Are your old Harry Potter books worth anything?
In Philip W. Errington’s new book, J.K. Rowling: A Bibliography 1997-2013, he includes a handy chart for early Potter fans to determine whether any of their beloved copies have financial value. Some fans could be in for a windfall… others, not so much. Does your Harry Potter collection have any value? Read on to find out the basics, and consult Errington’s book for further information.
MAY HAVE SIGNIFICANT COMMERCIAL VALUE
- If the title is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, it was published by Bloomsbury, it’s a hardback, and the cover illustration shows Harry standing by a train.
MAY HAVE SOME COMMERCIAL VALUE
- If the title is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, it was published by Bloomsbury, it’s a softback (in wrappers), and the cover illustration shows Harry standing by a train.
- If the title is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, it was published by Bloomsbury, it’s a hardback, and the cover illustration shows Harry and Ron in a flying car.
MAY HAVE SOME VALUE
- If the title is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, it was published by Bloomsbury, and it’s a hardback.
- If the title is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it was published by Scholastic, it’s a hardback, and it’s not the American Book Club edition.
MAY HAVE LITTLE VALUE
- If the title is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Sorcerer’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, or Prisoner of Azkaban, and it was published by Ted Smart. The value of these copies is increasing, but slight.
MAY HAVE LOW VALUE
- Later titles, from The Goblet of Fire through The Deathly Hallows (books 4-7), were printed in vast numbers, so unless you have a signed copy (lucky you!) or a deluxe edition, commercial value is low. But they still have emotional value to you, and that’s priceless!
Bond is back in first SPECTRE Teaser Trailer
The world’s greatest super spy has returned. After 2012’s excellent Skyfall, director Sam Mendes is back to direct Daniel Craig in another outing as James Bond, marking the 24th film in the franchise with Spectre. Sony Pictures has released the first teaser for the film, and it’s far darker than I expected, both in terms of color palette and story. I love that “kite dancing in a hurricane” line, and that last shadowy shot of Christoph Waltz is incredibly exciting. He’s gotta be Blofeld, right?
Spectre stars Craig, Waltz, Monica Belluci, Lea Seydoux, Dave Bautista, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Ralph Fiennes, and Andrew Scott. It arrives in U.S. theaters on November 6th, 2015. What do you think about the film’s first teaser?
Is Licensing Simply Child’s Play?
As we are on the cusp of the most important international event dedicated to the children’s publishing and multimedia industry–The Bologna Children’s Book Fair gets underway on March 30–it seems only right to focus on this sector of the publishing industry.
It is an area that is generating inquiries from all corners of the globe. When assessing some recent statistics, it’s little wonder. The American Association of Book Publishers (AAP) recently reported that sales for children’s and YA books rose by 20.8% to $1.9 billion in 2014. Meanwhile, children’s and YA e-book sales soared by 33.7%, to $227.3 million. This sector of the industry was said to have had the strongest gains of all publishing segments in the last year [DONT’ WE HAVE AN ARTICLE THAT SAYS THIS? FIND IT, LINK TO IT], benefiting from a number of blockbuster titles including the Divergent trilogy.
Chalmers
In terms of rights and licensing, we’re seeing publishers looking for better ways to engage with a younger audience and best monetize their IP. Vlogging certainly represents one growth area. According to the 2014 Nielsen Children’s Book Industry Report, watching video content online is the second most popular activity for kids up to age six (after reading print books for fun), and the fifth for kids ages 7–12. Additionally, 43% of children under 12 are streaming videos on tablets (up 3% from fall 2013, and up 17% from fall 2012), while 58% of teenage girls, and 50% of boys, are said to be doing so.
Book publishers have not been slow to catch onto this fact. This was highlighted recently highlighted in the U.K., when 24-year-old beauty vlogger and YouTube sensation Zoe Sugg’s (aka Zoella) debut YA novel Girl Online broke the record for highest first-week sales for a debut author in the region. The book sold 78,109 copies—besting J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter titles and E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey. This particular title has not necessarily traveled well overseas, in terms of sales, but that’s not to say that online popularity couldn’t transfer into sales on both a domestic and global level.
Licensing opportunities also extend further afield. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers recently signed a multi-year agreement with the Lego Group to develop a publishing program based on a number of Lego properties. It’s clear that the toy, gaming and various multimedia industries are forming closer relations than ever with the book publishing industry in order to maximize IP, and generate additional licensing revenue streams. Minecraft books are reported to be worth £2.5m alone, with four recently placed titles in the Amazon AMAZON UK OR US? top 40 at the same time. Then we have all the Disney-related books, which produce huge numbers, even without the Frozen phenomenon.
So we’ll be watching closely for any trends emerging from Bologna, and to see how these turn into valuable incremental licensing revenue for a variety of publishers…in and outside of the book world.
7 Things You May Not Know About The Fast and Furious Franchise
With Furious 7 coming up in just a couple of weeks, I’m rewatching the films of the Fast & Furious franchise to get revved up for the sequel. I love the mythology and world-building in this series, and I get a kick out of going back and revisiting the little connections in earlier films with the knowledge of the relationships that would form later. (Example: I just watched Fast & Furious last night, and I had totally forgotten that Gisele was essentially a bad guy to begin with, and that she flirted with Dom before ultimately getting together with Han.)
The team at Cinefix is back with a new entry in their “Things You Probably Didn’t Know” series, and they’re shining their high beams on the Fast & Furious films, giving one fact (and sometimes more) for each movie in the series thus far, including one for Furious 7. Even though I was already a big fan of this franchise, I still learned something from this video, so refill your NOS boosters, buckle up, and check it out for yourselves below.
X-Files Officially Returning to FOX for 6 episodes
After a couple lack luster films and a 13-year gap, The X-Files is returning to the medium that fits it the best: television. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are the only original cast officially announced so far. Apparently its return to TV has been in the works since January.
The X-files creator Chris Carter spoke to EW and said:
“I think of it as a 13-year commercial break. The good news is the world has only gotten that much stranger, a perfect time to tell these six stories.
Dana Walden and Gary Newman, Chairmen and CEOs of Fox Television Group, shared:
“We had the privilege of working with Chris on all nine seasons of The X-Files – one of the most rewarding creative experiences of our careers – and we couldn’t be more excited to explore that incredible world with him again,”
“The X-Files was not only a seminal show for both the studio and the network, it was a worldwide phenomenon that shaped pop culture – yet remained a true gem for the legions of fans who embraced it from the beginning. Few shows on television have drawn such dedicated fans as The X-Files, and we’re ecstatic to give them the next thrilling chapter of Mulder and Scully they’ve been waiting for.”
Based on Carter’s statement about “six stories” odd are these will be mostly self contained stories. While six episodes seems like a short run I have a feeling that these will be 90-minute mini movies kind of like Sherlock.
I love the show and I’m so happy that it’s back. I really think X-Files works better as a show compared to the attempts to make it work in cinema. I’d be even more excited if they came back every few years with a handful of amazing episodes.
A Sneak Peek at Jeff Kinney’s Bookstore
Jeff Kinney stands in his soon-to-open bookstore.
Ever since word slipped out two years ago, at BookExpo America, that Jeff Kinney was considering opening a bookstore in his adopted town of Plainville, Mass., excitement has been building over what the Diary of a Wimpy Kid author would create. After all, he’s had the opportunity to visit hundreds of stores while touring, and he writes for kids.
An Unlikely Story, which is slated to open in mid-May, will be a nearly 3,000 sq. ft. environmentally friendly general bookstore/community center in a town with a population of roughly 8,000. Earlier this week when Kinney gave PW a tour of the space, he talked of the magical elements he’s hoping to bring to the store. Among other things, he’s planning to set up a Quidditch match above the children’s section, with replicas of the brooms used in the Harry Potter films. He also wants to have books appear to dance through the air overhead.
“We’re looking for ways to make this whimsical,” explained Kinney, who is involved in every detail of the bookstore. Right now, though, the air is filled with the earthy scent of tung oil, which was recently applied to the floor on the main level, to protect the reclaimed maple floor. The bookstore and café will be located in this space.
While Kinney confirmed that there will be a small Wimpy Kid section in the store, he said that does not want to “make it a Wimpy Kid store.” Instead, as a nod to young fans, he’s planning to open up his studio, which will be on the third floor. When he’s not in the bookstore studio—Kinney currently works in a house next to his home—children will be able to hold some of the awards he’s received, including his Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards; draw on his tablet; and touch the 300-pound statue of Scrooge McDuck created by his “all-time favorite” artist, Carl Barks.
A rendering of the finished bookstore, from An Unlikely Story’s Facebook page.
The floor below will have a 150-seat events space for author talks, karaoke, retirement parties, and classes (on everything from cartooning to screenwriting to yoga). A 10-foot wide screen, along with monitors, is yet to be installed. An area at the far end of the floor will house a kitchenette. From there, kids will be able to get juice, while adults can purchase beer and wine. The latter will only happen, though, if the town grants a liquor license. The space will also house a conference room, which can be rented.
Although Kinney said he never planned to get into the food business, the basement has a walk-in refrigerator and giant sink, along with an oven for food prep for the cafe. The basement also has space for shipping and receiving.
For Kinney, “this is like having a big house, but for the community.” The store is on the site of what had long been the town’s general store, once an anchor of the downtown. Although he wasn’t able to save the building, which was too rundown, Kinney plans to honor it and its significance to Plainville. With that in mind, the bookstore exterior resembles the original market, including the porch where people used to hang out. Glass panels that separate the events area will be covered with an image of the original store.
That it took a bestselling children’s book author and illustrator to create a space to showcase new books in a small town 50 minutes south of Boston, and to build it from the ground up, is An Unlikely Story indeed.
First Look at Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor in BATMAN v SUPERMAN: Dawn of Justice
Entertainment Weekly has scored the first photo of Jesse Eisenberg in character as Lex Luthor from Zack Snyder’s upcoming Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, and it looks…well, it looks a lot like Jesse Eisenberg with a shaved head. There’s really not too much to unpack in this one. The photo was taken by Clay Enos, the set photographer who is responsible for those fun back-and-forth images between Snyder’s camp and the Star Wars team last year.
Snyder gave a description of Eisenberg’s character to the magazine to accompany the picture:
“He’s not any of the Lexes that you’ve seen, that’s for sure, other than him being a captain of industry and one person to the world and another person to himself. And bald, of course.
“Our Lex is disarming and he’s not fake. He says what he believes and he says what’s on his mind. If you can unravel the string and decipher what he means, it’s all there.”
I suppose it makes sense that Luthor says what’s on his mind — when you have billions of dollars, you can pretty much say whatever you want without fear. It’ll be interesting to see two billionaires in the same movie (Luthor and Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne) and see how they stack up against each other. What do you think about Eisenberg’s new look?
Five Nights At Freddy’s, Meet Minecraft
If you can’t beat ’em, hit them in the face repeatedly with a pick axe while weeping and then build a giant wall to make sure they never get close to you ever, ever again.
Steam user Maximum Player offers a pretty spot-on rendition of what I (or any of you) would do if we woke up in Five Nights at Freddy’s and suddenly had Minecraft powers. Admittedly, I would probably screamcry more tears of my own blood while plunging my pick axe into everything that moves, but the outcome would be essentially the same. And then walls. Walls everywhere. Double-wall, triple-wall, infini-wall over every possible entrance.
Or maybe I’d just tunnel out and build a cool fortress that looks kinda like a shark if you squint. But then walls. Walls over every door. Just to be safe.
From Harry Potter to rock ‘n’ roll: 5 themed hotels to try on your next trip
From Harry Potter to rock ‘n’ roll: 5 themed hotels to try on your next trip
Tired of the standard cookie-cutter digs at all the major chain hotels and motels? Opt for more inspiring lodgings by booking a stay in a themed hotel instead. From a boutique aboriginal lodge to a James Brown-themed hotel room, there’s no shortage of unique rooms out there to suit every type of traveller.
Here’s a look at five themed hotels you may want to consider on your next trip:
1. Skwachàys Lodge
Located in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, the Skwachàys Lodge and Residence contains a fair trade gallery, boutique hotel, as well as an Aboriginal artist residence. The hotel was named in a traditional ceremony by the chief of the Squamish Nation, reflecting the traditional aboriginal name of the area located at the head of the False Creek.
Designed with the socially responsible traveller in mind, the lodge contains 18 hotel units, each with a unique design. The hotel, which also provides shelter apartments for at risk aboriginal people, has a rooftop sweat lodge and smudge room, and studio space.
2. Fantasyland Hotel
Surround yourself in Hollywood luxury or stay cozy inside a railway car at the Fantasyland Hotel in Edmonton.
The hotel, which is located at the city’s West Edmonton Mall and entertainment complex, offers several themed rooms for travellers to kick up their feet, from a Roman luxury room to a country Western-themed room. There’s even a truck-themed room, where the bed is mounted in the back of a flat-bed truck.
3. Silver Saddle Motel
Rest with cowboys and bandits in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the Silver Saddle Motel.
Several of the rooms at this retro budget motel, located on the original Route 66, are inspired by different Western icons, including country artist Kenny Rogers and gambler-bandit Wyatt Earp.
The hotel features art by New Mexico artist Robert Shoofly and features a gift shop and lending library in the lobby.
4. McMenamins Crystal Hotel
Each of the 51 rooms at the quirky McMenamins Crystal Hotel in Portland, Ore., is inspired by an artist who has performed at the adjacent Crystal Ballroom over the past 100 years.
From B.B. King to Blondie, each room features original art work, headboards and panels inspired by a different musician. There’s even some Canadian acts who’ve made the cut, with one room inspired by Montreal’s Arcade Fire.
5. Georgian House Hotel
Bring out your inner sorcerer by booking a “wizard chamber” at the Georgian House Hotel in London, England.
Inspired by the Harry Potter book series, the chambers have been decorated to retain a gothic feel, with four poster beds and fun wizard details, including cauldrons, potions and arched doorways.
The hotel is a short walk to Victoria Station, where tourists can buy tickets for the Warner Brothers “Making of Harry Potter” tour.
Chris Evans Dresses as Captain America to Visit Seattle Children’s Hospital with Chris Pratt
Instead of betting money on the Feb. 1 game, the two superheroes decided to wager charity visits dressed up as their Marvel superheroes. Even though Evans, who rooted for the New England Patriots, won the bet, he decided to drop by Pratt’s charity of choice, Seattle Children’s Hospital on Saturday.
The day was filled with smiles and laughter as Evans, who was dressed up as Captain America, handed out toys to the children who were being treated at the hospital.
But that doesn’t mean that Pratt didn’t keep up his end of their bet. The two visited Evan’s charity of choice, Christopher’s Haven, in Boston Feb. 5.
One thing is fore sure – when two superheroes make a bet, we all win.
Watch Robert Downey Jr. deliver a bionic arm to a special 7-year-old boy
Given the overwhelming amount of depressing/terrible things going on in the world right now, it’s easy to get bogged down in cynicism.
Then a story like this comes up that reminds you that hey, there are some really, really good people out there doing really, really good things too.
Albert Manero is a Fulbright scholar and doctoral student in mechanical engineering at the University of Central Florida. He’s currently working on building and donating low-cost 3D-printed bionic limbs to kids around the world through his volunteer group Limbitless Solutions. Using 3D printing technology, Albert is able to provide those in need with bionic limbs for a fraction of what they would normally cost (an arm, for example, is $300 using this method versus about $40,000 made the traditional way).
Robert Downey Jr. got involved in Albert’s group and, when he learned about a 7-year-old boy named Alex who “loves superheroes and riding his bike,” and who was born with a partially developed right arm, Iron Man decided to pitch in himself.
In the video below (via CNET), you’ll see RDJ presenting Alex with his new arm in true Tony Stark fashion. Be warned: you may need some tissues at the ready before watching.
For more on Limbitless Solutions, please visit their website, and check out Microsoft’s The Collective Project as well, who helped to make Albert’s dream become a reality.
Read more: http://collider.com/robert-downey-jr-bionic-arm-boy-video/#ixzz3UJa9Czac
26 Movies Starring Harry Potter Actors In 2015
It’s creeping towards five years since Potter hung up his film-making robes in 2011, and since then the question of what would come next has kept Potterites mesmerised. Would the cast be able to cast off the shackles of their most famous roles? Could Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson avoid the curse of the big franchise that so many Star Wars actors couldn’t?
2015 is going to be beyond massive for fans of the silver screen with Star Wars, Jurassic World and the Avengers sequel all likely to make hundreds of millions (if not more). Luckily though, in amongst those tent-pole releases are signs that there definitely is life after Potter, and not just for the Boy Who Lived himself.
And even if they’re not up to expectations it’s good to know that familiarity and some of your favourite Harry Potter characters will be appearing on a big screen near you in the not too distant future. And you can at least pretend they’re just the same characters living out undercover missions in the Muggle world or something…
26. Emma Watson & David Thewlis – Regression
New Oscar darling Ethan Hawke plays the detective who is brought in to help solve the crime that Watson accuses her on screen father of so it’s safe to say the accused is going to remember one way or the other.
25. Rupert Grint – Moonwalkers
But if it’s anything like the Ron Weasley that fans know and love, you can guarantee it’ll be some quirky comedy probably about the moon landing conspiracies from the 60s?
Set in July 1969, Moonwalkers will follow Ron Perman’s CIA agent who is sent to London to find Stanley Kubrick and ask him to shoot a fake moon landing in case the real one fails. Who he meets instead is Grint, the loser manager of a rock band, and together they attempt to make the film.
24. Gary Oldman – Man Down
Oldman is cast as Captain Peyton in the story where LaBeouf desperately searches for his son and wife with the help of his friend and a fellow survivor.
Quite how any LaBeouf film will go these days is far from certain, but Oldman at least guarantees some good quality.
23. Ralph Fiennes – A Bigger Splash
Of course, it’s never all plain sailing when you invite your former lover and their offspring on your trip, so expect to see some jealousy and Fiennes’ perfect “why did you bloody do that?” face.
22. Alan Rickman – Eye In The Sky
Rickman takes on the role of Lieutenant General Frank Benson but let’s face it, as soon as he starts speaking all you’ll think is “wow, Snape looks weird in uniform.”
21. Evannah Lynch – My Name Is Emily
This will be the third feature for Luna Lovegood since leaving Harry Potter behind, and it looks like a good fit.
Evannah takes on the role as Emily in this story of redemption. The story shows Lynch portraying a sixteen year old girl Emily, who runs away from her foster home in the search for her writer father who has spent the past two years in a psychiatric institution.
Will there be a happy ending for Emily and her yellow Renault? Let’s hope so.
20. Clémence Poésy – The Ones Below
Kate (Poésy) and her husband Justin (Stephen Campbell Moore) are expecting their first baby but it isn’t all rays of sunshine and ice cream as Kate has doubts about her lack of maternal instincts and desire to be a mother. To rub it in, a couple who are also expecting a child move into the apartment below.
Naturally, a dinner party ensues and reveals that not everything is as it seems and the story gives birth to a never ending nightmare of terror for the couple.
As if the creepiness factor wasn’t high enough, The Walking Dead’s David Morrissey also stars.
19. Warwick Davis And Domhall Gleeson – Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
What do you really need to say about Star Wars. The hotly anticipated seventh in the space opera will be a continuation of George Lucas’ saga, and while there’s very little in terms of plot detail, what is known is hugely exciting.
But then JJ Abrams could quite easily have just released the title and a release date and left the fanbase to fill in the gaps with their own excitement. And it would still make at least a billion at the box office.
Gleeson is rumoured to be playing a Skywalker and Davis could well be playing Wicket. But knowing Abrams, there’s some subterfuge going on.
18. John Hurt – ChickLit
This one is pretty much what it says in the title; a group of four men band together to write a piece of Chick Lit or Mummy Porn as it seems to be referred to as these days, in order to save their pub from being closed down.
Luckily, their book gets published and becomes a hit until the publisher requests that the female author of the novel address the public for press.
Which is somewhat tricky since none of the group actually possesses a vagina.
17. Helena Bonham Carter – Suffragette
2015 is a busy year for Carter as she’s also been cast as the Fairy God Mother in the live action Disney movie Cinderella.
The Suffragette however, is based on the feminist movements of the late 19th Century and the early 20th Century focusing on the actions of Emmeline Pankhurst and fellow pioneers of equal rights for women.
It also stars Meryl Streep so you know it’s going to be good, and that the Oscars are likely to be sniffing around next year.
16. Jason Isaacs – London Fields
Nicola Six (Amber Heard) has a premonition of her death – more of a murder really – so to work out who it is who is going to kill her, she starts a love affair with three different men at the same time.
Not bad for someone who is about to pop their clogs but also pretty awkward as she’ll then find out which man is her killer. Sort of like Mamma Mia, but considerably more grim.
Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy) plays one of those lover/killer types alongside Johnny Depp, which means the film could really go either way.
15. Helen McCrory – Bill
McCrory – or Narcissa Malfoy to Potter fans – takes on the role as Queen Elizabeth I in this period drama revolving around the life of William Shakespeare.
It will apparently focus mainly on Bill’s ‘lost years’ so probably don’t take this movie’s word on historical accuracy. Hopefully it will be considerably better than Anonymous from fellow Harry Potter actor Rhys Ifans, which was like a crime against literature.
14. Tom Felton – Clavius
Felton’s role hasn’t yet been confirmed in this new Bible Epic but the movie revolves around the story of what happened after Jesus’ death.
Clavius (Joseph Fiennes) is sent by Pontius Pilate to investigate the events that happened after Jesus’ horrific death on the Cross, what happened to his body after the Resurrection and all of the rumours that followed him being the genuine Son of God.
It can’t be any worse than Aronofsky’s Noah, can it? Maybe keep the stone angels out of this one.
13. Ciarán Hinds – The Driftless Area
The Driftless Area is based on the novel of the same title by Tom Drury. Although Hinds – who played Aberforth Dumbledore under some brilliant make-up – is just in a supporting role, his role in The Deathly Hallows show just how important these roles are to any storyline.
This newest movie follows a bartender Pierre Hunter (Yelchin), who returns to his small hometown where he falls in love with a mysterious young woman and into the hands of a violent criminal. Intriguingly it’s billed as equal parts about fate, love, coming-of-age, and life in a small-town.
12. Jessie Cave – The Tale Of Tales
There hasn’t been much reported about former Ron-obsessive Jessie Cave’s role in this film, which stars Selma Hayek who plays a Queen for Italian director Matteo Garrone.
It’s safe to assume there will be a few fairy tales thrown together for this one, since it’s based on the collection of 17th century stories, containing the earliest versions of famous fables like “Rapunzel,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Cinderella.”
11. Bonnie Wright – A Christmas Carol
This latest adaptation of Charles Dicken’s novel is given a Scottish make-over – in the wake of the success of Sunshine On Leith perhaps – as it explores the different transformation of Scrooge, the helplessly selfish businessman who learns his lesson but not until the very end.
Wright plays the major part of Nell and while she came a long way from the start of the Potter series, let’s hope that she isn’t as stiff as she was when portraying Ginny for most of that run.
It’s hard to justify another retelling of the classic tale, but at least this sounds intriguingly different.
10. Maggie Smith – The Lady In The Van
Maggie Smith is swapping her robes for rags as she tells the true story of The Lady In The Van who lived in her broken down vehicle on playwright Alan Bennett’s driveway.
The film shows the strained relationship that Bennett had with this rather eccentric homeless woman, which was also turned into a beloved play.
Expect a hugely dependable performance from Smith, who never seems to disappoint.
9. Jim Broadbent – Cooking Cats
Unfortunately for Broadbent fans, there isn’t a lot out there in the way of detail relating to his upcoming film. What is known is that Broadbent has been cast as a British ambassador in this grotesque drama set in the world of international aid schemes.
It looks like a thinker for the former potions master, who will be part of a web of contradictions of jet-setting lives and Third World poverty.
Let’s just hope the title isn’t taken literally and everyone is subjected to a few hours of different ways to prepare and eat cats. That’s probably more up Potter fans’ streets.
8. Scarlett Byrne – Skybound
Supporting villainess (it’s fair to say that of all Slytherin, frankly) Pansy Parkinson finally gets her comeuppance in this thriller where herself and a group of fellow passengers are unable to land on the ground after there has been a pretty massive disaster.
Hopefully though, she’ll be able to magic up some fuel and get home safely. Though presumably with fuel running out and the film billed as a pacy 90 minute thriller, it’s probably not going to end well.
7. David Thewlis – Legend
Legend – which stars Tom Hardy as twins – focuses on the destructive journey of the Kray Twins during their rise through the London crime world in the 1950s and 60s. Thewlis plays the part of Leslie Payne, the Kray twins business manager who was later sickened by the actions of the two boys.
The story ultimately focuses on the actions and destruction that the twins had on themselves and on the city of London up to their ultimate imprisonment in 1969.
With Hardy involved, it’s likely to feature at least two very strong performances surrounded by a very impressive British cast, including Taron Egerton and former Doctor Who Christopher Eccleston.
6. Mark Williams – The Curse Of The Buxom Strumpet
Former Weasley father Williams takes on the part of Father Thomas in this horror film alongside wizard legend Sir Ian McKellen and Gillian Anderson, which is based on the short written by Matthew Butler ‘E’gad Zombies’.
The story revolves around villagers of a town set in 1713 who are struck down by an illness, which turns them from humans to creatures who eat anything and anyone. Lord Fortitude must lead the survivors to France where they can escape the ones who have succombed to this deadly illness.
And who says the zombie movement is over?
5. James And Oliver Phelps – Own Worst Enemy
The Weasley Twins take on the roles of Constables in Philip Pugh’s’ black British comedy.
Let’s just hope that they both have their ears and their lives left intact in this one because no one is ready for that emotional rollercoaster again.
It’s just good to see them both back on screen together, even if the tagline – “A heart warming tale of infatuation, asphyxiation and relentless precipitation” – is a little disturbing.
4. Emma Thompson – The Legend Of Barney Thomson
Directed by Robert Carlyle, The Legend Of Barney Thomson tells the story of a very awkward barber from Glasgow who enters the world of a serial killer, making his life a little bit more exciting – if you could call it that.
He and his mother (Thompson under some seriously impressive prosthetics) both have secrets to hide from the police as this black comedy of errors unfolds and reveals the grotesque life of a serial killer.
3. Geraldine Somerville – Kids In Love
This British coming of age drama is an independent feature film, depicting what it’s like to find your feet as a young adult and what it’s really like to fall in love, not only with another person but with a place.
Kids In Love show a group of friends who enjoy a fast-paced lifestyle in England’s capital and discover what it is that they really want and how they want their lives to be.
Lily Potter actress Somerville’s role in this film is as Linda but nothing other than her character name has been revealed at this stage. But expect more than what she was given to do for Potter.
2. Timothy Spall – Special One
Not a biopic of Jose Mourinho, sadly.
Instead in this odd-ball sounding comedy, Spall will play an eccentric prisoner obsessed by the English football team in the World Cup, who have improbably got to the final.
He then works with a mysterious and powerful fellow inmate to find a way to escape prison and watch the big game. But inevitably, there is a sting in the tail.
He could have just saved himself some time and became Scabbers for a day. Quickest prison break ever.
1. Daniel Radcliffe – Frankenstein
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is re-born as it is told from the perspective of Igor, Frankenstein’s laboratory assistant, played by Harry Potter himself.
Radcliffe who plays the lead, portrays the dark origins of this character and how he ended up befriending Frankenstein. In that description alone it’s already better than I, Frankenstein.
Radcliffe has come a long way since the early days of Potter, making some brave choices to push the spectre of the Boy Who Lived out of his image. And if he pulls this off, his profile can only improve.
The guy who wrote ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ is opening his own bookstore in a US town with 8000 people
Jeff Kinney – from cartoonist to author and bookstore owner. Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty ImagesJeff Kinney, author of global smash hit Diary of a Wimpy Kid, is about to open a bookstore in his small hometown, 60km from Boston.
Plainville is home to just 8000 people, but the cartoonist who has created a billion-dollar empire in just a decade recently told The Boston Globe that he’s angry about the loss of so many bookstores in the digital age.
“Bookstores have always been such a big part of my life and my wife’s life, and we wanted to do something about it. We wanted to provide our kids and our community with a place where they could be exposed to new ideas, cultural events, and other people who love to read,” Kinney said.
There’s some irony in the move, since Greg Heffley, the conniving protagonist of the series, began life 10 years ago as an online venture – an online diary for educational publisher Pearson, where Kinney was a games developer.
Within 18 months 20 million people had logged on to read about Greg’s adventures and after constant requests for a printed version, the first of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series appeared in 2007, making the The New York Times best-seller list in a fortnight and a global phenomenon was born, translated into 41 different languages. The ninth book in a series that’s sold more than 115 million copies was released last November, plus there were three films.
He’s had something of a change of heart on digital too, he tells the Globe:
Years ago, when e-readers came out, I thought that this was a great thing, because I see my kids with these really heavy backpacks. I think there is a place for that with textbooks. A novel is a different thing. I think there’s a correct medium for everything. I read something recently that said kids’ retention is higher when they read a physical book. That seems very plausible to me.
E-readers, he says, are “a good supplement to reading physical books”.
Kinney explained that his bookstore is “not a vanity project” and won’t be “Wimpy world”. It has to survive on its own as a business without his celebrity presence, although he’s hoping to offer cartooning classes and maybe screenwriting too.
For him it’s all about the community culture in Plainville, population 8000, where he lives with his wife and two sons, aged 12 and 9. His bookstore is opening where the general store used to be. Kinney argues that with everyone shopping at Target and Costo, his store can “be the reason that people come together and get to know each other”.
Despite having enough money to probably never need to work again, Kinney says he’d like to work there stocking the shelves and talking about books to customers, as well as helping out in the cafe.
“I never got to do that kind of a thing, and I think it would be fun,” he told The Boston Globe.
He hopes his kids will get summer jobs there too, but judging by a recent tweet, customers might be surprised by whose books the boys recommend.
There Was a ‘Harry Potter’ Reunion Over the Weekend!
Tom Felton poses with his former Harry Potter co-stars James Phelps, Bonnie Wright, and Rupert Grint in this new picture posted to his Instagram account.“Kim K stood me up. Outnumbered by 3 Weasleys. Ugh.” Tom captioned the photo – LOL! Tom played Slytherin baddie Draco Malfoy in the series – a big nemesis of the Weasley family. Too funny.
This isn’t the first time Tom won Instagram this past week. He wrote a pretty funny response to the Draco Malfoy/Kim Kardashian hair similarities.
Emma Watson tweets photo of Harry Potter co-star Matthew Lewis looking all grown up
The 24-year-old star was keen for everyone to see exactly what Matthew Lewis looks like nowadays – and it’s worlds away from his Harry Potter character Neville Longbottom.
Matthew, 25, is all grown up now and according to many Twitter users, he has blossomed into a rather handsome young man.
Emma posted a photo of him dressed as a soldier in new BBC3 show Bluestone 42, and was full of praise for her former co-star.
“He looks very serious here but is hilarious in #Bluestone42. Watch @Mattdavelewis on @BBCthree Monday@10pm. So Good!!” she wrote alongside the picture.
TWITTER
Emma sent her female fans into a frenzy when she tweeted this grown up photo of the actor
Matthew began trending on the social network site as plenty of women gushed over his good looks.
“Who’d have ever thought Neville Longbottom would get fitter than Harry Potter??!!” one user posted, while another wrote: “Still not over how well Neville Longbottom blossomed.”
Emma is clearly very fond of the actor – who starred alongside her and Daniel Radcliffe in all of the Harry Potter films.
Matthew plays Corporal Gordon “Towerblock” House in Bluestone 42, which is a comedy drama series about a British bomb disposal detachment in Afghanistan during Operation Herrick.
Matthew has certainly grown up since his days of playing Neville Longbottom
“We try and play a bit of cricket in summer together, in August time, we do it for charity. It’s Gryffindor versus Slytherin, I was on Gryffindor obviously, I think we’re winning like 3-1 or 4-1, we usually win,” he said.
Matthew went on to admit he and the rest of the cast developed very close friendships while making the movies based on J.K. Rowling’s book series.
“I got the role at ten, we started filming when I was 11 and at the last premiere I was 21, so it was about ten years of my life,” he explained.
“I’ve been so fortunate being involved in a project like that. I was a huge fan of the books and then to work with the acting talent on those movies was a real privilege for me.”
What If THIS was how Harry Potter Ended!?
If I had saw this ending, after all the adventures, happy times, and bad times I experienced with Harry, I think I would’ve cried. So remember, it could have been worse!
Thanks For Reading!
Inside The Post-Minecraft Life Of Billionaire Gamer God Markus Persson
It’s 7 p.m. on a Monday in Stockholm, and Markus Persson sits on the terrace of his ninth-story office, sipping the speedball of alcoholic beverages, a vodka Red Bull. Three hours ago he committed to not drinking today, still in recovery from a 12-drink Thursday bender while nursing an ear infection. Yet here we are, embracing heavy-handed pours of Belvedere while surveying the workers in adjacent high-rises hacking away at their keyboards.
“He looks worried,” says Persson, pointing to a man in a building across the street rubbing his face and staring blankly into a computer screen.
After a few more seconds of looking at the man, Persson seems bothered by the scene and darts inside. For the better part of the last five years the 35-year-old Swede was that guy, a man who constantly stressed about his creation, Minecraft, the bestselling computer game of all time. Even calling it a game is too limiting. Minecraft became, with 100 million downloads and counting, a canvas for human expression. Players start out in an empty virtual space where they use Lego-like blocks and bricks (which they can actually “mine”) to build whatever they fancy, with the notable feature that other players can then interact with it. Most players are little kids who build basic houses or villages and then host parties in what they’ve constructed or dodge marauding zombies.
Truly obsessed adults, though, have spent hundreds of hours creating full-scale replicas of the Death Star, the Empire State Building and cities from Game of Thrones. The word “Minecraft” is Googled more often than the Bible, Harry Potter and Justin Bieber. And this single game has grossed more than $700 million in its lifetime, the large majority of which is pure profit.
“It doesn’t compare to other hit games,” says Ian Bogost, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology who studies videogames. “It compares to other hit products that are much bigger than games. Minecraft is basically this generation’s Lego or even this generation’s microcomputer.”
In this virtual world, Persson–or rather his Internet persona, a loudmouthed fedora-wearing crank named Notch–became a deity-like figure to millions of gamers, establishing and clarifying the rules with Zeus-like authority. But Persson is anything but an opinionated extrovert. Face-to-face he’s polite, plainspoken and private. (He rarely talks with the press.) Over time the demands and expectations of fans looking to Notch to keep the monster hit going turned him into a self-conscious wreck.
So three months ago Persson pushed it all away, completing the sale of Minecraft to Microsoft MSFT -0.51% for $2.5 billion in cash. His 71% stake in Mojang, the company behind Minecraft, made him a new, and particularly flush, member of the FORBES World’s Billionaires list.
So with well over half his life ahead of him, the man who created an entire universe, whose persona was synonymous with it and who received the wrath of his community for abandoning it, must now figure out exactly who he is.
The results so far are unimpressive, as he’s mostly acted like a dog chasing cars. When Persson decided to buy a house in Beverly Hills, he went for a $70 million, 23,000-square-foot megamansion, the most expensive home ever in an enclave known for them. He’s become known for spending upwards of $180,000 a night at Las Vegas nightclubs. He and Mojang cofounder Jakob Porsér have started a company called Rubberbrain in case they think of a new game idea–but right now he can’t focus much on any.
These conversations with FORBES represent Persson’s only interview about the Minecraft deal and his life after. It turns out that the most certain thing this windfall bought him was some heavy soul-searching. The only thing he has learned for sure: He was right to walk away from Minecraft. In explaining his recent decisions, he quotes Leonardo da Vinci: “Art is never finished, only abandoned.”
THIS METEORIC MINECRAFT SAGA starts in the vast Swedish forest somewhere between Stockholm and the Arctic Circle, in the 4,000-person town of Edsbyn. While other children played soccer in the summer and bandy (a variation of ice hockey with a ball) in the winter, the introverted Persson tinkered for hours on end with Legos. His father, a railroad worker, brought home a Commodore 128 computer when Persson was 7. The eager son coded his first computer program by 8.
While Persson was a good student, he found life at school difficult after his family moved to Stockholm when he was in second grade. Unable to make new friends easily, he became ever closer to the family computer, which offered entertainment like Boulder Dash, an 8-bit puzzle game, and The Bard’s Tale, an action-role-playing title. In the book Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus “Notch” Persson , Persson’s mother, Ritva, recalls periods when her son would fake stomachaches to stay home from school and while away hours in front of the computer.
The young Persson found further solace in PCs as life at home fell apart. His parents divorced when he was 12. Persson’s father abused alcohol and became addicted to amphetamines. His younger sister also began to experiment with drugs and eventually ran away from home.
For his part Persson failed to finish high school. He was still living at home when his mother, a nurse who worked the graveyard shift at a local hospital, forced him to take an online programming course. It was a wise investment. Channeling his childhood passion, he started churning out games, and in 2004, at 24, he landed a gig at Midasplayer, later known as King.com, the maker of Candy Crush.
While there he befriended Jakob Porsér, an equally reserved young developer. “It was a great place to start,” says Porsér. “You’d be making small games in Flash, and you actually did most of the stuff in the game yourself except for the graphics.” The two began plotting their own games, some of which gained notoriety on indie game websites. His bosses were not amused. “We felt that we couldn’t have someone working for us that at the same time was building his own gaming company,” says Lars Markgren, the Midasplayer cofounder who had hired Persson.
In 2009 Persson left Midasplayer to take a programming job at Jalbum, an online photo-sharing service that didn’t mind his moonlighting. He quickly focused his spare time on an odd-looking creation where players collect resources like wood and stone and use them to build things, from axes and shovels to houses and cities. Persson named it Minecraft and posted it in May 2009 as an unfinished piece of software on TIGSource, an indie gaming portal. Heavy on technical know-how and light on instructions, the game’s early adopters were forced to form a community just to figure out how to play.
Minecraft wasn’t the first “sandbox” construction game, nor was it the first to challenge players to gather resources to survive in a hostile world. (Players can be attacked by exploding creatures called “Creepers” when night falls in the game.) But its timing was perfect, released just as a new generation of kids, too young for Facebook and Instagram but old enough to want to make things online, were getting laptops, smartphones and tablets.
By June 2010 PC users were buying 400 copies a day, at about $6 per download. Persson and Porsér quit their day jobs, and Persson even grabbed his old boss, Jalbum CEO Carl Manneh, to run the business side. They named their nascent company Mojang, “gadget” in Swedish.
Minecraft’s secret weapon was Notch. More than just a nickname, Notch allowed Persson to shed his real-world introversion. Through blogs, forums and Twitter TWTR -0.29%, he addressed his fans’ every question about game play, development and life. Any appearance on a Minecraft server was akin to an Elvis sighting. Notch also gave followers a figure to root for, a sharp-tongued icon in a fedora that stood up for independent game companies. Through this alter ego, Persson amassed more than 2 million followers on Twitter, loyal folks who read his diatribes against the “cynical bastards” of Electronic Arts, who deigned to release an indie gaming bundle, or virtual reality device maker Oculus VR, for selling out to the “creepy” Facebook.
Persson didn’t spend a single krona on marketing, and Minecraft grew virally, with Mojang adding Android and iOS smartphone versions that to this day rank among the top-three paid downloads in the U.S., according to App Annie. In May 2012 Mojang released a version for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 that sold more than 1 million copies in the first week (and 15 million copies to date). Then came the licensing agreements. Minecraft-branded apparel marketed through San Diego-based J!NX became a top seller among young fans, while books on the game became immediate bestsellers. Egmont Publishing International, which has published only a few titles on the topic, has sold over 7.5 million copies in more than 60 countries. Last year Warner Bros. bought the rights from Mojang to explore the possibility of a feature film.
With only 30 or so employees, Mojang was earning profits that seemed endless. It ended 2012 with about $230 million in sales, with gross profits of more than $150 million–$101 million of which Persson paid to himself in exchange for licenses to Minecraft’s intellectual property. (He quickly bought the most expensive apartment in Stockholm.)
Investors circled feverishly. Manneh says he talked with more than 100 venture firms in that time, including blue-chip Silicon Valley outfits Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners, but never considered taking money because Mojang simply didn’t need it. There was also a visit from billionaire Sean Parker, who whisked away Persson, Porsér and Manneh on his private jet for a wild night out in London. They still turned down his money.
“It was the first time we ever flew on a private jet,” says Manneh. It wouldn’t be the last. As a private company with no outside investors, the flush firm commissioned Renaissance-style oil paintings of its Mojangstas. To celebrate 10 million downloads, they took the whole staff to Monaco for three days of champagne-fueled partying and yachting. And while the three founders held all the stock, Persson kept employees lubricated with a $3 million group bonus in 2012.
But even with the world at his feet, Persson sometimes felt like it was on his shoulders. Following Minecraft’s official release in late 2011 at the first “Minecon” convention in Las Vegas, Persson stepped down as head developer, ready to explore new game ideas and life with his girlfriend-turned-wife, whom he had wed that summer.
That bliss was short-lived. Persson’s father, still battling substance abuse and depression, committed suicide before Christmas that year. With his father’s death weighing on him, Persson proceeded through daily life as a man who didn’t know what he wanted. He divorced his wife after a year of marriage. “As of today I am single: #mixedemotions,” he tweeted. And when Persson returned to work after a short sabbatical, he felt pressure to re-create the magic of his first hit.
At the same time, Persson remained the face and voice of Minecraft. It didn’t matter if he had stepped down from everyday development, Notch was still the figure players e-mailed for a new code modification or tweeted at if they thought something was wrong with the game. Something as minor as alterations to the mechanics of virtual boats triggered barbed messages directed at Notch, who had nothing to do with the changes. Peruse Persson’s Twitter replies or any YouTube video featuring the Minecraft creator and you’ll likely find comments like “Notch has always struck me as being a giant tool” or “Notch is a fat loser.”
“I was struggling with why are people so mean online,” says Persson. “You see the mean comments, and they seem like they’re written in a bigger font size almost.” The man who had embraced his online persona felt ensnared by the negativity it provoked. And so Persson began pondering an exit.
THE WAY OUT STARTED AS nothing more than a tweet.
It was June 16, 2014, and Persson bunkered in his penthouse apartment with a cold. Minecraft users had been up in arms that week about the company’s decision to start enforcing its End User License Agreement, which barred players from charging others for certain game-play features, such as stronger swords. As hundreds of tweets an hour flowed in, Persson, feverish from his cold, tapped out a 129-character outburst that would change his life forever.
“Anyone want to buy my share of Mojang so I can move on with my life?” he asked. “Getting hate for trying to do the right thing is not my gig.”
Mojang CEO Carl Manneh was sitting at home with his family when he first saw the tweet. Within 30 seconds of his reading it, his phone rang. A Microsoft executive who coordinated with Mojang wanted to know if Persson was serious. “I’m not sure–let me talk to him,” said Manneh.
While Persson originally wrote the message as a half-joke, the realization that he could disassociate from Mojang took hold. The man who once publicly pledged that he would not sell out to evil corporations now had his head turned.
In the week that followed, Manneh’s phone rang constantly with interest from Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard and others. Talks with Activision petered out. Persson, cryptically, won’t discuss what happened with EA but says that Mojang ruled out potential buyers “who did game play in a way we didn’t like.” Microsoft, however, apparently passed muster.
The motivator for Microsoft, ultimately, was a tax dodge. The software giant was sitting on a $93 billion overseas cash pile that it couldn’t repatriate without paying Uncle Sam his share.
So Manneh dictated the sale terms: the three founders wanted a clean break and no attachments to the company. Also, given Microsoft’s massive staff consolidation following its purchase of Nokia, no layoffs. (With just 47 employees that wasn’t a material concern for the buyer.)
Microsoft’s point man, Xbox Chief Phil Spencer, dealt solely with Manneh. Persson and Porsér recused themselves from negotiations, though Spencer did spend time, over herb-flavored Swedish liquor at an old town Stockholm restaurant, arguing with them about the direction of the gaming industry. The software giant’s CEO, Satya Nadella, never set foot in Scandanavia for what remains the largest acquisition during his tenure. The Microsoft CEO only called Manneh twice to forward the talks.
While lawyers worked around the clock to close, there were few clues of the multibillion-dollar deal afoot. Microsoft kept relatively quiet, though Nadella did say in a July letter to employees that he was investing in gaming, calling it the “single biggest digital-life category, measured in both time and money spent, in a mobile-first world.”
The usually vociferous Persson remained silent, too. He spent his days chasing small ideas for new games and learning programming languages. On Sept. 11 he wrote a blog post detailing his work with a language known as Dart in rebuilding the earliest version of the classic shooter game Doom, though he peppered the blog post with clues of the impending sale, using Doom as a metaphor for Mojang. “If I do move on to something new, I’m sure someone with more patience than me to see things through can take over the project,” he wrote, adding, “I can’t spend all my time tied to it.”
On Sept. 15 Microsoft announced it would pay $2.5 billion, in cash, to acquire Mojang. Within hours of the announcement Persson would pen his final blog post, detailing his departure from the company he created. “It’s not about the money,” he wrote. “It’s about my sanity.”
Looking back, Persson says he was expecting Minecraft’s fans to have a worse reaction to the sale announcement. “The day we announced it, I was going to shut down my Twitter [account] because I wouldn’t be able to deal with it,” he says. “But people were surprisingly okay with it. They read my explanation, and they said, ‘Okay, well I hope you take care of yourself.’ ”
As for going against his earlier claims that he wouldn’t sell, especially to the company that personifies Big Tech, Persson shrugs and says he can live with his $2.5 billion contradiction. “
You have to be responsible for what you said, of course,” he says, “but I don’t really feel a lot of shame for saying something that I’ve changed my mind about.”
Mojang’s staff had a harder time comprehending their former boss’ dramatic shift. While they received bonuses taken from Persson’s part of the deal (Porsér for his part cleared over $300 million aftertax; Manneh, more than $100 million), many felt “disappointed” and “empty” when they heard of the decision, says one employee who asked not to be named. Some still remain cold to Persson today.
“We spoiled them, and their reaction hurts me,” counters Persson. Despite that he’s managed to move on. In November, when the deal finally closed, Persson, Porsér, Manneh and Manneh’s twin brother jetted to Miami and St. Barts to celebrate. Persson dubbed their little getaway “the sellout trip.”
THESE DAYS Persson pays less attention to the heckling on Twitter and more to the insults hurled his way by close friends on a WhatsApp group they’ve crudely titled Farts. The unleashed Persson has regressed toward adolescence. At the temporary office for Rubberbrain, jokes about male genitalia and laughter bounce off the ceiling and elicit annoyed floor banging from the upstairs neighbor.
Persson ignores the foot-thumped berating much like he’s done with the armchair trolls. He says he’s taken fondly to the mute button on Twitter, which allows him to tune out unkind people without notifying them that they’ve been blocked. Occasionally, though, his curiosity will get the best of him, and he’ll reply. Lately he’s been responding to his haters with a moving image from the movie Zombieland of Woody Harrelson wiping tears away with a wad of money. “I’m aware that tweeting the image is a little douchey,” he shrugs. He’s equally gauche with people he likes, broadcasting his vacations via chartered jet on Snapchat. As for girls, “I tried to use Tinder, it didn’t work. In Sweden it’s horrible; there’s only like four people.” Hence the $180,000 nightclub bills.
“I’m a little bit making up for lost time when I was just programming through my twenties,” he says. “Partying is not a sane way to spend money, but it’s fun. When we were young we did not have a lot of money at all, so I thought, if I ever get rich I’m not going to become one of those boring rich people that doesn’t spend money.”
Right now he’s spending on the permanent office for his new company–a teenage boy’s fantasy that will include a full-service bar, a DJ booth (he’s learning how to spin) and secret rooms hidden by bookshelves–despite the fact that Rubberbrain is nothing more than a name waiting for an idea.
Little inspiration seems imminent. Persson spends a great deal of his time in the current office refreshing Twitter and Reddit, while Porsér checks the fan forums of his boyhood ice hockey team and plays an inane online clicking game that explodes bugs and critters for coins.
“It’s like a day care for us–grown-up day care,” says Persson. Every time a concept comes up, “we try for a couple days and we go back to playing games.”
Perhaps this will pass. But there are also a slew of younger Markus Perssons who are hungrier and more attuned to what the next generation of kids wants. Asked about this, the Minecraft creator responds that he’s completely comfortable being a one-hit wonder. Being insanely rich and prematurely washed up apparently trumps the stresses of responsibility over a virtual nation that alternately reveres and despises you.
“People were starting to talk about the concept of Notch, or whatever, like the ideal,” he says, parsing through his two identities. “I thought back to when I met my idols and [realized], ‘Oh s–t, these are real people. ‘That disconnect became so clear to me. I don’t have the relationship that I thought I did with my fans.”
Leaving the Rubberbrain offices, Persson’s assistant hands him a handwritten note from a fan in the U.S. Written in the looping, practice-makes-perfect cursive of a fourth or fifth grader and pinned together with a single dollar bill, the letter asks Persson to add new features to Minecraft for the young writer. “We got a bribe today,” Persson jokes, before he glances over the note and furrows his brow.
He then points to the dollar. “Should we send it back?”
Harry Potter: 5 Real Harry Potter Filming Locations That You Can Visit in Britain
The world of Harry Potter is a magical place filled with Quidditch Matches, Dementors, Wizards, House Elves, Centaurs, Deatheaters, and more. There are so many impossibly awesome things it may seem hard to think that any of them could be real. Of course, though, with eight films made between 2001 and 2011, many real-world locations served as parts of Harry’s magical universe. Over all parts of Britain, there are many places that you can visit and have your own magical experience.
1. Alnwick Castle
If you want to learn how to ride a broom, you’ll find Madame Hooch’s class on the grounds of this real castle in Northumberland. The castle’s main courtyard was where Harry first learned to use a broom in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and was also used for several exterior locations of Hogwarts. More than just a touring castle, it is actually the seat of the Duke of Northumberland, Ralph Percy, and the home of the Percy family. To help finance the castle’s upkeep, it is open to visitors for most of the year and the castle also has broom riding classes that you can take (though actual flying may be a bit more difficult).
2. King’s Cross Station
Platform 9 ¾ is one of the most well-known locations in the world of Harry Potter and you can find it at King’s Cross Station in London. While the platform is reached by running through a column between platforms nine and ten, the Platform 9 ¾ that you can visit is actually a wall in the western departures concourse. The station has placed not only a sign, but half a trolley mounted to the wall so that visitors can have their pictures taken traveling to the Hogwarts Express. There’s also a Harry Potter gift shop nearby, but pick your time to go carefully, as it is a very popular location.
3. Oxford University
Several parts of the university serve as different locations in Hogwarts. Christ Church College’s grand stairway is the same as the one first year students ascended before entering the Great Hall, which in reality is the college’s dining hall. Duke Humfrey’s Library doubles as Hogwarts Library, though it’s lacking a forbidden section. Lastly, Oxford’s Divinity School served in the films as the school’s infirmary.
4. Goathland Railway Station
This real railway station in North Yorkshire should be very familiar to Potter fans as Hogsmeade’s train station in multiple Potter films. The station serves the nearby village of Goathland and appears in both Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone as well as Order of the Phoenix. You might want to just make a day trip of this one, though, as the only nearby accommodation is a camping coach and there isn’t too much touristy stuff in the area. Besides Harry Potter, the station has featured in the film Keeping Mum and the programmes Heartbeat and All Creatures Great and Small.
5. Durham Cathedral
Like Oxford, many of Hogwarts’ farmous locations can be found within the walls. Many of the wizarding school’s classrooms and corridors were filmed at Durham Cathedral, including Professor McGonagall’s Transfiguration classroom, Harry’s snowy scene with Hedwig, the time Ron puked up slugs, and more. While the Cathedral certainly welcomes tourists, it’s worth keeping in mind that it is still regularly used for church services and other events, so all parts may not be available some of the time. However, some photography in places outside the actual sanctuary is permitted (which is where you’re likely going to want photos anyway), but be sure to mind the rules lest you be asked to delete your photos.
Quicksilver Punches Captain America in AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Sneak Peek
Entertainment Tonight has released a fun sneak peek at Joss Whedon‘s Avengers: Age of Ultron. The video includes footage from the set of the film with interviews from the cast and crew. It also features some really cool new footage from the film. One of the clips shows Quicksilver punching Captain America in the face, and Scarlet Witch casting some kind of spell on Black Widow. There’s a good chance a lot of these new little clips we see will be included in the trailer that is being released by Marvel tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy this video. It’s worth checking out for anyone who is excited about this movie, which drops on May 1st.
World’s largest private Harry Potter collection goes on display Saturday
MEXICO CITY — A young Mexican’s fascination with Harry Potter has grown into the world’s biggest private collection of toys, books, clothes and other items related to author J.K. Rowling’s fantasy hero. Now, other fans have a chance to see it all.
The collection belonging to real estate lawyer Menahem Asher Silva Vargas has been certified by Guinness Awards as the largest anywhere. And it is on display at the Mexican Museum of Antique Toys in Mexico City.
Silva Vargas started collecting Harry Potter items 15 years ago, when he was 12. He started with toys, then branched out to all sorts of things, from scarves to soda cans from Japan and Chinese language editions of Rowling’s books.
He has 3,097 items in all. The exhibit formally opened Saturday.