Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, teaser

And so it begins… to end. Maybe it’s John Willams’ slightly psycho music-box theme, but these HP trailers never fail to give me chills.

In other Harry Potter news, the current issue of Entertainment Weekly assembles a motley conglomeration of assorted cultural touchstones for its “100 Greatest” of the decade list.

Topping the hodge-podge is Harry Potter at #1, in a category called “Best Character” — so right up front they let you know it’s something they haphazardly threw together before clocking out early to do their online Christmas shopping. It’s a list way too enamored with ‘Things that Sell Magazines’ to be of much use as a reliable guide to consistent quality. For instance, there’s no Greatest Book of the decade listed until #15, but at least it’s The Road. Ahead of The Road on EW’s scale of cultural significance is American Idol at #9, and youtube at #3 (which, ok, yeah, good call).

Just to stir up trouble, here are the only 13 movies important enough for the editors of EW’s mishmash index of the 100 Greatest Miscellaneous Whatnots of the Naughts.

# 4 — The Lord of the Rings
#11 — Brokeback Mountain
#15 — Gladiator
#17 — The Dark Knight
#21 — WALL-E
#32 — Moulin Rouge!
#41 — Children of Men
#43 — The 40-Year Old Virgin
#54 — Lost in Translation
#67 — Fahrenheit 9/11
#76 — Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
#90 — The Departed
#92 — Mean Girls

I know, I know. Wait’ll you see the other 88 items. It’s a rather disastrous attempt to compile a list that even the functionally illiterate can love. We report; you deride.

but hey, how about that Harry Potter teaser?