Tag Archives: harry potter

Usher Gets Ready to Kick It and Harry Potter Hopefuls Prepare to Kick Someone

R&B singer Usher is preparing for not one, but two huge new roles in the coming weeks. The entertainer is less than a month away from becoming a first time father (his wife Tameka Foster is reportedly due to give birth to a son in early December) and he is getting ready to fill some big dancing shoes—Gene Kelly’s. Usher told reporters he is currently preparing to shoot the Movie Rocks show in which he will perform a remake of Gene Kelly’s “Singing in the Rain.” The singer says he was even more thrilled when producers told him the shoot … Continue reading →

Pop Culture Updates: Harry Goes to China and Colbert’s New Bid

Potter mania is hitting China. Chinese-language publishers have printed nearly 2 million copies of the final book about the boy wizard and are considering issuing more, according to news reports. Similar to other parts of the world, unauthorized translations of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” surfaced on Chinese websites ahead of its official release last month. The Chinese translation of “The Deathly Hallows” hit stores October 20th in Hong Kong and Taiwan and October 28th in China as opposed to the English version of the book, which was released in July. The seven books about Harry, his pals and … Continue reading →

Pop Culture Milestones: Reese, Jake, and Harry

It’s officially official… kind of… maybe… Now that her divorce to Ryan Phillippe has been finalized it appears Reese Witherspoon is finally letting her guard down and confirming rumors that she and Jake Gyllenhaal are an item. The actress has denied romance rumors for months, but new pictures captured in Italy clearly show Witherspoon and Gyllenhaal sharing intimate moments. Paparazzi caught up with the couple as they toured Rome following the European premiere of their new flick “Rendition.” (The two reportedly met during filming of the drama, though they don’t share a single scene together in the entire movie.) The … Continue reading →

Harry’s Author Reveals Big Secret

Was it really a secret? Hard core Harry Potter, you should know. I mean, really, how many of you were that surprised when J.K. Rowling revealed last night that one of her main characters, Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, is gay. According to news reports, it shocked the heck out of thousands of fans who gathered to engage in a Q& A session with Rowling at Carnegie Hall Friday night. After reading portions from her final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the mega-selling author fielded questions from devoted Potter fans. One young fan asked Rowling whether Dumbledore finds “true … Continue reading →

Mugglenet Podcast

Calling all muggles! Have you heard the MuggleNet podcast? This podcast is such a fun way for Harry Potter fans to spend an hour or so. What impresses me the most is that show is created entirely by teenagers and young twenty somethings. These young people, one from Britain, the others from all around the United States, took something they were interested in, created a website, and then started this podcast. They have over 50,000 listeners a week, and are currently at 107 podcasts! I find this very inspiring and plan to use the podcast as example with students. The … Continue reading →

New Adventures For Some Old Favorites

Harry’s creator has gone sleuthing. At least that’s what observers of J.K. Rowling are telling news reporters. Neighbors of the woman responsible for penning the beyond popular “Harry Potter” books is said to be working on her next potential best seller—-a detective novel. Rowling has reportedly been spotted at cafes in Scotland writing a crime fiction book. It’s familiar turf for Rowling—you’ll recall she famously wrote initial drafts of the Potter story in the Scottish city’s cafes. But, back then she was a financially strapped single mom who set up shop in the cafes to save on the heating bill … Continue reading →

Strange But True

FASHION FILES: BAN ON CROCS Like millions of other kids around the world my daughter has a pair of trendy and stylish Crocs. I swear she would wear those hot pink rubbery clogs everywhere if I’d let her. When it comes to comfort Crocs are hard to beat, which is why I was not surprised to learn that they are very popular amongst nurses. Unfortunately, when it comes to footwear, comfort isn’t winning out over safety at various Pittsburgh area hospitals. In fact, some clinics have banned their medical staff from wearing Crocs all together. One hospital in particular has … Continue reading →

The World of Harry Potter

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I’ve never been a Harry Potter fan. No disrespect to Ms. Rowling. When the HP craze hit the U.S. I figured I was simply too old to get hooked on childish fantasy. Plus, I didn’t have kids so I figured why bother. Over the years as the craze heated up and once I became a mom I still didn’t quite get it. Tyler never expressed any interest in HP so again I figured why bother. Until recently. Perhaps it was the release of the final HP book and all of the media attention surrounding it but Tyler has expressed an … Continue reading →

Family Reading Fun

For the last week, my family has been occupied reading “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. Seven hundred and fifty nine pages is a lot of reading. We’ve all been at different points throughout the week, so we’ve had to be really careful about not giving things away as we talked. We have never all read the same book at the same time before. When the earlier Potter books came out, my nine year old twins were too young to be very interested. I remember seeing people on planes and at the doctor’s office reading the book. We would trade … Continue reading →

Celebrity Updates: Ian and Harry—REJECTS!

Frankly, I didn’t even know he was a serious contender. (Actually, I didn’t even know he was in the running at all.) But, according to former “Beverly Hills, 90210” star Ian Ziering, he was stunned to hear Drew Carey beat him out for “The Price Is Right” gig. “I guess I was a little disappointed,” Ziering, recently told reporters. “I was really kind of hoping that would happen. Sure, he did a fairly decent job recently lighting up the floor on last season’s “Dancing with the Stars,” but I’m not sure knowing how to shake your groove qualifies a person … Continue reading →