MuggleCast 190 Transcript
Show Intro
[Intro music begins]
Andrew: Oh, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to MuggleCast Live! And, oh my goodness, people are spamming the chat with – [laughs] that’s uncalled for. Please don’t spam the chat people. Thank you Andrew Slack for that warm opening message. And we are here today – we’re speaking to a new audience this afternoon, for some of you at least. So we’d like to introduce ourselves to those of you who are watching us for the first time. This is MuggleCast. MuggleNet.com’s Harry Potter podcast. I am Andrew Sims and I am joined by my friends who have been podcasting with me all the way since the – since the dawn of 2005, Jamie, Eric, Micah, Matt. Hello! Hello.
Jamie: Hey!
Matt: Hey.
Andrew: Hey, hey, hey! Micah? Eric?
Jamie: Thanks for stopping by.
Andrew: Oh Jamie thank you! Jamie, hello from the other side of the world.
Jamie: Hello. Everyone’s helping Haiti heal today aren’t they?
Andrew: That is…
Jamie: It’s not just people in America.
Andrew: Of course, Jamie, of course.
Jamie: I wonder where we’ve got people from – where our farthest person is away, listening now.
Andrew: Well, away from who?
Jamie: Well, oh yeah!
[Andrew and Jamie laugh]
Matt: What are you basing this on Jamie?
Jamie: All right. Away from Haiti then.
Andrew: Away from Haiti.
Jamie: How far – whose the farthest..
Andrew: All over the world.
Jamie: …away from there.
Eric: I’m pulling up Google maps now.
Andrew: I see a lot of people are – are submitting their locations via the chat, but as Andrew Slack said we’re here today to raise money for recovery efforts in Haiti. When you donate money you’ll be eligible to win some great items, and we’ve all been looking through the list prior to starting the show today. Some really cool stuff at the – to get to the prizes you go to TheHPAlliance.org/Haiti and you’ll find a link there to the prizes. And you’ll also see a list of rules and how to donate. So great stuff. Any stuff that was interesting to you guys that you’re going to be donating – you’ll be donating money to get in the running to win those prizes?
Jamie: I quite like the sort of difference between them. Like there’s not only Harry Potter stuff, there’s stuff from like True Blood and Heroes and stuff like that. It’s…
Andrew: Right.
Jamie: …a cool little auction. It really is.
Andrew: Matt, you’re a big True Blood fan.
Matt: I’m a huge True Blood fan!
Andrew: So are you going to be donating for that category?
Matt: Maybe. I’m still trying to save up.
Andrew: [laughs] Save up. More – more money to donate to Haiti.
Matt: Well, I hope.
Andrew: Okay, that’s fine.
Jamie: You’d better start saving up quickly.
Matt: I know. I’m – I’m actually looking at my stocks right now and the stocks are going up, right now.
[Andrew and Jamie laugh]
Jamie: You going to sell those Google shares?
Matt: Yes!
Jamie’s Challenge
Andrew: So he’s ready to donate. So here’s what – here’s what’s going on. If you’re listening to this – even after the live event you can still donate. Again TheHPAlliance.org/Haiti. We need your donations now, that is the most critical thing, and we’ll be updating you on the total amount raised every so often throughout this program. Special to MuggleCast fans – first of all, actually, [laughs] I think we’re going to have to adjust this. We had a deal – we were going to say if we raised a thousand dollars in the MuggleCast hour, Jamie would be doing something specifically to MuggleCast fans. But we have already raised nine hundred dollars. [laughs] So…
Jamie: Oh right.
Eric: We better make it…
Andrew: …I don’t think a thousand. Yeah. How about five thousand? Ten thousand…
Jamie: Five thousand sounds – ten thousand’s a lot of money! I don’t know, ten thousand is a lot. I don’t know – perhaps we can do it. Well, what…
Andrew: Okay, well – go ahead.
Jamie: Well, what I was planning on doing is for everyone listening who isn’t a regular listener – quite awhile ago I made a bet – quite a stupid bet I think – I think it was this one where I said if Harry died or if he didn’t die or something, I would eat a certain amount of sausages. And then for some reason that didn’t happen – probably because I was quite confident in what I said was going to happen – and then it didn’t happen – but then I realized I couldn’t eat fifty sausages – I don’t know if anyone can. But anyway, before that I made a different bet and I said I was going to eat five Big Macs and I ended up doing that and it’s on YouTube. If you search on YouTube you’ll be able to find it.
Andrew: But now you don’t eat meat anymore, so what are you going to do this time?
Jamie: I don’t – well, no, no – I do eat meat. I just eat organic, healthy meat from…
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Jamie: …nice animals who haven’t been hurt and tortured and stuff. So, yeah – I’m going to eat five home-grown burgers – homemade burgers. Huge burgers – absolutely huge.
Andrew: Okay.
Jamie: Massive. More than anyone could ever think of. If it reaches, what? Five thousand?
Andrew: Five thousand dollars. That’s what we’ll do.
Eric: And you’ll videotape the whole thing.
Jamie: Yeah, and I’ll film my pain. Film my pain and torture for the world to see.
Andrew: So there we go.
Jamie: And it will be torturous.
Andrew: [laughs] All right, so let’s get to the news as always – as we do here on MuggleCast. And we’re going to update everyone on the latest Harry Potter news stories and discuss them and what not. So, Micah, what’s been going on buddy?
News: Helping Haiti Heal
Micah: Well, you guys were just talking about helping Haiti heal and donating money and one of the big things that the Harry Potter fandom seems to be so good about is coming together around important causes. And there was another auction that was held on eBay very recently for a signed Deluxe Edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling and Mary GrandPre…
Andrew: Right.
Micah: And it ended up selling for over $5,400. And there were other prizes that were included in this package, but sort of the main attraction was this series signed by J.K. Rowling and Mary GrandPre.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: So just another amazing example of how this fandom comes together around good causes.
Andrew: Exactly. I was so close – I bid $5,412 and someone beat me out by just a dollar.
Jamie: Oh, Andrew.
Matt: A dollar?
Andrew: I’m just kidding.
Eric: Now you wish you had…
Matt: Wait, where did you get $5,000?!
Andrew: Yeah, I’m just kidding. I didn’t actually…
Jamie: Well, Andrew, I think if you were going to bid for that and you were going to bid 5,412, perhaps you should – donate that now.
Andrew: Give it to Haiti now. That’s right.
Jamie: 5,412, yeah.
Andrew: What can I get for that? 5,000 – that’s a lot.
Eric: Well, Jamie would eat hamburgers. [laughs]
Andrew: We actually haven’t mentioned this yet. At least for Harry Potter fans, what is the greatest item that was donated for this cause today was donated by J.K. Rowling herself. It’s a signed set of U.K. edition Harry Potter books, all signed by J.K. Rowling. There’s also a little card she included that says, “Thank you for helping Haiti,” and she signed that as well so, amazing prize. You can donate $100 to be eligible to win that. Just because you donate a hundred doesn’t mean you automatically win it. You’ll be entered into a pool, and we’re going to randomly select one person out of that pool to receive the prize. So, excellent item.
Matt: Nice.
Andrew: I’m thinking about doing it. I’m thinking about doing it. I’ve donated some money to Haiti and may donate some more to be eligible for that prize. Anyway, what else is going on, Micah?
News: Deathly Hallows Composer Revealed
Micah: Well, probably the biggest news in the Harry Potter world this past week was that we finally have a composer for at least the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: Alexandra…
Andrew: Alexandre.
Matt: Alexandre.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Alexandre, sorry.
Andrew: It’s a dude.
Micah: Alexandre, uh… Deplah. I hope my French is…
Andrew: Desplat.
Matt: Desplat.
Eric: Desplat?
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: That’s the Americanized version.
Matt: No, it’s how it’s pronounced.
Andrew: Alexandre Desplat is the actual…
Matt: Despla-a-a.
Jamie: Desplat.
Andrew: Depla.
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: I don’t know about that…
Andrew: No, no. We’re positive.
Matt: No, it is.
Micah: All right…
Andrew: [laughs] Sorry.
Micah: Anyway, he has also scored The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Julie & Julia, The Golden Compass, and The Twilight Saga: New Moon.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: So I want to know what you guys think about this. You guys have, I’m sure, seen at least one of those other movies. Do you think he’s right for the part?
Andrew: Matt, you’re a big composer – score-er buff.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: What did you think of this?
Matt: Well, I love Al – I’m just going to call him Alex. I love Alex’s work.
[Micah laughs]
Matt: I think he does really great, especially romantic pieces.
Andrew: Mhm.
Matt: And he has done some pretty good action sequences too, but I was really hoping for John Williams. I mean, I was willing to bet fifty Big Macs, just like Jamie, that he was going to be back…
Jamie: Ooh!
Matt: …because he wasn’t doing anything.
Jamie: Why didn’t you?
Matt: Well, because…
Andrew: He lives up to his promises.
Matt: Recently he signed up for Stephen Spielberg’s Tintin.
Andrew: And that’s going to be taking up his time.
Matt: And that’s going to take up a lot of his time, so it makes sense why he’s not going to do Deathly Hallows.
Andrew: But Eric, you dug up something interesting.
Eric: Yeah, I dug up something interesting from our MuggleNet News Archive, it actually was an interview of David Heyman just candidly. He was at an Apple store, I think, doing an event last July, just before Harry Potter 6 came out. He was asked specifically about John Williams scoring the seventh Harry Potter films and David Heyman said that he would actually – they’re trying to get him particularly for Part II…
Andrew: Ahhh…
Eric: …to score part two. And that was an answer that Heyman gave last July. So he knew even then that there was – they were probably going to, well not obviously split – the split had been announced by then but they’re looking for John Williams to score the second part…
Matt: Right.
Eric: …which, in my opinion, actually makes more sense…
Andrew: Definitely.
Eric: …or definitely makes sense to bring the series to a closure. You know we want John Williams in there because we want it to have…
Andrew: It will bring it full circle.
Eric: Yeah.
Matt: It is kind of interesting that when Alex was attached to do the first part, he was only attached to do the first part. Wasn’t that kind of – I mean that kind of raised a big flag.
Andrew: Well, yeah, I guess…
Jamie: It fits together though.
Matt: Yeah, it fits together nicely. I mean he probably just said, “Hey look, we’re looking for somebody to do the first part. John is interested in doing it but he’s only available for the second part”.
Andrew: Yeah, that makes sense.
Jamie: Will they work together though?
Andrew: I don’t know.
Jamie: Or are they going to do it separately, because that will be interesting.
Matt: Well, when the latest Twilight film, New Moon, came out, Andrew and I went to a little convention and Alexandre Desplat was there talking about how he scores and there was a question that asked if he does – when he was doing the sequel to Twilight, did he go back to the first score and take anything. And he said he doesn’t really do that. He doesn’t listen to anything before, he does his own thing. So I don’t know if he’s actually going to be using any of the John Williams themes.
Andrew: I think they’ll make him use Hedwig’s Theme. You have no choice but to use that.
Matt: Well, that’s kind of a given. But I don’t think he’ll stray away from that.
Andrew: I’m still unsure of how exactly Alexandre’s sound is going to fit into the Harry Potter books.
Matt: What do you mean?
Andrew: Well, how is his music, how is his style going to fit into the books?
Jamie: I’m sure he’s going to change it slightly.
Alexandre Desplat Experiment
Andrew: Sure, but I actually got curious about this last night and I decided to put together some samples and basically I realised there was only one way of knowing if Alexandre’s scoring abilities would truly match the scenes that were written by J.K. Rowling. So don’t worry guys, I took the liberty of taking some of Alexandre’s most recent work and putting it with dialogue from book seven. Do you want to take a listen to this?
Eric: Oh, this is awesome.
Jamie: I don’t this is going to reach his standards.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Well no this is his music, mixed in with scenes from Harry Potter.
Eric: Cool idea.
Jamie: If he’s done it for Gladiator, or whatever, it’s not going to work.
Andrew: Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know. Well, here, take a listen. This – I first decided to take the epilogue chapter in Book 7 and mix it in with his score from – it’s a song called “Jimmy Squirrel and Co.” and we heard this in the film Fantastic Mr. Fox. Okay? Take a listen. Take a – get a…
Matt: Just play the clip, Andrew.
Andrew: Think with an open mind.
[“Jimmy Squirrel and Co.” plays]
Andrew:
“Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first of September was crisp and golden as an apple, and as the little family bobbed across the rumbling road to the great sooty station, the fumes of car exhausts and the breath of pedestrians sparkled like cobwebs in the cold air. ‘It won’t be long and you’ll be going, too.’ Harry told her. ‘Two years,’ sniffed Lily. ‘I want to go now!’ Albus’ voice drifted back to Harry over the surrounding clamor; his sons had resumed the argument they had started in the car. ‘I won’t! I won’t be in Slytherin!’ ‘James, give it a rest!’ said Ginny. ‘You’ll write to me, won’t you?’ Albus asked his parents immediately, capitalizing on the momentary absence of his brother. ‘Every day, if you want us to.’ said Ginny. ‘Not every day,’ said Albus quickly. ‘James says most people only get letters from home about once a month.”
[Music ends]
Andrew: So what do you think?
Jamie: That was awesome.
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: I’m speechless after that.
Andrew: If you mix his existing scores in, I think they work very well and that was…
Jamie: That gave it a very kind of upbeat thing to the end of the book…
Andrew: Well, it’s happy.
Jamie: I sort of – I just – it is happy. I sat here and I was sort of drifted away to a dreamy place. [laughs]
Andrew: Thank you. That’s exactly what I was going for. Okay, I did one more because I wanted to double check my work…
[Matt laughs]
Andrew: …and I decided to – this second scene is where Ron rejoins Harry and Hermione after running away. You guys remember this from Book 7, right?
Eric: Yeah.
Matt: Yes.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Now, this may be a little controversial, but I had to do it. I mixed it in with his score from “The Meadow”…
[Matt gasps]
Andrew: Which can be heard in the film New Moon. Don’t judge it yet. Take a listen. I really think this works.
Eric: I’m judging, Andrew.
Jamie: I’m judging.
[“The Meadow” plays]
Andrew:
“‘You come back after weeks and you think it’s all going to be all right if you just say sorry?’ ‘Well, what else can I say?’ Ron shouted, and Harry was glad that Ron was fighting back. ‘Oh, I don’t know!’ yelled Hermione with awful sarcasm. ‘Rack your brains, Ron, that should only take a couple of seconds!’ ‘Hermione,’ injected Harry, who considered this a low blow, ‘he just saved my-‘ ‘I don’t care!’ she screamed. ‘I don’t care what he’s done! Weeks and weeks, we could’ve been dead for all he knew.’ ‘I knew you weren’t dead,’ bellowed Ron drowning her voice for the first time and approaching as close as he could with the shield charm between them. ‘Harry’s all over the ‘Prophet’ and all over the radio, they’re looking for you everywhere, all these rumors and mental stories. I knew I’d hear straight off if you were dead. You don’t know what it’s been like.’ ‘What it’s been like for you?'” [fake sobbing]
So there we go.
[Everyone laughs]
[Music ends]
Andrew: I think this was the only way to figure out if Alexandre would be good for this role.
Matt: I love how your Hermione voice kind of sounds like Stewie from Family Guy.
[Andrew laughs]
Matt: And how your Ron accent sounds like Micah’s impression – your impression of Micah.
Andrew: Well thank you. Yeah that’s yeah…
Micah: I was going to say, you definitely have a future in doing voices.
Jamie: Voice-overs, yeah.
Andrew: Thank you. But anyway, in all seriousness [laughs] putting all that joking around to the side now, I’m actually concerned about the consistency between Desplat and potentially John Williams, because if you think about it…
Eric: Why though?
Andrew: …they’re two very different composers.
Matt: But they’ve said in the past that these two parts are going to be completely different films.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: And not only that, but think about the difference between John Williams in the first two Harry Potter movies and John Williams in the third Harry Potter movie. That’s the same composer and those scores are completely different.
Matt: Completely.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: And also he isn’t going to have a complete creative license. They’re going to be telling him. Well – you know – you should – they’ll look at his first work and they’ll be like, “Well you probably have to do this, this and this.” So there are always guidelines and best practices, so I don’t think it’s just going to be, “Do whatever you want” and John Williams will do whatever he wants, because they are going to have to link in somehow even though they are separate films.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: That said – yeah, they were – movie one is being called a, “road movie” and its – I can just imagine the score for Part II…
Jamie: That’s ridiculous.
Eric: …being insane and kind of even like this with this with the final battle and all but – I don’t know how them on the run is going to translate to any score, but I think thanks to Andrew’s little gimmick there – his experiment…
Andrew: That was no gimmick! Yeah thank you! It was an experiment.
Eric: It was cool actually. It was well thought out, it was awesome, but thanks to that I have excitement.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay, what was I going to say? Oh, I hope Warner Brothers isn’t going to Desplat and being like, “Look, this is a road movie. You must make it a road movie.” and he’s like, “Oh, oui, oui! I get it yeah, yeah, yeah!”
Eric: “Oui, oui?”
[Eric and Jamie laugh]
Andrew: And he just turns it into something rodeo like, “Yee-hoo! We’re rolling down the road now!” I don’t know.
Matt: What?
Jamie: Andrew I think it’ll be awesome if they contacted you now and were like, “We think you should do the score instead of Alex”…
Andrew: [laughs] Well…
Jamie: …and then you can decide on – no go on.
Andrew: Good thing you mentioned that. I actually submitted those experimentations to Warner Brothers. Just gave them a heads up…
Eric: What they can expect from Andrew for a road movie.
Andrew: Anyway let’s keep moving! What else is going on Micah?
News: Half-Blood Prince Nominations
Micah: Well, Half-Blood Prince was in the running for seven BAFTA awards and we found out earlier this week that the sixth film was only shortlisted for two of them; Special Visual Effects and Production Design. The problem I see here is that is faces the mighty Avatar in both categories.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]
Jamie: The unbeatable Avatar.
Andrew: Yeah, I have a feeling this is going to be like Slumdog Millionaire, where every category it’s nominated in, you just forget it. You’re not going to win if you’re running against that – running against that film and Avatar is that film this year.
Jamie: Yeah.
Micah: Yep.
Andrew: Does anyone agree…
Micah: I’m sure we’ll find out on February 21st.
Andrew: Did you name the categories it was nominated in? Half-Blood Prince?
Micah: Yes, Special Visual Effects and Production Design.
Andrew: It’s almost a shame because, can you compare the production design between a digital film like Avatar and something like Harry Potter, that’s based on a book?
Jamie: Especially when special visual effects. You’re talking about filming from a couple of years ago to Avatar, which is supposed to have ground-breaking visual effects. So if it doesn’t win then it looks stupid.
Andrew: Exactly.
Jamie: It’s supposed to be really, really big, you can’t compare…
Matt: Well, Avatar has been in production for over ten years, wasn’t it?
Jamie: Yeah, yeah. James Cameron is slow, very slow.
Andrew: Yeah! [laughs]
Jamie: Then in Titanic he thought, “I’m going to have fifteen years off”.
[Andrew, Matt and Micah laugh]
Andrew: Hey…
Matt: Sorry.
Andrew: Before we move on, we just want to remind everybody that we are here to raise money for Haiti. TheHPAlliance.org/Haiti is the site you want to be one. If you’re watching the live stream right now, you’re on the site. You can look at the prices you can get donating. Let me get the latest total, what’re we up to here? $2,800 is the latest total.
Matt: Oh, Jamie.
Andrew: That’s excellent.
Jamie: Oh no, it’s counting down. It’s going to happen.
Andrew: Well, we have about twenty minutes left.
Micah: More than half way there Jamie.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Yeah. [laughs] And we’re like, five minutes in.
Andrew: Anyway, What were you going to sat next Matt?
Matt: No, I was just – I’ve been thinking. I think Harry Potter as far as an Oscar goes, they’re probably not going to win anything big until that last film. Because I’m thinking this is going to go the same way that Lord of the Rings did because when the last Lord of the Rings film was nominated, it was a clean sweep, they won eleven Academy Awards, but they barely won really anything with the previous films. So I think that maybe that might happen with Harry Potter.
Micah: Don’t we find out that soon too, I think. Speaking of the Oscars, but with these BAFTAs, what did you say these are the kind of awards to be ashamed of if you’re British?
Jamie: I didn’t say that.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Yes you did! You said that exactly, are you taking that back now?
Jamie: I didn’t – no, no, I’m taking it back because I didn’t say that. What I said was, “compared to the Oscars I wouldn’t rate the BAFTAs.” I wouldn’t tune into the BAFTAs when there was the Oscars on or anything like that. I don’t know, I don’t know. I feel a bit bad no because they’re quite a big the BAFTAs but, still.
Andrew: They are.
Jamie: I’d rather have an Oscar – sorry.
[Andrew laughs]
Andrew: I think everyone would agree with you there. Any other news Micah to talk about?
News: Some Weird Newspaper Technology
Micah: All right, last bit of news, the Universal Studios Orlando and USA Today announced that they have partnered to create a new augmented reality experience that users will be able to enjoy on their own computer. It will allow them to explore the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Theme Park like never before, and this is going to be available in the January 28th edition of USA Today. I really don’t understand how all this technology works, Andrew, so I’m going to let you explain it.
Andrew: Okay, the best way to explain this, if you have an iPhone, [laughs] the best way to explain this is if you have an iPhone that’s what I’m trying to say. They have iPhone apps that are augmented reality, so basically here’s what’s going to happen, I’m demonstrating on camera, you’re going to have the newspaper pretend this is your newspaper and you’re going to hold it up to your webcam and the USA Today website I assume, or the Wizarding World website will let you take the paper and sort of turn it around and you can see the castle from different angles. That’s what I think it’s going to be like. That’s what it should be like. That’s what augmented reality is: taking a real life object, turning it into something digital and making it look real, is that right, Jamie?
Jamie: Yeah I think so, I just saw an awesome video on YouTube a while ago where it was a guy just standing there with absolutely nothing in his hands, and then on video he was holding a rose and he could twist it around, throw it up in the air and catch it again. It was very, very cool.
Andrew: So that’s a cool thing that they are working on right now. So, when is that going to be in the paper? I think this Thursday?
Micah: Yeah, the 28th. They seem to be doing a lot now. I mean, they started last week with the Daily Telegraph. Jamie did you go out and get your free DVD and mouse pad?
Jamie: I didn’t…
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Jamie: No I didn’t, I know I’m supposed to, but I didn’t.
Andrew: He got the memo but there’s nothing new in it.
Jamie: Well yeah, and Andrew showed me a picture of the mouse pad, oh and actually, actually my real excuse: I have a laser mouse so I don’t want a mouse pad, because I can use any surface.
[Andrew laughs]
Andrew: I actually have an update, the total that I gave a few minutes ago was wrong, we’ve actually raised $4,800.
[Matt laughs]
Micah: Oh wow, that’s amazing!
Jamie: No way…
Andrew: So yeah, again all the money is being raised through TheHPAlliance.org/Haiti, go there even if you’re not listening live, go there, donate and you’ll be eligible to receive some amazing prizes, and I’ll alert everyone when once we cross $5,000.
Micah: Jamie, are you shaking more and more as the total gets closer?
Jamie: [laughs] Yeah, but it could be that everyone’s giving as much as they can and I know no one has anything left so we have to…
Andrew: I hope not!
Matt: I say we have a separate donation now for the Pepto-Bismol for Jamie after all those burgers.
Jamie: [laughs] Or a new toilet!
Andrew: All right, that does it for news, no we’re going to take a break from Harry Potter content for a moment and hear a couple of messages from, first we are going to hear from Heroes star David Lawrence, he stars in the T.V. show Heroes, he has a message about Haiti, and then a couple True Blood fan sites are – have a couple things to say as well. So we’re just going to take a quick break and listen to them real quick. First up, David.
Message from David Lawrence
David Lawrence: Hey, there! This is David Lawrence. I play the creepy, evil Eric Doyle on Heroes, among other things, and when Chris asked me to talk to you a little bit about what’s going on here, I said: “Absolutely”. And if you don’t know what Partners in Health is, they have been working in Haiti for a couple of decades now, and they’re doing so to bring what we enjoy all the time – very modern health care to the communities that you always see when you watch 60 Minutes or you watch Dateline NBC or you watch Katie Couric head on down to Haiti to cover the – the earthquake. You see basically a third world country, and they’re trying to bring them into the modern age, save some lives, and they need your help now more than ever because of the – the earthquake. It’s just insane what’s going on there. The body count is rising every day. The violence is rising. Providing health care not only saves lives but it also, it’s got a calming effect on the community. When you see people’s lives being changed, all of a sudden, your priorities shift, and if you can help out, that would be great. If you’re a Heroes fan, if you’re a Lost fan, if you’re a CSI fan, a Unit fan – any of the things that I do – please, please help them out, okay? I really appreciate it. Again, thanks.
Message from the True Blood Fansites
Audio: True Blood fans have come together to help many charitable organizations. Now we turn our attention to Haiti. Haiti is tragically experiencing human suffering at a massive level. As we stare at the images on the news and the internet, we cannot sit and do nothing. Now is the time to act. True Blood News at the Nest and Bill’s Wiki’d Women encourage fans to donate now, and we thank those who have already donated. You can make a difference and help Haiti heal.
Andrew: Okay, thank you, David Lawrence and the True Blood fan sites, for contributing those messages. There are going to be many more messages throughout the entire four hour program today, Helping Haiti Heal. This – this big event is going to be running through 6:00PM Eastern today. Sorry, I’m on the West Coast. I have to do my math. Anyway…
Matt: Math is hard.
Andrew: Normally, around this time of MuggleCast is when we start discussing the – going into some in-depth book analysis, but for the live show today, we’re going to keep things upbeat and fun, so we’re going to go into a couple fun segments to wrap up – well, for the rest of MuggleCast. And, Eric, would you like to introduce our first segment, please?
MuggleCast 190 Transcript (continued)
Veritaserum, Swelling Solution, Amortentia
Eric: Ah yes, certainly, Andrew. Our first segment – we have two segments to do on this donation show for Haiti and the first one we’re actually calling “Veritaserum, Swelling Solution, Amortentia.” You guys may be familiar with certain late night talk show hosts that do a similar game which I will not go into. But we’ve had a variation of that game for some time on MuggleCast, and we’ve actually just changed that up for this event. Basically, what’s going to happen is we’re going to be giving three characters from the Harry Potter books, and the co-hosts and possibly listeners will be able to chose which of those characters they would give Veritaserum to, which character they will give the Swelling Solution to, and which character they’ll give the love potion Amortentia. The result is that one of the characters tells you their deepest, darkest secrets, the second character grows to enormous size, and the third character falls in love with you.
Andrew: But first we – before we get into it, I have an update. We can officially announce now that we have now raised, in just 35 minutes, $5,360!
[Trumpets sound]
Matt: Yay!
Andrew: So Jamie, for the MuggleCast fans and anyone else who wants to see you eat healthy burgers – [laughs] – you better get cooking!
[Micah laughs]
Jamie: Wow, when you say it like that it doesn’t sound that exciting when you say it like that.
Andrew: [laughs] Get cooking, that’s all.
Jamie: I probably wouldn’t watch it, but watch it.
Andrew: But hey, even if you’re listening to the – the recorded version of this make sure to go to TheHPAlliance.org/Haiti and get donating. Enough money simply cannot be raised. So thank you to everyone who’s been donating and please continue to donate to be eligible for some really cool prizes. The number was just updated again – $5,500.
Matt: That is so awesome.
Andrew: So there you go. Okay so now – [laughs] – back to our segment. Let’s do a couple of examples, and then we’re going to have people call in, and our number is 1-218-206-2442. Call in when I tell you to – not yet – call. Eric Scull – no, no – no offense, but you just did the intro. Jamie, I’m going to give you three options. You have to decide which person is going to take the Veritaserum, which person is going to take the Swelling Solution, and which person is going to take the Amortentia, which is the love potion. Make sure your girlfriend is not in the room, this may create an awkward situation otherwise.
Jamie: All right, all right, all right. Go on then.
Andrew: Okay, your three choices are [laughs] Cornelius Fudge, Rufus Scrimgeour and Dolores Umbridge.
[Eric laughs]
Jamie: Oh, wow. Thanks – thanks for giving me those three.
[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]
Andrew: Well, you’re welcome.
Jamie: Oh, wow! All right – so one to fall in love – all right, I would probably want Umbridge to tell me her deepest – actually, no, no I wouldn’t. Oh, god! It’s tough. I would want Umbridge to tell me her deepest, darkest secrets because I don’t like her, and I think she has a very, very sordid past. It’s disgusting and horrible. And then I would want Cornelius – no, Rufus Scrimgeour to – no, no, no. I want Fudge to keep growing in size because he’s quite big anyway, and I think he’d reach a very funny shape if he carries on growing in size.
Andrew: That’s true.
Jamie: Then I’d want Scrimgeour to fall in love with me because I think I could end him because I don’t like him and I think he’s scrawny.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Jamie: That doesn’t really make sense, that doesn’t make sense but…
Andrew: Very nice reasoning inflection.
[Matt laughs]
Jamie: Thanks.
Eric: Good job.
Matt: You want him to fall in love with you so you can kill him.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Jamie: Yeah I want to kill him. I want to give him a taste of his own medicine. I don’t – I don’t think he’s very nice. I want him to fall in love with me…
Eric: Didn’t you hear Bill Nighy, Jamie? He’s a tragic hero.
Jamie: Yeah well he’s cool, Bill Nighy. But in the books he isn’t very nice. So I’d weave him with a web of – I’d tell him I really cared for him and then I’d tell him all these things and then I’d just beat him down.
Matt: Aw, that’s sweet.
Eric: Well I – I think that – I think that your choices were great. Everybody wants more Fudge.
Andrew: [laughs] Everybody wants… [laughs] Yeah! Whoa!
Matt: Okay.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Nice joke. I get it. Okay, Micah?
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: Which one would you give Veritaserum potion? Which one would you give Swelling Solution, and which one would you give the love potion? Your three options are, now listen. Nobody’s – nobody’s going to judge you based on what you choose but we – we just need to know your answer. Your choices are Dobby the house-elf, Winky the house-elf and Kreacher.
[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]
Micah: Hmmm.
Andrew: [laughs] Which one do you want to fall in love with? Which one do you want to see grow? And which one would you like to see…
Micah: I guess I would give the Amortentia to Winky because if you look at her throughout the series I mean, she needs somebody. She really does.
Jamie: Aw Micah, that’s a bit…
[Everyone laugh]
Matt: She’s very needy though.
Jamie: A house-elf. A house-elf. You pervert.
Micah: No, she’s absolutely destroyed after what happens with Barty Crouch and she needs somebody – she needs a shoulder to cry on.
Andrew: Okay.
Jamie: Micah. Micah.
Micah: What?
Jamie: You can’t be with a house-elf. Like..
Andrew: Well, he only has – the only options are elves.
[Everyone laugh]
Matt: He doesn’t have any choices there, Jamie.
Andrew: All right. Who would you give the Swelling Solution to?
Micah: I’d give the Veritaserum to Kreacher because I think there’s a lot more to learn from him, and then I guess give the Swelling Solution to Dobby.
Andrew: All right. Okay, very good. Jamie who did you give the Veritaserum to?
Jamie: Umbridge.
Andrew: What secrets do you think she would reveal?
Jamie: Really sick ones.
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: Even though it’s not a real character. And then they – I don’t know.
Andrew: They could make some virtual reality thing out of it. Explore Umbridge’s deepest secrets.
Jamie: Yeah exactly. Yeah.
Audience Plays Veritaserum, Swelling Solution, Amortentia
Andrew: Okay now that everyone at home knows how to play, please call in. 1-218-206-2442. 1-218-206-2442. And we’ll give you some options to choose from. Now is also a good time to mention the HP Alliance and where to donate. TheHPAlliance.org/Haiti is the website that you want to be on to donate. Hello caller, can you mute your stream and then say, “Hello”.
[Caller leaves his/her stream un-muted, and Andrew’s voice repeats]
Andrew: Okay, so just so people know, here’s how it works.
[Andrew and Matt laughs]
Andrew: You’ve got to mute your stream when you’re calling in, and that way, you’re talking to us on the actual phone. Let’s try it again. Hello, caller. You’re on MuggleCast Live as part of Helping Haiti Heal. Finished, awesome. Well, we’re getting some great calls today. This is why we – hello, caller.
[Andrew’s voice echoes again]
Andrew: Hello, caller. Hello? 480, you’re live. Okay, people are just calling in and making a joke out of this. This is not a joke. Here we go. Hello, Christine. Hello, Christine.
Caller: Hello?
Andrew: Hi. You’re on MuggleCast Live.
Jamie: Hey! Someone.
Caller: Hi!
Andrew: Hi. Welcome. How much have you donated today?
Caller: So far I haven’t because I have to convince my mom to let me borrow her credit card, but…
Andrew: Oh, okay. Convince her. You’re eligible to win some great prizes and also helping a great cause at the same time.
[Caller and Matt laugh]
Andrew: But you know that.
Caller: Yeah.
Andrew: So anyway…
Jamie: Now that…
Andrew: Are you ready to play “Veritaserum, Swelling Solution, Amortentia”?
Caller: Yes.
Andrew: Okay, your three choices are – let’s see, I want to give her some good ones – okay, Bathilda Bagshot, Newt Scamander and Kennilworthy Whisp.
[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]
Caller: Okay…
Jamie: No one knows anything about them.
[Andrew and Caller laugh]
Andrew: That’s what makes it challenging.
Caller: Ummm… [laughs]
Jamie: Ooh, the clock’s running down.
Caller: Yeah, okay, so…
Andrew: No pressure.
Caller: Okay. So, I’d probably give the – wait, hold on, what are the three choices again?
Andrew: [laughs] They are Bathilda Bagshot, Newt Scamander and Kinil – Kinilithyworth – Kennilworthy Whisp.
Matt: You can’t even pronounce the name. How does she even know who he is?
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Okay. Newt Scamander wrote Fantastic Beasts…
Caller: Yeah.
Eric: Kennilworthy Whisp wrote Quidditch Through the Ages, and…
Jamie: Yeah, that’s right.
Caller: Oh, okay.
Eric: Yeah.
Caller: Okay, so I’d probably want to know some of Bathilda Bagshot’s secrets because with living near the Potters and everything, she’d know a lot of cool things.
Andrew: Yeah.
Caller: And probably – the other two are kind of similar, it’s kind of…
Jamie: You should give…
Caller: I guess I’d give the Amortentia…
Andrew: Okay.
Caller: …to – Newt Scamander because…
Jamie: He’s got a cool name?
Caller: Yeah.
Andrew: He’s got a cool name.
Caller: Yeah, sure.
Andrew: There you go.
Caller: And then the last one would go to – he would just grow because…
Eric: Yeah…
Caller: I don’t know.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: I think it would be ironic if you gave Scamander the Swelling Solution because then he himself would become a fantastic beast.
[Andrew laughs]
Caller: Oh! That’s good.
Jamie: Yes he would, yeah. That’s a good answer.
Andrew: All right, well, thank you Christine for calling in and playing.
Caller: Thank you so much!
Andrew: All right, bye.
Caller: Bye!
Jamie: Buh-bye!
Andrew: That was some very serious reasoning she went into.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: All right, let’s try one more. Hello caller, you’re on MuggleCast Live!
Caller: Hey.
Andrew: Hey, what’s your name?
Caller: My name’s Dennis.
Andrew: Have you donated any money today, Dennis?
Caller: No, not yet, but I plan on it.
Andrew: All right, excellent. Well, you know the rules; you know how to play, right?
Caller: Yep.
Andrew: Okay, here you go. Here are your three choices: Tom Riddle Jr., Barty Crouch Jr., and Bertha Jorkins. Go!
[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]
Caller: I’m sorry, what was the last one again?
Andrew: Bertha Jorkins.
Caller: I guess I would use the Veritaserum for Riddle Jr. because he seems kind of twisted. So I’d know stuff about him.
Andrew: Yes. Okay, good reasoning.
Caller: What were the two other things you had to do to them again? Sorry.
Andrew: They are Tom Riddle Jr., Barty Crouch Jr., and Bertha Jorkins.
Caller: I guess I would do, I don’t know – I guess I would do Engorgio to Bertha Jorkins because – I don’t know, she seems kind of, I don’t know…
Andrew: Good reasoning, I get it.
[Everyone laughs]
Caller: And then the last one was Barty Crouch?
Andrew: Right.
Caller: And what was the last thing again? To happen to him?
Andrew: Amortentia, Swelling Solution, Veritaserum.
Eric: So it’s love potion.
Caller: So I guess I’m…
Andrew: Love potion, yeah.
Caller: So I guess I’m stuck with Barty…
[Everyone laughs]
Caller: …which kind of sucks.
Andrew: Forever and ever. Okay, Dennis. Well, thank you for playing.
Caller: All right, thank you.
Andrew: All right, bye.
Jamie: Thanks!
Make the Connection
Andrew: Okay, well let’s move along now to our final segment for today, and then we’ve got to wrap it up. I think – yeah, we should. This next segment, “Make the Connection”, we actually haven’t done this in a while. And Jamie…
Jamie: No, we haven’t.
Andrew: Jamie started this segment, so we’re going to bring it back. Let’s stick with us doing it.
Jamie: Yeah, all right.
Eric: Okay!
Micah: That’s probably the best idea, yeah.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: You never know what Jamie’s going to come up with.
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: Oh, I’ve got some good ones today, I tell you.
Andrew: So, here’s how it works, for those of you who don’t know. Jamie names something – it could be something completely random. By the way, I should mention, I have a brand new co-host here at the MuggleCast studio. She’s a new full-time co-host, her name is the Fat Lady. And hello Fat Lady, would you like to make any first words for your first appearance on MuggleCast?
The Fat Lady: Password?
Andrew: Who said that?
[Andrew and Matt laugh]
Andrew: That was creepy!
Jamie: Andrew, can she see you when you’re changing and going to bed and stuff?
Andrew: Yeah, she stares at me night and day and wakes me up in the morning.
Jamie: How rude.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s quite creepy. Anyway, I just like having her here. So how it works is Jamie will name a random object – it could be something completely random. And we have to make a connection to Harry Potter with it, in any way, shape or form. It’s quite – it can be quite challenging. So Eric, why don’t you take the first one? You’re usually good at spinning these.
Jamie: No, Andrew, Andrew – it can’t. It can’t, because I’ve made special ones for certain people.
Andrew: Ooh!
Jamie: So Micah…
Andrew: Okay then, go ahead.
Jamie: I’ve given you a really hard one.
Matt: [laughs] Okay.
Jamie: But…
Andrew: Go ahead.
Jamie: So I thought we’d start stuff off with a really, really easy one – which I think this one should go to Eric. Which you said anyway so it doesn’t matter, but Eric, you have to make a connection between Harry Potter and Twilight.
[Matt laughs]
Jamie: Just to get stuff rolling.
Eric: Between Harry Potter and Twilight?
Andrew: Yes.
Jamie: Yeah.
[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]
Eric: Jeez, I have to forfeit this one, Jamie. I can’t think of a single comparison.
[Andrew and Matt laugh]
Eric: The wicked characters in Twilight, well Bella Swan are just so – they don’t stick up for themselves, they have no – they have all sorts of issues, they’re not independent women and I think that J.K. Rowling has made a point of really enforcing that, the strong will of female characters. Let’s just say the supernatural – and werewolves! Werewolves are the connection.
Jamie: Werewolves, there you go. There you go.
Andrew: All right.
Eric: Well actually – technically they’re shape shifters, if you read Twilight.
Jamie: Well, people on the chat are saying the obvious one – which I didn’t actually think of – which is Robert Pattinson, which I guess is an actual connection.
[Andrew laughs]
Andrew: That’s a very good connection.
Eric: That’s an actual connection, yeah.
Jamie: That’s a proper connection, isn’t it?
Andrew: All right, what’s your next one?
Jamie: All right Eric, that was pretty good. All right Matt, here’s a special one for you, which I’m sure you’ll realize why as soon as I say it. You have to make a connection between Harry Potter and being on The Price Is Right, and specifically being asked to come down. So the actual connection is between Harry Potter and being asked to come down, rather than just The Price Is Right.
Andrew: For those of you who don’t know, Matt was on The Price Is Right about a year ago. So go ahead, Matt, make the connection.
[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]
Matt: I’m the worst with this game, because I still don’t know how to play this after three years. Okay. Make a connection in general or in the series?
Jamie: Whatever you want, it’s up to you.
Matt: Well I’m going to say if – okay, Harry Potter, being one of the Triwizard Tournament, his – the one thing he had to do was had to be on The Price Is Right and be a contestant and being so popular, he was the one who got called down and all of the other Triwizard champions didn’t get called down.
Andrew: Or you could have just said he got selected…
Jamie: Yeah. That’s all right, that’s all right.
Andrew: You could have said he was selected as one of – he was one of the four contestants, like there’s four contestants on The Price Is Right.
Matt: Yeah, that’s what I said.
[Andrew laughs]
Matt: That’s exactly what I meant, there you go.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: That is actually what he said.
Andrew: Oh, okay. Whew! All right, good. All right…
Jamie: All right, that’s pretty good, yeah…
Matt: Yeah…
Jamie: All right, Andrew this one’s for you…
Andrew: Okay.
Jamie: Because you like this song, I think, so. You have to make a connect between Harry Potter and the song “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga.
Andrew: Oh, no. I would have to bring up lyrics, and/or play the song.
Jamie: Aww…
Andrew: To help…
Jamie: But, how about the concept of having a poker face?
[“Poker Face” by Lady Gaga starts to fades in]
Andrew: The concept – well as we know, Lady Gaga’s whole thing is, she’s always hiding behind the mask, and I feel like the Death Eaters are comparable to Lady Gaga and what…
Jamie: Oh yeah that’s not bad, yeah.
Andrew: They’re always hiding behind their poker face, and so I suppose the connection would be – Lady Gaga is always trying to hide from the fame, as are the Death Eaters. And I bet they play poker in their spare time.
Micah: Or you could have said Snape…
Jamie: Andrew, that was not bad.
Matt: Not fair, you knew this – you already had this prepared.
Andrew: I didn’t – I just – Jamie, have you given this list to anyone?
Jamie: No what? – no, no, apart from on the thing.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: It’s in the schedule.
Andrew: I don’t have the schedule up. I did not cheat.
Micah: Snape would have been a good one, too.
Jamie: Well Andrew, I thought that was pretty good.
Andrew: Thanks.
Jamie: I thought that was academic.
Andrew: Thank you. Why Snape, Micah?
Micah: Well I mean, he’s got to have a poker face all the time, doesn’t he?
Andrew: [laughs] Oh, that’s true.
Matt: Oh yeah.
Micah: So people don’t know which side he’s on.
Jamie: Oh yeah, that’s true. Yeah.
Andrew: [sings] “My, my, my, my, Snape Face.”
Jamie: That doesn’t work as well, but… [laughs]
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: No? My Severus face…
Matt: Se, se, se, Severus face.
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: That’s all right, yeah.
Andrew: Okay, and I guess…
Jamie: All right. Micah. On to Micah now. Micah I hope you forgive me for giving you this one. This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Okay? All right you have to make a connect between Harry Potter and the act of asking a street performing stick insect to operate a piece antique farm machinery.
[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]
[Andrew and Matt]
Micah: Well, you know, I guess you could compare Xenophilius Lovegood to a performing stick insect. And – I have no idea. Maybe…
Andrew: Well…
Micah: …publishing The Quibbler on that piece of machinery he had at his house?
Andrew: Oh, okay. That’s good.
Micah: [laughs] No? I mean I don’t know what else to go with.
Jamie: I don’t know. I think that’s pretty good.
Andrew: That’s – that’s good enough. [laughs]
Jamie: That’s good enough, yeah.
Andrew: I like how we go from Lady Gaga to insects with machines on the street.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: By the way, TheHPAlliance.org/Haiti so far has raised $7,400!
[Trumpets sounds]
Andrew: Very good. Can we get to 10,000 in the next few minutes? May be hard.
Jamie: That’d be awesome if we do…
Matt: Hey Jamie, Jamie, How about double or nothing?
Jamie: Yeah definitely, definitely. I was thinking that – yeah, ten burgers. Ten burgers and $10,000.
Andrew: All right, by some extreme power if we can raise $2,500 in the next five minutes, because that’s how much time we have left. Then Jamie will go double or nothing.
Jamie: It goes double, aw, ten burgers, and then…
Andrew: That’s kind of unfair. That’s unfair. [laughs]
Matt: Yeah, I mean, regardless Jamie, you’re still eating the five.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: I’m still eating five, whatever happens. Yeah, whatever happens from now on.
Andrew: Okay, so where are we? Okay, Eric. He is the final one today I do believe?
Micah: No, he already went.
Andrew: Oh.
Eric: Yeah, Jamie gave me the first one. Twilight.
Andrew: Oh, oh yeah.
Jamie: The first one.
Andrew: I completely forgot. So we’re done.
Eric: So you’re giving me another one? No.
Andrew: Are we done?
Micah: Yeah.
Jamie: Yeah, we’re done.
Andrew: All right, excellent. Well I think that actually wraps up the show today. I hate to say it. Any other comments from you guys about raising money for Haiti?
Jamie: Give generously.
Andrew: Give generously.
Matt: Yeah.
Show Close
Andrew: Yes. And I’ve got to say thank you to everyone who has been involved with the planning of this. There has been so many people – of course the HP Alliance, you saw Andrew Slack at the beginning of this, Melissa Anelli from The Leaky Cauldron has put in a tireless amount of work with this – so many other people as well. I can’t even name all of them but – there’s going to be a credits page at the end of the show and maybe we’ll – everyone who’s played a part in this – and hey, there’s still three hours of fantastic show to – still to come. I just wanted to let everyone know how appreciative we are of what everybody’s been doing here, and I think that’s about it for us. But coming up – coming up next, a message from Draco and the Malfoys, and they’ll be followed by the wizard rock band Justin Finch-Fletchley. And then you’ll be hearing from a visiting scientist at MIT who discusses Haiti, and he’ll be followed by Hogwarts Radio, The Harry Potter Alliance and The Leaky Cauldron’s PotterCast, and in between all those will be lots of wizard rock and more special appearances. So much, so much! There’s so much so don’t go away and – for now – we’re going to throw it to Draco and the Malfoys and I just want to say – Eric, Micah, Jamie and Matt, thanks for being a part of this.
Jamie: Thank you.
Eric: Thanks for having us on, Andrew.
Micah: Yeah, thanks.
Andrew: Oh, you’re welcome. It was…
Matt: Pickles.
Andrew: It was [laughs] Pickles – that was a very…
Jamie: [laughs] Pickles!
Andrew: …tough decision. Now – anyway…
Micah: Or Bobfail.
Andrew: Bobfail, yes. People have been speaking to Bobfail – again…
Jamie: I don’t even know what Bobfail is yet.
Andrew: We’ll educate you after the show…
Jamie: All right.
Andrew: Again, thank you – everyone so much who’s been listening, everyone who’s been donating. Right now the total is $7,500. We hope to raise much, much, much more over the next three hours – so now we will take it over Draco and the Malfoys. Good seeing everyone and stick around for much more to come!
Jamie: Bye!
Andrew: Bye!
Micah: Bye.
Matt: Bye guys!
Andrew: Eric, say bye. Not leaving until you say bye.
Eric: Bye guys!
Andrew: Thank you. All right.
[Jamie and Matt laugh]