Wizard Rock: Jingle Spells

The Leaky Cauldron for their annual charity fundraiser for Book Aid International, has asked fourteen Wizard Rock bands to donate songs for a Compilation Christmas CD. The album, Jingle Spells, is now available for order, and it will only be available for sale until December 10. The cost is $15 ($18 for international orders), including shipping and, as I said, all proceeds will be going towards a charity which works to install libraries in the places in the world that need them most.

You can listen to samples of each song and order the album here. I've mentioned many of the groups involved: Harry and the Potters, Draco and the Malfoys, The Whomping Willows, The Remus Lupins, Ministry of Music, Catchlove, Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls, The Parselmouths, The Moaning Myrtles, etc. This is a limited opportunity for a good cause, and a fine introduction to some excellent wizard rock bands.

JKR's suit against RDR Books

I'm really sorry to hear about all this. I certainly like the Harry Potter Lexicon, and I consider Steve Vander Ark a personal friend; Rob and I worked with him on the HPEF Board of Directors. But geez, if praetorianguard is correct about the sequence of events, then as a holder of copyrights myself, I have to agree with praetorianguard. I don't think that RDR Books or Steve have a legal leg to stand on, and they're gonna lose this case. As well they should. No matter how much they bluster.

Personally, I am going to find this all extremely painful to watch.

(A good chunk of the complaint and quite a bit of discussion over at The Leaky Cauldron here.)

Shopping Fu

I managed to order Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - The Complete Recordings soundtrack, list price $75, for $27.10.

Here's how:

Barnes & Noble website offers it for a 15% discount: price drops to $63.73.

I have a Barnes & Noble member card: price drops to $57.35.

I did a Google search on-line for "Barnes & Noble coupon code" and found this page which offers a coupon code which drops the price on one item 50%. My final price: $27.10. (Note: you have to use a MasterCard when you place your order.) The coupon expires 11/11/07, while the soundtrack is not released until 11/13/07, but that's okay; you simply have to place the order before the coupon expires, and they'll ship it out on the release date.

I had a MasterCard with a $0 balance which I used to place the order, and I dropped a check in the mail to the credit card the same day so that I won't be carrying a balance.

I feel unbelievably smug.