Future of HPANA.com in peril
Topic: Harry Potter

Future of HPANA in peril

Click the above link to find out the details and how you can help HPANA stay running. As some of you may know, HPANA is included on our Links page because you can find links to their articles once in a while on both of T.W.O.'s Harry Potter pages. Their Editor-in-Chief, Jeff Guillaume, has been devoted to his website ever since it launched in 2002. It would be sad to see such an extraordinary HP fansite be shut down due to money issues. If you are reading this, I urge you to click on that link entitled 'Future of HPANA in peril' and find out how you can donate and help to save HPANA from saying goodbye.

TV Watch Online EXCLUSIVE: Harry Potter in IMAX Delayed
Topic: Harry Potter
TV Watch Online has received exclusive news regarding the IMAX release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Visit the Harry Potter: The Movies page to read the breaking news.

Countdown to Deathly Hallows: Correct Predictions
Topic: Harry Potter

Countdown to Deathly Hallows
Post 8: Correct Predictions

Well...this is my last Countdown to Deathly Hallows post.  And what better day to do this on: celebrating the birthdays of JK Rowling & Harry Potter.

Below are all my predictions I made before reading Deathly Hallows, and a symbol next to a prediction indicates I correctly predicted it.  If you haven't finished reading the book yet, do not scroll down...

----------SPOILERS AHEAD----------

 

-----SPOILERS AHEAD-----

 

**Harry will live
**Voldemort will be defeated
**Hermione will live
**Harry and Ginny will get back together and get married
**Ron and Hermione will get together
Some time after that happens, Ron dies (possibly by sacrificing himself)
The Deathly Hallows are the Horcruxes (or at least related to them)
**Hogwarts will reopen
A member of the Order will become the new DADA teacher
Harry is not a Horcrux
**Snape is on the good side
**Snape killing Dumbledore was planned in advance
**R.A.B. is Regulus Black
**Harry will meet Aberforth Dumbledore (who works at the Hog’s Head)
Hagrid will die
**Wormtail will die
**Neville will become become the Herbology teacher
We will see the Mirror of Erised again
We will see Norbert again
**Percy will somehow redeem himself and be a part of the Weasley family again
**Grawp will have a part to play
We will see the Department of Mysteries again
Molly will die
**Lupin will die
**Snape will die
Neville will defeat Bellatrix
Either Lupin or Bill will defeat Fenrir Greyback
**Sirius Black really is dead
The creature we see on the UK cover holding the sword is Kreacher
**The sword on the UK cover is Godric Gryffindor's sword

 

-----END OF SPOILERS-----

 

----------END OF SPOILERS----------

Well, there you go.  I think I did pretty well, considering the amount of theories and predictions people had before the release.

As I said, this is my last Countdown to Deathly Hallows post, and to end it, I would like to wish a very, very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the woman to started the phenomenon: J.K. Rowling! who turns 42 today.  And we can't forget to wish a Happy Birthday to the The Boy Who Lived himself: Harry Potter, who turns 27 today!

Regarding my review of Deathly Hallows: I am really busy right now with summer classes at college, and some new projects for the site, so that's why I don't have it up right now, but I hope to have it up sometime in August.

On a side note: I received the first Harry Potter movie review to post on TV Watch Online, and while the reviewer gave the movie a horrible review, I will still be posting it.  Look out for that sometime this week.

Countdown to Deathly Hallows: Finished Book Last Night
Topic: Harry Potter

Countdown to Deathly Hallows
Post 7: Finished Book Last Night

I finished the book last night at about 10:30-10:45.

I will give a review of the book at a later time.  But to say something about it: I loved it!  I think that the end of the book was the perfect way to end the series.  Harry Potter fans will not be disappointed.

I'm not sure when I will reread it again, but when I do, I will take my time a lot more to pick up the details and such like we all do with all the books.

But anway...I loved the book, and will post a review eventually.  So, see ya then...

Countdown to Deathly Hallows: Over Halfway Through
Topic: Harry Potter

Countdown to Deathly Hallows
Post 6: Over Halfway Through

Again, you're probably thinking: it's afternoon on the second day since the book has been released and I'm only just over halfway through.

It seems like I'm taking my time.  And I think it's for a couple of reasons.  One, I do have to do other things around the house. And two...I think deep down it may be because I don't want it to end.

But no matter...I'm loving the book so far, and I'm about to learn what the Deathly Hallows are.

We'll see if I get done tonight. I still have some homework I have to do before the end of today, and a few other things, so if I don't get done today, then I'll definitely have to be careful on Monday for anybody talking about the book.

My grandma and aunt stopped by just for a few minutes.  My aunt is a big Potter fan like me, so I gave her a few tidbits to tease her for what I've read so far.

Countdown to Deathly Hallows: 10 Chapters in...
Topic: Harry Potter

Countdown to Deathly Hallows
Post 5: 10 Chapters in...

I know what you may be thinking...It's 6pm and I'm only 10 chapters in.  But you have to take into consideration the book didn't come until 1pm.

Anyway...I'm loving the book so far.  I don't want to give anything away, but there's been a lot of action, and it seems that a lot is happening in such a short amount of time.

Gotta get back to reading...If I don't give another update tonight, I will definitely do so first thing tomorrow morning.  I want to read at least half the chapters today (& only 8 more chapters until I accomplish that).  See ya then...

Countdown to Deathly Hallows: Book Delivered
Topic: Harry Potter

Countdown to Deathly Hallows
Post 4: Book Delivered

This is not going to be a long post, because I'm dying to read the book...but I expected it to be delivered to my house via UPS.  I've been waiting and waiting.  A few minutes ago (a few minutes before 1pm) I saw the mail lady drop mail.  So I decided to go down to get the mail, and what do you know...there's the book, delivered from the USPS.  Oh well...at least I have it now, so I'll see ya later...

Countdown to Deathly Hallows: My DH Predictions
Topic: Harry Potter

Countdown to Deathly Hallows
Post 3: My DH Predictions

Below are my predictions for Deathly Hallows (in no particular order):
Harry will live
Voldemort will be defeated
Hermione will live
Harry and Ginny will get back together and get married
Ron and Hermione will get together
Some time after that happens, Ron dies (possibly by sacrificing himself)
The Deathly Hallows are the Horcruxes (or at least related to them)
Hogwarts will reopen
A member of the Order will become the new DADA teacher
Harry is not a Horcrux
Snape is on the good side
Snape killing Dumbledore was planned in advance
R.A.B. is Regulus Black
Harry will meet Aberforth Dumbledore (who works at the Hog’s Head)
Hagrid will die
Wormtail will die
Neville will become become the Herbology teacher
We will see the Mirror of Erised again
We will see Norbert again
Percy will somehow redeem himself and be a part of the Weasley family again
Grawp will have a part to play
We will see the Department of Mysteries again
Molly will die
Lupin will die
Snape will die
Neville will defeat Bellatrix
Either Lupin or Bill will defeat Fenrir Greyback
Sirius Black really is dead
The creature we see on the UK cover holding the sword is Kreacher
The sword on the UK cover is Godric Gryffindor's sword

We'll see how many I get right...

UPDATED: Countdown to Deathly Hallows: The Book Has Been Shipped
Topic: Harry Potter

Countdown to Deathly Hallows
Post 2: The Book Has Been Shipped UPDATED

In this 2nd Countdown to DH post, I update you on the shipment of my copy of the book.  I checked Amazon today to see the update, and I can now track my package.  Below is some of the info I read:

Shipment Date: July 19, 2007
Track Your Package:

Date	Time	Location	Event Details
July 20, 2007	08:33:00 AM	ARLINGTON WA US	Departure Scan
July 20, 2007	03:19:00 AM	ARLINGTON WA US	Arrival Scan
July 20, 2007	01:44:00 AM	SEATTLE WA US	Departure Scan
July 19, 2007	12:41:00 PM	SEATTLE WA US	Shipment picked up from seller's facility
July 16, 2007	01:20:50 AM	US	Carrier notified to pick up package

I live north of Seattle.  So on Thursday (yesterday) it was in Seattle, then at almost 2 this morning, it left Seattle, arrived in Arlington at just past 3 this morning, and left Arlington at 8:30 this morning.  Next stop: delivery to my house!

I will check again tonight to see if there is any more tracking updates.  But I will be up tomorrow morning (earlier than I normally do) to track it one last time, and wait in anticipation for it to be delivered, via UPS.  By the way, I heard that Amazon is going to try to deliver all their books before noon tomorrow.  That's impressive!

See ya then...

UPDATE:
I just checked on where the package is now (4:16pm) and as indicated in the tracking above, the last thing that happened that that it left Arlington.  Now, it says it has arrived in Arlington:

Date	Time	Location	Event Details
July 20, 2007	11:39:00 AM	ARLINGTON WA US	Arrival Scan

I'm not sure exactly why this is so, but I'm thinking maybe it was delivered to another place in Arlington to be stored for the night or something.  I don't know.

Can't wait for tomorrow!

Rowling rips Times for early review
Topic: Harry Potter

Shame on the New York Times!

Apparently, the Times has obtained a copy from a NY bookstore and gave an early review of the book.  I have not read the review, nor will I read it until after I have read the book myself, but I did hear that the review mentions how many people die and what the Deathly Hallows are.  But I'm glad they didn't spoil the ending.  And I guess there was another newspaper that has done the same thing.  Again, shame on them!

And Jo has basically given a shame on you statement as well.  I'm glad she's come out to say this.  Why can't we just wait until the book comes out and enjoy it together?  Well, it's doesn't look like that's happening.

So stay away from Internet as much as you can, for fear of being spoiled.  I am only visiting sites that I know won't spoil anything.

Countdown to Deathly Hallows: Amazon Prepares for Shipment
Topic: Harry Potter

Countdown to Deathly Hallows
Post 1: Amazon Prepares for Shipment 

I just received an e-mail from Amazon.com (which is where I pre-ordered my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) saying that they are preparing to ship the book.  It also said that it will be delivered via UPS.

So...this starts my updates on DH for getting ready for the book.  I will post again when it has shipped and so forth.

Emotional over Harry Potter...
Topic: Harry Potter

For those of you who are Harry Potter fans will know what MuggleCast is.  Well, anyway, I was listening to episode 99 today, and at one point they were talking about the whole experience of working on Mugglenet, going through the Harry Potter phenomenon, that the very last book is out Saturday, and then they said that all of this, the phenomenon, the million dollar movies, and everything else started with one woman on a train who came up with a book idea about a boy wizard.  At that point, I started getting emotional (and I'm a guy!!).

This truly has been an amazing experience.  I became a fan between the releases of the 3rd and 4th books.  I will probably talk more about that after I read DH.  But back to getting emotional...

That may have been a hint to me that I may get more emotional this week, and I know that on Saturday and through the whole experience of reading the book and finishing it I will be emotional.  And since I have said that I will be blogging about the whole experience of reading it this weekend, I will talk about how I feel about it and all that as well, coming from a devoted Harry Potter fan who's spent the last 8 years (for me anyway) waiting for this moment.

See ya then...

Posting 'Hallows' updates
Topic: Harry Potter
Saturday sees the release of the final Harry Potter book, Deathly Hallows.  I pre-ordered my copy through Amazon.com, so it will be delivered to my house that morning.  During that day and during the time I am reading the book, I will be giving regular updates posted here on the TV Watch Online BLOG on waiting for the book, receiving the book,my status of how far I am through the book, talking about the book without really giving anything away, etc.  I will probably start the first post for that at 8am.

Order of the Phoenix / Deathly Hallows
Topic: Harry Potter

Next month, July, will be a HUGE month for Harry Potter.  As we all know, the fifth movie, Order of the Phoenix, comes out July 11 (bumped up from the original release date of July 13), with the final book, Deathly Hallows being released July 21.

Ever since the Potter movies have been screening in IMAX theaters, since Prisoner of Azkaban, I've been going to my nearest IMAX theater to see the movie.  I've done it for PoA and GoF, and Phoenix will be no different.  It will be especially exciting this time, since the last 20 minutes will be in 3D!  I can't wait for that.  And director David Yates will be directing the next installment, Half-Blood Prince as well.  I'm excited for that, because everything I've seen and heard leads me to believe he has done an unbelievable job on Phoenix.

I believe this will be the best Potter movie yet.  Seeing the trailer and images and such, I can't wait for this.  Umbridge looks amazing: great casting of Imelda Staunton.  And the music I've so far is amazing: good job to Nick Hooper.  Again, can't wait.

Regarding Hallows, I've already pre-ordered my copy of the book with Amazon.com (you can pre-order your copy as well my going to the Harry Potter: The Books page on TV Watch Online and clicking on the Amazon.com Product Link for Book 7) and can't wait for that day.  Currently, I am re-reading the series (I am on GoF right now, near the end), and can't wait for the book to be delivered to my house on the morning of July 21, and will probably devour it instantly.

It took me 3 days to read Phoenix, and 2 days to read Prince.  Since this is the last Potter book, and it will be the last time to read a Potter book for the first time, I really do not know how I will read it.  I'm torn on this one, because I really want to know what happens, so that will make me read it fast, but since it is the last book, that makes me want to savor it and read it slowly.  I probably won't know how I'm going to read it until I actually start reading it.  We'll see on that.

A few days ago, Scholastic revealed the cover for the deluxe editon.  It shows the trio on a dragon riding over a town below.  Seeing this illustration makes me even more excited for the book, because this makes us wonder what they are doing, and who's dragon is that?  The first thing I thought was that it could be Norbert, but the dragon looks older than that, so I don't know.  And if you look at the robes on the trio, they look kind of ragged, so either that means something just happened for the robes to be that way, or they are just wearing over time.

DH Notice: On July 21, the day of the release of the final Harry Potter book, Deathly Hallows, I will be giving frequent BLOG posts to give updates on reading the book.  I will be giving posts including: waiting for the book, receiving the book, how much I read the first day, etc. I know it sounds stupid, but hey-I'm a Harry Potter fan.  I won't be giving spoilers of what happens in the book in those posts, though, so don't worry about that.  But if I do mention a little something, I will make sure to put a huge spoiler alert at the top.

Wow...that was a long post.  My next post will be regarding Donald Trump and the future of The Apprentice...