Yesterday MTV announced that Daniel Radcliffe joined Google+ as his first, and only, social media network.  His reasoning for joining this particular platform is as follows:

“This has mainly come about because of the amount of people that I meet who tell me that they have contacted me on Twitter or Facebook when I know that’s impossible — because I don’t belong to either one of those sites,” Radcliffe told MTV News about joining Google+. “Now that I have this page, there will be an outlet for accurate information and hopefully people will not waste their time giving credence to people pretending to be me.”

“It will be active,” he said, “but with updates about things I’m working on or have worked on, including things I’m passionate about, like The Trevor Project. What it won’t be is the minutia of my daily life, like what’s on the craft services table.”

Dan has also participated in a new interview with ET Canada where we hear (and see a bit from) about Horns, Kill Your Darlings and The F Word.

Thanks to SnitchSeeker for the tip about the videos!

One of Daniel Radcliffe’s newer films, Kill Your Darlings will be having it’s world premiere at this years Sundance Film Festival. In the film Daniel portrays beat poet Allen Ginsberg, has been entered in the US Dramatic competition field. The synopsis of the film, from the press release, is as follows:

Kill Your Darlings / U.S.A. (Director: John Krokidas, Screenwriters: Austin Bunn, John Krokidas) — An untold story of murder that brought together a young Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs at Columbia University in 1944, providing the spark that led to the birth of an entire generation – their Beat revolution. Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHann, Ben Foster, Michael C. Hall, Jack Huston, Elizabeth Olsen.

The 2013 Sundance Film Festival takes place in Park City, Utah between January 17 and 27. It is currently unknown whether or not Daniel will be attending.

Today, Entertainment Weekly have released a trailer for Harry Potter Page to Screen: The Complete Filmmaking Journey, available on Amazon on December 4th with a pricetag of $600 (retail $1000.) This special eight book set will be limited to 3000 copies worldwide with seven of the books being created specifically for the set. The trailer illustrates why the set is worth so much and may be watched below (thanks to SnitchSeeker for the embeddable version):

Seven of the volumes were created expressly for this collection and delve into different aspects of the filmmaking, showing how the team designed locations, graphics, costumes, creatures, and special effects. A book of the paintings of Hogwarts showcases the exquisite artistry of each. A keepsake book filled with snapshots and personal photos looks at the lasting relationships between cast and crew. The eighth volume is a cloth-bound edition of the New York Times Best-seller, Harry Potter: Page to Screen. All of these precious objects are housed in a collectible box that looks like it came from Diagon Alley. Arriving at your doorstep with a numbered certificate of authenticity, this limited edition is the ultimate collectible for any wizard or Muggle.

This collector’s edition includes:
• A cloth-covered case, styled to look like a shelf from a shop in Diagon Alley
• A cloth-bound edition of Harry Potter: Page to Screen
• Seven additional volumes detailing the Harry Potter creative team’s ten years of extensive efforts:
* The Creature Shop Compendium: Flora and Fauna from the Harry Potter Films
* Environments Envisioned: Building Fantastic Sets and Scouting Dramatic Locations
* A Guide to the Graphic Arts Department: Posters, Prints, and Publications from the Harry Potter Films
* Movie Magic: Practical Props and Exciting Effects
* The Paintings of Hogwarts: Masterpieces from the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Sets
* Ten Years Later: Life on Set with the Harry Potter Cast and Crew
* Wizard Wear and Muggle Attire: Costuming the World of Harry Potter
• A replica of The Monster Book of Monsters film prop
• A gilded portfolio of five frame-able prints of original Harry Potter concept art

Today Warner Bros.  has emailed with exciting news for fans who will be visiting Warner Bros Studio Tour London – the Making of Harry Potter this Holiday season. From December 1st to January 6th the attraction will be given a festive makeover just like in the films!  According to the press release:

FESTIVE MAKEOVER PLANNED FOR WARNER BROS. STUDIO TOUR LONDON – THE MAKING OF HARRY POTTER

Special feature for the Christmas period only 

For the first time, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter will undergo a seasonal makeover using the actual decorations and food props seen in the most successful film series of all time. Visitors will see firsthand how the vast Christmas feasts were created and how sets were transformed for festive scenes.

Eight Christmas trees will line the Great Hall, adorned with authentic decorations as they first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone™. In the film, these decorations are levitated onto the trees by Professor Flitwick, played by Warwick Davis. The long dining tables will be dressed as they were for the seasonal feasts with turkey, hams, fruit, vegetables, plum puddings and snow cakes. The food featured in the feasts throughout the early films was real; however, the Set Decoration Department later used artificial food created from powder and resin.

The Gryffindor common room, boys’ dormitory and Weasley kitchen will also undergo a seasonal transformation and visitors will see the hand-knitted jumpers that Molly Weasley gave Ron and Harry for Christmas in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone™. Other costumes on display include Harry’s first Christmas present at Hogwarts – his Invisibility Cloak – and the dress Luna Lovegood wore to the Slug Club Christmas party in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince™. It took over two months to make the four versions of the dress needed for filming which were adorned with 50 metres of real tinsel and 1000 individual crystals. Evanna Lynch, who played Luna, created the jewellery she wore with the costume and many of the other accessories she wore while filming

Visitors will also discover secrets behind the footprints in the snow, which were filmed for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban™ and appear when Harry sneaks into Hogsmeade under his Invisibility Cloak.

The Studio Tour will showcase its Christmas additions over the festive period, beginning Saturday 1st December and ending Sunday 6th January.

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the USA, like me! Today we have a wonderful review of the newly released Wonderbook: Book of Spellsfor Playstation 3 by our very own Patrick. The game was released last week in the UK and the US.  Fans in the US may order the game at Target and fans in the UK can purchase it at Amazon.

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It should be said that I am not very good at console games and from what I saw at that the Wonderbook: Book of Spells launch party, the kids there took to it like kelpies to water, so I knew it was going to be a bit of challenge, but a challenge I was more than up for!

The technology behind the game blew my mind even before I started the game, the fact that a book blue in reality could be transformed into a spell book, that was visible onscreen and with myself in the frame was so cool. The wireless control, that onscreen was a wand, fitted perfectly into my hand, and once I had the hang of was easy to use!

The game is truly wonderful in the fact that it is clear to see the involvement that JK Rowling had in the creation. Not only are her spell’s used, but quite of few of them featured stories and fables like those seen in Tale of Beedle the Bard that tell the tales of the spell’s creation. Through a clever use of graphics and a small puppet theatre that pops straight from the pages of the book, the stories unfold require a few helpful swishes of the gamers wand to select missing words, and to cause special effects to happen on stage!

The layout of the game is very simple and perhaps a tad repetitive. A spell is introduced by the Hogwarts Professor who acts as the guide; some words on its uses, occasionally a pop up story. Then the incantation is learnt, where the gamer must speak it loudly and clearly enough for the PlayStation Move camera to pick up the sound. Next the wand gesture is shown; first the gamer follows a guide line, but then must repeat it from memory. Most often the next page will feature a situation in which the spell must be used practically; like using ‘Lumos’ to find lost items in a dark and dirty library, or summoning scattered cheese pieces with ‘Accio’ or for the grand finale fending off Dementors with ‘Expecto Patronum’. It was these parts that impressed me.

Unfolding from pages of the book, the gamer is transported to a practise space, be that a classroom, the greenhouses, a library. All the while a section of the screen remains with the Move camera’s view of yourself, so as to allow you to see yourself performing the magic in real time! Once a task is completed house points are awarded, and a video of your spell casting is visible. However I did find myself wishing for more varied situations, Niflers and Gnomes in the greenhouse can be a little tiresome after a while.

It must be said that this game is designed for a mush young age-group than myself, which I am very happy about as it’s given a new generation of fans to experience the magic of JK Rowling’s world in the closest way possible. But I also believe this could be the cause of some of my frustrations with the game. In the heat of the moment in a chapter test when trying to perform a spell as quick as possible, the game would not read my fast movements, or activate my spells, saying the gestures were incorrect. I think it just proves that younger ones have more patience and take a little more time, whereas I, believing myself to be quite the skilled wizard, would try to react as I would if the situation was real. A small annoyance, but one occurred more than once, to my dismay.

Overall the Wonderbook: Book of Spells, is a great game. It’s enjoyable on many levels; the chance to learn the spells we have only ever read or seen on screen, the carrying on of our time at Hogwarts, and to allow a new generation to fall in love too. It was the little things that I liked the most, such as my saved game appearing on the menu screen like a moving Chocolate Frog card, and the interactions with the book; blowing off dust and wiping away leaves or the way one can link the game to their Pottermore account. From this game alone it’s easy to see how the PlayStation Move system could continue to develop more games like this for the Harry Potter universe, (cross fingers a duelling one for adults) but for the time being Book of Spells is the closest we can be to attending Hogwarts, and for reason alone, it’s pretty great.

Huge thanks to Charlie Vance for giving us the chance to review the game, and his patience with my way too busy life!

Dumbledore actor Michael Gambon will be honored with the Richard Harris Award at this year’s British International Film Awards (BIFA). The Richard Harris Award was introduced in 2002 in the memory of it’s namesake (who also played Dumbledore.) Michael is the third Harry Potter star to receive this award, previously Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes and John Hurt, Jim Broadbent and David Thewlis have been honored.

According to the press release:

Sir Michael Gambon’s career as an actor spans six decades, working across theatre, radio, television and cinema. Gambon’s iconic role in the television serial The Singing Detective won him his first of four Best Actor BAFTA TV Awards and roles in dramas such as Maigret made him a household name. The controversial The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover; The Wings of the Dove; Mary Reilly; Sleepy Hollow; Gosford Park; Layer Cake; Charlotte Gray and The King’s Speech are just a few of the credits that have established Gambon as a leading light of the British film industry.

His work in Hollywood includes Michael Mann’s The Insider; Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Robert De Niro’s The Good Shepherd. Since staring in the Harry Potter franchise, Gambon is known by audiences of all ages around the globe. Sir Michael Gambon’s most recent film role was in Dustin Hoffman’s Quartet which will be released in the UK in January. He is currently on stage starring in All That Fall at The Arts Theatre.

The Awards will be held on December 9th in London.