The Harry Potter Studio Tour - A Review

The following is a review of the Harry Potter Studio Tour. Please be warned it contains major spoilers and a lot of photographs, so if you don’t want to know about the contents of the tour you would be advised not to read any further.Tx

Since the release of the final Harry Potter film last year there hasn’t been much in the way of excitement or good cheer for the die-hard fans, especially the UK ones. But all that has changed with the opening of Warner Bros Harry Potter Studio Tour at Leavesden.

Although the series (both books and films) is now complete and everyone in the fandom is feeling the loss to some extent, the US is fairly well-served for Potter-related entertainment from the theme park in Florida (and soon to be in Los Angeles) as well as conferences taking place all over the country catering to every facet of the Potter fandom. Sadly, the UK didn’t get the theme park, nor do we have many of the conferences, although there is the excellent Wizard Rock show, The Snow Ball held in Edinburgh, in December most years and Alohamora, a conference to rival any of the US ones is being planned for 2013 in London.

And now we have the Harry Potter Studio Tour, which is probably the closest we’ll ever get to the theme park (although I’m still hoping it will one day open on our shores). The hype surrounding the contents of the tour was intense, the wait for the opening was long and the anticipation of the Potter fandom was high. It finally opened on Saturday 31 March and the initial reviews from the fan pages were all good.

And so it was with intense excitement that Mrs H3 and I (probably more me being excited, if I’m being honest) made our way to sunny Leavesden last Monday to sample the goodies the tour had to offer. And I’m pleased to be able to report that we had an absolutely brilliant time and enjoyed it even more than we anticipated. In fact, I think I enjoyed the experience more than my visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida last year (I really hate to say that), although the extremely hot weather there may have had something to do with that.

The Harry Potter Studio Tour is not a theme park. It doesn’t have rides and it doesn’t have a fake village of snowy Hogsmeade (which is strange to see in such hot weather) complete with an admittedly impressive Hogwarts castle overlooking it. What is does have, which I believe makes it win out over The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, is the original sets, props and costumes that were actually used during the course of the seven films.

This isn’t exactly a new idea. An exhibition has been, and will continue to travel the world for years, showing costumes and props within recreated settings and other smaller exhibitions have happened elsewhere (such as Harrod’s recreation of Diagon Alley for the release of the last film on DVD). But this is on a far more extravagant scale and the area the items are housed in (sound stages J & K co-incidentally) has real relevance to the films, as this was where many of the scenes using the sets being shown were shot.

Although I was excited at the idea of seeing Potter film memorabilia in such a close environment, I was a little worried that it would turn out to be like the Star Trek exhibition that Mrs H3 and I visited some years ago which had promised much and delivered very little. But from the moment we arrived it was clear this was going to be something very different.

The first thing to mention is that all the people who work there are incredibly friendly. Everyone we met from the car parking staff, security, the tour guides, the hospitality staff and even the shuttle bus drivers, were all incredibly nice, loved to talk about Harry Potter in great depth and were happy to take pictures of us with the exhibits. It really does make a difference to the atmosphere when the staff engage with the subject as deeply as the audience and have knowledgeable tidbits to share with anyone who cares to listen.

Secondly, entrance to the tour is in timed slots and the studio has very sensibly limited the amount of people who can enter the tour at any one time (and I hope they continue to do this in the future as I believe it is the key to its success). This means that although there are several people looking at the same exhibits as you, there aren’t huge queues, (even the queue for the broomstick and flying car green screen photographs wasn’t as bad as queuing to get into Ollivander’s Wand Shop in Florida (and didn’t involve standing in blazing sunshine for over an hour) or so many people milling around that you can’t see or photograph the exhibits properly, as was also the case in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

The entrance hall is light and airy containing giant photos all around the walls of the various characters and high above is the Weasley’s flying car. On one side of the hall is the coffee shop and toilets, on the other is the extensive gift shop containing everything you might need for attending Hogwarts, from clothing and stuffed pets (including replicas of several of the costumes from the movies) to the Marauder’s Map and sweets from Honeydukes. 

Whilst you are queuing to get into the first stage of the tour you are already treated to seeing the Cupboard under the Stairs, the place where Harry’s story began and there are also the handprints of the three leads. Once the tour itself begins you are ushered into a room containing images of film posters from all over the world and after a brief introduction by a guide, a short film explaining the popularity and importance of the series is shown. Once this is finished you move through to a cinema area where you take your place in one of the comfortable seats (smelling lovely and leathery and new at the moment). Another film is shown, starring Dan, Emma and Rupert, who give a quick overview of what you are about to see and then the first, of what was for me, one of several breathtaking moments to happen during the tour occurs. I won’t describe it here so that there are still some surprises if you visit, but suffice to say that it made my heart beat faster and made me very happy to be there.

A talk by a guide follows in the Great Hall, which is a spectacular construct, featuring flag stone floors, and amazing decorations. Two of the House tables are laid out and at various points throughout the room are costumes from the various films.

It is at this point the guided tour finishes and you are left to wander the remaining exhibits in your own time – and you really can take just as long as you like over this (the tour is advertised as taking three hours but we were there for four and could easily have been in there for longer), reminded by the tour guide that there are fifteen hidden snitches to find by the end of the tour.

As you make your way through each area, photographing everything (and you will), there are guides specific to each section who are happy to recount tales, or point out items of interest you might have overlooked (like Neville’s ear extenders or Belltrix’s teeth). By the time we’d reached Dumbledore’s study we had only found one snitch (although to be fair we didn’t have a copy of the snitch list that gives clues as to their whereabouts and I'm completely rubbish at spotting anything) and so I asked the guide there how many we should have found by that time. She told me it was five which meant we really weren’t doing very well, but after a couple of hints we’d found another two of them.

And then we were at the Potions classroom, which anyone who knows me will know was the area I was keenest to see, being a huge fan of Professor Snape. Hagrid’s hut, the kitchen at the Burrow, the Gryffindor dormitory and boy’s bedroom all follow until you find yourself at the Ministry of Magic, the statue showing Magic is Might in the centre with Dolores Umbridge’s office, the Ministry Floo’s and Malfoy Manor, with costumes from the Malfoy family and various baddies, around the outside.

At this point you leave the first sound stage and enter the Backlot outside which contains 4 Privet Drive, The Potter’s house at Godric’s Hollow, and Riddle Family Gravestone as well as the Knight Bus, Sirius Black’s motorbike and the Flying Car, all of which can be accessed for photos. This is also a refreshment area containing seating and a stall selling sandwiches, drinks, ice cream and the famous Butterbeer which has apparently been imported specially from Florida.

Outside the second part of the tour are several of the chess pieces from the first movie, which are rather magnificent and, as with a Death Eater earlier in the tour, you can’t help wishing that they moved occasionally, although that would have been truly terrifying!

So onto the second sound stage and it’s the Creature Shop and Makeup and Prosthetics, where you are greeted by some of those scary Inferi and a Grindylow. You can see the head casts of all the goblins plus all of the many fantastic creatures that were created for the series. Particularly impressive are Aragog (who Mrs H3 and I eulogised to in the manner of Professor Slughorn, having seen the Half Blood Prince only the day before) and Buckbeak, who is so life-like it’s scary. I personally also adored the Thestrals, although it was disappointing that they didn’t have their wings in the full-size version.

After you’ve looked at the ugly little mandrake and the even uglier Voldemort baby thing from the last film you make your way to another of those amazing faster heartbeat sights (at least you will if you’re a fan), Diagon Alley. Entering by Gringotts Bank you make your way up the road, able to inspect the shops that you know so well from the stories, enjoying seeing the cauldrons in Potages or checking out Gilderoy Lockhart’s books in Flourish & Blotts and of course marvelling at the window displays of Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes which dominates Diagon Alley. I was also pleased to see that Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour was there too, although it had never actually appeared in any of the films.

Once you finally manage to drag yourself away from this perfect slice of both the books and the movies it’s onto the Art Department which includes everything from sketches to some beautiful artwork and models both in paper version and more substantial building material.

It’s at that point you reach the most astonishing and powerful exhibit on the whole tour, one which truly took my and Mrs H3’s breath away. It’s the scale model of Hogwarts, but to describe it as that just doesn’t do it justice. For some reason I hadn’t expected it to be as large as it was and once you walk around it, and it takes quite some time to do, you discover more about the castle than you would ever learn by watching the films. It is exquisitely sculpted and so intricate in its detail I don’t think you can take it all in after just one look. The lighting is brilliant and takes you through twenty four hours with the castle lighting up as darkness falls, then coming back to life as day breaks. To be honest I could try to describe this amazing exhibit for hours and still not manage to capture how truly fantastic it is. I think the only time I’ve ever been as strongly moved by a piece as this was when I saw the real Statue of David in Florence and anyone who read my blog about that will know just how was I was affected by it.

When you can finally bring yourself to leave, and to be honest if I’d been there on my own I would probably have spent another hour in there just studying the intricacies of the building, you end up in the wand shop, where there is a mixture of the boxes from the film version of Ollivander’s, along with wands for every person who ever worked on the film series. There are also helpful staff who have memorised where the wands are so you can ask to see Alan Rickman’s wand and they will show you where it’s located.

And then, rather sadly, you’re back in the gift shop and buying Chocolate Frogs (all the chocolate is made in England so tastes better than the US counterparts apparently – I don’t know as I haven’t tasted either) and replica ‘Have You Seen This Wizard’ and ‘Undesirable No 1’ posters, before heading for a cup of tea (where they have a very tasty cake selection, which we were very good and didn’t try) or heading out of the Studios and off home, feeling happy at having been a part of the Wizarding World once more, but sad at having to leave it.

I feel there were one or two little niggles, which are things that annoyed us rather than necessarily being problems for the majority. Firstly, as hardcore fans excited to be taking part in something so majorly Potter we had bought everything - the guidebook and the digital tour guide, which you can buy as a package with your entrance ticket to save some money. We also paid for the special ticket wallet rather than collecting our tickets on the day, but to have to then give in those tickets to collect our guides etc. made the wallet rather redundant (and a waste of £3.95).

The digital guides too, were rather a waste, at least they were for us, as we wanted to share the experience rather than walk around in our own little worlds listening to Tom Felton. There is no doubt that the guides are good value for money, containing something like thirty two pieces of information given by Tom about the various parts of the tour plus extra exclusive information in videos, sketches, picture galleries etc. for each of these, but having decided we would finish going through the guide whilst we had our tea at the end of the tour (as I noticed several people doing before we went in) I wasn’t impressed to discover that by the time we finished the tour the battery was about to give out. We therefore had to give up with the guides about half way through. If I was going on the tour on my own I would probably get the guide again so I could learn about all the cool stuff it contains, but  I don’t think it’s really any good for groups.

The food and drink was about standard for these sorts of attractions. Starbucks are the retailer of choice and their prices are pretty much as you would expect, with a bottle of water selling for £1.50. The one thing they do allow, which certainly isn’t allowed at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, is for you to take your own food and drink, although understandably you’re not allowed to consume it during the tour except in the Backlot.

What annoyed us here was the Butterbeer. In Florida you can get two types of Butterbeer – the ‘normal’ one and a frozen one. In the UK they sell only the normal one (which is a shame ‘cos I loved the frozen one). However, in the US they serve it in plastic pint tankards and aren’t a bad price (I can’t remember exactly how much it was, but it wasn’t too expensive. Over here they sell it in small plastic glasses (the ones that come with water coolers) and they charge £2.95 a glass. This really is extortionate, especially when you discover, as we did that it actually tastes nothing like the Butterbeer from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It may have been that the drinks we received weren't very well poured (or maybe that should be mixed) – certainly the delivery method is completely different from the US system, but it was probably the biggest disappointment of the day as we’d both been looking forward to sampling it again. It wasn’t that it didn’t taste nice, ‘cos it was fine, but it was a bit like a cross between ginger ale and cream soda with a bit of creamy stuff on top and didn’t make me feel like I was drinking Butterbeer, whereas in Florida it did. Thinking about it his might actually be a good thing as it saved us a lot of money by only having the one drink. I was also personally disappointed that the Pumpkin Juice hadn’t also been brought over, although several of the bottles were in one of the displays.

Finally, the prices in the shop are somewhat steep. Expect to pay £3.95 for a bar of Honeydukes chocolate and the Chocolate Frogs are more like £7. Scarves, hats and gloves in house colours, which are all going to be desired by the younger visitors, if not the older, will set you back about £60 for the set and I’ve no idea how much the wands were as I didn’t bother looking. Whilst the prices certainly weren’t cheap in the US, they are cheaper than over here. Oh, and if you a spare £200 odd, you can buy a replica of Hermione’s gown from the Yule Ball.

I honestly think that the ticket price, which I have heard criticised by some as being too expensive, definitely wasn’t for what is on offer during the tour and that it is interesting enough for those who are not Harry Potter fans, but are interested in looking behind the scenes at how films are made, to get something out of it too. But the concessions have the ability to make the experience very much more expensive, especially if you’re a family with children. Once we’d bought green screen photos (which reminds me of another little gripe, that they only had Gryffindor robes available for the broom flying photos - definitely not what a Slytherin wants - and whilst I understand the problem of green screen and green robes, not everyone considers themselves Gryffindor and there are two other Houses at Hogwarts too) and food and drink, Mrs H3 and I had spent about £50 between us on top of the price of entry – and we really didn’t overdo it, or buy anything from the shop. 

Oh, and we only found 9 of the golden snitches in the end, so we’re going to have to go back so we can look for them again!          

Leave the Scar - MiM Rebellion

Happy Halloween, Birthday and NaNoWriMo

So it’s Halloween weekend, and although the TV has been full of Christmas ads (just to annoy me I’m sure) and a Harry Potter one (whoop whoop - only 19 days ‘til the new film) it does actually seem pretty Halloweeny.

Partly this is because I have a lot of online friends who are from the US and of course they’re all bonkers about Halloween, but also because finally Halloween is becoming a big deal over here in the UK too.

I love that this is the case because it gives me the excuse to dress up even more often than I already do and Halloween gives me the chance to go to extraordinary lengths (and I don’t just mean wig-wise). This year we decided to forgo the usual Sherwood Oak Halloween party as part of our celebrations and instead went to see Ghost Stories at the Duke of York’s theatre in London.

I can’t tell you much about it, as like the Mousetrap, they ask you not to reveal details to people, but I will say that it is definitely worth seeing. Clever and atmospheric, it was a good alternative to an evening in the pub and far more entertaining, although the scariest bit for me was looking round at Mrs H3 in the dark, and her looking back – as she was dressed as the puppet from the Saw films and looked brilliant (and terrifying).

Although it’s actually Halloween today, we’ve taken a break, except for pumpkins (mine’s Severus Snape) and pumpkin scented candles (loving Yankee Candle’s Moonlight Harvest at the moment). This is because I’m (supposed to be) getting ready for the main event which takes place tomorrow night. Mrs H3 and I are off to join Alice Cooper at the Roundhouse for his Night of Fear and are expecting to have a bloody good time (see what I did there). I’ve got all sorts of great ideas running around my brain as to what to go as, but can’t quite pin myself down to one idea.

Anyway, whatever I come with up with I’ll be sharing in our Halloween album once we get the photos uploaded.

This weekend has also been my sister’s Jo’s 40th birthday and I celebrated it by sending her some flowers and a bunch of balloons that Freddie just loved playing with. That boy is so cute!

Finally, it’s that time of the year again…yep, I mean it’s NaNoWriMo time. Yes, I know I always sign up, and yes I know I always faff about all month not writing anything and then post a whiny blog about half way through the month (which usually comes to more words than I’ve written of my novel) complaining about lack of writing, but as they say, hope springs eternal.

As ever I’ve only got a half formed idea in my mind, or more accurately about 6 half formed ideas, none of which go together (at the moment) – although after discovering that bookstores are now having whole shelves catering to teenage paranormal romance I may do something along that line instead, but I’m really hoping that in a month pretty much devoid of any excitement (apart from the Harry Potter film (did I mention it was out on 19th November?) and the chance to ogle Snape for the minute or so that they’ll give him on screen) that I’ll really be able to buckle down this time and get the job done.

Interestingly, my boss has also signed up to do it so maybe the two of us can encourage each other. Actually…maybe not.

I’m Back!

Yep it’s true. I’m back and bigger and better than ever.

Firstly, I need to make some apologies.

To those of you who I haven’t spoken to enough, when I really should have done; to those who I argued with and upset and was mean to – I apologise. I apologise for not talking, or for talking too much – for the tears and the tantrums, for the arguing and the pain. Basically, I’m sorry for having been such an almighty pain-in-the-arse.

And the hugest THANK YOU in the world too, to Mrs H3 for sticking with me through thick and thin – you are, quite literally, my lifeline. Without you I wouldn’t be writing today. I love you matey, in all your guises.



There are two main reasons why the blogging stopped, neither of which I really want to go into in detail. Enough to say that the concert season pretty much dried up for the summer (damn you festivals!), thus leaving Mrs H3 and I in the situation of having to make our own entertainment down the pub - although that did produce some interesting evenings as the pictures show, and I have been recovering from an illness which has left me unable and not wanting to write anything, let alone a blog.



But as the words of the song say, I’m picking myself up, dusting myself down and starting all over again and the re-emergence of the blog is part of that.
So, back to the good stuff.


*~* MUSIC *~*

The concerts have started again, although they are a little thin on the ground, especially after the extremely sad announcement that Chas and Dave have split up. Obviously our entire autumn schedule had revolved around their concerts, but neither Mrs H3 nor I have any interest in seeing the Chas Hodges Band. We need Dave to make our evening complete. However, all is not dim on the concert front as we do still have Marc Almond, The Flaming Lips, Gary Numan, Alice Cooper and the mighty Rolf Harris to see between now and Christmas and Mrs H3 is off to see Dizzee Rascal later this week.

This is a weird feeling for me, as I’ve never had any interest in Dizzee (although I quite like Bonkers) and I decided that I didn’t want to see him, so told Mrs H3 she could find someone else to go with her. Of course, now I’m wishing I hadn’t said that as it seems very strange NOT to be going to a concert with her and I’m worried that I’m going to miss something good. So yep, now I’m wishing I was going!

Since I last blogged a million years ago, we’ve been to see I Am Kloot at Relentless Garage who have just released a new album of b-sides and rarities, and who were absolutely fantastic (no, of course I’m not biased). I rather like the venue and it was a joy to see the songs performed by the whole band again, although I was a little surprised by their jazzed up version of my favourite song Fingerprints and not entirely sure that I liked it that way.



We also saw Peter Doherty at the Roundhouse, which I’m not sure was the right venue for him. Although he was good as ever, we got the impression that he wasn’t completely comfortable there and he seemed to be lacking something that we’ve seen at previous shows of his. A good evening, but I think he’d have been happier somewhere where the audience could get a bit closer – the gap between stage and audience at the Roundhouse is huge and their bouncers are numerous and well-prepared. There was never any chance of a stage invasion, which probably ruined Peter’s night a little as he does like to get people up on stage whenever he gets the chance.



A repeat visit too, to the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Once again they were very good (although they omitted Psycho Killer from their repertoire this time unfortunately), but the venue, Blackheath Concert Halls, was dreadful. The whole building was over-heated, but the concert room itself was totally airless and it was hard to stay awake because of the heat, although the chairs were so uncomfortable that they did help a little. There was one fan, located in the bar area, which Mrs H3 and I spent most of the break standing in front of (bad luck to anyone else who wanted to get the benefit) in an attempt to cool down. The toilets were acceptable, but the cold water had been turned off, leaving only scalding hot water for hand washing – definitely not needed at any time, but especially when the place was already so warm. All in all the evening wasn’t as entertaining as it should have been and even though the UOGB did several of those clever multiple song mixes including some I’d never heard before, it was hard to think of anything else but getting out and getting some fresh air. This was followed by the worst chips I’ve probably ever tasted in my life from a fish and chip shop that apparently has won awards for being the best chip shop in...well, I’m not sure where...London? the UK? The world? I’m guessing maybe it’s the best chip shop in Blackheath.

We were also fortunate enough to see the always excellent Blue October at the O2 Islington Academy. This is a strange little venue and not being in the mood for heading for the front (much to Mrs H3’s relief I imagine) my view of the band was rather restricted, to the point that in the end I gave up even trying to see them and just enjoyed the blast of freezing cold air from the excellent air conditioning whilst I got lost in the music. There was a bigger crowd than I’d anticipated which I’m hoping is a growing fan base rather than people just turning up on the off-chance, although as Mrs H3 pointed out, rather a lot of the audience were foreign.

There was a chance to meet the band afterwards, but although I wanted to get a hard copy of the latest album Approaching Normal, the whole thing looked rather disorganised and there were a lot of screaming girls around, so we decided instead to just get the hell outta Dodge. Amazingly, the car park that we’d used was almost empty despite being pretty cheap. Definitely a good find for future concerts in that area as getting up that way is a nightmare when the tubes are playing up as they were for the IAK concert.



Finally, Mrs H3, her mum and I all wandered down to the Lewisham Country Fayre (apparently Lewisham is in the country) and had a pleasurable afternoon petting llamas and goats, eating cakes, drinking tea and watching Boney M. Yep, that’s right, Boney M were headlining the afternoon’s attractions. Running through their range of hits (most of which Mrs H3 didn’t know, being such a youngster) the band, who still contain one original member (the woman in red) were enthusiastic and lively and we rather enjoyed the show, although there were some very strange people there – which I suppose livened the proceedings up even more.




*~* FILMS *~*

Now the last time I posted about films it was, of course, excitement at the impending Harry Potter film that I’d been counting down to for over a year. As luck would have it I ended up seeing the film twice on opening day, the first time alone, the second with Mrs H3 and I think it would be fair to say that it comes in as my second favourite of all the films, top place still being held by the Prisoner of Azkaban.

It’s almost time for the DVD to be released and way too late for reviews, but I think my view pretty much fits with the majority of other HP fans – the film was good, but had its flaws. I was confused rather than elated when I left the cinema the first time and couldn’t actually decide if I thought the film was brilliant or rubbish.

As ever there wasn’t enough Snape, although admittedly there was more than any previous film and I was hugely disappointed that they missed the most important line of the whole book out of the film – it wouldn’t have taken too much more screen time for Snape to say ‘DON’T CALL ME COWARD!” I was disappointed too at the lack of the battle at the end of the film, instead replaced by a pointless (in my and lots of others opinion) attack on the Burrow. I was also exasperated by the Ginny/Harry/Room of Requirement scene as that leaves too many important things unsaid or undone for the next film.

In fact that would be my main criticism – too much important stuff not explained. Mention of the horcruxes, but not how they were made, or why they were important. Too much stuff removed and little put in that added substance, although the fish scene was quite delightful.

The ‘unfortunate event’ as it’s become termed by Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode, was wrong and gave a completely different impression of the end of the film to the end of the book. And I have to congratulate too, Steve Kloves for still attempting to ship Hermione and Harry even when it’s completely obvious that they’re never meant to be a couple.

Since then there’s been little on the cinema front either, although Mrs H3 and I did, sadly, waste two hours of our lives going to see The Time Traveller’s Wife which was incredibly dull and just totally crap and the completely excellent District 9 which I would definitely recommend to everyone, although I did find it incredibly sad.

But this week has seen the beginning of the new season and the release of a load of films that I want to see and of course I’m now on countdown for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland next March (as it’s a little early for me to be counting down to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One ). Coming up are 9, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant , New Moon, the Twilight sequel; Where the Wild Things Are and, surprisingly, Guy Ritchie’s version of Sherlock Holmes (or maybe not a surprise as it stars Robert Downey Jr). Out now are Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Up and even Zombieland which received pretty good reviews.

I went to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs after good reviews from both critics and friends and thought it was excellent. I went to a Saturday afternoon showing and thus shared the cinema with lots of children, all of whom seemed to enjoy the film as thoroughly as I did. This animated film revolves around the premise of a man who invents a machine to turn water into food and is both laugh-out-loud funny (for children and adults) and touching and although a little mawkish at the end, is generally an all round feel-good movie. I came out of the film feeling glad that I’d seen it, which I think says it all.

I was also impressed with the staff of Showcase Cinema at Bluewater as they had no problem in throwing out a large group of youngsters who were mucking around in the cinema and refused to shut up even after repeated requests from the rest of the audience. The woman who removed them received a cheer from the rest of us.

And the fun doesn’t stop with films. Halloween is on its way and Mrs H3 and I are going to Hendrick’s Halloween Ball - St Anthony’s Dance a fancy dress event at the Troxy ho sted by the Last Tuesday Society. The following night will see us once again dressed up (for a change) for the Sherwood Oak Halloween Party . Expect a huge bunch of photos to appear shortly.

So I think it’s time to shut up now. You see, now I've got going again I can just rabbit on...and on...and on....

The Wizard Rock Special Post

Talking of Harry Potter I want to announce my new Wrock-centric blog. Now that I’ve admitted publically my love of Wizard Rock I feel the need to talk about it almost incessantly. The quantity and quality of Wrock bands interest me far more than a majority of mainstream music these days, with the exception of my eternal favourites.

So if you’re interested in knowing more about Wizard Rock and what’s going on in the Harry Potter fandom’s own music genre then please check out my new blog using the link above or the one in the sidebar.

Films and More

Hurrah!

Finally there is a film out that’s worth paying good money to see.

‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army.’

Worth it alone for the very funny Barry Manilow scene (rated by MTV as the best moment of the summer) and definitely for Luke Goss’ portrayal of the elf prince (yep you KNOW I’m in love!), this film is superb. Far better than the original ‘Hellboy’ in my opinion, due I think to the ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ type creatures that positively infest the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the film in a way that I haven’t done for ages.

I would agree with Mrs H3’s assessment that the film bears little resemblance to the trailer though. I think the trailer misses out on the fact that this is basically a romance movie, albeit with monsters instead of humans (hence the Barry Manilow section).

However, don’t let that put you off. Guillermo del Toro has done another fine job with this film and has managed to pull off a mixture of arthouse and mainstream Hollywood in one wonderful film. If you love ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ I’d think you’d like this film. If you haven’t seen ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ see it immediately!

So the next film we’re likely to see is ‘Tropic Thunder’. Mrs H3 says it makes her laugh just thinking about it. Now I’m not sure whether this is because the film is genuinely funny or whether it’s because she’s thinking of me squirming over seeing it. Sure it has Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr, but it also has Ben Stiller and Steve Coogan and that can’t be good. However, I’m game for a laugh (which is why I refused to go and see ‘You Don’t Mess with the Zohan’) so we’ll go and see if it matches up to the trailer, which does actually have a funny scene in it (the bit with the kid for anyone who’s seen it).

Whilst at the cinema we saw a display for the new Kiefer flick ‘Mirrors’, which I tried to steal as it had an almost lifesize picture of Kiefer on it. The film’s not out till 3rd October, but is at least something to look forward to as it looks like ‘Twilight’ isn’t being released in the UK in November, instead appearing on the original release date of 9th January 2009.

Oh and note the countdown ticker – only 323 days till Harry Potter is out (see 10 days have gone already) … almost no time at all *LOL*

Finally, and for those that like to know these things (mum and dad mainly) I think I’ve broken my toe. Running late as ever, I caught my foot and bent my middle toe right back causing all sorts of pain. By this morning it was swollen and purpley black from the bruising and still painful. Of course there’s nothing I can do about it but wait for it to mend. It’s amazing how easy it is to hit your foot when you don’t want to!

Bleurgh!

I hate it when a plan doesn’t come together.

There I was on Friday expecting to spend a happy night curled up on the sofa with my book and a couple of glasses of wine. Unfortunately, I spent the evening with my head over a bucket being sick as a very sick dog and trying not to pass out from dizziness instead. No idea why. I thought maybe food poisoning at the time, but after excessive sleep and a feeling of nausea all day on Saturday and continuing into today along with a headache which is only just beginning to fade it makes it more likely that I had a bug. Still fragile today, I have the dubious pleasure of feeling like I spent all day yesterday doing abdominal crunches where my muscles have seized up after all that retching.

Still on the bright side I’ve finished the book and finally know what all the fuss was about (yes of course I checked out the furore as soon as I was done with it, although I’m saving the podcasts for when I go back to work). Not being religious or extremist and being perfectly well aware that vampires don’t really exist, at least not in the way the Cullen’s are portrayed, I actually had little problem with the book.

For me it was every bit as enjoyable as the previous three and the story was just as unlikely as any of the prequels. I can’t really say much without giving away spoilers, unfair for anyone who is yet likely to read it, but I’d have said the story was pretty much predictable for anyone who has a basic grasp of the characters and their motivations. This sounds like a criticism, but it really isn’t. For me the series read exactly like what it was, a teenage romance that just happened to involve supernatural characters.

As I said before I’m a sucker for vampire stories and also for romances, so it fit perfectly into my reading schedule. It reminded me in some ways of the fantastic Freda Warrington vampire series – ‘Taste of Blood Wine’; ‘A Dance in Blood Velvet’ and ‘The Dark Blood of Poppies’, although Freda’s books are far better written and much more adult in tone. I know these books seem to be rare as hen’s teeth to get hold of but if you prefer less teen romance, more classic vampire seduction then definitely check out these books. They are firmly in my top three favourite vampire series of all time, along with Brian Lumley’s ‘Necroscope’ series and of course the quintessential vampire stories by Anne Rice.

In retrospect I don’t regret buying ‘Breaking Dawn’ at all. Yes I was weak-willed as Mrs H3 so kindly pointed out, but I needed to know what happened and now I do and am very happy because of that. And now I look forward to ‘Midnight Sun’, the retelling of ‘Twilight’ from Edward Cullen’s perspective; mainly because I feel it will be interesting to see how the author deals with the vampire side of things properly and I won’t be able to resist reading romance from Edward's viewpoint.

But what to read next? Well I’m currently reading the new Jeffrey Deaver ‘The Sleeping Doll’, that I started last week before I bought ‘Breaking Dawn’ and I’m rereading all the Harry Potters (currently close to finishing ‘Goblet of Fire’). I really want to read Matthew Reilly’s ‘Six Sacred Stones’, the follow-on to ‘Seven Ancient Wonders’ that I thoroughly enjoyed, as soon as I go shopping in Asda to buy a copy. But I’m now wondering whether it might be time to re-read the classic vampire stories I love, after all it’s been a few years since I read the Freda Warrington, the Anne Rice and the Brian Lumley. Oh and while I think of it, maybe its time to dig out George R R Martin’s wonderful ‘Fevre Dream’ too.

A Little Light Weekend Reading

Okay so I caved in and bought ‘Breaking Dawn’ the final book in the ‘Twilight’ series by Stephenie Meyer. I wasn’t going to, in fact I was determined to wait until the paperback came out; knowing that although I’d enjoyed the first three I could (just about) bear to wait for the paperback to find out what happened.

Except of course I couldn’t.

Now I think I did pretty well considering. I mean the book’s been out for over a fortnight now, so I didn’t crumble at the first hurdle and pre-order from Amazon, nor did I go to the midnight launch party (been there and done that with HP). Even after a couple of days I was standing firm. I didn’t even crumble when the internet was filled with stories about fan backlash with the ending – I just ignored the stories (with some difficulty) even though I was of course dying to know what happened and just why everyone was so upset. But then spoilers started appearing everywhere. On You Tube video comments; on the ‘Twilight’ sites (of course) and more annoyingly, on the Harry Potter sites, as there is a huge crossover of fans between the two series. Still I managed to stay rigid. But then came the onslaught of the podcasts.

Now I listen to a lot of podcasts, and especially to Harry Potter ones like Snapecast, Pottercast and Mugglecast (to name just three of the many). Of course ‘Twilight’ is big news everywhere right now and has been discussed briefly on previous podcasts, but now ‘everyone’ has read the final book the spoilers and more in depth discussion on the books themes are starting on there too. Mugglecast even did an interview with Stephenie. To have to turn off a perfectly interesting podcast halfway through because I’m one of the few people who hasn’t yet read the conclusion to the Cullen saga is frankly annoying.

Unable to go without my podcast fixes and unwilling to ruin the ending of what seems so far like a perfectly good book with heavy duty spoilers I finally gave in this lunchtime and bought a copy. As at this moment I am 204 pages into it (yes, like the others it is pretty easy reading) with another 550 to go. With no plans for this weekend I guess I know now what I’ll be doing; although if it’s anything like reading the HP books I won’t be able to put it down till it’s over.

Expect a late night and a few glasses of wine as I join Bella, Edward and Jacob for one last story (until ‘Midnight Sun’ comes out of course). I can always sleep tomorrow night!