Harry Potter and the Studio of Fire

A film crew was forced to leave the set of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows after a special effect explosion went wrong. Despite the efforts of six fire crews, the set burned down. The damaged is estimated to be 100,000 euros or 74,000 dollars. Watford fire brigade commander Tony Smith said: ‘There is a big battle scene involving a lot of pyrotechnics and explosions. There is a mocked-up castle made of timber, steel and plastic – somehow it caught alight.’

Happy Birthday to Ron Weasley!

3 Words: BEST KEEPER EVER

Some Averageness...

We recently made the announcement on our last podcast (which is not online yet, so this is kind of a spoiler) that we are no longer having daily new updates on our site. We sucked at it, we were slow, lazy and really? It just didn't work out. You can go to other sites to finds news.


Right now, this site will be dedicated to Siriusly Potter and FUN! Harry Potter Fun of course!


So here's a few posts from My Life is Average concerning the Potter Fandom:


"I was at school and people were walking around with stickers on their shirts that said 'Team Edward' and 'Team Jacob'. 25% of the school wore Edward stickers, 25% wore Jacob Stickers and the rest didn't participate. I wanted to break this tie and so I made my own group. After I made my own group, 40% of the school joined mine. Team Potter won. MLIA."


"A few days ago I was eating in the dining hall with my friends and someone pointed out a guy who looked a lot like Harry Potter. I said, "It's because this is secretly Hogwarts." Right at that moment a guy walked by carrying a Harry Potter style broomstick. Wizards have uncanny timing. MLIA."


"Today when I was walking down the street some girl said I looked like Edward from twilight. To mess with I went shhh and she started to get excited and asked for an autograph. I said sure if you keep it quiet. She gave a pen and paper and I wrote proudly Cedric Diggory lives on and ran away MLIA."


"Today, I walked past a Miley Cyrus poster in the hallway at my high school. Then, I watched my teacher beat her picture with a water bottle, saying "Why is Miley Cyrus on the wall?! We shouldn't have to look at her!" New favorite teacher? Definitely. MLIA."


Okay... couldn't resist that last one.


Apparently there's an Average Wizard site too! Here's one more:


"While visiting my cousins in Arizona, I saw a VW Beetle and thought nothing of it until I saw the licence plate which read: THEBARD. I just saw Beedle the Bard driving down an Arizona Freeway."


Siriusly, check these out!


www.mylifeisaverage.com
www.averagewizard.com

Guess Who This Is!

Helping Haiti Heal- UPDATE!

Harry Potter Fans Unite Fan Communities Across the World Raise Over $50,000 (and counting) for Partners In Health

(Final Fundraising Webcast to take place Saturday, January 30, 2010)

JANUARY 27, 2010 - BOSTON, MA - This Saturday, January 30 will be the grand finale of Helping Haiti Heal - a fundraising campaign put together by Harry Potter fans and fans of other blockbuster books, movies, and television series that in just days has raised over $50,000 for Partners for Health, the biggest health care organization on the ground in Haiti.  Helping Haiti Heal kicked off with a hugely successful live webcast on January 23 that included tens of thousands of viewers from across the world, watching as a number of the biggest names in web, film, television, and literature came together to raise money for the people of Haiti.

Throughout the week, thousands of people have been contributing with the hopes of receiving one of over 200 thank you gifts based on individual donation levels from such donors as J. K. Rowling; Harry Potter actors Evanna Lynch, Tom Felton, and Matthew Lewis; bestselling authors Sir Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, and the Printz award winning John Green; as well as "Ghostbusters" actor Ernie Hudson. The campaign, which has already been one of the top trending topics on Twitter, will culminate this Saturday with leaders of multiple fan communities, as well as interviews with "The Wire's" Sonja Sohn, "Heroes" actor David Lawrence, and Oprah Radio network host and best selling author Marianne Williamson.

"We just built an unprecedented coalition of fan communities and creators of popular culture to benefit Haiti," says Andrew Slack, Executive Director of the Harry Potter Alliance.  "This coalition includes the most prominent fan sites for Harry Potter, "True Blood," "Mad Men," "Firefly," "Lord of the Rings," "The Guild," "Ghostbusters," as well as stars from many more.  Rather than simply sitting in front of our computers and tv screens, our collective love of story has brought us together with the hope that we may contribute to the very story of our times and plan on more to come in the future. For Helping Haiti Heal, we chose Partners In Health because they have written the book on addressing poverty in Haiti and will be with Haiti, rebuilding long after the initial effects of this recent earthquake subside."

After the first webcast, scores of people from across the world were tweeting, "I have never been prouder to be a Harry Potter fan or a fan of any thing in my life. Bravo everyone!" 

Donations continue to pour in as the final day of Helping Haiti Heal is Saturday, January 30 and will end with another exciting webcast at 2 pm EST at  http://thehpalliance.org/haiti. For more, see http://thehpalliance.org/haiti/prizes.

#  Helping Haiti Heal is sponsored by The Harry Potter Alliance (http://www.thehpalliance.org/), The Leaky Cauldron (http://www.leakynews.com/),MuggleNet.com 

(http://www.mugglenet.com/), HPANA (http://www.hpana.com/), and FictionAlley (http://www.fictionalley.org/).

###

CONTACT:
Andrew Slack, Executive Director of the Harry Potter Alliance

617-943-9434andrew@thehpalliance.org

###
 The HP Alliance (www.thehpalliance.org) is a 501c3 nonprofit that engages Harry Potter fans in social activism. With over 30 active chapters, the HPA has raised over $15,000 to protect thousands in in both Darfur and Burma, put out original podcasts on Darfur that have been downloaded over 120,000 times, donated over 14,000 books world wide (4,000 of which are being shipped to a youth village in Rwanda), helped educate over 2 million people on Wal-Mart’s unfair treatment of employees through the famous “Lord WaldeMart” videos, and continues to work on promoting media reform, marriage equality, and tools for our members to live more creatively or “magically.”

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has recognized the HP Alliance on her web site, www.jkrowling.com, awarding it the Fan Site Award and praising its efforts.

Our work has been featured in over 200 US publications including the front covers of Politico and the Chicago Tribune Business Section.

From Time Magazine’s 2007 Person of the Year article about J.K. Rowling: “When asked about the [HP Alliance], Rowling practically levitates off the couch, spilling her coffee along the way. ‘It’s incredible, it’s humbling, and it’s uplifting to see people going out there and doing that in the name of your character,’ she says. She’s especially pleased by the group’s choice of mission, and the old Amnesty International worker in her surfaces.”

Helping Haiti Heal (HP Alliance!)

J. K. ROWING DONATES SIGNED UK EDITIONS OF HARRY POTTER SERIES, PERSONALIZED NOTE TO HELPING HAITI HEAL FUNDRAISER
(Fans Unite to Help Haiti Heal this Saturday, January 23, 2010, in a Live Fundraising Webcast Benefiting Partners In Health)

JANUARY 22, 2010 - BROOKLYN, NY - Worldwide bestselling author J. K. Rowling has donated a full UK edition set of Harry Potternovels and handwritten note card to the Helping Haiti Heal, a home-grown effort to contribute to the growing humanitarian aid and charitable relief activities in Haiti by benefiting Partners in Health (http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti).  This contribution by J. K. Rowling comes along side a personal donation through her trust, The Volant Charitable Trust, to Haiti.

The Helping Haiti Heal live fundraising webcast will take place Saturday, January 23, 2010, at 2 P.M. EST via Livestream (http://www.thehpalliance.org/haiti), and bring together Harry Potter fans and fans of other blockbuster books, movies, and tv series such as "Heroes," "True Blood," "Mad Men," "The Wire," and "Firefly" for this effort.  The four hour event will feature a donation drive where donors have the opportunity to receive thank you gifts based on certain donation levels, several of the Internet's most popular podcasters, leaders and celebrities from various segments of popular culture, performers from popular book-based musical acts, interviews with civic leaders and Haitian Americans, and more.

"This community is uniting with other popular and vibrant fan communities to harness the energy of popular culture toward making a genuine difference in Haiti," says Andrew Slack, Executive Director of the Harry Potter Alliance. "We have chosen Partners In Health because they have written the book on addressing poverty in Haiti and will be with Haiti, rebuilding long after the initial effects of this recent earthquake subside."

The Helping Haiti Heal fundraising webcast aims to raise monetary funds for the benefit of the Haitian people through the donation drive of unique and personalized items donated by prominent musicians, authors, and actors.  In addition to the one-of-a-kind contribution by J. K. Rowling, items up for auction include:

• Five signed, dedicated, first edition novels by bestselling author Terry Pratchett.
  
  
• Original conception art from the film Where the Wild Things Are.
  
  
• Signed books from Time Magazine's Lev Grossman, NY Times bestselling author Melissa Anelli, Movies in 15 Minutesauthor Cleolinda Jones, and Urban fantasy novelist Lilith Saintcrow, as well as young adult authors Karen Healey,Aprilynne Pike, Pam Bachorz, Lisa Mantchev, and many more.
  
  
• A signed Mega Book Pack of 30 novels from The 2009 Debutantes (http://www.feastofawesome.com/), including: Malindo Lo, Saundra Mitchell, Sarah Ockler, Michelle Zink, and Jackson Pearce.

• Guest spots on PotterCast and Hogwarts Radio.

• Signed CDs from such wizard rock bands as The Remus Lupins, The Whomping Willows, The Butterbeer Experience, andOliver Boyd and the Rememberalls.

• Quality replica LightSaber based on Luke's from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

• Full Access Registration to LeakyCon 2011, valued over $300.

• $200 Gift Certificate to Infinitus 2010.
  
  
• Limited edition, artist signed, Replica Slimer from Ghostbusters.
  

The fundraising webcast will also feature podcasting personalities from leading Harry Potter podcasts that reach well over 50,000 listeners: PotterCast (http://www.pottercast.com/), MuggleCast (http://www.mugglecast.com/), Hogwarts Radio (http://www.hogwartsradio.com/), FictionAlley (http://www.fictionalley.org/), and HPA’s PotterWatch (http://www.thehpalliance.org/category/potterwatch/); live performances from many wizard rockers; leaders in fan communities; personal interviews with Haitian-Americans about the importance of giving to Partners In Health; human rights activists; a representative from MIT's Media Lab discussing ways that we can donate our time using new media; and much more.  It is the aim of Helping Haiti Heal to provide ideas and inspiration across fandoms to those with the desire to aid those affected by the earthquake.  Together, we can help heal Haiti.

#  Helping Haiti Heal is sponsored by The Harry Potter Alliance (http://www.thehpalliance.org/), The Leaky Cauldron(http://www.leakynews.com/), MuggleNet.com (http://www.mugglenet.com/), HPANA (http://www.hpana.com/), and FictionAlley(http://www.fictionalley.org/).

Gilderoy Picture on Episode 26