The Squeee

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.

Entertainment Weekly have released three pictures from The Hobbit . The one I’m most excited about is this one, because it has dwarves on it: The dark-bearded fellow in the middle of the picture is bound to be Thorin (Richard Armitage). :D Also: Dame Edna has been cast in the film. Or, rather, her actor Barry Humphries has. One of the blokes from Jackass has died in a car crash, says BBC News . Ryan Dunn, for reference. I have no idea who he is, I’ve just heard of the show … and it doesn’t make me inclined to watch it. David Suchet has got a CBE and the Beeb are going to dramatise the big rows around Monty Python’s Life of Brian . Should be interesting. I’m intrigued to learn that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest musical, Love Never Dies (the one that isn’t a Phantom of the Opera sequel, except it is), is due to close in August . The part that intrigues me most was this:

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?