MuggleCast 72 Transcript
Show Intro
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[Intro music plays]
Andrew: Because www.myspace.com/mugglecastfans hit over 5,000 friends this week, this is MuggleCast Episode 72 for January 14th, 2007.
[Music continues to play]
Andrew: [imitating Borat] Jak sie masz! Welcome to another episode of MuggleCast. What did you guys think of my Borat impression?
Jamie: I thought it was lame.
Ben: It was terrible. Absolutely terrible.
Andrew: I just… You think so?
Ben: You’re just trying to win the fangirls over.
Andrew: No, I’m just…
[Laura laughs]
Ben: That was a desperate attempt to win the fangirls over.
Andrew: Well, Borat doesn’t really win fangirls, so I wasn’t really trying to go for that. What do you think, Jamie?
Jamie: [in Borat voice] It was nice.
Andrew: [in Borat voice] Is nice? You like?
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Jamie: [in Borat voice] I like. I like.
Andrew: It’s another week here on MuggleCast. We have more Deathly Hallows discussion, and…
Ben: I can’t wait.
Andrew: We have a very big announcement. I am extremely – actually, there’s two. One about some live podcasts that we’re doing, but there’s also a bigger one that I – we’re very proud of.
Jamie: Very proud.
Ben: Huge.
Jamie: And excited.
Andrew: Very proud.
Ben: It’s huge.
Jamie: Proud and excited.
Laura: It’s a MuggleCast exclusive.
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: Very exclusive. I mean, this is literally, literally way bigger than any other Harry Potter podcast.
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: What they’ve done.
Andrew: Yeah. Bigger than I expected it to be, actually.
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: Mhm.
Jamie: It’s huge. Huge.
Andrew: But my name… [imitating Borat] My name-a Borat – Andrew Sims.
Jamie: [imitating Borat] I sell my wife.
[Micah laughs]
Ben: My name is…
Jamie: Jamie Lawrence.
[Everyone laughs]
Ben: No, you’re not Jamie Lawrence. You’re not Jamie Lawrence until I’m Ben Schoen, okay?
[Everyone laughs]
Ben: I’m Ben Schoen.
Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence.
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.
Micah: And I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
[Music continues to play]
News
Micah: Micah Tan here with the past week’s top Harry Potter news stories.
Mary GrandPre, the artist who illustrated the US Harry Potter books, recently said in an interview that she has no details on Deathly Hallows, and has therefore not yet decided on a cover color. She also noted that Order of the Phoenix is her favorite cover.
Jason Isaacs, the actor who plays Lucius Malfoy, recently spoke about the closing scenes of the Order of the Phoenix movie, particularly the battle he shot alongside Gary Oldman. Furthermore, the actor caught up with Jo and appealed for her to include his character in Deathly Hallows. He said:
“I fell to my knees and begged. It didn’t do any good. I’m sure she doesn’t need plot ideas from me. But I made my point. We’ll see. Like everybody else, I’m holding my breath to July to see what’s in there. I just want to bust out of prison, that’s all. I don’t want to stay in Azkaban most of my life.”
Just a note: even though Jason did say July, there is no confirmation yet on a release date for Deathly Hallows.
Warner Brothers has integrated the Order of the Phoenix teaser trailer and poster into the existing Goblet of Fire layout on HarryPotter.com. A full refresh of the website will likely appear in the next few months when the movie’s release date draws closer.
The March 2007 issue of Toyfare magazine has several photos of the new Order of the Phoenix action figures, which are set to be released in March. Alongside the photos is a new interview with NECA’s Head of Product Development, where he talks about the new toys and discusses what’s ahead.
Warner Brothers has moved forward the release date of Order of the Phoenix in Spain to July 13th. According to HarryLatino.com, this decision was made in order to help prevent piracy. The original date was a week later on July 20th. This is the first time in Spain that a Potter film will be released on the same day as in the US and UK.
Wrapping up movie news, in a new interview, Order of the Phoenix director David Yates spoke about how, having produced politically charged films like The Girl In the Cafe, he was surprised when approached to direct Order of the Phoenix.
Yates, who had never read the Harry Potter books, said:
“It was interesting to get the call. I wouldn’t have put myself forward as an obvious candidate.”
However, after reading Order of the Phoenix, he realized the novel had strong political overtones. He went on to say:
“…it is probably the most emotional of all the books. As I read the book, suddenly, I tuned into the kind of thing I have always been drawn to.”
Last September, we told you that Bloomsbury, in celebration of their 21st birthday, would re-release 21 books, including Philosopher’s Stone. This new version of Book 1 is now available, and includes a short introduction by JK Rowling.
Finally, a recent survey indicated that 25% of independent bookstores may not stock the seventh Harry Potter book due to the fact that they cannot match the bargain prices of their larger competitors. According to one independent bookstore owner:
“Independent bookshops are being discriminated against and being offered a lower discount and are being cut out of the market.”
This makes it impossible for them to compete against companies like Amazon and supermarkets. Despite having to take a loss on sales, many other small shops still plan to stock the highly anticipated novel in order to maintain customer loyalty.
That’s all the news for this January 14th, 2007 edition of MuggleCast. Back to the show.
Andrew: All right, thank you, Micah.
Micah: For what?
Andrew: Uh, the news.
Micah: Oh.
Downloading Issues
Andrew: Just first of all, quick apology. MuggleCast 71 last week, I screwed up a bit. Some people downloaded the show, missed a…
Ben: They heard me drop the “F-Bomb.”
Andrew: Big part of it.
[Ben and Jamie laugh]
Andrew: And I left a curse word in accidentally, [laughs] so far only one person noticed. Hopefully we’re not going to get any more e-mails than that. But…
Ben: Here’s Andrew’s Listener Challenge: if you have that show, go back and find the curse word.
[Ben and Laura laugh]
Andrew: No, let’s not. Let’s delete it and re-download the version that is clean, thank you. So, just an apology for that. That was all my fault.
Jamie: It was.
Andrew: I don’t even know what I did, but it’s my fault somehow.
Jamie: You swore. That’s what you did.
[Andrew and Jamie laugh]
Andrew: Yeah.
Announcements
Andrew: We have a few announcements for everyone this week. We want to remind everyone to vote for us on Podcast Alley. We’re actually – let me check, I’m pretty sure we’re number one right now.
Ben: What does it take to be number one?
Andrew: A lot of fans. Yeah, we’re number one right now. We’re doing really good on Podcast Alley; beating Keith and The Girl, Free Talk Live, The Super Secret Backstage Show – whatever that is – Common Sense with Dan Carlin. I mean, the next Harry Potter podcast on that list is number six. [laughs] I mean, let’s be serious here.
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: Wow, they must be terrible.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. [laughing]
Ben: That’s a joke.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: What a joke.
Andrew: We also want to remind everyone that Digg.com has a great new Podcasting section, and we want to get up on the rankings there too. Because Digg.com is a big social book marking website where people submit cool sites and cool podcasts now, and we want to spread the word through Digg now. Because Digg’s a…
Ben: Through where?
Andrew: …mostly nerd site, but I’m sure there’s some Harry Potter fans in the mix somewhere. So, thanks for that. It’s just a quick Digg.
Upcoming Live Podcasts
Also we want to announce this week, we’ve been getting so many e-mails about it that it’s time that we… [thinking of word].
Ben: Clarify.
Andrew: Yeah, and reveal some details. We have plans to do quite a few podcasts next summer actually.
Ben: Probably 10 to 20.
Andrew: 10 to 20.
Ben: Maybe 30.
Jamie: Yeah.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: 10 to 20.
Ben: Depends.
Andrew: Yeah, and by…
Ben: If the spirit moves us or not.
Andrew: Yeah, right. [laughs] And the money moves us too.
Ben: Mhm.
Andrew: But…
Ben: So, buy your – oh, crap can’t do that.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] We’ve done four, five – how many? Four live podcasts now?
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: We’ve done four live podcasts now, and we have plans to do at least another four more next summer, spanning the globe. By globe I mean England and…
Jamie: The rest of the world.
Ben: China.
Andrew: The United States. Yeah.
Ben: And China.
Jamie: That’s normally what globe means.
Andrew: The first podcast we want to announce is Enlightening 2007 which is going to be July 13, the day of the US and UK release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. That is going to be in Philadelphia, the University of Penn, that is a big Harry Potter convention, we’re looking forward to that. So far it’s me, Ben, Jamie, Micah, you said you’re probably coming?
Micah: Yeah, the night of the podcast, I’ll be there.
Andrew: Okay, cool. And The Moaning Myrtles are going to be there, and also at the convention Ben, Jamie, and I will be doing a seminar on creating your own podcast. [in goofy voice] We are the professionals. [laughs] So it’s going to be a lot of fun. We’re not going to make it like some boring class, like, [weird voice] “Okay, open up your GarageBand and click on ‘Record.'” Well, we’re going to have some of that, but it’s going to be fun too. Also, a big one we’re going to be doing, Prophecy 2007. We’ve been getting so many questions about that, “Are you guys going to be at Prophecy? Are you going to be at Prophecy?” It was…
Ben: Of course.
Andrew: It’s by the same people who ran the Lumos convention where we…
Ben: Las Vegas, baby.
Andrew: …also did a podcast. Prophecy is going to be a lot of fun; we’re still working on exact details, but 90% chance we’re doing a live podcast there.
Prophecy’s Yule Ball
Andrew: I, personally, am looking forward to the Yule Ball at Prophecy. It’s going to be…
Ben: Jamie’s looking forward to the…
Laura: Awww.
Ben: Jamie’s looking forward to the open bar…
[Everyone laughs]
Ben: At the Yule Ball.
Jamie: Very, very much.
Andrew: There is going to be a Yule Ball there and we’re all very excited. I just want to set the record straight right now, I am going single, as I think Ben and Jamie and Micah and Laura are.
Ben: I don’t know.
Jamie: No, I’m going with my mom.
Andrew: I don’t know…
[Laura laughs]
Ben: Well, I don’t know. Dude, I…
Micah: No, I’m going with your mom.
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: Put that in, that’s funny.
Andrew: Wow, too much information.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Ben: Well, actually, believe it or not, Ben Schoen knows a few Harry Potter fangirls, some cute Harry Potter fangirls…
Andrew: See, Ben…
Ben: …like most of them are, who would enjoy going with me because, to be honest, you know, I’m charming.
Andrew: Ben, I’ve already gotten…
Ben: I’ve got the looks, you know?
Andrew: I’ve already gotten several requests to be someone’s date to the Yule Ball. I have turned them all down. I want to be single at the dance. Dance and date, I don’t want to have a date.
Ben: So you can play the field, you know?
Andrew: Exactly. Exactly.
Ben: He wants to play the field.
Andrew: As I’m sure all the other guys will agree.
Laura: How many guys do you actually think are going to be there? [laughs]
Andrew: Well, there’s a big…
Laura: Like, two?
Andrew: …campaign on Facebook right now to get guys going there. So, we’ll see.
Premiere Podcasts
Andrew: We also have plans to do a podcast at each of the two premieres in the United States and England. Jamie?
Jamie: Yeah?
Andrew: There’s plans in the works right now for the one in England, right?
Jamie: There are, yeah. We don’t know where yet, but it’s going to be…
Ben: Buckingham [emphasis on the “ham”] Palace.
Jamie: Yes, Buckingham [emphasis on the “ham”] Palace.
Ben: 7 p.m.
Jamie: Ben, it’s not Bucking…
Ben: What’d I say?
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: …ham [emphasis on the “ham”] Palace. Buckingham [Buck-ing-hum] Palace. Buckingham [emphasis on the “ham”]…
Ben: Buckingham [emphasis on the “ham”] sounds cooler, what’s wrong with Buckingham [emphasis on the “ham”]?
Jamie: It doesn’t sound cooler. Anyway, no, it’s not going to be there. It is going to be somewhere big in London, so, you know, make plans to come down for the premiere and come to the podcast.
Andrew: It’ll be a lot of fun. Then, in the United States, we’ll probably be doing another one in New York City at a bookstore, maybe Barnes and Noble in Union Square. We’ll see.
Upcoming Guest Interview
Also, the big announcement this week. Ben, you know, I’m really proud of this. I really didn’t think we’d be able to pull it off, but we did, and we had to go through a lot of different contacts and we’ve been working vigorously on this for the past few months now. Ben, we have an interview with a very special guest next week, right?
Ben: This person is huge, and I mean, huge. The biggest person to ever be on a Harry Potter podcast, hands down.
Andrew: Yeah, I mean…
Ben: If you miss this, if you miss this interview, you will be kicking yourself.
Andrew: The magnitude, the size, the – I mean, this guy’s famous, too. You know? He – everyone knows him. Everyone knows him. Really, you know, so, we’re looking forward to having him on the show next week. Don’t want to give it away.
Ben: Come back next week.
Andrew: Yeah, so…
Ben: You have to.
Andrew: …we’re looking forward to that.
Ben: You’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t.
Andrew: Yeah.
Listener Rebuttal: Hangman
Andrew: Now we’re going to move on to a few rebuttals. Our first one comes from Matt. Matt Isaacs, 27, of Boston, Massachusetts. We actually got similar e-mails like his, which reads:
“One thing I didn’t hear about in your argument about the hallow/gallows…
[stumbles]
…gallows connection, and the Hanged Man. Let’s not forget…”
Ben: [mocks Andrew] G-g-gallows.
Andrew: [laughs]
“Let’s not forget what game we were forced to play in order to find out the name of the new book, hangman.”
And Micah wasn’t on the discussion last week, but he told us, once we showed him this e-mail, that that’s the whole reason he came up with this theory, right, Micah? [laughs]
[Micah laughs]
Laura: [laughs] Yeah.
Jamie: Whereas we just thought that he was intelligent, but no, he’s going off somebody else’s work.
Micah: Yeah, the author of the series.
[Jamie laughs]
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Yeah, well, she isn’t important enough.
Andrew: To be honest, I mean, that’s very interesting, and I’m kind of surprised none of us really even bothered to make that connection.
Laura: Well…
Andrew: Especially since we talked about playing hangman.
Laura: Well, here’s the thing, though. I thought that everyone kind of assumed that was why we were having that discussion.
Jamie: No, I just assumed…
Laura: That’s why no one brought it up.
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: I just assumed that because what Micah says, you know, goes. I don’t…
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: …question his judgment.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Actually…
Ben: Micah’s the man.
Jamie: I actually thought that was extremely clever, when they…
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: …sent that in. It didn’t even occur to me, actually.
Andrew: So, that certainly adds a lot more merit. [laughs] More than we were giving it last week, so thanks to Matt and everyone else who pointed that out. But at least Micah knew what he was talking about.
Listener Rebuttal: Hangman Reference
Andrew: Our next one is Brooke, 29, of California. She writes a simple message:
“Fred and George have a hangman toy in their shop!”
Well, that’s interesting, Brooke. Well, actually, a couple people sent that in, too, so people are taking all aspects of the Harry Potter books, no matter how [mispronounces] miniscule – miniscule, and they’re adding it to our discussion. So, that’s good.
Listener Rebuttal: Tarot Cards
Andrew: Final rebuttal this week from Leisha Wharfield, 44, of Oregon.
“Okay, laugh at the Tarot all you want, but I have been a practitioner of it for many years, and I think it is fun. It’s all good to go to Wikipedia and look up some interpretation of the ancient Celtic deck, but newer, contemporary decks get newer, contemporary interpretations and the way we read the cards continues to evolve with us. The Hanged One, from my experience, indicates the need to see one’s life from a very different perspective, upside down, for example. The old perspective is lost or irrevocably changed or informed by the new one. Someone or something in the Harry Potter world is not as it seems. In the Hallows, we’re in for a shock as everything we anticipate, everything we’ve come to believe, is turned upside down and twisted by the devious JK Rowling. Put that in your pipe and smoke it,” says Leisha.
I think that her take is pretty interesting. Basically, what she’s saying is that from her perspective, the hanged man would just mean turning your world upside down; however, I think that might be a little too extreme for the Harry Potter books.
Jamie: Yeah, and she’s being a bit mean to us.
Andrew: By saying “put that in your pipe and smoke it?”
Jamie: Yeah, and…
Andrew: Well, she was a little bit offended because we laughed at the Tarot card stuff, I think, on last week’s show.
Main Discussion: Deathly Hallows
Andrew: Our main discussion this week is, once again, the Deathly Hallows; there still is lots of discussion about it, so we’re still going to talk about it on the podcast.
Ben: [laughs] Yeah.
Andrew: If anyone starts to get sick of it, just let us know and we will…continue to talk about it. [laughs] Yes. [imitates Borat] Yes!
Jamie: [imitates Borat] Yes!
The Day the Veil Grows Thin
Andrew: So, this week we’re going to focus on Deathly Hallows having a connection to holidays such as Halloween, All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day, because Laura – well, because in many cultures Halloween is known as the day when “the veil between the world of the living and the dead is at its thinnest” and “spirits may return to the world of the living.” Well, Laura, to start us off, you found something interesting in the Mexican culture.
Laura: Well, yeah. In Mexican culture, Día de los Muertos is the day of celebration of dead family members and loved ones, and people – families will create shrines with their family members’ favorite foods, favorite drinks, and it’s sort of believed that the spirits of those people come back on Halloween night, or November 1st, I believe, is actually Día de los Muertos. But they come back and they visit the home and they visit the family in the night. It’s kind of interesting because one listener actually sent in that theory about, possibly, “Hallow” being the beginning of a witch’s New Year, because, you know, the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest, and the spirits come back. So it’s interesting because it’s not just a fictional thing; it’s actually something that is practiced around the world.
Andrew: But do you think JK Rowling would – ah, first, let me apologize; I’m very congested this week and I’m having a hard time speaking. Anyway, do you think JK Rowling would integrate something like this into the books? Based on Mexican culture?
Laura: Well, it’s not based on Mexican culture only. That was just sort of an example. There are lots of different cultures around…
Jamie: Wait a minute. Aren’t you saying that it’s prevalent in every culture, but it’s just…
Laura: Yeah, it is.
Jamie: …slightly different in each one.
Laura: Yeah. Well, I mean the original meaning of Halloween was that dead – was that spirits came back.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Laura: It was meant… Yeah, it was meant to kind of revere those who had kind of once been alive, and remember them, and now it’s been turned into a huge franchise.
Jamie: Yeah. [laughs]
Laura: But, never mind that.
Micah: I don’t think it’s so far-fetched that she would use it.
Laura: No, I don’t think so either.
Jamie: No, I agree. Yeah.
Micah: Because it is her favorite holiday.
Jamie: Yeah, exactly, and so much stuff has happened on Halloween. Harry’s parents being killed, can’t think of anything else.
Andrew: So, what could happen? Why could the title of the book be based on one day of the school year?
Laura: It doesn’t necessarily even have to be one day, though.
Jamie: Like we’ve…
Andrew: So, it’s going to be based on the concept?
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Of celebrating the dead?
Jamie: Well, no, like we’ve discussed. Doesn’t it just link to death?
Jamie: Like, it’s one more thing that shows the death link, you know, to deal with people coming back. But, you know, people coming back can be interpreted in different ways. It doesn’t mean coming back literally. It can mean their spirits…
Ben: Spiritually
Jamie: And, you know?
Ben: Haunting you.
Jamie: Well, no. Not that. Like helping you. You know? Something like that. It doesn’t actually have to be them coming back to a bodily form, so it’s all very – it’s just like the title itself. It’s all very ambiguous; you can interpret it in a number of ways.
Ben: Subjective.
Laura: Yeah.
Jamie: Yeah. I don’t think that it’s far-fetched at all that she could take stuff from here, and it’s such interesting stuff that I think it would appeal to her.
Spiritual Conflict
Laura: But then again, a lot of people are going to take that to mean that Dumbledore and Sirius are coming back. And while I think that we may get some sort of visit from a spirit or spirits in the book, I just don’t think that they will come back. I really, really don’t and I don’t want this to sort of inspire people to start sending in all of the “Sirius is going to come back from beyond the veil,” because we’ve done that ten million times.
Andrew: What would a visit from a spirit of Sirius entail? Because I really don’t think we’re going to be seeing Dumbledore in the spirit form other than the portrait.
Laura: No, I don’t think we’ll see Dumbledore at all. I don’t think we’ll see Sirius, either. I mean, really, what purpose would Sirius serve? Jo killed him because there was nothing else for him to do.
Jamie: [gasps] How dare you insult him, Laura. He was my favorite character.
Laura: It’s true!
Jamie: Have some damn respect!
Laura: She said it herself. She said it herself! She said he had become no more than a brooding presence in the books.
Micah: Well, maybe at that point.
Jamie: He’s still a person.
Laura: It doesn’t matter!
Ben: If you were locked in a house 24/7, you’d become a brooding presence, too.
Andrew: [laughs] So, okay. So, with that said, what could the spirits coming back possibly do? I mean, could they give information to Harry that’s [in a deep, dramatic voice] going to be vital to his quest for destroying the Horcruxes, [back to his normal voice]or is it going to be more of, like…
Are The Deathly Hallows The Spirits of Those Voldemort Killed?
Micah: Yes. Because one rebuttal that we actually got that I thought was interesting was mentioning that perhaps the Deathly Hallows are, in fact, the people who Voldemort killed in order to make his Horcruxes, and…
Jamie: Ah, ah!
Micah: …that they’re going to be extremely helpful to Harry in Book Seven.
Jamie: That’s superb.
Micah: So, I apologize for not knowing who sent that in, but somebody did send it in and I think it’s…
Andrew: It was me.
Micah: …a great theory.
Andrew: I actually told you
Jamie: Yeah, yeah, same here.
Andrew: … the other day.
Micah: Oh, you guys came up with that all by yourselves?
Jamie: Awesome. That’s awesome.
Andrew: That is very cool, so…
Who Did Voldemort Kill to Make the Horcruxes?
Jamie: I wonder, okay, just digressing slightly, I wonder who he would kill to make his Horcruxes? Because it’s, like, Dumbledore was talking about…
Andrew: The people he needs to.
Jamie: Well, no, no. Dumbledore was talking about how, if Nagini was a snake, then he would have killed Frank, the housekeeper, to make her, but you think he’d reserve his Horcruxes for particularly special deaths, just like he reserved special items to contain his Horcruxes. I don’t know, though.
Andrew: I – obviously he has no problem with killing anyone, so I think he would, he would kill people who have items that he would be able to hide and protect, and the items would probably have some special value to them.
Laura: I think I understand where Jamie’s going here, though. For instance, would you think that – I mean, to make a Horcrux. Like if you consider that not everyone’s souls are equal, not everyone is as smart as one another, you can’t say that all Horcruxes are going to be as powerful or, you know, as potent or whatever. So, why wouldn’t he save it for more special murders, people who are more powerful?
Jamie: But it depends how you measure a soul. I mean, if you kill Dumbledore and make a Horcrux, would that be the most powerful Horcrux ever? I mean, like, I doubt that Frank, the housekeeper…
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: …has much magical power. And if he came back from the dead to help Harry, what would he do? Hold the lantern?
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: So he could see where he was going? You know? I just – I don’t know.
Going Through The Veil
Micah: I just thought that it was a good idea. I mean, especially when you talk about a sort of hero’s journey, having to go to the underworld and all that kind of a thing. It would make sense that these would be the type of people that he would have to encounter in order to gain information, possibly. I think maybe instead of sort of leading the way, maybe it would be something more along the lines of telling them what was a special item to them. Maybe where the Horcruxes would be located, even.
Laura: Yeah. My only problem with this theory is that it was very clearly specified in Order of the Phoenix that once a spirit decides to go on, they can’t come back, or they won’t come back. So, I can’t see spirits like Sirius or Dumbledore or, frankly, Harry’s parents, coming back to help him because they…
Micah: So you completely trashed the whole idea of spirits returning to earth. [laughs]
Laura: No, no, no, I’m not. No, no, no, I’m not trashing that idea, what I think is there’s kind of a – it could be more of a sinister connotation. Just like you know…
Micah: Well no, what I’m saying is that what if he goes to them?
Laura: Well, yeah, that could happen too.
Micah: Not they come to him.
Laura: Yeah.
Micah: Yeah, that’s my point.
Laura: I think that that’s probably a bit more likely. Something else that I was considering was that perhaps evil spirits could return from wherever they go. We don’t really have any proof that only good or bad spirits go beyond the veil.
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: We don’t know if both go there. So, what if Voldemort has some evil spell that conjures up all of his past followers and stuff?
Andrew: How is Harry going to be able to get to the spirits? Through the veil?
Laura: He’s going to jump through the veil, Andrew.
Jamie: What…
Andrew: You really think?
Jamie: What, and hold on…
Laura: No. [laughs]
Jamie: …with one hand so he doesn’t fall through completely?
Andrew: No well, I’m just asking. How do you think he is going to be able to
get through…
Jamie: He’s going to…
Andrew: …to get to the spirits?
Jamie: He is going to… Actually, okay surely…
Andrew: He’s going to have to discover something else that’s going to lead him to that.
Jamie: No, no. No, no, surely…
Andrew: He’s not just going to walk in to spirit alley.
Laura: Maybe he has to die.
Jamie: Surely – oh Laura, stop being so negative.
[Laura and Andrew laugh]
Jamie: Surely, you can just pull the cover off the veil across and just look in and – without actually falling down.
Andrew: Well, if you …
Laura: Well…
Andrew: …so much as touch it…
Laura: You can’t really…
Andrew: …apparently you get a burnt hand so…
Jamie: Or if you get one of those like fiber optic things…
Laura: Get a stick. [laughs]
Jamie: …that are used for keyhole surgery and put it down and then look down. You wouldn’t actually have to go down. You’re fine.
Laura: But there’s nothing to look down at because, remember, Harry went around both sides of it and there was nothing.
Jamie: No, but if you grab the material over it and pull that away, you know?
Andrew: How are you going to be able to grab it? I don’t think…
Jamie: I don’t know! I haven’t thought this out. You use one of the…
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: You go to an arcade and grab that thing that goes down and grabs the teddy bears and use that to grab it.
Andrew: The claw.
[Micah laughs]
Jamie: He can stand by the side and, you know…
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Trust me, there’s a way. There’s a way.
Andrew: Okay.
Jamie: Actually, I don’t know if there’s a way. There probably isn’t a way actually.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: So I mean I’m just looking at the discussion list here. Are there certain spirits that might come back? We basically just talked about that.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Are there certain spirits that might come back? We basically just talked about that.
Laura: [laughs] Yeah.
Who Else Can Come Back?
Andrew: Is there anyone else who could possibly come back besides the Horcrux owners? The – Dumbledore, Sirius, Harry’s parents?
Laura: What about Grindelwald? We’ve heard a lot about him, but there’s not been much explanation as to what exactly happened between him and Dumbledore. And now that Dumbledore is dead, what if Grindelwald – what if Grindelwald’s kind of like Voldemort? Like, what if he never really died?
Jamie: Actually, yeah, because…
Laura: It never said that he killed him; it just said he defeated him.
Jamie: Defeated. I was going to make that point!
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Sorry.
Jamie: I completely agree and I was just going to point out that it said that he – Dumbledore was famed for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald. But also, it says on that card that he’s famed for it, but no one’s ever mentioned it. You know? It’s like – it seems like a big thing on the chocolate frog cards, but it doesn’t in the rest of the series.
Andrew: Mention it how? Just in a discussion? Like, “Hey…”
Jamie: Yeah. [laughs]
Andrew: “…you see that Grindelwald?”
Jamie: Yeah. [laughs] “So, you, you defeated Grindelwald, didn’t you?”
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: “Yeah, I did. Yeah. Long time ago, though.”
Andrew: [laughs] Okay, so this event – Laura, you’re… Laura and Micah, you guys are sort of saying that this is going to be an event, like it’s going to be like a, it’s going to be like a – oh, what am I looking for? The fifth year, what are they called? Oh, it’s going to be like a high school reunion where everyone comes back, only it’s going to be a Horcrux reunion and everyone’s going to come back on one night and be like “Hey! We’re back!”
Laura: Ummm…
Andrew: Is that what you’re going for?
[Laura laughs]
Rowling Taking From Tolkien?
Micah: You know what’s interesting, though? When I read that…
[Micah and Laura laughs]
When it says, “the veil between the world of the living and the dead is at its thinnest and spirits may return to the world of the living,” I never read the books, but the movies, The Lord of the Rings, it kind of reminded me of when they went to the underworld to bring back all those spirits. We know that JKR does read…
Ben: Really?
Micah: …Tolkein, so…
Laura: [laughs] We know that she reads.
Jamie: [laughs] We know that she reads, yeah. [laughs]
Micah: [laughs] But, I don’t know, that’s just a connection I’m trying to make.
Laura: Well, yeah, I understand. There’s…
Micah: Perhaps she’s taking something from him.
Targeting Halloween
Andrew: Now, honestly, I don’t really see what the big deal about the – about what this could mean. But could this have – could this event not happen on Halloween? I mean, the only reason we – you’re saying it’s going to is because it’s hallows, All Hallows Eve.
Jamie: No. No, no, no, no. No, the reason they’re saying it is because the veil between the living and the dead is supposed to be weakest then, so it’s like if you do a séance, then it should, potentially, in this type of…
Laura: Well, it’s also… It’s also kind of…
Andrew: Oh, I see.
Jamie: …stuff, be easier to contact the dead.
Laura: It’s also kind of talking about the general layout of the books. Usually the big climactic thing happens in what? June? End of the school year? So it would be kind of – kind of weird if the book started in July or whenever and then [laughs] ended in October. You see what I’m saying?
Andrew: Yeah, I was just thinking, what if it’s…
Ben: Yeah. Hmmm.
Andrew: …a completely different time format for the books, where you’re not going through a full year? Like you were saying, it just goes July to October. You don’t see Christmas, you don’t see spring again, you don’t see the end of the year. It’s just…
Jamie: No, what happens is she writes, “Harry awoke to a blissfully cold October morning.” [laughs]
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: And then it’s like, advance five months. [laughs]
What if Deathly Hallows Isn’t Related to Halloween?
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [laughs] Laura, why do you want to talk about if this event didn’t happen on Halloween?
Laura: Well, like I just said, it would kind of change the entire layout of the books. I mean…
Andrew: Oh.
Laura: …it wouldn’t span over as great of a period of time.
Andrew: Well, it could.
Laura: It would make things very different. Well, no, it wouldn’t.
Andrew: It… Well…
Laura: July to October is not…
Ben: Well, what if it was November 1st?
Laura: …the same as July to June. [laughs]
[Jamie laughs]
Andrew: No, but I’m not saying everything has to end on Halloween. Something else in the books could happen through the rest of the year. But I get what you’re saying.
Laura: So you’re saying…
Andrew: I…
Laura: Well, I guess it could do that. I mean, that could happen on Halloween and it could be a factor throughout the entire book.
Andrew: But Jo does want to make this a completely different book, I think, so that would be very interesting – if the book only spanned across a two or three month time period.
Jamie: Yeah. [laughs] One day. That would be awesome. [laughs]
Andrew: [laughs] One day, yeah. It’s like 24. The whole season is 24 hours.
Jamie: [laughs] Yeah. It’s just like 24. And it counts down to like, 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. – Harry sleeps.
Have We Met Those Voldemort Killed To Make His Horcruxes?
Laura: Well, here’s a question. Do we think that any of the people that Voldemort killed in order to make his Horcruxes are people that we know or have heard of?
Jamie: Yeah, like…
Laura: Or are they completely different characters?
Jamie: Don’t you think, the thing is, all through the books, they point towards important people like when Moody was showing Harry the picture of the Order of the Phoenix, he was like, “Dorcas Meadowes, Voldemort killed her personally,” and stuff like that. So, Voldemort obviously thinks that some people are more worthy of – of respect and stuff than other people in terms of their magical powers. So, I don’t know.
Comparing Theories
Andrew: All right. So, I personally think that… I think… I like this theory more than the one that we talked about last week. One, because this one is less – how do I put it? Archaic. And I think it would make more sense for something like this to happen where these spirits would return. I like all the evidence there.
Laura: Well, this one – this theory isn’t as symbolic. I think that’s the big difference, and I think that both theories can apply.
Andrew: Mhm.
Laura: I think that Jo…
Andrew: It’s not as Greek. [laughs]
Laura: Well, I know, but she likes the symbolism.
Andrew: Uh huh.
Jamie: But isn’t it sort of – it’s, I mean, Harry Potter is a fantasy, but if you see ghosts coming back from the dead, it just turns into a – I don’t know. You know? Even…
Laura: Paranormal?
Jamie: Well, no, even in Aladdin, where it’s the biggest fantasy thing of all time, the genie says you can’t bring people back from the dead. So, if it happens in Harry Potter, I don’t know. I don’t think – I won’t say it would spoil it.
Laura: But they won’t be back from the dead.
Jamie: But they’ll be, they’ll be… I mean, I don’t know.
Andrew: They’re in spirit form, but we know that they exist, because you can hear their whispers beyond the veil.
Jamie: Will they come back in the same form as, say, when…
Ben: When they went in?
Jamie: …Priori Incantatem happened in Book Four? Will they come back?
Laura: Well, maybe they will… No, because those weren’t even real spirits.
Jamie: No, but they were still sort of sentient and realized what was happening at that time. So, it isn’t as though they were imprints that didn’t have any knowledge of what was going on.
Andrew: Micah, you wrote up last week’s discussion. What do you think about this one, compared to last week’s? You like this one better, or what?
Micah: Well, I don’t necessarily think that they compete with each other. I think what Laura said is right.
Andrew: No, but do you think – do you think both of these could happen in the same plot, or either one at all?
Micah: Yeah, because the last one was, it was more symbolic. It was more just sort of telling the story, and kind of looking at different directions that Jo can go in, whereas this is kind of saying this is what we think the Deathly Hallows mean, whereas last week, we were more exploring the hanged man…
Laura: Yeah.
Micah: …and what that represented.
Laura: This is plot-driven, what we’re discussing right now.
Micah: Yeah, this is more plot-driven. I think last week, we were more reading into the symbolism.
Laura: What we discussed last week is kind of like things you might have missed, is what last week was.
Micah: Yeah, like the bar and what those earlier rebuttals were saying about the hanged man being in the Weasley joke shop and…
Andrew: I think the fact that – I wish I sort of knew this last week so I could have fan-girled about it more, but I think the fact that she made it a hangman game just gives it away, that it’s going to…
Laura: I thought you guys all noticed that! [laughs]
Andrew: No! I think that just gives away that it’s going to relate directly to it! Final thoughts from anyone else? Or anyone?
Laura: Well, Jamie, what do you think? Do you think that – which theory do you think is more likely, or do you think that they are both…?
Jamie: I don’t know. I think all of these theories, there’s got to be, there has to be overlap. These are all – every single one we’ve talked about is interlinked, so I think the hanged man, there’s got to be something there. The hangman thing, the game we played, that sort of solved it for me. I think it has to be something to do with that. I like the idea that there is a veil between the living and the dead, and obviously the veil link and the one in the Department of Mysteries, and obviously, we are going back to the Department of Mysteries. So, I think that there has to be, there has to be something there, and the veil is obviously a key thing to the entire books. But, the hanged man thing, I don’t think – you’ve got the pub in Goblet of Fire where they were talking about things. So, I really, really, really like that theory. But, then I…
Andrew: Do you…
Jamie: Go on.
Andrew: No, finish.
Jamie: No, I can’t think of anything. I was going to come up with something.
More Chatter on Halloween?
Andrew: Do you think that if Harry had visited the veil in Order of the Phoenix on Halloween, per se, do you think there would have been a difference in his attraction to it, or maybe what he would have heard through the veil? Laura, or Micah? I don’t know.
Laura: Well, that’s interesting. I don’t know. That’s very interesting. Like maybe the voices might have been a bit more clear.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: He might not necessarily…
Micah: Or maybe there would have been more of them.
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Huh. That’s cool!
Jamie: Or they’d be partying!
Ben: Hmmm.
Jamie: Oh, yeah!
Andrew: Just a little thought I had.
Jamie: That’s interesting.
Laura: That’s very good. That’s very cool.
Andrew: Why don’t we tell Harry to go give it a shot? I don’t know, it makes sense!
Laura: Well, maybe that’s what he’ll do, because…
Andrew: If the barrier would be the thinnest on that day, maybe you still can’t – you probably still can’t get through it. But… Without… Well, you could. [laughs] You just wouldn’t come out alive! [laughs] Maybe you could just get the clearest idea of it. Maybe that’s why it sits there in the Department of Mysteries. Every Halloween, it’s like, “Hey! Let’s all visit the veil, see what’s new with the spirits down there!”
Laura: Well, yeah. Maybe Harry might not find out anything about Horcruxes, but maybe he’ll find out more about death, and that could sort of help him towards defeating Voldemort.
Andrew: Yeah, when he goes to see it on Halloween, perhaps it doesn’t solve the mystery, but when he goes to the veil on Halloween, he will learn more that could solve something.
Ben: Y’all crazy.
Voicemail: Scrimgeour’s Betrayal
Andrew: Okay. On that note, we have – we, of course, have been getting a ton of listener feedback about all of our Deathly Hallows discussion. We have some voice mails we had planned to use last week, but the show last week already had plenty of content as it was. So, we are going to play a few this week.
[Audio]: Hey, MuggleCast! This is Brantley. I was listening to Episode 67 today on my plane to Indiana, and you all were talking about who might betray Harry in Deathly Hallows. I think that a likely character might be Scrimgeour, or however you say his name, the new minister, because I was re-reading Book 6, and he seems kind of suspicious, he walks with a limp, I don’t know if that would mean anything, but, anyway, I was just wondering what you all thought. Bye! Pickles!
Laura: See, I kind of – I don’t know. I don’t think he would be. I think he was just more kind of a hindrance to Harry.
Ben: Yeah.
Laura: I see a lot of the Ministry people as kind of being gray area, you know?
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: I mean, they’re not good, they’re not bad. They’re just a pain.
Andrew: Well, I think too that Harry expects them to sort of kiss up to him because they were proven wrong and he knows he was right. So they – Harry might expect them to treat him like a king, but when he doesn’t, when Scrimgeour sort of treats him how he did, it’s sort of, it comes off even more wild.
Laura: Not to mention, I didn’t know having a limp made him evil.
Ben: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: What are you trying to say?
Andrew: Maybe he’s making… Maybe, well, this is a boy or girl, whatever. It doesn’t matter.
Laura: It’s a guy.
Andrew: Maybe the caller was making the connection that – this is what immediately came to me. [laughs] In The Goblet of Fire film, Mad Eye Moody’s got a limp. Impostor Mad-Eye Moody. That’s the only thing I can think of, though.
Laura: I don’t think any of the other bad guys had limps. [laughs]
Andrew: No. So, why is he bringing it up?
Laura: I don’t know.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Alright, next voicemail.
Voicemail: Hallow = Holy
[Audio]: Just one of the many, many emails and calls you’re going to get about Harry Potter 7, this is Mercedes from Maryland, and I was one of the fans who looked up the word for the meaning “hallow.” And “hallow” basically means “sacred or holy”. Like Halloween, we say “All Hallows Eve.” So, maybe it means that death is sacred, or that sacred people die; as in everybody good dies. Or maybe it’s saying that death is – it’s glorifying death maybe, as if it’s not such a bad thing, for any of the characters. Just like to hear what you thought about that. Thanks! Bye!
Jamie: No, don’t you think that Jo’s kind of like a Gandalf-like figure who says that death is just but the next great adventure. And this is what…
Laura: I think Dumbledore said that, Jamie. Not Gandalf.
Jamie: Okay, no it wasn’t, it was Gandalf…
[Ben laughs]
Jamie: …at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields when they’re about the break down the gate and Pippin’s like, [imitates what can only be a hobbit accent] “Oh, sandy beaches on the…” [laughs] Actually, that was an awful accent.
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: But whatever he said and then he was like, [in a deep voice] “Death? no. Death is but the next greatest adventure.” So, yeah. Oh, well, perhaps Dumbledore said it as well.
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: Did he say it?
Ben and
Laura: Yes!
Jamie: Well, so did Gandalf.
Ben: Yes!
Jamie: And Gandalf came first. Actually no, whoever said it – that this is right, but it means “sacred” or, “holy.” [laughs] Oh my god, I’m clutching at straws. Sorry.
Andrew: You’re what?
Jamie: I’m clutching at straws.
Laura: I think it goes along with the kind of general meaning of the title.
Jamie: It does. It does, it does. And, it goes along with what – it could not be a bad thing, this title. You know? We think that Deathly Hallows is automatically a bad thing because it involves death, but it doesn’t have to be the death of a good character and it doesn’t have to be a bad thing, this death. You could say that Dumbledore’s death was good. He didn’t die in vain. So, I don’t know. I think it could be something like that.
Laura: I like her pointing out, or suggesting really, that all sacred people die. That kind of goes along with Micah’s theory that specific people were used to make the Horcruxes. Like it was intentional. What do you think, Micah?
Micah: I don’t like the idea that “hallowed” would mean “holy” in the sense of religion. Maybe “holy” how she refers it to being sacred. I just don’t think that Jo would cross that line. She’s been very careful about not involving any type of religious…
Ben: Religion… [laughs]
Micah: …wording in her series at all.
Laura: Well, I don’t think that was what she was saying though. I think she was just kind of using a – a kind of generally referencing it.
Deathly Hallows Release Date
Andrew: I want to, besides some questions from voice mailers, we do have a couple e-mails. But I also wanted to bring up; we didn’t really post this on MuggleNet because it’s one of those things that we just assume it’s not true and I thought we could just bring it up on the show quick. Amazon.com, when you do a search for “Deathly Hallows,” they have a release date of March 31st on there. And it got me – it’s pretty unrealistic, but it got me thinking that, would that not be so cool though? The book only three months away?
Ben: No!
Andrew: Not to mention it’s not even summer.
Ben: Because we don’t have time to prepare for anything, man.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Like what? We can whip up a podcast together real quick. But, I thought that was interesting. And whenever this release date – if there was a release date posted on some ten-year old’s Yahoo! Geocities site, people would take it seriously. People are very, how do I put this?
Laura: Gullible?
Jamie: Believing? Gullible?
Andrew: Believing, gullible, anxious for a title, which leads them to believe anything that they see. In this case…
Jamie: It’s coming out tomorrow
Andrew: …Amazon.com is probably just using it as a filler. But also got me thinking.
Ben: Barnes and Noble keeps saying its 7-7-07 and we get e-mails all the time. People saying, “My dad’s uncle’s brother works at Barnes and Noble.”
[Jamie laughs]
Ben: Which would also be your great uncle.
Jamie: Wait, my dad – yeah.
Andrew: But March 31st date got me thinking maybe that is what Amazon heard when we would have a release date by. [pause] Do you think that’s possible?
Laura: Maybe.
Andrew: Like, “Hey, look out for a release date by the end of March.”
Laura: But what is so special about March 31st?
Andrew: No, nothing. But Amazon posted it…
Jamie: It’s April Fools almost.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]
Ben: Something interesting – something interesting: the release dates of the book traditionally come out six months before hand and six months after March is October 31st Halloween. Dun, dun, dun!
Andrew: Ah. [hums “dun, dun, dun”]. Actually, no. [laughs]
Jamie: I got the e-mail. I got the e-mail.
No, Ben, that’s September 31st.
Ben: No, its not.
Jamie: Wait, hold on, Ben.
Andrew: Six months from September 31st is March 31st.
Ben: March, April, May. June, July, August…
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: …Soctober.
Andrew: [laughs] Go back to sleep. “Soctober?”
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: I got the e-mail that talked about when Cheryl was doing the podcast, she said that [laughs] typically the book takes six months after Jo has sent it to them – it takes six months from that point to publication. So, Jo would have to get it out to them very, very soon for it to be out in July and I don’t think its going to be out that – I don’t Jo’s quite finished.
Andrew: Although – I mean we got a release date with Half-Blood Prince right before Christmas and then it came out seven months later, basically. So…
Jamie: That is very true.
Andrew: But, it is a good point, though. And they need time, so…
Micah: Yeah, but we didn’t get the release date until six months after the title came out.
Ben: Good point.
Laura: That might be different this time. She might have gotten so close to the end and kind of decided to do it a little differently. Release the title when she is pretty much done writing the book and then send the book off in January or February.
Micah: I hope not. Because I have to work all of July, so I’d pretty much be screwed for going to anything. [laughs] Should I just quit?
Jamie: Yes
Listener Rebuttal: Runes and Snape
Andrew: One final e-mail this week. From Briana, 16 of Virginia Beach, Virginia. She writes:
“Great job on the main discussion for this week. (Episode 70) It was really enlightening to see a new side of the debate over the meaning of Deathly Hallows. I want to take analyzation a little too far (sorry Ben) but in mentioning Hermione’s Ancient Runes education I couldn’t help but remember the mix-up with two runes that she had in Order of the Phoenix. On page 715 on the U.S. hardback edition, JKR stated…”
And this is Hermione talking.
“I mistranslated ‘ehwaz,’ said Hermione furiously. ‘It means ‘partnership,’ not ‘defense’, I mixed it up with ‘eihwaz.'”
Sorry, I’m sure I’m mispronouncing it, too. And then Ron says:
“‘Ah, well,’ said Ron lazily, ‘That’s only one mistake, isn’t it, you’ll still get…’
And then Hermione cuts him off by saying:
“‘Oh, shut up,’ said Hermione angrily, ‘It could be the one mistake that makes the difference between a pass and a fail.'”
And then Briana writes:
“If Snape is the ‘hanging man’ that the symbols from this episode refers to, it might be possible that Hermione’s mix-up between the runes also foretells Snape’s allegiance to the Order rather than to Voldemort. It could signify that if Harry doesn’t acknowledge Snape’s commitment to the Order, it may be the difference between life and death instead of pass or fail like in the Rune translation.”
So, that’s interesting. Thank you, Briana.
Micah: I don’t know if it relates to Snape. I think the end part may be right that if she misinterprets something maybe it does mean a choice between life and death but Snape’s allegiance to the Order? I don’t how that really ties in.
Laura: Yeah. I like the idea that Hermione could potentially kill everyone if she screws up.
Andrew: Yeah.
[Laura and Micah laughs]
Listener Rebuttal: Polyjuice Potion
Andrew: We have – and one final Rebuttal for this week. I know, I said the last e-mail was the last one. Concerning the Polyjuice Potion topic that we had, Jill, 15 of Upstate New York, writes:
“You guys were talking about how the Polyjuice Potion may be used to change a person’s age. But as you went on I began to think that maybe there was some magic that makes the person change into the other person exactly the age they are presently regardless of the age of the hair or whatever is used. This would mean that if say Voldemort uses some hair from when he was a teenager he would just end up exactly the same as he was at that time. On a sort of unrelated note, Andrew was talking about how useless the Periodic Table was and I found it funny as I was doing Chemistry Lab as I was listening to the show.”
I did not put that e-mail in because of what that said.
“Anyways, keep up the good work and I live the show.”
So, I don’t know if we ever put closure onto what we were talking about last week concerning the Polyjuice Potion.
Laura: Yeah, I agree with him. I really…
Andrew: Jill? Jill is a girl.
Laura: Oh, I thought you said “Joel.” Sorry. [laughs] Sorry, Jill. No, I agree with Jill because I don’t thing that using a hair that was plucked off someone’s head when they were three-years old would make a difference. It’s still their DNA. It’s still…
Jamie: Yeah. That’s true.
Laura: … part of their body. I think it’ll just transform them into whatever they are, presently.
Jamie: And what happens if you took a hair from Dumbledore now, and drank it in Polyjuice Potion? You…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: [laughs] Would you be dead? Yeah.
Jamie: You wouldn’t die. Yeah… I don’t know, perhaps – no, you wouldn’t die, you’d just turn into Dumbledore, temporarily, and then…
Andrew: That’d be an awful prank. Wait…
Jamie: Yeah, it would.
Andrew: So, you wouldn’t – but, wait, if it takes your current state, and you’re dead…
Jamie: No, but – no, but you couldn’t die and then come back to life. Well, you know – I mean, it’s assuming it’s a paradox of dying and coming back to life. You couldn’t turn into somebody dead and then turn back. You’d only be a manifestation of death, that isn’t actually death.
Jamie’s British Joke of the Day
Andrew: Jamie, to wrap things up today, do you have a British joke for us?
Jamie: I do.
Andrew: Okay.
Jamie: I have a few.
Andrew: I have a British story joke to tell.
Jamie: Awesome. This one comes straight from Claire, 17, of Ireland, and it’s a joke about Mad-Eye Moody. Mad-Eye Moody walks into a shop. While waiting in line to buy a new hip-flask, his magical eye suddenly falls out of its socket. Luckily, a beautiful witch just ahead of him in line turns around, just in time, to grab the eye before it hits the floor. Thoroughly grateful, Mad-Eye asks the witch if she would like to join him for dinner at a local, very, very nice restaurant. That evening, the witch pleasantly surprised and impressed by the deliciously expensive meal, asks Mad-Eye, “So, do you treat all witches like this?” to which he replies, “Only the ones that catch my eye.”
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: When she told me I was average, she was just being mean.
Andrew: [laughs] I get it. Math joke.
Micah: That’s terrible.
Andrew: It’s a math joke. Kevin would be laughing his butt off right now. All right.
Story Time
Andrew: I actually have a British joke to tell everyone.
Jamie: Oh! I have a quick story.
Andrew: It’s based on a true story, actually.
Jamie: Oh, after this. Go on.
Andrew: You’re not going to – this doesn’t involve America, does it?
Jamie: It involves something you did, and you made a fool out of yourself that I can’t let go.
Andrew: Okay. Well, I’m going to tell something that you made a fool out of yourself and we’ll be even. [clears throat]
Jamie: Okay.
Andrew: All right, so Jamie was with me last week, and I took him to the mall because he wants to get the whole American experience. And, so, we go in for a little bit, we come out, we’re heading back to my car. And…
Jamie: Oh. [laughs]
Andrew: …I notice Jamie’s a little ahead of me, and he starts walking his way over there…
[Jamie laughs]
Andrew: …and I notice he’s going for the driver’s side of the car to get in. And, I don’t say anything because I just thought maybe he wants to throw the bags in the back seat or something on my side. So – [laughs] I just started going until he starts – and he can’t drive in America, obviously.
Ben: He can’t drive in Britain, either.
Jamie: [imitates Ben] No. Can’t drive anywhere, Ben.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: [laughs] He starts opening the door and I’m like, “Dude, what are you doing?” And, Jamie, you had thought that – you’re too used to England, you were thinking it was the passenger side.
Jamie: I was, habitually. It was completely habitual, just walking around, and…
Ben: So, did he actually get in?
Andrew: I thought that was pretty funny.
Jamie: I would’ve got in. No.
Andrew: No. [laughs] Because I was…
Jamie: I would’ve done. If he’d opened it, I would’ve got in…
Andrew: Well, I think once you saw the steering wheel…
Jamie: …but I’d have realized the steering wheel, and thought, “This could be the wrong side.”
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. [laughs]
Jamie: Okay…
Andrew: I thought that was funny.
Jamie: …now to pay Andrew back for this I have a story as well, where he managed…
Andrew: Can I at least…
Jamie: Andrew, don’t even think about it! No you can’t, no you can’t! And don’t…
Andrew: No…
Jamie: …edit this out.
Andrew: …honestly the worst moment of my life.
Jamie: Okay. I went to Andrew’s high school and spent a day at it, and it was absolutely awesome and I met loads of extremely nice people. But to go there, since students there can’t just bring friends in randomly, I had to be sort of considered a guest of honor there, a guest speaker. And to do this thing, I had to do an interview with two other foreign exchange students and Andrew – and Andrew chaired this thing. There was a guy from Germany there, a girl from Italy, and me. And Andrew was asking questions about how school works in our respective countries…
Andrew: Right, and …
Jamie: … what we do for fun, what we eat, and stuff…
Andrew: …it was really early in the morning. I had very little sleep the night before.
Jamie: It was early in the morning. So, what happened was Andrew was talking about attractions in our countries, and he was talking to the girl from Italy and he said, “So, is there anything – are there any particular special landmarks to see in your country apart from the Eiffel Tower, of course?”
[Micah and Laura laugh]
Andrew: And all I can say about that is…
Jamie: Then he slipped in…
Andrew: …Italy and France…
Jamie: “Oh, no, actually wait. That’s in France.” Well done, Andrew!
Andrew: Thank you, Jamie.
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Andrew: And on the final cut of that video, which is going on the local district station, you will not find that screw-up because I removed it. [laughs]
Jamie: He did.
Andrew: And it will never be seen further than this podcast. But Jamie, since there are a lot of American listeners, what do you think about American schools – high school?
Jamie: I thought it was absolutely awesome. Yeah, I had the best time ever. I…
Ben: Were Andrew’s classes hard, at all?
Jamie: All the classes were fantastic, all your friends were very nice – no, no, no. It’s really – I’d forgotten how easy high school was. [laughs]
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: Actually, I must admit.
Andrew: Well, it was a particularly easy day. I mean… [laughs]
Jamie: Well, yeah, it was awesome. And TV Tech was fun, and doing the Morning Show thing was exceptionally fun, and…
Andrew: ShawneeTV.com.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Stephen Cappello.
Jamie: Watch it. So, yeah, it was fun. And the corridors – sorry, the halls, the halls. The halls were fantastic. It was just like in – they were awesome. It was just like in the movies. It was just like from the movies, and lined with lockers. And lunch was awesome, as well. I went to lunch, and oh, you know…
Andrew: You had pizza.
Jamie: …had pizza.
Andrew: We – you went to, when you went to my Health class and my World Cultures class, and both of them you were handed a worksheet, and you were excited to do it…
Jamie: I was.
Andrew: …until you actually looked at the work.
Jamie: And then…
Andrew: And then you were like…
Jamie: And then there was no way I was doing it. In one we had to label a map of Africa, which my cat could do.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: So, uhhh…
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: [laughs] … I didn’t feel like doing that. But I kept the sheet. Then I threw it in Andrew’s trash can.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]
Jamie: Which I kind of regret, because it was actually quite interesting, and it could have been a nice souvenir. But, no, I had an awesome time at Shawnee High School.
Andrew: Well, good, I’m glad. And everyone really enjoyed your presence at High School.
Jamie: Yeah, it was fun.
Andrew: They’re still talking for you. Or …
Ben: You should…
Andrew: Talking for you?
Ben: …come to Moundridge High School.
Andrew: Actually, looking for you. I hear Moundridge High School – that’s a real experience.
Ben: Real…
Andrew: It’s not even like a regular American High School. It’s sort of like you show up…
Ben: And, dude, they have…
Andrew: … all ten students of the school go into the one room.
Ben: They all worship Ben Schoen, too. It’s like…
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: Oh, yeah.
Ben: I just get away with everything.
Andrew: Well, [laughs] on that note, I think that does wrap up MuggleCast number 72. We’ll be back next week. I guess we’ll do some more Deathly Hollows stuff next week. But it’s all going to be preempted by our very special, exclusive interview, next week, with a very special guest.
Ben: Huge!
Andrew: I really – I cannot believe we got him. It’s really unbelievable. So …
One Last Joke
Jamie: Okay, I have a quick one last joke. I said to my gym instructor, “Can you teach me to do the splits?” He asked, “How flexible are you?” So I said, “Well, I can’t do Tuesdays.”
Show Close
Andrew: [laughs sarcastically] Funny. So, on that note, if you want to send Jamie more terrible jokes.
[Jamie laughs]
Andrew: You can also…
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: You could always use the MuggleCast Feedback form on MuggleCast.com to contact any of us. You can also send snail mail to the PO Box. Ben, located?
Ben:
PO Box 223
Moundridge
KS, 67107
[Show music begins playing]
Andrew: If you have a voicemail question for us concerning things like Deathly Hollows, we’re looking for those good questions right now, because, of course, we’re trying to focus all of our shows around The Deathly Hollows. You can call 1-218-20-MAGIC in the United States. If you’re in the United Kingdom, you can dial 020-8144-0677. If you’re in Australia, you can dial 02-8003-5668. You can also Skype the username “MuggleCast”. Just try to keep your message under 30 seconds and eliminate as much background noise as possible. You can also contact any of us using our-first-name at staff dot mugglenet dot com. And, also, don’t forget MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Frappr, Last.FM. Fanlisting Forums, Digg.com, Podcast Alley, Yahoo! Podcasts.It’s all there on MuggleCast.com. Also, to help us out tell your friends about MuggleCast. Let them know about the Podcast – what you think of it. Because one of our greatest – one of the greatest ways to spread the word about the show is word of mouth. And it works, and we’re always hearing stories about how people are telling their friends, and then their friends get into it, and then their friend’s friends.
Jamie: And then their friends get into it.
Andrew: Yeah. And then there’s this whole big thing.
Ben: It’s like an umbrella.
Jamie: Yeah, exactly.
Andrew: It is.
Jamie: Yeah, yeah. The show’s precisely like an umbrella.
[Ben laughs]
Andrew: It’s shaped like it. It’s…
Jamie: Yeah, I couldn’t think of any two things that…
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: …are more alike, Ben, than the show and an umbrella.
Andrew: We’ve had some great…
Ben: I meant domino, but umbrella sort of just came out. Sorry.
Andrew: We’ve had some great episodes; lots of downloads, lately, of course, because there’s been a lot of interest in Deathly Hollows. So, we thank you, and we thank everyone for listening.
Ben: Andrew, it’s “Hallows”, not “Hollows.”
Andrew: Hallows.
Laura: Yeah, it is.
Andrew: Halo. Hollows.
Ben: Just call it “DH”: I can’t wait to hear DH.
Andrew: DH.
Ben: Have you read DH yet? Have you read…
Andrew: I’m just going to call it “Duh.”
Ben: …HBP? So dumb.
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah.
Ben: Or OOTP. [pronounces as a word]
Andrew: So, once again, I’m Andrew Sims.
Ben: I’m Ben Schoen.
Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence.
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.
Micah: And I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Andrew: We’ll see everyone next week for Episode…
Micah: Oh, by the way, Jo, time for a new FAQ poll.
Andrew: Oh, she’s spoken… [laughs]
Micah: Can you take care of that, please?
[Jamie laughs]
Andrew: Micah, at this point, he just watches the site. If anything’s older than a month he reminds Jo. That was good, Micah. Good work. We’ll see everyone next week for Episode 73. Bye bye.
Jamie: Bye bye.
———————–
Written by: Micah, Adrienne, Allison, Amanda, Briana, Eloise, Jessica, Mandie, Martina, Matt, Megan, Roni, Samantha, Sarah, Shannon and Shelly