While we’re waiting for Penny to get better, we’ve put together a site with links to the very best Harry Potter books, movies and more; we’re calling it the HPProgs Book Shelf. Browse around and let us know what you think. Shopping through the HPProgs Book Shelf is a great way to support HPProgs. All products are through Amazon, so if you preordered from Book 7 from Amazon, you can cancel your existing order and re-sign up through the bookshelf, and you’ll still get Book 7 on release day!

We’ll be adding products/categories periodically, so make sure to check back often. Our first category page is a collection of great books of commentary on the Harry Potter novels. Check it out!

You can get there any time by visiting:

www.hpprogs.com/bookshelf

Hey everyone.  I just wanted to give you guys a quick HPPROGS update.

• Keep the comments and theories coming.  We want you to know we have read all of them and plan to respond, but life has a way of getting in the way sometimes.  I have been having  back/shoulder/neck pain for the last few weeks and on Friday I found out that I have two broken bones in my neck.  We aren’t sure from what -but they are there.  Anyway, we are still waiting for the radiologist to write up the MRI results (the bureaucracy of the medical system for those of us not actually in the system is astounding) and then my doctor will figure out what the next step will be.  In the meantime, I finally got some heavy duty pain killers this morning which are actually allowing me to be able to sit up- but things are painful to say the least.  But my point is (and I do have one) that I haven’t been able to respond to any of the great comments and theories that you all have posted on the blog/website, facebook, myspace, etc.  Greg has been waiting on me as well (he even cancelled a business conference he was supposed to go to this week) so he hasn’t had time to attend to hpprogs stuff either.  But like I said before, please keep the comments, thoughts, suggestions, theories, prognostications coming.  They are all entertaining (and thanks to all of you who sent Laura Mallory news links- NICE!!) and keeping me sane.
• I am not sure if we will be able to podcast this week but we will keep you all posted on that as well.
•  In exciting HPPROGS news, we now have transcribers on the staff (we will have to make a staff page, we know).  Jason and Irina both graciously offered to start transcribing the shows and we really appreciate it.  We will keep you posted on where the transcripts will be located.
• Thanks to all of you who responded to the post about the server, design etc. of this website.  We will be in touch with you about that as well.
•  Finally, let’s have a bit of fun here.  Scholastic posted their 4th pre-Deathly Hallows Question : Who Ends up With Whom?”  I don’t even know if Scholastic is offering choices but let’s hear your thoughts.  And none of these boring Harry/Ginny or Ron/Hermione answers (and I plead with you no Harry and Hermione- for the love of all things good, we know they don’t end up together)- come out all you Madame Pince/Filch and Bellatrix/Neville Shippers (what?  I am stuck in bed, I need some entertainment).  We know you’re out there! 

Thanks for your patience.

-Penny:)

What kind of a soul does a wizard have?  JK Rowling has left many hints as to the nature of the soul, as portrayed in the Harry Potter books.  In this week’s episode, we tie it all together in an attempt to figure out the true nature of the wizard’s soul.

And in the news:

•  
  • HP and the Philosopher’s Stone one of the Top 25 Books of the Past 25 Years.  Well done! 
  • Royal Mail in the UK will issue Harry Potter Stamps
  • Wanna attend a book signing with JK Rowling in London on July 21? 
  • Amazon announced a new contest for kid HP fans.  Don’t bother entering, our kid has it in the bag. 

As promised, here is the link to the HPPC video podcast that featured our Top 10 Deathly Hallows Predictions.  Great job, guys!

The HPPC Video Podcast iTunes feed is http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=219982487
and their RSS feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheHppcFanVidCast

You can listen to this week’s podcast with the player below, or download it directly as an mp3.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

So…you may have noticed that HPProgs.com has been down a bit recently; ever since I upgraded the Wordpress installation to version 2.1, we’ve been having a lot of problems, probably compounded by the fact that HPProgs runs on an old Pentium in my basement.  We’re in the process of looking for a more suitable home for HPProgs; if any listeners happen to have server space, and would be willing to donate some space for a Wordpress blog (all podcast files are hosted by a third-party, so bandwidth requirements are next to none), please get in touch.

Also, if you’re an experienced Wordpress theme designer, and would be willing to contribute, I’ve got a pretty good idea how I want to redesign the site to give it more of a unique look, please get in touch.

Thanks!

Everyone loves Wormtail! Wait, did I say everyone? I meant no one! Poor old Peter Pettigrew, he had no friends, he didn’t know what to do…what makes the Man Also Known as Scabbers tick? What will be for our forlorn ex-friend? Join us as we delve into what makes Wormtail tick, from his name, to his alter-ego, to his reincarnation abilities.

In the news:

• Warner Bros. launches new Dumbledore’s Army website.
• UK gets OotP movie one day early.
• JK Rowling comes out against spoilers.
• Scholastic asks the question: “Will Hogwarts reopen in Book 7?“
• JK Rowling contributes to aid in search for missing girl.
• Book 8?

You can listen to the podcast using the player below, or download an mp3 directly.

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From last week’s episode of The Office.

This afternoon, I did a Blogdigger search for Harry Potter Podcast and this blog post came up announcing that Laura Mallory has started a myspace page.

Here is a link to her page: http://www.myspace.com/crusaderoflove

So here are my questions:

• 1.  Do you think this page is real?
• 2.  Assuming it is real, do you think that the myspace audience will be receptive to the anti-Potter rhetoric that Mrs. Mallory has been spewing for years, or do you think that the Potter fans will collectively try to flame her out of social networking?
• 3.   If you read her myspace blog, Mrs. Mallory has some particularly cutting words for a fellow Potter Podcaster (Sue Upton from Pottercast)- and she goes as far as to say that that HP Podcast is “a danger to America and the world, since it is supporting terrorist activities by featuring these books.” – Should the HP fans be going after this woman and her ridiculous assumptions or should they (we) collectively take the proverbial high road and ignore her unbelievably false, yet (thanks to freedom of speech)  constitutional right to make these allegations?  I opine that we should ignore her and not feed her particular brand of troll (yes, the troll I am referencing here is somewhat similar to the troll in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom-extremely large and scary yet mostly just a stupid beast)?

 I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Penny:) 

So, we know that the big task facing Harry is to find and destroy Voldemort’s Horcuxes, thereby destroying the fragments of his tattered soul and shuffling off his mortal coil. Sounds simple, right? Not quite, there’s one problem that we haven’t addressed: Just how the heck does one destroy a horcrux anyhow?!?! Tune in for our best explanations as to how Harry will help Voldie meet his maker.

This week, we are joined by Andrew as our guest host. Andrew was the winner of our “So You Think Our Accents are Rubbish” contest. Thanks very much to Andrew for coming on the show and putting up with our technical difficulties!

News: Due to technical difficulties, we have an ad hoc version of the news this week. Which means no links. Ugh.

Also, we’ve recently upgraded the Wordpress installation for the site to version 2.1.3, which seems to be much more prone to crashing that the old version we were using, so hopefully we’ll get that straightened out soon.

You can listen to the podcast using the player below, or download it directly as an mp3.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t worry, it will be up soon(ish).  We had some internet issues, some technical difficulties and just a few too many martinis last night (ok, that isn’t true, but I liked the way it sounded) so we are a bit late in putting up the latest episode.

We will get it up just as soon as we can.  Thanks for your patience and understanding!

 Penny:) 

After some good discussion in the comments of last week’s post, we’re back to take a fresh look at Snape. Is Snape good or evil, or perhaps, neither (or both)? Most of us are under the presumption that there is some explanation for Snape’s actions: either he was working for Voldemort all along, and fooling Dumbledore, or he is truly faithful to Dumbledore and the Order, and killing Dumbledore was for some greater good. But what if neither are true? What if Snape just trying to get by for as long as possible without taking sides? And he would have gotten away with it too, if weren’t for those pesky kids! Tune in as we revisit the question of Snape with a new theory as to what his motivations were.

And the news (brought to you by Greg this week, for a change):

• Growing controversy of Emma Watson’s physique (see the link for comparison photos).
• Vermont Paper Mill get Deathly Hallows job.
• Thieves make off with 700-pound wooden Dumbledore statue. Is nothing sacred?
• Aboon Books launches “My-Name-Is-Harry” Writing Contest. Win money writing about a guy whose name is also Harry Potter.
• Scholastic Poll: Is Snape Good or Evil?

You can listen to the the podcast using the player below, or download an mp3 directly.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

It’s May, which means you can once again vote for HPProgs on Podcast Alley (you can also use the direct voting link). Help make HPProgs #1!