Hey everyone! In this week’s episode, we had on two LOVELY guests who we met at Portus: Nikki and Darcy. They are a lot smarter than we are and actually have an educational background in Literature, so we picked their brains a little on the different aspects of literary criticism and how they relate to Harry Potter. Better get your thinking caps on because this is an episode for intelligent folks (like yourselves) and we think you’ll enjoy it!
We alsobriefly (notice how the word is both bold and italicized) spoke about the new Harry Potter Exhibition….well mostly about our failure to take anyone up on the offer of preview tickets. And we asked for some advice and help in planning a special party!
So please enjoy this episode and as usual we look forward to hearing your comments, thoughts, and suggestions!
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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.
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!
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If you thought there were no more Harry Potter books…THINK AGAIN! We got our hands on The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and made our way through it just about as quickly as possible. The first thing we did, of course, was sit down and put a podcast together. There’s really not much else to say, just download and listen already (but watch out: this podcast is full of spoilers)!
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The prominent atheist is stepping down from his post at Oxford University to write a book aimed at youngsters in which he will warn them against believing in “anti-scientific” fairytales.
Prof Hawkins said: “The book I write next year will be a children’s book on how to think about the world, science thinking contrasted with mythical thinking.
I don’t want to get too involved with this topic right now (we’ll talk about it on our next podcast), but I will say that I’ve read a portion of Dawkins books, and, while I think there is certainly truth to some of his arguments, the guy has a profound misunderstanding of what it means to be a human being.
To be honest, if Dawkins took issue with the Christian content of the Harry Potter books, with the obviously central theme of faith in the series, and J.K. Rowling’s tacit position that faith is the ultimate redeeming quality that Man must strive for in order to combat evil, I’d have no problem with that. But that doesn’t appear to be the case. According to the article, Dawkins just doesn’t like kids using their imagination:
“I think looking back to my own childhood, the fact that so many of the stories I read allowed the possibility of frogs turning into princes, whether that has a sort of insidious affect on rationality, I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s something for research.”
To Dawkins, we are all meant to be purely rational and logical, and anything fanciful, anything stemming from the imagination, is a perversion of our nature (surprising that an evolutionary biologist would take this approach, but that’s another story). There’s no question that indulging in one’s imaginative side too much can be detrimental, to one’s self and others, but to banish imagination from the realm of human experience seems, to me, ridiculous. Would the Wright Brother’s ever have discovered flight, if Icarus had never flown too high? I don’t think so.
Dawkins is no different than those that seek to label Harry Potter as witchcraft: unable to appreciate the deeper meaning that a story holds.
It was a shock to everyone when the newest international Teaser Trailer for Half Blood Prince leaked online this morning. Now that we have gotten over the initial shock of the unexpected gift, we have had sometime to look at and analyze the trailer. In this week’s episode Greg and I discussed our initial thoughts and impressions about this newest trailer. We don’t see eye to eye on everything- especially Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. However, there is a lot that we do agree on about this trailer. We look forward to hearing your impressions of both the trailer and our analysis of it.
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If you’re a fan of the Harry Potter books and J.K. Rowling, and were alive during the month of April of 2008, you probably heard about a little law suit over a book called “The Harry Potter Lexicon.” The author of that book, Steve Vander Ark, is also the creator and editor of the Harry Potter Lexicon website. We got a chance to talk with Steve about the lawsuit, the fan reactions, his new book and, of course, we talked a bit about Harry Potter (you know, the books about this boy wizard…oh never mind). It’s a fascinating interview, hope you enjoy it. We here at HPProgs believe in hearing all points of view, and hope that you will feel free to voice your opinions in the comments, while remaining respectful and rational in the process.
A big thanks to Steve for taking the time to talk with us.
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).
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“It seems Hogwarts-Chic, or the donning of Brit-style prep school uniforms (usually signifying the Hogwarts House one belongs to), has finally inspired the mainstream.
Complete with House-style scarves, House-style socks, a mixed variety of ties, Oxford shirts, and pleated skirts, it looks as though the RL designers have stolen a few of WB’s costumers right off the set.
Well, now more than ever the youth of America are affecting the changes in trends & fashion, especially by what we watch and read (like Harry Potter!). Also, doesn’t one of these looks resemble a sweater you’ve already seen on Emma Watson? (And yes, I know FairIsle is popular worldwide!)”
So, it’s been a week or so since the last episode of HPProgs; while you were waiting for the next show, and even larger wait was sprung upon you: Half Blood Prince, The Movie, was delayed from 2008 to 2000-and-freakin-9. Penny’s been covering developments on the HPProgs blog, and even managed to unearth one of the most ferverent reactions to the delay.
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.
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We always get comments about how when they listen to our podcast, people feel like they’re getting a glimpse into our lives. They usually follow up with a statement about how they love the rapport the two of us have. Well, for those of you who like HPProgs for the intimate way we welcome you into our lives then this is the episode for you. After we discussed the new Twilight Book, “Breaking Dawn,” Greg and I proceeded to have a general potpourri episode with some content and a lot of personality (pseudonym for annoyance at each other). We also discussed an exciting new contest that is in the works!
NOTE: There are “Breaking Dawn” Spoilers on this episode so if you haven’t finished the book yet, you might want to listen to the first few minutes and then skip to minute 20 or so not to hear them.
As always we can’t wait to hear your thoughts: on the Breaking Dawn review, the Beedle the Bard News and contest, our short fandom discussion and everything else we talked about. You can leave comments here on the blog 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.
Make sure to check out our channel on the new Odeo. Subscribe, rate, review, it’s all good, check it out.
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Hopefully by now, you’ve seen the trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We sat down immediately after watching to record out thoughts. What do you think of the trailer? Does the voice of the woman in the orphanage belong to J.K. Rowling?
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One of the over-arching meta-themes of the Harry Potter books is, without a doubt, choice. From early on the books the theme of choice is empasised, when the Sorting Hat defers to Harry’s wish to be in Gryffindor, or when Dumbledore makes it clear to Harry that it is his choices, far more than abilities that make him the wizard that he is. It’s clear that J.K. Rowling is a proponent of the idea that we make ourselves who we are and are ultimately responsible for who we become.
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.
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The first official Half Blood Prince Teaser is now being shown at Imax viewings of the Dark Knight movie. BlogHogwarts.com put it up on youtube and you can see it here:
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!
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We showed this teaser trailer (which may or may not…ok, may not, be the teaser trailer for the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie) at our panel at the Portus Podcast Palooza (which was awesome, thank you so much for everyone who came to our panel).
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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, and made our way through it just about as quickly as possible. The first thing we did, of course, was sit down and put a podcast together. There’s really not much else to say, just download and listen already (but watch out: this podcast is full of spoilers)!
. 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.
