by Travis

Earlier, there was a Death Eater attack on this blog, and it was down for some time.  Sorry ’bout that!  We’re back up and running, and I’ve added a new feature which should make following conversations a bit easier for some.  You’ve always been able to subscribe to all comments if you’d like, by putting the comment feed (always available in the sidebar on the right) in your RSS reader.  

But what if you’d rather follow only those conversations that you’re involved in?  Now, in every post, there’s a box you can check when leaving a comment that allows you to be notified by email of follow-up comments on that particular thread.  You can always unsubscribe if you’re ready to bow out of a conversation.

Sound good?  Do let me know in the comments if you have any difficulties with it, or you’re not sure how to use it.

by Travis

• My review of Portus 2008
• John Granger on Potter and medieval studies
• Dark Knight fans: If you haven’t read Dave’s post on Joker and Voldemort yet, you should
• Dark Knight fans (again): Here are two opposite perspectives on the film - Brant Hansen thinks it’s evidence of the utter boredom of our culture; Jeffrey Overstreet thinks it’s good mythmaking (guess which one I agree with…)
• HP Progs put together the Mother of All Deathly Hallows Birthday Posts
• In the category of interesting blogs I’ve found as a result of Portus 2008: Mything in Action, run by Priscilla Hobbs, is now in my RSS reader.  Apparently, I “tickle her shadow.”
• If anyone can find me or create for me a 50×30 image for Plurk (like the Twitter and Facebook icons you see to your right - something with the Plurk favicon “P” on it?), I’ll think you’re pretty cool.  I’ve tried image searches and come up with nothing.
• I’m heading into San Diego today and tomorrow, and I don’t know whether I’ll have internet access in my hotel room.  When I get back, either Thursday or Friday, I’ll record the next podcast, which will include audio from the Jim Dale press conference.  The audio is not great, and you’ll have to turn your speakers way up.  It’ll be worth it.

by Travis

What were you doing at this time last year?  You were reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  I remember dropping Sophia off with Tricia’s mom and heading to the park on two hours’ sleep (I had read until 5am), and then reading all day long.  

Today marks the anniversary of the release of Deathly Hallows, a bona fide cultural phenomenon.  Remember the excitement, anticipation, those stupid spoilers, “Deathly Hallows Week” here at The Hog’s Head (then SoG) and other sites?  We’ll never have another experience quite like that one.  

So let’s all jump into the Pensieve: What were you doing on this day last year, and in the week prior?  Looking back on it a year later, any new thoughts or realizations about that period of time?  

Other stuff happening on the anniversary of Deathly Hallows:

• John Granger asks what everyone is doing to celebrate today and Harry’s birthday in 11 days.
• HP Alliance launches an 11-day campaign to get folks to quit thinking like Muggles.  Their podcast Potterwatch (great name for a podcast) introduces the 11 Days.  I met Andrew Slack at Portus and had a very pleasant conversation with him.  He realizes the importance of Story for personal transformation leading to societal transformation.

Portus 2008; July giveaway winner announced; shout-out to my Portus peeps

You can subscribe to the Hog’s Head PubCast through iTunes, or Odeo, and VOTE for The Hog’s Head for the month of July at Podcast Alley.

On Tap

• Welcome to new readers/listeners
• Portus People: Greg and Penny (HP Progs)
• Portus People: Dave and Leanne (ChristianAudio.com and GuyNamedDave)
• Portus People: David and Toni (HP Fan Zone)
• Jim Dale

 

 Hog's Head PubCast #55: Post Portus Podcast [22:22m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (379)

By Matthew

Please do yourself a very big service and download B.J. Harrison’s reading of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles while it is still available.

It is in six parts and I have been waiting eagerly each week for the next episode. I love to listen to it while having a daily constitutional.  Mr Harrison has now posted the final episode and I cannot imagine that it will be available for long, for free.

Go here to get it.

Very highly recommended.

by Travis

I want to extend a special welcome to all those who have found The Hog’s Head as a result of attending Portus 2008!  We’re glad to have you here.  Aberforth’s beer is on the house, so we hope you’ll stick around and join the discussion.  Here’s a bullet-point introduction to The Hog’s Head:

• Blogengamot: The Hog’s Head is run by the Blogengamot, a council of Harry Potter bloggers.  You can learn all about us here.
• The Hog’s Head PubCast: I’ve been running a Harry Potter podcast for a couple years.  Some of you had a chance to hear a little about it at the Portus Podcast Palooza.  You can subscribe through iTunes or at Odeo, or listen right here at the site.  The PubCast main page is here and always linked at the top.  There you’ll find details for how to get onto the podcast, if you’d like!
• Giveaways: Once a month, we give away something great.  So far, we’ve given away a free copy of Andrew Peterson’s wonderful book, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, a BBC Radio dramatization of The Lord of the Rings, and a 3 Audiobook collection.  Subscribe now so you’ll know when the next giveaway happens!
• Networking: There are other ways to keep in touch with The Hog’s Head, including Twitter, Plurk, and Facebook.
• Subscribe:  You can subscribe for free to The Hog’s Head in your RSS reader, with your LiveJournal, or by email (see sidebar to the right).
• Contact: You can get in touch with any of the Blogengamot members by sending an E-Owl.
• Polls: There are a number of polls in which you can participate (some outdated, since they were before book 7’s release), and the most recent is always on the sidebar to the right.
• Your Ideas: We encourage feedback all the time.  You’re here; you’ve browsed the site.  Any suggestions?  Leave a comment or send an E-Owl!

by Johnny

A little disappointing, but perhaps a longer trailer will come in August with The Mummy 3: Rise of the Dragon Emperor or another movie (I’ve heard Star Wars: Clone Wars). My question is: does anyone understand what Dumbledore is saying here?

by Dave

Since Deathly Hallows release last year, I’ve been perpetually puzzled by Voldemort’s characterization in the last two novels. Half Blood Prince humanizes Voldemort in a way that lends HBP a sophistication most of the earlier novels lack — Voldemort’s backstory both enlightens and befuddles the reader, at once shedding light on his origins and potential reasons for Voldemort’s tenor, yet never oversimplifying and reducing Voldemort to simply a pathology. The book sometimes drifts toward the possibility that Voldemort is unaware of and incapable of changing his decisions. Yet, HBP pulls back from that precipice and instead offers only Voldemort’s refusal to care about such a possibility.

Deathly Hallows, on the other hand, turns Voldemort into a cartoon character — more malevolent due to the incompetence of the supposed authorities (the Ministry of Magic) than any great skill of Voldemort’s or his minions. Within two books, Rowling constructs him as a marriage of complex humanity and psychology, only to immediately open the door to reveal nothing more than a tormented psyche shacking up with a massive egotism.

This all begs a question to me: Is Voldemort a flawed character? I’m not asking if he is a flawed character in the sense that Rowling simply made him a bit inconsistent. Deathly Hallows reconcentrates the reader’s attention on the conflict between Harry and Voldemort, whereas previous books had built Snape as the more compelling of Harry’s antagonists. Yet, in DH Voldemort and Snape essentially switch narrative positions. Snape’s everpresent station in Harry’s life is removed. He fades into the shadowy murk occupied by Voldemort for six books, while Voldemort emerges into the consciousness of both the reader and the characters. Essentially, Rowling had built Voldemort’s great power upon a scaffold of shadows and deception. Once she brings him fully into the light, we’re struck with his arrogance and stupidity — the Death Eaters begin to look more like the Keystone Cops. [Read more →]

My camera’s zoom doesn’t work, so I wasn’t able to get many good pictures from Portus.  I’ll update this post as I find good Portus pictures from various Harry Potter fansites.

Portus Pictures

• Me and Penny on the Podcasting Panel
• Half of the Panel and the other half
• Jim Dale presentation
• Jim Dale at Private Press Meeting (which I attended)

This will actually be the last Portus update, since I’m flying out too early tomorrow to make it to any of the closing events.  I’ll be writing more on Portus, podcasting, and doing an essay or two at Suite101.  For now, just a few quick updates.

Though I’m convinced of the Christian reading of “King’s Cross,” Edmund Kern did a nice job of laying out the case for the passage’s ambiguity.  Dr. Kern takes a secular reading of the series, and sees King’s Cross as something that exists entirely in the imagination of Harry.  We had a pleasant discussion later in the evening, which was unfortunately cut short by the fact that I was extremely exhausted and need to get back here, write this, and sleep before my flight tomorrow.  I look forward to corresponding with him in the future.

I also had a very enjoyable talk with Dr. James Thomas, who, as I said, gave what I think was the best presentation of the weekend.  

Yesterday, David Gras did a roundtable called “Harry Potter and the Bridge Between Two Worldviews.”  ”A Bridge Between Two Worldviews” turned out to be a literal description of the Hilton Anatole today, because on one side of the hotel was Harry Potter fandom, and on the other, a Gospel for Asia missions conference.  Jeffrey Weiss picked up on the interesting situation as well and blogged about it here.  Apparently, apart from a few minor and irritating scuffles, the two groups managed to avoid hostilities and be civil.  In my rush from presentation to presentation, I missed the interactions.

It was a fun conference.  Now it’s time to rest, fly home, work for two days, and then start my family vacation with my two favorite people in the entire world, whom I’ve missed terribly these past few days.

This morning, I got up early enough to make it to the hotel for a small press gathering with Jim Dale.  In the next week or so, I’ll do a podcast with audio clips and reflections on that.  His talk was excellent; he’s a very engaging speaker.

My second talk went well, I think.  ”Hogwarts, A (Haunted) History” is still a bit organizationally challenged, but it was well-received, and I was pleased that well over half the people in the room were Lovecraft fans.  What is particularly validating for me was this simple observation from James Thomas: Fear and Sacrificial Love are the two key thematic elements of the series.  My two talks were on those two precise themes, and, in fact, I constructed the major thematic analysis in my book around those two key themes.  I feared, to an extent, that I had oversimplified, but I am more convinced than ever that those two issues are at the crux of the series, and that they make up the central conflict in a series that is “about death” - and that all the issues of power flow from there.

The rest of this afternoon will be spent enjoying other talks without having to think about my own.  I’m meeting for “afternoon tea” with James Thomas, trying to arrange a few other meetings, and hopefully, if our schedules work out, grabbing a beer later with a friend from the Boar’s Head Tavern (great name, right?) later tonight.  Next on the schedule, I’m heading to hear Edmund Kern argue that “King’s Cross” in Deathly Hallows was entirely Harry’s imagination, and that Dumbledore wasn’t really there at all.  I disagree, but it will be fun, and I do admit Rowling left the ambiguity there on purpose.  This afternoon, I’m utterly torn between three different presentations.  I need a Time Turner.  Too bad they all got smashed.

Today was an excellent day at Portus 2008!  I attended two roundtable discussions led by Penny of HP Progs, and they were both stellar.  Well done, Penny!  David Gras of Harry Potter Fan Zone led a discussion on the way both Lewis and Rowling include pagan elements in their stories in a way that “bridges the gap” between two different worldviews - Christian and pagan.  It’s a fascinating topic, and some good discussion took place.  In trying to get to my room in plenty of time, I ended up seeing part of another presentation that I had really wanted to see: “Unlocking the Secrets of the Hallows” by Denise Roper; I do wish I had heard it all!  She’s done her research.

If I were allowed to choose best presentation of the conference, I’d already have it decided, and there’s still another day to go: James Thomas’s “Repotting Harry Potter” was superb.  Dr. Thomas is a 30+ year literature scholar, and his approach to re-reading the series in his college classroom (he teaches two classes on Potter at Pepperdine) is both serious, enjoyable, and eye-opening.

My presentation, “Christ in the Forest,” went really, really well, I thought.  I was pleased with it.  Jeffrey Weiss of the Dallas Morning News was there and he reported my talk, including a liveblog of some of my main points.  We were able to chat for a bit afterward.  I really appreciate Mr. Weiss’s coverage of Portus; I met a woman today who had no idea the conference was happening until he reported about it two days ago. He’s been covering the event from the Texas Pages blog, which you can go to for more info on Portus.

Tonight’s podcasting panel and my time with HP Progs at the Palooza was a blast.

Tomorrow morning, all members of the press (including me) get in for a special meet and interview time with Jim Dale, then it’s breakfast and his keynote presentation.  Then I’ll give “Hogwarts, A (Haunted) History.”  Later in the day, I’ll be attending talks by Edmund Kern (”King’s Cross”), Danielle Tumminio (”Greeting Avada Kedavra with Open Arms”), and Valerie Frankel (”Redefinition of the Hero’s Journey”).  Karen Kebarle is also giving her talk, “Is Dumbledore Gay,” an earlier version of which I heard at Convention Alley; for those at Portus who haven’t heard her speak on this yet, I recommend it!

Time to clean up tomorrow’s presentation and head to bed!

Just the opening ceremonies tonight. I basically wandered around aimlessly until I ran into Greg and Penny, and then David and his wife (from HP Fan Zone), Karen Kebarle (whom I met at Convention Alley), and Dave and Leanne Bruno.  It was an enjoyable night catching up with these friends.

I’m really tired.  I slept from 11:30am - 2:30am, and I haven’t slept since.  It’s now 11:20, which, for me, is 12:20.  And I still have to finish my Power Point for tomorrow!  Yikes.

I’m looking forward to a full day of presentations tomorrow.  I’ll give a report tomorrow night!

I’m scrambling to get everything packed and ready before waking up at 3am to drive to a friend’s house in Buffalo, who will drive me to the airport, from whence I will fly to Dallas for Portus 2008 (you can still register for the whole conference or day passes!).  Elvendorks from all around will gather to talk Potter.  It’s going to be a blast.

Jeffrey Weiss of the Dallas Morning News interviewed several people involved in Portus 2008, including myself, and his excellent write-up is here.  (Yes, I get quoted - though I want to clarify that my book is not about “traditional fairy tales,” but about Harry Potter, and the power of the fairy tale tradition in its story).  I had a very pleasant time on the phone with Mr. Weiss, and I hope to run into him at Portus.

As long as I’ve got internet access, I’ll be doing regular Twitter updates from the conference, and I’ll do summary posts here at The Hog’s Head at the end of each day.  My presentations are scheduled for 2:30 on Friday (”Christ in the Forest: Aslan and Harry Walk to Their Deaths”) and 10:00am on Saturday (”Hogwarts, A Haunted History: Lovecraftian Fear in Harry Potter”).  I’ll also be joining Harry Potter Prognostications for the Portus Podcast Palooza Friday evening.  

I’m looking forward to meeting and re-meeting lots of people.  Randy Hoyt and I will be interviewing each other for our respective projects (Journey to the Sea is his).  I’ll get to meet Dave and Leanne Bruno - Leanne is a pub patron, and Dave is behind Christianaudio.com and the 100 Thing Challenge (which recently appeared in Time).  I’m also looking forward to talking again with David of Harry Potter Fan Zone, whom I met at Prophecy 2007 last year.

Don’t forget that you have until Friday, midnight EDT to get your idea in for the Giveaway!  Free audiobooks!

Update: Here’s the really funny thing. Ned reminded me in the comments that this was an old story.  That rang a bell in my mind.  I searched The Hog’s Head.  I reported it way back on September 15, 2006!  Here are some better pictures.  At least now, via John, we know what to call people like this (and like us): elvendorks.

John Granger came across a pretty impressive undertaking by a genuine elvendork - a matchstick scale model of Hogwarts!

Pat Acton, 55, of Gladbrook, took more than two years to complete the model which features all the turrets, walkways and towers seen in the films.

“I love the books and consider myself a Harry Potter fan,” he said.

“A fan,” indeed.  I look forward to John’s future nominations for Elvendork of the Month, and perhaps the pub’s patrons can nominate a few of their own.