In a surprising announcement, Warner Bros. has confirmed that the final book in the Harry Potter series will be sent to the big screen after all. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be made into a two-part movie with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part one reaching theaters in November of 2010, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part two in May of 2011.

The idea behind splitting the last of the Harry Potter films in two is to allow the entire book to flourish without hitting the cutting room floor. “The fans’ number one complaint with the movies always has been that there isn’t enough time to give the rich detail and colorful characterizations in the work the full berth to flourish…Now we can have some time for that without losing some of the most beautiful scenes in the whole series.” as stated by Melissa Anelli of the popular fan blog “The Leaky Cauldron“.

This is the part where I blush and admit in a mumble that I have bought and read every Harry Potter book so far on the day of release and I think this is the best way to end the series… as an avid reader it is often frustrating to see a movie and know that vital points were chopped out of the plotline in order to save time or money. Cheers to the creative team and J.K. Rowling on this one!

I don’t know about you but if my daughter comes home with a spelling test and “w00t” is on it, I’m going to be extremely annoyed. The whole idea of “l33t-speak” or alpha-numeric abbreviations for what was once real conversation is just baffling to me. I go to a party and someone actually says l-o-l instead of laughing??? Where’s the enjoyment in that? This review really has no point other than to state that Americans seem to be taking the shortcut to everything nowadays right down to how we communicate our thoughts and it concerns me that once-educational resources have caved into the idiocy of it too.

~WC~

BOSTON (Reuters) - “w00t,” an expression of joy coined by online gamers, was crowned word of the year on Tuesday by the publisher of a leading U.S. dictionary.

Massachusetts-based Merriam-Webster Inc. said “w00t” — typically spelled with two zeros — reflects a new direction in the American language led by a generation raised on video games and cell phone text-messaging.

It’s like saying “yay,” the dictionary said. “It could be after a triumph or for no reason at all,” Merriam-Webster said.

Visitors to Merriam-Webster’s Web site were invited to vote for one of 20 words and phrases culled from the most frequently looked-up words on the site and submitted by readers. Runner-up was “facebook” as a new verb meaning to add someone to a list of friends on the Web site Facebook.com or to search for people on the social networking site. (read the rest of the article here)