Friday The 13th

British examination standards have reached an all time low following confirmation that the book Harry Potter, by J K Rowling is to be included in the A-Level examination syllabus from next year.

Groan. Harry Potter is undeniably an imaginative piece of work; so imaginative it borders on gobbledygook. J K Rowling has managed to corner the children´s literature market admirably with her tales of the boy wizard and his adventures in the land of wherever. Not so admirably, I might add, as her PR machine has managed to corner the product support market, with such items as Harry Potter school bags, dolls, souvenir diaries and so on. It is this marketing machine that is responsible to the greater degree for the incredible success of the book series, not Ms Rowling´s dealthless talent as a writer.

Here is a list of all the books in the correct reading order:

Harry Potter and the…

1. Philosopher’s Stone/Sorcerer’s Stone :

Harry Potter is an average bespectacled 11 year old boy who has lived with the Dursley family ever since his parents died in a car crash. For some reason the family has always mistreated him. On his 11th birthday a giant man named Rubeus Hagrid hands him a letter telling him that he has been accepted as a student at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry learns that his parents were wizards and were killed by an evil wizard Voldemort, a truth that was hidden from him all these years. He embarks for his new life as a student, gathering two good friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger along the way. They soon learn that something very valuable is hidden somewhere inside the school and Voldemort is very anxious to lay his hands on it.

2. Chamber of Secrets:

  Harry Potter’s adventures continue…Harry Potter begins his second year at Hogwarts School of Wizardry, but is warned by a mysterious creature that danger awaits him at the school. Malevolent voices whisper from the walls. Soon it’s not just Harry who is worried about survival, as dreadful things begin to happen at Hogwarts.

3. Prisoner of Azkaban:

“He’s at Hogwarts. He’s at Hogwarts.” The infamous Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban Prison and all sources believe he’s after Harry Potter’s life. What connection could there be between Harry’s past and this crazed murderer? Can Harry figure it out before Black gets to him? And why does Mr. Weasley think Harry may want to find Black first? A shocking insight to a night 12 years ago.

4. Goblet of Fire :

Harry’s fourth year at Hogwarts is about to start and he is enjoying the summer vacation with his friends. They get the tickets to The Quidditch World Cup Final but after the match is over, people dressed like Lord Voldemort’s ‘Death Eaters’ set a fire to all the visitors’ tents, coupled with the appearance of Voldemort’s symbol, the ‘Dark Mark’ in the sky, which causes a frenzy across the magical community. That same year, Hogwarts is hosting ‘The Triwizard Tournament‘, a magical tournament between three well-known schools of magic : Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The contestants have to be above the age of 17, and are chosen by a magical object called Goblet of Fire. On the night of selection, however, the Goblet spews out four names instead of the usual three, with Harry unwittingly being selected as the Fourth Champion. Since the magic cannot be reversed, Harry is forced to go with it and brave three exceedingly difficult tasks.

5. Order of the Phoenix:

As another year begins for Harry, at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry so does the never-ending articles stating that he and Dumbledore are insane. As the ministry starts to invent new and malicious lies about Harry’s account on Voldemort’s return, Hogwarts begins to change for the worse as the ministry sends in their cure for all the insanity, Professor Dolores Jane Umbridge. As she begins to inflict her rules and regulations on the students at Hogwarts they begin to find that with her as their teacher, they’ll never be ready for the outside world. So Harry along with his friends decides to take things into their own hands and begin to learn magic the real way. As Harry starts having visions of terrible events happening with the Ministries very walls he decides to take action, leading himself and his friends into battle, ultimately teaching them what friendship, loyalty and sacrifice really means.

6. Half-Blood Prince:

In the sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft, and in both wizard and muggle worlds Lord Voldemort and his henchmen are increasingly active. With vacancies to fill at Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore persuades Horace Slughorn, back from retirement to become the potions teacher, while Professor Snape receives long awaited news. Harry Potter, together with Dumbledore, must face treacherous tasks to defeat his evil nemesis.

7. Deathly Hallows:

Voldemort’s power is growing stronger. He now has control over the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to finish Dumbledore’s work and find the rest of the Horcruxes to defeat the Dark Lord. But little hope remains for them, so everything they do must go as planned.

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Without a doubt, one of the most popular categories of costumes is movies. When choosing a costume for Halloween or a theme party, both adults and kids tend to like impersonating characters from the big screen. Whether that be a villain, a hero, a monster, or something out of this world, movie characters are popular choices.  And since Werewolf or wolfman costumes are classics in horror, you can’t go wrong by wearing one— it will never go out of style and can be re-worn for future Halloween or theme parties. In fact, the wolfman is one of the most featured characters in the largest haunted attractions around the world so you know it is an enduring costume choice!

Because of the recent popularity of the Wolfman movie starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins, a wolfman costume is all the rage right now. Especially since Rick Baker, the famous make-up artist for the movie, created such chilling special make-up effects for the main character! Of course if make-up isn’t your thing, but you’d still like to dress up in a werewolf costume, you can be ready for the party in seconds by wearing a quality wolfman mask instead.

Dressing up in costume is fun for everyone of all ages—adults and children. Pretending to be something you’re not, or wish you could be, even for a short amount of time, is all in the spirit of fun and celebration. And luckily, a wolfman costume is easy to find online and very low-cost. So if you’ve been bitten by the bug (or the wolf, as the case may be), there’s an adult wolfman costume sure to appeal to your scary side!

Beware the full moon… or maybe you’re looking forward to it as your chance to have a howlin’ good time in a wolfman costume! And with all the choices, you can become as horrific and hairy as you want to be, or tone it down a bit and create more of a mild werewolf costume. As you know, all the fun starts with the full moon, so get your wolfman costume ready now to have a howling good time!

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Screenplay books have not been around for very long. Even just two decades ago, the secrets of Hollywood and the film industry were closely guarded and not shared with people on any level. Why would directors and screenwriters want to share their tricks and secrets of the trade, after all? If they give away their secrets, more people can become successful in screenwriting and filmmaking, which will take success and profits away from them. However, someone decided to start writing screenplay books and filmmaking tutorial books to offer everyone the chance to become successful in the film industry.

Here are some things that you can learn from screenplay books:

-How to develop ideas for your screenplay that will sell

-How to format your manuscript properly

-How to network with Hollywood so that you can get your script read

-How to market your screenplay to various parties

-History and principles of filmmaking and story design

-How to find a screenplay editor that you can trust

There is a lot that you stand to gain from reading screenplay books before you start on your own masterpiece, and it just makes sense that you would want to do things properly so that you can make the most of your efforts. By taking advantage of these tools that have been given to you, you will be able to have a greater chance of success in screenwriting and filmmaking than you might otherwise.

Screenplay books are not all created equally. Some books offer different information, while some books are just plain bad information. You need to make sure that you take the time to find quality books that provide you with useful information about the film industry and other related areas. You should be able to find books that will teach you about networking and marketing, screenplay writing, editing, and other areas that are important to understand.

Of course, you can pick and choose the screenplay books that you want to purchase based on your specific needs. As long as you take advantage of these books and utilize them to help with your career, it should be easy for you to get the information that you need. Screenplay books are a great way to learn about the film industry and how you can get involved, and they are affordable enough that everyone can use them. You can find these books online, but you should make sure that you buy them from a reputable source that really knows what they’re talking about when it comes to the film industry.

About Us: MWP (Michael Wiese Productions) is the world’s leading publisher of books on screenwriting and filmmaking. It started in 1981 when Michael Wiese wrote and published the first book in what is now a line of over 130 books. Our goal is to provide information and inspiration on all aspects of filmmaking to students, emerging filmmakers and professionals through the brightest minds in the creative community. Visit http://www.mwp.com where you’ll find more great resources on writing screenplay articles, screenplay books, filmmaking books and screenwriting books to help you start planning on your next film.

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There are three easy ways to find material on Movies and TV.  Researching in all areas helps give you a well balanced view on the item area and you and your family will be fully informed.

The first place you and your family may want to look is encyclopedia type sources . You can now find this kind of information on sites like Wikipedia. These starting points assist give you an unbiased view of Movies and TV. This assists give you a base of facts when you and your family go to learn extra about Movies and TV.

Another source of information is blogs and websites like this one. These give you and your family other people’s point of view. These can be helpful resources and reviews, since they are normally written out of experience.  One thing to keep in mind when browsing the web for facts is to consider the starting point. Someone who is also selling a product related to Movies and TV^&* may be extra biased in what they tell you .

A 3^rd source of material would be books. Books are a fantastic resource when trying to learn further about Movies and TV.  However they can mainly be relatively expensive. One great way to find books on your topic area for an affordable price is nonprofit used book sales. These are consistently held by libraries and AAUWs. They offer books for a fraction of the cover price. This aids you learn further on Movies and TV without breaking the bank. To find book sales, search google, your local library website or stop in at your local library.

If you are looking for specialty books, check out Amazon or other online used book markets. You can consistently find a book for a deep discount (maybe not as much as book sales but still for a great price). This will aid you gain some more knowledge on Movies and TV without staring at a computer monitor for long periods of time.

If you and your family learned from all 3 points of information you and your family will become well informed on Movies and TV. This will aid you develop your own options on the subject matter material and assist you and your family when you and your family deal with this item in the future.

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In these hard finance times, we appear to get bogged down with worries about surviving. We spend less and less on ourselves, and the odd treat often goes by the way. It could be a rather depressing situation, particularly if there’s nothing to look forward to in the coming weeks. It’s important to keep morale high, though , so if you haven’t done something smashing latterly, then it’s time you probably did.

A quick scan through the stage-play listings in the newspaper will show you there’s something for everyone in the West End. Whether your taste is for a hard-hitting, controversial drama that pushes the boundaries of acknowledgment, or a massively favored musical that’s full to the top with notable songs and an energetic cast, you’ll find it in London.

The price of taking in one of London’s fine plays is not nearly as high as folk imagine ; in fact, cheap West End theatre tickets can be acquired from a selection of sources. There are ticket booths which are always worth a visit ; they not only have reduced prices, they can have returned tickets from some of the sold-out shows in stock.

The more well-liked plays are commonly booked up a couple of months ahead, but often there are late cancellations. In cases like this, they may be put up on sale at the theatre’s box office on the day of performance. Some individuals enjoy an afternoon wandering round the West End looking for last-minute availability. It’s a terrific way to soak up some of that special London atmosphere.

A night at a London theatre is more affordable than you think, and will bring a little much-needed glamour in these hard times.     

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Namir Faidi Review: It is difficult to discover a movie that can compare to the masterpieces of the past, that is until the creation of There Will Be Blood. When you can observe a film for over ten minutes with totally no spoken word and be entirely enraptured by every second of it, there is something truly unique about that, says the critic Namir Faidi. One of the directors, Paul Thomas Anderson’s treasured movies is The Treasure of Sierra Madre and any person who has experienced it knows why, and can assuredly notice the influence this film had on Mr. Anderson. They also may know why this director does not pump out films at every turn, film projects are chosen precisely and in time. In my opinion this is one of the most stunning stories of greed and opulence taken on celluloid, this film is a true jewel for film fans and should be cherished as such. One of the best things about the film is its lack of attractiveness to the bulk community and uniform movie going audiences. Reverting to the Western style of film making Western approach to film making this movie is filled with beautiful canvas shots long overwhelming views of America and inspires a lusty feeling of determination and opportunity. It’s no surprise this is an Oscar winner for best Cinematography, one of the most qualified awards is in recent memory.  broadly based on Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil! this film is about the oil boom in the late 1800’sthe oil craze in the later 1800’s) and a man who chose to capitalize on it. A massive element in the movie aside from the astonishing cinematography work and shot selection is the score, those two superior things set the approach for the entire film. The movie would not be as good as it is without a frightening score by Johnny Greenwood, guitarist from the band Radiohead, it too should have garnered an Oscar but unfortunately and oddly the music was all composed prior to the movie was produced. One thing that cannot be made clear in writing and would be a task unto itself in person would be to start to dissect the unsurpassable performance, to be matched with that of Jack Nicholson or Marlon Brando in their most successful day, of Daniel Day Lewis, who also won an Oscar for the film. There Will Be Blood is certain to become a landmark flick. If you don’t have access to a darkened theater with a film projector, which the finest way to view this film, make sure you at least watch it on Blu-Ray with a High Definition TV and have a high-quality stereo, you would otherwise be doing yourself an injustice.

Namir Faidi has been a reviewer for many years, reviewing movies. He has an unbelievable aptitude to provide his readers with a non-biased look at whatever he is reviewing. With a love for film, Namir Faidi has become a well known movie reviewer with a commitment to superior and intricate reviews.

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When Viacom took away two of the biggest shows from Hulu, the alarm bells started ringing. Hulu’s current avatar is in the balance, and this was the last subject they needed.  To lose both Comedy fundamental hit shows “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” could be the ascendent of the end, for without premium content viewing audience will start going the site. Considering the popular video site withal does not turn a profit, lower rouse numbers pool could kill the service.

Viacom making Hulu nervous
And economics is what its all about it seems.   He also said that streaming the shows on Hulu’ website had been an experiment, but still left the door open for a return key to Hulu. Viewers can still see both shows on the internet from the Comedy Central website.
 

So it looks like Hulu are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. On the one hand they cannot turn a profit if they take less gross share. But on the other, tv networks now know they can monetize their own content using their own websites and make much more of a return. Of course Hulu know the problems which is why they are actively facial expression at a pay to view option. It is yet to be seen if anyone else takes the same stand as Viacom, and if they do. It may be time to say bye bye to Hulu’s current model.

Comscore know their stats
After several months of online video numbers constantly rising and Comscore declaring that the market was “exhibit no signs of slowing down in growth”, the slowdown has come. Google properties (ie. Youtube) must be getting blase session at the top constantly, but they still are with 12.8 billion video streamed.

Although left over(p) in second place, Hulu must be a little dissapointed after getting around a billion views last year. The top catch up tv website dropped down to a still pretty hard 903 million views. To those that a, the viewing numbers for January 2009 were up over December 2008.  

Online Video for January takes a dive
Microsoft video sites complete the third position followed by Yahoo. Fox Interactive Media dropped from 4th position to 6th and views dropped from 550 million December to 293 million in January, a fall of about 47%.

So is this the start of a decline in online tv? Not a chance, its a blip. Already we know that next months figures will be high simply due to the number of online viewers watching the Olympics last month. And when you compare this January to last, video views are still up 119%. The future is live internet tv and a blip sure wont change that.

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What makes a good motion picture?  Many things contribute to the making of a good movie like the actors, the plot, and the movie’s genre, the penning, the special effects, its budget, and so forth.  But it actually depends on the person because one person can believe that the movie is good and another may think it’s a waste of time.

Having movie marathons is one of the best ways to spend time with your family, friends, and loved ones, especially on a Friday night or during your free time. You can watch movies anywhere, like at home, and rent a video or DVDs of CDs or simply just get one at the store.

Let us begin with Hollywood films. Hollywood films are the entertainment industries involved in producing and distributing movies. This is the film industry of the United States. This is where most of the good movies come from.  Independent films or indie films are films that are produced, mostly, outside of major film studios. The term also refers to art films which differ strikingly from most mass market films. In addition, most indie films are produced or distributed by subsidiaries of major studios. In order to be considered an independent film, less than half of the films financing should come from a major studio. Independent films are mostly considered low budgeted compared to major studio films.

A movie fanatic is a person that, somewhat, has an obsession with movies. This person normally spends their money on movie theatres and buying DVDs. I, myself, am a movie fanatic and if opportunity itself would ask me to watch good movies all day long, I would not think twice before accepting the offer.  Whether they are Hollywood films, blockbuster hits, or independent films, my satisfaction lies on the time spent watching the movie.

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