Transcript #120

MuggleCast 120 Transcript


Show Intro


[Intro music begins]

Mason: Hey there, MuggleCast listeners! I am back to inform you of some excellent news. GoDaddy.com is having better deals than ever. For only $3.59 a month for 12 months you can get GoDaddy.com’s economy package with 250 gigs of bandwidth, 5 gigs of storage, and up to 500 e-mail accounts. You can get your own website up and running with success. And as usual, enter code MUGGLE – that’s M-U-G-G-L-E – when you check out and save an additional 10% on any order. Some restrictions apply, see site for details. Get your piece of the Internet at GoDaddy.com.

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 sites 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.

[Show music begins]

Micah: Because I wholeheartedly approve of – well, you’ll just have to wait and see, this is MuggleCast Episode 120 for November 18th, 2007.

[Show music continues]

Andrew: Okay, we’re back for another week of MuggleCast, and we have two guests here this week. Mikey, first up. Mikey’s back after not being on for awhile.

Mikey: Yeah, you know. I was sleeping.

Andrew: Mikey, working on any big known projects lately?

Mikey: Yeah, that’s actually…

[Andrew and Mikey laugh]

Andrew: Yes, actually.

Mikey: Actually, that’s why I haven’t been around, you know. I’ve been busy. Been busy busy. Yeah, you can see my name in the credits of a feature film called The Red Canvas. That should be released sometime next year. I’m Assistant Editor on that. I get to work the night shift. So my day starts at like 8:00 at night and then I work until 2, 3 in the morning, which is really nice. Not really because I’m there all by myself in this cramped room, but it’s got a really cool computer, and I sit there and watch footage and log clips and, you know…

Andrew: That’s awesome.

Mikey: …all the fun stuff

Andrew: Logging fun. Love logging.

Mikey: Oh yes, you know. You know, that’s how it goes.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: But, you know, yeah.

Andrew: And also this week, making his MuggleCast debut, is Andy McCray from Australia.

Andy: Hey.

Mikey: Andy! Woo!

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: Sorry. And the girls go wild. Aah!

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Mikey: Sorry, Andy, it’s Mikey.

Andrew: We needed an Eric replacement, someone down in that general area.

Andy: You hit it pretty well straight on then.

Andrew: Andy, you’re the webmaster of what website?

Andy: I’m webmaster of HarryPotterFanZone.com.

Andrew: J.K. Rowling Site Award Winner recently. Is it the most recent?

Andy: Yep. It is and…

Andrew: Yeah.

Andy: …still holding, luckily.

Andrew: Awesome. Awesome. [laughs] Until the next website.

Mikey: You know what I like about HarryPotterFanZone? It was one of the first sites I found, and what I like about it is they actually have the sheet music to the Harry Potter music up there.

Andy: Yeah. That’s good.

Andrew: Oh, really?

Mikey: That’s like – that’s old, but yeah. That was like my first bookmarked Harry Potter webpage at one point.

Andrew: Oh, that’s cool. Yeah. I’ve been visiting HarryPotterFanZone for awhile, too. Well, we got a lot of e-mails to go through this week. And also, there’s plenty of news to discuss. I’m Andrew Sims.

Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.

Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.

Mikey: I’m Mikey B.!

[Laura laughs]

Andy: And I’m Andy McCray.

[Show music continues]


News


Andrew: Micah Tannenbaum is in the MuggleCast News Center with the past week’s top Harry Potter news stories. Hey, Micah.

Micah: All right. Thanks, Andrew. With the Order of the Phoenix DVD having been released earlier this week in the United Kingdom, fans have uploaded the two Half-Blood Prince sneak peak clips online. The first clip, entitled “Quidditch Back In Style,” focuses on what Harry, Ron, and Draco’s uniform will look like in the sixth film. The head costume designer said that this year it’s more dangerous and that she took some inspiration from American football. The second clip is an interview with production designer, Stuart Craig, in which he talks about the creation of the orphanage where Tom Riddle lived, making a point of it not being a nice place. Warner Bros. has revamped the official Order of the Phoenix site in preparation for the DVD’s December 11th launch in the U.S. so be sure to head on over and take a look. MTV has published an article on the recently released Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix DVD which contains a special feature of the fifth film’s deleted scenes. The clip also includes two new interviews with the production designer, Stu Craig, and director David Yates.

CBBC has revealed that Jessie Cave, having only starred in a TV film called Summerhill, will be playing Lavender Brown in Half-Blood Prince. Jessie is twenty years old. It is not known if she attended the open auditions for Lavender, which were held earlier this year. She may have auditioned separately for the part. Warner Bros. announced earlier this week that nine year old Hero Fiennes Tiffin is playing the role of the young Tom Riddle at age eleven, while sixteen year old Frank Dillaine is the playing the teenage Riddle who is already on the path to becoming evil Lord Voldemort. WB has also said that casting for the sixth Harry Potter film, Half-Blood Prince has now completed.

The BBC recently conducted an interview with Harry Potter actor, Daniel Radcliffe, where he talked about filming for Half-Blood Prince and what he thought of Deathly Hallows amongst other things. Dan acknowledged he didn’t read the seventh book until about four days after it came out, so he was walking around with his fingers in his ears. Luckily, it wasn’t spoiled for him.

A news that shouldn’t surprise anyone: Deathly Hallows was named the best book of 2007 by Amazon.com. From the online warehouse: “Was there any doubt? The final episode of the most popular series in publishing history, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows leads our list of the 100 Top-Selling Books on Amazon.com during 2007. They were ranked according to customer orders through October. Only books published for the first time in 2007 were eligible.”

Finally, when schools begin to slack off in academic achievement, who do they turn to? One school in Nottingham, England went to Harry Potter and came up with the idea of Potter-themed classes. Since then, they’ve seen a turn around in performance. The theme-based approach has catalyzed a dizzying rise in academic achievement at Robert Mellors. Three years ago it was languishing in the bottom quarter of English schools; it has since vaulted into the top twenty-five.

That’s all the news for this November 18, 2007 edition of MuggleCast. Back to the show.

Andrew: All right. Thank you, Micah.

Micah: You’re welcome.

Andrew: Micah, there’s been good hot topics this week. Nothing as controversial as what we’ve been discussing recently, but…

Micah: What would that be?

Andrew: …guess we – gay characters, fan sites going against J.K.R. That’s all.

Laura: All that good stuff.


News Discussion: Harry Potter In School


Andrew: First up, a new feature from TIME Magazine. TIME Magazine did a feature on Harry Potter in schools. And first of all, I had to say, I was really proud of this. I made this news post and then went to get the link. It was post number 1337. Do you guys know what that means?

Mikey: Yup.

Laura: Nope.

Andrew: Elite.

Mikey: I understand that.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Mikey: You’re elite, Andrew, you’re elite!

Andrew: I’m elite! [laughs]

Mikey: You’re elite, buddy.

Andrew: I sent that to Kevin right away and he was like, “I don’t get it!”

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: It’s elite! He was like, “Ohh!”

Mikey: Andrew Sims is the big hackster, guys.

[Everyone laughs]

Mikey: You know.

Andrew: I can’t wait for post 8008.

[Mikey laughs]

Andrew: Hopefully I’m going to make that one.

Mikey: What about 80085?

[Andrew and Mikey laugh]

Mikey: Whoa!

Andrew: That’s just inappropriate.

Laura: Oh.

Mikey: Oh, I’m sorry.

[Andrew laughs]

Andrew: So TIME Magazine did this feature on Harry Potter in schools. And basically what it featured – it was this school in England – Nottingham, England – and this school had some decreasing performance rates. This school was about to go under. And then – it was in the bottom quarter of English schools, and then it skyrocketed to the top 25% just by starting to use Harry Potter in the classroom more, making their classes more Harry Potter-themed. Like, they would sort the kids into Houses with points and stuff. Then this school explodes! So I’m wondering, I thought it would be a good time to bring up how in American schools, maybe even in Australia, and I’m sure in other schools in England, so many people – so many kids in English class hate their curriculum. And do you guys think that if Harry Potter started becoming part of the English American curriculum there would be improvements?

Laura: I think so, and I don’t think it’s just Harry Potter. I think it’s using other books that have the same appeal that the Potter books have. I think the big problem with English curriculum in the public school system is that they choose the most boring books on the face of the Earth to read.

Andrew: Right.

Laura: Like, I’m sorry, nobody enjoys Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer.

Mikey: Okay, okay, you know what? You know what?

Laura: I haven’t met one person who enjoyed either of those books.

Mikey: Miss Laura Thompson, I enjoyed Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. And you’ve got to understand, these books are amazing! They really are. Plus…

Andrew: They are classics.

Laura: It’s – they are classics, and I’m not denying that.

Mikey: Plus Huck Finn is banned in the U.S. anyway because it’s got racist connotations. So…

Andrew: Yeah, Yeah.

Mikey: So Tom Sawyer is readable in schools, but Huck Finn isn’t. And then you’ve got to remember J.T.T. was in Tom and Huck, and that’s amazing.

Andrew: Even – not even those stories, but I can’t even remember the titles of some of the stories that I read in my English class, but one time one of the students brought up in my class – she was just like, to our teacher who was a bit of a, you know, a hard-butt. He was like – the student said to him, “Why can’t we read something that actually interests us, like Harry Potter?” And he was like, “Oh, well Harry Potter is a children’s book. You won’t learn anything from that.” But, I mean, if you just listen to our shows – I mean, you could just play 100 of our shows in an English class and that could be an entire curriculum.

Mikey: Wow.

Andrew: What?

Mikey: MuggleCast as an English curriculum? Really?

Andrew: Yeah. Wouldn’t that be cool? I know there are some Harry Potter clubs in schools that will play our podcasts from time to time.

Mikey: That’s cool.

Andrew: For an activity. Yeah.

Micah: Don’t you think…

Andrew: But I just think – what?

Micah: I was just going to say, don’t you think that could run into problems similar to Laura Mallory across the U.S. when they’re going to come out and say that they don’t want witchcraft being taught in school?

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: Well then…

Micah: People are going to bring it up to the board.

Laura: They have the right to have their children removed from that class or assigned a different reading assignment.

Andrew: Yeah. And I mean…

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: …I’ve never read Beowulf, but that’s sort of a magical tale, isn’t it?

[Laura groans]

Andrew: It’s fantasy, right?

Laura and Mikey: Yeah.

Laura: It’s really – I mean, I’m not trying to degrade all of these classics, but there is something to be said for the time that they were written in, the style, put into a modern classroom, puts kids asleep.

Andrew: Right.

Laura: I’m not going to lie.

Mikey: I agree with…

Andrew: It’s so boring.

Mikey: I agree with Laura completely, but I think Beowulf – I didn’t read that until probably about freshman or sophomore year in high school.

Laura: Yeah.

Mikey: I think at the time, because we were studying that type of literature, that’s when we were reading the Shakespeare stuff – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read The Tempest throughout my high school in all the different classes, deconstructing it. But it’s at that time period – those books are definitely appropriate. I’m thinking more elementary school, definitely Harry Potter and other books of that sort would be more interesting to the students. Because I remember reading 1984 in eighth grade, and I loved it. It was right at the time that I was trying to get into politics. I loved the message. I definitely think they should focus on books and definitely change the curriculum because you can’t read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe three years in a row from second grade to fourth grade. You really can’t.

Laura: Which everyone does.

Mikey: Yeah, yeah. Everyone does.

Andy: It depends really…

Andrew: I haven’t read that book either. Sorry, Andy, go ahead.

Andy: It depends what age range you’re sort of talking at. Primary school, elementary school, kids probably would love studying Harry Potter, but if you’re in high school or something, are people going to treat it the same way?

Laura: I don’t know, they read Harry Potter at the high school I went to.

Andrew: Really? Yeah, I think that would just be unheard of if we read it in my school.

Mikey: Well, just also…

Andy: Same with my school.

Mikey: Well there’s college classes dedicated to Harry Potter.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Deconstructing the universe, using the pros. So there are definitely reasons that Harry Potter is good for all age levels. And each person is going to get something different out of it. I remember growing up as a kid, and again, going back to my Star Wars, I loved the Star Wars series because it was flashy and exciting. But as I got older, I started to see the story arcs, all of the different stuff. Same thing with Harry Potter. I started reading it when I was much older. I didn’t get into it really young. Unlike Emerson, I didn’t get into it when I was young. I read Book 1 through 6 in a span of two weeks.

Micah: Right.

Mikey: And by doing that, one, I devoured it the first reading by – just the story that was amazing. Then I started going back and kind of what MuggleCast does, I deconstructed everything and started going, oh and this, and then of course the theories started following after that. And then there are still theories that I have, but those will be another day.

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: Another day when it’s MikeyCast! I mean, no.

[Everyone laughs]

[Mikey does an evil laugh]

Micah: I’m kind of in the same boat as Mikey, though, because I didn’t read the books until I was older either, until I was in college. The other thing I was going to bring up, though, talking about college courses, I know that some of the incoming freshmen classes while I was in college had to read Sorcerer’s Stone. Now, I don’t know if they read that because they were going to debate the impact of it on society as a whole and that kind of a thing, but I know for a fact that they had to read it.

Laura: Interesting.

Micah: So it is being pushed at the college level, as well.

Laura: Yeah, and I think there’s something to be said for the way classes are taught, too, because I recently read Dracula in one of my classes here, and when I was reading it here I was like, wow, I would have hated this in high school…

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: …because in high school I would have been forced to read it and come in and just take a test on it, whereas in my college classes we have whole discussions about underlying themes and things that would have never gotten talked about in high school because they would’ve been deemed too controversial. So I think that’s the problem with the public schools, is that they’re underestimating what children can handle. And when I say children I mean anybody aged elementary through high school.

Andrew: Yeah. But I mean even if we get back to Harry Potter, I think the big concern is most schools see Harry Potter as too much of a children’s book and you couldn’t go in depth. And maybe it’s not even the schools themselves; it could be the teachers too that think it’s just a children’s book.

Mikey: You know, I don’t think…

Andy: Well, the teachers need to know the books as deeply as we do. I don’t think they really know them as much as us fans do. So they’re not really going to be teaching stuff that is going to be hard, you know?

Mikey: You know, Andrew, I don’t think it would necessarily be the teachers, because I know if you go to any of the Harry Potter conventions, it’s filled up with teachers.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: I think it’s more the parents of the students going, oh, why is my kid reading Harry Potter? That’s a children’s book and he’s in sixth grade. Or she’s in sixth grade, seventh grade.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Shouldn’t she be learning something more?

Andrew: That’s true.

Mikey: But I don’t know about you, but I have a really close relationship with my family. But even growing up I know for a fact my mom and dad never really payed that much attention to my school homework. If I needed help, they would help me, but they don’t know what books I was reading completely for school. Like, yes, they bought them, but they didn’t go any further. Half the time they hadn’t read some of them, you know. My mum wasn’t able to – couldn’t help me after sixth grade math homework – you know, started getting to algebra and everything. She just didn’t want to deal with it anymore; it was getting too difficult for her to handle. It was just too much effort for them to keep up with what I was learning at the time. And now, going to college, finishing up now, some of the stuff I’ve had to read and deconstruct, my parents are just like – my dad would be like, okay I’ll read the book because you say it’s a good book, because I’ll recommend it to him, but my mum would be like, yeah it doesn’t interest me. It’s a different story. I don’t like it. You know. So I think…

Andrew: I think something – go ahead.

Mikey: I was going to say, I can definitely see it being more parents if schools issued Harry Potter books as required reading…

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: …you know? Yes, it’s required reading. I definitely think it would be great for a family thing to start reading it together or students reading it, but I think it’s going to be more parents – especially in the U.S. – back-lashing, you know, this is a children’s book, because it’s been dubbed a children’s book by so many.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: And the parents – especially for the families that don’t read – because, again, you know, our society is so engrossed in media, you know: TV, movies, you know, Internet, everything – that there’s really not much reading going on. That’s why – you know – Harry Potter‘s been such a big phenomenon, because it’s getting kids to read. But parents haven’t read Harry Potter.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: And by kids being required to, it’s like, this is a children’s book. Why are my kids reading it?

Andrew: Yeah. I think something else hurting it too, is also the movies now. I mean, Harry Potter‘s really commercialized. So if you took it in a serious class, something that might make teachers or schools hesitate is the fact that, oh, well, they’ll just watch the movies and try to catch up on the reading that way. I mean, because that’s what I’ve always…

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: There’s been a couple times. Well, there’s been a couple of books in, like, middle school or high school that we’ve read, and the teacher’s even like, yeah, this was made into a movie. And then we’re like, hmm, we should just watch the movie. I mean – but you can’t learn that way at all if you watch the movie, so…

Laura: Yeah. I was going to say.

Andrew: …but still, Harry Potter‘s so commercialized, I would think you really can’t take it as seriously as, say – not Beowolf now that the movie’s out – but, you know…

Mikey: Lord of the Rings?

Andrew: …just any classic tale. Or Lord of the Rings, yeah.

Mikey: I had to read that in high school.

Andy: But like – I don’t know if the vibe is like this in the U.S. around Harry Potter – but like every time we have a book or a movie release here they’ll have it all over the papers.

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Andy: And the front page will be like a picture of a four year-old with glasses.

Andrew: Exactly, yes.

Andy: They kind of try and dumb it down. This is like a three year-old’s book when the real fans are our age.

Andrew: Yeah, that’s a great point. That’s why so many people are always like, oh, it’s a children’s book. It’s a little kid’s book.

Mikey: You know, Andy, I agree with you on that, that they’re trying to dumb it down as a children’s book, but I can’t really – you can’t really say that the real fans are our age. You know, there’s fans at every age.

Andrew: Yeah.

Andy: I suppose so.

Mikey: I remember at the bookstore there was like a two year-old – you know, three year-olds just walking around with their mom. And they’re dressed up as Harry Potter. You know they love the movies. You know they love their moms reading the books to them. They’re huge fans of it.

Andrew: Yeah, but they don’t understand. They don’t understand – they don’t understand what’s happening in the books. There’s no way. [laughs]

Mikey: Yeah, I know, but I’m just saying to stop the e-mails from coming in, we don’t think that only fans that are older are true fans. Everybody can be a fan. See, I’m being political now, Andrew. I’m taking care of these e-mails. I don’t want Andy to get the e-mails.

Andy: Everyone can be a fan. Everyone can take something out of it.

Mikey: No, definitely. I agree. Everyone can be a fan coming out of it. I just don’t want hundreds of e-mails saying, “What are you guys talking about? I’m a true fan and I’m only twelve.” But, you know, I know you guys are fans. Everyone’s a fan.

Andrew: We have some very intelligent younger listeners. Ages ten, eleven, twelve. Very smart. Scares me how smart. Smarter than me.

Mikey: [laughs] Well, that’s not very hard, Andrew, at all.


News Discussion: Casting


Andrew: I’m not kidding. That could be true. Another news story: WB confirmed the rest of the cast for Half-Blood Prince. All the usuals are there: Alan Rickman…I stop at Alan Rickman.

[Everyone laughs]

Mikey: Daniel Radcliffe, maybe. Emma Watson.

Andrew: They were confirmed a while ago. Evanna Lynch was confirmed, although that was nothing new. David Bradley, Warwick Davis, Robbie Coltrane.

Mikey: That’s what I was going to ask. Mr. Coltrane. It wasn’t Ben Schoen? It wasn’t Ben Schoen. That’s good.

Andrew: No, Ben was not cast. He tried, but not this year.

Mikey: [imitating Ben imitating Hagrid] Rubeus Hagrid!

Andrew: Tom Felton, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Julie Walters, Matt Lewis, Bonnie Wright, etc etc. And then also we have three new casting announcements that were made this week. The first one was confirmed by CBBC earlier this week. It was Jessie Cave, but we’ll get to her in one minute. There were two other people: Hero Fiennes-Tiffin is playing the role of young Tom Riddle. He’s nine years-old but he’s playing the eleven year-old Tom Riddle. And then Frank Dillane, I believe is how you pronounce his last name. He’s sixteen years-old. He’s playing teenage Tom Riddle. So there were some rumors suggesting that Ralph Fienne’s nephew, I guess it is, was to be getting this role and then, of course, it was confirmed and then this Frank Dillane. All three of these new casting announcements – these actress and actors – are brand new to the filming industry. They’ve had one or two small projects. I know Frank Dillane and Jessie Cave have both had one. I don’t think Hero has had one. Hero’s such a cool name.

Mikey: Is that how you pronounce it? Hero?

Andrew: It’s probably not. It’s probably [pronounces Hair-O] Hero. Hero.

Andy: It’s such a cool name. I thought when I first read that, like, is he a hero or is that just his name?

Andrew: Yeah, I wasn’t sure either.

[Everyone laughs]

Mikey: Can you imagine going to grade school and getting the super sticker because you did a good job, “You’re a super hero!” Yeah! That’d be so cool.

Andrew: Hey, Hero. You’re ego would be so high all the time. Hey, Hero.

Mikey: When I see Hero, I’m like looking at the word right now or his name, I think Hiro from the show Heroes. I just want to jump and go [screams like Hiro].

[Everyone laughs]

Mikey: I don’t know if you ever watch Heroes.

Andrew: No, no, I haven’t. [laughs]

Mikey: I actually jumped up and down in my room.

Andrew: [laughs] But – so there’s this new girl Jessie Cave, and Laura brought up to me the other day – I didn’t even know this was really going on – but, Laura, you said there were quite a few people, I guess on MuggleNet or in some message boards or something, complaining, as usual, about another girl who’s been cast because she’s not up to the fans’ standards.

Laura: Yes. And let me just say something.

Micah: She’s up to my standards.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Micah, let’s keep in mind, she’s a – oh, never mind, you’re good. Continue.

Andy: She’s twenty, isn’t she?

Laura: Children listen to this show, Micah.

Micah: Yeah, so take that.

Andrew: She’s twenty. Yeah. Sorry, I thought she was under eighteen. But never mind. Fair game. Go ahead.

Laura: Anyway… [laughs] …something that really, really irks me about our fandom is that any time a girl is casted in these movies all of the girls get together and complain about it. They nit-pick over little stupid things. They find the smallest physical imperfection that they can find and then call this poor girl ugly. And she’s certainly not ugly at all. Furthermore, there’s never been any physical description of what Lavender looks like in the books, so stop complaining. Who cares? Does it matter? You’re all just jealous because she’s going to hook up with Rupert Grint.

[Everyone laughs]

Andy: That’s what I was about to say. They’re all just jealous.

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] Exactly.

Mikey: I have some friends that are upset with the casting just because they re-cast Lavender Brown.

Andrew: Yeah, that’s the one big thing. Lavender used to be black.

Mikey: That’s the one thing I definitely say, okay, they probably shouldn’t have, considering this girl has played Lavender in quite a few films already.

Laura: Who was she? Because I don’t even remember them addressing her in the film. I think she was just named that way in the credits, right?

Andrew: There is a picture of her.

Mikey: TIME Magazine did a picture of all the Harry Potter characters, and she was also in TIME there. And she was also credited that in two or three of the films, but she’s been in almost all of them, I believe. Again, don’t quote me on that. I’m not looking like at like IMDB right now.

Andrew: I’ll look it up while you talk.

Mikey: But, yeah, I definitely kind of find that – I don’t know what I would say. I guess she didn’t really have the acting ability to pull off the role, because definitely Lavender now has a little bit of a bigger spotlight in this film. But it’s one of those things where, you know, the girl that portrayed her originally was African-American – she was black – and now they cast someone else, and not even the same race, not the same – looks nothing
alike. So if you were following the movies and not the books – because I know there are plenty of people who watch just the movies – and if you watch any of the stuff, you’d be like, “Well, who is this new person in Hogwarts? She hasn’t been there before.” But she’s been a changed person. And they’ve done that before, but it’s really…

Laura: Yeah, they did it with Padma and Parvati, too.

Andy: They did it with Pansy Parkinson, as well.

Laura: Yeah, those were all re-cast.

Andrew: But I don’t see…

Mikey: But it’s just one of those things where – I don’t know – like…

Andrew: I just checked the Goblet of Fire and Chamber of Secrets credits, and I can’t find anyone credited as Lavender Brown. But yeah, you are right, there was that Entertainment Weekly article where there’s a picture of her, and she’s a black girl, and it says, “Lavender Brown, blah, blah, blah.” So, I mean, honestly, nobody’s going to notice, really. I mean, the only reason people are making a fuss about that little part in particular is because of that one picture. It may be – there may be more pictures, but any typical fan – I’m sure WB’s official response if we asked them would be – oh, here it is. Jennifer Smith. She’s credited in the Prisoner of
Azkaban
credits. But that’s the only film she’s ever done. So I think she’s just really an extra.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: And, I mean, if you’re an extra, you can’t…

Laura: I think they…

Andrew: …be an actress. [laughs]

Laura: I think they just use that as an excuse to throw her name in the credits, to make it seem like they were casting all of these people, as opposed to just putting…

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: …Extra One, Extra Two, etc, you know? Like…

Andrew: Maybe there was a reference in Prisoner of Azkaban where Harry’s like, “Oh, Lavender and all them.” And maybe he gestures and she’s over there waving or something.

Laura: I don’t even remember them mentioning Lavender at all in the film. That was kind of…

Andrew: Yeah, I have to watch it again.

Laura: …my big objection to it, when everybody was having this problem with the re-cast. And I’m like, “Well, they didn’t even talk about her.”

Andrew: Mhm. Yeah.

Mikey: Yeah…

Andy: I think it’s weird that they cast such a minor character but they named her, because in Order of the Phoenix there were some minor characters featured in promotional stills, and they were called “slightly creepy but weird.”

[Laura laughs]

Andy: I mean, I don’t know.

Andrew: [laughs] There really was someone called, “Slightly creepy boy”? [laughs] That’s pretty funny.

Mikey: I also like how Nigel magically appeared out of nowhere, so…

Andrew and Laura: Yeah.

Laura: That’s true.

Mikey: So, you know, it’s definitely fine. But I understand people kind of being a little irked about it. And, you know, my biggest thing is – what I respond to them is, “Are you not going to go see the sixth movie?” They’re like, “No, I’m a huge Harry Potter fan.” I’m like, “Exactly.” Let’s see how it turns out. If she does a horrible job then maybe you have a little bit of an excuse to be like, “They should have let that other girl who can act.” But I highly doubt Warner Bros. is going to do something like that. Their job is to get the right people to act. Plus, you know, really – I remember reading in an interview somewhere that Rupert was there helping pick out – I got to say, Rupert’s got good taste.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: She’s very pretty.

Micah: Yeah.

Laura: And what I have to say is, ladies, stop sitting here and bashing this poor girl and calling her ugly. Because girls constantly complain about being objectified, but then when you turn around and do it to another girl, you’re just as bad. So stop it.

Andrew: [laughs] Spank, spank, spank! [laughs] Yeah, I’ll go right out there and say she’s hot.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: Micah? Mikey? Andy?

Mikey: Hands down! Hands down!

Micah: Clearly.

Mikey: Hands down!

Micah: What did you say, Andy?

Mikey: Hands down!

Andy: I think she’s fine. No problems with her at all.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Mikey: Hands down, best casting ever.

[Everyone laughs]

Mikey: Sorry, guys.

Andrew: You know, Emerson made you say that.

Mikey: If you don’t know where that’s from, go look through some of the MuggleCast archives and you’ll find it.

Andrew: The first live LeakyMug.

Mikey: Yes. Hands down, best movie ever. [imitating Andrew] Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Andrew: Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mikey: It’s all right, Simsy, don’t worry.

Andrew: I’ve changed since then. It’s been over two…

Mikey: You’ve grown.

Andrew: When was the Goblet of Fire premiere?

Mikey: I don’t know.

Andrew: That was like November 12th, wasn’t it?

Mikey: I don’t know. I remember listening to the live show at home on my headphones. It was nice.

Andrew: You were like, “Wow, these guys got potential.”

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: So…

Micah: And then you join us.

Andrew: …moving along…

Mikey: Only if they say my name three times, I’ll magically appear.

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]

Mikey: Okay, so where we at now?

Andrew: So moving along. In other Half-Blood Prince news, there was also our – we got two – Micah, do you have something else to say?

Micah: No, I was just wondering, so this is the final cast? They’re not going to be looking at other characters?

Andrew: There’s got to be more announcements.

Micah: There’s – I mean…

Andrew: Well, there’s got to be more announcements. Yeah. Because if you look at our brand new Movie 6 section, it’s not a complete cast.

Micah: Right.

Andrew: Especially when you compare it to other cast pages.

Micah: So it just means on their end that they’ve completed casting, but they maybe haven’t made all the announcements yet…

Andy: Exactly, yeah.

Micah: …because we’re still missing a good amount of people.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: I would think, anyway, right? I mean, there’s no Gaunt family that’s been cast yet.

Andy: Like Katie Bell, too.

Laura: Yeah, that could be a problem.

Andrew: How about…

Micah: Bill Weasley. I would think he might have to be in this.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah!

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Micah: Greyback.

Andrew: Yeah. What was this press release by WB? What did it say, exactly? I’m trying to find it now. Here it is. “Casting is complete on Half-Blood Prince.” So I guess they just really haven’t announced everyone yet. [laughs]

Mikey: Well, you know what? The casting is probably complete for the entire, you know, everything. And they probably haven’t announced it because some of the people they’ve cast, they probably have two or three people for it still, even though it’s been cast between those two people, and whoever comes out best on camera – because a lot
of times…

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: …what they’ll do for smaller parts, background characters, that may not even say anything – because we know the Gaunts, except for – what’s the father’s Gaunt – not – Merope’s father’s name?

Laura: Marvolo.

Mikey: Marvolo! Yeah. How come I didn’t know that? Wow. I’m tired. Marvolo’s the only one that speaks English, you know, and Merope is quiet the whole time, and her brother is speaking in [hisses].

Andrew: Maybe it’s also that they want to spread out the announcements, sort of keep the excitement going.

Mikey: The buzz.

Andrew: Yeah, the buzz, exactly. Throw a little buzz out there. You know what happens? I’ve noticed this a lot. Whenever there’s a big book announcement, WB always comes back with something to make sure nobody’s forgotten about them.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: Like I remember there was a huge news story – news book story – and I can’t remember what it was, but like a few hours later, after all the buzz on the websites, WB sends us just a crapload of new pictures out of the blue and is just like, “Post these.” It’s like, okay.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: But it’s like, “Don’t forget about us!”

Andy: Here’s thirty-six new pictures.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly.

Mikey: Well, it’s like you, Andrew. Releasing the 12-hour MuggleCast as different segments instead of as one big…

Andrew: Because I wanted to get the episode count up a little bit! But I mean when you’re doing a 12-hour show, that’s a huge download file anyway.

Mikey: There’s people that listen the entire time, buddy. I’m just saying.

Andrew: There were. Oh yeah, definitely. Those were the people who could. [laughs] Anyone else can’t. Well, I guess there were some people who might have listened to all of them straight through, but it was a good idea, just go with it. So…

[Mikey laughs]

Andrew: I guess there’s nothing else to say about that. Yeah, Micah, I think you bring up a good point. We’re still waiting for quite a few more casting announcements. The cast page still has room to grow. So it’s time to get Warwick back for another interview.

[Laura laughs]

MuggleCast 120 Transcript (continued)


News Discussion: Movie 6 Sneak Peek


Andrew: Half-Blood Prince sneak peek. We got this
the other day. There’s a couple of things to talk about with this story. This was a really good idea, I thought, WB had, when they announced that there was going to be sneak peek at Half-Blood Prince on the Order of the Phoenix DVD. I thought, “How are they doing that?” They just started filming, and how do they have stuff already to put on the DVD? Because you have to have the DVD prepared like a month or two ago to go to print and all that, and then here comes this brilliant idea: it’s online, but you have to have your disc in the computer in order to click on these clips. I thought that was a great idea! Did anyone else get excited? I thought that was so cool! [laughs]

Laura: I guess…

Micah: Dork.

Andrew: Yeah, dork, exactly. [laughs]

Mikey: Well, you know, Andrew, I would be more excited if the sneak peek is not just these initial clips but more stuff…

Andrew: Like more to come.

Mikey: …so that way, it’s really not just like, “I’ll go rent the movie for a day and see all the extra clips,” but “I want to make sure that I buy and I own it so that way I can see…”

Andrew: That’s a good point!

Mikey: The more stuff to come! So I can see the new Quidditch costumes, so I can see the scenes or the interview with Dan talking about, you know…

Andrew: Mikey, you should be on their marketing team; that’s a pretty good idea actually.

Mikey: I personally think I should just start being Assistant Editor and Editor for the Harry Potter films.

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: As a fan that loves it, you know, that’s what I do, Warner Bros. Wink wink, nudge nudge, ha ha ha.

Andrew: They don’t listen.

Mikey: I know. Well, who knows?

Andrew: Actually, no. I think David Heyman listens to the podcast.

Mikey: Really?

Laura: Really?

Mikey: David, I do have a real – please, it’s a dream of mine.

Andrew: I think he has. He said something once in an interview he did at the L.A. premiere that made me think he…

Mikey: No, no! He goes to MuggleNet, not MuggleCast.

Andrew: No, but he also said something about he listens to us all the time. But he wasn’t – he was like, “I read and listen to you guys all the time.” I think that’s what he said. Something like that.

Micah: I think you’re right, because when we were at Enlightening, Emerson was talking to the crowd about David Heyman and that interview that you guys did. And I think he was saying that we should all be nice to David Heyman because he listens to what we say.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah.

Micah: Something like that.

Andrew: Yeah, we’ll have to re-watch that interview. Anyway… [laughs]

Mikey: I like David Heyman.

Laura: Yeah, I like him, too. He’s really nice.

Mikey: He’s cool. I would just say, “Just so you know, I like you. I’m an editor.”

[Everybody laughs]

Andrew: I hate to go off tangent one more time, but…

Mikey: Oh, wow!

Andrew: …Laura, I just remembered this today – I completely forgot about it. You, Ben and I talked to him for a couple of minutes at the after party…

Laura: Yeah. Oh, that was so cool.

Andrew: …one on one. And that was really nice…

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: …because he was very nice about talking with us. And we were just – we were sucking up to him. [laughs]

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: But we were saying it’s unbelievable this whole thing that you’ve been running for the past, god, eight years now.

Laura: Yeah, but he was genuinely nice, and he seemed really, really happy to be there.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: So I was really happy to see that.

Andrew: Yeah. It was great actually talking to him. Great guy. But – okay, so anyway… [laughs] …the Half-Blood Prince sneak peeks – hoping everyone saw these. It looks pretty good; it’s nothing new. I mean, it’s new but it’s nothing out of the ordinary.

Andy: Nothing new new.

Andrew: Nothing new new, right. It’s more of the same, you know. They’re filming and Dan’s on set… [laughs] …and there’s cameras around him. There was a very nice interview with Stuart Craig, Production Designer. That’s it. There’s an interview with him on the new set where he talks about the orphanage and how great it’s going to be and how much effort they’re putting into it. Then there’s another clip with the interview with the Costume Designer, and she goes over the brand new Quidditch costumes – or the Quidditch cloaks. And they have new padding and they have these new helmets.

Andy: Yuck.

Andrew: Yeah, I was talking to Andy about this last night. They’re not very good, are they, Andy? [laughs]

Andy: I don’t know. I reckon they kind of look like fighter pilots or something.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah. And I think she said in that interview that they weren’t sure yet if they were actually going to have them on while they were playing, right? Just for practice?

Andy: Yes, she said they were going to be for training or practice or something, but they didn’t know if they would put them in the actual scene.

Andrew: I think that just shows that they’re not too sure about them, either. [laughs] Maybe? And then – the new cloaks do look good, I think. And it’s nice to see that they’re updating the Quidditch outfits. They’re putting some effort into it since they skipped out on Quidditch in Order of the Phoenix and Goblet of Fire? No, the Quidditch World Cup was in Goblet of Fire.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: So that’s nice. And that’s about it.

Mikey: You know what I would like to see? I would like to see them play Quidditch at the Burrow. You know how they do those, you know…

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: Well, I mean…

Andy: Yeah, that would be sweet. I want to see them fly the tables around in the [unintelligible].

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]

Mikey: Yeah, there’s a lot I would like to see that I never…

Andrew: Well, we all know that’s…

Micah: When you get to work on the films, Mikey, then…

Mikey: Yeah. I’ll make the special MuggleNet edition with all the stuff we want to see, and I’ll sit there for years doing all the special effects myself.

[Everyone laughs]

Mikey: But, fans, I will do it if I get – no.

Andrew: So the DVD came out. It was just in England, not in Australia. Right, Andy?

Andy: Yeah, it’s out here. We got it last Wednesday.


Andy Reviews the DVD


Andrew: Oh, it is. Oh! Oh, okay. Well, we could have a quick review here.

Andy: Which is the first time ever.

Andrew: So, what…?

Andy: I thought it was great. Lots of good special features, especially the one, “Trailing Tonks,” which was behind the scenes. That was great, very funny.

Andrew: What’s in that again?

Andy: It just follows – I think her name’s Natalia Tena, who plays Tonks. It just follows her around the set doing random stuff: playing guitar, laughing at people.

Mikey: Having her nose changed. You know, her nose changes every once in a while.

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] That’s pretty cool. How do all the menus and such work? Are they good?

Andy: The menus are great. Same guy narrates all the menus. The actual disc with the movie on it is really great. It’s got the phone booth going to the Ministry. And the special features one has got the Black tapestry and all the special features on that, which looks really cool.

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Andy: Yeah, it’s great. I’ve watched it a few times now.

Andrew: How are the deleted scenes?

Andy: Pretty good. There’s sort of two minutes of Trelawney eating and then there’s a few other good ones.

Micah: Wait. Not drinking, eating?

Andrew: Yeah. Come on, we found this out a while ago!

Micah: No, eating. I was making a joke saying she is an alcoholic, but forget it.

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Mikey: She just likes to have a drink when times are getting hard.

Andrew: Yeah. So, all right, well, that’s cool. As for us in America, we still have to wait until December 11th, so it’s a little under a month now. And the thing is, here’s what happened: this Half Blood Prince sneak peak came out, people got their DVDs, they were able to watch it. Then people figured out how to download it and get it on YouTube. You can download the flash file, convert that to something YouTube will take, put it up. So it gets up on YouTube, all the fan sites post it, and then WB starts taking them down. And the thing that got me about this, and I said it to Micah, was, all right, WB’s asking for this. When you’re releasing a film in Australia and England a month before you do in America, the American fans are going to go nuts, and they’re going to want to see it online so people put it online, put these sneak peaks online, at least. And, you know, WB keeps trying to take them down, but it’s like, why not just release the movie at the same time and then you wouldn’t have to worry about that?

Laura: Haven’t they typically released all the DVDs at the same time in the past?

Andrew: Yeah. Well, the U.S. certainly hasn’t had to wait a month. [laughs]

Andy: We usually get it about three months later, so this is…

Andrew: Really?

Andy: …a Christmas miracle.

[Andy and Micah laugh]

Andrew: Yeah, are they trying to be fair? Like…

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: Australia complained and they’re like, “Okay, you get it a month before America now.”

Laura: Well, I know, at the very least, the U.S. and the U.K. got them around the same time. Like within a few days of each other.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah.

Micah: Well, what’s interesting is that it’s not just the U.K. and Australia, it’s other countries that the DVD has been released in as well. It seems like…

Andy: South America got it before all of us.

Micah: Yeah.

Andy: They got it in, like, the end of October.

Andrew: I wonder if it has to do with the Christmas season. Like, they want to get it closer to Christmas to…

Micah: Oh, yeah.

Andrew: …put it under more trees or something?

Micah: Could be true.

Laura: If they sell it in November, it’s going to be under plenty of trees. I mean…

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: …that’s when they start putting out all your Christmas stuff.

Andrew: But I’m just thinking – well, I guess it shouldn’t matter to WB, really, whether it goes underneath a Christmas tree or not as long as you’re still buying it.

Andy: It’s just all this hype.

Andrew: It’s all the hype, you said?

Andy: Yeah, all hype and publicity and…

Andrew: Oh. Yeah…

Andy: …how they can sell the most DVDs.


Harry Potter versus Hairspray


Andrew: Yeah, maybe. Well, I mean, one DVD that’s coming out soon – of course I know this: Hairspray comes out Tuesday.

[Mikey laughs]

Andrew: Now… [laughs]

Mikey: I know Hairspray comes out Tuesday, buddy, I’ve been watching for that to come out, too.

Andrew: I’ll be buying the Shake and Shimmy edition, thank you very much. I just wonder, do they think like, “Oh, there’s already a big DVD coming out; we want publicity, we want a week to ourselves where we have all the publicity we want.” Or is it something else?

Laura: What other…

Andrew: Because Hairspray is a huge movie release. I mean, it was huge over the summer…

Laura: Yeah…

Andrew: …I’m sure it’s going to be…

Laura: But did it outsell Harry Potter even…

Andrew: No, I don’t think so.

Laura: Was it even close? I mean, I love Hairspray, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think they would be in any sort of competition.

Andrew: I’m just grasping at straws. I mean, I can’t think of any other, besides the holiday thing.

Andy: But I don’t think Hairspray and Harry Potter would be in that much competition.

Mikey: Oh yeah they are.

Andrew: I have to say, I think they appeal to the same people. [laughs]

Laura: Yeah, that’s what I was going to say, but I don’t think a Harry Potter fan and a Hairspray fan would go out and buy one DVD over the other. They’re going to buy both.

Mikey: Well, you know what? If it came down between one DVD or the other to me…

Andrew: I’d buy Hairspray.

[Mikey laughs]

Andrew: No, I’m dead serious. I’m dead serious.

Mikey: That’s what I’m thinking is going to happen. You have to go with your Harry Potter friend. So Andrew could buy Hairspray for us and we could watch it, and then I’ll buy the Harry Potter.

Andrew: [laughs] But I just think…

Mikey: And we’ll probably watch Hairspray first.

Andrew: Also, feature-set wise, I think Hairspray‘s got – Hairspray‘s got like a four hour documentary on the making of it.

Mikey: [laughs] Are you…?

Andrew: They went all out on the feature. But, anyway… [laughs]

Andy: If you’d like the sheet music from Hairspray, go over to HarryPotterFanZone.

[Everyone laughs]

Mikey: You know what’s funny though? I think I actually saw Hairspray more than Order of the Phoenix in theaters.

Andrew: Oh, me too!

Laura: So did I. [laughs]

Andrew: I’ve seen it five times now.

Mikey: No, no, well, it’s because I saw an advanced screening of Hairspray, and then I saw it again, and then I think I saw it twice with Andrew at one point, and…

Andrew: You saw it once with us. [laughs]

Mikey: I don’t know. I saw Hairspray a ridiculous amount of times. I went with my mom. I’m like, “Why am I seeing this movie so many times?” But I do have a fondness for musicals, so…

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: …I’m waiting for Harry Potter: The Musical. Really, you know…

Andrew: Yeah, it’s coming out…

Mikey: It’s like the mysterious ticking noise.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.

Mikey: [singing] Snape, Snape, Severus. And then, you know, Dumbledore!

[Everyone laughs]

Mikey: I love Dumbledore. He’s my favorite. You know what? Dumbledore coming out of the closet, that’s him going, “Dumbledore!” That’s him!

[Laura laughs]

Mikey: I love it!

Andrew and Mikey: Oh…

Andrew: God. You know…

Mikey: Why do I keep talking? Let’s continue on.

Andrew: [laughs] Okay. I’m wondering the same thing. Hey, I guess there’s nothing else to say. Maybe we’ll try to get something out of WB.

Mikey: Oh…

Andrew: You know, to answer why.

Micah: The only other DVD that is coming out that week – or that date actually – is The Bourne Ultimatum.

Andrew: That’s definitely not competition… [laughs] …I don’t think.

Laura: No.

Mikey: You sure? They’re both actions. They’re both action movies.

Andrew: Yeah. But it’s a different audience still.

Micah: See?

Andrew: [sighs] Okay, well, I guess we’ll see what happens there. Wow, we managed to take up forty-five minutes with news talk. Good work, guys. [laughs] That’s a new record, I think.


Announcement: MuggleCast Wall of Fame


Andrew: All right, let’s get on to some announcements now. There’s actually a few this week for once, and they’re all new. First of all, earlier this week – let me set this up – there was an article in my school newspaper about what I do with MuggleCast. And that was a few days – the article came out a few days after our Episode 119, which we’ll get to in a minute. It wasn’t exactly our best show. Our best live show.

Laura: No.

Micah: No.

Andrew: Especially in the call-in parts. So, I was, like, oh crap. All these people are going to go and look, and see this episode and think I suck. [laughs] So, everyone would have noticed that news post I made on the – on MuggleCast, saying, “New to the show? If you’re a new listener and looking for a few good episodes, check these out.” So, I sort of hope that people looked at that. And then I came up with the idea for the MuggleCast Wall of Fame, which is our, sort of, showcase showcasing the best episodes we’ve done. So we came up with this page. Mikey contributed with an episode or two. And then I also added at the bottom, if anyone has an episode that really stands out to them in terms of quality – just a really good quality episode – e-mail it in to MCWallofFame at gmail dot com. MCWallofFame, all one word, at gmail dot com. And I’m sort of going to take a poll and see which episodes get the most votes. And then we’ll add them on there. And that will just be a nice little archive of our best shows, and it’ll be a nice thing we go back and look at. Especially if you’re a new listener and you’re looking for some good episodes, you know, we can recommend those to you. So there’s a banner at MuggleCast.com for those. We encourage you to check those out. Also, anyone here got a Zune?


Announcement: MuggleCast on Zune


Mikey: I do!

Laura: No.

Andrew: Mikey, you do?

Mikey: No, I don’t.

Andrew: Do you get it off Woot?

Mikey: No. I’m lying.

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: Actually, about the Zune, some of you know I work for Apple and, in fact, a couple of MuggleCast listeners… [laughs] …came into the Apple store when I was working the other day, and…

Andrew: Really?

Mikey: Yeah. They’re in the Leopard release. It’s kind of cool seeing them there. I was hanging out there working, not really doing anything at Apple. But they’re like, “Are you Mikey from MuggleCast?” And I’m, like, yeah. Like…

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: …you know, I’m at work…

Andrew: Oh.

Mikey: …you know.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: And they came up, and – so I took a picture with them. That was kind of cute.

Andrew: Aww, cute.

Laura: Aww.

Mikey: Yeah. You know. It was cool. They come into my work.

Andrew: I don’t know how that worked. You were, like, speaking…

Andrew and Mikey: …of Zunes…

Andrew: Dot, dot, dot. [laughs]

Mikey: I work for Apple. The iPod versus Zune.

Andrew: Uh-huh. So for the ten people who have a Zune…

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: And Microsoft started the – basically, the Zune equivalent of iTunes. And you can go on to their marketplace and you can subscribe to podcasts there now because Zune now supports podcasts. And MuggleCast is in there. So if you have a Zune and you want to subscribe to MuggleCast, make sure you have the latest Zune software update. And then there’s a link right there at MuggleCast.com, underneath the big “On Air” button that takes you to the Zune marketplace to subscribe to MuggleCast. So I just thought I would let everyone know. Also, if you have any friends who like Harry Potter and who have a Zune, recommend that to them.


Announcement: Terminus Clear Up


Andrew: Also, real quick, I just want to say about Terminus. I just want to… [laughs] …clear up what was said last week. I want to clear up that Terminus didn’t actually say no to us or reject us. We just never approached them and they thought we didn’t fit in with what they needed compared to other podcasts. I just want to clear that up because, apparently, some fans were saying to Terminus, “Oh, why did you say no to MuggleCast?” Actually, they never said no to us. They just didn’t want us from the start. [pretends to sob] Umm… [laughs] …we’ll get to Muggle Mail. We’ll focus on a lot of e-mails this week.


Muggle Mail: Age Limits on Broadway Shows


Laura: The first one comes from Brenna, aged 18, from San Diego, California. And she says:

“Some shows do have an age limit…”

And I believe this is in reference to Equus

Andrew: The Broadway…

Laura: …being on…

Andrew:Equus

Laura: …Broadway.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: “…because of scary or inappropriate material. I know that the Broadway musical “Wicked” has a limit of six because it might be frightening to young kids. So I would think they wouldn’t allow small children to see it, but who knows? Also, you guys need to stop worrying over…”

Andrew: No. Don’t – don’t include that.

Laura: Okay. [laughs]

Andrew: Oh, actually, go ahead. No, no, never mind. Go ahead.

Laura: Way to cut me off! Okay.

Andrew: No, sorry. [laughs]

Laura: All right.

“Also, you guys need to stop worrying over Terminus and start planning a trip to San Diego, California for ComicCon in 2008 in July.”

Andrew: You know, it’s not a bad idea, because MuggleNet was invited to ComicCon last year, and there’s this huge miscommunication where ComicCon was even advertising that MuggleNet…

Laura: Oh…

Andrew: …was going to be…

Laura: …that’s right.

Andrew: …at a certain venue. And, like…

Laura: Didn’t a bunch of people…

Andrew: …people showed up.

Laura: …come?

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: And nothing ever – nobody was there. [laughs] Emerson and – I think it was supposed to be like Emerson and Ben or something, and they were probably on the other side of the country… [laughs] …I think. So that didn’t work out very well. But yeah, that’s not a bad idea. ComicCon’s a big event and they have some Harry Potter stuff there, so who knows?

Mikey: ComicCon’s fun.


Muggle Mail: Quack Pack


Andrew: Next e-mail comes from Abby, 13, of New Jersey. She writes:

“While I was listening to Episode 119 I was thinking that you could make a Quack Pack from the funny quack. Love the show. Quack. Abby.”

You know that’s a better idea than Cucumber Pack. Let’s do Quack Pack.

Laura: What – what…

Andrew: You were saying?

Laura: What was Cucumber Pack?

Andrew: It was going to be the sequel to Pickle Pack.

Laura: Why do we need a sequel to Pickle Pack?

Andrew: It was just a joke! It was like the next…

Laura: Okay, I was about to, like, “Oh God, another year of Blickles. Ohh.”

Andrew: No, because now they would be called Clickles because…

Mikey: Sequels are better than the original? No, no.

Andrew: Yeah – not always. [laughs]

Mikey: Actually, almost never, but…


Muggle Mail: The Writers’ Strike


Andrew: Another e-mail. I think Mikey should be able to address this one. This comes from Bethany, 32, of Goshen, Indiana. She writes:

“Is Steve Kloves a member of the Writers’ Guild? If so, is that strike affecting the shooting of ‘Half-Blood Prince’? Also, if Kloves will also be the screenwriter on ‘Deathly Hallows,’ do you think this strike will push back that movie’s pre-production since he probably starts working on the script long before they start prepping each movie?”

Mikey: Ooooh.

Andrew: Mikey, is – I thought I heard somewhere that the Writers’ Guild will – the strike will eventually affect movie writers. Is that true?

Mikey: Oh, it definitely will. So right now the Writers’ Guild, they’re on strike – and actually I have quite a few friends that are on strike and it’s – I find it kind of funny. I definitely respect what they’re doing, but I kind of find it funny because these are creative types that sit on their computer and write and drink coffee and they’re not – they’re not the striker-type people, right?

Andrew: Right. [laughs]

Mikey: And they’re like, “Dude, I have to go picket,” and I’m like, “You’re really going to go down in front of the studio and stand there with your little sign and march across it?” And he was like, “Yeah, I have to. I mean, I have to.” So what the Guild is really affecting right now with the strike, is it’s definitely affecting TV shows. Is Kloves an American or is he…

Andrew: No.

Mikey: If he’s not American then he’s not part of the Writers’ Guild.

Andrew: Oh okay.

Mikey: Because if he’s – because I know it’s not affecting Canadian productions. A lot of productions have jumped up there recently, and U.K. is not affected by this, but this is definitely affecting just the U.S. writers. It can affect movies because sequels and stuff like that…

Andrew: Actually wait, wait, wait. I’ve got to cut you off.

Micah: I’m pretty sure Steve Kloves is American.

Andrew: Yeah, he is.

Andy: I thought he was American.

Mikey: It definitely – it’s definitely going to affect him. Probably not so much for Deathly Hallows because I would be surprised if he even started production for that script – started working on that until mid of 2008 even.

Andrew: Yeah, that’s true.

Mikey: Because the movie won’t be released till end of 2008 of Half-Blood Prince, so I would be very surprised if he even started, you know, while the strike is on, unless it lasts a very long time. The longest strike lasted six weeks I believe? From the Writers’ Guild…

Andrew: I think it was 22.

Mikey: Was it 22?

Andrew: I think it was 22. Yeah.

Mikey: Six weeks – I remember the last one was a very long time and…

Andrew: Did you say six months?

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: Oh, I thought you said six weeks.

Mikey: Oh, I may have said six weeks but I meant six months. But it lasted six months, and I definitely agree with what they’re demanding, because right now this really is affecting more TV show writers, you know. I don’t expect it to last, you know, more than six months, and I don’t think it will affect Deathly Hallows too much.

Andrew: Well, there’s your answer.

Mikey: But it could definitely affect the movie industry.

MuggleCast 120 Transcript (continued)


Muggle Mail: Fawkes


Andrew: Yeah, which is kind of scary. Another e-mail now from Emma, fourteen, of Salt Lake City. She writes:

“Hey guys, love the show. When you guys were talking about Fawkes and his location after Dumbledore died, I think he would go live with Aberforth and to get around the whole ownership thing he would just come and go as he pleases.”

I think that’s an okay thought. I don’t know if Aberforth would really care for Fawkes, though.

Laura: Yeah, I don’t think so. I think that would have been mentioned, too, like…

Micah: I’m pretty sure – sorry.

Laura: No, I mean, I think that once Dumbledore died – like I think that it was very symbolic that Harry kept hearing the – what was it? The song.

Micah: The Phoenix song?

Laura: Yeah, the Phoenix song. He kept hearing it and then suddenly he realized that it stopped. And he realized everything that had just happened. So I feel like it was just very symbolic and very telling of the fact that Fawkes was gone to wherever Phoenixes go whenever their owners die.

Micah: Right, and I think…

Andrew: Yeah, that would have been funny if like – go ahead, Micah.

Micah: I was just going to say that I was pretty sure Jo said that Fawkes was non-transferrable, meaning that he wouldn’t go anywhere else.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: So I don’t know where he would go but it’s not – he’s not going to go and live with anybody else in particular. He’s going to the Phoenix zoo and – I don’t know. [laughs] I’m making that up.

Andrew: Wouldn’t it be funny if – you know, it’s that whole sad scene where Fawkes flies off into the distance and he just makes a sharp left turn and ends up in Aberforth’s?

Laura: [laughs] That would…

Andrew: I could sort of see like a Family Guy, Simpsons

Laura: Yeah.

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: It’s what I was thinking.


Fantasy Death Scene


Andrew: All right, so – and then in the second part of Emma’s e-mail, she writes:

“I have something for you to discuss on the show this week. If you guys could make a death scene for Tonks and Lupin, what would happen? Just seeing how creative you guys could get.”

I guess none of us are really writers, but anyone have their fantasy death scene? Did anyone ever give that any thought?

Laura: I’ve never thought about it. I didn’t really imagine that Tonks and Lupin were killed by anybody highly significant or anybody that we knew, just because Jo didn’t mention it.

Micah: One of the…

Andrew: She did, though.

Micah: She did.

Laura: Who’d she say killed them? I don’t remember.

Andrew: Oh, she did in a web-chat.

Micah: Bellatrix killed Tonks.

Mikey: And then…

Micah: And Dolohov killed Lupin, I think.

Mikey: Yeah. Well, see, I actually imagined Lupin’s death. And the reason for this is because we’ve gone on tour with Alex…

Andrew: [laughs] That’s what I thought you were going to say.

Mikey: ….from The Remus Lupins, and we’ve had a whole night where we were discussing, how would Lupin go out? And we came up with this exa – you know, this crazy thing where Dolohov and Lupin were there. And Lupin was actually saving babies, and he went out as a champ. He saved a thousand wizards by sacrificing himself.

[Laura laughs]

Mikey: You know.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: If he didn’t die, Harry probably would’ve lost. That’s what would happen.

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]

Mikey: Because Lupin was the pivotal role, but – and Jo just didn’t want to take away from Harry’s victory by describing Lupin’s epic battle against Dolohov. So…

Laura: Yeah.

Mikey: We’ve – I’ve discussed it. It’s pretty awesome.

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: You know, one of you guys can read our transcript of it. But it’s pretty awesome. One of you guys can read our transcript of it, but it’s pretty awesome.

Andrew: Maybe we can make a video of it with Alex being the actor.

[Mikey laughs]

Andrew: Since he has starred in film projects before. [laughs]

Mikey: Oh yes, we should.

Andrew: I’ve always – well, actually, not always, but if I were to picture it, I would picture it like Titanic-ish. Like…

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: …Jack – like, “Jack, I’ll never let go!” It’s like, “Tonks, I’ll never let go!” And then, since they’re sort of newlyweds…

Mikey: And then Avada kedavra from each end and then they die.

Laura: Yeah. [laughs]

Mikey: Poof! That’s really sad.

Andrew: And they let go.

Mikey: Like come on! You can see Tonks maybe like tripping over her cloak and falling into Bellatrix, and Bellatrix is just like, “Ah!” And, you know, that way.

Micah: Right.

Mikey: Although, that’s not…

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Mikey: “Ah!” Actually, you know, that’s kind of sad. Because I think Tonks is better than that.

Micah: I could see…

Mikey: I think maybe even – yeah.

Micah: …even Bellatrix sneaking up from behind on Tonks and killing her that way because that’s how vicious she is.

Andrew: Maybe Bellatrix just comes out of nowhere and then…

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: …Tonks just falls through a cloth, and then it’s all unexplained.

[Laura and Mikey laugh]

Mikey: Or maybe Tonks was trying to deal with her Metamorphosis skills. Because her nose gets stuck like a duck beak, and she’s trying to deal with that.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Mikey: And then Bellatrix is just like, “Aha! Say quack!”

[Laura laughs]

Mikey: And then…

[Laura and Mikey laugh]

Andrew: Say quack.

Mikey: Oh yeah. I’m sorry. See? I’m being creative.

Andrew: She’s like, “Fix this, Tonks!” [makes explosive sounds]

Mikey: Yeah. All right.


Muggle Mail: Harry Potter‘s Impact on Literature


Andrew: “Smell this one, Tonks!” [makes explosive sounds] No? All right, another e-mail comes from Anna of Phoenix, Arizona. Here’s a nice little topic, although – well, no, we’ll talk about this. She writes:

“Hey guys! Thanks so much for all you do. Here’s a subject I’d love to hear you guys lay in on. Where do you think will be ‘Harry Potter”s impact in literature? In the future, do you think the series will be a classic in C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien fashion or a classic in only the fantasy genre? Will the series continue to be popular as a children and teen book or as an adult book as well? How will HPH, how will…”

Well, we’ll get to each question in a second… [laughs] …as we move along. So the first one, how do you guys think Harry Potter will end up in literature? I don’t think we’ve ever talked about this. I think it’d be a good topic to discuss.

Laura: I think it’s going to be a classic. Absolutely.

Andrew: Do you, though?

Laura: Yes, I do.

Andrew: I mean…

Laura: I really, really do, because you look at the effect that it has had on our generation and just the time that we’ve grown up in, and you look at books like the – well, like C.S. Lewis’ and Tolkien’s, and they all had similar effects on the people who read them. Those – I mean, it was very, very similar and just the way the fandom operated, I guess. Not in terms of making fan sites, but…

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: …I really think that these are the kind of books that people like us have our kids reading ten and fifteen years down the road. You know?

Andrew: Oh yeah. I would definitely love to get my kids into it. But it’s just – it goes back to that commercialize thing, though, because there’s toys, there’s video games…

Mikey: Well no, no. Okay, well hold on.

Andrew: …there’s movies for Harry Potter, there’s a theme park.

Mikey: Andrew, Andrew. A perfect – a perfect example of something like this, how you can actually draw on this, look at Star Wars. It was the same impact when the movie…

Andrew: Yeah, that’s true I guess.

Mikey: …was first released, there’s a ride at Disneyland, there’s action figures. I would say Star Wars has more merchandise than Harry Potter.

Andrew: Probably.

Mikey: Yeah, probably has quite a bit because it’s been around longer. But Star Wars – yes, it’s not as – when you look at the original trilogy it’s definitely aging, but it’s one of those things where it’s still a classic film for what it did. Before that time there were no special effects the way Star Wars was done. It was groundbreaking. And it’s one of those things where it had a hardcore fan base just like Harry Potter does, and it’s definitely a test of the time, and it’s still around, and because the fans were so adamant about it they wanted these other stories told. I think if we keep pushing Jo to give us some more stories, we’ll get James Potter and the Elder Echoes – whatever that website was for – we’ll get those stories made. So…

Andrew: Yeah. I don’t know.

Andy: I think it will be a classic, because Harry Potter books aren’t going to date. There’s no real, sort of, time references in it except Dudley playing on the Playstation, but other than that, it’s still going to be relevant to people in the future.

Andrew: Yeah. Well, yeah, it’s definitely a timeless story. I guess since we’re sort of living in the “Harry Potter Generation,” I just personally have a harder time imagining it being in like – see, when I think classic I sort of think like what we see in our literature books or what we actually discuss in school, or…

Laura: Well, that’s true, but there’s also classics in terms of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. I don’t think that people who were fans of that book when it came out imagined that it would be read by third graders across the world years and years down the road, you know?

Andrew: Yeah, yeah.

Micah: Well, I mean, it can even go back to what you guys were talking about, or what we were all talking about before, when you brought up the whole idea of having Harry Potter in schools. And I think that years from now it’s definitely a good possibility, because if you look around in this moment, put aside the fact that we’re all Harry Potter fans, what other books are out there that sort of define the time like these do?

Andrew: That’s true.

Micah: Is there really anything else? I don’t think there’s been something like this in quite some time that has brought so many people together, at least in the literature aspect. So to think that it’s not going to hold its ground, in the next fifty to one hundred years, I think, would be a bad assumption to make.

Mikey: You know what, Micah? That also brings up – that would also answer my point where it’s the parents that would probably be kind of going, “Oh what is this Harry Potter? It’s a children’s book?” Since we’re going to be growing up as parents eventually, we’re going to be saying, “Oh, our kids should read these books.” And if it’s in schools we’re going to be definitely for that. I think it probably won’t be implemented right away, so I definitely think it’s going to be a classic and last.

Andrew: When – see, I just think though, one huge thing that’s going to be missing is the excitement…

Mikey: Waiting for a book?

Andrew: …leading up – right, leading up to the release. I mean, that’s like ninety percent of the Harry Potter fandom and thrill and excitement and, overall, just – the reason it’s been so huge and publicized is because of the lead up to these books has been tremendous. And, I mean, say fifty years from now when these people pick up the book and they read Sorcerer’s Stone they’ll be like, “Oh, this is great!” And then they just get the next one. Read that. “Oh, this is great!” And then they get the next one. You know, it’ll be classic, but it won’t…

Laura: Well, there won’t be…

Andrew: You sort of understand what I’m saying?

Laura: Well, I mean…

Mikey: They won’t have the same experience.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: This is a once in a lifetime experience. I mean, we’re very lucky to have grown up when we have.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: But I don’t think that that changes the effect that the story will have on people.

Andrew: No.

Mikey: No, I agree completely with Laura, and again, back to my Star Wars example, I wasn’t around when Star Wars was in the movie theaters. You know, the original trilogy. Yet, I’m still a ridiculously huge fan of Harry Potter and Star Wars, and I know my kids are going to be fans of probably both of those because I’ll be there watching and reading it with them.

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]

Mikey: So yeah. They just won’t get the experience of going to a midnight release.

Andy: Do you think it’ll be like, sort of, that much of a classic in the future when someone’s going to be picking up the first book, and they’re already going to be knowing, well, Harry lives in this series. For us, we picked up the first book knowing nothing, but most people are going to know, sort of, how the story plays out.

Mikey: Well, you know, it’s one of those things where I never questioned whether Harry was going to live to die until people started saying, “well, Harry might not make it through because Jo put that in.” Everyone kind of just assumed that the hero was going to make it through, and…

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: …it’s one of those things where, up until she said, “well, how do you know Harry’s going to live?” I don’t think any of us really thought that he was going to die. And that’s just kind of an aspect of what we get because we’re waiting for these new books. It’s kind of like…

Andy: Right. Yeah.

Mikey: …you go into – say you’ve never seen Star Wars, but right away you go, “oh, the good guys are going to win.” Same thing with most movies; you know the good guys are going to win. But you still jump – you still react to when the hero is being attacked by this transforming robot, you know what I mean? [laughs]

Andrew: Yeah, that’s true.

Mikey: You go, “Oh my gosh! Is he going to live? Is he going to die?” You still react to it even though you know the good guy’s going to win, so it’s a happy ending. And if he doesn’t win in this one, the sequel he’s going to win or the third one he’s going to win, finally. Is…

Andy: Yeah.

Mikey: It’s going to be the same. Does Frodo destroy the ring? We all were waiting for him to drop the ring in there but, sure enough, eventually it happened.

Micah: And I think you can ask the same question about the last two movies. You know what’s going to happen. Are you still going to see the movie?

Andrew: Yeah. I think WB’s going to have to put a lot more emphasis on promoting the films because you’ve got to get people more excited now, don’t you?

Mikey: Mmm…

Andrew: I mean, you don’t have that book excitement anymore. It’s sort of – it’s just sort of…

Mikey: I wouldn’t…

Andrew: …chew off of, I guess you could say.

Mikey: I wouldn’t say that. I would say I’m still excited for each movie release.

Andy: Yeah.

Mikey: I remember Goblet of Fire, I wasn’t in New York with you guys; in fact, I don’t even know if I knew you guys then. But I remember seeing it four or five times opening weekend. And it was, again, hands down, best movie ever.

[Laura laughs]

Mikey: It was really a great movie, and I enjoyed it, and, yes, I had read the book and I knew what happened after it. It’s not – it wasn’t – to me, it wasn’t that – it’s separate from the books. And there are the people who don’t read the books at all and they just watch the movies.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: I mean, my little brother’s one of those people. I keep telling him, “Read the books. I have all of them.” But he’s like, “Eh, I don’t want to read them.”

Andrew: Yeah, everyone does that.

Mikey: But he’s there with me all the time at the movie. He knows what happens in the movie. And what happens is, sometimes he’ll ask me – if he doesn’t completely understand something, he’ll ask me. So it’s like, “Who is that?” and I’ll be, like, yeah, this is so and so. And he calls me Mike not Mikey.

Andrew: Well, you know what? My brother’s eleven and when he tells – when he asks me that when he’s watching a movie, I just tell him, “I’m not telling you. Read the book.” Because I really think people need to read the books on top of seeing the movies. And I don’t think little kids like my brother should be just relying on the movies to get what everyone else has out of the book. So I just force my brother to find out by – gasp – reading.

[Laura laughs]

Micah: But it could also be argued that it’s a poor job on the part of the films if they’re not explaining certain things…

Andrew: Yeah, well…

Micah: …when they should.

Andrew: …then you get into the whole, “Oh, we’ve got to cut down on stuff that doesn’t really advance the plot,” etc, etc. So I guess that’s basically what Anna was asking. We answered all of her questions in there.


Muggle Mail: Give the Guys Some Love


Andrew: Next e-mail comes from Tanya, twenty-three of Montreal, Canada. She writes:

“Hey guys! I just finished listening to the live show you did and I found something pretty disturbing. Did you notice that almost all girls that called in where the typical ‘fan girls’ and all the guys who called in sounded so depressed? What’s up with the MuggleCast guy listeners? Maybe you should start up the dating service and get these guys some love.”

[laughs] I think it’s just…

[Andy laughs]

Andrew: …when guys call in they might feel a little, like – well, first of all, some – not all the guys sounded depressed, but I just think some guys were like, “calling into a Harry Potter radio show, I guess I shouldn’t get all excited.”

Mikey: I think we should do a MuggleCast…

Laura: They’re trying to be manly.

Andrew: [laughs] They’re trying to be manly, yeah. [laughs]

Mikey: I think we should do a MuggleCast dating service. Win A Date With Andrew Sims!

Andrew: Now see, that – about a year ago – maybe not even a year ago – I tried to start this segment on the show called MuggleCast Dating Service, where…

Mikey: Yeah, I know, I know.

Andrew: …I had people e-mail – yeah. But it was too complicated. It was too hard just to find matches.

Mikey: If it’s too difficult finding matches.

Andrew: It would have been a good idea, though!

Mikey: You know what we should do? Andrew, what you should do, you should go to True or the E-Harmony and get the little polls that they do. You know, sign up for yourself, Andrew, and get the little polls…

Andrew: Yeah, see…

Mikey: … and we have fans fill them out and we’ll match them up together, and…

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: …you know – in the same city, in the same…


Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul


Andrew: There you go, yeah. We’ll get to one last e-mail this week and it’s a Chicken Soup. It comes from Leah, twenty, of Allen Town, Pennsylvania.

Micah: She says:

“Hi guys, I have a submission for Chicken Soup for the MuggleCaster’s Soul. I don’t have a sad medical story and I wasn’t caught in a natural disaster, but MuggleCast has seriously made my life better. I’m currently a junior in college and lately I’ve been questioning where my life is going. Just wait, guys, you’ll probably be doing it too. But every Sunday I know that I have something solid to look forward to. I feel like I know you all and your conversations are real and relatable. I love ‘Harry Potter’ but I love you guys more.”

Andrew: Aww.

Micah: “You make my week, every week, and you’ve truly made my life a happy one. Thanks, Leah.”

Laura: Aww.

Andrew: That’s very nice.

Micah: How appropriate around Thanksgiving time.

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: What are you guys thankful for this Thanksgiving?

Micah: Andy?

[Andrew and Mikey laugh]

Andrew: Andy, do they celebrate Thanksgiving down there?

Andy: No, they don’t.

Andrew: See? There you go.

Andy: We all kind of know what it is though.

Micah: That was a joke.

Andrew: Harry Potter. Oh, well – oh, Micah are you thankful for Andy? Is that what you were…

Micah: [laughs] No.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: I am thankful for…my friends. You’re supposed to go “aww.”

Laura and Mikey: Aww…

Laura: Aww, we’re your friends, Andrew?

Andrew: Huh?

Laura: We’re your friends?

Andrew: No, no, wait, not you guys.

Mikey: Oh okay. Andrew! I thought we were friends, Andrew.

Andrew: No, only when I need a place to stay in L.A.

Mikey: Oh okay.

Andrew: [laughs] Laura, how about you? Let’s all be sappy for a little. We’re getting into the holiday season so we have to gear up for that ever so corny annual MuggleCast episode where we’re like, “Happy Holidays, everyone!”

Laura: Well, honestly, I’m thankful for you guys. I love you guys! So, I can’t imagine my life without you. End sappiness.

Andrew: Aww, that’s sweet. Micah?

Micah: Same.

Andrew: [laughs] Mikey? If you say Leslie. Don’t say Leslie.

Mikey: I wasn’t going to.

Laura: Aww, say Leslie!

Mikey: Okay, I was going to.

Laura: That’s so sweet!

Mikey: Well, I am going to say what I’m thankful for is just my – everything is going real good in my life right now. I’m thankful for the way things have turned out so far.

Andrew: Oh good.

Mikey: So everything that’s been going on. And MuggleCast is part of my life, so I’m thankful for that too, and you guys, and everything. I’m a little teary-eyed.

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] Seriously. Not trying to sound all corny and stuff, but we really are thankful for the listeners, especially after the book release. We’ve still had a very steady listener base, basically the same from around book/movie release time. So we thank everyone for listening. We are thankful for you guys.

Mikey: No, you know what? I really am. I love all the fans that contact me. I go on AIM and they talk to me and I’ll sit there and talk to all of them, and…

Andrew: Yeah, they’re very cool.

Mikey: Yeah, they’re cool. Definitely they are. And I definitely think that, you know – they’re hip. They’re cool.


Wizard Rock


Andrew: Yeah. Yup, definitely. There are a couple related – show related announcements that we’ll get to next week. They’re more business-like, so we’ll worry about those next week. This show has gone on long enough. I just want to say, guys, that tomorrow I’m going to be going to a Wizard Rock show in Philadelphia featuring the Whomping Willows and the Moaning Myrtles. Micah, you met the Moaning Myrtles.

Micah: Yeah, but you’re – well…

Andrew: Huh?

Micah: Nothing.

Andrew: Okay.

Mikey: The Moaning Myrtles are cool, man! I’m down with the Wizard Rock! Wizard Rock!

Andrew: I’m hoping to put this show out tonight; that’s why I sort of mentioned it. So if anyone’s in the Jersey/Philly area, I recommend you go to that show. Just check the Whomping Willows’ MySpace.

Mikey: Guys, guys, any listeners, if you go to the Whomping Willows show, go up to Matt, the Whomping Willow, the tree guy, that plays guitar. Go up to him, give him a big hug, and say, “Mikey B. says hi.” Really, I want – I want like…

Andrew: I’ll do that, Mikey, I’ll do it.

Mikey: Thank you, but anyone else wants to give him – say, “Mikey B. says hi.” I miss Matt and Mochocko, I really do. I love Wizard Rock. Who doesn’t? Really?

Andrew: You know, I actually bought Jingle Spells, and it just came in the other day.

Mikey: You know, I haven’t been able to get that yet because I haven’t been online.

Andrew: You want me to burn you a copy? [laughs]

Mikey: It’s for a good cause.

Andrew: I know, that’s why I said it. It was a joke.

Mikey: I need to buy it soon. I just haven’t been online because I’ve been working on stuff.

Andrew: I have to say, it’s not bad, it’s not bad.

Mikey: Really? Yeah.


Contact Information


Andrew: Yeah. So with that I think that does wrap up the show today. Well, it’s time to remind everyone about our contact information. Laura, if people want to send us parcel mail, including glass pickles, where do they sent that?

Laura: To MuggleCast, P.O. Box 3151, Cumming, Georgia
30028.

Andrew: Also, we’re going to get back to voicemails very soon. We’re just trying to get our voicemail box fixed. Kevin’s working on that. If you’re in the United States you can call 1-218-20-MAGIC; that’s 1-218-206-2442. If you’re in the United Kingdom it’s 02081440677. If you’re in Australia you can dial 0280035668, just like Andy.

[Show music begins]

Andrew: You can also Skype the username MuggleCast. Just remember to keep your message under a minute and eliminate as much background noise as possible so your message is crystal clear. You can also visit MuggleCast.com for a handy feedback form. To contact any one of us and you can also use our first name at staff dot mugglenet dot com. Andy, what’s the best way to contact you via e-mail if people so choose?

Andy: Probably webmaster at harry potter fanzone dot com or just go onto the site and fill out the contact form and I will get back to you.

Andrew: Sweet. Don’t forget of all of our community outlets over at MuggleCast.com. We got the MySpace, the Facebook, YouTube, Frappr, Last.FM, and the fanlisting. Also Digg the show at Digg.com, vote for us once a month at Podcast Alley, and rate and review us at Yahoo! Podcasts. Also check out that cool new Wall Of Fame over at MuggelCast.com, subscribe with your Zune and all that. It’s all good.


Show Close


Andrew: All right. Andy from HarryPotterFanZone.com, thank you very much for joining us.

Andy: No problem. Thanks for having me on.

Andrew: We’ll have you on again soon. Yeah, you were good.

Micah: Happy Thanksgiving.

Andrew: Yeah.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: Happy Thanksgiving to you and all the other Australians, like Erica Crombie, if she still listens. Thank you, everyone, for listening. Once again Iím Andrew Sims.

Laura: I’m Laura Thompson

Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.

Mikey: [imitating Micah] I’m Mikey B.

Andy: And I’m Andy McCray.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: We’ll see everyone next week for Episode 121.

Andrew and Laura: Buh-bye!

Mikey: Bye!

Micah: Bye!

———————–