The Squeee

This week's weekend video is brought to you by Albino Blacksheep and a chorus of Lord Voldemort, Draco Malfoy and Wormtail, putting on a spectacular Lion King parody for your amusement. :D

If you're a Harry Potter fan in the vicinity of Macclesfield, Cheshire (UK) on Friday afternoon/evening, 16 December 2011, there's a Wizarding Winter Fair to attend. I'll be there, with all my handmade wands . :) Hope to see you there!

Wow. Someone's seriously talented to have written, sung, acted and put together this parody of "Hello" from hit musical The Book of Mormon , which is currently pulling crowds on Broadway. For that matter, tessaROXX , the woman behind this parody, is definitely worth checking out!

Some films are excellent, others ... well, they lose our attention so bad we can't help but to fall asleep. Here is my top list of films that have made Mr. Sandman pop round for an extra trip simply because I've struggled to stay awake while watching them and simply haven't been able to. The seven films are sorted according to the length of snoozing and the supposed "worthiness" of the film in question. And yes, there are a few on there that are so critically acclaimed they've made the IMDb Top 250 list . Two are in the top 60, one clocks in at 110 ... So, ranging from a score of 3.2/10 to 8.6/10, here goes:

A Swedish friend shared this with me on Facebook, saying she had a sudden urge to come visit me in the UK next spring. This is why:

Remember back in June, when the news about Pottermore broke? Well, yesterday, 31 July 2011, the site opened for beta testing. Or maybe I should say beta registration? Everyone wanted in on the action, so the site promptly went down - actually, it went down before midnight the day before! And when the site was back up again ... every available account had been snatched. Moo. :( Every day for a week, there will be a chance to get a login, though! You need to keep your eyes peeled on the Pottermore website , because once the clue of the day is up, you're competing against a hoard of others who are trying to do the same and there is only a set number of accounts they have available each day, and once that quota is filled up, you're on your own. Even if you've managed to get the clue.

According to the show I just caught the second half of on ITV1 (sources say it's being re-run on Saturday - HELL-O DVR!), the greatest moment from the Harry Potter films is ... none other than the first glimpse of Hogwarts. (Second and third being character deaths, #3 from HP7:1, and #2 from HP6 - you know the ones I mean. Of the two, I preferred #3, because of the words that are spoken just before, because they make what happens next even more sad.) Do you remember the first time you saw Hogwarts on screen? For the first film, I went to see it at the cinema with my mother, who has read and enjoyed the books too. I remember sitting there in the darkness, and then Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry came into view, and I was completely blown away. How magnificent it looked, perched up on that cliffside! It was so incredibly BIG! In fact, my comment at the time was that it was just like I had imagined it, only much bigger and with a vastly better 3D rendering. It was AMA

Nine hours (ish) until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and it's very distracting. It's about six hours (not as if I'm counting down or anything ... *cough*) until we see Part 1, because the Squeeze got us tickets for the double bill. Part 1 followed by Part 2, yay! The only midnight showings were for the 3D version of the movie, but as we weren't too impressed last time, and this is a movie that I really care about ( Green Lantern ? Yeah, whatever!), I didn't want to screw it up by needing special glasses. Unless they're Spectrespecs And the only way we could see the film in 2D at midnight on opening day is to see the double bill. So that's what we've got tickets for. Also, it's great seeing both parts together, as of course the novel was split in two, so this is like JK Rowling intended. Awesomes. :) We were originally going to see it in the morning, but we have a wedding to attend tomorrow, so don't want to rush about, and beside

While we're busy waiting for the much anticipated Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 , I thought it would be fun to have a little giveaway. I've never done one before on this blog, and it won't be the last one. So it'll be interesting to see how this turns out. The Prize It's a Harry Potter theme and seeing as how I make wands as a hobby ... it's a wand! That's right, you can Accio one of these! (Not necessarily this particular one, it's just to give you an idea.) Wood, decoration, length and diametre is up to you. You can pick which ever one you prefer (except the alder ones with beaded handles) from the Thornfield Handcrafted Wands shop , and I'll send to you if you're the lucky winner. :)

JK Rowling has finally made her Pottermore announcement: What is Pottermore? Pottermore is a free website that builds an exciting online experience around the reading of the Harry Potter books. Come back on 31st July to find out how you can get the chance to enter Pottermore early. So, let’s see if I’ve got this straight: The official launch is in October this year, but on 31 July, a lucky few can help with starting to populate the site. And beta test it, presumably. It sounds like it’s part social network (seriously? Yawn!), part encyclopaedia (hooray!) and part fanficion site (err, okay?). If I understand it correctly, we the fans of Harry Potter help shape the future of the characters and the world by submitting stories to the site. JK Rowling herself will be adding things as well, such as all those facts she’s been hoarding over the years.

In an hour, JK Rowling will announce what Pottermore is . Speculation has been rife. Is it an MMO? The mere thought made me tingle the other day . Other suggestions is that it's an eBookstore ... but she's not going to write more books about the Potterverse? Three leaked pictures of what appears to be screenshots show a shop front, a library and some books. Looks very good, except the thought of a site built entirely with Flash turns me right off. Perish the thought.

Fans of Harry Potter are falling over themselves - correction: OURselves - recently because of a mysterious happening. I saw "MORE POTTER" trending on Twitter last Wednesday and wondered what it was about. Apparently, there was some sort of treasure-hunt going on to find various letters, spelling out a word. As it turned out, the word wasn't "more Potter", it was "Pottermore". This led to Pottermore.com and the @Pottermore Twitter account . On Thursday, this tweet came out: Looks like the owls are getting ready to deliver some exciting news: www.youtube.com/JKRowlingAnnounces #pottermore It links to a YouTube video page, where it counts down to an announcement by J.K. Rowling - set to be delivered on June 23. Question is, what the hell is Pottermore?

Work is very hectic at the moment and haven't been able to write any reviews at home in the evenings either, so in the mean time, here's the final trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 , which is out July 15. Which also happens to be my birthday, so I'm getting a pretty awesome present! ;D Really. Can't. Wait. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

I. Can't. Wait.

The Awl has posted a list of 111 Male Characters Of British Literature, In Order Of Bangability . (Thanks for posting about it in the forum, rhubarbsmom!) First of all, let's correct the image they use to illustrate the article, as they've chosen number THREE on the list as opposed to number one. Can't have that now, can we? There we go. MUCH better. Order is restored. Ta-daaaah!! Mr. Rochester of Jane Eyre made number one! :D Congratulations on your impeccable taste, Carrie Frye! Of course he is the most bangable character in British literature. Here are some reflections on selected parts of the rest of the list:

Okay, apparently it was uploaded nearly a month ago, but I haven't seen it until now. Can't wait for the final film to come out! Not to mention how much I'm dreading it. They're going to wreck Hogwarts! *tries to stop hyperventilating*

Tonight, in an hour, the UK will pass from 2010 to 2011. Almost half the world is already there, in fact! I hope 2010 has treated you well, and even if it hasn't, I hope 2011 will be (even) better. :) Here's a quick re-cap of the year of The Squeee . The Squeee in 2010 - A year of unabashed fangirling January opened with the All About the Brontës Challenge , where I set to work straight away, listening to some old radio plays of Jane Eyre , watched the 1996 film adaptation of the same and finished reading Wuthering Heights for the very first time. I also wrote about my visit to Haddon Hall the year before, and had ideas on how you might be able to make sports interesting , because let's face it, it's not exactly all that interesting. I also discovered I was Marianne Dashwood , even though I don't really play the piano. February announced the first International Magic Day , the blog got itself a makeover, and we were being spoiled rotten by Mr. Armitage n

I was googling to find a picture of Ciarán Hinds as Aberforth Dumbledore. Found this: Has a thing for goats. Hence the goatee? Har har. THAT'S Ciarán Hinds?! But but but ... it looks nothing like him? Hard to judge by just the one picture. Maybe it will be clearer in the actual film itself. But still, looking at that photo, it really looks like someone else? THIS on the other hand: Yup, that's definitely him. Oooh one of the Mr. Rochesters with a wand. I could swoon for less! Either way, I can't wait for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 to come out. While waiting, I really should be working on the review of Part 1, so I can gush over how brilliant it was. Yes. But first, sleep. EDIT: Bright and early (and very cold) morning, and a good night's sleep later, I've realised where the confusion lies. Aberforth Dumbledore, the character, is only shown in Part 1 as an eye glimpsed through the mirror Sirius Black gave Harry Potter. Harry thinks

Aaaaaargh! It's on FIRE! First it was half-wrecked by a dragon (oo the repair bills) and now it's being torched! Oww, the pain! My school is ruined! How can we ever afford to re-build it? So much debris, where to begin? Woe, woe ... Seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on film in November: can't wait! Aside from the burning down Hogwarts bit. That's going to cause me some serious pain and anguish. (Yes, you get environmentally damaged from having played the headmaster and/or deputy headmaster of Hogwarts in a roleplaying game for the past six years. Just a little. Tiny bit. *cough*)

Saturday, 31 July 2010! Not just the birthday of Harry Potter and his creator, JK Rowling, but also the date of the first International Magic Day! The aim is to dress up as witches and wizards (or witches/wizards trying to blend into muggle society) for the day, and celebrate everything magic! Dress up, take a picture and share it. :) You are hereby cordially invited to participate (and invite other muggles and magic folk alike). An essential part of the gear for a witch or wizard is of course a wand. Might I introduce my choice of handycraft? Wandmaking! (Well, if you're a Harry Potter nerd with a penchant for Paganism and enjoyed whittling sticks as a child, it was bound to happen sooner or later!) Have a look at the collection at http://www.handcrafted-wands.co.uk - more are added as they are finished. :) And when my camera doesn't run out of batteries, which is the current problem!