Harry Potter and Lord of

Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings will battle it out for Best Feature Film at the children’s equivalent of the Bafta Awards. (From Yahoo news.)

Japan Today reports that the Japanese translation of the fourth installment in the wildly popular Harry Potter series debuted Wednesday in Tokyo. Some large Tokyo bookstores opened earlier than usual so readers could purchase the new book, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” before heading for school or work. Among such bookstores, a few opened as early as 5 a.m. (And thank you to reader Moe Itoh who sent us this link to a picture of the cover.)

From Ireland Online: “The new Harry Potter film will feature more actors from ethnic minorities after criticism of the first movie’s predominantly white cast, it was reported today …”