Awesome Harry Potter

After 98-year-old Lillian read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, filmmaker and creative director Chris Carboni interviewed her to ask some questions about the book. He then used interpretive AI technology to create images to accompany Lillian’s amusing and endearing descriptions of the story and its characters.

Imagine, for a moment, that Hogwarts wasn’t a school of witchcraft and wizardry and instead taught its students computer coding and hacking. That’s what Alex Skor of Inventor Headquarters did when he reinvented the world of Harry Potter as a high-tech cyberpunk adventure, loaded with fun and geeky easter eggs.

Inspired by the phoenix from the Harry Potter universe, this small-batch knife is made using scrapped materials from knife designer Alan Folts. Its D2 steel blade has excellent edge retention, and its orange and brown G10 handle offers a great grip. It has a smooth ball-bearing pivot and an easy-to-close liner lock mechanism.

Imagine a world where Star Wars and Harry Potter live in the same universe. That’s what David Ariew created with this highly under-appreciated video that sees stormtroopers riding broomsticks, chasing the Golden Snitch, and off to battle the students of Hogwarts.

“Do you think Dumbledore will mourn for you?” Judging by its latest trailer, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald sure is living up to its title. Wondrous creatures, magical abilities and powerful objects whiz by in this exciting trailer.

In Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Newt Scamander will try to stop the evil Gellert Grindelwald from raising pure blood wizards that will rule over the world. Fortunately, Newt has an equally able ally – Albus Dumbledore.

First launched in Europe, The Pottermore Art Collection is now available in the US. It’s a series of officially licensed paintings, illustrations and typography from artists such as Olly Moss, Peter Strain and Atomhawk. Available as posters or mounted prints.

To show off his trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Piet Rullens Jr. fit a Raspberry Pi 3 and a screen behind a poster inspired by the series’ animated newspaper Daily Prophet, then programmed it so that the video plays when someone approaches the poster.

What was one of the most popular videos in the early days of YouTube gets revisited, with the cast of finger puppet Harry Potter reuniting to celebrate 10 years since the original, and taking advantage of today’s much improved video streaming quality.

“Tom is not as terrible as he appears.” Once upon a time, there was a young witch-in-training named Hermione, who fell in love with a half-blood orphan. PistolShrimps used muggle magic to weave the finest of fan fiction.

Man at Arms: Reforged didn’t have a Sorting Hat, so they had to make a replica of Godric Gryffindor’s sword the hard way. But it’s worth it just for that marvelous silver handle. It’s amazing how much finesse is involved in making lethal implements.

Movies and TV shows use visual effects and CGI to make characters with vastly different sizes appear to inhabit the same space. But Frame By Frame explains that there are also practical effects and camera techniques that can be used to create the illusion.

This is probably the closest us muggles will get to playing Quidditch in real life. In this commercial for Colombian telecoms company ETB, a group of skydivers played Hogwart’s dangerous game en route to the ground, complete with brooms and a hoop.

“Anything edible in there? Any livestock?” British Ministry of Magic officer Newt Scamander meets with his counterparts in New York City. When the creatures in his suitcase escape, the already tense atmosphere between wizards and American muggles worsens.

(PG-13: Language) PistolShrimps promotes the first feature-length first-person film Hardcore Henry by adopting the movie’s style to Harry Potter‘s story. This is the future of cinema: an in-your-face experience where you’re surrounded by yes men and walking expositions.

The teaser for Magic in North America, a new series of stories from J.K. Rowling set in the Harry Potter universe. The first story in the series is History of Magic in North America, and is itself split into multiple parts, all of which will be available on Pottermore.

Award-winning artist Jim Kay brings Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to life in this illustrated edition, creating 115 illustrations in different media. The other Harry Potter books will get illustrated editions as well. More here.

“It is not in the nature of Harry Potter to be forgiving.” YouTuber BloodBlitz Comedy remixed clips from the Harry Potter movie to turn The Boy Who Lived into The Boy Who Kills.

Ever wonder what a Harry Potter movie would be like if Edgar Wright directed it? Check out this mashup of the fantasy series with the Scott Pilgrim movie by trailer enthusiast The Unusual Suspect. Original trailer here.

(NSFW: Language, Gore) Fantasy collides with science fiction in this hilarious and action-packed battle by Danny and Michael Philippou. The video’s still image gives away the victor, but it’s still worth watching.

We wish we had the tenacity of this mailman, who probably has the most difficult route ever, which includes the likes of Indiana Jones, Freddy Krueger and Iron Man. Then again, we do enjoy laying on the couch watching cartoons.

Alice Finch built this jaw-dropping LEGO replica of the Hogwarts academy from the Harry Potter series. She used about 400,000 bricks and spent a total of 1 year building it. More on The Brothers Brick.

Watch Harry Potter and his friends (and the cast) mature once again in this well-edited video featuring scenes from all eight Harry Potter movies. Made by 18-year old Kees van Dijkhuizen Jr.