More Potter from J.K.

Dear Class,

I've expanded your reading list for the year to include a new prequel to Harry Potter featuring Sirius Black and James Potter, written by J.K. Rowling herself. The short prequel (800 words) was written to support Dyslexia Action and the English PEN society and is included in a larger collection featuring short pieces by such notables as Neil Gaiman and Margaret Atwood, among others. Each work will be auctioned separately, but a collected volume should go on sale in August, so get your pennies together.

Pictured above is Rowling's sign off, which reads: "From the prequel I am not working on--but that was fun!" So a mere 800 words it must be for us, the eager fans.

Still, if you ache for more Potter, perhaps some good fan fiction will ease the pain. If you've ever delved into the world of fanfic, you'll soon learn that much of it is bad. Quite bad. But there are some gems in the mix. For your reading pleasure, as we wait for the "prequel," and Breaking Dawn in August (for you, V), I've collected some very good fanfics here (mind the ratings, younglings [for you, Jedi J]):

"Never Enough" by evanesco75, which begins with Molly Weasley's murder! Aah! So good.
"The Price of Love" by RogueSugah , which I read over two long flights and nearly burned my eyes out of their sockets because I couldn't put it down.
"Ginny Weasley and the Curse of the Firstborn" by Anniepenrose, and surprisingly, a Ginny/Draco story, which, surprisingly, made me love Draco.

That's enough reading for today, class. Quiz tomorrow.

Prof. H

I'd Like to be a Weasley, Please.

Just want to take this moment to say how very much I'd like to be a Weasley. They're a big, raucous, Quidditch loving family, all red-heads (my red-hair obsession goes way back to Annie, Anne of Green Gables, Ron Howard, and Strawberry Shortcake), and charmers, all of them.

And this, this right here, is the sweetest picture of Fred, George, Ron and Ginny ever. Just sneak me in there between Fred (or is it George?) and Ron when Hermione isn't looking, and I will be a happy, happy Professor H.

When Two Obsessions Collide

So, I was sitting at home checking my e-mail when I see a little advertisement for Bon Jovi on 60 minutes. Now of course I have to watch the whole entire piece because the only thing I love as much as Star Wars is Bon Jovi.

There I was, going gaga over Jon, (sorry Han, but you just don't have the six pack abs like Jon does) when he starts talking about his first paid recording job. It turns out he sang lead vocals on a little song called "R2-D2 We wish you a Merry Christmas".

So being the total fan that I am, I had to take a listen to it again, but this time with an even greater appreciation of the song. If you want to hear it, check this out.



Jedi J

California Dreaming...

Dearest Students,

I've returned from my research excursion to California and have come back with souvenirs for my Potter and Star Wars fans.

A visit to Grauman's Chinese Theater revealed the magical hand, foot and wand casts of our favorite trio. You can see the video of last year's event here.

This particular cast was difficult to photograph, as it was always surrounded by tourists, which made me sad for the Dick Van Dyke cast which no one seemed to care about. Yours truly was surprised to learn that Dan Radcliffe has tiny, tiny hands, and that Emma Watson is clearly a size 7 shoe.

Rupert Grint's foot cast and I shared a moment:



Shortly afterwards, I got the mother of all foot cramps, which leads me to believe that Grint cast the crampicus footiosa spell from a distance. Either that, or I was wearing inappropriate footwear for the long walk around Hollywood.



A few days later, at a Muggle diversionary park called Disneyland, I witnessed a Jedi training session, part of which I recorded for you:




Younglings were selected from the crowd for the training, and soon found themselves embroiled in a lightsaber battle with a pair of Sith. I happen to think Hogwarts is a better educational experience, but that's neither here nor there.

Unfortunately, students, there was nothing even remotely Twilight-ish to be found in California, the vampires avoiding the incredibly bright sunshine, I'm sure. Speaking of Twilight, our own V is on an excursion of her own, on something Muggles call a "cruise," so the Twilight blogging will be light (or taken over by me if something good comes up).

The trip was quite educational overall, so I am scheduling a field trip back to Los Angeles for the entire class. Permission slips due Tuesday.

Yours,
Professor H.

What a Teaser!

Twilight in HD


Now I don't want to over hype this movie but I think, as a true fan I might have to squee a little longer...

Holy Crap! That video was FREAKING AWESOME! I know every Twilight crazed website has already posted this teaser trailer but it's worth watching every time.

I just keep thinking about how those movie makers are going to recreate my favorite scenes. Like when Edward goes out in the sunlight with Bella and his skin sparkles. What his reaction really looks like when he catches his first painfully intoxicating whiff of Bella. The look on Edward's face when he realizes that James is about to make draining the life out of Bella his next conquest. These are all great scenes that have "WOW" potential. As evidence from the last scene in the trailer, where Edward picks Bella up and they fly out the window, I have faith that there will be more awesomeness to come.

Until next time my squee cohorts.

V.

Ooh, You Beautiful, Blood-sucking People!

Wow is the one word to sum up my reaction to this picture. I don’t know about you but I really can’t wait till the movie comes out. I think about all the time I should be spending doing work while compulsively searching the internet for more on the filming of Twilight. Every wasted minute is utterly worth it.

I love how all the characters are really coming together to bring the book to life. I think I must have read Twilight about 5 times. Every time I think of a character a new face from the movie pops into my head taking the place of my imaginary person. It's little things that get me so excited.

There's also a clip on You Tube, MTV Canada e2 On Set Exclusive,that's pretty cool. I think Rachelle Lefevre (Victoria) is great to watch, funny as hell.

V

Yes, There's Something I DON'T Like About Star Wars...

As Mother's Day quickly approaches I find myself reflecting on the ending of Revenge of the Sith. More specifically the death of Padme. Now call me naive but I got the impression from Return of the Jedi that Padme actually survived childbirth. I mean, Luke asks Leia point blank, "Tell me about your mother, your real mother." Leia goes on to say that she does not remember much because her mother died when she was really young.

Now to me "really young" is between 2 and 5 years of age. I mean, how much do you remember from your infancy? Come on, Leia was only a few minutes old when Padme died. So this now leads me to believe that Leia never knew she was adopted and the memory of her "mother" is of Bail Organa's wife. Which then leads to the question: why was she sad? Was she sad because the Republic no longer existed or was her health a reason for her sadness? Clearly, I must do some more reading on this matter.

Next, my thoughts on Padme. How could someone that was so headstrong, who risked her life on many occasions, just give up and die when her man turned evil? She sensed the good that was still in Anakin and she was strong enough to give birth. It seemed she did not fight for her children. The man she loved was no longer there so she stopped fighting. As a mother I cannot comprehend this. Don't get me wrong, I love my husband dearly, but the love that I have for my girls is on a totally different level. If I were Padme I would totally mess up the story. I would have fought to live for my children. I could not leave them alone to face the monster that their father had become. I could not risk him turning them to Dark Side. Now I must add that I don't know if my feelings would have been different had I not been a mother when I first read the story (yes, I read the book before I saw the movie). To this day I break down in tears every time I read of Padme's death or see that part in the movie. I don't cry for Padme, I cry for Luke and Leia. They never really knew their real mother and they never had the chance to. That is the real tragedy.

Jedi J