This week, we continue our Patterns in Potter series, beginning our examination of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In this episode, we discuss the main theme for Book 4, pride, and how Harry’s experiences in the beginning of Book 4 relate to this theme. Pride, both personal and external, comes before a fall, and there’s no bigger fall for the wizarding world than what happens at the end of Book 4. So, humble yourself, pull up a chair, and listen in.

As always we look forward to hearing from you.  You can leave comments here on the blog or send in your voicemails to 206-337-0357 in the US or 07092899490 in the UK.  Please make sure to keep the message as close to one minute as possible and try to speak loudly and clearly.

As always, feel free to rate and review us on iTunes and vote for us on Podcast Alley (new month next week!!)- remember, WE ARE THE NUMBER 3 HARRY POTTER PODCAST!!!

In the news:

• JK Rowling will be in New York next month to appear as a witness in the lawsuit against RDR Publishers.
• Reacting to some of Steve Vander Ark’s comments concerning the RDR/JKR lawsuit, The Leaky Cauldron has decided to sever ties with Vander Ark. In a related announcement, HPProgs is offering an open invitation to Steve Vander Ark to talk to us (we are shameless, we know).
• JK Rowling has gone into more detail about the depression she suffered in her younger years.
• Nickelodeon Magazine is offering a chance for one lucky kid (ours, sorry everyone) to win a trip to the LA Premiere of HBP.

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

In this week’s episode, we finished our discussion on the theme of emotion in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. We talked about the Dementors and their effect on the soul, as well as their antidote: the Patronus, and the necessary requirements to conjure one.  This was actually an off the cuff, un-planned discussion and we really like what we came up with (not to toot our own horns). 

We had some voicemails and we urge you to keep sending them, as well as your comments, in!We also discussed the news about the Deathly Hallows Movie being split into two.  

Finally, Greg made an exciting work-related (yet not completely HPProgs unrelated) announcement (hint, check out http://beta.odeo.com/) that we look forward to sharing with all of you!

If you want to send in voicemails you can call 206-337-0357 in the US or 07092899490 in the UK. As always, we look forward to hearing your comments, thoughts, and suggestions. Be in touch!

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

I don’t know. 

That was a lie. 

I do know. But I don’t want to tell you.

Fine, I’ll tell you.  It hasn’t been recorded yet. Greg and Penny the Harry Potter Procrastinators, I mean Prognosticators, pushed off recording until tonight (Monday evening).  We were going to record but I (Penny) starting to get either a migraine or the worst ever sinus headache so the recording needs to be pushed off. We will hopefully be able to record tomorrow evening. 

The good news is that if you haven’t sent in any voicemails you can do that tonight or tomorrow (you can call  1-206-337-0357 in the U.S. or 07092899490 in the UK or you can send an mp3 comment into harrypotterprogs at yahoo dot com). 

Also take a listen to the March Portus Previews. They (along with Mugglecast) did an EXCELLENT interview with Jim Dale, the man I plan on marrying if Greg ever leaves me.  Did I just say that out loud?  Woops. Ignore the rambling, I have a headache.  Just to remind you Jim Dale *will* be at Portus 2008 and so will we, so we’d love you to come so we can all hang out together and fangirl scream for “Harreeeeee!”.

I stumbled across this video today. Coincidence? You decide.

Warning: there is some explicit language, so don’t watch if that’s a concern.

Firstly, we apologize for the lateness of this episode. If you have been paying attention to the goings on at this blog, you’ll know that I have been ready to be committed to St. Mungos Psych ward because of all the problems editing this episode. It has taken 3 days and it is finally ready to go. Thanks for your patience.

In this week’s episode, we interviewed Dr. Jeffrey Rudski from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. Dr. Rudski just completed a study that is being submitted to the Journal of General Psychology examining signs of addiction to the Harry Potter series and the fandom that surrounds it. Dr. Rudski was very interesting to talk to and he has some great insights into the Harry Potter fandom and the emotional connections that have come with the series and the fandom. Thanks to Dr. Rudski for taking the time to speak with us. Once again, we apologize for the audio quality of this interview.

The rest of the episode was dedicated to various voicemails we have received over the past week or so. Some of the voicemails were Patterns in Potter related, some were general Potter observations, and some were either guilt inducers or ego strokers for Greg. Enjoy them!

We promised to link to our listener, Katrina’s new podcast, “Kat Got Your Tongue”. Check it out and enjoy!!

As always, we look forward to hearing from everyone. Please be in touch with your comments, thoughts, and suggestions!Please vote for us on Podcast Alley and rate and review us on iTunes.In the news:

• The Wyrd Sisters Band not happy with WB.
• Daniel Radcliffe bought a nice place in NYC.
• JKR is REALLY rich. In other news, the sky is blue.
• Jim Dale is coming to Portus!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Really interesting new interview with JKR. She discusses religion and HP, her history of depression and Dumbledore’s sexuality.
• Filming for Half Blood Prince took place at Millenium Bridge in London this week.
• David Yates took home and Empire Award. Stated that he is “tempted” to direct Deathly Hallows movie.
• JK Rowling still suing over paparazzi photos of her son.

LATE BREAKING: Since we recorded it was announced that Deathly Hallows will be split into two movies, to be directed by David Yates!!You can listen to the episode with the player below, or download it directly as an mp3.

It is official, the LA Times has reported that WB will be making the announcement tomorrow that Deathly Hallows will be split into two movies with David Yates directing them.  Here is what the article says:

WATFORD, England — It’s official: Eight will be the magic number for the “Harry Potter” film franchise.

After months of rumors, Warner Bros. and the producers of the massively successful movies will announce Thursday that they plan to split “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” J.K. Rowling’s seventh and final “Potter” novel, into two blockbuster films — one to be released in November 2010 and the second in May 2011.

The films will be titled, simply, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II,” according to producer David Heyman. Director David Yates, who returned for his second tour of Potter duty with “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and is quite popular with the cast, will direct both “Deathly Hallows” films, which will be filmed concurrently. Screenwriter Steve Kloves also returns and, by completion of the franchise, will have written seven of the eight films. 

This announcement will bring a flurry of opinions and emotions from hard core Harry Potter fans. I personally think it is a great idea and am hopeful that this means that they will stay as close to the original story line as possible. Plus, this means that there will be continued excitement until at least May 2011 for all of us Potter fans!  (hat tip to Nathalie for pointing us to this!) 

Hey everyone. We are a bit late on episode 72, we plan on putting it up tomorrow evening (March 10). Just to give you a preview, we are taking a break from Patterns in Potter this week. We interviewed Dr. Jeffrey Rudski about Harry Potter Addiction. The interview was quite eye-opening.   The rest of the episode will be voicemail and comment full.  Stay tuned…. 

UPDATE: This is Penny. The episode is finished. I even wrote up the episode blurb with the news. The problem is that I am trying to edit it on this new computer (and you will have a good laugh when you listen to the episode and hear me RAVE about the computer) and I am deleting things right and left because honestly, GarageBand is one of the suckiest programs to edit things in. Ever. I am so frustrated that I need to give it a rest. Unfortunately for you that means that the episode will probably not be up until tomorrow evening. I really do apologize.

UPDATE 2: This is Penny again.  I am writing from the insane asylum.  That is where they put me after I left the Apple Store tonight after being there for an hour and a half and actually stumping the “geniuses” there who teach the 1:1 classes. (But I do have to give a shout-out to Ryan at the Apple Store, thanks for your time and patience.) You would think that I haven’t been editing podcasts for a year and a half.  You would think this was the first time I’ve done this.    I am unbelievably frustrated and for the second night in a row unfortunately I have to stop before I give you anything- alas, I have work tomorrow and if I keep on dealing with the mess of editing this, I will never get to bed and the patients who are already dealing with traumatic brain injuries will be that much more damaged when I fall asleep on their beds.  So, once again, please bear with me. I will do my best to continue the editing process when I get home from work tomorrow. Thank you so much for your understanding. 

Mugglenet is reporting:

We are very happy to break the news that Jim Dale, narrator of the US Potter books, will be presenting at HPEF’s Portus 2008 this July! Portus representative Aziza Aba Butain talks about how excited they are to be hosting him:

“We’ve just confirmed that Jim Dale, the amazing “reader” of all the HP audio books for the US , Broadway icon and the narrator of ABC’s new hit series “Pushing Daisies”, will be presenting at Portus in July. This will be Jim Dale’s first HP conference. We’re all very excited and honored to have a guest so involved with the series be apart of Portus’s Programming. Mr. Dale is quite the dynamic, accomplished speaker and we can’t wait for Portus to arrive.

Portus’s monthly newsletter, The Portal, will be updating soon with the latest on Jim’s programming. This will, undoubtedly, be a must-see conference for Harry Potter fans. We cannot wait to find out what Portus and Jim Dale have to offer!

I. Am. So. Excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Needless to say, if Jim Dale is presenting during any of my round table discussion times, I’ll be abandoning the round table.  Immediately.

In this week’s episode we started our discussion on the prevailing theme in Prisoner of Azkaban: Emotions. Between the Aunt Marge debacle, the werewolf in his midst, the various animals and animaguses (I never learned how to pluralize that) in the book, and time travel, Harry was forced to learn the importance of keeping his emotions in check.

We plan on interviewing Dr. Jeffrey Rudski this week to talk about Harry Potter Addiction and we hope to have that on the next episode.

We got some great listener comments from Rosie and Victoria. We now have a number for you to call in the US if you want to send us voicemails. You can call 206-337-0357and in the UK, please call 07092 899490. As always, please leave your comments as close to one minute as possible.

It is a new month so don’t forget to vote for us on Podcast Alley(the link makes it *really* easy for you)!

Finally, if you downloaded this episode before Monday morning March 3- 9am EST, you downloaded the unedited version which we put up on iTunes by mistake. There aren’t any good bloopers in it or anything, just a bunch of ums, you knows and throat clears. Also, the mp3 comments are not inserted. So go ahead and re-download the episode. We apologize for the inconvenience.

In the news:

• Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson made EW’s 30 under 30 list. In a related story, we made EW’s Over 30 and Overweight list.
• It turns out that JK Rowling doesn’t *really* use Myspace. Shoot, now I have to figure out who I have been trying to get to read my fanfiction.
• Update on JKR/WB lawsuit against SVA/RDR. ROFL. Not really but I wanted to feel part of the whole *initials* thing.

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

• If you are in the US, you can now dial: 206-337-0357 to leave us a voicemail comment.
•  Once again, if you are in the UK you can call: 07092 899490 
• Please keep you comments as close to one minute as possible.  
• On the show front, Episode 71 was recorded last night. I am in the middle of editing it, trying to do things on my  new computer (I haven’t named it yet, I like to name my electronics so I’ll send you all a virtual baby naming announcement  when I’ve come up with something I like.  I know I am weird. My iPod’s name is Kermit the Pod. Don’t ask.). Where was I? Oh, right I am trying to edit it with Garageband and it surprisingly is a bit more complicated than the PC editing software I was using so unless I completely give up and decide to edit the show in Audacity it will take me a bit longer.   Hopefully we’ll have the show up by later this evening 
•  Wow. I am having logorrhea this morning. 
• By the way, it is a new month so while you are waiting for episode #71, feel free to vote for us on Podcast Alley. Thanks in advance. 

Have a great Sunday everyone,Penny 

UPDATE:
I finished editing the show this morning. Now I am just waiting for the show putter upper (no need to mention any names) to put the show up.