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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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!

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

In this week’s episode we continued our discussion on Power as the prevaling theme in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. We specifically addressed the invisibility cloak and Mirror of Erised and their roles in bringing the theme to life. We also had some great listener comments in MP3 form from: Shimon, Aaron, David & Christian, and Travis (from the Hogs Head Pubcast).

News was slow this week but we discussed a couple of interesting news items.

We are enjoying the listener participation so please send your voice comments to us in mp3 format to harrypotterprogs at yahoo dot com as soon as possible. We will be starting our discussion on the Patterns of Book 2 so we’d love to hear what ya’ll have to say. Please keep the comments to around 1 minute in length.

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