MuggleCast EP34 Transcript
Intro
Andrew [Plays PotterCast Intro (Dumbledore saying: Welcome, Welcome to another…)]: …MuggleCast – Episode 34 for April 08th, 2006! [Show Intro with music in background] See why GoDaddy.com is the No. 1 domain registrar world-wide. Now with your domain name registration, you’ll get hosting, a free blog, complete e-mail and much more. Plus, as a MuggleCast listener enter the code “RON”; that’s R-O-N when you check out and get your dot com domain name for just $6.95 per year. Get your piece of the Internet today at GoDaddy.com.
At USA Network, characters are welcome. Even you have what it takes to be a star. Can you believe that? Enter the 2006 “Show Us Your Character Contest” to find out if you’re America’s most unique character and you could win a chance to be featured on the computer screen, the TV screen, and even the big screen! Enter now at ShowUsYourCharacter.com.
Hello everyone and welcome back to the show! I’m Andrew Sims.
Eric: I’m Eric Scull.
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.
Jamie: And I’m Jamie Lawrence.
Andrew: Ben Schoen is off practicing for his ACTs. Kevin Steck is in class. And…who is the other one we’re missing? Oh, Micah Tannenbaum is off getting a job at CBS Sports. He’s actually… Don’t tell ESPN or wherever he works right now, but he’s getting a full-time job at CBS Sports, which is actually pretty impressive.
Eric: Actually guys, it’s very little known – don’t tell anybody here. Micah is replacing Katie Couric on The Today Show.
Andrew: Oh, that is great news! That is great timing! [laughs]
Laura: Thank god!
Eric: Yes, so we’re saved! Everybody was saying what would Today be like without Katie Couric? And actually, well Micah, Micah’s going to be on there.
Andrew: [laughing] Micah Tannenbaum and Matt Lauer.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Well…
Jamie: Yeah, but Andrew, Andrew?
Andrew: Yes?
Jamie: You’ve completely done it now. He’s going to be fired tomorrow.
Andrew: Okay.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Jamie: It’s like that scene out of Bruce Almighty. He’s going to be chucked out of the doors and then the box of all his stuff is going to be thrown on top of him.
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: Poor Micah, I hope you can live with yourself.
[Andrew and Jamie laugh]
Andrew: That’s what he gets for telling me.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Before we go anywhere else, first let’s check in over at NBC Studios, now apparently, with Micah Tannenbaum for the past week top Harry Potter news stories.
Micah: All right. Thanks, Andrew.
News
Bloomsbury, the publisher of the UK editions of the Potter books, posted profits of $34.8 million for 2005. Sales of the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, boosted profits 24% for the company. Thank you for listening to Bloomberg Financial News.
In movie news, David Thewlis, who portrays Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter movies, recently discussed filming of the fifth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. He was quoted in Thursday’s edition of the Belfast Telegraph as:
You know, way to keep people’s hopes up Dave.
Be sure to head over to MuggleNet.com as Dan has posted his most recent newsletter where he discusses filming Order of the Phoenix, working with David Yates and Imelda Staunton.
And recently, Evanna Lynch’s father sat down with MuggleNet to discuss how she’s doing with filming, her meeting J.K. Rowling and describes the interesting process Evanna went through to get the part of Luna Lovegood.
It is official! Warner Bros. announced that the Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix movie will hit theaters on July 13, 2007! Oooo, Friday the 13th.
J.K. Rowling has been extremely busy on her website. She updated Diary Section of her official site. In it she tells the story of how she spent 45 minutes looking for normal writing paper in Edinburgh. Can somebody please build a Kinko’s or a Staples out there so that Book 7 isn’t delayed because J.K. Rowling couldn’t find writing paper. Or better yet, Kinko’s or Staples, send tons of normal writing paper to J.K. Rowling. She also mentioned that the final book is “going well.”
Recently, she visited Leavesden Studios and caught up with some of the Order of the Phoenix cast – most of whom she says have outgrown her since she last saw them! And as mentioned earlier Jo me with Evanna Lynch for roughly an hour and described her in one word: perfect.”
Additionally, Jo mentioned our LeakyMug April Fool’s prank in her Rumors Section. She also wrote a fascinating article about today’s weight-obsessed world, which can be found in the Extras Section.
Finally, you can now view your WOMBAT results! Simply click on the student identification card found on Jo’s desk, then enter your ID number, and a certificate revealing your results will appear. It seems as if more tests will be coming in the future.
Basically, visit every section on JKR.com. That was the point of that part of the News. I don’t even know why I just plugged her site considering she only gave me an “Acceptable” on the WOMBAT.
That’s all the news for this April 08th, 2006 edition of MuggleCast. Back to the show.
Andrew: All right. Thank you, Micah Tan.
Announcements
Andrew: Now moving on to a few announcements.
Jamie: Oh yes, I’ve been waiting for these all year.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: What’s wrong? What’s wrong? We’re making them quick now that you’re on.
Jamie: Hey, Andrew, before you start the announcements, I’ve got one. I was just wondering if everyone could buy a T-shirt, a MuggleCast T-shirt. I know we haven’t mentioned it before, EVER!
[Laura and Andrew laugh]
Jamie: I mean we certainly haven’t said it for like ten minutes in every single show since we’ve started, but…
Eric: No, I think you are absolutely right in including it in this show. I think it’s about time to raise awareness, you know, for these MuggleCast T-shirts.
Jamie: I agree. I agree completely. Yeah.
Andrew: I think both of you have had your headsets muted over the past few weeks because we do promote…
Jamie: Oh really? Have we?
Andrew: …the MuggleCast T-shirts. [laughs]
Jamie: Really?
Andrew: Yes!
Jamie: It must be so short. It must be so short we can’t remember it.
Andrew: Everyone buy your own MuggleCast T-shirt today – they help support the show. You all think you look cool in your Abercrombie and Fitch and your Fitch, not Fish, and your Aeropostale, but seriously how about a nice 100% cotton, black, MuggleCast T-shirt?
Eric: So it shrinks when you soak it.
Andrew: It will even shrink.
Eric: Because it’s 100% cotton.
Andrew: It will help you lose weight…if you’re overweight.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: [laughs] I’m not implying anything. So do not forget those. And, one reminder for Lumos 2006 – it is now time to RSVP as we mentioned last week. Send your reservations to hplive at gmail dot com. But don’t forget this does not guarantee you a seat of any kind. This merely tells us that you are coming. We do have plans to broadcast the video outside of the recording area, so those who cannot get in can still watch it – not on national television or anything. So anyway, make sure you get those in. We need to know how many people are going because otherwise we’re going to underestimate and there’s going to be no room for anyone, so if you want to be comfortable…
Jamie: At all.
Andrew: You still won’t. But if you want to be comfortable, make sure you send in your RSVP with you and how many people are coming with you. And please rate yourself on the Cool Factor 1-10 so I know whether or not I can hang out with you.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: That is… That is… And please wear a little name tag with your cool factor number on it…
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: …so I know if I should approach you or not.
Eric: [imitating a fan] “Hi, Andrew…”
Andrew: “Cool kid…”
Jamie: And if you lie, we will know.
Andrew: “What’s that, a #2? Sorry, I can’t talk right now.”
Eric: Yeah, even if I had a #10 on I don’t think you’d hang out with me.
Jamie: Hey, Andrew?
Andrew: Eric, I love you.
Order Of The Phoenix Movie Release vs. Book 7 Release
Andrew: So anyway, moving on to some recent news here – late-breaking news as of the time of this recording. We record on Wednesdays and we have just found out that the Order of the Phoenix movie will indeed be released in Summer 2007, specifically July 13, 2007.
Eric: Which is bad.
Andrew: This is big news… No, it’s good and it’s bad. Good, because we will have plenty of time to update the site over the summer.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: I can’t think of any reasons why it would be bad though.
Eric: Okay. Well, I do.
Jamie: Book 7.
Eric: Book 7.
Andrew: Oh, Book 7. That’s right.
Eric: I think it might be unlikely they release Book 7 on 07/07/07 because right the next week [makes clicking noise] there will be Movie 7 [meaning Movie 5]. And I actually think it would be cool if they synchronized it – had one week this, one week that, but I think it might be unlikely.
Jamie: I agree.
Eric: Pretty unlikely.
Andrew: I don’t see why it’s unlikely. Okay, I see, “Oh why on earth would they put them so close together?” Why not? Why not?
Eric: I think it would… Apart from it making a giant – the last Harry Potter book and the fifth Harry Potter movie making a giant impact on the world and like Pottermania and Entertainment Weekly does three editions on it, you know?
Andrew: Mhm.
Eric: I think they actually don’t want that. In certain ways, I don’t know, it just makes sense somehow to me that they might actually space it out a bit more. Just like when they record movies the same, like Matrix 2 and 3, they had them spaced out six or seven months apart even though they recorded at the same time. So, like Pirates of the Caribbean 2, the movie. When they do movies and when they do things that they can release at the same time, they actually, generally prefer not to do it – to space it out a little bit to create a little bit hype here, a little bit of hype there.
Andrew: Well, that’s a true point.
Eric: Well, and also…
Jamie: Eric, Eric?
Eric: Wait, hang on. If everybody is reading Book 7 and they release the movie the week after, that would hurt the movie, I think. Everybody… It would hurt either the movie or the book. Either people would be reading the book still or still discussing it and saying, “Oh wow! Oh my god!” or – and they’d be too busy doing that to go see the movie and that would hurt the box office, or they would go see the movie and have so much to talk about there and it would really take away from the awe factor of Book 7 and everything being closed as far as the books go. You know what I am saying? So, even if it isn’t Warner Brothers wanting to pace things apart, I actually think it would be really bad if they were released together. It would just create… I think they should be at least a month apart.
Laura: Do you even think they would put them that far apart? I mean, I’m not sure I can be convinced they’d release them both within a month of each other.
Andrew: A month? You think it would be sooner?
Laura: No, I don’t think it would be sooner. I think they would want to space it out more. I mean, I think even a month is too close.
Eric: Well, the question is then…
Laura: Just on general principal.
Eric: Well, hang on, guys. If they know and if they can actually finalize – I mean they’ve had to be talking to JKR, because if they can finalize the movie for July, you know, 12th or whatever, right after 07/07/07, obviously, considering all this stuff, it’s pretty… I think it would be right in saying that JKR wants the book out not around then. Like maybe, do you guys think the book will be out before then, then? And you know, that’s a tremendously good thing.
Jamie: No way, there’s no way it’s going to be out before the film.
Eric: But then, that’s the problem because then if the book comes out after 07/07/07, they missed a pretty good date, you know, and…
Jamie: No, but the date isn’t actually that important at all. You know, it’s only worth it for the promotional value – putting it on posters and stuff like that. It doesn’t actually very important at all.
Eric: Why make it the 12th, the week before? Come on, the week before is the 7th, what’s wrong with them?
Jamie: No, because they can’t obviously, you know, just like you’ve said, you can’t release the book, then the film. But, it’s like – but you were talking about the Matrix films – they just seem more planned than these films. So, they knew they were going to have three films; they knew that they were going to have them a certain amount, you know, between – a lot more just seems to happen in the Harry Potter world. So like, they, you know, you’ve got the books and the films and they’ve got to space them out to get the most value out of the franchise and just because people don’t want everything crammed into one thing because they want it to last as long as they can.
Andrew: But when they’re spacing out, they’re talking about a few months.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: This is the timing for both of these – I’m trying to think if JK Rowling [pronounced incorrectly] had any…
Eric: [Correcting Andrew’s pronunciation] Rowling.
Andrew: Okay, sorry. JK Rowling [pronounced correctly]. I’m starting to catch myself, now.
Eric: Rowling Alert.
Andrew: JK Rowling had any say in this. Because, if she did, then she either thinks that that’s plenty of time before the book, or plenty of time after the book.
Jamie: Or, no, no. Or just that the book – there’s no way the book will be done by then and that she’d rather get the hype over Order of the Phoenix done and then release the book. I mean, maybe they’ll go for a winter release date for the book instead?
Eric: Why can’t it be this winter then? I mean, she just updated on her blog…
Jamie: Because, she’s got to write it, Andrew. She doesn’t just pull it out her [beep] for god’s sake.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: No, I don’t want it to be this winter. But, I’m saying is I don’t want it to be next winter, either. Next winter I think, I mean, she’s writing all of this stuff, every, you know, every time she updates her site: “Book 7 is going great. Book 7 is going great.”
Andrew: Yeah, exactly.
Eric: And that’s good, but that gave me more and more reason to suspect Summer 2007, but since we’re seeing, you know, that it’s not going to be that because they can’t really, you know – this movie release date has actually ruined 07/07/07 for both of them, which I think is sad, but…
Jamie: It’s just a date though, it’s just like…
Eric: …I know, but it would be a cool date. But the point I’m trying to make is that since the – now the book is either going to come out, you know, a few months before Summer 2007 or a few months after 2007 and I…
Laura: I don’t think it’s going to come out before the movie. [laughs] No way.
Eric: Okay I agree, but it’s either going to come out three months before or three months after and I don’t want either of them. I don’t want…
Laura: You know, I frankly wouldn’t care if we had to wait until Summer ’08 for the book, because I want it to be good.
Andrew: Wait, for the book? Yeah, absolutely.
Eric: Summer ’08? Well, yeah…
Andrew: But, I think JK Rowling [mispronounced] can put out a book with the same quality in…
Jamie: [Speaking slowly] Rowling.
Andrew: Rowling. [sings] Rolling, rolling…
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Rolling, rolling… How long was it between Book 4 and 5? I forget. It was like two, three years?
Laura: It was, like, three years.
Eric: Three years? Then, I think it would be possible for it come out in 2008. I wouldn’t mind, you know? Because look at Book 5. Book 5 was completely massive and it didn’t answer any questions, but a book that length could answer everything if she did it again.
Jamie: I love Book 5 though, I think it was awesome.
Laura: Yeah, I thought Book 5 was great.
Andrew: Hasn’t JK Rowling said though she was aiming for 2007?
Jamie: I don’t know, has she?
Laura: I don’t know if she’d want to put a date on it like that.
Jamie: Yeah, I agree. Because, things could go wrong so easily and there’s so much stuff that…
Andrew: What can go wrong?
Laura: Writer’s block. [laughs]
Andrew: All right, all right. Writer’s block. But, how many times has she told us, like Eric said earlier, that it’s going well? She knows how this book is going to end. She says she’s going to make it shorter than Book 5. All right, it’s the last book; I understand that there’s a lot to close up here.
Laura: Going well…
Andrew: …I think she’s on schedule for 2007.
Eric: Yeah, I…
Andrew: 2008, you have to think about that. She’s already – she’s in the process of writing this book and 2008, that’s a long time.
Laura: You have to consider a good day of writing can be figuring out a plot point. A good day of writing can be getting two pages down.
Andrew: Well, of course…
Laura: I strongly urge you to go and try and write 15 pages of fiction in one day.
Andrew: All right.
Laura: It’s hard.
Andrew: All right, I understand. I get that.
Eric: Well, she’s not exactly making this stuff up. I mean, as much as she is, I don’t know – it’s just, I think I agree with – no, she’s making it up, but she has a lot of what she needs to include. You know, it’s not like you’re making fiction up out of nothing, like she is, but at the same time it’s not like saying, “Write a story about a magic talking bush.”
Laura: Mhm. But things always crop up.
Eric: Oh, I understand that and I completely agree with the book problems, but I’m thinking what Andrew’s saying is, you know, we’ve been led and I think, you know, 07/07/07, or anytime in Summer 2007 was what all of us were kind of in the mindset for and kind of, you know, we’re pacing ourselves, we can wait that long and that would be fine. But, now that it’s saying that it’s not really going to be that date unless they do release the movie and book at the same time, which would hurt sales either way and hurt the experience. I just don’t – I think seven – I think Summer was our best, like, hope. Like, I was really counting on that.
Andrew: Mhm.
Jamie: Also, also, films must have, like a six-month gap either side to account for filming problems, so if they put a release date on the book of say, August 2007, and filming got put back a month, they’d be basically at the same time. So, I don’t see how they can actually release the book in Summer 2007 without seriously causing problems if filming gets put back. Or, if the film’s release date gets put back. So, I think it’s going to be 2008.
Eric: Well, all of the Gary Oldman scenes and, I think, the Lupin scenes too are going to be filmed this summer. So what…
Andrew: A lot has already been filmed.
Eric: A lot has.
Andrew: A lot.
Jamie: Yeah, but so many things can, you know, can go wrong with filming.
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: I understand that, but they jumped right into filming this movie practically right after Movie 4 and…
Eric: Just like they did with Movie 2.
Andrew: Yeah. Well no, you mean they jumped right into Movie 2?
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Well yeah, because, I mean, they said that the day after Movie 1 came out they were back at the studio talking about #2. Like, Steve Kloves said that one time.
Jamie: Yeah, that’s true. Yeah.
Andrew: And then, at the end of Movie 3, I’m pretty sure they took a break, right?
Eric: Yeah.
Jamie: They did take a break, yeah.
Andrew: They took like a six-month, something…
Laura: I know they took a break after #2.
Andrew: All right, well, this could always go for some more discussion, but…
Eric: Yeah.
Jamie: Let’s move on.
WOMBAT Attack
Andrew: Speaking of JK Rowling, WOMBATs were introduced to us over, when was it, this past Saturday? And it’s kind of ironic because these reminded me of the SATs and I had just taken the SATs that morning.
Laura: Oh! [laughs]
Andrew: So, morning I took SATs and then, afternoon was my WOMBATs.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: And then, like…
Jamie: Tough day for you, Andrew. Tough day.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: [Still laughing] I know! WOMBATs took 25 minutes, SATs took four hours. [laughs] So, it was much easier.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: What do you guys think of these?
Jamie: I thought it was hard.
Andrew: It was hard.
Laura: It was hard.
Jamie: I thought, but yeah, it was really hard and some of the questions just seemed like, unless you knew them, it was just guess, and you know, it was just guessing.
Andrew: Mhm.
Jamie: Like, the one about which department of the Ministry to contact in a certain situation.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: I thought it was just common sense, unless you actually knew that you were supposed to contact a certain department. I don’t think I’ve done very well on them.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: So, speaking of nerds and really big dorks, Kevin Steck just came in. Welcome, Kevin Steck!
Kevin: Thank you. [laughs] Thank you very much, Andrew.
[Somebody says “Oooo” and everyone laughs]
Andrew: So Kevin, what do you think of the WOMBATs?
Kevin: They were interesting. I mean, I don’t see what relevance they play to…
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: ..anything on the site.
Andrew: Honestly, you know what I think they are? JK Rowling…
Jamie: Filler.
Andrew: Exactly! JK Rowling clearly sees that she’s in some desperate need of some content on…
Jamie: [laughs] Yeah.
Andrew: Something fresh – I’m not – she has some awesome stuff on there, [laughs] but I’m saying, you know, to keep everyone entertained.
Kevin: To keep fresh and… Yeah
Andrew: It’s a good idea, though. And of interest – it said WOMBATs Level One. So…
Kevin: Yeah, sorry about that.
Andrew: So does it make sense for Jo to put out a couple more of these between now and Book 7?
Jamie: Yeah, it’s just a game though, I don’t think it has any relevance.
Andrew: It just made me feel stupid.
Laura: I thought it was fine.
Jamie: It’s just a nice game.
Andrew: It was kind of fun, it just made me feel like…
[Jamie laughs]
Andrew: It just made me feel dumb.
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: She likes making less of people. That’s it.
Andrew: [Still laughing] Yeah, exactly. Here’s – she wants us to make it. She wants to make us feel stupid so we start going around and re-reading the books again to re-learn all of this. That’s it, there we go. [laughs]
Eric: Oh, but we’ve got the one-up on her.
Jamie: She sits there thinking, “You’re thick, I’m clever. Ahhh.”
Listener Rebuttal – Jim Dale vs. Stephen Fry
Andrew: Moving on to Listener Rebuttal, this week we’ve got a couple for you here. All right, so the first one from Pat Maslar. Oh, and a disclaimer here, if you don’t think we’re going to be able to pronounce your name, then please put a little pronunciation thing in there. Like, one of the Listener Rebuttal emails did.
Kevin: Or, expect us to slaughter it.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] This is Pat Maslar, from upstate New York. He writes, “Jim Dale is British” – Jamie, this one is directed towards you. “Jim Dale is British! He is THE voice of Harry Potter and all its characters to thousands of us. I have tried to hear Stephen Fry’s British version for years, comparing reviews that both American and British listeners seem happy with their reader, Jim and Stephen respectively. I finally got my hands on Stephen’s audios” – audio books he means – “and in my mind there is no comparison, Jim Dale rules and I wish every British listener could hear them. I may be starting an oceanwide battle here, but I would love to hear people’s opinions if they have fairly heard both. I listened to one whole book and he is ruining it, so I can’t listen to any more with Stephen (even though he is a great actor). Back to Jim!” Thoughts on this, Jamie, since you’re British?
Jamie: Well, I beg to differ. I have to say that Stephen Fry is awesome. I really like the way he does things, but I like quite a bit of his work, so I could be biased.
Andrew: Have you listened to Jim?
Jamie: Ummm, but ummm I haven’t.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay.
Kevin: Oh, you haven’t?
Andrew: You have no idea what you’ve heard.
[Jamie laughs]
Jamie: Actually, no. I’m sure I – I’m sure I have. I’m sure I have. I know I can’t really say that Stephen Fry is better without, you know, hearing his voice, but I really do like him, but I’d love to hear a sound clip from the Jim Dale version. So, if somebody fancies sending one in; people write in and tell us what you think – if you’ve heard both of them, which one you liked better if you listened to both.
Andrew: Well, let’s go around and give our opinions.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: I have heard a little bit of Stephen Fry, but I – I really think that I like Jim Dale better. He just seems more emotional with it, and like… [Andrew sighs] I don’t know. I just like the guy.
Kevin: I have heard both, and I actually have – I have both versions myself, but I’d have to go with Jim Dale.
Andrew: Any reason why you don’t like Stephen?
Kevin: Uh, [sighs] I – I don’t know. It’s just a matter of preference, I think. It’s not really one is better than the other. It’s just technique.
Jamie: Yeah. I think you’re right. Yeah.
Andrew: It is technique.
Kevin: Yeah.
Listener Rebuttal – Grindelwald
Andrew: Emily from North Carolina, writes concerning Grindelwald. “In her interview with Melissa and Emerson, JK Rowling strongly implied that Grindelwald has importance to something in the plot. My thought is this, Voldemort said he had gone further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality. This suggests that he was not the first wizard to create a Horcrux, just the first to create seven. And Dumbledore seemed to know more about destroying Horcruxes than he told Harry directly. Although, we never did hear the story about his blackened hand…”
Jamie: Which we did.
Andrew: Yes, we did. “What if Grindelwald had created a Horcrux and Dumbledore had to learn at a time how to destroy one, in order to defeat him. Perhaps this is a memory that Dumbledore left for Harry in the Pensieve, and we’ll learn more about in the seventh book.” And from the interview with JK Rowling, we did learn that Grindelwald is indeed dead, and when Jo was asked, is it a coincidence that he died in 1945? She said “No,” because, and I quote “It amuses me to make allusions to things that were happening in the Muggle world. So my feeling would be that while there is a global Muggle war going on, there is also a global wizarding war going on.” And then Emerson asked Jo, does he have any connection to – And then Jo cut him off and said, “I have no comment to make on that subject.”
Eric: And then she laughed.
Jamie: Can I tell you this?
Andrew: She laughs it off. Forget about it, guys. Don’t even keep it in your head.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Because it’s so funny.
Jamie: You can make complete comparisons between the wizarding world – stuff happens in the wizarding world, and World War II. It’s like Hitler believed in ethnic cleansing, and people like Lucius Malfoy, you know, only believe that certain people should go to Hogwarts. Perhaps you can extend that to say that only certain people should live. I don’t know. He’s a nasty enough character for me to believe that, I don’t know about everyone else. But perhaps he could say – I think it’s clear that sort of ideological battles can be fought in the Muggle world and in the wizarding world, so I think Grindelwald could have some relation to Hitler, maybe. Or perhaps, he was on his kind of side. I completely went off on a tangent, and I’m really sorry.
[Kevin laughs]
Andrew: No, but it’s interesting that she said that, because if that’s the case, then was she really trying to make that connection in Book 6? Like we talked about last week.
Kevin: I think that she was trying to make a parallel. I don’t think she was trying to make a connection. Well, not a physical connection between Voldemort and Hitler. She was just trying to make a parallel, to say that something similar was going on in this world…
Jamie: That could be it, yeah.
Kevin: …as, you know?
Jamie: That’s very good. Yeah.
Eric: Dumbledore directly compared Voldemort to other dictators. He was like, you know they create their own enemies. Just like all dictators in the world do, and it was this giant bad Hitler thwap with like, giant stinky fish, with Hitler’s name on it saying, “Just like dictators everywhere do.” And, you know, it was really scary, that I thought she was strongly trying to – Mussolini, Stalin, all those. She was trying to make a really big connection, but what I didn’t know about her establishing the dictator is that she actually kind of concluded that Voldemort was evil from the start. And, not really made as much as I thought maybe dictators might be. I don’t know. Like I think it’s interesting – like I like her take on dictators, but I don’t know. I’m supposed to agree with it, but I don’t know that I do as far as how they’re made and how they do stuff. Like if they’re evil to begin with.
Jamie: No. Yeah that’s interesting. Yeah.
Listener Rebuttal – Green Light
Andrew: Next email: Lauren, 17 from Rockton Illinois. She writes, “I would like to respond to the comment about the Death Curse emitting a green light once cast. The color green can sometimes symbolize a longing for a safe home and family life. Voldemort obviously feels some unrest about his family situation, especially his Muggle father. Although Voldemort did not create the Death Curse, could JKR be using the color green as a parallel to Voldemort’s deep emotional turmoil – a possible motive for his vicious killings? Also, Barty Crouch Jr. disguised as Mad-Eye Moody exhibited use of the Killing Curse in Goblet of Fire – he was also in an emotional rift with his father. Love the show, keep up the great work. Lauren.”
Eric: She’s [Laughs] – I appreciate this Lauren thing, what she’s trying to do with Barty Crouch Jr., but I think it’s a little bit different, than what Voldemort is doing. I think any unrest Voldemort would have on his father has been long outgone. And, you know, it fuels, of course, the hatred he faces everyday. But I really don’t think the green light would be created specifically for Voldemort. However, I do like the connection she makes to the Death Curse, and the color green symbolizing a tormented soul or family unrest. And, that’s the kind of feeling that it takes, as we know, to cast something like the Death Curse. So I think the green relates to unsatisfaction, you know, unrest. But not necessarily Voldemort’s, because I don’t think – I would not compare Voldemort to Barty Crouch Jr. because I’m not going to try and make Voldemort innocent.
Kevin: Now I haven’t listened to Episode 33, but I always associate the green with venom. Like, you know, like poison.
Eric: Like Peter Parker’s arch rival?
[Kevin laughs]
Kevin: You know. I don’t know. I just always associate – sort of like death, you know? Like that connection, but maybe it’s just me.
Eric: Uh – green means go, so go, get out of here, kid.
Laura: Yeah, that’s what I thought. I don’t really think that, like, the color of a spell, will change to relate to the person casting it.
Kevin: I always associated it with just the type of spell. You know? It was…
Eric: I think green also emphasizes…
Laura: Yeah, same
Eric: You know, green is Slytherin colors. Green is ewy. Green vegetables, you know, what the heck. It all comes down to the interpretation of green, and I think it’s very clever that it could, you know, mean this unrest and things like that. But, I think more along the lines of that, would be in The Great Gatsby, the main character sees this light across the dock, and it’s green, and it means, you know, home and hope or whatever it is. You know, I think that’s more along the lines of that. But I think the green in this curse, as you say, thinks of venom and other evil stuff.
Listener Rebuttal – Nearly Headless Nick
Andrew: To wrap up the Listener Rebuttal – this actually wasn’t sent in as an email from anyone. Well, it was sent in from a couple of people, but what happened last week is we had a couple of recording problems [coughs] Eric, and [Eric sighs] one thing that we did discuss was the reason why Nearly Headless Nick had indeed died. And we did get an explanation, but we had to cut it out because of some audio glitches. We apologize for the shorter show last week, but…
Eric: Cough Eric, cough Eric. How many times can we cough Eric?
Andrew: [laughs] At any rate – I only did once. What happened to Nearly Headless Nick, was actually revealed on JK [mispronounces] Rowling’s website when she published some of her original – what did she say exactly? It was cut out from Sorcerer’s Stone. The editors decided to get rid of it. And actually I said [mispronounces] Rowling again, didn’t I? I apologize [laughs]. I will never…
Eric: That’s okay, the editors decided to axe it, nearly, nearly, completely axe it.
Andrew: Well, they did. And that’s, that’s… It was nearly lost [Fake laugh]. Okay so…
Kevin: Oh, that was hilarious.
Andrew: Okay, so, so anyway…
Laura: Oh, you’re so funny.
Andrew: So what happened? It’s basically a poem, but no one wants to sing it and/or read it. So, basically, what the summary was that Nick was walking through a park, and he runs into a woman named Lady Grieve, and then for some reason Nick had thought that straighten Lady Grieve’s teeth. So he attempted to, but I guess it was some sort of spell, but they turned into tusks, and… So then he says that he was put on the chopping block, and there was a delay in chopping his head off because the rock that they were using to sharpen the knife with or whatever it was too dull. So then the next morning they still used the blunt knife, and they had to hit Nick 45 times [laughs] until they eventually gave up, and as I quote, Nearly-Headless Nick says, and I quote, “They never saw fit to desert me” or, no, “The head never saw fit to desert him.” So…
Eric: They used – the head never – yeah. That would kind of stink for the Lady Grieve getting, you know, getting tusks for teeth, but at least she has a place to hang her shoes.
Andrew: I really think that was one of the better little rhyme schemes that were in the books.
Kevin: Yeah but it was – it was somewhat…
Andrew: It just worked. It was humorous.
Kevin: It was good that they cut it because it was somewhat long, and irrelevant to the story. So…
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: There is a lot of singing and rhyme and all this stuff, as I did mention that, you know, Gringotts, and the Hogwarts song, and the Sorting Hat – it’s too much. It is.
Andrew: No, I think the Sorting Hat song has – I think the Sorting Hat song has value, because he talks about…
Eric: No, that has specific relevance.
Andrew: Yeah, but the Hogwarts song, cut that out. At least, at least Nick’s song has a plot to it, or adds to the story – adds something, you know?
Kevin: I don’t know.
Eric: Well…
Andrew: It answers a question, what does the Hogwart’s song answer? They’re all goofy, and they all sit there and sing a song, school song. Who sings school songs anymore? Seriously.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: I know, really, it’s not like [sings] Eulenburg, yay!
Andrew: I’m just getting angry now. [laughs] Does it matter? Ah, that’s funny though.
Jamie: Actually, Andrew, I just had a thought. The Hogwarts song… The only thing I’m thinking about that they could show is that the Weasleys sang it to a funeral march, remember that, maybe?
Eric: Which was cool.
Jamie: No, no, no, it’s cool, but a funeral march. Perhaps it’s a foreshadowing something?
Andrew: Hmmm.
Jamie: Bad things happening to the Weasleys?
[Eric laughs]
Chapter-By-Chapter: Chapter 8, Sorcerer’s Stone
Andrew: So that wraps up this week’s listener rebuttals. Now moving on to chapter-by-chapter, Chapter 8 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, “The Potions Master.” We’re only doing one chapter this week, because these shows have been getting a little too long, and we can’t fit in all the stuff that we do want to talk about.
Chapter 8 – The Potions Master
Eric: This chapter is devoted to Snape. Or, at least, the name of it is devoted to Professor Snape, which we learn somewhat a bit about. In the previous chapter, we just learn that he was this guy who looked at Harry through Quirrell’s turban, and his scar started hurting. So, anyway. The chapter starts in the morning. I believe it’s the next day, or something like that. It’s describing an overview of how life is at Hogwarts. I’m thinking the first thing is that it’s telling you all about the structure of Hogwarts. Well, first of all, it talks a little bit about gossip. A little bit about, you know, how Harry Potter is getting some interest, and everybody is like, you know, he’s finally at school, and now they’re poking at his scar. Well, not poking it, but they’re looking at it.
[Andrew and Jamie laugh]
Eric: But then it goes into – then it goes into the life at Hogwarts. So, let me just – let me just quote this. “There are one hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts. Wide sweeping ones, narrow rickety ones, some that led somewhere different on Friday, some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn’t open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place.” Kitchens, cough. “And doors that weren’t really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending.” Okay. One of the things I want to point out is that JK establishes so much in this one chapter that relates to future books. Including the tickling. Like, pictures that you had to tickle to get into places, and that’s just – that we didn’t even see that for another three years, but she mentioned it there.
Laura: Not to mention… Well, she talked about doors that would pretend – or, walls that would pretend to be doors, and that’s a little bit of Room of Requirement foreshadowing, except it was really a door pretending to be a wall. But, you know, you get that in there.
Jamie: Go back to the title, which is “The Potions Master,” so it’s completely dedicated to Snape. So we have an entire chapter in the first book dedicated to Snape, and then the entire sixth book, is, you know, its title is completely dedicated to Snape. So, do you think there’s going to be something in the seventh book that kind of shows that those two were foreshadowing us on something massive that’s going to be revealed about Snape?
Eric: Doesn’t Snape have a chapter in every book devoted to him, like “Snape’s Grudge” and…
Jamie: Really?
Eric: …things like that?
Jamie: Oh! Oh, oh, oh. Development
Eric: I mean, isn’t there? I don’t know, is there a Snape-prominent chapter?
Laura: It seems like there was.
Eric: There should be a Snape-prominent chapter in every book, that’d be interesting.
Kevin: Everyone’s opening their books now.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: So in Book 5 it was at least “Snape’s Grudge.” In Book 6, it was like the whole thing.
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: What about 3 and 4 and 2? 2, 3 and 4?
Kevin: Here, let me see.
Laura: I think “Snape’s Grudge” was Book 3.
Eric: Oh, okay, so “Snape’s Grudge” would be Book 3. Yeah, I’m sorry. This is a stunning discovery, Jamie.
Andrew: Yeah, it is, and we’ll look into it further when we have more time to look in the books.
Filch and Quirrell
Andrew: Well, moving on to other things, one person that we really learn about in the beginning of this chapter is Argus Filch, when he runs into Harry and Ron. And, it goes: “Filch found them trying to force their way through the door that, unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor. He wouldn’t believe they were lost, was sure they were trying to break into it on purpose, and was threatening to lock them in the dungeons, when they were rescued by Professor Quirrell, who was passing.” So, immediately you see here that Filch is this – this complete jerk, who just assumes the worst, and just gets them into trouble.
Jamie: Yeah, exactly.
Laura: Yeah, and we see that Professor Quirrell was conveniently passing by the third floor corridor.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: But we do learn about Filch also a little after. Hagrid’s talking about him in the cabin at the end of the chapter, and he says that Filch sets Miss Norris on him every time he’s up at the castle to spy on him.
Jamie and Laura: Yes.
Eric: So, that’s more about Filch right there.
Laura: Clearly, Filch doesn’t trust him because he thinks that he was responsible for the Chamber of Secrets thing. So, he doesn’t trust him to walk around the castle.
Jamie: How long has Filch been there, do you think?
Laura: I don’t know, but I would think that he would probably know why Hagrid had been expelled…
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: …or why he was still there.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Actually, when why were talking about, just back to the first paragraph again – sorry, like the fifth paragraph, but, “There were one hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts.” Now, this mentions that some of them led somewhere different on Friday, but I actually don’t think anywhere in the books it mentions the turning staircases, like the rotating, actual staircases that are in the Hogwarts movies. I think that was completely a plot device added to the movies to make them get to the third floor corridor without doing the midnight duel.
Jamie: Yeah, it could be. Yeah.
Eric: Because in the movies, you see – you guys know what I’m talking about?
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Because that’s not in the books at all, is it? I mean, the actual turning staircases. So that’s like really cool…
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: …because every new movie trailer, it’s like, “There’s something weird at Hogwarts,” and then it goes down the staircases as they’re turning mischievously. But, that’s really cool.
Andrew: Yeah. [mocking Eric] Oh my god, the stairs are moving! That is so weird, I didn’t read that in the books! What is WB doing? They’re ruining everything!
[Everyone laughs]
Hogwarts = Boring?
Andrew: Ah, calm down. All right, so, right after Filch, Jo goes off onto this tangent about how Hogwarts is just plain old – kids fifteen and under turn your volumes down – plain old sucks.
Laura: I don’t think that was what she meant. I think she meant it was overwhelming.
Andrew: Did you read this? Read this, right now.
Eric: “Harry found that he would rather have been back at the Dursleys, getting pounded to shrimp by Dudley.” Oh, I see it now. I see.
Andrew: Yeah, okay? There was a lot more to magic, as Harry quickly found out.
[Laura giggles]
Andrew: “They had to study the night skies through a telescope every Wednesday at midnight, and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. Three times a week they went up to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout…”
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: “…where they learned how to take care of the strange plants and fungi, and they found out what the were used for. Easily the most boring class was History of Magic.” That’s the way I get it.
Kevin: Yeah, but you have to remember…
Eric: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait.
Kevin: Hold on.
Eric: This is just setting up the story. It’s a …
Kevin: You have to remember, it’s going from the – it’s coming from the view…
Laura: Yeah.
Kevin: …of someone who has just started school.
Laura: It’s overwhelming. I don’t think it was meant to be sucky.
Kevin: Go up to anyone who has just started school…
Andrew: I know, that…
Kevin: I’ll ask you, at the beginning of next year, how you like school, and what you’re going to tell me is, it’s horrible…
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: …you’ve got to work, there’s crappy, you know, teachers, they don’t teach you anything, every thing’s hard, you have to do all this work, there’s no end to it, you know? It’s just, you know, it’s written from Harry’s view point. And at that time in the story it was probably horrible because it’s brand new, and, you know, it’s school.
Jamie: Mhm.
Laura: Not to mention, I think Jo is probably trying to set her magical world apart from anyone else’s, because when you think of a children’s book about wizards, most people are going to automatically think of a bunch of kids sitting around, waving sticks and yelling “Hocus pocus!”
Kevin: Yep.
Jamie: Yeah. Yeah, that’s true.
Laura: So she’s definitely trying to make it different.
Eric: Exactly. She had to establish that it was a true boarding school point and we’ve talked about this, too – how in the movies the classroom scenes are what, you know, fans like to relate to and stuff and compare it to classes. So JKR is simply introducing the class structure through which she would be using, you know, in every plot, you know, of every book. Like how they had classes certain, days of the week which is cool because American schools aren’t all like that – mine isn’t. And she introduces other things like Herbology and Professor Sprout, which we don’t find out about until next book and things like Astronomy. Now it says, “They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight…” So since Year One, Harry’s been taking Astronomy and we did not see the Astronomy tower being used for Astronomy class until he took his OWLs in like, Book 5 or something.
Laura: Book 5. During the OWLs.
Eric: Yeah. But that just shows how long JKR can go without – you know, she introduced it and told us it was there and that there is Astronomy and she mentions it a hundred times later, but we never actually saw it until books later.
Kevin: Yeah.
Eric: So she’s just, she’s establishing this stuff to get it down into writing so she can write about it later.
Andrew: I guess. But I don’t know. It just comes off to me like she’s trying to make it look like it sucks. Because yeah – because Harry’s a new student and he doesn’t expect much of it.
Kevin: Yeah. I think it’s just…
[Laura laughs]
Kevin: I think it’s just, you know, it’s just a new student’s perspective. Not every kid is going to like school the first couple…
Andrew: No I – not at all. I love school, too.
Laura: I think you just have a vendetta against school, Andrew.
Andrew: Laura, you’re home-schooled.
Laura: I mean, I don’t know why. I mean, god, I love school.
More On Filch and Quirrell
Eric: [laughs] All right, all right. Something else JKR established is the Marauder’s Map, kind of. If you look on page 133.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: What? No guys, well she at least – okay. When she’s talking about Filch she says, “Filch knew the secret passageways…”
Jamie: 133?
Kevin: “…better than anyone (except the Weasley…)”
Eric: “(…except perhaps the Weasley twins)…” It’s like this thing out there that’s like – it’s just so cool because right now she’s telling us that the Weasley twins could give Filch a run for his money with the knowledge of Hogwarts passageways, and we don’t know why we think that’s funny. We think, “Oh they’re pranksters so that would make sense,” and then we move on. But here it is in writing, books before it happens. The magic of JKR. They go to Transfiguration and then Defense Against the Dark Arts, except they’re kind of a joke, which isn’t surprising. And then it just says…
Laura: Which there is when we first see Professor Quirrell’s turban.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Yes.
Laura: And he can’t explain how he got it from an Arabian – excuse me – from an African prince.
Jamie: “But they weren’t sure they believed this story.”
Laura: Yeah.
Jamie: There you go.
Eric: Which kind of reminded me of Lockhart.
Laura: And it smells funny. I thought that was weird.
Jamie: No, no it says, “His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but they weren’t sure they believed this story.” That’s what it says.
Eric: When Seamus…
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: Yeah.
Jamie: Yeah, yeah.
Laura: And then I think it was like, Seamus asked him, and he couldn’t explain it.
Andrew: And then the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic, as well, so that Quirrell was protected [laughs] wherever he went.
Potions and Professor Snape
Eric: Then it’s time for double Potions with the Slytherins.
Kevin: He added some effect to that.
Eric: Uh-oh.
Andrew: O-M-G.
Laura: Gasp.
Eric: Okay, here’s an interesting thing – the description of Snape.
Kevin: Dun, dun, dun.
Eric: Ooh the description of Snape.
Jamie: No, no, wait, before you go there, you’ve missed something. Hey – sorry, I was just going to say, it’s just there’s a bit on pg. 101 in the British version, Eric…
[Kevin laughs]
Jamie: …can you translate that?
Eric: About Hagrid’s letter?
Jamie: Yes about when it says, “At the start-of-term banquet…” No it says, “At the start-of-term banquet, Harry had gotten the idea that Professor Snape disliked him. By the end of the first Potions lesson, he knew he’d been wrong. Snape didn’t dislike Harry – he hated him.”
Eric: Oh yeah.
Jamie: Now, that isn’t true. So, well you know, it isn’t really true. He doesn’t actually hate him. He dislikes him because of his father. So I think that just shows that people – characters can be wrong. Harry’s completely wrong there.
Eric: I don’t know. Actually it’s pg. 136 in the US edition, 101 in the UK, 136. “Snape didn’t dislike Harry, he hated him.” Well, I don’t know. If you think about it, there’s a lot of – Harry later asks Hagrid why specifically he hates him and Hagrid chooses not to answer it.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: And it seems like a lot of focus is brought on to Harry. It’s not like, I don’t know, I think Harry would be able to distinguish between hating Harry and hating something about him. Like I mean, Snape is genuinely picking on Harry.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Not like picking on his father or saying anything like that. He’s picking on Harry and his moral character by saying that he’s a celebrity and that, you know, he’s arrogant. Snape calls Harry arrogant.
Jamie: Does hate – hatred’s a very, very strong emotion. Like the way he speaks about Harry, it just sounds like he doesn’t like him. He thinks he’s arrogant so he wants to get something back on him, but hatred – it doesn’t sound like he hates him. If you hated somebody, do you really want anything at all to do with them? Wouldn’t you rather just never see them again?
Eric: That’s a good point and I think – I think you’re right. The arrogance does stem from, obviously, James’ arrogance, you know, he has a good reason to believe Harry’s would be…
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: I know what you mean. Well, hated is also, I guess, used lightly here like, you know, what else could go wrong for Harry and kind of in Harry’s mind there’s this teacher who just really just doesn’t even…
Jamie: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: …and I think it was used for emphasis, you know, comparison like, “Oh he didn’t just dislike him.”
Jamie: In the American version is the word “hated” in italics?
Eric: Yes.
Jamie: Is it in italics – the word “hated”?
Eric: Uh-huh.
Jamie: Yeah, okay. Fine, yeah. Just wondering.
Eric: Cool.
Jamie: After that it says, “They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.” The dark tunnel to the Department of Mysteries?
Eric: Actually I think of dark tunnels, I think of the Chamber of Secrets, but yeah.
Jamie: But I just thought – you know, the Occlumency.
Eric: Oh yeah, dark tunnels is a brilliant thing but I mean, then at first she says, well, it says, it’s pg. 136. Andrew, it says, “Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid’s, but they had none of Hagrid’s warmth.” So that’s an interesting – like, “They were black like Hagrid’s…”
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: …which tells us that Hagrid – but I don’t even know why she’s making that comparison. She, you know, “…but they had none of Hagrid’s warmth.” I guess she’s just using that to contrast.
Laura: I just sort of thought that it was a way to kind of describe Snape’s personality without going into too much detail. I mean, I think it’s – I think it’s really kind of a brilliant deduction to, you know, draw the Occlumency and the Department of Mysteries and the Chamber of Secrets though.
Andrew: So then we get into the Potions class and oh it’s just – this just goes terrible for Harry. Of course, Snape right off the bat has absolutely – is just rippin’ on poor Harry. Starts asking him a bunch of questions about little facts. Of course he doesn’t know. Well, Hermione does but…
Jamie: What about the actual things? I mean, the bezoar was important in Book 6 when he had to save Ron and the wolfsbane, you know, saved – well it helped Lupin in Book 3. What about monkshood, asphodel and wormwood?
Kevin: The fact that we haven’t seen some of the herbs that are mentioned in Snape’s class?
Jamie: Well, we’ve seen some of them…
Kevin: Well, we’ve seen some of them and the fact that we haven’t seen all of them may be foreshadowing that we will see all of them.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: So Snape continues to pick – Snape continues to pick on him.
Kevin: It really did help establish his character in the sense that – especially this small little paragraph. He said – I believe Neville spilt something and he said, “Idiot boy!” and then wiped it away with just the sweep of his hand. He sort of made like a huge, huge deal about it and then he simply just waved his hand and it was gone. So it was sort of like, slapping the kids in the face in the sense that, you know, he was yelling at them – screaming at them – and it was very easy to handle. It’s not as though, you know, they broke a priceless…
Jamie: Statue. Yeah. Also, also to do with that – he only took one point off Harry then, and then one more point after…
Kevin: Right.
Jamie: …after Neville’s cauldron broke – burned down. But you know, as we get further into the books, he starts taking ten, then 20, then threatens to take 50 points off him. I don’t know if that just means that he’s turning meaner or something, but there could be something there.
Kevin: Either that or he’s assuming that they’re knowing more and…
Jamie: Yeah, yeah. Or that.
Hagrid’s Hut
Andrew: So they leave the class, then it’s time to accept Hagrid’s invite and head down to Hagrid’s hut. I think this is the first time that Harry and Ron are both going into the hut, right?
Jamie: Yep.
Laura: Yep.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: So they try to get in and we first see Fang. Well, we hear Hagrid trying to get Fang out of the way, and they go in and they see all of this stuff in Hagrid’s hut, “Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with the patchwork quilt over it.” Then Harry spots the latest issue of the Daily Prophet where – actually no, it was the cutting from the Daily Prophet.
Kevin: And it’s somewhat important that they did say cutting because it had direct relevance to the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Andrew: Yeah, but why would he save the article specifically? That’s what I’d don’t get.
Kevin: I don’t know.
Jamie: Just because…
Kevin: I think it was just her subtle way of pointing out that he was paying attention to it.
Laura: I don’t know if there is any specific reason.
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: It’s a good plot point.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Kevin: So a reader would see cutting and say, “Oooo, Hagrid has taken attention to it.”
Jamie: Sorry.
Andrew: It’s funny we spot all this stuff. Why aren’t we noticing this in Book 6? It’s just going to aggravate me when we read Book 7 and then all of a sudden…
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: …”Oh, it was right there in front of us.” I mean this only gives away what’s later in the books.
Kevin: Yeah, but still I mean…
Andrew: It’s nothing huge but…
Kevin: I know, it is. Yeah.
Andrew: It’s keeping us trained. [laughs] Well, Harry calls it out. He saying, “What’s happened? This was the same day we went to Gringotts.” And like you said, Kevin, “Oh it’s nothing.”
Kevin: Of course, that’s the worst thing you can tell a curious teenager.
Andrew: Now we are all set up for the rest of Book 7 – or Book 1, sorry.
The Sorcerer’s Stone
Jamie: One last thing. Where it says, “Had that been what the thieves were looking for. ” This is going to be a real long-shot, but obviously Harry doesn’t know how many people broke into Gringotts to try and steal the thing, but should we assume that it was Quirrell who broke in or was it Quirrell who had Voldemort on his head at the time who broke in?
Andrew: Yeah, I was wondering that too.
Laura: I don’t think it was Quirrell that had Voldemort because when Harry met him…
Jamie: Oh yeah.
Laura: …at the Leaky Cauldron, there was absolutely no mention of a turban.
Andrew: Wait, at the forums? I didn’t know they had computers.
Jamie: What?
Andrew: I’m sorry.
Laura: [laughs] No.
Andrew: I thought it was funny.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Jamie: No, it isn’t.
Andrew: All right…
Laura: Yeah, not really.
Andrew: Sorry.
Laura: But okay, you tried. [laughs]
Andrew: So, what are you saying? That Voldemort was with him?
Laura: No, I don’t think he was. I think that he had direction from Voldemort, but I don’t think Voldemort was, at that time, attached to his head.
Andrew: Now, did Hagrid have – this might have been what you were going to ask – how did Hagrid or Dumbledore know this was going to happen? Like, was this good timing?
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Was it just coincidence or did they get a little tip that this could be happening?
Jamie: Perhaps it shows that there’s somebody on the inside that sort of told Quirrell – oh no of course, that’s what it is.
Andrew: Snape?
Jamie: No, no, it’s Quirrell – it’s Quirrell. Like, perhaps Dumbledore had told the teachers that he’d be emptying it on a certain day and then they emptied it and then Quirrell broke in after – later on that day to try and get out but it had already been taken.
Andrew: Too late?
Jamie: Yeah, just too late.
Andrew: Yeah, but why would he tell them?
Jamie: Because he’s trusting.
Laura: Well, because the teachers were involved…
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: …with making all the obstacles to block it.
Jamie: Yeah, it could be.
Laura: It could have been just good timing.
Jamie: How do you think Voldemort asked Quirrell if he could stick out the back of his head?
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: Because it isn’t something you bring up over dinner.
Andrew: Maybe he realized…
Laura: He probably didn’t ask him. He probably just did it.
Jamie: Yeah, but I’d love so much if somebody said to me, “Right, don’t argue, I’m going to stick out the back of your head.”
Andrew: , did Quirrell have any hair before that then? Or was Voldemort like, “Shave it!”
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: Yeah, he was like, “Please, it would be really itchy if I have to sit in that mat of long hair. I fancy add some color as well, and a protein pack and then I’ll be really comfortable.”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, that must have been awkward. “Hey, can I live in the back of your head?”
Jamie: Yeah, exactly.
Andrew: “Shave all you hair, too.” Weird, Voldemort. You’re weird.
Jamie: He is weird, completely weird.
Andrew: He’s a perv.
Jamie: He is, coming out of the back of his head.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Chosen his ass.
Kevin: He could have chosen worse places guys.
Jamie: He could.
Andrew: Like seriously, no, but why the head?
Laura: Because it’s probably the easiest place to cover up that’s not…
Kevin: No, the stomach.
Laura: Gross.
Andrew: No it’s not. [laughs] The stomach?
Laura: Would you want to live on someone’s stomach?
Andrew: Do you want to live on someone’s head?
Laura: I’d rather live there. [laughs]
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: I think, make it more discreet. How much work does it take to pull that turban off his head?
Jamie: Exactly.
Laura: Yeah, but wouldn’t anyone notice if he had a face-shaped bulge under his shirt or robes or something?
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: I guess so. You just wear a lot of heavy clothing. All right, so that wraps up this weeks Chapter-by-Chapter. Who knows, maybe we’ll open some new theories on why on earth Voldemort is on Quirrell’s head.
Jamie: Yeah, there are so many other places.
Andrew: All right, next week we will be reading Chapter 9. Probably not Chapter 10, probably just Chapter 9. I’m looking at in now, looks pretty long. One chapter a week seems the way to do it.
Voicemail – Dreams
Andrew: Moving along it’s time for the general voicemail questions this week. The first one comes from Ashley for Ontario, Canada.
[Audio]: Hi Mugglecast. This is Ashley from Ontario, Canada. In Episode 33, you mentioned some foreshadowing about Quirrell being associated with Voldemort when Harry has the dream at the end of Chapter 7. I was wondering what you think about the flash of light that Harry also sees. Could this be foreshadowing too? Malfoy turns to look at Snape and then Harry sees the green light. Do you think this could be foreshadowing to either A) Snape killing Draco or B) Draco being murdered by Voldemort in Book 7 since, as we know from later on, Quirrell is associated with Voldemort? Thanks guys. Can’t wait to hear what you have to say. I love your show!
Laura: I don’t think so. I think Harry is merely associating the green light from the Avada Kedavra curse with Snape because right now he assumes that Snape is evil and he thinks Snape has something to do with what’s going on. At least because he knows Snape hates him.
Andrew: I remember reading somewhere once with dreams, you’re just mixing all your thoughts together.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Whether we put that into a show or I remember hearing that recently.
Laura: I think it was really just to show Harry’s anxiety about being in this, just really strange world.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah. Although, haven’t there been dreams in the books where it’s sort of foreshadowed stuff?
Laura: Yeah, there have, but I don’t think that it’s reasonable to assume that every dream Harry has is foreshadowing something.
Andrew: Well, yeah, I’m just saying that it’s not like this always happens, sort of thing.
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: All right, next voicemail.
Voicemail – The Elixir Of Life?
[Audio]: Hi MuggleCast, this is Lara from North Carolina, US and I was wondering in Chapter 8 on page 137, US edition, Snape tells the class that he can even put a stopper in death with his potions. Do you think that has something to do with Voldemort and his Horcruxes? Thanks! I love your show! Bye!
Jamie: No, because I don’t think it’s a potion. You can’t call what happens when you create a Horcrux a potion. But, it’s interesting, a stopper in death? You don’t think that could be the Elixir of Life?
Andrew: Is the Elixir of Life a potion?
Jamie: Well, it’s a drink. And you have to keep drinking it.
Andrew: So it could be. Yeah, it could be a potion.
Jamie: He could mean that. He could mean that.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Well, a stopper in death. As you now know, I was thinking about Snape’s protection on the stone at the end, but I don’t know if that really fits.
Laura: I agree with you guys.
Voicemail – The Necklace
[Audio]: Hi, MuggleCast. This is Julia Black from Cambridge, Illinois, and I noticed something while rereading the series this week with my friend. And I could be crazy that no one’s noticed this before, but I didn’t see it on the little things at MuggleNet and I just wanted to say that in Chapter 4 of the Chamber of Secrets on pg. 52, it says “Do not touch. Cursed. Has claimed the lives of 19 Muggle owners to date” when Harry sees a magnificent necklace of opals that Draco’s looking at. And then Draco asks for it. Is it just me or could this be the necklace that’s cursed that’s mentioned in the chapter in Half-Blood Prince? Just a thought!
Laura: I don’t think so.
Andrew: I don’t really remember a necklace. Do you, Laura?
Laura: I think the necklace that was mentioned was the one that was in Grimmauld Place.
Kevin: No, I think that was the locket they’re referring to, Laura.
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: I’m confused.
Kevin: Well, the voicemail somewhat broke up at the end. I believe what they’re referring to is – wasn’t it Katie who got the necklace?
Jamie: Yeah. Got something from the necklace
Andrew: Yeah, yeah.
Laura: Oh, okay!
Kevin: Well, in Half-Blood Prince, it says, “He crouched down. An ornate opal necklace was visible poking out of the paper.”
Jamie: Exactly the same words, yeah. I think there’s no doubt that it is the same one.
Laura: Well then, yeah.
Kevin: Yeah. Yeah, I think. And it would make sense because Draco saw it in the shop.
Jamie: Yeah. What did, what did Hermione offer to buy in Half-Blood Prince that cost one-and-a-half thousand Galleons? Was that – was that a necklace?
Kevin: Oh, it was a necklace as well, but I’m not sure it was the same necklace. Here, let me find it: “Hermione strolled through the jumble of objects on display. ‘Is this necklace for sale?’ she said, pausing behind the glass-fronted case.”
Jamie: Yeah, it had to be the same one.
Kevin: “‘If you’ve got one-and-a-half thousand galleons.'”
Jamie: I think that when – what’s his name? Borgin frowns and says, “If you have one-and-a-half thousand galleons.” He was just annoyed that Hermione, who clearly couldn’t afford one-and-a-half thousand galleons was asking, but it could be because he was holding it for Malfoy. And he was thinking, you know, if someone can out-bid Malfoy, he can have it. Or it’s just an ironic comment or something.
Kevin: Oh yeah, absolutely. Not to mention, I don’t think Malfoy purchased it. I think that Voldemort told, yeah. So definitely, I think without a doubt that it’s the same necklace.
Jamie: Yeah. I agree.
Laura: Mhm.
Kevin: I mean, maybe you could speculate that it wasn’t, but…
Laura: Well, it’s the same wording. So…
Jamie: Yeah, the same wording. Because I thought in Chamber of Secrets when they talked about the necklace, they were offering it as a kind of, you know, interesting thing about the shop. But I guess it really was a foreshadowing thing for Half-Blood Prince.
Andrew: Why was Draco interested in it in Chamber of Secrets, though? Was he already into that?
Jamie: Ah! Didn’t think about that. I don’t know.
Andrew: Is it – or was that just his personality, like, he finds things like that cool, and then he remembered it in Book 6?
Laura: I think that something that killed 19 Muggles would greatly appeal to him.
Andrew: Right.
Jamie: Don’t forget, he was interesting – he was interested in the necklace and he was interested in the Hand of Glory, and both feature prominently in Half-Blood Prince. He used the Hand of Glory to get around Fred and George’s nighttime stuff, you know, Peruvian Blackness stuff.
Laura: That – yeah.
Jamie: And he used the necklace to hurt Katie. So it could have just – you know, it could have just been foreshadowing, and perhaps he was, by that point, thinking about joining Voldemort. So he had the two objects. So I don’t know, something like that. But it was clearly for – er, foreshadowing.
Kevin: It’s funny how she drew from the first book to, you know – she drew that object from the first book to put in the sixth. So, I wonder how many objects we’ve missed in the first or – you know, the first books, that she hasn’t mentioned.
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: Probably loads. [laughs]
Kevin: Yeah. We could probably deduce what she – yeah. We could probably deduce what she intends to put in Book 7 based on the…
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: …objects that she…
Jamie: Yeah, definitely.
Kevin: …hasn’t already mentioned.
Voicemail Requests
Andrew: That wraps up this week’s voicemails. You know, guys, I – Kevin, you’ve been telling me this, and I’m starting to get a little worried. We’ve been a little short on voicemails lately.
Kevin: We have. I think I had maybe 20 in the box? Although I did have people calling me as I was getting the voicemails.
[Andrew laughs]
Kevin: So, you know, that’s a good sign. But I don’t know. Maybe it’s my Skype, or…
Andrew: No, I don’t think – I think it’s them! [laughs] Don’t forget, everyone…
Kevin: I think it’s shyness.
Andrew: What’s the number? One, two-one-eight? Don’t forget – [laughs] I forget the number.
[Kevin laughs]
Andrew: That’s probably what it is, people forget what the heck the number is. Don’t forget everyone, you can still call the MuggleCast voicemail quote, unquote “hotline” so you can put your very on question on the show. You don’t need a microphone, you don’t need to email us like we used to require.
Kevin: You mean dark ages.
Andrew: You just call 1-218-MAGIC (62442), and then you can hear a little message from me, and then record your question and Kevin Steck will go through them early in the week and pick some of the best ones out to air on the show.
Kevin: Yeah, so if you suck up to me…
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: Don’t listen to him.
Kevin: …you’re more likely to get your voicemail on the show. [laughs]
Andrew: Right, and then you can also send in your voice comments that appear at the end of the show every week. Well, almost every week.
[Laura sighs]
Andrew: All right, now it’s time for our second of, hopefully what will be many, editorial segments.
Editorial Segment – Katie and Sara
Laura: Hi everyone! Welcome back to our editorial segment. This week we’re joined by MuggleNet editors Katie Knish and Sara Greer. Hi guys! Thanks for joining us!
Katie: Hi!
Sara: Hey!
Laura: Okay, so first of, why don’t you two start with a little bit of background information about yourselves? Katie?
Katie: Well, my name’s Katie and I’m a junior in high school, and I’m from LaPorte, Indiana. And I got the job after I applied in July and they picked me. Go, Sara!
Sara: [laughs] Well, my name is Sara, and I am one of the older editors. I’m from Biloxi, Mississippi. I’ve been with the site for about a year and a half and love every minute of it! So…
Micah: Okay. I guess the first question for you guys would be, are there specific featured editorial segments that you guys are responsible for, or do you just handle the – like, general editorials that get posted up?
Katie: I handle – [laughs] I handle mainly the general editorials. I help with that. And I’m sort of unofficially in charge of Madam Puddifoot’s, the shipping thing.
Laura: Yeah, speaking of Madam Puddifoot’s, [pronounces it pudee-foots] Puddifoot’s, however you say it – what would you say are some of the most out-there editorials you’ve gotten about a certain ship?
Katie: Oh… oh! Sara, do you remember the – the Ron one that we had to have a rebuttal for?
Sara: I remember the backlash, yeah. [laughs] Basically, that – basically that Ron, Ron was showing signs of – he would, you know, he was going to be an abusive partner for Hermione, because he was jealous and very outgoing.
Katie: Yeah. They cited – they cited “Dear Abby.”
Laura: Wow! [laughs]
Katie: So [laughs] it wasn’t exactly the most credible…
[Katie and Sara laugh]
Laura: So – so nothing like Dobby/Giant Squid, right?
Katie: Ugh. We don’t – we tend to – we limit it to the human ships.
Sara: [laughs] Yeah.
Katie: That’s where we draw the line.
Micah: So Sara [laughs], what about you in terms of featured sections?
Sara: Well, I’m in charge of The U-Bend, which is our funny – our two funny guys, Andrew and Robert. And lately I’ve been helping Sharon, one of our other editors, with Robbie Fischer’s Magic Quill and The Book Trolley, the book recommendations. So, on top of…
Micah: The Magic Quill had been around for a while, hasn’t it?
Sara: Yeah, it’s one of our oldest. It’s a fan fiction column, and it’s just – he’s great at it. He’s great at writing whatever we need him to write. [laughs] But that’s basically his entire idea, so…
Micah: Okay and, now, do you decide what goes up on the site based upon the content of it, or does it have to be well-written? Like, does anything that’s well-written – is that going to get put up versus something that may be, might have some questionable content?
Sara: Basically, it’s helps if it’s well-written, but that’s not – you know, we’re looking for things that haven’t been discussed. We get so many editorials on the same topic and there’s only so many ways you can discuss one thing. So we look for new ideas – or we hope, you know, to get new ideas. But lately it’s been Horcruxes and Dumbledore and Snape and R.A.B. So…
Micah: Now, do you have to personally agree with what goes up?
Katie: No, no, of course not.
Sara: Nope.
Katie: If – if that were the case, we probably wouldn’t have posted the Ron is a batterer editorial.
Sara: Right. We try to stay as minded as possible, just because there are so many different ideas out there. We don’t want to stifle anybody’s ideas because who knows who is going to be right in the end?
Laura: So just out of curiosity, how many editorials would you say you get per day or per week?
Sara: In the heyday – what I like to call our heyday [laughs], which was in between Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince, we were getting anywhere from 50 to 100 per day, you know. And lately it’s dropped off because it seems like so many things had been answered in Half-Blood Prince. So I would say now, probably 20 per day, 30 per day.
Laura: Wow, that’s still a lot.
Katie: Mmmm.
Laura: Out of all those submissions, what percentage would you say actually make it onto the site?
Sara: Katie? [laughs] Right now…
Katie: A small, small percentage.
Sara: Yeah, because like I said, there are still – a lot of them are basically on the same – the same topics. So…
Katie: Some of them are just bad, to be completely frank, some of them are just terrible.
Sara: We don’t want to discourage anybody from writing for us, though. We love to get good and bad – it’s just [laughs] sometimes they are really bad and really shortsighted, or we’ve already posted something, you know, a few months back, and we don’t want to repeat all the time. So…
Micah: So what advice would you give to people that are looking to write editorials? Maybe some mistakes you’ve seen in the past that maybe people can correct? Because obviously, you know, as we get closer to Book 7 – and Movie 5, even – if people want to write about that, there’s going to be some that come up.
Sara: Katie?
Katie: I’m pulling up the page that we made…
[Sara laughs]
Katie: Sara made a Writing and Submitting Tips page that you guys should check out if you’re considering writing an editorial. The page mentions that grammar is important, and, as is spelling, and if you – you can – [sighs] I hate to say this, but you can probably be a bit more lax on the grammar and the spelling within the editorial. But please don’t have a spelling or grammar error in the subject of the e-mail.
[Sara laughs]
Katie: Because I’m probably not…
Sara: Yeah.
Katie: …going to read it if you do. Stay away from dead horses, like we’ve said before – Snape’s loyalty to Dumble…
Sara: I’m sorry for that phrase – dead horses, that’s actually terrible. I should – [laughs] I should rewrite that.
[Katie laughs]
Sara: [laughs] But it gets the point across, so…
Katie: And those are Snape’s loyalty to Dumbledore and whether or not Dumbledore’s dead, whether or not Harry’s a Horcrux, [sighs] and whether or not [laughs] Harry will die at the end of Book 7. Take your time writing, cite everything. Be sure your editorial is ready for publication before sending it in.
Sara: Yeah.
Katie: Don’t send us a revised copy, because then we have to go and find the one that you sent in the first time, and it’s just – it’s a big pain.
Sara: Our email – we have storage where we have kept as many editorials, you know, as we can, and it gets really confusing when people send, you know, “Oh, by the way, I made a few changes, here’s my editorial I sent you one, maybe two weeks ago.” And we have to go back and find that one and delete it so that we don’t confuse the two, and it’s really hard to keep up sometimes. So that would be very helpful if they’re positively sure that they’re ready to be, you know, posted on the site, if it was chosen.
Micah: Now you guys – you’re the editors, you have to have some favorite editorials. Maybe featured sections, maybe, you know, just regular individual ones that you post. Which ones have kind of stood out to you guys?
Katie: The favorite one that I’ve – my favorite that I’ve posted so far is Is Draco Malfoy A Werewolf?…
[Sara laughs]
Katie: …which I’m pretty sure was mentioned on MuggleCast a long time ago. But that was…
Micah: Yes it was!
Katie: Mhm.
Micah: I got shot down for that theory. That’s all right!
Katie: I posted that one. I enjoyed that one, and I’d say my favorite section is not The Burrow. [laughs]
[Micah laughs]
Sara: That one’s really tough, we have to come up with ideas, you know, and ugh… It’s – it’s tough.
Katie: But actually I think Spinner’s End, the newest one from Lady Lupin. That’s got to be my favorite column.
Sara: I’ve – I’ve had this one editorial that I’ve like for a long time. It was really – It didn’t get a lot of attention or really in the forums right when I posted it, but it’s called The Physics of Magic, by Matt Blackstone, I think it is. And he just gives a really – it’s a really commonsense explanation of the science behind magic, and I don’t know. I wish people would check that out. And it was posted in – I think in July or August, right before Half-Blood Prince came out. So, that’s one of my favorite editorials, and then of course I am really impartial to The U-Bend, just because it’s a different take on the series. They’re just really funny guys, and I’ve enjoyed working with them.
Micah: It’s much more light-hearted.
Sara: Yes, it is. They don’t get half as much credit as they should.
[Sara laughs]
Laura: Okay, we are going to do a Special Surprise Lightening Round, where we ask you two some of your opinions on some of the most popular theories, anything within the Harry Potter books. So, Micah, take it away!
Micah: All right, we need some music here at the beginning.
[Laura laughs]
Micah: So, first question. Harry, live or die? And Katie, you can go first.
Katie: Die.
Sara: Live. I say live.
[Laura laughs]
Laura: Favorite movie?
Katie: Goblet of Fire.
Sara: Goblet of Fire, definitely.
Micah: Snape, good or evil?
Katie: Good.
Sara: Evil.
Katie: Oh my god!
Sara: I’m sorry. I think he’s evil.
[Laura laughs]
Micah: I like this, I think we got a little…
Laura: What’s your favorite book?
Micah: Harry Potter book.
Katie: Goblet of Fire, Goblet of Fire.
Sara: I have to agree, Goblet of Fire.
Micah: And finally, Dumbledore, dead or alive?
Katie: Dead! So dead!
[Sara laughs]
Katie: Very dead.
Laura: [laughs] I love you! I love you! That’s awesome!
Sara: It’s the simplest answer. I agree, I think he’s dead, sadly.
Katie: And I mean… Even if it was – Even if Snape didn’t have the hatred to back up the AK, he fell off a tower!
[Everybody laughs]
Laura: Thank you, thank you! You support my theory, thank you!
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: All right, I’m going to go cry now.
Laura: All right, well, while Micah’s crying, I think we’re running out of time here. So Katie and Sara, thank you for joining us this week.
Sara: Thank you!
Katie: Thank you!
Laura: It was really great to have you. I think we all had a good time and you all did a great job. So hopefully we’ll have you back on some time!
Sara: That would be fun.
Laura: Awesome. And also to all prospective editorialists, if you have a great editorial, please e-mail either Micah, or myself laura at staff dot mugglenet dot com, or micah at staff dot mugglenet dot com. And you know, show us what you have, and maybe you can be on the show.
Micah: Yeah, we’re looking for people who have already done editorials, right?
Laura: Mhm.
Micah: That have already been posted on MuggleNet.
Laura: Yes.
Micah: And if you guys are interested in coming on the show, discussing your editorial, shoot us an e-mail and give us a link to the editorial and we’ll look it over and we’ll be in touch with you guys.
Laura: All right, bye everyone, we’ll see you next time!
[Sara laughs]
Katie: I love you all.
Jamie’s British Joke Of The Day
Andrew: Think you Laura and Micah. Now Jamie, it is time for another British Joke of the Day!
Jamie: There’s a boy, and he’s born with no torso and no limbs at all. Okay?
Kevin: Yeah.
Jamie: And he lives his life with his dad for 18 years. Then he turns 18 and his dad takes him down to a pub for his first drink. And he buys him a pint of beer and he drinks the pint of beer and his torso grows back. And his dad thinks this is unbelievable, “I’m going to have to buy him another drink.” He buys him one more pint of beer, he drinks it, and his arms grow back. By now the dad’s thinking it must be a miracle. So he buys him another pint of beer, and his legs grow back. The son is so, so happy that he runs right out of the pub, into the street and gets run over by a bus. His dad walks outside and says, “Oh no, he should have quit when he was ahead.”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Hey!
Laura: My driving instructor told me that one.
Show Close
Andrew [Show Close with music in background]: Next week on MuggleCast 35 we will have chapter-by-chapter discussion of Chapter 9 in Sorcerer’s Stone. And don’t forget to send in your voicemails, comments, questions, whatever you want to mugglecast at staff dot mugglenet dot com. Actually, send your voicemails to 1-218-20-MAGIC, just call, give it a call. We’re working on a British number. You know where we’re really popular? And I’m not even joking. Australia. We get emails all the time from Australia.
Kevin: Yeah, yeah we do. And I used to get a lot of voicemails.
Andrew: So we need an Australian number?
Kevin: Yes, we do. Definitely.
Andrew: Right, we’ll get an Australian number soon as we can. It’ll be 1-218-20…
Eric: Cranky Magic! Or kangaroo.
Kevin: It wouldn’t be 218 though.
Andrew: It’s a Horcrox! I can’t do it.
Eric: Horcrox!
Andrew: It’s a crock!
Eric: Oh, crock.
Andrew: It’s a Horcrock! All right with that, I’m Andrew Sims.
Eric: I’m Eric Scull.
Kevin: I’m Kevin Steck.
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.
Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence.
Andrew: And we’ll see everyone next week for Episode 35.
Eric: Ciao!
Andrew: And for two weeks only there’s a character in all of us and now you can share your unique character with the world, at ShowUsYourCharacter.com. Join now and begin uploading your videos, photos, and profile. You can share a hidden talent, show off your celebrity impersonations, or give the Show Us your Character community a glimpse into your life. Chat and interact with thousands of other members and get to know some of the characters of the United States. You’ve got what it takes to be a star. Enter the 2006 Show Us Your Character Contest to find out if you’re America’s most unique character and you can win a chance to be featured on the computer screen, the TV screen, and even the big screen. Enter now at ShowUsYourCharacter.com.
Comments
[Groovy music starts]
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[Groovy music Ends]
Blooper
Andrew: But yes, it’s going to be on one big screen…
Jamie: It’s going to be – no, seriously. It’s going to be like five meters by ten meters – it’s going to be huge.
Andrew: See, wait, we don’t do meters here!
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Yeah that’s like? Yeah, what is it? It’s like five meters by ten meters…
Andrew: We do inches!
Jamie: You do inches? What?
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Sorry, Jamie.
Jamie: Since you’re actually going to say… Well, I do inches as well…
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: But not for TVs.
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: Well actually no, it’s feet, it’s feet for that. Anyway…
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Wow!
Jamie: No, but seriously there’s no way. If a TV is that big, you don’t talk about inches, do you? If it’s like a massive one in Time Square, you don’t say ” Oh, it’s four thousand nine hundred sixty-five inches.”
Andrew: There’s not going to be a massive one in Times Square!
Jamie: Yes, there is! Don’t lie! We can tell them now
Andrew: All right, all right, it’s going to be a massive one in Times Square.
Eric: Actually, you know with Micah on The Today Show, he could hook us up with Times Square. Live from Vegas.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, there you go.
Jamie: There’s going to be a ten meter wide TV in every state, every country in the world…
Eric: And that way, Melissa Anelli, Melissa and John, they can all gather in Times Square, because they’re not, you know, and they can see us in Vegas having fun with all of our fans.
Jamie: Oooo!
Andrew: I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean, but anyway…
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Yeah, they are going to be there.
Eric: Oh well.
———————–
Written by: Micah, Ally, Kathleen, Martina, Rhiannon, Rohail, Roni, and Sarah