The Neville and his parents moment is my favorite sequence in all of the books. It hits all the right emotional notes, and comes right around the time that you are learning that the prophecy could be about Neville instead of Harry and it just stays with you.

I’ve always considered the movies a visual companion to the books. For the most part, they capture what I had in my head almost exactly.

Characterization is generally Rowling’s strength more than is fantasy worldbuilding (the world is fun, but does not stand up to close scrutiny of its internal logic the way Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings, or any Brandon Sanderson books do).

I can’t remember what’s in the movies and what's in the books anymore, but don't they cut out the part about the prophecy potentially applying to either Harry or Neville and how Neville very well could've been the Boy Who Lived if Voldemort had chosen differently?

There were definitely some warning signs in the books—the rampant fatphobia, the whole “house elves love to be slaves!” thing—that crop up in hindsight, but yeah, Rowling was generally perceived as “one of the good ones.” Which made the “oh by the way, transwomen are faking it so they can assault me in the bathroom”…

Ed Sheeran was a regular on a TV show 4 years before doing the cameo on GoT.

Why be mad at Ed Sheeran about this? If I was even minorly famous, I would try to be on Game of Thrones, too. The showrunners should absolutely not have allowed it, but that’s on them, not Ed Sheeran.

I was (and still am really) only vaguely aware of who he is.

Jesus, that’s... horrible. Who the fuck brings live ammunition to a film set? Someone clearly didn’t do their job.

Baller move. Yeah, don’t tell people things will be outside and then just construct a building in an outdoor space. That just makes it inside again! I’ve seen so many restaurants do this - offer outdoor space, then essentially build another building in the street with four walls and a ceiling. You just recreated…

Who knew that a TV executive would be of such poor moral character? I for one, am shocked.

Careful! If you say that three times Tim Allen gets another movie.

I don’t think it was his choice though? I could swear I once read a profile where they basically gave him the boot because he started to lose his hair and he was pretty torn up about the whole thing.

There are a number of Pluto-sized bodies in the solar system. If we make Pluto a planet, then all those other bodies will want to be planets, too.

Exactly. This sort of article is precisely why people don’t understand how science works.

Argh...

What *actually* happened was that in 1807, the astronomers thought that there was 11 planets in our solar system. By 1853, that number of planets increased from 11 to 23. Then, a new definition was created and 15 of those “planets” became known as “asteroids.”

In 1930, when Pluto was discovered, they called it a…

I guess I read some of those articles about the Voyager crafts leaving the solar system a while back, and just assumed the Heliosphere was the final line.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: You don’t change the number of planets by redefining the word “planet,” you do it by blowing one to smithereens

It must take nerves of steel to turn down a cool $1M based on her belief in her rights and value as a creator. Impressive.