To be honest, I’ve never really been a fan of the Harry Potter movies. Like Bryan (see his story to the left), the first two Potter movies were new phenomenon, enthusiastically watched, but as the books grew increasingly longer, and the movies stayed the same length, I quickly grew disenchanted with Harry Potter movies. Casting was horrible (Sirius Black was supposed to be handsome, not a dirty, scruffy, homeless-looking man!), and as book adaptations, they leave out far too much to be adequate (the Quidditch World Cup didn’t even happen, for crying out loud), and as movies, they drag on and on and on. So I never even bothered to watch Order of the Phoenix, but something happened the summer of ’07 that made me eagerly anticipate the release of Half-Blood Prince last summer: the release of the long-awaited last Harry Potter book, Deathly Hallows. As a generation that had been raised on Harry Potter started contemplating the fearful emptiness of the Potter-less years to come, all things Potter became more precious. We reread all the books, rewatched all the movies (or started watching them), bought official Potter merchandise, threw Potter-themed parties, and dressed up as our favorite magical characters. We even vowed to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter just to take a look (it’s mostly likely an over-hyped lame place where you have to spend money on everything just to get a “complete experience”), and I turned back to the movies. I resolved to watch Half-Blood Prince last summer, and as preparation, watched the first five films the week before, chuckling over the actors’ changes through the years. And I went into HBP ready to forgive to forgive copious plot deviations (the Burrow blowing up over Christmas, anyone?) and bad casting (why wasn’t Slughorn morbidly obese?), and came out, unlike many others, really liking HBP, buoyed by Tom Felton’s sympathetic portrayal of Draco, the hilarity of the Ron/Lavender/Hermione/Cormac love qua-drilateral, and the film’s technically gorgeous look and feel. Now who isn’t pumped for part I of Deathly Hallows, and who hasn’t started rereading all the books again?? Welcome, everyone, to this special Harry Potter-themed issue of the WEB! Remember to celebrate a very Harry Halloween, attend all the Yule Balls and Slug Parties you can, and November 19th, midnight premiere. Be there in full Potter costume.