After almost four months, I have finally gotten around to uploading the video from my round table discussion at Portus. The reason I chose to do this is three fold. Or would that be tri-fold? I don’t know. In any event….here are the reasons why I am finally posting this video:

1. This round table discussion was standing room only. Not only was I proud of the fact that it was such a well attended session at Portus; but the conversation was great and I wanted everyone in the HPProgs world to be able to watch and hear it.

2. Some of you might be on the fence about attending Azkatraz 2009 and I wanted you all to be able to see an example of *some* (and believe me everything else is MUCH better than anything I could do) of the programming at an HPEF event. Also I truly believe that the HPProgs listeners are some of the most intelligent people in the HP fandom and I wanted you to see that if an idiot like me could do a session, so can you.

3. We got this snazzy video camera, I have a Mac with decent video editing software and I was in the mood to use them both:)

So without further ado, here is the video footage from the discussion, “Voldemort Understands Nothing: Why This Led To His Ultimate Downfall.” I apologize for the four videos- youtube only allows you to upload ten minutes of footage at a time. (The videos are best seen in high quality.)

(We switched servers and this information was lost in the process so I am reposting it).

We are hosting a Post-Portus Call-In show THIS evening, July 20 at 10pm EST.

Here is a link to the call in page: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hpprogs/2008/07/21/Harry-Potter-Prognostications-Post-Portus-Call-In-Show

You will be able to listen to the show as well as take part in a chat on this page.
The number to call in is: (646) 595-4635

The service we use claims that there is a “click to talk” feature for VoIP- but I haven’t seen it work yet, so unfortunately for most of you (and us) it will be a long distance call.

Greg and I recorded a post -Portus podcast last week but we realized that there was no way we could capture all that went on at the conference.

Even if you aren’t a regular HPProgs listener, we’d love to have you call in so that you can give your own perspective on Portus. I think it would be a great way to showcase what these conferences and the HPEF are all about.
We can’t wait to talk to everyone about your Portus experiences!!

-Penny

As you may have read, we just got back from Portus 2008, a Harry Potter convention that took place July 10-13 in Dallas, Texas.  And, guess what?  We had a blast!  From Jim Dale giving a live performance, to meeting lots of fun and interesting people, it was a great time.  We sat right down as soon as we could after we got home to record some of our thoughts on what the Harry Potter fan-world is like one year after the release of Deathly Hallows, along with details on the all the great sessions we went to, movies watched, conversations had, etc.  It really was a great time, and special thanks to the HPEF for going all out and putting together an amazing weekend.

If you were there, leave a comment or send us an email.  And make sure to check out www.hp2009.org for Azkatraz, in San Francisco!  Hope to see you there!

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

Don’t forget to check out Harry Potter Prognostications on the new Odeo.  Subscribe, why dontcha?

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.

Hey Y’all! I apologize for not updating sooner. Things have been going very well at Portus.

We left off before the Podcast Palooza. We started the podcast with a Panel of representatives from each of the podcasts. As I mentioned previously, there were representatives from SnapeCast, AlleyCast, Fandom Forecast, SpinnersCast, MuggleCast, Travis from the Hogs Head and me. The panel was moderated by Zorb from SpellCast. The panel was fun. We talked about our podcasts, our favorite moments, the future of our podcasts and the future of the fandom. I started off sort of nervous but got much more comfortable as the panel continued. What is funny is that I wasn’t nervous at all when I gave my presentations, but for some reason this thing got to me a bit. Oh well. All in all, it was a fun time. The folks from AlleyCast put some pics of the Palooza up, so check them out.

We had a half an hour to do our Live Podcast and we did it with Travis. We spoke a bit about our thoughts on the theme of Deathly Hallows. Greg and Travis speculated it was death, and I disagreed and spoke a bit about faith and trust. We then had audience members come up and talk about their thoughts on the theme of Book 7. All of the comments were well thought out and interesting. I enjoyed giving out lolly pops to the audience (“Don’t be a Dum Dum, listen to HPPROGS!”). Once we get a copy of the podcast, we will put it up for you all to listen to. I know the panel will be online as well.

After our podcast, we hung around for the rest of the podcasts. We had a wonderful time sitting at the “merch table” talking to different conference attendees, podcasters, and HPPROGS listeners. Speaking of “merch”, the “Always” t-shirt has been a HUGE HIT here. We brought a bunch with us and they “flew off the shelves.” It was incredibly gratifying to see people walking around the conference in the t-shirts. It was even crazier that there were a bunch of people who came *to* the conference with the t-shirts they bought off our website. We also brought the “Hogsmeade is For Lovers” t-shirts. Those have been popular, although not quite as universally appreciated as the Always shirt. In any event we are thrilled with the response to our t-shirts. Stay tuned for some new original designs and ideas.

We had to get up early the next morning because there was a small press gathering for *stay calm, Penny* JIM DALE!!!!! We, as well as around 12 other “press people” and featured Portus speakers sat around a table and talked to Jim. I hope to get an audio of this press conference and hopefully we will be able to play parts for you. We talked about the process of recording the books, other books that Jim has narrated, and Jim’s thoughts on the conference. I gave a personal plea to Jim to record “The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” by A.A. Milne but he sort of laughed at that- I thought because he didn’t recognize it as a work of literature, Greg speculates because Disney now owns Winnie the Pooh. All I know is that it is a beautiful piece of children’s literature and Jim Dale’s voice would do amazing things for it. Jim spoke about the dumbing down of children thanks to prolonged computer and video game usage and how he hopes that his book narrations help pull children away from their computers and game consoles.

I also asked Jim about his use of accent and dialect versus just voice (I can’t leave my profession, I apologize). He spoke about the stereotypes and characteristics of people who live in different geographic areas of the UK and how those same stereotypes helped him create the accents and dialects of the different characters in the books.

After the question and answers, each of us had the opportunity to take our picture with Jim. The Portus people took the pictures so I don’t have the links to them yet but you better believe that when I get them, I’ll post them as soon as possible. Jim graciously bent down to my five feet so that I wouldn’t look so short and I nearly died from happiness.

After this, Jim spoke to all of the attendees here. He related that he was fascinated how this conference is like a scene out of the Harry Potter books. The wizards and witches are dressed up and doing their thing; while the muggles (the non-convention attendees) sort of  just ignore us all, just like in the books! I had a laugh at this because obviously he wasn’t here on Thursday when the conference began and the muggles at the Hilton Anatole got their first glimpse of the Portus attendees; they were most certainly NOT ignoring us.

Jim then gave a reading of several chapters from the Harry Potter series. All I can say is WOW. If I was a fan before, it was nothing compared to how I feel about Jim Dale now. It was amazing to see how he actually acted the parts out as he read them. Jim is a stage actor, and unfortunately this doesn’t come across in the audiobooks. He also informed us that he has to remain completely still while recording or else the sound quality is sacrificed.  He read selections from Books 1, 2 and 3 (including the Sorting Hat scene from Book 1, which was simply amazing).  It’s really hard to put into words how incredible it was to see this, it was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend.

The rest of the conference flew by, but not without me giving my iPod to Jim Dale to autograph.  Bearing his signature, it will now remain in it’s plastic case forever.  There were lots more great sessions, movies and the ball.  It was really spectacular.  We’re going to do an episode early this week with out first thoughts, and we’ll go into greater detail about Portus, how it was different from last year at Prophecy, and give you details on next year’s gathering in San Francisco.  Stay tuned!

Hey Y’all!!! (I actually only just heard my first Y’all since I got here) We are at Portus!!

I am going to try to update this post throughout the day so make sure to keep checking in.

So far Portus is going great and we are having an excellent time. Last night we attended the Opening Feast and like the good Press people that we are, we got some video footage. I know Greg had a good time interviewing the Malfoy family. I overheard Professors Quirrel and Snape talking and got a good laugh.

There was some wizard rock last night- courtesy of the Moaning Myrtles and the MudBloods. I checked them out for a few minutes and they did a great job and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

I moderated my first round table discussion, “Does Dumbledore’s love for Grindelwald Change Canon? ” this morning. Here is the description:

When JK Rowling announced Dumbledore’s homosexuality, many fans were not upset with his sexual preference but rather with the notion that this proclamation changed cannon. When considering the Dumbledore/ Grindelwald relationship, one has to wonder whether Dumbledore was truly attracted to the ideals that Grindelwald espoused or whether it was his infatuation with the man himself that led him to be tempted with the notion of wizard dominance and “the greater good” ideal. Is Harry Potter cannon changed now that there is a possibility that a childhood crush and not a naïve sense of ideology led Albus Dumbledore to a pursuit of power that could have caused not only his moral downfall, but also the downfall of all Muggle/ wizard relations?

It was a lively discussion with a great (large) group of people and I had a great time. Greg video’d it so perhaps we will put it up on the blog.

My next round table, “Voldemort Understands Nothing: Why this Led to His Ultimate Downfall” is later this morning and I will report on that when I finish.

We have hung out with Travis from the Hogs Head a bunch and finally got to meet Leanne and Dave who we have corresponded with for a while. We have also met some other really nice people.

So far, so good. Will report in later.

-Penny

 UPDATE:

Things are still going well.  My second roundtable went really really well. It ended up being standing room only. I am not sure whether that had to do with me, the topic, or the fact that there were a bunch of death eaters who attended because they wanted to defend their Dark Lord. In any event, I was satisfied with how it went.

I attended the lunch Keynote Address by Dr. Henry Jenkins. Dr. Jenkins spoke titled: “Beyond the Borders of the Book: The Transformative Power of Fandom in the Age of Media Convergence.” This was an interesting  lecture and he did a great job dissecting the Harry Potter Fandom.

Travis lectured on: “Christ in the Forest: Aslan and Harry Walk to Their Deaths.” In this lecture, he compared how Rowling, Lewis and Tolkein all used Biblical references when writing the stories of their “Christ-like Heroes.” Travis was not only educating but entertaining as well. He had the room laughing out loud several times.

We are now getting ready for the Podcast Palooza. We look forward to taking part in it. Talk to you soon

Hi everyone. We will be leaving for Portus 2008 in just a few hours but we wanted to check in first.

• First of all, in case there is anyone out there who is a procrastinator or a spontaneous decision maker, you should know that you can STILL REGISTER FOR PORTUS!! If you don’t want to attend for the whole 3 days, you can purchase day packages as well.
• We have been busy preparing for our presentations at Portus. I will be moderating two roundtable discussions. I hope that these discussions are both insightful and entertaining and I can’t wait to hear other people’s opinions on the topics. On late late Friday afternoon/early Friday Evening, the Portus Podcast Palooza will be taking place. We look forward to our live podcast with Travis from The Hogs Head.  We have some entertaining and exciting things planned for the podcast. Other podcasts included in the Palooza are:Alleycast, Fandom Forecast,  Mugglecast, Snapecast, and Spinnerscast.
• Jim Dale is coming to Portus. Not much else to say about that because if I start, I will be reduced to a squeeing fangirl and honestly I think that is below me. Yes. I DON’T SQUEE. Even for Jim Dale. Nope. Not one little bit. I am not currently holding my breath while trying not to squee. Nope. Not me.
• The formal programming looks  fantastic and I can’t wait to report on it.
• We will be selling our Always t-shirts and Hogsmeade is For Lovers t-shirts. We can’t wait to spread the Potter Love with these two original HPPROGS designed shirts.

OK. That is all for now. You better believe you’ll be hearing from me within the next few days.

-Penny

If you’re going to Portus or still considering going the following message is for you:

Countdown the weeks and days until Portus by joining your fellow attendees and the Portus chairs for the last live chat before Portus!

Discuss everything from your best Quidditch strategy to your theory on the deconstruction of magic theology in Book 7. The Portus Live Chats are also a great way to talk to the Portus chairs about the latest programming and ask questions about anything and everything Portus.

The Portus Live chat will be taking place via Yahoo Instant Messenger from 8pm to 10pm Eastern Daylight Time tonight – Tuesday, July 1st.

To participate in the chats, you will need to have yahoo messenger and a username, which you can download for free here: http://messenger.yahoo.com/

The moderator for the chat will have the username of PortusPublicRelations. To join the chat, send an instant message to PortusPublicRelations requesting access to the chat and you will receive a notification inviting you to the chat. Press “Accept” and you’ll be chatting with the rest of us in no time!

If you have questions or concerns regarding the Portus Live Chats, please feel free to email us at pr@portus2008.org.

We hope to see you there!

Best Regards,
Aziza Aba Butain
Chair of Public Relations

I took part in the last live chat and it was a bunch of fun. I plan on joining tonight as well. Talk to you later! Penny

Michal made this after I told her that as a speech-language pathologist I couldn’t wait to grill Jim Dale at Portus. I then mentioned that he’ll probably run away screaming.

It is possible that this has been up for weeks but I just noticed that the Formal Programming for Portus has been announced on the website.

My two roundtable discussions are included.

If you haven’t decided whether to come to Portus or not yet, maybe this programming list will help you make your decision.

It is going to be amazing. Nuff said.

Update: I just read through the presenters biographies and I realized that I am one of the only presenters who didn’t offer my credentials. I feel stupid now because I certainly worked hard enough for my M.S. and there is no better place in the world for me to brag about it than at a Harry Potter convention.  Did I mention I graduated Summa Cum Laude (that is for Greg who didn’t)?

I don’t know. 

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!”.

Yes, I totally stole the title of this post from Travis, sorry but it works.

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

I just had a chance to listen to the Portus Preview Podcast for the month of January. They interviewed Rachael from SnapeCast who will be hosting SnapeFest at Portus. I have to say I am not a HUGE Snape person. While I do agree that he is at the center of the Harry Potter Series, I pretty much contend that he is still a jerk who did some really heroic things (I am of the opinion that good people can act jerky). But Rachael talks about Snape with such enthusiasm and emotion that it is hard not to get carried away with the discussion.

Take a listen to this podcast which is a nice preview to some of the things that will be happening at Portus.

You can still register for Portus. We would love to see you there!!

From the beginning, Ron has played second fiddle to Harry Potter…or has he? Perhaps Ron’s perception that he was simply there as Harry’s backup was just that: perception. Ron was, in fact, more of an individual and a complement to Harry than just a sidekick. Finally, in Book 7, Ron comes to realize this. In this week’s episode, we look back at Ron’s past and his coming-of-age/growing up in Book 7 and the Epilogue.

In the News:

• USA Today names Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the Book of the Year for 2007.
• Richard Griffiths and Julie Walters will receive distinguished awards.
• OoTP on long lists for the BAFTAS in six categories.
• Daniel Radcliffe has donated his glasses to a Holocaust exhibit.

You can listen to the episode 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.

So things are a bit crazy around here and we will not be able to record until the weekend. We are looking to have the show up hopefully sometime Saturday night or Sunday.

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:)