Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Quidditch casts spell on Spartans

Patti's Comments:  You have to love a MSU Quidditch team!!

Excerpt from Lansing State Journal: (click for entire article)
 
The Rampaging Pygmy Puffs were doing warm ups, running back and forth across Michigan State University's Adams Field, brooms between their legs.  "I think anyone that's on this team isn't afraid to make a fool out of themself," said team captain Ali Warr.  This was Quidditch, the game played on flying broomsticks in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series.  Or, rather, this was Muggle (non-magical folks) Quidditch, a version of the game adapted from the books four years ago by two students at Middlebury College in Vermont.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Lawyers

Patti's Comments:  This is why folks hate lawyers so much! I must agree with Ms. Lover, really.  Do they not have more important things to do? One thing that does confuse me: why is it Warner Brothers’ attorneys and not Ms. Rowlings’ attorneys? I find it hard to believe that Warner Brothers “owns” Harry Potter and not JK Rowlings. I hope this is not a hoax in order to sell more tickets to the dinner, or a cookbook or something.  So I say, Ms. Lover, POST THE ACTUAL LETTER, LET’S SEE THE PROOF. Who are these "lawyers???"

From Word of Mouth Blog: (click for entire post)

Warner Bros' lawyers have asked Ms. Marmite Lover to rename a 'Harry Potter Dinner' at her Underground Restaurant. What alternative dishes can you suggest for 'Generic Wizard Night'?

If you're planning any special Halloween parties or events this weekend, do be careful what you call them. I run an underground restaurant from my home every Saturday night with the help of my teenage daughter, and with much excitement we've been planning a Harry Potter themed evening for this coming Friday and Saturday, featuring butterbeer, pumpkin pasties and so on.

I was a bit taken aback, last Friday, to receive a letter from Warner Bros' legal department asking me to cancel the event, which would, they say, amount to an "infringement of Warner's rights".

On the upside, "Warner does not, of course, object to you holding a generic wizard / Halloween night at the Underground Restaurant". Catchy. You can now book a table for my 'Generic Wizard Night' here.

There's been a groundswell of reaction since I blogged the development, and spoke to the Observer at the weekend. On Twitter, Facebook, my blog and email, people have expressed frustration, calling Warner Bros 'The Dark Lord'. One Harry Potter blogger said: "WB does not own Halloween, although they seem to throw lawsuits around this time of year".

Muggle Quidditch Becomes Popular Sport Among Students

Excerpt from NBS4i: (click for entire article)

J.K. Rowling’s pop-cultural phenomenon Harry Potter has become a cultural icon in recent years, and one of the most popular Harry Potter references is the wizarding sport of Quidditch. 

The once fantasy sport has become a real-world competition thanks to two college students.

In 2005, two Middlebury College students, Alex Benepe and Xander Manshel, decided to adapt Rowling’s fictional sport into a playable game, according to ESPN.com. 
They created Muggle Quiddich (Muggle meaning nonmagical people) which is similar to Rowling’s fantasy game with a few minor alterations.

The game is played with two teams of seven players, as stated by Benepe and Manshel’s Intercollegiate Quidditch Rules and Guidebook. 

The teams includes three chasers, who try to score points by throwing the Quaffle (usually a volleyball or soccer ball); two beaters, who throw dodge balls at the opposing team to prevent them from scoring; one keeper, who prevents the Quaffle from entering the hoop and a seeker, who tries to catch the Snitch Runner and grab the snitch (a tennis ball inside a sock) from their back. 

When the snitch is caught by a seeker the game is automatically won.

Muggle Quidditch has quickly evolved from a Middlebury undergrad pastime to an intercollegiate tournament. 

Did Rowling Get Dissed By White House?

Patti's Comments:  I saw the guy that wrote this book on The Colbert Report the other day. Personally I think JK should take it as an honor!

Excerpt from Pop Eater: (click for entire article)

JK Rowling, author of the 'Harry Potter' book series, was denied a top US honor because politicians believed her books promoted sorcery, BBC News is reporting.

Some US politicians believed the Potter books "encouraged witchcraft," claims Matt Latimer, a former speech writer for President George W. Bush. Latimer alleges that this belief caused her to lose out on a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

This claim and others are spelled out in 'Speechless: Tales of a White House Survivor,' Latimer's new book.

Magical Acts of Kindness Call Tonight!

From The Harry Potter Alliance:

Tonight we're having a live call right here on ustream to discuss Magical Acts of Kindness Week (MAK).

The call is from 8:30 pm EST to 9:30 pm EST.

From Oct 1 to Oct 8 - you have one week where we're all gooing to do good deeds for others, anonymously. Post what you've done in our Common Room in under 350 characters and it could get published on Givesmehope.com

For more information go here.

So see you on the call tonight and get ready for Magical Acts of Kindness Week throughout the world tomorrow! 

Hallie, Karen, Andrew, and the rest of us at the HPA Staff

How Emma Thompson's mother got back her gargoyles after using Harry Potter curse on thief

Patti's Comments:  Her mother is lovely, and what a nice story on responding with grace to a thief.  Love Emma, her mom, and the gargoyles!

Excerpt from Mail Online: (click for entire article)

Perhaps Emma Thompson should take a few tips from her mother next time she plays Hogwarts teacher Sybil Trelawney.

Certainly 77-year-old Phyllida Law would appear to have more success in the practice of witchcraft than the scatty divination teacher played by her daughter in the Harry Potter movies.

She managed to confound thieves by placing a curse upon them.

Miss Law warned raiders who stole two treasured garden statues that unless the ornaments were returned they would be cursed for life.

Two years after she displayed the curse on a sign by her house the stone gargoyles have been returned, along with a handwritten note begging her to lift the hex.

The gargoyles were left outside her door in a black rucksack with a message that read: ‘Help me please. I have been very, very ill since I stole these. Please lift the curse.’

The Rickman/Rowling Connection

Patti's Comments:  I could not stop laughing about this. I have had the same conversations (certainly not in such wonderful detail, but still) with my friends and daughters.  I love Rickman, Rowling, Snape, and all this. They left out the time to Sweeny Todd, but they will get to it. Anyone else know it?

Excerpt from In the Great Light of the Abyss: (click for entire article)

I'm almost certain JK Rowling is a big fan of Rickman. After seeing the uncanny similarities that Alan Rickman's past characters and Snape share, I'm sure that Snape was written with Alan in mind. Below is a list of the observations I found. (I know on the Yahoo Archive group there's also a list of AR/JKR similarities, but I have not read that, so any resemblances between these two lists are purely coincidental.) Anyway, onwards!

Bush Officials Refused Award to J.K. Rowling Because of "Witchcraft" Writing, Book Claims

Patti's Comments: Well, In honor of banned books week,  hopefully now the administration  will give her the much deserved award!! Love you JK Rowlings!

Excerpt from Fox News: (click for entire article)

White House officials under George W. Bush refused to give the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling because her writing "encouraged witchcraft," a new book alleges.

Matt Latimer, a former speechwriter for Bush, writes in his book, "Speechless: Tales of a White House Survivor," that administration officials politicized the award and decided not to give it to Rowling because of her repeated references to witchcraft -- despite the Bushes' vocal praise for her books.

"This was the same sort of narrow thinking that led people in the White House to actually object to giving the author J.K. Rowling a presidential medal because the Harry Potter books encouraged witchcraft," writes Latimer.

Finished ‘Potter’? Rowling tells what happens next

Patti's Comments:  I just love her!  This is cool — my imagination loves to fill in the details.

Excerpt from MSNBC.com: (click for entire article)

If you found the epilogue of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” rather vague, then J.K. Rowling achieved her goal.

The author was shooting for “nebulous,” something “poetic.” She wanted the readers to feel as if they were looking at Platform 9¾ through the mist, unable to make out exactly who was there and who was not.

“I do, of course, have that information for you, should you require it,” she told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira rather coyly in her first interview since fans got their hands on the final book.
Ummm … yes, please!

Get out your quills Harry Potter fans & win tea with J.K. Rowling

Patti's Comments:  What an exciting opportunity!!

From Entertaining Ideas: (click for entire blog post)

A contest by book publisher Scholastic sounds a lot like winning a golden ticket and meeting Willy Wonka (although not creepy). In honor of the Dec. 4 launch of J.K. Rowling's "The Tales of Beedle the Bard," Scholastic is sponsoring a national essay contest for American kids with a chance for five kids and their parent/guardian to win an all-expenses paid trip to Scotland to have tea with Rowling.

The contest is for kids ages 8-17 who, in 200 words or less, should write an essay about how they have helped people. Entries are due Oct. 30, so write quickly. The five winners will come to the National Library of Scotland Dec. 4 for a children's tea party with 250 other kids where Rowling will read from "The Tales of Beedle the Bard."

All the rules can be found at the contest Web site. My advice? Think humble. Think Charlie Bucket. Think, how-do-I-not-get-turned-into-a-giant-blueberry?