News: The New Book by J. K. Rowling

The possibility has become anticipated reality. It had long been rumored that J. K. Rowling was working on another novel. However, perhaps “rumored” is not the correct word to use in this case, as Rowling herself has tweeted several times over the past two years that “pen and paper” were her priorities. Now, when you…

Editorial: I Have a Gryffindog

Technically, this isn’t an editorial because it doesn’t express any opinions, and technically, Baxter isn’t my dog since I gave it to my sister, but I think this makes for an interesting article nonetheless. J. K. Rowling has said that the four Hogwarts houses roughly coincide with the four “major elements”: earth, wind, fire, and…

Review: The Hobbit Trailer

I teach a class primarily focused on British Literature. One of the novels we read every year is The Hobbit, because J.R.R. Tolkien is a legendary British author. We started reading the novel in class on December 20, 2011. Little did I know that the announcement trailer for the new film would be released that…

Review: Songs from Gringott’s Vault

I had been a fan of Ministry of Magic ever since I heard their song “Nothing to Fear” on The Leaky Cauldron’s Christmas release “Jingle Spells 3”. However, I hadn’t heard any more of their songs until I went to LeakyCon 2011 in Orlando, Florida in July. Hearing them live, I knew then that they…

Review: A Middle-Earth Journey

Hey guys! I’m finally back from my (previously unannounced) hiatus. Let me remind you that I am a high school English teacher. Therefore, I don’t have much time to update this website. However, I chose today to break my silence by posting about the side-project that has been taking away all the time that this…

Editorial: Much Ado About Sorting

Yesterday, Evanna Lynch, who plays the very eccentric Ravenclaw Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films, was sorted on Pottermore. Into Gryffindor. Here’s what she had to say (or tweet, rather) about the matter: Ahhhh umm errrrrr…. Just got sorted. Slight identity crisis. Need to sit down and process this… #pottermore I’m in Gryffindor. #Pottermore…

Editorial: Devour or Savor Pottermore?

On Monday, I posted the following question on the FictionRow page on Facebook (which you are still more than welcome to answer): Pottermore: Did you devour the content or do you plan to savor the experience? I decided to post this question after I saw the following complaint on Hypable.com, a website that I frequent…

Pottermore: Step This Way…

At 9:41 a.m. CDT, on August 15th, 2011, I received this message from Pottermore, inviting me to “step this way”: The magical world of Pottermore is now just a click away. Your user name is: ErisedAuror53. Before you step into the exciting world of Pottermore, we’d like to welcome you as one of the first…

Pottermore: “Chosen One” Email

I received this message moments ago from Pottermore. It is NOT the Welcome email (Hogwarts Letter) that we are all hoping for, but it is still nice to hear from Pottermore after several days of impatience. You have been selected for early entry into Pottermore! We’re really excited to confirm that you are one of…