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 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.

We are about to get a big Harry Potter boost here in Orlando when Universal Studios, Orlando, opens the "World of Harry Potter" in mid to late 2008. You can bet we will be at the gates on opening day.

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)

Warner. Bros Pictures presents: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Director:David Yates
Writers: J.K. Rowling (novel)
Steve Kloves (screenplay)
Release Date: November 21, 2008 (USA)

As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past.

Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and Wizarding worlds, and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort's defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn -- whom he believes holds crucial information. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas. While Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, she hadn't counted on Romilda Vane's chocolates! And then there's Hermione, simmering with jealousy but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

UPDATE: Release date moved back to 2009

IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417741/

Warning! This synopsis contains spoilers.

Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts turns out to be quite the exciting year. First off is the arrival of a new teacher at Hogwarts, Horace Slughorn, who is a bit more useful to Harry than he realizes. Next, Harry obtains a Potions book which used to be belong to the very mysterious Half-Blood Prince. Harry finds that the Half-Blood Prince's ancient scribbles are written along the margins of almost every page, giving Harry advice on how to improve greatly on his Potions work, and also teaching him a few helpful (and dangerous) spells along the way.

Amidst this, Harry is starting private lessons with Professor Dumbledore, during which Harry learns the dark secrets of Voldemort's past, hoping that they could use these secrets to find a way to defeat him. In the end, Harry and Dumbledore discover the horrible dark magic that Voldemort has been able to use, leading to a startling revelation.

Harry's year gets even more stressful with the suspicious actions of Draco Malfoy, who has been sneaking around the school doing, so Harry assumes, Voldemort's bidding. Harry quickly becomes determined, and slightly obsessed, to find out exactly what Malfoy has been up to and putting and end to it.

Yet, during this time, Harry and his friends go through daily life, busy with school work, Quidditch, (in which Harry has been made captain of the team) and of course, romance. Ron has found a new girlfriend, Lavender Brown, a perky (if not obnoxious) Gryffindor student, and Hermione is not happy about it. Ron and Hermione's friendship takes a toll throughout the school year and Harry, as usual, is stuck in the middle. Harry, meanwhile, is facing a romantic dilemma of his own: he realizes he is falling for his best friend's sister, Ginny Weasley, who is unfortunately dating Harry's classmate, Dean Thomas. Harry's pining for Ginny and Ron's hilarious relationship with Lavender give this story a large dose of reality that the films have shown so little of so far.

Throughout all the school drama, however, the obvious darkness of Voldemort's impending rise to power is always apparent. The incredible action-packed climax is sure to leave the audience stunned and, inevitably, prove that you shouldn't trust everybody who you think is good and also prove that not everyone can manage to survive.

For more pics and info check out the Warner Bros. HBP site at:

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/

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-themed 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:

Harry Potter Club in Orlando meets the last Saturday of every month at Sand Lake Borders. Mostly this is the young persons meeting. 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 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

For more wands and other magical merchandise click on the logo below.

"World of Harry Potter" : Expected to open in late 2010.

We are about to get a big Harry Potter boost here in Orlando when Universal Studios, Orlando, opens the "World of Harry Potter" in mid to late 2008. You can bet we will be at the gates on opening day.

At last a Harry Potter attraction and it's almost in our back yard. We expect to be there on opening day with our season pass in our hand. I also hope to get to see the new attraction as Media as soon as they start publicize it.

These are artist concept drawings of “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.”

The left is the magical Hogwarts castle and the right is Hogsmeade.

Hogsmeade is a fictional village in the Harry Potter series of novels by J. K. Rowling. Hogsmeade is the only settlement in Britain inhabited solely by magical beings, and is located to the north-west of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

If they look anything like the drawings they will be amazing. We just wish there was a Diagon Ally.

Photos courtesy of Universal Studios, Orlando.

Press Release:

ORLANDO, Fla (May 31, 2007) - Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Universal Orlando Resort are partnering to create the world’s first fully immersive Harry Potter themed environment based on the best selling books by J.K. Rowling and blockbuster feature films from Warner Bros. Envisioned as a “theme park within a theme park” and titled “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” the new environment will become part of the experience within Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park at the Universal Orlando Resort.

Inspired by J.K. Rowling’s compelling stories and characters – and faithful to the visual landscapes of the films – “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” will provide a one-of-a-kind opportunity to experience the magical world of Harry and his friends. The fully immersive, themed land will enable guests to visit some of the most iconic locations found in the books and the films including the village of Hogsmeade, the mysterious Forbidden Forest, and even Hogwarts castle itself. "The plans I've seen look incredibly exciting, and I don't think fans of the books or films will be disappointed," said J.K. Rowling.

Expected to open in late 2010, the new environment will feature immersive rides and interactive attractions, as well as experiential shops and restaurants that will enable guests to sample fare from the wizarding world’s best known establishments. Also debuting will be a state-of-the-art attraction that will bring the magic, characters and stories of Harry Potter to life in an exciting way that guests have never before experienced.

Go to http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/ for more information.

Universal is conducting polls to decide what attractions will be part of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was decided that The Three Broomsticks would be one of the venue's. Here is an artist drawing of what it might look like inside.

Building the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a monumental task and it can't all be done inside the park. A number of companies have contracts to build props and set pieces. One of those companies is located near me in Orlando and I was able to get a few exclusive snaps, from public property, of part of what I believe to be the Hogsmeade set peaking above the walls. These pics are full size so download them and get a better look. Or, right click and "View Image."

Hogsmeade Village, or simply Hogsmeade is the only settlement in Great Britain inhabited solely by magical beings, and is located to the northwest of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was founded by medieval wizard Hengist of Woodcroft. Students of Hogwarts who are in their third year and above are permitted to visit Hogsmeade during scheduled visits, to shop and mingle with friends unchaperoned, as long as they have a signed permission slip from a parent or guardian. Mainly, students frequent a high street in the Village which contains the named specialty shops and pubs in the series.

Front of Set	Closer, Front of Set
Back of Set	Back of Set
Back face of chimney	Exposed studs in back
All photos were taken from public property, outside the set design company. I drive home this way every night and caught site of the set one evening.

Click For Movie

Muggle Quidditch

Want more info? Check out these sites:

http://www.quidditch.com/

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/quidditch/quidditch.html

"The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" Announced via webcast

GAMES