You've probably seen (and heard) his version of Alice in Wonderland, but have you seen The King and I, Harry Potter, The Sword in the Stone, or Mary Poppins?
posted by flatluigi on May 26, 2009 - 32 comments

"MIDDLEBURY, Vt. -- Rainey Johnson, sporting a yellow shirt, yellow socks and yellow paint smeared on his face, darted across the freshman quad. Other students, in capes, ran after him clutching brooms between their legs and grasping in vain for a tennis ball stuffed in a sock hanging out of his yellow shorts." [more inside]
posted by rtha on Sep 22, 2008 - 43 comments

Crushed fans of Harry Potter expressed outrage upon learning they must wait another 8 months for the newest film installment. The timing of the announcement rather handily coincides with the release of Scholastic's "39 Clues" -- a book whose blend of interactive intrigue is supposed to take over young readers' imaginations where Harry leaves off. [more inside]
posted by skyper on Sep 10, 2008 - 47 comments

Apparently, the new black is... really, really black. "Researchers in New York reported this month that they have created a paper-thin material that absorbs 99.955 percent of the light that hits it, making it by far the darkest substance ever made -- about 30 times as dark as the government's current standard for blackest black." But what possible benefit to society could come from this blacker than black substance? Why, invisibility cloaks, of course! [more inside]
posted by willie11 on Feb 20, 2008 - 53 comments

The world's most famous boy wizard has had to dodge claims of being gay ever since he first appeared in print. Some claim him to be a gay icon, others wonder that there is something about Harry and still more waste their time making gay Potter mashups online. It seems, for some reason, that everyone wants to know. Is Harry Gay? Nope. Dumbledore is.
posted by Stynxno on Oct 19, 2007 - 164 comments

Christopher Hitchens reviews Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. nyt, via their book review podcast.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed on Aug 11, 2007 - 63 comments

Potter Puppet Pals. More: Ron's computer , Oh noes, Bothering Snape, 4-potions class, The cute villian, The Gay Party, The Budget Wand of Doom. Even more. (all YT)
posted by fcummins on Aug 4, 2007 - 13 comments

Cassetteboy "record famous people and make it sound like they're talking about sex or drugs. It's a winning formula" but they also bring anarchic political awareness to an already piratical realm. Harry Potter (not for sensitive Potterphiles), Big Brother, Bill Gates, Jeremy Clarkson, Jamie Oliver and The Streets face the wrath of some adolescent humourists with far too much time on their hands while David Attenborough surveys British wildlife and Frank Sinatra sings about 9/11. And for dessert Martin Luther King Jr plays Deal or No Deal. Most links YT, NSFW, YMMV.
posted by criticalbill on Jul 23, 2007 - 19 comments

British actor Jim Dale is greeted as a "star" by children and adults when he appears in public and at readings. He has narrated the U.S. audiobooks for the "Harry Potter" series. For the series he worked six-and-a-half-hour days, recording about 18 to 20 pages. Over eight years he has crafted over 200 distinctive voices for the books' characters. He takes into account the aging of the main characters, who started out as 10 and 11 in “Sorcerer’s Stone” and are now 17 and 18 in “Deathly Hallows.” Like the books, the tapes and CDs have been a publishing phenomenon selling more than 5.7 million copies. For his work on the “Harry Potter” series, Mr. Dale has won a Grammy Award, a record 9 Audie Awards (the Oscars for audiobooks) and holds the record for creating the most voices in an audiobook in the Guinness Book of World Records. Audio clips and video interview.
posted by ericb on Jul 22, 2007 - 39 comments

Harry Potter dies. Harry Potter lives. One thing is becoming clear: Harry Potter is killing the traditional bookseller industry in the UK.
posted by humblepigeon on Jul 9, 2007 - 134 comments

So amazon.com has 1.06 million pre-orders (scroll down the page to see the "Muggle Counter on the right side) in (even though the press is hilariously reporting that as 1.6 million - go figure) for the seventh and final Harry potter book with two weeks to go before the release date - and yes, that means amazon is selling almost 10% of the 12 million book first printing by itself. However, if you think that amazon is swimming in cash, you'd be wrong. Apparently Jeff Bezos decided to sell the book at no profit and throw in free shipping to boot. This is not just a one time strategy though, apparently Amazon "sacrifices $600 million in shipping revenue each year" just to keep it's customers loyal. Bezos also noted in the same press conference that "platform sandals...make my calves look really good".
posted by jourman2 on Jul 5, 2007 - 45 comments

Sally Wallace creates highly detailed miniature dollhouses, including several from the Harry Potter films (Olivander's wand shop & Honeydukes, Hogwarts, The Stairs). Via. Warning, every single annoying web 0.9 trick in the book is employed somewhere on this site, including but not limited to: embedded midi files, that java fake reflecting water deal, virtual exploding fireworks, etc. ugh.
posted by jonson on Feb 10, 2007 - 4 comments

Harry Potter and Lord Wal-d-mart: The Late Night Players entertain us this friday: Harry Potter combats the low low prices of Wal-Mart.
posted by cjoh on Oct 27, 2006 - 8 comments

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry recreated to scale using 526,000 matchsticks is the latest model being constructed over at Matchstick Marvels.
posted by jonson on Sep 15, 2006 - 16 comments

"... Everyone needs an escape. It just amazes me that for 1,200 people this involves sitting in darkened rooms listening to presentations on Harry Potter and the Sanctity of Everyday Life: JK Rowling's Complex Treatment of the Trope of Normalcy." Carole Cadwalladr covers Lumos 2006 for the Guardian. [via]
posted by anjamu on Aug 12, 2006 - 27 comments

Kill Bill + Harry Potter = Kill Harry, featuring cameo appearances by Bender the robot, Bruce Campbell, and Zombie Rick James, bitch.
posted by Gator on Feb 20, 2006 - 16 comments

Harry Potter and the Recessive Allele is a short letter to Nature, suggesting using the concept of wizarding heritage in the Harry Potter series to explain genetics to children. It's the latest forwarding fad among biologists. The cartoon in this newspaper version of the story sums it up best... The idea isn't new, however, because a quick Google search finds the same theory in a British newspaper article from 2003.
posted by easternblot on Aug 17, 2005 - 14 comments

man spoils harry potter ending - "funny"
posted by jimmy on Jul 19, 2005 - 94 comments

DO NOT READ ANYONE LOOKING FORWARD....! BIG SPOILER! So reads every post on a Harry Potter forum, where spoiler-vandals have turned after getting locked out of the official forum. I'm afraid to even link you directly, with warnings, to the spoiler -- you'll have to click through. Meanwhile, the news reports leak after leak.
posted by NickDouglas on Jul 14, 2005 - 28 comments

We play songs about books! Excited about the new Harry Potter book coming out? How about some quirky pop songs about our favorite wizard-in-training? Get some background on the band and then go check out one of their free shows.
posted by handshake on Jun 8, 2005 - 10 comments

The biology of B-movie monsters ; ancient Greek curse and love magic; the correspondence of Elizabeth I and James VI; Egil Skallagrimsson, poet and killer; the mythology of Harry Potter; Pinocchio's cultural heirs; Tiananmen's legacy; experimental art in China; the question of Hatshepshut's character. Articles courtesy of the Fathom Archive, 2000-2003.
posted by plep on Jan 15, 2005 - 11 comments

it's not badger badger but it'll do. ps this is my first post, I used it to share badger love. sorta.
posted by gminks on Jan 5, 2005 - 26 comments

Like magic, the vibrating broomstick of progress sweeps the Czech Republic. (Czech government likes celebrities).
posted by Pretty_Generic on Jul 14, 2004 - 1 comment

Wizard People, Dear Reader is a bizarre re-reading (or, if you're Tim Burton, a re-imagining) of Harry Potter and the philosophers stone (or sorcerers stone for our friends across the pond). Basically you download it, burn it to CD and play it while watching the DVD. A new art form, a childish gimmick or somewhere inbetween? Everybody will have a copy soon, so get busy with the download (courtesy of the ever vigilant Talking Tina at Sissyfight.com).
posted by ciderwoman on Jun 8, 2004 - 20 comments

Harry Potter: RIP Private Harry Potter from the Worcestershire Regiment was killed in action at Hebron on 22/7/1939 aged 19 years, 10 months old. This is a genuine photo of the grave of a British soldier that died during the time of the “Arab Rebellion” and is buried in the British military cemetery in Ramla Israel.
posted by Postroad on Mar 3, 2004 - 17 comments

Harry Potter: The New Atlas Shrugged.
posted by Espoo2 on Nov 30, 2003 - 77 comments

Bothering Snape is just a fun little bit of Harry Potter Flash. Sorry I missed Friday, but there you go.
posted by hughbot on Oct 4, 2003 - 11 comments

Faery Lands Forlorn A.S. Byatt, author of Possession and other novels, looks at the phenomenon of adults reading the Harry Potter children's books: Ms. Rowling's magic world has no place for the numinous. It is written for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons, and the exaggerated (more exciting, not threatening) mirror-worlds of soaps, reality TV and celebrity gossip. Its values, and everything in it, are, as Gatsby said of his own world when the light had gone out of his dream, "only personal." Nobody is trying to save or destroy anything beyond Harry Potter and his friends and family.... Ms. Rowling, I think, speaks to an adult generation that hasn't known, and doesn't care about, mystery. They are inhabitants of urban jungles, not of the real wild. They don't have the skills to tell ersatz magic from the real thing, for as children they daily invested the ersatz with what imagination they had.
posted by Artifice_Eternity on Jul 7, 2003 - 105 comments

Potter anyone? Harry Potter fever has started.... Some individual or group of individuals managed to walk off with 7680 copies of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" Reuters has an article here mentioned that the books are worth about 130500 pounds. MSNBC is behind the times with their stolen article and are reporting ~$1.68 Million.
posted by meanie on Jun 17, 2003 - 22 comments

This 'news'... it vibrates? Yes, more than six months after it appeared here on MeFi, New Scientist has just found out about the vibrating broom. I can feel my confidence in them dripping away...
posted by twine42 on Apr 3, 2003 - 6 comments

The Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture releases a document on the surging interest in New Age thought (e.g., Zen Buddhism). They advise that Harry Potter is okay but that Deepak Chopra might be someone to be wary of. Evidently the Age of Aquarius isn't coming so that peace will guide the planets. Bummer. That might be nice.
posted by treywhit on Feb 16, 2003 - 11 comments

Dobby the House Elf and Russian President Vladimir Putin -- Separated At Birth?
posted by Vidiot on Jan 28, 2003 - 10 comments

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's MDMA Police uncover ecstasy ring in UK targeting children by stamping the image of Harry Potter on the pills. Wonder if Rowling will work X into the next story line? Don't know whether to laugh or cry.
posted by xmutex on Jan 22, 2003 - 25 comments

Cervantes no not THAT Cervantes silly, THIS Cervantes wrote the first half of Don Quixote in 1605. The popularity of the world's first novel was so great that an impostor book was published chronicling the continued misadventures of the Don Quixote and Sancho, so scandalously in fact that Cervantes himself had to write a second half ten years later which ends (SPOILER) with the death of Alonso Quixano and the end of all further tales. Now it seems some 400 years later its happening to our young Harry Potter!
posted by Pollomacho on Nov 13, 2002 - 27 comments

The Beast cracks your child's mind when he reads Harry Potter. Yeah, you probably have seen this site before, but with the new movie coming out soon, it's worth revisiting. Incidently, Harry Potter: Witchcraft Repackaged comes out on DVD December 1, with never before seen extra footage.
posted by zedzebedia on Nov 13, 2002 - 15 comments

Potter Pirates Fail to Copy Film on the Internet and Potter Pirates Swap and Copy Film on the Internet. C'mon Reuters, which is it?!
posted by LinemanBear on Nov 12, 2002 - 25 comments

The Gospel According to Harry Potter. Connie Neal thinks that she sees "glimmers of the Gospel" in the Harry Potter books. Not the most interesting attempt to counter the occult hysteria surrounding this book, but sure to stir up some hilarious controversy just the same.
posted by mikrophon on Oct 8, 2002 - 19 comments

JK Rowling's expecting - twice over. A new baby's on the way and the new book's almost finished. Ain't life grand.
posted by zimbobzim on Sep 20, 2002 - 10 comments

A new director has been announced for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban For this third installment of the franchise, Chris Columbus will be stepping down to producer, and Alfonso Cuarón has been announced to fill the director's chair. Now if they'll just get somebody else to step in for Rowling actually get the next book written....
posted by LuxFX on Jul 22, 2002 - 23 comments

Barry Trotter Michael Gerber's parody of the Harry Potter series. The first chapter is available for download at the site. Well, I think it's funny...
posted by lilboo on Jul 21, 2002 - 1 comment

Fake Harry Potter novel hits China. An anonymous Chinese author has decided JK Rowling is taking too long to write the fifth book - so has written a new adventure to satisfy the huge Potter market in the country, according to a report in The Times. Harry Potter And Leopard Walk Up To Dragon, on sale in Beijing street markets for about £1, is selling fast to the dismay of the publisher of the genuine Potter books in China.
posted by ncurley on Jul 6, 2002 - 14 comments

Harry Potter released unprotected. In a move that makes me say both "Wha?" and "Kickass!", Warner Bros chose to release the Harry Potter DVD and VHS home versions sans the Macrovision copy protection. It could stand to be quite an experiment, or quite a blunder on their part.
posted by mathowie on Jun 15, 2002 - 14 comments

Harry Potter fans warn against dangerous effects of Bible A number of concerned British Harry Potter fans have spoken out against the Bible, claiming that the holy text of the Christian Church can cause serious damage to children.
posted by helloboys on Feb 7, 2002 - 17 comments

Is it almost 2002....or 1802? Regardless, it's a good time for a book burning. And this isn't the first time a congregation has taken offence to Harry Potter, nor will it be the last, I'm sure. I don't even know what to say, other than....sigh.
posted by videodrome on Dec 31, 2001 - 24 comments

If you were expecting the Lord of the Rings movie to receive as much if not more scrutiny from Conservative Christians as Harry Potter did you’re in for a surprise. Despite LOTR being filled with violence and intense fantasy imagery few churches or religious watch-god groups will be condemning the fantasy epic like they did the occult heavy, yet kid-friendly Harry Potter flick.

The reason is simple: Tolkien was a devout Christian.
In fact, Tolkien persuaded C.S. Lewis, who himself later wrote several Christian classics, to become a Christian. The two are credited with paving the way for a new genre of devotional literature, influencing authors like Charles Williams, T.S. Eliot, G.K. Chesteron and Dorothy Sayers.

Fortunately for most Tolkien doesn’t let Christian imagery dribble into his stories the way C.S. Lewis did. So expect religous LOTR friendly reviews from all with the possible exception of the ChildCare Action Project. One has to wonder though - if Harry Potter author, J. K. Rowling, was more publicly religious would her books be as controversial?
posted by wfrgms on Dec 5, 2001 - 38 comments

AOL Time Warner's Marketing Wizardry : "With its Hollywood studio, Warner Bros., AOL leveraged its promotional and advertising might across its empire of Internet, cable TV, movie, music and magazine outlets to ensure that kids, parents, teens and everyone else knew that "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was debuting in theaters Nov. 16. In the days leading up to the film's release, tracking studies showed an extraordinary 100% awareness among moviegoers that "Harry Potter" was coming."
posted by owillis on Dec 2, 2001 - 18 comments

The most eagerly awaited movie review of the year The ChildCare Action Project reviews Harry Potter.
posted by Shadowkeeper on Nov 26, 2001 - 62 comments

Hank Steuver from WaPo : When did this happen? Where are the kids who are supposed to be beating up the kids who like Harry Potter? Where is the bully who is going to tell them what kinda dorkface fairies they're being? Where are the kids who don't like to read? So, come on, bullies! Get with the program!
posted by swell on Nov 24, 2001 - 34 comments

As Harry Potter tops all box office records, it seems that some parents don't want their kids to watch the film because some think it promotes witchcraft. Are separation of church and state arguments valid here, or are the parents a bunch of wet blankets?
posted by Rastafari on Nov 18, 2001 - 120 comments

Just in time for the holidays, a good ol' fashioned rip-off of whatever's big. This year: Harry Potter.
posted by noisemartyr on Nov 16, 2001 - 7 comments