Ian McKellan has got to be bitching his agent out this very second -- in an appearance at Carnegie Hall last week, J.K. Rowling revealed that Professor Albus Dumbledore, the late great headmaster of Hogwarts was actually -- gasp! -- a gay! Newsweek magazine broke the story: One fan asked whether Albus Dumbledore, the head of the famed Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, had ever loved anyone. Rowling smiled. "Dumbledore is gay, actually,"... more ›

Word is that 16-year-old Emma Watson, who's made her mark in Hollywood playing Harry Potter's galpal Hermione Granger, is sick of the role. She's balking at signing on for the last two Harry Potter movies. Matters probably didn't help much last week when a 20-something stalker approached Watson at school to chat about the films. According to a Guardian article: It seems to have been Grint [Ron Weasley] himself who sparked off the speculation... more ›

We used to think we loved everything about pop culture; we could even get some twisted enjoyment out of The Simple Life. But the appearance of Nicole Richie's book at #9 on this week's LA Times bestseller list is just wrong. more ›

Laist belatedly notes by way of Locus that from its #1 spot on the Amazon US list. more ›

reading anything, especially Harry Potter. We here at LAist are humbled by the shocking aftermath of our decision to put off reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for a week. It came as a surprise to no one, especially ourselves, that when you wait to do something, you might not have time to do it. more ›

Rumour has it that the latest chapter in the Harry Potter saga, "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince," goes on sale Saturday, July 16th. more ›