Janine Ashbless and the Chamber of Secrets

Heh heh  - Guess where I went for Easter weekend?

It had to be booked two months in advance, but BOY was it worth it! The Harry Potter Studio Tour is an awesome three hours for fans of the books and movies, gadget geeks, costume freaks, and anyone creative. For once they saved pretty much everything they used to create the films, so you can see it for real. This tour takes you right onto the sets and lets you peer into dusty corners for the intricate detail.

No, it wasn't CGI. The snakes were all mechanically operated.

Gryffindor common room

Defense Against the Dark Arts

Slightly scary ...

Really goddamn scary!

For you American types ... all of London looks like this, honest :-)

The level of detail bordered on the bonkers ...

Every portrait in the school was painted by ... someone

Every jar filled with a different weirdness

Each character's wand individually crafted

Do you remember this? It was probably on-screen for about a second.

There were some pretty big props too...

Oh, the creatures!!

You can't see anything, can you?

Boo!

Even the concept art was glorious:

And when we got to the large-scale filming model of Hogwarts ... well I wasn't the only one who teared-up, let's just say.

I find it incredibly moving when people create together. When they pour their hearts into art, and especially into fictional worlds that others can inhabit. I almost feel like I like the human race, hrooom hrooom.


Of course, there's always the danger of fans getting TOO excited...

SQUEEEEE - Snape's actual hair!

So this is a wise rule for all:

(And a final word of advice ... try a sip of the Butterbeer, but don't drink the whole glass. Seriously.)