PotterCast 156: Drumsticks? Transcript

News Talk (0:00 - 16:28)

Melissa Anelli (MA): Welcome, everybody to PotterCast...

Sue Upton (SU): Wow!

MA: One five six!

Frankie Franco III (FF): One-fifty-six.

MA: One five six. One-fifty-six. We've got a lot of fun stuff coming for you this week. I'm Melissa, I'm here with only Frak and Sue, because John is off doing family stuff, but he will join us for the very last Phoenix Files ever.

SU: Oh! Sob.

FF: Aw.

MA: Ever!

FF: It's over.

MA: Oh, God. (SU laughs) Good riddance. See you later. (SU: No...) Sorry. (laughs)

SU: It's just that we're just ready for Half-Blood Prince, is all. We're just ready to move on.

FF: There's nothing wrong with that.

MA: Yeah, I love the movie, (SU: Yeah, exactly.) I'm tired of talking about it. Okay. (MA and FF laugh) Welcome for another fun week of Potter news, discussion, theories, blah, blah, blah, blah, (SU: Mm-hm.) and more. But before we do anything else we have to hear from our friends at Audible.com.

SU: Com! I like it.

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FF: Now, is it time for Sue's News?

MA: It is time for the Suzy Newsy, thank you, Frankie! (laughs)

SU: Oh, my goodness. Let's see, what happened this week? Oh, maybe some new canon from Jo?

FF: Nothing important, right?

SU: Oh, what's this?

MA: Nothing important.

SU: You think? (laughs)

FF: Oh? Oh?

MA: Don't spoil anybody. We've got to talk about it later.

SU: Okay, yes, we're not going to spoil anybody, but Jo Rowling donated a special card for a charity auction that was held in the U.K. last week, and this note card contained almost 800 words that are of a prequel involving Harry Potter's father James Potter, and his godfather Sirius Black. And this was set three years before the book series, but it does involve a little escapade involving the two Marauders, and this was sold for charity, and the whole contents are now available online at Waterstones.com. You can see that, and it is also going to be part of a book, with the proceeds will also go to charity. And this card was one of thirteen cards that were actually donated by other authors such as Margaret Atwood, and Tom Stoppard, and Neil Gaiman. Yeah, Neil was really great. All of them. All the cards are now online after the auction, but the card sold for almost $48,000 here in the United States. Almost...

FF: Wow.

MA: Which is eerily close to a prediction a certain Hufflepuff newsmaster said last week on PotterCast.

SU: Yes, yes.

FF: Mm!

MA: You said, "Oh, I think it's going to go for $50,000. Everybody's like, "Oh, Sue, that's so much." Look at this, you were right.

SU: It's pretty scary. But it was just so exciting. And it was like- (FF: Someone has a Time-Turner!) it was weird, because I think someone did the math, it's almost like sixty-one dollars a word. (laughs) I mean. (All laugh)

FF: Nice.

MA: You guys were talking about that last week.

SU: Just- but okay, we won't spoil it, we'll talk about it later. But just saying, "Motorcycle." (squeals) (FF laughs) Okay. Breathe, breathe.

MA: Yeah, it was pretty funny. Okay, we'll be talking about that in a special segment later. (SU: Yes, yes, but...) What else in the news? You know what?

SU: Can we just say, though, too, that the owner is a man from Tokyo, and he wants to try and figure out a way to continue to raise money with this card, too, which is really cool, for charity as well. So I thought that was cool, and everybody- I remember everyone complained last time when Jo did the thing with the Beedle the Bard book, and that nobody can see it, but now everybody can. So go online, we'll put the links up in our show notes and you'll be able to read it, so...

MA: I still want to know what was on the ninety-three-word card. (SU: I do, too!) (FF: The what card?) From 2002. In 2002, the first of this kind of canon information teaser card that Jo put on auction was something called- it was at a Sotheby's auction, and we organized a drive around it called "Get A Clue." (SU: Right.) That's the genesis of our charity efforts on Leaky. (FF and SU: Mm-hm.) And it went to an unknown American bidder for way more money than we had to spend on it, and I still- we've had three books since then, we know the fate of the series, come on! I'm putting out a call, if you are the person, or know the person, or have any idea who the person is that has that ninety-three-word card, please tell us what's on it. This is gonna be one of those things...

FF: There's no way to know the content at all? There was no...

MA: We've got to ask Jo, I guess. She probably won't remember either. (SU: Yeah.) Or the guy at Sotheby's, who will never tell. (SU: Yeah. Right. But...) Philip Errington. He won't- he will not tell. Just that name alone, you know he will not tell. But no, no. It's one of those things that, when I die, I'm going to find out (SU laughs) who killed J.F.K., (SU: Right.) (FF: Who shot JR.) (SU: Yeah.) what's in Area 51, and what was on the ninety-three-word card.

SU: Who shot JR. (laughs) Yeah. Yes, what were those cards, or those words? We want to know. We all have them in our hand if you own a copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but still. Just saying. (MA laughs)

MA: You rich American! I know you're a listener of PotterCast. Come on! (SU and FF laugh)

SU: Clearly he does. Don't they all? No. (laughs)

MA: Now hand it over! (SU laughs) I got your little trinket. Okay. (MA and SU laugh) (SU: So funny.) I'm sorry. My bitter parade is over. What else is happening, Sue?

SU: Okay, in New York City, there was this thing called the Licensing International Expo. Now everyone's like, "What is that?" And that's where vendors come and they talk about the license that you're going to sell, merchandise your movie, or whatnot, and at this big convention, and it's just for trade people, but a clever Harry Potter fan made their way in, and they saw the Warner Bros. Half-Blood Prince display. And since (FF: Ooh.) it was open to the public, they took a lot of pictures, and we saw (laughs) new photos of Drake, Snape, Ron, Harry, Tonks, Lupin, and it's pretty cool to see. Draco looks really pretty cool, I think, in this, for Half Blood Prince.

MA: Yeah! He's looking- yeah, looking pretty fly in this movie.

SU: Yeah, he did. I think so. I think so. He looks like more of the image of Draco that I envisioned when I was reading the books. You know what I mean? I don't know.

MA: In the dark suit where his face is the only light thing on his body?

SU: Yeah. Exactly right. The contrast is much more evident in this. It just looks more- he has that more pinched look, that more- maybe it's- but I just thought I was really impressed with those photos. But, oh, and we also saw some new products that are gonna be coming out for Half Blood Prince this fall. One thing was kinda neat, we saw, the Noble Collection makes a lot of high-end replicas and stuff, and it looked like one- they're making the Pensieve replica, which would be kind of- (MA and FF: Ooh!) Isn't that cool?

MA: That's gonna be a lot of money.

SU: Oh, God, can you imagine? (laughs)

MA: That's gonna be one expensive item.

SU: (laughs) I know. I still want that...

FF: That'd be fun to have on your coffee table.

SU: Oh, yeah, no doubt. But they make this fabulous thing. My dream is to own- to come up with 400 ridiculous dollars for this thing, the replica of Hogwarts, is what they have. But I was just like, "Oh!" Their stuff is so good. It's so nice. It's- okay! (FF: A life-sized Hogwarts?) No, it's just a small, chess-board-sized piece. (FF: Oh.) But it's still...

FF: If it was life-sized, that's a good price, for $400.

SU: Yeah. (laughs) Well, I think we're all gonna be able to go into the life-sized Hogwarts when they finally build the Wizarding World at Orlando, but I don't know. (FF: That's true.) God. Digress. Whee! (MA and FF laugh) Also, and you know, Warner Bros. hasn't yanked this down yet, but there is a new photo of Harry and Ginny hugging! (gasps) Hugging. (MA: Yeah.) Let the shipping begin. Just saying.

MA: It's curious, because it looks like- that they are in the Burrow. (SU: Yes.) And I'm curious as to why they'd be hugging like that in the Burrow. Do they see each other and just hug? 'Cause it looks like, with the Weasley clock behind them, (SU: Yeah.) and the other glimpse of scenery you see behind them, (SU: Right.) looks like the Burrow palette. So I'm curious. Very curious.

FF: I'm thinking they just gonna establish their relationship earlier on in the movie.

SU: Like give 'em- could that be just a welcome, "Oh, Harry, you're here!" kind of thing? I don' know. Who knows? Maybe not. I don't know. All I know is that we have no trailer yet. I'm going into withdrawal, just like everybody else. No, we don't know. (FF: That stupid trailer.) (sighs) Just saying.

FF: Just come out with Narnia. Hello?

SU: I know. It's part of their evil plan to torture us. We did hear one other thing about possibly for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which is kinda cool. We heard from Warwick Davis, who plays Flitwick. (MA: Mm-hm.) And he was curiously mentioning Griphook, and how he's looking forward to those scenes.

MA: Yeah. Maybe he's gonna be with Griphook in those scenes. 'Cause I can't imagine that...

SU: Yeah, 'cause I- wasn't there- this was the source of a little bit of controversy. Didn't Verne Troyer play him in the first movie, right? (MA: Yeah.) But that's how it is. But I don't know if he'll be back for Deathly Hallows. But clearly Griphook is gonna be in the film. I just can't see them getting around that. Can you? I don't know.

MA: No.

FF: I don't think so.

MA: Well, but here's the thing. They didn't call that goblin Griphook in the first movie.

SU: Oh, that's true.

FF: Yeah, it was just somebody.

MA: That could have been any goblin. So they could just say, "Oh, this is Griphook," (SU: Mm-hm.) now.

SU: Yeah.

FF: And then, honestly, the goblins are so- there's a lot of makeup involved, and the aesthetic of the movie has changed so much from the first one, that even if it is a different actor, it's not gonna be like, "That doesn't look like him." We haven't seen a goblin since the first movie.

MA: Yeah. (SU: No.) Yeah, they'll just set up that this is Griphook, and then- you know? They called him Griphook, but really it was just some goblin that was with them in the cart.

FF: Well, he was gripping a hook, and that's why they thought that he was Griphook. (MA: What?) He was like, "Grip the hook!" And he was like, "Oh," and he grabbed it so it wouldn't fall over.

MA: I don't follow. (SU laughs)

FF: He gripped- he grabbed the hook.

SU: That is a lame joke.

MA: I get it. Yeah. (FF: I'm sorry.) Lame.

FF: Wah-wah!

SU: John is not here.

MA: Making up for the lack of John. (All laugh) "How must we fill in the lame without the John?" (SU: Yeah.) I do not know.

SU: Yeah.

FF: I tried.

MA: Okay. Anything else important?

SU: No. (MA: Suze?) Just one more thing he said, though, is Warwick Davis is gonna be back for Half Blood Prince, and his character of Flitwick is just light relief again. Don't know if the singing toads will be back, but he's in the movie. There you go.

MA: Nah. I think we're sort of- (SU laughs) he wasn't a big part of Deathly Hallows. (SU: No.) We're not- he'll be a light, (SU: Yeah, yeah.) a funny side-kick, but he didn't have an integral part.

SU: Yeah, that's true.

FF: Flitwick? (MA and SU: Yeah.) He was really cool in Deathly Hallows.

MA: I admit that he was very cool.

SU: But...

FF: And he's a Ravenclaw, so...

SU: (laughs) Who's a Ravenclaw (FF: Kind of a big deal.) around here who would care?

FF: It's kind of a big deal. (SU laughs)

MA: Man...

SU: Who would that be?

MA: The house- it's not house pride on PotterCast, (FF laughs) it's house pirate- what's the word I'm looking for? House- oh, PotterCast listeners, you know what word I'm looking for, there's house militantism going on here (SU: Yeah.) (FF laughs) on PotterCast. (SU: Yeah.) Jeez, man!

FF: Well, look it, who- well, look at the Grey Lady, she's Ravenclaw, but she kind of screwed things up a lot.

SU: Well, she fell in love (FF: Still, it helped.) (MA: See that?) with the wrong sort, man, she fell in love with that Bloody Baron. It's a Slytherin's fault, that's who I blame. I don't know.

FF: Yeah, let's blame the Slytherins. (SU laughs)

MA: Okay, (laughs) can we move on?

SU: Okay. I guess we can talk about this (MA gasps) at the end, but I just wanted to say quickly, it is summer time, it is June, and the conventions are about to- conferences are about to get (MA: Oh, yes.) underway, my friends. I think Convention Alley is starting next week on June 19th, and then Portus will be there, and then Accio- I'll get it right- Accio 2008 in England, and then- (MA: Mm-hm?) Whoo! Let's see, Terminus, hm. Oh! That's right. (FF: Where's Terminus?) (MA: Yeah.) I'm going to Terminus! (All laugh) We're going to Terminus, you're going to Terminus, let's all go to Terminus!

MA: We're- all four of us, all four of us, even the absent John, will be at Terminus, Frak... (FF and SU: Woo-hoo!) a while ago, I was going to say that that would be your first live PotterCast, but I think that now I'm wrong.

SU: Hm.

FF: Oh, what does that mean? (SU: I wonder what that could...) (MA: Hm.) What does that mean, Melissa?

MA: Curiouser and curiouser, I guess we're going to find out in the next couple of weeks.

SU: Ooh! (FF: Oh.) I like clues.

MA: Ooh! We also have another event to add to your docket. Oh, by the way, on that conference slate, didn't we just announce that Convention Alley had (SU: Yes.) some sort of one-day pass?

SU: Yes, they do have one-day pass.

MA: That's in Canada, right?

SU: Mm-hm, yes, they have day passes, and keynote tickets, too, so be sure. You can...

MA: Okay. So that's ConventionAlley2008.org?

SU: Yes, yes, it is and you can find the links, we'll put them in our show notes, too. And then that's at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, which is actually quite lovely up there, if you get a chance to go up there, go.

MA: I went up there last year with Harry and the Potters, it was beautiful!

SU: Oh, that's right, that's right!

MA: Yep, very briefly. And then, (SU: Yeah.) the other conferences, we'll talk to you more about them when they get closer, because they're in July. (SU: Yes.) We also have some news (SU: Yes.) that Sue and I are going to be doing a panel (SU: laughs) at Comic-Con.

FF: Comic-Con?

SU: Whee!

MA: Yeah! In San Diego. (SU: Yes!) We're so excited. Comic-Con!

SU: It's huge!

FF: Comic-Con's fun, you guys are going to enjoy Comic-Con.

MA: It's the- I've never been there! I've never even- I've heard about it.

FF: Oh, it's a sight to see, (SU: Yeah.) I should be down there, (MA laughs) it's in the area, too, so...

SU: Oh, I am way out of my mind with excitement. First, that Harry Potter is getting a panel, a presentation at this huge, large event. For those listeners that don't know what Comic-Con is, it's this large weekend-long gathering, but they have- it's a unique collision of artists, of comic books, of movies, of just everything you could think, and it is a- had long been described as a geek heaven.

FF: It is Nerd Fest (SU: People are in costume!) 101. It's awesome.

SU: Fabulous. But there are people like Joss Whedon goes there, (MA: Ooh!) the filmmakers are gonna go there, (MA: Ooh!) it is a big, huge event.

MA: It is, it's a huge thing, it's the conference to end all conferences, and it's going to be so interesting, (SU: It is.) preparing to our more cozy world (SU: Mm-hm.) of Harry Potter conferences.

SU: Right, (MA: So...) right, exactly. (MA: This...) Be quite the change. Because there's Lord-of-the-Ringers, because all the talk about The Hobbit is going to be going on, so there's going- the buzz at that conference will be huge, and now we get to be part of it, I'm just out of my mind with excitement.

MA: So exciting, yeah, (SU: Squee!) it's going to be great. So who's on our panel? It's me and you, and Heidi Tandy from Fiction Alley, and Erin Pyne. She runs a meetup group in- HP Florida, (SU: Florida?) HP Orlando, right?

SU: Yes, yes. Yes, she's fabulous.

MA: She- if you've been to a conference, she's the woman who's usually dressed as McGonagall.

SU: And she looks great.

MA: She always does.

SU: She's got beautiful costumes. (MA: Yeah.) Yes. She's fabulous

MA: And it was really funny, is that the one time I actually saw her at an actual costume party, (SU: Yeah?) she wasn't in a costume. It was the only time I've ever seen her without a costume.

SU: What? (laughs)

FF: She was at a costume party not in a costume.

MA: Yes! Always in her costume, and then I was at Wrockstock last year, and it was a costume party, and the only- well, besides me, because I got there late, but the only person (SU: Uh-huh?) who wasn't in costume was her. I was like, "This is (SU: Mm-hm.) just irony." So...

SU: That's so funny. Did you say

FF: You weren't in a costume either, Melissa, (SU: Did she say...) I don't think you should be judging her. I'm kidding. (FF and SU laugh)

MA: It's not judging, it was- it was funny!

FF: I'm kidding, (MA: It was irony!) that is funny, I just, I don't know, being silly.

MA: Boo! Okay, anything else of importance?

SU: No, that's just it. Rock, this summer is going to rock, people. This fandom is not ending, (MA laughs) things are moving on, excitement going.

MA: Last year, if you'd asked me that all this stuff was going to be going on this summer, I'd be like "Eh, yeah, whatever. (laughs) We've outdone ourselves, there's nothing more to do. Come on." (SU laughs) Nope, I guess not.

FF: Not yet!

SU: Wrong.

MA: And hold on to your seats, because we have much, much, much, many more announcements (SU: Ooh.) coming about that.

SU: Yes, we do. (gasps) Ooh!

FF: That's true.

MA: I know, just keep dropping hints here. (FF: Mm-hm.) Let's move on before I spoil beans.

SU: Okay, yes.

FF: (laughs) We'll see you guys over at the other thing.

MA: Phoenix Files.

All: Bye!