Friday Harry

EDITOR'S NOTE: I PROMISED DWEEBPAL CHEWYANDY SOME STAR WARS STUFF TODAY, AND I'M STILL HOPING TO KEEP MY WORD.

BUT THERE IS SO MUCH OTHER STUFF POPPING UP, I CAN'T HELP MYSELF BUT DIGRESS A BIT LONGER. (SORRY, CHEWYA).

FIRST UP, A WEE BIT MORE HARRY POTTERING -----

THIS FIRST ITEM IS EXTEMELY, DELICIOUSLY, DWEEBISHLY WONDERFUL:
Scholastic updates Pronunciation Guide
Scholastic.com has updated their Pronunciation Guide to include pronunciations for names, terms, spells and potions introduced in Half-Blood Prince.

http://scholastic.com/harrypotter/books/pronunciation/play.htm
EDITOR'S NOTE: I PERUSED JUST A WEE BIT AND ALREADY DISCOVERED SEVERAL THINGS I'VE BEEN SAYING INCORRECTLY. (IT'S 'ANI MAY JUS', FOR EXAMPLE. DID YOU KNOW THAT?!)

Harry Potter can teach children basic genetics
Nature.com has posted a fascinating article which explains how children as young as five can learn the concepts of mendelian genetics by using the idea of Muggle-born, pure- and half-blood in the Harry Potter world. EDITOR'S NOTE: SO...IT'S NOT SATANIC EVIL TURNING CHILDREN INTO DEMON SPAWN? (DRAT)

Wizards or witches can be of any race, and may be the offspring of a wizard and a witch, the offspring of two muggles ('muggle-born'), or of mixed ancestry ('half-blood').

This suggests that wizarding ability is inherited in a mendelian fashion, with the wizard allele (W) being recessive to the muggle allele (M).

According to this hypothesis, all wizards and witches therefore have two copies of the wizard allele (WW).

Harry's friends Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom and his arch-enemy Draco Malfoy are 'pure-blood' wizards: WW with WW ancestors for generations back.

Harry's friend Hermione is a powerful muggle-born witch (WW with WM parents).

Their classmate Seamus is a half-blood wizard, the son of a witch and a muggle (WW with one WW and one WM parent).

Harry (WW with WW parents) is not considered a pure-blood, as his mother was muggle-born.
EDITOR'S NOTE: I'M HAVING 8TH-GRADE FRUIT-FLY FLASHBACKS (THANK YOU MR. MALINSKY, MAY YOU PARTY IN HEAVEN FOREVER). AND, SURPRISINGLY....IN A VERY GOOD WAY.

Entertainment Weekly's Fall Movie Guide and Goblet Preview
The new issue of Entertainment Weekly (out tomorrow) will contain their fall movie previews, and includes a look at Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. There are small new quotes from director Mike Newell, producer David Heyman, and actor Michael Gambon.

The preview reads:
" WE BEGIN WITH A SPOILER ALERT, BECAUSE even though it seems everyone in the world has bought a Harry Potter book, it would be rude to assume that everyone has read all of them and therefore may not want to know that in Warner Bros.'adaptation of J.K. Rowling's fourth novel, the teenage mage grows an unfashionably large handlebar mustache.

Okay, that doesn't happen. But what can we say about Goblet of Fire? "Well...I do a lot more running around than I did in the last one," says Gambon, back again as dear old Professor Dumbledore.

Actually, everyone is running around a lot more than they did in Prisoner of Azkaban.

Practically double the size of any Potter tome before it, and certainly more action packed, Fire chronicles Harry's participation in a wizarding tournament--while he's simultaneously unraveling a sinister conspiracy,discovering girls, and dodging creepy glances from a spooky new teacher named "Mad-Eye" Moody (Gleeson).

It's so epic, the studio considered splitting the story between two films. But Azkaban director Alfonso Cuaron, who took a more freewheeling adaptation approach, persuaded them to reconsider, even at the expense of cutting content. "He taught us you could really depart from the book in many ways," says producer David Heyman. "Alfonso always felt the ideas in Fire could only support one movie. The studio agreed."EDITOR'S NOTE: WHEN PUT THAT WAY...THAT EACH BOOK HAS CERTAIN 'IDEAS' TO PUT FORTH (AS OPPOSED TO SIMPLY PLOT POINTS), I GUESS I BEGRUDGINGLY AGREE WITH THE ONE-PIC DECISION. THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE TO CUT A LOT THOUGH. SURE WISH WISH WISH THEY'D GIVE US EXTENDED DVDS LIKE THEY DID WITH LOTR.

SIGH......

Thus, Hermione's attempts to liberate Hogwarts'indentured house elves--poof! Gone.

Fortunately, most of the book's memorable sequences have survived, including the World Cup of Quidditch match that opens the film and the grotesque rebirth of the nefarious Lord Voldemort (Fiennes) that closes it.

It all sounds very Steven Spielberg, though Newell tackled the material by asking What Would Hitchcock Do? "It's a bit like North by Northwest," says the director. "Cary Grant is the happy advertising guy...but that evil James Mason has plans for him." (FYI, in this equation, Grant is the one with the handlebar mustache.)NOV. 18 "EDITOR'S NOTE: I WONDER IF NEWELL USED THAT ANALOGY WITH THE GOF KIDS? AND GOT COMPLETELY BLANK STARES IN RESPONSE? (WITH THE POSSIBLE EXCEPTION OF DANIEL RADCLIFFE, WHO I GATHER IS NOT A REAL CHILD, BUT SOME SORT OF SHORT, VERY WELL-PRESERVED OLD MAN)

New 'Goblet of Fire' picture
Entertainment Weekly's article on the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie features a brand new picture showing Harry, Moody, Dumbledore, Karkaroff with Crouch, Cedric and Fleur in the background. EDITOR'S NOTE: IF THEY KEEP FEEDING US PICTURES EVERY WEEK, WE MIGHT JUST BE ABLE TO SURVIVE TILL 11/18 WHEN THE MOVIE IS RELEASED. (THANK HEAVENS WE HAVE ROTS COMING OUT EARLIER IN NOVEMBER TO BREAK THE MONOTONY OF THIS WAITING. OF COURSE, THEN NOVEMBER ENDS UP BEING TORN BETWEEN TWO FRANCHISES YET AGAIN!)

This picture looks to be set in the room off the Great Hall after the Triwizard Champions are announced