| | June 15,2008 - Happy Fathers Day! From America |  Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:21 am by ElizabethPotter | Kobe turns to Harry Potter to break Celtics' magic spell
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Kobe Bryant's magic failed to stop the Boston Celtics from reaching the brink of a title, so the Los Angeles Lakers superstar has turned to Harry Potter for some help at breaking Boston's hex. Bryant read five chapters of the fictional wizard's adventures to his daughters to help cast a spell of forgetfulness about blowing a 24-point lead in a game-four loss to Boston in the National Basketball Association Finals.
"He had more problems with Voldemort than we have dealing with the media after a loss," Bryant said Saturday after practice.
"Everybody is fine. We're ready to go. It's not something where we're down and out. We have a big game to play. We will go from there."
The Celtics lead the best-of-seven series three games to one and can capture their first title since 1986 and record 17th overall with a victory in game five here
Sunday. The Lakers must win to force the series back to Boston.
"This season isn't over. It's far from over. We've got to make a series of this," Bryant said.
The Celtics made the most memorable comeback in NBA Finals history to stun the Lakers, stumbling behind early but containing Bryant in the second half of game four after Los Angeles had run wild.
"They made adjustments. The offense got stagnant. The ball was in my hands. I had to make something out of it," Bryant said. "I reached into the hat, couldn't pull a rabbit out."
Harry Potter might help with that, but the Celtics need some work themselves after falling behind so far so fast.
"We have to play better as well. We have some things we have to fix," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. "The key for us is to be as desperate as them. They are a pretty mentally tough team and we have to be ready to handle them.
"This is a dangerous team."Rivers said he will start center Kendrick Perkins and guard Rajon Rondo although both are nursing injuries, Rondo a sore left ankle and Perkins a sprained left shoulder. Perkins did not practice Saturday.
Celtics scoring leader Paul Pierce denied reports he has made plans for knee surgery after the finals following an injury in Boston's game one triumph.
"No one has said anything about surgery," he said. "I really don't know how bad it is. It hasn't gotten too much worse but it hasn't gotten any better."
Pierce could capture his first NBA crown after a decade in the league and would do so in his hometown with a victory Sunday.
"To win it would be special. To win it at home would be unreal," Pierce said. "To win it in your hometown is something people will remember years down the road."
Celtics star Kevin Garnett will be trying to keep calm and cool despite playing in the biggest game of his life with a chance to grab the NBA title that has eluded him for 12 years.
"To be contained and under control is the focus for game five," he said. "If we come out and get a win, I will probably be emotionally drained."
The Lakers have already been through that in dealing with the game four choke.
"You're not embarrassed. You're just upset. It's too hard to get a 24-point lead in the NBA Finals to blow it like that," said Lakers big man Pau Gasol.
"The only way to get over that disappointment is to come out hard and win it. We need to come out physical, be the first team to hit and let them know game five is not going to go that way. There needs to be a sense of urgency."
Guard Derek Fisher likes the Lakers' chances of becoming the first team in NBA Finals history to erase a 3-1 deficit and capture the crown.
"The loss hurt us. But even if we had won the game we would still be looking at game five as a game we have to win," Fisher said after the workout.
"They were a little quieter than normal, not a bad thing. They are getting ready for where they need to be. We still have a great deal of control over what happens next. I think we still have a great opportunity."
| | Comments: 0 |
| June 7, 2008 Part2 | | Sun Jun 08, 2008 12:05 am by ElizabethPotter | I find this very interseting to know.
Scientists working hard to bring Harry Potter's invisibility cloak closer to reality
Washington, June 7 : A mathematician at the Unversity of Utah has revealed that experts trying to realise a superlens cloak in laboratories, based on his mathematical model, have achieved some surprising and exciting results.
Graeme Milton admits that scientists are still very far off from inventing a workable device based on the concept of superlense cloak, but insists that lots and lots of efforts are being invested to achieve the ability to hide an object in the same way the cloaking devices in 'Star Trek' and 'Harry Potter' films did.
"We're a long way off from the Star Trek device but some of the experimental results achieved so far are surprising and exciting," Live Science quoted him as saying.
The superlens he theorised with his colleagues Nicolae Nicorovici and Ross McPhedran cloaks a nearby object by making light behave in an unusual way.
Rather than having a positive refractive index that makes light bend in the same way as it does when passing from air into a medium like glass or water, it has a negative refractive index that in essence causes light to reverse and travel backwards.
The light reflecting off the superlens cancels out the light bouncing off any object placed next to it, and thereby renders the object invisible.
According to Milton, this phenomenon is somewhat similar to the noise cancellation headphones that are worn by passengers on aeroplanes.
"At this point, experiments would be considered successful if they worked with a single frequency of light and cloaked a few specks of dust, and the object cloaked would need to be much smaller than the superlens," he said.
He has also revealed that a research team is presently trying to demonstrate the proof of principle.
"They've made some progress, but they want to do some more work before they put their results in a paper," he added.
Scientists believe that such a cloaking device may find application in stealth military devices, and medicine where the concept would allow certain electronic instruments to be used despite the presence of strong electromagnetic fields.
Milton says that he and other researchers have also carried out related work that might prove capable of guiding the elastic shock waves of earthquakes around buildings.
| | Comments: 0 |
| June 7,2008 | | Sun Jun 08, 2008 12:02 am by ElizabethPotter | Well there always news for Harry Potter world. But take a look at what new about this new book that is coming up.
New Harry Potter-esque Novel Written By Animorphs Creator
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- There’s a young adult fiction formula Animorphs’ creator Michael Grant has stirred up in his latest novel, “Gone,” that’s built on subtle shades of Harry Potter.
And it’s not bad at all.
Try the reluctant boy hero, Sam. His name is as common as Harry. He barely understands the magic he didn’t know he possessed until his world fell into chaos. There’s an evil-minded spirit force wanting power and control of him. Mix in the idea of a war-battered school after everyone 14 and older disappear, then sprinkle in just a few Harry Potter references throughout and you have a sure-fire 558-page young adult fiction book ready for hordes of hungry readers wanting to touch any book with a Potter reference.
Of course Michael Grant’s “Gone” is different from the J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter series. It’s more reminiscent to “Lord of the Flies” meets “Lost” than any Potter book could ever be. In the Potter stories there is always a sense of London looming over the scene, or that Hogwart’s was close to it—at least a train or a broom-ride away. There’s never a sense that the children are lost.
There’s no crash landing in “Gone,” just a mysterious dome as if an early prequel to “The Truman Show” for a moment were suddenly written. Children are all locked in an experimental city, a bubble, and most members of their families have “poofed” away. There’s an idea of the California coast, but it isn’t as easy to place as a London, though the idea seems to be birthed from Grant’s travels to the Central California coast.
It’s the kind of place that’s like a fictitious Pismo, Calif.—a quaint seaside town where some boys would rather surf than study.
There’s a dose of realism in “Gone” captured by Grant, who wants to show just how much chaos and violence could surround a city of children alone and having to survive. There’s a few disturbing moments too that capture the reality of what kids would do if people started disappearing. Readers will squirm but feel compelled to read on.
“Gone” has a troupe of characters, all exciting to read about. And the story counts down like the series “24,” only this could be called “300.” There’s only so much time the hero Sam has in which he can learn his identity, grasp his fate, spin magic, fall in love and defeat death’s door, or he will be gone like all the others who disappeared at the beginning of the book.
Fans of Harry Potter, fantasy literature and comic books will like the style and pace of the novel and be addicted to finding out what happens in the rest of the series.
Michael Grant is the cocreator and coauthor of the science fiction books Animorphs and the Everworld series. He’s published more than 150 books under 11 different names and lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., with his wife, Katherine Applegate, and their two children.
On Grant’s MySpace site he writes, “Mostly I write. Type type type. With two fingers. I sit on my porch drinking coffee and smoking a cigar and type type type. Sometimes I go to a coffee shop and type type type. Occasionally when I get really excited about what I'm writing I can engage a third finger.”
“Gone” goes on sale June 24.
| | Comments: 0 |
| May 30, 2008 | | Fri May 30, 2008 12:04 pm by ElizabethPotter | The Yule Ball is going on now and it is going to last until Monday for a long night for the Yule Ball.
Here is some news today.
800-word Harry Potter prequel to be auctioned
LONDON — An 800-word Harry Potter prequel is one of 13 card-sized works to be sold at a charity auction in the British capital. Waterstone's Booksellers Ltd. says the cream-colored A5 papers — each slightly bigger than a postcard — were distributed to 13 authors and illustrators, including the boy wizard's creator J.K. Rowling, Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing, novelist Margaret Atwood and playwright Tom Stoppard.
Rowling used both sides of her card to hand-write a prequel to her seven-book Harry Potter saga, while Lessing penned a story about the power of reading. Stoppard wrote a short mystery and Atwood was due to fill out her card remotely using a robotic arm controlled by computer linkup.
Other cards were completed by children's author Michael Rosen, illustrator Axel Scheffler, graphic novelist Neil Gaiman, Lisa Appignanesi, Richard Ford, Lauren Child, Irvine Welsh, Sebastian Faulks and Nick Hornby, who plastered his card with a collage.
The cards will go on sale at the "What's Your Story?" auction at Waterstone's flagship store in central London on June 10. The proceeds are to go to English PEN, the writers' association, and the British charity Dyslexia Action. Copies of the cards will be collated into a book to be made available at the bookstore and online in August.
Organizers refused to comment on the content of Rowling's Harry Potter prequel, but Hogwarts fans hoping for another book to add to their collection may be disappointed by her signoff.
"From the prequel I am not working on — but that was fun!" Rowling wrote.
Rowling has previously said she had no plans to write another Potter novel, but in December she sold a handwritten, leather-bound book of fairy tales she described as drawing on the series' themes, for nearly $4 million at auction. The money went to The Children's Voice, a charity Rowling co-founded in 2005.
| | Comments: 0 |
| May 27,2008 | | Tue May 27, 2008 10:29 am by ElizabethPotter |  Happy Birthday to Hannah Potter!!!!
| | Comments: 0 |
| PLEASE STOP ASKING!! | | Mon May 26, 2008 11:34 pm by Aminia Weasley | PLEASE STOP ASKING FOR YOUR OWN HOUSES!! WE WILL NOT HAVE ANY ON THE SCHOOL GROUNDS!
Personal homes
ARE FOR YOU TOO HAVE A HOUSE WHERE YOUR FAMILY IS! ONCE EVERY ONE PUTS THERE HOUSE IN THERE, (EVEN IF NOT EVERY ONE DID BUY TUSEDAY!)
WILL HAVE TO BE APART OF THE FLOO CHANEL TO GET TO YOUR HOUSE!! AND REMEMBER YOU ARE ONLY ALLOWED ON THE FLOO CHANEL FOR A DAY (24HOURS)
| | Comments: 0 |
| Headmistress Weasley Needs Everyone Attention!!! | | Mon May 26, 2008 2:32 am by ElizabethPotter | Students and Professors,
Headmistress Weasley is about to get upset of those who have not fill out the character sheet. If you do not have it fill out, please do now before you can apply for any jobs or classes and other posting. We need everyone to fill out the character sheet please... Thank you...
Signed
Professor Elizabeth Potter
2nd Deputy Headmistress
| | Comments: 0 |
| May 24,2008 | | Sun May 25, 2008 7:10 am by ElizabethPotter | I have some heart sad news for Harry Potter cast. 
Young Actor from "Half-Blood Prince" Tragically Killed
We have some sad news today, regarding a young actor who is due to appear in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
The Telegraph is reporting that Robert Knox, who plays the part of Ravenclaw student (and Slug Club hopeful) Marcus Belby, has been tragically killed in an incident that took place in London last night. The paper reports that 18 year old Robert Knox went to the aid of his younger brother, and was fatally stabbed in a knife incident in a bar in the Sidcup area near London, England. Police spokesman say “A man aged 21 has been arrested on suspicion of murder. He is being held in custody.”
CBBC Newsround now has a statement from Warner Bros that echoes our thoughts here at TLC, as it reads “We are all shocked and saddened by this news and at this time our sympathies are with his family.” We will continue to follow this story and will update with more when we can.
'Harry Potter' actor fatally stabbed in London
Teenage actor from forthcoming film killed in late-night bar brawl
A teenage actor who will appear in the forthcoming "Harry Potter" movie was stabbed to death in a brawl outside a south London bar early Saturday, police said.
Robert Knox, 18, was caught up in a fight outside the Metro Bar in Sidcup just after midnight, London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement. The teen's death, less than two weeks after another youngster was brutally slain only a few miles away, has focused the British capital's attention on knife crime.
Knox plays Ravenclaw student Marcus Belby in "Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince," the sixth cinematic installment of the wildly popular Harry Potter series, set for release this fall. Warner Brothers said it was shocked by the news.
Knox was one of five young men and boys taken to various hospitals across the capital after the brawl, police said. Among them was a 21-year-old who has since been arrested on suspicion of murder.
The fight did not appear to be gang-related, police added, but it puts the number of violent teenage deaths in London at 14 so far this year. Knox played on the same rugby club as another recent teenage victim, Jimmy Mizen, who was fatally stuck with a piece of glass outside a south London bakery earlier this month after refusing to take part in a fight.
England and Wales' homicide rate is more than three times lower than that of the U.S., according to 2005 statistics, but the parade of young victims on the nightly news has disquieted Londoners.
The city's new mayor, Boris Johnson, won election on promises to tackle violent crime. And the Metropolitan Police have recently kicked off an aggressive new program to search anyone they wish for knives without having to justify their suspicions beforehand.
England's children's commissioner, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, has warned the searches could backfire if they build hostility among young people.
"There is a balance here," Aynsley-Green told British Broadcasting Corp. television Saturday.
"On the one hand for young people to feel safer by having the presence of the police, but on the other hand making sure the new powers don't create further antagonism by increased stopping and searching."
| | Comments: 0 |
|
| Poll |
| Problems At Hogwarts!!! | | I don't like the fact it's to long | | 41% | [ 5 ] | | I don't like the catacogrys(first floor, Second floor, thing) | | 8% | [ 1 ] | | I don't like either of them | | 16% | [ 2 ] | | It doesn't bother me | | 16% | [ 2 ] | | Who gives a Bloody Hell | | 16% | [ 2 ] | | Lets talk in private | | 0% | [ 0 ] |
| | Total Votes : 12 |
|
| Who is Online ? | In total there is 1 user online :: 0 Registered, 0 Hidden and 1 Guest
Registered Users: None
[ View the whole list ]
Most users ever online was 10 on Sun May 04, 2008 6:06 am
|
| Statistics | We have 48 registered users
The newest registered user is Emma Potter
Our users have posted a total of 3532 messages in 222 subjects
|
|
