Club Jade

Harry Potter fansite was going to (basically) publish their site in book form. So J.K. Rowling files suit. Shocking!

UPDATE: Rowling speaks, as does the Lexicon’s publisher.

NEWS

• Who is Hal Wamsley, the Jawa impersonator?

• Star Wars takes over ferry terminal.
• J.K. Rowling badmouths Star Wars prequels? Or did she? Two-bit celebrity wire services, ehh.

LISTS & THE LIKE

• Eight life lessons from Star Wars all kids should learn

• Three lessons Darth Vader taught me about money.

PASSING REFERENCES

• Time namechecks Artoo and Threepio in their obligatory gay Dumbledore article.

• Be Leia for Halloween.

PEOPLE

• Ewan McGregor to be the face for new fragrance.

• George Lucas Educational Foundation teaches schools to be more green.
• Review of the 30 Rock episode Carrie Fisher guest-starred in.
• Interview with Natalie Portman on her appearance in tonight’s Animal Planet documentary Gorillas on the Brink. She also has a piece in this week’s Parade.

THE LAST WORD

• Vader later regretted not getting the wolfman mask.

This is usually Yav’s beat, but she’s all busy doing something silly, like actual work. ::snort:: At any rate, the insanity of the Dumbledore outing continues.

- Giving validation to all the slash-fic’ers out there, David Thewlis (aka Remus Lupin) reports that he and director Alfonso Cuaron missed the mark a bit where his own character’s sexuality was concerned. (Plus, a nice story about David’s new book.)

- Jo, herself, got grilled a bit in Toronto, afterwards. And gives hope that a bit more of the Harry Potter universe might appear after a bit of a break.

- And GLAAD reminds us to play nice.

J.K. Rowling revealed that Neville Longbottom marries Hannah Abbott and that Albus Dumbledore was gay during tonight’s reading and book signing at NYC’s Carnegie Hall.

Let the wank begin!

J.K. Rowling launched her book tour in Los Angeles by signing 1,600 books for school children, and answering questions about the highly anticipated Harry Potter encyclopedia (don’t hold your breath waiting for that one) and — surprise, surprise — Severus Snape.

A rare set of the Harry Potter book series, signed by J.K. Rowling, is to be auctioned off for charity.

They will be auctioned off on eBay in aid of local charity Books Abroad which supplies books to children in 80 countries worldwide.

The Potter books are expected to raise at least £20,000.

Also, the release dates for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix have been confirmed as November 12 in the UK and December 11 in the United States (no word official word on Canada yet).

Scholastic has finally kicked off their sweepstakes to distribute tickets to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows reading at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The date for the event is Friday, October 19.

Rowling will be doing a total of four readings on her U.S. tour, but the Carnegie Hall gig is the only one that adults have a shot of attending.

Contest rules also state that if you win, you must bring Yav with you.

Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin admits he was only joking about J.K. Rowling working on a crime novel.

“This is a joke that got out of hand,” said Rankin, describing how the remark was made on stage during the course of a [Edinburgh] festival event.

“There were 600 people in the audience, and only one person didn’t laugh,” he added.

The AP and other wire services picked up the story, and it was all over the news last weekend. Good one, Ian, but you should have gone for romance novel!

Um, maybe. J.K. Rowling is reportedly taking to the cafes of Edinburgh again, this time penning a crime novel.

Thanks to HollywdLiz for the find!

J.K Rowling answered fan questions in a web chat at Bloomsbury.com today. At the link, Leaky’s transcript.