Welcome to Pottermore

August 03, 2011

Now that all the books are written and the films have been released and even a theme park has been opened! It is time for the publicity

team behind Harry Potter to try and cling on to the success of the series for a little while long, and why shouldn’t they! Harry Potter brought about a fantastic storyline of fantasy and fiction and was the first book that really took my interest.

So how are they going to keep the hype about Harry Potter? The answer is Pottermore, for those of you who dont know what Pottermore is, it is a new service coming out later this year which will offer audiotapes and a new experience of the books, also there will be new information released about the books that J.K. Rowling didn’t add into the book, watch this video below to hear all about what Pottermore is.

As the video says, a lucky few will get early access into the site. Luckily for me i am one of them! For 7 days anyone can try and get early access to Pottermore, all you have to do is go to the website and answer the clue that is up on the site. The thing is the clue is only available for a short time each day and the time it is shown is random. Today the clue was released at 11am, and gone by about 11.30! I had tried yesterday to answer the clue, but i was too late by the time i woke up!

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 07:  **UK TABLOID ** L-...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Today the clue asked what was the score that Gryffindor were on in a game against Slytherin in the Prisoner of Azkaban, then you had to multiply the answer by 35. If you knew the answer then you had to append the answer to the end of the URL for example todays URL looked like this: https://quill.pottermore.com/2100.

If you typed in the correct URL then you would be brought to a page where you had to carry out a task, today we were brought to the Guardian (english newspaper) website, and instead of a normal advert in the sidebar, it was replaced by a pottermore box where you had to levitate a feather and if you managed to do this then you were given a link where you could sign up with your details!

I managed to register three accounts today! One for me and then two spares for my friends. The site receives a lot of traffic, the site ended up putting a landing page with a countdown of 15 seconds before it would refresh so that it would not cripple the server.

On another note, each clue relates to a differI am looking forward to the early access now, once the invite stage is over they will be sending out emails saying when the early access begins.

Movie Monday – Sherlock Holmes

August 02, 2011

Over the last week i finally got to watch a film which has been on my ‘to watch’ list for a long time. Ever since Sherlock Holmes first came out in 2009 i had wanted to watch it, but for some reason i didn’t make it to the cinema in time and for some reason it took until now for me to get around to watching it!

Sherlock Holmes (2009 film)

Image via Wikipedia

I was really looking forward to watching this film, myself and a friend sat down on Saturday night to watch it. From the very start i could tell it was going to be a great film. The way the sets and locations were decorated and with the brilliant cast including Jude Law, Robert Downey Jr. and Rachel McAdams it was acted perfectly and just like i imagined Sherlock would be, i had never read anything relating to Sherlock before, but knew what he was about.

The fight scenes were very well done, Sherlock at one stage found himself in a boxing ring (underground as it seemed) and was taking a fairly big beating. Suddenly the film went in slow motion and explained step by step how to disable the opponent then would replay the moves in real-time speeds. Simply excellent camera work and acting by all the actors involved.

The plot of the film was that Sherlock and his partner Dr. Watson had to prevent an overturn of the government by a man who they thought they killed at the start of the film.

I really enjoyed this film and am certainly looking forward to the second film in the series coming out later this year (December), i am sure that i will definitely make it to the cinema this time to see it!

Six Busy Weeks

July 27, 2011

About 2 weeks ago i started working in a new job for an internship, the funny thing it is a really short internship where a normal internship might last anything from 9 months to a year, this one is only for 6 weeks!

I am 2 weeks in and each week has been extremely hectic, from having to get up each day at 6.50am and then being in work in Maynooth for 9am to 5.30pm and then having to make a commute home where depending on which way i come home, it is usually about 7pm before i set foot in my house again.

Trim Castle and Grounds

Image by IanMurphy via Flickr

On top of having work, i still have to have a social life, i can’t just work all the time and not enjoy myself! So i have also been meeting up with friends on my way home from work in Trim on numerous occasions, i have also been to the cinema a few times and even managed to go out last Sunday night, which was probably a bad idea sine i had to get up 4 hours after i got home, but i feel it was worth it all the same!

This internship happened to fall when i was just going on my 2 week holidays from my current job, i was disappointed that i didn’t get to enjoy 2 full weeks off, but then again i have a chance at something bigger so had to jump at it. Now my 2 week holiday is up and this coming weekend i start back working on my job, this time only working weekends and i would simply be unable to make it back during the week to work.

So i will be working flat out over the coming 4 weeks, 7 days a week of work! The only day off between now and when i finish my internship is this coming Monday (Bank Holiday) which i will enjoy as much as possible, most likely consisting of a lot of lazing about the house.

Other than work this week i am still busy as i will be attending a table quiz tomorrow night and then a friend’s birthday on Friday and then going out once more on Sunday as my cousin is leaving to go back to America next week. A busy few weeks all right, but i reckon they are beneficial and will help me broaden i knowledge of IT. I will talk a bit more about what my Internship is about in the coming weeks!

 

Its all over

July 26, 2011
taken by: Nicolai Schäfer

Image via Wikipedia

Its been about a week and a half now sine the final Harry Potter film has come out, i went to see the film the Saturday after the film came out, and being that it had the option for the first time in the entire series, i opted to watch the film in 3D!

I am fully aware of how much overrated 3D is, to be honest most films could do without it, usually the films i enjoy most are not 3d and i also feel the only films that actually work as 3d are cartoons, simply because they are animated and are fully created using computers and therefore can be worked perfectly using virtual cameras to make the best 3d high definition quality with eye popping effects!

Anyway that was a bit of a tangent, i saw the final installment of harry potter (Deathly Hallows Part 2) in 3d and i am glad i did. There was nothing over the top about it, nothing popped out at you, i had expected to see some spells going straight towards the audience, but nothing of the sort. They kept it simple, depth was pretty much the only factor of 3d in my opinion, and you got a greater feel of how large an area you were looking at.

The film is brilliant, definitely a great way to end the series, they seemed to of really made Neville into a huge role model and the battle scenes were great. Surprisingly though **SPOILER** when Fred died in the film, it didn’t actually show it happening! I thought this would of being a sure thing that would of had a big build up in the film, however they seemed to completely skip it until after the main battle when they panned to him lying there with his family around him, i think that this scene should have been included.

Although, like all of the other films, they had to cut parts out and it is expected that this would happen. Anyone who didn’t read the books wouldn’t have passed any remark on things like this, but i suppose as someone who read the books, you always want to see the whole lot made into a films, but others might not feel like sitting through hours and hours for a film!

Alan Rickman, who plays Severus Snape, was definitely the scariest character in the film, surprising since he was the hero in disguise and Voldemort was supposed to be the person of fear! I was wondering how they were going to tackle ending the film, in the books it skipped ahead to 19 years later, obviously the whole cast would be older and have there own family (they didn’t hang around with only 19 years) and the book ended with them all on the platform sending their own kids to Hogwarts.

When the ending came, i couldn’t help but laugh, literally out loud! Everyone in the cinema seemed to agree as they were laughing too! I was thinking they would attempt to make them look older by using some sort of computer magic, but this didn’t happen, i guess they thought if this was the last time they were going to be on screen for Harry Potter they might as well look as normal as possible. They way they achieved making them look older (only slightly older looking to be honest) was by lashing on a lot more make-up and sticking them into more formal / older looking clothes than they would usually wear!

Anyway it was a great film series and its sad to see its over, but no doubt there will be plenty of special features once the film come out on DVD. All that remains now is to go to the Harry Potter theme park in Florida, which is on my to do list! It’s a great excuse to go back to Florida again, it was great the last time and i am sure it will be just a good next time i manage to go!

Movie Monday, week 2- Old School

July 25, 2011
Cover of "Old School (Full Screen Unrated...

Cover via Amazon

Keeping this ‘movie challenge’ up this week with week 2. Over the last week my friends came down to the house, we ended up watching a film that is not new to me, but a film that is good for a few laughs. Whenever friends come over it is best to keep the films light-hearted for the most part, nothing too serious because if you are having a laugh and throw on a serious film the chance are the mood of the room will change.

I had intended on watching a different film this week, but in the end just stuck with this one. I think i will watch the original film i wanted to watch, this week, and talk about it next week!

Old School is about a group of men who are trying to regain their youth by turning one of their friend’s homes into a ‘frat’ (party) house although none of them attend university anymore. Old School is a good film to watch if you don’t want anything too serious, something that will give you a good laugh but it’s not something that is extremely stupid like a lot of films i have seen over the years!

Without spoiling the film the nearby university gets wind of the new frat house that has been set up by the group of lads, and try their very best to get it shut down, even by making them take part in a list academic events to prove they are worthy and are beneficial to the college lifestyle whilst providing a benefit to the members of the frat house.

Old School features a very strong cast of popular comedic actors including Vince Vaughan, Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell. Also Ellen Prompeo makes an appearance in the film as an old love that Luke Wilson once had from years ago, if you are a fan of Grey’s Anatomy then you would recognise her as being the lead female actor who plays Meredith Grey.

Old School picked up a rating of 5.6/10 on Rotten Tomatoes which is not too bad! The film runs for about an hour and a half and if you have not had the chance to watch the film before now i would recommend you take a look at it, it’s nothing too amazing but is definitely good for a few laughs. Here is the trailer below for it if you are interested in it!