MuggleCast 127 Transcript
Show Intro
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[Show music starts]
Micah: Because the Hog’s Head at Universal Studios must have a goat, this is MuggleCast Episode 127 for January 14th, 2008.
[Show music continues to play]
Andrew: We took a break last week, but now we’re back with a whole bunch of people in the panel here.
Jamie: When was the last time we had six?
Micah: Had what?
[Everyone laughs]
Matt: It’s been too long, Jamie.
Jamie: Well, Micah, you keep ignoring my text, so I thought I had to ask on the show in stead of…
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: …asking you privately.
Micah: E-mail. You have to e-mail.
Jamie: Oh, e-mail. Okay.
Matt: I love it how everyone thought the same thing, too.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Micah does not accept VISA or MasterCard. He’s an American Express.
Jamie: No, he does. He does.
[Everyone laughs]
Matt: Stay off those 900 numbers.
Eric: And even then its one of those annoying ATMs you have to swipe it the right way and it’s just really annoying.
Jamie: Yeah, vertically.
Andrew: And the point is this is a very big group.
Jamie: That is the main point.
Andrew: We have a lot of news to discuss and we have a Chapter-by-Chapter. We got a good show for everyone today. I’m Andrew Sims.
Eric: I’m Eric Scull.
Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence.
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.
Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Matt: And I’m Matt Britton.
[Show music continues to play]
News
Andrew: Micah Tannenbaum is in the MuggleCast News Center with the past week’s top Harry Potter News Stories. Micah?
Micah: All right. Thanks, Andrew. In a press release Warner Brothers announced that their movies will be exclusively on Blu-Ray High Definition discs starting in May 2008. Currently all five Potter films are available in HD-DVD and Blu-Ray formats. All of WB’s movies will continue to be released on standard DVD.
Two websites that follow Universal Studios developments have recently updated with new construction photos and information regarding the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park. First, Universal Ignited has three new pictures of construction on their site. While it doesn’t show much we do see the progress in terms of land clearing is being made. Second, Screamscape has a YouTube video revealing two concept images we saw in the J.K. Rowling documentary. One is the Hogwarts Express on display for visitors. The other appears to be Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. We’ll continue to bring you updates as construction rolls along. As we reported back in August, the theme park is scheduled to open between December 2009 and June 2010.
A new interview with Helen McCrory, the actress who will play Narcissa Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, has been published by The Independent where she discusses filming the highly anticipated movie.
Finally, a recent article from the Daily Mail claims crews working on the Half-Blood Prince have been told that the final film will be split. A film source said:
“There’s so much to fit that the view is the last movie should be in two halves. There is a huge battle when Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe, takes on Voldemort that needs to be done really well.”
What’s more, the Daily Mail claims that big name directors such as Steven Spielberg are being considered to direct Deathly Hallows. An update on this story came earlier today, as Empire Online is now quoting Warner Brothers as saying:
“No decision has been made, in part because no scripts yet exist. Steve cannot begin work on the Deathly Hallows script because of the U.S. Writer’s strike.”
We will keep you posted as news continues to surface on filming of the final Potter film.
That’s all the news for this January 14th, 2008 edition of MuggleCast. Back to the show.
Andrew: All right, thanks Micah.
Micah: I actually stopped doing news in 2008, Andrew. I’m not doing that anymore.
Andrew: Well, why?
Micah: Well, I wasn’t getting paid enough. So…
Matt: You weren’t getting paid, period.
Andrew: But the news is an integral part of the show. It’s what defines Harry Potter podcasting.
Micah: No, actually we couldn’t pay the bills in the News Center. So they had to turn off the recording.
Eric: They closed the dungeon down?
Andrew: They had to shut your MacBook?
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay.
Micah: I’m just kidding.
Jamie: Oh really?
Eric: The dungeon was condemned.
Jamie: I thought that actually happened.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, we thought you were serious after we just heard the news. But [laughs] thank you, Micah.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
News Discussion: J.K. Rowling Documentary
Andrew: Yeah, so we’re going to cover some news from the last two weeks actually. I lied when I intro-ed Micah. First up, I think one of the biggest stories of the past two weeks – and I think it deserves a little more credit than it’s been getting lately in the press…
Matt: Mhm.
Andrew: …because it was a very great documentary. It was the J.K. Rowling…A Year in the Life documentary. And it was produced by ITV and they followed J.K. Rowling through her final year in writing Harry Potter, and it led up to the release of the final book. What did you guys think of this? It was really great, wasn’t it?
Matt: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah, I really liked it. I think the problem with documentaries like this is – And I guess what worried me about it when I heard that they were doing it was that it kind of has the potential to be schmultzy, you know?
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah.
Laura: But it really wasn’t. It was really…
Micah: Laura, I never knew you were Jewish.
Matt: What?
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: Thanks, Micah. I’m not. But anyway, it’s…
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: To borrow a Jewish term.
Laura: Yeah. I also…
Matt: What does “schmultzy” mean?
Eric: Schmaltzy. What’s “schmultzy” mean? I’m not – I’m sorry, I’m unfamiliar.
Laura: Like…
Andrew: I’m not aware, either.
Laura: Like, kind of, you know…
Matt: You call these bagels?
Laura: Almost obnoxious. Like, over-done. You know?
Andrew: Oh, I get it.
Eric: Oh.
Matt: Why didn’t you just say over-done?
Laura: Because – I don’t…
Eric: Yeah, we’re Harry Potter fans. How could they over do a J.K. Rowling – I mean, the more they give us…
Laura: Well, I just – It seemed like something they might try to play up a lot? But – I don’t know.
Matt: Ah.
Laura: They might try – I don’t know. It’s just – it made sense to me. I’m sure that other people will understand where I’m coming from.
Jamie: It’s good she does them rarely. No, I know what you mean.
Laura: Just because you have to sit here and question my usage.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Good god!
Jamie: And your religion, as well; your religion.
Eric: I was afraid of it, too. See, I haven’t seen it because I was afraid of it. Jamie, what were you saying?
Jamie: I was just saying that she comes onto this show to relax, and Micah’s just hording her about her religion the entire time. Micah, you should be ashamed of yourself.
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Andrew: This documentary was fantastic. I mean, they – I personally loved the camera angles.
Matt: Camera angles.
Laura: Yeah, they were fantastic.
Andrew: Yes. Oh my god. They were circling around Jo with these interviews. They had these clever shots with, you know, the items on her desk. And…
Matt: I particularly loved the part where the camera just panned to the left and then you kind of stopped right at the number where the gate had that little circle in the middle…
Jamie: Yeah, yeah.
Matt: And you saw the number on the door. [gasps]
Jamie: Yeah.
Matt: Is it me, or did they show kind of a tipsy side of J.K. Rowling in that video?
Andrew: You know, I thought the coolest thing was – well, not the coolest. But the most interesting part was seeing Jo sitting down with her sister, I believe it was, and Jo was just sitting in sweats.
[Matt laughs]
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: And you never see Jo like that, because she’s always dressed up for some prestigious event or premier. But here she is, just sitting in her house in some sweats with her sister.
Matt: Did you see the boy haircuts of Jo?
Andrew: [laughs] Yes.
Laura: Yeah.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: The little pictures of Jo were funny, too.
Matt: The little mop-tops. Yeah.
Laura: It was really interesting to hear about her childhood. And also her relationship with her father, especially.
Andrew: Yes.
Laura: It’s very sad.
Andrew: Yes, it wasn’t that good of a relationship, was it?
Laura: No. No. And especially, you know, all the – everything where she talked about her mom. It was really sad. But, I thought that it just it – I don’t know. It really made the pain that she put into the books from Harry losing his parents feel more real. To me, at least, you know?
Matt: Yeah.
Laura: Seeing and hearing her talk about that.
Eric: It gives an extra sort of purpose to that being in the books, too, doesn’t it? Because it kind of helps you cope with it, I think, with more of it being a reality. Then why did she choose to write about this? Well, where is she coming from? It’s exactly what you see.
Andrew: And, you know, she’s always said in the past, and she said in this interview that one of her biggest regrets or the biggest regret she has in life was not telling her mother about Harry Potter before she died.
Jamie: That’s so sad.
Matt: I thought it was her biggest regret wasn’t seeing her mother…
Laura: Her mother, yeah.
Matt: …when she died.
Andrew: Oh.
Laura: Because she had the option of a viewing, I guess.
Matt: Well, she wanted to, but her father said, “No.”
Andrew: Her father said, “No.” Yeah.
Matt: And then she just agreed and gave up attempting to see her. It also gave a lot of insight on her creation of the dementors. When there’s that really downward spiral in her life, when she was alone with a daughter that she couldn’t really keep, and she was scared…
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: …to see if she’d died every morning when she came to see her.
Eric: That’s what I like about dementors, too. You can kind of tell that they just have real life, practical uses, like when people are just generally down and stuff.
I mean, for instance, the boggarts being the monsters under the bed sort of thing, application. What I’m saying is, the readers relate to it, and so you say, “Well, dementors could have been here, and that’s why,” because often there is an air or foreboding and this whole depressing, there are depressing places. You walk into a place and you can tell that everybody in there, there’s just this coldness and this darkness, and it all could be because of a dementor.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: They’re two ways of showing fear, I guess. The boggarts which turn into your fear and the dementors that just create it. It’s very well done, though, both of them.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Now the thing with this documentary was that was only released on ITV and they haven’t put it online yet. It did get onto tvcatchup.com, I think it was, but then a few days later they blocked the site so only UK visitors can actually go on that website and check out. So, and I’ve been searching everywhere for this stupid video. It’s not on You… The first part’s on YouTube. I couldn’t find a torrent of it, so it’s kind of disappointing for American fans who want to check this documentary out. It’s definitely worth it. I really hope they do air it in the US.
Micah: Oh, yeah, you’re right, I’m sorry.
Andrew: Laura, you also wanted – of course I’m right.
Micah: Rarely.
Andrew: Laura, you also wanted to talk about Jo’s religious views?
Laura: Yeah. I thought it was – You didn’t really see a whole lot of that in the documentary, but there was kind of a brief moment or two where she talked about that, and they asked her if she believed in God. And she thought about it for a second. She said, “I do, but I’m very skeptical,” or something along those lines.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah.
Laura: And I just thought it was really interesting considering how often her religious views and the credibility of the series as being a good role model type series for children to read being brought into light a lot. So I just thought it was interesting to kind of hear her come out and say, “You know, I do believe in God, but I still am skeptical of my religion, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Micah: Well, they did also shoot her in the church she went to when she was a kid.
Laura: Yeah, that’s where she said it.
Micah: One of the things that was really cool that I would want to find out more information was when she was going through that book and she had to turn the page quickly so the camera didn’t catch what name she was looking at when she said, “I borrowed that name for a really evil character in the series.” Did you guys catch that?
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, and I was thinking about that today. I hope some tabloid goes back to that church…
Laura: I know.
Andrew: …and finds the name and then writes a good story on it.
Eric: Yeah, because then we can see what it was.
Laura: Well it’s, like, I’m just thinking of some, you know, really snobby church lady named Dolores that she used as Umbridge, or whatever.
Micah: Yeah, exactly.
Jamie: Yeah. It’s got to be that.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: So funny. But anyway, also in this documentary, they had the handoff of the transcript right there in Heathrow, and Jo’s meeting with Christopher Little himself right there in Heathrow. I think, right? That was Chris Little?
Laura: Yeah.
Micah: Yep.
Eric: Wow!
Andrew: Right there in Heathrow they’ve got a quick hand-off and Jo’s done, boom, bang. The other interesting thing, and we discussed this last week or two weeks ago was that, you know it’s interesting that Jo’s just typing up the book on Word.
Jamie: That’s so funny.
Andrew: But moreover, then she’s just printing the transcript out, or the draft out herself, at home on her printer. You know, just printing out, spewing things out right there? I’m just like “Wow, unbelievable.”
Laura: Yeah.
Jamie: Normal concepts like, being out of ink just don’t seem to apply there.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: The printer is like, “Hmmm, I’m out of ink but you know, I’m going to generate more because this is the final book in Deathly Hallows – eh, in Harry Potter.”
Jamie: Yeah, that doesn’t happen to Harry Potter. Doesn’t happen.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Well didn’t she say she ran out of paper? Wasn’t there that story or something?
Andrew: [laughs] I don’t know, but it’d be funny if there was a paper jam while they were recording, and then we miss a whole page of the book just because of that paper jam or something. But, interesting stuff.
[Jamie laughs]
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: And then lastly, they did a part on – they had a nice interview with Jo in there about how you know, she feels like, she can’t believe people come to her asking for ideas and, you know, she doesn’t really like all the attention and all the publicity, but she just goes with it because she knows she has to and, you know, it’s part of the job.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: And – but she’s not a fan of it. And she says, she openly says in the documentary she’s not good at it. Well they have – they filmed a meeting for the theme park, and she’s sitting there at the head of the desk with a bunch of, what I assume are a bunch of Universal executives. I’m sure maybe Stuart Craig might have even been there. But they’re looking through pictures of the theme park and one thing that they discuss is a feature in the park where you will be standing somewhere in the Harry Potter area, and you will be able – you will be the only one to hear some ghost whisper something directly in your ear. Because hey’re going to use some technology that is a speaker that will only – I don’t know what the best way to put this is?
Jamie: Wait, it only goes to one person you mean?
Andrew: Right, exactly. So, you’ll only be able to hear it if you’re standing in a specific spot.
Jamie: How can it possibly do that?
Andrew: I don’t – it’s magic! It’s the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
Matt: Now, is this supposed to be something like a veil thing, where you can only hear the ghosts in the veil or something?
Andrew: Maybe. I was thinking – yeah. I don’t know, we couldn’t hear much of it. And I want to listen to it back, but I can’t find the video again.
Eric: Yeah. Look, they have to really, I mean, they should make this video a lot more accessible because I couldn’t find it, you know?
Andrew: Mhm.
Eric: Is this now – it’s called JK Rowling…A Year in the Life, right?
Andrew: Yeah, yes.
Eric: And how long is it, would you say?
Andrew: I don’t know; an hour, hour-and-a-half?
Laura: Like an hour.
Micah: Yeah, it was about an hour.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Hour-and-a-half. You just – it would make sense if it were such a good sort of interview that’d they’d want to get it out somewhere.
Andrew: It is. No, it is. There’s probably some rights that they have to worry about, and you know, who to give it to in the US for distribution.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: But yeah. So we also got a couple new pictures of the theme park, which we posted on MuggleNet, because someone took them out of the video. So it’s really, it’s great how involved Jo is with this theme park. I didn’t even picture her sitting in on meetings about this, but she is. That’s cool, I guess.
Micah: Didn’t she say she felt really overwhelmed by the fact that she had all of these business people around her?
Andrew: Yeah, coming to her and asking her how to do things.
Micah: Exactly, yeah.
Andrew: Yeah. It’s amazing though, you know, that she feels that way. She’s still so down to earth, even being you know, the author of the Harry Potter books. It’s crazy.
Eric: It’s quite relieving I think too, I think, that the theme park people are that interested in what she has to add.
Matt: Mhm.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Because I think they know this is a float or sink type thing where they have to really see if they can do it, you know, up to par for all our expectations, which is what we talked about last show.
New Theme Park Poll: Honeydukes, Hog’s Head or Three Broomsticks?
Andrew: Yes. And they’re very serious about it. So, in relation to the theme park Universal Studios has opened up a new section on their ,Wizarding World teaser site. It’s a poll. They’re getting the fans involved as well as J.K. Rowling and WB themselves. The current poll up right now asks visitors where they would most like to get your drink in the park. The options are The Hog’s Head, The Three Broomsticks, or Honeydukes.
Matt: Mmmm.
Eric: Do we only get one?
Andrew: Well…
Eric: Is this like…
Andrew: I don’t know if they only get one, but…
Eric: Are they only going to build one?
Andrew: They want to know about your top choice.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: The one that’s going to make you come to the park.
Matt: I’m not sure about the quality of the glasses though in the Hog’s Head.
Eric: Yeah, yeah. You’re right. You could get like…
Micah: I’m only going to the Hog’s Head if there’s a goat.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: There should’ve been an option that was ‘Hog’s Head without goat’ or ‘Hog’s Head with goat.’
Eric: Well, no. It’d be a petting zoo. That’s where the petting zoo is going to be. It’s going to be…
Micah: Define your…
Jamie: Yeah, but then you can’t get a bar there because no one will go.
Micah: Yeah, you need to define “petting” considering it is the Hog’s Head.
Matt: [laughs] Define “petting.”
Eric: Oh, the poll says “Where would you most like to get your drink?” So whereas I would like Honeydukes, for a drink I think it would be Three Broomsticks. You got to go with the Butterbeer classic and the Three Broomsticks is…
Micah: Yeah, Madam Rosmerta. Who’s going to play her?
Eric: Yeah, and we’ll have an actress playing Rosmerta. Yeah.
Andrew: We could even send them the recipe on MuggleNet. Do we have a recipe?
Laura: We do.
Micah: Or a Playmate.
Andrew: For the drink? On MuggleNet?
Matt: Do we have a good recipe?
Laura: It actually is good. We made it once, me and my brother. It’s pretty good.
Andrew: Really?
Laura: Hey, but you can tell that poll was written by a non-big Harry Potter fan.
Andrew: Why?
Jamie: Well, there’s just something about it. Like it doesn’t actually matter where you draw the sort of, you know, drink, but most of the big fans who write polls write them about people and characters, whereas that just seems to be like a cool poll that the odd person would just do anyway. Maybe that doesn’t make sense.
Andrew: Well, I think they’re making this poll to figure out where people would most like to get a drink. I mean they’re serious, where you want to get your refreshments in the park.
Eric: Well, Honeydukes is a sweetshop. Honeydukes is candy.
Laura: Well, yeah.
Eric: You could sell fizzy pop and all sorts of crazy milkshakes and stuff.
Jamie: Okay, I guess I’m not making sense.
Laura: Well, I think what they’re trying to do, and I’m saying this because I was just there, in the area where they’re going to build the Harry Potter theme park there’s a big restaurant right now, and it’s shaped like a tree trunk. And it’s absolutely massive, and I have a feeling that’s what they’re going to convert that into, and around it there’s lots of other little stands where they sell, like, soda and stuff.
Jamie: So you think they’re asking so they can call it the name of what somebody says?
Matt: So it’s what they want to call the place where they make the restaurant.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Well they should kind of fit it to scale. You know the Hog’s Head is like this kind of tavernous type thing compared to the Three Broomsticks which has got, you know, in the book they pull up tables and booths and stuff as where they sit at. And Honeydukes…
Matt: Yeah.
Jamie: Do they have a full creative license for that?
Matt: Yeah, it does make sense.
Eric: Well, creative license works I guess.
Andrew: See, I think…
Eric: But it’s exactly like having, it’s exactly like having what they used to have in Animal Kingdom in Disney World. They used to have, I forget what it was. It was like A Bug’s Life or something. It was this massive thing, and they built that tree in the very center of the park.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s still there.
Eric: I thought they took it out.
Andrew: They didn’t knock the tree down.
Eric: They made it a different show though…
Andrew: No.
Eric: …than what it originally was.
Andrew: No, no, it’s still Bug’s Life.
Eric: Yeah, they do change things, but it wasn’t as special. It didn’t feel as special.
Andrew: Well, they’re changing things to save money. If they don’t have to rebuild, why bother?
Laura: No, I mean, but, Eric. They’re going to use pre-existing structures, but they’re going to fix them to make them look different.
Eric: Yeah, I know.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: They’re not just going to leave this tree trunk shaped restaurant and try and call it The Three Broomsticks.
Andrew: [laughs] Try and call it the Hog’s Head. I voted for Honeydukes because I think they’re going to try and go for something that’s most attractive for kids.
Jamie: It sounds nice, yeah.
Matt: No, it just doesn’t make sense that they would have a drink or restaurant in Honeydukes. Honeydukes, they’re definitely going to have Honeydukes in it because you’ve seen the pictures.
Jamie: There have to be – people like candy shops as well, so it’s like that’s an obvious attraction at a theme park.
Matt: Yeah, it’s going to be a huge candy shop.
Micah: Yeah.
Jamie: Yeah.
Micah: It’s going to be a huge selling point, and the thing about the Hog’s Head, to me that would be more of an adult place to go, just because I think in the stories it has more adult-type drinks, and I don’t even know, does Universal Studios even sell alcohol?
Andrew: I was just going to ask that.
Laura: Yes, they do.
Andrew: They do?
Laura: They do.
Laura: Bad alcohol, but…
Andrew: Oh boy. Hmmm. Somebody is going to have a good time.
[Matt and Andrew laugh]
Laura: It’s all Anheiser Busch and all that crap.
Andrew: Ewww.
Eric: They get paid quite a bit to…
Laura: Not that I know, ah…
Eric: Not that you’ve tried…
Andrew: Not that you…
Eric: …to sneak a drink or two. But I think so, and Micah, here is another question then. Do you think they would be able to get away with that, and say even though it is in a “children’s book,” could they get away with not selling or selling say, alcoholic drinks at the Hog’s Head just because in the books it’s an adult related – you know what I’m saying? Wouldn’t everything primarily be for the kids, and therefore…
Jamie: Is the theme park themed?
Laura: I think it could.
Jamie: I mean, does it have like a rating?
Matt: No.
Jamie: Does it have a rating like 12 or NC17?
Laura: No.
Jamie: Well, then there has to be entertainment for the entire family, don’t there?
Laura: I want to go to an NC17 rated park, Jamie. [laughs]
Jamie: Well, Laura. We should build one, Laura.
Matt: Well, Laura, you said yourself the place isn’t really that huge so it will be pretty much one big…
Laura: Well wait, which one? Which island?
Matt: Each island? Each island?
Laura: Actually, when I was there if you’re – when I was there last, I didn’t realize that the two areas were actually one, but the Lost Continent area where they are building the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is actually fairly large. It’s bigger than all the other areas, and I also noticed as I was walking through the Jurassic Park section, they are actually doing construction behind that as well. Which is kind of weird, because the whole park is shaped in a circle, and so it is almost like they are going to kind of have the Wizarding World protruding out of that a little bit.
Eric: Oh,it’s cool.
Laura: So, it is going to be kind of big.
Matt: That’s good. Do you think…
Laura: It’s definitely going to be big.
Matt: Do you think it’s really necessary if they have a Hog’s Head and a Three Broomsticks that serve drinks? Is it really that big of a park?
Eric: Well then think about how many tiny shops they have at any amusement park, really, or how many tiny little vendors.
Laura: Yes, there’s tons of little stands and yeah they have – there is a gift shop after every ride at Universal Studios.
Matt: Yeah.
Laura: So it’s like, you know?
Eric: That is true.
Laura: They will have plenty of room for stuff.
Eric: What I think will be funny is for there to be an alcoholic drink thing like the Hog’s Head and the parents would take the kids and just say yeah you take him to “Dobby’s Fun Land” or “House Elf Adventure” and I’ll go over to the Hog’s Head. [laughs] You know? I’m just…
Jamie: Guys, I think we are reading way to much into this.
Matt: Yeah, it’s a Harry Potter theme park.
Laura: Yeah.
Jamie: It’s to make money, and yeah, it’s obviously going to have entertainment for everyone.
Laura: Yeah.
Jamie: Which includes alcohol.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: That’s a good point.
Laura: I don’t see why they wouldn’t sell alcohol there.
Micah: Yeah.
Laura: I mean, they sold alcohol in Seussland, so…
Matt: Well, they…
Andrew: Wait, that is what everyone has been debating?
Matt: They have to have something for the parents…
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: While the kids are screaming up and down about Harry Potter.
Eric: Do they anywhere else, though? [laughs] Some parents are into it more than the children. Especially the ones with little kids.
[Eric laughs]
Sweeney Todd Review: Rickman, Carter and Spall
Andrew: All right, so moving along, one thing that we did want to talk about that is sort of – well it’s not really off topic – Sweeney Todd came out a couple of weeks ago.
Matt: Mhm!
Andrew: And I think Matt, Laura, and I are the only three who have seen it here?
Jamie: Yeah.
Micah: Yep.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Oh, boo!
Laura: It’s so good.
Andrew: Yeah, boo you guys.
Laura: Such a good movie.
Andrew: So the reason we wanted to talk about this is because there are three actors from The Order of the Phoenix: Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, and Timothy Spall. Timothy Spall is like in everything these days.
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: He is doing a lot isn’t he?
Andrew: Laura, what do you think of this movie?
Laura: I thought it was an excellent film, and there have been a lot of people who have been kind of nay-sayers about it, because they think it’s too grim and they think it’s too bloody. No. Screw that. It is an awesome, awesome film. Seriously. There is one – there’s a scene at the beginning where you think he’s about to – and I’m sorry if this needs to be like PG or whatever.
Eric: Spoiler warning.
Laura: Yeah, you think he’s about to slice open Alan Rickman’s throat, and you’re just sitting there in your seat the whole time, like “Oh my god, he’s going to do it, he’s going to do it.”
[Matt laughs]
Laura: And you’re like – you jump every time. Oh god, it’s such a good movie.
Eric: And he doesn’t? It sounds like a disappointment.
Laura: No. No, trust me, it’s awesome. It’s awesome.
Andrew: Alright Eric, you mediate for the next ten minutes.
Jamie: He’s sadistic, Laura. I bet he did slit his throat so we’re not going to be worried and jump as soon as he does it.
Laura: He did slit a lot of people’s throats.
Jamie: That’s so mean.
Matt: No, you get enough. You get your money’s worth.
Jamie: Oh, really? Okay, good, good.
Andrew: It’s a very gory film. It is a musical. It’s more of a musical than Hairspray is. It’s like 90 percent music, 10 percent dialogue, but the music is the dialogue.
Matt: Yeah, like two sentences after every persons sings is just dialogue.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: It’s okay.
Jamie: How well does Johnny Depp sing?
Andrew: Johnny Depp is a good singer. The best for me was Alan Rickman singing.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: That was fantastic.
Matt: Well, I like the boy.
Andrew: The boy was the best singer.
Matt: Out of the three, right? Out of the three, you mean?
Andrew: Yeah. I just enjoyed Alan Rickman the most because it was Alan Rickman singing. You know, it’s Snape singing.
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: I think that’s what I’m going to go see, yeah.
Andrew: It was pretty funny. But the music is also very good, so it’s enjoyable. Matt and I have been listening to the soundtrack a lot. It’s a nice soundtrack to relax to.
Matt: Oh, I really want to sing some songs right now. I’m jumping up and down right now.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Do it. Do it, man. Now’s – do it.
Andrew: Can we have a sample?
Matt: [singing] “Try Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir, that’s what did the trick, sir. True, sir, true. Da, da, da, da.”
Jamie: Awww.
Andrew: Oh, great job, great job.
Eric: You know, that was good. I bet some of our listeners were singing along with you.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: And some turned off their iPods.
Matt: The funniest part of the song is Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are talking about the elixir like, “This is piss, piss with ink. What is this?”
Andrew: Don’t spoil it. Don’t spoil it.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: “This is piss, smells like piss.”
Matt: It’s very cheeky, but it’s very…
Laura: It’s darkly humorous.
Matt: It’s a very Tim Burton film. Tim Burton did such a great job. I was so scared when I saw the previews.
Jamie: Tim Burton, Johnny Depp: can’t go wrong. They’re so such a great pairing.
Laura: Exactly.
Eric: See, I don’t like Helena Bonham Carter, though. I have a really big problem with her in movies.
Laura: Why?
Matt: I love her.
Eric: Does she not play the same role in all these movies?
Laura: No.
Matt: No she doesn’t.
Laura: No she doesn’t.
Matt: Haven’t you seen Fight Club? Planet of the Apes? She played a monkey!
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Yes. Well, I’m not saying – she’s always – I’m sorry, she just looks in same in all the movies and it’s just she plays this card, this…
Laura: What, she looks like herself?
Matt: I know. She looks like Helena Bonham Carter in all her films.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: I will say, she reminds me a lot – she plays a similar role to Bellatrix in this film. I mean, just the way she comes off, it’s the same sort of attitude.
Matt: I don’t know.
Laura: No, but she wasn’t sadistic in this film.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: No. Well, no. Then there’s also Timothy Spall, as I said earlier. Is it just me or is he always the evil sidekick?
Jamie: He is.
Laura: I feel like he’s stalking me. I see him in everything.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Like, he was in A Series of Unfortunate Events…
Andrew: Enchanted.
Micah: Do you see him in your dreams?
Laura: Sometimes I do, Micah. Sometimes I do.
Andrew: A Series of Unfortunate Events?
Laura: Yeah, he was in A Series of Unfortunate Events a couple years ago.
Andrew: I forgot about that.
Matt: Enchanted.
Andrew: Mhm.
Laura: Now Timothy Spall, I would argue that he plays the same character a lot.
Andrew: Yes. Yes, thank you. He really does. I mean, maybe that’s just what he likes to do. I don’t know.
Laura: Yeah. He’s very good.
Matt: Yeah, he looks like he’s having fun. I would love to hang out with Timothy Spall.
Jamie: Yeah.
Matt: He just looks like an awesome guy.
Jamie: Well, I heard him on the radio this morning doing an interview and he sounded really, really nice. He sounded like a lot of fun. I hate the word, but he sounded, you know, bouncy personality, you know?
Andrew: Down-to-earth? Oh.
Jamie: Why, what’d you think I was going to say?
Andrew: No, I was going to say down-to-earth.
Jamie: Oh, he’s kind of down-to-earth.
Andrew: People are like, “He’s such a down-to-earth-guy.”
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: That’s what you say about Jo all the time, Andrew.
Andrew: Yeah, I know. Well no, she is.
Eric: No, it’s true.
Andrew: So, that’s it – Sweeney Todd. I would give it five out of five stars.
Laura: Yeah, it was very, very good.
Jamie: I want to see it now.
Matt: It was very good.
Eric: Would you see it again, Andrew? Matt?
Andrew: Yeah. We were actually planning on it.
Eric: We’ll do it tomorrow.
Laura: Oh yeah.
Andrew: We were actually planning on it, but Ryan had to be back home, so we didn’t.
Eric: Yeah, I’d love to see it.
MuggleCast 127 Transcript (continued)
News Discussion: Interview with Helen McCrory
Andrew: Another story, the final story we are going to talk about today, a new interview with Helen McCrory, who is coming back to play Narcissa Malfoy. She was supposed to play Bellatrix, but then she got prego.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: Sorry about that.
Andrew: And now WB welcomed her back. They said, “Come on back!” We – this says to me, “We love you so much. Come on in. Be Narcissa Malfoy for us.”
Laura: Yeah.
[Andrew laughs]
Andrew: Okay.
Eric: She cursed.
Andrew: Now, I know how to get everyone quiet.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: She said a swear word in her interview and Ciaran posted it on MuggleNet, and I went in and edited it out, because…
Laura: What, “bloody”?
Andrew: Was it bad?
Eric: Yeah, well, no. She said the s-h-i-t word.
Laura: Oh, and he put the – oh! I didn’t see that.
Eric: It was on the main page. You see where it says, “bad”?
Laura: Oh my god.
Eric: It was on a new post.
Andrew: [laughs] I see where it says, “bad”? Yeah.
Eric: It says bad, yeah. I was like, there’s a big curse word on there. Nobody was looking because they were all checking daily to see if MuggleNet was back from the hacks.
Andrew: Mhm. Yeah. Anyway, Helen says she’s looking forwards to it. “It’s usual to have such a successful film only starring British actors,” blah, blah, blah. So, she’s excited for it. Matt, you wanted to talk about this story a bit, right?
Matt: Yeah, sure, why not? So, I googled – I googled Helen and I saw a bunch of her pictures and she does have dark hair. She does look like Bellatrix, but I kind of photoshopped Evanna Lynch’s hair over her.
Eric: This is what we – this is what MuggleNet employees do on their spare time.
Jamie: Surely there’s an easier way, Matt, to sort of turn her hair color blonde.
Matt: I did that. It turned the back and her face white.
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: That’s good because she’s supposed to be very pale.
Matt: She’s supposed to be very pale, yeah, but she’s not supposed to look like an albino.
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: That’s very true.
Andrew: I could see…
Jamie: That’s very true, but then she could get a part in the Da Vinci Code as Silas, so she could make even more money.
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: So you should help her out.
Matt: Okay, I’ll do that.
Andrew: She has very sagging eyes, and that kind of reminded me of Narcissa. I think she’s going to be perfect Narcissa. I think even better than Bellatrix. I mean I really like Helen.
Matt: I really like Helena.
Laura: I like Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix.
Andrew: Yeah, me too.
Matt: Mhm. She doesn’t do many films. If you IMDB her…
Jamie: But they’re all very good.
Matt: …she’s a very theatrical – theatre is a big thing in Britain, right?
Jamie: Yeah. It’s pretty big, yeah.
Eric: Yeah, theatres a big thing in many places, but that’s what upsets me though, some of my – what I think IMDB – there is a IBDB. There’s an Internet Broadway Database, and stuff, but it’s so hard to track authors – sorry, artists, like Alan Rickman, through their theatre productions. Like actors like them will take years off and do these theatre projects, which you just won’t be able to find on IMDB, and I think that’s a shame because it hinders sort of – when I’m looking them up to see if any of them are doing anything.
Jamie: It’s normally well advertized, though, because they’re so big in film that they keep track of them like they’re celebrities in theatre as well, which they kind of are.
Eric: I think you’re right.
Jamie: Normally – you can normally find them, but yeah, for the smaller ones, I guess, not as much.
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: Well, even for Matthew Broderick, you look at his stage credits, or film credits, on IMDB. He has, at least, twice as many stage credits. I mean, yeah, so – anyway, that’s just what I was saying.
Matt: A little bit back on Narcissa’s character. We’re going to see her with Bellatrix in Movie 6.
Eric: And with Jason Isaacs.
Matt: Mhm.
Eric: Which is going to be great. I can’t wait to see that.
Matt: Mhm.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Do you kind of – do you kind of see a resemblance with Draco and the two adult actors now? I mean…
Andrew: I think they – I think together in one scene they’ll all look great together.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: I think they could be – you could believe them to be a real family.
Matt: Well, Narcissa is definitely the thinnest of the three sisters, so I honestly think that Helen will be a very good character, because I just see a pale, skinny face of her’s with droopy circles around her eyes, because she hasn’t slept because of…
Jamie: Yeah. She’ll be very good.
Matt: …what happened to her husband. I think it’s a very good job, better than the original casting.
Eric: Hmmm.
MuggleNet Gets Hacked
Andrew: Anyway, let’s move on now. One other story I wanted to bring up, and this is quite a shame, of course. As everyone knows, MuggleNet was hacked a few days ago by some elite hacksors – like socksors – and Emerson put a good post on MuggleNet, but unbelievably, you know, some fansites call themselves the most comprehensive Harry Potter fandom, you know, news sites and yet we’re the only one to actually post about MuggleNet being hacked.
Laura: Very disappointing.
Andrew: Kind of came as a surprise to me.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: I think people were just – they were hoping it didn’t happen to them, you know? Because, I mean…
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.
Eric: I received a message saying “Wouldn’t it be funny if they have hacked MuggleNet and Leaky at the same time and made each site look like the other one?”
Andrew: [laughs] That would be pretty good!
Jamie: That would have been funny. That would have been funny.
Muggle Mail: In Defense of Molly Weasley
Andrew: Let’s move on to Muggle Mail now.
Eric: First one comes from Karen, age 50, from Roanoke, Virginia. She says:
“Dear Laura and the Muggle Boys (or Muggle Update Caster, if you prefer!). I have recently just entered the world of podcasts. Upon acquiring my iPod at age 50, the first podcast I subscribed to was Mugglecast, having heard about it through one of my college interns. I am enjoying re-reading Deathly Hallows with each of your podcasts. However, being a mother to a teenage son, I feel I must rise in defense of Molly Weasley. In show 125 (please pardon my late response!)…”
That’s okay.
“…you took Mrs. Weasley to task for her response to our heroic trio’s planning to face Lord Voldemort. Lady and Gentlemen, your generational bias is showing! Look at it from a mom’s perspective: she has lost contact with one son due to ministerial prejudice, another has been permanently scarred from a dark magic attack, her husband and three remaining sons have to leave periodically to fight a vicious foe, a resistance group calls her house home, friends are dying left and right, and she is hosting a wedding at her home in the middle of a civil war. Hosting a wedding under normal circumstances is tough, but add all of the above and you have the recipe for a nervous breakdown. Stressed doesn’t begin to describe Molly Weasley. As you touched on, Molly has always been protective of her [stumbles over word “brood”] and by extension Hermione…”
Her brood? What is that word? It’s “brood.”
Micah: Like her children.
Laura: Yeah,it’s brood.
Eric: Yeah, it’s not broad. It’s actually brood.
“…and by extension Hermione and Harry. Keep up the good work and I look forward to your next show!”
Matt: Wow, she’s pissed.
Eric: I was going to say that. What is she talking about, us calling her out on saying “bitch” or what?
Laura: No, no, no, it was when we were talking about how – it was during the last Chapter-by-Chapter, but I’m actually the one who brought it up – about how Molly kind of got in the way of the trio planning everything. And I’m not saying she was wrong to want to protect them.
Andrew: Right.
Laura: What I was saying is that it’s very frustrating when you’re reading. [laughs] Because you’re just, like, “Let them talk, please just for two seconds!”
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: It’s true, it’s true. It is frustrating.
Matt: It was just – it was the suspense.
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: You just want to actually happen and all of a sudden, just – Molly Weasley just comes in and kind of just ruins the whole scene.
Eric: Yeah. No, I think you’re right. I think it was – it was quite annoying for me to read, as well, not because I was upset with Molly, but just because it was, like, “Okay, you know, are we going to get to hear something?” And then J.K.R. wrote, you know, how she fiendishly plotted them to be doing separate tasks at the same time, you know? It was just, like, you know “Oh, come on!” You know, “Please let them be together. Please.
Matt: “Please!”
Jamie: I see where she’s coming from and I’ve always been a sort of a proponent of how, you know, you can’t underestimate a mother’s love for, you know, for her son and all that. But I just think it was – there are times when, you know, every person has to – you know, you can’t tell everyone everything. There have to – occasionally, there have got to be secrets like that, especially in that situation, you know? I’m sure she would understand if Dumbledore – if she knew what Dumbledore had said, you know, she would probably understand. And, you know, it’s tough to make choices. Those three could have told them or they could have trusted Dumbledore and they made a choice and…
Eric: Not to.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: You know, the other thing they chose, Jamie, is – if they would have chosen to go back to Hogwarts, they could have done any and all planning they had once they were there.
Jamie: No. It was too dangerous though. They’d have been killed, easily.
Matt: Yeah, no. They’d have been…
Eric: It’s true…
Matt: Look at what happens to Neville.
Eric: Yeah, so I guess you were right. Certain circumstances have happened, otherwise. But I was thinking, well, then Molly wouldn’t be there and she would – that would be a perfect place to wait till – but things happen sooner than that. You’re right.
Muggle Mail: Keeping Voldemort In Mind
Andrew: Let’s move on to the next e-mail now.
Matt: Okay.
Andrew: It comes from Grace. She says:
“Hi MuggleCasters, I was just listening to your podcast and I noticed some mistakes in your statements on Deathly Hallows regarding Harry letting Voldemort into his mind. You state that Harry first lets Voldemort into his mind in Chapter 7 but it actually happened first in Chapter 5, ‘The Fallen Warrior’ at the end of the chapter in which Harry notices Voldemort torturing Ollivander. The quote from Hermione is also actually the last sentence of this chapter. Thank you for the great podcast. Happy New Year.”
Matt: Oh!
Micah: Yeah, that’s my fault. So…
Andrew: Good job, Micah!
Matt: Yep. Micah. Geez.
Andrew: Thank you! Good job. Take one for the team.
Eric: Come on, Micah! Don’t beat yourself up about it. I think it was my fault too.
Andrew: This is why we have about ten listeners left.
Micah: Yeah…
Andrew: Jerk.
Micah: I don’t beat myself up about it. I let Andrew do that for me. [laughs]
Jamie: What, beat himself or beat you up?
Andrew: Do the beating.
Micah: Beat me up. Yeah. He beat me up.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Andrew, hit me.
Jamie: Wow!
Andrew: Micah likes to be spanked.
Jamie: Ohhh!
Andrew: I’ll just leave it at that.
Laura: Whoa!
Muggle Mail: Overusing Spells
Andrew: [laughing] Wait. Laura, our next e-mail?
Laura: “In Episode 125 you were talking about how Expelliarmus is Harry’s signature spell but can we talk about Voldemort’s signature spell? Voldie successfully Avada Kedavras a lot of people throughout the course of the Harry Potter story, but when it comes to trying to AK Harry, he gets really stubborn about it. Everytime he’s tried to use the spell on Harry bad things have seemed to happen to him. When Harry was one, the AK spell backfires and blasts Voldemort out of his body. When Harry’s fourteen, the AK spell is the one he uses to spark off the Priori Incantatem. When Harry is fifteen, in the Ministry lobby, Dumbledore made a statue dance in front of Harry to take the blast instead. Also, Fawkes ate one spell, but I can’t remember if that was going to Harry or Albus. When Harry is sixteen, almost seventeen, Voldemort flies at him and tries to use his wand, but it friggin’ explodes.
[Eric laughs]
Laura: “When Harry is seventeen, in the forest, Voldemort uses the spell and not only does it not kill Harry, but it sends him to the floor of King’s Cross station. So, in the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort – you’d think the damned Dark Lord would use a freezing spell or something and then hit Potter with an axe.”
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: “I know he’s all about the killing spell, but he must be insane. I guess, in the end, that it’s a good thing for the good guys.”
Eric: Addicted to spells. The death curse.
Jamie: The thing is, though…
Matt: He wouldn’t use an axe!
Eric: He should!
Jamie: He should. That’s his weakness, yeah.
Matt: Well, but he’s a Muggle who wants to use power and magic!
Jamie: Throughout the entire books Dumbledore has said that he fears death the most, so he tries to cast death on his enemies, when really he should try something else.
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: Like a gun.
Jamie: Like a – yeah, like an AK47.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: And another thing is, the reason – I mean Voldemort…
Matt: He just pulls it out of his robes.
Jamie: Yeah. Well, he can hold a wand in there, he might as well have some guns.
Eric: [mimicking Voldemort] “Harry Potter! Say hello to my leetle friend!”
[Everyone laughs]
Matt: [imitating Arnold Schwarzenegger] “Asta la vista, baby!”
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Eat lead, Potter.
Andrew: See, Voldemort keeps trying to do Avada Kedavra. I mean, of course he’s going to use Avada Kedavra in the final book when he wants to kill him in any time possible. He doesn’t want to waste his time to freeze him.
Jamie: That’s true.
Andrew: That makes Voldemort look weak. He doesn’t want to look weak, he just wants to go straight for the kill. I mean, yeah, I think it’s different – like, she brings up a good argument and she obviously did her research here, but…
Laura: He.
Andrew: Sorry, he. James Brown – which, I don’t know how you could possibly write an e-mail, but anyway!
[Laura laughs]
Micah: Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag.
[Everyone laughs]
Matt: [impersonating James Brown] “Ha! Watch me! Watch me!”
Eric: I got it.
Andrew: I don’t know. I just – I think these are two different cases. You know, Voldemort’s signature spell is Avada Kedavra because that’s all he wants to do is kill people.
Eric: Well, I think that’s safe to say that all the Death Eaters signature spell is Avada Kedavra. I mean, you rarely see that – and Crucio. I mean, some of them are addicted to Crucio, but…
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: Mhm.
Jamie: He’s the one that took chances though, like…
Andrew: Right.
Jamie: …why torture them when you can get rid of them immediately?
Andrew: Exactly, yeah.
Laura: Yeah.
Jamie: So they wouldn’t be a threat any more, you know?
Andrew: Voldemort can’t switch his move because there’s only one killing spell, but Harry, on the other hand, can switch his move because there’s [mumbling over words] – there are several defensive spells.
Eric: Plenty of options.
Andrew: Exactly, like…
Eric: Stun, Disarm, Petrificus Totalus – you know petrify. Unlock! You could use Alohomora on them and just unlock the bad guys.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: The whole reason why Voldemort wanted to kill Harry was because of the prophecy. He knows that he wants to live and in order for him to live he’s got to kill Harry…
Jamie: Yeah, that’s also very true.
Matt: So that’s just his reaction. His impulse is to kill him.
Eric: I just think that it was clever to also mention the thing that has happened to Voldemort when he has tried to cast The Killing Curse, except I thought at the very end he actually did – when The Killing Curse hit Harry I thought it did actually kill him. It was just that – like that’s the whole thing with the ending of Book 7. When Voldemort casts The Killing Curse on Harry he does blank out. It wasn’t an immediate sort of rebound that didn’t work sort of thing, and Voldemort thinks he’s dead. You know? when he comes back.
Andrew: Mhm.
Eric: Yeah, sure, he goes to Kings’ Cross and has that little dream, but I was under the impression that Harry was just hit by The Killing Curse and when he had the chance to come back it was because of the – obviously the Horcruxes or whatever. I thought that it hit him.
Laura: It did hit him.
Eric: Okay.
Laura: [laughs] Yeah, yeah.
Matt: He couldn’t die because he was part of Voldemort.
Eric: Right, but the spell hit him. It’s not like it…
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Well it doesn’t kill Harry but I thought…
Matt: He finally got hit by The Killing Curse.
Jamie: It had to happen at some point.
Eric: Yeah. [laughs]
Chapter-by-Chapter: A Place to Hide
Andrew: All right, let’s move on to Chapter-by-Chapter this week. This week, we’re going to talk about chapter – what chapter is it, nine?
Matt: Nine, yeah.
Eric: Just nine.
Andrew: Chapter nine, what was it called again?
Matt: A Place to Hide.
Eric: So we’re going to segway right into Chapter-by-Chapter, but it’s different this week. Andrew, how’s it different?
Andrew: Well, yeah. We’re going to do it a little differently – I mean, people were saying with last weeks episode it was a bit rushed so with this weeks episode we’re going to – instead of doing the top five items we’re just going to – we’re just going to go all out and talk about everything we found in the chapter. And also we’re doing one chapter this week as opposed to two. So yes, this does mean the show won’t be ending in early April. It will finish when we finish with Chapter-by-Chapter.
Eric: So we’ll work it out, we’ll just see what works.
Andrew: [singing] “We can work it out.” Short summary of this chapter: basically this is an easy chapter. Of course this is right after the Dementors come down on the – I’m sorry the Death Eaters – come down on the wedding and Harry, Ron and Hermione have to get out. And they run for it and they look for a place to hide, hence the chapter title.
Eric: Very nicely done.
Matt: Very good.
Andrew: Thanks, thanks. So we’ll start with the first thing here – I believe this was Matt’s point.
Ties to Goblet of Fire
Matt: Hmmm? Oh – yeah, yeah, yeah. When I was reading the very beginning of the chapter it was very reminiscent of Goblet of Fire in the camp of the Triwizard Tournament when everyone was running around and the Death Eaters were there. And especially in the movie, it was very exaggerated when Harry and Hermione got separated from the crowd, and this situation almost occurred in Book 7 because the crowd was separating them too, at the wedding, but Harry made it a point to keep a hold of Hermione this time – while Hermione was screaming for Ron.
Andrew: Yeah. I thought that was a nice parallel.
Laura: Mhm, yeah.
Andrew: So the next point we wanted to talk about – Eric this is yours.
The Patronus and the Escape
Eric: As Micah left off last week, the last point, if I remember correctly, was that the moment the Patronus lands and sort of glides down in the middle of the dance floor – it is a really big “Holy Bleep” moment. Is that what Micah was saying? It was just so…
Micah: Yeah, I said it was a – the first “Holy [censored]” moment of the series.
Eric: Yeah.
Jamie: Yeah, it was superb, it was so well done.
Andrew: Mhm.
Jamie: Just how something so innocent could cause so much rush and panic and trouble. It was very good.
Eric: And just going into this chapter, I’m sure people were just racing through the pages.
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: And it’s written in a pace that is sort of like that which is really kind of cool. But then JK Rowling writes that :sound was extinguished as they are squeezed through space and time,” so when Harry grabs onto Hermione she takes him on Side-Along Apparition. Again with the squeezing and stuff – she’s always demonstrated that Apparition is not a fun thing, that it is this kind of squeezing through a tube. She has really cool ways of writing all the ways in which Harry travels. Like through Floo powder and Apparition and that kind of stuff. I just thought it was cool but it was also a nice get-away because you imagine them – well you know what I imagine when I read this, I imagine Stargate. Have you ever seen that movie? When they go through the gate where everything behind them is just silenced and they’re going through space.
Andrew: Mhm.
Eric: That’s what I always think about. I always imagine it taking an amount of time, you know, going through space and time. So yeah, all I wanted to say was that she’s still adamant about the squeezing and popping and silencing. And obviously they escaped.
Andrew: It just keeps it very fast paced.
Matt: Mhm.
Andrew: Because otherwise if they were all Apparating at the same time, it would be like, “Okay, you’re going next!” And then, “I’ll go next!” Blah, blah, blah. “We’re wasting time!” Blah, blah, blah. You know, it’s slow but with this, just Hermione grabs them and then, “Poof!” They switch, they move.
Hermione’s Purpose
Jamie: Again this gives way to our theory a few weeks ago that without Hermione, they would be dead.
Micah: Be screwed.
Eric: It’s true.
Laura: Mhm.
Jamie: They can’t think fast enough. Especially Harry, he can never think fast enough for it
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Do you think this is the whole purpose of Hermione? Like, she’s been helpful in every book, but especially in Book 7. You know, she basically guides them through everything, which we’ve said multiple times.
Matt: She is definitely the biggest help.
Eric: Oh, she is.
Andrew: She really is.
Eric: With the Horcrux reading and everything. Like, I mean I’m kind of upset about it but I was wondering when I was reading this chapter too – the way she all packs their stuff for them just in case, and has all the spells.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: she’s the one who has learned and studied up on Healing Charms.
Andrew: Right.
Matt: She’s the one who’s done all this preparation.
Jamie: It’s another one of Jo’s lessons that “no man is an island” and everyone has to work together and has their own qualities and that kind of thing.
Andrew: Yeha. Do you think this was Jo’s original purpose of Hermione? When she was first writing her do you think…
Eric: To save their butts all the time?
Andrew: Well no – do you think she planned that Hermione was going to play such an integral role with every single little thing in the final book?
Eric: Well she’s one of the trio.
Andrew: It doesn’t matter that she’s one of the trio, it’s just that she helps with every single little thing, even coming down to the packing.
Eric: Is the alternative that Hermione is a good scapegoat like anytime you need something done, hit on Hermione to have done it already?
Matt: I think it just shows how Hermione is so hell bent on getting on this whole trip.
Eric: That’s true.
Matt: Because in the back of her mind she is always ready.
Eric: She’s so intelligent.
Matt: Like, it is such a big transition from the previous chapter when you read, you were just so anxious for it to get started, but it was just slow-moving. And in tis chapter they are pretty much thrown into it. I think Hermione was pretty much expecting that to happen – like they were going to get thrown into the search; like it wasn’t going to go off on some nice start.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: It was so relieving to see Hermione…
Laura: I think also…
Eric: …in action as opposed to Ron and Harry. To see her come up with this huge, this great spell that gets them saved. And to have done all this preparation is really relieving. Reading Hermione in this book is really good. I really enjoyed reading what she had to do.
Laura: I think also a lot of the point behind Hermione’s character is to make a statement about strong females. I mean, I don’t want to say much about agendas here, but I just think based on a lot of the female characters in the books, they are very strong whether they’re good or bad.
Jamie: Yeah, they are.
Laura: And I think Jo believes that sometimes it’s not just men who do these things. You know, sometimes women have to save your butt too.
[Laura laughs]
Micah: Kind of like…
Laura: Because we’re awesome like that.
Micah: You with this show right?
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, without you Laura, honestly.
Laura: Awww.
Micah: And I’m being serious too.
Eric: No, I am too.
Laura: Oh okay. I thought you were being sarcastic at first. I was like, “Oh gosh. They’re going to make fun of me now.”
Andrew: She’s the voice of reason on MuggleCast.
Micah: I’ve never been sarcastic, ever.
[Laura laughs]
Matt: Well it definitely shows that Hermione takes care of all the stuff that Harry and Ron don’t really think about. Like, they’re thinking about the grand aspect. She wants Harry to keep his mind focused on killing Voldemort and she wants to take care of the other things that are important but are not exactly in the frame of mind, so to speak.
Eric: In the frame of mind of the hero who has to deal with all the – you know, all the Voldemort things going through his head and stuff.
Matt: Right. She wants to keep him on that track.
Eric: And I agree. I really like what you said Laura, about Hermione being – you know, the strong female role too. I think that’s – you’re right. Because that’s just – it really, it comes through when, you know, in light of Hermione being with Ron and Harry, she’s competing with two guys much like you’re competing with us on MuggleCast. But then she handles it so well and it’s really a good thing to show that in the books.
Laura: Yeah. Well, it’s like, you think about – and I don’t want to get too far ahead here but, when they’re in Malfoy Manor.
Eric: Too far. Too far.
Laura: Am I not allowed to say this one little thing?
Eric: Do it.
Laura: Or is it going to throw it off? Can I?
Micah: Yeah you are. Eric, stop doing that because she’s a woman. That’s not right.
[Laura laughs]
Matt: She’s stronger than you. She could kick your ass.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Micah: She can. She can. I know.
Laura: Anyway, what I was saying was that when they’re in Malfoy Manor, the second that Hermione gets taken away and they start torturing her, Ron completely loses his mind.
Jamie: He does. He just…
Laura: He can’t do anything. He’s completely useless.
Jamie: His mind warps.
Laura: And I think on – I kind of relate that to – you know, literature like Frankenstein. When you think about – a lot of the statement with that was that a world without, you know, women and a world without mother figures is not a very good world to live in. And…
Jamie: And also – yeah.
Laura: I think Jo – you know, giving a representation of strong female characters is a lot of the reason that Hermione is there.
Matt: Mhm.
Jamie: Also, if you read a bit of like, The Da Vinci Code, and some of the stuff in there – although a lot of it is based on you know, questionable history, there is a lot about the Pagan worship of women and stuff like that.
Laura: Mhm.
Jamie: And how – this is completely not linked, but I just thought of that so I thought I’d say it.
Eric: [laughs] No, I agree Jamie.
Laura: It’s true.
Jamie: You know?
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: I see – this might be bad but, do you think that in the beginning when Jo was planning all these books, Jo – because this is how I see Hermione now: I see her as the Genie from Aladdin.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Like, whenever you have a problem, Hermione’s…
Matt: You see her as Robin Williams?
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Well, yes.
Laura: I was thinking of the Christina Aguilera song. [laughs]
Jamie: It’s like, “Hermione, are you coming to find the Horcruxes with me?” [singing] “You ain’t never had a friend, never had a friend…”
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Well, exactly.
Jamie: [singing] “Never.”
Andrew: Because Hermione – it’s just that Hermione is always there for him, for Ron and Harry and I just think that like…
Jamie: It is true.
Andrew: …she’s just there to grant wishes. She’s just there to grant wishes.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: There’s no other purpose for Hermione. Like, she’s just there…
Laura: No, I don’t think so.
Andrew: Instead of writing out ways for Harry and Ron to save the day they just always go to Hermione. It’s like, a fault. I don’t…
Laura: Yeah but it’s not like…
Andrew: Do you see what I’m saying here?
Laura: Hermione is very intelligent and I give you that. But it’s not like she just thinks up these solutions off the top of her head. She does a lot of hard work to achieve the knowledge that she has.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s true.
Jamie: No, but…
Matt: She’s extremely clever too.
Laura: Mhm.
Matt: Just like all the adults and all the other students like to say. They keep repeating it to Hermione how clever she is and she is. She’s the most clever…
Eric: What did Harry and Ron do to deserve someone as brilliant as Hermione by their side? That’s pretty cool.
Andrew: Yeah that’s true.
Matt: They saved her from a…
Micah: …troll.
Eric: [laughs] Yeah.
Jamie: It’s extremely interesting to see the difference in how Andrew – sorry, in how Hermione and Harry work. How one is very hard working and really, really thinks about the process whereas the other acts more on instinct.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Mhm.
Jamie: Both have advantages and disadvantages obviously.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: But it’s just interesting to see how they do things differently.
Eric: You know what it reminded me off? It would be interesting to see how the next two movies take it.
Jamie: Yeah, it will.
Eric: Because of their casting of Emma Watson as the more girly type. I mean, obviously, Hermione is very feminine, but Emma Watson even more so with all the pink and, “Is that what my hair looks like from behind?” etc. It’ll be really interesting to see Emma take it because, especially in book seven, there is such a place for Hermione to be very intelligent I don’t think – It could seem out of place if they don’t do enough of that. You know? I want to say that in the first movie when Hermione said, “Books and cleverness,” and she blushed there at the giant chess set was like the last time they really, really, really utilized her character, I think. You know? Emma Watson. I mean, I’m not going to say it’s the last time but you don’t see it that often, do you, as much as you do in the books?
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: No, definitely not.
Matt: No. Emma Watson is definitely going to learn how to cry in this movie.
Jamie: She needs too.
Matt: Because Hermione does it all the time. Especially for Ron. [Imitates in high voice] “Ron! Where is Ron? Harry, we’re not going without Ron!”
Jamie: Awww.
Eric: Well, she better stick the birds on Ron in the next movie, in six. That’d be awesome.
Tottenham Court Road
Andrew: Well, hey, let’s move along to the next point. We wanted to talk about Tottenham Court Road which is where they go to in this chapter. What is the significance exactly? Matt asked me earlier – we were reading the book – and Matt asked me, “Well what’s on the Tottenham Court Road? I’m going to Google it.” And I was like “Woohoo! Hold up there! You got Google right here, in your friend’s head!”
[Jamie laughs]
Andrew: Well, what’s on the Tottenham Court Road is We Will Rock You.
Laura: Oh my god… [laughs]
Andrew: The musical. I mean, right, Jamie? I mean, that’s how we associate it.
Jamie: Yeah. If I could ask here one question, I’d ask why, when they start off that, they didn’t drop in to see if they had any cheap front-row tickets for the show.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Yeah. Where is the T.K.T.S. booth on T.K.T.S., you know? I mean, on Tottenham Court Road.
Jamie: They – I just don’t know why they didn’t. It was a complete – you know?
Andrew: I agree.
Jamie: It’d be safe in there as well.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Because it would be dark; the ushers would’ve made sure they’re couldn’t be hurt.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Jamie: And during the break, they could’ve bought ice cream and stuff.
Andrew: Ah, it’s so good.
Matt: Why couldn’t they hide in the subway? Apparently there’s a subway on that street.
Andrew: There is a subway station there.
Jamie: There is.
Andrew: There is the – what’s the hotel’s name? I can’t believe I’m forgetting it.
Jamie: Oh, come on, Andrew! No, I’m not going to tell you that. Come on!
Andrew: Uhhh. Saint… Saint Paul… Saint…
Jamie: Come on, Andrew! This is ridiculous!
Andrew: I can’t… [laughs] Saint…
Jamie: We’ve stayed in that hotel like 25 times and Andrew’s like, [imitating Andrew] “What’s it called again?”
Andrew: I just remember it’s crap. [laughs]
Jamie: It’s not that bad.
Andrew: I really can’t remember. Saint…
Jamie: It begins with a “G.”
Andrew: Oh, Giles. [pronounces it “Guy-els”]
Jamie: Giles. [pronounces it correctly]
Eric: St. Giles? [pronounced it correctly]
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Uh, Giles, Giles, Giles. “Gills.” Saint Giles. Yeah, okay. So, there is that hotel. There are also a lot of tech shops. That’s how Jamie first described it to me.
Jamie: And do you remember how I got ripped off on two cables?
Andrew: Yeah. You paid, like, how much for two?
Jamie: Well, no, because – I paid 10 pounds per cable.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: 20 pounds for like, a one dollar cable. But, no…
Andrew: Yeah, you could’ve gotten that for so cheap in America and probably anywhere else. [laughs]
Matt: Yeah.
Jamie: No, no, no. He just screwed me over for that one time. He just – I didn’t ask him the price so he just thought he’d make it for twenty. I bet it’s like, the law if you don’t ask. You hand him over a twenty and he can charge whatever he likes.
Andrew: Right. [laughs] I agree.
Jamie: Like, if he’d told me that, I wouldn’t have paid that. He was an idiot. I hated him.
[Andrew laughs]
Matt: Geez. With all seriousness though, Tottenham Road is right next to The Leaky Cauldron?
Andrew: It’s very close to it, yeah.
Matt: It’s, it’s – what’s the name of the street? Jamie you would know.
Andrew: Cherry Cross Road?
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s it.
Matt: Thats it.
Jamie: Oh, Cherry Cross. Yeah.
Matt: Well, Ron says that in the book which is cool. It’s kind of intelligent. I don’t know how I knew that.
Jamie; Yeah.
Why Not The Leaky Cauldron?
Andrew: So, Matt and I were talking about this earlier and wondering why they would end up on Tottenham Court Road. I suggested that maybe because it’s so close to The Leaky Cauldron. They could at least consider going to The Leaky Cauldron, but they’re not close enough to decide to actually go there.
Matt: Mhm.
Eric: Well no, the problem with The Leaky Cauldron is that they need to be in a Muggle – they need to be where they don’t think that people will be looking for them.
Andrew: Well, that’s…
Eric: The Leaky Cauldron’s filled with wizards who are going to recognize them and betray them if they go there.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: So, it doesn’t really make sense…
Andrew: That’s true too.
Eric: …that they get so close to the Leaky Cauldron when they’re supposed to be – in the middle of Muggle nowhere is sort of what they were aiming for.
Andrew: Mhm. I guess – yeah, you’re right about that.
Matt: I was looking at a map of it too, and there’s a subway that goes through that street to – apparently – not Diagon Alley. Well anyway, I thought that Hermione – that that would be like, Hermione’s next stop, to think to go to what’s it called? Tottenham Court Road, because that’s where she went with her parents to go to Diagon Alley. Because in the first book, Harry and Hagrid went on the Underground subway the same way because Harry can’t Apparate or do any of that stuff – when he was getting all his things.
Tottenham Court Road Filming?
Andrew: So I’m wondering if they’re actually going to go to Tottenham Court Road for movie filming, because that would be fantastic.
Jamie: They would, but it’s such a busy…
Andrew: And there happened to be a gigantic – I don’t know if, Jamie, you remember this – I think I might have taken a picture of it – there was a gigantic Order of the Phoenix poster on…
Jamie: That would be so funny…
Andrew: …Tottenham Court Road.
Jamie: If that was in the film…
Andrew: IT was right down the street.
Jamie: That would be so funny.
Andrew: I would just love if Freddie Mercury was in the background. [laughs]
Jamie: Yeah! Oh!
Andrew: I mean, the other problem is that that’s a very high-trafficked road, right?
Jamie: I don’t know if they could do it.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: I seriously don’t know if they could do it. I think they’d have to find a similar road in London and sort of half…
Eric: Well, Jamie…
Jamie: Re-create it, because…
Eric: They closed Tower Bridge for the filming of The Mummy Returns.
Jamie: Yeah, but it’s rare that they do stuff like that. Like that I Am Legend and…
Eric: Well, it’s also during a night scene too, so they could pretty much film it anywhere.
Jamie: Yeah, they could.
Andrew: Yeah, and get away with it.
Jamie: Exactly.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: They really could.
Andrew: But it would be nice if they tried to go there, because that is a very recognizable area, right Jamie?
Jamie: Oh yeah. Well it depends – like, that tall building Centre Point is pretty recognizable, and We Will Rock You…
Andrew: Oh yeah, right.
Jamie: …is as well.
Matt: Hmmm.
Jamie: I guess the main points of it are, but I don’t know. I’d like to see it there but I think the expense would put them off when they could just film it anywhere.
Laura: Yeah.
Jamie: Well not anywhere, but you know?
Laura: I mean, are they really going to come out in the film and be like, “This is Tottenham Court Road?”
Eric: And show the sign…
Andrew: Well…
Eric: Just to emphasize.
Andrew: Well – but they do talk about it because they’re like – well, I don’t know. It’s just cool because…
Jamie: Guys, the way you say that is so funny. Tottenham.
Andrew: Tottenham.
Laura: Tottenham?
Eric: What is it? Tote-in-hom?
Jamie: Say it – say it – say it – Tot-in-um.
Eric: [pronounced like Jamie] Tottenham.
[Everyone begins saying it correctly]
Jamie: Tottenham.
Laura: Tottenham?
Eric: Oh! Tottenham.
Laura: Tottenham?
Eric: Tottenham.
Laura: I guess that makes sense.
Eric: T – O – T – N – U -M.
Jamie: Tottenham. Well it should be…
Andrew: There’s also a Subway there – delicious. Subway food restaurant!
Jamie: That was a nice Subway!
Laura: That’s better than how people would say it in Georgia. They would be like, [in Southern accent] “Tote-in-haaaaaaym.”
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: That’s how people would say it here!
Eric: I think that’s this week’s title of the show, isn’t it?
[Laura laughs]
The Taboo on Voldemort’s Name
Andrew: Maybe. Let’s move on…
Micah: I just want to say…
Andrew: …to our next point now.
Micah: Sorry.
Andrew: What?
Micah: But they can cut this all together – I mean they could just send them straight to Grimmauld Place.
Jamie: Yeah, I see that.
Eric: No, but the diner is so important!
Matt: But the whole…
Eric: Like, that’s what’s so weird about reading this, because you just got out of this really intense scene, and suddenly you’re in a Muggle diner. You’re in a place that we would easily wander into – this is like, so extraordinary in the books, not just for us.
Micah: It’s insignificant though.
Eric: Well, insignificant…
Matt: It is kind of significant though, Micah, because it’s kind of the introduction to the taboo word of “Voldemort.”
Eric: Yes. Yes, well eventually.
Micah: In a way, but…
Eric: It’s also them defending for themselves for the first time, sort of alone – they’re in this – you know, they fend the Death Eaters and they Memory Charm everyone. You know, they clean up after themselves. It’s really intelligent, at Hermione’s suggestion of course.
Matt: They could cut it though, Micah, you’re right. Pretty much…
Andrew: Yeah. True.
Matt: …this story’s so massive, anything could be cut.
Eric: But…
Jamie: And it’s not that important. It’s cool, but it’s not important, really.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s cool to us.
Micah: Well, Matt brought up the most important part.
Eric: Okay yeah, the taboo – that Voldemort being a taboo word.
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: Because suddenly they’ve followed them there into the diner.
The Diner and Memory Charms
Matt: We’ve already said what really happened at the diner anyway. They already went in a diner and that’s it.
Micah: Okay, one thing I want to bring up from the diner, because I don’t really get it. When Hermione’s talking with Ron and Harry after they’ve knocked out both of these Death Eaters, they start talking about Memory Charms and Ron says he’s never done one and Hermione says she has never done one either. But that’s a lie; she put it on both her parents.
Laura: Oh, yeah!
Eric: Oh! And not even the simplest Memory Charm.
Matt: No, she never wiped out their mind permanently.
Jamie: She just changed it.
Matt: Obliviate is a permanent Memory Charm that erases it without any recovery.
Eric: Though it can be broken through stress and fear.
Laura: Oh that’s right.
Matt: Obliviate I don’t think can be re-done.
Jamie: Voldemort can do it though, because I…
Eric: Bertha Jorkins.
Jamie: No, well they didn’t say that they used Obliviate, but they said it was a very strong one so it must’ve been Obliviate or higher probably.
Matt: Well, there’s more than one Memory Charm, it’s obvious.
Jamie: No, no, yeah there is, but I don’t think it’s a case of just breaking through it, like there is a spell to break through it that you have to be powerful enough to do. I think it’s like, it reminds me of sort of like, being very cunning and you know, clever, and weeding answers out of people, taking down their defenses one by one, and breaking through it very – by like, a back door, very, very quietly, like a cat steeling through the grass, you know? It’s very – you don’t break it through brute force, you break it through intelligence.
Matt: And that’s also a lie too what Micah said about Ron not knowing Obliviate, because didn’t Lockhart say it in Book 2?
Andrew: Mmmm.
Eric: Well yeah, he performed one.
Laura: Yeah, he meant he hadn’t performed it.
Eric: Because Lockhart performed a Memory Charm with Ron’s wand.
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: So, if you want to get really technical, Ron’s wand, or his old one has performed a Memory Charm.
Matt: But he doesn’t have that wand.
Laura: No, he doesn’t.
Eric: Ron doesn’t. I don’t think so. Did he? Yeah, it snapped and he got the new one in Book 3.
Micah: I guess so, but she performed some form of Memory Charm, so…
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, that’s probably one of those screw-ups that we have on our website, like an actual mistake.
Matt: But she’s also in shock, too, from what just happened.
Andrew: That’s true too, yeah. I do want to mention that I was going through the voicemails earlier today and a caller – I can’t remember her name – but a caller did actually bring that up, so, good job caller.
MuggleCast 127 Transcript (continued)
Back to Grimmauld Place
Eric: Anyway, they somehow make it to Grimmauld Place.
Andrew: Yes, they make it to Grimmauld Place and the first thing that they notice is that the – what is it? The what toe?
Matt: The umbrella stand I think, isn’t it?
Andrew: Yeah, but it’s like a…
Eric: Troll foot. Troll.
Andrew: …dragon toe?
Matt: Oh, I don’t remember.
Andrew: Troll toe. Oh yeah, that’s it. Troll foot, toe, whatever, it’s knocked over so they figure someone’s been there. Turns out, it was Tonks and Remus being in there and Matt, you brought up the point that this was actually the reason why Arthur Weasley sent the Patronus in the first place saying they were safe.
Matt: Yeah, because Remus was the one – oh, well we’re going – we’re jumping ahead. But…
Andrew: Yeah, we are, I know.
Matt: But anyway, Remus and Tonks had to have been there because, hence, the stand being walked over just like in book five and the whole fact that Mr. Weasley sent his Patronus depicting about the family and everything. There’s only so many guesses, though, of people from the Order who know about the incident, and know about Grimmauld Place. So. it has to be Remus.
Andrew: Yeah, it does make sense. And then one other thing in here – I think this is a little out of order.
Eric: Nine and ten should be switched.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. That’s what I thought.
Eric: Or we should just explain what happens.
Andrew: This – I know Jamie was absolutely loving this.
Jamie: Oh, I love this bit, this was so cool.
Andrew: Yeah, go ahead, Jamie.
Jamie: Well no, I just love how she didn’t explain it – how could a dust figure…
Old Dusty
Andrew: Well, let’s just tell people, we’re talking about “Old Dusty,” the dust version of Dumbledore.
Jamie: Yeah. And the tongue-tying thing – the way how she didn’t say what it did against Snape, but how if Moody had done the anti-Snape thing, it would have to be a very powerful curse. So it’s very interesting how a very un-hurtful thing, it seems, could keep Snape away. And it’s very interesting at this point on how the tongue-tying thing works. So, how can it tell it’s not Snape? I mean, I guess the whole point was that if Snape came in, his tongue would not unroll and so he could not say, “I didn’t kill you.” So, the dust figure would get him.
Laura: Oh yeah.
Eric: But – don’t they say, “We didn’t kill you!” before the tongue-tying thing even gets them?
Jamie: No, it’s afterwards.
Eric: Oh, okay. Because it seems like you could almost say it to get rid of the trap before the tongue-tying thing hurts or – it was confusing for me.
Jamie: I don’t think it will rise…
Micah: Huh? Yeah, I’m confused about something.
Jamie: What?
Micah: Didn’t Snape break into Grimmauld Place?
Laura: Yeah.
Micah: Don’t we find that out later in the book?
Eric: Yeah, he did.
Laura: He did.
Eric: And he was able to say, “I didn’t kill you.”
Micah: So, I don’t understand…
Matt: What would happen if Dusty got to you?
Eric: And what is Dusty? Is Dusty a solid object or not? Because it said he came up from the carpet…
Andrew: No, it’s made of dust. It said…
Jamie: No, we don’t know, we don’t know.
Eric. Wait…
Andrew: It said it was made of dust, because in the book it said, “a pile of dust…”
Jamie: “Dust-colored,” wasn’t it?
Eric: Just because it goes back to dust doesn’t mean it wasn’t – what is it? And it came from the carpet so it has to be not solid, right? Unless there was a trap door or something and it popped up, you know? Like, this thing came floating through the floor boards. I thought it was like a ghost-thing. Or like a Patronus, sort of an ethereal…
Matt: Well also, these traps, these obstacles aren’t exactly that dangerous. It’s a tongue-tying and a pile of dust coming at you. Do you think that these were also like – do you think they put these here just in case the trio actually went there so that it wouldn’t kill them?
Jamie: No. I think they are deadly, though. It’s just extremely well coded, if you will, so it can tell exactly who is there. Like, if Snape came in, I doubt he could say, “I didn’t kill you!” For some reason. And then the figure would get him. It’s like…
Laura: But how would he get through?
Jamie: Huh? Sorry?
Laura: How would he get through then?
Jamie: Through what?
Laura: Well, he broke into the house.
Jamie: Oh! Oh! I guess that Moody didn’t think he was as good at magic as he was and he was able to do the counter-curse against it or figure out what type of magic it was so he could avoid punishment.
Micah: Or he could have broken in before Moody put it there.
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah, that’s true.
Matt: That’s kind of a weird…
Jamie: It is freaky. It is freaky, yeah.
Matt: A weird curse to do. But I mean, even the Death Eaters know that Mad -Eye Moody was killed, so wouldn’t they say something about, “Ha, ha, you were killed.” Or “I’m not the one who killed you!” So…
Eric: It said at the word “killed.” Yeah, at the word “killed” he disappears or breaks into the dust or whatever.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. And Jamie, you were right. It did say dust-colored. It wasn’t actually a thing. It says, “the dust did swirl around Harry and Ron.”
Jamie: Yeah, dust-colored.
Eric: What color is dust?
Andrew: Grey.
Eric: Or is it white?
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: Or is it silver?
Andrew: Uhhh…
Matt: It’s a dark room, so…
Andrew: I think the answer is “Who the hell gives a bleep?”
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: That’s from Conan.
[Eric laughs] And then this last one, Matt.
Matt: Huh? Oh, uh, what’s the…
Andrew: It’s the Latin.
Matt: Oh yeah, okay. Now, a “homenum,” is that how you spell it?
Jamie: Homenum.
Eric: Homenum, homenum, homenum.
Matt” Or “humenum?” Homenum. Homenum. Humenah, humenah, humenah! Homenum Revelio. So, I kind of wanted to know what it was because that is the curse Hermione used to detect any humans in the building. So, I looked it up on my widget for my MacBook, on my translator, and I used it for Latin and I couldn’t find anything for “homenum.” But for “revelio,” it means “to violate.”
Eric: It actually means “I violate.”
Matt: So…
Eric: It actually means “I violate.” Because it ends in “o.”
Matt: Oh. Well actually, Eric, I’m going to fight you on this. It says, “tu velli: to violate” on mine.
Eric: Well that’s Mac. That shows Mac’s ability to translate. You know, “ego revelio!”
Jamie: Doesn’t “homenum” mean human?
Micah: “Homenum” means human. Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: Like homo.
Jamie: Homo.
Eric: Homo sapien.
Matt: So, you’re going to violate a human.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Okay.
Jamie: Damn!
Eric: So you can’t…
Andrew: This doesn’t make much sense, does it?
Matt: [laughs] Got to remember that one. [laughs]
Eric: I don’t need a spell.
[Laura laughs]
Micah: Thought it just meant like, “Human, reveal yourself,” kind of thing.
Laura: I’ll homenum revealio you.
Jamie: That’s what I thought it was.
Matt: Because I thought it was – yeah. Because it sounds like…
Eric: It sounds like you’re doing something a lot dirtier than you are.
Matt: What was the word…
Eric: Well, you’re violating the secrecy. You know, their…
Matt: Homenum?
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: That’s it, that’s it, Eric, yeah.
Andrew: I agree with what Eric said.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: And I think…
Eric: There are – you know, you’re making it invisible. You’re showing them. You’re revealing. It’s exactly like saying…
Andrew: Right. And it’s private property. So you would be violating someone’s human property.
Jamie: Property – yeah.
Eric: The ability for them to say concealed.
Andrew: Something like that.
Laura: Especially if they were in the bathroom.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: I suggest we chose our words carefully now.
Matt: Yeah. I’m like really nervous right now.
Andrew: We’ve already said enough.
[Laura laughs]
Micah: What about Kreacher?
Andrew: I already said “spanked.” Can’t get much worse than that.
Micah: But what about Kreacher? Kreacher’s not human in a way?
Eric: Well, we haven’t seen Kreacher in this…
Matt: He’s not human though.
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: No, he’s not human.
Andrew: And maybe that’s why she used “homenum.”
Eric: Maybe.
Jamie: Yeah, that’s probably it.
Micah: I have…
Andrew: All right, well I think that…
Micah: …two more things. Sorry.
Andrew: Okay, could we get through them really quick?
Hermione says “Voldemort”
Micah: Yeah – I’ll go through them real quick. Hermione mentioned in Grimmauld Place – she actually says the name Voldemort. So I was wondering if she said it back in the cafe. And if she says it in Grimmauld Place, why did nothing happen in Grimmauld Place?
Matt: You think Snape might have put another charm on it?
Eric: Well, no.
Jamie: It’s possible.
Matt: I kind of figured that…
Eric: Don’t they? Because I noticed this too, Micah. And when Hermione says it, the man doesn’t appear in the square, but doesn’t Harry say it and then that man appears in the square? And then two men appear in square? And they’re sort of gazing up in the direction of the house? Do you guys remember that? And they’re inside the house looking out?
Matt: No, because Ron found out that the word was taboo, so it must have been said before by someone else.
Eric: No, but I mean, aren’t they in Grimmauld Place looking out in the little square?
Micah: Well, I think that’s later on. I mean, I’m referring to in this chapter, she actually said…
Eric: Yeah, she says it.
Micah: …”Voldemort.”
Eric: Yeah.
Micah: But they don’t notice anything when they look outside.
Eric: Right.
Micah: So, that was a little bit weird. Unless Matt was saying that there was a protection.
Eric: Yeah, I thought that too.
Matt: Mhm. But there’s no way for them to get in because they can’t find them.
Eric: Right.
Micah: Right.
Andrew: Yeah. Exactly.
Draco’s Position
Micah: And the only other thing I had was at the end of the chapter, when Harry sees Rowle being tortured. And it’s kind of the second time we see Draco in a position where he really is afraid of what’s going on.
Eric: “Petrified” was the word.
Jamie: And what’s he’s going to do.
Matt: “Gaunt” was the phrase, too.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s what Jo wrote, yeah.
Micah: So, that’s all I have.
Eric: Yeah, scary to see Draco still being tortured by Voldemort. Voldemort knows he’s not…
Andrew: And still unprepared for his unfortunate reality that he doesn’t want to be a part of. Well, he does, but he’s scared.
Eric: Yeah. Well, it’s the family he’s born into, Draco.
Micah: I wonder if he actually tortured him at all.
Eric: Well, if not, Voldemort would have, so…
Andrew: Hmmm. Yeah. And Voldemort would have killed Draco if he didn’t.
Micah: I think Draco – I mean – I think Voldemort has too much fun with that though. I think he likes…
Eric: Torturing little boys?
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah.
Micah: No, no. No, I mean I think he likes the idea of Draco just being a fragile-minded individual.
[Matt and Laura laugh]
Matt: To violate the boys.
Micah: And that he can sort of, you know, manipulate him.
Andrew: Yeah. Well all right, I think that wraps up that chapter this week.
Quote Quiz
Andrew: It’s time for Quote Quiz…quiz…quiz…quiz…!
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: This is from the next chapter.
Jamie: Do that again, do that again.
Andrew: Quote quiz…quiz…quiz…quiz…!
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Can you do it again, Andrew?
Jamie: Andrew, do it again! Andrew, do it again! But put so much into it, it’s ridiculous.
Andrew: Oh, geez. Hold on, let me sit up. Ahem.
Eric: Thank you, Jamie.
Jamie: Just think it’s the best one ever. Just do the biggest one ever. Like your life depends on it.
Andrew: Oh god, there’s a lot of pressure. Quote…quiz…quiz…quiz…quiz…quiz…. [trails off]
[Jamie laughs]
Andrew: Quote Quiz! Okay. So, all this hype for nothing. It’s just one sentence. It goes:
“This belonged to Regulus and I’m sure he’d want you to have it as a token of gratitude for what you-”
Cut off.
Jamie: Did. Did!
Andrew: Did. Well it was cut off. Jamie, it’s time for Make the…Make the…Connection..Connection.
Jamie: Wait! I don’t get the Quote Quiz!
Andrew: That was it.
Jamie: Aren’t we supposed to talk about it?
Laura: No.
Matt: No, it’s a reader thing.
Laura: It’s for the listeners at home.
Andrew: It’s for the listeners at home.
Matt: It’s a fun little game for the readers to play! You know?
Eric: You don’t really win anything, Jamie. I don’t even think you get recognition. I don’t even think there’s an actual…
Andrew: No, you don’t get anything.
Jamie: What are you supposed to do with it?
[Matt laughs]
Jamie: Realize where it’s from?
Eric: That’s what I like about it. It’s just a fun way to get Andrew to say, “Quote Quiz.”
Jamie: Hey, Andrew, what are you supposed to do with it?
Micah: You’re just supposed to – it’s Harry talking to Kreacher.
Andrew: Hey!
Jamie: Oh I see! Okay, I get it. I see.
Andrew: It’s like a crossword puzzle. You do it but you don’t get anything for it. You just do it for fun.
Eric: Actually, some crossword puzzles you can win like 30 bucks for the weekly grab.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Okay, all right.
Eric: Okay.
Andrew: The New York Times crossword puzzle. Anyway.
Make The Connection
Jamie: Okay, Make The Connection. Matt, since it’s your first Make The Connection, do you want to go first or do you want to see how it’s done first?
Matt: I have no friggin’ idea of this game.
Jamie: Okay, Laura?
Laura: Okay.
Jamie: Your Make The Connection is between Harry Potter and building a printing press inside a panic room.
Laura: What the ****.
[Everybody laughs]
Laura: Harry Potter and building a printing press inside of a panic room?
Jamie: Come on, Laura. It’s right before your eyes.
Laura: I don’t know! What’s a panic room have to do with Harry Potter?
Micah: I love how you always say that.
Jamie: What?
Micah: “It’s right in front of your eyes.” It’s right there, Laura. Just grasp it.
Laura: I don’t know. I guess the only thing I can think of is like – I guess the Ministry – I think about how the entrance to the Ministry of Magic is just this small little phone booth but then it really leads to this huge place.
Jamie: Yes.
Laura: So I guess it’s like building a printing press inside of a tiny little panic room. I don’t know.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Shut up, Andrew!
Jamie: That’s good, that’s good.
Andrew: I like it.
Jamie: That’s good, I like it.
Matt: That is a piss poor example of how I can understand this game.
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Jamie: Here’s one for you, Andrew. A nice simple one to show Matt how it works: Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
Andrew: Oh! Oh! Well see, this isn’t fair! Because I haven’t seen it.
Jamie: Come on!
Matt: Oh yeah, you haven’t seen a single Lord of the Rings movie.
Jamie: I thought you haven’t seen any of them.
Andrew: Okay, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings?
Jamie: Okay, okay. Okay. Harry Potter and U2.
Andrew: No, I got it. I got it. I got it.
Jamie: Go on.
Andrew: Let’s see, Dumbledore and Gandalf of course.
Jamie: Yes. See, old wizard men. See, Matt, the proper way of posing that would be an old – sorry Andrew, that was rude – but an old mentor figure who guides the protagonist. So, a link. A literary link.
Matt: So you’re trying to find the relevance between the two?
Andrew: Yes.
Jamie: Yes. Like the shared connection between anything.
Matt: You’re kind of trying to make a connection between the two, right?
Eric: For Make The Connection, yes.
Jamie: Hence the name. Hence the name.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: There are several lists online of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings connections.
Matt: We have one.
Andrew: And MuggleNet even has one. I’m not looking at it now but obviously the biggest one that comes to mind is Dumbeldore and Gandalf. And we’ve talked about that on the show even a couple times.
Jamie: We have. Okay, Matt.
Matt: Wait, let me…
Jamie: I’ve got one for you. I’ve got one for you.
Matt: Give me your best shot. Hit me!
Jamie: Harry Potter and the Oregon Trail.
Eric: [laughs] Dammit! I wanted that one!
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Oh that’s easy!
Matt: What the hell? Harry Potter and the Oregon Trail? They’re – this sucks. I give up.
Jamie: No, come on, Matt. You can do it, Matt. I have faith in you, Matt.
Matt: Okay, well. A lot of people died on the way on the Oregon Trail.
[Everybody laughs]
Jamie: Yes that’s good! That’s acceptable. Perfectly, perfectly legitimate. Well done. It was not bad for your first one at all. At all!
Matt: Okay. [laughs]
Andrew: I have an example for that one, too.
Jamie: Okay, go on, go on. Just to help Matt. Just to help.
Eric: All right.
Andrew: They camp! They do a lot of camping. And in Book 7, they camp too.
Jamie: Oooh, oooh. Oooh, I like that one a lot.
Andrew: Yeah, I like it.
Jamie: I like that one a lot.
Andrew: Okay, that was – yeah. Matt, next week, I’m going to come down on you a lot harder so start practicing. [laughs]
Eric: Get ready for it.
Jamie: You won’t get any easy ones like that. You’re going to get some abstract, big ideas.
Matt: That was not easy! I want the Lord of the Rings one! That one was easy!
Jamie: No. No.
Laura: Matt, Matt.
[Jamie laughs]
Laura: At a live show in front of…how many people? Like a thousand people.
Jamie: Yeah, like a thousand.
Laura: Jamie told me to make a connection between Harry Potter and setting a pillow on fire using only friction.
Eric: I was there! I was there, that was funny.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: The look on your face. Oh my god.
Matt: That was easy.
Eric: Yeah it was.
Matt: It’s Aberforth Dumbledore and a sheep.
[Laura and Andrew laugh]
Laura: Oh my god.
Eric: Is that before or after the sheep’s wool is made into a pillow?
Jamie: Oh, god, that’s awful.
[Andrew laughs]
Matt: I would be so for that one. Although not on a live show, but…
Jamie: Not on a live show, but yeah.
Eric: That’s a good one.
Andrew: With all the pressure, you can’t really – they don’t come to you as fast.
Jamie: Yeah.
Matt: Oh, please, dirty stuff comes to me like – like [snaps fingers]. Like that.
[Jamie laughs]
PO Box Update
Andrew: Okay, let’s move on to a PO Box update now. Laura, you’ve been checking the P.O. Box since you’re back at home for the holidays.
Laura: I have been. Hang on, just a second. I have to pull it up.
Jamie: Can we start calling it The Pickle Box?
Laura: No!
[Eric, Jamie and Matt laugh]
Andrew: That’s what the “P” in the PO stands for.
[Micah laughs]
Laura: Pickle Office?
Andrew: Pickle Object Box.
Jamie: A Pickle Object Box.
[Jamie and Eric laugh]
Matt: I love that.
Laura: Yeah, speaking of pickles, ladies and gentlemen, I have to say that you have all sent sufficient amounts of pickle merchandise. Actual pickles, too. We’ve gotten pickle cards. We got a yodeling pickle from Diane.
Jamie: [laughs] That’s awesome.
Laura: A yodeling pickle. Should I play it? Or will it annoy you guys?
Eric: [laughs] Play it, play it, play it!
Laura: Okay, listen to this.
[Yodeling Pickle plays]
Laura: And the best part is – well, actually, it’s not the best part, but my mom enjoys chasing me around the house with this thing now. So, I hear this thing about 50 billion times a day because she thinks it’s hilarious. So, thank you, Diane for entertaining my mother. We also got – and this was like, a huge thing to thank her for. Rhonda D. sent each of the MuggleCasters a $25 iTunes gift card.
Eric: Whoa!
Jamie: That’s very nice.
Laura: So, yeah.
Matt: What?
Laura: All seven of the original – yeah, Matt, you don’t get one, I’m sorry. [laughs]
Matt: No, it’s okay. I wasn’t even listening, but I just heard the reaction.
Laura: But all seven of the original hosts got a $25 iTunes gift card. So, that was extremely generous of her.
Jamie: That’s very generous.
Laura: We thank you very kindly. Pamela, who sent Andrew and I – do you remember, Andrew, she sent us the Places You Will Go…
Andrew: Yeah, you know, I was thinking about that the other day. That was…
Laura: …when we graduated.
Andrew: …a very nice gift.
Eric: Oh The Places You Will Go. I think I’ve got one of those.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, maybe.
Jamie: [sings] “Oh the places you will go. Because, I’ve got the feeling. You’ve got the cure.”
Laura: Pamela sent a box with a few items in it. She sent a pickle ornament for Andrew.
Andrew: Oh, awesome.
Laura: Andrew, you get the most pickle stuff on the planet. I blame you for this.
Andrew: Well, what can I say? I love pickles.
Laura: And she also sent gifts for Jamie and Eric. They’re wrapped, so I don’t know what they are.
Jamie: Oh, that’s very kind.
Laura: And she also sent a card for Andrew, which is really nice, and then we also got cards from the following: Emma, Jenny R., Stacey H. and her puppy, Robin.
Jamie: Awwww.
Laura: Jennifer W. [laughs] What?
Eric: Her hubby.
Jamie: Awww, puppy.
Andrew: Puppies.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: That’s so cute.
Laura: Oh, I thought you were making an exasperated noise.
Eric: Oh, her hubby or puppy?
Jamie: No.
Laura: No, her puppy. Her puppy.
Matt: Oh.
Laura: Her puppy, who is named Mollywobbles.
Matt: Better luck next time, Laura.
Laura: Yeah.
[Jamie laughs]
Laura: And, let’s see. Emily P. and Julia C., Sara D., Lisa W., who is from Cumming, Georgia. So…
Jamie: Wow.
Laura: That’s pretty awesome. Also from Tracey, Janet W., Courtney R., Robin J., Melissa T., Dave, Laura, Clinton, Andy, John, Kathy, Max, and Sammy…
Eric: Wait, Laura Clinton?
Laura: Amanda O., Cleo M., and Betsy M. Also, and I’m going to butcher these names awfully – from Belgium, Stefan, Alex, and Leavy sent my mom a Christmas card.
Andrew: Awww.
Laura: So she really, really appreciated that. Actually, a lot of people have been sending my mom cards and stuff.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: And she thinks that’s really nice. Also, just the other day, we got a card from Stephen, Marsha, Lena, and Truffle, which was really nice. It says, “Peace begins with a smile” on the front of it, wishing us a happy 2008.
Matt: Awww.
Eric: Right back at you.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Thank you, everyone, for mailing that in.
Laura: Oh, also, Andrew, Amy sent you some plastic pickles.
Andrew: Oh, thank you. I love pickles.
Matt: There’s like pickles in that mailbox, isn’t there? Like, it’s filled with pickles.
Eric: Pickles for a pickle.
Laura; Yeah, people have actually sent real pickles. Edible pickles.
Andrew: Why don’t we make our new catch phrase, like, “Gold.”
Laura: Yeah!
[Everyone laughs]
Matt: Dang!
Eric: Gold…
Laura: Gold Pack.
Andrew: Money. No, thank you. Seriously, thank you everyone.
Jamie: What about We Will Rock You tickets, Andrew?
Andrew: What?
Jamie: Call it the “We Will Rock You tickets.”
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Chicken Soup For The MuggleCast Soul
Andrew: But yeah, thank you everyone for mailing those in. I was – again, I was looking through the voicemail box. We’ll have voicemails next week, but I was looking through it and lots of people called in to say “Happy New Year’s,” “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Holidays,” and all that, so thank you, everyone, for all the holiday greetings. Back at you, In the words of Ellen Degeneres. It’s time to read a Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul. This comes from Max Dagelen, 14, of Lewiston, Idaho. He writes:
“First off, I would like to say I love the show and thank you. In the past few weeks I’ve had to endure many hardships. I’ve had the flu that kept me in bed for a week straight. I’ve had my dad go through a back surgery, my nine year old brother have emergency hip surgery, and my dog I’ve had as long as I can remember put to sleep, and my great grandmother pass away. I try not to show it, but I have trouble making it through the day without getting depressed. My main comfort is that when I go to sleep I can laugh the night away at your discussions and jokes. So thank you for helping me make it through these difficult times. Once again, thanks and I love the show.”
Jamie: You are welcome, Max.
Andrew: That is very nice, thanks.
Laura: You are very welcome.
Andrew: Eric, you wanted to make this e-mail?
Fastest Show Close
Eric: Yeah, we got this really cool e-mail. It is from Spencer Showalter, age 12, from Alameda, California. And he says:
“Hey, I was re-listening as I do constantly to one of your shows and you mentioned that you race yourself every time you do the closing contact information. I was really bored so went through the twenty episodes I had on my iPod and I timed your contact information times. Here are the results. Your average time is one minute, ten seconds. Your best time is twenty-four seconds, thirty-six milliseconds in the show number 125: Holiday Joy. In your slowest time, the closing content details was two minutes eight seconds ninety-seven milliseconds in show number 122: Special Positioning. I will tell you if you beat your record, thanks for reading this! Love the show, Spencer.”
Andrew: That is a lot of pressure. Already, everyone is making fun of me for the way I say it.
Jamie: This is a lot of pressure.
Laura: Let’s try to do it. Let’s try to beat it. Come on.
Eric: So wait, what is our record? What are we trying to beat?
Andrew: I don’t know where exactly he starts timing. Maybe when I actually…
Eric: It is a she, I think, because she goes to Julie Morgan’s School for Girls. So…
Andrew: Okay.
Jamie: And Andrew, do you think that she counts the “If…” at the beginning? Or, if she…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: We’ll see if she included those. I would think it would be like, three minutes longer.
Jamie: Yeah, that is true. Yeah, at least three minutes.
Eric: That time was twenty-four seconds. Look, I can time milliseconds, too, so can you do this in twenty-four seconds?
Andrew: No, but let’s try this. [laughs] All right, well – ugh, I already screwed up!
Eric: On your marks…
Show Close
Andrew: Well, it is time to remind everyone about our contact information: Laura what is the PO Box?
Laura: PO. Box 3151
Cumming, Georgia
30028
Andrew: We are going to be bringing voicemails back next week. You can call in a MuggleCast voicemail. To do that in the United States call, 1-218-20-MAGIC and in the United Kingdom, you dial 020-8144-0677 and if you are in Australia, you can dial 02-8003-5668 and you can SKYPE the username “MuggleCast.” Just remember to keep the message under a minute and eliminate as much background noise as possible. You can also visit MuggleCast.com for a handy feedback form. To contact any of us at our first name at staff dot mugglenet dot com with the exception of Matt, it is matthewb at staff dot mugglenet dot com. You can also visit us at one of our community outlets…
Jamie: Oh, Andrew,this is very poor. This is very poor.
Andrew: [rambles through] MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Frappr, Last.FM, the Fanlisting/Forums.
Digg the show at Digg.com. Vote for us once a month at Podcast Alley and rate and review us at Yahoo! Podcasts.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: This is very hard.
Jamie: I know it is, I know it is. I am sorry. I am sorry.
Andrew: All right. [laughs] I think I did everything.
Eric: You forgot “Accessories sold separately, batteries not included.”
Andrew: Ah, I always forget that.
Eric: Yeah, it was under a minute. I do not know how we got twenty-four seconds. We need to listen to 125. Did you guys just get into PO Boxes? Ah, screw it. Happy Christmas, everyone.
Andrew: Nah, it depends on what he is actually timing. He might not be timing the community outlets and stuff.
Eric: She, she, she.
Jamie: Oh, that’s true, yeah.
Eric: So, that may be a new record.
Andrew: She, sorry. So I think that does it for this week’s show. Once again, I am Andrew Sims.
Eric: I am Eric Scull.
Micah: Laura?
Eric: It’s nice to another podcast.
Laura: Jamie’s next.
Jamie: Oh, sorry.
Matt: Jamie, Laura, everybody.
Jamie: I am Laura Thompson. Oh, sorry.
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: I thought Jamie went before me. Fine, I am Laura Thompson.
Jamie: No, no. I am Jamie Lawrence.
Micah: I am Micah Tannenbaum.
Matt: [chuckles] And I am Matt Britton!
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: We will see everyone next week…
Eric: He’s the funniest thing…
Andrew: ..for Episode 128. Bye!
Eric: Bye.
Laura: Bye.
Micah: Bye.
Jamie: Buh-bye.
Matt: Bye.
Blooper 1
Matt: And I am Matt [pause] Britton.
Jamie: Matt, just butt in somewhere. Stop being so nice.
Matt: I lost count! I knew there were six of us.
Jamie: Matt, stop being so nice.
Andrew: Say it one more time. So it flows a little better.
Matt: [overly exaggerating] AND I’M MATT BRITTON!
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: That is so over the top.
Laura: That was awful.
Andrew: That is going to sound really awkward.
Eric: “And I’m Matt Britton. Yeah!”
Blooper 2
Eric: “Hey guys, love the show. In an Episode 125…” [laughs] Sorry – number 4, “Hey guys, love the show.”
Andrew: Wait…
Jamie: Wait! Jesus!
Andrew: Let someone else read it.
Eric: You’re talking about spanking Micah. I was just trying to save you guys from, you know, admitting something on the show that you really don’t want people to know yet.
Jamie: Well…
Andrew: Let someone else read it.
Jamie: This is not live, Eric. And Andrew’s going to edit it.
Andrew: We share because we care. [laughs] Yeah.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: It could be edited. [laughs] We share because we care. How about someone else reads it. I like to vary it up – mix it up.
Matt: There is no one on it, though. There is no name, no age, no nothing.
Laura: Yeah, there is…
Micah: It is at the bottom.
Andrew: James Brown.
Laura: Oh!
Jamie: Didn’t he die?
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Ladies and Gentleman, James Brown, has come back from the dead.
———————–