Both Sandi and I are big Harry Potter fans. We like the movies but the books are our favorite. Along with the books, movies and computer games we have collected all sorts of Harry Potter stuff, including costumes, wands and other fan collectable's.

There has been a lot of controversy about J.K. Rowling's books. There are some who believe that they foster a belief in the occult. I just don't see it. The world that this wonderful author has created has few connections to any Pagan religion that I have ever read about. I find it more based in English literature and Greek mythology.

What can not be debated is the fact that Rowling's books have persuaded a generation (perhaps several generations) to pick up a book and read. This lone fact is more than enough justification for the series.

Two things associated with the HP world we have gotten a great deal of enjoyment from are the Harry Potter fan fiction stories, we have read hundreds of them, and Wizard Rock.

We are both members of the Orlando Harry Potter Club.

Plus, living in Orlando Florida we have seasons passes to the "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" at Universal Studios, Orlando.

THE BOOKS:

Author J.K. Rowling

Books in the Potterverse:

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (26 June 1997) (titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2 July 1998)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (8 July 1999)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (8 July 2000)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (21 June 2003)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (16 July 2005)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (21 July 2007)
  

All seven books in the series have been released in the English language as audiobooks. The UK editions are performed by Stephen Fry, while the American versions are performed by Jim Dale.

Supplementary books

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2001)
• Quidditch Through the Ages (2001)
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard (2007)

Wizard Rock:

The Harry Potter series has struck a chord with readers, an entire musical genre known as 'Wizard Rock' has sprung up around the books, films, merchandise, online community, and general milieu. Dozens of Harry Potter-theme bands have debuted, each with their own slate of songs and lyrics directly lifted and inspired by the characters and stories in J.K. Rowling's fictional universe.

This might seem like a strange occurrence, but it makes sense when you think about it. What other pop culture force nowadays has such a devoted following, such a rich universe from which to draw inspiration, and lends itself so easily to songs titled such things as "Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock!" and "Cornelius Fudge is an Ass"?

Take Harry and the Potters, for example. Style-wise, you'd probably consider them indie, what with their lo-fi sound and proclivity for off-beat song titles such as the hits mentioned above. Lyrically, they basically rehash the plot of the books or of events in the books, to wit:

• My teacher is a werewolf
• He's liable to bite someone in class
• That would be so bad
• He's been locked inside the Shrieking Shack
• But he's the best Dark Arts teacher we've had!

Or take Draco and the Malfoys, who seem to have started the sub-genre of 'Evil' Wizard Rock and whose songs put them in the Draco character's POV and mostly just rip on Harry. Hits like "Your Family is Poor" and "My Dad is Rich" (in which the chorus states "My Dad is rich and your dad is dead") would seem to belie a basic formula, but the hilarity runs quite a bit deeper with tunes such as "Tom Felton's Kinda Hot," a tongue-in-cheek ode to the actor who portrays Draco in the films.

Many of the songs out there are just kids messing around a bit. There is a great deal of enthusiasm in the genre and for some diehard fans, being in a Wizard Rock band is just a part of the package. However, several blossoming musicians have carved a pretty impressive niche for themselves, such as Jim and Sandi's favorites, "Oliver Boyd and The Remberalls" and "The Ministry of Magic." You can even download "The Ministry of Magic" form iTunes to listen to on your iPod.

The range of song topics, thanks to the wealth of source material from which to draw inspiration, is fairly broad - not every tune is about the main characters or basic plot points. Pretty minor characters get full representation, and everything from locations to spells to British verbs (such as 'snogging') can lead to a full-fledged track.

Diverse, as well, are the musical styling's found within Wizard Rock. Essentially the only thing consistent throughout is the Harry Potter theme; bands themselves differ wildly in their approach. You might see a heavy Sex Pistols influence coming out of The Hufflepunks, an experimental angle from Hogwarts, A History, and something akin to Broadway rock opera from Sue and the Hufflepuffs. There is no way whatsoever to know what you're going to find.

To find out more about Wizard Rock log onto Wizard Rock. org or Wizrocklopedia.

Fan Fiction:

With almost two years between some new "Harry Potter" books it's hard to get your Harry Potter fix. One way we chose to spend the time between books was to read "Fan Fiction."

I don't believe that any other book has spawned more fan fiction than Harry Potter. Our favorite source was FanFiction.net. As of this writing they list 331,956 fan written stories ranging from one pagers to feature length novels.

Sandi and I have read hundreds of them. We read so many that we had to re-read the real book just before the new book came out to make sure we knew what was cannon and what was fan fiction.

Many of these pieces were as well written as any published book I have read. The best part is they were FREE!

One of them was so well written that just before the last book was published someone released the fan written full length novel on the internet, calling it the real book and thousands believed it.

There are also hundreds of Harry Potter humor, parody, gay fiction, cross-genre (Harry Potter in the Star Trek universe) and you name it available. If you are a romance novel fan they have thousands of titles you can select from. Harry-Ginny, Ron-Hermione, Harry-Hermione, Harry-Cho, even Ginny-Draco, Harry-Draco, Snape-Hermione, and on and on. (Sandi and I have always been Harry-Ginny, all the way. Glad J.K. saw it that way too.)

At FanFiction.net there are fan written stories for about any author, book, TV or movie universe you can think of. For example:

• Alice in Wonderland (279)
• Arthur C. Clarke (8)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (721)
• Clive Barker (63)
• Discworld (884)
• Edgar Allan Poe (116)
• Lord of the Rings (40,540)
• H. G. Wells (83)
• Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew (654)
• Phantom of the Opera (8,243)
• Robert Heinlein (9)
• Secret Garden (103)
• Shakespeare (1,030)
• Sherlock Holmes (769)
• Stephen King (439)
• Star Trek: New Frontier (26)
• Tom Clancy (73)

This is just a few of the hundreds of categories you can choose from.

The Orlando Harry Potter Club:

Mostly this is the young persons group but the over 21 crowd meets at a local pub about once a month to lament the end of the series and to hash out remaining threads of their favorite character. The group also works on Harry Potter fan films with Erin Pyne the Orlando Harry Potter President, (also known as Professor Minerva McGonagall).

Send an owl to join- harrypotterclub@adelphia.net

Wand Turning:

One of my hobbies is turning Harry Potter style wands on a wood lathe. I've been doing it now for about two years and have learned a lot about woods and lathe work. I do make custom wands on special order, using exotic woods like Cocobolo, Ebony, Bloodwood, Zebrawood, Purpleheart, Lignum Vitae, and others. most of the wands are my design or inspired by wands from the movies. I also can do hand carved wands, sort of like the one Hermione Granger carried.

I am in the process of writing a fictional Wandmakers Guide that will list types of wood, their uses and the history of wand makers and wands throughout history.

Cocobolo Master Wizards Wand

Scottish Wand made from Bloodwood

Hand carved Druid Ivy Wand made from Lignum Vitae

Inside Hogsmeade's gates, nearly everything and everybody stay true to the Harry Potter mythology. How immersive and painstakingly detailed is Universal's paean to Potter? Sure, whimsical discoveries abound, such as musical instruments that play themselves and a growling, fang-baring Monster Book of Monsters. But consider some of The Wizarding World's more mundane details. For example, many of the storefronts in Hogsmeade, over a thousand years old according to Rowling's lore, have settled through the millennium. There isn't a straight line to be found. The glass in the shops' windows have imperfections and sag in their weather-beaten frames. That is an astonishing commitment to the story.

Hogwarts Castle, which dramatically announces itself when guests reach the end of the village and suddenly see it towering high on a hill, is everything a muggle who's been invited to the off-limits shrine could hope for. Meandering through the hallowed halls on their way to the Fobidden Journey ride, guests encounter all sorts of wizardry, including portraits that, astonishingly, start talking and moving and snow that begins falling from the ceiling. Even without the ride, the tour through Hogwarts is an incredible standalone attraction.

Hogwarts Castle and the Forbidden journey ride have been designed to handle enormous crowds. But the shops are all built to scale--to serve the story, no doubt--and the tight quarters can't comfortably accommodate the hordes of muggles who visit on busy days.

Items that are for sale, including quidditch quaffles and exploding bonbons are all actualization's of the fanciful things conjured by Potter author, J.K. Rowling. Both casual and ardent fans of her wildly popular books and the films they inspired will revel when they visit the park, and Rowling's world comes to life around them.

Try to be at the theme park when it opens; you'll have your best chance of riding the Forbidden Journey attraction with no wait.  Another reason to arrive early, during high attendance periods, is that the entrances to the Wizarding World may actually be closed for some peak hours later in the day. And finally, arriving early is in general a good strategy for enjoying any theme park: it ain' t easy to get a family up and out the door and through the entrance gates by 9 in the morning, so if you manage do manage this feat, you can enjoy an hour of two of uncrowded time

The Three Broomsticks tavern offers Potter-specific fare such as Cornish Pasties (pastry puffs filled with minced beef and vegetables) and strawberry and peanut butter ice cream. Conventional grub, such as fish and chips, is also available. The food is quite good. The Hog's Head bar features butterbeer (frozen and non-frozen), which has traces of shortbread and butterscotch and is addictive, pumpkin juice, and "real" alcoholic beverages.

Ollivanders wand shop features a charming, brief show in which "the wand chooses the wizard" (a lucky chosen youngster). The shop accommodates only about 25 guests at a time, and the line to get in can grow long. Wands are for sale in an adjacent store.

Other stores include Zonko's (a joke shop made famous by the Weasley twins) with Potter oddities like Extendable Ears; Dervish and Banges, which offers a lot of Quidditch gear; Honeydukes, a sweets shop with gastronomical curiosities such as Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans (including--ew!--fish and cheese flavors).

By now, even the dimmest of Muggles knows that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a smashing success. Which just thrills Chef Steven Jayson, Vice President and Corporate Executive Chef for Universal Parks & Resorts. Given that he and his team labored for nearly three years to come up with a workable real-world recipe for this magical, mythical brew.

Jayson & Co. had to conjure up some Butterbeer. Deliver a drink that would appeal to hardcore Harry Potter fans as well as members of the general public. Not to mention meet the exacting standards of series creator J. K. Rowling.

Mind you, given that this beverage was going to be served in a family-friendly theme park, one aspect of this beverage (i.e. according to the Harry Potter books, quaffing this ale can give you a bit of a buzz) had to be dropped right off the bat. Furthermore, because Universal Orlando wanted as many guests as possible to be able to sample this brew (and that included the lactose intolerant), there could be no butter, or dairy products of any kind, in Butterbeer.

J.K. allegedly agreed to these terms as Steven laid them out, but then added a few of her own. Chief among these was that -- because Rowling believed that corn syrup was about to become the next trans-fat (i.e. the ingredient that people now deliberately avoid whenever they're making their food choices) -- she insisted that Butterbeer be made with real sugar.

So with this info in hand, Jayson and his team returned to the States and then retreated to Universal Orlando's test kitchens. Where these would-be culinary wizards then attempted to conjure up some Butterbeer.

Jayson and his crew of cooks then supposedly spent three to four months trying to perfect Universal Orlando's version of Butterbeer. Company insiders told me that it took 15 to 16 tries before Steve finally got something that he was happy with. Rowling reportedly took one sip and then reportedly broke into a big smile, saying "Yes, Chef. That's it."

Orlando officials never dreamed that Butterbeer would become this popular this fast with the public. With Islands of Adventure selling its millionth mug of the stuff by January of 2011, less than seven months after this theme-park-within-a-theme-park had first opened for business.

See the magic of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ Now at Universal Orlando! Experience in person the rides, shops and dining of Harry Potter Today!

http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/

Note on Rides: Height requirement: 48 inches. And, the vehicles may not accommodate heavier guests with certain body types.
Test seats are available prior to boarding.

HARRY POTTER, characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © JKR. © 2011 Universal Orlando Resort

Go to www.universalorlando.com for more information.

Rowling described Pottermore as an "online reading experience unlike any other." What makes Pottermore unique, as Rowling further explained, is the importance of the readers' role in the creation of the Pottermore experience. "It's the same story, but with a few crucial additions, the most important one is you," she said.

What makes it even more special is that Rowling, herself, will be dropping by the site to share additional information about the world of Harry Potter. Information that isn't found in the books. It will also house an online store where people can buy audio- and e-books of the Harry Potter stories.

"J.K. Rowling has written extensive new material about the characters, places and objects in the much-loved stories, which will inform, inspire and entertain readers as they journey through the storylines of the books," the press release said.

The official press release said:

"In the new web site, the storyline will be brought to life with sumptuous newly-commissioned illustrations and interactive ‘Moments’ through which you can navigate, starting with the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone. On entering, you choose a magic username and begin your experience. As you move through the chapters, you can read and share exclusive writing from J.K. Rowling, and, just as Harry joins Hogwarts, so can you. You visit Diagon Alley, get sorted into a house, cast spells and mix potions to help your house compete for the House Cup."

Rowling, herself, described some of these "Moments" in a press conference in Victoria & Albert Museum in London, two of which are the Sorting Hat and the Ollivanders experiences in the Harry Potter world. She shared some of the questions asked by the Sorting Hat when it places new students in their respective Hogwarts Houses. Rowling also revealed the magic behind the Wand Chooser which picks the right wand for a budding witch or wizard from more than 30,000 wood and magical core combinations.

Further explanation was found in Wired.com, as reported by Olivia Solon:
"In each chapter there are interactive 'moments.' In the first book there are 44 of these moments. One such example includes Diagon Alley where you can enter Gringotts (the wizard bank) and pick up 175 galleons—the in-game currency. You can then use this to buy items on your shopping list from shops such as Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment.

"On the journey to Hogwarts you can explore a virtual train carriage, finding digital trinkets such as magic beans and a different spell cards that you can add to your personalized trunk for use later. The trunk can be accessed on your profile page which shows all of your friends, digital wallet, all of your digital items, details about the wand you have and the house you are in.

"The Sorting Hat—which allocates users to a Hogwarts house—is a lot of fun. You go through a series of multiple choice questions to assess your character. Based on your unique responses you get allocated a house—Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. I volunteered to be sorted into a house in the press conference and got sorted into Gryffindor.

"Having been sorted into a house, you can challenge fellow students to wizard duels or by successfully mixing potions in order to win points for your house. This part seems to play a little like a multiplayer game—with leagues of point winners competing against each other.

"You can also see what your friends are doing on Pottermore—you can see where they are in the storyline and go and meet them should you so wish."

Pottermore is a free web site that builds an exciting online experience around the reading of the Harry Potter books.