In a continuing effort to shed its "air-head" image of their Barbie dolls, Mattel has created a series of one-of-a-kind Barbie dolls inspired by notable role models from around the world. 

Jk Rowling was among the women selected by Mattel,  next to Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria and  tennis champion Kim Clijsters.

This one-of-a-kind Barbie of Jo won't be for sale, but it was on exhibition in Mattel's showroom at the world's largest international toy fair in Nuremburg, Germany.

Her outfit was modeled after her real life outfit at the acceptance of the Legion of Honor Award in France back in February 2009.

Do you think the Barbie doll properly catches Jo's essence?

 

 

Personally I think she looks 100% more classier in real life.   

Spell of the day:

"Oppugno" - Causes conjured objects to attack!  Imagine casting this on the hundreds of Barbie dolls on display at the toy fair! I think JK Barbie can definitely KO Malibu Barbie's butt. 

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I am proud to post our very first piece for the blog!

Its a wonderfully creative illustration of a Hungarian Horntail Hatchling by artist Adrian Brierley (aka ADi). 

The Hungarian Horntail dragon played a pivotal role back in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as Harry's first task in the Triwizard Tournament.  It is said that the Hungarian Horntail (native to Hungary) is one of the most vicious and dangerous breeds of dragons.  So naturally, out of the 4 dragons Harry was able to choose from, among them the Chinese Fireball, the Common Welsh Green, and the Swedish Short Snout, Harry picked the one with the worst temperament.  

They should have awarded him the darn Triwizard Championship cup right then!  Maybe the oh-so-dreamy Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson) could've been spared and appeared in a few more sequels. 

 

Thank you ADi for this awesome piece!

Quote of the Day - Found in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -Chapter 19 "The Hungarian Horntail"
Hagrid reveals to Harry what his first task would be and Harry struggles to find a way to overcome it.

"Its a strange thing, but when you are dreading something, and would give anything to slow down time, it has a disobliging habit of speeding up" - JK Rowling
 

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For those of you who may not have known about it, JK Rowling wrote an 800 word prequel to Harry Potter for a dyslexia charity auction back in June 2008.  I can't believe I never heard about this!  

The prequel, according to BBC News, ended up raising a lot of money and sold for 25,000 lbs, nearly $49,000 USD! Thats roughly $60 per word.

The book's publisher Waterstone, released the story on their website so enjoy!

Oh I took the liberty of including JK Rowling's handwritten version and a neater typed version.  Her handwriting can be a bit difficult to read!





Typed version:

The speeding motorcycle took the sharp corner so fast in the darkness that both policemen in the pursuing car shouted ‘whoa!’ Sergeant Fisher slammed his large foot on the brake, thinking that the boy who was riding pillion was sure to be flung under his wheels; however, the motorbike made the turn without unseating either of its riders, and with a wink of its red tail light, vanished up the narrow side street.

‘We’ve got ‘em now!” cried PC Anderson excitedly. ‘That’s a dead end!”

Leaning hard on the steering wheel and crashing his gears, Fisher scraped half the paint off the flank of the car as he forced it up the alleyway in pursuit.

There in the headlights sat their quarry, stationary at last after a quarter of an hour’s chase. The two riders were trapped between a towering brick wall and the police car, which was now crashing towards them like some growling, luminous-eyed predator.

There was so little space between the car doors and the walls of the alley that Fisher and Anderson had difficulty extricating themselves from the vehicle. It injured their dignity to have to inch, crab-like, towards the miscreants. Fisher dragged his generous belly along the wall, tearing buttons off his shirt as he went, and finally snapping off the wing mirror with his backside.

‘Get off the bike!’ he bellowed at the smirking youths, who sat basking in the flashing blue light as though enjoying it.

They did as they were told. Finally pulling free from the broken wind mirror, Fisher glared at them. They seemed to be in their late teens. The one who had been driving had long black hair; his insolent good looks reminded Fisher unpleasantly of his daughter’s guitar-playing, layabout boyfriend. The second boy also had black hair, though his was short and stuck up in all directions; he wore glasses and a broad grin. Both were dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with a large golden bird; the emblem, no doubt, of some deafening, tuneless rock band.

‘No helmets!’ Fisher yelled, pointing from one uncovered head to the other. ‘Exceeding the speed limit by – by a considerable amount!’ (In fact, the speed registered had been greater than Fisher was prepared to accept that any motorcycle could travel.) ‘Failing to stop for the police!’

‘We’d have loved to stop for a chat,’ said the boy in glasses, ‘only we were trying -’

‘Don’t get smart – you two are in a heap of trouble!’ snarled Anderson. ‘Names!’

‘Names?’ repeated the long-haired driver. ‘Er – well, let’s see. There’s Wilberforce… Bathsheba… Elvendork…’

‘And what’s nice about that one is, you can use it for a boy or a girl,’ said the boy in glasses.

‘Oh, OUR names, did you mean?’ asked the first, as Anderson spluttered with rage. ‘You should’ve said! This here is James Potter, and I’m Sirius Black!’

‘Things’ll be seriously black for you in a minute, you cheeky little -’

But neither James nor Sirius was paying attention. They were suddenly as alert as gundogs, staring past Fisher and Anderson, over the roof of the police car, at the dark mouth of the alley. Then, with identical fluid movements, they reached into their back pockets.

For the space of a heartbeat both policemen imagined guns gleaming at them, but a second later they saw that the motorcyclists had drawn nothing more than -

‘Drumsticks?’ jeered Anderson. ‘Right pair of jokers, aren’t you? Right, we’re arresting you on a charge of -’

But Anderson never got to name the charge. James and Sirius had shouted something incomprehensible, and the beams from the headlights had moved.

The policemen wheeled around, then staggered backwards. Three men were flying – actually FLYING – up the alley on broomsticks – and at the same moment, the police car was rearing up on its back wheels.

Fisher’s knees bucked; he sat down hard; Anderson tripped over Fisher’s legs and fell on top of him, as FLUMP – BANG – CRUNCH – they heard the men on brooms slam into the upended car and fall, apparently insensible, to the ground, while broken bits of broomstick clattered down around them.

The motorbike had roared into life again. His mouth hanging open, Fisher mustered the strength to look back at the two teenagers.

‘Thanks very much!’ called Sirius over the throb of the engine. ‘We owe you one!’

‘Yeah, nice meeting you!’ said James. ‘And don’t forget: Elvendork! It’s unisex!’

There was an earth-shattering crash, and Fisher and Anderson threw their arms around each other in fright; their car had just fallen back to the ground. Now it was the motorcycle’s turn to rear. Before the policemen’s disbelieving eyes, it took off into the air: James and Sirius zoomed away into the night sky, their tail light twinkling behind them like a vanishing ruby.

From the prequel I am not working on - but that was fun!  JK Rowling 2008

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Spell of the Day:

"Obliviate" - Used to hide or destroy a person's memories, in which case would've been just the right spell for James and Sirius to use on those policemen.  Muggles are so easy to control...

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Quick update on the Lego Harry Potter:  Years 1-4 video game.  

The box art is out so you can take a look, commit it to your memory and grab it asap once it starts showing up on the shelves.  You can also pre-order it now but the release date is still up in the air. I checked several stores and the dates are inconsistent, albeit they are all in May 2010.

If you go to gamestop.com, you can preorder for $49.99 and they will ship it out on May 3, 2010.

But if you go to Target.com, you can also preorder for $49.99, but they state that item is released May 25, 2010.

Amazon has best price at $45.99 - $46.99 depending on platform, but no exact release date, except May 2010.

Anyways, look at the cute cover!

Hermione fighting a cornish pixie, Ron with Scabbers and Crookshanks...and in the back lurks Snape, Hagrid, and a dragon!

Any other details I'm missing?


Also an updated introductory video, with new scenes from the game.

Watch here

Spell of the Day:

"Specialis Revelio" - Causes an object to reveal its hidden secret or magical properties.  Maybe if you use it on the game, you'll find secrets and cheats you never knew existed!

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Just a mere 9 months more to go before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part I) is due out in theaters on November 19, 2010!

The cast is huge and includes many many more new but familiar faces portraying the key characters in Deathly Hallows.

Here are a few I found on IMDB:

Jamie Campbell Bower as Gellert Grindelwald - AKA Caius the vampire from New Moon.
His name has been all over the Harry Potter community recently due to Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley), who he's now dating in real life!



Ciaran Hinds as Aberforth Dumbledore



Bill Nighy as Rufus Scrimgeour - AKA Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean



Rhys Ifans as Xenophilius Lovegood - AKA that weird roommate from Nottinghill



Warwick Davis as Griphook and Professor Flitwick in Harry Potter - AKA Willow from Willow



Rade Serbedzija as Gregorovitch 



Photos from the filming and set have also been emerging on the internet.  Can you guess what scenes from the book they are working on?


Bellatrix having a nice chat with Griphook? I didn't realize she spoke Gobbledegook.




Who can this be? Merrily standing next to what I can only assume is the dangerous Erumpent Horn




These two should be a no brainer..  





Hmmm...



I'm pretty sure I know what scene this is, but that's gotta be a Harry stunt double



Looks like they're burying something...or someone very small...



You can find more photos on www.flixster.com


Spell of the Day:

"Densaugeo" - This spell causes the victim's teeth to grow at an alarming rate.  Not a particularly practical or useful spell, but can be entertaining to see when cast on a bully at school.

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