Anyway, we have just released our Pilot Episode- we don’t even have a name yet. Do us a favor and check it out and please send in your feedback to us at pilotpodcast@gmail.com.  Remember, it is just a pilot so we haven’t tweeked it completely yet.

I also must stress that this is an explicit podcast. Meaning if language and mature content offends you, please don’t listen.

You can find the podcast at: http://tinyurl.com/bjpqgj  You will need to hit subscribe and then the feed for the episode will show up on your own iTunes podcast page.

Thank you so much for your continued support! Happy listening!

-Penny and Greg

p.s. We have guests lined up for the next HP Progs and we couldn’t be happier to interview them on a great topic!  That will hopefully recorded soon.

Things have been pretty busy around here. Greg and I are both dealing with some job related stuff and between that and regular life, we haven’t had a chance to sit down together to come up with and record Episode 96 yet. We hope to record within the next few days or so, but in the meantime, I wanted you all to know that we are still around, still reading comments, and still interrupting each other any chance we can.

If for some reason you are REALLY missing your HPProgs, I recommend going back and listening to some old episodes, that is always fun. And if you want something different, I joined the folks over at Mugglecast again for their latest episode, 166. We had a really interesting discussion and the episode should be up over the next couple of days. I am going to be a semi-regular contributor over there so you can now get a double dose of me! (How lucky for you. *Insert Sarcasm Here*)

Like I said before, we hope to record sometime over the next few days. Talk to you soon and in the meantime, Keep On Prognosticating! Oh, and Happy Holidays to all!!

-Penny:)

We’ve got good news and we’ve got bad news. Let’s do the bad news first.

While we loved all of the videos submitted for our Beedle the Bard contest, we didn’t get enough submissions to give away the Deluxe Edition of the book. We apologize for this. In solidarity, we will only be buying the standard book for ourselves as well.

And now for the good news.

We have decided to give a copy of Beedle the Bard to each of the people who entered the contest. So to quote Oprah, “You’re getting Beedle the Bard, and You’re getting Beedle the Bard and…..you know the rest….”

So if the following people could please e-mail us your mailing addresses ASAP (harrypotterprogs at yahoo dot com), so we could order the book, please do so. We really appreciate it:

-Karl Kirby
-Michal and Akiva
-My Freezeray
-Amelia
-Lisa
-Becca A.

Thank you all so much for participating, Congratulations to you all!!

Note: I am not 100% sure how the voting works, but you do need to send in individual nominations, we may ask you to vote again at a later date.

Thanks so much in advance and Keep On Prognosticating!!

We won’t be able to podcast over the weekend- Saturday won’t work and Sunday is our (10th!!!) anniversary so we are hoping to do something special that involves just us two and not our children or (no offense) any of you!  But we hope to podcast sometime early next week.

The good news is that you won’t be totally HPProgs free over this weekend.  Actually that isn’t true.  You won’t be totally me-free.  Earlier this week Aziza from Portus recorded a Portus Preview Podcast with different members of some of the different Harry Potter Podcasts who will be at the Podcast Palooza at Portus and I was one of the podcasters who joined in.  I believe that she plans on releasing the episode sometime Saturday and we’ll be sure to link to it when it goes up.

Speaking of Portus, the main page of their website is down but if you go to any of the other pages (such as the one I linked to in the last paragraph), you can access the rest of the site.  Also, as we mentioned in the last podcast there is one last discount going on for Portus registrants.  Here is the info:

It’s May, and owls are flying all over the country dropping off those much desired tax refunds. To celebrate all the extra galleons and sickles being dropped at our doorsteps, we have decided to present you with one last discount before Portus arrives this July! From today through May 31st, enter the code TAXMAN when registering for Portus, and you will receive a 20% discount on full and day registrations. It’s the perfect time to give your friend or relative a gift registration for Portus! Act soon before the price freezes at $220.00 for a full registration!

Honestly, after recording the Portus Preview Podcast I am more excited than ever to go to Portus (we even made our hotel reservations- that is unprecedented for us, we usually wait till the last minute!!) and we hope you can join us.

In conclusion (yes I feel like I am making a speech), we hope to bring you Episode #80 of Harry Potter Prognostications some time in the beginning-middle of next week.  In the meantime, Keep On Prognosticating!

-Penny

  We look forward to returning next week for our regularly scheduled episode, and we apologize for this.

 -Penny 

To thank us for that, since it is a new month, please vote for us on Podcast Alley,  and we will send each person who votes a brand new iPod Nano.   

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!”.

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. 

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.

So here is a few tidbits of info for y’all:

–In case you haven’t noticed, the Thursday update thing has not been happening lately. We have found that it is much easier to record some time over the weekend- usually Saturday night or Sunday so for now I *think* that we are making a bit of a change to the HPProgs release schedule. For those of you who listen to other HP podcasts on that release schedule, I do to, but we appreciate your flexibility here.

–Andy, a long time HPProgs listener from Scotland has come up with a great way for the UK listeners to get us MP3 comments for the Patterns In Potter Series: You just have to dial this UK number 07092 899490 it will record your message & email to us as an mp3 file. So if you don’t have recording equipment, this is an easier solution for you.

To call the number from outside the UK the number is :+44 7092 899490. Thanks Andy, we really appreciate this.

–I feel horrible that we haven’t mentioned the HPProgs listener forums in the longest time. Yamil started these forums and Rachael has been doing a bang up job keeping it going with him. The episode discussions usually take place here on the website, but there is a lot of great discussion and introductions happening over at the forums. Make sure to check them out, and once again, thanks Yamil and Rachael!!

–Finally, the February Portus Preview Podcast is up. I haven’t had time to listen to it yet, but you better believe I will be doing so soon especially since I am getting BIG TIME excited about Portus. I will probably write more about the Portus Preview after I’ve listened to it, but I do know that they had Valentine’s Day shoutouts- which I am sure are quite entertaining!

OK, see you next time for Part two of the Chamber of Secrets Discussion in our Patterns in Potter series. You can still send us mp3 comments to harrypotterprogs at yahoo dot com (please keep them to as close to one minute as possible).

-Penny

We plan on recording most probably (and in Greg and Penny terms that means that NOTHING is set in stone) on Saturday night. But we do want more voicemails. So please record your mp3 comment on your thoughts of the patters in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and e-mail it to us at harrypotterprogs at yahoo dot com. Once again, please keep your comments to as close as 1 minute in length as possible. We may not be able to get to EVERYONE’s comment, but would love to discuss as many as possible. We ask that you get the voicemails in by 8pm EST this coming Saturday evening (February 16).

We look forward to hearing from you- literally.

Penny

Keep on Prognosticating!!

Penny

UPDATE
Due to some circumstances beyond out control, we were unable to record this morning. We are looking at HOPEFULLY recording sometime on Saturday Night. Once again, we apologize. If you still feel like you need and hpprogs fix, let me suggest some of our better episodes to re-listen to:

-Episode #44: “Prophecy 2007 Recap.” If you are wondering what all the fuss about Portus 2008 is, listen to our thoughts on Prophecy 2007.
-Episode #48: “Dumbledore and The Greater Good.”
-Episode #53: “The Making of a Wizard: The Story of Neville Longbottom”
-Episode #55: Dumbledore is Gay! (Not That There Is Anything Wrong With That): our initial reactions to the news when JKR outed good ol’ Dumbledore.
-Episode #64: Ronald Weasley: We were in really good moods when we recorded this episode and our giddiness was sort of contagious.

But seriously, it is looking like we won’t be having a show this week. Things have been wonderful and busy and tiring at Disney this week and if we tried to do the show, we wouldn’t be doing you or ourselves any favors.

In the meantime, take a look at some of our pictures (you can do this even if you don’t have a facebook account):
Days 1 and 2: Disney Hollywood Studios and Epcot

Day 3: Magic Kingdom

Also, now you have more time to participate in Part 1 of Patterns in Potter: Send your MP3 comments or written comments to harrypotterprogs at yahoo dot com so you can be included in the next episode.

See ya real soon!

Penny

As a preview: We will be discussing the transformation of Ron Weasley from a self-concious, goofy kid with a just a *small* chip on his shoulder to a confident mature adult who was able to help defeat not only Voldemort but some of his followers.

In the meantime, if you are bored- you can watch the ITV Documentary, “JK Rowling: A Year In the Life” online.

Also, in case you forgot, it is a new month (as well as a new year), so you can review and vote for us on Podcast Alley. We really do appreciate it!

We are assuming you will have tons of free time since you won’t be listening to HP Progs and commenting, so you can register for Portus 2008 as well!  The holiday discount registration rates will be ending soon.  We can’t wait to see you there.

Talk to you soon,

Penny:)

The call in number is 646.595.4635 for those of you choose to speak to us!!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hpprogs has all the details you’ll need.

As far as preparation goes- we are going to be pretty laid back about the discussion.  We will probably discuss some of the latest HP news- but mostly this will be a listener driven conversation.  So if you have anything you wish to discuss, we will be happy to oblige. 

 We can’t wait to hear from you!! 

In the meantime, Enjoy this off the cuff Top 5 I have come up with and feel free to vote for your favorite!!

Top 5 awkward moments in the Harry Potter series:

5. When Neville loses the password to the Gryffindor common room.

4. After Harry uses Sectum Sempra- “err, sorry Malfoy?”

3. Dobby and the pudding.

2. Almost any time Luna speaks. 

1. Ron and Lavender’s Snogfest (Ewww!).

What is the most awkward moment in the Harry Potter series?

Survey by Quibblo

You can now Pre Order Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! Just in time for the holidays, and it goes great with an HPProgs original Always T-shirt!!)

1. Download the new Zune software. This requires a Windows Live login.
2. Install the new Zune software.
3. Go to marketplace, then podcasts and scroll down to where it says “suggest a podcast.”
4. Enter the URL of the feed for the podcast, and hit Submit.

It looks as if submissions are monitored, so it may take a while for your podcast to show up in the directory. The Zune Marketplace has many of the top podcasts already in the directory, so make sure to do a search before submitting your podcast to see if you’re already included.

A quick review of Zune’s podcast support: the auto-import feature worked well; all my podcast subscriptions from iTunes were carried over to Zune, without me having to mess with any import/export. Even episodes that I had downloaded via iTunes were available in Zune. Zune allows you to customize settings for how many episodes and how to sync at the podcast level. Album art takes a while to load, but works. I did get some duplicates, when I subscribed via the marketplace for a podcast that I’d already subscribed to via iTunes. It’s not clear to me how to tell when a podcast has new episodes that are ready for me to listen to. Overall, the software looks nice and is rather intuitive in how to use.

UPDATE (11/7): One of our competitors wrote this One of our competitors wrote this as a single blog post: “My goal is to beat the Harry Potter Podcast.”

He then wrote in another post, “This message has been brought to you by ‘the (name of his podcast) is Cooler than Harry Potter Brigade.’”

I’ll give you a hint, we are already ahead of this guy, but for the sake of all that is good about Harry Potter (love, tolerance, Aberforth’s goat obsession)- please vote for us.

Please stay tuned for Episode 53 and in the meantime, feel free to go back and listen to some of the “best of” episodes and feel free to laugh at how incorrect some of our prognostications were.

Penny

In the meantime though I have a mini-activity/contest for you all to do. Answer these 5 simple questions to show that you have been a fantastic hpprogs listener and send them to us at harrypotterprogs at yahoo dot com (regular e-mail format) and we’ll send 10 of you (we will pick the names randomly) a really cool color HPPROGS bookmark. Trust me, it is cool! Here are the questions:

• What is Greg’s favorite book of the Harry Potter series (episode #8 “Rating the Books”)?
• What date is our 1 year podcastversary (that is an anniversary in the podcast world and YES, I made it up)?
• What house does Penny want to be sorted into? (episode #44 “Prophecy Recap”)?
• What was one thing that Voldemort ignored that lead to his ultimate downfall? (episode #49 “Voldemort’s Downfall”)
• Come up with your own version of the hpprogs tag line, “If you thought Harry Potter was just for _______, think again!” (no wrong answers but points will be awarded if you make us laugh out loud!!)

We look forward to hearing from all of you and getting some of you some great bookmarks.  Please get the answers in by our podcastversary (you’ll have to look that one up) so we can get the winners the prizes ASAP.  Also, This Saturday, Sept. 15 is the deadline for the thank-you book entries.  Make sure to get them in!!

In the meantime, if we have any fellow Rosh Hashana celebrators in our little community, we wanted to wish you all a happy and healthy New Year.

-Penny:)

But here is the good news. Everyone who sends in an entry will be entered into a drawing to win a free limited edition HPPROGS t-shirt!

So, here is your chance to let JK Rowling know how much you appreciate what she has done for you and have a chance to get a new article of clothing (that happens to broadcast your favorite podcast on it)!!

But many of you did express an interest in doing something to thank JK Rowling for what she has done for you (us) over the past 10 years. Here is a not so subtle reminder to get in your entries for the HPPROGS Thank You Book to JK Rowling. Once again, here is the info from Michal, our wonderful listener who has graciously offered to put this together:

As you may have heard, HPProgs is putting together a “Thank You” book for Jo Rowling. Everyone is invited to submit their letters of thanks, praise and reminiscence to the wonderful woman who has given us all so much. Artwork and poetry can also be included if you wish. All entries will be organized in a binder and sent to Jo- hopefully, we may get a response!

Guidelines are as follows:

1)Please email your letters to me (Michal) at inkasrain@yahoo.com
2)Please submit your letters by SEPTEMBER 1st 2007.
3)Please send letters in file attachments- I will try to keep the format you put together. The greater stylistic variety, the better!
4)TRY not to have your letters exceed two printed pages- although I do understand if you go over, it’s Jo after all.
5)Please spell-check and edit your letters carefully. Unless circumstances dictate otherwise, I will print them out as I receive them.
6)Artwork/handwritten letters must be scanned and sent in file attachments. Please make sure that it will be legible and clear after it has been scanned and re-printed. (I am not sure about color printing yet.)

If you have any ideas or suggestion, feel free to email me!

You have a little less than 2 weeks to get your entries in. Please be part of this wonderful endeavor.

Penny:)

The t-shirt gallery is up on our facebook page as well.

If you have ordered ANY of the hpprogs t-shirts- whether the spreadshirt ones or the special edition ones, first of all thank you for your support. But also, please take a picture of yourself and send it to us (or post it on the flickr group page) and we’d love to add you to the gallery.

Enjoy!!

UPDATE: I just added many of the hpprogs logo design contest entries to the flickr page. If you don’t see your entry, I apologize, the logos were organized pretty badly and I wasn’t able to tell which ones I was adding at the time. If you want your logo added to the pictures, please let me know and I’ll find it and add it. Conversely, if you want your logo removed from the pictures, let me know and I’ll remove it ASAP.

-Penny

Penny:)

The following is a message from Michal:

As you may have heard, HPProgs is putting together a “Thank You” book for Jo Rowling. Everyone is invited to submit their letters of thanks, praise and reminiscence to the wonderful woman who has given us all so much. Artwork and poetry can also be included if you wish. All entries will be organized in a binder and sent to Jo- hopefully, we may get a response!

Guidelines are as follows:

1)Please email your letters to me (Michal) at inkasrain@yahoo.com
2)Please submit your letters by SEPTEMBER 1st 2007.
3)Please send letters in file attachments- I will try to keep the format you put together. The greater stylistic variety, the better!
4)TRY not to have your letters exceed two printed pages- although I do understand if you go over, it’s Jo after all.
5)Please spell-check and edit your letters carefully. Unless circumstances dictate otherwise, I will print them out as I receive them.
6)Artwork/handwritten letters must be scanned and sent in file attachments. Please make sure that it will be legible and clear after it has been scanned and re-printed. (I am not sure about color printing yet.)

If you have any ideas or suggestion, feel free to email me!