If you are a HP movie Percy Weasley fan, this news is going to excite you! This just in from the folks at HPEF:

HPEF is excited to announce that Chris Rankin (a.k.a. Percy Weasley of the Harry Potter films) will be joining us at Azktraz! Mr. Rankin will be at Azkatraz throughout the weekend and will be presenting us with a Q&A session at A Dessert with Chris Rankin.  This will take place on either Saturday or Sunday (exact date and time to be announced in April). Tickets can be purchased by anyone holding a full registration, a Merlin’s Circle registration or a single-day registration, and only 125 tickets are available! Enjoy a chocolate fountain and mounds of other sweets, plus coffee, tea and lemonade, while participating in a Q&A with Chris. After he speaks, he’ll visit all the tables as well.  Tickets are $65 through April 1, and go up to $75 through June 30. If tickets are available at the door, they will cost $100 each.

In addition, Mr. Rankin will be participating in many more events at Azkatraz, including autograph and photograph sessions on Saturday and Sunday. More details will be announced in the near future.

Be sure to register! Remember, the $145 rate for basic registration to Azkatraz is only until April 15th, so don’t delay! If you already have an Azkatraz registration, you can add the Dessert With Chris by modifying your registration. Email info @ hp2009.org (without the spaces) if you have any questions.

You can still register for Azkatraz and remember to write that hpprogs referred you!

Welcome back. We actually recorded an HP Progs podcast!!! In this week’s episode, we talked about Dumbledore’s self loathing behaviors. Specifically those that were evidenced at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as well as in Dumbledore’s commentary at the end of Beedle the Bard.  We talked about the anguish that Dumbledore must had to make him feel so horribly about himself and we also talked about how this related to his relationship with Harry. We hope you enjoy this topic and can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it.

In other news, please remember to enter “The Next Biggest Podcast Idol Survivor” contest for Azkatraz 2009. It is going to be great!

Also, please check out our listener and friend, Michal’s youtube channel. She did a phenomenal job narrating “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” in a fantastaic British accent. We now know that we should have hired her to play JK Rowling in our re-enactment of the JKR/SVA trial.

As we mentioned, you can now check out the Smart Mouth’s Podcast, which is our new podcast endeavor with some of the Mugglecast Crew.  This is a general news/entertainment/politics podcast and we hope you will enjoy it!

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 about this latest episode of HPProgs.

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

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HPEF announced some VERY exciting news today:

The Next Biggest Podcast Idol Survivor

Do you have what it takes to be the next Potter Podcast Idol? Have you ever listened to your favorite podcast and thought, “I can do that!” – Well here’s your chance! HPEF and MuggleCast are proud to present The Next Biggest Podcast Idol Survivor – a contest and endeavor to make the next great Harry Potter podcast. Individuals will audition on YouTube for our panel of judges by March 15, 2009, and the top 5 will be chosen to make the new podcast. Guided by our judges, the winners will go through all the steps necessary to make a successful podcast, like giving it a name, making the website, defining roles for each host, editing the podcast, finding theme music, and much more. The entire process will be documented on HPEF Presents (the official podcast of HPEF), MuggleCast, and YouTube. The winners will get the chance to podcast live from AZKATRAZ this July in San Francisco at the Podcast Palooza on Monday, July 20, and a Libsyn account to host your podcast, courtesy of MuggleCast. Here are all the details:

Part 1: Auditions:

If you think you have what it takes to be the next Potter podcasting star, then you’ve got to audition of course! Post your audition reel to YouTube with the title HPEF The Next Biggest Podcast Idol Contest – (insert your name here ) by March 15, 2009, to be eligible for the contest. You MUST be registered for AZKATRAZ to enter the contest (otherwise, you couldn’t be at the Palooza!). You must be at least 14 years of age to enter. Those under the age of 18 as of July 18, 2009, must email us a copy of the notarized chaperone form you must submit when registering. After posting your YouTube video, email us at pr@hp2009.org with a link to your video. You must also include the following information: Real Name (not your fandom name), age, email, and phone.

Part 2: Announcing the winners:

A panel of judges (consisting of hosts from the podcasts HPEF Presents and MuggleCast) will choose the top 5 audition tapes and announce the winners on a special edition of HPEF Presents.

Part 3: Making the Podcast

Once the winners are chosen, the work begins! At this point, the hosts will work with our judges to name the podcast, define their individual roles, make a website, come up with a theme song, design the format of the show, come up with new and exciting content, record & edit a first show, promote their show, and much more!

Part 4: The Big Tamale

Finally our new podcasters will have the chance to get their feet wet; there’s no time to waste, so they’ll jump right in! The culmination of this contest will, of course, be recording a live podcast at AZKATRAZ’s Podcast Palooza event this summer. Having worked with the judges for months in preparation for this event, the Podcasters will put on a live podcast by themselves in front of the entire AZKATRAZ conference. We will see if this podcast can become the next great Harry Potter podcast! For questions, please email us at pr@hp2009.org.

We’ve started to have this conversation many times over the span of HPProgs. Do the Harry Potter books get ruined or spoiled because of the movies? Does it hurt our reading imagination to be able to visualize the books based on the film makers’ choices? Are there any characters who were either ruined for us or made popular BECAUSE of the movies (Snape, anyone?). Can someone be considered a true Potter fan if they have only seen the movies?  Join us as we answer and discuss these questions and more in Episode #96 of HPProgs!!

Also, check out the links we mentioned on this week’s episode:

• Candy Bar Lab : A blog exclusively about candy bars. They track down candy bars from around the world and write thoughtful, in-depth reviews with pictures.
• collativelearning.com: An incredible film review website. Make sure to check it out, it is brilliant!!

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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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.

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