Paris Not Being Locked Out of Hotel Fortune

Hotel heiress Paris Hilton doesn't need to worry about family patriarch and precious grandad Barron Hilton cutting her out of his will.

A story published in the UK said the ex-con party princess was in jeopardy of losing her mega-inheritance because sullying the family reputation, saying that grandpa was cutting her out of the will. TMZ has confirmed that's baloney.

After the socialite was sprung from the klink, she spent a few days at grandpa Hilton's family compound in Beverly Hills. It's rumored that Paris stands to inherit somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 million.

"Broke" Bear Lair -- $700-a-Night St. Regis!

If Brandon "Greasy Bear" Davis really is a broke bear after his parents allegedly shut off his cash spigot, somebody better tell the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan, where Greasy is hibernating to the tune of $700 per night, according to a TMZ source.

A call to the hotel confirmed that a Brandon Davis is, in fact, staying at the Midtown palace long favored by royals and actual billionaires. But how Greasy is paying his tab is unknown, since his folks have cut him off, as Page Six reports, and he reportedly just spent a relatively budget weekend in Miami at The Standard, with rooms at $150-a-night and up, according to Gatecrasher.

What's more, TMZ spies say that Greasy was out in full ursine force last night, hitting the exclusive Sunday-night karaoke party at Cipriani Downtown, where dinner can run easily over a hundy a head. And you thought bears only sang at Disneyland!

If Greasy's going to the poorhouse, at least he's doing so in a fur-filled blaze of glory!

Source : TMZ.Com

Rare Bird Species Spotted in Brentwood

This red jacketed, goggle-eyed night crawler was sighted in Brentwood yesterday, alighting from a perch near a local furniture store.

The lucite-heeled species is known for its slender black legs, yellow hair and hideous skull scarf.

Avian specialists have seen only one other of its kind, nearly identical, leaving an agent's office in Beverly Hills.

911 call in Lindsay Lohan arrest released

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — In the minutes before Lindsay Lohan's arrest, the mother of her former personal assistant called 911 and pleaded frantically for help because a mysterious car was following her — unaware that Lohan was behind the wheel, according to an audio copy released Thursday.

Lohan's personal assistant had quit hours before the event, according to police.

The woman apparently didn't realize that Lohan was in the white GMC following her when she contacted a Santa Monica police dispatcher shortly after 1:30 a.m. Tuesday while driving on Wilshire Boulevard.

"We were just about to park our car. We are turning home and out of nowhere a huge white GMC came up," the woman said to the dispatcher. The recording included unintelligible remarks apparently to the woman's passenger.

"We're being followed by a GMC ... the gentleman jumped out of the car," she added a few seconds later. "Oh my God, sir, they're following us. We need help."

During the nearly three-minute 911 call, the dispatcher repeatedly asked the woman where she is. The woman eventually said she was heading for the police station.

Police said the woman, accompanied by a passenger, drove her black Cadillac Escalade into the parking lot of Santa Monica's Civic Auditorium, about a block away from the Police Department, followed by Lohan driving a Yukon sport-utility vehicle.

"There he is, that white GMC pickup," the dispatcher said to someone as the car appeared.

During the call, the woman could be heard saying "Oh my God, what is he doing?" Near the end, hysterical but muffled yelling and screaming is heard.

"They're in front of HQ now. Roll somebody code. Ma'am, what's going on there? Hello? Hello? Ma'am? Hello?" the dispatcher said.

A few moments later, a police unit showed up and the woman could be heard in the background, apparently pointing out people to the officers.

"That's him, that's him right there," she said. "And him, stop them."

Authorities who arrived saw Lohan and the woman in what police have called a "heated debate." They also said two men were with Lohan in the car.

Lohan was arrested for investigation of misdemeanor driving under the influence and with a suspended license, and felony cocaine possession.

Source : The Associated Press

Ali Lohan supports sister Lindsay in e-mail to gossip Web site

Saying she wants "everybody to know the truth out there," Lindsay Lohan's younger sister, 13-year-old Ali, has apparently sent an e-mail rife with misspellings to the gossip Web site 24sizzler.com.

In it, she wrote that Lindsay, arrested Tuesday and charged with driving under the influence and possession of cocaine, will be "fine, she is just going through a rough time right now."

Ali blames their father, Michael, as "the whole reason why my sister is upset with her self and not as cofident."

Lindsay Lohan's arrest Tuesday in Santa Monica, Calif., was the actress's second drunk driving arrest in three months, and happened less than two weeks after she left rehab.

Ali wasn't the only one in the family working the computer.

Lindsay and Ali's mom, Dina, sent a separate email to Access Hollywood's Billy Bush, saying she was "disappointed" in Jay Leno's decision to allow guest Rob Schneider to appear on the show Tuesday dressed as Lindsay.

Schneider appeared in drag complete with blond wig, black dress and an alcohol-monitoring bracelet strapped to his leg. Schneider was booked as a last-minute replacement for Lohan, who canceled her scheduled appearance after she was arrested.

"This is a very personal and private matter and our only concern is to get Lindsay the help that she needs," Dina wrote. "We will get through this together and it will make our family stronger."

David Caplan, senior correspondent for 24sizzler.com, said he contacted Ali Lohan after Lindsay's arrest asking for her to comment. He wanted a "fresh voice" from the Lohan family, and he said Ali sent him the email on Wednesday night. Caplan said Dina Lohan, who is going through an acrimonious split with Lindsay and Ali's father, Michael, knows Ali sent Caplan the missive, and that he exchanged follow up emails with Dina once he posted Ali's email. Dina, who lives in Merrick, will be back in Nassau County court Friday in the ongoing divorce and visitation case.

Lindsay's public relations representative was in a meeting and unavailable for comment Thursday afternoon.

"My mom is a single mom of four children she has always been there for us, she was my mother and father and still is," Ali wrote in her email. "My father is telling all lies to people and saying he was such a great dad and was always there for us, my father was never there for us, My mom was always there souporting us."

Ali went on to write that her father was always staying out late and not coming back for days, and always making excuses for his "bad behavior."

"My sister is just like a normal sister, her and I have so much in common," Ali's cheerleading continued. "My mother and sister are huge insperations to me, they have made it through so much in there lives."

It's not clear how well Lindsay Lohan will make it through her current troubles.

She will appear on the cover of Maxim's September issue, but that cover was already shot before all this happened, a Maxim spokesperson said.

Box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian, President of the Encino, California, Media by Numbers, said that Lohan's new movie "I Know Who Killed Me," opening Friday in 1,200 theaters, won't likely suffer from its star's fresh rush of notoriety.

"I don't think it's going to help nor hurt the movie necessarily; I think it's kind of a net even," said Dergarabedian, whose company tracks movie profits. "In fact, now more people have heard about that movie than would have heard about it before. I just think that with Lindsay the problems that lie ahead are if she becomes uninsurable and unbondable and can't get work in movies anymore. That's a huge, huge issue. That's a bigger issue even than how the public perceives her."

Missing from 'Harry Potter' – a real moral struggle

Boston - If literature truly reflects society, then the end of the Harry Potter series spells trouble for us all.

Because, after 10 years, 4,195 pages, and over 325 million copies, J.K. Rowling's towering achievement lacks the cornerstone of almost all great children's literature: the hero's moral journey. Without that foundation, her story – for all its epic trappings of good versus evil – is stuck in a moral no man's land.

To be clear: This isn't a critique of Ms. Rowling's values. It's a recognition of a disturbing trend in commercial storytelling and Western society.

For those who've yet to finish "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," stop reading now: There are spoilers ahead. If you did, however, embark on a Deathly Hallows marathon, you know that the shady Severus Snape died, not in the name of evil, but in the name of good.

Oh, yeah. And Harry defeated Voldemort. Good prevailed. The problem is, that's not the moral of the story. Good always prevails. It's the hero's struggle – and costly redemption – that matters.

Classic tales such as J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" set the standard for children's fiction. With their unrelenting drive toward "the moral of the story," they form a golden thread in the West's cultural fabric. And yet, like the society in which we live, storytelling itself has, in recent decades, undergone a radical transformation – sliding toward moral ambivalence with alarming speed.

I'm not advocating for the kind of didacticism that dominated Puritan and Victorian children's fiction. Times change. Arguably, postwar, post-Depression America needed the escape value of Disney's adaptations of "Snow White" and "Cinderella." It was a marriage of storytelling and meaning-making quite apart from what the Brothers Grimm envisaged a century before. But while Disney's focus was entertainment, the moral still mattered. And that moral center has all but vanished from much of today's pop culture.

Successful storytelling rests on a few basic principles. One of them is this: A story is about someone who changes, who grows through a moral struggle. What is Harry's struggle? Exactly.

Throughout the series, but especially in book seven, even Harry's darkest moments – of self-doubt, of disillusionment, of skepticism about his greatest mentor, Dumbledore – never ring true. Was there any doubt that Harry would fulfill the task set out for him?

The truth of the matter is that Harry the character had nowhere to go. And thus, the overarching moral dilemma of the series, the compelling inner crisis that begged resolution, had nothing to do with our beloved hero.

First principle of storytelling
Back to that first principle of storytelling: A story is about someone who changes. And, puberty aside, Harry doesn't change much. As envisioned by Rowling, he walks the path of good so unwaveringly that his final victory over Voldemort feels, not just inevitable, but hollow.

But there is one character who does face a compelling inner crisis: Snape. With all the debate – and with all of Rowling's clues – about whether he was good or bad, it's fair to say that the sallow-faced potions professor has entranced many readers. His character ached for resolution.

And it is precisely this need for resolution – our desire to know the real Snape and to understand his choices – that makes him the most compelling character in the Potter epic. His decisions, not Harry's, were the linchpin. And his moment with Dumbledore after the death of Harry's parents, not Harry's last duel with Voldemort, is the authentic climax of the series.

For Harry, there was no choice. The way forward was clear, the conflict – and journey – external. We cared about Snape because this was not the nature of his story. Every action was weighted with the pain and subtext of his choices, or lack thereof. For Snape, there weren't – there couldn't be – any easy answers. And yet, in the end, his moral journey was overshadowed by this fact: It was merely one more plot device to propel Harry toward his pre-destined victory.

Snape: the authentic protagonist
Rowling has publicly expressed mystification over her readers' fascination with Snape, even suggesting that his appeal is simply "the bad boy syndrome." Instead, her readers, whether consciously or not, have tapped into something that Rowling herself may have failed to recognize.

That something was a need for a protagonist who genuinely struggled to define – and do – the right thing. A passive main character with no authentic moral dilemma is not only hard to relate to, he or she is also no guide in circumstances in which right and wrong are anything less than black and white.

In a society increasingly steeped in moral relativism, it's not the Harrys of the world who will make a difference. It's the Snapes. It's those who need redemption, then choose it. It's those willing to press on and fail and then to press on again – especially when there are no clear answers.

There is much to love about the Harry Potter series, from its brilliantly realized magical world to its multilayered narrative. Unfortunately, Rowling did her readers a great disservice by making the story about Harry when it really should have been about Snape.

And yet, it's hard to imagine Snape's story emerging from a society where entertainment is king – and where the moral of the story is that there's seldom a moral at all.


Source - Yahoo Entertainment

'I didn't do drugs,' says actress Lindsay Lohan after bust

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Actress Lindsay Lohan denied taking drugs on Wednesday, a day after her arrest in California for drink-driving and cocaine possession.

The 21-year-old starlet said in an emailed message to the Access Hollywood television show that cocaine found in her pocket after her arrest in Santa Monica early Tuesday did not belong to her.

"I am innocent," Lohan said. "I did not do drugs, they're not mine ... I appreciate everyone giving me my privacy."

Lohan, who was reportedly being treated at a rehabilitation center on Wednesday, was pulled over by police after a car chase involving the mother of her personal assistant.

Lohan's blood alcohol level was between 0.12 and 0.13, well above California's legal limit of 0.08. She was later charged with driving under the influence and drug possession.

The incident came just days after "Herbie Fully Loaded" and "Georgia Rule" star Lohan had completed an alcohol treatment program following her arrest in May on similar charges.

She was released on bail and faces a court hearing on August 24.

Source : Yahoo Entertainment

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Director: David Yates
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Jason Boyd, Rupert Grint, Weasley, Richard Macklin, Kathryn Hunter, Helena Bonham Carter
Ratings: ***

Pottermania is contagious. The books and the movies are a rage among kids all over the world. And now almost everyone is queuing up to watch the fifth of the movie series called "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix".

The film almost coincides with the release of the seventh Potter book by J.K. Rowling on July 21. The latest movie shows Harry Potter's fifth year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and has been well received by fans.

But the fifth movie edition isn't just for kids... adults will also enjoy it as Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe, has now grown into a teenage boy engaged in grown-up adventures.

Harry has not only grown into a good-looking guy, this time he is angry and combating new fears within. He is also shown enjoying his first kiss with his classmate Cho Chang (Katie Leung).

The film has its familiar premise, but the evil Voldemort's return to power is not the only factor that worries Harry now. There is trouble in the form of Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), who enters Hogwarts as a teacher with vengeance and contempt for its students and faculty. And she leaves no chance to show her detestation towards them.

She bans students from practising magic and insists on giving just theoretical knowledge. So Harry challenges her by giving his fellow pupils magic lessons secretly, though Dolores manages to penetrate into their secret chamber. And amidst all this, the students also have to give their final exam.

From the FX to performances and adventures to dark secrets, everything is in place - the animation and special effects are best in the climax. The fireworks triggered off by the Weasley twins during their final exam are awesome.

Though described as the darkest movie in the series, it is the weakest compared to the last four. But at the same time, the film's tone and texture is definitely dark.

Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), Harry's closest friends, have also grown up, but this time they don't have much to contribute. Potter fans will surely enjoy Radcliife's performance as a brooding teenager - the boy wonder not only looks good in the film but also plays his part with finesse.

The film may not appeal to first timers but will certainly be a hit with old Harry Potter loyalists.

Rowling says will miss Harry Potter's world

NEW YORK (Reuters) - J.K. Rowling said on Tuesday that she will miss being able to retreat into the fictional world of Harry Potter after finishing the seventh and final volume on the teen-age wizard.

But in an interview with NBC television's "Today" show, Rowling, 41, said it felt "incredible" to have completed the series she began 17 years ago when the idea came to her as she traveled on a train from Manchester to London.

"At the moment it feels great to be honest with you," she said during the interview at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. "It's a really nice place to be."

"It's a big sense of achievement," she said. "I mean I am sad, but I think (I was) sadder immediately after finishing writing. I felt devastated. For about a week I was hard to live with after finishing this book."

The much-anticipated "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" became the fastest-selling book in history when it was released around the world on Saturday. More than 11 million copies were sold in the first 24 hours in the United States and Britain.

"I think the whole thing, it was this amazing cathartic moment, the end of 17 years' work, and that was just hard to deal with for about a week," Rowling said.

"It brought back a lot of memories of what had been going on in my life when I started writing," said the mother of three who had financial difficulties when she got the idea of Harry Potter but now is estimated to be worth $1.12 billion, making her the first dollar-billionaire author.

"When I started I wasn't in a bad place, then life had its ups and downs, so Harry has been with me through a lot. I think it was that feeling more than any other, that I wouldn't have that world to retreat into again," she said.

INFLUENCE OF HER MOTHER'S DEATH

After Rowling came up with the idea, her mother died in December 1990 after suffering from multiple sclerosis for several years, which Rowling said "changed both my world and Harry's forever."

The following year, Rowling moved to Portugal as an English teacher and met and married journalist Jorge Arantes, with whom she had her first child Jessica. The couple later divorced.

Rowling left Portugal for Edinburgh, where her sister Di lived. There she finished her first novel, writing most evenings and in cafes when Jessica fell asleep in her stroller.

That book, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," went on sale in 1997, winning several awards and helping earn the author a U.S. publisher.

In addition to the books, the first five Hollywood movie adaptations of her Harry Potter stories have amassed around $4 billion at the global box office. The final film in the franchise is slated for release in 2010.

In December 2001, Rowling married Neil Murray, an anesthetist. The couple have two children.

Source : Yahoo Entertainment

Simpson has the 'best boobs' in Hollywood

Jessica Simpson has picked up a sexy new accolade - for having the Best Boobs in Hollywood.

The ‘Irresistible’ singer has beaten the likes of busty beauties like Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry to top the poll, conducted by In Touch Weekly.

Simpson says of her bounteous bust, "Mine are definitely real. In eight grade, my boobs were bigger than all of my friends. I was afraid to show 'em. Now, I feel they make my outfit look better. They're like an accessory."

The full top 10 is as follows: Jessica Simpson, Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, Lindsay Lohan, Halle Berry, Carmen Electra, Beyonace Knowles, Cameron

Britney Spears to reveal all!

Pop superstar Britney Spears is to set the record straight about her much-publicized personal problems in a revealing interview with a US lifestyle magazine, according to reports.

The troubled star, 25, is said to have personally called the magazine's main switchboard and asked to speak to the publication's editor-in-chief, Sara Ivens, to negotiate a deal for the interview.

And the mother of two is expected to tell all about her rift with her mother, Lynne, her custody battle and impending divorce from ex Kevin Federline, and her one-month stint in rehab in February.

Penelope Cruz enjoying a Break

Penelope Cruz takes a well-deserved break after debuting her fashion collection in Spain.

Penelope Cruz spotted in Ibiza

Ibiza is definitely a hot spot for the international jet set.

Penelope in Ibiza

There's nothing better than lounging by the pool on a sunny day.

Harry Potter magic hits bookstores

You wake up with a jolt, your head hurting as if Lord Voldemort has been trying to pry it open. It's still dark outside.

As you walk groggily down the stairs, a small voice at the back of your mind says, 'This is madness.'

You feel the way a certain young fictional wizard felt, when he heard about platform 9 � for the first time -- convinced it was a joke.

Outside, New York is whirring into action, slowly. The milkman is readying his sachets. The sweeper is brushing his teeth, broom in hand. The birds have realised it's their time to sing -- maybe the only time they can be heard in the city of dreams and big money.

You reach a mall in Broadway. Even the most eager mall-rat would be asleep now, you mutter to yourself, shaking your head at the foolishness of it all.

And then you enter.

Bam!

It's like you have walked through the invisible barrier and arrived at the platform from where the Hogwarts Express chugs its way to the most famous wizarding school in the world.

There are at least 150 people standing in line in front of the bookstore Landmark. From toddlers with parents, to tweens with parents, to teens with friends to dreadlocked cool dudes with stuff written on their t-shirts you wouldn't want your child to know, ever.

They are all here, living, talking, coffee-drinking, photo-clicking proof of the publishing phenomenon called Harry Potter to pick up their copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final instalment of a series of books that has transfigured its creator from a former waitress to a global celebrity richer than the queen of England.

There's 7-year-old Vihaan Hingorani, student of class 3 F -- he mentions his section 'F' with so much enthusiasm you don't feel like leaving that out -- with a pointed-hat-and-red-hair-wig cap. He could pass off as Harry's best friend Ron Weasley in first year.

Has he read any of the books? Vihaan shakes his head with a toothy grin. He has just seen the movies.

Then why is he here? "Mom wants the book."

Meanwhile, ever eager television cameras and microphones are everywhere, the young reporters squealing like a gang of first years in Hogwarts. A boy who has been made to dress up like Harry Potter emerges from the store. There are excited whoops and screams.

A store representative emerges and tells the crowd that the books have arrived. The crowd makes the kind of sound that was first heard when the world was struck by another British phenomenon, the Beatles.

You join the line. Hoping to get your copy of the book fast, and get home and give your head a break. But there are voices all around you.

"Do you think Dumbledore is not dead?"

"�Mamma I told you 5:45 was too late! Look so many people are in front of us�"

"..Dude, I dunno how she's going to do it, but I think Dumbledore is gonna come back."

"�Do you know many people die in the book?"

"The New York Times leaked the review�[sic]"

Then there is another roar � the store is open, the line begins moving.

After half an hour more of trudging along, you emerge with the book, eager to know.

Turns out one of the leaked copies on the Internet was a genuine one. Wow. It's a take no prisoners kind of book, with the first death before page 60.

And as you glide down the escalator, someone is whistling the theme from the Harry Potter movies. And whistling pretty well. It reverberates in the empty mall, almost magical, because you can't see who is whistling.

And then you walk out into the Muggle world, where the financial capital of Mumbai is just waking up

Britney's Strip and Dip

Britney and her brand new puppy London in Malibu. Well, at least one of them is still adorable.

Britney's never been big on modesty.

Lohan surrenders to police for May crash

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Lindsay Lohan, under arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence, has turned herself in to police in connection with a Memorial Day weekend car crash.

Accompanied by her attorney, the 21-year-old actress surrendered at the Beverly Hills Police Department shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday to be fingerprinted and photographed, Officer Brian Ballieweg said.

Lohan's blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash was above .08, California's legal limit, said Ballieweg, who did not disclose how high it was. She is also under arrest on suspicion of misdemeanor hit and run, he said.

Lohan was released on her own recognizance. A court date was scheduled for August 24.

A message left early Friday with her publicist was not immediately returned.

The surrender was first reported by TV's "The Insider."

Lohan and two other adults were in her 2005 Mercedes SL-65 convertible when she lost control and crashed into a curb and shrubs on Sunset Boulevard on May 26, police said.

Lohan got into a second car and was driven to a hospital in nearby Century City for treatment of minor injuries, police said. The other people in her car were not hurt.

Officers received a 911 call about the accident and traced her to the hospital. Police said at the time she had been arrested for investigation of driving under the influence, though it wasn't formal until Thursday.

Last week, Lohan checked out of a rehabilitation center after a stay of more than six weeks. It was her second stint in rehab this year. She said in January she had checked into rehab for substance abuse treatment.

Source : Yahoo News

Salma Hayek voted Hottest Celebrity

Hollywood actress Salma Hayek has been voted the hottest celebrity in the world by an Internet poll.

A total of 3,000 celebrities were ranked by E-Poll, in which a whopping 65 percent of the US population felt Hayek was super glamorous, World Entertainment News Network reported.

The 40-year-old actress elbowed out Jessica Alba, who took the second spot. Carmen Electra finished third.

The top 15 celebrities and the percentage of the population who found them hot are as follows:

1. Salma Hayek - 65 percent
2. Jessica Alba - 64 percent
2. Carmen Electra - 64 percent
4. Shakira - 63 percent
5. Halle Berry - 59 percent
5. Beyonce Knowles - 59 percent
5. Eva Longoria - 59 percent
8. Catherine Zeta-Jones - 57 percent
9. Jessica Biel - 56 percent
9. Elizabeth Hurley - 56 percent
9. Raquel Welch - 56 percent
12. Jennifer Lopez - 54 percent
12. Alyssa Milano - 54 percent
14. Pamela Anderson - 53 percent
14. Angelina Jolie - 53 percent

Rowling bids her boy wizard goodbye

EDINBURGH, Scotland - Harry Potter's life hangs in the balance. Millions of fans are holding their breath. Meanwhile, his creator is baking a cake — and keeping her secret.

On Saturday, readers around the globe will learn the schoolboy wizard's fate with the publication of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling's fantasy series. Will Harry defeat his evil nemesis, Lord Voldemort, and restore order to the wizarding world? Will he die in the attempt, as many fans fear — and as Rowling, an expert narrative tease, has hinted?

"Harry's story comes to a definite end in book seven," is all she will say a few days before publication, serving up tea and home-baked sponge cake in her comfortable Edinburgh house. Writing the final words of the saga felt "like a bereavement."

That sounds ominously final. So have we really seen the last of the staff and students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?

"Because the world is so big, there would be room to do other stuff," Rowling says carefully. "I am not planning to do that, but I'm not going to say I'm never going to do it."

Rowling (her name rhymes with bowling, rather than howling), looking relaxed in jeans and a sweater, shoulder-length blonde hair stylishly cut, has wildly mixed emotions at leaving behind the character she conjured up during a train journey across England in 1990: a neglected, bespectacled orphan who learns on his 11th birthday that he is a wizard.

She's enjoying the absence of pressure from publishers and fans clamoring for the next installment in Harry's adventures. And she's reveling in the chance to focus on normal life with her husband and three children.

But after finishing the last book, "I felt terrible for a week."

"The first two days in particular, it was like a bereavement, even though I was pleased with the book. And then after a week that cloud lifted and I felt quite lighthearted, quite liberated," she says.

"Finishing is emotional because the books have been so wrapped up with my life. It's almost impossible not to finish and look back to where I was when I started."

It has been an extraordinary journey. When Rowling created Harry Potter, she was a struggling single mother, writing in cafes to save on the heating bill at home. Now, at 41, she is the richest woman in Britain — worth $1 billion, according to Forbes magazine — with houses in Edinburgh, London and the Scottish countryside.

Her first book, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," was published in 1997, with a print run of less than 1,000. Rowling's publisher suggested she use gender-neutral initials rather than her first name, Joanne, to give the book a better chance with boys. Lacking a middle name, she took the K from her paternal grandmother, Kathleen.

By the time the book appeared in the United States in 1998 — as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" — Harry was on his way to becoming a publishing phenomenon.

The six Potter books have sold some 325 million copies in 64 languages, including Latin and Ancient Greek. "Deathly Hallows" has an initial print run of 12 million in the United States alone; more than 2 million copies have been ordered from Internet retailer Amazon.

The novels have produced five movies, mountains of toys, a riot of Internet fan sites and scores of companion books — from academic studies to parodies to pop psychology. A theme park, complete with Hogwarts castle and Forbidden Forest, is to open in Orlando, Fla., in 2009.

The launch of each new book is now accompanied by choreographed chaos and military-level security. No book is sold until a minute past midnight on Saturday.

The series' success has been "a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon," said Joel Rickett, news editor of trade magazine The Bookseller. "It has brought a new generation to reading — got kids absorbed in huge hefty hardbacks the way they wouldn't have been," he said.

While some critics have dismissed the books as lightweight kiddie fare, others have been impressed by their moral complexity and darkening tone. Death haunts Harry Potter, who was orphaned at the age of 1 when Voldemort killed his parents. He loses his godfather Sirius Black in the fifth book and his beloved headmaster Dumbledore in the sixth. No wonder fans fear for Harry's future.

Rowling was profoundly affected by the death of her own mother from multiple sclerosis in 1990 at the age of 45.

"My mum died six months into writing (the books), and I think that set the central theme — this boy dealing with loss," Rowling says.

And she makes no apologies for exposing children to death.

"I think children are very scared of this stuff even if they haven't experienced it, and I think the way to meet that is head-on," she says. "I absolutely believe, as a writer and as a parent, that the solution is not to pretend things don't happen but to examine them in a loving, safe way."

Rowling says her success has been "the experience of a lifetime." But it also has brought an intense level of pressure, scrutiny and criticism. In the United States, her book tours have attracted thousands of screaming children, but also death threats. Some Christians have called for the books to be banned, claiming they promote witchcraft.

But it's only now that she realizes just how intense the pressure has been at the center of the Harry Potter whirlwind.

"I was very lonely with it," she says. "It's not like being in a pop group, where at least there would be three or four other people who knew what it was like to be on the inside. Only I knew what it was like to be generating this world as it became bigger and bigger and bigger and more and more people were invested in it.

After producing a book a year between 1997 and 2000, Rowling took a break. There was a three-year gap between the fourth book, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," and "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," published in 2003. During the gap, Rowling met and married Neil Murray, a Scottish doctor. They live in Edinburgh with their children David, 4, and Mackenzie, 2, as well as Jessica, Rowling's daughter from her first marriage to a Portuguese journalist.

Rowling now seems reconciled to her success. She says she lives a normal life and is rarely recognized in the street, although her graystone town house on a tree-lined street is protected by an 8-foot stone wall and iron security gates. Like the neighborhood — a leafy literary enclave that's also home to crime novelist Ian Rankin and "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" writer Alexander McCall Smith — the house exudes solid affluence, rather than extravagance.

The modestly sized lawn holds a soccer net and a colorful plastic jumble of children's toys. In the tidy family room, are crowded bookshelves, an aquarium, photo albums and board games — the trappings of any middle-class family's life.

Rowling predicts that some of Harry's fans will dislike "Deathly Hallows." But she is proud of it. "The final book is what it was always supposed to be, and so I feel very at peace with that fact," she says.

As for the future, she says she has no plans.

"I can never write anything as popular again," she said. "Lightning does not strike in the same place twice.

"I'll do exactly what I did with Harry — I'll write what I really want to write, and if it's something similar, that's OK, and if it's something very different, that's OK.

"I just really want to fall in love with an idea again, and go with that."

Potter everywhere as book release nears

NEW YORK - Leaks. Lawsuits. Profiteering. What a way to treat such a fine young man like Harry Potter. Despite pleas for silence from author J.K. Rowling and some leading Potter fan sites, publishing's secret of all secrets — whether the wizard lives or dies — is in danger of becoming plain gossip as publication approaches for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

"As launch night looms, let's all, please, ignore the misinformation popping up on the web and in the press on the plot of `Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,'" Rowling wrote in a message posted Wednesday on her Web site, http://www.jkrowling.com/.

"I'd like to ask everyone who calls themselves a Potter fan to help preserve the secrecy of the plot for all those who are looking forward to reading the book at the same time on publication day. In a very short time you will know EVERYTHING!"

Alleged images of Rowling's seventh and final Potter book have already been circulating online days before the official July 21 release. More than 100 actual books may already have been received by customers. As of Wednesday morning, the $34.99 release was being offered on eBay, for immediate purchase, for $250.

"That's right — I've got one copy of Harry Potter 7, on July 17, and it can be yours as soon as July 19. Hurry! Confirmed payment by 6:30PM on July 18 will ensure delivery on July 19 by FedEx Priority Overnight!" read a message from a seller identified as "willpc" and based in Atlanta.

"I don't work for a bookstore, and I don't have a magic wand — an online store shipped a copy early."

Two pictures of the book, which sits upon a copy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, are offered as proof. The seller, who declined immediate comment when e-mailed by The Associated Press, has been an eBay member since 1999 and has a perfect "Feedback" score, according to the "Feedback Profile" for willpc.

Hundreds of copies of "Deathly Hallows" are being offered on eBay, but almost all have been promised only after the book is published.

Meanwhile, Scholastic, Inc. announced Wednesday that it was taking "immediate legal action" against online retailer DeepDiscount.com and distributor Levy Home Entertainment after learning that "some individuals have received copies of `Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' through the mail."

In papers filed Wednesday at Chicago's Circuit Court of Cook County, Rowling's U.S. publisher accused the defendants, based in Illinois, of a "complete and flagrant violation of the agreements that they knew were part of the carefully constructed release of this eagerly awaited book." Scholastic is seeking damages "to be determined."

Donna Lindberg, Levy's director of product management, declined comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

According to a Scholastic press release, "around one one-hundredth of one percent of the total U.S. copies" going on sale early Saturday morning were received prematurely. With an announced first printing of 12 million, that would mean about 120 copies. One book was obtained by a reporter for The (Baltimore) Sun and a review ran Wednesday on the newspaper's Web site.

Scholastic on Monday obtained subpoenas ordering two San Francisco Bay Area companies to remove possible copies of the book posted at their Web sites.

Scholastic ordered Photobucket, which provides file-sharing services and has an office in Palo Alto, and Milpitas-based Gaia Online, a social networking site used mostly by teenagers and college students, to remove the material. The company would not say whether the copies were real.

Gaia spokesman Bill Danon said the company gave a two-week suspension to the user who posted the possible copy and removed the material. He did not reveal the user's identity.

Officials at Photobucket refused to comment, but also apparently removed the material.

Despite the strictest security, digital photographs of what looks like the full text of "Deathly Hallows" have been leaked on the Internet. Emerson Spartz, the Web master of the Potter site http://www.mugglenet.com has seen some of the pages and believes they're real.

"It's far too detailed to be an elaborate hoax," he told The Associated Press.

Scholastic has declined to comment on the authenticity of any given spoiler. Spokeswoman Kyle Good says that conflicting editions, all of them believable, have appeared on the Internet.

Hiding the contents of a book, especially when millions have been printed and shipped, has proved nearly impossible over the years. Publishers have tried repeatedly to "embargo" an anticipated work until its scheduled release date, and almost always failed. But early leaks, usually by the media, have not kept such books as Bob Woodward's "State of Denial" or Bill Clinton's "My Life" from blockbuster success.

"I can't think of an example from our publishing list where sales were hurt," says Paul Bogaards, director of publicity at Alfred A. Knopf, which published Clinton's book. "None of the leaks are going to hurt sales of Potter."

As of Wednesday, "Deathly Hallows" remained at No. 1 on the best seller lists of Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.

Source : Yahoo News

Will the Harry Potter Leak Bring the Deathly Hallows to Book Sales?

Okay, I have no idea what “the deathly hallows” means but I’m guessing if deployed correctly by the right (no doubt) nefarious hands, they could have a detrimental effect on book sales.

The New York Times reported yesterday that sightings of the seventh and final Harry Potter epic, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, were beginning to pop up around the Internet in the form of a collection of photographs of every single page of the seven hundred and something page novel.

The leak is even more widespread today, as might be expected, as file sharing service BitTorrent has become a platform to share the novel. Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing reports that not only is the book becoming widely available, but the novel was translated into German in a mere 45 hours.

As a side note, I’m surprised that Boing Boing would openly link to a site where Deathly Hallows torrents are available, in a sense supporting the illegal distribution of the as yet not-for-sale book. I’m not familiar with Boing Boing’s or Doctorow’s stance on intellectual property, so perhaps it complies with some kind of overarching policy of theirs.

In any event, the question is whether or not it will hurt book sales. Bruce Schneier thinks that people who are willing to read photographs of a novel are the same people who will later go out and purchase it. Don Park counter argues – and I think he has a very interesting point here – that getting something for free can be habit-forming.

Emma Watson amazed by Daniel's Steamy Shots

Harry Potter star Emma Watson was amazed to see steamy shots of co-star Daniel Radcliffe in an American magazine.

Watson was surprised that she realised how handsome Radcliffe is, after looking at the shots.

“I saw that and I was like, 'Hey'... (It's) the first time I've really thought, 'Ooh, wow, actually he's pretty good looking,’” Contactmusic quoted her, as saying.

However, she said that she doesn’t fantasize about the Brit star.

"I know it sounds harsh but... no," she added.

The 17-year-old also revealed that she was hoping that she too would get the chance to drop her nice girl image by shedding her clothes – especially after seeing Radcliffe’s performanc

Did Paris Drug her New Beau for a Threesome?

It seems that Paris Hilton has a new man in her life, this time, a 21-year-old T-shirt designer, Tyler Atkins, who claims that she drugged him with pills like Vicodin and Rohypnols so that he would be pliable for a threesome.

The socialite was spotted with Atkins, whose label Rock Stars and Angels, is available in trendy L.A. boutiques like Kitson, outside the Polaroid Beach House in Malibu on July 15.

And sources have revealed that the two were "making out like teenagers.”

The Paris-Atkins hook-up has fuelled more speculations after the designer gave a recent interview, in which he boasts about hanging out with an unnamed "famous chick" at a house in the Hollywood Hills.

Atkins claims that this "famous chick" drugged him with four pills, following which he found himself in her spa bath with her and her best friend.

"She's like a full pill-popper ...And she gave me like four of these pills that were like Vicodin; they were like Rohypnols or something. Heavy, heavy. And she drugged me, this famous chick. ... I woke up in her spa bath with her and her best friend. We were in the spa bath, full-on threesome,” the New York Daily News quoted Atkins, as saying.

"And then I don't remember anything else. I remember waking up at 5 o'clock in the afternoon in between them both ... I couldn't find my clothes in the whole house. [I was] just tripping, just going, 'What did this girl give me?' It was gnarly, eh?" he added.

How has Harry Potter cast such a wide spell?

Remember the days before Harry Potter?

It seems long ago and far away, but it has been only nine years since the boy wizard crashed into the American consciousness like an out-of-control owl. That was before the frenzied mobs buying Harry Potter books, before the star-studded Potter movie premieres, the piles of Potter merchandise, the scores of Potter websites, Potter rock bands, Potter literature courses, the planned Potter theme park. In less than a decade, America has become a sort of Harry Potter-media-industrial-complex.

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Now, as the seventh and last book in J.K. Rowling's Potter saga, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is poised for release Friday at midnight, it's time to look back and ask: Why did this series turn into such a massive, culture-altering phenomenon? How did this bespectacled British boy ensnare millions of readers of all ages, transcending languages, cultures and national boundaries with his magic spell?

Exactly why are we all so wild about Harry?

"I'm trying to think of a time when Harry Potter wasn't part of pop culture, and it's difficult," says Michael Stromenger, 28, a new father and television production assistant in Fargo, N.D., who has been obsessed with Harry since age 19, when Stromenger was working in a bookstore. "It's pervasive, it's far-reaching, hard to escape. Which is great, because I love the books."

The answer to the why-Harry? question is complicated and yet it's not. It comes down to this: Quality will rise to the top, especially with help from the Internet.

"In the midst of all the hype, people forget it caught on because it was a good book," says Kansas State University's Philip Nel, director of the children's-lit program and author of the first book-length academic study of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide, in 2001. He and colleague Karin Westman, head of the English department who is just finishing up her own book, J.K. Rowling's Library: Harry Potter in Context, have taken turns teaching a class on Potter that is so popular, it draws long waiting lists.

Rowling knows her classics

Heir to a long tradition of English literary abracadabra, the classics-educated Rowling absorbed scores of genres and themes, especially the British boarding-school novel, and synthesized them into her own unique storytelling recipe, Nel and Westman say. The result is a ripping good read — funny, touching and riveting, modern and old-fashioned at the same time.

"You are always waiting to find out what happens next," Nel says. "She has real, recognizable characters grounded in everyday experiences we can understand and relate to, so we care about what happens to them, which makes the mystery and narrative drive all the more compelling. She has imagined (Harry's world) so fully and with such great detail."

And she has virtually no rival, in any sense of the word, Westman says. "In terms of cultural knowledge, everyone knows who Harry Potter is," even if you haven't read the books.

"That level is somewhat similar to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series in the 1960s, but what Rowling has added to pop familiarity is the incredible surge in children readers and reluctant (adult) readers."

Harry also is a boundary jumper able to engage unrelated audiences: Children and adults like him, readers and filmgoers, all classes, incomes and educational levels.

He has been translated into 65 languages, published in nearly every country on the planet. He's a touchstone for an entire generation that grew up with him.

"When I was 11, Harry was about 11. Now I'm 16, Harry is about the same," says high school senior Christina Stanfield of Newport, Ky. "It feels like I've been there with him every step of the way."

But the unprecedented factor in the Harry Potter phenom is the Internet, which intensifies the fan experience, magnifies word-of-mouth and provides a platform for spontaneous viral marketing that propels the books' momentum.

Internet 'immersion in fandom'

"Previously, reading was a private act, but now you can share it with others on the Internet," says Megan Linehan, 23, a Potterian from age 14, whose undergrad literature thesis at American University last year was on the political and social themes in the books.

The Internet allowed "a new kind of immersion in fandom" not possible before and certainly not when Tolkien's books achieved cult status decades ago, says Roger Sutton, editor of The Horn Book magazine on children's literature.

"I thought (the momentum) would level off, but it gets bigger and bigger with each book," Sutton says.

"This is not some evil marketing plot by (U.S. Potter publisher) Scholastic, and it's not some weird Disney plot, either; children around the world have chosen something for themselves, and more power to them."

By now, Harry Potter bestrides the Internet like a colossus (especially lately, when so many fans are speculating feverishly on whether he'll die in the last book). There are millions of sites, blogs, podcasts and postings: Google "Harry Potter" and 97.7 million results appear.

"The two main sites, Mugglenet.com and The-Leaky-Cauldron.org, are so big in the Harry Potter sphere that Rowling chose to do in-depth interviews with the two webmasters of those sites," Westman says.

The 'nary-a-Potter camp'

True, a few people hated Harry Potter. Some Christian preachers denounced him from their pulpits for promoting witchcraft and the occult. They were mostly ignored. Even people who aren't fans still admire Harry and his creator and cheerfully acknowledge his pervasive presence.

"I'm in the nary-a-Potter camp," jokes writer, mother and public radio host Amy Krouse Rosenthal. "Ten billion people can't be wrong, but I guess there's something about my genetic makeup. I just don't get it. But I don't have disdain for the movement."

So Harry Potter has slouched into every corner of Western pop culture, more so than any other fictional character. Others have prevailed in one or more areas, but none has hit them all like Harry.

Harry Potter Halloween costumes? Check, but costume shops have featured a zillion other TV, film and comic-book characters for years. Harry fan fiction? Check, but Star Trek followers and fans of scores of other TV cult series were scribbling about their favorite characters even before the Internet. Harry in academia? Check, but America's higher-ed fields being as quirky as they sometimes are, there's always someone studying the semiotics of The Sopranos or the like. Harry merchandise? Check, but mass-marketing of merchandise linked to fictional characters has been standard for decades in America.

Wizard rock, Wizarding World

But what other fictional character has been the inspiration for a new genre of rock 'n' roll known as "wizard rock"?

It started seven years ago with two Boston brothers, Paul and Joe DeGeorge, who call themselves Harry and the Potters and write punk-ish sorts of songs based on Harry and his friends.

By now, says Paul DeGeorge, 28, there's a subculture of at least 200 wizard-rock garage bands, promoting themselves online and touring regions of the country, sometimes playing at libraries and even raising money for literacy charities.

"Harry Potter has become a participatory culture," DeGeorge says.

Then there's the ultimate affirmation in the pop-culture pantheon: the Florida theme park. It will be called The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, located on 20 acres within Universal Orlando Resort's Islands of Adventure theme park and will open in late 2009.

The idea is to take the books and the films (Warner Bros. is a partner, and Rowling has approved the project) to the next level in experiential entertainment, says Universal's Scott Trowbridge, who is designing the park. "We're taking it from the screen and putting you in it," he says. "We're going to create a physical embodiment of that world so that people can experience firsthand a sense of what it's like to be in that world."

Meanwhile, the book industry anxiously searches the horizon for the next Rowling, the next Harry Potter. So far, no luck, despite a wealth of talent in kid lit.

"Harry Potter in some ways put children's literature on the map," says HarperCollins' Susan Rich, editor of the popular Lemony Snicket books. "People are always buzzing about the next best seller, but if we knew how to call it ahead of time, we'd be signing 'em up."

Still, the industry can almost certainly count on Harry to keep selling for some time, and not just because there will be two more movies coming. Most critics consider these books classics likely to endure, like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or Charlotte's Web.

Always here to save the day

So Harry may be going, but he'll never be gone. He'll live on in the hearts of millions, as they say in eulogies, but more to the point, he'll live on in our consumerist culture.

"This is the last generation that actually had to wait for each book to come out, so they're going to have a special relationship with Harry," says pop-culture historian Robert Thompson of Syracuse University.

"But for at least another century, every year a new batch of kids will be introduced to Harry Potter. There's always going to be a new kid turning 8 years old."

So take heart, world: We'll always have Harry.

By Maria Puente, USA TODAY

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