J.K. Rowling earlier declared wizarding headmaster Albus Dumbledore a gay man. Much discussion centered on why it wasn't on the page or the screen. Once again, she highlights a sexual dimension to her characters that surely motivates them, yet—for reasons unexplained—remains unspoken and unseen.
“So I’m less interested in the sexual side – though I believe there is a sexual dimension to this relationship – than I am in the sense of the emotions they felt for each other, which ultimately is the most fascinating thing about all human relationship,” Rowling adds.
Everything you say about your art that isn't in your art is criticism of your art.
Photo: Daniel Ogren (CC BY 2.0) Read the rest
This is what the kids are up to these days, at least the kids in the dance program at Walden Grove High School in Sahuarita, Arizona.
You may remember last year when they performed a dance version of The Wizard of Oz for their homecoming pep rally. This year, they've performed a dance based on Harry Potter. Good stuff!
(Geekologie) Read the rest
"Enjoying your classes, Harry?"
It's the 2009 work of Thewlis Rox, gone viral a decade later in its incarnation as a 2011 swipe posted by another YouTube user, after being reposted to Reddit hundreds (if not thousands) of times, before lightning struck again. Read the rest
The delightfulness of the 'Harry Potter' theme song is amplified by this street artist playing a glass harp rendition. Read the rest
YouTuber TheCraftMaiden decided to make a Harry Potter Golden Egg, and it's a triumph of winging it when trying a craft project. It even has a turnable owl to open it. Read the rest
In honor of Harry Potter’s 20th anniversary, the gentlemen of SORTEDFood concocted their own Butterbeer recipe, which is both sickly sweet and slightly alcoholic. Read the rest
Freeman Design crafted this gorgeous necklace and pendant inspired by the golden snitch, a ball used in quidditch in the Harry Potter books. This video shows that it holds a secret engagement ring. Read the rest
Animator Leigh Lahav and writer Oren Mendez created this wizarding world-salute to the holiday season. Read the rest
Writer and animator Natalie Gray creates a lot of great fan art, but one of her coolest pieces is this Harry Potter-themed “What do wizards have in their pockets” collection. The four GIFs represent the four Marauders: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.
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Skyler Johnson created an interactive infographic that charts the use of magic in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels. The spells are organized by count or time, with instances color-coded by the book they appear in. Hover over each use and you even get the quote, for context! [via Tor and Metafilter]
Emily Asher-Perrin writes:
Perhaps not surprisingly, the spells that we see used most often are commonly used by Harry and his friends as means of non-violent resistance; Expecto Patronum; Expelliarmus; Stupefy. The Killing Curse appears sixth down on the list, which is fascinating–it is technically speaking the “most evil” of all the dark magic spells, and it is the most often used.
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Tumblr artist Kayla of fleamontpotter always knows how to inject humor into the world of Harry Potter. And this Half-Blood Prince-inspired post is particularly great: Read the rest
Richard Carter, proprietor of Mystical Moments, Huddersfield, England's New Age supply shop, does not permit Harry Potter fans to purchase his handmade magic wands. Carter says he is selling "spiritual tools," not toys. Carter, who reportedly fashions the wands under supernatural control, tells The Telegraph:
"JK Rowling has obviously done her research but Harry Potter is for children. It has done nothing for business.... You wouldn't believe how many real witches and wizards there are knocking about. You would be amazed. They know they can come here in reveal themselves without people thinking they're mental...
If I had someone come in wanting a wand just because they liked Harry Potter I would not sell them one, not matter how much money they were offering....I can tell what people are like when they walk in by their aura."
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Author Meredith McCardle used a projector to project a scan of the first page of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on her wall, then painstakingly painted it in, leaving behind a perfect replica of the page from floor to ceiling. Read the rest
Wink /
3:49 pm Wed, Jun 8, 2016
See sample pages of Quidditch Through the Ages at Wink.
Quidditch Through the Ages
by Kennilworthy Whisp
Arthur A. Levine Books
2015, 128 pages, 5.2 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches
$10 Buy a copy on Amazon
This slim volume, small enough to slip into the inside pocket of a sorcerer’s robe, is a book every lover of the sport of Quidditch cannot do without. It covers the development of the game, from its humble beginnings to the form it is played today. The history makes fascinating reading as it is not simply dry text, but illustrated throughout with facsimiles of news sheets reporting about the game, and excerpts of historical letters and diary pages speaking of the game.
The book also traces the development of the broomsticks and covers the game as it is played in Britain, lists the best 13 teams that compete for the League Cup and also mentions top teams in other countries. Strategies and game rules are covered as well as difficult plays that have been invented over the years by wizards and witches pushing themselves, their broomsticks and the game as far as they can.
The physical book is produced to resemble a facsimile of a Hogwart’s library book, with worn covers, scribbles in the margins and a library check-out stamp in the front of the book listing borrowers no less noteworthy than R Weasley, N Longbottom and H Grainger (twice!). There is also an amusing Foreword by Albus Dumbledore explaining how such a volume came into the Muggle world with a warning not to mistreat it as the librarian Madam Prince might have left a jinx on it for its protection. Read the rest
Famed author JK Rowling has been in the news of late. Her recently released History of Magic in North America stumbles over a number of insensitive cultural hot points, not least of which is her characterization of Native Americans.
Simon Moya-Smith, culture editor at Indian Country Today, explains why the conversation is important, but he couldn't care less about JK Rowling's fiction, because it is fiction. Moya-Smith reminds us that our public school textbooks spread deeper lies.
From ICTMN:
What matters here, folks, in this debate over J.K. Rowling’s latest work is the language society uses – the language that is still taught to kids in schools today about Native Americans and our spiritualities.
Think about it: How in the living hell can a child differentiate alleged fact from fiction if schools continue to teach students that Native Americans practiced magic? Note I used the past tense of ‘practice.’ There are very few lessons in grade schools that provide any information on contemporary Native American societies. Super sad, but super true.
And let me leave you with this, home skillet:
Twitter turns 10-years-old this month. Facebook is 12-years-old. Social media, then, is prepubescent. It’s still trying to figure out why the hell hair is growing down there. But it’s through this peach-fuzzy platform that people are only now learning that Native Americans ARE STILL ALIVE. Seriously. Previous to the ubiquity of social media, propelled by the proliferation of the Web, people thought Indians were either dead or living in teepees.
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Wink /
11:34 am Thu, Feb 25, 2016
See sample pages from this book at Wink.
From Acromantula to Yeti, Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them is a delightful romp through a Hogwarts textbook. JK Rowling fashioned this little edition as if it had just found its way to your Muggle library from Harry Potter’s book satchel. The forward, penned by none other than Albus Dumbledore, indicates this textbook has been reproduced with the owner’s and the author’s permission to benefit charity. Toted as a longtime favorite of Hogwart’s students, Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them is the accompanying text to “Care of Magical Creatures.” This course was infamously taught at one point by Hagrid, whose affection for beasts of all sort, both dangerous and difficult, is well known.
Hermione would be horrified to discover the book is riffled with amusing graffiti, scribbled in the margins and crowded into the captions. References to dungbombs, Chudley Cannons and Moaning Myrtle are scrawled in a careless hand alongside Ministry of Magic classification keys and instructions on how to care for a Puffskein. It’s as if the reader has been invited into a private joke between Ron and Harry, privy to their cheeky, good-natured ribbing and adolescent pranks. While the textbook itself has entries on each animal beautifully introduced with storybook style lettering and simple pencil sketches, it’s the defacing of this text that immerses us in the world of Hogwarts and makes this book a priceless edition for your own restricted section.
– Kaz Weida
Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them
by Newt Scamander (JK Rowling)
Arthur A. Read the rest
