Harry Potter and the Doppelganger Scribes.

“Forgive me, he had it coming…so beardy and so old.” By way of LinkMachineGo, the Guardian accepts rewrites of the climactic moment of Half-Blood Prince in the style of various famous authors. Some of these are really funny. [Massive book spoilers, obviously]

The Trouble For Harry.

This, the sixth volume of the series, [is] the darkest and most unsettling installment yet…” (If you’ve gone completely spoiler-less, do not read this NYT review.) And now, if you’ll excuse me, with book in hand, I’m off to get my Potter on. Update: Done. Another fine outing, I thought — I posted a heavily spoiler-laden reaction over at WebGoddess.

Harry Potter and the Angry Rottweiler.

On the eve of the Half-Blood Prince, letters are unearthed in which Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, decries the Harry Potter books. “It is good, that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly.” Well, if the future pope could handle the Hitler Youth, I think most kids’ eternal souls should be able to weather the Harry Potter tomes just fine.

The Leak has Sprung.

B.K. DeLong of Brainstream reports that The Leaky Cauldron, the Harry Potter-themed blog I started at the old Geocities site years and years ago, has not only been deemed J.K. Rowling’s favorite fan site, but is also on the short list of press invites to Rowling’s home once the Half-Blood Prince arrives. A hearty congrats to the Cauldron team!

What did I have to do with this? Less than nothing, really — the site just kinda sat there until B.K. took it over and turned it into the flagship Potter fan site. But I did find this news another interesting reflection of just how much Internet-time’s passed since GitM first got off the ground (the second in two days.) I’m old, Gandalf. I may not look it, but I feel it…

Goblet of Fever.

Hey…this site is in dire need of an update, but right now I seem to have procured a fever out of the blue and don’t feel like doing much other than sleeping. So, for now, here’s the new teaser for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, from where the stills of the other day were procured. Enjoy. Update: Back down from 101 to normal today…my guess is food poisoning of some kind or another.

Goodness Gracious…

The Weasley twins’ nerves are shaken and brains are rattled by the Great Goblet of Fire in one of several new high-quality pics from Harry Potter IV (scroll down), including shots of Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour, Victor Krum, a Hungarian Horntail, and the fateful maze. Apparently, the trailer will follow this weekend.

Hairy Potter and the Girls of Goblet.

A French website obtains a number of new Goblet of Fire images courtesy of Premiere Magazine. Besides Harry and Ron in their shaggy late-Beatle phase, they include looks at new characters Rita Skeeter (Miranda Richardson) and Fleur Delacour (Clemence Poesy.)