This letter marks the end of a personal project, a personal dream that lasted well over 4 years.
I dreamed of creating a Harry Potter website that will develop its own happy community, with fans eager to make friends, to share their stories and their thoughts, not just about our common passion, but about life in general. I was hoping to create a nice, small place for new friendships to form... a small village of Hogsmeade coexisting peacefuly in the shadow of the great Mugglenet.
Hogsmeade-Village.com started out in the fall of 2004, when, driven by my interest for the Harry Potter books, I decided to create a general site. Hogsmeade-VIllage.com was my primary occupation until 2007 and I learned a lot of things by taking care of it. Most important, it got me into web programming, occupation which I can now monetize. This website gave birth to Xpression News, my news management script which is now published and is highly rated in script directories. This helped me earn my first money (100Euro) at the age of 16. It was a very happy day and the start of a new chapter.
However, my dream of Hogsmeade was never fulfilled. Over these years, I've grown a lot and my life took a different turn. Sadly, this website has stayed somewhere in the past and didn't keep up with me. When I look at it, I remember the person that I was 3 years ago. It seems like ages ago I was walking around the classroom with the trailer of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on a cell phone, showing it to people. Many things happened... changed... whatever.
One thing is for sure: Harry Potter did play a very important role in my life. Today I got the series out of the shelves. The pages still bare the bittersweet scent. I don't enjoy this any more.
It's time to pull the plug. This is my last post here.
March started with a blast for Harry Potter fans. On the 5th of this month, Warner Borthers released a new trailer for the upcoming 6th Harry Potter movie Half-Blood Prince. Without any further comments, I give to you, the links to download a copy of the trailer for your own personal delight
Windows Media Video
In high definition (more detailed but loads slower)
There have been a lot of Harry Potter events of which I could not write about. In fact, I don't even remeber when was the last time I wrote here. Other things got to me, and I'm not only talking about school. That's life. A lot of bad things can happen in a very short time.
However, Hogsmeade-Village.com was and will always be my first project and I have many memories linked to this place and especially to those times when I was waiting eagerly for the 5th Book to be launched, when I was gathering pictures, clips and interviews to post here. In my mind, I had the feeling that this way, I would make up for what Harry Potter gave to me.
Some of you appreciated my efforts and staid with me on Hogsmeade Village for a little while. Some of you criticised me and claimed my entire website was just a rip off. To the latter, let me make myself clear: I am no way a reporter nor have the means to be there on the spot, on the Harry Potter sets or anywhere else where the action might happen. I live in Romania which is only linked to Harry Potter by the fact that is the fictional home of the largest dragon reserve in Europe.
I get my news from bigger sources which I always credit. I get the main idea and then I write about the event in my style. I never copied an article from any other website, unlike other websites that copied my exclusive videos of JK Rowling's visit to Romania in 2006 without even mentioning my name. Regarding the layout (which one little bright man claimed it looks like Mugglenet's), I spent 2 weeks building it in 2004 and I am very proud of it.
So that being said, I am here to try and make a recovery, to try and get this site updated for the sake of old times. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. Like I said, things changed since I first founded this place. I am not the only Harry Potter website out there nor was I the first. Therefore I will try a more personal approach on Harry Potter because that's unique . I hope you will like it.
Emma Watson had revealed on her website that Deathly Hallows shooting will begin this Monday. She also talks about her upcoming SAT tests. On Monday I go in for test shoots for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 1). I am quite excited to be back actually. I don't think I have seen Dan since the summer since he left for NY and Rupert since Autumn. I think I have a couple of costume fittings and a hair appointment to make my hair a bit browner. Not sure whether we have a couple rehearsals as well.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood prince has been given a PG rating for "for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality" by the Motion Picture Association of America.
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posted on Jan 15, 2009 18:01 by percywComments (0)
According to an article posted by the telegraph, Toby Jones is set to return to the Harry Potter set to voice Dobby the House-elf for the Deathly Hallows movie. Jones voiced Dobby in Harry Potter and the Chamber if Secrets.
Daniel Radcliffe has given an interview to The Herald sun, he talks about the Potter franchise and the Darkness of the movies to come. About staying for all 7 movies:
"I wouldn't be there still after eight years if I didn't love what I did and didn't want to invest a lot of myself into what I'm doing,'' he says.
"Neither would the rest of the crew who have stood by the films for eight years.''
LA Times has posted an interview with Jim Broadbent, the actor who portrays Professor Slughorn in the 6th Potter film. Broadbent says everything is very professional on set:
"I saw the first film when it came out, and it was so brilliantly conceived," Broadbent said. "You read the book and then you see the film and every moment you think, 'That is exactly how I imagined it.'
Following the official announcement of the Deathly Hallows split, Harry Potter producer David Heyman has commented on this matter in an interview with Empire Online.
In this interview we also get a hint about when will shooting begin for the two installments of Book 7.
Here are a few quotes from the article:
So these films will be the same length as the ones that came before? We won’t see two films that clock in under two hours?
No. The idea is to get everything people want in there. I’m sure there’ll be parts that don’t make it, which we won’t know until the script is written. But that is the idea.
What do you think is the natural separation point in the books? Where can you end the first film in a satisfying way?
It depends what feeling you want [to end on]. I don’t want to answer that just yet because we don’t have the first script. We do have a point roughly where we want to end, but we haven’t got a draft to know if that works yet.
[ ... ]
And when do you expect to start shooting Deathly Hallows?
Early next year. Most of 2009 will be filming. We’ll be anticipating shooting in February. We’re all really excited about the possibilities and the challenges of seven. It’s going to be a cracker.
Steve Kloves, the screenwriter for the first four Harry Potter movie sent an email to The Baltimore Sun sharing his thoughts on the recently confirmed split of the last Harry Potter movie - Deathly Hallows.
"Years ago," he writes, "we briefly — and seriously — considered doing Goblet of Fire as two films. So this concept is not altogether new. As for Deathly Hallows, I intuited — almost from the first moments I began reading it and certainly once I’d finished — that to realize the story in a single film was going to be a tall order. Others in 'the group' felt similarly. So the idea of two films began to get kicked around as early as late summer of 2007. We didn’t take it lightly. But ultimately everyone felt that despite the challenges it would present, it was the most sound creative decision. I’m sure some will think we’re crazy. My wife looked at me cross-eyed when I first mentioned it. But I’m really excited about it because it should allow us to stretch a bit with the characters and give them the proper send-off. The story is highly emotional and those moments deserve time to breathe. And, personally, I feel we owe it to Jo — in order to preserve the integrity of the work — and the fans — for their loyalty all these years — to give them the best and most complete experience possible. I’d love to do it in three parts!"
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posted on Mar 30, 2008 04:39 by SiriusBlackComments (0)
"Unlike every other book, you cannot remove elements of this book [...] You can remove scenes of Ron playing Quidditch from the fifth book, and you can remove Hermione and S.P.E.W. [Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare] and those subplots . . . but with the seventh, that can't be done."
These were the words of producer David Heyman. It is official. Warner Bros. has confirmed that the 7th Harry Potter movie will be split into two parts. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I" will hit theaters in November 2010, followed by "Part II" in May 2011. JK Rowling seems to agree with the idea.
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