We’re back for another action-packed episode of Patterns in Potter.  This time, we take on the latest contender in the Harry Potter series, The Deathly Hallows.  We begin with an analysis of the prologue, of both The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus, and William Penn’s More Fruits of Solitude.  From there, we discuss the apparent connection to Chapters 2 and 3, and how they relate to what might be the theme of the book: trust, faith or death.  We haven’t quite decided yet.  Have any thoughts?  We’d love to hear from you.

You can leave comments or call our voicemail at 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.

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In the news:

•  Harry Potter makes it to Entertainment Weekly’s “1000 New Classics”. Greg has big time issues with this.
• Thirty new international release dates for the Half Blood Prince movie.  My guess is that the movie will be released internationally before we see the teaser trailer.
• You can now buy the Deluxe Edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for $13.00!!!  Wow. Good deal.
• JK Rowling gets an Edinburgh Award. Greg imitates Sean Connery.

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Wow, feels like old times. Because of the release of JK Rowling’s new 800 word Harry Potter Prequel , we were able to return to the pre-DH revelry of prognosticating Harry Potter. We took a break from Patterns in Potter and dedicated the entire Episode #82 to the prequel. This prequel wasn’t just a nice little vignette about James and Sirius. We reviewed, analyzed, and delved into what *might* have been going through Jo’s mind when she was writing the prequel.

We can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the prequel so please share them with us. You can leave comments or call our voicemail at 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.

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This week, we discuss J.K. Rowling’s commencement address to Harvard University’s graduating class of 2008 (with audio snippets!) and conclude our Patterns in Potter discussion for the theme of Book 6.

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.

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This week, we begin our Patterns in Potter coverage for Book 6, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The theme of this book is quite ambiguous; in fact, it is ambiguous. Sorry if I’m not being too clear here, but you’ll have to listen to the podcast to figure the rest out.

In the news:

• In honor of the 10th anniversary of the US release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Scholastic will be releasing a new edition of that book with new art.
• Winner of the Amazon Beedle the Bard contest was announced. Congratulations Rhiannon D. of Australia!
• Sadly, the actor who portrayed Marcus Belby in the HBP movie was killed last week. Our sympathies go out to the family of Rober Knox.
• Will the Half Blood Prince trailer come before “Get Smart?” Your guess is as good as our’s.
• JK Rowling has written an 800 word portion of a Harry Potter prequel. Don’t get your hopes up, she has no intention of writing the rest.

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.

Today is a new month (June, for those of you who have been hiding under a rock), so please vote for us on Podcast Alley and as always rate and review us on iTunes and Odeo.

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This week, we finish up our Patterns in Potter discussion for Book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  This time, we focus on Harry’s visions (courtesy of Lord Voldemort) and his driving urge to understand the truth of these visions, and what knowledge they can bring in aiding in the fight against evil.  It’s quite an interesting discussion, and we end up talking about Gödel’s Theorem, for those of you who know what that is (for those of you who don’t, that’s why there is Wikipedia), and discuss rationalism, existenialism and religion.

Send us your thoughts, 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.

In the news:

• Vote for the Beedle The Bard winner.
• JK Rowling received Auther Of The Year Award. Again.
• Emma Watson made Maxim’s Hot 100 List.  Penny came in right before her though.
• No Moaning Myrtle in Half Blood Prince. The actress who plays her is busy checking out nursing homes (oh snap, that was mean.  I know.  I apologize to Shirley Henderson, but come on- she is old.)
• JK Rowling to write a “Story Card” with other notable authors.

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In the week’s episode, we continue our discussion of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and the central theme of truth and knowledge, specifically how the book presents the theme in context of Hogwarts, education, careers and experiential vs. learned/taught knowledge. It’s even more exciting that I can describe.

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.

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In what will go down in history as being HPProgs’ finest hour *or* our worst episode yet, we bring to you Episode #77. We decided to go a slightly different route for part of this episode and after our very short news discussion we re-enacted part of the J.K. Rowling vs. Steve Vander Ark/RDR Books trial. All we can say is that those of you who called Greg’s accent rubbish are going to wish you had saved your insults. On a side note, when I was editing the episode I realized that we botched the name of SVA’s lawyer. It is David Hammer, not Barry. Apologies to Mr. Hammer.

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.

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This week, we take a break from the Patterns in Potter series to disucss the court case currently underway in New York between J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. on one side, and RDR Books and Steve Vander Ark on the other. There’s been excellent coverage of the trial (and interesting comments) over on the WSJ Law Blog, make sure to check that out.

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.

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This comes from Amazon’s Beedle the Bard Page:

Calling all Harry Potter fans!
Want to get your (gloved) hands on J.K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard? Amazon.com wants to send you and a friend to London, England to spend a weekend with the rare and delightful book of fairy tales (security guards included, of course), handwritten and illustrated by J.K. Rowling herself. Open to muggles ages 13 and older in 24 countries, the Beedle the Bard Ballad Writing Contest challenges you to creatively answer one of the following three questions in 100 words or less:
• What songs do wizards use to celebrate birthdays?
• What sports do wizards play besides Quidditch?
• What have you learned from the Harry Potter series that you use in everyday life?

English-language submissions will be accepted through 11:59 p.m. PDT April 22, 2008. An Amazon.com committee will select 10 semi-finalist submissions (based on creativity and writing style) from each of two age categories: 13-17 and 18-and-over. Amazon.com customers will determine the two finalists and Grand Prize winner by voting for their favorites. The Grand Prize includes round-trip airfare, two nights lodging at a London hotel, as well as an expense allowance. Plus, each of the finalists from the two age groups will receive an Amazon Gift Certificate in the amount of $1,000.

Key contest dates:

• April 9-April 22, 2008: Call for submissions.

• May 5-May 11, 2008: Semi-finalists are revealed and customers vote for their favorites.

• May 13-May 19, 2008: Finalists in each age group are revealed, and customers vote for the Grand Prize winner.

• May 22, 2008: The Grand Prize winner is announced.

For more information, view our Frequently Asked Questions, or read the official rules.

Good luck!

Last week, we introduced pride as the theme of Book 4, with a focus on both personal and communal pride, and how nationalism, racism and other -isms can flow from pride. This week, we continue our discussion of Goblet of Fire and the theme of pride, listen to a few comments, and have an all-around good time.

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.

Shoutout to our listener, Robert Kingett,  and his podcast: www.freewebs.com/4yoinformation.

As always, feel free to rate and review us on iTunes and vote for us on Podcast Alley (It is a new month!).

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

In the news:

• Nick Kids chose Potter again.
• Bloomsbury has a lot to thank Potter for.
• College kids love muggle Quidditch.
• JK Rowling’s work will be in a Birthday Book for Prince Charles.
• Transcript of JKR’s talk when she received the James Joyce Award.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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