MuggleNet
Encyclopedia
MuggleNet is a Harry Potter
fansite
founded by Emerson Spartz
. The site is composed of news, editorials and synopses of the Harry Potter books and films, an encyclopedia of the books, an IRC network, in which the fans of Harry Potter can discuss predictions and share thoughts, a discussion forum
, and media such as screenshots, theatrical trailers and book covers. There is also a fan fiction
section, a weekly caption contest, and other occasional contests and polls. On August 9, 2005, it launched a podcast
, dubbed MuggleCast, as well as its own line of clothing, toy wands, other merchandise. In 2006, MuggleNet released a best-selling reference book on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the series. As of 2008, MuggleNet is owned by Spartz, Inc., an Indiana corporation registered by Emerson Spartz in 2007. On May 29, 2010, MuggleNet 2.0, an updated version of the site, went live.
, the author of the Harry Potter books, and the producers of the films. She has praised MuggleNet on her website and has awarded it her "Fan Site Award".
Rowling recounts on her website that she occasionally visits the site and sometimes reads the comments left by visitors, while never commenting herself. The author also stated that she visited the site's chat room and was snubbed when she anonymously joined in a conversation about Harry Potter theories.
In July 2005, Rowling invited Spartz and Melissa Anelli
, of The Leaky Cauldron
, to Edinburgh, Scotland for an interview at her home on the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
. A transcript of the interview was posted on MuggleNet. Warner Bros.
, the producers of the Harry Potter movies, regularly sends MuggleNet stills taken from the upcoming movies before they are released. The studio also provided MuggleNet staff with advance views of the new official website designs, as well as including staff in a video conference to discuss the new Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios Florida
.
, featuring several staff members from MuggleNet, that discusses a large range of topics related to the Harry Potter series. The first episode was launched on August 7, 2005 and was made available through the Apple
iTunes
service. The regular hosts of the show are Eric Scull, Micah Tannenbaum, and Andrew Sims, UMDNJ, First Student Inc., with occasional appearances by Ben Schoen, Jamie Lawrence, and Richard Reid. Former hosts include Matthew Britton, Elysa Montfort, Kevin Steck, Nick Meyers, Laura Thompson, and Mikey Bouchereau.
MuggleCast was voted Podcast of the Year by the 2005 Weblog Awards
, which are decided by popular vote. In late September 2006, it was awarded the 2006 People's Choice Award at the 2nd annual Podcast Awards
in Ontario, California, as well as the Best Entertainment Podcast in October 2008. Most recently, it won the Best Entertainment Podcast at the 2009 Podcast Awards.
Each show is approximately 90 minutes long. The show begins with an introduction by Jim Dale
and then the podcast's theme song, a rock
version of John Williams' "Hedwig's Theme," created by Kenneth Marut and Andrew Walker. As of the 200th episode, the show begins with David Heyman
, the producer of the films, saying 'Hello, this is David Heyman, and I'm the producer of the Harry Potter films
and this is MuggleCast!' The hosts then state their names after a small introduction, and the show begins with a news discussion led by Micah Tannenbaum about the latest news on the books, films, and other Harry Potter-related issues. The show is then handed over to one of the "MuggleCasters", who goes on to read the listener rebuttals (MuggleMail) along with a voice-mail section, in which listeners can send recorded questions to the panel about previous episode discussions and questions about the Harry Potter series in general. A "Chapter by Chapter" segment is usually presented, in which the hosts present analysis of 2-3 chapters from one of the seven books. A few of their segments include "Chicken Soup for the MuggleCaster's Soul", "Quote Quiz", "Make the Connection", "Make The Music Connection", "Avada Kedavra, Imperio, Love Potion" and "Dueling Club". Transcripts of the podcast are available on the MuggleCast website, and are typically posted a couple weeks after the release of the audio episode.
MuggleCast continues to be an avid supporter of Relay for Life
for the American Cancer Society.
.
MuggleCast often records special live episodes of their podcast. This is generally done when there is a big story in the Harry Potter fandom. Former live shows have revolved around the news of J. K. Rowling
revealing that Professor Albus Dumbledore
was gay, the splitting of the seventh movie into two parts, and J. K. Rowling's appearance in court over copyright issues. They also have live shows during book releases, such as a live episode at Waterstones Piccadilly at the release of The Tales of Beedle the Bard
.
and its podcast, PotterCast
. Hosts of PotterCast have appeared on MuggleCast on occasion and they have teamed up to record joint podcasts, which were titled "The Leaky Mug".
One joint podcast was recorded live in New York City on November 12, 2005 at the Union Square
Barnes & Noble
, coinciding with the United States premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
. During this show, the mother of PotterCast and founder of competing fan site The Leaky Cauldron, Melissa Anelli, who was at the premiere after party, called in with Emma Watson
(Hermione Granger
), Katie Leung
(Cho Chang), Robert Pattinson
(Cedric Diggory), Jamie Waylett
(Vincent Crabbe), Tolga Safer
(Karkaroff's aide), and Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) on the phone.
Two joint live podcasts were held in the summer of 2006. The first was in July at the Lumos 2006 Symposium, a Harry Potter convention that was held at the JW Marriott Hotel
in Las Vegas, Nevada. A few days later, The Leaky Mug team held another live podcast in New York City at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square, where the first live podcast had been held. The show was focused around J. K. Rowling's August 2006 visit to New York and the readings she did for the event "Harry, Carrie, and Garp" at Radio City Music Hall
on August 1 and August 2.
band The Remus Lupins, discussing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with the fans. The tour traveled eight states: Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. This tour was held right after the release of the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. During the tour, they analyzed important characters and situations for their episodes, which took place at various bookstores.
, the illustrator of the Harry Potter books published by Scholastic, Jim Dale
, who had narrated the American version of the books, Patrick Doyle
, the composer of the fourth film
, Warwick Davis, who played Professor Filius Flitwick and Griphook, David Heyman
, producer of the Harry Potter films, David Yates
, director of the final four Potter films, and Oliver Phelps
, who played George Weasley in the films. Neil Cicierega
, creator of Potter Puppet Pals was interviewed, and Stephenie Meyer
, author of the Twilight saga
has also appeared.
, where users can interact with other users in a Hogwarts
setting. In addition to the general chat areas, the site is known for its diverse offerings, including the roleplaying area, the blog-style Chamber of Secrets, the high-speed trivia games of the Quidditch Pitch, and the professor-led classes taught in a Socratic method
. Semiannual House Cup competitions encourage house unity and often allow "students" to compete for honors in contests with essays, graphics, or other media. The MNI community also celebrates many holidays, as well as the shared birthday of Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling, with a "Ball" in the otherwise closed Great Hall. Many Easter eggs
, known as "site secrets" among the users, are littered throughout MNI's pages and are often sought for their galleon rewards, but speaking of them on-site is forbidden. The many distinct components of the site contribute to the diverse community that it attracts.
The site was originally formed from "Personality Quiz" made in 2000, which was later adapted for the fuller version of the site as a Sorting Hat. Over the years, sections such as a Diagon Alley shopping area, a Dueling Game, Flourish and Blotts fan fiction library, quizzes, and other subsections outside of the forum structure were incorporated into the site. The staff hierarchy was originally modeled after the faculty structure at Hogwarts with Headmaster/Headmistress as the main site administrator overseeing moderating prefects and class-leading professors, but over time, non-canon positions such as programmers, artists, and quiz masters have been added in addition to other Harry Potter-themed appointments.
In 2006, the site began its annual "Quick Silver Quill Awards," where authors and readers could nominate their favorite fictions from various categories to be receive the recognition they deserved. Since then, the awards have been held annually. Staff fictions were not allowed to be nominated for these awards, leading to a secondary "Modly QuickSilver Quills" being held the following year. These awards recognized the work the moderators do around the archives and the forums, and the stories they themselves have written.
MuggleNet Fan Fiction also hosts its own version of Hogwarts
within its forums, offering classes to new authors who wish to learn more about writing. These are run by members of the site who volunteer to teach a subject that interests them and are very popular, with more authors taking part each term (run in trimesters). The classes are run in levels, first years, OWLs and NEWTs, getting progressively more in-depth, allowing the authors to choose at which level they wish to participate. On the October 31, 2008, MuggleNet Fan Fiction released its first podcast episode, a free audiobook service where a team of members known as "MerMuggles" read nominated fictions from the site's archives. The podcast proved very popular, opening the world of fan fiction to those who preferred not to read from their computer screens.
In 2009, Emerson Spartz and Ben Schoen penned another book, MuggleNet.com's Harry Potter Should Have Died: Controversial Views From The #1 Fan Site. A cross-country book tour took place in the summer of 2009.
In March 2009, MuggleNet Fan Fiction released a self-help guide to creative writing entitled Sharpen Your Quill The book offers advice on writing plot, characterization, poetry, specific genres and other useful information including grammar and fluent style. As a self-published book, the release made little revenue but the proceeds have been used to fund Audiofictions, the site's audiobook-style podcast.
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
fansite
Fansite
A fansite, fan site, or fanpage is a website created and maintained by a fan or devotee interested in a celebrity, thing, or a particular cultural phenomenon...
founded by Emerson Spartz
Emerson Spartz
Emerson Spartz is the founder of the #1 Harry Potter fansite, Mugglenet.com, and currently serves as CEO of Chicago-based Spartz Media...
. The site is composed of news, editorials and synopses of the Harry Potter books and films, an encyclopedia of the books, an IRC network, in which the fans of Harry Potter can discuss predictions and share thoughts, a discussion forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
, and media such as screenshots, theatrical trailers and book covers. There is also a fan fiction
Fan fiction
Fan fiction is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator...
section, a weekly caption contest, and other occasional contests and polls. On August 9, 2005, it launched a podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
, dubbed MuggleCast, as well as its own line of clothing, toy wands, other merchandise. In 2006, MuggleNet released a best-selling reference book on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the series. As of 2008, MuggleNet is owned by Spartz, Inc., an Indiana corporation registered by Emerson Spartz in 2007. On May 29, 2010, MuggleNet 2.0, an updated version of the site, went live.
Founder
Emerson Spartz serves as the president, founder, and CEO of MuggleNet. As the MuggleNet CEO, he watches over a paid staff and volunteers.Author and corporate relationships
MuggleNet benefits from friendly relations with J. K. RowlingJ. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...
, the author of the Harry Potter books, and the producers of the films. She has praised MuggleNet on her website and has awarded it her "Fan Site Award".
Rowling recounts on her website that she occasionally visits the site and sometimes reads the comments left by visitors, while never commenting herself. The author also stated that she visited the site's chat room and was snubbed when she anonymously joined in a conversation about Harry Potter theories.
In July 2005, Rowling invited Spartz and Melissa Anelli
Melissa Anelli
Melissa Anelli is an American author. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Harry, A History, which chronicles the Harry Potter phenomenon with exclusive interview material and a foreword written by Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling...
, of The Leaky Cauldron
The Leaky Cauldron (website)
The Leaky Cauldron, also called Leaky, TLC, or Leaky News, is a Harry Potter fansite and blog. The site features news, image and video galleries, downloadable widgets, a chat room and discussion forum, and an essay project called Scribbulus, among other offerings...
, to Edinburgh, Scotland for an interview at her home on the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth and penultimate novel in the Harry Potter series by British author J. K. Rowling...
. A transcript of the interview was posted on MuggleNet. Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, the producers of the Harry Potter movies, regularly sends MuggleNet stills taken from the upcoming movies before they are released. The studio also provided MuggleNet staff with advance views of the new official website designs, as well as including staff in a video conference to discuss the new Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios Florida
Universal Studios Florida
Universal Studios Florida is an American theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Opened on June 7, 1990, the park's theme is the entertainment industry, in particular movies and television. Universal Studios Florida inspires its guests to "ride the movies," and it features numerous attractions and...
.
Podcast
MuggleCast is a monthly podcastPodcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
, featuring several staff members from MuggleNet, that discusses a large range of topics related to the Harry Potter series. The first episode was launched on August 7, 2005 and was made available through the Apple
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
service. The regular hosts of the show are Eric Scull, Micah Tannenbaum, and Andrew Sims, UMDNJ, First Student Inc., with occasional appearances by Ben Schoen, Jamie Lawrence, and Richard Reid. Former hosts include Matthew Britton, Elysa Montfort, Kevin Steck, Nick Meyers, Laura Thompson, and Mikey Bouchereau.
MuggleCast was voted Podcast of the Year by the 2005 Weblog Awards
The Weblog Awards (Wizbang)
The Weblog Awards, presented by Kevin Aylward's Wizbang LLC, were an annual blog award that have been presented since 2003. They were one of the largest blog awards, with winners determined through internet voting by the public. The Weblog Awards are covered by many major news organizations...
, which are decided by popular vote. In late September 2006, it was awarded the 2006 People's Choice Award at the 2nd annual Podcast Awards
Podcast Awards
The People's Choice Podcast Awards, better known as the Podcast Awards, are an annual set of awards given to the best podcasts as voted by the people...
in Ontario, California, as well as the Best Entertainment Podcast in October 2008. Most recently, it won the Best Entertainment Podcast at the 2009 Podcast Awards.
Each show is approximately 90 minutes long. The show begins with an introduction by Jim Dale
Jim Dale
Jim Dale, MBE is an English actor, voice artist, singer and songwriter. He is best known in the United Kingdom for his many appearances in the Carry On series of films and in the US for narrating the Harry Potter audiobook series, for which he received two Grammy Awards, and the ABC series Pushing...
and then the podcast's theme song, a rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
version of John Williams' "Hedwig's Theme," created by Kenneth Marut and Andrew Walker. As of the 200th episode, the show begins with David Heyman
David Heyman
David Jonathan Heyman is a British film producer and the founder of Heyday Films. He obtained the film rights to the Harry Potter series in 1999 and has produced all eight installments in the series of films.-Life and career:...
, the producer of the films, saying 'Hello, this is David Heyman, and I'm the producer of the Harry Potter films
Harry Potter (film series)
The Harry Potter film series is a British-American film series based on the Harry Potter novels by the British author J. K. Rowling...
and this is MuggleCast!' The hosts then state their names after a small introduction, and the show begins with a news discussion led by Micah Tannenbaum about the latest news on the books, films, and other Harry Potter-related issues. The show is then handed over to one of the "MuggleCasters", who goes on to read the listener rebuttals (MuggleMail) along with a voice-mail section, in which listeners can send recorded questions to the panel about previous episode discussions and questions about the Harry Potter series in general. A "Chapter by Chapter" segment is usually presented, in which the hosts present analysis of 2-3 chapters from one of the seven books. A few of their segments include "Chicken Soup for the MuggleCaster's Soul", "Quote Quiz", "Make the Connection", "Make The Music Connection", "Avada Kedavra, Imperio, Love Potion" and "Dueling Club". Transcripts of the podcast are available on the MuggleCast website, and are typically posted a couple weeks after the release of the audio episode.
MuggleCast continues to be an avid supporter of Relay for Life
Relay For Life
Relay For Life is the main volunteer-driven cancer fundraising event of the American Cancer Society. Originating in the United States, the Relay For Life event has spread to 21 countries. Relay events are held in local communities, campus universities, military bases, and in cyberspace...
for the American Cancer Society.
Special episodes
Four members of the cast host a literature podcast named "Imprint; A Twilight Podcast", which focuses on the Twilight series by Stephenie MeyerStephenie Meyer
Stephenie Meyer is an American author known for her vampire romance series Twilight. The Twilight novels have gained worldwide recognition and sold over 100 million copies globally, with translations into 37 different languages...
.
MuggleCast often records special live episodes of their podcast. This is generally done when there is a big story in the Harry Potter fandom. Former live shows have revolved around the news of J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...
revealing that Professor Albus Dumbledore
Albus Dumbledore
Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is a major character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. For most of the series, he is the headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts...
was gay, the splitting of the seventh movie into two parts, and J. K. Rowling's appearance in court over copyright issues. They also have live shows during book releases, such as a live episode at Waterstones Piccadilly at the release of The Tales of Beedle the Bard
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a book of children's stories by British author J. K. Rowling. It purports to be the storybook of the same name mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last book of the Harry Potter series....
.
The Leaky Mug
MuggleCast has a friendly rivalry with The Leaky CauldronThe Leaky Cauldron (website)
The Leaky Cauldron, also called Leaky, TLC, or Leaky News, is a Harry Potter fansite and blog. The site features news, image and video galleries, downloadable widgets, a chat room and discussion forum, and an essay project called Scribbulus, among other offerings...
and its podcast, PotterCast
PotterCast
PotterCast is the official podcast of the Harry Potter fansite The Leaky Cauldron. Its episodes are posted once per month and are typically about an hour long. In every episode, the hosts discuss particular passages, themes, and questions from the Harry Potter books and films, and they go over the...
. Hosts of PotterCast have appeared on MuggleCast on occasion and they have teamed up to record joint podcasts, which were titled "The Leaky Mug".
One joint podcast was recorded live in New York City on November 12, 2005 at the Union Square
Union Square (New York City)
Union Square is a public square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.It is an important and historic intersection, located where Broadway and the former Bowery Road – now Fourth Avenue – came together in the early 19th century; its name celebrates neither the...
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
, coinciding with the United States premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a 2005 fantasy film directed by Mike Newell and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the fourth instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman...
. During this show, the mother of PotterCast and founder of competing fan site The Leaky Cauldron, Melissa Anelli, who was at the premiere after party, called in with Emma Watson
Emma Watson
Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson is an English actress and model.Watson rose to prominence playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series. Watson was cast as Hermione at the age of nine, having previously acted only in school plays. From 2001 to 2011, she starred in all eight Harry Potter...
(Hermione Granger
Hermione Granger
Hermione Jean Granger is a fictional character and one of the three protagonists in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. She initially appears in the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, as a new student on her way to Hogwarts...
), Katie Leung
Katie Leung
Katie Leung is a Scottish actress, best known for playing Cho Chang in the Harry Potter film series. She returned for a brief role in the video game Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.-Early life:...
(Cho Chang), Robert Pattinson
Robert Pattinson
Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson is an English actor, model, musician, and producer. Born and raised in London, Pattinson started out his career by playing the role of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...
(Cedric Diggory), Jamie Waylett
Jamie Waylett
Jamie Michael Waylett is an English actor known for his portrayal of Vincent Crabbe in six of the Harry Potter films. Waylett was born in Kilburn, London. He has yet to appear in any other production.-Criminal Record:...
(Vincent Crabbe), Tolga Safer
Tolga Safer
Tolga Safer is a British actor who is best known for playing Igor Karkaroff's Aide in the movie version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.-Biography:...
(Karkaroff's aide), and Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) on the phone.
Two joint live podcasts were held in the summer of 2006. The first was in July at the Lumos 2006 Symposium, a Harry Potter convention that was held at the JW Marriott Hotel
JW Marriott Hotels
JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, namesake of John Willard Marriott, Founder, Chairman & CEO of is a luxury hotel chain. Found in major cities as well as vacation destinations world-wide, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts are becoming known in the hospitality industry for their practical approach to luxury...
in Las Vegas, Nevada. A few days later, The Leaky Mug team held another live podcast in New York City at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square, where the first live podcast had been held. The show was focused around J. K. Rowling's August 2006 visit to New York and the readings she did for the event "Harry, Carrie, and Garp" at Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
on August 1 and August 2.
Summer 2007 road tour
During the summer of 2007, MuggleCast did a tour of live shows across America with the wizard rockWizard rock
Wizard rock is a genre of rock music that developed between 2002 and 2004 in the United States. Wizard rock bands are characterized by their performances and humorous songs about the Harry Potter universe. Wizard rock initially started in Massachusetts with Harry and the Potters, though it has...
band The Remus Lupins, discussing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with the fans. The tour traveled eight states: Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. This tour was held right after the release of the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. During the tour, they analyzed important characters and situations for their episodes, which took place at various bookstores.
Guest appearances
Several big names of the Harry Potter series have been on MuggleCast, such as Mary GrandPréMary GrandPré
Mary GrandPré is an American illustrator and writer, best known for her cover and chapter illustrations for the American editions of the Harry Potter books, published by Scholastic...
, the illustrator of the Harry Potter books published by Scholastic, Jim Dale
Jim Dale
Jim Dale, MBE is an English actor, voice artist, singer and songwriter. He is best known in the United Kingdom for his many appearances in the Carry On series of films and in the US for narrating the Harry Potter audiobook series, for which he received two Grammy Awards, and the ABC series Pushing...
, who had narrated the American version of the books, Patrick Doyle
Patrick Doyle
Patrick Doyle is a Scottish musician and film score composer. A longtime collaborator of actor/director Kenneth Branagh, Doyle is known for his work scoring such critically acclaimed films as Henry V , Sense and Sensibility , Hamlet , and Gosford Park , as well as noteworthy blockbusters as Harry...
, the composer of the fourth film
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a 2005 fantasy film directed by Mike Newell and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the fourth instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman...
, Warwick Davis, who played Professor Filius Flitwick and Griphook, David Heyman
David Heyman
David Jonathan Heyman is a British film producer and the founder of Heyday Films. He obtained the film rights to the Harry Potter series in 1999 and has produced all eight installments in the series of films.-Life and career:...
, producer of the Harry Potter films, David Yates
David Yates
David Yates is an English filmmaker who rose to mainstream prominence directing the final four films in the Harry Potter film series. He helmed the series' fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth installments, all of which became an instant blockbuster success and made him the most commercially...
, director of the final four Potter films, and Oliver Phelps
Oliver Phelps
Oliver Phelps was born in Poquonock, Connecticut and moved to Suffield, Connecticut, where he apprenticed to a local merchant. He shortly thereafter became a tavern keeper in Granville, Massachusetts. During the Revolution he was Deputy Commissary of the Continental Army and served until the end...
, who played George Weasley in the films. Neil Cicierega
Neil Cicierega
Neil Stephen Cicierega , is an American comedian, filmmaker and musician. He is the creator of a genre of Flash animation known as "Animutation". He has also released several albums as a musician under the stage name "Lemon Demon"....
, creator of Potter Puppet Pals was interviewed, and Stephenie Meyer
Stephenie Meyer
Stephenie Meyer is an American author known for her vampire romance series Twilight. The Twilight novels have gained worldwide recognition and sold over 100 million copies globally, with translations into 37 different languages...
, author of the Twilight saga
Twilight series
Twilight is a series of four vampire-themed fantasy romance novels by American author Stephenie Meyer. It charts a period in the life of Isabella "Bella" Swan, a teenage girl who moves to Forks, Washington, and falls in love with a 104-year-old vampire named Edward Cullen...
has also appeared.
MuggleNet Interactive
MuggleNet Interactive (often shortened to MNI) is a website spin-off of MuggleNet. It is an online forumInternet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
, where users can interact with other users in a Hogwarts
Hogwarts
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or simply Hogwarts is the primary setting for the first six books of the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, with each book lasting the equivalent of one school year. It is a fictional boarding school of magic for witches and wizards between the ages of...
setting. In addition to the general chat areas, the site is known for its diverse offerings, including the roleplaying area, the blog-style Chamber of Secrets, the high-speed trivia games of the Quidditch Pitch, and the professor-led classes taught in a Socratic method
Socratic method
The Socratic method , named after the classical Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas...
. Semiannual House Cup competitions encourage house unity and often allow "students" to compete for honors in contests with essays, graphics, or other media. The MNI community also celebrates many holidays, as well as the shared birthday of Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling, with a "Ball" in the otherwise closed Great Hall. Many Easter eggs
Easter egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
, known as "site secrets" among the users, are littered throughout MNI's pages and are often sought for their galleon rewards, but speaking of them on-site is forbidden. The many distinct components of the site contribute to the diverse community that it attracts.
The site was originally formed from "Personality Quiz" made in 2000, which was later adapted for the fuller version of the site as a Sorting Hat. Over the years, sections such as a Diagon Alley shopping area, a Dueling Game, Flourish and Blotts fan fiction library, quizzes, and other subsections outside of the forum structure were incorporated into the site. The staff hierarchy was originally modeled after the faculty structure at Hogwarts with Headmaster/Headmistress as the main site administrator overseeing moderating prefects and class-leading professors, but over time, non-canon positions such as programmers, artists, and quiz masters have been added in addition to other Harry Potter-themed appointments.
MuggleNet Fan Fiction
On the November 14, 2004, MuggleNet opened its fan fiction sub-site MuggleNet Fan Fiction (often shortened to MNFF) following in the footsteps of other Potter-specific fan fiction sites.In 2006, the site began its annual "Quick Silver Quill Awards," where authors and readers could nominate their favorite fictions from various categories to be receive the recognition they deserved. Since then, the awards have been held annually. Staff fictions were not allowed to be nominated for these awards, leading to a secondary "Modly QuickSilver Quills" being held the following year. These awards recognized the work the moderators do around the archives and the forums, and the stories they themselves have written.
MuggleNet Fan Fiction also hosts its own version of Hogwarts
Hogwarts
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or simply Hogwarts is the primary setting for the first six books of the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, with each book lasting the equivalent of one school year. It is a fictional boarding school of magic for witches and wizards between the ages of...
within its forums, offering classes to new authors who wish to learn more about writing. These are run by members of the site who volunteer to teach a subject that interests them and are very popular, with more authors taking part each term (run in trimesters). The classes are run in levels, first years, OWLs and NEWTs, getting progressively more in-depth, allowing the authors to choose at which level they wish to participate. On the October 31, 2008, MuggleNet Fan Fiction released its first podcast episode, a free audiobook service where a team of members known as "MerMuggles" read nominated fictions from the site's archives. The podcast proved very popular, opening the world of fan fiction to those who preferred not to read from their computer screens.
Merchandising
As of 2005, the MuggleNet network started generating a six-figure income through advertising revenue.Published works
In 2006, in advance of the arrival of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, five MuggleNet staff members (Ben Schoen, Emerson Spartz, Andy Gordon, Gretchen Stull, and Jamie Lawrence) co-authored the reference book MuggleNet.com's What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Falls in Love and How Will the Adventure Finally End, which was a published collection of unofficial fan predictions. As of July 21, 2007, the book sold 335,000 copies and reached #2 on the New York Times Children's Bestseller List. It spent 6 months on the list. Spartz and his co-authors launched a marketing campaign in June 2007 to promote their work. This included a tour of the United States where they stopped at many bookstores and discussed their various theories and revelations.In 2009, Emerson Spartz and Ben Schoen penned another book, MuggleNet.com's Harry Potter Should Have Died: Controversial Views From The #1 Fan Site. A cross-country book tour took place in the summer of 2009.
In March 2009, MuggleNet Fan Fiction released a self-help guide to creative writing entitled Sharpen Your Quill The book offers advice on writing plot, characterization, poetry, specific genres and other useful information including grammar and fluent style. As a self-published book, the release made little revenue but the proceeds have been used to fund Audiofictions, the site's audiobook-style podcast.
External links
- MuggleNet
- MuggleNet Interactive
- MuggleCast
- Chamber of Secrets Forums (Official forums of MuggleNet)
- MuggleNet Fan Fiction