And the nominees are… Sorcerer’s Stone pulled three nominations for Academy Awards – Art Direction, Costume Design and Score, where John Williams has some strong competition from… himself (he was also nominated for A.I.).

Fearful of the influence Harry Potter books may have on impressionable young minds, a parent at a Terrebonne Parish elementary school has asked a School Board member to investigate claims that the books are too violent and promote witchcraft and wizardry. IGN Filmforce has more pictures from Toy Fair, this time of some additions to …read more!

Thanks to the HP Intayside site for this link to pictures from the LEGO 2002 showroom at the latest ToyFair. Upcoming “Harry Potter” LEGO products include a Crabbe and Goyle playset and Quidditch Practise. The first Harry Potter film has got off to a promising start at the Chinese box office, and has not suffered …read more!

Some news from Rames and HPGalleries – it should be running by mid-next week. They’re transferring stuff and all that server mumbo jumbo that I don’t understand. In the meantime, he gives us a fantastic link to Windows Media file of behind-the-scenes footage of HPSS (from the WB promotional video) without audio commentary. (Watch Rupert’s …read more!

Thanks Dominic for a heads-up about a new Whomping Willow play set in which you get the Ford Anglia, the Whomping Willow and even a tiny Aragog! Here are two pics of the set (number one and two, taken from Ebay). Also thinks to “Super Slytherin” for informing us that while reviewing the movie Rollerball, …read more!

Quidditch, anyone? Better yet, since we’re looking for alternatives to Saturday cartoons, write a message in invisible ink made from owl droppings and have a friend use troll’s blood to decode it. The options are absurd only if you’re outside the loop. If you want to know how to play quidditch, or encounter a troll, …read more!

From Gil Smart of Lancaster Online: “After last week’s bit about how the Penryn Fire Police’s decision to boycott the YMCA triathlon on account of Harry Potter is making us look like a bunch of hillbillies, I got a lot of mail. Some of it, from witches. Yes, witches –or, more accurately, wiccans. A link …read more!

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone has been nominated for a Golden Reel award in the Best Foreign Feature Film category by the Motion Picture Sound Editors. The awards recognise excellence in sound editing. (Thanks to Alex Fung’s film page for the info.)

A local knitwear company is thanking its lucky stars for the Harry Potter phenomenon. Hawick-based, Teviot Knitwear has won the contract to make all the knitwear for the next two Harry Potter films following the success of its sweaters, socks and stockings in the blockbusting The Philosopher’s Stone. Harry Potter fans unable to wait for …read more!

I’ve now deleted the posts to the “CoS pics” because there is absolutely nothing to suggest they are actually from CoS. 🙂 I’ve become quite convinced of the opposite. Thanks Ian Plowman for pointing us to DVD Debate‘s news item on the HP DVDs arriving on May 11 in the UK. Hmmm….