MuggleCast 119 Transcript
Show Intro
[Intro music begins]
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Andrew: Today’s MuggleNet podcast is brought to you by Borders. In May, thousands of Harry Potter fans descended upon New Orleans for the Phoenix Rising Conference. Borders was there to take in the sights and share a lively discussion of the series that has bewitched the world with some of Harry’s most dedicated fans. Listen in and watch the action yourself. Check out the Phoenix Rising Borders Book Club discussion at BordersMedia.com/HarryPotter, or click on the Borders banner at the top of the MuggleNet page.
[“Innuendo” by Queen begins playing]
Andrew: Because we are l-l-l-live, this is MuggleCast Episode 119 for November 10th, 2007!
[Song plays]
[Show music begins]
Andrew: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to MuggleCast Live. It is 3:01 PM Eastern Standard Time here on the eastern seaboard. Micah and Laura are here.
Laura: Hey, everybody.
Micah: Hey.
Andrew: And not loud enough. Try that again.
Laura: Hey!
Andrew: There we go.
Micah: Hey!
Listener-Please-Stop-Listening-To-Our-Show-You-Have-A-Dirty-Mouth-E-mail-Of-The-Week
Andrew: Yay! We’re going start the show off this week with a fun new segment. This is called Listener-Please-Stop-Listening-To-Our-Show-You-Have-A-Dirty-Mouth-E-mail-Of-The-Week. Micah.
Micah: All right. The first one comes from Eric, 38, of Dallas, Texas. And he said:
“Dear MuggleCast, I was listening to the last episode of MuggleCast and could not believe my ears. I mean what the bleep is up with all the bleeping cursing? I thought this was a family friendly show; what a crock of bleep. If you don’t all figure out how to edit the bleeping show properly, I’ll have to come and bleep-slap the group of you. Jesus bleeping Christ, get your bleep together and stop with all the family unfriendly talk.”
Andrew: Uh…okay!
Micah: Well, we should add that Eric was just kidding. He said:
“Great show, guys. Seriously, I will keep listening and laughing as I do.”
Andrew: Oh, okay. That was funny. Yeah, so the reason for that e-mail [laughs] is last week I accidentally left in a naughty, naughty word.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Said by Laura.
Laura: Yeah, thanks.
Andrew: [laughs] No problem! And I was like, “Laura I’m so sorry! I missed the thing, I wasn’t paying attention!” Listen, it happens on the show. I mean, we say it when we’re recording all the time.
Laura: Oh yeah, a lot, really.
Micah: Hopefully it doesn’t happen today, though.
Andrew: No, because we are live today on UStream and we have right now over 500 listeners on the UStream feed, so things are going good so far. We’ve got a couple things to talk about on this week’s show. We’re going start it off as a normal show; we’re not going to be taking calls until later in the episode. So we’re going jump right into some news stories, unless, Micah, you want to read off the news to us and treat it like a pre-recorded show.
Micah: Umm…
Andrew: You don’t have to. [laughs]
Micah: I don’t really have the news right now…
Andrew: That’d be awkward.
Micah: …so that’s not going to happen.
Andrew: Okay. That’d be awkward. [laughs]
Micah: Very awkward.
News: Jo Candidate for TIME‘s Person of the Year
Andrew: So we’ll start off with something that we’ve been seeing really every year. I mean, it’s a good story, but it never actually happens. Jo is being considered once again for TIME Person of the Year, and they have pros and cons for each candidate that they’re considering. And the pros for Jo: “She finished a seven-book epic that will be read by children and lots of adults for generations to come, slowly creeping up on Agatha [pronounces A-GATH-a] Christie…”
Laura: Ag…
Andrew: Huh?
Laura: [pronounces Ag-a-tha] Agatha.
Andrew: Agatha. “…Agatha Christie as the most read author not named Shakespeare.” And the con – the con, the reason why Jo should not be Person of the Year: “Seventh book wasn’t her best and hard to argue that she was the most important person of 2007.” So I thought we should talk about why we think – well, first of all, I think she’s certainly a very good candidate for Person of the Year. Don’t you guys think so?
Laura: Yeah. I think so, too, and I think that that’s really cruddy reasoning to say that the seventh book wasn’t her best. It’s all really a matter of opinion, I think. A lot of people really liked the seventh book. A lot of people didn’t, and, I mean, if you want to say that she wasn’t the most important person of 2007, who was last year’s person?
Andrew: You!
Laura: You.
Andrew: You!
Laura: I don’t think that “you”…
[Micah laughs]
Laura: …were the most important person of 2007.
Andrew: Hey! That’s kind of mean. You mean 2006?
Laura: 2000 – you know what I mean!
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Whatever! But I mean, she finished this epic series in 2007, so why shouldn’t she have it?
Andrew: Yeah. I mean, I – there’s no – they don’t give a good reason why she shouldn’t be. Just because the seventh book – if they think it wasn’t her best, why does that mean she shouldn’t – it’s about the series as a whole, not just that one book.
Micah: Right. I agree.
Laura: Mhm.
Micah: You’re talking about a culmination of a seven-part series. If at any time she deserved the award, I think it would be now.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: And you should also factor in all the charity work that she does. I mean, she raises so much money probably every single year for so many different charities that I think that would touch on sort of the international community as well. Not just her books but her charity work.
Andrew: Yeah. I agree with that. And, you know, also, it’s just like, you wonder who else they’re nominating. I don’t have the list up right now. Let me get it up real quick. Let’s see here. Loading, loading, loading, loading, loading. Well, J.K. Rowling is currently ranking number one right now, but that’s because all the fan sites were like “Go vote for her.” In number two spot: Al Gore. Number three: Steve Jobs. Obama’s number four. Clinton’s number five – Hilary Clinton is number five. General David Petraeus is number six. Condoleezza Rice is seven. Hu Jintao – I don’t know who that is. Hu Jintao. Laura, do you know? Or Micah?
Laura: No, but please tell me that General Petraeus and Condoleezza Rice will not win over J.K. Rowling, because I would cry.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: I would cry anguished tears. Oh my God.
Andrew: Vladimir Putin’s number nine, and Mahmoud…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: …[mumbles and mispronounces Ahmadinejad] is number ten.
Laura: Oh my God.
Andrew: First of all, let’s go through this list. Obama and Clinton. They’re not Person of the Year unless they win the election next year, I don’t think.
Laura: And that wouldn’t even be this year.
Andrew: Yeah. You’re right. Steve Jobs, he’s very cool, but he invented the iPhone. It’s – as much as an Apple fan that I am, I can’t – is he that great? [laughs] Does he deserve it? No.
Laura: Yeah. I don’t think so.
Andrew: Let’s see. Who else? We got Al Gore. Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize this year. That’s definitely something.
Laura: Yeah, I think that that is definitely justified.
Andrew: Yeah, but he got – come on, what’s the Person of the Year Award compared to the Nobel Peace Prize? It’s nothing. Condi, Laura, basically said that…
Laura: No.
Andrew: …so, yeah. I mean [sighs] it’s hard. It’s hard. I’m going to make that the UStream poll right now. I mean, I have a feeling everyone’s going to vote for Jo anyway, but, Micah, what do you think? Do you think that Jo’s a good candidate for Person of the Year?
Micah: Yeah, definitely. I mean, there’s always going be people on here who are sort of more worldly individuals, but I think that she sits right up there thus far. I mean, before talking about her charity work and then talking about just the influence she’s had on the entire world, not necessarily one country. You know, you look at Putin or whatever – I’m not even going to try and pronounce his name – in Iran, but – I don’t know. I don’t really see how much competition she’s going to have from these other people.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] I…
Micah: Who’s affected that many people throughout the world, aside from her, in this particular group of people?
Andrew: I don’t think there’s anyone.
Laura: Yeah. I mean, a lot of those people have definitely affected some people. A couple of them not as good as others, but I really think that Jo has the farthest outreach, you know?
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: I mean – and I’m sure I’m going to get e-mails from people saying, “Well, we have the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, we have the head of Iran, we have the President of Russia, so…”
Andrew: Right.
Micah: “…why are you saying that J.K. Rowling has more influence on these people?” But…
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: …I think a large part she does.
Andrew: I have a feeling it’ll be a political figure, because – just because of the war going on, and…
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: …I don’t know. I mean, it all depends who’s sitting at that table at TIME Magazine, what they like. If they’re all Harry Potter fans, I think J.K. Rowling would’ve been Person of the Year a long time ago. [laughs]
Laura: Yeah, that’s true.
Andrew: But we’ll…
Laura: Hasn’t she been nominated before?
Andrew: Yeah, she has.
Laura: Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Andrew: So whatever. We’ll see what happens there. [sighs] I did enjoy being Person of the Year last year, though. That made me feel good about myself.
Laura: [laughs] Yeah, I bet it did.
News: Helen McCrory Cast as Narcissa Malfoy
Andrew: Helen McCrory was cast as Narcissa Malfoy. She was going to be cast as Bellatrix Lestrange, but then she got pregnant and so she couldn’t film. Now they’re taking her back. I guess WB must really like her a lot since they’re giving her a second chance, and she’s going to be Narcissa Malfoy. I’m happy with this, because she’s sort of – she looks similar to – who plays Bellatrix?
Laura: Helena Bonham Carter.
Andrew: Right, yeah, sorry. They sort of look similar in their face, which would help when you’re looking like sisters.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: So I think that’s a good choice.
Laura: Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of people complaining, though, because Helen McCrory has dark hair and dark eyes.
Andrew: So?
Laura: Well, Narcissa’s blonde.
Andrew: Well…
Laura: But I mean – and what I…
Andrew: …Jason Isaacs wasn’t a blonde. [laughs]
Laura: Yeah. All I wanted to say to address that, is there’s this lovely thing called hair dye…
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: …and wigs.
Andrew: And a wig.
Laura: And contacts.
Andrew: Yeah, someone actually said that to me the other day. They were like, “I don’t think she looks like her.” I’m like, “Well, once you get – once you throw a wig on her, you know…” Robbie Coltrane doesn’t look like Hagrid.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Minerva…
Laura: No…
Andrew: [laughs] You know? Minerva McGonagall is not a spitting image of what’s-her-face.
Laura: Yeah.
Micah: Maggie Smith.
Andrew: I’ve got to brush up on my actresses.
Laura: And Michael Gambon doesn’t run around with his hippie beard.
Andrew: Right. [laughs] Yeah. Wigs, people, wigs!
Micah: Yup. Jason Isaacs – doesn’t he wear a wig too?
Andrew: Yeah, that’s what I said. Weren’t you listening, Micah?
Micah: No.
Andrew: Oh. Okay, so…
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
News: Rowling Comments on Lexicon Situation
Andrew: Another news story: J.K. Rowling updates fans on the Harry Potter Lexicon situation. Of course, we had a little talk about this last week. And she wrote on her website:
“A judge in New York granted an order against RDR Books in respect to the proposed book The Harry Potter Lexicon. Such order applying to any proposed licensing of the book worldwide. Judge Patterson has imposed a restraining order on the publishers of the Lexicon, which will remain in place until February 2008. This means that the book cannot be completed, published or marketed until the court has had time to decide whether it would break the law if published in its present form.” And Jo goes on to say, “I take no pleasure in the fact that publication has been prevented for the present. On the contrary, I feel massively disappointed that this matter had to come to court at all. Despite repeated requests, the publishers have refused to even countenance making any changes to the book to ensure that it does not infringe my rights.” [sighs] Micah, what do you think about this? You weren’t on the show last week. What do you think of this whole situation? Does Steve Vander Ark – should he stand by it and publish that darn book?
Micah: I think that he is in a tough situation because he allowed RDR Books to really respond for him instead of maybe try to do it himself. It seems that RDR Books has really taken the wrong approach here and not tried to work with Warner Bros. or J.K. Rowling in any way whatsoever, and that’s kind of the feeling that Jo has been giving, I think, a lot of her fans the last couple weeks, is that this is an issue that has been tried to be worked out, and it doesn’t seem like anybody on the side of the Lexicon or RDR Books is stepping up to try and make the situation one that’s easy to work with.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: I mean, just based on the last thing that she said, that the publishers have refused to make any changes. I know Warner Bros. – wasn’t there a part where they asked to receive a copy of the book, and they said, “Well, why don’t you just tell one of your workers to print the website?” You know, that kind of attitude, I don’t really think, is something that is going to help them out at all. Just, “Oh, go and print the website, go and print the website. That’s the book.” I mean, I think if they would’ve sent a copy over, and Warner Bros. made whatever changes they felt were necessary, Jo made whatever changes she thought necessary, then it probably could’ve been worked out in the end.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. It’s just a disappointing situation. I mean…
Laura: Yeah.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: She’s fairly disappointed, too.
Andrew: Who?
Laura: Jo. I mean…
Andrew: Oh, she’s P.O.-ed! [laughs]
Laura: Well, I mean, it’s not just that. You can tell that she’s so disappointed that it’s come down to this because she’s been such a fan of the Lexicon, you know?
Andrew: Yeah. I’m waiting for the day that she retracts the fan site award.
Laura: Aw, I don’t think she would do that.
Andrew: [laughs] I’ve been checking it, too, just in case, because, I don’t know.
Laura: You are obnoxious. She would not do that.
Andrew: You never know, you never know. Well, who would’ve thought she would ever sue a fan site? [laughs]
Laura: Well, when they’re trying to sell…
Andrew: Okay!
Laura: …facts verbatim from her books, yeah.
News: Trio Responds to Dumbledore Being Gay
Andrew: Fine. Yeah. [laughs] And – okay, we don’t want to talk about Dumbledore being gay much, but the trio did respond to the comments, and I thought their responses were pretty funny. So I do want to play them right now, and we’ll talk about them. This is a report from ITM, [in English accent] so you’re going to hear an English accent at first.
News Reporter: With a load of hormonal teenage witches and wizards running around Hogwarts, the love life of its elderly headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, was never really the focus until now…
[Laura whispers something]
Andrew: [whispering] Laura, you can’t talk over; people hear you!
News Reporter: Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling, recently outed the character as gay, to the shock of fans around the world…
Laura: [whispering] You can’t hear it.
Andrew: [whispering] They can.
Laura: [whispering] Oh.
News Reporter: It was also a surprise to stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson…
Andrew: [whispering] Yeah. We’ll just pretend like you hear and then we’ll know.
News Reporter: …who played Harry, Ron, and Hermione in all five films.
Daniel Radcliffe: But I was just thinking, “Oh, she’s winding them up,” and then it came out in the papers, and I was like, “Oh, maybe she really, really means it then.” I thought it was hilarious. And why shouldn’t he be gay? He’s never had a wife.
Andrew: Good point, Dan Radcliffe. Dan Radcliffe says in this video – if you didn’t hear, Laura, just now – Dan Radcliffe says in this video, guys, “Why shouldn’t he be gay? He never had a wife!” And Dan was totally cool with it, and he thought the same thing I did, which – when she first announced it, he thought Jo was just messing with him at first – messing with us, the fans, first, but then it turned out to be true.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: So the best part of this video is from Rupert. They basically cut him off halfway through the set. [laughs] It’s pretty funny; here it is.
Rupert Grint: I was quite shocked, really, because you don’t really expect it.
Emma Watson: It makes sense…
Andrew: Cut, cut! [laughs] Mid-sentence! He’s like, “Oh, I didn’t really expect it, but…” cut to Emma. Yeah, Rupert, a man of many words there. And then Emma’s response.
Emma Watson: I was like, “Yeah, it fits together,” so…
News Reporter: The gang had currently…
Andrew: “It fits together,” says Emma, it fits together. I have a feeling she wasn’t really – like someone just broke the news to her. So she was just like, “Oh! It fits.”
Laura: Yeah. I don’t know.
Andrew: [whispering] Do you guys not care about Dumbledore being gay?
Laura: Well, I didn’t know if you were still playing something!
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: I couldn’t hear it! And to be honest, I’m so tired of Dumbledore being gay! Dumbledore, stop being gay!
Andrew: Well, hey, hey, hey…
Laura: Stop talking…
Andrew: That’s kind of mean.
Laura: No, no, no, it’s just like, everybody keeps sending in e-mails about Dumbledore being gay, and I’m just like, “Stop it! He’s gay! No one cares anymore!”
Andrew: Yeah, yeah…
Laura: Please!
Andrew: …I know. Yeah, it’s an old story. We’re trying to move on from it. I’m sure once we take callers in a little bit, everyone’s going to be like, “Do you guys think that Dumbledore being gay is going to have a problem on the thing?”
Laura: We should just hang up.
Micah: The best e-mail that I read about it is – was “He’s a fictional character. Why do people care so much?”
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Exactly!
Andrew: Well, it’s the same question, why do we analyze? But let’s not analyze it again. [laughs] So a couple quick announcements, then we’ll get to one e-mail. Oh, by the way, Eric was supposed to be on the show. I’m pretty sure he said he was going to be here today and then he’s nowhere to be found.
Laura: Yep. What did we say, Andrew? What did we say?
Andrew: We knew he wasn’t going to be here on time.
Laura: Yeah.
Announcements: Podcast Alley and Ringtones
Andrew: [sighs] Which doesn’t surprise me. Okay, so a couple quick announcements first. First of all, thank you, everyone, for voting for us on Podcast Alley. We are high up there. I think I just said “Owey” – thank you. And let’s see where we are right now. We’re number three right now. Perfect. Perfect positioning. Thank you, everyone, for voting for us on there. You can continue to vote, to share your support for the show, over at PodcastAlley.com. And don’t forget, MuggleCast ringtones are for sale over at MuggleCast.com, and there’s a banner at the top. Those are – go to helping us raise some money for the show, any future live events that we do, our equipment, costs, etc., etc. And it’s the one thing WB hasn’t yelled at us at for selling, so we’re going to run with it until they do.
[Laura laughs]
Muggle Mail: American Tolerance
Andrew: Moving on to Muggle Mail now. There is this one e-mail about Dumbledore being gay. Did any of you guys put this in? I don’t remember putting it in. I’m afraid to read it.
Laura: I didn’t put anything in.
Micah: Yeah, I put it in, because we had spoken about this one before. It was sort of an opinion on Dumbledore tolerance in America. Do you remember that?
Andrew: Yeah. Do you want to read through it quick?
Micah: Sure. It comes from Claire, 15, in London. She says:
“Hi guys, I’m writing to you to say I love the show and you guys are great hosts. Firstly, I wanted to comment on the revelation that Dumbledore is gay. I think that this is a cool fact, but I really do not understand why it’s created such a mass controversy. I probably won’t make any friends by saying this, but I think it’s causing much more problems in America than here in England, where no one really seems to care that much. No offense to any of the American listeners who do not have a problem with homosexuality intended, but it is very odd to me that people in a country as great and vast as yours seem to have so little tolerance for others. It’s kind of ironic that one of the main plot lines in the books is about promoting prejudice and hatred of others with the [quack noise sounds] whole pureblood/Mud-blood dynamic, yet some of the series’ self proclaimed biggest fans can’t tolerate people in their own lives. It saddens me that after reading all the “Harry Potter” books, some fans still haven’t got the message that discrimination is wrong. Wasn’t that kind of the whole point? I know you’re probably sick to the back teeth of Dumbledore e-mails, and I hope this doesn’t ruffle too many feathers, but I felt I had to say something. Thank you and keep recording. Claire.”
Andrew: Yeah, that’s a good point. I mean, I haven’t talked to Jamie about this yet, but I don’t think it’s making much press over in the U.K.
Laura: No. Well, definitely – I mean, I have to say even when we were in Toronto over the summer, I noticed – just – I noticed a lot more homosexual couples in the open, I guess. Like walking around together, and it just seemed like it wasn’t as big a deal there. So I think that she definitely makes a point that people tend to not be as open to it here. Not that everyone is, because I’m sure now we’re going to get ten million e-mails yelling at us for saying Americans are intolerant, which isn’t true, but I think that she definitely does make a good point on her front.
Andrew: Yeah, I do agree with that. It’s – America overdoes everything within the media. The media destroys everything.
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: So. [sighs] So that’s that. Micah, everyone in the chat’s saying you made a “quack” noise earlier in the show when you were reading that e-mail. And I have to say, I think you did.
Micah: Quack?
Laura: Yeah, I heard it too.
Andrew: Yeah, you made a quack noise.
Micah: Okay.
Advice with MuggleCast
Andrew: And the feed just died, but I think it’s coming back. No it’s…it’s back. Okay. Ah, UStream. Thank you, UStream, for hosting us for free, by the way. Maybe now it won’t crash as much. All right, so let’s go to – oh, okay, Advice with MuggleCast. We did this last week and then we got another e-mail this week from someone who has another question asking how we can help them. [laughs] And I think this is fun – so we’re like helping people out with Harry Potter problems. Don’t you guys?
Laura: I agree.
Micah: Sure, yeah.
Laura: I’m looking forward to the next one.
Micah: Quack.
Andrew: [laughs] Quack!
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: I think it was a bug. I think it was a bug in the system. But you did make a weird noise, Micah. Anyway:
“Dear Andrew, first of all, thank you for reading this. I’m sorry to bug you, but I think that you might be able to answer my question about “Equus.” Here it is: I’m a 13 year old girl from Michigan originally, but right now we’re in Georgia. I’ll be fourteen in 56 days on December 30th.”
That’s a fun birthday to have, right between Christmas and new years. Or whatever holiday you celebrate.
“By the time “Equus” came to Broadway, it would almost be my fifteenth birthday. My dad is in with the army and I found out that for my eighth move we’ll be in Washington D.C. We’d be about five hours away from New York City. When I found out that Dan was confirmed to come to New York, I went crazy. I’ve been in love with “Harry Potter” for nine years this December, and I used to be a huge Dan fan girl before I moved on to Oliver Phelps.”
[laughs]
“I’ve been trying to meet – or at least be in the same room – with as many of the cast members as possible. I’ve already met three. Even just seeing Dan would be amazing, and this may be my only opportunity unless I save up enough money for two tickets to London for the “Deathly Hallows” premiere. My only problem is my mother. I have a strong feeling that she’s going to have a problem with the naked Dan love scene. Is it really all that bad? I mean, I’d be almost fifteen and I’ve been told that I’m very mature for my age. My own mom even says that I’m thirteen going on twenty-seven. And it’s not like I’m going to this as a complete “Harry Potter” fan. I promise that no robes, Gryffindor tie, or “Harry Potter”-related t-shirts would be involved. I would just want to see a phenomenal play with Dan in it. Considering what you are – considering that you are the one to usually censor the show and remind your co-hosts that it is indeed a children’s podcast (although 117 was hopelessly hysterical and I won’t be letting my mom listen to it), what do you think? Should I even bother to try and convince her to let me get tickets, or am I fighting a lost cause?”
Laura, what do you think? If you were thirteen – well, if you were going to be fifteen and you said, “Mommy, I want to see Equus“…
Laura: My mom would absolutely let me go. And I don’t think that – see, I’ve never been of the opinion that children should be sheltered from nudity because I feel like a body is a body and everyone has one. So I don’t see the reason why somebody shouldn’t be allowed to see Equus just because there’s someone naked in it.
Andrew: Yeah. Especially if you’re complimenting your daughter on being mature for her age. Let’s face it, she’s seen…
Laura: Yeah. You’ve seen the play. So what exactly goes on in this scene?
Andrew: Well… [laughs] …now that’s what you don’t want to tell you’re mom.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Basically, up until that point, Dan is completely enthralled with horses. So him and this girl, I forget what her name is in the play now, it’s been a while. But him and this girl are alone in this room and this girl wants to have….
Micah: Relations…
Andrew: …relationships with Dan. So she takes off her clothes first and then Dan takes off his clothes. Very slowly, mind you. And let’s see what happens then. At this point I was totally giggling. I was totally fan girling. I was like, “Oh my God! Dan!” So…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Just kidding, I wasn’t really. And at that point they start…how do you say…
Laura: Having relationships?
Andrew: [laughs] But there’s no contact. It’s just they’re both naked. There’s lots of movement but there’s no contact. He’s right over top of her. And then Dan realizes, “Oh my God, I like horses better” or something like that.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: No, don’t laugh! This is a serious play, I shouldn’t be laughing. He likes horses. I can’t remember, I’m sorry. I’ll tell you right now, my parents probably would not let me. They were weird with me just going in March. They were like, “why do you want to see that?” So that’s a hard thing to – I don’t know. It varies from parent to parent. If it was my kid, though, I would say sure. I mean, nothing actually happens. It’s not like, you know, an adult film or anything. They don’t treat it like that. It’s very mature take on it. Oh, and by the way, by the time you get to that scene – I think I mentioned this before – by the time you get to that scene, it doesn’t matter. You’re just like “Oh, he’s naked. Who cares?” You wait like two hours to get to that scene. It’s past the intermission; it’s towards the very end.
Laura: Well, yeah. I mean, I guess if you research the story a little bit and talked to your mom about it and tell her that’s it not just Dan running around on stage naked for four hours.
Andrew: Right, yeah. I think that’s one big part of it. People just assume, “Oh, he’s naked the whole time. It’s stupid.” It makes sense.
Micah: Maybe this is going back to what that e-mail was talking about before and just, I don’t know, maybe it’s something different in this country that we care more about that type of thing more than other countries. Here’s a perfect question for you, Andrew. When you went to see it, how many younger kinds were there that you would say were fifteen, sixteen years old? Were there a lot?
Andrew: No, I think it’s – it was mostly adults, I have to say. But that was a good two months after it started playing. So there weren’t many, but like I said on last week’s show, I really think that in New York City you’re going to get a younger crowd.
Micah: Oh, definitely. But is there also the possibility of maybe even them putting an age restriction on it? I mean, can they do that on Broadway?
Andrew: Well, I don’t know. But why? I mean, if you’re – it probably varies from play to play. I don’t know. It’s a tough decision. I think if you tell your parents exactly what happens and say, listen, I want to see this because I’m a fan of Dan and his work, you know…
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: Overall, though, I think it’s going to be hard when that play starts up on Broadway, because there’s going to be a lot of fan girls there, especially the first few shows.
Laura: Yeah. Like I was saying during the last show, just think about all the people who got together in New York for the reading, even though they weren’t going. So I’m just imagining there’s going to be Facebook groups of people who are planning to go to the exact same show. There’s going to be at least one night where it’s all fandom people.
Eric Joins the Show
Andrew: Yeah, definitely. Okay, well, let’s move along here. People – just real quick, there are a couple of people having stream problems, but I just turned the quality down more, so hopefully that fixes it. I should just disable the chat, because apparently it’s screwing up a lot of people’s feeds. But anyway, I guess we’ll move on to some calls now and take calls for the rest of the show, where we’ll talk to you guys about whatever you want Harry Potter, whether it’s theories, or news developments, or Dumbledore. Oh, guess who’s calling? Guess who’s giving me a ring-a-ding frickin’ ding? Eric, what’s up?
Eric: Hey, guys.
Andrew: Hey.
Eric: How’s it going?
Andrew: Hey, it’s 3:30. Way to be on time.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Yeah, no, it’s funny, because I’m logged into the chat now and I can hear myself talk. So I’m going to exit out of that window.
Andrew: This is a live program we’re doing. We’re live!
Eric: Okay, live to tape. All right, guys.
Andrew: Hey, live.
Eric: What’s going on? How’re you doing?
Andrew: Nothing. We were actually just going to start taking calls.
Eric: Sweet!
Andrew: Can I ask why you were late, though? This is unacceptable.
Eric: Yeah, it’s about 9:30 a.m., and I kind of had a big, late night last night, so…
Andrew: Ooh, out partying?
Laura: Ooh.
Eric: Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I know. See, Uni’s out right now. So, I’ve been in Uni since sort of February, and [laughs] my exams are over, and I had to party.
Laura: Oh.
Eric: So, sorry, guys. Yup, yup, yup. But it’s a relief. I’m really relieved, and it was good fun. So, sorry, guys, but it is 9:30.
Andrew: It’s okay. It’s all right.
Eric: This time difference is killing me.
Andrew: [singing to the tune of “Good Morning Baltimore”] Good morning, New Zealand!
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Caller, you’re live on MuggleCast. What’s going on?
Call: Felix Felicius
Caller: Yes, I’m back on.
Andrew: Oh, hi, Mindy! I thought Skype went out for a second.
Caller: Hey, can you guys hear me?
Andrew: Yup. What’s going on?
Caller: Let me mute my feed.
Andrew: Thank you.
Caller: Well, I’m going to ask you a question I’ve been thinking about ever since I first read the book.
Andrew: Oh okay.
Caller: And – okay. You know in “The Phoenix Lament” in The Half-Blood Prince where Ginny tells Harry that if he hadn’t given them the Felix Felicis they wouldn’t have survived, because it seemed like all the spells were missing them? You know that part? Well, do you guys think that if they had dranken Felix Felicis right before they had gone in the flight, where in the chapter, “The Seven Potters,” do you think none of the people would have died?
Laura: Hmm. That’s interesting.
Andrew: Theoretically, yes, they wouldn’t have, right? [laughs]
Laura: Yeah.
Caller: Yeah, I mean – yeah, I just thought it was kind of stupid that didn’t happen. It just would have been logical.
Laura: Yeah, didn’t they – I can’t remember the specifics behind how long it takes to create the Felix Felicis, how long it takes to do it…
Caller: It’s not – I actually looked that up and it’s not in the books.
Laura: Okay.
Eric: But at the same time, Polyjuice itself takes very long time to get and that didn’t stop them long.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: You’ve got to brew it sort of under seven moons, and so then…
Caller: Yeah. Do you mind if I shout out to somebody?
Andrew: Sure.
Caller: Okay, I have a friend through the Harry Potter fandom, and her name is Bethany, and she’s at home crying because she doesn’t have a headset. She can’t call in. So…
Andrew and Laura: Aww.
Andrew: Crying? Don’t cry over us.
Caller: …I thought I’d shout out to her.
Andrew: Please don’t cry over us.
Caller: Yeah.
Andrew: [laughs] All right. Well, thank you for calling, Mindy.
Caller: Okay, thanks for taking my call.
Call: Not Eric From Dallas
Andrew: No problem. Hi, caller, you’re live on MuggleCast.
Caller: Andrew?
Andrew: Yeah, what’s up?
Caller: You’re – oh, wow, I just forgot – your Listener, Please Stop Listening this week came from Dallas, Texas, right?
Andrew: Umm…
Laura: Wait! Are you from Dallas? I see your area code.
Caller: I am just north of Dallas.
Laura: Okay, I…
Eric: [laughs] We see your area code.
Laura: No, I used to live in Dallas, and I saw your area code and I got really excited. Sorry.
Caller: Oh, no way.
Laura: Yeah. [laughs]
Caller: Anyway…
Andrew: Yeah, he was from Dallas, yeah. His name’s Eric. Are you Eric?
Caller: No.
Andrew: Okay, good. [laughs]
Eric: No, Andrew, I’m Eric. Can’t you get that right after one hundred…
Andrew: No, no, no. The e-mailer at the start of the show.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: So yeah, he was from Dallas.
Caller: Anyway, I just wanted to say please don’t judge Texas MuggleCasters by that guy.
Andrew: Oh, no! [laughs] He said he was kidding anyway.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: He was joking.
Andrew: Yeah, he was joking.
Caller: Oh, the stream keeps cutting out. I couldn’t hear that part.
Andrew: Sorry. When we release the show, probably later tonight, it won’t be cut out. We’re having some server problems on UStream I guess…
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: …because the show’s pretty popular! [laughs] So…
Caller: I guess that’s it!
Andrew: Okay, cool.
Caller: Pickles.
Andrew: Thanks for calling. Pickles! Bye!
Laura: Bye!
Call: Phil From Orange County
Andrew: [laughs] Pickles. Phil!
Caller: Quack!
Micah: Hey!
Andrew: [laughs] Micah started quack! What’s up, Phil?
Caller: Not much.
Andrew: Where you calling from?
Caller: Orange County, California.
Andrew: Nice, nice! Hey, I’m looking into living out there maybe in another year or so.
Caller: Cool, you can come over here.
Andrew: Yeah, do you got an apartment I could stay at?
Caller: Yeah, sure.
Andrew: Sweet, cool.
Caller: Do a live MuggleCast or something.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah! We’ll still be doing them then.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Hey, why not? What’s so funny about that, Eric?
Eric: No, broadcasting from the apartment.
Andrew: Oh. I guess that’s funny. What’s up, Phil?
Caller: I don’t know. I completely forgot about what I was going to say.
Andrew: [laughs] Well, how’s the weather today in Orange County?
Caller: Actually, it’s pretty good. It’s been cloudy for the last week and a half.
Andrew: Oh, nice.
Caller: Yeah.
Andrew: Neat.
Caller: Okay, help me out, chat. What should I say?
Andrew: Chat?
Caller: Yes, the UStream chat.
Andrew: Well, while you’re thinking up your question, let’s get another caller in here. Wesley.
Caller: Okay then.
Call: Podcast Inspired by MuggleCast
Andrew: Hey, Wesley.
Caller: Hey, guys.
Andrew: What’s up?
Caller: Not much.
Andrew: Where you calling from?
Caller: Arlington, Virginia.
Andrew: Arlington, Virginia! Okay! I got people all over the place here. What’s going on?
Caller: Sitting at home, kind of waiting for the day to happen, I guess.
Andrew: For the day to what?
Eric: Good words to live your live by.
Andrew: Oh, yeah. Well, you got a question or something you want us to address?
Caller: I don’t really have a question, but I just wanted to say that you guys really inspired me because I’m making a podcast. We’re going to record the first episode this weekend.
Andrew: Oh cool!
Laura: Cool!
Andrew: What’s it called? What do you talk about on it?
Caller: We don’t have a name, but we’re going to talk about music. It’s a bunch of my friends and we’re going to start it. It’s going to be fun.
Andrew: Sweet.
Caller: Yeah.
Back to Phil
Andrew: All right, cool! Phil, you got your question back?
Caller: Kind of.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay, what is it?
Caller: I don’t know if you heard, but a certain character is gay.
Andrew: Is gay? Yeah. You sound like Emerson.
Caller: Don’t know if you’ve heard about that.
Eric: God, that’s how every question starts out these days.
Andrew: Yep.
Caller: Okay, well, I think that was pretty much it.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay! Thanks for calling, Phil!
Caller: Thanks for having me on the show.
Andrew: No problem. See you. All right. Cool. So, Wesley…
And Back to Wesley
Caller: Yeah.
Andrew: …when are you releasing your podcast?
Caller: Depends when I get it edited. Probably Monday or Tuesday.
Andrew: Oh, okay. Cool.
Caller: But I was going to e-mail you guys the pilot episode.
Andrew: Oh awesome! Yeah, we’ll take a listen.
Caller: Thanks.
Laura: Definitely.
Andrew: Cool, cool. We’ll let you go and get some other callers in here.
Caller: Okay. See you guys later.
Call: MuggleCast Should Do A Tour of Europe
Andrew: See you! Okay. Let’s take some calls. People, call in if you’ve got a question, preferably about Harry Potter. Geez, so many people keep calling! Sorry, this is going to be another guy. Martin!
Caller: Oh! Hi!
Andrew: Hi! What’s going on?
Caller: Oh, I didn’t think I would come through. Oh yeah, I’m okay! And you? How are you doing?
Andrew: We’re doing good. Where you calling from?
Caller: From Germany. Bonn.
Andrew: Germany! Wow!
Eric: Awesome!
Caller: Yeah! Thanks for having the live podcast because I have to stay at home tonight, so I at least have something to listen to.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Laura: So what’s on your mind?
Caller: Well, I wanted to thank you for the very good discussion in MuggleCast 116. I think it was Eric’s idea to discuss Dumbledore and value his acting all through the series. And I really appreciated that because I’m still thinking about Dumbledore as a character, and I’m not quite sure what I have to think about him. It’s not about him being gay. That’s irrelevant. But I think you really did a good job on that.
Andrew: Oh, well good! Thank you. Yeah, that was a good discussion.
Eric: I really appreciated that. I thought that did turn out to be a pretty good show. So I really appreciate your thought there. Thank You.
Caller: Yeah, that’s what I wanted to say. And I also wanted to say you should really do a European tour.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: No, I agree. I completely agree. We should definitely go – and MuggleCast, we should have all seven of us holding up the Tower of Pisa in Italy.
Andrew: [laughs] Oh, god!
Eric: Also, Germany, you said. I was in Rutenberg. Rutenberg?
Caller: Yeah, Rutenberg, yeah.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah, good fun.
Caller: Very Medieval town.
Eric: Yeah, they’ve got the wall and…
Caller: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric: …the priests have helped rebuild it.
Caller: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: Yeah, it’s really an awesome town. And they have a very cool – very nice chess set from there.
Andrew: Yeah.
Caller: Really? Yeah, I’ve been there a few years ago, so it’s quite nice if you like Medieval towns. And if you’re doing a European tour, grab Alex Carpenter and get him over here so we might see a decent Wizard Rock show.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Oh! A decent Wizard Rock show. Okay.
Eric: [laughs] Alex Carpenter. We have to call Alex up.
Andrew: Yeah, that would be fun. That would be a lot of fun and also cost a lot of money.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Shout out to my German buddy, Timo Neals, over there. Martin, I’ve got a friend over there who was a German exchange student. His name’s Timo. [in German accent] Timo Neals.
Caller: Where is he from?
Andrew: Where’s he from? Schwasbach. Does that ring a bell?
Caller: I have no idea.
Andrew: Schwasbach? I don’t know. I could send you his MySpace URL or something. [laughs] So, all right, cool. Well, thanks for calling, Martin. Glad to hear you enjoyed that discussion.
Caller: Yeah, thank you. Good luck with the live podcast.
Andrew: Thank you, thank you. See you later.
Laura: Thanks for calling.
Eric: Thanks a lot, man. Bye.
Andrew: I like when foreigners call.
Laura: He looks cool.
Andrew: Yeah, he sounds a little bit like Borat.
Laura: Yeah.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: No, Kazakhstani and German are not the same.
MuggleCast 119 Transcript (continued)
Call: Andrew Should Go To Michigan
Andrew: Yeah. Well, it’s the accent. It was just the accent. Sierra, what is up?
Caller: Hi. Not much.
Andrew: [singing] “My name is Sierra.” Is that how that song goes or is it…?
Caller: It goes: “Sierra, this beat is…” It’s – I get teased for it a lot at school and with my friends.
Andrew: Oh, okay. [laughs]
Laura: Aww!
Eric: So, you didn’t really make her day any better, Andrew.
Andrew: Sorry.
Caller: No, you made my day better just by accepting my call, I’ll tell you that.
Andrew: Okay. Good. So, what’s going on?
Caller: Not much. I’ve just been calling and trying to get on, that’s cool.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Caller: I want to ask you guys, especially you, Andrew. I saw your little road trip thing with your friends.
Andrew: Uh-huh.
Caller: And how come you’re not coming to Michigan?
Andrew: Sims and Friends is planning a tour that is going across the southern United States. Because Sims and Friends feel that the southern route to New Jersey would be a much better tour.
Caller: See, because I have friends on there who are like, “We’ll drive to go and then we’ll call you.” But I don’t live anywhere near there! I was really sad.
Andrew: Oh, sorry. Maybe Sims and Friends 2 next year.
Caller: Really, you should come to Michigan.
Andrew: Okay. [laughs]
Laura: I don’t [unintelligible]. What is…?
Andrew: Sims and Friends is something Mason, Matt and I are doing. We’re planning a little road trip after Vegas.
Laura: Oh, very nice.
Andrew: Yeah. So, yeah. MySpace.com/SimsandFriends. [laughs] That’s interesting. That’s Mason’s brainchild. All right, thank you.
Caller: Can I give a shout out really quick?
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Caller: To Gack, to all of the vultures…
Andrew: Gack.
Caller: …I’m talking to them in our Meebo chat right now, and you’re all like “Sierra, you’re on!”
Andrew: [in girly voice] Yay! Wake up!
Caller: Especially to my friends Lindsay and Skye and Vivian. And to my friend Minnie. That’s about it.
Andrew: Awesome. All right, well, thank you for calling.
Caller: Thanks. Love you guys.
Andrew: Thanks, bye.
Caller: Especially you, Andrew!
Andrew: [in girly voice] Oh my god! Thank you!
Caller: Bye.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: By the way, before we get to the next caller, I’m looking for an Emily Sweeney. If there’s an Emily Sweeney in the audience, could you please private message me on UStream? I need to have a word with you. Let’s take another caller now.
Eric: Oh, no.
Laura: That sounds serious.
Call: The Map of Hogwarts
Andrew: Yeah. Elizabeth. No, that didn’t work. [singing] Let’s get another caller!
Eric: Well, if we’re doing shout outs…
Andrew: There we go.
Eric: Oh, there we go.
Caller: Hello.
Andrew: Hi.
Caller: Hi.
Andrew: How are you doing?
Caller: I’m good. I’m from Sydney, by the way.
Andrew: Ooh, man!
Eric: [laughs] How’s it going, Elizabeth?
Caller: I’m really good. Hi, I met you at the live show in Sydney, actually.
Eric: Yeah, I know.
Caller: Yeah, okay. [laughs]
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Did you – did you like the show?
Caller: Yeah, it was pretty good. I had a lot of fun. I met some really cool people.
Eric: Yeah, that’s what it’s all about, meeting people.
Andrew: Exactly, yeah. What’s going on today? What’s on your mind?
Caller: Not much. I just got to do some work today. It’s 7AM the morning.
Andrew: Ooh.
Caller: I just had a question. Do people not realize that we actually have an official, sort of map of Hogwarts? It’s pretty much complete and official by J.K. Rowling.
Andrew: Where…
Laura: Oh…
Andrew: Where can you get this?
Caller: Order of the Phoenix video game map, because apparently Jo pretty much gave them a map and then…
Eric: Oh, you…
Caller: In my game I actually got a copy of the map.
Eric: But I wouldn’t subscribe too much to that because all the space of Hogwarts in the game is used. All of it is – the only reason the Hall exists is because you’ve got to go through it. I would not consider that at all to be the official Hogwarts map. At least the one on PS2. I don’t know if it’s different in any of the other versions. But I would hardly consider that because – and you can tell when you’re doing it, when you’re playing the game, that it’s not – it’s stripped down to the bare essentials of what they needed for the game. It’s – that’s why I didn’t like it as a free-roaming game. It doesn’t really have any extra places you can go, such as Hogwarts wood.
Caller: I don’t know, I have the PS2 version and it seems pretty much complete. They seem to have everything like Stone Circle and Hagrid’s Hut and pretty much everything seems to be there.
Eric: Well, they’ve got everything, but is that enough, do you think?
Andrew: Yeah. Well…
Eric: Like they’ve simply taken everything ever mentioned in the books, placed it sort of in a strict, straight line, and – do you know what I mean?
Caller: I heard that J.K. Rowling actually gave them blueprint maps and stuff.
Andrew: Yeah.
Caller: And she added in random rooms and stuff.
Andrew: Yeah, EA did put a lot of work – EA London. It was their London, England – what do you call it? Chapter?
Eric: You guys went there, didn’t you?
Andrew: Yeah, Jamie and I went there.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: They did put a lot, lot, lot, lot, lot of work into the detail and accuracy of the show. Or, sorry, this video game. And I think, while it’s accurate, I think what they may have done was first send J.K. Rowling their idea and then J.K. Rowling sent it back with any problems. Because that’s what Warner Bros. does with the movies and I think it works the same way with EA.
Caller: No, that makes sense.
Andrew: Now, with your video game, did you say it came with an actual, physical map?
Caller: Yeah, in the sleeve part. It’s pretty big, as well.
Andrew: Really?
Caller: And it’s got all the diagrams, and it’s got all the floors…
Andrew: Oh, wow, that’s…
Caller: …and stuff.
Andrew: Maybe – maybe you could scan that or take a picture of it and show it to us? Because I don’t know if anyone’s ever seen that before.
Laura: Yeah…
Andrew: Maybe that’s only in the Australian copies of the game. Because I have…
Eric: You…
Andrew: …Order of the Phoenix and mine didn’t come with a map. I don’t think. I’m going to check.
Eric: Well, if you’ve – it’s – yeah, it’ll probably be – well, it’s not DVD, but I was going to say, if it’s a region thing I could probably get a copy or two of the Australian PC edition.
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, just buy it. At your local Wal-Mart. Okay, well, cool, thank you for calling in with that information.
Caller: Yeah, that’s cool. I’ll scan the stuff in to you.
Andrew: Okay, yeah. Cool, great. Thank you so much.
Eric: Yeah, it was great to see you in Sydney. Thanks for coming out, by the way.
Caller: Oh, no problem.
Andrew: All right, bye.
Caller: Bye!
Andrew: Let’s see here. Still looking for an Emily Sweeney.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: I really need to talk to her.
Eric: So she’s not at your beckoned call? We’ve established that?
Call: Terminus
Andrew: Yeah. Debbie Kim?
Caller: Hello?
Andrew: Hello!
Caller: Hello!
Andrew: How’re you doing?
Caller: Hi. Good, but I feel like I have to say this because I’m in the UStream chat right now, and they’re all complaining because it’s skipping a lot.
Andrew: I don’t know what to do about that because I’ve already turned that quality down as much as I can.
Caller: It’s like long gaps, kind of.
Andrew: Okay, I’m turning the – well, that says volume.
Laura: The only thing I can think of is that people won’t stop typing. Like, they just keep going…
Caller: Yeah.
Laura: …and going, and going.
Caller: They keep saying pointless things. [laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, stop typing for no reason if it’s…
Caller: Sorry.
Andrew: …bothering you.
Eric: Typing…
Caller: It’s like you guys say something funny, they’re like “LOL” a million times.
Laura: Yeah, stop – I’m looking at it right now and they’re all arguing about whether or not Emma Watson’s pretty, so it’s like – let’s just stop.
Eric: Is that argument still going on?
Laura: Do you really want to hear it?
[Caller laughs]
Laura: Apparently.
Eric: Didn’t Ben settle that in Episode 13? “Yes.” [laughs] When Billy Joe called in and asked if Emma Watson was pretty and Ben settled it; he said definitively, “Yes.”
Andrew: Billy Joe! All right, I just – woops, woops, woops, woops – I just disabled the chat, but I don’t know if people are still going to be able to…
Caller: People are still – they’re still kind of all spamming and stuff.
Eric: Well, they can do that in AIM, you know what I’m saying? Go to another – like, don’t…
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: …use UStream for its live capabilities. Don’t overrun the chat.
Andrew: Yeah, I don’t see the chat now, so any new people who come in won’t see the chat, so…
Caller: Oh, okay.
Andrew: Maybe that’ll help a little bit.
Caller: And I was wondering, I know PotterCast is going to be at Terminus. Is there any chance any of you are going?
Eric: Do we have to clear this up, guys?
Micah: Oh, Andrew.
Andrew: [laughs] What?
Micah: We talked about that, didn’t we?
Andrew: Yeah, we have talked about this on the show. I think we have a couple – I know at least once we did. But I’ve been talking to – not really. I sent a few e-mails back and forth between me – well, us and Terminus. They don’t want us to do a live show there, because apparently we don’t fit their demographic and they’re looking for a variety of podcasts. And apparently the first podcast and also the most popular podcast isn’t in their general – what they want, which makes perfect sense. So… [laughs]
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: …one idea is to – I almost called it Celda – Collasma told me that there is a Borders literally a couple blocks away. So… [laughs] …what we’re thinking is to do – now, of course, easier said than done. We’ve got to fly everyone out there – would be to do a live podcast at that Borders…
Caller: Yeah.
Andrew: …during the conference. And essentially, what we would hope to do, was move everyone from Terminus [laughs] over to this bookstore.
[Caller laughs]
Andrew: But maybe give Terminus the idea of, you know, hey, you know…
Caller: Well, there was a Facebook group for a MuggleCast fans meet-up and…
Andrew: Yeah, I saw that.
Caller: …they were e-mailing Terminus like crazy. And they were like, yeah, I’m a fan of MuggleCast too but we’re all planned up and…
Andrew: Yeah.
Caller: It’s just…
Eric: Yeah.
Caller: …not…
Andrew: To be completely honest with you, I am not very – I don’t believe all the stuff that they’ve been telling us. I think there’s more to it than just, oh, you know…
Eric: What it is, guys – no, it’s true. When they say we don’t fit their demographic, it means they don’t care about, sort of, what we bring to the table. That’s actually the bottom line, in my opinion. They don’t care about who we bring to the con. Their focus is sort of an older audience than what they perceive ours to be – is, I think, the – in between the lines, they really don’t care about all of our listeners who are putting our money or their money into going to Terminus and having a great time. Everybody seems to be going to Terminus as opposed to Portus. I think we should do an event at Portus.
Andrew: [laughs] Well…
Caller: Well, I’m not going to Portus, so… [laughs]
Andrew: And…
Eric: Oh, nobody is! Nobody is! But Terminus, apparently – I don’t want to say they don’t care about our fans because that’s probably illegal. But I’m just going to say, I don’t – I’ve gotten the impression that they care a lot more about an audience that isn’t ours.
Laura: Well, here’s the question.
Andrew: I think – I think that’s accurate, yeah.
Caller: Well, on the site, it’s like – it says it’s really serious and they won’t – they have an age limit and…
Andrew: Yeah, well, there’s that. But, okay, I’m just going to go out there and say that right now. The stuff they’ve been telling – like, the age thing. It’s kind of annoying. [sighs] The same people, the same demographic of people listen to every Harry Potter podcast. I don’t care what you say. If you compare demographics to every…
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: …against every Harry Potter podcast, they are all the same. They’re the same percentage-wise. Not number-wise, percentage-wise. I can guarantee this. I know this for a fact, okay? Terminus is…
Eric: Andrew is on fire.
Andrew: …P.O.-ing me off, and it’s really bothering me. And we need to stop talking.
Eric: Well, and fair enough, Andrew. And I mean…
Laura: Was…
Eric: …the thing is the fandom. I mean, the fandom as a whole. Kids and kids and kids and kids are getting into the books. And this is also the adult, Harry-Draco shippers. You know? [laughs] I mean…
Andrew: Yeah. That’s…
Eric: …you’re only going to let a…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …little percentage in, don’t expect it to be the coolest thing since last [unintelligible] but they are. Every kid wants to go to Terminus. And it’s just a little bit contradictory.
Andrew: Umm…
Micah: It is because Terminus is discriminating and the books teach us we shouldn’t discriminate. [laughs]
Andrew: Yes.
Eric: Exactly.
Andrew: Exactly.
Eric: They don’t like you.
Andrew: I’m writing in a letter…
Laura: E-mail Terminus.
Andrew: …to Jo.
Caller: Yeah, I’ll e-mail them that and – well, I think some of you should, at least, still go. Just…
Andrew: Well, see, here’s the thing. If we go, then we’re promoting them. And we don’t want to promote them if we don’t want them there – if they don’t…
Eric: Exactly.
Andrew: …want us there. And I’m not trying to come off arrogant by saying we’re promoting them, but if we say on the show we’re going to Terminus, that’s going to send some of our listeners to Terminus.
Laura: Well…
Caller: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Do you remember whenever we even suggested going to Lumos and within a few days, Lumos’ registration had shot up…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Yes.
Laura: …exceedingly high? So, I just – I feel like it’s kind of insulting and at one point, didn’t you – didn’t one of the e-mails suggest that we could do interviews with attendees if we wanted to?
Andrew: Well…
Laura: I was, like – they said something along the lines of, oh, well, if you want to come, and stand around and interview attendees, that’s fine.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: And I was, like, okay.
Andrew: What particularly bugged me – and I didn’t really plan on going out there with this – but in one of the e-mails from Terminus, they said that they weren’t sure if their college-level programming would interest our listeners. I’m like, what? Are you calling them stupid? College-level…
Eric: No.
Andrew: …Harry Potter programming?
Eric: They’re calling them booze towns and followers, Andrew. Not…
Andrew: I guess so.
Eric: …like, you know…
Andrew: So…
Eric: That’s the whole deal.
Andrew: …apparently, none of you guys would be interested in their college-level program, despite the fact that our second highest demographic range is the college – the 18 to 24 year olds, which is…
Eric: Hell, yeah. The…
Andrew: …college students.
Eric: …people who are broadcasting the shows, yeah.
Andrew: Now I’m worked up. Now I’m worked up.
Caller: Sorry.
Andrew: No, it’s okay.
Caller: Sorry for bringing it up. I’m sorry.
Andrew: No, no, no, don’t be sorry.
Eric: But, guys, I would – I do want to say here on this live show still, check out – I mean, I know that there’s a few MuggleCasters who might be in talks to possibly do something at Portus, and I know that there were some issues with doing a thing at Prophecy, but I think a majority of those were working to get them reconciled. And anybody who hasn’t already put hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars into Terminus, try and look at possibly going to Portus. I’m just saying that now. There’s nothing definitive, I can’t say we’re doing it, but I’d like to work with people and reconcile what happened at Prophecy.
Andrew: But they don’t want to work with us so that’s the thing. So…
Laura: Well…
Eric: Well, and that’s not the current status, Andrew.
Andrew: Yes, it is.
Laura: That’s only because our moves are too awesome for the dance floor. Especially Jamie’s.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Especially Jamie’s.
Andrew: Oh right, yeah.
Caller: Well, if – if you guys really wanted to, you guys could start something at Boston. Because I used to spam – well, not really – I used to do on the Pickle Pack comments, “come to Boston” every single…
Andrew: Well, yeah, Boston would be a fun place to go because we get a lot of requests for up there, but how about this plan? How about we find out when PotterCast is doing their live show, we start ours fifteen minutes before theirs starts, then we’ll see who wins, who gets more people attending their live show.
Caller: What? That’d be so – how could I like run to both?
[Andrew laughs]
Caller: Do a LeakyMug.
Eric: You’re going to make her brain explode, Andrew.
Andrew: I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding.
Eric: Unfortunately, I think it’s a little bit flawed, because to pay cab fare to get to Borders or not to pay cab fare to get to Borders…
Andrew: Well it’s literally – people can walk there in like five minutes, I think.
Eric: Oh.
Andrew: It’s really close. But no, we’re not going to do that, I was completely kidding. [laughs]
Caller: I’d be like running back and forth in the middle of it.
Andrew: Are you kidding? Do you know what would happen to us if we did that? [laughs]
Laura: Uhh…
Andrew: We’d be destroyed by listeners of PotterCast and PotterCast.
Caller: And, Laura?
Laura: Mhm?
Caller: Fall Out Boy doesn’t all sound the same. Sorry. [laughs]
Laura: Yes, they do! Oh my gosh.
Caller: No they don’t!
Laura: Every single one of their songs sound exactly the same.
Caller: Yeah, but their singles – on their album tracks, there’s like different ones.
Laura: No, they all sound the same.
Caller: No they don’t.
Andrew: All right, well, let’s move along now, because…
Caller: Oh, wait, and can I…
Andrew: Yeah.
Caller: …do a shout out to Spot? There’s only about three people in there though.
Andrew: Hi, Spot. Okay.
Caller: Thank you…
Andrew: Bye!
Caller: …for taking my call.
Laura: All right, bye!
Andrew: No problem. Thanks for – in all seriousness, thanks for bringing that up, because I was looking for an excuse to do that. Maybe Portus will hear this. I imagine some people will be listening over at Portus.
Caller: I didn’t really want to bring up Dumbledore is gay, or anything else, so…
Andrew: Oh okay. Yeah, good, good.
Eric: Well, you just did, too late.
Caller: We’re not talking about that, so…
Eric: Wait, Dumbledore is what?
Andrew: All right, thank you for calling, Debbie.
Caller: Okay, thank you.
Andrew: Bye.
Eric: Dumbledore…
Caller: Bye.
Call: More on Terminus
Andrew: Hi, Rachel.
Caller: Hey.
Andrew: How’re you doing?
Caller: Let me mute my stream.
Andrew: Okay, thank you.
Caller: Oh, well, I actually – on the note of Terminus, I couldn’t hear everything you were saying because it was skipping, but I e-mailed them a couple of weeks ago when I heard that you guys weren’t being invited because I was really upset, because I live in Chicago and I haven’t been able to go to any of these big conferences, and I talked to them, and she told me she was very happy that I was so supportive but, no, they didn’t want you guys. And…
Andrew: Oh, wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. They said they didn’t want us? Or did they say something else?
Caller: No, no, they said they had a very limited number of spaces available and that you were unfortunately not chosen.
Andrew: Yeah, I’m still not convinced. I mean, I don’t want to say I’m arrogant, but listen. We do every other thing – what – I just…
Eric: Our reputation precedes us, Andrew. Our popularity…
Andrew: Why should it even be a problem? I mean, it’s Harry Potter. Come on, it’s a Harry Potter fandom. Why should there be this negativity towards podcasts and people. Like I just don’t get it, it’s so stupid. [sighs]
Eric: Maybe because we’re expensive to clean up after.
Andrew: [laughs] What!?
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Okay, wait a second, wait a second.
Eric: Just throwing it out there. Just throwing it out there.
Andrew: Nobody made a mess. What are you talking about?
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Seriously, what are you…
Eric: It’s a joke. I’m not defending Terminus.
Andrew: Don’t go spreading rumors. People are going to think that, like…
Eric: No, no, I’m not defending Terminus, Andrew. I’m not, by any means. I say we shouldn’t go to Terminus, and I say anybody who does is clearly letting them just discriminate against you.
Caller: Well…
Andrew: Go ahead.
Caller: …I would very much appreciate if you guys still did something in Chicago, maybe the week of or something? Because I know there are so many people coming to Terminus. Even if you’re not at the actual event, if you’re in like in a Borders in Chicago…
Andrew: Sorry, say that again? You cut out. If you were in a Borders in Chicago…
Caller: It would completely fill that week. Even if you weren’t at the actual event. If you were there in that week, you would get a crazy event.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, I think you’re right.
Andrew: Yeah, definitely.
Eric: I think you’re definitely right that the fans who’ve already put their money into it and registered can’t back out and that might be a lot of our listeners who didn’t realize they were being slapped in the face until we said it here.
Andrew: Yeah. Well – yeah. All right, well, thank you for – thank you for that, Rachel. Thank you for letting us know about that.
Caller: Sure, thanks for taking my call.
Andrew: No problem, see you.
Eric: Cheers.
Laura: Bye bye.
Andrew: You know, it’s something we really shouldn’t be talking about on the show, but it’s gotten to the point now where it’s just like… [sighs and laughs]
Micah: We talked about it earlier in the week, I know, because I had asked you what plans were in the summer. “Hey, are we going to be doing any events?” And you said, “Oh, well, we have this whole situation with Terminus.”
Call: Craziest MuggleCast Fan Moment
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. Hi, Rebecca.
Caller: Hi.
Andrew: How you doing?
Caller: Pretty good. Let me mute my stream.
Andrew: Okay. All these smart callers…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: They know what to do.
Caller: Just – okay, there we go. [pauses] Are you there?
Andrew: Yep, we’re here. How’s it going?
Caller: Okay.
Andrew: What’s on your mind?
Caller: Well, I had a question, but now I forgot, because I didn’t think I was going to get through.
[Andrew and Rebecca laugh]
Caller: Well, let’s see. Oh yeah. What is the craziest thing that you’ve ever had a MuggleCast fan do to you?
Andrew: Do to…
Caller: Like…
[Andrew laughs]
Caller: Yeah.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: I’ve signed some pretty odd body parts. What about you guys?
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Well, yeah, besides that, I think the weirdest request was to sign a girl’s chest.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Especially since that was right in front of my mom, so I felt kind of awkward.
Caller: That is pretty hilarious, I have to admit.
Andrew: [laughs] Any other weird things, guys?
Laura: I can’t say – well, seeing as something like 70% of our base is female, I’ve never been asked to sign chests.
[Micah laughs]
Laura: Thank God. But no, I’ve never really had anything sort of out of the ordinary.
Andrew: Laura, will you sign my chest?
Laura: Sure, Andrew. Sure.
Andrew: Yes!
Laura: I’ll do that.
Andrew: Yes!
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Laura: What about you, Micah?
Micah: I don’t – I don’t know, now that I think about it. Maybe doing the chipmunk voice in…
Andrew: Oh yeah.
Micah: …where were we? Enlightening?
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. I think it was there.
Micah: I mean, it was a little weird. I mean…
Andrew: [laughs] It’s a funny voice. I guess chipmunk voice is very funny.
Laura: He quacks, too.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Craziest thing a fan has done. Hmm. I don’t know.
Caller: Come on. You have to have crazy things done to you all the time, Eric.
[Eric laughs]
Laura: He does do crazy things all the time. He doesn’t…
Eric: Yeah, I do crazy things. It kind of balances it out.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: It’s an equilibrium, really.
Caller: Right. Just say it. Say it. Brian, shut up.
Andrew: Ooh. Hey!
Laura: Wow. I don’t think that’s…
Eric: Actually, no. Maybe this live show is the time to sort of – okay, okay, just a quick anecdote thing. I think it was the first New York podcast – the first one we did – and there was a girl that was really excited and really wanted me to sign above her collarbone, or actually just below the collarbone. Anyway, and I was like – I was really nervous and stuff, and I was like, “Okay, you know, I really don’t want to do this,” and she’s like, “Oh, come on!” And she had a friend there, a male friend with a camera. And I said, “Well, okay. But just because it’s sort of the cliche of signing fan girls.” You know, bums and other body parts. I said, “Okay, I’ll do it. But you…” and I pointed to guy and said, “You’re going to have to take a picture, right? And we’ll make it like a…” – you know how I do those photos where it’s just, “Oh my God, look at me doing this!” Well, I wanted one of those photos, and I said, “So I’ll do it, but you got to take it and make sure you send it to me.” And he’s like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. cool, cool.” So I did it, and I signed the soft part right below her collarbone. And then the guy took the picture and I never saw them again. So that picture is probably worth a lot of money, floating around the Internet, and I’d really like to see it. So, guy, if you’re out there who took that picture of your friend and me signing the soft part right below her collarbone…
[Laura laughs]
Eric: …just please send that to ericlmugglenet – well, anyway, our feedback form. That – thanks.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay. All right.
Eric: Yeah, that was pretty crazy.
Caller: Oh, and I have a shout out.
Andrew: All right.
Caller: Sorry.
Andrew: Go ahead.
Caller: I just wanted to say hi to Megan, a.k.a. Boris, because she’s really cool and she’s the one who told me about MuggleCast.
Andrew: Oh, awesome.
Caller: So yeah.
Andrew: We love referrals.
Micah: Did you say Megan a.k.a. Boris?
Caller: Well, I call her Boris. I don’t know, I just do. But yeah.
Andrew: Oh okay. All right, well, thank you for calling today.
Caller: Yep, thanks for taking me.
Call: Juggling MuggleCast and College
Andrew: No problem. Bye. Hello?!
Caller: Hi!
Andrew: Hi! You’re on MuggleCast!
Caller: Hold on. Let me mute this. Okay.
Andrew: Okay. How you doing?
Caller: I’m actually a little sick, but I’m…
Andrew: Aww.
Caller: …doing okay.
Andrew: Laura was sick this morning.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: She almost couldn’t do the show.
Laura: Yeah.
Caller: Yeah. It’s really cold.
Laura: It is cold.
Caller: It’s really cold here. Yeah. Well, my name’s Elizabeth and I’m 18 in Orlando, Florida.
Andrew: Awesome.
Caller: And I just have to say that I absolutely love your show. I love all of you and I just – I’m – I’m sorry.
[Andrew and Elizabeth laugh]
Andrew: That’s okay.
Caller: I’m just – I’ve been trying to call for like a whole hour. I just want to say that, since I’m home sick, I got really excited when I noticed that you guys did a live show, because I wasn’t able to listen to all your other live shows.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Caller: And I really, really – I like your show, and when I’m at work and stuff like that, I always listen in, and it’s always a good source of information.
Andrew: Awesome. Thank you so much.
Caller: Yeah, and I just wanted to say one more thing. I wanted to say that I understand where you guys are coming from about being in college and stuff like that, and trying work around the whole Harry Potter thing, because I just started my freshman year of college too, so I know exactly what you mean when it’s hard to get together. So I’m just glad that you guys take the time to still do the show, even if you can’t do it all the time and people get upset, I understand.
Andrew: Well, thank you.
Caller: So I’m just really glad that you’re able to do it, and thanks for answering my call.
Andrew: No problem. Yeah, I mean, college has been not – honestly, I thought it would be more difficult than it is, in terms of planning the show, with all of us in college now, except for Micah. It hasn’t been too bad…
Eric: And Eric.
Andrew: And Eric. Why? No, you’ve still been on.
Eric: No, I’ve been on.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. Is what I meant.
Andrew: Yeah. So thank you for all that. We’re doing pretty well. The only thing we lose when we get back to school season is Jamie. [laughs] That’s not a big deal.
Caller: Which really sucks, because Jamie’s really cool too. [laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: We think so too.
Andrew: All right.
[Elizabeth laughs]
Andrew: Thank you for very much for calling.
Laura: Have fun in Orlando.
Andrew: Bye. Yeah, have fun in Orlando.
Caller: Bye.
Call: Choosing Your Own House
Andrew: Let’s see here. By the way, if anyone’s wondering why we don’t answer your call, we get bombarded with calls. Here’s another one now. Caller, you there? Hello, caller, are you there?
Caller: Hello.
Andrew: Hey, what’s up?
Caller: Thanks for picking up.
Andrew: Yeah, no problem. Yeah, it’s hard, as I was just saying. We get bombarded by calls so it’s hard to get to everyone. What’s going on?
Caller: Not much. I was just wanting to tell you you’re doing a good job.
Andrew: Thank you.
Laura: Thank you.
Andrew: Where are you calling from? England?
Caller: England, yeah. In Liverpool.
Andrew: Oh, awesome.
Caller: I don’t know of anyone else in Liverpool who listens to MuggleCast.
Andrew: Oh. [laughs] I’m sure there are a few people. I think we’ve seen a couple e-mails from people in Liverpool.
Caller: Yeah.
Eric: Aren’t the Blacks from Liverpool? Where are they from?
Caller: I’m not sure.
Eric: Nevermind, okay. [laughs]
Caller: I actually have a question. What I was going to ask is, do you think that you could actually tell the Sorting Hat which House you wanted to be in? It [unintelligible] Harry, but I was wondering if that is what most people could do.
Eric: If you can choose your own House?
Caller: Yeah, because it seems [unintelligible].
Laura: I think – I mean, I think you definitely can, but I think the difference between what Harry did and what happened with everyone else is that maybe most people don’t realize that you can ask.
Caller: Right.
Laura: Because it seems like I remember Hermione saying the Hat almost considered putting her in Ravenclaw, so I don’t know if she asked to get put in Gryffindor or if it just decided that her bravery kind of overrode her intelligence maybe? But I think I would just attribute it to not everybody knowing that they can ask.
Caller: Oh yeah. Also, I just wanted to finally say that when you released the twelve-hour episode, which I thought was great by the way, it took me a month to listen to. It was crazy.
Andrew: Wow. [laughs]
Caller: I didn’t have that much stuff to do, but it basically took me a month.
Andrew: [laughs] We’ve gotten a couple of e-mails from that – from people saying it took them a really long time to listen. It was quite a feat; it was quite a feat.
Caller: Yeah, it was great though.
Andrew: Cool. Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Caller: Okay, well…
Andrew: Thanks for calling.
Caller: Yeah, thanks for taking me.
Andrew: No problem. See you later.
Caller: Bye.
MuggleCast 119 Transcript (continued)
Age Limit at Equus
Andrew: Let’s take another caller now. Let’s see here. How about Stacy? Hello, Stacy.
Caller: Hi!
Andrew: Hey, how’re you doing?
Eric: Oh my gosh, Stacy!
Laura: Hi.
Caller: I’ve tried to call in so much. I’m really glad you guys had this today because it’s my birthday today.
Andrew: Oh cool. Happy Birthday!
Laura: Happy Birthday!
Andrew: One, two, three.
[MuggleCasters sing a terrible “Happy Birthday” to Stacy]
Andrew: Everyone signing on to UStream just now heard us singing a horrible rendition of “Happy Birthday.” I’m sorry to everyone in the Ustream right now.
Eric: Now, Stacy, you’re 23 today? 23 years old?
Caller: Yeah, 23 today.
Andrew: Awesome. [laughs] Well, congrats! What are you doing for your birthday? Besides listening to us.
Caller: Well, I’m at home from school. I’m in my last term of college so that’s exciting, but yeah, I’m just hanging out with my family. That’s basically all.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Caller: It’s fun.
Laura: That’s nice.
Caller: Yeah, it’s great. You guys talked about – I know you got the e-mail earlier from the girl that talked about Equus, but I would wondering, do you think they’re going to even let minors in to go see the movie – like the play at all? Because here in the U.S. they’re so stickly about stuff like that.
Andrew: Yeah…
Caller: Do you think they are even going to allow minors to go in?
Andrew: Well, they didn’t stop anyone in England, I don’t think. There may have been an age limit. I guess we should look into that to see if there was an age limit. I mean, obviously it wasn’t a problem for Jamie and I.
Caller: Well, yeah, I was thinking like in England they’re not – like with TV shows they’re not – they don’t censor things like we do. So I’m wondering – it may be different in England than it is here.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. Well…
Micah: I don’t know that Broadway can do that. I mean, I know that they – actually, it was funny. At work the other day they were talking about some shows on Broadway; in particular, some of the Disney ones, that have put restrictions, like you can’t bring in kids under a certain age. And I don’t know if that’s just because they are generally too young, like maybe three or four year olds, or if the limit was a little bit higher. But I think for something like this, do we know – is it definitely main stream Broadway or is there going to be like an Off-Broadway show in a theater where you may not have to worry about that kind of stuff as much?
Caller: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Caller: I wasn’t sure. Like, I was just thinking about when you were talking about it last week. I’m like, are they even going allow them? But I don’t know how they would tell unless they checked I.D. or something.
Andrew: Yeah. Maybe there will be a rule that’s like 14 or under are admitted or something like that.
Caller: Yeah.
Andrew: I mean, either way, they’re still going to get fan girls that I think may take it a little immature.
Caller: Yeah.
Andrew: Or may be a little immature.
Micah: Well then, how are you going to check? I mean…
Andrew and Laura: Yeah.
Micah: I mean, realistically, most people that age don’t have some sort of identification.
Caller: It’s true.
Micah: They may look older than they actually are.
Andrew: Yeah.
Caller: Yeah.
Andrew: Well, we’ll see what happens. Thank you for calling, Stacy.
Caller: Can I give a shout out real quick?
Andrew: Sure.
Caller: Well, I share a birthday with one of my fellow Vultures, so I want to say Happy Birthday, Abby, and hi to all of my Vultures. I love them. Gak!
Andrew: You live in Bedford?
Caller: Bedford, Oregon, yes! Bedford, Oregon.
[Andrew and Stacy laugh]
Andrew: Yeah, I’m stalking your Facebook – or sorry – Skype profile.
Caller: Yeah, it’s okay to stalk, right? [laughs] Well, thank you for taking my call.
Andrew: No problem. Thanks for calling.
Caller: You made my birthday!
Andrew: Oh good! We’re glad.
Laura: Happy Birthday!
Andrew: Yeah, Happy Birthday!
Caller: Thank you, bye!
Andrew: Bye! Okay, let’s take some…
Eric: This reminds me.
Andrew: What?
Eric: I got to do a shout out.
Micah: Did we know it was her birthday? Didn’t we sing to her?
Andrew: Huh?
Laura: What?
Micah: Forget it.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: No, I know somebody…
Laura: No, I wanted to wish her a Happy Birthday one last time. I was being nice, Micah. God.
Andrew: Yeah, geez.
Eric: I said Happy Birthday on her wall too. Anyway…
Call: Pronunciation of “Notre Dame”
Andrew: Hello, listener, you’re live on MuggleCast. Oh, sorry.
Caller: Oh wow! Wow, I didn’t expect to get through.
Andrew: Hey!
Caller: Wow, okay.
[Andrew laughs]
Caller: I should have had a question prepared.
Andrew: [laughs] Nobody does; it’s amazing.
Caller: Yeah, well, I just wanted to say, because of MuggleCast, I now pronounce it Notre Dame [pronounces like “Noter-Dame”], and it’s really bad.
Andrew: Sorry, say that again?
Caller: I say “Notre Dame” [pronounces like “Noter-Dame” instead of “Notre Dame” [pronounces like “Notra-Dahm”] and then people in my French class give me funny looks because it’s “Oooh, oooh, American, oooh, oooh.”
Eric: “Ooo, Notre Dame.” No, I say Notre Dame all the time.
Caller: Yeah, but you’re American.
Eric: Well, should I say it with a French intonation?
Andrew: That’s how we say it over here.
Caller: Yeah, but I’m in Australia so people give you weird looks.
Eric: Ah.
Laura: Aww.
Eric: Well, I’ve been to Notre Dame in France and I think that it would be a travesty, and absolute travesty, to call the school in Indiana – it is in Indiana, isn’t it?
Andrew: Yes.
Eric: Or Michigan? Yeah, Indiana.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: And I think it would be a travesty to confuse the two. So, therefore, I’ve always supported sort of calling the school “Notre Dame” because everybody talks about the football team Notre Dame, yeah? Okay, cool. And then Notre Dame, which is the proper French name about the Gothic Cathedral situated in Paris, which is brilliant and all of you should see it, but I say, well, why not pronounce them differently? Because they are completely different.
Caller: Okay!
Laura: Good point.
Eric: [laughs] Does that answer your question?
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Caller: All right, I should probably go and let someone on who has an actual question.
Andrew: Okay! Well, thanks for calling!
Caller: But I’ve had a fun run anyway. All right.
Andrew: All right. Bye!
Caller: Bye!
Laura: Bye.
Andrew: Guys, call in with your Harry Potter questions. I mean, we like to take regular calls but we wouldn’t mind some Harry Potter talk too, whether it’s about the movies or the books or some news development. Jackie, hello! Hello, Jackie?
Call: Pickles and Shout Outs
Caller: Can you hear me?
Andrew: Yes. Hi, how you doing?
Caller: Sorry.
Andrew: It’s all right.
Caller: I’m good! How are you?
Andrew: Pretty good. What’s on your mind today?
Caller: Not much. I’m sorry I don’t actually have a Harry Potter question. I just wanted let you guys know that the Christmas Store by my house, they have pickle ornaments for your tree.
Andrew: Oh my gosh! We actually have one of those at my house.
Caller: Do you? I got one too.
Andrew: Hey, Laura, your mom hasn’t sent me that glass pickle yet. I really want that.
Laura: No, yeah. And I was just about to say she told me the other day that everybody has been sending – I don’t know if you guys have seen these – these pickle-packs that they’re selling in stores now.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah. I don’t even know what they are!
Laura: Okay, people have been sending – they’re just little packs of I guess plastic cups of pickles? Like, little dill pickles, and people have been sending those to the P.O. Box… [laughs]
Andrew: Why?
Laura: …and mom was – I don’t know! But my mom was like we…
Andrew: It’s probably because of Pickle Pack!
Laura: … she was, like, we keep getting these little boxes of pickles.
Andrew: [laughs] I want some of those. [laughs]
Laura: I don’t – can it – will it go bad? Or does it – I don’t know.
Andrew: I was just kidding. I don’t know. Well, thank you, thank you, to everybody who’s mailing them in, though. That’s…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: I’m sure Laura’s mom’s going to be stocking them up for when Laura gets home.
Eric: Mmm.
Andrew: She’s going to be killing herself with all those pickle pack boxes.
Laura: Mmm, exciting.
Eric: Yeah. Well, guys, I’ve got to get going, actually.
Andrew: Okay.
Eric: I got work now. But Stacy’s birthday reminded me, it’s actually somebody else’s birthday. A Kiwi – a New Zealand girl came in, actually with a group of friends, and her name was Charlie, and her friend, Camille, wanted me to wish her a Happy Birthday on the air. So Charlie and Camille, Happy Birthday to you, New Zealand, and happy shout out to everyone. Okay, cool!
Andrew: Also…
Eric: And guys? I got to get to work, so you guys have a wonderful show, and I look forward to seeing it on the feed tonight.
Andrew: Thanks! See you!
Laura: Bye, Eric.
[Eric laughs]
Caller: Bye, Eric!
Andrew: Jackie, we’ll…
Eric: Bye, Micah!
Micah: Bye.
Andrew: …let you go too, to take some other calls…
Caller: Wait! I have a shout out!
Andrew: Okay.
Caller: Okay, I have to shout out to Spot, because they’re amazing, and then I have a shout out to my friend Emily, who I hope is listening right now, cleaning her house.
Andrew: Yay!
Caller: All right, thanks, guys.
Andrew: No problem. Thanks for calling.
Caller: Yep.
Andrew: Yawning? She’s getting bored of us or something. For now, we’re going to take Skype In-Calls right now, meaning if you’re calling from a real phone – because we’ve been taking a lot of Skype calls and we would like to give some of the people who only have a land-line a chance. People who don’t have Skype. So call in now if you have a real telephone and you’re calling. I guess we should give out the numbers. In the United States it’s 1-218-20-MAGIC, and if you’re in the United Kingdom you can dial 020 – what’s the number? – 020-8144-0677, and if you’re in Australia you can dial 02-8003-5668. Amazingly, nobody’s calling!
Laura: Give them ten seconds.
Andrew: We’ll just wait around. In the meantime…
[“Don’t Phunk With My Heart” by The Black Eyed Peas begins playing]
Andrew: [singing] “No, no, no, no, don’t phunk with my heart!” Where is everybody!? Somebody call in! 1-218-20-MAGIC. It’s got to be working. I hope it’s not me.
Laura: Come on, guys. Call.
Andrew: [singing] “don’t phunk with my heart!” All right, I’ve given up on all the callers. Oh! there’s one now! Hello, caller, you’re live on MuggleCast!
Call: Andrew and Laura Caught Bashing Eric
Caller: Oh my god! Did I get on?
Andrew: Yeah, you got on!
Caller: Cool. I’m happy now.
[Music fades to the background]
Andrew: What’s going on?
[Music stops]
Caller: Nothing. I’m in Australia, in Melbourne. [unintelligible] especially to listen. [laughs]
Andrew: Awesome. You got anything on your mind today?
Caller: No, not really. I was just – I should have a question. But I don’t. I don’t have one. I’m sorry.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay. At least you were honest about it.
Caller: Ah! In the – in the chat on UStream, Ravenclawed is going on and on about how she’s got an audio of you bashing Eric, so she just wanted someone to tell you that. [laughs]
Andrew: What?
Caller: I don’t know. She’s like, I’ve got audio of Laura and Andrew bashing Eric.
Andrew: Oh!
Laura: Uh-oh!
Caller: And she wanted someone to say it.
Andrew: Talking about earlier when Laura and I – oh good thing he’s not here now.
[Caller laughs]
Andrew: Crap. I didn’t think we were broadcasting.
Caller: Oh no, I just missed him. I went to MuggleCast Down Under in Melbourne.
Andrew: Ah geez! I’m really upset now. All right, well, thanks for calling with that.
Caller: [laughs] No, it’s okay.
Andrew: Okay, bye. Shoot.
Laura: Bye.
Andrew: Shoot, Laura.
Laura: Darn it! Why did you have that broadcasting, Andrew?
Andrew: I don’t know.
Laura: What were you thinking!?
Andrew: Sorry.
[“Don’t Phunk With My Heart” by Black Eyed Peas continues playing]
Andrew: Wait for another caller. Black Eyed Peas will fill in the awkward silence. Come on, people! Call in! Not on Skype. 1-218-20-MAGIC. 1-218-20-MAGIC. There we go. Hello, caller. You’re live on MuggleCast.
Call: Pronunciation of “Nagini”
[Song stops playing]
Caller: Oh, sorry. I called before but you were just like saying, “Call.” So I called again.
Andrew: Yeah.
Caller: And I was wondering, does anyone pronounce Voldemort’s snake as Na-gin-eye or is that just me?
Andrew: Na-gin-eye?
Laura: I say Na-gee-nee.
Andrew: Yeah, I think Jo pronounces it Na-gee-nee too.
Caller: Yeah, but Na-gin-eye sounds so much cooler. Like I could see Voldemort say, “Na-gin-eye” than “Na-gee-nee.”
Andrew: Na-gee-nee sounds like he’s a weenie.
Laura: [laughs] What?
Caller: I like Na-gin-eye.
Andrew: Na-gee-nee? Like I don’t know. Sounds kind of weak. Na-gin-eye, I like that. Maybe we should start that. Na-gin-eye.
Laura: No. [laughs]
Andrew: [imitating Voldemort] “Go eat him, Na-gin-eye.”
Caller: Yeah, I like…
Laura: It sounds like something from like, a really – it sounds like something from one of those anime cartoons. You know, Na-gin-eye. It just sounds like a name from like Dragon Ball Z or something. I don’t know.
Caller: Oh I hate those shows.
Laura: [laughs] Me too.
Andrew: Don’t say that. You’re going to upset a lot of our listeners. [laughs] All right, well, thank you for calling.
Caller: All right, bye.
Andrew: Bye. Looking for calls now. You know, the line is busy. I just tried to call it. Maybe that’s why nobody’s calling in because the line’s like broken or something. Let’s take another caller.
Laura: That would kind of suck.
Call: Dursleys Sending Mail
Andrew: Yeah. Take a call from Betsy.
Laura: I think we just…
Caller: Hello?
Andrew: Hi, Betsy. How you doing?
[Betsy says something unintelligible]
[Piano plays in the background]
Andrew: What is that?
Caller: Philip, stop. Okay.
Andrew: Is that someone playing a piano?
Laura: What is that?
Caller: Yeah.
Andrew: It’s not bad.
Caller: Philip, it’s live. Shhh.
Andrew: No, let him go. It’s fine. I like it. [laughs]
Caller: It’s too loud.
Andrew: Oh okay.
[Betsy laughs]
Andrew: What’s on your mind today?
Caller: I was wondering, how do they get mail when the Dursleys send mail to Harry? It’s by – it comes by owl or something?
Andrew: Right. Right.
Caller: How do they do that? Do they like leave it for Hedwig to bring or something?
Laura: Didn’t Jo say that Hedwig goes back there and waits until she – they send something? I feel like she said something about how Hedwig will go back and make
sure that they send stuff. I don’t know.
Andrew: Did she? I don’t know.
Laura: Yeah. I feel – I mean don’t quote me on it. But I feel like she did. I don’t know.
Andrew: Was that like something she brought up in her web-chat or something?
Laura: Yeah, I feel like it was in an interview where someone asked her. She said that – I don’t know. Either way I think somebody must have forced them to send him
something because otherwise they wouldn’t. I don’t know.
Andrew: Yeah.
Caller: Yeah. I was thinking maybe Dumbledore just said they had to send presents or something.
Andrew: Yeah. Well, good question. Is that all?
Caller: I also wanted to shout out to Spot, and I was wondering if any of you read the Twilight books.
Andrew: No. But I saw people kept bringing them up in the chat.
Laura: No.
Andrew: What are the Twilight books?
Caller: Well, everyone should. [laughs]
Andrew: What are they? Is it like a Harry Potter rip-off?
[Laura laughs]
Caller: No, it’s not – it doesn’t really have anything to do with Harry Potter. But they’re really awesome.
Andrew: Oh cool.
Caller: And now my friend is saying I have to say you have to read Wicked too, even though I didn’t finish it yet. So I don’t know.
Andrew: I’d rather just see the play. But anyway, thank you for calling.
Caller: Wait. And a shout out to Dixie.
Andrew: Dixie?
Caller: Her real name is Emily. Because she’s yelling at me.
Andrew: Okay. Well, thank you for calling.
Caller: [laughs] Thank you.
Andrew: Bye.
Caller: Wait! Andrew is my favorite MuggleCaster.
Andrew: Oh, thanks.
Caller: Just, you know… [laughs]
Andrew: Kind of mean for Laura and Micah.
Laura: Yeah, really.
Andrew: Thanks.
[Betsy laughs]
Laura: Get out of here.
[Betsy laughs]
Call: The Marauder’s Map and the Dursleys
Andrew: Okay. I hung up on her for you guys. What’s going on, caller?
Caller: Hello!
Andrew: Hi, how’re you doing?
Caller: Oh my god, I can’t believe I’m on, because it’s the first time I rang and I’m on straight away.
Andrew: Awesome. Where are you calling from?
Caller: Australia.
Andrew: Again? Is that all…
Caller: Yeah, it’s 8:30; we’re all getting up early.
Andrew: I guess so, yeah. Everyone – geez. That’s good, that’s cool. Calling from the other side of the world, that’s crazy. I’m talking to someone on the other side of the world. Crazy.
Caller: Yes you are.
[Andrew and Caller laugh]
Andrew: Anyway, what’s on your mind?
Caller: Okay, well, I’d like to give a quick shout out, because I forgot to do it last time, to Emmes, but she’ll listen to this later.
Andrew: Cool.
Caller: Again, my question is, how did the Marauders make the Marauders Map?
Laura: Hmm…
Andrew: How did they – how did they come up with the…?
Caller: Like how did they make it?
Andrew: Like what kind of magic do you think they used?
Caller: Yeah, like something like that.
Andrew: Yeah. Beats me.
Laura: I mean, we – yeah, I mean we – I really don’t know what kind of spells they would have used. I think we clearly know that they were all – at least James and Sirius were very advanced…
Caller: Mmm.
Laura: …for their age in magic. And, I mean, of course, I think an extensive excursion around the castle would have been in order. But as for the actual mechanics that went into making it, I couldn’t tell you. I wish I could though.
Caller: Yeah, me too. Yeah, and I have another question. What happened to the Dursleys?
Andrew: In the long run?
Caller: Yeah, like, would Harry have ever gone back to see them? Probably not. [laughs]
Andrew: You don’t think so? I think he would have went over to say “Hi.”
Caller: Well, then again, yeah, because he kind of made friends with Dudley at the end.
Andrew: Right, yeah. I mean…
Laura: Yeah, but I don’t think that changes all the years of bad memories he has of living there either. You know? And it might not have anything to do with Dudley
specifically, but why go back to a place – because I always kind of assumed that after everything went back to normal, the Dursleys went back to Privet Drive and continued living on their lives as they had been before…
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: …so I just – I don’t see why he’d go back.
Andrew: I think just…
Micah: I agree.
Andrew: Okay. [laughs] I just think that Harry’s a nice guy. I think he would have gone back – what – ten, twenty years later. And just went “Hey, guys, how’re you doing?” No? I mean…
Laura: Mmm. No.
Andrew: Okay.
Laura: Why – okay, if he was going to go back, why would he wait twenty years to go back, Andrew?
Andrew: Well – like – along – you know – like – well – long – long time – bleh.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: A reunion, like a family reunion. [laughs] I don’t know.
Laura: Oh, that’s a happy family reunion.
Andrew: Well, maybe after hating them for ten years…
Laura: We used to lock you in…
Andrew: No, no, I’m saying…
Laura: …the cupboard. Please come see us.
Andrew: I’m saying maybe after ten years or so, he’s like, “Wow, I haven’t seen my – the Dursleys for a while. Wonder how they’re doing,” and – come on. I mean, you know…
Laura: I’m sure he knows how they’re doing. Like I’m sure he’d find out how they were doing, but I don’t think he’d have any reason to go visit them.
Micah: Wasn’t that that whole scene between him and Dudley and Dudley asked why he wasn’t coming with them, and I thought there was somewhere in that chapter where they said about how Harry knew he would never return to Privet Drive.
Laura: Yeah.
Micah: Do you guys remember that at all?
Laura: Yeah, I remember what you’re talking….
Andrew: Yeah, I do. Yeah, me too.
Micah: Now I don’t know…
Laura: So…
Micah: …if it’s just explicitly said that he would never see them again, but, I mean, I kind of agree with Andrew though, too. I mean, even though he was treated like you-know-what, I can still see him, being the type of person that he is, going back and checking on them.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: I think he can check on them without having to actually see them though.
Micah: That’s true.
Andrew: Yeah, I just made it the poll on UStream. So far twenty people are saying yes, that he would have went back to visit. So take that, Laura!
Laura: You guys are wrong!
[Micah laughs]
Laura: You’re wrong, that’s what it comes down to.
Call: Harry as a Horcrux
Andrew: We’re going to take another caller now, someone from the U.K.. What’s going on, caller?
Caller: Hi.
Andrew: Hi, how’re you doing?
Caller: Oh, I can’t believe you guys picked up.
Andrew: Ha-ha, yeah. Apparently our U.S. phone number’s not working.
Caller: Okay.
Andrew: It was before we started, I did test it, everyone. So, don’t hate me. What’s going one? What’s your name?
Caller: Well, I was wondering what you guys thought of – because Jo said that Harry wasn’t actually a Horcrux because Voldemort didn’t intend to make him a Horcrux, so I was wondering what you guys thought of that, because you haven’t actually talked about it I don’t think.
Laura: I think we addressed this at one point, didn’t we? It seems like somebody asked the same question. I feel like – I don’t know, maybe I’m just reiterating a
point I was thinking of, but I think that Harry’s case was kind of unusual, so there really was no other
name for it. There was no other word for it, I guess.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: You know what I’m saying? Like…
Caller: Yeah, I know what you mean.
Laura: Yeah, I mean, Dumbledore said it just because there was no other way to think of a human being as being a Horcrux because it had never happened before.
Andrew: Yeah. Just not a literal, actual Horcrux.
Caller: Yeah.
Andrew: But that’s just the best way to describe it.
Laura: Yeah.
Caller: Yeah. It just seems that in the beginning of the book, you guys were pretty happy, and I just wondering what you guys thought of it. If not, that’s just…
Andrew: Yeah, well, I mean, we only did it because – because Emerson and Ben, you know, wrote about in the MuggleNet book and said, you know, Harry’s a Horcrux. He
was, but he wasn’t, so I don’t know.
Laura: So everyone won. In the end.
Andrew: Everyone did win, yeah. [laughs]
Caller: Yeah, I understand.
Andrew: Yeah.
Caller: Okay.
Andrew: Well, thank you for calling!
Caller: Okay, thank you for taking my call.
Andrew: No problem. Bye.
Caller: I love you guys.
Laura: Bye!
Caller: Bye.
Call: Fawkes
Andrew: Love you too. Another caller now. What’s going on?
Caller: Whoa, did you actually pick up?
Andrew: Yeah, why does everyone assume we’re not going to pick up? It’s kind of hurtful.
Caller: What?
Andrew: I said, why does everyone assume we’re not going to pick up? It’s kind of hurtful.
Caller: Well, [unintelligible]. Like, you’re just sitting here, like I’m just reading, and then it’s just like busy all of a sudden.
Andrew: Oh, yeah, sorry about that. Well, what’s on your mind?
Caller: Well, I was just wondering, at the end of Half-Blood Prince, I was wondering, where did Fawkes go? Where do you think he went?
Laura: Hmm…
Andrew: Didn’t he…
Laura: Nobody knows.
Andrew: Well, I think – well, Dumbledore was buried on the grounds. I was going to say, he went and always lived by Dumbledore’s grave, but…
Laura: That would be a really miserable existence.
Andrew: Yeah. Well, but he’s Dumbledore’s bird. Maybe Fawkes just went to live with other phoenixes.
Laura: Maybe he’s in the Forbidden Forest.
Andrew: Maybe he’s…
Caller: That’s nifty.
Laura: Maybe he’s in the Forbidden Forest.
Andrew: Oh. I don’t think that would be a very pleasant place for him either, actually.
Laura: Why not? It’s better than living by his grave.
Andrew: Okay! Whatever!
Caller: I bet if he went to the forest, I bet the thestrals would eat him.
Andrew: Yeah. He’s…
Laura: Yeah, but he’s a phoenix. He can disappear at will.
Caller: Well, I don’t know. I think that’d be totally awesome, though, if he just disappeared.
Andrew: That wouldn’t be very nice. I mean, Fawkes is a very reputable bird. He’s – he deserves a happy life.
Caller: Yeah, I know, but where has he gone? Nobody knows.
Andrew: Well, okay. So that’s where we look forward to the Harry Potter Encyclopedia, written by Jo. [laughs] Or maybe someone will ask her.
Micah: I thought she said that he would never have another owner. I mean, I know that doesn’t help us figure out where he would go, but I don’t have anything else other than that. I just know that she said that in an interview.
Andrew: Huh. Well, I got one thing to say to that, once it loads. But, I mean, Fawkes – I don’t know. Any other ideas? Somebody talk while I do something.
Laura: I mean, honestly, I’m – I mean, I don’t think that he died or he quote unquote disappeared.
Micah: He can’t die. He’s a phoenix.
Laura: That’s what I’m saying, Micah! Let me finish my point. But the whole point is, he’s everlasting. He lives forever.
[“Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd begins playing]
Laura: Way to turn on music while I’m talking.
Andrew: Keep talking. Go ahead.
Laura: Oh, my God. You had to put on “Free Bird.”
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Oh, my God. Why?
Andrew: [laughs] Because he’s a free bird.
Laura: [laughs] Andrew, you don’t have sympathy for the fact that I’ve spent most of my life in the south, and therefore have had to hear this song ad nauseam.
Andrew: Shh, Laura, let’s just enjoy it. All right, well, thank you, caller for calling, caller. I think Fawkes is a free bird. Oh, the caller left. Fawkes is a free bird.
Laura: This is the…
Andrew: Anyone with me?
Laura: …longest, longest…
Micah: Yeah.
Laura: …song in the history of man.
Call: Snake in the Orb and Getting an A in English
Andrew: Yeah, whatever, Laura. Okay, let’s take another caller now. Hello, caller, you’re live on MuggleCast. What’s going on? Hello, caller.
Caller: Hello?
Andrew: Hi, how are you doing?
Caller: Hi. Hold on, hang on, let me run downstairs really quick, my brother [unintelligible]. Okay. Hello. I am Theresa from Australia…
Andrew: Oh, awesome.
Caller: …again.
Andrew: Yeah, we really got to get that U.S. number open.
Caller: [unintelligible] You know on the U.K. Children’s Edition cover, on the back about how there was that snake in the orb?
Andrew: Yes.
Caller: Did we ever find out what that was?
Andrew: That was…
Laura: Yeah.
Caller: Or did I miss something in the book?
Laura: That was when they were – I think it was whenever they were in the Shrieking Shack, Snape and Voldemort, and Voldemort had encased Nagini inside of this water-type orb thing, I believe.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: I think it was water…
Caller: Oh, okay.
Laura: …inside of it, in order to protect her. And then she came out, and…
Caller: Okay. [unintelligible] I’d also have to thank you guys because you helped me pass my English assignment.
Andrew: How’d we do that?
Caller: Because you guys are analyzing Harry Potter, and I was comparing something to Harry Potter by analyzing something, so you were a big help to me.
Andrew: Oh, awesome!
Laura: Oh, cool!
Caller: You got me an A.
Andrew: Oh, an A!
Caller: So thanks.
Andrew: We love to hear how we help people academically. That’s always good.
[Caller laughs]
Andrew: Okay, well, thanks for calling. Have a good day…
Caller: Yup, thanks!
Andrew: …in Australia.
Caller: Well, I stayed up all night to catch the live streaming [unintelligible]. But thanks!
[Andrew laughs]
Andrew and Laura: All right.
Andrew: Bye.
Laura: Bye.
Caller: Bye.
Call: Releasing Beedle the Bard to the Public
Andrew: Let’s take on more call. We’ll let one more Skype caller come in, since all these people – poor people are calling. We’ll wrap it up for today. Hello, caller, you’re live on MuggleCast.
Caller: Hello?
Andrew: Hi, Kelsey!
Laura: Hi!
Caller: Hi! Oh my God, I can’t believe I got through! [laughs]
Andrew: What’s going on? What’s on your mind today?
Caller: Well, let me – real quick. Okay. I was just calling to ask you guys, you know how J.K. Rowling was writing the Tales of Beedle and the Bard thing?
Andrew: Yes.
Laura: Mhm.
Caller: Do you think that she would ever release that to the public?
Andrew: No.
Laura: No, I don’t think so.
Andrew: Yeah, because, I mean, that was…
Laura: Because…
Andrew: It was, one, a charity item, and then she wrote six other copies and gave them to the people who she thought helped her most with Harry Potter. So, I mean, that’s sort of very special to them, those very – you know, there’s a lot of sentimental value to that, I would think. So…
Caller: Yeah, I just think it would be cool to be able to read all the stories and be like, “Oh my god, those are so cool.”
Andrew: Oh, definitely. Yeah. Yeah, I mean…
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: …maybe that was the one idea of the charity copy, to get it out there? I don’t know.
Laura: Mmm. Doesn’t that kind of…
Caller: And also…
Laura: I don’t know.
Caller: …I just want to let you guys know – actually, I was wondering if you could possibly post the – on MuggleCast.com, because the one on UStream.tv…
Andrew: Wait, wait, wait…
Caller: …is really lagging.
Andrew: Post the what on MuggleCast.com?
Caller: Post this stream on MuggleCast.com.
Andrew: Oh. It is, isn’t it? Oh…
Caller: Because with the chat it’s really lagging.
Andrew: Oh, yeah. Well…
Caller: Yeah.
Andrew: …you know what? We’re going to wrap this show up now, but next time we should probably do that. I may just disable the chat altogether…
Caller: Yeah.
Andrew: …next time, so we don’t have to worry about it at all.
Caller: That will probably be a good idea. [laughs]
Andrew: From – actually, Tim…
Caller: Yeah.
Andrew: …over at UStream, he’s the head guy over at Ustream. He actually e-mailed me during the show. This guy’s awesome. Like, he’s always here to help you. He actually e-mailed and said it’s actually my connection. [laughs] Not theirs. He said all their stuff was running fine, and…
[Caller laughs]
Andrew: …it was my stream. Which may make sense because I’m doing this over a wireless connection, so it may – the wireless may be jumping in and out, not sure. But maybe I’ll get an Ethernet installed on my computer, so we have a hard line to the Internet. Okay? So…
Caller: Okay.
Andrew: …we’ll work on that for next time. Sorry about that.
Caller: Okay. Talk to you guys later!
Andrew: All right, bye!
Caller: Bye.
Laura: Bye.
Andrew: All right, with that – unless you guys want to take more callers. I know Micah has to run, so I think we’ll wrap the show up for today.
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: This was a long one.
Laura: It’s been fun.
Show Close
Andrew: It’s been fun. It’s also been an hour and forty minutes, so it’s long enough. We hope everyone enjoyed this live show. If you want to send in some feedback about the live show, please feel free to do so, because we’re curious how you feel about these shows. As we continue to do these shows, I think we want to focus on more Harry Potter-only calls. And what’s great about the voicemails is, you can always moderate it. But thank you to everyone who did call today. We did have a good time taking all of your calls. Laura, what’s the P.O. Box if people want to contact us. You can…
Laura: P.O. Box 3151, Cumming, Georgia, 30028.
Andrew: Awesome. There’s also some numbers you can call to contact us, but while we’re doing that I want some Backstreet Boys.
[“Larger Than Life” by the Backstreet Boys begins playing]
Andrew: [sings along] Sorry, I was just [unintelligible]. If you’re in the United States,
you can dial 1-218-20-MAGIC. That’s 1-218-206-2442. If you’re in the United Kingdom, you can dial 02081440677. If you’re in Australia, you can also dial 0280035668. You can also Skype the username MuggleCast, which is what everyone was doing today, to call in and
leave a voicemail. We were actually going to have a voicemail show this week, but Kevin was having a problem gathering voicemails; there was something wrong with our voicemail box, so we’re looking into that trying to get it fixed. You can also visit MuggleCast.com for complete contact information, including a handy feedback form to contact any one of us, and you can also contact us via our first name at staff dot mugglenet dot com.
There’s also some community outlets: the MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Frappr, Last.FM, and the fanlisting. You can also Digg the show at Digg.com, vote for us once a month on Podcast Alley, and rate and review us at Yahoo! Podcasts. That’s about it. Laura, Micah, you got anything else to say?
Laura: We have some rocking tunes playing here!
Andrew: We do. Let’s hear it louder!
[Andrew turns music up]
Andrew: Those guys can sing.
Laura: Wow.
Andrew: [unintelligible] No?
Laura: What?
Andrew: You can sing too.
Laura: Oh, I couldn’t hear you.
Andrew: Oh, yeah, sing! Come on. Anyone visiting UStream.tv right now is going to hear you sing.
Laura: Oh boy, that’s exciting.
Andrew: [sings along badly] That’s embarrassing. We’re going to be taking that off.
Laura: You should put on Hairspray, and then we can sing.
Andrew: You really want Hairspray?
Laura: Oh, well, as if you don’t listen to Hairspray enough.
Andrew: I don’t really.
Laura: Okay, never mind.
Andrew: It’s sort of not my thing. I got an e-mail; someone called me a gay boy for listening to Hairspray this week.
Laura: That’s not nice.
Andrew: It wasn’t very nice.
Laura: No, it’s not. Jerks.
Andrew: But – actually, no, we’ll stick with the classic.
[“Good Morning Baltimore” from Hairspray begins playing]
Andrew: All right, I guess we’ll end the show with this today. [laughs] Thank you, everyone, for listening. Once again, I’m Andrew Sims.
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.
Micah: And I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Andrew: We’ll see everyone next week for Episode 120, which will not be live. Bye, everyone!
[Micah laughs]
Laura: Bye!
Micah: Bye!
[“Good Morning Baltimore” continues playing]
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