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.”

Please check out the new Harry Potter T-Shirt Store on Zazzle, and let us know what you think.  If you’ve purchased a t-shirt from us at either of our stores, please send us a picture (we won’t post it unless you say it’s OK).

As always, please rate and review us on iTunes and don’t forget to vote for us on podcast alley! We appreciate it.

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.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Without question, Severus Snape is one of the most intriguing characters in J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world. In the beginning, he was simply a mean teacher, and obstacle for Harry; but by the end of the series, Snape became a paradigm of sacrifice for love and courage, to the point that Harry names his son after his once-despised teacher. In this episode, we take a closer look at Snape, now that we have the complete picture of his tale.

For an insightful and prescient examination of Snape’s character, check out Orson Scott Card’s essay Who is Snape? (If you haven’t already, read Orson Scott Card’s book Ender’s Game. You’ll thank me later.)

In the news:

• First British National Movie Awards nominations go to Potter cast.
• Tom Felton likes carp.
• J.K. Rowling is not writing a crime novel.

Check out our new Harry Potter t-shirt design; we call it “Always.” It looks good on most light colored tees (ignore the white background around the image; that will be removed when the shirt is printed).

Get it in white or in a vast array of colors (we prefer green).

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

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

*Deathly Hallows Spoilers Included*

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.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

We’re getting pretty close the end game. Zero hour. The End of Potter. And we’ve got plenty of unanswered questions. Earlier, we solicited your thoughts on what questions still need to be answered in Book 7. We had a great response, and, in this podcast, we go through some of the questions and give our best guesses as to how they’ll be resolved. So tune in, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

The questions we covered are:

• Who will end up a teacher at Hogwarts? (from Greg in Toronto)
• Why did Bellatrix Lestrange go after the Longbottoms? (Nancy)
• What does the symbol mean? (Aaron from HPPC)
• How did the Wizarding World find out the Potters were killed? (from Mrs. Lovegood)
• What connection does Dumbledore vs. Grindelwald have to Harry vs. Voldemort? (Greg in Toronto)
• Why did Snape turn against Voldemort? (Ajit)

Keep sending in your questions, we’ll cover more next week.

In the news:

• HBO’s First Look at OotP movie looks pretty cool.
• Amazon books 1 million preorders for Deathly Hallows in US. July 17th is deadline for first-day delivery.
• Harry Potter virus infecting computers.
• Wizard Rock in the Garden. Hear great music and meet HPProgs!

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

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Quite predictably, ever since we were introduced to The Prophecy in Book 5, it’s been the subject of controversy.  Despite almost an entire chapter of Book 6 devoted to setting the record straight, questions still abound about what The Prophecy might mean.  Could it be referring to Neville? (No.)  Maybe it doesn’t have to come true? (No.)  In this week’s podcast, we set the record straight.

A few old posts related to The Prophecy from the old HPProgs blog:

• Prophecy Boy: Why Neville is NOT The One.
• Prophecy Analysis: What are the logical implications of the language used in The Prophecy?  Complete with Truth Table.

And the news:

• If you order Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows through Amazon, you are guaranteed to get it on time.
• Harry Potter World?
• First Scholastic Question up!

Make sure to check out the Prophecy 2007 Conference, August 2-5 in Toronto.  We’ll be there!  If you sign, make sure to tell them HPProgs sent ya’!

Shamless Plug of the Week: Preorder O.A.R.’s new album, Live From Madison Square Garden.

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

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Who doesn’t love Neville Longbottom? We’ve watched veryone’s favorite herbophile grow from an awkward young kid into a…somewhat less awkward teenager. But seriously, along the way, we’ve seen Neville mature and begin to come into the magical legacy left to him by his parents. What does the future hold in store for Neville? Penny and I offer our thoughts in this weeks’ podcast.

A roundup of the news:

• Vote for Goblet of Fire, The Movie, in the BAFTAs.
• HBO On Demand will show Movie 5 trailer.
• David Thewlis (aka Remus Lupin, aka Nox Harrington) says Daniel Radcliffe thinks Harry will die.
• Jason Isaacs tells JK Rowling to put Lucius in Book 7 so he can be in the movie.

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

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.