wizard racism

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Posted on August 5, 2013

The portion of the Harry Poddercast Extravaganza that involves specific volumes of the series draws to a close with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. In this episode, we discuss why anyone listening would need a spoiler alert, love, redemption, hubris, character flaws, and realism within a fantastical world. We also discuss Neville’s giant brass balls, love again, the Ron-Hermione shiptease, the stupidity of Death Eaters, and name issues. We’re not quite through yet, there will be one more massive episode where we sit around a table with some friends and break down the entire series. It has been recorded already, and it is exactly what we thought it was going to be. Long, mostly.

The music bump is a departure from the Potter related music of the previous six episodes, but is thematically appropriate. It is “Love Has the Power” by Toto, though I’m reasonably certain they weren’t referring to magic.

Recommendations:

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged arrogance and hubris, choice, complex motivations, Death Eaters are dumb, Dudley's karmic revenge, flawed heroes, Harry's love ball, love, love gain, love love love love, more love, name issues, Neville the badass, off camera deaths, OMG LOVE, pacing, predictable Harry, protaganists' underrated badass, realism in fantasy, redemption arcs, Ron-Hermione shiptease, Sanpe's secrets, sequel proofing, strong climax, thematic resolution, unlikely spoilers, wizard racism, wizard-goblin relations.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Posted on July 26, 2013

The Harry Poddercast Extravaganza is back with an extra long episode for the longest book in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling. Holy cow, everything happens in this book. We talk about abuse of authority, thoroughly hateable characters, bullying, feminism, education, and standing up for the truth. We also discuss awkward teenage dating, the wizarding constitution, Neville’s transformation from bumbler into badass, and WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ARCH!? And many, many other things. I feel like I’ve edited two episodes, I can’t even remember how this one started. Our guest star for this episode was recorded over Skype, so there are occasional echoes in the audio, but I think I managed to get enough of it out to not be distracting.

The music bump is Umbridge’s theme from the movie, composed by Nicholas Hooper.

Recommendations:

On a scale of “treacle tart” to “puking pastile,” we give this book a canary cream.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged abuse of authority, arch to oblivion, awkward teenage dating, bad teachers, badass Neville, being 15, bullying, communication, cultural context, Department of Mysteries, echoes, education, emo or trauma Harry?, facism, father figure fatality, feisty Ginny, femininity is bad, guest star, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, hated characters, Hermione the terrifying, in all seriousness what is up with that arch, J.K. Rowling, magical mechanics, Neville's the tank, O.W.L.S, prophecy, right v. legal, sad girl is sad, school isn't for everyone, SHOUTY CAPITALS, teenagers are idiots, thestrals, this book is long, umbrage with Umbridge, weirdly charming, what hit Sirius?, WHAT IS THAT ARCH!?, where are the Lady Death Eaters?, wizard constitution, wizard racism, wizard telly, wizards are crappy journalists.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Posted on July 8, 2013

Here comes the second book of the Novel Ideas Harry Poddercast Extravaganza, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling. In this episode we discuss the invisibility cloak and how we managed to overlook it in the first episode, the right and wrong ways to deal with celebrity, wizard racial slurs, and the level of heroism one can reasonably expect from a 12 year old child. We also discuss the horrible house of dicks, what Harry Potter would look like if it was written by GRRM, feral cars, and keeping giant monsters as pets. We also take a quick break for hammer time. We hope you enjoy it!

If you want to get in on the fun, let us know as soon as possible. We haven’t recorded for book three just yet, but I (Ben) am almost 200 pages into the fourth book, so time is running short.

The music bump is “The Chamber of Secrets” from John Williams’s excellent score to the not-so-excellent movie of the same name.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – 80’s Movie Bully Evil

Recommendations:

Probably better than you remember! Read it!

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged celebrity, Chekhov's wizards, Dumbledore the enigma, elf politics, feral car, giant monsters aren't good pets, hammer time, historical analogues to Voldemort, history isn't boring, horrible house of dicks, invisibility cloak, Lockhart is a mindless git, rule breaking is ok, secondhand heroics, smarmy!, surprise villains, taking action, Tom Riddle, tonal shifts, what if GRRM wrote HP?, wizard racial slurs, wizard racism.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Posted on July 1, 2013

The first of July is here; it’s time to kick off the Novel Ideas Harry Potter Extravaganza. We open, of course, with the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. In this episode we discuss child abuse, friendship, and standard juvenile/YA themes. We also cover untagonists, wizard racism, and possible benefits of having sly people on your side. Fan geeking is relatively low this week, though we do delve into reasons why Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff probably should be more competitive for the house cup and Ben’s irritation with the rule of quidditch.

The music bump is “Goin’ Back to Hogwarts” from A Very Potter Musical. The music and lyrics are by Darren Criss and A.J. Holmes.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Recommendations:

Read it! If you’ve managed to somehow avoid it this long, check it out. It will read a little kid-ish, but it’s fun and easy to read.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged alternate titles, broken riddle?, child abuse, classical racism, complex characters, courage, Dumbledore the jackass, family, friendship, Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, house politics, immortality, J.K. Rowling, magical systems, orphan tropes, philosopher's stone, plot twists, quidditch issues, real life Hogwarts, the plural form of cerberus, title protagonists, untagonist, uses for sly people, wizard ignorance, wizard racism, wizard-T-F.