NOTD: News of the Day 29.11.06

Find Anything - Ask Peeves!

Oh, we're sorry, has Peeves been pestering you on our home page and in the forum? We tried to get rid of him, you see, but Jo was right: He's like dry rot. You can't get rid of him.

That's why we found him a new home. Presenting the return of AskPeeves.org, our Harry Potter search engine! Some of you may remember Peeves from our 2005 April Fool's Day postings. He's back, and this time we've forced him to be helpful. Ask him to help you find anything - anything - Potter-related and you'll get it. That's right, this extends to the whole Floo: The Leaky Cauldron, The Harry Potter Lexicon, Accio Quote!, The Cauldron Shop, PotterCast, the Image and Video Galleries, and all the other related sites and sub-sites.

Looking for info on book seven? No problem. Order of the Phoenix film? No biggie.

You can choose which categories to search in any combination - just news and videos, just pictures and encyclopedia, just anything Harry Potter-related you want. Just ask Peeves.

Since one search now covers the most comprehensive and oldest Potter news and information databases on the Internet, by far the largest image and video galleries, the most complete compendium of official Potter products, the only JKR quotes site, and more, you can now find ANYthing and EVERYthing Potter in one spot. It's bringing our whole Floo together, with a little extra help from our old friend Peeves. Make sure you take your chance to put some words in Peeves's mouth, too, on the front page.

Such searching (especially in the image galleries) is only possible because of the ever-continuing and incredible job being done by elves every day all over the site, to properly categorize and keyword more than 68,000 images, hundreds of videos, more than a thousand products and more. As more and more images and other items receive this treatment, more and more information will be at your fingertips with this search.

As usual, there are huge amounts of people to thank: First and foremost is Nick Poulden, our magician, who coded this whole thing from scratch, and Alex Robbin, who helped with a lot of it. John Noe designed the page, and all the senior staff pitched in to help shape it as it developed. ALL the staff, right down to the elves, have been keywording and categorizing information for this project and for Leaky in general. Thanks especially to Stampsgal, flipendo, Pleshette, KimmyBlair, Aislinn, SusannahMio, atschpe, You_won't_know_who, libbysmom and Perenelle for all their help.

And that's it from us - keep up with the page to find out about contests having to do with Peeves in the future. Enjoy!

Lost and a King Discuss the End of Potter

The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly contains a snippet of conversation with horror master Stephen King and TV show Lost producer Damon Lindelof, where the writers discuss the end of Harry Potter. There's a preview of the article online here. In the meantime, enjoy this snippet, courtesy of reader BlueTwilightDew. Thank you!

EW: How does not knowing when Lost could end affect your current storyline choices?

Lindelof: We're proceeding as if they are going to allow us to do what we plan, which is a four- or five- season arc with potentially a movie to wrap it up. My guess is they'll realize that the endgame is in play when major characters start getting bumped off.

King: Unless, of course, you run into the kind of situation I had at this [August] event in New York with J.K. Rowling and John Irving. This kid said, "You can't kill Harry [Potter]! We, the fans, don't want him to be dead!" You could run up against that too.

Lindelof: It's the Sherlock Holmes-and-Moriarty scenario, the perfect example of artistic integrity. That was Arthur Conan Doyle saying, "I'm done. Holmes has solved enough mysteries." What better ending than to have your hands around the neck of your motal enemy, and both of you fall to your death?

King: Right! Over the falls you go!

Lindelof: But he cheated. Doyle brought him back. The fans demanded it. Everybody says that they want answers and an ending--but do they? When book seven of Harry Potter comes out, I'll be the same way I was at the end of The Dark Tower. I didn't want it to end, and I started to read it much slower and started feeling a sense of depression as all roads sort of inevitably lead to the end. The fact is, once our characters are no longer "lost," the show is over.

New Photos of Bonnie Wright and Katie Leung

Thanks to reader Carol, who let us know that actress Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) and Katie Leung (Cho Chang) attended the premiere of Hogsfather last night, and she has some new photos of them, here.

Thanks to BonnieWrightOnline!

Happy Birthday, Bill Weasley

J.K. Rowling has updated the calendar on her website with birthday wishes for Bill Weasley! Happy Birthday Bill!

More Details on GoF High Def DVD Commentary by Phelps Twins

Phelps Twins Provide GoF High Def DVD Commentary?