PotterCast 158: Crab People Transcript

News Talk (0:00 - 16:56)

Melissa Anelli (MA): Welcome, everybody! It's PotterCast one-five-eight!

Frankie Franco III (FF): One fifty-eight!

MA: Woo hoo!

John Noe (JN): Woo!

MA: I'm Melissa, I'm here again with John, Sue, and Frak, and we're here for another fun week of Harry Potter whatchamacallits. We...

Sue Upton (SU): Whatchamacallits. (laughs)

MA: ...aren't stopping to- whatchamacallits. (JN and MA laugh) We aren't stopping to say hello to our sponsor this week, so we will go right into our top Sue's news!

JN: Do it, Suze!

MA: Right?

SU: We have only, really, a few handful of news this week, because there's just not a lot going on. I know we're all excited about Half-Blood Prince, but we're not getting anything. But we do have a bit of news on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as Jason Isaacs has once again confirmed that he will return as Lucius Malfoy for both the movies.

JN: Yay!

SU: Yes.

FF: Nice!

SU: Yes.

JN: You know what I also heard about him recently?

SU: Uh-oh. (laughs)

JN: He has a walk-on role in Entourage.

SU: Yes, he does! He did confirm that.

JN: Do you guys watch that show?

SU: Yes, I do watch that show. He is, he's filming one as a walk-on for that, yeah.

JN: I love that show.

SU: He was just in L.A.

FF: Is he playing himself?

JN: I'm not sure, but all I heard about it from Matt Briton is that he plays golf with the characters Turtle and Drama, and I forget, I don't know why, but I guess Jason Isaacs is a really big fan of that show, so he was talking about how excited he was.

SU: Oh, right. Right.

FF: I love Jason Isaacs. He's so cool. He's just (SU: He is.) so enthusiastic about the work he does. It's not to his head, it's not expected of him, he just really, (JN: Yeah.) all I hear about him, he's just really enthusiastic about his career. It's refreshing.

SU: Right. Jason actually mentioned that he's gonna be in Entourage in the ComingSoon interview that we have on Leaky. But he also talks about being excited about working with Helen McCrory, who's playing Narcissa, and even though he won't be working with her in Half-Blood Prince, he's looking forward to working with her in Deathly Hallows. And he just gushes about being able to do scenes with Gary Oldman, and Michael Gambon, and Richard Harris, and now her, so he's thrilled.

MA: All right, Sue, what's number two on your list this week?

SU: Number two! Okay, listen up, Equus fans, and this is really pretty cool news, I think.

JN: DVD, DVD! (SU: DVD?) Equus DVD!

MA: Equus DVD? (SU: Equus isn't...) John! (laughs)

JN: What? No?

SU: Equus is not on DVD! Equus, the play?

MA: Theater does not usually get put on DVD.

SU: (laughs) No, it does not. As readers and listeners (JN: Mm.) will know, the actor Dan Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths are reprising their role in Equus. It'll open this fall on Broadway, and joining the cast will be actress Kate Mulgrew, who is a fabulous stage actress, but I think most people might know her from Star Trek: Voyager series as Captain (MA: Oh, excellent.) Janeway.

JN: (gasps) Nuh-uh! (SU: Yes.) She's joining what? She's gonna be in the cast of Equus?

SU: Yes, she is.

MA: So she's the girl in Equus?

SU: Yes. She's the- (JN and MA: No.) she's the mom.

MA: She's gotta be the mother! Okay. I was gonna say, "Wait a second, something's..."

JN: The mom. Yeah. Jesus Christ! She's in her fifties!

SU: Yeah.

MA: "...wrong here."

SU: Are you guys big Trekkies, Melissa and Frak? Do you watch that show?

JN: (laughs) Only very recently, (MA: Uh-huh.) in the past year, I've gotten into Star Trek.

MA: It used to be on around my bedtime when I was little, so I would watch it for a few minutes (JN: Yeah.) before I went to sleep, but I never really got into it. (SU: Yeah.) I'm sure it's great.

FF: My dad really was- my dad was into Next Generation when I was younger, so...

JN: Next Generation. I- that's the only ones...

SU: Yeah.

FF: I used to watch a little bit with him, but other than that, I only know really (JN: Yeah.) shallow- I don't really know much about it.

JN: Next Generation and Voyager are the only two Star Treks I like.

SU: Yeah.

FF: I do like the one with Odo, because he could turn into things. I used to pretend I could turn into things like him.

JN: What the Hell is- I never heard of that one.

FF: He's this alien that's a plasma base, and he could take the shape of different things.

JN: That's cool.

SU: Wow.

FF: Yeah, I used to like him.

JN: I wanna be made of plasma. (laughs)

SU: (laughs) That would be a scary thought!

JN: Plasma's that one thing in Sci-Fi that no one knows anything about, so they can just say that it can do anything. (MA laughs) It can do a TV, and you can be made up of it, and you can eat it, and breathe it, and make toast out of it, so...

FF: (laughs) Make toast? (MA: Okay.) (SU: Yeah.) (sings) Plasma toast! (JN laughs)

MA: Plasma toast. On that on-topic subject, (SU: Yeah.) Sue, what is the number three of this week?

SU: The number- (JN: Number three!) The number three of this week is- dun-dun-dun-dah! Emma Watson fans, don't we have news for you. The trailer for her new film that she's gonna be in, that she's an animated voice, is called (JN: Aw!) The Tale of Despereaux. Now online, there's a new trailer, and it's absolutely adorable. You should go see it, watch it, it is absolutely adorable.

JN: Are there any characters in there saying anything is absolutely fantastic? (MA laughs)

SU: And there's no eyebrow movement, either. (MA: Stop, John!) For those that are making fun of her.

MA: If you've watched the collection...

JN: I'm not making fun of her, I love Emma Watson!

MA: No, no, no, it's not- that wasn't even about Emma Watson. If you've watched a collection of Dan's interviews over the years- and we love Dan, can I just say that again, (SU: Yes.) before I say the rest of this? (JN: Yeah.) (SU: Yes.) We love Dan. But he says a lot, "It's absolutely fantastic!" And he says it the exact same way (JN laughs) every time, and it's so cute! But now everything is suddenly absolutely fantastic.

JN: There are a lot of things that the trio repeats in interviews (MA: Sure, they do!) that's just fun and endearing, but (MA: He does. I feel like...) it's turned into the only things that I can actually say in a British accent, (SU laughs) because I've heard it so much I can just (FF laughs) mimic their inflections. We were walking around New York City as British people one day, and everything was "absolutely fantastic!" And like, "Say other things!"

MA: Go back a second, you were walking (SU: Yeah.) around New York City as British people. (JN: Yes.) Like in costume?

JN: Sam and I decided to (SU: Oh, no.) dress up as New York tourists, (FF laughs) and we went and got- I bought one of those Statue of Liberty hats like you see in Enchanted, and we bought "I Love New York" shirts, and we were tourists from England. And we walked around all day (SU: No.) as English tourists, 'cause we were really bored watching Melissa write her book, so we escaped... (laughs)

MA: (laughs) Yeah, well, I told you it was gonna be a boring week!

JN: We escaped into the city. (JN and FF laugh)

MA: As we teased a couple weeks ago- of course, we should have known how smart you guys are. You guys got it right immediately on our forums. Yes, we will be going on tour this summer.

JN: Woo!

FF and SU: Woo! (applaud)

FF: Tour!

MA: We can't wait. The four of us. We're going on tour with The Remus Lupins and The Whomping Willows.

FF: Woo!

JN: Oh my God, I love those guys.

MA: It's very exciting. And actually, it was a total accident. Because we figured that after Comic-Con, we would come over to the east coast and do some shows on the east coast because we didn't do that last summer. And so, we just figured, oh we'll go to Boston at the end of July, et cetera, et cetera. And we looked at their schedules, and what we wanted to do lined up immediately with what they were doing. (JN: Mm-hm.) And it was perfect. So, it's going to be like Boston, Providence, New York, New Jersey- (JN: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia...) Philadelphia, then Pittsburgh, then Detroit. Now we have places for, I think, Detroit and Providence, but we are looking for places where we can do a wrock show/PotterCast with- (JN: Oh!) What, oh?

JN: I thought you were going to say places to sleep.

MA: No, no, no. Well, of course, that too. But if you know of good venues, please let us know. We're looking in Boston, we're looking in New York- we've got a couple of leads in New York, but we're still looking. (JN: Yes.) New Jersey, preferably in the southern area. We want to do someplace hopefully around Atlantic City. Somewhere near that area.

JN: Yeah, totally.

FF: Atlantic City!

MA: And in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

FF: (inaudible)

JN: And if you happen to have a large rec room with fold away beds, or a room in your house for seven...

MA: This is going to be hard, there's like twelve of us.

JN: Seven or twelve people. And you can let us know with enough time to do background checks and all that. (JN and MA and FF laugh)

JN: I think it's fun about the fandom, is that everybody thinks they can just inherently trust everybody. Which is kind of fun and kind of dangerous. But, I don't care. (MA and FF laugh) There's twelve of us, and only probably four of you. So, you know. No one's going to pull anything if they invited us into their house.

SU: Actually, because last year- people were very kind last year. I mean, you know, they were just extraordinary.

JN: They were! We stayed at some great houses.

SU: We're going to see you people! Yay!

JN: I know!

MA: Oh my God!

FF: Frak's first tour.

JN: And you know what, here's the thing right here. Here's what else I'll say. For everybody who lets us stay at their house, I will cook breakfast for them. Hm. (MA gasps)

SU: Ooh!

FF: I might even draw them a picture.

SU: Ooh!

JN: You could draw them a family portrait, Frankie.

FF: I could. (MA laughs) For their mantle.

JN: Yes! That'd be lovely. Oh my God, we're gonna be flooded with e-mails now.

SU: So, wait- what does cooking breakfast qualify as? Like, pouring orange juice? Is this what- or is there more involved?

MA: No, John cooks.

JN: You know what? No. John does all out. I'll do eggs and potatoes. Maybe pancakes. Either/or.

FF: Ooh. Now I'm hungry.

MA: It's all just very fatty.

JN: As long as it has lots of olive oil so Melissa can B about it all day.

SU: Well, I love olive oil.

MA: Excuse me.

JN: (laughs) What?

MA: Nothing. We’re not getting into it here.

SU: Rachael Ray loves olive oil. Don't you watch Rachel Ray?

JN: Rachael- EVOO, baby. That's what it means.

SU: That's right! That's right! (applauds)

JN: It's good for you!

MA: It's good for you- when you don't drink the bottle. Okay. (SU laughs)

JN: Just because I came out here to California and the first thing I bought was a five liter bottle of olive oil?

MA: Oh my God. Oh...

SU: That's awesome.

JN: It weighs like thirteen pounds. (MA and SU laugh)

FF: You can smell it from my house.

MA: Okay, PotterCast tours. We're going to try to do something in San Diego the day after the Comic Con panel that we're doing- the Sunday. (SU: Mm-hm. Yes, yes!) Again, if you know some place in San Diego that would like to have- and that will be just a PotterCast. And then we'll come back east, and it will be Boston, and then Rhode Island, where we already have a place (SU: Mm-hm.) to have the show. Then it's New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Detroit. And we need ideas for places on New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. (laughs) So...

JN: Oh, and for all of you who are used to coming to tour stops, for fans or podcasts, and any of you who have never ide-be shirts-t ever-ay...

MA: (coughs) Thanks, John. (SU laughs)

JN: You might find something to make you happy at the shows.

MA: Alright, moving on.

FF: Ooh.

MA: No, but I was so excited when I brought this idea to you guys- I wasn't sure if you'd be excited about it. Because last summer's was so long, (JN and SU: Yeah.) but the excitement I got from you guys just made me so happy.

FF: I was giddy.

JN: Well, remember when we were driving in Florida- no, we were driving in New Jersey.

MA: Yes, that's right. That's right.

JN: And we're like- we were in the car for all of fifteen minutes, and we were like, "We should tour. Yeah, let's do that. Let's do a week tour."

MA: (laughs) "Let's do that again."

FF: I never got to tour before! So I'm very excited.

SU: Yay!

MA: Well, it'll going to take us right over to Terminus. (SU: Yes.) Which is perfect.

JN: Yeah. Frankie, you've never seen any of the east coast.

FF: Never.

SU: Wow.

FF: I'm an east coast newbie.

JN: Aw.

MA: You're going to meet Moochka, you're going to meet my mom, we're going to have pasta...

FF: (sings) Moochka! I'm determined to have that cat not hate me by the end.

MA: yeah, you wait.

JN: Good luck.

MA: You wait.

SU: Yeah.

MA: If you can't wait, it's...

JN: Basically, if you maybe take a bath in tuna fish water...

SU: No! That's is so...

MA: (laughs) John...

JN: She might like you.

FF: (laughs) Tuna fish water.

JN: That's the only way through her heart, is probably food. She's just like me.

FF: (laughs) Do you hiss at people?

MA: Alright, well, do we have a secret number five news item this week?

SU: Yes, we do! It's something to do with Jo...

MA: All right, I've been waiting to announce this forever. (SU claps) Since like, late September/early October of last year, I've known this was going to happen and it was gonna be something, and I just, there's never been the right day, I never knew exactly when to say it but, um, as all of you are hopefully or most of you know, I've talked about here, I've written a book called Harry: A History, The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon, and- (JN: I spell checked it for her.) John did not spell check it for me, thank you. But it does include abundant interview content with Ms. Jo Rowling. (SU gasps)

JN: What?

SU: Who? Ms. J. K. Rowling?

MA: Ms J. K. Rowling.

JN: You mean an impersonator right, not the actual...

MA: Not an impersonator no, I spent two days at her home in Edinburgh and we- literally, it was an eight-hour interview and we, I asked her in the middle of it, have you ever talked about the phenomenon to this extent? She said no. So it was, she always gets asked about the actual canon, the actual fiction, you know?

JN: "Where did you get the idea to write Harry Potter?"

MA: "How did you like," you know, exactly, "What makes it a success?" That wasn't, we talked about everything, about (JN: Who's Dawlish?) religion, in Harry Potter- (laughs) who's Dawlish- about religion in Harry Potter, about the fiction, about fan fiction, about all the stories, all the stories you've heard about how the books became a success and all the little back behind the scenes stories that's all quoted into one and includes even more information that hasn't been told before, I also spoke to her editors, and her agents and, I mean basically her whole group of people were just unbelievably wonderful to me throughout this process. And that's all in the book, so it's really exciting. (SU: Wow.) Yeah. And I have to thank the New York meet up group, they are doing, my first real reading of the book will be, I'll announce it at another date and time, but I had a little practice one last night, with the group from the New York meet up, the group that shall not be named, and they were wonderful and very welcoming and really took my nerves off, 'cause I've never read my stuff out loud before and it was really unnerving, but they were really welcoming and helpful, so.

FF and SU: That's awesome.

JN: Yeah. When is this coming out Melissa?

MA: November 4th. And it will be available in the UK, and it will be available in Australia I've just found out, it's just you know, the book would've been the book without it, but with Jo in there, there's so much more information that you've never heard, confirmation of stuff you might have heard, great old stories told in new ways and I'm so, I'm just so excited to share it with you guys, it's like, I have this one hundred page single spaced interview sitting on my computer with Jo. Now imagine, as a Harry Potter reporter, how I feel like I'm, it's like obscene for the fandom that I haven't shared it yet! You know? It's just sitting there!

FF: I'm officially mad at you, so…

JN: You snitch.

MA: It's just- and I'm- obviously I couldn't get it all into the book so when I have a website, which Frakkie is designing, I will be putting extra little bits on there for it, so yeah, hopefully I'll share everything, because I know it's like, it's like high crime to hide your J. K. Rowling interview. (laughs)

JN: Pretty much! We'll have to burn you.

SU: Will you do something on PotterCast? Will you read, or do a bit here as we get along closer? On the show? (MA: Absolutely.) Okay, good. 'Cause I wanna know. (MA: Absolutely.) Since I haven't heard the book yet!

JN: Can I offer suggestions?

SU: (whispers) And here's the part about Hufflepuff.

MA: I'm trying to find right now a little Jo quote that we can (SU: We love Jo quotes!) stick in there, that doesn't- oh, we talked about all the New York Times bestseller stuff. (All: Oh yeah!) Oh there's so much. There's a lot. I think you guys will enjoy.

JN: Tell about the hidden chapter, with Remus and Sirius. (MA: Stop!) What?

SU: You're so sick!

JN: The one that Bloomsbury wouldn't let her publish.

SU: That's so not true. Not true. People at home are going, what? No! (MA: Stop it!) It's just John Noe being John Noe. It's not true! There's no fantasy chapter. I'm sorry.

MA: No.

JN: I didn't say anything about a fantasy chapter, Sue, I just said hidden chapter, they could've went duelling some policemen for all you know.

SU: Sure. Mhm.

MA: Okay, okay.

JN: On a motorcycle.

SU: Wait, they did.

MA: No, really she hasn't talked at this length about the actual phenomenon that was created around her books and all the little back scene stories that happened, like for instance, we do find out the truth about a certain, oh I don't want to say it yet, because you all are too smart and you'll get it. There's many months until this book comes out first, so I will talk about it…

SU: You're gonna crack. Admit it. You're just...

MA: I am, oh I am! This is just terrible! This is too hard not to tell you! Keeping my book non spoiled is - I don't even know - I'm the one who tries to get the spoilers, you know, not spoilers, but you know what I mean, I'm the one who wants to know and now I have to sit here and not say anything and it's driving me crazy. Anyway. Okay. Well thank you guys for listening.

SU: Rock it.

JN: Well it's time for another return to Canon Conclundrums. (SU laughs)

MA: Canon Conclundrums.

JN: Frankie has a fun one for us, we'll give it to you right here after the little soundbite.

SU: Woo!