MuggleCast 260 Transcript
Show Intro
[Show music begins]
Andrew: This week’s episode is brought to you by Audible.com. Audible is the leading provider of audiobooks, with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction, and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast.
[Show music continues]
Andrew: Welcome to MuggleCast Episode 260. It is our end of the year show and it’s an exciting time because we haven’t been… we try to do these every month now, but we kind of got… we skipped November. It sort of just… not on purpose, it just sort of slipped by us. Our last episode was the end of October, and now we’re back. And for fun, since it’s the end of the year, we thought, well, why don’t we stream it on Google Hangout and on YouTube? And it’s working good so far. I love Google Hangout. Micah has no… Eric has no accessories today, but Micah has a Dr. Seuss hat.
[Fanfare sound effect plays]
Andrew: And we have sound effects, and I have glasses and a Santa hat, but the Santa hat is real.
Micah: The glasses are cool. They kind of pop out every time you move.
Eric: Move forward.
Andrew: It’s really high-tech, it’s cool. Google did a good job with this. So what we’re going to do, we have some news to catch up on today and we’re going to recall some MuggleCast Moments of the Year, and Eric has compiled the Top 7 Harry Potter Moments of 2012, and we’re going to talk about what we have to look forward to in 2013. And at the end of the show, Micah has an announcement which I am excited for. I can’t guess what it is, so this is very exciting. And…
Micah: I don’t even know what it is.
Andrew: [laughs] You’re going to shock the world. I think you’re going to profess your love for Eric and I. I think that’s what it is.
Micah: Well, that’s a given. I thought that was already known.
Eric: I’ve been waiting. I’ve been waiting for that.
Andrew: You do that at the end of every show. [laughs] So Micah, what is in the news this month, for the last time in 2012, for our seventh year?
News: First Seven Chapters of Pottermore Book 3 Released
Micah: Well, Pottermore is in the news, and not for bad reasons.
Eric: Oh.
Micah: I know that normally we like to dwell on Pottermore just a little bit. But the Prisoner of Azkaban book finally released – the first seven chapters, appropriately – and we got some new information from JK Rowling. A lot more than what I remember from the first set of chapters in Chamber of Secrets. And I could be wrong, but…
Andrew: Yeah. No, I think you’re right. And I figured they’re releasing more chapters in larger batches now because there are more chapters in Prisoner of Azkaban. That would make sense, right?
Micah: That makes sense.
Andrew: Yeah. And so, hopefully… I was going through it when it opened up, and I was surprised that there was seven because I kept going and going and it wasn’t ending, and I was like, oh, well this is nice. So, I guess in the future – maybe I’m thinking they’ll want to do four releases a year, four or five releases a year. So, with the bigger books that will mean more chapters per release.
Eric: Very much so. And that’s exciting. I mean, judging by what I heard of the content so far, it’s tremendous.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s not bad. I’m pulling up the breakdown right now that I did. We got a lot of new content from JK Rowling, which is what I’ve said time and time again on this show, and I think everybody is in agreement that’s one of the better features of Pottermore, is that we get new information related to the world thanks to JK Rowling.
Eric: Yes.
Andrew: She spoke about Aunt Marge, she spoke about the Knight Bus, she talked about [attempts to pronounce] Sir Cadogan… Cadogan?
Eric: I’ve always said Cadogan.
Andrew: Yeah, I think that sounds right. Professor Kettleburn, [laughs] which I forgot existed.
Eric: In case you were wondering about him, you know?
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: There’s some stuff.
Andrew: That may be the smallest thing she’s released.
Eric: The sleeper surprise.
Andrew: Right. And then finally Boggarts she released information on.
Eric: Yes.
Micah: You mean you don’t go to Pottermore just to collect the Chocolate Frog cards?
Andrew: [laughs] No, though I’m always clicking around the scenes to try to find the hidden stuff.
Eric: Yeah.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: And I like it because once your mouse is hovering near something, it starts doing the sound effects, so you get an idea of… that you’re getting close to something that you can pick up. But, okay, [laughs] you know how I used to preach the whole pets thing? Like, Pottermore should have…
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: …pets, to get people to come back a lot. Now, I think JK Rowling needs to start dropping giant bombs in these new character profiles because for example: Aunt Marge, I was reading through that, and I was praying that she was going to reveal Aunt Marge was a lesbian.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Wouldn’t that have been exciting?
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: There would have been all these headlines in the news, “JK Rowling Outs Another Character,” and it would have brought more people into Pottermore! But, unfortunately, there wasn’t any real shockers about Aunt Marge, but I think she could have passed as a lesbian, right?
Eric: I was peeking through the Boggarts reveal kind of information, and I was surprised that she didn’t just admit that the monster under the bed, or monster in the closet that children fear, has something to do with the Boggart. I always drew that connection because the kid always thinks there’s something under the bed, or always thinks there’s something in the closet – I did when I was a kid – and I just always thought the Boggart was kind of reminiscent of that, or the wizard answer to that. But when I read, she didn’t seem to admit that at all. In fact, she said that they’re half alive and are only like poltergeists, and don’t exactly… it just didn’t seem to be at all what I thought.
Andrew: So, what were you expecting?
Eric: Well, I was expecting it to be… she said, “Muggles can’t see them.” But then that right there removes my theory, that…
Andrew: Oh.
Eric: …it’s like the monster under the bed. You know what I’m saying?
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: But I guess in the way that they can’t see Dementors either.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: They can just feel their effects sometimes.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: I don’t know. I always just thought there was a distinct relation between the monster under the bed and Boggarts, but…
Micah: I’m just wondering how we got from Aunt Marge being a lesbian to Boggarts.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Well, it’s…
Micah: How did that transition occur?
Eric: It’s just me bringing it back around there, Micah. It’s just me bringing it.
Andrew: Yeah, Eric decided to take a serious approach to Pottermore.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Selina is joining us now, by the way. Hello, Selina.
Selina: Hello! Hi guys!
Andrew: Hi.
Eric: Selina, we got an email from you this morning…
Andrew: Could you just unplug your power?
Selina: Yup, just did. Is that better?
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: We got an email from you this morning saying you had lost your voice.
Selina: No, you didn’t.
Eric: Yes, I did.
Selina: No, you didn’t.
Micah: Yeah, we did.
Eric: Yeah, Micah got it too.
Selina: From who?
Eric: It was from you!
Selina: No!
Micah: From October 22nd, I think.
Selina: Oh. [laughs]
Micah: I think it sent… it resent an old email.
Selina: Really?
Micah: Yeah.
Selina: That’s so random.
Andrew: I’m so confused.
Selina: Well, I haven’t, really.
Eric: I like your party hat.
Selina: Thank you! I’m looking for more stuff. This is so fun.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: And are you celebrating?
Eric: What are you celebrating?
[Prolonged silence]
Selina: Now I’m the king, the queen of…
Andrew: Well, I’m glad you have a camera now.
Selina: I’m sorry, I’m distracting you guys.
Andrew: [laughs] Oh no, it’s okay.
Selina: Yeah! I know, it’s so exciting.
Andrew: We were discussing…
Micah: And so…
Selina: That I’m actually on.
Micah: Selina… oh, I was just going to say…
[Prolonged silence]
[Micah laughs]
Selina: This live stuff is fun. [laughs]
Micah: [laughs] Go ahead.
Andrew: Go ahead, Micah. No, please.
[Prolonged silence]
Andrew: Are we all on a delay now or something? What happened?
[Selina laughs]
Micah: I must be lagging a bit here. No, I…
Selina: It’s my fault.
Micah: Yeah, I think so.
Eric: I think everything sounds… it’s Selina playing with all her toys.
Andrew: Yeah, stop having fun. Okay…
Eric: I’m sure we’re fine.
Andrew: Well, let’s try to get back on track here.
Eric: So…
Andrew: So, Pottermore. We also… like I said, we got some information on Professor Kettleburn. JK Rowling said:
“Kettleburn was a lovable if eccentric man and his continuing employment at the school was evidence of the great affection in which staff and students held him. He finished his career with only one arm and half a leg. Albus Dumbledore presented him with a full set of enchanted wooden limbs on his retirement, a gift that had to be replaced regularly since, because Kettleburn’s habit of visiting dragon sanctuaries in his spare time meant that his prosthetics were frequently set on fire.”
I thought that was pretty funny and kind of classic Rowling writing.
Eric: I agree. Why did Dumbledore give him the wooden limbs at the end of his career as a retirement gift? Wouldn’t you think that he’d give them to him as soon as he lost his limbs so that he could continue teaching in his former capacity?
Andrew: Yeah, maybe perhaps his… well, I think it was just… I think Kettleburn was just ready to leave anyway.
Eric: Like, “Ooh, you lost your leg? Here’s your leg.”
[Selina laughs]
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: I think Kettleburn was just ready to leave anyway maybe, and he decided that that was his parting gift, Dumbledore’s parting gift to Kettleburn.
Eric: Yes, yes. Well, I remember in the book there’s a line that’s, “Mr. Kettleburn… Professor Kettleburn would like to spend time with his remaining limbs.” So, I always found that to be quite funny.
Andrew: [laughs] But in all seriousness, JK Rowling did talk about Aunt Marge’s love for bulldogs.
“Marge is a large and unpleasant woman whose main interest in life is breeding bulldogs. She believes in corporal punishment and plain speaking, which is what she calls being offensive. Marge is secretly in love with a neighbor called Colonel Fubster…”
Selina: Mustard? [laughs]
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, I know.
“…who looks after her dogs when she is away. He will never marry her…”
And this is the part where I was like, “Oh, okay. Here comes the lesbian revelation.”
“He will never marry her, due to her truly horrible personality. This unrequited passion fuels a lot of her nasty behavior to other people.”
Selina: What does that have to do with a lesbian revelation?
Andrew: No, it doesn’t, but just before you came in I was saying that JK Rowling needs to drop major bombs in Pottermore. Because remember…
Selina: Yeah, make it interesting.
Andrew: Right. When she outed Dumbledore, I was in… we were in New York City and I went in a taxi cab and on the radio they were talking about Dumbledore being gay. [laughs]
Selina: Yeah.
Andrew: She needs another big revelation like that.
Eric: Much so.
Selina: Yeah, that’s true. This isn’t that interesting. I mean, it’s great to know, but who cares about Kettleburn? Maybe that’s just me.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: I care about Kettleburn.
Selina: Okay, I’m sorry, Eric.
[Micah and Selina laugh]
Eric: He’s a sleeper hit. He’s going to be… at the end of this when Book 3 is done, we’re going to say, “You know what? Kettleburn was probably the most insightful character ever and we didn’t even know it. He didn’t even have any lines.”
Selina: Maybe we’re going to have a spinoff series.
Micah: I don’t think so.
Eric: [laughs] There’s going to be a…
Micah: How about Sir Cadogan, though? He was a pimp. He had three wives, seventeen children…
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Wow.
Selina: I love it. He’s like a King of England.
Eric: See, I didn’t care for him in the book, but now this makes him more interesting to me.
Andrew: Why, because he had three wives? [laughs]
Eric: And seventeen kids. Yeah!
Selina: [laughs] Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: And none of them are in the paintings, so I wonder what he did to estrange himself from all the rest of them that he should be alone on his pony. Did he love that pony more than he ever loved his wife and kids?
Micah: He’s not Aberforth, first of all.
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: Secondly, and it says the pony doesn’t…
Eric: Oh. Well, Micah bringing the smack down!
Micah: It said the pony doesn’t like him very much.
Eric: Right. Unrequited love. Probably fools his personality, or feeds his personality.
Andrew: There’s still the kind of issue with Pottermore. There’s not much to do after you go through this stuff once. That’s going to be my new, fair approach to this, is saying that there’s not much to do when you go to do it more than once. You can go in and you can do duels and there’s the other games, but you can’t… there’s just… what else is there to happen?
Selina: Yeah, you’re right.
Eric: Maybe the trick is waiting like I have because I’m looking forward to… during this Christmas break season, I’m looking forward to completing – well, let’s say starting – Chamber of Secrets and then going to where we currently are in Prisoner of Azkaban because I haven’t done it yet. So, I’m actually looking forward to kind of spending maybe about… how long do you think it will take? Maybe twelve hours or so, tops?
[Prolonged silence]
Eric: Less?
Micah: Twelve minutes?
[Andrew laughs]
Selina: Yeah.
Eric: Twelve minutes?
Selina: Like, three hours?
Eric: I’m looking forward… at some point during Christmas break, I have to spend twelve minutes and get through Pottermore.
[Selina laughs]
Eric: So, I’m very… I’m looking forward to that.
Selina: See if you can find the time.
Eric: It’s my Christmas present to myself.
Andrew: Well, that’s very, very nice.
Micah: Well, I’ve actually done that over the course of the last couple of days, just exploring the end of Chamber of Secrets and then the next set of chapters of Prisoner of Azkaban, and there’s… as you said, Andrew, once you go through it the first time, I really don’t know why you’d go back. There’s no incentive for you to return. So, I think they have to work on that.
Andrew: Yeah, some people do the dueling, some people like the potion brewing. For me, personally, it’s not my type of thing. I’d rather cook in real life.
Selina: I know, it’s so dull. Yeah, you get something out of it, right?
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, calories.
[Andrew and Selina laugh]
Micah: Most people are in it for the new information, like you said at the beginning of the discussion.
Andrew: Yeah, right. Okay, so what else is going on in the news, Micah? Enough about Pottermore until next time.
Before we continue with today’s show, we’d like to remind you that today’s episode is brought to you by Audible.com, the Internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 100,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including audio versions of many New York Times Bestsellers. For listeners of MuggleCast, Audible is offering you a free audiobook to give you a chance to try out their very helpful service. I have two recommendations for you this week. They’re both very popular right now and both must-reads. First, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. It’s Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings prequel, of course. Absolutely loved by fans of Middle Earth. And my other recommendation is Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Now, the reason I bring up both of these books is because they have both had film versions released in the past month or so, but, quite frankly, the books are better. The films are getting great reviews, but if you check out comparisons between the books and the films, you will see that the original versions by JRR Tolkien and Yann Martel, respectively, are much more beloved. So, whether you’ve seen The Hobbit or Life of Pi in theaters or not, get the books so you can experience the better version of the story, and why not try it as an audiobook and consume the story just like you do an episode of MuggleCast? Visit AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast to get an audiobook, perhaps Life of Pi or The Hobbit, for absolutely free. And we thank Audible for their support of the show.
News: Universal Celebrates the Sale of 5 Million Butterbeers
Micah: Let’s talk about drinking.
Andrew: Ooh…
Selina: Yay.
Andrew: …my favorite subject. Especially during the holidays.
Micah: It’s true. But apparently the Wizarding World has sold their five-millionth Butterbeer, so they decided to give away free drinks in the park.
Eric: Hey!
Andrew: Yeah, it’s pretty impressive. Five million Butterbeers in only… what, park opened in July 2010? So, two and a half years.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: That’s pretty…
Eric: Five million is a lot. I’m sorry, that’s a lot.
Selina: How many people have been through the park, though? There must be more.
Andrew: I don’t know if they’ve said.
Eric: They’ve had… didn’t they have like a number guest? Like a one billionth guest got a free cup of as well?
Selina: That’s not that many, five million.
Eric: Not necessarily… not the same day.
Andrew: Billionth? Did you say billionth?
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: I don’t think they’ve had a billion people. [laughs]
Eric: Well, if they’ve sold five million Butterbeers…
Selina: Yeah.
Andrew: I figure everybody who has been to the park, unless they really hate sugar or sweets, would get a Butterbeer. You have to. It’s like a no-brainer.
Eric: Mhm.
Andrew: So, I would assume… and then I wonder… because I’ve probably had total… we should go around the table and find out everybody’s answer, but I think I’ve probably had twenty Butterbeers at this point. So, what does this mean for… is it five million unique people? I guess not. It has to be five million actual Butterbeers.
Selina: You know, there’s five million people in Denmark. Just to put it in perspective.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: All of Denmark has flocked to the Wizarding World…
Selina: We could all have had a Butterbeer. [laughs]
Andrew: Selina, I know you haven’t been…
Selina: I haven’t.
Andrew: …but Eric and Micah, how many Butterbeers do you think you’ve had?
Eric: Me, easily ten or fifteen.
Selina: Oh my God.
Micah: Maybe…
Eric: Which is reasonable. I’ve been there three or four separate times, so…
Andrew: Mhm.
Eric: …if I have them two or three times each time I go…
Andrew: Right.
Eric: …maybe ten times.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: Five.
Eric: But I will say probably…
Andrew: You’ve only had five, Micah?
Eric: Five.
Micah: I think so. I mean, I’ve only been there twice.
Andrew: Oh.
Selina: You had the Firewhiskey?
Micah: [laughs] Yeah. I went to the Hog’s Head, had the Hog’s Head Brew.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s okay. I like Strongbow. We’ve talked about this on the show before. They offer Strongbow in the park on tap, which I think is really great. I’ve had that a lot there. That is alcoholic. One day I’m actually going to…
Micah: Would they ever consider… I was going to say, would they ever consider making the Butterbeer alcoholic?
Andrew: I don’t think so because they like that same taste for everybody. I think that was their original concern, is that we want this to taste the same for everybody whether or not it’s the alcoholic version or not. So yeah, I think they… no, I don’t think you’ll see…at. But you can bring your own flask into the park, like this gift…
Micah: [laughs] Like some people.
Selina: Oh, that’s so cool!
Andrew: I was given this for Christmas, a Hypable flask, so my next Wizarding World trip I will be bringing this and pouring some Fireball Whiskey, I think, into the Butterbeer. That would be a good day.
Selina: You should just hold it up the whole podcast. You know, branding.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Oh, this is interesting. Here’s a perspective thing. So, I found an old article about the Universal Orlando’s first million Butterbeers, and so it sold its first million on January 6th, and again, a thousand lucky guests got free Butterbeer when they did that. So, that was one million Butterbeers at the beginning of last year, so they’ve essentially sold four million Butterbeers in two years. So, two million a year, and you can divide that by twelve to get how many Butterbeers they sell a month.
Selina: Let’s do the math!
Andrew: And then…
Eric: That is a h…red and sixty-six thousand Butterbeers a month.
Andrew: And then multiply five million by… how much do those things cos…Like six bucks, seven bucks?
Eric: Oh God. [laughs] How much money they’re making on…
Micah: That’s a l…of money.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Somebody did the estimate, the guys over at Inside the Magic. How much does it cost? Does anybody in the chat know, maybe?
Eric: A Butterbeer?
Andrew: By the way, if you are watching live on YouTube, you can add comments. It’s basically a chatroom. SuperNicki96…
Micah: Oh, there are people watching us?
Andrew: Yeah. Ha ha ha.
Micah: I thought we were just…
Eric: Oh, you didn’t tell us this! I would have put on clothes. No, I did.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: SuperNicki96 says:
“The Butterbeer at the ‘Studio Tour’ was horrible. Is it the same as the Orlando one?”
I think it’s the same thing. But I hear English people, they don’t like sweet stuff as much as Americans do, so maybe you’re just not accustomed to that sweeter taste.
Eric: We were born with it. Raised on it.
Andrew: Right. I know David Heyman does not like the sweets. I remember he mentioned that. He says he doesn’t like the Butterbeer because he doesn’t like how sweet it is. So, maybe that’s your problem. Nobody knows the price of the Butterbeer, but that’s okay. I think…
Eric: I’m pretty sure… isn’t it like three something for the regular and then five for the frozen? I could be wrong.
Andrew: Is it as cheap as… let me just Google it. Price of Butterbeer in Wizarding World…
Eric: [laughs] Google will know.
Andrew: It better know. I’m not going to slow the show down with this, but somebody must know. I don’t see it on here, actually. Okay, anyway, let’s move on.
News: Harry Potter on Facebook’s 2012 Most Read Book List
Andrew: I’ll get this next story, Micah. The Hunger Games… well, hold on. Facebook… now that it’s the end of the year, everybody is doing these end-of-year lists to reflect on the year that was, and I thought this was interesting. Facebook did a list of most read books, most watched movies, most this, most that, and the most read books of 2012 – The Hunger Games was number one, of course. Actually, it took up the top three spots. Then number four was Fifty Shades of Grey, then number five was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Selina: Oh, yay!
Andrew: Yeah, I don’t know…
Selina: That’s so nice!
Andrew: Yeah, it is, but I wonder how Facebook calculated this. I’m guessing it’s the number of people who added Harry Potter to their Facebook profile under books. That’s my best guess because I don’t know…
Selina: Maybe.
Eric: Yeah. Well they have apps, too, that are like…
[Selina laughs]
Eric: They want you to “Oh, get the book app and then nobody can see it on your feed, but you see it and you update it.” The Frappr Map was the same thing. Places I have visited in the world – I spent all this time putting it all in there, and then after Facebook changed I couldn’t find it anymore, but the app is still installed probably collecting my data and figuring out who I talk to. So, maybe they know through one of those features like the books that they’ve read, or maybe they’re hunting our statuses.
Selina: Yeah. Spying on us through our webcams.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: I don’t think it’s… it’s not surprising, though, given that the movie came out this year, right? That that would be one of the most read books of the year.
Andrew: The Hunger Games?
Micah: Yeah.
Selina: What movie?
Andrew: Yeah.
Selina: Oh.
Andrew: Well yeah, I mean The Hunger Games is… that’s been blowing up especially because of the movie. Fifty Shades of Grey we’ve talked about on the show before. I was just surprised that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone would show up there.
Eric: Yeah, the first book, to think that people would even start with the first book, but…
Andrew: Well, I would hope people would start with the first book.
Eric: Well, I feel the film is so close to it that you don’t necessarily need to.
Andrew: Mmm.
Eric: But I don’t know.
Andrew: Unless you just want to read. But, by the way, I’ve looked at a lot of these end-of-the-year lists, and this one is the only one that Harry Potter is on, so… [laughs]
Eric: Oh.
Selina: Really?
Eric: [laughs] Well, thanks for that.
Andrew: Yeah, not to…
Eric: I’m glad you found it in order to mention it. Well, it could signal a trend. Maybe Harry Potter is actually…
Andrew: Coming back.
Eric: …being introduced to a new generation of people.
Andrew: Yeah. No, definitely. I don’t see why not. I mean, Pottermore certainly helps in that case with the ebooks. I mean, the ebooks were introduced this year, right? Did they come out… yeah, they came out this year.
Eric: Yeah, they came out this year.
Selina: Yeah, this year.
Andrew: In March. Or April. Okay, do you want to get the next story, Micah? Or shall I?
Eric: Hey guys, check it out…
Micah: I’ll just read the headline.
Andrew: Okay.
Eric: Check it out, guys. I’m Daniel Radcliffe.
Andrew: Ha, yes, you are referring to…
[Selina laughs]
Andrew: …his new film Horns. [laughs] Well done.
Selina: Wow, what a nice transition.
Eric: I’m keeping this. I’m keeping these.
Micah: Well, let’s talk about… oh, I don’t even think that’s a story, i…t?
Eric: No, that’s not a story.
Andrew: What, Horns?
Micah: Yeah, I’m looking through the document here. But I’ll read the headline and then you guys can talk about it.
News: Harry Potter Cast Reunite for Theme Park Filming
Micah: Rupert Grint’s rep confirms he’s back as Ron for Harry Potter theme park filming.
Andrew: Yes.
Selina: Yay!
Andrew: So, there’s been a lot of craziness in the entertainment world because there was an article from The Sun that said that Helena Bonham Carter and other cast members are back at Leavesden Studios filming a, quote, “new” or “ninth” Harry Potter movie, depending on what sleazy entertainment website you read.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: You read either “new Harry Potter movie” or “ninth Harry Potter movie.” Of course it’s a good headline, but the truth is… I mean, there’s no confirmation, and nob… is certainly denying a new Harry Potter movie, but the logical explanation for this filming is that they’re filming for the Wizarding World expansion in Orlando, which is supposed to be Diagon Alley and the Gringotts thrill ride. And so, there was… I think it was SnitchSeeker who reached … to Rupert Grint’s reps and they said, “Yes, he is filming at Leavesden for a Harry Potter related”, but they wouldn’t say what it was. I mean, I’m surprised they even confirmed it. Universal is probably a little pissed off that…
Micah: It’s probably the next…lm, right? I mean…
Andrew: [laughs] Right…i>Harry Potter 9.
Selina: [laughs] Of course.
Andrew: So… and now you start putting the pieces together, while Rupert is filming and Helena Bonham Carter is filming. So, this seems to lend to the theory that they are actually doing a Gringotts thrill ride. And like with “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” in Orlando, this will probably be something where you’ll see scenes throughout the ride.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: If you go on “Forbidden Journey” right now, you see the the trio and at the end you see a huge group of people. So, who knows how many cast members are actually involved with this. But what do you guys think of this?
Eric: I thought it was…
Selina: I thought it was so funny that – sorry – I thought it was so funny that people were actually saying, “Ninth Harry Potter film.” Of course it’s not a ninth Harry Potter film they’re filming in secret. If they ever did something like that it would just blow up everywhere, you know?
Eric: Well, and when they said, “The ninth Harry Potter film,” the first thought going through my head is, “Why is Helena Bonham Carter going to be in it?” You know?
[Selina laughs]
Eric: Well, a) if it’s a continuation, obviously she’s dead, but b) in general, if you’re going to make any new Harry Potter film at all, Helena Bonham Carter is not the actress you’d think would show up for it, to record.
Selina: It’s like missing moments between Ron and Bellatrix. [laughs] I mean, duh.
Eric: That’s the thing! So, Rupert Grint was on and I’m like…
Selina: They’re filming a fanfic.
Eric: No, well then, once we thought about, “Oh, the Gringotts scene. That makes sense.” Because they have to impersonate Bellatrix to get into the vault…
Selina: Yeah.
Eric: …and Ron has a big moment in front of the dragon. So yeah, very clearly, it makes total sense based on the casting call, or whoever has been showing up, that it would be a Gringotts scene. Because I don’t think Bellatrix shared a whole lot of screen time with anybody else.
Andrew: But it was…
Micah: Is it just me, or… I mean, I don’t really see that as being newsworthy. I get why it’s news, but they’re filming something that not everybody is going to end up seeing, at the end of the day.
Eric: Well, wasn’t it The Guardian, or somebody? Because I think I read it first on The Guardian, and I remember The Guardian being like a tabloid over there, just reaching for news at times.
Andrew: Yeah. Well…
Selina: No, The Guardian… no.
Eric: No?
Andrew: They can be hit-or-miss, right? They can come up with…
Selina: No, they’re pretty big news – they’re one of the main newspapers in the UK.
Andrew: Okay.
Selina: So, I’d say they’re pretty reliable.
Eric: I was mistaken. But again, it just got blown up out of proportion. “Ninth Harry Potter film.” Somebody saw that gem of a news story…
Selina: Yeah.
Eric: …and was just like, “We can run with this.” And advertising dollars were made and people were confused.
Micah: I just feel like it’s stretching for news.
Andrew: Well, no, I disagree because they haven’t… they’re filming at Leavesden Studios, which is really cool, and they haven’t been back there since filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. So, I don’t know. No? It doesn’t excite you, Micah? It excites me.
Micah: Nope.
Andrew: Wow, what’s wrong with you? Where’s your holiday spirit?
Micah: That’s got nothing to do with holiday spirit! [laughs]
Andrew: Yes, it does! You’re like, “Rahh, this isn’t news!” This is the biggest story we have right now!
[Andrew, Micah, and Selina laugh]
Micah: Aside from Marge being a lesbian.
[Selina laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, except for that. When is that happening? I think…
Micah: Speaking of…
Andrew: I think it’s cool.
Micah: Yeah, yeah.
Andrew: No, let’s dwell on it more. It’s huge news.
Micah: Let’s dwell on it? Okay.
Andrew: Nah, go ahead, go ahead.
Micah: Come on, what do you want to talk about?
Andrew: No, there’s nothing else to say. But I think it is exciting. I genuinely think it’s exciting.
[Micah laughs]
Selina: I think it’s exciting, and I don’t even get to see it, probably, because I don’t get to go over there. But it’s still fun. It’s fun that the actors are still semi-involved with some Harry Potter related stuff, you know? In terms of the fandom, I think that’s kind of nice, that Rupert Grint still gets to be Ron for a little while longer.
Andrew: Yeah. Right, right, right. I mean, yeah. And remember when it was big news when “Oh, they reshot the Harry Potter epilogue. They’re going back to Hogwarts!”
Selina: Yeah, yeah. Going back to Hogwarts. [laughs]
Andrew: By the way, we know this for sure is for the theme park because when I emailed Warner Bros. for a comment, they passed me on to Universal. [laughs] So, that kind of gave it away.
Selina: [laughs] Yeah.
Micah: Oops.
Andrew: Yeah. But whatever, so…
Micah: What are people in the chat saying about this?
Andrew: They’re agreeing with you. They’re saying… Tyler says Micah is being a grinch.
Selina: Awww.
Eric: I just read Micah’s big hat is distracting. That’s what I read.
Selina: I like it.
Andrew: Oh yeah, but Butterbeer is three dollars. I can’t believe that. I thought it was more. monkey bear wrote that. Thank you, monkey bear.
Eric: monkey bear, I heard also the souvenir cup runs ten dollars.
Andrew: Ten, yeah.
Eric: According to monkeybear.
Andrew: But if you just buy one of those, then I think the refills are three bucks. So…
Eric: Huh.
Andrew: StarkidTurner said:
“Eric is so pretty.”
Selina: [laughs] Awww.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: [unintelligible]
Eric: Kaylyn Smith says:
“Oh my God, horns.”
Selina: She gets your joke.
Micah: Wrong holiday. I’m the grinch, but yet Eric is wearing horns for Christmas.
Eric: Yeah, I actually looked into Horns, like the plot. I kind of read a summary, and it seems quite terrifying and it’s going to be the film that really scares us, I think, about Daniel Radcliffe. Even in The Woman In Black I could still see him as kind of good in acting and innocent, but Horns is some dark S-H-U-T.
Selina: But he already did Equus, so I think we’re all pretty familiar with his darkness.
Eric: That’s true. Well, how many people have seen Equus? There was never an HBO presents a live performance of Equus, right? So unless you saw it live, Equus slipped, I think, under your radar.
Selina: That’s true.
Micah: Are you transitioning into the next story?
Eric: No. Is there a next story?
MuggleCast 260 Transcript (continued)
News: Daniel Radcliffe Joins Google+
Andrew: Well, there is some weird social networking news. Go ahead, Micah. Read the headline again.
Micah: One sec.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Dan Radcliffe officially joins Google+ to stop impostors on Twitter and Facebook.
[Selina laughs]
Andrew: I think Micah is under the influence of something.
Eric: Wasn’t this JK Rowling’s reason…
Andrew: Too much eggnog?
Micah: Yup.
Eric: Wasn’t this JK Rowling’s reason for getting on Twitter? Because people were pretending to be her and she…
Andrew: Right.
Selina: Yeah.
Andrew: This is so weird to me. Dan Radcliffe joins Google+, like the lamest social network out there right now. By the way, this Google Hangout brought to you by Google+, but that’s besides the point.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Thank you, Google!
Andrew: Yeah. I actually… I love Google+ for the Google Hangout feature. But he said:
“This has mainly come about because of the amount of people that I meet who tell me that they have contacted me on Twitter or Facebook when I know that’s impossible because I don’t belong to either one of those sites. Now that I have this [Google+] page, there will be an outlet for accurate information and hopefully people will not waste their time giving credence to people pretending to be me.”
Here’s what bothers me: he’s joining Google+ to thwart the impostors on Twitter and Facebook. How is that going to work? You can still make a fake Dan Radcliffe Twitter or fake Dan Radcliffe Facebook.
Eric: Yeah.
Micah: I don’t really care.
Andrew: I don’t get it.
Micah: [laughs] Sorry.
Andrew: And I wrote that.
Micah: I agree with you, though.
Andrew: I just think it’s silly.
Micah: Well, what…
Selina: Yeah, it’s like he doesn’t understand how it works or his publicist or whoever is doing this.
Andrew: Yeah. And I remember one time Dan Radcliffe said, “I don’t do Twitter because I couldn’t keep up with it.” It’s like, “Well, Dan, you don’t have to look at your @replies. I mean, sorry, you’re not going to be bigger than Lady Gaga, and Lady Gaga seems to handle it just fine.”
Selina: But then again, there are some stars who just… they don’t want to get into it, so maybe it’s like a protest.
Andrew: Yeah.
Selina: It’s like, “Screw your Twitter and your Facebook, I have Google+.” Which nobody uses. I don’t know.
Andrew: Yeah.
Selina: Maybe he’s sponsored by them? I have no idea.
Andrew: Yeah, maybe. Google could have paid him to do a Google+ account.
Selina: Who knows.
Andrew: That’s always possible.
Micah: But what’s… even if he was to go and get Facebook or Twitter, what’s the value if you don’t use it? I mean, look at JK Rowling.
[Selina laughs]
Micah: She doesn’t really actively use Twitter. I’m serious! I don’t…
Andrew: The value is that when you Google “Dan Radcliffe Twitter” you’ll find a real Twitter account. Whereas now if you Google that, you’ll probably just find fake accounts.
Eric: Right. The value is that we know JK Rowling is that boring instead of…
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: …being the JK Rowling who tweets every day and we’re like following her.
Micah: Well, didn’t she recently join Facebook too?
Andrew: Yeah, she has an official Facebook. But again it’s not run by her, I think. But the advantage of Dan Radcliffe having a Google+ account is that it is nice where there is a source for reputable information. I mean, that’s true. That’s valid. So, that’s the good part about it, but everything else just totally doesn’t make sense about it. He has some nice stuff on here. He’s got some pictures from various projects. It’s been updated plenty so far.
Eric: Speaking of impersonating celebrities, tdsporchiarayemi says:
“Hi, I am Selena Gomez.”
Selina: Enough of the Selena Gomez.
Eric: Yes, we have Selena Gomez in the chat.
Selina: Yeah, bane of my existence.
Andrew: And what else is going on in the news, Micah?
Micah: We did have an ask out for Dan to join us in the Hangout, but that didn’t happen.
[Selina laughs]
Andrew: [in a bad British accent] He wouldn’t join us. Sorry mate, got something else going on.
Harry Potter: Page to Screen Video Explaining $1,000 Price Tag Released
Micah: All right. Final bit of news here, Harry Potter Page to Screen: The Complete Filmmaking Journey video was released and it explains the $1,000 price tag [laughs] associated with it.
Eric: In your opinion, does it explain it or does it explain it away?
Selina: It’s ridiculous.
Eric: A thousand dollars.
Selina: It’s completely… like these prices are getting ludicrous.
Andrew Yeah, we all…
Micah: Is this the…
Andrew: We all remember the Harry Potter – what is it called? – Wizard’s Collection?
Micah: Yup.
Andrew: That was, what, 500 bucks? Something like that? And to top that, here’s something that retails for a thousand dollars. Now, this does look pretty cool. It comes… we all remember Harry Potter: Page to Screen, the filmmaking book. I think, Micah, you have it, right?
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: Me too.
Andrew: That was good.
Eric: I have it.
Andrew: Okay. It’s good, right?
Micah: I can grab it right now. It’s right behind me on the bookshelf somewhere.
Andrew: It’s good, right? Good book?
Micah: Yeah. Hold on.
Andrew: Okay. So, then in this set they added six volumes, including books on graphic design, creatures, costumes, special effects – and this, I thought, was cool – a book of the paintings of Hogwarts.
Selina: Mhm.
Andrew: Like, all of the paintings within Hogwarts. So, it’s neat stuff.
Selina: Ooh, did you… I don’t know if you guys have seen those at your… at any of the exhibitions – your exhibitions – but at the Leavesden Studios when you go on the tour, there’s an entire section full of paintings. Like, there’s a whole wall that’s just…
Andrew: Oh, cool.
Selina: It’s massive and there’s all these different paintings, and I specifically remember because there’s a painting with the name “Selina” on it, and I’m like…
[Andrew laughs]
Selina: …”My name is in the story, kind of!” But yeah, no, it’s really cool. So, you get to see them all really up close, so it’s cool you get to see that in there too.
Andrew: Yeah, the problem is just that it’s a thousand dollars.
[Selina laughs]
Andrew: I mean, this isn’t for anybody.
Selina: Yeah. You might as well just go to the studios, no matter where you are in the world.
Eric: They should have gone the free information route and put it on a wiki or something.
Selina: Or Pottermore.
Eric: Or Pottermore. I mean…
Andrew: Micah, ho…it up again.
[Prolonged silence]
Andrew: I turned on… switched to your camera. The…we go. Look at that.
Eric: Which camera, man? Oh.
Andrew: It’s so I can…
Micah: And this i…ow much it weighs.
[Heavy thud in the background]
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: I don’t know if that… [laughs] that was…
…>Eric: Micah was j… crushing small animals…
[Micah and Selina lau…
Andrew: So yeah, a thousand dollars for this baby, and three thousand copies worldwide. So, Warner Bros. is kind of taking the limited edition approach: high price, limited. They figure they can sell three thousand of these, and if they can, great. But I won’t be buying. Did MuggleNet try to get a review copy? That’s what I would have done. A three-thousand dollar product.
[Prolonged silence]
Andrew: No comment? Nobody knows?
Eric: It’s on its way to me.
Andrew: [laughs] It’s on its way. Under lock and key, so nobody can steal it from the UPS man.
Eric: [laughs] Yeah.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: Make a quick grand off of it.
Eric: Oh my gosh.
Micah: I can only imagine what that poor person, carrying some of this stuff, feels like afterwards.
Eric: That’s the thing, I…
Selina: I wonder how many cop… they’re going to sell?
Andrew: By the way, LivSirius said $299 for a Wizard’s Collection at Costco right now. That’s the complete box set. Costco is only in America though, I think, so…
Eric: Okay. I still own most …what I’m getting in that collection, though.
Andrew: And we actually did get a comment from Dan Radcliffe about joining today and he said, “Sorry, pen and paper are my priority at the moment.”
[Everyone laughs]
Selina: That’s nice of him to let us know.
Micah: You know what’s really cool?
Andrew: Hats off to Jón for putting that line in the chat.
Podcast Plugs
Micah: Really cool is I posted that we were doing a show right now on MuggleNet, and then somebody else posted the fact that we were… that Alohomora! is doing a live show…
[Andrew laughs]
Selina Oh no.
Micah: …on Friday December 28th.
Andrew: Oh.
Selina: Oh, that’s okay.
Micah: So, really appreciate that.
Eric: Oh, hey…
Andrew: I thought you meant right now.
Micah: No, that would probably have been even worse.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: But…
Andrew: I don’t get it, where was that posted? What are you saying? In the MuggleNet chat?
Micah: [laughs] No, on the MuggleNet site.
Andrew: Oh. Awesome.
Micah: So, we just got… what do you even call that?
Eric: [laughs] Trolled?
Micah: Post bombed?
Andrew: Trolled?
Eric: [laughs] Post bombed?
[Micah laughs]
Eric: Yeah, no, no, no, I was supposed to announce that on this show, actually. I was asked by the Alohomora! team to announce their live show, which for details you can go on the MuggleNet site and look under the post announcing this post.
Micah: No, you can’t! Forget that now! [laughs]
Eric: You removed it? You removed it?
Micah: No, I didn’t.
Eric: Oh.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: I’m not that much of a grinch.
Andrew: Man, Micah’s loose.
Selina: [laughs] I know!
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Micah is loose.
Selina: It’s uncut.
Andrew: Speaking of plugs, I’ve been meaning to talk about this on MuggleCast, I have been… I have a revelation to tell everybody, this is my big announcement: I have been living a secret double life as a weekly podcaster.
Selina: What?
Andrew: Yeah, I know. Can you believe it? [laughs]
Selina: No! [laughs]
Andrew: From MuggleCast – the good old days with MuggleCast. I’m doing a show with my friend Mason now – it used to be with Ben, now it’s with Mason – called HYPE. And if you miss the weekly…
Micah: It’s a good show.
Andrew: Thank you, Micah. We had Micah on recently, and it was fun having him on. HYPEPodcast.com and we do it weekly. Now, here’s the scary part: we are charging for it. It’s $3.99 a month, but the reason we’re doing that is so we can make sure we get it out weekly. The reason we don’t do MuggleCast as often anymore is because we all have other things going on, but… so by charging for it…
Micah: It’s about time we made money off of podcasts.
Andrew: [laughs] I’m still waiting for iTunes to let us charge for podcasts. That’ll be the day. [laughs]
Selina: True.
Andrew: Weekly MuggleCasts as soon as we can start charging 99 cents per episode. That would be great. So, visit HYPEPodcast.com. There’s free samples of the show on there if you want to give it a try before you subscribe, and you can cancel anytime. And we have a lot of fun on there, talking about general entertainment and also just our lives in general.
[Applause sound effect plays]
Andrew: It’s a good time.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Thank you. That is the audience reacting to every episode because they applaud…
Micah: So, are we just plugging other podcasts here? Is that what we’re doing?
[Selina laughs]
Andrew: Well, hey, we always do it but we never plug HYPE, so…
Micah: That’s true.
Andrew: Whatever. Back off. What do you want to plug?
Micah: We do have three other hosts with another podcast…
Selina: Considering we have three people on here, yeah, on another show.
Andrew: Go for it, go for it. You guys plug it every episode. Go ahead. Talk about Game of…
Micah: Well, we haven’t done an episode in, like, two months.
Andrew: [laughs] Oh, okay.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: So, what do you want to plug?
Micah: Who’s doing the plug?
Selina: GOO!
Micah: I’m doing it? GOO?
Eric: Welcome to our next episode of Game of Owns…
[Micah and Selina laugh]
Eric: Eric, Micah, Selina are here! We are here, and we’re kicking ass and wearing pirate hats and it’s awesome.
Micah: You can’t say that on MuggleCast, can you?
Eric: Oh, but I can on Game of Owns.
Selina: And that’s not the first time.
Eric: No. Okay, so we’re just going to plug Game of Owns. I’m not doing it. I just intro-ed it.
Micah: You just did.
Andrew: Okay. Well, good job, guys. TAB8811…
Selina: [laughs] Not that good at this.
Andrew: …in the comments said that she loves HYPE. She says it’s fun, so thank you for that. Oh, and yes, somebody referenced WhoHype.
Selina: Oh, WhoHype! I was just on an episode of that.
Andrew: There will be a special episode of WhoHype coming up because of the Doctor Who Christmas special.
Eric: Ooh, with Ellie Darcey-Alden.
Andrew: Now look, the reason we’re sitting here shamelessly plugging our podcasts is because Harry Potter, it’s sort of dwindling a little bit, and we’re interested in getting into other podcasts. So, if you like listening to MuggleCast, I can assure you you’re going to like talking about these other ones that we talk about.
Listener Tweets: Favorite MuggleCast Moments of 2012
Anyway, we also wanted to reflect on the year that was with MuggleCast. We had out a good amount of episodes. I’m going to look through the @replys here. We asked on Twitter, people who follow us on Twitter, Twitter.com/MuggleCast, what was your favorite MuggleCast moment of the year? Let’s see here. Chillin43 said:
“Episode 250: Laura getting news by toucan.”
I’m happy to report Laura, as of two days ago, is now back in the United States of America.
Micah: Permanently?
Andrew: Yes. Bring out the applause sound effects for that. She’s back in the US. Isn’t that nice?
[Applause sound effect plays]
Andrew: So, maybe we’ll force her on to a MuggleCast or two in the future.
[Dog barks in the background]
Andrew: My dog says… no.
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Andrew: Ani Sharmin says:
“Episode 250: Micah calls JKR’s new book the New Testament and Ben says you’ve been talking about it for half an hour despite little info.”
Oh, that sounds like Ben, complaining about us talking too much on a Harry Potter podcast.
Micah: I called it the New Testament?
Andrew: I think so.
Eric: Well, according to that. Episode 250 was apparently a hit! That’s the second person…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …who said, “Hey, 250, favorite episode.”
Andrew: We got a lot of comments about the Live at LeakyCon. Angie Brewer said:
“Watching live at LeakyCon and giving Micah a birthday card.”
We all remember that.
Selina: Oh, yeah! That was nice.
Micah: That was nice.
Eric: Do you still have it? Where is it?
Micah: I do. Hold on, I might have it here.
Selina: Oh, the effects didn’t move. This is weird.
Eric: It’s like a spectre Micah.
Selina: Like a faceless man.
Andrew: MuggleNet’s Keith also said the live birthday wish to Micah at LeakyCon. Terrance, our friend Terrance from Hogwarts Radio, said:
“Live LeakyCon show where @sims says, ‘This chair is for every MuggleCaster who has died.'”
[Everyone laughs]
Selina: Oh, yeah.
Micah: Which thankfully is none of us.
Eric: Yes.
Micah: Just so people know.
Andrew: Yeah. And yeah, so that’s that.
Micah: What was your favorite moment?
Andrew: I don’t know. I’d have to look back through the…
Micah: Of all the episodes we did this year.
< ...b>Andrew: I know.
[Micah and Selina laugh]
Selina: All five of them.
Andrew: If I had a chance to skip through, then that would be helpful and remind myself. But anybody in the chat who has other moments, feel free to shout them out and we’ll read them on the show. It’s hard to remember sometimes…
Selina: Hmmm.
Andrew: …things that …pen, but I think we had another good year.
…Selina: I liked it before Casual Vacancy came out, and we were all super excited for it.
Andrew: Oh, yeah.
Selina: And then it came out, and we weren’t really.
Andrew: This was…
Selina: But before, it was fun.
Andrew: … Well, I was looking forward to big midnight release parties.
Selina: Yeah.
Andrew: I know I remember talking about that a lot, and that didn’t happen. So, yeah. Okay, so…
Selina: But the excitement, they can never take that away from us.
Andrew: Never! You will never take our excitement!
Top Seven Harry Potter Moments of 2012
Andrew: Okay, now it’s time for the top seven moments…
Eric: Woo!
Andrew: Harry Potter moments of 2012.
Selina: Aww.
Andrew: Led by Eric.
Eric: Yes, somebody in the YouTube comments just said, “It is not dwindling!” Unforgivable Imperius, that was. But yeah, it just proves… okay, so we were able to find the top seven moments of 2012. There were moments in Harry Potter history that happened this year, and these are the top seven. And I must admit I had help with this. The MuggleNet news interns – Veronica, Claire, Jessica, and Laura – helped with picking out stories, and I arranged them into just a general top seven. I wouldn’t say that we can… maybe we can arrange them afterwards as to what’s the biggest, but essentially here are the top seven biggest stories and this includes… some of these stories have multiple dates. But the first one does not. The first one is the beginning of January, January 6th. Rotten Tomatoes awarded a Golden Tomato to Deathly Hallows: Part 2, calling it the best-reviewed film of the year. The reason this is a top moment for me is because it signaled the last time that Deathly Hallows: Part 2 would receive any honor at all. [laughs]
Selina: Aww.
Eric: But also, it’s a big deal, the fact that a Harry Potter film gets Best Reviewed. I mean, especially if you are a book purist, or if you’re not a book purist, you had different feelings, like the Harry/Voldemort face merge, that I think would have caused you to review the film negatively. And yet, it scored Best Reviewed and it got a Golden Tomato from Rotten Tomatoes. So…
[Micah laughs]
Eric: …I think it’s… furthermore, I see Rotten Tomatoes…
[Applause sound effect plays]
Eric: Thank you. Furthermore, Rotten Tomatoes is being used, literally everywhere now, to determine how good a movie is. I’m seeing it on…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …applications. You can attest to this, Andrew.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: It just seems like everybody gives a damn about the Tomato Rating these days.
Andrew: Yeah, because there’s so many reviews online these days, it’s like, well how do I decide… what is the general consensus here? And there’s two sites for that: Rotten Tomatoes and then Metacritic, but Rotten Tomatoes is much more popular, I think. And yeah, so it is a good honor. That’s a good choice for…
Eric: It’s more fun, right? With the squishy tomatoes and you get to…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …throw tomatoes at each other. So, people…
Andrew: Sure. Well, I’ve never done that part, but yeah.
Eric: People like playing with food. But our second top moment then is later that month – and the subsequent month, so January and February – the Academy Awards nominations come out. Now, remember, at the beginning of the year there was this big Deathly Hallows push. Warner Bros. released for-your-consideration videos, and the stars and the producers and the directors were all talking about how important it would be for Harry Potter to achieve an Oscar, and that they were willing to submit for-your-consideration. Well, in the end, on January 24th, it was revealed that Potter secured only three nominations, which was far less than they were hoping for. I believe they were all technical nominations, and then the following month, February 26th, Harry Potter failed to receive an Oscar, and this is…
[Andrew fake sobs]
Eric: So, a few dates the Harry Potter…
Selina: So lame.
Eric: Maybe this is why they’re doing a ninth film, guys, because…
[Andrew and Selina laugh]
Selina: Another chance.
Andrew: Give it another chance.
Eric: But really… so, the Harry Potter series, as of February 24th – this isn’t necessarily a happy top moment of the year, but I’d say it’s pretty definitive…
Selina: Worth noting, I think.
Eric: …that Harry Potter will not receive an Oscar. What do you guys think?
Selina: It’s definitely worth noting because that was… I still think that’s ridiculous.
Andrew: Yeah, and we all remembered…
Selina: Because it’s such a good film.
Andrew: …WB’s huge marketing campaign. I still remember the billboards. I was thinking about that recently because now their big push is The Dark Knight and they’re doing the same thing as they did last year, because both films came out in July. Now they’re pushing The Dark Knight Rises DVD, but also…
[Gong sound effect plays]
Andrew: …doing the Oscar campaigning…
[Micah and Selina laugh]
Andrew: …in the same exact billboard ad. At least in Holly…d.
Eric: Mhm.
Andrew: But yeah, it was a shame because they released that nice book, that for-your-consideration Harry Potter book. I can’t believe that was the beginning of this year. It feels like so much longer ago.
Selina: It’s just ridiculous because not only could you make the argument that the last film should receive some kind of summarizing honor for all of the films, like Lord of the Rings did, and even if you didn’t believe that I think that the last film was one of the best ones the series has done. So, I think it’s silly that it didn’t at least get nominated for Best Picture. Did it? It didn’t, did it?
Andrew: No.
Selina: Okay.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: crystilflower999 said the ninth film’s working title is Harry Potter and the Golden Oscar.
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Andrew: I think that’s a good idea.
Eric: Do you think Hollywood would take the hint? Do you think… [laughs]
Andrew: Hopefully.
Eric: Yea…
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. [laughs] We’re only doing this because we needed the Oscar.
Micah: I know we touched on this some, but I was really surprised that they didn’t recognize the series in any way. I think Selina touched on this a little bit.
Selina: Yeah.
Micah: For everything that it had done. I mean, you’re talking about – and I know Bond may have passed since the new movie that came out, but at the time – the highest-grossing franchise ever.
Eric: Yeah, in eight films.
Micah: So, how do you not recognize that? In eight films.
Eric: And Bond has done 23 films.
Selina: Yeah.
Eric: It was tremendous, absolutely tremendous. What Harry Potter has done for the economy… [laughs]
Selina: [laughs] If nothing else.
Eric: The fiscal cliff would have been six months ago if not for Harry Potter. But no, I’m just saying in general you’re right. Lesser… I don’t want to say lesser awards shows, I don’t want to get offended – or offend people – but other awards shows managed to take some time and award Harry Potter. When I was going through this, our upcoming MuggleNet year in review, looking for these stories, I saw all these little different awards that Rupert Grint accepted. Even Chris Columbus picked up an award for, or from, the American Film Institute on behalf of the Harry Potter cast. That all happened this year. There’s still these little awards, little tributes that happened, but I think what… the biggest thing about this story was that the Oscars, the Academy itself, did not care, and they did not do such a thing. They ignored this great British achievement.
Selina: Yeah.
Eric: They’re produced by Warner Bros., which is an American film, so that’s the other thing. Even though there are so many British people in it, and Lord knows the Harry Potter films have won a lot of BAFTAs, I think. I don’t think I’m mistaken in saying that. But it would have been nice for the Academy, who we still hold as the Hollywood authority, to have given some kind of award or, as you say, even a tribute to Potter.
Micah: Yup.
Andrew: Breaks my heart. Breaks my heart.
Eric: And then, onto our news story. This could actually be argued as the top news story of the year.
Andrew: Ooh.
Eric: This is… for those of you who are counting, for those of you who are keeping track, this is number three of our top seven moments of the year. And it’s multiple moments condensed into one: The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling.
Selina: Yay.
Andrew: Well, it’s important because it was JK Rowling’s first book post-Harry Potter.
Eric: Agreed. And they even attempted to market it in a very exciting way, I think, based on the tapered release of the title and the book and the date. And also, how little we knew about it for the longest time.
Andrew: Yeah.
Selina: Yeah, there was a lot of mystery about it, and in the end, there probably shouldn’t have been…
[Andrew sniggers]
Selina: …because it wasn’t a mystery book, you know? Not because it was… no, no! [laughs]
Andrew: Well, you know…
Selina: But just because it sent the wrong… it gave the wrong idea.
Andrew: They played down the expectations from the beginning. They were saying it doesn’t matter, we’re not going to compare sales numbers to Harry Potter, because it was Little, Brown. This is the first time JK Rowling has worked with Little, Brown as well. She previously worked in the US with Scholastic for all the Harry Potter books.
Eric: Mhm.
Andrew: It was Bloomsbury in the UK, but for Casual Vacancy it was Little, Brown worldwide. And they said, we’re not expecting JK Rowling… she has no pressure to do particular sales numbers.
[Cash register sound effect plays]
Andrew: But I’m sure they were expecting it to be a big success…
[Cash register sound effect plays]
Andrew: …and I think [laughs] by their standards, this was a great success because honestly, it’s hard to sell a book these days, and Little, Brown, probably their last big success was probably Twilight. [laughs] So, they were looking forward to Casual Vacancy and they got it.
Eric: I had no idea that Little, Brown did Twilight.
Selina: No, I was just going to say.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s part of the reason why JK Rowling went with Little, Brown. Weren’t you aware of that? She said…
Eric: No, I was completely unaware of that.
Andrew: She said, “I love Twilight and this is going to be my publisher now.” [laughs]
Eric: I feel like you’re making a joke.
Andrew: “Screw you, Scholastic. Get out of here. You didn’t do good enough for me.” No, JK Rowling had no attachment to Twilight.
Eric: So, running through the dates here again – this is still The Casual Vacancy but we found the title, and the release date, and the website, were launched on March 12th, and then it was released – the book itself was released – on September 27th. So, we had about six months to really get into the idea of the new JK Rowling book. October 17th, then, 20 days after the book was released, JK Rowling toured and arrived in New York City. Micah and I got to see her live, which… I just thought it was important to include because it was the first time she came to the city since… was it Radio City in 2008? Or 2007? Was it, Micah?
Micah: No, she was in…
Andrew: It was 2007.
Micah: Wasn’t she at Carnegie Hall after that?
Eric: Oh, Carnegie Hall. Yeah, well, Radio City was first but Carnegie Hall was, like, 2007. That was where she outed Dumbledore.
Andrew: Right. Radio City was 2006.
Eric: Yeah, so 2006, 2007. So, it’s the first time in five years that she toured and, again, The Casual Vacancy, it’s her first book post-Potter so there was five years where she really didn’t do anything public.
Micah: I’m sure she has been to New York in between, at some point.
Andrew: How do you know?
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: How do you know that, Micah?
Micah: Wait, what about the lawsuit? She was in New York for that.
[Andrew laughs]
Selina: Oh, the big events!
Andrew: Right, that was quite the vacation.
Eric: I wonder if the camels were a big draw for her.
Selina: Oh, cross-podcast reference. I love it.
Eric: Yeah, wow. No, it’s just “what’s on in New York right now” reference.
Micah: You’ve got to keep it to goats on MuggleCast and then…
Selina: Yeah.
Micah: …camels on Game of Owns…
Andrew: And, this is just in, in 2…, she is returning to Radio City to out another character: Aunt Marge as a lesbian, and…
[Micah laughs]
Selina: Yay!
Eric: Y…re really pushing for that. You should send her an envelope that says “For your consideration”…
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Eric: …and on the i…de it has Aunt Marge and then like…
[Selina laughs]
Andrew: All these artistic pic…es of Aunt Marge.
Eric: Yeah.
[Selina laughs]
Eric: “For your consideration.” Her and Rosie O’Donnell.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Okay, enough of that. That’s very unprofessional.
Micah: What moment are we on?
Eric: Okay, so still the third moment but at the end of this year, twenty days ago, December 3rd, the BBC announced that they are turning The Casual Vacancy into…
Andrew: Oh, yeah!
Selina: Oh, yeah!
And…: Why didn’t we talk about this yet?!
Selina: We should talk about this! [laughs]
Andrew: I missed this.
Selina: That’s crazy.
Andrew: Okay, yeah. Well, let’s talk about that. That was a news item in and of itself. So… well, here’s what bothered me about that. BBC, of course… okay, Casual Vacancy TV show, that’s cool. But during interviews while she was promoting The Casual Vacancy, JK Rowling was saying, “No, I can’t see The Casual Vacancy as a movie. That seems silly. I can’t… for multiple reasons, I just can’t imagine that.”
Selina: But I think, though, for a mini-series it’s different because the BBC does all kinds of… I mean, sort of kitchen sink, real, gruesome… not gruesome, that’s the wrong word. But realistic, kind of gritty stuff like that. I think it would fit in really well as a mini-series. But not as a movie because it doesn’t have a crescendo in that way.
Andrew: Wouldn’t it be harder to adapt a book for a TV series, I would think?
Selina: I don’t think Casual Vacancy… because I think Casual Vacancy isn’t so much about a plot being set up and then it needs to get resolved. It’s more about setting up this gallery of characters that interact with each other. So, in that sense over the course of several episodes you could do that, but it’s more… the tempo is like this. This is good we have video. You can do this.
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Selina: But yeah, that’s what I was going to say. So, I think it works.
Andrew: Well, I think it’s interesting that it’s JK Rowling’s first foray into television. She’s conquered movies, and now it’s time for her to conquer television. We’ll see if she can do it.
Eric: I wonder if…
Selina: Yeah, it’s fun. I wonder if they’re going to get any actors from the Harry Potter series to star in it because…
Andrew: Oh, please. [laughs]
Selina: Oh, come on! Because every single… not because of Harry Potter, but because almost every single British actor has been in Harry Potter, so it’s almost impossible to avoid. And it’s just because I see the Dursleys in my head when I read The Casual Vacancy, so I want them to be in it. I want Dudley…
[Micah laughs]
Selina: What’s his face, Uncle Vernon, to be that guy that’s like Uncle Vernon in The Casual Vacancy and stuff.
Eric: Uh-huh, yeah.
Selina: It would be so fun.
Andrew: People were suggesting that I audition for the role of Andrew in The Casual Vacancy.
Selina: Oh, Andrew. Awww.
Eric: Andrew.
Andrew: I think that’s a great idea. If only… I’m trying to bring up some quotes from Andrew so I can do my audition, but I don’t have the book with me right now, and I can’t seem to Google any. So, if anybody has some quotes, paste them in the chat and I will audition. That idea was from crystilflower, by the way.
Selina: Uh-oh, Krystal.
Andrew: Oh yeah, there’s another character.
Eric: There’s a Krystal in the book.
Selina: Yeah.
Andrew: I guess we’ll all be watching, right? I didn’t finish the book, so this will be my way to actually know what happens.
[Andrew and Selina laugh]
Eric: It’s tough for me to get the BBC, I think. I don’t know, maybe we get the BBC.
Selina: It’ll be out on DVD.
Andrew: It’s very easy thanks to BitTorrent. Yeah, and the DVD, of course.
Selina: Legally.
MuggleCast 260 Transcript (continued)
Top Seven Harry Potter Moments of 2012 (continued)
Eric: Okay, so moving off of The Casual Vacancy, I think that probably will be our top moment of the year, but Pottermore… and we talked about it a little bit at the beginning of this episode, but Pottermore actually opened to the public…
[Crickets sound effect plays]
Andrew: That’s Micah playing that, not me!
[Micah and Selina laugh]
Eric: Pottermore opened to the public on March 14th of this year.
Andrew: I can’t believe it was only this year.
Eric: This year. And now, a couple of days ago…
Selina: We were waiting for it [since] September 2011, weren’t we?
Eric: A couple of days ago, the third book opened. So it’s gone through, guys. The first two books have been completed, and we’re onto the third in nine months time.
Andrew: Well, the other thing to keep in mind is that it was in beta in 2011, so… and they had Book 1 done. But yeah…
Eric: Yeah, the public opening – like any random person who hadn’t been there when they initially did the signups for beta testing – the public has had nine months, and in those nine months they rewarded us with almost three books. I think that’s pretty shocking. It seemed to go a lot slower than that mostly because the rest of us were waiting for so long. What do you think?
Andrew: Yeah. Well, I mean, it was impressive. There were a lot that they did this year, and I’m interested to see what kind of pace they continue to move at. Yeah, I have nothing else to say.
Eric: Yeah. No, I know that was going to be a quick one, but of course this one might not be. Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter.
Andrew: Oh, yeah!
Eric: Now, that opened March 31st.
Selina: Oh, yeah!
Eric: March 31st was the grand opening. Who of us has been there?
Andrew: Just Selina.
Selina: I went to the grand opening. I got to interview the different stars and the producers and stuff. It was so much fun.
Eric: So, you got to see the Studio Tour?
Selina: I did.
Eric: Andrew? Micah? You guys didn’t?
Andrew: No.
Micah: Nope.
Andrew: I know, Selina, you really liked it, right?
Selina: I loved it. I loved it. I mean, I’ve always been a book fan more than a movie fan even though I do like the movies, but going there and seeing everything like the paintings that I was talking about and seeing all the different sweets and stuff. I just… it was fantastic and it was fantastic as well for me because I got to speak to David Heyman and stuff…
Andrew: Mhm.
Selina: …so I probably remember that as part of the experience. But…
Andrew: Is it a no-brainer for fans to go in England? If you live in England or you’re making a trip there, is it a no-brainer to go?
Selina: I would say…
Eric: Isn’t there a bus that can take you from the airport?
Selina: Yes, there’s a bus.
Eric: Yeah.
Selina: I would say it’s a no-brainer if you care about filmmaking.
Andrew: Oh.
Selina: If you care about filmmaking and Harry Potter, then you go…
Andrew: Hmm.
Selina: …because it’s a lot of technical information. You see how some of the special effects were made, you see how they rode on broomsticks, you… I mean, there’s a gift shop with stuff that you can buy.
Micah: Of course there is.
Selina: And I did love that, but…
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Where is it? Hold on, hold on.
[Cash register sound effect plays]
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Selina: There you go.
Andrew: Wouldn’t casual fans enjoy it too, I would think? Because you walk in the actual Great Hall and the actual sets.
Selina: Right, but I think… you walk to them, but you don’t walk into them. They are roped off. It’s like a museum in a lot of ways.
Andrew: Well, the Great Hall you walk into.
Selina: Oh yeah, you do get to walk through the Great Hall but the tables are roped off, that sort of thing. It’s costumes, it’s incomplete effects, it’s a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff. It doesn’t feel like you’re in Hogwarts. It’s not like they made a Hogwarts for you to walk through. That’s just what I want.
Andrew: Right.
Selina: This was about the movies and the… this was about the creation of the movies.
Andrew: Mhm.
Selina: Rather than about the story of the movies.
Micah: Right.
Andrew: Somebody is asking, “What’s better – the Studio Tour or the Exhibition?” I mean, obviously the Studio Tour is better.
Selina: The Studio Tour, probably.
Andrew: Yeah.
Selina: Yeah, because this is a complete experience.
Andrew: Speaking of that, I went to the Exhibition in New York City a couple of weeks ago and I really liked it. I went on a Saturday night with my brother and mom, and it was empty. I mean, there was nobody in there. I don’t know if that’s normally… I don’t know if it’s just because we went kind of late at night or what, but…
Micah: It was your private tour.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Oh, that’s right. Yeah, that’s right. Okay, yeah, I’m sorry. [fake laughs] But I liked it. It was cool. There wasn’t… it’s pretty expensive. It’s like twenty-five, I think, per person?
Eric: Hmmm.
Andrew: Or twenty? And you get a picture at the beginning, which then you have to pay for at the end if you actually want to keep it. I didn’t buy it because, again, it was way too expensive. And they have merchandise at the end, of course. It was cool. It was cool to see all the props and whatnot.
Eric: Mhm.
Andrew: I was debating between that and Madame Tussauds because Madame Tussauds… I love Madame Tussauds because you can actually touch all the wax figures.
Eric: Wait, you can touch them?
Andrew: Yeah. You can take picture with them in any position you want. You can make-out with them. They say not to touch the heads, but there is nobody around there, so you can if you want to.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: And it’s so much fun. I did the Hollywood one. It was such a blast. I wanted to do it in New York City again. But yeah, I highly recommend Madame Tussauds.
Eric: And you chose Harry Potter over that.
Andrew: Because Harry Potter was five dollars cheaper. [laughs]
Eric: [laughs] So, there you go.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Harry Potter and frugal people.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: The other big difference was, Selina, you can correct me if I’m wrong, but at the Studio Tour you get the chance to actually take photos.
Selina: Yeah.
Andrew: Mmm.
Micah: Whereas at the Exhibition they discourage you from doing that. Why? I don’t know.
Selina: Oh, that’s weird.
Andrew: They don’t just discourage you, they are watching and they tell you no. And at the beginning of the Exhibition they get two people sorted by the talking Sorting Hat – and I went up because it was me, my mom, and my brother and two other people going into the Exhibition – and I go up, but I wanted to get my picture taken because it looks like you’re getting sorted with the Sorting Hat, and they don’t even allow a picture during then!
Selina: That’s stupid.
Andrew: I don’t get it.
Selina: That’s dumb. I mean, that’s the thing… that was one of the best things about the Studio Tour, is that you get your picture in front of, like, the big door to the Chamber of Secrets…
Andrew: Yeah.
Selina: …and the bridge and the Dursleys house and stuff like that. It’s just… that stuff is fun.
Andrew: Yeah.
Selina: And the castle! Hogwarts! Oh my God.
Andrew: Oh yeah, the big scale of Hogwarts.
Selina: Yeah, they have the giant… that’s the best thing about it, is the giant Hogwarts at the end. That isn’t to scale, but you can just imagine yourself like this big and you are like life-size at Hogwarts. It’s amazing.
Andrew: Right. That’s cool, that’s cool.
Eric: So, we have two more stories…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …completing the top seven, and these will go quick. I have this as a top story: On June 4th, Sony announced in a way of continuing their partnership with JK Rowling in bringing you all things awesome, the Harry Potter Book of Spells would be released, and this would feature spells from JK Rowling and be a new interactive video game experience.
Andrew: Mhm.
Eric: Now…
Andrew: Nobody has played this yet, in this group. Has anyone?
Eric: I have not.
Micah: No.
Eric: But the reason I say it’s a top story is because they are continuing to break new ground, really try and break new media in. And whether or not it succeeds we have yet to see, but it shows that in a way the spark hasn’t died, or at least their pockets haven’t sewn themselves shut. So, here…
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: And with the new content from JK Rowling, it really makes sense…
[Cash register sound effect plays]
Eric: …that it would be attractive to do. So, I am actually interested. I will be playing this. I just need the right equipment and all that.
Andrew: I’m looking at a review on IGN – it’s a reputable video game site. They give it a 6.0 out of 10. They say it’s okay. “Book of Spells: not interactive enough to make it an enjoyable game and lacks the compelling narrative of a good book.”
Eric: Hmm.
Andrew: They say, “It has a fantastic presentation and the technology has great potential, but no real story. Shallow, repetitive gameplay and little replay value.”
Selina: That sounds like Pottermore.
[Andrew laughs]
Selina: No, it’s well presented…
Andrew: Well, they’re both by Sony.
Selina: …but it’s kind of…
Andrew: They’re both by Sony. So…
Selina: Right! But it sounds like the two… because they were released in a similar time frame to each other. It seems like the two are made from the same idea of having very, very simple walkthrough. You know what I mean?
Andrew: Yeah.
Selina: But having very nice looking art and things.
Andrew: Let me…
Eric: Replay value is one of those things, I think, that all of the Harry Potter video games have suffered from.
Andrew: Well, and it’s important for a system like this where you’re paying upward… I mean, we talked about this before. You need the system, you need the Playstation controller wand thing, you need the Eye, which is a camera, and you need this new Book of Spells device and the game. So, it just really adds up.
Eric: Yeah, for sure. But hopefully we’ll see in the coming year – maybe I can predict a sequel book that better uses the…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …technology released. They put themselves out there, that’s my point. People are still putting themselves out there and releasing content. Whether or not it’s a thousand dollar series of behind-the-scenes books, or new technology. It’s something worth noting for the year. And then, finally, we’ve already…
Micah: Well, one thing I just want to add to that though, is I would encourage Warner Bros. and Sony and all these other places to try and come up with some things that are a little bit more affordable for fans.
Andrew: Mhm.
Micah: I mean, these are people who have poured in a lot of time and money into the series…
Eric: Already.
Micah: …over the last ten years, and I think that right now all you’re seeing them do is price gouging people.
Andrew: Well, wouldn’t you argue that Pottermore is basically that? It is a hundred percent free? So…
Micah: Yeah, but I also think that people would buy a book for thirty or forty dollars if all that information was contained in the book. So, I’m just talking about some of the other sets that we’ve seen. The Wizard’s Collection retailing for six hundred dollars. This other collection that we spoke about earlier in the show, a thousand dollars. I mean, it’s just ridiculous to think that people are going to spend that kind of money.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: I just… I’m not trying to be a grinch here like earlier in the show.
Andrew: Yes, you are!
Selina: Awww.
Micah: I’m looking out for the people who like the series and want to be able to get something for a reasonable price.
Andrew: Why don’t you write us something Harry Potter related, Micah, and release it for ten bucks? Write a fan fiction.
Micah: All right. I’m not going to write it.
Selina: Release a fan fiction for money. That’s going to go well.
Andrew: Do like a paragraph and release it for a quarter. Charge a quarter.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Micah’s first fan fiction. And we’ll bring Fireside Chats back.
Micah: Somebody just said in the chat, TheHpgirl4ever:
“‘Book of Spells’ is a Bobfail.”
Andrew: Ah yes, the Bobfail.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: Oh, Bobfail! That’s an end of year recap show history tradition.
Andrew: In the MuggleCasties.
Eric: Yes.
Andrew: We’re not doing the MuggleCasties this year, I’m sorry to tell everybody.
Eric: These equate themselves, and your comments in the chat are our MuggleCasties for this year. And now our final top moment of the year, this is number seven. We’ve kind of talked about it before, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter continues to see…
[Drumroll sound effect plays]
Eric: Oh.
Selina: Sorry! [laughs]
Eric: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter continues to see awards and ceremonies within its parks, and this includes the new film that they’re apparently producing for the expansion as well as the five millionth Butterbeer which was consumed earlier this month on the 13th of December.
Andrew: Yeah.
Selina: I’m sorry, didn’t we get the announcement that there was going to be a new park this year? Like one or two new parks?
Andrew: That was in December of last year.
Selina: Oh, was it? Oh, I’m sorry.
Andrew: So it was a year ago, yeah. Well, it’s funny. We’ve heard nothing about those. That was at the beginning of December 2011. Universal had announced Wizarding World Hollywood and they had announced an expansion coming to Wizarding World Orlando and they have said absolutely nothing since then. Which, whatever, but I thought for sure within a year we would hear something about one of these. Like even concept art for Universal Hollywood, but no. By the way, I think they are getting under way with Universal Hollywood or Wizarding World Hollywood because the MTV Movie Awards are not at the Gibson Amphitheater this year. This is the first year, and Gibson Amphitheater is one of the venues they’re knocking out to make room for Wizarding World Hollywood. So, I think that means… and that’s in March, the MTV Movie Awards. So, construction has to be starting really soon on that and knocking down stuff to make room for Wizarding World.
Eric: Right. That is exciting. And there were some behind-the-scenes kind of like of the construction of archways and stuff, weren’t there? I saw a Hypable post…
Andrew: Well, yeah… right, the Wizarding World Orlando expansion, it’s being built in Universal Studios. It’s going to be Diagon Alley in London, that’s the rumor. It still seems to be… Aj in the chat is asking:
“Still 2014-2015 for the expansion?”
And I think yes, that seems to be… I don’t think that’s really changed. [laughs] Bree in the chat says:
“Andrew’s hat looks real.”
And that’s because it is a real hat. [laughs]
Micah: It is. [laughs]
Andrew: I’m like what everybody else is wearing. Mine is so special effects.
Selina: Mine is totally real.
Andrew: Look at that, it always hangs on. What was I saying? So yeah, they’re putting the track down for the Gringotts ride, the rumored Gringotts ride at Wizarding World Orlando expansion.
Eric: Very cool.
Looking Forward to 2013
Andrew: So, that moves into our 2013 discussion to wrap up the show. What do we have to look forward to in the year 2013?
Eric: I will say, speaking of 2013 I did want to take this opportunity to plug the 2013 MuggleNet Fandom Calendar.
Andrew: Oh, yes.
Eric: Which is something that… we haven’t had an opportunity yet on this show to talk about it. There are some video commercials out there and some audio clips that we’ve played on the other MuggleNet podcasts, but just real quickly here I just want to talk about this. The MuggleNet 2013 Fandom Calendar features all of the events in the books, like the day that Harry and Dumbledore go to recruit Slughorn. All those little, intimate details about what dates they occurred on. It’s a 2013 calendar much like you’d normally find this time of year in stores on shelves, and each month features a different part of the fandom. So, we have fan art and fan conventions and HP fan trips and all that stuff for the monthly images, and then the individual dates are all about premieres and birthdays of the actors and actresses as well as the characters. So, there’s all the information you possibly need is on MuggleNet, or just Google “MuggleNet Fandom Calendar” and check out our commercials and everything. But if this is something that interests you, again, I guess a little late for Christmas now, but you can still use it, it’s not 2013 yet, and the dates and everything are on there. It will surprise you. Our attention to detail will surprise you. That’s my promise. MuggleNet.com 2013 Fandom Calendar.
Andrew: I think I should be in the calendar. I deserve that.
Eric: Well, you’ve got to… where were you when I was filming the commercial?
Andrew: You filmed the commercial?
Eric: Yeah, yeah, I filmed and produced it.
Andrew: Where is this commercial? Where do I watch the commercial?
Eric: It’s on YouTube. I can’t…
Andrew: Oh, I didn’t…
Eric: I tried already to post the link in the comments, but I guess, preventing spam, they don’t allow it. But yeah, there’s two commercials and actually you would have fit perfectly into the role of “Enthusiastic Fan”…
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: …which I instead cast my good friend, Shannon Daly, in that role.
Andrew: Oh.
Eric: But yes, the commercial featured two people… well, and Hedwig. Hedwig made an appearance. But the two characters were “Enthusiastic Fan” and “Bored Roommate,” and I think you would have really fit “Enthusiastic Fan,” so that’s a shame.
Selina: You could have had your acting debut.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: So, what is there to look forward to in 2013? There are three things we have written down here. Look at this, I’m fixing up…
Eric: Can I steal from those three things? [laughs]
Andrew: What do you mean? You want to say one of them?
Eric: Can I read them off the list and be like, “Hey, this is what I’m looking forward to”?
Andrew: Oh. Well, I mean, I think they’re all things that we agree with.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: For one, the theme park announcement. As they continue to build in Orlando, at some point we’re going to see real Harry Potter stuff showing up. So, they can’t keep that quiet for much longer, I don’t think, although I was probably saying that at this time last year as well. They completed the London waterfront, which you can see and walk right on, but…
Eric: Really?
Andrew: Yeah. They just haven’t announced it yet. There’s… yeah, it’s crazy. And the reason I think they’re keeping it secret is because as soon as they announce it, potential people are going to start saying, oh, well we will just wait until the expansion opens and then… foot traffic-related reasons.
Eric: Right. Yeah, no, I’d say that holds some weight.
Andrew: Yeah. So, hopefully this year… because if they’re opening at, let’s say, 2014 – the way it seems to be moving, I would guess 2014 – if they open in 2014, then there has to be an announcement in 2013, I would think.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Maybe late in 2013.
Eric: At the end of the year, right?
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, sure. An encyclopedia announcement, what we’ve asked every year since 2007. [laughs] Will it be this year?
Selina: Yes!
Andrew: Selina, you think this is the year. Lucky thirteen.
Selina: No, actually I don’t think this is the year.
[Micah and Selina laugh]
Andrew: Oh.
Selina: I never think it’s going to be the year. But I mean, come on, please Jo.
[Andrew laughs]
Selina: We’ve had Casual Vacancy. We just… we want it so badly, and yeah. I feel if she waits too many more years, I’m going to… I don’t know if I’ll… I’m sure I’ll be excited, but I feel like if she releases too much in Pottermore, it’s like, what’s left? Or maybe that’s when she’s saving the lesbian reveal.
Andrew: Yeah, maybe.
Eric: For the encyclopedia.
Selina: Yeah.
Andrew: There has to be another gay character in the Harry Potter books.
Selina: It’s going to have a whole section on lesbian characters in Harry Potter.
Micah: Professor McGonagall, the…
Selina: Oh, yeah.
Andrew: In the chat…
Selina: Hermione, that’s going to be the big twist.
Andrew: In the chat, tomas says an announcement about Pottermore, the TV series, coming in 2013.
Eric: Ooh.
Andrew: I think that’s a great idea.
Selina: Oh, yeah. Yes, some casting.
Eric: You’ll only be able to view it on the back of plane seats and on your mobile device.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s another rumor. There’s going to be mobile… that’s something else to look forward to in 2013. Pottermore is supposed to be releasing in-flight… Pottermore in-flight something. I don’t know. They haven’t said what. They’ve just said Pottermore in-flight. So, you’ll be able to…
Selina: What?
Andrew: You’ll be able to do a potion? I don’t know.
Eric: Again, they’re pushing the boundaries, you know? They’re going to…
Selina: What’s their target audience for that?
Andrew: Everybody. They want… the CEO Charlie Redmayne has said, [in a bad British accent] “We want to get Pottermore everywhere that we can. That includes…”
Selina: That’s a very nice accent.
Andrew: “…mobile devices and seat-back entertainment…”
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: “…and in the bathrooms.”
[Selina laughs]
Eric: And then another JK Rowling book…
Andrew: He said that, right?
Eric: Yeah, he said that.
Micah: I was going to say something, but those words are not appropriate for this show.
Andrew: Hmm.
Eric: Well then, guys, in 2013 we may see the children’s book that JK Rowling was talking about.
Selina: Yes, possibly.
Eric: Which I will…
Micah: Read?
Eric: I’m going to not get it the day it comes out. I learned that lesson with The Casual Vacancy.
Andrew: Why? What was wrong with that?
Selina: I will.
Eric: Well, it’s just I know now that when she says I’m not her target audience for a book…
Andrew: [laughs] You believe it?
Eric: …it means I’m not her target audience for a book. So, oops. Shame on me.
Andrew: Well, I don’t even think I would buy it because I feel like if it’s a book for six to seven-year-olds, which she has said, then I don’t think I would read this. Right? Because…
Eric: I would rent it. I would get it from the library. You wouldn’t buy it because you know it’s just not for you. If you don’t have a kid or if you’re not a kid…
Selina: I would buy it because the thing about it being for younger kids is it’s going to have all those nice little messages about life and it’s going to teach me what to do with myself.
Andrew: Oh, that’s true. That’s true.
Selina: And it’s going to be like my Dr. Seuss, but by JK Rowling.
Eric: I don’t know, I don’t think it’ll be all that cheery.
Andrew: Oh, it’s not going to be miserable.
Selina: Aww. [laughs] It’s like, “Well, my pet died, and then I fell…”
[Micah laughs]
Eric: That’s the thing, is… to be honest…
Micah: That’s The Casual Vacancy.
Selina: [laughs] Spoilers.
Eric: Even if… but I’m talking about Harry Potter. Even if Harry Potter focused, I think, a little bit too much on death…
[Dramatic music sound effect plays]
Eric: …as a big thing… so I don’t know. I wouldn’t… is a plane going by or is it like a stampede, Micah?
Selina: A sound effect. It’s like, “Dunnn!”
Eric: Oh. Anyway… no, I don’t think the children’s book will be that cheery. I’m just saying, going by her past history it probably won’t be.
Andrew: I will read it in the kids section of Barnes and Noble. Honest to God. I will sit down with the other kids in Barnes and Noble.
Eric: Aww.
Andrew: You know how they have the little kid table with the chairs?
Micah: Will you read… you should read to them.
Selina: Oh my God, you should!
Andrew: I’ll read… I’ll host daily readings of the children’s book.
Selina: Oh my God. [laughs]
Andrew: Gather around, kids! It’s time to read…
Micah: You’ve got to do the voices, too.
Andrew: …A Witch in the Wardrobe. [laughs] Or, I don’t know. What would she name a kid’s… Babbity Rabbity. It’s time to read Babbity Rabbity. Gather around, everybody. That would be very…
[Rimshot sound effect plays]
Selina: Yeah.
[Micah laughs]
Selina: You scare me every time.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Stop belittling my jokes! So, I think that’s a sure-fire bet because a children’s book – it won’t take long to edit, really. The illustrations will take a while, but I think that could get out in 2013. She announced The Casual Vacancy in what? March, like we said.
Eric: Mhm.
Andrew: And it came out six months later.
Eric: In September, yeah.
Andrew: So, I bet she could announce a book and it would come out two months later or three months later, a children’s book.
Micah: I’m interested to see what Warner Bros. comes up with as far as a new way to try and engage fans. It seems like…
Andrew: I thought you were going to say price gouge. [laughs]
Micah: I was, but I changed it at the last minute. Just in terms of… they came up with the Exhibition and then they moved over to the Studio Tour and they have the theme park, so I’m sure there’s other ideas that they can come up with of things to do.
Andrew: You think so? What could be next?
Micah: Also, where’s the Exhibition going next? It’s back in New York, I think, through March.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: And then who knows.
Andrew: They should go somewhere entirely new this time.
Eric: Yeah. Well, they weren’t supposed to ever come back to the States. They were doing an international thing and then I think they gave up for the holidays and just came back where they knew it would be successful.
Andrew: I can’t imagine how they moved some of that stuff. I mean, some of this stuff in the Exhibition is huge. It must cost a fortune.
Eric: Trucks. Trains. Planes. Boats.
Andrew: Yeah, planes. I can’t imagine that big joker thing on a plane.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: That thing is gigantic.
Eric: That’s creepy as hell. I would not fly on the same plane as that.
Andrew: No, me either.
Eric: Even if it was in cargo, locked up.
Selina: It wouldn’t get a seat!
[Micah laughs]
Eric: The joker? The jack-in-the-box?
Andrew: No, yeah, of course not! Duh!
Selina: It would be in the…
Andrew: It would get a row.
Selina: Yes. [laughs] Right.
Andrew: Not even a whole row. It would get the edge of a row.
Eric: Creepy-as thing. No, actually in the chat, here’s a 2013 thing to look forward to. Erik Leedjärv says:
“Announcement of MuggleCast the Movie!”
Selina: Oh my God! I wish that were true.
Eric: Or maybe a BBC mini series.
[Selina laughs]
Andrew: How about MuggleCast the Musical movie?
Eric: The musical movie?
Selina: The Musical. MuggleCast the Musical.
Eric: We can feature all of your rap songs, Andrew.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: And all of your music videos.
Andrew: I was thinking Les Mis style, where we just sing everything.
Eric: Oh. You’ve seen it, though.
Selina: Yes.
Andrew: [singing] “Micah, tell us what is in the news today.”
[Selina laughs]
Andrew: And Micah…
Micah: You didn’t do that already?
Andrew: Oh, I wish. We should do that sometime. Just sing everything.
Selina: Just a musical episode. Why the hell not?
Andrew: It can only be ten minutes because people wouldn’t be able to stand anything longer than that.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Yes. Good ideas, good ideas all around. So, I think that’s it for what to look forward to in 2013. Unless anybody has anything else in that.
Selina: There’s nothing more. [laughs]
Micah: The world didn’t end, so we should have a lot to look forward to.
Eric: Really, the sky is the limit.
Andrew: Absolutely.
[Rimshot sound effect plays]
Micah’s Announcement
Andrew: Okay, and then to wrap the show, as we teased, Micah has an announcement. Micah, tell us, [laughs] what is your announcement?
Micah: [mocking Andrew] What’s in the news?
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: No, I think…
Andrew: Micah’s going to make… Micah is the news this time, yo!
Micah: Yeah, so I was actually thinking we were just going to end the show and I would be able to say, “For the last time, from MuggleNet, I’m Micah Tannenbaum.”
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: But yeah, that’s kind of the big announcement. After seven years, I’m leaving MuggleNet. I won’t be with the site anymore, moving forward. I’ll still be doing the podcast with all of you guys. But it’s been a crazy ride for seven years. I’ve had a great experience, meeting a lot of great people, some of which are included in this call.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Micah: I’m just joking. But yeah, so that’s kind of the big announcement as you billed it as, Andrew.
Andrew: Right. Well, like you said, seven years. I did seven years at MuggleNet, and you did seven years at MuggleNet.
Micah: I’m just copying you.
Andrew: Eric has done seventy-seven years at MuggleNet.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Eric: And I don’t look a day over twenty-four.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: And Selina was smart enough to stay away the whole time.
[Andrew laughs]
Selina: Oh, no.
Andrew: Well, Micah, I will say you were my best hire ever at MuggleNet. I mean that.
Micah: Well, thank you.
Selina: Aww.
Andrew: Yeah, you’re welcome.
Eric: Let’s just give a round of applause! A pat on the… oh, do we have applause?
Andrew: Of course there’s an applause sound effect on here.
[Applause sound effect plays]
Eric: Woo!
Andrew: I applaud Micah on seven wonderful years at MuggleNet.
[Applause sound effect plays]
Andrew: And you mentioned at the end of this month, that’ll be your… even though you may have mentioned you’ve taken a step back.
Micah: Mhm.
[Sad trombone sound effect plays]
Andrew: For a little bit of a transition over the past few months. Well, that’s good. I think that’s… I’m happy for you with your run at MuggleNet. Good times.
Eric: What are you doing next, Micah? Where are you going?
Andrew: Yeah, what’s next? What’s next?
Micah: What’s next? Just a lot of stuff going on with work and… some of you know, but I don’t think everybody knows that I work for the NBA, and so we’re in season. It’s pretty crazy right now. And that other podcast called Game of Owns, I’ll be working on…
Selina: Yay!
Micah: …moving forward. We released… because we did such a great job of promoting it earlier, we do three shows every week about the hit TV show and book series Game of Thrones, and we have a lot of fun with it. Three of the hosts are on here right now: Eric, Selina, and myself. We also have our friend Zack Luye, who is on the show. And Hodor makes an appearance every once in a while.
Selina: Hodor was on, yes.
Andrew: Wow, another Games of Owns plug on this show.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: What on earth? [laughs]
Selina: We’ve got three…
Micah: Well, you asked what am I going to be doing!
Andrew: Well, people are leaving nice messages for you…
[Fanfare sound effect plays]
Micah: I thought you were going to just say they’re leaving.
Andrew: No.
[Micah and Selina laugh]
Andrew: Because they’re sick of this sad news. But yeah, like you said, still be on MuggleCast. Wherever the future lies for MuggleCast and all that.
Show Close
Andrew: Well, that’s a great way to the end of the show. Thank you everybody for listening. It’s been another great year of MuggleCast. You can visit MuggleCast.com to find our social media outlets, of course – with the Twitter, which is Twitter.com/MuggleCast. We have a Facebook, which is Facebook.com/MuggleCast. You can find all the transcripts on MuggleCast.com. You can follow our fan Tumblr, or just go to MuggleCast.Tumblr.com. And you can subscribe and review us on iTunes over there as well, and download all the old episodes. I know people like listening to the back episodes a lot, and that’s one way to do it, so…
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: Thank you everyone for listening.
Micah: I was just going to add…
Andrew: crystilflower says:
“Play a song for Micah! Wait, who’ll do the news?”
Again, Micah is still going to be on MuggleCast. He’s not leaving MuggleCast, so…
Micah: But I was just going to add really quick before we go, that there are also transcripts of each show…
Andrew: I said that!
Micah: Did you?
Andrew: Yes!
Micah: Oh. Well, I just wanted to thank them then.
Andrew: [laughs] Yes.
Micah: For all the hard work that they do. That’s how I got my start, actually. You’re talking about leaving MuggleNet after seven years, but that’s how I got started with MuggleNet and MuggleCast. So, they do a great job over there. And it’s thankless work, I think, in some respects because you’re sitting here…
Andrew: Definitely.
Micah: They must never want to listen to a show when we normally put it out because they’re so sick of hearing our voices. Over and over and over again. But I just wanted to say thanks to Tracey and her group because they do a great job.
Andrew: Yeah. Thank you, guys. Thank you very much. We do appreciate that. So, we will see everybody next time for Episode 261. Goodnight and good luck.
Eric: Goodnight!
Andrew: And happy holidays.
Eric: Yes.
Selina: Good night! Happy Holidays!
Micah: Happy Holidays!
Eric: Happy Holidays!
[Andrew laughs]
[Applause sound effect plays]
[Selina laughs]
Andrew: What a face.
[Show music begins]
[Drumroll sound effect plays]
Andrew: And before we end this broadcast, just thanks to everybody who’s been listening on the live stream. We had about… we averaged about 130 people, so that was good.
[Applause, fanfare, and gong sound effects play]
Andrew: And we will see everybody in the future…
[Gong sound effect plays]
Andrew: …on an episode. Goodbye!
[Show music continues]