Just using my bullhorn

I hope I'm not violating any copyright by posting this, but I sure thought it was funny.

Harry Potter's Pensieve Challenge

Write down your answers, then leave a comment on how well you did! No cheating allowed!!

1. When is Harry Potter's birthday?
a. June 31st
b. October 31st
c. July 31st
d. August 1st

2. How many staircases does Hogwarts have?
a. 142
b. 124
c. 412
d. 214

3. What is a person who can communicate with snakes called?
a. Parselmouth
b. Slithermouth
c. Serpentongue
d. Boggart

4. Who sends Harry a valentine in his second year?
a. Pansy
b. Hermione
c. Parvati
d. Ginny

5. What are the guards at Azkaban?
a. Hippogriffs
b. Dragons
c. Dementors
d. Boggarts

6. What is the middle initial of Remus Lupin?
a. J.
b. C.
c. H.
d. O.

7. What is Mad-Eye Moody's real first name?
a. Alastor
b. Alexander
c. Alasdair
d. Allister

8. What is the name of Hagrid's giantess mother?
a. Fridwulfa
b. Grenandine
c. Freyalfa
d. Frolinka

9. What is the name of the Minister of Magic?
a. Singe
b. Brew
c. Fudge
d. Smith

10. What is the name of the Black family's house-elf?
a. Dobby
b. Catcher
c. Lohman
d. Kreacher

11. What is Dumbledore's favorite jam?
a. Strawberry
b. Blueberry
c. Raspberry
d. Marmalade

12. What are Inferi?
a. Animated corpses
b. Fire-breathing worms
c. Flesh-eating plants
d. Skeletal horses

If you get 0-3 answers correct, you are a Crabbe or Goyle, if you get 4-6 right you're a Luna Lovegood, if you get 7-9 you're a Neville Longbottom or Ginny Weasley, if you get 10-12 right you're a Hermione Granger.


Answer Key Below (highlight to see)
Answers: 1. c, 2. a, 3. a, 4. d, 5. c, 6. a, 7. a, 8. a, 9. c, 10. d, 11. c, 12. a

Quiz taken from Scholastic bookmark - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book release date 7-21-07

Laura's Harry Potter Movie Review

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"

LOVED IT!!!! I think it was the best of the Potter movies so far! You definitely walk out of this movie lovin' the good guys and despising the bad guys. Did anyone else pick Luna Lovegood as their favorite character in this movie? I thought the girl they picked to play her did a phenomenal job! I also liked the relationship foreshadowing between Ron and Hermione and Ginny and Harry. If you've read the 6th book you'll know what I mean. And who couldn't help but watch the Weasley twins' grand Hogwarts exit with a huge grin on their face???

Quite honestly the first time I read this book I didn't like it very well because of the constant anger Harry feels during the whole thing. So I was really curious to see how the movie would be. However, after reading the book a second time, an explanation from Kyle about the mind of a 15-year-old boy, and then seeing the movie, I like the story line a lot better.

The PG-13 rating is highly validated. I say if you're kids are old enough to and have read the book go ahead and let them see it. If they haven't, some of the scenes and characters/animals might be a little disturbing to young minds. And of course younger kids just won't understand the movie at all.

Obviously it's going to be hard to turn an 870 page book into a 2 1/2 hour movie, so there are some important scenes left out of it. But that's what the book is for, right? I think they did a good job of piecing the important parts of the story line together.

I give the movie a 5-star rating, a must-see for all Harry Potter fans. Now I'm anxiously awaiting the final book release on Saturday!

Photo found on http://www.javno.com/en/lifestyle/clanak.php?id=61740

I may have inspired something

(I posted this last night, but I added some hyperlinks this morning)

As some of you may remember from a previous post I love comic strips. I started having my dad and brother read me Krazy Kat and Garfield since before I could read and was as excited for the publication of new Calvin and Hobbes books as I am for new Harry Potters (no exaggeration). As soon as I could draw, I started making my own strips. For some reason though, my ability to draw never really progressed beyond what I was capable of doing when I was about 8 years old. So rather then pursue a career, I've been content to be a lifelong fan of the medium.

Last year I came across a new strip called "Retail" and loved it right away. It immediately became a part of my daily internet comic viewing along with Dilbert, Foxtrot, Garfield, and Non Sequitur. Also, though I don't check them everyday, I'm a big fan of Get Fuzzy and Pearls before Swine. When Foxtrot stopped doing dailies it got bumped up to my favorite current running comic.

I love this strip so much that I make a daily visit online to one of the fictional character's blogs and keep up on any news given out by the author, Norm Feuti. Also a few months back I even submitted a story to the author that I thought would be funny. Many comic strip writers offer fans ways of sharing ideas with them in order to help maintain inspiration and keep creating fresh daily comics. Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, has been really big at hitting up the public for inspiration. If the idea is good, then maybe, just maybe you'll inspire a strip. If it is really good perhaps even a Sunday strip or a week long story. In my case though, a storyline VERY similar to one I emailed to the author looks to be panning out into a MULTI-WEEK STORYLINE.

I mentioned in the email how I had worked in a high end clothing store where we had to be prim and proper and look our best all the time. I told the author it would be funny if the goof ball stockroom worker, Cooper (shown here), somehow got temporarily transfered to the menswear department and had to start wearing a tie and dealing with balancing customer service and the hassle of recovery in a part of the store where everything has to be kept perfect. Well, that is exactly what happened this week and looks like what will continue to take place at least into next week.

Now I'm a reasonable enough person to realize that without further evidence I can't just jump to the conclusion that it was my email that provided Norm with this storyline, but I'm going to let myself enjoy the moment just in case I did.

A Good Movie and a Good Book

Kyle and I received "Miss Potter" from our Blockbuster online rentals last weekend and spent Friday night watching it. It's the story of Beatrix Potter the author of the Peter Rabbit books. We both loved it! It's such a cute movie and there's really nothing wrong with it. It's a very "pretty movie" as my mother-in-law would say! I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it!




Another recommendation is the book, Fablehaven. If you like Harry Potter you'll like entering the magical world found in this book. Our friends Sarah and Shane recommended it to us and it turned out to be some really fun reading! It doesn't capture you within the first chapter like Harry Potter does. However, if you give it a chance it turns out to be really good. Watch out though, you're going to crave hot chocolate.

Tonight's Season Finale....

One word:

Errrrrrrrrgh.

"The Man Behind the Curtain"

Calling all "Lost" Fans:

After watching last night's episode, do you think Locke is truly dead???

I don't! There is NO WAY they could kill him off like that. What a freaky episode!






Picture found on http://www.starpulse.com/Television/Lost/Pictures/