One of our most favorite characters from the Harry Potter series is the one and only Neville Longbottom.  From a shy, sheepish kid in the first book, to Snake-Killer, Neville goes through one of the most noticeable transformations of any other character in the book.  In this episode, we take a look back at Neville, the significant moments in his life, both before and at Hogwarts, and how he progressed from less than a wizard to a full-fledged Wizard Hero.  In particular, we examine how J.K. Rowling uses Neville to show how cultures and societies reinforce images of acceptable traits and tacitly punish or stigmatize those that fail to embody those traits; also, we discuss Neville’s character as a mirror of Harry’s character.

I had to resist the urge to entitle this episode “Neville Longbottom: From Zero to Hero.”

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In the news:

• Daniel Radcliffe is one of Moviefone’s “25 Hot Actors Under 25 List”.
• Did you win the JK Rowling book reading sweepstakes? Scholastic and Raincoast have both announced the winners.
• National Braille Press has announced a new Harry Potter auction.
• Nepotism alive and well in the HP franchise. Ralph Feinnes’ nephew MIGHT be playing a young Tom Riddle in HBP. Take this news as rumor until it is confirmed by WB.
• JKR and Emma Watson attended the Pride of Britain awards.
• Emma Watson attending Nickolodeon’s Kids Choice UK awards.
• The OoTP DVD will include downloadable digital files which will allow users to download to PC or portable devices.
• New Harry Potter merchandise available.
• Prague publishing house IN TROUBLE.
• Harry Potter is the new wizard of the month on JKR’s site.

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

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Hey y’all!  Penny just couldn’t stand being bedridden any longer, so she drug herself out of bed and we did a podcast!  Things have been a bit hectic around HPProgs HQ the last week or so, as Penny has suffered a pretty nasty injury to her spine.  Were still trying to figure out how we’re going to fix that; in the mean time, there’s no sense in not prognosticating.  This week’s quasi-episode features a bit of discussion into what’s going on with Penny (if you care), a little prognosticating on Potter, and a little off-topic discussions (sorry for the off-topic-ness, but we’ve been a bit busy) which are clearly marked as spoilers for those of you outside the US (you can listen until we tell you not to).  I have a pretty bad cold and therefore sound like a post-pubertal Kermit the Frog.  Anyways, thanks for listening, we hope to be back with your regularly scheduled all-Potter-themed podcast next week.

Update: Here is a link to the forum. There are a lot of great conversations going on there and you should join in. The thread about the TV finales is in the “All You Want to Talk” forum. We can’t wait to hear your thoughts!!

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

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From last week’s episode of The Office.