It's time again for a new update of what's happening on the various boards. This time written by me instead of Rebekah, I hope I will prove not too unworthy a replacement.

- As you know, Premium accounts have been introduced. Features such as Messageboard Buddies will now be available only to Premium account holders, while the Premium Plus account offers some additional features. Initially, all members have been given a temporary Premium account for free so that they wouldn't suddenly lose features they're accustomed to. This free test period will run out in the near future, though.

- So if you want to purchase a Premium or Premium Plus account - for yourself or for others - now is the time. Don't worry about wasting days by buying a Premium account before the free period runs out; the one year duration will only start after the free period runs out, regardless of when you buy it.

- Our Great Harry Potter re-read continues. After The Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone and The Chamber of Secrets, we have now just started the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The re-read does three chapters each day, and everyone is welcome to participate in the discussion (with or without actually rereading).

- The Joint Book Club (that is, the regular Book Club and the Russian Book Club together) has been discussing Mikhail Bulgakov's masterpiece The Master and Margarita. Most people have already posted their thoughts, but a few, including yours truly, are still finishing the book, so it's certainly not too late to participate yet.

- In August, the Russian Book Club intends to discuss Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Notes From the Underground. The regular Book Club will be taking a break for various reasons, as Jacob explains here.

- We'll be giving away copies of Brandon Sanderson's forthcoming book, The Way of Kings, at some point this month, courtesy of Tor. Keep a watch out for details.

- The release of Towers of Midnight is approaching, so people are speculating and posting theories about what will happen in that book, while every chat, Q&A or "tweet" by Brandon Sanderson is reported on the board.

- After having analyzed Tuon, the big Character Discussion now reaches its eleventh installment, on the topic of the Whitecloaks.

- The newly released movie Inception gets a fairly enthusiastic reception on the board.

- Dacole and others discuss gay rights metaphors in True Blood.

- Our British residents debate the merits of a new TV series about a modern Sherlock Holmes.

- The sequel to one of the most legendary computer games ever is released, and so the board discusses first impressions of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.

- Roland00 is new to World of Warcraft and asks for advice.

- Mafia Game 17 is ongoing, although there appears (at least to this completely clueless observer) to be some controversy about the events of Day 4.

- A post by nossy about a funny quote from a certain RAFOnaut leads to an impromptu in-depth discussion of the famous Hans Christian Andersen tale of the ugly duckling.

- Mix starts a discussion about e-readers, arguing that they'd be far more useful if they were waterproof. Various suggestions to make them so are offered.

- And last but not least, TMJ's suggestion of what to put in the Boarder Control appeals so much to our dear leader Ben that he decides to share it with everyone at once, putting the image on the left side of every page. Female RAFOnauts are less than impressed, however. After Ben removes the offending image, various people complain about having missed it. They will be glad to have the link to it.