Thanks to Warner Bros., everyone can prepare for HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 1 with the first five films now on iTunes or WB On Demand, Amazon Video On Demand, XBOX , PlayStation and other online digital retailers!  Get started by Winning the first movie and a Harry Potter T-Shirt right here at Gaming Angels.

So here’s how our contest is going to work:

• To enter, post a comment on this entry telling us what you love most about Harry Potter and the Wizarding World.
• For extra chances to win, RT this on Twitter: Enter me @GamingAngels to Win the  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 1 Giveaway! http://ht.ly/3aHnd #GamingAngels
• SORRY, THIS CONTEST HAS ENDED.

Due to restrictions, contest is available to US residents only.

Want to expand your Blu-Ray collection? Maybe there are a few Warner Bros. Blu-rays that you would love to pick up, but you’re trying to watch your spending. Well, Warner Bros. is going to help you out.

On dvd2blu.com visitors can send in any dvd they own for a brand new Warner Bros. Blu-ray title. On the site you can select from over 100 Blu-ray titles and pay as low as $4.95 for each. Orders over $35 get free shipping.

Here are the steps:
1. Visit DVD2BLU.com, view the selection of over 100 Blu-ray titles and pick the ones you want to add to your collection.
2. Dust off those unwanted DVDs you already own and send us one (Disc Only) for every Blu-ray you wish to own. Please note only professionally produced DVDs (anything from a major/independent studio sold at retail), non Adult content will qualify.
3. Go to check out for all of the final details and in a few weeks get your new Blu-ray(s).

So find any of those old dvds you don’t watch anymore and get something new in Blu-Ray.

Every Tuesday we bring you the DVD and CD releases for the week. What’s better than music and movies? Just video games, but we already told you what new games are out this week.

Here are the new CD releases today:

• Buckcherry: All Night Long
• Arcade Fire: Suburbs
• Bun B. : Trill O.G.
• Lady Gaga : The Remix
• Secondhand Serenade: Hear me now
• The Black Crowes: Croweology

New Movie releases:

• Kick-Ass
• Heroes
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid
• The Ghost Writer
• Mercy
• James and the Giant Peach
• Elvis on Tour

Enjoy!

We always go over the game releases every week, but we neglect that we host a pop culture blog here at GamingAngels and you angels deserve to know what’s coming out in DVDs and CDs this week! So welcome our newest weekly article on GamingAngels. I hope this first one offers some interesting releases!

New CDs this week:
Celine Dion – Taking Chances World Tour
Jackson Browne & David Lindley: Love is Strange
We Are the Fallen: Tear the World Down
Keane: Night Train
As I lay dying: Powerless Rise
The Dead Weather: Sea of Cowards
Meat Loaf : Hang Cool Teddy Bear

New DVDs this week:
Edge of Darkness
Legion
Daybreakers
Daria
Toy Story
Toy Story 2

The site allows you to find out where the nearest retailer for Sentai’s DVD and Blu-Ray releases are, as well as find and buy their releases from iTunes or Amazon.

There is also a section for those who would like to sell Sentai’s releases or become their affiliates. They also plan to introduce more features in the near future, but for any news updates you should keep an eye on their official Facebook and Twitter pages.

Venture over to www.sentai-filmworks.com and check it out for yourself – enjoy!

Just about every store has the following two versions available. They will have their own unique pricing and we’ll call that out in the list

o   Regular Widescreen DVD/Blu-ray version of The Twilight Saga: New Moon

o   The Twilight Saga: Special Edition DVD/Blu-ray

• 2 Discs of content

• Over  70 minutes of special features

• Revealing feature length commentary with Director Chris Weitz and Editor Peter Lambert

• 6-PART DOCUMENTARY (Part 1: Life After Twilight; Part 2: Chris Weitz takes the helm; Part 3: The Subtle Details; Part 4: Time to Shine; Part 5: Tricks of the Trade; Part 6: Ready for the World)

• Band Rehersal Footage with Muse; and Music videos from Death Cab for Cutie, Anya Marina, and MuteMath

Target

• The Twilight Saga: New Moon Special Edition (DVD $16.99/Blu-ray $19.99)
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon 3 Disc Deluxe Edition (DVD $19.99/Blu-ray $24.99)

o   Special Edition PLUS:

o   Target Exclusive bonus disc content: Deleted Scenes, Introducing the Volturi Featurette, Frame by Frame:From Stoyboard to Screen Featurette, Fandamonium: A Look at the Die Hard Fans, and The Beat Goes On: The Music of New Moon Featurette

o   Target Exclusive Bonus Collectible Film Cell – authentic reproduction of a cell from the filming of Twilight Saga: New Moon contained within a glossy foil. Each is individually numbered with gold foil lettering and measures approximately 5×7. Film Cell included will be one of 250 available collectible cells.

Walmart

o Twilight Saga: New Moon Walmart Ultimate Fan Edition/Twilight in Forks Documentary Bundle (DVD $29.96)

o   Special Edition PLUS:

o   Walmart Exclusive: Lenticular Packaging

o   Walmart Exclusive:  7-minute sneak peek of “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” with new interviews with Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, as well as with series-creator Stephenie Meyer

o   “Twilight In Forks” – The definitive DVD documenting the town of Forks made famous by the “Twilight” books and movies.

o   Twilight Saga: New Moon  (The Ultimate Fan Edition (DVD $24.96/Blu-ray $29.96)

o   Special Edition PLUS:

o   Walmart Exclusive:  Lenticular Packaging

o   Walmart Exclusive:   7-minute sneak peek of “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” with New interviews with Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, as well as with series-creator Stephenie Meyer.

o   Twilight Saga: New Moon Special Edition (DVD $17.00/Blu-ray $19.96)

Blockbuster

o   Twilight Saga: New Moon Special Edition (DVD $25.99)

Amazon.com

o   Twilight Saga: New Moon Special Edition (DVD $16.99/Blu-ray $19.99)

Barnes and Noble

o   Twilight Saga: New Moon Special Edition (DVD $23.99/Blu-ray $27.99)

o   The Twilight Saga: New Moon Barnes and Noble Collectors Edition (DVD $33.99/Blu-ray $39.99)

o   Special Edition PLUS:

o   B&N Exclusive:  New Moon Dreamcatcher Bag Clip, a metal dangle finished in antique brass that combines a circular dreamcatcher, a sculptural Wolf Pack-tattoo charm, a Wolf Pack jewelry tag, feathers, and crystals.
Borders

o   Twilight Saga: New Moon Special Edition (DVD $22.99/Blu-Ray $24.99)

o   The Twilight Saga: New Moon Borders Exclusive (DVD $29.99)

o   Special Edition PLUS:

o   Borders Exclusive:  Exclusive packaging

o   Borders Exclusive:  Includes exclusive medallion necklace on a silver chain—gold side features wolf-pack tattoo design, silver side shows the Cullen crest.

o   Borders Exclusive:  Over 25 minutes of previously unreleased EXTENDED SCENES such as Jake in Bella’s Room and Edward meeting the Volturi and many, many more! INTERVIEWS with cast members Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, the Cullen Family, the Wolf Pack, the Volturi and Director Chris Weitz; unrivaled RED-CARPET FOOTAGE from the movie premiere; front row seats to The Twilight Saga: New Moon WEBCAST.

Release Date: 07/10/2009
Languages: English
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 120.0 mins

You may remember Tripod. They appeared at the Microsoft Keynote during CES 2009. Apparently they didn’t go down the way it was hoped when it came to entertaining the audience – which our own Angels Trina and Cherith were part of. If you don’t know of Tripod, let me introduce you.

Tripod are a group of 3 men who formed while they were in university. After a bit of busking at malls, they appeared in a TV variety show competition where they got their big break. They soon performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and began to appear on radio. Their popularity has since seen them produce many a CD and DVD.

Members Scod (Scott Edgar), Yon (Simon Hall) and Gatesy (Steven Gates) perform musical numbers that are sometimes parodies of well-known songs or satirical takes on everyday observations and musings. Their material isn’t just based on this however – their antics during numbers can be just as amusing. The boys are also geeks at heart having used subjects such as Star Wars and Dungeons & Dragons in their work.

Lately their humour has (to me) been declining, which is evident in the release of “Tripod: Live at Woodford”. Here they perform 12 songs at the Woodford Folk Festival. The audience themselves appeared to mainly consist of young people (many of whom probably weren’t old enough to have been there). It left me feeling a little bored, but not as much as the special features did to be honest.

Speaking of Special Features:

• How to train an attack dog from scratch: a made-up history of the funny song

From left: Gatesy, Scod and Yon

Don’t get me wrong, I love watching Tripod’s performances. In this case however, I didn’t enjoy it as much. If they had chosen a different venue (with a more controlled environment) and used better material, I would have given this a more positive review. Sorry Tripod, but I wasn’t with you on this one!

Review product was provided by Madman Entertainment, and does not affect the outcome of this review.

Images © 2009 Tripod

Hisashi Tenmyouya was a graphic designer and is now a contemporary artist. His painting style is described as NEO-Traditional Japanese, and he uses gold foil and fine brushes during this documentary for his art pieces. If you would like to view some of Hisashi’s work, you visit his official website over here – it’s hard to pick a favourite amongst all of the wonderful pieces.

As a celebration of the DVD’s release, there will be 2 special screenings of the documentary at the San Francisco VIZ Cinema complex on Saturday, March 6th at 1pm, and Sunday, March 7th at 3pm.

Seiji Horibuchi, President and CEO of VIZ Pictures and the founder of NEW PEOPLE:

“Hisashi Tenmyouya has shown steadily since his first show in 1990 at age 24, including shows at the Whitney in New York and others in Tokyo, Berlin, London, Paris, Madrid, Kiev and Sao Paulo,” says Seiji. “Besides winning the Taro Okamoto Memorial Award in 2003, he was chosen as one of 14 artists in the world to participate in the design of the FIFA World Cup Poster for the in 2006 World Cup. We’re honored to release this new documentary and look forward to more people discovering the world of Hisashi Tenmyouya.”

The DVD of “HISASHI TENMYOUYA: SAMURAI NOUVEAU” will be released on March 9th, and will cost $24.92US or $35.99 CAN. If you would like to find out more about the release, you can visit www.viz.com and if you would like to know more about the screenings you can visit www.vizcinema.com.

You can also find the DVD available in our RightStuf and Amazon stores!

What does that mean for you, the eager DVD renter-to-be?

Well, as far as Redbox goes, you’re going to need to be a lot faster when attempting to obtain Warner titles on the first day of availability (well, as long as your local Redbox has fairly heavy traffic). Netflix users need to decide what to rent and put it on their list a lot earlier — the first two releases to fall under the new rule, The Invention of Lying and Whiteout, currently have a longer-than-usual wait list. (Netflix did actually get something out of the deal — the ability to stream more Warner titles.)

It also means that piracy of Warner titles is about to run rampant. Renting for a dollar a day was enough to appease many would-be pirates, but the lack of immediate access via the usual channels will make some turn to the ‘net for illegal copies.

If you’re willing to try other pay-per-view online streaming services (such as iTunes movie rentals), those haven’t been hampered by this policy – yet. Warner wants to sell as many physical discs as possible, and it looks like they’re doing as many things as possible to accomplish that.

Bizarre Bazaar SF and the New People Artist Village have teamed up for a lovely day out in San Francisco for you to peruse some interesting artwork and browse through lots of stalls for a little retail therapy (you can some of the vendors here). There will also be a free workshop to show you how to make a cute little yarn flower!

The SUPERFROG Art Gallery will be hosting plenty of artwork for you to view, and are even holding a party for the opening at 5pm and finishing at 8pm. There will be free drinks and a DJ plus more at the party, but if you plan to attend then you should RSVP here to get in.

There will also be a raffle held on the day which will give you the chance to win over $1400 worth of prizes! Prizes include a Provocraft Cricut Expression Machine, Box Sets and Past Issues of Craftzine and Makezine, Viz Pictures DVD, Posters and T-shirt, assorted handmade gifts, and much more!

When should you turn up? Be at the New People building (1746 Post St, San Francisco – pictured right) on the 13th of February at 12 noon! Have fun!