If I paid you a million dollars, would you get a big tattoo of Albus Dumbledore on  your back?

Maybe?

How about if I paid you $0 dollars, would you still get it?  

Probably not, but this guy did!  He spent almost a year getting a large tattoo of Albus Dumbledore on his back as a surprise for his kids.




Read more about it here

And he's not the only one inking Harry Potter characters, symbols, and phrases into their skin.  Plenty of die-hard fans have decided that Harry's story deserved a permanent spot not only in their hearts, but on their body.















And my favorite one:



Most of these tattoos can be found on Facebook under the group "Show off your Harry Potter Tattoos"

If I were to pick something, I think I would get a little lightening bolt somewhere....but not on my forehead!

What would you get?

Spell of the day:

"Episkey" - Use to heal relatively minor injuries.  It will make the injury feel very hot then very cold.  Might be just the thing after going through a grueling tattoo session. 

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It looks like I'm on a roll with these impressive bento boxes. The HP logo meticulously made from nori, the beautiful use of colors, the local vegan ingredients (meatless meatballs for Hufflepuff, mini pumpkin muffins for Gryffindor, veggie gyoza for Ravenclaw, bean salad for Slytherin!), and the final touch of the wand to the left? I'm sold. Major props to Disposable Aardvarks Inc.

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Quidditch, it started as a fantasy sport only played by wizards and witches in the world of Harry Potter.  Now its jumped right out of the pages and onto college fields around the world!

The IQA (Intercollegiate Quidditch Association) started in 2005 in Middlebury, Vermont with Alex Manshel being the first Quidditch Commissioner.  By 2007, Middlebury College had their first intercollegiate match with Vassar College and since then, more than 200 institutions have joined league.

The IQA even has their own logo!

 

I know, it looks kind of silly and you may want to giggle just a little bit, but believe me, the people who play take this game very seriously!

The Quidditch rules are adapted from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, but with a few tweaks in the rules to accommodate us non-flying muggles.  The main thing that's hard for me to grasp is the golden snitch.  In muggle rules, the snitch is a cross country runner that just takes off running around the campus as soon as the game is in progress.  That leaves the seeker with very little to do most of the time.   
It's become so popular, you can actually watch the play by play on CBS Sports!




Want to know if your college has a Quidditch team for you to try out?
Find out for yourself!  IQA Team Roster        
There are some top notch schools including Yale, Harvard, and Stanford.

Maybe your school can be in the 2010 World Cup!

Trivia Answer for the question in my last post:      
Question - What is the address of the house that was used to shoot the Dursley's home?  
Answer: 12 Picket Post Close, Martins Heron.

Spell of the day:

"Aguamenti" - Produces a stream of water from your wand.  Use it to cool off after a tiring game of Quidditch!

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"A Very Potter Musical" was written and produced by University of Michigan students in early 2009. Comprised of 23 parts on YouTube, it covers the events of all seven Harry Potter books, an epic feat!

Here's a taste of the opening number. Trust me, it gets even sillier.  
Underneath these stairs
I hear the sneers and feel the glares
Of my cousin, my uncle and my aunt.
Can't believe how cruel they are,
And it stings my lightning scar
To know they'll never, ever give me what I want.

I know I don't deserve these
Stupid rules made by the Dursleys
Here on Privet Drive.
I can't take all of these Muggles,
But despite all of my struggles
I'm still alive.

It'd be interesting to hear from you Harry Potter fans. What do you all think?!

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With the success of Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars, and Lego Indiana Jones, Traveller's Tales along with Warner Brothers is planning to release Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 sometime in May 2010. Everything from Hogwarts to Diagon Alley will be "Lego-ized".  The game will be available in all the main platforms: Playstation 3, WII, DS, Xbox 360, and PC.

According to IGN.com, you'll be able to play through Harry's life as he goes through Hogwarts in his 1st - 4th years. Players will be able to experience all the memorable events covering the four years from The Sorcerer's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, The Prisoner of Azkaban, and The Goblet of Fire.  Along the way, Harry will go to class and learn new spells that will become more powerful as he continues to study, as well as gain access to secret parts of Hogwarts.

Players will also be given an opportunity to switch to other characters at will.  Every character has their own set of talents, strengths and weaknesses.  For example, Hermione may not be great at broom flying, but Harry is.  There will be 140 playable characters to unlock and use as the game progresses, including villains!

I think my favorite part of the game will be the cut-scenes.  Although I've watched all the movies numerous times, LEGO has infused its own humor into the scenes, as you can see on the trailers.  Take a look!

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 Trailer

The characters are adorable and hard to resist.  Although I almost wish they had Hermione in a skirt like in the movie.  At first glance, its easy to mistaken Hermione from a long-haired Ron.

Ron? or Hermione?


Here are a few more screen shots of the game, found on www.mugglenet.com













The game will also feature co-op play on a split screen level and the actual soundtrack from the Harry Potter movies!
For the latest updates on this game, go to the game's official site.

So instead of my usual spell of the day, I have a trivia question for all the fans out there.  This question may come up during one of the games at our exhibition show, A Tribute to Harry Potter, so if you follow this blog, you'll know the answer!

Q: What is the real-life physical address of the house used to shoot the Dursley's home in the Harry Potter movies?

A: To be revealed in my next blog post

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How much is too much Harry Potter? 

If you love Harry Potter as much as me, its never too much.
You read the books, you've seen the movies, you may have even read J.K. Rowling's Tales of Beedle the Bard..

But since Jo isn't pumping out any more HP books anytime soon, most of us have to turn to HP fan fiction sites to get our fill of Hogwarts and magic.

Ever wondered what it'd be like if Harry and Hermione fell in love?  Or experience Hogwarts through Luna Lovegood's eyes?
What's life like after the death of Voldemort?

Fan fiction sites have become very popular with tons of stories to quell every facet of our imagination.

My favorite is www.fanfiction.net
They have a database of over 275,000 HP fan fiction stories to read!!
Another good site is www.Harrypotterfanfiction.com

Are there any great fan fiction stories or sites that you'd like to share?

Spell of the day

"Aparecium" - In case any of the stories are written in invisible ink, use this spell to make it visible

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In the past, only a lucky few were able to tour the actual movie set of Harry Potter.  Most of us can only dream of walking through the halls of Hogwarts or sitting on Gryffindor's table in the Great Hall. 

However, now that Warner Brothers' plans to purchase the UK studio in Leavesden (according to Financial Times), the studio that has been home to Harry Potter since the mid-90's, fans may finally have a chance to actually see the real live set used for the Harry Potter movies.  Although the movie was shot in numerous locations throughout England, mainly London and Oxford, the majority of the filming took place in the studio. This will include the Great Hall which is actually located in Christ Church College, part of Oxford University.  See the similarities?

Great Hall at Hogwarts



Great Hall, Christ Church




Of course since this is an actual school, with actual students eating here, they couldn't very well have Bellatrix Lestrange romping around and making a mess, so they built a replica. 

Just take a look at all the old portraits on the walls of Christ Church, don't they look like they were brought in straight from Hogwarts? Too bad they can't talk.

Spell of the day

"Portus" - Use this spell to make a portkey and save money on traveling expenses.  Just make yourself a portkey and zip your way over to Oxford to visit the Great Hall.  (Approval from the Ministry of Magic is required)

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