The circle is now complete...

I came across this photo on flickr the other day and thought it was too good not to share!

Harry Potter Madness Weekend!

So my parents were kind enough to watch Syd for the weekend for us and what do we decide to do with this 48 hours of freedom? The geekiest think we could think of! We went to the release party for the 7th and final Harry Potter book at a ginormus Barnes and Noble in LA. We had a really good time. Our good friend Frankie came along and we reveled in the fandom madness together. You can see more pictures from the party HERE.

We started the night off by going to see that latest of the Harry Potter movies, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This is the first of the Potter films that I have seen where I've read the book prior to seeing the movie. I really enjoyed the film and I feel the reading the book really enhanced the experience for me. Of course there were changes from the book but I felt the film did do pretty well on its own. I loved the fight at the end of the film. The visualization of the beauty and ferocity of the spells was amazing to see. I did wish we could have seen Dobby again though, not so much from a story stand point than for just sheer love of the character.

(This is the cover art for the UK Adult version of the book. US version is HERE)

Don't worry no spoilers here..

I finished the book this morning and though I'm thrilled with the saga as a whole I am sad that its all over. Rowling is truly an artist and magician herself. What she accomplished with this series will be discussed in English and Literature classes in universities for centuries. This quote from the review of the book by Greig Watson of the BBC puts it very eloquently...

Beyond the Dickensian scenery and names, the Blyton-esque ideal of family and adventure and Tolkien-style monsters, is essentially a tale of vulnerable love.

For all the talk of charms and potions, this is a black-and-white tale about the value of life.

It is a compelling, powerful and entirely fulfilling end to this epic series.

(The emphasis with italics is mine)

"The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" Theme Park Announced!!

We'd better start saving now...
From The Leaky Cauldron:

...Universal Studios and the people behind Harry Potter announced that there will in fact be a Hogwarts type theme park at Universal Studios (Islands of Adventure) in Orlando, Florida called "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter." You can now see some gorgeous high res concept art for this new theme park, including an overview of the theme park, Hogsmeade village square and the very cool Hogwarts castle. This announcement confirms the rumors that have persisted for some time; now this is to be fact with the park due to open in early 2010. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling said "“The plans I’ve seen look incredibly exciting, and I don’t think fans of the books or films will be disappointed.”

More info and artwork

Festival of Books 2007

So we made it to the Festival of Books this year. Last year was the first time we went and we had a really great time. This year we went with some friends from Bakersfield who drove down for the day to go with us. We had a great time again this year. My favorite booth, although it was entirely unassuming, was the Chronicle Books booth. I think as a publisher as a whole they create a great body of books. They have a great sense of design and and just a great feel to them overall. Last year I got a sneak peek at the Art of Cars book and this year was no letdown. I was able to flip through the The Art of Ratatouille book and it was amazing. I have plenty of "Art of" books and many of the Art of Pixar's films books themselves but this one was by far the best I have seen. The quality and the variety of artwork represented was fantastic. I also came across The Spider-Man Chronicles book which was both a making of and a art of book for Spider-Man 3. For some reason I'm not particularly excited about this movie. I wasn't even planning on seeing it in theaters. While I loved Spider-Man 2 I felt the exact opposite about the first and I don't have a particular affinity for the character like I do Batman. Back to the book though, I found that looking through the book actually made me a more interested in seeing the film than the bazillion trailers and commercials did. It seemed pretty fascinating from what little I saw of it and its certainly something I'd like to have in the future. The film is rumored to be the most expensive film ever made costing more than 300 million to make, which makes reading and looking through the book all the more interesting.

We also had the opportunity to listen to Don Cheadle and John Prendergast talk about their book Not on Our Watch. The book is about, as the subtitle says, The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond. I'm glad we took th time to listen to what they had to say and to hear about what is being done to try to end this tragedy that is occurring. I hope and pray that our government will have the courage and dignity to diplomatically assist in bringing this tragedy to an end. You can find out more about what is going on and what you can do to help here: savedarfur.org.