The top 10 Harry Potter Gifts for Christmas 2011:

1. Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle Replica

The Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle Replica is the most amazing Harry Potter gift manufactured in recent times. It  includes a wooden base that measures 11 x 12 inches in width and 2.5 inches in height. The castle, which is made of cold cast porcelain, measures 12-inches in height from wooden base to top of castle. Weighs approximately 16 pounds.

2. Harry Potter: The Complete 1-8 Film Collection – Limited Numbered Edition

This limited edition numbered box set contains 19 discs–each film comes on both Blu-ray and DVD and there are three additional Blu-ray discs containing over 5 hours of extra content. Also, included is a collectible retrospective photo album. Available from Amazon UK but can be ordered worldwide!

Please note that only the Blu-ray discs in this box set are region free. The DVDs are encoded region 2. The box itself is a piece of art!

3. Harry Potter Page to Screen: The Complete Filmmaking Journey

Harry Potter: Page to Screen opens the doors to Hogwarts castle and the wizarding world of Harry Potter to reveal the complete behind-the-scenes secrets, techniques, and over-the-top artistry that brought J.K. Rowling’s acclaimed novels to cinematic life. Developed in collaboration with the creative team behind the celebrated movie series, this deluxe, 500-plus page compendium features exclusive stories from the cast and crew, hundreds of never-before-seen photographs and concept illustrations sourced from the closed film sets, and rare memorabilia. As the definitive look at the magic that made cinematic history, Page to Screen is the ultimate collectible, perfect for Muggles everywhere.

 4. Deathly Hallows Part 2 Blu-ray combo pack with Exclusive 48 page Photo Album

A Warner Bros shop exclusive! This limited edition, numbered gift set includes the Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Download plus a commemorative 48-page photo book featuring images from all eight movies. Knowing Harry Potter did not have any pictures of his parents, Hagrid gave Harry a photo album that was full of pictures of James and Lily Potter, Ron and Hermione, and more.

5. Dumbledore’s Wand with Ollivanders Box

Noble Collection have manufactured some exquisite Harry Potter merchandise and Dumbledore’s Wand is no exception! A truly marvelous piece, remember this wand plays an important role in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

7. LEGO Harry Potter Freeing Dobby

With the help of Harry Potter, free Dobby from his master Lucius Malfoy/Trick Lucius Malfoy into freeing Dobby, the house elf! Then use Dobby to protect Harry Potter and send Lucius flying down the hall with a magic blast as he tries to get revenge in this Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets scene.

Includes 3 minifigures Harry Potter, Lucius Malfoy and Dobby Blast Lucius Malfoy with magic using the push function!

8. The Marauders Map by Noble Collection

10. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 videogame

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 is an Action-Adventure game that combines fun, familiar and family-friendly LEGO video game play mechanics with the storyline and characters of the latter half of the Harry Potter universe.

The game is built on the events from the movie series ranging from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Features include: 24 story events, and 16 lessons, new charms, spells and dueling skills, new characters and drop-in/drop-out co-op support.

Some of the ideas for items on this list have been taken from HarryPotterFan.Me/Gifts

Google has announced that it has joined hands with J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore to distribute Harry Potter ebooks through its array of literary products.

The Inside Google Books blog said:

Pottermore and Google are teaming up to integrate Pottermore with a number of Google products and APIs. So when the series of Harry Potter ebooks launches on Pottermore.com in early October, these bestsellers will be available in the U.S. via the open Google eBooks platform. When you buy a Harry Potter ebook from Pottermore, you will be able to choose to keep it in your Google Books library in-the-cloud, as well as on other e-reading platforms.

As part of the distribution deal, Google also secured exclusive rights to be the payment platform for all Pottermore.com purchases. That means you will be paying for your ebooks and audiobooks via Google Checkout rather than PayPal or Amazon Payments.

Pottermore will be the exclusive place to buy Harry Potter ebooks and digital audiobooks. You’ll be able to buy ebooks from the Pottermore Shop, push them to your Google Books library and store them alongside your other Google eBooks. Your other Google eBooks may be purchased from any of more than 250 independent booksellers or from Google directly.

Pottermore, which launches this fall, is designed to be an interactive online reading experience. It will also be the exclusive place to purchase the ebook versions of Harry Potter. The site is rumored to have gaming elements, awards and achievements, and virtual items.

The Pottermore team also plans to use YouTube for global video broadcasts in the future, as they did for JK Rowling’s announcement of Pottermore in June.

The Facebook page for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows saw an average of 5000 new likes each day in the preceding week of the release. Before that, the average was around 800 likes per day. Currently the page has 380,000 members and the admins insist that the number will reach 50,000 b the end of next week. No doubt devoted fans of the series will ensure that.

The official twitter account for Harry Potter Films also got a boost in the number of followers. It currently stands at just short of 350,000. However the number is lower than the fan following of @Lord_Voldemort7, an account that poses as the Dark Lord from Harry Potter and posts sarcastic and caustic tweets! His account has more than 1.3 million followers! Isn’t it strange that Warner Bros with all the money and power could not get those many followers on the official Harry Potter twitter account?In any case both accounts saw a surge in interaction and followers during the past fortnight!

Harry Potter Fans have also been buying a lot of  merchandise for the nostalgia as the curtains are drawn on the movie series. This post on the top 10 Harry Potter gifts is absolutely wonderful and gives fans some brilliant choices including the Deathly Hallows symbol locket, the marauder’s map and Dumbledore’s wand!

Thankfully, unlike what the final movie posters claim “It all ends here” it actually doesn’t. with J.K. Rowling’s announcement of Pottermore, we certainly have more to look forward to in the wonderful world of Harry Potter!

Meanwhile, the popular spoof twitter handle of Lord Voldemort @Lord_Voldemort7 tweeted this:

If you’re wondering about the analogy with the fictional Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter series, read on:

Similarities between Osama and Voldemort

1. Voldemort hated muggles and wanted them killed. Osama hated Kaafirs (non-believers) and wanted them forcefully converted or killed.
2. Killing was a fun pastime for both of them, particularly those who were either muggles/kaafirs or those who did not agree with them or refused to support them.
3. Both had quite a small number of dedicated followers and sympathisers, ready to die for their respective causes. While Voldemort rallied the death eaters for the cause of pure bloods, Osama Bin Laden rallied them around the concept of Wahabi Islam (the most intolerant version of the religion).
4. Voldemort and Osama used terror tactics to scare the majority and try and get them into submission to their respective agendas. Killings and disappearances were the hallmarks of their reign.
5. Both Osama and Voldemort were scared of death, though they wouldn’t mind their death eaters/followers dying to save them or even kill their own followers if it suited them.
6. Those who live by the gun (wand in Volemort’s case)  die by the gun. Both had a violent death proving this adage. Also both were killed on the same day – May 1 (as of the date in UK at the time of their deaths)!

However there were some crucial differences between the two.

Differences between Osama Bin Laden and Lord Voldemort

1. Osama glorified martyrdom and death to his followers, selling the USP that if they were killed while battling the kaafirs/doing jehad they would get 72 virgins in heaven. Voldemort never glorified or sold the virtues of death to his followers..heck they were called death eaters, they were supposed to kill and not get killed…unless Voldemort intended it of course.
2. Though Voldemort was narrow-minded towards muggles and mixed-bloods, he had no problem with mixing of the sexes and women were treated equally in his ranks. In fact Bellatrix Lestrange was his most powerful and closest to him among the death eaters. Osama on the other hand considered women to be inferior human beings and was intolerant towards their freedom.

There, you got six major similarities and two major differences between Osama Bin laden and Lord Voldemort. That makes the total to seven – the most powerful magical number! Oops, it actually makes them 8 points – I made the eighth point without realizing just like Voldemort made the eighth horcrux!

What do you think of this comparison between Osama Bin Laden and Voldemort? Feel free to add to the list of similarities and differences between the two global terrorists in the comments section.

Harry Potter might finally be getting around to entering the 21st century. The Scotsman newspaper reports that after years ignoring the format, JK Rowling is considering e-book versions of all seven installments of the series that made her name.

The newspaper quotes Liz Thomson, editor of publishing industry site BookBrunch, as suggesting that the rights may be worth £100m, going on to say that “Experts believe that move could revolutionize the world of electronic publishing, triggering rocket sales of e-book readers such as Kindle and the iPad.”

The same Scotsman story quotes another expert as likening the digital launch of Potter to the Beatles finally releasing their music on iTunes, and I think that’s a much more apt comparison, but not for the reasons intended: Sure, the Beatles’ digital music release brought lots of sales for the Beatles and a bump for iTunes, but it hardly revolutionized the industry, in part because the hardcore fans either already owned the material or had downloaded bootlegs.

Why should it be any different for Harry?

Apparently,  Emma Watson has ended her two-year relationship with financier Jay Barrymore.

Ex-couple Emma and Jay

And if her mates are to be believed, the 19-year-old has been spending time with Spanish musician and fellow student

Rafael Cebrian since the split. Do not forget that Emma is currently studying her college at Brown University in the USA. According  to the Daily Mail, the pair became close friends last November while Emma was still in a relationship with Jay, and since the split she has been heavily leaning on Rafael.

In related news, Emma Watson will be performing in a student-directed production of Anton Chehkov’s Three Sisters at Brown University, where she is a freshman. The event, which was announced on Facebook, has since been removed.

The play is being produced by the school’s Production Workshop, a non-profit student theater founded in 1960. Watson, with an ensemble cast of 13 other students, will perform six shows from March 11-15.

Unlike her other projects, this one won’t be bringing a sizable payday for Watson: Admission to the play is free.

While quiet a few fans found the movie disappointing when it was released in the summer of 2009, a lot of fans still loved it. I have listed below direct links to retailers in US, UK and India from whom you can order the disc(s) online.

United States of America

Buy Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince DVD or BLU RAY from Amazon.com
Buy Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince DVD or BLUE RAY from Half.com

United Kingdom

Buy Harry Potter and the Half Blood prince BLU RAY OR DVD from Amazon.co.uk
Buy Harry Potter and the Half Blood prince BLU RAY or DVD from Play.com

India

Buy Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince BLU RAY or DVD from IndiaPlaza.in

Fans in other countries sorry, I did not get time to research stores from across the world, but the movie should be evailable in the most popular online shopping sites in your places.

Related links
Harry Potter and the Half blood prince was crap – a cynical review of the 6th Potter movie with an interactive discussion below.
Write great Harry Potter stories like J.K. Rowling – A best-selling author reveals the essential secrets to writing fantastic Harry Potter stories

Teenage British actress Emma Watson is interviewed David Letterman on American television only a day after the London premiere of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The Harry Potter actress who plays Hermione Granger in the series looks hot as ever, but slightly fidgety and nervous earlier on during the interview. Her body language suggests she is nervous because of the studio audience but she warms up later on. Have a look.

PS: I think the sixth Potter movie was crap.

So what are the best deals available? I have compiled a list of the top 7 ways o enjoy the credit crunch by spending. Here we go:

Mobile phones and connections

If you’re eligible to get a contract phone, I would suggest 3 Mobile. I recently purcahsed the Nokia E71 with the 20 Pound texter plan, in which the handset was free and I got unlimited internet and texts, alongiwth 200 any network minutes! Unlimited 3 to 3 calls also included.

An even better deal only recently offered by the company is the Mix and Match 1100 with Sony Erricson K660i. In this plan you get 1100 any network texts or minutes at a reduced monthly rent of £20.25 instead of £27. Its a steal! But the best thing about 3 mobile is that it offers FREE SKYPE CALLING. That means if you’re online on Skype from your phone, people can call you anytime anwhere in the world for free through Skype. Orange, 02 and Vodafone pale in comparison.

Movies and DVDs

If you want to buy movies, there’s nothing better than buying from HMV these days! A Lord of the Rings DVD for £2.99, are you kidding? A whole stock of cheap DVDs are up for grabs.If you’re the cheaper sort, Lovefilm offer a DVD rental service. You can try it for free for 30 days, i.e., rent unlimited DVDs in those 30 days and you wont be charged if you close your account before you exceed those 30 days! In fact, if you enter this code – LFZZ98769 – you can actually extend your free trial to 3 months!

Join seefilmsfirst.com to get invited to ocasional free cinema screenings across UK.

Books

Nothing better than eBay and Amazon to buy your books. When buying books at Amazon, make sure you also check the prices offered by third party sellers. Often you get good deals from them, and they are mostly reliable because Amazon acts as the middleman between you and them. Check out a seller called BookLoversInc who is selling books at very attractive rates.

A lesser known but equally good site for buying book is Alibris UK. The second hand books available on this site are quite cheap very often.

Computers and Laptops

Of course, you can get nice deals from Amazon and ebay, but its sometimes better to buy from a vendor like PC World, especially when discounts in the air! For example, you can currently save over £85 on the HP Photosmart C4585 – All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier now £69.99 (RRP £156.58)

Hewllet-Packard (HP) also runs various promotions for hardware bought from its website.

Software

Being a student is best during the current climate, as you often get software ultra cheap if you can verify your university ID. I got the Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Edition for £38, can you beleive that. Of course it was genuine! Often, eBay and Amazon will have good deals, For example, Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 (PC) is available at a 64% discount.

Online freebies is a cool page to get legally available free software and toolbars.

Groceries

Going out to ASDA, Tesco and Lidl can be fun. If you’re the lazy type, shop online, as almost all of these chains have an online presence and its easier to sport offersand discounts online than instore. However, browsing Tesco’s website can be a pain in the ass thanks to the design.

The best thing I found out is a website called My Supermarket. It allows you to shop and compare products from four big chains – ASDA, Tesco, Sainsbury and Oxado. If you buy a garlic bacquette in ASDA and there’s a cheaper one available, the website will suggest you to take that option! Frankly its one of the most innovative shopping site that I have seen in a while.

Travel

Did you know that you could get accommodation in Central London for 10 Quid a night? In fact, most of the European capitals really if you decide to stay at St Christoper’s inn. So if you’re looking for a backpacking holiday then St Christoper’s inn located in various European capitals and International Students House in London are amazingly cheap inspite of their central locations.

If you want a proper planned holiday with a decent hotel stay etc, I would recommend Expedia, since many of my friends have had positive reviews about this travel site.

The trailer was shown during the screening of the movie – “The Dak Knight”. Of course, this was a real teaser because it did not even show one visual from the film, except the title! Tell us what you think of the trailer in the comments section below…

We also have a new movie still from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince:

Professor Slughorn showing Harry Potter the Felix Felicis Potion

For a full gallery of the latest pics from the 6th Potter movie, check out our squidoo lens for the same – Half Blood Prince movie