At least those in the United Kingdom will be getting it November 12th. No word yet on North America or the rest of the world.
Do you feel lucky, punk?
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.
Chris Judge Rages On
Stargate SG-1 actor Christopher Judge has succeeded in getting his new show Rage of Angels piloted by MGM. Plans are for Chris to be the lead (which he hopes will help to push racial barriers) and have SG-1 mate Michael Shanks playing the villain. (via)
We also wish him good luck with his current attempt to quit smoking.
Fished in!
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!
Murder on the Hogwarts Express?
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!
Hobbits thwarted again?
Peter Jackson and New Line finally seem to have kissed and made up and now the film adaptation of The Hobbit is in jeopardy again because of subprime? WTF?!?!
Wednesday afternoon, the Financial Times published a scoop breaking the news that funding for a slate of upcoming blockbuster movies may be delayed because of Wall Street’s current woes.
The studio in question is MGM: The movies on the list include “The Hobbit” and the next installments in both the Terminator and James Bond sagas.
It seems that in recent years Hollywood has moved to a relatively new financing model in which it raises funding for a slate of upcoming films by having investment banks tap the pockets of private equity funds, hedge funds and institutional investors. In this case, MGM had contracted with Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank to raise as much as a billion dollars.
But all these heavy hitters play with other people’s money, and right now, the cost of borrowing that money has shot up. Access to credit has withered. Buyout and merger action has come to a screeching halt. The initial impetus for this crunch came from homeowners failing to make their mortgage payments, but the damage is spreading far and wide.
I’m sure our resident economists even understand what that actually means. I think in layperson’s terms though it translates down to more delays. Grrr! Argh!
Mark hosting ‘Monster Radio’
Mark Hamill is hosting ‘Monster Radio’ on radioamerica.org Saturday nights, 8.00-10.00 pm ET. To hear it live, click on ’24 hr Streaming’ on the main page then. To hear the most recent back episode, click on ‘audio’, then ‘Monster Radio’.
Eight foot Lego man emerges from sea
A giant Lego man was fished out of the sea near Zandvoort in Holland.
“We saw something bobbing about in the sea and we decided to take it out of the water,” said a stall worker. “It was a life-sized Lego toy.”
A woman nearby added: “I saw the Lego toy floating toward the beach from the direction of England.”
I suspect Sir Dan.
Who needs the Hyatt?
Seems LOTR director Peter Jackson has the best guest house in the world! And Sir Ian McKellen will be staying there while in Wellington to perform in King Lear with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
“He kept the set of Bag End, which was Frodo’s house, and set it up for guests with running water, so I’m going to spend the night there,” Sir Ian said yesterday.
“It’ll be the one the hobbits were in which made them look small, so it’ll be big enough for humans.”
I wonder if Sir Ian would put in a good word for us. Can you imagine what a fantastic con suite it would make? I wonder if Frodo would bring us fresh towels?
“Absolutely brilliant!”
So says Charley Boorman. The post-trip interviews are starting to pop up on the net.
The BBC confirms that Ewan McGregor did not, indeed, deliver a baby during the trip. Although he has now promised to do so live on the Beeb when he gets home.
And iVillage talks to McGregor about the trip. And ladies and gentlemen, we’re talking some fabulously wild hair!