Harry Potter « The Hive Network

Tag Archives: Harry Potter

#FictionalDeathsIWillNeverGetOver – Good times with Twitter hashtags.

05/03/2013 – 15:09

I love a good trending hashtag on Twitter when it is one that I can get involved in. It’s always awesome to see as well when it’s one you’re interested in what other people have written in response to the hashtag and what their opinions are too.

When I went on Twitter yesterday morning I saw that #FictionalDeathsIWillNeverGetOver was in the top ten (by the afternoon it had changed to a more boring #FictionalCharactersIWantToMarry which I didn’t participate in) and the trend has still carried over to today (Tuesday 5^th March). I did some research, and thought the answers as I scrolled through the hashtag not so much surprising, but just how many people agreed on the same ones.

Harry Potter and the Gargantuan Lego Set.

04/03/2013 – 17:19

Fantastic in plastic: Harry Potter.

What was once a humble toy, that granted took a big imagination to use and an even bigger wallet to execute, has grown in its demographic and appeal substantially in last couple of decades. I am of course referring to Denmark’s greatest export; no, not Barbie-Girl-squealing pop band Aqua, but Lego. Seeing its reign under constant threat from games consoles and other toys, Lego has had to seriously up its game if it was going to stay in the market and be as respected and loved as it was when I was a child. A genius move of getting in to bed with massive branded franchises like Star Wars, Marvel & DC and Harry Potter has ensured that Lego has stayed, if not reclaimed its position, as the number one toy for children.

And I say for children when we all know full well that Lego is as much for children as Star Wars itself is. Nowadays with the massive and detailed sets that one can buy from Lego , although the age range on the box may say 10-16 years, are you buying that Imperial Star Destroyer for your nephew or yourself? Yes, I thought so.

One of the excellent things about Lego today is not just how much the sets and ranges have expanded, it’s how incredible the detail and scope of Lego sets are nowadays too. When I was thirteen or so, I was bought for my birthday Lego’s flagship (if you’ll pardon the pun) set which as the time was the Black Seas Barracuda pirate ship. It contained a modest – by today’s standards – 865 pieces and eight minifigures. It was, at the time, their most expensive and elaborate set. I kept it for many years, still with its box and sold it on eBay a couple of years ago for £75, proving that Lego retains its value too. I had many sets from the Pirates theme and indeed I had a lot of sets anyway; over 150 sets I’d estimate have passed through my hands in my life so I do consider myself somewhat of a Lego connoisseur. That’s just a posh word for nerd.

Fast forward to today. Lego’s ever-growing diversity continues to impress me and some of the sets released in recent times have left me salivating at the mouth in my Lego geekery and worship. But the reason I am writing this blog is about to be explained. Join me as I take you on a journey into the minds of two people who really know they two-studded flats from their sloping roof tiles as we gasp in awe, worship, love and adoration together at their art. These artists have proved just how much you really can do – the level of detail you can create and showing perhaps that literally anything can be built in Lego.

—–

The first piece that came my way was a report on a Romanian artist who has recreated the nine circles of Hell from Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy in Lego. No, you read that right. The Divine Comedy, one of history’s most prolific and influential texts of the Italian word and shaper of Western literature has had some of its most famous scenes envisioned in the tiny plastic Danish brick. The circles that were recreated are: Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud and Treachery.

Really you just need to click here to see the article on the Telegraph website.

If your jaw is still on the bottom of your face beneath the top part of your mouth, then it won’t be for much longer until I present to you my next one that I was sent recently. This is an article on how a Seattle mum & housewife felt that Lego’s own Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry from Harry Potter wasn’t quite to her level… so she built her own.

Out of an astonishing and incredible 400,000 bricks.

You can see Alice Finch’s incredible Lego Hogwarts on her Flickr album here, and there is an interview with her on how and why she decided to play Lego at their own game at Brothers Brick here.

And to think, you could just build a McLaren F1 instead, eh?

You can see our complete range of Lego books on Hive here.

By hivenetwork | Posted in Hive's Blogs | Also tagged Alice Finch, Denmark, ideas, Lego, Mihai Mihu, Pirates, Star Wars | Comments (0)

Jason Issacs, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Brannagh…

21/08/2012 – 11:26

So guess where I went recently. No, it wasn’t the latest annual Star Trek convention in Las Vegas sadly, (I’m working on that). But it was somewhere just as epic… yes, I have finally been to the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio Tour in Leavesden.

The outside of the studios.

First thing to note about the attraction, I feel, is the price. I got this as part of a birthday present but being mercenary as I am I wanted to see how much the tickets were too as I plan to go back again at some point. Individual/ adult price is £28. There are of course family, group and concession discounts, but this is the basic price if you’re not part of a family or there are just two of you. I was pleasantly surprised at this; Warner Bros. know full well they could charge £50+ and part of your soul and the die-hards will pay it, just to be in areas where their beloved students of Hogwarts have treaded in the past.

A shuttle bus takes you from Watford Junction station, north-west of London, directly on a 10-minute journey to Leavesden Studios where all eight of the Harry Potter films were shot. Don’t think that was free though – you do pay £2 return for the privilege of the shuttle bus. Once you arrive you are greeted with a vast, behemoth cream-coloured building adorned with artwork from the last film. Also sitting outside on massive plinths as a taster are some of the chess pieces that Harry, Ron and Hermione use at the end of The Philosopher’s Stone to battle their way through the huge game of wizard chess. Pretty impressive and exciting stuff so far.

Our Hedwig and Fang-branded tickets!

Ticket check-in was easy, all self-automated. You must book this is in advance on the website though, no tickets are sold on the door. When you walk in the foyer the first thing you see other than squealing children are the three hand-prints-in-cement of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint which were part of the opening ceremony of the studios. Having marvelled at this you walk further through to the main area where you queue to actually start the experience. I stopped for at least ten minutes to marvel at the enormous canvas photographs of the main characters which are erected high on the walls. Also, suspended along with them on hopefully what is very strong wire, is the Ford Anglia which Ron and Harry drive to Hogwarts in at the beginning of The Chamber of Secrets. And as if your appetite couldn’t be whetted any more, as you queue up the Cupboard Under the Stairs is right next to you! Fabulous! My first nerdgasm of the day.

The art on the walls in the main queuing area.

You start to queue up next to the Stairs until you are ushered into a very dark room with an allocated amount of people. I like this; even though it was busy only a set amount of people go through at any one time and this helps with over-crowding and makes it seem a lot less like a zoo. In this dark room there are eight video screens, four on one side and four opposite, all showing in rotation artwork from foreign editions of the film posters. A tour guide makes his appearance at this point talking about the experience and the usual health & safety/ refreshments speech. A very short video is broadcasted on these screens, after which three sets of double doors open and you are now presented with a cinema. I sat down thinking, were they going to start showing all the films now in some huge and unexpected marathon? Well don’t be ridiculous, of course they weren’t. We were shown an exclusive 10-minute-or-so documentary presented by the three main actors about how much they loved making the films, things we can expect to see on the tour. This was their homage to the extraordinary crew who bought JK Rowling’s books to life.

So you’re all excited now. This is it. The film gets the adrenalin going and you just know you are going to see some awesome things.

The great Doors!

And could it have kicked off in a more fantastical way for right on cue, the cinema screen itself is dismissed into the ceiling above to reveal behind it the enormous and most famous oak-doors in the world; the entrance to Hogwarts. The actual ones! Just incredible. Our guide comes back to give us some more information and without further ado, like some elaborate West End musical transition, the doors to Hogwarts are opened and you find you’re reminding yourself to breathe as you come to terms with the fact that you are now standing in The Great Hall of Hogwarts.

What happens after that, well, I’m not going to spoil if for you. If I tell you everything that happened and what you can expect to see then either you won’t want to go or it will get you ridiculously over-excited. Either way, I’m not taking the chance. You’ll just have to go and see for yourself the secrets that were revealed.

I will say though, that Butterbeer was good.

All pictures were taken by the author.

By hivenetwork | Posted in Hive's Blogs | Also tagged Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, JK Rowling, London, Rupert Grint, Warner bros Studio Tour, Warner Bros. | Comments (0)

The skin I live in.

06/03/2012 – 17:08

Skin up, pin up: Some of the books people take inspiration from for their inky tributes.

Bit of a specialist one this blog. If you love books, then please continue to read. If you have an interest in tattoos then please, do carry on too. But what I wanted to discuss with you is what happens when both these worlds collide. Answer… something like this, which I found whilst idly browsing recently on t’interweb.

Being a connoisseur of some things literary, most things popular culture and all things tattoo, I feel I can critique some of the tattoo art that has been famed on this website. Looking at the ones of verses, there’s something about a whole limb which has been taken up by simple black script I find very beautiful. Providing it’s not, for example, a Piggyback game guide or similar which thankfully I don’t think anyone has had. (No offense to the good people at Piggyback). But skin was made for the prose of Dickens and Byron, so this without question gets my vote (as long as it’s legible).

As I scrolled down the page the most popular pieces it seems are much-loved children’s books and cartoons. We have a fondness for remembering the stories that made us happy when we were children which have still haunted us in our adulthood, and in tribute we have had the images of countless, not to mention the most eccentric, authors’ imaginations etched onto our skin for the rest of our lives. The Curious George ones look rather amazing, and of course the simplistic-yet-beautiful drawings of Antoine de Saint Exupery’s Le Petit Prince make for beautiful skin art with the colours of deep purple, bright yellow and oceanic blue all coming together. One very popular children’s tale seems to serve for endless inspiration for tattoos – Lewis Carroll’s timeless Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland which further reinforces my personal belief that those stories with a vast array of wonderful characters and limitless fantasy are most used in literary tattooing. A possible explanation for this could be because in an ensemble cast, there’s bound to be one you will identify with.

Arguably not every children’s classic story makes for elegant ink. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury I give you exhibit a: Winnie the Pooh tattoos. Let me establish quickly I am a fan of AA Milne’s small, red-shirted, fat honey-loving bear and his friends of the Hundred Acre Wood. My favourite character is Rabbit. Many parallels I have always seen in him as like me he is quick to react, highly opinionated and gets worked up almost instantly. However even my admiration for these characters cannot condone the justification of the horrendous act of Pooh n’ Tigger tattoos. No matter how much shading or fine needles are used no-one should ever get Winnie the Pooh or any associated characters tattooed on themselves. At the risk of sounding snobbish, I apply this only to the Disney incarnations. I would definitely put them into Room 101 as they are hideous and they are the sort of tattoo people get done when they don’t know what else to get done and I for one think they should be prohibited.

And so we move onto other greats of literature whom have no doubt been increased in their popularities by their enormously successful film franchises. I have often thought about getting some kind of tribute to the world of Harry Potter on me. I probably will do, but at the moment I have yet to decide exactly what. I absolutely love the word ‘Always’, which was tattooed in tribute to the answer Snape gives Professor Dumbledore when asked if he still loves Lily Potter. Not too sure how I feel about the enormous back tattoo of Dumbledore next to – Lord have mercy, the worst kinds of tattoo ever conceived on this earth – tribal. JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, with its huge universe of hobbits, wizards, elves and orcs makes for interesting tattoos and it seems that the possibilities are endless in how people want the famous trilogy immortalised on them. Going a bit further down the page I was really happy to see someone had had El-ahrairah the rabbit from Watership Down on them which in the same vein as the Lord of the Rings, has a great amount of visualisation thanks to the iconic film created from the book.

Matilda, by Roald Dahl.

The Marzipan Pig, by Russell Hoban.

Well I need to justify my opinions and I do so now dear readers through the medium of photography. Here you can see two of my literary tattoos; Roald Dahl’s Matilda and Russell Hoban’s the Marzipan Pig, both illustrated by Quentin Blake. Fantastic.

By hivenetwork | Posted in Hive's Blogs | Also tagged Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Curious George, Le Petit Prince, Literary tattoos, Matilda, tattooing, Tattoos, The Lord of the Rings, The Marzipan Pig, Watership Down, Winnie the Pooh | Comments (0)

“I think we must expect great things from you, Mr Potter…”

24/02/2012 – 09:15

The film tie-in of the Woman in Black

And so you should, to be honest. However even though this classic quote of the title of this blog comes from wand-maker Mr Ollivander (John Hurt) in the Harry Potter films, you must have guessed by now that I am of course using it to refer to Daniel Radcliffe’s first post-Harry Potter feature, the Woman in Black.

I had to go and see the stage play of this when I was at school because we were studying it for GCSE. I didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t enjoy the book either. I just didn’t get it. I found it so unbelievably boring. Mind you, I didn’t get Withnail & I – I know, I know – when I first saw it. Six months later I watched Withnail & I again and realised its undisputed genius.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say I had a moment akin to that of Withnail & I when I saw the Woman in Black at the cinema on Sunday, but it certainly was a very enjoyable film with some great gasp-aloud moments in it. Based on the book by Susan Hill, for those of you not familiar with the plotline it tells the story of young solicitor Arthur Kipps who, recently bereaved from the loss of his wife during childbirth, is sent on a trip to a large remote manor, Eel Marsh House, in the north of England to go through the papers of a young woman who has also recently died. Being faced with the prospect of going through endless piles of paperwork can be scary enough, that is until the floorboards start creaking, shadows start moving when all else is inanimate and curtains begin twitching for no apparent reason. Naturally the dog can sense these things and growls to warn whenever the presence of the ghost of the Woman in Black is near.

But who is she? And what is, quite frankly, her beef? Why does she patrol the desolate manor where this is set, and how is she linked to the papers under investigation? Why is she so annoyed that she feels the need to spectrally haunt the village, terrifying the locals and making children commit suicide just by controlling their minds? This is a movie about a ghost with one hell of a chip on her transparent shoulder. She is mourning the loss of her son who drowned years ago in the merciless marshes that rise during high tide outside Eel Marsh House and in vengeance, continues to pop-up-out-of-nowhere around the village when least expected, frightening people as she stands – as much as a ghost can – eerily between trees in woods and gravestones in cemeteries. Chilling stuff. Anything in black with no feet is terrifying, you have to admit.

Turns out upon doing research that the ending of this film differs to that of the book, but not having remembered anything about the book I didn’t mind this. The thing I was most looking out for and was interested in was seeing how Daniel Radcliffe was doing following putting the world’s most famous boy-wizard to rest. The answer is very well. Even though naturally he has Harry’s face, I didn’t miss Harry once or think that this was Harry Potter I was watching; where’s the hair and glasses and lightning bolt scar? Which makes me think, people have been so quick to try and declare that Radcliffe may never do anything decent after Potter and will forever be typecast. But after seeing the Woman in Black and it sensibly coming out so soon after the Deathly Hallows, I think the Harry Potter skin will be shed imminently, if not already. I don’t think the young Radcliffe has anything to worry about; it’s the other students of Hogwarts I think you’ll be asking yourselves in the next few months where are they now. If you subscribe to the theory that Harry Potter wasn’t real acting anyway, then a) shame on you and b) go and see the Woman in Black and learn that there are many theatrical sides to Radcliffe, and we’ve just been treated to another one.

We expected great things from him. And we were not short-changed.

By hivenetwork | Posted in Hive's Blogs | Also tagged Daniel Radcliffe, ghost stories, gothic, Susan Hill, The Woman in Black, Withnail & I | Comments (1)

Everything in moderation… including moderation.

30/12/2011 – 15:26

So I was listening to Radio 2 this morning in the car on the way into work, when Richard Madeley and his cohorts were discussing three different and interesting topics. Not, worryingly, having a lot to discuss on the blog this week apart from Happy New Year to all, I considered these three questions quite good and thought I will answer them in today’s blog. Hopefully in an attempt to make for some interesting reading.

Name a random act of kindness that you did this year.
What are you eating leftover from Christmas.
A significant event that happened to you or you took part in.

So, to answer number one, the first thing that sprang to my mind was something I did back in February this year, when my significant other and I were dining in a restaurant in Hastings. Without getting into a huge story about it, a lady at a table very near us starting choking on her bit of steak, and so I rushed over to her as it became apparent that none of the other patrons knew what to do, and performed the abdominal thrusts on her and dislodging the little blighter of meat from her windpipe. She bought me a beer afterwards, but each good deed is its own reward.

What am I still eating leftover from Christmas… Well I did make a very lovely chocolate & peanut butter cheesecake for pudding on Christmas Day, and a generous wedge of it is still residing in my fridge waiting to be consumed. If the idea of this delicious delicacy is making you salivate, then please check out Kitchen from the lovely Nigella Lawson for she is its creator. As she quoted upon baking it, “the French have a saying; everything in moderation, including moderation.” You will agree with this statement just from smelling it.

And so the last question regarding an event. I went to some great shows and events this year; I went to see Love Never Dies at the Adelphi in February, and Pulp live at Wireless Festival in Hyde Park in July. Very different musically, but I loved them both dearly. However if I were to pick the event I would probably have to go with Collectormania in Milton Keynes, back in May. This is a sci-fi and cult TV & film convention company that I volunteer crew for, and have done for a few years. The Milton Keynes shows we do each year are I think the best as we generally get a great guest list of actors. Particular highlights for me this year would be working with the awesome Helen Atkinson-Wood from Blackadder, meeting many actors I love from Star Trek, and getting to chat to Anthony Head from Merlin & Buffy. Can’t get much more awesome than that.

Although some of it may pale ever-so-slightly in comparison now after the event on Christmas morning when I unwrapped one of my presents to discover I had been bought tickets to the Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tours in London next April. Jealous? You should be.

And so I leave you all now with the last blog of the year, and I’m more than confident we’ll see each other very soon!

By all means if you want to answer these questions too, please leave your responses in the comments field below…

By hivenetwork | Posted in Hive's Blogs | Also tagged BBC Radio 2, Blackadder, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Love Never Dies, Merlin, New Year, Nigella Lawson, Pulp, Richard Madeley, Star Trek, Warner Bros. | Comments (1)

Baileys & cherryade.

02/09/2011 – 17:14

A rather belated hello to you all this week, but as they say, better late than never!

That's fabulous, darling.

I was grinning from ear to ear this week when I learned the fantastic news about two of the most iconic characters in the BBC’s classic comedy legacy, Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone, are returning to our screens for a three-part twentieth anniversary special of Absolutely Fabulous. I am so excited; I grew up with the drunken and hilarious antics of Eddy & Patsy when they first came to our screens in 1991, in a Vogue-infested ball of Stolichnaya, Marlboro Lights and Christian Lacroix. The great news is that all the original cast are returning for the show, including Julia Sawalha as Eddy’s long-suffering daughter Saffy, June Whitfield as Mother and Jane Horrocks as Eddy’s bizarre-but-loveable secretary Bubble. The episodes are being set in the present day, and as Absolutely Fabulous never let us down with its spot-on social observations of the times it was filmed in, it will be so wonderful and interesting to see how Eddy and Patsy are living in a world of smartphones, Facebook and YouTube. I just can’t wait and I’m very happy to know that Jennifer Saunders will be back on our screens after her successful battle against breast cancer last year.

Well that’s just fabulous, sweetie.

And there will be an Absolutely Fabulous section on our DVD homepage next week in tribute to this news, so make sure you check it out for some extra-fabulous prices.

" 'Viva France' as they say in Rome, Rodders!"

Staying with BBC comedy and legendary characters for the moment, I was alerted to some even more pukka news this week about a competition that was being run by satellite channel G.O.L.D. and in conjunction with the thirtieth anniversary of Only Fools & Horses. The prize was for anyone who fancied renting a night in a specially-made replica of Nelson Mandela House, where Del, Rodders, Granddad and Uncle Albert lived, for 1980s prices – £18 a night! All you had to do was email a registration to enter but sadly I only found this all out at the eleventh hour so was unable to enter myself. But hey ho, you can still enjoy the thirtieth-anniversary celebrations and take advantage of the best comedy the BBC ever created by checking out the Only Fools & Horses section from next Monday on our DVD page. Quite frankly you’d be a plonker not to. Lovely jubbly!

Finally I got to see Super 8 this week, the latest offering from LOST-creator J.J. Abrams and produced by I’m-not-worthy Steven Spielberg. If you haven’t seen it yet you should still be able to find a few showings as your local cinema such as I did, and it’s well worth it to go and see on the big screen, but I have to say in all honesty, it didn’t quite blow me away like Cloverfield or Star Trek XI, J.J. Abrams last feature did. I won’t put any plot spoilers in here for you but suffice to say I thought the children and the opening story were excellent, but the conclusion of the film… not so much. Sorry Mr Abrams, I think you can do better. Still the prospect of Cloverfield 2 has most definitely got my attention…

And finally this week I was rather tickled to learn what the most sought-after out-of-print book is. US-based book search engine BookFinder.com has totalled up all its searches of the past year and found that Madonna’s rather risqué to say the very least, Sex book is number one. I actually remember seeing reviews on it just after its release in 1992, and from a graphic point of view how interesting it was to see a large book encased in metal and being spiral-bound; it did look very naughty. Of course I would’ve been much too young at the time to read its contents, but I’m kicking myself slightly now because a local shop in the town I live had a copy in their window last year for a very reasonable price. Oh, in the bath when opportunity knocked. I will console myself then with the much more friendly-to-the-eyes The Marzipan Pig by Russell Hoban and illustrated by Quentin Blake, which I do have and is out-of-print.

If you’re interested to know if you are in possession of any of BookFinder.com’s most sought-after 100, you can see the entire list here.

The number one character features in all seven stories.

And speaking of lists, Harry Potter fans will be excited to learn who was voted the most popular character from the Harry Potter stories this week. I won’t spoil it for you, but if you want to know then just click here to see the full top 40 list. Personally I’m delighted to learn who was voted number one, and very deservedly so. It’s a great list and it’s only when you look at all the names there in the list that you realise just how phenomenal JK Rowling, her imagination and her writing really is.

And on that note, I shall see you all next week!

‘Laters!

By hivenetwork | Posted in Hive's Blogs | Also tagged Joanna Lumley, Absolutely Fabulous, JK Rowling, Star Trek, Jennifer Saunders, Julia Sawalha, Only Fools & Horses, David Jason, Delboy, Rodney, Super 8, J.J. Abrams, LOST, Cloverfield, Madonna, The Marzipan Pig | Comments (0)

Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus.

25/08/2011 – 14:09

Good afternoon, my faithful readers.

Jamie's new title due late September.

I sat down two nights ago and caught up via the beauty of Sky+ Jamie Cooks Summer, which was on Channel 4 on Monday. In the fifty-minute programme, no doubt broadcasted late in the summer to get us in preparation for his new title Jamie’s Great Britain coming next month, the naked chef found himself positively on the brink of euphoria every time he tasted one of his meals he had cooked, be it – as he says, back to basics – by cooking over a homemade tin pail masquerading as a fish-smoker, sticks chopped from trees or in the case of his chocolate pancake-cake (yes, you read that right), no cooking whatsoever. It must be said though that the beef chili brisket [insert salivating noises here] he made at the beginning of the show looked utterly to die, the meat flaking away moistly in Jamie’s fingers upon stewing. But in all seriousness, taking into account my naivety and weaknesses when watching cookery programmes, even I was thinking although it was no doubt sublime and melt-in-the-mouth, are you going to have time, or can you actually be bothered, to cook a stew six hours before heading off to Glasto when you’re more excited about seeing Muse than anything else? For this was festival/ garden/ barbeque/ general anything-that-one-can-do-in-the-garden-and-eat-food-to food. And not only did Jamie show you how to cook it, he showed you how to make your own cooking equipment too. So if you find yourself in Epping Forrest with nothing but a fallen oak tree, Swiss army knife and a lame fawn, you now know how to keep yourself going for the night. Just don’t use pine, as the wood is too oily and will make your venison taste like toilet duck.

Will Parky win your vote with the greatest interview?

Something a bit more serious caught my sleepy morning eye two mornings ago when I turned the BBC Breakfast News on and watched a feature on something the Radio Times are currently doing; a competition to find out the best ever interview in history. I watched the small clip of famous interviews, from the confessional – Frost/ Nixon, to the downright baffling, Meg Ryan on Parkinson. There have been lots of nominations; don’t forget Michael Portillo on Jeremy Paxman and indeed, the legendary physical assault on Russell Harty from Grace Jones in 1981. I should imagine Martin Bashir and Princess Diana will be a strong contender too, with her finally admitting that there were “three people” in her marriage to Prince Charles. Personally anything from TFI Friday in the ’90s gets my vote. Keep an eye on the Radio Times if you want to cast your vote on which interview kept you biting your nails throughout history.

An article I was recommended to read was a post in the Books blog on the Guardian website about the many words in the English language which are no longer used any more. The writers and compilers of the Collins English dictionaries have sadly had to remove a mass of words that are just not spoken in this modern day and age. The post, which you can read here, highlights some of the words which you will no longer see in some of Collins’ smaller dictionaries, but what is sadder I feel than this are the words that have been brought into dictionaries because of the advent of internet and text-speak. I standby wholeheartedly in my opinion that the medium of texting has a lot to answer for with the level of diction and literacy in today’s generation. Yes, I know that may make me sound like I could be queuing up in the Mr Kipling aisle in my local supermarket on pension day, but one can’t deny how differently we talk and write now compared to how we did only ten years ago. Words that have been added to our modern-day dictionaries which may surprise you include, breadcrumb trail (not to be confused with the escapades of Hansel & Gretel), bridezilla, bucket list, eco-chic, insidery, man flu, mani-pedi, nekkid (apparently we don’t say ‘naked’ anymore), NSFW, permalink and unfollow. ZOMG!

Carrie's War by Nina Bawden

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

An era where one would never have heard or spoken those afore-mentioned words is being highlighted at the Imperial War Museum in London with an event they are currently running, Book in the Park: Read-a-thon. The event pays tribute to some of our greatest literature set during WWI and WWII, with iconic titles including Carrie’s War and War Horse being read aloud and discussed. If you want to get down there for the last couple of days, more details can be found here. Adults and children of all ages are welcome and it’s a great way to learn more about the history of the World Wars through novel and play.

Before I go I just want to mention two pieces of Harry Potter news that got me rather excited when I read about them in the past week. First, HarperCollins have announced they will be publishing the seminal Harry Potter movie guide in October. This will be the ultimate piece of non-fiction Harry Potter literature, where fans can read about the movies, go behind the scenes of the sets and learn how the films were made with in-depth looks into the characters and actors who created and brought to life our greatest ever movie franchise. However if you can’t wait until then, or the hefty £49.99 price tag is worrying you, you may find enjoyment in Harry Potter Film Wizardry, which I personally highly recommend also. And at half the price too of the former title, this book is packed with removable facsimile reproductions of props and blue-prints of the various locations and buildings seen in the Harry Potter blockbusters. And if you still can’t see yourself affording that, then perhaps just the Golden Snitch Kit will satisfy.

Harry Potter: Film Wizardry

But what if you wanted to get even more into the world of JK Rowling’s boy wizard and experience how the students of Hogwarts actually felt when they first walked into the Great Hall in the Philosopher’s Stone, or Harry’s thoughts when he was first summoned to Dumbledore’s office? Well, now you can. Opening in spring 2012, Muggles of the world can unite in their love for all things Potter as Warner Bros open the doors of the very-first-in-the-UK studio tour where you will be at liberty to experience the magic of the Harry Potter film sets till your heart’s content. At the Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire, fans of the Harry Potter films will actually be able to walk around the stages and sets used in the eight-movie phenomenon and immerse themselves in their fantasies of being a student of the Houses of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Tickets cost a reasonable £28 for adults and £21 for children and more details can be found here, once online booking opens in mid-October. Sectumsempra!

Goodbye for now. I shall see you all next week.

By hivenetwork | Posted in Hive's Blogs | Also tagged Jamie Oliver, Michael Parkinson, David Frost, Richard Nixon, Jeremy Paxman, Chris Evans, War Horse, Carrie's War, Imperial War Museum, Leavesden Studios | Comments (0)

Potter vs. Twilight… and some serious stuff too.

11/08/2011 – 16:27

I had to laugh to myself this morning as I read this feature on t’interweb: http://paidcontent.org/article/419-twilight-themed-pottermore-parody-gets-300000-hits-in-three-days/ Quite simply in reaction to the success and media surrounding JK Rowling’s Pottermore website, designed to continue the Harry Potter legacy well into the future, some rather clever young Twilight fan has created a Twilight-equivalent to the website, with a site called twimore.com.

Are you more vampire than wizard?

The very first Harry Potter novel, all those years ago.

This is just a parody of what the ethos of Pottermore would be if applied to the Twilight-Stephenie Meyer universe, and since its “launch”, astonishingly it can actually boast it has had over 300,000 hits. The site lets you do similar things to the features of Pottermore, with interactive content, puzzles and quests. The best bit? That some people out actually believe it’s real. Ho ho ho.

Perhaps not so jovial and more serious was the next thing I learned about this week with regards to a small feature in the Guardian’s online money blog. This is a weekly feature where a Guardian reader submits a question in order to try and save money, about any subject, and other readers can comment and post answers to help them. Last week a reader was caught in a moral dilemma versus the purse strings… why should they shop in their local independent bookshop when they could just go online and order direct to their door, not to mention it would be cheaper, with some of the biggest online book retailers?

This is a subject I have kept very quiet on until now. The point is, if we all thought this then Hive wouldn’t be here and you wouldn’t be reading these words. The sheer fact that you are I’m hoping, is because you do care about your local independent and you want to keep them in your high street. Yes, granted, there are the more technical/ impatient consumers amongst us whom are happy to buy online and not give two hoots about their local indie, but we are here to help and aid and support the people who do care about their shops, and those shops too. There are pros and cons about both, and you can take everything into consideration from the financial side of things to the environmental side of things. It’s great to see that by reading the comments on the Guardian’s blog that there are people out there who are willing to support their indie, because they love the service they receive, the knowledge from the staff and the warm, personal service they receive each time they go into the shop that no mouse, keyboard or computer screen is ever going to give them. I found it sad though there were a host of negative comments too, some which question the skills of tact, but I think in all realism we are always going to have those that will prefer ordering online for whatever reason. And that’s their prerogative. However to say that independent bookshops ‘are no longer needed’ is the part which to say the least irked me; it’s a complete fallacy and perhaps the only way we can show those who ‘aren’t bothered’ is to ask the question…. How would you find it if you were to wake up one morning, walk down your high street and find absolutely no shops there anymore because everything that you once used to buy in a bricks-and-mortar shop was now only available next day because you have to order it online? I should think the streets would be very barren, quiet, and ultimately, soulless.

My opinions on the previous issue well and truly spoken there I think you’ll agree, I would now like to turn your attention to another rather odd feature I came across online too this week: http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/PWxyz/?p=6136. Not that I ever want to laugh at death, there are however a few amusing stories here and I think number two is my favourite. Have a read and maybe you’ll learn a bit of trivia you didn’t know before about some of our most historical authors.

Ian Rankin's new novel out mid-October, The Impossible Dead

For Ian Rankin and his Rebus fans there was exciting news announced this week too, as the Edinburgh-author has just put the finishing touches to his latest novel, The Impossible Dead. It is due to be released mid-October and will no doubt be a sure-fire bestseller for the Scottish crime writer. You can pre-order it now on Hive by clicking on the link in the title just mentioned, and opt to collect it from your local independent bookshop.

I would like to mention too that last weekend saw my birthday. To celebrate this I went on a two-day trip to London and managed to keep out of trouble by going to the London Aquarium and seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 at the O2. An absolutely glorious day, but a special mention must go to the small gift I received in tribute to Hive and the end of my twenty-ninth year on the planet.

My birthday bee biscuit, yesterday.

And no, I still haven’t eaten it. How could I?

We shall see each other soon!

Laters!

By hivenetwork | Posted in Hive's Blogs | Also tagged hive, independent bookshops, Twilight, JK Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, The Guardian, Amazon | Comments (2)

“Ten thousand thunderin’ typhoons!”

21/07/2011 – 16:37

Good afternoon to you all.

I’m going to start off telling you about a title I learned last week that is due to be released this October called The Adventures of Hergé. It’s a biography about Tintin’s creator, Hergé, being told through graphic novel form, and I’ve been privileged to have seen some of the artwork. Happily it’s extremely similar to Hergé’s own legendary drawings of his heroic iconic Belgian journalist, and I for one am really looking forward to it. There seems to have been a good increase over the past few years in biopics told through the graphic novel medium, and I’m confident this one will be up there with the best. Next week we’ll be spotlighting Tintin’s backlist, so please make sure you come and visit us and see what ones you might be missing from your collection.

I must admit it wasn’t that the Beckhams have continued their run of bestowing their latest offspring with a rather untraditional name, it was more the source of where Victoria Beckham had acquired the name from that made me smile when I learned the inspiration for baby Harper Seven Beckham. Admirable indeed that she has selected a name that is in tribute to the author of one of the most significant works of literature of the last century, Harper Lee and her prolific tale To Kill a Mockingbird. Congratulations to the Beckhams and their new addition to the family, no doubt Posh is happy to not be the only girl anymore.

And congratulations also to Tom Pellereau for being the new winner of BBC1′s The Apprentice, which on Sunday night saw the young inventor go head-to-head with the remaining three finalists to win Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment and new career. It was a tough battle and an arguably shocking result, I mean who else was certain that the young Helen with her flawless record of winning tasks would win? Shall miss Jedi Jim though.

To coincide with The Apprentice, we ran a competition to win copies of Lord Sugar’s autobiography, What You See is What You Get, on our Twitter page last week. Although the competition has ended now, please make sure you follow us on Twitter to keep yourself up-to-date of all the latest things we tweet about, and indeed our competitions. You can win free booty just by a simple click of following us and retweeting, so don’t lose out; follow us and win!

You could be forgiven for feeling a bit blue after learning on the news this week that we are to embark on a month of rain right in the middle of summer. But that doesn’t mean your DVD or Blu-ray collection need be gloomy, so do yourself a favour and check out our DVD & Blu-ray summer sale to keep you smiling; we’ve over a hundred fantastic titles on sale, all for less than a tenner each. Perfect for a wet day, methinks.

Sticking with movies, I’m assuming most of you have now probably been to see Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2. I myself plan to extremely soon. I’ve read the books and indulged my fanaticism in them thoroughly to say the very least, but I am very much looking forward to seeing the last ever Harry Potter silver screen adaptation. I hope those of you who have been to see it enjoyed it and shed a tear for the end of such an historic cultural era. There will surely be nothing else to compare to the phenomenon of Potter.

And for now I will leave you, until next week.

By hivenetwork | Posted in Hive's Blogs | Also tagged Herge, Tintin, Beckham, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, The Apprentice, Alan Sugar, Tom Pellereau, Twitter, the Deathly Hallows | Comments (0)

The Hive Network

Tag Archives: Harry Potter

#FictionalDeathsIWillNeverGetOver – Good times with Twitter hashtags.

Harry Potter and the Gargantuan Lego Set.

Jason Issacs, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Brannagh…

The skin I live in.

“I think we must expect great things from you, Mr Potter…”

Everything in moderation… including moderation.

Baileys & cherryade.

Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus.

Potter vs. Twilight… and some serious stuff too.

“Ten thousand thunderin’ typhoons!”

Pages

Categories

Archives

Search

Hive Links

RSS Feeds

Meta

Follow “The Hive Network”