Starting off the New Year with a Legend of Zelda rap!!

Hey guys, I haven’t posted in months. I could say it is down to university, and it is, but much more than that… it is down to being distracted by amazing videos like this on the internet!!!

It is a Legend of Zelda rap, and I saw it when it first came out, but I only remembered it today whilst distracting myself from uni work 😀 However, this video is awesome, incorporating the Legend of Zelda theme whilst giving Link’s POV of the Zelda games. It’s a great parody, and the guy looks a lot how I imagine Link would look in real life except I’d imagine Link to be more baby-faced with bigger eyes. I actually know someone who looks a lot like Link too, but I couldn’t see him doing this video, but… who knows. Still, the ‘Link’ in this video is great. As a side note, this post was also inspired by a friend of this person who told me they thought Link was called ‘Zelda’ haha but as the Link in this video game says ‘that’s a f***ing girl’s name!!’.

I shall be sharing some of my favourite parody videos with you in my next post, but for now, enjoy this little gem 😉 I shall also be sharing with you a ‘Top list’ of my favourite classic arcade games, a review of 2011, and who knows what else? Until then, let Navi lead the way.

So much for my resolution of fighting temptation of going on Youtube when I have work 😉

Better be ready cos we’re running out of time – 21 Jump Street!!

‘We never thought we’d find a place where we belong.
Don’t have to stand alone, we’ll never let you fall.
Don’t need permission to decide what you believe’

21 Jump Street was the ultimate teen show of the 80’s. It was the show that really launched Johnny Depp’s career; it established him as an American hearthrob, and if you watch the show, you will see why 😉

The show is about a group of undercover cops including geeky Tom Hanson, (Johnny Depp), outspoken Judy Hoffs, (Holly Robinson Peete), comedic Doug Penhall, (Peter Deluise), suave Harry Truman Ioki, (Dustin Nguyen), and the leader of the cops – Captain Adam Fuller, (Steven Williams), infiltrating high schools, teen hangouts etc to find out who is dealing the cocaine, or who is refurbishing stolen car parts to make new cars, or who kidnapped this guy, etc.

The show deals with teen issues such as alcohol, murder, drugs, teen pregnancy, etc. And despite being a drama, the show cleverly mixes the serious issues with humour and comedy, mostly contributed by Peter Deluise as Doug Penhall.

The undercover Jump Street gang play different roles when they go undercover in schools. The best of these are probrably The McQuaid Brothers, (Johnny Depp and Peter Deluise) who share witty jokes, perform adorable handshake routines, work together to rule the school, and share a bromance ❤ Other roles they play are just as good and often help to create tension when the cops are forced to do something so as to not give up their real identities. For example, in one episode, whilst undercover, Peter Deluise’s character Doug has to snort cocaine so the little rich kids he is spying on don’t realise he isn’t one of them. However, he moves the cocaine aside before snorting so as not to do it and not to be caught.

21 Jump Street is being remade in the form of a film in 2012 including a cameo appearance from Johnny Depp. The film will likely be targeted at teenagers who probrably haven’t seen the series beforehand with it airing in the 80’s. However, the movie may introduce the series to a new audience, and bring former audiences of 21 Jump Street to see the film. I’m really looking forward to watching it, and despite starring new actors, it will hopefully be a favourable tribute to the origional series.

A twisted, modern take on the classic Dickens novel – Oliver Twist

The film industry is going round the Twist by jumping down the rabbit hole into the fairytale game after the success of Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, which made over a billion dollars at the box office.

Some ‘fairytale’ projects filmmakers focus on work – Disney are proof of that, as are filmmakers such as Tim Burton, (Sleepy Hollow, The Corpse Bride) and Steven Spielberg, (Gremlins, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial). However, when you see an article about a new film coming out – an adaptation of a classic Dickens novel, you don’t expect it to be called ‘Olivia Twisted’, a film about a female street urchin.

That’s right. Filmmakers have taken the classic novel and tarnished it with a shoe-blacking brush by turning it into a story about a girl called Olivia. The film is likely being planned as another way to celebrate Dicken’s bicentenary amongst many other planned adaptations, stage plays, exhibitions and events going on worldwide throughout 2012, however I suspect that rather as a celebration, it is a way for filmmakers to make money.

According to http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Ashley-Greene-Signs-On-To-Dickens-Adaptation-Olivia-Twisted-26773.html filmmakers are making more fairytale adaptations after Alice In Wonderland reaped it’s rewards at the box office. However, Alice In Wonderland was a well directed tale of friendship and loyalty that, despite not staying loyal to the origional story, (and was planned as a sequel), it was every ounce true to what Alice In Wonderland is about. Olivia Twisted is a modern take on the origional story of Oliver Twist, and unlike Great Expectations, (1998), I don’t believe they can turn it into a successful film that Dickens fans will appreciate.

Dickens adaptations have to be handled with care – there will be a lot of angry fans if an adaptation doesn’t hold true to the origional story. Great Expectations, whilst being a modern take on the book, was not cheesey, it was not a romcom, and it certainly didn’t tarnish the origional story. It was a bittersweet tale which encompassed the innocence of Pip and the lingering romance between him and Estella, down to the scene where Estella first kisses Pip as a child when he is drinking from the water fountain.

This modern take on a Dickens novel worked, but will the newly-planned ‘Olivia Twisted’? I doubt it.

Call me pessimistic, but I have seen nothing as of yet to give the project any promise. It looks set to be another Hollywood failure that bases a film on a successful story and the idea that films of the same genre are successful rather than looking at what audience’s want and creating new ideas and stories. We know from experience that films take much more to work – a talented film cast, an origonal director, a seamless and believeable plot, and a group of creative filmmakers behind it. Perhaps if ‘Olivia Twisted’ is blessed with these things, it may work. However, Twilight star Ashley Greene has been granted with the title role. Whilst not one of my favourite actors, I am hoping she can faithfully portray what will be a female version of Oliver.

The last thing the film needs is to have a soppy romantic plot overbearing the themes of poverty, friendship, innocence and loyalty and for cast members to burst into song during the film. It may have worked for Carol Reed’s Oliver! the musical in 1968, but it would appear cheesey and OTT if modern London turned into a musical.

I sincerely hope that this project is given the right cast and crew for it to be successful, but it is definetely a project to be handled with care.

My personal challenge to see the 100 best silent films from the Silent Era :D

Alongside trying to watch the top 500 Empire films before the end of 2012, I am also making it my mission to see the 100 best silent films (according to thesilentera), within 6 months, so ending March 13th 😀 I have marked the ones I have already seen. Some of these films are only a few minutes, but others can be anything up to 3 1/2 hours haha. So I should have seen them all within 6 months alongside watching films for my other challenge. I am trying to broaden the range of films I have seen, make it more diverse. Also, by seeing a lot of early silent films, I am hoping it will not only enhance by ability in the knowledge of mise-en-scene, setting, lighting, etc, but also give me a clearer understanding in the development of early film. So I begin now, let’s see how I do:

[] 1) The General, (Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman, 1926)
[x] 2) Metropolis, (Fritz Lang, 1927)
[] 3) Sunrise, (F.W. Murnau, 1927)
[] 4) City Lights, (Charles Chaplin, 1931)
[x] 5) Nosferatu, (F.W. Murnau, 1922)
[] 6) The Gold Rush, (Charles Chaplin, 1925)
[] 7) La passion et la mort de Jeanne d’Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc), (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928)
[x] 8 ) Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), (Robert Wiene, 1920)
[x] 9) Bronenosets ‘Potyomkin’ (The Battleship Potemkin), (Sergei M. Eisenstein, 1925)
[] 10) Greed, (Erich von Stroheim, 1924)
[] 11) Die Büchse der Pandora (Pandora’s Box), (G.W. Pabst, 1929)
[] 12) The Crowd, (King Vidor, 1928)
[] 13) The Wind, (Victor Sjöström, 1928)
[] 14) Napoléon, (Abel Gance, 1927)
[x] 15) The Birth of a Nation, (D.W. Griffith, 1915)
[] 16) Intolerance, (D.W. Griffith, 1916)
[] 17) Sherlock, Jr., (Buster Keaton, 1924)
[] 18) The Big Parade, (King Vidor, 1925)
[] 19) Safety Last, (Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, 1923)
[] 20) The Phantom of the Opera, (Rupert Julian, 1925)
[] 21) Broken Blossoms, (D.W. Griffith, 1919)
[] 22) Der letzte Mann (The Last Laugh), (F.W. Murnau, 1924)
[] 23) The Kid, (Charles Chaplin, 1921)
[] 24) Steamboat Bill, Jr., (Charles F. Reisner, 1928)
[] 25) Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, (Fred Niblo, 1925)
[] 26) The Thief of Bagdad, (Raoul Walsh, 1924)
[] 27) Flesh and the Devil, (Clarence Brown, 1927)
[] 28) Our Hospitality, (Buster Keaton and
John G. Blystone, 1923)
[] 29) Wings, (William A. Wellman, 1927)
[] 30) Chelovek s kinoapparatom (Man With the Movie Camera), (Dziga Vertov, 1929)
[x] 31) Nanook of the North, (Robert J. Flaherty, 1922)
[] 32) Faust, (F.W. Murnau, 1926)
[] 33) Way Down East, (D.W. Griffith, 1920)
[] 34) Häxan (Witchcraft Through the Ages), (Benjamin Christensen, 1922)
[] 35) Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen (The Diary of a Lost Girl), (G.W. Pabst, 1929)
[] 36) The Unknown, (Tod Browning, 1927)
[] 37) The Cameraman, (Edward Sedgwick, 1928)
[] 38) The Circus, (Charles Chaplin, 1928)
[] 39) Show People, (King Vidor, 1928)
[x] 40) Un chien Andalou (The Andalusian Dog), (Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali, 1928)
[] 41) The Hunchback of Notre Dame, (Wallace Worsley, 1923)
[] 42) Dr. Mabuse: Der Spieler (Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler), (Fritz Lang, 1922)
[] 43) The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, (Rex Ingram, 1921)
[] 44) The Sheik, (George Melford, 1921)
[] 45) Die Nibelungen (including Siegfried and Kriemhilds Rache [Kriemhild’s Revenge]), (Fritz Lang, 1924)
[] 46) The Freshman, (Sam Taylor and Fred Newmeyer, 1925)
[] 47) The Mark of Zorro, (Fred Niblo, 1920)
[] 48) Tol’able David, (Henry King, 1921)
[] 49) He Who Gets Slapped, (Victor Sjöström, 1924)
[] 50) Girl Shy, (Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, 1924)
[] 51) The Wedding March, (Erich von Stroheim, 1928)
[] 52) The Man Who Laughs, (Paul Leni, 1928)
[] 53) The Lodger, (Alfred Hitchcock, 1926)
[] 54) Seven Chances, (Buster Keaton, 1925)
[] 55) The Last Command, (Josef von Sternberg, 1928)
[] 56) Foolish Wives, (Erich von Stroheim, 1922)
[] 57) Orphans of the Storm, (D.W. Griffith, 1921)
[] 58) Sparrows, (William Beaudine, 1926)
[] 59) The Navigator, (Buster Keaton and Donald Crisp, 1924)
[] 60) Zemlya (Earth), (Alexander Dovzhenko, 1930)
[] 61) Tabu, (F.W. Murnau and Robert J. Flaherty, 1931)
[] 62) Les vampires, (Louis Feuillade, 1915 – 1916)
[] 63) The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, (Ernst Lubitsch, 1927)
[] 64) Beggars of Life, (William A. Wellman, 1928)
[] 65) My Best Girl, (Sam Taylor, 1927)
[] 66) Cops, (Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline, 1922)
[] 67) Der Golem (The Golem), (Paul Wegener, 1920)
[x] 68) Le voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon), (Georges Méliès, 1902)
[] 69) The Son of the Sheik, (George Fitzmaurice, 1926)
[] 70) 7th Heaven, (Frank Borzage, 1927)
[] 71) It, (Clarence Badger, 1927)
[] 72) The Lost World, (Harry O. Hoyt, 1925)
[] 73) The Kid Brother, (Ted Wilde and J.A. Howe, 1927)
[] 74) The Immigrant, (Charles Chaplin, 1917)
[] 75) Queen Kelly, (Erich von Stroheim, 1928)
[] 76) Oktiabr (October), (Sergei M. Eisenstein, 1928)
[] 77) Cabiria, (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914)
[] 78) Robin Hood, (Allan Dwan, 1922)
[] 79) The Docks of New York, (Josef von Sternberg, 1928)
[x] 80) Stachka (Strike), (Sergei M. Eisenstein, 1924)
[x] 81) The Great Train Robbery, (Edwin S. Porter, 1903)
[] 82) Der müde Tod (Destiny), (Fritz Lang, 1921)
[] 83) Speedy, (Ted Wilde, 1928)
[] 84) Sadie Thompson, (Raoul Walsh, 1928)
[] 85) Tess of the Storm Country, (John S. Robertson, 1922)
[] 86) A Woman of Paris, (Charles Chaplin, 1923)
[] 87) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, (John S. Robertson, 1920)
[] 88) The Last of the Mohicans, (Maurice Tourneur and Clarence Brown, 1925)
[] 89) The Unholy Three, (Tod Browning, 1925)
[] 90) Mat (Mother), (Vsevolod I. Pudovkin, 1926)
[] 91) The Cheat, (Cecil B. DeMille, 1915)
[] 92) Variété (Variety), (E.A. Dupont, 1925)
[] 93) Die Freudlose Gasse (The Joyless Street), (G.W. Pabst, 1924)
[] 94) Big Business, (James W. Horne, 1929)
[] 95) The Iron Mask, (Allan Dwan, 1929)
[] 96) The King of Kings, (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927)
[] 97) The Iron Horse, (John Ford, 1924)
[] 98) The Penalty, (Wallace Worsley, 1920)
[] 99) Stella Maris, (Marshall Neilan, 1918)
[] 100) Underworld, (Josef von Sternberg, 1927)

Source of the list: http://www.silentera.com/info/top100.html

The 30 Day Harry Potter Challenge!!

Day 1: Your favourite book – Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows

Day 2: Your favourite movie – Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Day 3: Is there any of the films adaptations that have made you angry because they’ve ignored important parts of the book – I wish they had included more of The Prince’s Tale in the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 film, like when Severus takes the letter Lily had written to Sirius, and he rips the part of the photo with the Potters on so he just has the part with Lily on, but they still did a really good job I think 😀

Day 4: Least favourite female character and why – Pansy Parkinson because she is spiteful and shallow 😛

Day 5: Favourite male character and why – Severus Snape, because he is the bravest man we ever knew.

Day 6: What house would you want to be in – I reckon I would be in either Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Possible Gryffindor. Hopefully not Hufflepuff 😛 I don’t think I’m anywhere near enough mean to go into Slytherin, but I’d like to be in there because of the amount of sexy characters in that house 😉 Plus… Snape for a Head Of House 😉

Day 7: Favourite female character and why – Bellatrix Lestrange because she is just so damn crazy and hot 😉

Day 8: What do you think would be your favourite lesson – Charms for sure 😀

Day 9: Least favourite male character – I will have to say James Potter. He was an arrogant bully and one of the reasons behind what Severus Snape had to go through 😦

Day 10: Horcruxes or Hallows – Hallows. It would be so cool to have an invisibility cloak 😀

Day 11: What character would you say you are most like – Well I get told I am like Luna from various people because I have the same sort of stoned expression haha. But I am also pretty open minded and tend to believe things other people don’t. So I guess Luna, yeh 😛

Day 12: Favourite ship – without a doubt Severus/Lily 😛

Day 13: Least favourite movie – The Goblet Of Fire I think. Mostly because it’s just Harry doing these tasks and because Mad Eye (when really Barty Crouch Jr.) really freaks me out 😛

Day 14: Team Voldermort or Team Harry – Hmm, a hard one. I love the DA and everything, but Voldemort and his death eaters are really rather sexy. But I’m going to go with Team Harry.

Day 15: Who would be your best friends at hogwarts. (three only) – Luna, Hermione and Neville.

Day 16: Favourite professor – Severus Snape ❤

Day 17: Are you excited about The Deathly Hallows movie or scared it won’t do the book justice – Before I saw it I was excited, although a little nervous that they hadn’t done The Prince’s Tale right, and now I have seen it, I feel it has done the book justice indeed 😀

Day 18: Least favourite book – The Order Of The Phoenix. It took me years to get through that. I didn’t finally finish it til The Deathly Hallows book came out 😛 It’s about 300 pages before Harry even goes to Hogwarts, and all through the book Harry is just angry all the time 😛

Day 19: Do you prefer the books or films – I love the books, and they are my favourite, but I still love the films 😀

Day 20: If you had to meet one member of the cast, who would it be – Alan Rickman without a doubt. He is my favourite actor of forever and I would kill to meet him!!

Day 21: Out of all the characters that died, if you could bring one back, who would it be – Severus Snape so I could give him a hug and tell him everything will be alright ❤ Or perhaps Voldemort to see the look on Harry’s face 😀

Day 22: Harry Potter or Twilight – HARRY POTTER. Twilight is a load of dung. It’s badly written and encourages teenage girls to be dependant on a boy and to be whiny, selfish and possessive – all of the qualities I detest in a person 😛

Day 23: Any part of the books/movies that makes you cry – I have cried during every Harry Potter book and film. I cried through pretty much all of the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 film and most of the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 film. I cried through the last book when I read it. Harry Potter just turns me into an emotional wreck 😛

Day 24: Any particular scene you wished would have been put in the movie but it wasn’t – I wish in Deathly Hallows: Part 1/2, they had focused a bit more on The Prince’s Tale, even though they did do it justice, but just shown like Severus taking that letter. Also in the Order Of The Phoenix film I wish they had included the extended scene of Severus calling Lily a mudblood. They didn’t even include that in the deleted scenes on the dvd. And also in that film, the bit where Ron is attacked by the brain tentacles in the Department Of Mysteries. I laughed so much at that during the book that it is a real shame they didn’t include it in the film.

Day 25: Nineteen years later. Are you happy how it turned out, or do you wish something was different, ie Neville married Luna – Well Neville and Luna didn’t marry or even get together in the book so I am glad they didn’t do that. I am happy with how it turned out. But I would have liked to hear the other children speak, like how James is teasing Albus Severus saying ‘you’ll be in Slytherin’, etc. And it would have been cool to maybe have Draco and Harry acknowledge eachother like they do in the book with a nod 😛

Day 26: If you could be able to work one spell without a wand what would it be – Wingardium Leviosa. Haha it would be so cool to confuse people by making things fly randomly 😀

Day 27: Would you rather own The Invisibility Cloak, The Resurrection Stone or The Elder Wand – The Invisibility Cloak as I already stated 😀

Day 28: Do you listen to Wizard Wrock, what do you think about it – I listen to some of it because some of them are really good, but others are pretty rubbish 😛

Day 29: Did you enjoy A Very Potter Musical – I haven’t seen it yet but I have heard only good things 😀

Day 30: What affect has Harry Potter made on your life and how much does it mean to you – It means everything to me. Especially how 4 years ago today was the release of the last book and everyone read The Prince’s Tale ❤ That part of the book is the thing I pretty much live and breathe. I’ve grown up with Harry Potter and I think it’s a truly magical story that has captivated the hearts of both children and adults alike all over the world, encouraging them to read and acting like a friend to them through the 10 years or so it’s been around since the first film was released. Harry Potter has always been a big part of my life and I feel genuinly lucky to have been born the time I was.

Review – Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 – the end of an era

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 – 10/10

Harry Potter: And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 was the epic finale to the Harry Potter saga – and what a brilliant end it was!! The film began precisely where Part 1 ended and after five minutes of introducing us to the plot, we were thrown into a cauldron full of action when the trio, joined by Griphook, have to make the impossible journey into Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault in Gringotts to steal the next horcrux – Hufflepuff’s cup where they must face a dragon and ‘The Thieves Downfall’ – a device created to rid them of their disguises and a drop so steep it is intended to kill them.

The film follows on as Harry reaches Hogwarts and desperately battles in a race against time to find and destroy the other unknown horcrux and defeat Voldemort before Voldemort can defeat him. Harry, joined by the Order and Dumbledore’s Army watches the people he loves around him die and discovers that he must make the ultimate sacrifice to battle the force of Evil and destroy Lord Voldemort once and for all.

This final film in the series not only remains fiercly loyal to the book, but it seamlessly entwines high-action battle sequences with moving and emotional moments that are accompanied by a wonderfully appropriate soundtrack composed by Alexandre Desplat that adds the finishing touches to create the deeply emotional atmosphere in the film.

This film truly deserves an oscar award for its visually-rich imagery and it’s powerful actors, notably Alan Rickman, who for the past 8 films has portrayed Professor Snape, potions master turned headteacher. One sequence in particular, known as The Prince’s Tale, is the ultimate sequence that explains everything in the books and ties up all of those loose ends. For those who haven’t read the book – you are in for a real treat here, and make sure to have tissues at the ready because Alan Rickman gave such a powerful performance with scenes added that weren’t in the book but nevertheless were the perfect addition to this all round beautifully-contructed sequence.

Despite Professor Snape being such an important contribution to Harry defeating Voldemort, it is Neville Longbottom who is the true hero. We see him throughout all of the Potter films grow from such a shy, put down boy, into someone with enough courage to yell at about 1000 deatheaters ‘YEH?! You and whose army?!!’ Neville added comedic relief between intensely emotional scenes and as the film grows to a close, he lives up to the prophecy made about Harry and Voldemort, which could also have been about him. Together with Harry, they use every weapon they have to see their plan of defeating Voldemort through – but will this be enough?

It will take a heart of stone not to shed a tear at the last film in the Potter saga, and it is well worth taking a trip to see the film in 3D with the shot of the dragon in Gringotts and Voldemort’s final scene looking particularly magnificent. This is a future classic that will be watched by generations and is a film not to be missed on the big screen.

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 – it all ends here.

Light Of The Doe – a Severus/Lily poem

This is a poem I found in photo form by someone called ProperyoftheHBP on Deviant Art. It’s a poem about Severus Snape who spots a doe patronus:

 

A man clothed in black

From head to toe

Leaves the shadowy castle

In pursuit of a luminous doe

 

The creature gracefully glides

O’er glistening snow

But never doth leave a footprint

 

Does that ghostly doe

 

The man follow swiftly,

Without a word

And into the forest

Where dark things stirred

 

His pale hands were shaking

But he was not afraid –

His beacon was guiding him,

He knew her light wouldn’t fade

Harry Potter World Cup round 1 results are in and round 2 begins!!

The Harry Potter World Cup competition created by MTV which places popular Harry Potter characters head to head in a fierce duel to become the Harry Potter World Cup champion, has finished its first round and the results are in!!

Here are the characters who went head to head with eachother, and the winner from each round:

Harry Potter vs. Professor Quirrel – Harry Potter
Lucius Malfoy vs. Gilderoy Lockhart – Lucius Malfoy
Prof. McGonagall vs. Cornelius Fudge – Prof. McGonagall
Neville Longbottom vs. Fenrir Greyback – Neville Longbottom
Dobby The House Elf vs. Dean Thomas – Dobby The House Elf
Mad-Eye Moody vs. Kingsley Shacklebolt – Kingsley Shacklebolt
Prof. Trelawny vs. Prof. Flitwick – Prof. Flitwick
Severus Snape vs. Vincent Crabbe – Severus Snape
Hermione Granger vs. Rita Skeeter – Hermione Granger
Nearly Headless Nick vs. Fawkes – Fawkes
Ginny Weasley vs. The Dursleys – Ginny Weasleys
George Weasley vs. Doleros Umbridge – George Weasley
Hedwig vs. Seamus Finnigan – Hedwig
Remus Lupin vs. Argus Filch – Remus Lupin
Gellert Grindelwald vs. Mr. Ollivander – Mr. Ollivander
Albus Dumbledore vs. Mundungus Fletcher – Albus Dumbledore
Ron Weasley vs. Lavender Brown – Ron Weasley
Oliver Wood vs. Peter Pettigrew – Oliver Wood
Arthur Weasley vs. Percy Weasley – Arthus Weasley
Fred Weasley vs. Professor Sprout – Fred Weasley
Luna Lovegood vs. Narcissa Malfoy – Narcissa Malfoy
Cedric Diggory vs. Olympe Maxime – Cedric Diggory
Lily Potter vs. Horace Slughorn – Lily Potter
Rubeus Hagrid vs. Gregory Goyle – Rubeus Hagrid
Draco Malfoy vs. Peeves – Draco Malfoy
Viktor Krum vs. Fleur Delacour – Fleur Delacour
Molly Weasley vs. Aragog – Molly Weasley
Bellatrix Lestrange vs. Cho Chang – Bellatrix Lestrange
Nymphadora Tonks vs. Nagini – Nymphadora Tonks
Sirius Black vs. Rufus Scrimgeour – Sirius Black
James Potter vs. Kreacher The House Elf – James Potter
Lord Voldemort vs. Moaning Myrtle – Lord Voldemort

Whilst it seems that certain characters have been placed together to manipulate the results, i.e. have a certain character win and so move forward in the competition, (Harry Potter vs. Professor Quirrel for instance, or Severus Snape vs. Vincent Crabbe – it was clear who would win), some results were surprising, and so remarked MTV themselves. For instance, who knew that Narcissa Malfoy would be so popular as to beat Luna Lovegood in the competition?? However, as surprising as it is… she did.

Similarly, it was surprising how Fawkes managed to beat Nearly Headless Nick; Fawkes appears about three times in all seven Harry Potter books and all he ever does is either set on fire and be reborn, or cry on Harry’s injuries. However, I am not undermining Fawkes as a character as he is an extremely beautiful creature and we know that Nearly Headless Nick, although comical, doesn’t appear that often throughout the Harry Potter saga, (apart from the Deathday Party chapter in Chamber of Secrets which is dedicated to him), and I suppose without Fawkes healing Harry’s injuries, he may have died and thus there would be no more Harry Potter books haha.

I have already voted in the second round, and already there are some clear winners. I would really like to see Severus Snape get really far in the competition and perhaps even win, although I think it likely that Harry Potter either win or be one of the characters in the final round. I suppose only time and your vote will tell.

Voting for round 2 commences on Friday 1st July at 12:01 AM EST, so get voting now and get your favourite character into the final round and see who will win the Harry Potter World Cup Tournament!!

Previews of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 soundtrack available online

For all of the Harry Potter fans out there who just cannot WAIT to listen to the final Harry Potter soundtrack – the Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 OST composed by Alexandre Desplat, I found a website giving a 60 second extract of each song:

http://www.qobuz.com/album/harry-potter-the-deathly-hallows-part-ii-various/0886443025943?qref=sre_1_1

The website is in French, but click on ‘ecouter 60’ on any of the songs, and you can listen to all of the extracts on a mini playlist.
Even from these tempting teasers you can hear the collision of emotion vs. action that will inevitably intertwine throughout the next film, and I cannot wait for the full soundtrack, (which I preordered on HMV!!) to arrive 😀

But for now, enjoy the teasers 🙂

The Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 soundtrack is released on 12th July 2011.

The Harry Potter World Cup – Who will win? YOU decide!!

Growing ever closer to the release of the FINAL installment of the Harry Potter saga, MTV have produced a Harry Potter World Cup competition, where people all over the world vote in each round for their favourite Harry Potter characters, the winning characters of each round going through to the next to compete to see who the best Harry Potter character of all time is!!

The competition started last night and voting has begun, so make sure you vote in each round for your favourite Harry Potter characters to get them through to the final round!!

Here is the link to the MTV Harry Potter World Cup site:

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/tag/harry-potter-world-cup

Get voting now to see your favourite Harry Potter character WIN the Harry Potter World Cup!!
Good luck!!