Today I am reviewing a book called Half-Blood Poems by Canadian author Christine Lowther. The book is 113 pages long and contains 71 poems inspired by the Harry Potter books and films.  The poems are separated into 7 chapters, one for each of the books. I am by no means an expert in poems but I do know that I enjoyed reading these. There are funny and weird poems, sad and happy ones and even a song thrown in (“Lord Thingy.”)

Some of my personal favorites were (in no particular order) Longbottom Leaf, Un-Hide, Light and Dark, Dear Diary, The Put-Outer, A Boy’s Hands, Feeling Pensive, Eco-Wizardry, ‘Neville, Unlikely Rebel’ and All The Jinxed Defense Teachers.

And here is a snippet from a poem “Vulnera Sanentur,” inspired by Draco Malfoy:

The silken soft sorrow of the white bird
almost more beautiful in death than in life,
as if painted, lovingly,
on the wood of the cabinet
the very shadows of its feathers as sad as beauty,
as beautiful as sadness,
bewildering as a thug weeping
when he finds grief inside himself,
soft and vulnerable as the bird.

So if you know a Potter fan who is also into poetry this would be a great gift idea! *wink wink*

As a side note, for all of you who love being eco-friendly, these books were produced at a printing facility with Chain-of-Custody certification from 3 environmental organizations: the SFI©, PEFC™ and FSC™. This means that the paper comes from responsibly managed forests.

Potted Potter: The Unauthorized Harry Experience – A Parody by Dan and Jeff’s will be making it’s North American debut in Canada on Valentine’s Day. Potted Potter is a two-man play that takes on the ultimate challenge of condensing or “potting” all seven Harry Potter novels into seventy madcap minutes. This Monty Python-esque show sold out theatres across the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, and will now make its North American debut. It will have a limited two-week run.  A press release on the play may be read here.

Starting today Magical-Menagerie readers have pre-sale access starting at 10 a.m. Tickets will become available to the general public beginning Saturday, December 10. Access the pre-sale by using this link.

Venue: Panasonic Theatre, 651 Yonge St., Toronto
Dates: Opens Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Tickets on sale: Saturday, December 10 at Mirvish.com and 1.800.461.3333.

Follow @pottedpotter and #pottedpotterTO for updates on the show, ticket giveaways and meet-and-greet opportunities.

Entertainment Weekly has named Daniel Radcliffe as one of their Entertainers of the Year.  Digital Spy reports that Editor Jess Cagle described Radcliffe as “the nicest guy with one of the brightest futures in Hollywood”, adding: “There’s nothing he can’t do. Ultimately there was one person who made the most sense. He’s really interested in doing the work. Despite all his wealth and fame as a teenager, he never derailed. He was never busted. Never went outside without his panties on,” she said.

MTV has posted a new video interview with Daniel Radcliffe where he talks about writing, television, where he will live after his stint on Broadway and more.

“I am trying to write a script which is fun and frustrating and terrible at the moment but hopefully will be good at some point,” Radcliffe shared with MTV News. When asked what genre the movie would be in, Radcliffe didn’t have much to say. “Arthouse,” he said with a laugh. “Beyond that, I don’t know. It will be a film that no one wants to see.”
[…]
“I actually wrote a poem the other day for the first time in about eight months and I went, ah, actually that’s half decent. Everything else I’ve written has been crap, but I wrote something the other day I was actually pleased with,” he said.

Universal Studios has released a new video from today’s announcement at Universal Studios Hollywood.  See the following posts for the press release and event photos.

Thanks to Hypable for the video!

Warner Bros. and Universal have sent over some photos of James and Oliver Phelps from today’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter announcement at Universal Studios Hollywood.  You can view the 3 new photos in high resolution in the gallery.  There are also 4 new photos from the theme park in Orlando, view those here in the gallery!

Also, thanks to Hypable, we know that Universal announced that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando will be EXPANDED! As always I will post any news as soon as it is released.