Lots of Harry Potter News
I've been out of things with a bad cold this holiday weekend, so I missed alot of news! So I'm putting all the news I could find into this one post
This is long so all of it is under the cut.
Alan Rickman has been voted "Britain's Sexiest Brain 2009" by readers of Psychologies Magazine. I'll concur with that!
Jason Isaacs and others - but not Alan Rickman - donated a kiss for charity over Valentine's Day. On the imprint of his kiss, Isaacs wrote: "Why am I always the thin-lipped villain?" and "Practice Random Acts of Kissing." He is made of awesome, and so are his thin lips.
On another note, writer Michelle Kerns was surprised that people didn't think that Harry and Ginny belonged in her list of top romantic couples (attack of the Ron-Hermione shippers - oh noes!!!). So she's come back with an essay trying to prove her point that their relationship was "developed."
Book Examiner: In Defense of Harry and Ginny
Wow - good luck but I think her argument falls short. She also throws in the typical slam at Snape/Lily: "...I could never see Snape as the ultimate love-lorn hero -- sure, he risked a lot in Lily Potter's memory, but his love apparently didn't extend to treating her only child with the kindness a truly sacrificial love would have demanded."
Yawn. We've all heard that about a million times. I should send her the link to Legillimency Studies on Chamber of Secrets." I'm sure she'd find many a soulmate there (or at least one in particular, lol! Their thesis is:
"If only Snape had been all loving, warm and fuzzy and had washed his hair regularly, Harry would have been so much happier because Snape was the root of all his problems! As it is, Snape's love for Lily meant nothing to the plot because Harry doesn't like him."
Yeah, that makes sense. And of course Harry/Ginny are the couple that great stories are made of. Well, not really, since they bore me to death and have no chemistry.
Then we have a pompous ass at Cornell University telling us that the "classics" are better than what we are reading now. Of course, to this guy, Harry Potter and Twilight are the worst! Oh, Woe and Doom to Literacy! Popular = Bad.
Harry Potter and the End of Literacy
A person called "lecter63" has done a 26-part Claymation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! Some scenes have been changed too much from the original for my taste, such as Snape's Death Scene, but it's still an amazing piece of Fanwork. This is the first video (nice peacock at Malfoy Manor!), and the rest are HERE ~ Sorry - I fixed the link! The first one has been removed due to copyright restrictions, but the others are now found at that link. I've posted "Kreacher's Tale" to replace the other one.
Click to viewJKR has had her handprints saved for posterity in Edinburgh (and I shall refrain from making the obvious joke that comes to mind after her purple dress fiasco, haha).
BBC: JKR makes Impression on City
Now we find that Cornelius Fudge joins Fleur, Bill, and Trelawney as characters erased from HBP.
Snitchseeker: Robert Hardy "Erased" from Harry Potter
The insurers for the Harry Potter films were insuring me for a massive amount of money and being extra reluctant about it. I could almost hear them saying, 'Is he worth it? He's broken most of his bones, he's had cancer and he might drop dead at any moment!'
...I loved my time as Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, but my character has now been erased! I knew it would happen, because he's quite a good part in the book, but there was no way they were ever going to fit everything into one film.
All three producers rang me up, separately, on the same day to give me the news - so I was told three times. They said, 'We're so sorry, we're having to cut the book by half,' so that was the end of that. I was very sad, because of the amusing and wicked people I worked with, like Robbie Coltrane, Michael Gambon and Maggie Smith, who is an old friend. It was such fun to film, and there were so many laughs on set that it was hard to come up with a sober face just before they shouted, 'Action!'
Meanwhile the character of Reg Cattermole in Deathly Hallows has been cast. Ron turns into Mr. Cattermole through the use of polyjuice potion - maybe that's why they've cast someone who looks like a young version of Mr. Weasley.
Also, from the LA Times, the set of Deathly Hallows in Hertfordshire is open again. It was closed after the accident involving Dan Radcliffe's stunt double. Filming will be going on later this month as planned.