I found this on The World in The Satin Bag who says:

I think this image is poking at England, but it could very well apply here in the States too. And it makes a brilliant point.

Now thats a scary but true thought if there ever was one…

This is the Trailer of the new Harry Potter Movie, based on the number 6 Harry Potter Book The Half blood Prince.

I love Harry Potter books. I discovered Them by chance, when I had time to spend on the art of book choosing.

The first book in the series had just been published and there was no mass hysteria or phenomena yet…

Reading Harry Potter put me in the same happy mental place that kids books do, reminding me of my bookworm childhood and my happiest moments reading my fantasy books of the time - other worldly books like Frank Baum’s Oz series.

Harry Potter books are so amusing and rich in detail and imagination that they completely transport me to that same sort of state.

On the other hand I’m not such a great fan of the movies. Quidditch is better played in my head and and my imagination is capable of much better less limited descriptions the Hogwarts express, the sorting hat the spell gone wrong and so on. I will probably go and see this movie, find it both as fun and as disappointing as I did the previous movies in the series.

The only Fantasy movie based on book that has not come short of the book, thus far is Tolkien Lord of the Rings . (I have actually seen two versions of this Book in Movies - one is the recent release and another one from way back in the 70’s or maybe 80’s is an animated version that was quite wonderful as well)

I found the trailer on Pats Fantasy Hotlist

This is a link to a pod cast interview with Author Robert Jordan, Author of the 12 volume series the Wheel of Time.
Robert Jordan passed away at the end of last year, and has written quite a few other books, aside of the 12 books in the Wheel of Time series.
I haven’t read this series of books, but that seems to be a temporary situation to be remedied very soon.

Neth Space, on who’s blog I read about the interview says

The 30-minute interview with Robert Jordan was conducted in 1994 as he was touring for the release of Lord of Chaos, the 6th book of the Wheel of Time. Incidentally, this is about the time I began reading the Wheel of Time which eventually lead to my love of genre and a presence on the internet (I was still a few years from the step to the internet at that time). In the mythos of Wheel of Time this discussion would be considered non-spoiler (even then), and really is all the more interesting (and timeless) as a result.

Being an avid reader and wannabe writer I am always curious as to how and where an author gets his inspiration and how exactly he goes about composing the book and keeping in touch with his thoughts from moment to moment and chapter to chapter.

Robert Jordan does answer a lot of these questions, in relation to how he created his books and fantasy worlds.

2001: Space Odyssey is a collaborate work of Arthur C Clarke and the great Stanley Kubrick.

They spend 5 years developing this movie. The script for which and the book were written simultaneously. They expand on Clarke’s short story the Sentinel.

Even thought the novel was written at the same time the film was, they differ from each other - the novel explains a great deal of what the film leaves ambiguous.
Two other interesting facts about the film are that it was made one year before the real life moon landing, the result remarkably similar to the real thing.
This would explain the theory of the actual moon landing being a hoax filmed in a studio….

Another remarkable thing about the movie is the lack of sound that dominates the film - in space there would be no sound as there is no atmosphere to transmit sound in.
This film is about mans journey of evolution, among other things.
Kubrick being Kubrick, so thoughtful and systematic in his work, there are many layers, hidden meanings and things to philosophise about in this movie.

Kubrick 2001 The Space Odyssey Explained -Video

this is a thought evoking video explaining the film in a very engrossing way.
I found this and more ruminations about 2001: The Space Odyssey on the Daily Galaxy.

Starwars.

Very few people haven’t heard about it seen it, or use refrences to it with or without knowing it.

Since the first starwars movie hit the screens in 1977, six films and three animated television series were made, and in the making right now are a live action series and a 3d animated series in pre production, plus a full length theatrical movie to be released on August 15th 2008.
the reveniew from the films alone is over 4 Billion Dollars making them the third Highest grossing series.

Nina Munteanu from the Alien next door says:

Although the current Star Wars New Jedi Order series (its 27th and last installment released in spring of 2004) leaves much to be desired from a literary standpoint, loyal fans of the Star Wars phenomenon, including, alas, yours truly, have persisted with the series, helping it maintain a place in the New York Times Bestsellers list. How did this come to be? Why do we read on despite our better judgement about literature and art? To understand the enduring success of a shallow plot-driven adventure series is to understand the basis for its creation: the original Star Wars concept as realized by George Lucus. The answer lies in one word: myth.

In his original “Star Wars” trilogy, George Lucus fashioned for us a long awaited 20th Century myth. He captured the current North American zeitgeist and portrayed a deep and abiding truth about the deeper meanings of what lies beneath our daily lives. Lucus did this by “taking the symbols gathered from his own experience of the world and transforming them into a metaphor that revealed something about the mysteries of human existence” (Mary Henderson, author of “Star Wars: the Magic of Myth”). According to Henderson, Lucas dramatized the eternal struggle of good versus evil and, by suggesting a way to emerge victorious from that struggle, fashioned a tale with all the elements of myth. Lucas’s modern myth resonates with scores of earlier myths from around the world including the classic myths of Siegfried, King Arthur, Odysseus, Theseus and the Minotaur, Dante and Beatrice, David and Goliath, and a host of others. Lucus takes elements of all these ancient classics and stirs them up with technology into a retro-punk-rock cyber-version never before seen on screen.

I find that a pretty interesting theory explaining the existence of the die hard Starwars fan or just generally for the perpetuity of Starwars.

Click to read more of Nina’s thoughts on the matter.