My dad correctly noted the other day that I haven’t been doing my job of hyping the big Harry Potter book opening, which is now less than 12 hours away. Sorry. I’ve been too busy (and, more importantly, computer-deprived) to post much about it. But, I do plan to buy my copy tonight shortly after 12:01 AM at Borders in Newington, and I’ll try to post some cell-phone pics from the festivities there, if there any good photos to be had. (I’ll probably read the book en route to and from my friend Josh’s wedding in Maryland.)

Becky, Rachel and Matias stand in line for seats to an opening-night showing of the new “Harry Potter” movie at University Village on Nov. 15. For a complete gallery of photos from the Harry Potter opening, click here.

Get it? Digital wizardry? Like, my new digital camera, and the wizardry of Harry Potter? Well, anyway…

I decided to buy the Fuji FinePix 3800, with its 6x optical zoom and resolution of up to 3 megapixels. Here’s a picture of the display model that I took with my camera after buying it:

Here’s a picture of the camera I would have bought if I were rich… the Fuji FinePix S602, which goes for $649 at Circuit City…

But I’m not complaining about my $349 FinePix 3800. Actually, the standard retail price on my camera is $399, but I bought it for $349 as an “open box” (previously purchased and returned) camera Thursday morning at Circuit City. A few items were missing from the box, so I came back to the store in the evening… and since they couldn’t find the missing items, they gave me a brand-new camera instead. So, in the end, I got a new camera for $349! Hooray!

I have the option of returning the camera for any reason within 30 days if I don’t like it. But so far, I like it. Here are a couple of examples of the high-quality images it can produce. Click for the full-size versions:

2048 x 1536 (3 megapixels) - 1.25 MB

1280 x 960 (1 megapixel) - 341 KB

My new camera also got a workout last night when I went with Becky, Rachel, and two other friends, Nikki and Matias, to University Village to watch the new Harry Potter movie.

Click here for a gallery of images…

Anyway, the movie was quite good. As the reviews suggest, it’s better than the first movie. Sorcerer’s Stone was a bit like the first Star Trek movie, I think, in the sense that they focused too much on the special effects and the scenery rather than the actual plot. This one was much more plot-oriented… and much scarier. I definitely wouldn’t take my 6-year-old to Chamber of Secrets. But I certainly enjoyed it.

Best line of the movie, when Hagrid told Harry and Ron to “follow the spiders” if they want to unravel the mystery…

“Follow the spiders? Why does it have to be ‘follow the spiders’? Why couldn’t it be ‘follow the butterflies’?” –Ron (paraphrased)

Oh, and about that Lord of the Rings extended-edition DVD… it was very good, too. Some of the things, I don’t understand why they left ‘em out of the movie, like Isildur’s full death sequence and Gandalf’s recitation of the Ash nazg gimbatul speech in Rivendell, each of which took maybe 15 seconds but added an enormous amount to the movie. Other gems were a scene at the Green Dragon featuring a hobbit drinking song and a brief appearance by the Gaffer, and a great line when the Fellowship ceremoniously leaves Rivendell:

Frodo, whispering: “Mordor, Gandalf — left or right?”
Gandalf: “Left.”

Saw the movie; loved it; details tomorrow. Also tomorrow: the first photos from my new digital camera!

Waiting in line now for Harry Potter!

[Welcome, new visitors! For my posts about “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” please visit my homepage or take a look at this category. This post is about the death of actor Richard Harris nearly three years ago. -ed., 7/15/05]

Actor Richard Harris, who played Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore in the first two “Harry Potter” movies — and was scheduled to reprise the role in the next five sequels — has died, according to a CNN Breaking News bulletin I just received. I don’t know what he died of, but I remember being afraid that this would happen when I saw a TV biography that discussed Harris’s crazy lifestyle. What will Warner Brothers do???

UPDATE, 3:09 PM: Apparently Harris died of Hodgkin’s Disease. Maybe that was what I heard that made me worry he would die, rather than a crazy lifestyle. Or maybe it was both. Either way, I distinctly remember thinking to myself, “He might die in the next few years, and what will Harry Potter do then?” It would almost be easier to replace Harry Potter himself than Harris’s wonderful portrayal of Dumbledore.

Harry Potter, you cannot pass!