Blog Archives
Pottermore Magical Quill Challenge Ends: Scams and “Early” Entry
If you did not participate in the Magical Quill Challenge, your chance to get into Pottermore early has unfortunately passed. The Challenge ended on Saturday 8/6, with supposedly all 1 million beta spots filled. There has been talk of people registering for multiple accounts under one email address and multiple email addresses, among other things such as websites and Twitter users posting the answers to the Challenge questions and people running scams trying to sell Pottermore accounts.
You may have noticed that I chose not to post the answers. Sorry to everyone who was looking to the site for the answers, but I chose not to post them to be fair. I felt like everyone should solve the clues on their own, instead of just popping up a website for the answer and getting their early access invite. It was supposed to be a competitive thing, and I didn’t want to participate in giving people answers.
As for the people with multiple accounts/user names, it is being assumed that they are taking up more than their share of the 1 million. However, and this is not confirmed but only my thinking, if they used the same email address I think they still only take up 1 invite. The invites go out by email, so when they send your “Welcome Email” out to start using Pottermore early, I would assume you could use any one of the accounts you registered for with that email and it would only count for 1 in that million. However, those that registered with more than one email can be assumed cheaters I should think, definitely taking up more than 1 beta spot. This is just my thinking, I could be wrong though.
Even so, despite everyone’s efforts, they may not get in until September 30th. Yes, you heard right. Pottermore’s own web page states: “The Magical Quill early entry period runs from 31 July 2011 to 30 September 2011. During this time, you will receive a Welcome email notifying you that your account has been enabled for access to Pottermore. If you did not register during The Magical Quill period, you will be able to register after the Magical Quill promotion has closed for entry in October 2011, when the site will be open to all. Keep checking Pottermore to find out when registration is open to all.” So even after we’ve all stayed up all night to answer the clues, confirmed our accounts and await our welcome emails, they may not come until the last day of September for some of us. For those- enjoy your day of “early” Pottermore access!
Pottermore: How To Get Into The Beta
Want to sign up for the Pottermore Beta? You have 7 days (6 now) to solve clues to get into registration. The first clue went up today at just after 4AM Eastern:
“How many breeds of owl are featured on the Eeylops Owl Emporium sign? Multiply this number by 49.”
How it works (From Pottermore.com):
Each day for seven days, from 31 July to 6 August, we will be placing a clue on the Pottermore homepage to help you find The Magical Quill. There will be a new clue every day, and each clue will relate to a different book in the Harry Potter series. On Day 1 the clue will relate to HARRY POTTER and the Philosopher’s Stone, on Day 2 the clue will relate to HARRY POTTER and the Chamber of Secrets, and so forth. The clues will also vary in difficulty. On Days 1-3 the clues will be harder, and on Days 4-7 the clues will be easier.To find The Magical Quill, you need to solve the clue and add the answer to the end of the web address http://quill.pottermore.com. This will lead you to a website where The Magical Quill will be located while early access places are available.
Example:
Clue: How many books are there in the Harry Potter series? Multiply this number by 10.
Answer: 70.
Next, add this number to the end of the website address. In this case it would be http://quill.pottermore.com/70
Then hit ‘Return’ to go to the website where The Magical Quill is located.
via Pottermore: Help.
Good luck everyone!
Live From LeakyCon2011 – Pottermore!
Here is some more audio captured from LeakyCon. I’ve been waiting to post the rest of the audio I have to the website until I had organized the pictures to go with them. They’ve been available on PodOmatic shortly after the conference was over, but over the next few days I’ll be posting them here on the site along with pictures.
Unfortunately the Pottermore Keynote comes with only 2 pictures because we were not allowed to take any! As Pottermore is not open to the public yet, the keynote was top secret to those who attended. However, even though you don’t get to SEE what we saw (which was AMAZING!!) you do get to hear everything about Pottermore that we heard which will answer a lot of questions everyone’s been wondering about.
Click here to listen to the Pottermore Keynote at LeakyCon2011.
Harry Potter Fans Consider Life Post-Potter – MTV Movie News
Micah Tannenbaum of MuggleNet/MuggleCast interviewed with MTV to talk about life after the Potter movies. Thanks to Pottermore, it’s not the end of the franchise! You can read the full article here.
More images of Pottermore
Yesterday on Pottermore’s twitter, they released the last 2 sneak peeks they promised about a week ago. Looks like we are going to get some history on the Hogwarts Express!
Below are the two pictures released!
Is Quidditch illogical?
On the last podcast I mentioned that I thought Quidditch was illogical. I love the idea of a sport being played on brooms, but to me the sport ‘s rules simply did not function well as a team game.
When I first read the books I was very young (and not as logical as I am now by any means) but I felt like the games would ALWAYS be one sided. Catching the snitch ends the game, and earns your team 150 points. If you are any good at simple addition, you can tell if catching the snitch will win you the game. Basically any seeker should only attempt to catch the snitch only if the two teams have less than a 150 point difference, and if there is more than a 150 point difference, only catch the snitch if your team is the higher of the two.
I thought there would never be a game of quidditch that would be considered a “good game”, meaning a close and exciting game. J.K. Rowling actually answers this in Goblet of Fire. The game is very exciting, as Viktor Krum catches the snitch with a broken and bloody nose. The game is a close game, as Ireland wins the game 170-160.
The most important question that the World Cup answered for me, is that if you can predict if and when catching the snitch will also win you the game, then in theory a person won’t even try for the snitch if they know they won’t win. Which also means that in every game, the person who catches the snitch, will also be on the winning team.
Krum defies this and basically looses the game on purpose. He catches the snitch knowing it will end the game with his team on the loosing side. Hermione tries to explain his actions (which is funny since she is the only one who doesn’t play Quidditch of our beloved trio). She says that Krum felt like Ireland’s chasers were too good, which gave them a 160 point lead, and he felt like his team simply wouldn’t ever be able to catch up to that. He wanted to end it on his terms.
This intense World Cup game answers most of my thoughts about Quidditch. I am still conflicted on if it actually contradicts or agrees with one of my problems with the rules of the game, which is, is the seeker the ONLY important person on the team? After all they decide when the game ends, they can earn their team a whopping 150 points (and if they catch the snitch fast, then that is a pretty hefty amount compared to what the chasers can score). In the World Cup, Ireland proves that the Chasers are pretty valuable. They actually get a 160 point lead, which means that Krum shouldn’t even go for the snitch at this point.
But on the side of Bulgaria, the seeker decides to end the game and loose it for his entire team. If you have an issue with the Seeker being the only important person on a quidditch team, this seriously agrees with that argument.
If the snitch is worth so much, and could win you the game in 3 seconds if you could catch it fast enough, I simply don’t understand why every member of the team wouldn’t put their efforts into finding the snitch. After reading the fan version of quidditch, I realize that this may be against the rules.
If you have heard, Quidditch has been popping up all over the place. The question of “Is quidditch an actual sport” has been answered, and it is surprisingly yes. There is an actual National Quidditch Association (Abbreviated NQA, think like NBA), with actual teams competing. Some colleges have adopted this as an actual sport as well (Harvard University has a quidditch team).
Granted the rules are a tad bit different, as quidditch isn’t physically possible (people can’t fly on brooms) but a few fundamental rules in this game actually do make sense. The rules state that only team players can touch a certain ball. For instance beaters can only interact with the Buldgers. Chasers can only interact with the Quaffles. Whether or not this is true to J.K. Rowlings version of quidditch, I don’t know but it seems to actually make sense. That would explain why everyone isn’t trying for the snitch; it’s against the rules.
I still think that it is slightly illogical, and that the seeker is in fact the only important person in the game. They decide when it ends, and can control the entire game. Even though Krum answers some questions, (like will the person who catches the snitch be always on the winning team?), I think he doesn’t give a good example of a team game. In his case, still, the only important person on the team is the Seeker, because although he lost and caught the snitch, he was the only one who made the decision and he did it without the help of his team. He did end it on “his terms” not the team’s terms.
Thankfully my questions will all be answered soon enough. J.K. Rowling in her press conference for Pottermore, did release that she had written a speech by Dumbledore, explaining why quidditch wasn’t illogical. She said that it never found its rightful place within the series so sadly it was cut. She hinted at releasing this on the Pottermore website. I suppose I will have to wait until October, but at least my issues with quidditch will finally be answered.
