And so it begins. Initial thoughts? Slightly disappointing at first but as the story progressed, you will enjoy this new Harry Potter experience concocted by the one and only J. K. Rowling herself.
Pottermore new user profile
Pottermore is an online Harry Potter experience where you get to reread the boy wizard’s story with some new exciting additions. For fans, there’s loads of new Potter content including several backstories. For everyone else, the coolest feature is being able to “participate” in the story like brewing potions and casting spells. It does get a bit like Facebook games, which I dislike, particularly with the brewing potions aspect and I’m not into those time-wasters. I expect it’s not a requirement to enjoy the experience however.
As of this writing, I’m at chapter 11 of book 1. My favorite parts so far are the Ollivanders Bespoke Wand Selector and the Sorting Hat. Both are in the form of quizzes and I just have an affinity for these personality stuff. Also, I am awed by the beautiful arts used throughout the site and the sheer amount of programming work this project demands. Yeah, Pottermore is impressing me at several fronts.
In this article, I will only talk about the Ollivanders Bespoke Wand Selector. There’ll be a separate post for the Sorting Hat. I have been most curious about these two even before Pottermore opened.
But wait!
If you’re not in Pottermore yet but waiting to enter and you want it to be a surprise, stop reading this article now.
But if you’re already inside or if you’re just curious about what Pottermore is and don’t mind getting a bit spoiled, you may continue reading.
Posted in MiscellaNews | Tagged Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, Ollivanders, personality, Pottermore, quiz, wands |
This is one of several books I got at National Bookstore’s Cut-Price Sale last year. More importantly, this kick-starts the challenge I announced early this year. Yes, I still remember that.
2011 TBR *Lite* Challenge
Book #1
My paperback copy of Leepike Ridge
Eleven-year-old Thomas Hammond has always lived next to Leepike Ridge. He never imagined he might end up lost beneath it! But that’s exactly what happens the night Tom rides a floating slab of refrigerator packing foam downstream and is dragged underground.
What Tom finds under Leepike Ridge – a corpse, a dog, a flashlight, a castaway, crawdads, four graves, a tomb, and buried treasure – will answer questions he hasn’t known to ask and change his life forever. Now if only he can find his way home again…
An original mix of Robinson Crusoe, King Solomon’s Mines, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Odyssey, N. D. Wilson’s first book for young readers is a remarkable adventure, a journey through the dark of the grave and back out into the light.
Judging from that synopsis, it’s easy to make the mistake of thinking that there’s really nothing to write home about in this book. Just a children’s adventure novel, right? Wrong!
Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged children's book, Leepike Ridge, N. D. Wilson, reading challenges |
Madonna and Child
Today, September 8, we celebrate the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And to mark this special day for many Filipinos, I am sharing here an inspiring article from the great Christian apologist G. K. Chesterton. This is taken from his book “The Well and the Shallows”.
Reading Chesterton can be a struggle. I had to read many of the things he wrote here several times. When faced with a stumbling block, it would be good to keep in mind what a wise man once said about difficulties in life. Something about taking the narrow road.
Many thanks to Ignatius Insight and GKC at Facebook.
And happy birthday Mama Mary!
Mary and the Convert
by: G.K. Chesterton
I was brought up in a part of the Protestant world which can best be described by saying that it referred to the Blessed Virgin as the Madonna.
Sometimes it referred to her as a Madonna; from a general memory of Italian pictures. It was not a bigoted or uneducated world; it did not regard all Madonnas as idols or all Italians as Dagoes. But it had selected this expression, by the English instinct for compromise, so as to avoid both reverence and irreverence. It was, when we came to think about it, a very curious expression. It amounted to saying that a Protestant must not call Mary “Our Lady,” but he may call her “My Lady.” This would seem, in the abstract, to indicate an even more intimate and mystical familiarity than the Catholic devotion. But I need not say that it was not so. It was not untouched by that queer Victorian evasion; of translating dangerous or improper words into foreign languages.
Continue reading “Mary and the Convert – G.K. Chesterton”
Posted in Editorials | Tagged book excerpt, Christian, G. K. Chesterton, Mama Mary, The Well and the Shallows |
I chanced upon this book after failing to find the sequel to Odd Thomas at Booksale. It’s one book recommended to me by a friend at Goodreads.
I mentioned in passing before how I have recently adapted an innocent liking for wartime stories. The Holocaust is one of few historical artifacts that could evoke a huge array of emotions out of me: dread, anger, disbelief, sorrow, apathy.
My paperback copy from Booksale. Bought for 45 pesos.
Night – A terrifying account of the Nazi death camp horror that turns a young Jewish boy into an agonized witness to the death of his family…the death of his innocence…and the death of his God. Penetrating and powerful, as personal as The Diary Of Anne Frank, Night awakens the shocking memory of evil at its absolute and carries with it the unforgettable message that this horror must never be allowed to happen again.
Continue reading “Night by Elie Wiesel – Book Review”
Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged Booksale, Elie Wiesel, friend recommendation, Holocaust |
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