Today is the birthday of celebrated actor Gary Oldman, whom you have almost certainly seen. Perhaps you didn’t realize that he portrays both persecuted wizard Sirius Black in the Harry Potter films, and as the long-suffering but upstanding Commissioner Jim Gordon in the most recent Batman films. And perhaps you didn’t know that actor Gary Oldman, 53, has also portrayed a Florida mental patient, a cutthroat scif weapons tycoon, a vampire, and Sid Vicious but it’s all true.

So,  here’s to Gary Oldman! A hundred faces, a hundred voices, but all the same incredibly versatile actor.

From the UK’s Royal Mail, the above set of stamps features some of the most (currently) famous wizards, witches and enchanters. Featuring characters from Harry Potter, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, the legends of King Arthur, and characters from the Narnia series. Who else is thrilled The Luggage makes an appearance? He follows his owner everywhere, after all. Head past the break to see a larger version of the set.

While we don’t condone the defacement of public or private property, one must at least acknowledge the obsessive dedication of whoever wrote the text of the entire first chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on a bathroom stall.

See also: Street artist converses with the police in graffiti and whitewash.

(RentHarryPotter via TDW via Flavorwire)

‘Tis the season for giving; and since HarperCollins has furnished us with no less than five copies of Harry Potter: Film Wizardry, their retrospective viewbook on 6/7ths of the Harry Potter movies; we’ll be passing them along to you.  If you can gives us a sentence on why you should teach Defense of the Dark Arts, you might be getting a really beautiful book, that is full of other, smaller, beautiful books.

More details after the jump.

This particular musician is improvising in the Stride style of the Ragtime genre of Jazz.

“Harlem Stride Piano, Stride Piano, or just Stride, is a jazz piano style that evolved partially from ragtime. The left hand may play a four-beat pulse with a single bass note, octave, seventh or tenth interval on the first and third beats, and a chord on the second and fourth beats… Unlike earlier “St. Louis” pianists, stride players’ left hand often leapt greater distances on the keyboard, and they played faster and improvised.”  — Wikipedia

“Flipping difficult.” — Susana, resident Geekosystem piano nerd

(via Neatorama.)

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(mashed potato DeLorean via That’s Nerdalicious!)

With the Harry Potter movies soon coming to an end, Warner Bros. needs to find new ways to milk the franchise for money, and that might very well be all things Quidditch. The Hollywood Reporter points out that Warner Bros. has been trademarking just about everything under the sun in regards to Quidditch over the years. However, neatly tucked away in the paragraphs and paragraphs of trademarked Quidditch items, lies one simple crazy word: Lingerie.

We demand that two brave souls show up to Monday’s taping of Conan dressed as cows.

Um.  Look, just watch the video.

(via Look at this Frakking Geekster.)

This much we know to be true: there are a lot of Harry Potter fans out there who have never been to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and are not likely to get a chance to visit the Orlando based theme park any time soon. If you’re one of those fans, solace has arrived.

Solace in the form of retail therapy, at least. And is that really more expensive, on the whole, than conventional therapy?

What we’re trying to say is that Universal is making the stuff that they sell at the park available for ordering online.

Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Tom Felton appeared on MTV News for a comedy segment called “American Talk with Josh Horowitz,” where each cast member was given a few “popular” American phrases, such as “Twilight blows,” and are asked to speak said phrases in their best American accents.