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London Trip, Part 2: The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour

By Adventures, Books & Authors, Happiness & JoyNo Comments

Last Sunday mum and I went to The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour. We were lucky as it was all Hogwarts in the Snow ready for Christmas. It’s a place that’s better shown than described, so here’s ample photos:

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Left to Right: Entrance outside; Entrance Inside with Christmas Tree; Gift shop; Collection of Wands in Gift shop; J.K. Rowling Quote; Cupboard Under The Stairs.

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Left to Right: The Great Hall Entrance; Inside The Great Hall; Gryffindor uniforms; costumes for Hagrid and Flich; costumes for Mcgonagall, Dumbledoor and Snape; Sedway, Moody and Trelawny.

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Left to Right: Cloke of Invisibility; Yule Ball costumes; Ron’s Yule Ball costume; More costumes; Harry Potter’s costumes; a flaming Christmas pudding.

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Left to Right: Gryffindor door common room (top two); Gryffindor dormitories (bottom two).

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Left to Right: clock; Wizard’s Chest piece; Wall of Decrees and long ladder; Various magical props; stairwell; Mirror of Erised.

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Snape’s (and Later Slughorn’s) Potion class set.

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Left: Portraits. Right: Animal Actors.

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Dumbledoor’s Office.

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Various Doors.

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Left to Right: Quidditch display; Horcrux display; Room of Requirement Deatheater prop; Moody’s chest; Remus Suitcase.

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Showing how the special effects were made.

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Top: The Burrow (two photos). Bottom: Malfoy Manor and Umbridge’s Office.

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Top: Might is Magic Statue and Ministry Entrance. Bottom: Ministry interior and Prophecy ball props.

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Left to Right (Outside): Me in a Waterproof poncho; Potters’ Cottage; Hogwarts Bridge; The Night Bus.

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Left to Right: Various Goblin heads; Fawkes the Phoenix (two photos); Greyback’s face; Werewolve; various props (including Dobby’s head).

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Various Magical Creatures.

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To scale Actor/Actress Models.

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Diagon Alley 1.

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Diagon Alley 2: The Weasley’s.

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The level of detail for the films was incredible. Design sketches, paper models, product design – everything designed from scratch based on the books.

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The Finale – Hogwarts Castle with Snow and a Quote from J.K. Rowling.

We had a great time with The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour exceeding expectations. If you’re a fan of the films, I recommended you go. It shows you how the films were made, but somehow doesn’t mean that they loose their magic.

Blog soon,

Antony

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London Trip, Part 1 – Shopping, Silly Hats and the Hotel

By Adventures, Friends & Family, Happiness & JoyNo Comments

Last weekend mum and I went on a coach trip to London. The Saturday we went shopping, I bought a few Christmas presents and tried on some silly hats:

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A Collage of Me in Silly Hats (click for full size image)

Then we went to the hotel. It was a Holiday Inn and I was reasonably impressed. It was clean, had friendly staff and had everything we needed. Here are some photos:

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A Collage of the Hotel (click for full size image)

The Sunday we were going to The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour and were well excited about. I’ll blog about Harry Potter Studio Tour and share photos in my next post.

Blog soon,

Antony

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We’re off to the Harry Potter Studio Tour!

By Adventures, Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, ShoppingNo Comments
harry-potter-world-christmas-logo-2014 Mum and I are off to Harry Potter Studio Tour this weekend! So expect a Harry Potter Studio Tour-related blog post sometime next week with plenty of photos. Without realising when we booked the trip, we also get to see Hogwarts in the snow.

The coach trip includes: Harry Potter Studio Tour tomorrow, a stay in a hotel overnight and some time to shop in London on Sunday.

Have a great weekend, I know we will.

Antony

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The ‘Recently, I’ve Been A Bad Blogger’ Update

By Amazon, Life, Music & Radio, TV, Online Streaming & FilmsNo Comments
imac-contact-me-large Recently, I’ve been a bad blogger. I’ve had so many things on that I’ve felt like I’m plate spinning. My daily creative play has stopped. My blogging and book reviews have stopped. But now I hope to get back to normal – whatever that is.

While I have been exceptionally busy, I have managed to listen to some new music, watch some good TV, re-watch some old films and do a bit of reading.

Musically, I’ve been enjoying Ed Sheeran’s new album X. I’m particularly fond of the first track, One. It’s sentimental and mellow. Perfect chill out music and believe me, I’ve needed to relax. I’ve had Sam Smith’s album In The Lonely Hour on repeat, appreciating the sound of his voice.

I bought Matt Fishel’s new album Cover Boy, but have to say that it was a disappointment. It was nowhere near as good as his first album Not Thinking Straight. I did like his cover of Finally, but I’m afraid that was all I liked.



I’ve watched season 2 of Under The Dome, well all but the final episode. It’s a brilliant show based on a short story by Stephen King. In Under The Dome the people of an American town are trapped under a giant dome. The plot is intricate, ever twisting and full of intrigue.

I’ve been watching the new series of Dr Who and have very mixed feelings about it. Peter Capaldi isn’t a convincing as The Doctor. Clara’s character feels a bit conflicted, not because of Mr. Pink (Danny) but because of the writing.

The Walking Dead has started again and I’m super-excited, thrilled and ecstatic during every episode. We’re only a few episodes in and it’s already my TV highlight of the week.

I’ve watched some old films like Jurassic Park 1, 2 & 3 as I love dinosaurs. In my mind, there just aren’t enough dinosaur films out there. The Adams Family 90s film has made me laugh, especially Cousin IT and thing who never fail to make me chuckle.

I’ve watched good triumph over evil through working my way through the complete collection of Harry Potter films. Mum and I are going to Harry Potter World (London) in November, so I wanted to be adequately prepared.

I got my essential hit of zombie versus kids by reading The Hunted by Charlie Higson. You can read the review I’ve wrote for The Hunted here. I felt elated reading Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella, which I will review soon. I’m currently reading the ridiculously funny Good Omens by legends Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman and the love story Us by David Nicholls.



I was organised enough to write two articles for The Gay UK. One for National Coming Out Day and The Gay UK‘s digital magazine entitled My Come Out Reactions. It’s people’s responses when I’ve come out as a gay to them. The other article I’ve just finished is 14 Reasons It’s Great To Be In A Relationship.

What music, TV and films are you enjoying? What literature are you reading? Anything I’d like? Leave a comment below and let me know.

Blog soon,

Antony

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