the lenses bothered his eyes and the color had to be added by computer after the scenes were filmed.
Drew Barrymore, a Potter fan, was supposed to have a cameo in the film, but it was cut after the first draft of the script.
Three different birds portray Harry’s Snowy Owl, Hedwig. Their names are Gizmo, Ook and Sprout, but the one with the most screen time is Gizmo.
Steven Spielberg had his hat in the ring to direct, but ended up choosing A.I. with Haley Joel Osment instead. There was a rumor that Spielberg wanted to make a Toy Story-esque movie with Osment as the voice of Harry and that idea alienated him from the rest of the team who was already on board to do the movie. Producer David Heyman insists that wasn’t the case, however.
Check out the portraits on the moving staircase – one of them is Anne Boleyn. She was beheaded because of her attempts to use sorcery on Henry VIII (that was his excuse, anyway), so her likeness on the wall at Hogwarts is quite appropriate.
In a bit of foreshadowing, one of the trophies in the trophy cabinet (it’s to the right of the Quidditch trophy) called “Service to the School” is engraved with the name “Tom M. Riddle.”
The actor who ended up playing Professor Lupin, David Thewlis, auditioned for the part of Professor Quirrell. I’d say he got the better deal, wouldn’t you? And completely unrelated to the movie, Thewlis is in a relationship (and has a baby) with Anna Friel, better known to people in the U.S. as Chuck from Pushing Daisies. Also, he turned down the role of Simon Gruber in the Die Hard: With a Vengeance, which would have made him the onscreen brother of Alan Rickman, who played Hans Gruber in the first Die Hard.
The movie’s budget was an astronomical $125 million, but it made that back many times over: the worldwide gross was $976,475,550.
Daniel Radcliffe’s voice changed while they were filming, but the movie was shot in sequence so it just gradually gets deeper throughout the film instead of being at different octaves here and there.
I’m a huge fan of theme parks. I love roller coasters and costumed characters and all that jazz, but there are some parks that are boring and some that are just plain weird. Personally, I think I could pass on quite a few of these bad parks…others I want to visit just to see that the deal is.
Image Via km33068 [Flickr]
1. Hershey Park, PA -Mmmmm….chocolate! Hooray, kisses! The company that combined the two truly is brilliant, but a theme park in their name? There’s roller coasters, water slides, and, of course, cute little Reese’s and Hershey’s characters wandering. If you were worried about getting your chocolate fix on, don’t worry, there’s plenty of sweet treats at the restaurants throughout the park.
Image Via Andrewds14 [Flickr]
2. Dollywood, TN –Maybe you’re a Dolly fan. Maybe you like the ironic humor of visiting a theme park dedicated to the blonde county bombshell Maybe you just love farms. Whatever your reason for visiting Dollywood, you’re sure to get an earful –of Dolly Parton songs. Enjoy the sights and smells of the Smoky Mountains while speeding through exciting roller coasters.
3. Diggerland, UK –Ever wish you could be a construction worker, but hate sweat and hard work? Finally, you can relax by going to work on backhoes and other digging devices. They even have rides where you get to be inside the digging bucket. Apparently the United Kingdom has a crucial shortage of construction jobs available.
Image Via Hazelisles [Flickr]
4. Limestone Heritage, Malta –What could be more fun than limestone? Why anything of course! This exotic destination located on the island of Malta teaches kids about the fundamentals of limestone. I’ve never seen anyone work so hard to remove the “fun” from “fundamentals.”
Image Via llamnudds [Flickr]
5. Dickens World, UK –Do you have great expectations when it comes to your amusement parks? Sorry, I couldn’t resist. You can finally chill out in downtrodden 19th century England like the characters of Charles Dickens.
Image Via Mukluk Land website
6. Mukluk Land, AK –Alaska isn’t exactly known for being a crazy fun place for children and their amusement park is no exception. Their biggest attraction is the World’s Largest mukluk (a traditional soft boot worn in the Arctic). Aside from that, there is skee ball, mini-golf and big cabbage.
Image Via blatantgizmo [Flickr]
7. Pedro Land, SC –Why is there a Mexican theme park in the middle of South Carolina? Because who better to build a stereotypical amusement park based on the South of the Border than people who know nothing about Mexicans? Pink flamingos, hot tamales and really bad puns, like a mini golf course called the “Golf of Mexico,” run abound in this cheesy park.
Image Via the website Gallery
8. Harry Potter Themepark, FL –This is park may be unfinished, but it is sure to be completed and opened sometime in 2010. It’s going to be part of Universal Studios Florida. Finally you can put away your muggle wears and “let out your inner wizard.”
9. The Ocean Dome, Japan –Ever go to the beach and think, “I sure wish I could be having a simulated beach experience right now?” Here’s your chance. With real sand, manufactured waves, a private rain forest and a simulated volcanic eruption every hour, the Ocean Dome would be a great attraction for landlocked people in Utah. Unfortunately, its actual location lies within 1000 feet of a real beach in Miyazaki, Japan.
Image Via azkid2lt [Flickr]
10. Grutas Park, Lithuania –Hooray communism. Go USSR. Grutas Park is nicknamed “Stalin’s Word” -and for good reason. This Lithuanian theme park is dedicated to the area’s soviet-occupation. There’s not only a great statue garden of the communist heroes and a zoo, but also a fun gulag experience for all you history lovers out there.
Image Via Theme Park Review
11. BonBon Land, Denmark –Yes the colors and statues look crazy, but the madness doesn’t stop there. One roller coaster peaks with farting sounds being played just as you pass behind Henry Hound’s butt. Vomiting, pooping and breasts are in full force throughout this tasteless park, making it any 13 year old boy’s fantasy land.
Image Via Angie Torres [Flickr]
12. Suoi Tien Park, Vietnam –Sure Buddhism is all about sacrificing material goods and obtaining enlightenment, but roller coasters and water slides are fun too. You know what else is fun? A pond full of 1,500 live crocodiles that you can feed with meat attached to fishing poles. And just in case you really don’t get the message of Buddhism through the tons of golden statues, there is also a fun animatronics ride featuring the 12 torments of fell.
13. Shijingshan Amusement Park, China –If you thought the Chinese bootleg DVDs were a huge source of copyright infringement, just wait until you see the Shijingshan Amusement Park. Despite numerous copyright lawsuits from Disney, blatant knock offs of Minnie Mouse, Cinderella and Donald Duck still roam the park grounds, along with their friend Hello Kitty.
Image Via Semisvetik [Flickr]
14. Love Land, Korea –A lot of the attractions at this park are too adult for the general Neatorama audience. Even so, you’re certain to enjoy this sculpture of dogs making love with while flashing the peace sign. The owner hopes that the park will not only be fun, but be a good-source of education for newly weds.
Image Via San Sharma [Flickr]
15. Neverland Ranch, CA –Lock up your daughters –I mean sons. This park is an American classic, filled with tacky artwork, a zoo and rides. Unfortunately, this is one park that is long gone and will likely never rise again as the attractions have been moved out in the last year. Jackson said he no longer considers this park home since he claims the police officers “violated it.”
Due to open in 2010, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be a theme park at Universal Orlando based on the world’s most famous scar-faced boy.
The 20-acre park will be located in Universal’s Islands of Adventure, which are themed "islands" built around a lagoon and currently comprises Seuss Landing, Marvel SuperHero Island, Toon Island, Jurassic Park and The Lost Continent.
Universal isn’t saying much yet about what the Wizarding World will include, but so far it looks like there will be a Hogwarts Castle, a village of Hogsmeade, and a Three Broomsticks Pub. I hope they serve butterbeer.
Link – via darkroastedblend
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
If you can say nothing else about J.K. Rowling, it’s that she really knows how to irritate religious people:
Iranian state television has come to the conclusion that Harry Potter is a Zionist plot. The documentary, which you can watch here, features several “experts” discussing the wildly popular series of books and movies.
One of the experts quoted in the documentary says that Harry Potter is part of a “cultural crusade” and through the movies “they [Zionists] are indirectly saying: ‘join us.’”
From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by knitmeapony.
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