Hogwarts Herald

Below is a trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that was originally made for the Japanese market and has since been floating around the Internet.

This is an interesting trailer as it has Daniel Radcliffe introducing the trailer to Japan and even saying a few words in Japanese. It starts with the scene with Harry apparating with Dumbledore for the first time. It then shows the scene of what appears to be one of the special meals that the new Potions professor has with the students he thinks show promise of becoming important/influential wizards. It also has the odd scene that I really do not think is in the book at all with Harry and Hermione in the library and him boasting he is the chosen one after Hermione says a girl is only interested in him because he is the chosen one and then Hermione hits him on the head with a newspaper. It then has a montage of scenes about Albus Dumbledore revealing to Harry the mission he wants him to complete relating to retrieving the memory from Professor Slughorn, which certainly makes this a very revealing trailer for those who have not seen the book and in my opinion kind of gives it away too early. It also has several scenes relating to the end part when Dumbledore and Harry go on the mission to get one of the horcruxes, although, if you have not read about that in the book those scenes will not seem very obvious. It ends with Dumbledore saying “You are the chosen one, Harry. You must not fail.”

I just found that there is another trailer for the movie now out. It shows a lot more scenes than the first one I posted about here.

Overall I do like the trailer and it looks like the movie will be exciting. However, at the same time the trailer seems to have a lot of added dialogue that is more screenplay than what I remember from the book and I only relistened to this book as an audiobook the beginning of this month, so it is rather fresh in my mind. It just seems to have a lot of added things that are not in the same spirit as the book, but I do not think they are bad enough to make it too far off from the book. This trailer does have some of the more interesting scenes, such as introducing Professor Slughorn, the part where Ron Weasley ends up accidentally ends up under a love spell meant to have gotten Harry interested one of the girls wooing over him as the Chosen One, and the when Ron collapses in Slughorn’s office because the liquor had been poisoned.

The one scene that really gets me as absurd is when Hermione tells Harry the girl he is staring at is only interested in him because he is the Chosen One and he replies “But I am the Chosen One” and then Hermione hits him over the head with a newspaper. He then says something like “K, Sorry, kidding.” This is a funny scene, but I really do not think anything like that happened in the book and it seems like unnecessary fluff when there is already is more than enough good stuff actually in the book including stuff that they probably cut to keep the movie length reasonable.

Below is a trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

It does not really show much of what is in the movie, but rather pretty much just shows the scene where Harry Potter goes into the penseive and sees the memory of Professor Albus Dumbledore first meeting Tom Riddle/Voldemort at the orphanage and telling him that he is a wizard and has a spot at Hogwarts. It ends with the movie name, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince appearing on a black screen, and the below dialogue between Harry Potter and Professor Albus Dumbledore.

“Did you know sir? Then?” asks Harry,
“Did I know I had met the most dangerous wizard of all time? No.” answers Dumbledore.

It seems like this particular scene seems to quite accurately depict this part of the book, although I do not remember that last dialogue actually existing in the book.

Here’s a really funny fan-made tribute to Albus Dumbledore…Enjoy:

Warner Independent Pictures has posted an August 2007 release date for Daniel Radcliffe’s other summer movie, December Boys.

(Click the above link…then click “Upcoming Releases”…scroll down just a bit for the information/synopsis for December Boys)

There’s really not a lot of information available about December Boys. Below the fold you’ll find a couple of short YouTube clips…

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Here’s part 2 of Rupert Grint playing “Bogies.” I kind of like the charm of the first one, but this one’s pretty funny, too.

This is an oldie but goodie. Here’s Rupert Grint playing a game of “Pro Celebrity Bogies” in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Oh, fun in a museum…it brings back some great memories of my time living in New York City and going to all of the museums there. I can’t say I ever played “Bogies” in a museum…but I wish I had. You know what? It’s never too late. Everyone should make it a point to play a little “Bogies” today. Seriously. Where ever you are and whatever you’re doing…Bogies.

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I’m not sure how old this interview is, but it’s well worth a look.

In this interview J.K. Rowling, Emma Thompson and Hagrid himself, Robbie Coltrane, discuss Hagrid and give you a little insight into the character and a little insight into the man who plays him. They really did a fantastic job in casting Robbie Coltrane to play Hagrid…there’s no way to imagine anyone else in the world playing that role and its complex contrast of lovability and intimidation.

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Actually, it’s the actor who plays Snape, Alan Rickman. In an interview with CBC’s The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos (A 17 letter last name! …And no, he’s not related to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, whose last name only has 14 letters.) Mr. Rickman talks mostly of his new movie, Snow Cake, but gets a little Harry Potter in there too.

If that’s not enough Alan Rickman for you, check out the YouTube video below. As you know, you can find some random stuff on YouTube…and this is no exception. It’s a tribute to Alan Rickman set to the song “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinead O’Connor. It’s actually really good as far as YouTube tributes go…Rickman’s done a lot of great work over his career.

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Fox 5 in Atlanta brings us this interview with Laura Mallory, the Gwinnett County, Georgia, mother who fought to remove Harry Potter books from schools in Gwinnett County.

In Laura Mallory’s words:
“The Harry Potter books are mainstreaming witchcraft to our children. They’re presenting it in a child-friendly format that’s dangerous and deceptive.”

Yesterday, the Georgia State Board of Education ruled the Harry Potters books would be allowed to stay on the shelves.

The Fox 5 video (the image quality at the end of the video gets a little rough and pixelated…perhaps someone performed a pixelation charm on Ms. Mallory’s video image):

Laura Mallory gives us this final thought on her battle to remove the Harry Potter books from school libraries:

“If even one family or one child has been saved from the heartache other families have gone through with their children actually getting into witchcraft, um, then it’s worth it.” *

* This quote brought to you by Quotes-R-Us, your source for the most overused quotes in the world today.

Below is a great spoof of Chamber of Secrets. This has been out for a while, but I don’t think it’s been seen as much as it deserves. If you’ve seen it before, it’s certainly worth another look. If not, be sure to watch it now…it’s hilarious.

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Yesterday we posted Daniel’s interview on Australia’s “A Current Affair.” Today this companion interview on Australia’s “Today Show” aired (similar to yesterday’s in that it covers December Boys and Harry’s possible death at the end of Book 7, but it’s covered from a slightly different angle and seems a bit more in-depth). Here it is…enjoy!

If you happened to be watching the Harry Potter movies on ABC Family this past weekend you got to see a few sneak previews of the upcoming Order of the Phoenix. In case you’ve missed any or all of them they’re all here in one handy video:

A great interview with Australia’s “A Current Affair.”

Highlights from this interview:
Harry’s kissing scene with Cho (it took 30 takes);
December Boys plug (looks like it could be a really nice film);
and (gasp!) Daniel’s still thinking Harry will die at the end of Book 7 (NO!).

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