You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.

I can’t help but compare this to the lesson taught in the Beedle the Bard Story, “The Hairy Heart.” The Moral of the story is that if you don’t allow yourself to be vulnerable you will never truly live. The wizard in the story specifically closed his heart away and he was never able to love or live properly and his heart ended up becoming something of a beast- killing his one chance at love.  As I mentioned on the last podcast, I think that the moral of this story can be compared to the song, “The Rose” by Bette Midler. After hearing JK Rowling’s Harvard commencement speech again I can only be even *more* certain of this.

Here are the lyrics that sum up this story best in my opinion:

It’s the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance
It’s the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance
It’s the one who won’t be taken…
who cannot seem to give
and the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live

Failure and vulnerability are hard lessons to deal with.  However, I agree with JK Rowling (and Bette Midler) that unless you try, and even if you open yourself up to the possibility of failure, you will never truly live.

A big thanks to Steve for taking the time to talk with us.

Check out Steve’s new book entitled In Search of Harry Potter.

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com. Download a free audiobook of your choice today at http://audiblepodcast.com/hp.

Don’t forget to get your entries in for the Harry Potter/Beedle the Bard/YouTube Contest!  You can win a free copy of the Deluxe edition of the new Beedle the Bard book (that’s the $100 fancy version).

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

We also officially announced the rules for our Beedle the Bard YouTube Contest. Please make sure to enter, we want to be able to give out the books to some worthy winners!

Finally, take a look at the Wall Street Journal Article (page 1, baby!) that mentions our Hitler Half Blood Prince Delay video. The article only portrays us as only *slightly* crazy…:)

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com. Download a free audiobook of your choice today at http://audiblepodcast.com/hp.

As always, we look forward to hearing your comments, thoughts, and suggestions!!

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

In this episode, we discuss the delay, assorted other goings-on, along with a tangential discussion on the recurring occurrences of eyes in Deathly Hallows (first spotted by John Granger – sorry I can’t find the exact link), and what this might (or mightn’t) mean.

Stay tuned for details on our Beedle the Bard contest, we will be putting out rules in the coming days.

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com. Download a free audiobook of your choice today at http://audiblepodcast.com/hp.

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

Putting aside a scientific discussion of free will and determinism, a greater question, from within the stories themselves, comes to light. With the conclusion of Book 7, and the revelation of Dumbledore’s less than altruistic motives, does J.K. Rowling’s position on free will and choice change? Did Harry, in fact, make all those choices of his own free will, or, perhaps, was he influenced by forces beyond his control? Despite Dumbledore’s protestations to the contrary, could Harry ever have avoided the final showdown with the Dark Lord, had he simply chosen to walk away?

In this week’s episode, we examine the nature of free will and choice as presented in the books after Book 7, and what J.K. Rowling might be saying about what it means to be free.

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com. Download a free audiobook of your choice today at audiblepodcast.com/hp.

Check out some of the books we talked about on this week’s episode.

Make sure to check out Penny’s post Deathly Hallows: One Year Later for a rundown on all that’s happened since Book 7 was released.

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

If you are having any difficulty reading the handwritten version, here is a typed copy of the submission. Enjoy!

The speeding motorcycle took the sharp corner so fast in the darkness that both policemen in the pursuing car shouted,”Whoa!” Sergeant Fisher slammed his large foot on the brake, thinking that the boy who was riding pillion was sure to be flung under his wheels; however, the motorbike made the turn without seating either of its riders, and with a wink of its red tail lights, vanished up the narrow side street.

“We’ve got ‘em now!” cried PC Anderson excitedly. “That’s a dead end!”

Leaning hard on the steering wheel and crashing his gears, Fisher scraped half the paint off the flank of the car as he forced it up the alleyway in pursuit.There in the headlights sat their quarry, stationary at last after a quarter of an hour’s chase. The two riders were trapped between a towering brick wall and the police car, which was now crawling towards them like some growling luminous-eyes predator.

There was so little space between the car doors and the walls of the alley that Fisher and Anderson had difficulty extricating themselves from the vehicle. It injured their dignity to have to inch, crab-like,towards the miscreants. Fisher dragged his generous belly along the wall,tearing buttons off his shirt as he went, and finally snapping off the wing mirror with his backside.

“Get off the bike!” he bellowed at the smirking youths, who sat basking in the flashing blue light as though enjoying it.

They did as they were told, finally pulling free from the broken wing mirror, Fisher glared at them. They seemed to be in their late teens. The one who had been driving had long black hair, his insolent good looks reminded Fisher unpleasantly of his daughter’s guitar-playing, layabout boyfriend. The second boy also had black hair, though his was short and stuck up in all directions; he wore glasses and a broad grin. Both were dressed in t-shirts emblazoned with a large golden bird; the emblem, no doubt, of some deafening, tuneless rock band.

“No helmet!” Fisher yelled, pointing from one uncovered head to the other. “Exceeding the speed limit by-by a considerable amount!” (In fact, the speed registered had been greater than Fisher was prepared to accept that any motorcycle could travel.) “Failure to stop for the police!”

“We’d have loved to stop for a chat,” said the boy in glasses,”only we were trying-”

“Don’t get smart-you two are in a heap of trouble!” snarled Anderson. “Names!”

“Names?” repeated the long-haired driver.”Er-Well, let’s see. There’s Wilberforce…Bathsheba…Elvendork…”

“And what’s nice about that one is, you can use it for a boy OR a girl,” said the boy in glasses.

“Oh, our names, did you mean?” asked the first, as Anderson spluttered with rage.”You should’ve said! This here is James Potter, and I’m Sirius Black!”

“Things’ll be seriously black for you in a minute, you cheek little-”

But neither James nor Sirius was paying attention. They were suddenly as alert as gundogs, staying past Fisher and Anderson, over the roof of the police car, at the dark mouth of the alley. Then, with identical, fluid movements, they reached into their back pockets.

For the space of a heartbeat both policemen imagined guns gleaming at them, but a second later they saw that the motorcyclists had drawn nothing more than-

“Drumsticks?” jeered Anderson. “Right pair of jokers, aren’t you? Right, we’re arresting you on a charge of–”

But Anderson never got to name the charge. James and Sirius had shouted something incomprehensible, and the beams from the headlights had moved.

The policemen wheeled around, then staggered backwards. Three men were flying-actually flying- up the alley on broomsticks-and at the same moment,the police car was rearing up on its back wheels.

Fisher’s knee bucked; as he sat down hard; Anderson tripped over Fisher’s legs and fell on top of him, as flump-bang-crunch- they heard the men on brooms slam into the suspended car and fall, apparently insensible, to the ground, while broken bits of broomstick clattered down around them.

The motorbike had roared into life again. His mouth hanging open, Fisher mustered the strength to look back at the two teenagers.

“Thanks very much!” called Sirius over the throb of the engine.”We owe you one!”

“Yeah, nice meeting you!” said James. “And don’t forget: Elvendork! It’s unisex!”

There was an earth-shaking crash, and Fisher and Anderson threw their arms around each other in fright; their car had just fallen back to the ground. Now it was the motorcycle’s turn to rear. Before the policemen’s disbelieving eyes, it took off into thin air: James and Sirius zoomed away into the night sky, their tail light twinkling behind them like a vanishing ruby.

From the prequel I am not working on-but that was fun! J.K. Rowling.2008

JK Rowling’s Speech at the Harvard Commencement

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, please vote for us on Podcast Alley and as always rate and review us on iTunes and Odeo (search for Harry Potter Prognostications).

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

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.

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com. Download a free audiobook of your choice today at http://audiblepodcast.com/hp.

And, the news:

• Radcliffe, Leung nominated for Best Kiss. BORING.
• Lavender Brown interviewed. Not the real Lavender Brown, mind you.
• Aerial footage of the Potter movie set at Leavesden Studios. This is very cool.
• J.K. Rowling won a trial. Not the trial we’re all interested in, but a trial nonetheless.

Also, check out Pensieve Memories, a new Harry Potter forum.

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

Speaking of accents, we played a voicemail from Potter’s Number One Fan in which he picked up Greg’s gauntlet and gave us a multi-character Harry Potter narration. Excellent job, in my opinion.

We finished off the episode with the introduction to Patterns In Potter for “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”. You’ll have to trust that we are telling the truth when we say that Book 5 has a good theme.

As promised the links to the court transcripts are here. Thanks to Cris for the tip:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
  

It is a new month so please vote for us on Podcast Alley and as always rate and review us on iTunes and Odeo.

Finally, HPProgs has a Twitter account so please join in the fun and start following us so you can get all of our updates!

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.

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

What is interesting is that this comes on the same day as Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People came out with JK Rowling conspicuously NOT on the list.

So what does this mean?  Now that almost a year has passed since  “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was released, is Harry Potter slowly but surely fading into obscurity?  I know it isn’t reasonable to assume that Harry Potter would stay on the Best-Seller List forever, or that JK Rowling would continually be honored for her influence on the world of literature, but this seems like a hasty fall from grace in my opinion.

More and more schools are making Harry Potter required reading so children will still pick up the series and hopefully devour it with the same zest that we’ve all done.  Unfortunately there won’t be any “between the book excitement” that helped to make the series as exciting as it was; however, we can hope that these children will still eagerly anticipate the beginning of each new book as they finish the last one.

But one has to wonder how many new adults will start reading  the books at this point. Have we come to the end of the mature examination of this series?  Adult fans of the Harry Potter series were forced to analyze the books prior to the release of each one.  In order to get the most out of the series, we spent hours pouring over the books to look for clues and hints to what was going to come.  This won’t be the case anymore.  Analysis will be all but unnecessary and this saddens me the most.

So now we can only hope that either JK Rowling will somehow decide to continue the Harry Potter Series or hopefully the next JK Rowling will emerge sooner rather than later.

The trial over Steve Vander Ark and his Harry Potter Lexicon continued today in New York, in what appears to be the final day of testimony. According to the WSJ Law Blog (which may be suing HPProgs for copyright, as we’ve been linking to and excerpting from the quite liberally), the defense (i.e. SVA and RDR) seemed to have the upper hand coming out of today’s session. HPProgs legal analysts (read: hacks) think this might indicate that the judge really favors Rowling, but was testing their side more rigourously to see how they stood up to scrutiny. More likely, though, he’s leaning towards RDR/SVA.

The WSJ also posted an interview with an IP lawyer who gave his opinion on the case (long story short: too close to call). Did we mention that Anthony Falzone, one of the attorneys for the defense, used basically the same argument we did in yesterday’s podcast discussing the trial? He must be a listener (we’ll send you a bill).

In the meantime, more information has come to light. Commentor Bill posted a link to a site that contains most of the information that has been submitted for the case (I think lawyers call these things affidavits). Included in Bill’s comment was an excerpt of an email exchange between SVA and JKR’s representatives; what emerges is a very disturbing picture of a case of an obsessed fan taking things too far. This, of course, has no bearing on the legality of the Lexicon as a published work, but certainly adds a nice amount of drama and context to the entire affair.

Check back tomorrow for more updates on the trial. We here at HPProgs are hoping for a settlement; short of that, we’ve got two galleons on RDR/SVA.

In the mean time, if you have a thought or opinion about the case, leave a comment or a message and we’ll play it our next podcast. 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.

No news this week, other than, you know, that court thingee. We will continue the Patterns in Potter series next week, beginning Book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

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

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports the events of today as follows:

Judge Patterson removed his glasses and addressed the court. “I’m concerned that this case is more lawyer-driven than it is client-driven,” he lamented. “The fair use people are on one side, and a large company is on the other side. . . . The parties ought to see if there’s not a way to work this out, because there are strong issues in this case and it could come out one way or the other. The fair use doctrine is not clear.”

“I’m bringing it up now so you can think about it before you get into the rest of the case,” Judge Patterson added. “Maybe it’s too late; maybe we’ve gone too far down the road. But a settlement is better than a lawsuit.”

The plea came as plaintiffs counsel Marvin Putnam of O’Melveny was cross examining a witness, an exchange that seemed to leave the lawyer frustrated and losing patience. The Judge broke in to point out that it was four o’clock, and asked Putnam how much longer he needed. Putnam apologized, and said he’d need quite a bit longer.

I don’t know about you but I am hoping that this will be as painless as possible and that the folks on both sides will strongly consider settling the case. From a purely selfish perspective, I hope that this can be resolved painlessly. I hate seeing what it is doing to the Potter author/fan/fandom relationship, which used to be looked at as a model to be emulated. Now it is starting to feel like a dysfunctional family.

What’s More Important to the Parties? Money or Passion? Yesterday, Rowling said the case isn’t about money, but about principle. One of RDR’s lawyers, Anthony Falzone, in his opening remarks said that for Vander Ark it was never about money, but rather passion. Today we got a sense of where thing stand on both fronts. According to Vander Ark, he’s made about $6,500 off his Web site — all through advertising — between 2000 and 2008.

But the most telling part of Vander Ark’s testimony came at the end of Hammer’s direct examination. Asked whether he still considered himself a part of the Harry Potter fan community — those that, in Vander Ark’s words, devote most of their free time to all things Potter, he choked up, and said, “I did.” But then, when pressed on it, he changed his answer. “I do,” he said, breaking up.

Hammer then asked him why the question was so “emotionally-charged.” Regaining his composure, and trying hard to look past J.K. Rowling, whom the plaintiffs counsel positioned directly in front of the witness stand, Vander Ark said, “It’s been difficult because there’s been a lot of criticism and that was never the intention. I understand where that comes from, but it’s difficult. The lexicon has been an important part of my life for the last 8 or 9 years of my life, and now, to have it turn into this . . . .”

This seems to be turning into an emotional roller coaster for all of the parties involved.  I wish JKR and SVA could just kiss and make up.  In a completely selfless gesture, I am offering both sides the opportunity to talk 1 to 1 without the courts getting in the ways.  Feel free to come on our podcast.  We’d be happy to have you.  In related news, yes I am delusional.

According to the Law Blog, the heart of this case is the  fair-use doctrine which according to the US Copyright Act is explained as follows:

One of the rights accorded to the owner of copyright is the right to reproduce or to authorize others to reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords. This right is subject to certain limitations found in sections 107 through 118 of the Copyright Act (title 17, U. S. Code). One of the more important limitations is the doctrine of “fair use.” Although fair use was not mentioned in the previous copyright law, the doctrine has developed through a substantial number of court decisions over the years. This doctrine has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law.

Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered “fair,” such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:

the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

the nature of the copyrighted work;

amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

This was discussed in detail today by JKR’s attorney:

After going through the list of correspondence that Cendali argued showed bad faith copying on Vander Ark’s part, she painstakingly detailed the four factors of fair use — the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount of the work copied, the purpose and character of the use, and the effect on the market — arguing that they don’t apply to the Harry Potter Lexicon.

Mostly, Cendali focused on the third factor, belaboring the same phrase over and over again, arguing that the Lexicon “takes too much and does too little.” In other words, she argued, unlike other Harry Potter companion books, which add commentary, analysis and research to Rowling’s work, the Harry Potter Lexicon adds nothing new or original, but merely “rearranges the furniture of Rowling’s novels.” In characterizing the Lexicon as a “reference guide,” Cendali, in her own bit of literary pilferage, concluded that RDR is attempting “to make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.”

When Stanford University’s Anthony Falzone, the inheritor of professor Larry Lessig’s Fair Use Project, took the podium, he gave comparatively short remarks, saying simply that the public will lose out if publication of the Harry Potter Lexicon is enjoined, and arguing that the power Rowling asserts over her fictional world does not translate into power she can assert over companion guides wirtten by others. “Profit was nover the point,” concluded Falzone, Vander Ark wrote the Lexicon out of passion.

As we mentioned previously, Jo took the stand today and spoke quite emotionally and passionately about her feelings on this issue.   One interesting tidbit the Wall Stree Journal offered was the following:

“Should my fans be flooded with a surfeit of substandard books — so called lexicons — I’m not sure I’d have the will or heart to continue,” said Rowling, who went on to characterize the H.P. Lexicon as “sloppy,” “lazy,” and “incorrect.”

Personally I don’t know that I would classify the HPL as sloppy, lazy, or incorrect.  I think it is a very excellent compendium  of the Harry Potter world that I have taken advantage of (and according to many previous reports, so has JKR) quite often.  Once again, I don’t know the ins and outs of copyright law and I don’t know who is in the right OR wrong here but to see the badmouthing and deterioration of fan and author relations saddens me the most.

NEW YORK – J.K. Rowling said Monday that her efforts to halt a publisher’s “Harry Potter” lexicon have been crushing her creativity.

Rowling said she has stopped work on a new novel because the lawsuit in federal court has “decimated my creative work over the last month.”

Rowling is suing RDR Books to stop publication of Steven Vander Ark’s “Harry Potter Lexicon.” She says her copyrights are being violated.

“This book constitutes wholesale theft of 17 years of my hard work,” she testified Monday.

Full article from the Associated Press

To me the biggest revelation in this story is that Steve Vander Ark is 50.  Did not realize THAT.

Well…yes, but they are also the key players in the trial which will begin this week in New York City.

The showdown between Rowling and Steven Vander Ark is scheduled to last most of the week in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Rowling is scheduled to testify Monday in a trial that is sure to generate huge interest among Harry Potter fans and the public. Her lawyer has arranged with the judge to have a private security guard for Rowling in the courtroom and for the author to spend breaks in the seclusion of a jury room — away from any die-hard Potter fans in attendance.

I think that’s us, they are referring to.

Well, we are some die-hard Potter fans, but unfortunately we won’t be in full stalking attendance mode. But we will keep you updated on any news that surfaces.

“I am deeply troubled by the portrayal of my efforts to protect and preserve the copyrights I have been granted in the Harry Potter books,” she wrote in court papers filed Wednesday in a lawsuit she brought against the small Muskegon, Mich., publisher.She said she intends to publish her own definitive Harry Potter encyclopedia. 

 “If RDR’s position is accepted, it will undoubtedly have a significant, negative impact on the freedoms enjoyed by genuine fans on the Internet,” she said.

 “Authors everywhere will be forced to protect their creations much more rigorously, which could mean denying well-meaning fans permission to pursue legitimate creative activities.”

 She added: “I find it devastating to contemplate the possibility of such a severe alteration of author-fan relations.” 

 I am still unsure how I feel about this. What are your thoughts?  

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:)

Time has announced that their 2007 Person of the Year honor will be going to Vladimir Putin.

Al Gore came in as the first runner up, while JK Rowling was the second runner up.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

And that is on top of the impact, even her critics acknowledge, of inspiring a generation of obsessive readers unafraid of fat books and complex plots. “They’re easy to underestimate because of what I call the three Deathly Hallows for academics,” says James Thomas, a professor of English at Pepperdine University. “They couldn’t possibly be good because they’re too recent, they’re too popular, and they’re too juvenile.” But he argues that the books do more than entertain. “They’ve made millions of kids smarter, more sensitive, certainly more literate and probably more ethical and aware of hypocrisy and lust for power. They’ve made children better adults, I think. I don’t know of any books that have worked that kind of magic on so many millions of readers in so short a time in the history of publications.”

It should be noted that Andrew Slack, the Executive Director of the Harry Potter Alliance
(which in case you aren’t familiar with, is an organization which was created to promote awareness of the Genocide in Darfur- and BTW, HPProgs is the top recruiter for- on their facebook cause right now) was mentioned in the article and there was a nice write-up about the HP Alliance, which runs under the motto, “The weapon we have is love.”

Check out the Amazon page for The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and make sure to check back, as Amazon is promising to post additional information, pictures and more.

Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) — J.K. Rowling’s handwritten book of fairy tales sold for 1.95 million pounds ($3.98 million) at a London charity sale.

Sotheby’s top estimate for “The Tales of Beedle the Bard,” one of seven copies made after Rowling finished her last Harry Potter book, was 50,000 pounds. The money will go to the Children’s Voice, a charity co-founded by Rowling and Emma Nicholson, a member of the U.K. House of Lords.

The buyer was Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, an old-master dealership with many collector clients, Sotheby’s said.

Continue Reading Article

 Wow.  Wow, wow, wow.

For fun, take a look back at an old, old Draco prognostication, circa Goblet of Fire.

Make sure to tune in next week for what looks to be a really great show.  Travis Prinzi from Sword of Gryffindor will be our guest on the show.

In the news:

• JK Rowling is Entertainment Weekly’s Entertainer of The Year.
• Good Morning America previewed “The Tales of Beedle the Bard”.
• Harry Potter, the character, makes it onto Details Magazines “50 Most Influential Men Under 45″.
• JK Rowling received a 2007 Writers’ Guild Award.

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

A few relevant links:

• Report from an eye-witness.
• Wikipedia article on “Death of the Author.”
• Wikipedia article on “Reader response theory.”
• Blogdigger blog search for dumbledore gay.

Vote for HPProgs in the 2007 Weblog Awards for Best Podcast!

This week’s poll:

How do you feel about Dumbledore being gay?

Survey by Quibblo

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

• Details from the Open Book Tour LA press conference – Religion. (MTV News)
• More from MTV on Snape and Dumbledore.
• J.K. Rowling talks to the movie stars (MTV Movies Blog).
• More from the NY Post.

For reference, check out our original post on the religion of Harry Potter.
In other news:

• Video Games Live concert features music from the Harry Potter games.
• Filming for Half-Blood Prince movie begins next week.

If you have a few minutes, please vote for HPProgs for Best Podcast in the 2007 Weblog Awards!

This week’s Top 5! Vote for your most memorable character from the Harry Potter novels:

Who is the most memorable character in the Harry Potter series?

Survey by Quibblo

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

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:)

After you listen to the podast, make sure to read John Granger’s posts on the Christian Content of Deathly Hallows.

Not much news this week, in the mean time, make sure to check out:

• Stephen King’s last word on Harry Potter.
• Two great videos of The Prince’s Tale: one and two.

Don’t forget to get your entries in for the HPProgs Thank You Book to J.K. Rowling. Thank yous are due by September 1st.
You can listen to the podcast using the player below, or download it directly as an mp3.

No news for this episode, we’ll be back with a regular episode later this week.

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

It’s been less than a week since the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, yet most of us have now read the book more than once; inevitably, bits and pieces need to be re-read to make sense of them. In addition to re-reading, the comments on our last post were extremely amazing, and really helped make sense of the book. This week, we look back through the comments and pull out a few topics to discuss further: a possible relationship between Harry and Voldemort? Examples of Voldemort’s spells not working, references to Nazis, the fittingness of Snape’s death. What was the purpose of the epilogue? And what did we need the Deathly Hallows for anyhow? Of course, there’s more questions that need to be discussed (who discovered magic later in life? Where did Harry’s parents get all that money from?), but they’ll have to wait until next time.

Thanks so much for all the great comments, keep them coming, we couldn’t do the show without them!

In the News:

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is breaking sales records.
• JK Rowling on the Today show: Announces Encyclopedia of characters and talks about DH.
• Naomi Watts, Joseph Fiennes, and Stuart Townsend not necessarily in the Half Blood Prince movie.

Make sure to listen to our interview on The James Madison Show from Friday, July 20. The interview can be found a the website if you click the podcast button. Special thanks to James and Frank for having us on.

Don’t forget to order your HPProgs t-shirts! Contact us if you’re interested in a red, white or black limited edition t-shirt.

Join in on the HPProgs Thank-You Book to JK Rowling!

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