LeakyCon

Looking back, I realised we don't have an official post about LeakyCon. Unless I missed something (likely) or it got deleted (also likely).
If you don't know what LeakyCon is, let me explain. Ohohoho let me explain. Also give me a minute so I can cackle evilly for effect.
LeakyCon is a giant Harry Potter conference that takes place every year, and has been going on for three or four years (pfft, details.) It is run by the webmistress of leaky.com, Melissa Anelli. It has panels, wizard rock (Wrock), authors, actors, and so much more. This year, Evanna Lynch (Luna), as well as the actors who played Nigel and young James Potter. The Vlogbrothers will be there, as well as the inimitable Maureen Johnson, who is running the LeakyCon Lit program, which deals with all the literary events.
Best of all, in my opinion, Figment.com will be there with a writing lounge. Figment is everyone's favourite writing site and you better check it out now.
Anyway, there are so many other things also happening that naming them would take longer than I have the energy to write out. And Lily and I are going. If you are ALSO going, please FIND US. I will be tweeting about it on the thing that you tweet on. I hope to also be blogging about it, but I don't know if that's possible.
I can hear some of you crying in the corner and saying that we shouldn't blog about it because you can't go and you'll be jealous, but I don't feel bad. This is the first, and probably last conference I will get to go to, and I want to enjoy it to the best of my ability. 
On a non-related note, I'd like to do a giveaway sometime soon, but I can only do that if we have enough followers. Perhaps a bit of LeakyCon swag would tempt you? 


Anywho, cheers, and DFTBA!
Love,
Vee

Crepes (part 1)

So I've made crepes 3 times now and had moderate success twice. Unfortunately though, I don't have any pictures and I don't have very many interesting things to say here because crepes are a much better time waster than blog material.

Anyway, the first time I made crepes they were a complete disaster. They were simultaneously undercooked and burned and didn't look very much like crepes. The second time I figured out how to cook them so they are edible and the third time I tested a Belgian crepe recipe. The Belgian crepe recipe is the one I plan on posting; it is a lot easier to use as a beginner though the crepes are eggy-er and the batter is runnier than the crepes you would usually see.

Hopefully I will be able to get pics next time I make crepes and I will put the recipe up soon. Have fun pottering, non-existent readers, I will be posting more soon

Pottermore Update!

While they haven’t announced the exact date, Pottermore has finally gotten specific at when the site is going to be coming to the public. If you weren’t one of the beta-testers, you will get to join Pottermore in early April 2012.

According to their blog, the reason behind the delay was that they needed to create a new platform for the site and that platform is finally up and running. It was also announced that Pottermore is going to be getting some new features in the coming months in response to the feedback from the beta testers.

You can read more about this on the Pottermore insider

Speculation

Anyone who likes Harry Potter enough to even visit this site probably already knows about The New Book. Now that I've finally calmed down enough in my fangirling to write a semi-coherent blogpost, I thought I would go over everything we know about this book and add some speculation of my own.

• It's being published by Little, Brown Book Group (who also happens to be Jackson Pearce's publisher)
• The New Book's genre, title, and release date have not yet been announced; we know that the book is going to be targeted at adults though.
• In response to the numerous questions about her book on twitter, she said: "As you may have heard, I have a new book out later this year. Very different to Harry, although I’ve enjoyed writing it every bit as much"
• Her official website has been taken down and replaced with a signup sheet for future updates about the book. It is being “refreshed and redesigned and will be relaunched later this spring.”

After looking through several past interviews and statements in hopes of getting a clue of what she is working on, I discovered a few more relevant facts on what she might be working on and am thinking it might be a crime novel. The facts I based this off are

• She has always wanted to write a crime novel
• David Shelley, has admitted that he will be working with her directly and is very excited about it. He has edited and published a large amount of successful mystery/crime novels.
• Andrew Sims from Hypable also caught a few comments by other crime writers about the prospect of her novel being a crime novel. He writes:

“The crime world is all aflutter at the prospect, in any event. “Wouldn’t it be funny if JK Rowling’s first novel for adults turned out to be a crime story set in Edinburgh? My word yes,” tweeted Ian Rankin. “Might explain why she left the neighbourhood (me, McCall Smith, Atkinson near-neighbours) and moved across town … She’s certainly a fan of the traditional whodunit.”

“Nice to see that JK Rowling has such good taste in editors. I guess I’m willing to share David Shelley… Do you think her choice of Mr David means she’s writing a thriller/crime novel?” wondered McDermid, adding: “If Mr David inspires JKR the way he does me, we’re in for something rather tasty.”

In other news, I’m going to be on a medical leave from school until the end of the year. I don’t know how this is going to effect my blogging (or rather not-blogging) yet though. I’m also teaching myself how to make crepes and planning about blogging about my failures (and successes) in that area.

Join Us

For those of you who don't follow the Harry Potter Alliance, they gave Warner Brothers a deadline of New Years Day to prove that they don't buy the chocolate from companies that use child labor. Many of these children have been kidnapped from their home or forced by poverty to work for unfair pay.

Not just does this mean that they are most likely selling unethical chocolate, but also that they are selling it under Harry's name with their chocolate frog cards. Is all of Hermione's work to be in vain? Is this not worse than the enslavement of house elves?

January first has came and went without a response, so HPA is calling for action from Potterheads who don't want Harry's name used on unethical products. I am asking you, my dear inexistent readers, to support these efforts. We can not let this treatment go unnoticed, the oppressed voices gone unheard. While I might not be nearly as eloquent in my persuasions as they were, the point remains the same. We have to fight this unjustness in every way we can. Please join us on the campaign page and spread the word in every way you can.