Comments on: Episode #58: Harry Potter Potpourri

By: Lyn F.

Lyn F. — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:14:03 +0000

@ Frances -

What about Moaning Myrtle, also a female ghost as well.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:33:53 +0000

I am always amazed and thrilled by the tangents these discussions take. On the subject of views of death and beyond in the HP world I am somewhat relating it to a Shirley Maclain book. On majic being an manifestation of the human physic, that is a cool idea and very deep. Almost too deep for my shallow mind. On Neville having free will. I think he is an awesome example of someone who had the choice of which side to be on more than once. I have to put it into a Star Wars context to see it though. His loss of loving parents, his pure blood background, his hatred for Bellatrix and living with so much fear and lack of self esteem would have easily made him a candidate for the dark side. Neville however overcame these and chose a more enlightened way of the force to become a jedi. You can argue that HRH influenced him but you can also say Neville influenced Harry. Harry and Neville are characters which are almost nearly the same and support each other brilliantly. Neville was just as self sacrificing when he made is sole banzai charge into the death eaters and voldemort gave him the choice even then to join them or perish. It was just like the emporor saying to Luke ,”so be it jedi” and then trying to fry him. Way cool.

By: Shimon

Shimon — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 08:03:26 +0000

for the life of me i can’t seem to figure out what it is exactly that Greg is looking for…

By: Mizz Andy

Mizz Andy — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 07:46:25 +0000

Ok now you have me stumped because I thought I had found a good one but I had completely forgotten about them telling him to do it. Will have to go and find my thinking head.

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 04:47:29 +0000

Mizz Andy: I think Neville is a perfect example of a lack of free will. The only reason he stood up to HRH was that they told him to. He was just trying to follow their suggestions. Had they not said anything, he wouldn’t have done anything. Of course, I wouldn’t fault Neville, he was the way that he was mostly due to his family situation, which was caused by Bellatrix; and why she went bad…well, I’m sure it was someone else’s fault.

By: Frances

Frances — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:25:25 +0000

Oh yes, I have a comment. I know that this doesn’t have to do with the podcast, but the series as a whole. In OotP I do believe nearly headless nick said that ghost could only be men. Well,the Grey LADY, Ravenclaw’s DAUGHTER is a ghost. Well, it could just be an error, but just something to point out. love the show.

~Hi5! Frances

By: Mizz Andy

Mizz Andy — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:04:40 +0000

Michal you reminded me I meant to say that I believe Neville was acting on free will when he tried to stop Harry, Ron and Hermione from leaving thee common room in book 1.

By: Michal

Michal — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:58:04 +0000

I don’t necessarily think that Jo takes free will to the scientific, empirical point that Greg is dealing with. All she means, I believe, is that at some point in his life, on some level, Voldemort *could* have renounced evil. His circumstances may have combined to make this extremely difficult for him, but it remained a possibility.

I think it also depends on how far you take ‘circumstances.’ If you want to take it down to the genetic level (which you certainly could) than Voldemort was given a worse deal than Harry from the start, what with that lovely Gaunt bloodline and all. Following that point though, I have to say that I think Harry, being a victim of near constant abuse from the age of one, had it worse than being raised as Riddle was. And obviously, the difference between the two drives the whole series.

The only character I can think of who may fit Greg’s criteria is Quirrell, but there’s an obvious limit on how far we can speculate on that.

By: Mizz Andy

Mizz Andy — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 07:36:02 +0000

I like the way Ms Rowling was left the interpretations of death so open so they would appeal to everyone. I know myself I like to believe that there is something there afterwards (I am not religious so not a heaven like place) but somewhere where you could look on and watch those you love. But my husband being having the scientist in him would like to be one of the ones who believed that Harry was really talking to himself at Kings Cross on some level on consciousness.

I also believe that immortality comes from those who you leave behind and their memories of you that keep your soul alive.

By: Rachael

Rachael — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 03:53:39 +0000

I think y’all should do an episode on Draco Malfoy and such. I love him so much and I feel that he should be talked about more.
=)
please?

By: Shimon

Shimon — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:26:59 +0000

I think it is also possible to look at the Elder wand the same way. It is really just a regular wand but because of its aura it provides its owner with a sense of self confidence which then contributes to his invincibility. The reason then that it didn’t work properly for Voldy would then have nothing to do with who the real owner was, but rather with the fact that Harry was himself able through his owmn self confidence to shake Voldy up a bit.

By: Greg

Greg — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:34:44 +0000

lalala: Exactly! Magic in Rowling’s books, at it’s deepest, are expressions of the human soul (psyche, for the humanists, out there).

alex: i would start with Blogspot, and link to your mp3s at the bottom of your post. Then use FeedBurner to create a feed for your podcast, and use the FeedBurner feed for subscribers/iTunes/etc.

By: lalala

lalala — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:23:20 +0000

I finally got to listen to it.
I thought Greg’s idea about the stone was interesting that it sort of enhances your memories and senses and allows you to recreate an image of your loved ones that have died. So it’s not really like they’re back from the dead, but their memory takes a more physical form or something.
Well, I was thinking and this reminds me of felix felices. FF is a lucky potion but they said it doesn’t really make you lucky per se, It just enhances or heightens your instincts so you know exactly what to do and you know it will turn out okay. So it’s not like you take the potion and you’re not in control of what you do. You sort of have the knowledge of what to do and the potion suspends your hesitations.
This says a lot about the types of magic JKR has created in her world. She really takes real world aspects like memories and instincts into account so that magic is not just spells and charms that make things happen. I think the stone and felix are somewhere in between real life and magic.

By: alex

alex — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:09:49 +0000

hi umm i am thinking of starting a podcast but i dont reall understand the whole rss feed and all that stuff can u guys help me please e-mail me if u can help me

By: Ale

Ale — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 16:38:53 +0000

Hi there Penny & Greg!
I know you guys have never heard of me before because I’ve never actually been to this site before, but I’ve been listening to your podcast ever since episodes 30’s and so. =)

You guys are H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S and I love listening to HP Progs, it’s so cool.
I just had one thing to comment that doesn’t really have to do with any of your episodes, as its just something to point out, not a major thing.

Well, you know how in OOTP when Harry is asking Nick about returning from the dead:

‘”He will not come back” repeated Nick. “He will have … gone one.”

‘What d’you mean, “gone on”?’ said Harry quickly. ‘Gone on where? Listen – what happens when you die, anyway? Where do you go? Why doesn’t everyone come back? Why isn’t this place full of ghosts? Why-?’

blah blah blah

‘I was afraid of death,’ said Nick softly. ‘I chose to remain behind. I sometimes wonder whether I oughtn’t to have … well, that is neither here nor there … in fact, I am neither here not there …’

So. My point. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in the Chapter King’s Cross, Harry is hanging in a spectrum sort of between death and life, isn’t he?

I just thought maybe that’s what Nick and Dumbledore meant by ‘gone on’. Dumbledore explained to Harry that he could choose to ‘board the train’. Maybe that’s what Nick meant to ‘go on’. Maybe everytime someone dies, they’re in a place like this, only Harry had the option to go back fully himself, and the others to come back, as Snape would put it, ‘imprints of a departed soul’.

So that’s mainly it. I don’t really know exactly where is the right place to post this, because I’m new to the site, but I hope it’s OK here.

Peace out,
Ale [pronounced like A [man] L [love] E [emphasize]]

By: DS Man

DS Man — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 06:25:07 +0000

Cool, Im going to start the download now. Thanks.

Wonky, nice word.

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 14:51:36 +0000

I think it should be working now…at least for the time being. Please email us if it’s not. Thanks, and sorry!

By: penny

penny — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 14:45:36 +0000

Perhaps something good will have come out of this. First of all, we have heard from people who we have never heard from before. Second, Greg used the word “wonky.” I love that word.

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 14:39:34 +0000

I’m going to try to re-upload it. Something is wonky with our (free) podcast hosting service.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 09:36:10 +0000

Well it works now. Waiting for some profound comment to make my day!

By: Mizz Andy

Mizz Andy — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 08:52:17 +0000

*sad face* I need my HPProgs fix!!!

By: DS Man

DS Man — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 05:43:24 +0000

I listen and download the podcast episodes on my PSP and am getting the same message. I hope the site gets fixed =P.

By: crystal

crystal — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 21:54:08 +0000

Not allowing access. Saying it’s “Forbidden”404 message. Can’t get it thru iTunes or Zune marketplace either.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 05:02:53 +0000

HA ha you sound like chip and dale!

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 04:23:02 +0000

Looks like it may be working now.

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 04:22:45 +0000

It looks like the place we host our podcasts is busted, temporarily hopefully.

By: Penny

Penny — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 03:25:26 +0000

Alex- one of the sites that we use to get the podcast online appears to be down. Please check back soon.

By: Frances

Frances — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 03:24:01 +0000

Alrighty. My earphones are broken, I guess I’ll just listen outloud.

By: alex

alex — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 02:37:35 +0000

podcast not working on itunes or the site and i can not download it in Mp3 format