Comparisons to Umbridge

Dave Kopel of the National Review begins an article on training pilots to carry handguns by comparing the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to Harry's latest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Thanks to Jim for the link!

Censoring Fantasy In the Classroom

Dover Community News has an interesting article regarding the censorship of fantasy in classrooms.
In the two cases looking at censorship, the courts held that “parents simply do not have a constitutional right to control each and every aspect of their children’s education and oust the state’s authorityContinued...

Harry Gets Buried...Again

Kent Online reports that someone has buried one of the Harry Potter books as part of a time capsule in Canterbury.
A few weeks ago we reported that school children in England were digging for "Harry Potter and dinosaurs" when they came across a human skull.

Harry Potter & Disney?

From www.screamscape.com comes this rumor:
...it seems the head of Universal Orlando was having an open Q&A lunch session with his staff a few weeks ago when he was asked if Universal had any plans to pursue either the Harry Potter franchise or Lord of the Rings for possible future park projects. Bob Gault’s answerContinued...

ADMIN: Headed to Vegas for the Week

Hey fellow Potter fans, just a brief note to let y'all know I'm off to Sin City from tommorrow until 8/4 doing PR for the Black Hat and DEF CON computer security conferences. Let me know if you're going to either show or if you're in town, come say hi.

Mary GrandPré

An article on American Edition illustrator Mary GrandPré:

Mary GrandPré thought she was too busy seven years ago to illustrate the story of a bespectacled boy and his friends at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft.
But the book illustrator eventually broke down and agreed to read the then-unknown manuscript. That catapulted her intoContinued...

A New Director?

Mike Newell is rumored to be in consideration to direct Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Thanks to Cindy and Jen and Michael for the links!

Absolutely Gorgeous, Amazing OotP Fan Art

As many of you long-time fans will know, I RARELY highlight fan art or fanfic on TLC but after seeing Marta T's art as she slowly works her way through chapter-by-chapter of Book 5, I really had to share it.

Marta, who hosts her art at Web site Art Dungeon, says she does the illustrations in watercolorContinued...

Nimbus 2003 in Pictures

In lieu of another wordy report, here's my experience of Nimbus in pictures. Still worth mentioning: The "Wizarding World: Past, Present and Future" panel in which Steve Vander Ark presented the only interesting History of Magic lesson ever, the Double Double Feature (both movies, back to back, twice. It wasContinued...

Issacs as Hook Vid Clip

Go here to see a trailer of Peter Pan, featuring everyone's favorite Lucius, Jason Isaacs, as Hook. Thanks to Peter!

USA Today Discussion With Emerson

Emerson, of Mugglenet fame, answers questions and concerns on Thursday's USA Today's book club discussion.
Thanks for the tip, Aimee!

A Guessing Game Review of Harry

Jason Torrente, a columnist with The South End newspaper, reviews Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix...after reading only 304 pages in. Guesses abound.

Danish Cover of OotP

We've finally gotten confirmation on the cover of the Danish translation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The book is set to be released at midnight on October 10th.
Thanks to everyone who emailed us with this news!

A View of Nimbus

Colette Bancroft of the St. Petersburg Times spoke to Nimbus 2003 attendees and organizers (including TLC editor Heidi Tandy), and offered her take on the recent event:
Literary conferences tend to be a long way from wild. For one thing, hardly anyone dresses up in costumes for them. For another, they don't often feature panelContinued...

Norwegian Lands Dream Job

Edmund Kolloen had just received his computer animation degree when he got an amazing job offer.