MuggleCast EP33 Transcript
Intro
Andrew [Show Intro with music in background]: [screaming] Oh my god, it’s MuggleCast – Episode 33 for April 02nd, 2006! See why GoDaddy.com is the No. 1 domain registrar world-wide. Now with your domain name registration you’ll get hosting, a free blog, complete e-mail and much more. Plus, as a MuggleCast listener enter the code “RON,” that’s R-O-N when you check out and get your dot com domain name for just $6.95 per year. Get your piece of the Internet today at GoDaddy.com.
At USA Network characters are welcome. Even you have what it takes to be a star. Can you believe that? Enter the 2006 “Show Us Your Character Contest” to find out if you’re America’s most unique character and you could win a chance to be featured on the computer screen, the TV screen, and even the big screen! Enter now at ShowUsYourCharacter.com.
Hello, everyone and welcome to MuggleCast 33! I’m Andrew Sims.
Ben: I’m Ben Schoen.
Eric: I’m Eric Scull.
Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence.
Greg: And I’m Greg Porter.
Andrew: Wait! Greg Porter?
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Any relation to MuggleNet Greg?
Greg: Maybe!
Andrew: Yes or no? Just yes or no?
Greg: Yeah, the real.
Andrew: Oh John Noe would like to be on this episode. And America’s favorite Brit Jamie Lawrence is also back too. It’s about time Jamie.
Jamie: I know. It’s terrible, isn’t it? It’s a bad effort.
Andrew: Before we go anywhere else, first let’s check in with Micah Tannenbaum for the past week’s top Harry Potter news stories.
News
Micah: EvannaLynch.net, a fan site for the actress who will be portraying Luna Lovegood in Order of the Phoenix, has debunked recent rumors of Evanna dropping out of the fifth film. Although the rumors suggest her agent made the departure statement, EvannaLynch.net makes a point of reminding visitors that Evanna doesn’t even have an agent. Evanna will be in Order of the Phoenix, due out sometime next year.
Wednesday morning, the Australian show “Sunrise” aired an interview with Dan, Rupert, Emma and Katie on the set of the fifth Harry Potter movie where they talked quite a lot about filming.
And thanks to ExpectoPatronum.com you can see more photos (1, 2, 3) of Hagrid’s hut. I know you’ve been waiting for those. If you weren’t excited enough by the first set, there is now a scarecrow with a pumpkin for a head standing in the vegetable patch. Wow!
As we reported a few weeks ago, Harry Potter was nominated for both favorite book (for the entire series) and favorite movie (for Goblet of Fire) at the 2006 Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. The series and the movie proved successful, nabbing both the awards.
At Wednesday night’s British Book Awards ceremony in London, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was named book of the year. The awards are voted on by the public and Rowling beat out autobiographies by the likes of John Peel and Sharon Osbourne.
The fourth Harry Potter DVD has proved enormously successful in the UK where it now holds the title of fastest selling DVD ever. Every second on the day of its release (on March 20th), six copies fell into eager fans’ hands, and three copies per second were sold in the first six days since the movie hit the shelves. To date, 1.4 million copies have been sold, making it the seventh best selling DVD of all time.
Rupert Grint – along with the Phelps twins – were at the “Harry Potter Movie Marathon” in Rome’s Warner Village. The Marathon included screenings of the first three Harry Potter movies, and the actors signed autographs between breaks.
JKR recently painted a ceramic egg and donated it to an auction organized by Make Your Mark in aid of the Multiple Sclerosis Society in Scotland. The egg raised £2600 and a total of almost £30,000 was raised at the event.
Finally, J.K. Rowling has opened the door on her website to give us…a test! Not sure what this all WOMBAT stuff means, but I am sure that we will find out in the upcoming week. Be sure to tune in to MuggleCast next week as the crew will be discussing JKR’s latest surprise.
And before I wrap things up, Emerson and Melissa, I want that toaster back I sent you guys as a wedding gift.
That’s all the news for this April 02nd, 2006 edition of MuggleCast. Back to the show!
Andrew: All right, thank you Micah. [laughing]
Announcements
Andrew: Now, a couple of quick announcements. The shortest MuggleCast t-shirt ad ever. Buy a MuggleCast t-shirt today!
Jamie: Yes, excellent!
Andrew: Moving on, vote for us on Podcast Alley!
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: I’m not complaining much because we’re in the Top 10 list now.
Jamie: Even shorter, brilliant!
Andrew: Don’t forget. Thank you for all your e-mails. We’re taking your feedback and putting it to good use. And it’s time to put in your RSVPs for Lumos 2006. We will all be…
Ben: E-mail hplive…
Andrew: at…
Ben: hplive at gmail dot com.
Andrew: at gmail dot com. Remember, this doesn’t give you a seat. It merely says that you’re coming. [laughs]
Ben: It let’s us know. It let’s us know some numbers.
Andrew: Yeah. hp live at gmail dot com. It’s really important that everyone tells us if they’re coming or not so we can get a good number.
Ben: And by the way Jamie Lawrence will be there.
Andrew: Yes, he will.
Ben: He will be there.
Andrew: Greg, you coming?
Greg: Hmmm.
Eric: Who?
Greg: Me?
Ben: Yeah, you.
Andrew: Are you coming?
Greg: Oh, I don’t have money.
Andrew: Oh.
Greg: So, no.
Andrew: Ohhh, okay.
Greg: I’m poor.
Ben: Maybe if you concentrated on selling stuff on your website.
[Everyone laughs]
Ben: And then changing the layout every other day, you would have money.
Greg: Well, actually I’m going on a rather long vacation this summer that’s going to take up most of my money.
Jamie: A layout camp?
Ben: A layout camp. [laughs]
Greg: Yeah.
Andrew: A layout camp. [laughs] Is that like band camp?
Greg: Yeah.
Andrew: Okay. And… [laughs]
Greg: Well Andrew, you know that book I published?
Andrew: Yes.
Greg: Yeah.
Andrew: Ohhh.
Greg: So…
Andrew: He’s got his own book published.
Ben: Yeah, he does. Buy it, Shadows Like Us by Greg Porter.
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: Put a link in the Show Notes. That’s a good idea.
Andrew: And XalerStudios.com. Yeah.
Ben: Yeah.
Andrew: Go back weekly for a brand-new layout. You can see Greg hard at work on that stuff. [laughs]
Listener Rebuttal – All A Dream?
Andrew: Now let’s move on to Listener Rebuttals. We got a lot of good ones this week. This first one comes from Kimberly from Chattanooga, Tennessee. She write on the last MuggleCast you said you cannot think of a TV show where the story had been a dream, and two examples came to mind
One was, in the 1980’s Dallas had an entire season that was a dream that had killed off Bobby Ewing and the actor Patrick Duffy decided to come back to the show. At the end of the season his ex-wife walked into the bathroom and he was in the shower. It had been her dream. That must have been upsetting.
Then also, an example was Newhart. Bob Newhart starred as an innkeeper in Vermont. The town had lots of crazy characters. In the last episode you see Bob in bed and he “waked up.” Whoa, woke up. This girl isn’t good at writing.
Ben: Woked up?
[Andrew and Ben laugh]
Andrew: When he roles over his wife from his earlier show, The Bob Newhart Show was in bed with him. The entire series had been a dream. How upsetting.
Ben: Well, okay. Is this about us saying…
Greg: They make fun of that pirate thing on Family Guy.
Ben: Is this about us saying there wasn’t a TV series or movie that ends in a dream?
Andrew: Yeah, like over a ten-year period and then it’s all a dream.
Jamie: That would be a long time dream.
Greg: Weh weh weh wehhh!
Ben: Yeah. [laughs]
Andrew: Weh weh weh wehhh!
Greg: Wow. Yeah, who would run after J.K. Rowling to bring her down?
Eric: Yeah.
Greg: Yeah.
Listener Rebuttal – Mispronunciation
Andrew: Next e-mail. Hi, I have a listener rebuttal to do with Episode 32. You were talking about the pronunciation of [pronounces as ka-noots] “knuts.” I know the Scholastic site says it is [pronounces as ka-noots] “K’nuts.” But when Jo was reading Half-Blood Prince in Edinburgh, she pronounced as “nuts,” no “K.”
I meant to get confirmation on this, but yeah, Jamie what’s your take on it?
Jamie: I think [pronounces as ka-noots] “K’nuts” is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life.
Andrew: [laughs] Me too.
Jamie: I can’t believe after I read… So sorry now, after I listened to the Scholastic. I thought there had been some kind of error. [pronounces as ka-noots] “K’nuts,” it doesn’t sound right at all – “nuts” is clearly it. And Andrew, it’s Edinburgh not “Edinburrr.”
Andrew: Oh, sorry Jamie.
Jamie: Just wanted to point that out.
Ben: It’s Edinburgh.
Jamie: It’s okay. Don’t worry, I completely forgive you.
Andrew: I’m sorry, I’m sorry.
Ben: It’s Edinburgh.
Greg: “Edinbore.”
Andrew: Maybe for some reason Scholastic thinks it should be [pronounces as ka-noots] “K’nuts” and over in England they think it should be “nuts.” [laughs]
Jamie: But nuts, how could you say [pronounces as ka-noots] “K’nuts”? It’s like Galleons…
Andrew: “Ka-noots” sounds better I think.
Jamie: Galleons, Sickles, and [pronounces as ka-noots] “K’nuts.” Oh yeah, that flows really well.
Andrew: Yeah. Good point.
Ben: Yeah.
Jamie: “Suh-ickles” and “Guh-alleons.”
Ben: Just like the Scholastic Pronunciation Guide also says, “Rubayus.”
Jamie: I know, I know.
Ben: “Rubayus,” like “Rubayus,” “Rubayus.” “Ka-noots,” “Ka-noots.”
Jamie: The woman is so softly spoken you can barely hear her. She couldn’t actually get more softly spoken.
Greg: I think she’s a machine.
Jamie: Yeah, she is.
Ben: “Rubayus.”
Andrew: All right.
Greg: Yeah, one of those free ones.
Andrew: Well, there you go.
Listener Rebuttal – Audio Comment Music
Andrew: Sorry if I pronounced your names wrong. Zainab, 15 from Milton, Ontario, Canada. Eh, Eh, Andrew. Ay, Andrew?
[Ben laughs]
Andrew: Actually it says, “Hi!” but I was just wondering about the music you play during the audio comments. What is it called. I absolutely adore it for some random reason.
Jamie: This is just to fan Andrew’s ego, this is.
[Andrew laughs]
Andrew: Yes, it is.
Ben: Yeah, that’s all it is.
Andrew: I just wanted to say I added this because we get so many e-mails, believe or not, and I’m not joking. I made it in SoundTrack. It’s one layer of music with three different guitar riffs.
Jamie: Wow. Wow.
Andrew: So, I’ll be releasing it on a CD for $39.99.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Shipping is $30.00 as well.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: $50.00 to ship it to England. So, if you want it, please email andrew at staff dot mugglenet dot com. I’ll be happy to mail you a 20-minute version. [laughs] A 20-minute loop.
Ben: 20-minute version…[laughs] You’ll just loop it over and over.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.
Jamie: A CD costs one thousand [pronounces it ka-noots] Knuts.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah! There you go!
[Everyone laugh]
Andrew: Put that in the CNN Money Converter… [laughs]
Jamie: Or ten Knuts.
Andrew: …and see what happens.
Jamie: One thousand [pronounces it noots] Knuts or ten [pronounces it ka-noots] Knuts, okay? Whichever you prefer.
Listener Rebuttal – Hagrid’s Bad Wizard Comment
Andrew: [laughs] Next one comes from FJ, 22 of North Carolina. “Hi. You guys analyzed Hagrid’s comment that ‘There weren’t a witch or wizard that went bad that wasn’t in Slytherin’ and tried to apply that to the case of Pettigrew. You have to remember, though, that no one knew Pettigrew was alive – not even Dumbledore. Granted, that was a gross over-exaggeration, however it’s not the sort of comment that can be analyzed that way because Hagrid didn’t have all the information on Pettigrew. He’s a ‘special case’ because he faked his own death – rather successfully.”
Jamie: I just assumed that – that comment, “There wasn’t a witch or wizard that went bad that wasn’t in Slytherin,” – I mean obviously, it means that, you know, every single witch or wizard that went bad came from Slytherin. But, does that mean that there have been some good people who have come from Slytherin, or that every single person from Slytherin is bad?
Ben: They can’t all be bad.
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: That’d be what we call – [in a British accent] in America, we call it a stereotype.
Jamie: What are you talking about, Ben?
Andrew: Stereotyping!
Ben: Well, if you – if you [laughs] say that everyone goes into Slytherin comes out bad…
Jamie: I’m not stereotyping.
Ben: …that’s a stereotype. It’s like saying every Muslim’s a terrorist.
Jamie: Ben, I’m not stereotyping, I’m generalizing.
[Andrew, Ben and Greg laugh]
Jamie: Get it right, get it right!
Andrew: No generalizing is allowed…
Ben: Yeah.
Andrew: …on MuggleCast. That’s one of our rejected slogans, actually.
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: Yeah.
Jamie: “Loads of generalizing is good” – then we thought, no, it doesn’t actually work.
Andrew: None of these book nerds [laughs] will think it’s cool.
[Ben laughs]
Andrew: All right.
Jamie: Generalizing is cool.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah!
[Ben, Greg and Jamie laugh]
Andrew: All right, next rebuttal.
Greg: Let’s put that on a t-shirt!
Listener Rebuttal – Mimble-Wimble
Andrew: Okay, last comes from several people. We have found where Eric was trying to find out where on earth Mimble-Wimble came from. It turns out – thanks to quite a few people, who realized – who recalled that it comes from the Chamber of Secrets video game. There’s a spell – is it called Mimble-Wimble, or do they say Mimble-Wimble?
Jamie: The Mimble-Wimble Spell. That sounds terrifying.
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: “I’m going to Mimble-Wimble you!”
Greg: We’ll add that with Tinky-Winky and all the rest of the Teletubbies.
Jamie: [laughs] La-La’s going to Mimble-Wimble you!
Andrew: It’s amazing how like, you’ll hear it once, and then it’ll come back to you, but you can’t exactly put your finger on it.
Eric: Greg asks a really cool, good question, which I kind of wanted to talk about too. Does JKR have anything to do with the games? Do the game producers say, “Hey, we want something like Flippendo. We want something to flip something around.” And does she write them or what? What is it?
Ben: That is the most annoying spell ever in creation.
[Eric laughs]
Ben: Especially in the first game. “FLIPPENDO!”
Andrew: Flippendo! You…
Ben: [imitating the video game voice] FLIPPENDO!!!
Andrew: You had to use that spell every single time! It drove me nuts!
Ben: Yeah! [laughs]
Jamie: I hated the games.
Andrew: The games are weak. But you know what?
[Ben laughs]
Andrew: It’s these game developers, who absolutely hate Harry Potter. So, they couldn’t care less! [laughs]
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: It’s…
Jamie: Yeah, exactly.
Greg: Well, I do know that most authors have no say in their own games.
Jamie: Yeah.
Greg: But J.K. Rowling isn’t most authors, so…
Andrew: Well, it’s WB that’s making these video games happen, so J.K. [mispronounces] Rowling is probably out of the loop.
Ben: JK Rowling!
Andrew: J.K. Rowling! Sorry! I don’t know why I keep saying it that way! But anyway.
Chapter-by-Chapter – Chapters 6 & 7, Sorcerer’s Stone
Andrew: Moving on to the Chapter-by-Chapter discussion, Chapters 6 and 7. We continue to take your feedback and put it to use, and so then this is revision three of Chapter-by-Chapter. [laughs]
Chapter 6 – The Journey From Platform Nine and Three-Quarters
Andrew: So starting off Chapter 6, “The Journey From Platform Nine and [in a British accent] Three-Quarters.”
Ben: Congratulations, Andrew! You got the title right!
[Andrew laughs]
Greg: Excuse me while I open my book and finish this reading.
Andrew: Oh no, you’re done. Your chance is up.
Jamie: Yeah. You’ve missed it. [laughs]
Ben: Here, I’m – I’ll be Jim Dale while we’re waiting for Eric. [in a British accent] “Harry’s last month with the Dursleys was not fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry, he wouldn’t stay in the same room.”
Jamie: Jim Dale – Jim Dale’s American.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, but…
Ben: I swear he sounds like that, though.
Andrew: He does.
Jamie: No, he doesn’t.
Andrew: Yeah, he definitely does.
Jamie: If you want a real British accent, do Stephen Fry, who did the British ones.
Ben: I’ve never heard him speak before.
Jamie: You…
Andrew: Yes you have! You must’ve.
Ben: I heard him on the little interview with JKR, but I don’t remember what his voice sounds like.
New, Important Characters
Andrew: So, we’re introduced to a lot of new characters this chapter, and a lot of new items, particularly. We’re introduced to Ron, Neville, Fred and George, Ginny, Charlie and Bill, Mrs. Weasley of course, Crabbe and Goyle, we see more Draco – and Quidditch! And we see the – and we also sort of see the crazy side of magic with the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans and the Chocolate Frogs.
Ben: I have – I have – I have some notes, some of my notes here.
Andrew: Great!
Ben: Page 91 of the UK edition…
Jamie: So, I just think…
Ben: …is where we first hear the…
Jamie: Of the UK edition?
Ben: No, excuse me, the US edition. Sorry.
Jamie: Oh, okay.
Ben: Of…and…
Jamie: Sorry.
Ben: Molly Weasley first here talked. “Packed with Muggles, of course.” And then basically, this is where we first meet the Weasleys.
Greg: Yep.
Ben: And I’d just like to point out how she’s already sort of – like, you get, like, the impression of what – how she is, and how she’s really motherly.
Jamie: That is true. That is very true.
Ben: And I thought that it might be nice to point that out. That’s when we first see her, you know, be motherly. And then the other thing, another personality thing that happens on this pg. is Fred and George. You see they start becoming jokesters. When they mentioned…
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: …”I’m Fred,” yeah. Stuff like that. Well, on pg. 93 of the US edition is something else I noticed. It’s where we get our first description of what Ron looks like. And it says, “he was tall, thin and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.” And sometimes I think we all forget that that’s what Ron actually looks like because of the perception of Rupert Grint.
Andrew: Mmmm.
Ben: You know, Rupert Grint’s stocky, has these broad shoulders…
Jamie: Yeah, I agree.
Ben: And he’s not really that much taller than Dan Radcliffe, who plays Harry. So I just – I mean, I wanted to point that out too.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: It doesn’t say anything about his hair though, although judging by the covers, we sort of get the gist of it.
Pompous Percy
Ben: I would like to move to pg. 96. Like – like Andrew said in the very start of the introduction to the segment, that throughout this chapter, we get a nice, a nice perception of all the new characters that we’re going to see. For example, like, I can mention the Weasleys, Hermione, Neville – all of these people. And something important that we learn about Percy, who becomes very important in the future books – this happens on pg. 96 of the US edition – where he says, “Can’t stay long, Mother. I’m up front. The Prefects have got two compartments to themselves.” You know, and I just think it’s the first demonstration we see of him being really pompous…
Jamie: That’s very interesting.
Ben: …and pretty arrogant about the position he holds. And I think that there have been a lot of parallels drawn between him and Tom Riddle, and I think that this basically starts the whole – you know, the whole role into the power-hungry Percy, who is just after – he’s after the highest position he can possibly have.
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: Do you guys agree with me there? Or… [laughs] You guys have gone silent.
Jamie: No, I think – I think it’s just an interesting point, yeah. And also the way he just says, “I can’t stay long, Mother.” It just seems really, really informal, not because – I mean, sorry. Really, really formal. It doesn’t seem like the kind of way you’d talk to your mother.
Greg: To me, it sounds like he’s trying too hard.
Jamie: Well, I wouldn’t, anyway. I’m a big mommy’s boy.
Greg: Yeah, it sounds like he’s trying too hard to be…
Jamie: Yeah.
Greg: …real nice, and, you know, I’m this perfect kid.
Ben: Yeah, he’s very pompous. That’s what I wrote on my notes.
Jamie: Yes, he is.
Ben: I wrote “Pompous Percy.” [laughs]
Andrew: And then Fred and George try to rip on him and have a little fun, and he goes, “Oh, shut up.”
Greg: Yeah.
Andrew: And that’s really the last we see of him until they arrive at Hogwarts, as we’ll see later in Chapter…
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: …what, 7? End of Chapter 6?
Chocolate And Money
Jamie: Can I go on to…
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Okay. Page 76 of the UK edition…
Andrew: Oh boy. [laughs]
Jamie: Looking at – no, no, no, no.
Andrew: We’ll…
Jamie: I’ll just tell you what happens.
Andrew: Yeah, we’ll just find it.
Jamie: It’s where they buy all the chocolate and stuff…
Andrew: Oh okay.
Jamie: …from the lady with the trolley. Now this is going to sound like I’m really overanalyzing stuff, and I’m sure I am, but that cost him – he got one of everything on that trolley, and there was a lot stuff there. And that cost him roughly £3.19, which is about – I don’t know, $7.00? $6.00? Which seems not very much for how much he bought.
Ben: Yeah. [laughs]
Jamie: For all those things. So, I was just wondering, like, I mean – it seems weird that, like, each galleon is worth about £5.00. So about $10.00. And it seems like if you wanted to buy something, like, really, really big, it would seem difficult to pay in normal wizarding money. Like, if you wanted something that cost, I don’t know, £10,000 it would be an awful lot of Galleons that you couldn’t really keep in one vault at Gringotts. I don’t know. I just… I mean…
Ben: That’s true.
Jamie: I don’t know where I’m going with this. I just thought I’d try and mention it. And also…
Andrew: Well, he probably felt like a lot to him, because he’s had so little. It doesn’t say one exactly – well I don’t know if it says in UK actually, but…
Jamie: No, no.
Andrew: …in the US edition it just says some.
Jamie: It just says there is something of everything. But, um, this leads to… like, one more point. I mean, Snape, in Half-Blood Prince, we see, lives in London, yeah? Or he has a house in London where he stays…
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Surely, he can’t, you know, like, stay in London without spending more money, going to Muggle shops and buying stuff. Stuff like that, so it doesn’t say where he gets his cash from, but…
Ben: Well…
Andrew: Well does he?
Ben: Well, there’s probably currency – currency conversion in Gringotts, I’m sure. Just like you would…
Jamie: What’s it worth, though, what’s it worth?
Ben: …go to any bank to get your currency conversion.
Jamie: I mean, how strong is it, the wizarding money?
Ben: Well, I’m sure there’s some, there’s some…
Jamie: I mean like…
Ben: That’s true. I don’t know about that.
Andrew: Well, I mean, would Snape really need it? Like, do the Weasleys need it?
Jamie: I don’t know, I mean… They can’t magic everything though.
Andrew: Or, do…
Jamie: I’m sure Jo’s…
Andrew: It just seems, like…
Jamie: …made it clear, that you can’t conjure anything you need out of thin air. I mean, you have to acquire it, and there has to be some things that you can’t acquire solely on the wizarding world. Like, I mean, if a wizard, I mean, there has to be some really, really in-tune wizards who like plasma TVs, and big, you know, stuff like that. So, they have to buy it. You can’t buy that from Diagon Alley, I don’t think. So, you must have to go to, like, a Panasonic shop or something like that and pay with… Because I’d like that 40-inch…
[Everyone laughs]
Ben: Yeah.
Jamie: …rear-projection TV and I’ll pay with, I’ll pay with ten thousand Galleons, you know?
Jamie: So, I just wanted to…
[More laughing]
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: Yeah.
Andrew: Snape walking into a Best Buy< .
Greg: [imitating Snape] I’d like a 20-inch LCD monitor with a…
Jamie: That’s what Snape really wants. Yeah.
[Everyone laughs]
Ben: [imitating Snape] I want to visit MuggleNet…
Greg: [imitating Snape] …with twelve speakers.
Jamie: I mean, that was totally over-analyzed, but…
Ben: [imitating Snape] I want to see who’s playing me in the movies.
Andrew: No, but,… Good point.
Ben: Well… Something, something…
Andrew: Whose to say he doesn’t have a house-elf, or some other way of acquiring…. Like, I can’t picture Snape going among the Muggles, it just doesn’t seem right, and I would imagine that he doesn’t like Muggles.
Jamie: No, no, no, I agree, I agree. But, there has to be some way of buying stuff from the Muggle world or…
Greg: eBay?
Jamie: …or just like, conversing with Muggles. What?
Andrew: eBay! [laughs]
Jamie: eBay dot wizard?
Andrew: Yes, exactly. [still laughing]
Ben: I was thinking that.
Greg: I’ve always wondered what the Wizard Wireless Network is, because it’s not really described that well.
Jamie: Yeah, didn’t she say that wizards have some way of communicating with people that’s much, much…
Ben: Better than that.
Jamie: …than the Internet. Yeah.
Greg: Yeah, the Wizard Wireless Network.
Andrew: She probably has to think it up first before she actually…
Ben: I don’t know if it’s that.
Greg: [laughs] Yeah.
Andrew: She can say anything, but, you know, you got to explain it.
The Killing Curse And Green Light
Ben: Something that I notice on pg. 99 of the US edition, is throughout the entire series, there’s always this… they always draw a parallel between the Killing Curse and a green light, and Harry describes it… Whenever Ron asks him what he remembers, he says, “I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else.” And I thought it was interesting to point out that the Killing Curse is always associated with green light, and I never quite understood why. And, coincidentally, green is also one of the house colors of Slytherin.
Andrew: Hmmm.
Jamie: Yeah… But it could be like – I mean, could you say that – I mean – if you’re killed by Avada Kedavra, you can’t remember anything, obviously, because you’re dead. But, Harry sort of came back from a near-life experience. I mean, could you liken it to, like, drowning, and then being brought back to life by, you know, the paramedics? And, people who have had that say that they’ve gone down a tunnel, you know, and they see all the experiences of their life. You can sort of, half-liken that to the green light. You know, so like… I don’t know if Harry sees anything, but…
Ben: No, no, no, I’m under the impression that the Killing Curse actually…
Jamie: Oh, yeah, yeah.
Ben: …shoots green light out of the wand.
Andrew: Yeah, we see that in Goblet of Fire, don’t we?
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, at the end with Voldemort’s… Voldemort’s wand?
Jamie: What type of green is it?
Andrew: But, I mean, think about…
Jamie: Is it like a dark, dull green, or is it like neon green?
Andrew: Uh, neon?
Jamie: With specks of white and flowing white spots?
Andrew: Nah, I think it’s like neon.
Jamie: Sorry.
Andrew: I don’t know, but just, like, think about it as symbolism.
Jamie: A lot of sic.
Andrew: What do you think when you see green? Well, money, for some people, but…
Jamie: Jealousy. Jealousy.
Andrew: …red is more…
Jamie: Green’s jealousy.
Andrew: Yeah.
Chocolate Frog Cards
Ben: Okay, moving on to pg. 102, something else that I’ve…
Andrew: Skipping all over the place. We’re still on the train ride.
Ben: Well, it’s moving forward. We’re moving forward at least. Okay, pg. 102…
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: …is where we first see the Chocolate Frog cards. And, this
may not seem that significant, but in Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore
mentions that, “Let them do anything, but just don’t take me off the
Chocolate Frog cards.” And here, Ron says, “Chocolate Frogs have cards inside
them, you know, to collect famous witches and wizards.” And he tells how
he has five hundred himself. And, what do you think the significance of being
on the Chocolate Frog card is, and how do you actually earn the position to be
on a Chocolate Frog card? What do you guys think?
Greg: Isn’t it just – yeah, famous wizards?
Jamie: Isn’t it just, like, being famous? Sorry. It’s just
like… you know. But, when, I mean, we can bring this back to when… I
can’t remember, I think it was Bill, said that Dumbledore didn’t mind what they
did to him, as long as they didn’t take him off the Chocolate Frog cards.
Everyone thought that was a joke, but then, I read that it could be because it’s a
way of communicating with people.
Andrew: Yeah, didn’t we discuss a theory on that or something?
Jamie: Yeah, but I’m not too sure about that. I think we did, but
I don’t know, I think it’s just that he likes being on the Chocolate Frog
cards. You know, it’s a kind of recognition of him, I think, because
Merlin’s on there, you know, famous wizards.
Greg: It’s a big thing to be on there.
Grindelwald
Ben: Yeah, but, we have to move on here since we sort of covered
that. On pg. 102 to 103, is where they actually look at a Chocolate Frog card
of Dumbledore, and it says that he’s particularly famous for his defeat of the
dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945. I think we might have talked about
Grindelwald before…
Jamie: We shouldn’t get into this. We’ll be on this for
hours.
Ben: But, do you think it’s any coincidence that it happened in
1945…
Jamie: World War II – yeah.
Ben: …and that’s when the end of World War II was. I think J.K.
Rowling got asked a question, weather sometimes the wizarding wars coincide
with the Muggle wars, and I think she said they do, to an extent. So…
Andrew: I think so. I mean, at the beginning of Half-Blood
Prince…
Jamie: Oh yeah, yeah.
Andrew: …what was everyone thinking about?
Greg: Well, war.
Andrew: [laughs] No, I don’t know, it just brought back to
me, it felt like, I know, I’m sure this isn’t true – I just think J.K.
Rowling was sort of, almost making a political statement. Because, the only thing I
could think about was the whole war thing going on right now.
Greg: Yeah.
Andrew: And this book just happens to come out, and the first
chapter or so is covering the war, it’s… I… You make a good point.
Jamie: Who could Grindelwald be, though?
Ben: Hitler.
Jamie: Because, I mean, it’s been, like, visited in the past that, you know, the Nazis have some kind of magic
element. Like in Indian Jones and the Last Crusade, you know, Indiana Jones and the other one.
Ben: Lost Ark?
Jamie: What’s the other one?
Ben: Yeah.
Jamie: Not the Temple of Doom. Yeah, yeah, Ark of the
Covenant one. So, I don’t know if that’s, you know, it’s kind of going
down that route, or it’s just, like, Grindelwald was a Nazi sympathizer and it
was like that. I mean, and, he isn’t automatically on the German side. It’s just
that…
Ben: Why else would Dumbledore defeat him?
Jamie: …that seems like some kind of a conclusion. Yeah. Well,
the Germans weren’t the only, Axis powers in World Ward II.
Ben: Yeah. Oh, and, another thing that I’d like to bring up about
Grindelwald. It says that he has been defeated, but does that truly mean, yes,
does that truly mean he’s gone?
Jamie: But not killed, yeah.
Ben: Because, take for example, Voldemort. Everyone said that he
was defeated by Harry Potter, but does that mean that Grindelwald is gone?
Voldemort came back, so is it possible for Grindelwald to experience the same
thing?
Jamie: I read an extremely interesting theory once that Grindelwald
was really the big Dark Lord, and that, you know, Voldemort was just one
other person, but I don’t know if that’s true and that could – that seems a little far-fetched since, you know, she’s only got one more book.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: And it would be hard to explain all that and – but I don’t know. I mean, I think it’s just pure speculation.
Andrew: I mean, would we want to see this guy coming back? Like Ben – you were just asking.
Ben: Yeah. I think – I think it would – I think it would cause too much trouble because think about all the loose ends she already has to tie up now…
Greg: Yeah.
Andrew: Yep.
Ben: …and how much that would add to it…
Jamie: Yeah. And also…
Ben: …and how big of a problem it would cause.
Greg: Mhm.
Jamie: But it, it could be that Voldemort is only scared of Dumbledore because he defeated Grindelwald, maybe?
Ben: And for all we know, defeated…
Jamie: Or something like that? Yeah.
Ben: didn’t mean… A lot of people think that Harry actually defeated Voldemort as in like he killed him. And that was a lot of the perception, but then there was always the skeptics who thought, “Oh, that’s not true.”
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: But, I think we need to move on before we’re on this forever.
Andrew: Well, hold on. I mean, let me just say one more thing.
Greg: Can I…
Andrew: There’s – if Dumbledore is being recognized for defeating this guy, and according to this chocolate card, it’s a dark wizard, he must be a huge dark wizard.
Ben: Yeah.
Andrew: I don’t think we’ve mentioned this.
Ben: Yeah, but you don’t hear him being as talked about as much as Voldemort.
Andrew: No. Maybe he’s more unspeakable.
Jamie: Because he’s being…
Andrew: Or they just don’t want to because of something that happened.
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: It would be like us being afraid of saying Hitler’s name because he might come back. That type of thing.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah.
Ben: But then again, we know there’s no way to resurrect the dead but then we have to watch…
Greg: But even so, Hitler’s not something that comes up in conversation very often in school or anything – it would only come up in school, I mean. So it’s not something you’d just go to your friends and talk about like, “Hey, Hitler!”
Ben: Yeah.
Greg: So maybe Grindelwald is just the same way – it’s just long gone. Nobody really thinks about it much anymore.
Ben: That’s true.
Jamie: I don’t know.
Ben: Because it would have to be the people’s grandparents. The students at Hogwarts, their grandparents who were dealing with Hitler.
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: I mean not Hitler, but Grindelwald.
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: Not their parents like it is now because the aura still lingers.
Hermione
Ben: Page 105 is where we get our description of Hermione and here it says, “She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.” And what I’d like to bring up here is that this sort of gives us the whole perception of Hermione from the start of the series.
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: And you see her – you see her going around bossing everybody around sort of telling Ron, “That’s not a real spell,” that type of stuff. And I think that it shows us how uptight she was at the beginning and then as the series progresses, we see how she starts to loosen up, and I’m sure we get in that later on in other chapters and in future books, but I just think it’s interesting to point out how uptight she is at the start of the series. And how she – you know, “I memorized all the coursework front to back,” and all that stuff.
Jamie: Yeah
Mousetrap
Jamie: Can I go somewhere for a minute as well? I was going to say that after Ron tries the spell on Scabbers, he says afterwards that George gave him the spell – or was it Fred? And that he knew it was a dud, but the reason, well, I know – the reason the spell didn’t work was because Scabbers wasn’t a rat? I read that somewhere. And I think that – that could explain it. Because you know, it was a spell to turn a rat yellow and everyone thinks it didn’t work because it wasn’t a proper spell, but it could be that it didn’t work because Scabbers wasn’t actually a rat.
Ben: Oh and another thing that I think we have to pay attention to as we’re reading – something that may become an important part of the future books – is when J.K. Rowling suddenly makes it clear that Scabbers is in the room or that Scabbers is somewhere nearby and so any conversation they’ve had – they have – is actually being overheard by Peter Pettigrew, which could become significant in the future.
Jamie: Yeah, definitely. That’s brilliant.
Ben: So, I think it’s important for us to remember.
Jamie: Yeah. I agree.
Ben: Oh geez, Scabbers is listening to this. This could be very valuable to Voldemort’s cause.
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: Well, he’s certainly going to remember these things.
Jamie: He was lying in waiting so he had to get information.
Ben: See, Peter Pettigrew is sort of like – sort of like Slughorn except in a different type of way. You know how Slughorn wants to associate himself with the rich and the famous. Pettigrew is the same exact way, where he wants to be involved with powerful people…
Jamie: With the powerful…
Ben: …like Voldemort or whoever can offer him the best. And he’s very selfish it’s about what – what’s in it for him and how he can achieve that in the quickest manner possible.
Andrew: But…
Jamie: I’ve got two points.
Andrew: Well, I just…
Jamie: Sorry. Go on, sorry.
Other Characters Introduced
Andrew: I just want to say that, Ben, you were saying Hermione’s developed. A lot of characters are developed and we can get the gist of what they’ll be like throughout the entire series although we don’t know it. I mean, Ron, already he’s looking – he’s looking kind of unsure of himself. Neville – he loses his rat already so we already know that he’s forgetful. Fred and George – we see them joke around. Ginny – we don’t really see much, but she has an interest in Harry a little bit, [laughs] just wanting to know him.
Ben: Yeah she says, “Can I go see him, can I go see him?”
Andrew: Yeah. Draco’s a jerk we already know that. Crabbe and Goyle – although we’re not up to that point yet we see that they’re right up Draco’s butt.
Jamie: There’s some interesting stuff about, Draco.
Andrew: Yeah. So many characters are developed in just this one chapter and by Chapter 7 – Book 7, we’ll be looking back at this book and saying, “Why didn’t I notice that?” Yeah.
Jamie: Wow.
Ben: Yeah
Jamie: Yeah. The stuff about Malfoy though…
Andrew: Yeah, let’s keep moving.
Jamie: On the train…
Andrew: Let’s get to there.
Harry And Malfoy
Jamie: I, I had a kind of, what if question. What if Harry had taken his hand – Malfoy’s hand and shook his hand? What, what would the… I mean, do you think the entire series would be different or do you think he’d still have realized that he didn’t like him and that…
Andrew: Well that…
Jamie: …the handshake really wouldn’t have meant anything? And from… Sorry.
Andrew: No, finish. Go ahead.
Jamie: Oh okay. And from there after he doesn’t shake his hand he starts off by saying stuff about that if Harry isn’t careful he’ll go the same way as his parents. Now that just sounds like sort of an idle threat, you know, that – that because he’s annoyed that he didn’t shake his hand, he doesn’t want to be friends with him. But, if you read into that it’s actually quite interesting. It’s stuff about that they didn’t know what was good for them and stuff like that and I’ve – I mean, I only re-read this about two hours ago, so I’m still trying to like, see if that relates to any episodes in the chronology, but I haven’t gotten anything yet.
Andrew: Well I think the handshake – if Harry would’ve shaken Draco’s hand, that whole scene would’ve been different. But, I think by the time they got to the school and he had learned more about Draco, he would’ve wished he took that back. So…
Jamie: Yeah, he’d be the same. Yeah.
Andrew: It wouldn’t have been long term.
Jamie: No yeah, I agree on that. But I’ve got the paragraph now and it says, “‘I’d be careful if I were you, Potter,’ he said slowly. ‘Unless you’re a bit politer you’ll go the same way as your parents. They didn’t know what was good for them, either.'”
Andrew: Page 109, US edition.
Jamie: “‘You hang around with riff-raff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it’ll rub off on you.'” It’s just like, “‘They didn’t know what was good for them, either.'” I don’t know.
Ben: Yeah, it’s kind of…
[Andrew sighs]
Jamie: I can’t think of what that relates to, but I think there’s more to it than meets the eye.
Why did Hermione Want To Be In Gryffindor?
Ben: Okay, and I hate to move, move back…
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: …because we’re progressing forward, but on pg. 106…
Andrew: Oh god.
Ben: Hermione – Hermione comes into the train car and she says, “‘Do either of you know what house you’ll be in? I’ve been asking around, and I hope I’m in Gryffindor.” Okay, we talked about this on the Hermione show where we analyzed Hermione, but why do you think that she wanted to be in Gryffindor? Just because it’s the house Dumbledore was in? Or why don’t you think she was in Ravenclaw? Do you think there’s something in the future that Hermione is going to display that proves to us that she really does belong in Gryffindor? Some type of courage? Courageous act?
Andrew: Well, I think Hermione…
Jamie: Uhhh, yeah.
Andrew: I think Hermione has already been courageous – not in the sense of a true Gryffindor but…
Jamie: Yeah, definitely.
Andrew: …she’s helped Harry try to defeat Voldemort, which not every kid in that school would particularly want to get involved with because they could very well be harmed, too.
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: Yeah, I guess you’re right.
Andrew: So… I…
Jamie: She hasn’t proven herself totally yet though.
Andrew: Right, yeah.
Jamie: Because, I think it’s in Book 5, after she does a Protean thingamabob Charm on the gold Galleons – so that when Harry changes his, everyone else’s change as well, was it Terry Boot who says, who asks why she wasn’t in Ravenclaw because the charm is N.E.W.T. standard? She says that she doesn’t know and I think that can be a kind, you know, of marker to show that she’s going to have to do something extremely courageous and brave to prove she should have been in Gryffindor. Maybe like sacrificing herself to save Harry?
Ben: It’s true.
Jamie: Oh my god, bad to think about.
Ben: Yeah.
Jamie: I don’t know, could be it.
Scabbers Chows Down
Ben: Okay, moving on here to pg. 109 where we see Scabbers again in this scene and here he says – here Jo writes, “Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk in deep into Goyle’s knuckle.” This is when Goyle reaches for the candy and tries to steal it from Harry and Ron, but there’s something I’d like to point out here. Is that, when you think about it, when you finally realize that that all along was Peter Pettigrew, and how he sort of had a low self-esteem, and how he was sort of picked on in school too – that you would assume – and maybe it was him sort of, you know, stepping up for the little guys for once.
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: Before…
Jamie: Hmmm.
Ben: I don’t know. I found that interesting. I don’t know about…
Greg: Well, You have to wonder how Lucius Malfoy would have treated him in school.
Jamie: Yeah, definitely.
Ben: I think that – doesn’t that about conclude Chapter 6?
Jamie: I’ve got one last thing to point out quick.
Andrew: God, yeah. I didn’t even feel like we were making much progress. [laughs] Go ahead, Jamie.
First-Years
Jamie: Why is it only the first years that go by boat and why do they need to go by boat? Why can’t they just have a few more Thestrals?
Ben: Maybe it’s sort of an initiation-type thing? Not really an initiation but orientation, you know, freshman orientation like they have at some high schools.
Jamie: I don’t know, though.
Ben: Where as, when they go across in the boat, they can see the castle and get the real experience.
Andrew: Right. And they’re moving slow. They can get a nice long look of the school and where they are going to be for the next seven years.
Jamie: I’d rather go up in the horse – you know, invisible horse-drawn carriages because across the lake they can fall in as Dennis Creevey did. They can bump their heads as when Hagrid said, “Mind your heads,” and, you know – I don‘t know. Well, perhaps it’s just…
Andrew: Well you’ve got to keep them scared.
Jamie: Yeah. Treat them mean. Like just…
Andrew: Well, yeah. I think boats are just a great way of – Jo really – now that I think about it, now that we’re all thinking about it, I just think that was a great way to introduce the kids. It’s slow.
Jamie: That’s true, yeah.
Andrew: It’s starting them off slow and they get a nice long look because when you’re nervous, you don’t want to be rushed into that school. At least they have time, I mean, who knows how long that boat ride takes, probably five, ten minutes.
Jamie: But…
Andrew: So…
Jamie: But weren’t the people who came from wizarding families, who were used to you know, magic and all that kind of stuff, their parents must have told them stories of Hogwarts, so I just don’t think they we as nervous as Harry obviously. But I would have liked to see inside the mind of other people as well just to see how they were feeling there.
Chapter 7 – The Sorting Hat
Ben: Okay, this chapter opens with the Sorting Hat – the sorting ceremony that we hear about every year.
Jamie: Yeah.
Greg: Almost every year.
The House Ghosts And Peeves
Ben: And this is where – something I like about the beginning of the chapter…
Jamie: Ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo!
Ben: …is that we get introduced to the ghosts. Yeah, please.
Jamie: Ok, sorry, thank you. First of all, on pg. 83 of the UK edition, I was wondering what had Peeves done wrong that made all of the ghosts talk about, you know, getting rid of him? Because…
Andrew: Were they…
Ben: It’s probably the same usual stuff that he does.
Jamie: Yeah exactly. That’s what I thought.
Andrew: Yeah. Are the referencing a specific…
Jamie: But also…
Andrew: …event, or…
Jamie: …what powers do ghosts have? If they say we want to get rid of Peeves and Dumbledore doesn’t want to get rid of Peeves, I would have thought Dumbledore has more power then them, but I don‘t know.
Ben: Well, the Bloody Baron has the ultimate power.
Jamie: No, no…
Ben: Doesn’t he? Over Peeves?
Jamie: He doesn’t have ultimate power, he has personal power, you know? He can make him do things, but I don’t know if he can banish him.
Ben: Remember – but Peeves has to hold some significance to the castle…
Jamie: Yeah, has him there. I agree.
Ben: …since Dumbledore has yet to banish him.
Jamie: I think there is more to him that meets the eye. But – going on from there – how do ghosts become House ghosts?
Ben: Well I’m – it’s sort of, probably the same way someone becomes the Head of House, wouldn’t you think? There is probably some requirements like you had to be a member of the House during your day, but…
Jamie: You have to be dead as well. [laughs]
Ben: Right.
[Jamie laughs]
Ben: You have to be dead and…
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: …you have to be a ghost. The thing is, is how – do they ever change House ghosts? Or do they…
Andrew: Yeah, that’s what I was going to say.
Ben: …or do they keep the same House ghosts for all time?
Andrew: Maybe there isn’t any rules at all. Just four of them. Yeah
Ben: Did they happen to die around the same time they all became ghosts and that was it?
Jamie: Yeah, Greg raises an interesting point that Peeves isn’t even a ghost; he’s a poltergeist. I don’t know if that just means poltergeists intrinsically evil or they’re just naughty, but it is interesting to see that Peeves is sort of generally all naughty, but the other ghosts are generally logical, rational, and good. But…
Andrew: I see Peeves sort of as a young ghost. He has got so much energy in him.
Jamie: Yeah, he does, definitely.
Andrew: He’s like the kid who died young and they felt bad for them so they were like…
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: “You can stay around for a few more hundred years.”
Ben: And another thing – another thing about Nick is, what did he do to get chopped in the head with an axe for 500 times or whatever?
Jamie: I don’t know. Should we – ooo, ooo, ooo! Can I go?
The Sorting Hat Song
Andrew: All right, so moving along to the…
Jamie: To Sorting Hat song I was going to say about three-quarters of the way down.
Andrew: Oh, you’re really jumping ahead.
Jamie: Yeah, I know but we…
Ben: That’s fine.
Jamie: I can wait if you want, but I was going to say…
Andrew: No, there isn’t much else happening here really.
Jamie: About three-quarters of the way down it says, “There’s nothing hidden in your head the Sorting Hat can’t see.” So, could it be…
Greg: That’s creepy.
Jamie: …a rudimentary form of Veritaserum? Like, if you put it on your head – no – if you put it on Barty Crouch’s head, would it tell you everything? Like, is it just like an interface that shows you what the person’s thinking? Can it act like that?
Greg: Well, couldn’t it be similar to Legilimens…
Jamie: Sorry, what was that?
Greg: Or Occlumency rather?
Jamie: Yeah, that’s interesting. So… Yeah, but if you ask a question, they can’t help but think about what you’ve asked, you know, they can’t just block it all out. So, I mean, you could ask somebody a question and the Sorting Hat could just suck out what he was thinking at the time. I mean, I don’t know, it was just an idea.
Ben: Maybe there’s a pact of confidentiality. Maybe the spell the Sorting Hat has on it doesn’t allow it to divulge that information.
Jamie: Did the Sorting Hat sign the Official Secrets Act?
Ben: No, just when the Founders put the spell on there, maybe they – when they enchanted it, maybe they made it so it won’t be able to divulge information.
The Ceremony
Andrew: Okay, so moving on to the Sorting Hat ceremony. So, you know, we see a few people. Susan Bones gets Hufflepuff. Terry Boot gets Ravenclaw. Good old Millicent Bulstrode becomes Slytherin. Then we get up to Hermione and she gets in Gryffindor, all right. Neville gets into Gryffindor. Malfoy gets into Slytherin. Then we get to Harry Potter and, last thing Harry sees is the hat – [laughs] – the last thing Harry saw before the hat jumped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at this guy. And then the Sorting Hat starts to figure out which House he belongs in. And he doesn’t say – he doesn’t make up his decision, but then Harry starts getting worried because he’s really pondering over this and then Harry starts going, “Not Slytherin, not Slytherin.” Your first impression is, Harry says, “Not Slytherin” and then the Sorting Hat says, “Not Slytherin, all right cool. You’re in Gryffindor.”
Jamie: Quoting Eric…
Andrew: Why? Was this decision based off of just what Harry said? Or was the Sorting Hat just trying to mess with him?
Jamie: Well..
Ben: As Dumbledore has said several time throughout the series, it’s not – it’s not something that makes us who we are, it’s our choices.
Andrew: I wish we had more time to cover this but…
Jamie: But…
Andrew: …we don’t right now. This is a good main discussion.
Ben: Jamie, do you have something to add finally though?
Jamie: I was just going to say that there are loads of online people who are – nice people, really, really nice people – who would like to be in Slytherin. But on that, obviously in comparison, these are people in the real world.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: You know, who base it off the book, but there are people like that. I mean, I think, I think it would be interesting to be in Slytherin.
Harry’s Pain From Quirrell
Andrew: Okay, so then, later during the feast, Harry gets a sharp pain from Quirrell, which is another major foreshadowing. I mean, just by reading the first few chapters, you get the gist of the whole book [laughs] and half of the series.
Ben: And the final thing I think we need to mention about this chapter is the ending.
Andrew: Yes.
Ben: Right, Andrew?
Andrew: Harry goes to bed and he gets a dream where Professor Quirrell is in it – he’s wearing Professor Quirrell’s turban and then, Quirrell transforms into Malfoy.
Jamie: Yeah, that could be it.
Andrew: And we see that green light again. So, what is this – this is the beginning of Harry’s pain throughout the books.
Ben: The thing is foreshadowing, truly.
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: Because when I very first, when I first read the series, you know, I sort of breezed over that, but then when I came back through for a second time, and you re-read that part, you think, “Oh geez, this is heavy foreshadowing to what’s going to happen at the end.”
Jamie: Yeah that would be a big thing, where he…
Ben: Where he talks about the turban, saying that it’s his destiny and all these things and how – another thing is, that was significant about the turban is Lord Voldemort’s underneath there. [laughs]
Andrew: All right, so that wraps up this week’s Chapter by Chapter discussion, as we keep repeating, we are still tweaking it, and we decided [laughs] that we are going to start doing one chapter a week. Two if there’s not a lot in them, but especially now that there’s a ton of stuff we keep wanting to talk about.
Voicemail – James Potter: Head Boy Or Bad Boy?
Andrew: So now, moving on to the general voicemail questions. We got a few of them for you this week. First, let’s take you to Isaac from Los Angeles.
[Audio]: Hey, this is Isaac from LA and, it says in the first book and you mentioned it in MuggleCast 32, that Harry’s father was Head Boy. How in the world is this possible if he got detention, like, every other week with Sirius? Thanks, bye.
Andrew: Well, there’s no requirement that, to be Head Boy, you can’t get any detentions, right? And even then, you have enough time.
Ben: It’s true, yeah.
Andrew: Next voicemail. [laughs]
Jamie: And also, Head–[laughs] But also, Head Boy isn’t only about, you know, behaving well…
Greg: Yeah.
Jamie: …in terms of, you know, keeping within school rules. There’s nothing to say that schools aren’t wrong quite a lot of the time, so you also need a strong character that isn’t prepared to do the right – sorry, that is always prepared to do the right thing, who is prepared to stand up for people, and all that kind of thing. So, it’s all about the sort of, you know, that kind of thing…
Andrew: Right.
Jamie: …for Head Boy, I think…there’s nothing about detentions.
Greg: Yeah.
Voicemail – Aunt Marge
Andrew: All right, so let’s move on to our next voicemail: Morgan from Arizona.
Audio: Hi, this is Morgan from Scottsdale, Arizona and I was wondering, in Book 1 when Mrs. Figg broke her leg, Uncle Vernon said, “Why don’t we phone Marge?” And Petunia said, “Don’t be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy.” That implies that she’s near enough for her to come over and baby-sit Harry, but in the third book she’s far away enough to have to stay over at their house for a few days to have dinner. Does that mean she moved, or is this just a mistake? Thanks, bye! Love the show!
Jamie: People stay over for all sorts of reasons, though. She could have had too much to drink or something like that. So…
Andrew: I – wait a second – I don’t think that implies that she’s near enough for her to come over and baby-sit Harry.
Jamie: Right, I just means…
Andrew: Basically, she could be on the way towards the zoo. So, if the zoo is like forty-five minutes away and Marge is forty minutes away and just up the highway from the zoo, they could just quick drop off Harry at Marge’s real quick. Great question though.
Voicemail – Muggles And The Magical World
Andrew: Next one comes from Eric of Los Angeles.
Audio: Hey MuggleCast, this is Eric from Los Angeles. I’m one of your old listeners – I’m an oldie. I’m actually listening to the audio books while I’m listening to the show as you’re going through the chapters. I think it’s great. But, I have a comment about the secrecy of the world. Because, how many kids have Muggle parents and they’re are going to Hogwarts, so those parents have got to know and do they tell their, you know, friends and family? “Oh yeah, my kid is going to Hogwarts.” Or, is there some kind of secrecy agreement that they have to sign from Hogwarts? Like, how do they keep those people away from knowing about that particular world? Because, how many of the kids at Hogwarts has Muggle parents? But anyway, great show, I love listening to your show! Keep up the good work! Talk to you soon, bye!
Andrew: No reason for an agreement. We’ve already read that – or we’ve already discussed – I can’t remember which one it is [laughs], that there is some knowledge out there. The knowledge being some Muggles do know that wizards and witches exist just through family, through direct family members being wizards, etc., etc.
Jamie’s British Jokes Of The Day
Andrew: Okay, so keeping it moving along here, next up is Jamie’s British Joke of the Day. Jamie, it’s been so long. I hope your joke keeps me in tears.
Jamie: The first one, and I have somebody from the forums – the fan forums – to thank for this. It is, RM with a smiley face after their name. I don’t know how you can pronounce that, but yeah, RM with a smiley face. And it was, why did the farmer win a Nobel Prize? Because he was outstanding in his field.
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: And the other one I got…
Andrew: Well, hold on, wait a second. What’s the – well no, go ahead, just do it now.
Jamie: Sorry? Well, okay it was going to be – I dreamt last night that I had written Lord of the Rings…
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: …but when I woke up, I realized I was just Tolkien in my sleep.
[Everyone laughs]
Ben: I’ve heard that before.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s a good one.
Jamie: Okay, I’m done. Thank you.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Well, that’s a good one. Thank you, Jamie.
Heart-Warming Story Of The Week
Andrew: Now, it’s time for the MuggleCast Heart-Warming Story of the Week. This comes from Angela Garner, 30, of Stockport, England. Have your tissues at the ready, ladies and gentlemen. Angela writes: “Hi, just thought I’d drop you a line. I am currently off work now and expecting my first baby and I now have plenty of time to listen to your Podcast episodes. I have just been listening to Episode 30 and it’s funny in the fact that my baby has really been active while listening to you all! It’s like he/she (don’t know the sex of the baby, yet) has their own opinions on Harry Potter and was more active more times than others. I will keep monitoring movement while listening to you all, and maybe when baby arrives, you might serve as being able to soothe the baby when it gets grumpy!!! Keep up the good work. Love, Angela & Bump.” And now, MuggleCast is officially…
Ben: The pacifier! MugglePacif – MuggleCast Pacifier.
Andrew: Yeah, MuggleCast is officially a certified…
Ben: Pacifier.
Show Close
Andrew [Show Close with music in background]: …baby soother, yeah. [laughs] MuggleCast: we soothe babies. So…
Ben: Name your baby “Ben.” Name your baby “Carl Benjamin.”
Andrew: So thank you, Angela, from Stockport, England for your story and best of luck with your child in the next twelve weeks. That does wrap up MuggleCast 33. We thank everyone for listening. So, next week – next week we will be talking about Chapter 8 of Sorcerer’s Stone. So, that does it for us, once again I’m Andrew Sims.
Ben: I am Ben Schoen.
Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence.
Greg: I’m Greg.
Andrew: I’m Greg Porter from…
Greg: I’m Greg Porter, go to my website! Ben Schoen!
Andrew: Xalerstudios.com and wrote some crazy book that I hear is at – now available at your local library. We will see everyone next week for MuggleCast Episode 34. Goodnight, everyone.
Greg: Bye!
Andrew: And, for two weeks only, there’s a character in all of us and now you can share your unique character with the world at showusyourcharacter.com. Join now and begin uploading your videos, photos, and profile. You can share a hidden talent, show off your celebrity impersonation, or give the Show Us Your Character community a glimpse into your life. Chat and interact with thousands of other members and get to know some of the characters of the United States. You’ve got what it takes to be a star. Enter the 2006 Show Us Your Character Contest to find out if you’re America’s most unique character and you can win a chance to be featured on the computer screen, the TV screen, and even the big screen. Enter now at showusyourcharacter.com
Comments
[Music begins]
[Audio]: Hey MuggleCast, my name is Katie and I’m from outside of Atlanta. But I’m in Savannah now and I listened to MuggleCast all the way here. And it helps me keep my mind off of getting car sick. Thank you so much!
[Audio]: Hi MuggleCast, this is Michelle. I just want to say I love you guys and I just – I’m sitting at lunch at school and I just decided to call you because you’re my favorites! Yay, thanks for being so great! Bye!
[Audio]: Hi, this is Casey from Ontario, Canada and I just want to say MuggleCast rocks and Andrew’s my idol. Woo-hoo!
[Audio]: Hey, it’s Amanda from New Jersey. I just want to say I love MuggleCast, my favorite Podcast ever. Okay, thanks, bye!
[Music ends]
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Written by: Micah, Ally, Martina, Rhiannon, Roni, and Sarah