Yule Ball is not limited to Hogwarts anymore!

Remember the Yule Ball at Hogwarts, the ball that was celebrated to mark the beginning of the Tri-Wizard Tournament?

I know you do!

In the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, we see that the school is playing host for the tri-wizard tournament and couple of pairing we see there, Cedric and Chow Chang, were my favourite!

Well, just FYI the Yule Ball is not restricted to Hogwarts or Harry Potter anymore. Recently, a committee from University of Wisconsin held this charitable ball. The Wisconsin Union Directorate Publications sponsored the event in order to raise funds to support Madison Children's Hospital and Respite Center.

The WUD Publications Committee director Sarah Mathews said that the theme was so designed in order to promote reading for children and tie the event into literacy. The invitations and information was sent over Facebook and to the surprise of the committee members, 3,600 people said they would be attending! The problem of space was however evident. Tickets got sold in an hour and a half and they could not provide them for everyone who showed interest, since they were so limited.

The WUD committee collected 1,762 donations including books, art kits, stuffed animals and DVDs. At the end, Mathew said that the members of the committee were very pleased at the response they got and the manner in which the event concluded.

"People love Harry Potter and they love the idea of celebrating childhood", said Mathews.

Seriously ALL IN THE NAME OF HARRY POTTER!

Do send me your owls!

reasons to switch to Harry Potter AUDIO-BOOKS

Dear all,

Its really nice if you have already bought the Harry Potter Books, in case you haven't and are planning to purchase them, I have this little request to make, PLEASE SWITCH TO AUDIO BOOKS!

Audio Books help in saving paper, besides they are really convenient. You can either listen them online or download them to your machine, your choice. You can carry your Harry Potter stories that way, anywhere, in your phones or iPOD. They are not bulky, and I swear, they're really very well narrated, you'll enjoy them a lot, I've had all of them. The UK version is read by Stephen Frying (that's the one I have) and the US version is read by Jim Dale. Believe me, it will be a nice experience and you'll save some paper as well!

So, I hope that you'll give it a thought and consider my suggestion.

You can conveniently Google for these audio books, they are available on the net.

...support Harry Potter in Oscars

It is true friends, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 has been short listed and is now in the semi-final list for the category Visual Effects!

So far, four out of six Harry Potter movies have been nominated for Oscars in categories like Cinematography, visual effects, costumes and art direction, but has not received any. This time, there are strong chances of making it to the final list and end up winning the Oscar. The final nomination list will be announced on January 25, 2011.

Cinesite, one of the world's leading visual effects company has rendered its expertise in this movie. The effects include Dumbledore's ghost, doe patronous, Voldemort's voice and the list goes on. We have experienced those jaw dropping effects already, so, now its for the jury members of the academy to witness them.

Well, what we can do for now is to keep our fingers crossed and pray for our hero to grab the golden statue.

..Harry Potter and his friends return to platform nine and three-quarters

Yes, the news is right friends..Harry and his friends, Hermione and Ron got back to platform nine and three-quarters!

Recently, the cast of Harry Potter got a call from their director, David Yates, to re-shoot the last scene for the final movie that is scheduled for release in July next year, the epilogue of the book. The cast which includes Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Bonnie Wright and Tom Felton, were more than happy to return and re-shoot the scene even though they've had made emotional goodbyes.

The re-shoot was done at platform nine and three quarters, where Harry, Ron and Hermione were present to bid goodbye to their kids, who are ready to leave for Hogwarts!
The reason behind the re-shoot was that the director thought that Daniel, Emma, Ron and Tom Felton, all looked way too old than they were supposed to. He said that they were looking 'ancient' rather than middle-aged.

Don't know if the emotional stuff is going to happen again, after all they have worked together for about a decade, when they were no stars, just little children!

Even we don't wish to bid goodbye to our hero *sob sob* !!

yet again ..Harry Potter saves a lot many lives!

If you thought that Harry Potter was just another fictional character, you're wrong. For those who think of Harry as a hero, here's another comforting news, The Seany Foundation hosted an early screening of the movie, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:Part 1' on Nov. 18, just a few hours before the scheduled release of the movie. Hundreds of Potter fans came to watch the movie, all dressed up in their Potter-ish uniforms, attended the event 'Hairless Potter Night', as this event lifted the spirits of the young cancer patients. The event raised $ 14000 and the proceeds will benefit projects at Rady's Children's Hospital and USCD Moore's Cancer Center.

Even earlier, Harry Potter books and the other three supporting texts, viz.,The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch through Ages, all have raised funds for underpriviledged and ill children.

J.K. Rowling auctioned one of her hand written copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard for $ 3.98 million, the amount was given to the Chidren's Voice charity campaign.

Ofourse, 'with great powers comes great responsibility'!

Keep sending your owls!