Being Geek Chic is a blog for stylish geeks, sophisticated nerds and people who enjoy the musings of a complete dork. Join us as we dream of driving the TARDIS, cuddle with our eBooks and test out an iPad sleeve. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi and a team of brilliant lady nerds. Meet the team.
Can I tell you something awesome? I haven’t look at these photos from my trip to Leavesden for months. In fact, it’s been a long, long time since I went. But, holy wow! I want to go back. That seems like the best possible review I could give you. Despite how tedious it would be to get there again… despite the fact that I’d have to take a plane, train and automobile and BUS to get there… well, I want to go! Let’s revisit why:
If you love Harry Potter, there really isn’t anything quite like it anywhere in the world. The sets. The costumes. The props. The makeup. The drawings. The animatronics. Every single element of how the films come together is right there for you to see. The people who go to Leavesden (which is about 45 minutes out of London and requires a lengthy Tube ride and a special bus trip) should go because they love the artistry and detail and beauty of the films. Now, if you’re in the United States, this is an multi-thousand dollar trip. If you’re in England, no excuses. Go! But if you are like me and you are in the US, you also have the awesome option of going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida.
If you want to have a trip where you “experience Harry Potter” or the world of Jk Rowling, I really recommend going to the Wizarding World instead. There is nothing interactive about the experience in Leavesden and most little kids especially were racing through the Studios, because well, it’s just not that fun to see that Dobby is just… not real. So if you have young kids, this might not be the best option either. If your kids are showing a lot of interest in art or movies though, then go for it!
One of the things I love about fall is that it reminds me of Harry Potter. Every book is framed in the beginning of the school year and the new adventures Harry and company will face. For this reason, we opted to go in the fall and I’m so glad we did.
For starters, there will be a lot less kids on their summer break, which I’m told results in really limited availability for tickets to get in. Also, BUY YOUR TICKETS IN ADVANCE. The fact of the matter is, there is a very high likelihood, especially if you go in the summer or during school breaks that you will make this long trip out to Leavesden (in total, it’s a little over an hour of out London) - you want to get in.
In terms of timing, go in the morning. You can absolutely take as much time as you want to walk through. They say it takes about 2 hours, but for myself, I spent more than 4 hours there. If you go at the end of the day, you may get rushed out early simply because the studio is closing.
There are SO MANY THINGS TO SEE. Literally, there isn’t anything I would want to miss. But there are a few things that really blew my mind. So let’s spend some time on those.
The graphic designers on the film were tasked with creating tons of paper products. Think IDs. The Iconic Newspapers. Think the iconic letter Harry gets in the mail. But what you don’t realize until you get to Leavesden is that there are literally hundreds of newspapers that we never see in the films. There are IDs and badges and buttons and records and invitations and napkins and labels that were teeny, tiny in the background on screen - but up close, they are incredible works of art.
Go inside the Knight Bus. Another amazing detail I couldn’t get enough of was the interior of the Knight Bus. I watched hundreds of people take a picture outside of the Knight Bus, only to miss the back door where you can take a peak at those iconic rolling beds and the shiny chandelier in the ceiling. You can’t sit on the beds, but I swear on Moody’s Eye that it’s still great.
Look for movement. Everywhere! There are so many elements at the Studios that they have tried to recreate some of their special effects for in real life. Some of the ways that they executed special effects on the film (the Weasley’s knitting needles, automatically stirring pots in the Potions classroom) were done with surprisingly simple mechanical techniques. And so, the magic lives!
Hang out at the Hogwart’s Model! For a while! Why is this important? Because the folks at the Studio have installed an incredible lighting system that cycles through a full 24 hours of lighting at Hogwarts. So in the course of about 30 minutes, you can experience the lighting at sunrise, noon, afternoon and sunset on the real model they shot all the exterior shots with in the films. It’s really a special thing and it makes you feel completely immersed in the process.
As someone who has been to both the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Leavesden Studio Tour, I have to tell you that both of these trips offer totally different perspectives on Harry Potter. While my trip to Universal in Orlando offered the experience of LIVING in Harry Potter, my trip to Leavesden was more like a trek to pay homage to one of the greatest film achievements in history. After making the trip, I can honestly say that it was like going to church. And it was SO worth it. And I would absolutely do it again.
I’m having a supremely weird week and I blame my brain. There’s a nagging voice living in my head and talking like mad. For example, this week it’s on my case about meeting my deadlines for Sundance (I’m submitting a short…), exercising enough so I can eat lots of beignets in New Orleans and thinking up DIYs for this site.
Of those three, two are definitely on track, so I promise there will be more DIYs in the next couple weeks. Exercising has lost out to sleeping.
And then there’s this other giant distraction: The Casual Vacancy.
Mugglemarch
I can’t give you a good assessment of the book just yet, but really it’s not important whether or not I like the book. What’s actually blowing my mind is the fact that I got to go out yesterday and buy another book with Rowling’s name on the cover. I really doubted I’d ever have that pleasure again. What has not been a pleasure is reading all the new profiles of Rowling. In this New Yorker piece, I had to endure at least 100 words on how Rowling never seems “grateful” and is “thin-skinned” because she doesn’t take kindly to intrusion and hasn’t always known how to best deal with fame. You know what I say? Why is it only famous women that have to answer to this BS? That’s right: if we accomplish anything remotely impressive in our lives, we must immediately remind men just how gracious we are for their support. In the case of Rowling, she pained over thousands of pages for her readers. From a creative perspective, she made herself vulnerable to millions - I can’t even imagine the pressure. And if she wants a sliver of privacy afterwards instead of holding a presser in her backyard to expound on all the thankfulness she feels - well, I’m OK with that. Just keep writing, Jo. We love you.
eXtreme Deep Field photos AKA baby galaxies
I know a lot of people who are pregnant or having babies. Their bundles of joy are cute and all, but this is my definition of a bundle of joy. BABY GALAXIES. Astronomers working with the Hubble Space Telescope released the most detailed view of the early Universe ever captured this week. Cute, cute, cute.
Also happening this week: I got to write about Sherlock for Apartment Therapy. Yes, I was ecstatic. Probably annoyingly so. Here’s the post:
Get This Look: BBC’s Sherlock
Edible Tech: Cookies inspired by gaming, apps and photography
JK Rowling announced today that she’s going to write a novel for adults. Cue the heavens!
Here’s my top 10 reasons it’s the best news of 2012:
1. The pain of Downton Abbey being over is tempered… And now Downton Abbey is the second-most anticipated British property on earth. (Julian Fellowes may have been getting a bit too smug anyway.)
2. She’s Jo *FREAKING* Rowling.
3. She must miss her readers as much as we miss her.
4. I was just lamenting that there weren’t any big *it* books to read yet this year.
5. Probably should just say it again for good measure: She’s Jo *FREAKING* Rowling.
6. When the book is released, there will be more interviews. I love reading news stories about Jo. It’s always so insightful and inspiring.
7. If the HP books were for children… and they got as dark and intense as they did… JUST IMAGINE what Jo can think up for adults.
8. The hashtag #RowlingReturns may appear in every tweet I write between now and the release of the book. Perhaps longer.
9. I will be able to experience waiting in line at a bookstore at midnight for the first time ever. (I never did it for HP and I’m ashamed.)
10. For fun? She’s Jo *FREAKING* Rowling!
I just finished watching the Special Features on the new Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2 BluRay and I’m now obsessed with an extra behind the scenes feature called, “The Women of Harry Potter.”
Here are some of the best quotes:
What’s interesting about the wizarding world is when you take physical strength out of the equation a woman can fight just the same as a man can fight, a woman can do magic just as well as a man can do magic. - Jo Rowling
On the incredible character, Molly Weasley: It comes from her womb, that feeling of defense, defending her child, because she’s already lost one. So it’s the mother, the lion, the female lion defending her babies, so it’s unstoppable. … I doubt that would have taken place had it been a man writing it.- Julie Walters
Hermione is an exaggeration of me, she comes from a very deep place inside me. … I was a very insecure person for longer than I like to admit. And I think writing about the time in Hermione’s life that I write about, growing from childhood into womanhood literally, because when we finish the books she’s 18, I think it brought back me how very difficult it is, so much is expected of you as you become a woman and often yo are asked to sacrifice parts of yourself as a girl and Hermione doesn’t.- Jo Rowling
The key to Luna is that she actually has that unbelievably rare quality where she doesn’t give a damn what anybody thinks about her.- Jo Rowling
It’s sometimes very difficult as a woman to say well, actually this is who I am and I’m not going to pretend otherwise - but that’s the only way to be truly happy and that’s what I would say to girls particularly. - Jo Rowling
Many of my fellow Potter friends who didn’t get into Beta were waiting for the end of October to finally get into Pottermore. Then this was posted last night:
As part of our work to make Pottermore even better, we’ll be taking the site down for a few days on Wednesday 2 November. We’re going to use this time to make a few technical changes behind-the-scenes.
In the interim, the folks at Pottermore suggest you follow their Twitter account for more up-to-date information.
The incredibly true story of the Pottermore Dueling function…
The true story of the boy wizard GoldNimbus73.
