Transcript #178

MuggleCast 178 Transcript


Show Intro


[Intro music begins]

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[“Hedwig’s Theme” plays]

Jim Dale: [as Professor McGonagall] This is Professor McGonagall welcoming you all to MuggleCast hoping you enjoyed – Dobby! Dobby, come here! Here! Dobby! [as Dobby] Yes, I’d just like to say how very pleased I am to introduce MuggleCast to all of you! Thank you! Thank you!

[Show music begins]

Andrew: Because we’ve reached four years of Harry Potter podcasting, this is MuggleCast Episode 178 for August 20th, 2009.

[Show music continues]

Andrew: Welcome to MuggleCast Episode 178. It’s been a few weeks, but we have a lovely little group here this week. We have…

[Ben blows his nose]

Andrew: …Micah, Jamie and Ben, alongside me. Not bad, and that’s very rude to blow your nose.

Jamie: It is rude.

Ben: I’m sorry man. I’ve got allergies. It’s hay fever.

Andrew: Four years of podcasting, we’re here to celebrate four years of MuggleCast, and to celebrate our professionalism over the years, and this is how you…

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: …start off the show.

Micah: Well, he’s just so upset. He can’t believe it’s been four years.

Ben: I know. Tears of joy, tears of joy Andrew.

Jamie: Yeah, allergies, you can’t believe they’re allergies.

Andrew: Jamie, how have you been? It’s been a while.

Jamie: Good. Good. I’m a working man now. I’m a working man trying to work my way up in the harsh world of careers.

[Andrew laugh]

Micah: It’s not easy.

Andrew: And Ben, Ben?

Jamie: It’s not easy.

[Andrew laughs]

Andrew: Yeah, Jamie, I don’t know if you know this, but Micah is unemployed right now.

Jamie: No, no, yeah, yeah, you’ve been having interviews, haven’t you, all over the place?

Micah: Yep. None of them have turned into anything, though, yet.

Jamie: Oh. Oh well, keep it up.

Andrew: And Ben’s back in Kansas.

Ben: I know, back to where it all began.

Jamie: Right.

Ben: Back before Andrew Sims became the Howard Stern of Harry Potter.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Hey now, well anyway. We have a great show today. We’re going to catch up on some news, get to some e-mails, and commemorate four years of MuggleCast. I’m Andrew Sims.

Ben: I’m Ben Schoen.

Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence.

Micah: And I’m Micah Tannenbaum.

[Music continues to play]


News: Latest Half-Blood Prince Figures


Andrew: All right, Micah, what’s been going on in the news over the past few weeks?

Micah: Well, Half-Blood Prince continues to do well at the box office. The most recent numbers I was able to find, it’s made $577.7 million dollars internationally.

Andrew: That’s all right.

Micah: And worldwide it’s at $861.7 million, making it number seventeen among all-time box office earners, just behind Finding Nemo.

Andrew: That’s okay, I mean, it’s all right.

Micah: Yeah, I mean, its pocket change, right? I mean, if you were a businessman.

Jamie: Yeah, yeah, yeah, so why don’t we get Ben’s opinion.

Andrew: [laughs] Jamie, What’d you think of the movie? We haven’t heard what you thought about it yet.

Jamie: I thought it was pretty awesome.

Andrew: Have you seen it?

Jamie: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve seen it.

Andrew: You know it’s out? I’m kidding.

[Andrew and Jamie laugh]

Jamie: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: Tell us what you thought about it.


Jamie’s Opinion of the Movie


Jamie: I thought it was pretty awesome. The one thing that was going to spoil it for me was when Harry was underneath the tower, and Dumbledore, you know, they’ve just come back from the cave and Snape – oh sorry, the Death Eaters come in. I thought that if Dumbledore didn’t petrify – he immobilizes Harry, right?

Andrew: Right.

Jamie: With his wand, right? But he didn’t do that in the movie. And that for me was going to ruin it until Snape came down and put his finger to his lips because I thought that, you know, Harry is such a stubborn character that like, even if all these Death Eaters were there and they were going to kill Dumbledore, he would break out there and say, “No, no, no. You can’t kill him,” and stuff so I’m glad Snape – that was explained, because I was like, “you really can’t do that.” I thought it was awesome. I thought Greyback was incredible. But like, he’s a cage…

Andrew: Really?

Jamie: He’s a cage fighter. You know?

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. He was cool – well, what did you like about him? I mean, just some people were saying, you know, he didn’t talk – he really didn’t have any lines – he was sort of just in the background the whole time.

Jamie: Yeah, but he wasn’t going to, or was he? I was always thought in the movies he’d be one of those characters that was, you know, visually impressive but they wouldn’t give him anything…

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: …because they didn’t really have enough time.

Andrew: True, true.

Jamie: I thought why the locket scene was pretty awesome. Like, the fire when Harry was underwater was incredible.

Andrew: Yeah, it was.

Jamie: I thought the opening with London was really, really done well. I like that they started the movie with a very, very, normal tone so it’s sort of wasn’t a Harry Potter film straight away and then it turned into one, which was awesome.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah.

Jamie: And – trying to think.

Andrew: Favorite film yet?

Jamie: Sorry?

Andrew: Best film yet?

Jamie: Oh, yeah, easily. Easily, easily, easily. That doesn’t surprise me though because I just think they get better once they learn how to do it. Like, I saw the first one…

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: …the other day, and I was like, “Oh my God, that is terrible.”

Andrew: Yeah. I watched Sorcerer’s Stone after I saw Half-Blood Prince for the first time…

Jamie: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: …and, like, the Quidditch – just looking at how that’s advanced so much. Like the Quidditch was so – like just the visual effects…

Jamie: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: …are so much more realistic, and so Sorcerer’s Stone is so much more colorful and perfect and then this is just a miserable Quidditch stadium. It was really cool.

Jamie: Yeah.

Ben: Sorcerer’s Stone came out in 2001, right?

Jamie: Don’t know.

Andrew: Or was it 2000? I can never remember. It was one of the two. But yeah, it’s been – it’s almost, it’s going to be ten years since the first film.

Jamie: Yeah. That’s insane. Well, I thought it was an awesome movie though. Overall, really, really good.

Andrew: Cool. Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it.

Jamie: That’s what I thought when I watched it.

Micah: I was going to ask you; did you ever have a problem with the whole Snape not saying: “Don’t call me a coward?”

Jamie: Like – wait. I thought he did. Didn’t he?

Andrew: Well, Harry says to Snape…

Jamie: “You coward?” Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, but Snape doesn’t say anything back, whereas in the book it’s…

Jamie: Not really. Like, like…

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: …like, I think that’s a very book thing, like Snape’s possibility of being evil or good and he’s like – I think when you turn a book into a film you can’t – you have to personify characters in very different ways because it’s a completely different medium. And I think that’s part of the books whereas Snape is, you know, Snape is tortured. He has this good side but he doesn’t like it to be revealed and that’s like one moment where it just comes through, he feels like Harry’s taking the Mickey, really. Do you know that phrase, “taking the Mickey?”

Micah: I’ve heard it before.

Jamie: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ben: Is that “taking the piss?”

Jamie: The wee-wee? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: Because you know, Snape’s like, “I’ve done all this for you,” but in the films, if they put that in the people who just went to see it generally, they’d be like, “well, that’s – well Snape’s a strong character, it’s a bit weak.” And I don’t think it would have worked, really. Er – but no, no. I like – I thought it was damn good. I think Dan’s got pretty good to be honest.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah. Yes, really…

Micah: Do you think Snape’s allegiance is too obvious?

Jamie: I thought Dumbledore’s “Severus, please,” was a bit – I didn’t like that at all – he wasn’t really pleading enough – and I know in the book when it’s just text it leaves it open to whether it’s “Severus, please kill me,” or “Please don’t kill me,” and in the film that’s a lot harder to do because the inflection is harder to…

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: …fake, but I didn’t think that was well done.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: Yeah.

Jamie: I know what you’re saying. But then I don’t think Alan Rickman has ever been that type of Snape that is shady as he should be in so you don’t really know what he’s about. I always think he’s being mean, and that’s fine because he does what he does very, very well but I think, I don’t know, I’ve never seen – like, if I was
Voldemort I could tell in an instant that he wasn’t working for me, I don’t think he’s evil enough, to be honest. I think he would be more obvious if he was – if he could show that evil side which he doesn’t really do. Trying to think. I’ll tell you what was cool; Bellatrix and thingy-me-bob setting the house on fire. Do you think that was cool?

Andrew: Yeah, it was okay. I mean, it was a new scene that wasn’t in the book as I’m sure everybody knows by now.

Jamie: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: I don’t know. It was all right.

Ben: I always thought it was weird how quickly they reset after watching the Burrow burn down. It was just like, “woohoo! Everything’s cool.”

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: Yeah, yeah. That is pretty true. Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. It was really – just the whole film was just it just kept going from happy to dark, happy to dark, happy to dark, happy to…

Jamie: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Andrew: I thought it worked pretty well.

Micah: Did you like Slughorn?

Ben: It was a very a bit bipolar. Some.

Andrew: [laughs] It was!

Jamie: It was slightly, yeah, yeah.

Ben: Yeah, that’s the best way to describe it.

Andrew: Maybe the screenwriter – what’s his…

Ben: Steve Clovis? Well he did take a film off. Maybe he was battling – never mind.

Jamie: Suffering, yeah maybe he was in rehab. It’s got to be a stressful job writing Harry Potter.

Andrew: Oh yeah, think of all the fans.

Jamie: Yeah but think of the money.

Micah: If you’re a businessman you think of the money.

Jamie: Oh you – first on your list.

Andrew: Damn straight. [laughs] Anyway, what did you think of Slughorn?

Jamie: I – he was decent; again he wasn’t like I thought he was going to be but that’s fine because you can’t expect him to be. He’s a tortured character.

Ben: I expected him to be fat.

Jamie: Fatter, yeah definitely, definitely. He was good though, you could tell he wasn’t pleased with what he had done you know and like he was pretty ashamed of himself which was good but I just don’t think – he seemed to be aware of the fact that everyone knew he was collecting people, rather than like in the book I think he’s like very, very unaware of it. He just thinks it’s normal and he thinks he does it so all these famous people protect him from criticism. Whereas like in the film it was more like I do it and I know I do it and you can either accept it or not.

Andrew: Maybe it was so the viewers had an easier understanding of what he was doing?

Jamie: Maybe, maybe, I mean that could be it cause yeah – I don’t know like quite a few characters have been written for people who have read the first few books like character style has been, like, I don’t know, like people generally wear their hearts on their sleeves and if you don’t know that then I guess characters can be confusing but I don’t know.

Andrew: Well good points all around Jamie.

Jamie: Well thank you.

Andrew: I know people were very excited to hear your review.

Jamie: Well maybe I should say a bit more, then.

Andrew: If you want.

Jamie: I don’t think I’ve said that much. Oh God yeah when Malfoy stamps on Harry’s face, that was disgusting.

Andrew: Oh yeah that was cringe worthy. How about did you shake when Harry reaches into the water in the cave and the Inferi come out and grab his arm?

Jamie: Oh they were pretty scary, again though they weren’t what I thought they’d be. I would’ve thought an animated dead body is soulless and creeps around it’s not like they were pretty animated for what was like supposed to be a dead body, you know, like, puppetry without strings but again I think it would’ve taken away from the speed of the scene if you made them walking slow again it’s like the Ring Wraiths the speed of Lord of the Rings, it’s like a three and a half hour film or whatever so you can afford to have people slow it down like that you get a sense but the Dementors, you know it’s a lot more dangerous, the danger is there imminently whereas the Ring Wraiths they can find you all over the place so they don’t even need to be fast. I think that’s kind of like the Inferi but…

Ben: Now Jamie, Jamie, Jamie, Emma Watson. Hot or not?

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: She’s okay, she’s okay.

Andrew: Hotter.

Ben: I meant her acting.

Jamie: I don’t think you can call acting hot or not, though.

[Andrew laughs]

Andrew: Well you could, if hot means, like…

Ben: Awesome, good.

Andrew: Attractive.

Jamie: Yeah. Oh yeah one thing I remember, do you remember when Malfoy is putting stuff into the vanishing cabinet and then he cries because the thing’s died when it comes back.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah.

Jamie: I thought the worst thing was the apple scenario when he used the apple and it came back with a bite taken out of it. I kind of, I don’t know if this was intentional, but I saw that as Adam and Eve taking a bite of the apple and him turning evil which is one of the most clichéd movie, – what’s it called – metaphors you can make. It’s terrible. It’s like in science fiction when people like there’s an atomic bomb that blows up the world and leaves a garden with two people in it and a tree. I thought that was…

Andrew: Did that happen in the movie? Am I forgetting something?

Jamie: Well yeah, he puts an apple in at Hogwarts and he waits and it comes back from Borgin and Burke’s and there’s a bite taken out of it.

Andrew: See there was a part, I saw the movie a couple of times, and there was a part that I would sleep through every time because it was so boring and I guess that was it.

Jamie: Oh yeah yeah, but Tom Felton I felt was a complete professional, his acting has gotten very, very good. No screwing about, he just did what he had to do. He didn’t have that much screen time and I thought he did a lot with what screen time he had. You know?

Ben: Yeah I thought he was really good too and something that I noticed was on Rotten Tomatoes, they had when it says like starring, all the other films say Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe, not in that order, but this one had Tom Felton as one of the stars, too.

Andrew: Right.

Jamie: Oh really? Oh yeah, yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. He was doing most of the promotion for this film, too, if you guys remember back in July, he was everywhere so…

Ben: Andrew didn’t you do an event with him?

Andrew: I did do an event with Tom Felton. He’s a very nice guy.

Jamie: You did an event with him, did you?

Andrew: Yeah. In North Jersey after the premiere, and it was cool. It was at this mall and it was awesome.

Jamie: Andrew, you’re moving on.

Andrew: I know.

Jamie: The 16 year old excited Harry Potter fan that we used to know is gone.

Andrew: No, I’m still there. I’m still there, I’m just 20.


Jamie: No Good with Birthdays


Jamie: Oh yeah. Oh! Also, the – wait, I missed your birthday, didn’t I?

Andrew: That’s okay.

Ben: Yeah, it was like 5 months ago.

Andrew: It was back in May. No, it’s fine.

Jamie: Oh no, Ben. When’s your birthday? That’s what I meant.

Ben: My birthday’s next week. August 24th.

Jamie: That’s what I meant, sorry. I got you confused. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course.

Andrew: Oh! Well, it’s okay to miss my birthday, but not Ben’s? Is that what you’re saying?

Jamie: No, no! I did wish you a happy birthday because it was like a year ago.

Andrew: Yeah, you did.

Micah: And my birthday.

Ben: And Micah’s birthday.

Andrew: Oh yeah. Micah’s birthday was the other day.

Jamie: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you can all forget my birthday then, that’s fine.

[Everyone laughs]

Jamie: It happens every year. It’s not like, you know we can’t celebrate…

Ben: Jamie, how old are you going to be, like 29?

Jamie: 23 this year.

Andrew: Ow, ow. That’s not old at all.

Jamie: That is old.

Andrew: No.

Jamie: That is old.

Andrew: How do you think Micah feels?

Ben: I remember when Jamie was 19 and I was like 15. I was like, “Whoa! He’s so old.”

Andrew: We’ve all grown up together. We’ll talk about Half-Blood Prince more later with the other feedback because people have lots to say about Half-Blood Prince still. It’s still hot on everyone’s minds. So, anyway, continuing with news, Micah. What else is going on? What else has been going on?


News: Deathly Hallows Filming


Micah: Shifting over to Deathly Hallows, there’s been a lot of filming going on for the final film, and first piece was actor Mike Edmonds, who is said to play one of the Gringotts goblins in the seventh movie, said that he’s going to start filming in October. So, I guess that gives us a little bit of insight as to when these scenes are going to be shot.

Andrew: Okay. I will mark it on my calendar.

Micah: I’m sure you will.

Andrew: October: Gringotts filming.

Micah: All right?

Andrew: Got it.

Micah: And also, some other stuff going on at Bovingdon Airfield in England. Jamie, do you know about this place?

Jamie: No. No. I think that must be a small private one because it’s not one of the big ones. Bovingdon Air – yeah, I think it’s a private one.

Micah: All right.

Andrew: What about it?

Micah: Well, the pictures that we got show an open road, or I guess an airstrip, surrounded on each side by long lines of lighting cranes, and the consensus seemed to be that they were shooting something for “The Seven Potters.” What that might be, I don’t know.

Jamie: That’s going to be an incredible scene. That – I hope that’s done well because that’s going to like – that sets the tone for the Seventh Book. If you screw that up, then you’ve screwed up like the tension for the book, you know?

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: I want to see Ralph Fiennes flying through the sky without a broom.

Jamie: Yeah. Yeah. That will be cool. Yeah, I agree. You want to see Hedwig dying, don’t you?

Ben: Yeah.

Andrew: It’s going to be…

Ben: Totally.

Andrew: “The Seven Potters” scene was the coolest scene in the book, I thought.

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: Or one of the coolest. It was just so clever, and so I just cannot wait to see that on film.

Ben: There’s a Remus Lupin’s song called “The Seven Potters.”

Andrew: Yes there is. He’s a popular wizard rocker, isn’t he?

Ben: Yeah, he’s like the Michael Jackson of wizard rock, I guess you could say.

Andrew: True. Only alive.

Jamie: Only alive, yeah.

Micah: Yeah.

Ben: Wow, too soon.

Andrew: Yeah. It’s kind of sketchy what they’re doing. Like these photos at this airfield, it’s like – I don’t even know, like they have all these cranes in a line. It’s weird. Maybe it’s some sort of filming technique. They’re going to have cameras up on every one or who knows? Or lights.

Micah: Some kind of landing, maybe.

Andrew: Maybe. Yeah, maybe that’s where Hagrid’s going to take off with his motorcycle. Start flying.

Jamie: Maybe.

Micah: Maybe.

Andrew: Maybe.

Ben: Yo, Jamie! Who has a scarier nose? Voldemort or Michael Jackson?

Jamie: Michael Jackson. Well, what? He’s dead, so it’s probably decomposing now, so.

Ben: No, it was decomposing when he was alive. I just saw a special on it…

Jamie: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is true, yeah.

Ben: …called “The Faces of Michael Jackson.” We should do a special called “The Faces of Voldemort,” and have pictures of him as young Tom Riddle, and then like the transformation.

Jamie: Do you know, though, did you know that I saw the first film, and I thought like the Voldemort on the back of Quirrell’s head was weird.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: Like not Voldemort I pictured at all. Like, do you know what I mean? It was obviously done…

Andrew: Like special effects wise?

Jamie: No, no, no. Like special effects, it was fine. Just like – it was “You see what I’ve become.” He didn’t like – Voldemort treats Harry with like complete contempt. He treated him with like a bit of respect there, and he’s like, you know, “You have to see what you’ve done to me” whereas, in the books, Voldemort’s “Harry Potter is not special. Every time he’s, irked me, its because I’ve made a mistake, and I’ve screwed up.” Whereas there it was, “You see what I’ve become?” You just have an air that it was Harry’s fault, whereas Voldemort didn’t ever believe that.

Andrew: Yeah. True.

Jamie: I don’t know.

Andrew: Go ahead, Micah.

Micah: Just a couple of other Deathly Hallows notes. The wedding scene was supposedly filmed on August 10th, and we know that because a David Thewlis fansite was recently visiting the exhibition out in Chicago and they said a couple of David’s things had to be shipped back to Leavesden Studios…

Jamie: No way!

Micah: …so he could wear them during the wedding sequence.

Andrew: That’s pretty cool. How they let the exhibit borrow that stuff even though they have to send it back anyway.

Micah: The shipping cost must not be too cheap on that.

Jamie: I bet they get it free.

Andrew: For free?

Jamie: Warner Brothers Mail. They just call up some shadowy courier who just…

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: I bet they fly on Air Force One.

Andrew: [laughs] It is very important, yeah.

Micah: Obama took it himself.

Andrew: Obama delivered it, yeah.

Jamie: Yeah, he put it in his suitcase.

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: Do you know what’s going to be a really interesting scene in book seven? In Godric’s Hollow when the snake comes out of Bagshot’s neck. That’ll be NC-17 if they do that properly.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: Of course they won’t, they’ll lose their balls.

Andrew: Yeah, they’ll dumb it down.

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: The camera will go to black for a second…

Jamie: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: …and you’ll come back and you’ll see it out of…

Jamie: Yeah, exactly.

Andrew: Go ahead, Micah. Onward!


News: Lucky Couple Visits Deathly Hallows Set


Micah: Then the final bit of news on Deathly Hallows. A couple, Chris and Maria who met through Harry Potter recently received the unique opportunity to visit the set of Deathly Hallows. And being the good fans that they are, they really went into detail about what they saw there. And among some of the sets they visited were Luna’s house, the Room of Requirement, the Great Hall, so…

Andrew: But then WB made them take their report down so [laughs]

Jamie: No way! Really?

Andrew: …it was good while it lasted. Yeah, yeah they took it down.

Ben: Well, that was to be expected.

Andrew: Yeah, I was really surprised by the amount – it was a really good report. They went into a lot of detail, but I was wondering why W.B. let them go on the set.

Micah: Right. Why would you do that?

Andrew: They were visiting from America.

Ben: I doubt they’ll be invited back.

[Andrew and Jamie laugh]

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: Well it’s also a once in a lifetime thing. It’s not some annual pass.

Jamie: Why were they invited then? What happened?

Andrew: I don’t know. They were going on a honeymoon in England and I guess W.B. really liked their story I guess, because they met through Harry Potter. I don’t know. I should try that.

Micah: That’s pretty wrong though.

Andrew: I met Jamie through Harry Potter.

Jamie: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: And we’re celebrating our fifth friendship anniversary. So can we go?

Jamie: So please can we go to the thing, yeah?

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah…

Jamie: Should we try it?

Andrew: Yeah, let’s try it. [laughs]

Jamie: I think we should. We may as well. What’ve we got to lose?

Ben: Screw that dude, I’m going on the set.

[Andrew and Jamie laugh]

Ben: I’m going to go on the set and burn it down.

Jamie: Why?

Ben: What?

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: I’m just kidding.

Jamie: What anniversary is it of yours?

Ben: Huh? What anniversary?

Andrew: Yeah, what story are you going to give them?

Ben: I’m going on 6 years. Being on this MooglyNet.

Jamie: MooglyNet?

Andrew: How about you could tell them two years since you tried to hit on Emma at the Order of the Phoenix after-party.

Jamie: Yeah. Or, or, or…

Ben: That was epic fail.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: You know we’re probably the reason why they have to take down that report.

Andrew: Why?

Micah: Because I doubt W.B. found that site randomly.

Andrew: Well, yeah. But it was spread throughout the fandom. It’s – yeah.

MuggleCast 178 Transcript (continued)


News: Exhibition to Boston


Micah: But anyway, we mentioned the Exhibition before, but back on July 22nd the Boston Globe reported that the Exhibition will be moving to the Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts and it’s set to open on October the 25th.

Andrew: Oh!

Ben: Are we going for the debut? Andrew?

Andrew: I don’t know. We were invited to the Chicago one and Eric went since he lives there, but we gots nobody in Boston! I guess Micah’s close. I don’t know.

Micah: I’d go.

Andrew: Are they going to do a big premiere every time it moves? That would be kind of silly.

Micah: We’ll they’re going to add some new stuff. They’re going to take away some…

Andrew: I hope so. Yeah.

Micah: Change it up a bit. So it’ll be big once it gets there.

Andrew: Sure.

Micah: I’m sure they’ll have the media thing for Boston press.

Andrew: All right, well now that we know which direction it’s going, I will predict – we tried to make some predictions before, where it would go next after Chicago. So it went East to Boston. After Boston it’s going to go South. It’s probably going to hit – I’m looking at Florida, probably.

Ben: No.

Andrew: And then – why?

Ben: No.

Andrew: It’s got to hit the southeast.

Ben: I’m thinking it’s going to go to Nashville.

Andrew: Why Nashville?

Jamie: Tennessee.

Ben: Why not Nashville?

Andrew: Why not? Because it’s a little random.

Jamie: Maybe it’s going to come to England.

Ben: Well Boston’s a little random.

Andrew: It is. True. Well Boston’s a major city.

Ben: Nashville is sort of a major city.

Jamie: Maybe it’s going to come to Kansas, Ben.

Andrew: Maybe they wouldn’t move. Yeah, Kansas.

Jamie: Maybe it’s going to come to Kansas.

Andrew: Well it’s got to hit L.A. sometime too. So I’m thinking it’s going to go south. Either Tennessee or Florida. We’ll just agree on that.

Ben: Tennessee or Florida?

Andrew: Or somewhere in between. It will hit Atlanta.

Micah: It could go to Orlando.

Andrew: Yeah, with the theme park.

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: Sure thing.

Micah: Because it will probably wrap up in Boston right around when the theme park’s opening. Right?

Andrew: Right.

Micah: Because it was at Chicago for a while.

Andrew: Right.

Micah: A couple of months.

Andrew: Right.

Micah: Is it supposed to go internationally?

Andrew: Right! It is.

Micah: It is. Well that’s a lot of time to spend in the U.S.

Ben: Yeah, I’m thinking Argentina.

[Everyone laugh]

Andrew: Or maybe Australia. There’s a lot of Potter fans in Australia.

Micah: London.

Jamie: Yeah.

Ben: When is, when is, when is…

Andrew: Okay, out with it, come on, Micah, let’s go!

Ben: When is the Andrew Sims exhibit coming to Kansas?

[Everyone laugh]

Ben: That’s what I’m waiting on.

Andrew: I don’t appreciate your candor. Stop it.


News: Waylett Not Returning


Micah: All right. Well apparently rumors have been flying around that Jamie Waylett will not return for Deathly Hallows. Instead Goyle will die in his place. This is probably due to the fact that Jamie was convicted on possession of marijuana.

Andrew: Now this was discovered at MuggleMayhem, a Harry Potter convention that was in cahoots with MuggleNet. Jamie, were you there?

Jamie: Yeah, we were there.

Ben: Did you bring the mayhem?

Andrew: Did you go to…

[Andrew and Ben laugh]

Jamie: Yeah, yeah. It was just a Muggle before I got there.

Andrew: [laughs] Did you go to this – I guess you didn’t go to this thing.

Jamie: No, no, I went to the talk.

Andrew: Do you remember it?

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: Did he say that?

Jamie: Well yeah, I think he did, yeah. But I mean, we’ve just announced it now so there’s no point in me calling the guy is there? [laughs]

Andrew: Well because it was on another fan site. It was on Snitch Seeker.


News: Deathly Hallows Split


Jamie: He did. Yeah, he announced that and he also said like where Deathly Hallows is being cut.

Andrew: Oh! So you can confirm this? We now have confirmation.

Jamie: Well, I don’t know. You told me you wanted me to call the guy who runs it.

Andrew: Yeah, but I didn’t know you where there.

Jamie: Yeah yeah, I was there.

Andrew: Oh! Oh, well with the – looks like we’ve got a news post to post on MuggleNet.

Jamie: No, no, yeah. He confirmed that Deathly Hallows would be split between – just before – oh no, no – when they’re caught by the – what’s it called?

Andrew: Snatchers.

Micah: The Snatchers.

Jamie: The Snatchers. And just before they’re taken to the Malfoy Manor which is actually an awesome place to cut it because it’s just before a huge, huge important scene. So I think that’s a great place to cut it.

Andrew: All right, so that’s newsworthy. That’s interesting.

Ben: MuggleNet.com’s Jamie Lawrence has confirmed it, folks.

[Jamie laughs]

Andrew: I’m going – that’s going to be the first sentence. “We’ve received exclusive news from MuggleNet’s own Jamie Lawrence…”

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: Okay. Well that’s interesting because a lot of people were predicting it would happen around Malfoy Manor.

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: Because you know it’s a central point to the book and…

Jamie: It does make sense.

Ben: Now who said this? Was it Jamie Waylett?

Andrew: No, Joshua Herdman.

Jamie: Yeah yeah yeah, it was Josh Herdman. Yeah yeah, it was him.

Andrew: And so then he also confirmed that – and this seems ridiculous – that his character is going to die – Goyle instead of Jamie Waylett because W.B. doesn’t want Jamie back.

Jamie: Which – yeah and that’s going to be really weird because like I don’t know how they’re going to do that Fiend Fyre scene. How – I bet they’ll cut that out completely. Like Harry will just go in and get the diadem and then come out and he’ll just curse Goyle or something like that. I don’t know how they can put it in.

Andrew: I hope not though.

Jamie: Or no…

Andrew: I hope not.

Jamie: …it will just a random Slytherin, I bet. I bet they’ll just get like some unknown Slytherin to just come in and be with Goyle so he can act as his partner with Malfoy.

Andrew: Yeah. Get the guy who was on the train with Draco in the beginning of Half-Blood Prince.

Jamie: Blaise?

Andrew: Blaise, get him. He can do it.

Jamie: Yeah, but do they actually need someone else? Because if you think, Malfoy and Goyle could just go into the Room of Requirement. Malfoy could do his thing, Goyle could create Fiend Fyre…

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: …and die, so they don’t actually need anyone.

Andrew: You’re right, they don’t. But it may be cool to have someone.

Jamie: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: Well that’s very interesting. And that’s a good point though that Fiend Fyre scene in particular. I re-read that the other day. I’d hate for them to have to cut that out.

Jamie: Yeah, it’s a cool scene, isn’t it?

Andrew: Yeah, it’s a cool scene, there’s a lot going on. It’s a long scene too. It’s crucial!

Jamie: Crucial.

Andrew: Harry thought – Harry was ready! He was going to do it, he was going to get the diadem and then freakin’ Slytherins come in and ruin all the fun.

Micah: So breaking news. We should have lead off with that to start the show.

Andrew: Breaking news. It’s a MuggleMayhem exclusive.

Jamie: Exclusive.

Micah: All right.

Andrew: Who knew that was going to happen?


News: IMAX 3D


Micah: Final piece of news. It says, “Not really news but a small rant.” Half-Blood Prince IMAX 3D, only the first ten minutes are in 3D. What is up with that?

Jamie: Yeah, that is terrible.

Andrew: Yeah, we didn’t talk about this the last show. Yeah. Jamie, did you see it in 3D?

Jamie: No, no, no, just in normal, normal thing.

Andrew: Okay.

Jamie: But that’s ridiculous it’s like buying a filet mignon steak and only 10% is like that and the rest of its rump.

[Andrew laughs]

Andrew: Exactly. Well, and you know, they didn’t tell anyone either, that – okay, there was a conference – IMAX did this conference call and we reported on it earlier this year. The IMAX people said the beginning was going to be in 3D and the end too.

Jamie: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Andrew: And the end wasn’t in 3D. It was very, very misleading. And shame on IMAX…

Jamie: That is really bad.

Andrew: Matt and I went to see it in 3D. You know, the first ten minutes were cool, it was cool to see it in 3D, and then it says, “Glasses off.” And that was it.

Jamie: I don’t know like, I think 3D films are crap. Like I went to see Ice Age 3 and it was terrible. It was terrible.

Andrew: Really?

Jamie: I didn’t think…

Andrew: I think they’re fun.

Jamie: But like, like…

Andrew: What?

Jamie: I compare it – like when we were in Florida, I saw that, “Honey I Shrunk The Something” 4-feature 3D ride and when that snake came out, it comes right in front of your face. That’s proper 3D.

Andrew: Yeah, that’s cool.

Jamie: But this just doesn’t seem like decent 3D. IMAX obviously is cool but I don’t know about 3D.

Andrew: Yeah, I think you’re right, it’s a shame, and they kind of rip people off. I just wanted to mention that because a lot of people have been e-mailing us about that. So there we go. And I think that’s all for news.

Jamie: Cool.


Announcements: Podcast Alley


Andrew: Thank you, Micah. And let’s move onto some announcements. First of all…

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: …as always, please vote for us on Podcast Alley, we appreciate your vote over there because that way people in the podcasting community see us and know we are no joke! Yes, we’re Harry Potter fans and we’re proud, damn it!

Jamie: Yes, we are.

Ben: How many votes have we gotten?

Andrew: About a billion at this point.

Micah: Well, I heard on some ESPN Podcast that they were kind of aggravated that we were in front of them, in some category.

Andrew: Well, listen…

Ben: You really heard that on an ESPN podcast?

Micah: A fantasy football podcast or something like that. I have to go check this out and actually listen to it.

Ben: First of all, fantasy football people are even weirder than Harry Potter fans, so…

Andrew: Yeah.

[Everyone laugh]

Ben: So, I don’t know what they’re talking about.

Andrew: Well listen, people frequently get jealous that a Harry Potter podcast can beat their [deep voice] fantasy football, or their talk radio. The fact is, Harry Potter fans are very, very passionate about Harry Potter discussions, not to be looked down upon, so…

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: So screw them!

Micah: Well I think they do call us somewhat professional.

Andrew: Oh. Well, in that case, they’re a nice podcast.

Jamie: Extremely nice people.

Andrew: Yeah, we really like them. Good show. Check them out.

Micah: It’s called, “Fantasy Focus Football”. One of ESPN’s great fantasy sports podcasts.

Jamie: Fantasy football is actually a lot of fun. My office just started doing it and it is pretty addictive.

Andrew: Yeah, it is fun. Ben, you used to do fantasy football, didn’t you?

Ben: I tried it once. But I decided that Harry Potter was enough.


Announcements: Leftover T-Shirts


Andrew: Okay, in other announcements, a T-shirt update. We sold T-shirts at Azkatraz 2009, like we always do, and we had some left over. And decided to put them up for sale. Now we kind of kept it on the DL because technically it’s not allowed. Well, we didn’t have many shirts left, and I promoted it through Twitter and Facebook and we sold out very quickly and I apologize to those of you who do not follow us on Twitter or are fans of us on Facebook, because otherwise you didn’t know about this. I’m very sorry, [laughs] but the shirts are sold out.

Ben: So for offers in the future, you better get Twitter or Facebook.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly, keep an eye on our Twitter. Twitter.com/MuggleCast. Speaking of that, Jamie, you need to get into the Twitter world.

Jamie: Oh no way, no way. I’m past it.

Andrew: Come on.

Jamie: It’s a young person’s game, it’s a young person’s game.

Andrew: Oh, Jamie, that’s a bit…

Jamie: I’m not that interesting. I don’t have something to say every two minutes. Like…

Andrew: Well it’s not every two minutes, do it once a day.

Jamie: Well what’s the point? I might as well just like, write an e-mail or go on Facebook.

Ben: You could tweet a British Joke of the Day.

Jamie: Oh, I don’t know. What jokes can you fit into 140 characters?

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: Everybody e-mail jamie at staff, and tell him to get Twitter.


Announcement: Micah’s Birthday


Andrew: All right and final announcement for today, it’s more of a Happy Birthday wish to Micah! Because it’s Micah’s birthday!

Jamie: Hey!

[Clip from Alice In Wonderland of the Mad Hatter singing “A Very Merry Un-Birthday” plays]

Andrew: Happy Birthday, Micah.

Ben: Congratulations, Micah…

Jamie: That’s nice.

Ben: …for making it through another year on this earth.

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: [laughs] A year, another year. Congrats, Micah. All right, well, did you have a fun birthday, Micah? It was just the other day.

Micah: I did.

Jamie: What did you do?

Micah: I had a bunch of people over for a barbecue. I know it’s kind of an American thing to do.

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: No, no, no, no, no.

Micah: Beach and barbecue.

Jamie: That’s because you can do it. It would just rain here and put the barbecue out, so that’s the only reason we don’t do it.

[Andrew, Ben and Micah laugh]

Micah: It was a good time.

Andrew: Okay, there we go.

Jamie: Awesome.


Happy Birthday MuggleCast


Andrew: And of course, Happy Birthday to MuggleCast, we just turned four a couple weeks ago, isn’t that nice? We’re in our fifth year now! Five years ago today – actually, no. Four years ago today we were on our third episode.

Jamie: That is pretty special.

Andrew: It is. It really is.

Jamie: What are we going to do for our ten year one?

Andrew: Oh, geez. I don’t know, I don’t know.

Ben: We should do a 24-hour show.

Jamie: Yeah, that 12-hour one was pretty tough, though.

Andrew: Yeah, that was a killer. Maybe we’ll do something special for next year, because that’s the fifth anniversary, that’s pretty good.

Jamie: Andrew…

Andrew: Yes?

Jamie: Your stamina for that was incredible.

Andrew: [laughs] Thank you.

Jamie: After like 6 hours I was like…

Andrew: That’s what a lot of people tell me.

[Jamie laughs]

Andrew: Yeah, it was hard, and we were working against – I mean, you were up very late to do that, so…

Jamie: It was fun though, definitely fun.

Andrew: Yeah, it was.

Ben: Andrew only has stamina when it comes to podcasting.

[Andrew and Jamie laugh]


Muggle Mail: Use of Alcohol in Half-Blood Prince


Andrew: Awkward. Let’s move on now to Muggle Mail. Micah, could you read that first e-mail for us? It’s from Owen.

Micah: First e-mail comes from Owen, 18, of Georgia, and he says:

“You talked about the presence of alcohol in ‘Half-Blood Prince’ in Episode 177. I admit that I thought, ‘What the heck?’ when Hermione seemed to be a little tipsy, but I don’t think that it was such a problem. Most people, except for the most diligent fans, don’t realize, in the context of the story, magical citizens come of age at seventeen. Hermione is the oldest of the trio and has already been seventeen for months by the time she goes to the Three Broomsticks, so it’s perfectly legal for her to consume alcohol. There’s a little bit of shock value but
most fans will not get it. I got it, but my twelve-year old cousin did not. There’s stuff like this for every movie. There’s humor for the kids and then there’s humor that’s snuck in there for the bored parents sitting by their children. Anyway, thanks for listening to this little rant. I love the show, and am waiting for more episodes.”

Andrew: I think somebody brought up a good point last week that in England, alcohol – oh, Laura said this. America’s the only state where – or country where alcohol is so frowned upon.

Jamie: No. It’s frowned upon here as well.

Andrew: Is it?

Jamie: Oh yeah, yeah.

Andrew: Well, what do you think about the alcohol consumption? There was a lot. And, there was a New York Times piece talking about it.

Jamie: Yeah, but they’re going to bring it up. It’s like there are certain journalists and certain reporters whose job it is to make something out of nothing. And it isn’t a problem…

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: …and it won’t ever be a problem. And people generally drink alcohol and it’s what they do and it’s what they do. I’ll tell you, I was walking through a train station a couple of weeks ago, right? There was a sign…

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: …that said, “Be extremely careful, 15 people were injured getting on and off trains here last year.” And this is the London Underground where like one billion people travel through every year…

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: …and like 15 people injured? You aren’t going to improve on statistics like that. What do you want…

Andrew: Right.

Jamie: …like no one injured in the entire year?

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: And that’s what people do; they make something out of nothing. And even if she was underage, it’s all about this thing, like making children scared of strangers and scared to do stuff and it’s like – and if you show them responsible drinking…

Ben: Jamie, Jamie, are you saying it doesn’t matter if she’s underage?

Jamie: No, I’m saying that responsible drinking is more important than – irresponsible drinking, and the – it’s important…

[Ben laughs]

Jamie: What, what, what? No, but obviously it is, and I just think it’s people lose sight of the big picture a lot, a great deal, and I’d rather she was drinking with friends at seventeen than drinking at eighteen and going out and drinking way too much and waking up in an alleyway, but that is just me.

Andrew: Yeah. No, I think you’re right.

Micah: There are plenty of adults that abuse alcohol…

Andrew and Jamie: Yeah.

Micah: …and don’t know how to act once they consume too much of it.

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. Nonetheless, it was fun to talk about that there is alcohol in the movie more so than usual.

Ben: Well, if you look in the books, there’s a lot of alcohol in the books. They reference…

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: …you know, fire whiskey and all the different things a lot.

Jamie: But you say about alcohol, like what do you mean, butterbeer? First of all, first and foremost, but like…

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, at the Three Broomsticks I guess, that scene. But, then also when Slughorn and Hagrid were drinking in Hagrid’s hut, and then Hagrid kind of falls backwards…

Jamie: Yeah yeah, yeah. Yeah, but also, when you talk – when Slughorn poured a drink for Ron, you know?

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: That, to me, that has illustrated all through the books how nice a teacher-student relationship could be and like teaching nowadays is so screwed up because teachers are so scared of being accused of stuff that they can’t, all they are – like I read an article that said that teachers now are encouraged to treat their students as clients, just like a doctor would treat someone as a client, which is not how the teacher-student relationship would be, in Harry Potter, Lupin treats Harry like a friend, and their relationship develops because of that, and I think that’s quite nice about Harry Potter, that it isn’t a world where people would normally act with common sense rather than this world we live in now.

Ben: Well yeah, I mean if people are acting – if teachers are acting like their kids are clients I don’t think – I mean, the most important part is communication, and how are you going to get across to a kid if you’re coming across in this professional manner that really doesn’t appeal to them?

Jamie: Yeah, exactly. It’s stupid. I mean it’s the most illogical thing in the world, but it’s like, but then it comes down to these journalists writing for the New York Times who always make something out of nothing when there really aren’t that many problems around, and if people just chilled out and got on, oh it’s ridiculous, it does my head in!

Andrew: All right, well we’ll calm you down, we’ll move on to the next e-mail.

Jamie: Cool.

Ben: Can I read it?

Andrew: Ben, can you read the next one? Yeah!


Muggle Mail: Half-Blood Prince Rating


Ben: This is from Ariella? Areeleya?

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: Araleya.

Ben: Araleya. Araleya Baca, age 18 from Ashville, North Carolina. She writes:

“Hey Mugglecast, I was just wanting to pop in and ask what you guys think the rating for ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ will be, especially after the PG rating for ‘Half-Blood Prince.’ First off, I think the reason why they made HBP PG was to keep young audiences in just before the bump up with the violence in ‘Deathly Hallows.’ I think ‘Deathly Hallows’ will be pushing the rated R rating, because the young audience that they had for ‘Half-Blood Prince’ will be two years older and will be okay. I will only be satisfied with ‘Deathly Hallows’ if they make it as violent as the book was because I am already scared enough as to what they might ruin. Hope you guys are doing well, and keep up the great work.”

Andrew: Yeah, Jamie touched on this earlier. There’s some nasty stuff in this – in seven, and I think it’s got to be – they don’t want to go for R. No way.

Ben: They’re not going to go for R.

Jamie: I agree. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. And, so, I think PG-13 would be good. I mean, you know, it depends on what they do, it depends on what they cut out, and so there’s a lot riding on it, and the PG rating for Half-Blood Prince was a bit of a surprise to people, so…

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: …who knows what’s going to happen, really.

Ben: Well I think there – in Half-Blood Prince there was only one death, really and…

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: …but in Deathly Hallows, there’s obviously going to be more people dying, so I think that…

Jamie: With ears being cut off, and stuff.

Ben: Yeah, so I think there’s more blood, more gore, so R of course, is a bit out there but…

Andrew: And more language! More language too, when you think about I was reading one part of Deathly Hallows a couple weeks ago and…

Ben: “Not my daughter you bitch!”

Andrew: Yeah not just that but also somebody says “bastard” towards the end.

Jamie: Oh yeah, yeah.


Muggle Mail: Snape’s Allegiance


Andrew: So, yeah I mean there’s a lot more cursing. All right, next e-mail comes from Melissa Zach, 26, of Las Vegas, Nevada. She writes:

“Hi Mugglecasters, I love listening to your show. It is one of my favorite podcasts to listen to on my drive to work. I just wanted to make a comment on a statement you made in Episode 177. When you were discussing the new movie, you mentioned that it was kind of obvious whose side Snape was on, and that at the end of ‘Half-Blood Prince’ the book everyone knew that Snape was good even if they didn’t want to admit it. I have to disagree. Going into ‘Deathly Hallows,’ I was certain that he was evil.”

And she quotes, “A bastard coated bastard with bastard filling.”

Who said that?

[Ben laughs]

Jamie: No idea.

Andrew: Yeah I can’t remember. She quoted it, though, so hopefully it’s from the book.

Ben: Maybe it’s her quote.

Andrew: Maybe. “There was so much evidence to back me up, I know I could not have been the only one who was fooled. I just wanted to share. Keep up the good work.”

Ben: This is one of those things where hindsight is 20/20, where people are like, “Oh yeah, I was on the good side,” just like people…

Jamie: Yeah yeah, it is.

Ben: …like I know people, people who come out right now, and are like, “I knew Dumbledore was gay. I mean, all along, I knew he was gay.”

[Jamie laughs]

Jamie: Yeah, yeah.

Ben: And I’m just like, really? You didn’t know he was gay, you didn’t, you’re just trying to be cool.

Jamie: No, no, but…

Andrew: Well in all fairness though there were some people who were right about Snape.

Jamie: Yeah.

Ben: What’s that? What’d you say, sorry? I didn’t hear you.

Jamie: But.

Andrew: There were some people who were right about Snape.

Jamie: Some people had to be right, though, because like…

Andrew: Yeah, fifty-fifty shot. [laughs]

Jamie: But, J. K. Rowling, she’s a nice person and she, like, believes in morals and stuff, and I think it would be quite tough for her to write like, “I’m completely falling for this hindsight 20/20 thing, I really didn’t know.” But I’m just saying now, it’s like Hollywood movies. Books really have to show that crime doesn’t pay and people are good. Kind of, like this kind of genre.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: So I guess it makes sense for Snape to be good, but yeah, I didn’t know.

Andrew: Jamie, could you do us the pleasure of reading the final e-mail, please?


Muggle Mail: Dumbledore’s Pensieve


Jamie: Yes. All right, this comes from Catherine, 15, from Boston whose subject is “Dumbledore’s Pensieve”.

“Hey guys, I love the show. You guys are awesome, and it’s always interesting to hear your opinions about ‘Harry Potter.’ I was wondering about Dumbledore’s Pensieve. In the movie it was shown that all of Dumbledore’s memories were bottled up on a shelf. However, what happens once the memory taken out of the bottle holds it and one views it? Would you be able to extract the memory again and save it to view again? For example, when Snape gives Harry his memories of Lily and Harry views them, what happens to the memories? Would Harry be able to see those memories again? Or is it that once these memories are viewed, one is unable to recapture that memory? Thanks again. You guys rock, Catherine.”

Andrew: I was wondering that, too. It seems very odd.

Ben: Well, I thought that the Pensieve was like this basin with the silvery liquid in it. You dive into it and then you can see the memories. I didn’t think they, they don’t disappear, do they?

Andrew: Well, they don’t just pour it in…

Ben: Because think about in Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore obviously had already looked at the memory of what went on with Slughorn because when Harry saw it he said, “Yeah, this is incomplete.” So obviously, he had viewed it again and then it was Harry’s task to get the correct memory – the actual one that wasn’t tampered with.

Andrew: Yeah. And I guess it’s just a good visual representation for the films.

Micah: Right. My only thing…

Ben: Well, something that was interesting about when Snape gives Harry the memory of Lily, that was all too convenient. I recently reread Half-Blood Prince, and I just thought it was interesting how Harry wouldn’t have known all he needed to know unless he happened to be in the right place at the right time. And as Snape was dying, he gives Harry the memory of Lily and all this information he needed to know. What if he had shown up at the Shrieking Shack three minutes later and Snape was dead already? Then nothing would have went down in the end. Harry would have died.

Andrew: Yeah. It’s just a thing about stories, though. You know what I mean? You think that sometimes of stories, “Well, if this didn’t happen, then the rest of the story wouldn’t happen.” But it’s just something you got to deal with. Ben, did you unplug your headphones?

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: It’s just something you got to deal with. I mean, it just happens in these stories. It’s just how storytelling works.

Ben: I know. I’ve dealt with them.

Andrew: Yes, you are a writer. I’m sure it was… [laughs]

Micah: I was going to ask, though, how are they going to deal with some of the memories that weren’t shown in this particular book – I mean, this particular movie?

Andrew: Like what?

Micah: Well, Hepzibah Smith. That was left out.

Andrew: Mmm.

Micah: I don’t really think the Gaunts matter that much anymore. Dumbledore had that couple of seconds with the ring where he didn’t really do much explaining. But I thought they gave a little bit more insight. I guess they could do flashbacks in the next movie if they choose to?

Andrew: Yeah. You know how Hermione is really convenient? She’s got all information anyone needs in Book 7? I feel like that’s what’s going to happen in the film, too. Only more so, just like with the stuff they missed in the past.

Micah: Probably, yeah.

MuggleCast 178 Transcript (continued)


Half-Blood Prince Video Game


Andrew: Hopefully, they don’t make it too obvious, but – you know. All right. Well, that does it for Muggle Mail this week. Something else that happened when the movie came out, we still haven’t touched on it – the Half-Blood Prince video game. And we wanted to talk about it briefly because they always get a lot of hype and they’re usually relatively popular. We wanted to talk about it because Micah in particular has played it. I’ve played it a real little bit. I guess Jamie and Ben, you guys haven’t played it yet?

Jamie: No.

Ben: I have not.

Andrew: Micah, do you want to talk about it just briefly? We’re not going to get into it too much.

Micah: Sure. Well, I think the biggest problem with it is they invested so much time into creating this world, but there’s not a whole lot you can do with it. I was expecting more of a role-playing game and unless you’re really into Quidditch, potions and duelling, there’s not a whole lot to do with this game. And there’s a lot of potions that you have to make in order to advance to different stages, and it felt really like a children’s game. And I know Harry Potter is primarily geared towards children, but I thought they could do a lot in terms of selling it to teenagers and young adults and even people older than that who play video games. Because they could have really translated it into this Legend of Zelda type video game and they chose not to do that. And it’s really, it’s too young, in terms of who it’s trying to attract. If that makes sense…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: I guess for some people who have only played the game would only know what I’m talking about but just sitting there making potions, is a little childish.

Andrew: I get what you’re saying.

Micah: The Quidditch is awesome!

Andrew: And I know most of us have played the past Half-Blood Prince video games and it’s, there’s something about, first of all this most recent game, it got bad reviews all around, from critics, from fans generally. We have some short reviews from listeners that we’ll get to in a minute, but it’s just, I don’t know! It’s very hard to take a movie and adapt it into a video game. And I don’t think there’s been one single time where it’s been done correctly.

Micah: Well, I remember when you guys interviewed people over at EA and they were talking about how into the books they were and they made sure to…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: …add so much detail to it. I think they should have followed the book a lot more. And that’s the other problem, if you bought Half-Blood Prince before the movie came out, you had a general idea of what was going to happen in the movie because they cut scenes straight from the movie itself.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: And…

Andrew: It’s just such a shame because, Jamie can attest to this too, these people when we went over there, they’re so – they’re such die-hard fans of the books…

Jamie: Yeah, they really were.

Andrew: …and they were so excited by this game and, we went there when they were developing Order of the Phoenix and it, [laughs] you know, it just didn’t turn out that good.

Micah: Well…

Andrew: I feel bad.

Micah: They spent a lot of time on graphics, there’s no question about it. They put a tremendous amount into created Hogwarts and some of the surrounding areas.

Andrew: And plus they get the actors to recreate, to record voice-overs so it’s very, pretty realistic I’d say.

Micah: Yeah, but I feel like they missed the whole, they missed the ball on the whole gaming side of it, if that makes sense.

Andrew: So game-play wise…

Micah: It sucks!

Andrew: …it’s bad.

Micah: No, it sucks; it’s not bad, it sucks.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: I mean, like I said, if – for me a role-playing game to look at would be Legend of Zelda. If you could make something similar to that, where you’re constantly able to freely roam around, which you are able to do in this game, but you have specific tasks and it doesn’t take three hours to beat the game. You know, I think they could have gotten a lot more out of it, and better reviews.

Andrew: Do these – do you guys think movie seven will be, like, what are they going to do, when part one of the film comes out will they release a video game? Or are they going to wait for part two to come out?

Jamie: They can’t make two games, can they?

Ben: Yeah, that would be kind of ridiculous.

Andrew: Yeah, but then again it’s hard to…

Micah: Money.

Andrew: …picture EA waiting so long. Yeah, money, but I don’t know. You know what game is good, the one Harry Potter game I genuinely enjoyed, and I wish I had it, is Quiddich World Cup. And it was by EA Sports and it was just Quidditch, you just played Quidditch! And it was awesome! It’s fast-paced, the graphics were good…

Micah: Well, the Quidditch in this game was pretty good. I’m mean it wasn’t terrible.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Did you get to the point in the game?

Andrew: I played it very, very briefly.

Micah: Yeah. So, I mean, it’s fun, there’s no question about that and splitting it into two, the problem you run into though is these movies, or, these games are so close to the movies in terms of their story line, I mean, are you giving stuff away then about what’s going to happen in the movies if you release the whole thing together?

Andrew: Yeah, they couldn’t. W.B. wouldn’t let them.

Micah: So the game’s probably not going to come out until the second movie is released.


Listener Tweet: Video Game


Andrew: Let’s get through some quick reviews. We asked people who follow us on Twitter if they played the video game to send in your reviews, and here is what a couple of them said.

MoonPaul12 said: “Yes I loved the video game except when I got to the part when Ron gets the love potion. The antidote is impossible to make. Tips?”

Micah can you provide this visitor with tips?

Micah: Just…

Andrew: [imitating Micah] “Uh, just stir the Wii controller…”

Micah: Yeah, exactly. [laughs]

Andrew: [imitating Micah] “…counter-clockwise twice to the left.”

Micah: Exactly what Andrew just said, but that was the other thing, there’s so much potion making in this…

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: …which I get, because of – and that’s more true to the books I guess, than the movie, but it’s just so frustrating, you feel like you are playing something that, if you had an 8 or 10-year-old brother or sister that they would be really interested in doing it.

Andrew: Maybe you are just too old for this, Micah.

Micah: Yeah, that might be it.

Jamie: That could be it.

Micah: I’m going to quit.

Andrew: I don’t even want you on MuggleCast anymore, you’re just a bald, grumpy…

Micah: Well, they all agree with me!

[Andrew and Micah laugh]


Listener Tweet: Harry Potter Games Better on the Wii


Andrew: Next – next review, KatieJonasXO:

“I think it’s way too easy but as always Harry Potter games on the Wii are pretty awesome. There was too much video I thought.”

Is there a lot of narration?

Micah: Yeah, I mean that’s another thing. There’s too much cut-screens, you know…

Andrew: I hate when they do that.

Micah: …where you’re not participating, you’re seeing what’s happening, but you don’t get involved at all.


Listener Tweet: Good Half-Blood Prince Graphics


Andrew: So annoying. Another review, Vampite says:

“I love the HBP game, the graphics were amazing, there’s lots of things to do even after you finish the story.”

Eight out of ten from this person!

Micah: Wow!


More Listener Tweets


Andrew: Dzech says: “‘Order of the Phoenix’ game was better. Free roam was nice. The game focused too much on Quidditch, Potions, and Duelling. No other tasks available.”

And lastly JenBonstein says: “Played game. Fun. Too simple. Wish it was more RPG like Zelda. Not enough different things to do. Would like more free play.”

So everyone seems to agree that there wasn’t enough to do. Micah, if you had to give it a number of stars out of ten, how many would you award it?

Micah: Four.

Andrew: Four! Compared to Order of the Phoenix what would you give that?

Micah: Order of the Phoenix maybe a six? I don’t know. That might be pushing it. I wasn’t a big fan of that game either.


Happy Birthday MuggleCast


Andrew: All right, well we don’t want to delve into it much more but we wanted to briefly touch on that because a lot of you guys also played it. I’ve lost faith for – in EA for these games, to be quite honest. I don’t think they’ll be able to pull off a movie seven one quite well either. We’re going to talk now about MuggleCast turning four. We asked people to send in their thoughts on the show over the years, what it’s done for them. So they’re kind of, this is more of an extended Chicken Soup segment, but we wanted to talk – you know – give the listeners an extra opportunity to talk about what the show has done for them over the years. We got a few e-mails, then we’re going to do “Make the Music Connection,” Jamie is going to entertain us with a British joke, and we’ll wrap it up for the day. So, Ben could you read the first e-mail? This is a listener from quite far away from us.

Ben: Oh yes. Anna, 19 from Karachi, Pakistan writes:

“Hi. I’ve been an avid listener of your show since episode eighty or so. I love listening to your brilliant discussions and your existence has really helped me deal with the whole post-Potter grief. Sometimes you guys are the only ones who make sense. Even though I think all your shows are amazing, my favorite by far is episode ninety-nine. The way Ben builds up on the Emma Watson story is just hilarious. I keep listening to that episode now and then whenever I miss you guys. Anyway, just thought I’d write to congratulate you on your four year anniversary. Keep up the good work. Love you all, especially Jamie, Ben and Andrew. Anna.”

Jamie: Awww.

Andrew: Sorry, Micah.

Jamie: That’s nice.

Andrew: Ben that’s what I’ve always loved about you. You’re a good storyteller. You can build up a story. Like that Emma Watson story, I think that was a classic how you built that up.

Ben: Yeah, dude that was a heartbreaker man. I’m still – I’m still upset over that.

Andrew: Still reeling? [laughs] And we weren’t invited to a Half-Blood Prince after-party, so it’s like…

Ben: There goes my chance.

Jamie: You can’t make up for it and try again.


Ben: Emma’s New Boyfriend


Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, when will you get your next chance? But she has a boyfriend now. What’s your take on that?

Ben: Oh boyfriend. I mean, until there’s a ring on her finger, I’m not worried.

[Everyone laughs]

Jamie: Ben, Ben you could take him anyway, so it doesn’t even matter.

Andrew: He’s quite tall. He’s a big guy.

Ben: Have you seen him?

Andrew: I’m not sure if you could – yeah. There’s pictures. I’m going to send you a picture right now.

Jamie: Oh yeah. Let’s see.

Andrew: I think you’re going to feel intimidated.

Jamie: Ben, you could take him. Don’t be intimidated by this idiot.

Andrew: Here you go. Ben, take a look. Tell me what you think.

Micah: Is that an ostrich?

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: Oh whatever! Yeah, he’s barely taller than she is.

Jamie: Ah Ben you’d end his life!

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Ben: He kind of looks like Jamie.

Jamie: He doesn’t look like me at all.

Ben: Yeah he does.

Andrew: Yeah I think he does.

Ben: He has that narrow British facial structure.

Jamie: He looks like Prince William.

Andrew: Yeah, he does.

Ben: No he’s scrawny, I could take him.

Jamie: Ben you would – the world would collapse with how much power you’d beat into him. Just end his life.

Ben: But if I did that then I would blow any chance I had with Emma.

Jamie: No, no no no no. You’d be her hero because she doesn’t actually like him, you see? He’s just forcing her to go out with him.

Andrew: For her money, probably?

Jamie: Yeah, yeah.

Micah: When she comes over to the United States, Ben, it’s all you.

Ben: Yeah that’s true. What’s he going to do, follow her?

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: Hell, if I was dating Emma Watson I’d follow her.

Andrew: Ben, this one will make you jealous. They’re actually kissing. Try not – don’t get too upset.

Ben: Wow. Look at that.

Andrew: That was on the set.

Ben: Look at that.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: That’s just too bad. I see how it is, Emma. I see how it is, Emma. I guess I mean nothing to you.

Andrew: They look like they’re in love! All right. Well, thanks Anna, for that e-mail. Jamie, could you read the next one?


Growing up MuggleCast


Jamie: This is from Sarah Milton, 18 from Olympia in Washington.

“Hey MuggleCast. I can’t even believe that it has been four years. I was a freshman in high school when I started listening to you guys. It seems so weird that I’ve graduated, and my favorite podcast is still going. I was a big fan of MuggleNet at the time, and when I found out about the podcast, I went nuts. I was so excited, and I started making all my friends listen to it. MuggleCast has gotten me through some seriously boring times before. I listen to some of the podcasts – 59, 55, and 51 – multiple times just so I have something funny to listen to. I am so happy to know that people from around the world have the interest that I do and aren’t afraid to show it. I really love you guys, and I hope to see all of you guys in Seattle for the Imprint tour next year. I would…”

What is the Imprint tour?

“I would love to meet you all for the first time after my first year in college. Love you all, and you’re all my favorites, but I seriously love Micah and Jamie. You all rock.”

That’s very nice.

Andrew: Yeah, it’s really cool how listeners have – like this girl in particular, she’s grown up with the show. She started high school with us and she just graduated with us, which is really cool, I thought. I was in my second year of Shawnee when I started the podcast, so it’s pretty cool. Micah, you want to read the final email for today?


MuggleCast: Helping People Be Themselves


Micah: Sure. The last one comes from Thomas Sholan, 17, of San Diego, California. And he says:

“Love the show. You guys are all great, and do an amazing job with the show. I first started listening to the show when Episode 10 came out. At that time of my life I loved ‘Harry Potter,’ but was afraid to show my love in front of my peers for fear of being laughed at and shunned. But once I started listening to MuggleCast, I wasn’t afraid of showing my love for the Potter series. You guys really helped me realize that there is nothing wrong with being yourself, and I thank you for that. Love the show, and keep up the good work. Andrew and Laura, you’re my favorites.

Andrew: I’ve got to say, it’s always nice to see when people are, you know – Thomas said in particular, “You guys really helped me realize that there’s nothing wrong with being yourself, and I thank you for that.” I personally have grown a lot through this show. I was very – I was a social hermit, practically.

Ben: Was?

Andrew: Well…

[Jamie laughs]

Andrew: You know what I mean! I couldn’t socialize. I didn’t have – I don’t know.

Ben: Aw!

Andrew: But the show taught me a lot. That’s my own little Chicken Soup.

Jamie: Awww!


This Week in MuggleCast History: The First Show!


Andrew: And it’s really nice to see – and a lot of people say to us, “I feel like you guys are our Harry Potter friends.” And it’s really cool to see that, because people really connect with us and relate to us, and that’s why they enjoy listening to the show so much. Because we’re their Harry Potter friends! And it’s awesome. So those were all the e-mails we have. Thanks to everyone who sent in – a lot of people sent in some really nice messages. Of course, we couldn’t get to them all, but we did read them all, so thank you so much to everyone for sending them in. And to commemorate four years, one last time in this episode, you know, every once in a while we like to do This Week in MuggleCast History, where we relive a moment of MuggleCast, so how about we listen to the beginning of Episode 1 right now. Of course, that was…

Ben: Are we actually going to listen to it right now?

Andrew: Yeah. Just the beginning. You know, a couple minutes.

Ben: Wow, this is going to be weird.

Andrew: Okay, here we go, this was Episode 1, right from the start. Brace yourself.

[Andrew plays the beginning of Episode 1]

Jamie: This is so funny, really…

Andrew: [imitating Ben] “Kevin and Andrew, what do you guys think?” There we go. [makes time-travel noise]

Ben: Andrew, do we need to tell people that at the beginning of that, you were too scared to start it?

Andrew: I think we have told – yeah, but we might as well talk about it again. Go ahead.

Ben: Yeah, we were – first of all, it took us so long to actually be able to figure out how to record it, because we were complete noobs back then. And we used this program on Skype called HotRecorder, which lets you just record the conversation that you’re listening – that you’re in. And…

Jamie: Oh yeah.

Ben: …at the beginning, Andrew tried to start off the show probably five or six times, and we kept laughing and – I don’t know. And finally, I was just like, “I’m doing it!” And then I did it…

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: …and I sounded – I was fifteen when that episode was recorded. Fifteen!

Jamie: Oh, no way!

Micah: That’s crazy.

Andrew: I think you sound pretty similar still. Like, your voice hasn’t changed or anything.

Ben: A little more bass.

Micah: Neither has yours, Andrew, not at all.

Andrew: Mine has. Yeah Ben, you’re got more bass. [laughs] But it’s funny, because we had it so planned out. It was so, so scripted. We have a plan still, but it was – I had – I want to find these and scan them and put them online. I had pages of notes I made for the episodes, of stuff I wanted to go through. And right there where we paused the episode where you were like, “Andrew and Kevin, what do you guys think of this?” I remember just reading off my notes, “Well…”

[Ben and Jamie laughs]

Andrew: “…here’s what I thought.” [laughs] Good times. It’s always fun to hear that episode and see how far we’ve come. And people e-mail us frequently, you know, they love listening to the old episodes to see what we sounded like then. And…

Ben: We’re kind of like the Harry Potter movies. Like, Episode 1 is like Sorcerer’s Stone, where…

Jamie: Yeah, yeah. Now we’re Half-Blood Prince.

Ben: We’re just developing.


Make the Music Connection


Andrew: Yeah. And now it’s time for a fun segment everyone loves, it’s called Make the Music Connection. Jamie, as you remember, you originally came up with this segment, but it was Make the Connection.

Jamie: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Andrew: Now we’re doing Make the Music Connection.

Jamie: I know! I haven’t been gone that long, I know this.

Andrew: No, I know, I’m just reminding all our listeners. So who wants to go first? I have some very popular songs, these are very popular on the radio right now, and how this works…

Ben: We’ve got to relate it back to Harry Potter, right.

Andrew: Yeah, or where you would include it in a scene in one of the films, maybe. Or, yeah, just make some sort of connection to Harry Potter.

Jamie: Can I go first?

Andrew: Sure. And Jamie, I have a special one for you. We all know you’re a fan of Cascada. And…

Jamie: Oh, is this going to be Evacuate the Dance Floor?

Andrew: Yes! They have a new single out called Evacuate the Dance Floor, [laughs] and here we go. We’re going to sort of cut ahead to the lyrical part of it, if you can even call it that.

Jamie: Go on, then.

Andrew: So, here we go, Jamie.

Jamie: All right.

[“Evacuate the Dance Floor by Cascada” plays]

Jamie: Yeah, I’ve got this one!

Andrew: All right, this is a challenge song, Jamie! Make the connection.

Jamie: I think I’ve got it. I think it would be…

Andrew: Really?

Jamie: …the Room of Requirement, when Harry’s teaching them all to do spells…

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: …and he’s like, “Come on guys, let’s kick some ass!” And then it just kicks in, and they’re just throwing spells everywhere, and he’s like, “Go, guys!” and then he goes all beastly and then the camera pans up, and it pans down, and they’re all dancing, and everyone’s going mad! Have you guys…

Andrew: Cool!

Jamie: …ever seen Bruce Lee? Dragon – The Bruce Lee Story?

Andrew: No.

Jamie: Okay, basically, what happens is he fights this knight thing, this demon thing, and he’ll just be walking around, being normal, and then suddenly stuff will start shaking, and this demon will come out, and he’ll fight it and jump up, and everything will go back to normal, and everyone will be staring at him like he’s mad. Because to them, he’s just gone crazy, or whatever.

Andrew: Right.

Jamie: And I think it would go down, and everyone would just be crazy, dancing about, jumping about, firing sparks into the air…

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: Then it would just cut out, and they would just be practicing spells, and Harry would be like, “Well done, guys.”

Andrew: [laughs] I think that’s really good!

Jamie: Thanks.

Andrew: That’s the first time I’ve listened to that song. I actually like it. Do you like that song?

Jamie: It’s pretty decent. I don’t think it’s as good as Every Time We Touch, but…

Andrew: No, no.

Jamie: …it’s okay, yeah.

Andrew: All right, Ben or Micah, which one of you wants to go next?

Ben: I’ll go.

Andrew: Okay. This is another popular song right now, Ben.

Ben: Is this Lady Gaga?

Andrew: No, no.

[“Good Girls Go Bad” by Cobra Starship plays]

Andrew: Good Girls Go Bad, by Cobra Starship.

[Song continues]

Andrew: All right, make the connection. You know this song?

Ben: Yeah, I know that song. Wow. I’m terrible at this game.

Andrew: “Good girls” – here, I’ll read you some lyrics to assist you. “I make them good girls go bad. Good girls go bad. Good girls go bad.”

[Ben laughs]

Jamie: Is that what you do, Ben?

Andrew: “I know your type.” [laughs] “I know your type, you’re daddy’s little girl, just take a bite let me shake up your world.”

Jamie: Ben, it – can I…

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: I was going to give you – I was going to say, perhaps when Hermione punches Malfoy. Like, kind of…

Andrew: There you go. Yeah, because she’s going…

Jamie: Try to work that in maybe.

Andrew: “She was so shy until I drove her wild.” That’s a good Hermione song.

Micah: I was going to say could be McClaggen’s theme song.

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: Yeah, that’s funny. Yeah, those beaters…

Andrew: That would be good, especially on the Quidditch pitch, if that song started playing.

Micah: Yeah, Jamie, what did you think about that? Did you think there was a little…

Andrew: Innuendo? [laughs]

Micah: …innuendo in those scenes?

Jamie: What do you mean, when?

Micah: During Quidditch.

Andrew: Like when…

Jamie: Give me an example.

Andrew: How about when McClaggen sticks his finger in his mouth and is staring at Hermione during Slughorn’s class. [laughs]

Jamie: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was ridiculous. That was absolutely ridiculous. But then Cormac McClaggen just seemed kind of like he just strolled on, did his bit, and left. There wasn’t really any depth to his character. I’m sure there couldn’t really be considering his part. But yeah, that was just – and Hermione looking all flustered and like, “Oh, how could he do that, he’s disgusting.” That was stupid, I agree. Sticking his finger in his mouth, God!

Andrew: All right, good job guys. Micah, here is one for you, another big song. I know that you personally are a big fan of this song.

[“I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas plays]

Andrew: This is I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas. A very hot song right now.

Jamie: [singing] No, no, no, no…

Ben: I think that fits perfectly when – this is the song they would put on the radio in the Ford Anglia…

[Everyone laughs]

Ben: …either when Harry escapes from the Dursleys, or when they’re on the way to Hogwarts.

Jamie: Yeah, that’s awesome!

Andrew: That’s perfect, I love it. I love it.

Jamie: Yeah, that’s very good.

Andrew: Good job, Ben. You’ve redeemed yourself.

Ben: I know. I stole Micah’s. I’m sorry, Micah. But you kind of have to…

Micah: Yeah, we’re even now.

Ben: I had to get you back.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: You got me.


British Joke of the Day


Andrew: I’ve got to say – Okay, Jamie it’s time for a British joke, the fans love your British jokes. Now we’re so excited.

Jamie: [laughs] Don’t build it up.

Ben: Jamie is a British Joke.

[Jamie laughs]

Andrew: Oh, that’s kind of mean.

Jamie: It is a bit harsh, but…

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: All right, I can’t remember if I’ve said this one, I hope I haven’t. My apologies if I have. But did you know that people in Dubai don’t like the Flintstones?

Andrew: No, why is that?

Jamie: Well no, they don’t like them there, but the people in Abu Dhabi do.

Andrew: [laughs] Good one.

Micah: Oh…

Ben: Oh.

Andrew: Thank you Jamie for that.

Jamie: It’s all right.


Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul


Ben: That took a minute to register. Can I read the Chicken Poop?

Andrew: Yes, tonight’s Chicken Poop! [laughs] To wrap up the show today we have Chicken Soup, or Chicken Poop. Go ahead Ben, read it for us.

Ben: This comes from Emily Neuberger from Lake Forest, Illinois. She is 15 years old and she writes:

“Hi MuggleCasters. Now, this Chicken Soup isn’t about me having some kind of a terminal illness or anyone dying, but I still feel like you guys have helped anyway. I’m very interested in theatre and to be good at it I have to practice a lot. Between three-hour practices every day, multiple dance classes, voice and acting lessons, choir and band practice, and tournaments with the acting team at my high school, I hardly even have any time to myself. I also try and maintain straight A’s, or as close as I can get. Sometimes this is just too much, and I find myself giving up the things I love. I’ve loved ‘Harry Potter’ since I was six, and I’d be devastated if felt like I couldn’t keep up with all the news in the fandom. Your podcast is great, easy way for me to have some more HP in my life without having to spend so much time online, etcetera. You also helped me calm down after my hectic days. I can listen to MuggleCast without giving up too much time, and I don’t feel as stressed out. Thanks for having such a great, high quality podcast with great discussions. You guys really keep me sane sometimes. Emily.”

Andrew: Well, thank you Emily for that, that was a very nice message. Don’t you guys love the Chicken Soups?

Ben: I do. I need some chicken soup right now, dude.

Andrew: Literally?

Ben: I’m kind of sick, I’ve have these allergies.

Andrew: Oh.

Jamie: I don’t even know…

Ben: Yeah, you should fly out and bring me some.

Jamie: That’s a weird segment though, because I just didn’t know where it came from. I know it’s on some…

Andrew: What do you mean?

Jamie: Well, I know it’s from some American show where the hosts is “something-something.”


Contact Information


Andrew: Well, no. It’s a book series. There are Chicken Soup books, like Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, Chicken Soup for the Single Parent’s Soul. You know, they appeal to different groups of people. Anyway, so that’s where it came from. Let’s remind everybody about our contact information before we let you go. If, if! I did that just for you, Jamie. If…

[Jamie laughs]

Andrew: No, in all seriousness, if you would like to send something to our P.O. Box, the address is: P.O. Box 1752 Cumming, GA 30028. Just address it to MuggleCast. Also, you can visit MuggleCast.com and click on “Contact” for our handy feedback form to send in feedback, or e-mail anyone of us at our first name at staff dot mugglenet dot com. We also have the variety of community outlet links on the right side of MuggleCast.com to subscribe to us on Twitter – sorry, follow us on Twitter – subscribe to us on iTunes, or fan us on Facebook.. You can also vote for us once a month at Podcast Alley, or visit the other parts of our site – our community. We have a MySpace, a YouTube channel, a Frappr page, a Last.FM channel to see what other MuggleCast fans are listening to, and also the Fanlisting and the Forums which are located at MuggleCastFan.net. So again, just go to MuggleCast.com for all those links and a lot more. Micah, do you have a transcript update real quick? There’s been a lot of transcripts added lately, hasn’t there?

Micah: There have been. Just that we’re continuing to post as we get more. I mean, I can’t really tell you what new episodes have been added lately, but we’re doing our best to get caught up and everyone’s working really hard, so kudos to them.

Ben: How far behind are we?

Micah: Not very far.

Andrew: Not far, just about six episodes. The Transcripts page is very impressive. You scroll down it, and you see links to all of our episodes, transcribed – every single word – of mine.

[Show music begins]

Andrew: I could say right now…anything.

Micah: Mazel tov.

Andrew: Mazel tov.

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: Crane. Do they transcribe the songs, too…

Ben: Pickles!

Andrew: During Make the Music Connection?

Micah: No, they’ll just say that the song was played.

Andrew: Oh, okay. I was going to say, if somebody has to sit there and transcribe lyrics…

Micah: No.

Andrew: [laughs] I would feel bad!

Ben: “Here we come, here we go…”

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]

Ben: “We going to…”

Andrew: “Pause. Okay, ‘here we come, here we go…’ Continue.

Micah: But you definitely talk the most when I’m going through and coding it. You or Eric, it’s usually a tossup between the two of you.

Andrew: Well, I am the hostess with the mostest.

Micah: Yeah.

Ben: Well, this is the Andrew Sims…

Micah: And friends, right?

Andrew: We all talked very equally this episode. Yes, it’s Andrew Sims and Friends – MuggleCast with Andrew Sims and Friends.

Jamie: And friends. [laughs]

Ben: I’m not your friend.

Andrew: [laughs] Business partners.

Ben: My nephew who’s seven, just walked into the room and he wants to be on the podcast.

Andrew: Oh, sure. Just say hi to us.

Ben: Say hi. Say hi, Dakota.

Dakota: Hi!

Andrew: Ben, he’s been on the show for a while. I remember the days when you were like, “Oh, Dakota’s here. I’ve got to quiet him down before we start recording.”

Ben: Yeah, he’s a little punk.

Andrew: Awww.

Ben: He’s a little punk. He has a girlfriend.

Andrew: Oh, wow.

Jamie: No way!

Ben: Yeah.

Andrew: I don’t even have a girlfriend.

Jamie: How old is she?

Ben: She’s ten.

Andrew: [laughs] Really?

Ben: No, she’s the same age.

Micah: Cougar.


Show Close


Andrew: Oh, that’s cute. [laughs] “Cougar.” All right, well thanks everyone for listening. It’s been a really fun show. Thank you all for your support over the years. It’s been a privilege to speak to you all. You guys, too – Ben, Micah, Jamie. And so thanks everyone for listening. Once again, I’m Andrew Sims.

Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence.

Ben: I’m Ben Schoen.

Micah: And I’m Micah Tannenbaum.

Andrew: We’ll see you next time for Episode 179. Buh bye!

Micah: Bye.

Jamie: Buh bye.

Ben: Buh bye.

[Show music continues]