Reaction to Release Date Move: The Fans

Andrew: Okay, here's another e-mail. From Katie:

"I was just wondering your thoughts about the fans. I know a lot of people were saying they won't be going after this because WB is..."

Naughty word.

"...them off."

Kevin: Oh, that is such...

Andrew: "Do you think this is going to affect the money they are going to make?"

Kevin: Absolutely not.

Andrew: "It was a total shock when I found out."

Matt: No! No!

Laura: People are still going to go see the movie.

Eric: People are still curious.

Matt: To be honest, it was a good move to release Half-Blood Prince in the summer because they do better during the summer. However...

Eric: Do you really think that?

Matt: ...they could have actually given us a little - yeah, I do! I honestly think, because they did better with Order of the Phoenix.

Jamie: Guys, I have a perfect analogy for this. If you'll...

Andrew: What's that?

Jamie: I just went to buy an iPhone from this shop in the U.K., and it's the only sort of network that does the iPhone, and they screwed me around, and screwed me around, so my mum says to me - she is not an Apple fan, so, you know, obviously this statement will come as a shock to the Apple fans. She said, "Well, why don't you just get a different phone? One that's not an iPhone."

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: Obviously a ridiculous sentiment...

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: ...but I was like, obviously, I can't. So, you know, Warner Bros. is the only company releasing a decent Harry Potter movie, so of course people are going to go see it even if they have to wait ten years, kind of like I had to go back to the store fifteen million times and pay a zillion pounds on top of it. I'm still going to get an iPhone because I want an iPhone. I don't want anything else.

Eric: Absolutely. No, I think that the logic is flawed when they say that Order of the Phoenix was the second highest grossing movie. I mean, obviously that's the fact, but it was also the Summer of Potter that was releasing, you know, a week before the actual last book in the series. It was all hyped up. As far as summer movies go, if you guys remember this summer that is just passing now, there were three or four big movies that I wanted to see every weekend, and I would not have had the time or the resources to go back and see a movie twice because I always wanted to see the next movie that was coming out, the next movie that's coming out. Summer is so piled up like that. November, Thanksgiving weekend, and Christmas there's - that's not how it is. There might be two, three movies...

Jamie: You could have seen them if you had wanted to though, couldn't you?

Matt: I know. Andrew, how many times have we seen Wall-E and The Dark Knight?

Eric: Once.

Matt: I think we've seen them at least three or four times. Each.

Andrew: Dark Knight three times, Wall-E three or four.

Eric: Oh my gosh. Well, Wall-E was a great movie.

Andrew: And I saw Hairspray like seven times.

Jamie: Oh my God, that is insane.

Laura: Oh my God. [laughs]

Eric: That's unnecessary.

Andrew: It was a good film.

Matt: Is that really that surprising?

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: It's a good film. I enjoyed it. It's a good film. Good emotion.

Jamie: Why don't you just download something?

Andrew: Because I want to support the creators, Jamie. And you know what? This bodes wetter - this bodes better for a L.A. premiere. I mean, personally, that's what I want. I want an L.A. premiere instead of New York City.

Laura: It would be a lot easier. [laughs]

Andrew: Because the way....

Kevin: Because you live there?

Jamie: Why do you want that, Andrew?

Kevin: Close to there, I should say.

Andrew: Yeah, because I live close. Yeah, exactly.

Jamie: No, I know. I know.

Andrew: I want to drive, I don't want to fly.

Matt: It's a half hour drive from here.

Kevin: I think Micah and I would prefer a New York.

Eric: Yeah. Yeah, honestly.

Micah: Yeah, plus, you know, it does get warm here in the summer, Andrew. It's not just L.A. that's nice in the summertime.

Andrew: Yeah, but the L.A. - there was something about the L.A. premiere that was really...

Laura: Haven't all the summer premieres taken place in L.A.?

Andrew: Well, there's only been two on L.A.: The Chamber of Secrets and...

Matt: Order of the Phoenix.

Andrew: ...Order of the Phoenix.

Eric: Guys, I think we should compromise. I think the premiere should be in Chicago.

Andrew: You know, there was another blog - oh no, it was Fox News...

Laura: Eww.

Andrew: ...and you guys won't believe this. Fox News said the reason why they are having this delay is because WB is disappointed with Dan's image in Equus.

Laura: What?!

Elysa: Did Bill O'Reilly tell you that?

Jamie: No way.

Andrew: No, but it was a blog post on Fox News. It said that Dan Radcliffe is going to be in Equus the same time as the movie comes out, and it's just going to be bad publicity, and, you know, because he's naked, you know. He comes out naked. The naked pictures and all that. What kind of BS is that?

Eric: Well, no, that is BS. Well, for several reasons.

Matt: The nude photos were out for Order of the Phoenix too.

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: They were, and the movie's already filmed, and Dan and all the actors are only getting older, so if you're going to talk about pushing actual production schedules back or filming schedules, which they haven't yet, you know, I mean, the actors are only getting older.

Jamie: It's not going to be enough to make a difference, is it? Like, four months they push it back they're not going to get gray hair.

Eric: Yeah. [laughs] It's true. It's true. It's true. There's another e-mail.

Kevin: November 21st.

Reaction to Release Date Move: A Live Show

Eric: This other e-mail, kind of, we just talked about it, but it's from Afik - or Afike - Age 22 from Malaysia. She says:

"Hi. Regarding the movie delay, why don't you set up a quick live show so that everyone can vent in a nice little MP3 package that can be sent to stupid WB? Cheers!"

Andrew: That's what we're doing right now, and we will...

Eric: Well, she said live show.

Matt: Stupid WB?

Eric: With all the public.

Andrew: Oh, a live show. Yeah, that would be a mess.

Matt: Yeah, let's do it right now.

Andrew: No thanks, that would be a mess. And then we...

Jamie: Wouldn't that be great, though, if we could change those people's opinions just by doing that? Like if you didn't like, you know, a politician's stance on something you just sent an MP3 and he changes it completely.

Andrew: He changes his opinion.

Jamie: The war in Iraq. [laughs] Send an MP3.

Andrew: Only if it's on an iPod, though.

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: Wink.

Jamie: [unintelligible] the Apple products.

Matt: It's sad. WB created a dark day for the fandom, didn't they? From November 21st. That's going to be a sad day, though.

Micah: They're not stupid; they're looking out for themselves and doing what makes the most sense in terms of...

Matt: Of course. Yeah, but...

Micah: Money.

Matt: ...for the fandom itself, though, I'm not talking about WB. I'm talking about the fandom.

Jamie: Hey, Matt.

Matt: It's going to be a dark day for all the fans.

Jamie: Matt, it's going to be a dark day, but when is the day darkest?

Eric: Just before the dawn.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: "The night is darkest just before the dawn."

Matt: "And the dawn is coming."

[Elysa laughs]

Andrew: "I assure you, the dawn is coming."

Eric: "I believe in Harvey Dent."

[Laura laughs]

Matt: In eight more months.

Andrew: And then it cuts to a close up. "Not for you, Potter fans."

[Laura laughs]

Eric: Ooo. Slam.

Andrew: All right, well, I think that wraps up our discussion on this for now. I'm sure there will be more to come. Maybe, you guys, maybe WB will change your mind and be like, "Hey, look, we were, you know..."

Elysa: "MuggleCast said so, so..."

Andrew: "We understand you guy's concern. You are the fans and we respect you, so it will be out in November."

Elysa: Yeah, right.

Laura: Yeah, right.

Announcement: Micah's Birthday!

Andrew: So let's move on to announcements. First up, Micah Tannenbaum is celebrating a birthday.

Elysa: Happy Birthday, Micah!

Andrew: Happy Birthday, Micah!

Laura: Happy Birthday.

Andrew: A round of applause for Micah!

Micah: Thank you.

Matt: [singing like Marilyn Monroe] "Happy Birthday, Micah Tannenbaum..."

Andrew: When is your birthday, Micah?

Micah: Sunday, August 17th.

Jamie: Ah, Happy Birthday for then!

Matt: Ah, there it is.

Andrew: I will send you a Facebook gift.

Micah: Oh, thank you!

Andrew: It will cost me a dollar.

Matt: Oh, I have a free one, so I'll give one to you.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Well, congrats, Micah. I hope you have a wonderful birthday.

Micah: Thank you.

Announcement: Podcast Alley

Andrew: It's very nice. Don't forget to vote for us on Podcast Alley. It's midway through August and just because this is the last weekly show doesn't mean you want to stop now. Am I right, or am I right?

Matt: [singing] "Ain't no stoppin' us now..."

Announcement: Terminus

Andrew: And lastly, Eric wants to talk about Terminus.

Eric: Okay. For those who attended and those who didn't, Terminus the Harry Potter conference, happened just this past week in Chicago, Illinois. Great fun! There were about - overall there were about 1,600 fans, I think that they said were registered there. The whole event started off with Wrock Chicago on Wednesday night, which was actually - it wasn't just Wednesday night. It was twelve hours during the day. Tons of wrock bands from all over came in. There was great programming, I think it was actually some of the best I've experienced. I mean, I actually go to programming, but it was - was really, really good stuff. It proved something good to me, which was that, you know, these books, while we can still talk about some very interesting stuff. I'll talk to you guys about it later, but the programming at Terminus was really amazing. Last but not least, the Bon Voyage Ball, which Ben Schoen was wonderful enough to grace us with his presence during, and Dylan and Emerson...

Andrew: Oh, how nice.

Eric: ...made a showing too. And then the closing banquets. But I just wanted to say thanks to everyone I saw there, and it was great, great fun, and very successful. It was a beautiful hotel, the Chicago Hilton downtown. It was amazing, so I just wanted to...

Andrew: Cool. It's a shame that's their last one.

Eric: It's their last one.

Matt: Yeah, I never got to go to one of those type of conventions.

Andrew: Well, their last Harry Potter Con.

Eric: Oh yeah, that [unintelligible] doing, I think. Yeah. But it was very successful.

No Muggle Mail This Week

Andrew: All right. Thank you, Eric. Muggle Mail this week. Now, I think I stated last week there's a problem with our feedback form, and we're actually still having a problem with that feedback form, so there actually is really no Muggle Mail this week. We have a few more e-mails scattered throughout the show, but if you do want to e-mail us about something, e-mail our personal e-mail addresses directly while we still - while we figure out what's wrong with our feedback form. Just use any of our first names at staff dot mugglenet dot com. And we'll try to have that worked out soon.

This Week in MuggleCast History

Andrew: Okay, now it's time for This Week in MuggleCast History. We've been doing this segment for the past few weeks, and we take a look at what was happening this time one year ago, or two years ago, since we have been around for a while now. I guess even three years ago.

Laura: Yeah. Three years ago now.

Andrew: I didn't realize that. Crap. [laughs]

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: All right, so we are going to go back to Episode 51. This was August 13th, 2006, when Ben set a new standard in podcasting by driving through Nebraska searching for a Wi-Fi signal and podcasting from his car.

Jamie: Oh, wow!

Laura: Oh gosh.

Andrew: And it's actually pretty funny.

Jamie: Was that in 2006? Oh my God, that is insane.

Andrew: I know.

Matt: I know, you were just a kid then, Jamie. You were teenaged.

Andrew: And now you are in your twenties. Weirdo. [unintelligible]

Jamie: Matt, don't even talk about it. That's insane...

Micah: Yeah, you got a problem with that?

Jamie: That's insane. I don't want to get any older. I'm feeling it.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.

Jamie: You know, I have a problem with it. I have a huge problem with it. I want to be eighteen again.

[Andrew and Laura laughs]

Jamie: Everyone stop!

Andrew: All right, well, let's do this. This Week in MuggleCast History. So we'll just go back in time now.

[Andrew and Matt make time machine noises]

Micah: That's all the news for this August 13th, 2006 edition of MuggleCast. Back to the show.

Ben: There's a car passing me and I'm laying down. Hold on.

[Everyone laughs]

Ben: False alarm. They turned, they turned.

Laura: Wouldn't it be awesome if Ben got arrested and we were recording?

Ben: Live on MuggleCast.

Jamie: Oh, it would be so funny. It would be Spy on Schoen.

Ben: This is ridiculous. I drove three-and-a-half hours tonight, tired as - more tired than you can imagine.

Jamie: Tired and soaked to his skin.

Ben: And I get here to record MuggleCast, and I go to the library to steal their Wi-Fi...

[Laura laughs]

Jamie: Ben...

Ben: They had it encrypted...

Jamie: ...I think the term is "use" not "steal," you know?

Ben: "Use" their Wi-Fi.

Jamie: Oh God, that sounds awful.

Ben: They have it password protected. And so I drive around this small podunk town, searching for Wi-Fi, and I found some, and now I am parked in the middle of the street...

[Laura laughs]

Ben: ...windows rolled up in my car. It's about 5,000 degrees and I'm here to do MuggleCast.

Elysa: Oh boy.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: So, I am the most dedicated MuggleCaster...

Jamie: That's commitment to you?

Laura: That is devotion.

Ben: ...ever.

Jamie: Are we still streaming this to the FBI, Andrew? Or did we stop?

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, I think we're going to have to stop after this episode.

[Andrew makes time machine noises again]

Andrew: Oh, what an episode. Elysa, you feel his pain?

Elysa: Yeah, I feel his pain. Ben has definitely passed the torch on to me.

Andrew: I'm sorry, Elysa, but Ben did pioneer that concept of podcasting.

Elysa: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Andrew: You are just a mere copy cat.

Elysa: Okay. I did it better.

[Andrew and Elysa laugh]

Eric's Crackpot Theory of the Week

Andrew: Oh geeze! Okay. All right, well, now keeping in the spirit of going through all the segments at, you know, we've always done here on MuggleCast, we're going to now do Crackpot Theory. Eric's Crackpot Theory of the Week. Eric, are you - do you think you're ready for this or what?

Eric: Yeah. No, Andrew, I'm totally psyched.

Andrew: Yeah, I can hear it in your voice.

[Laura laughs]

Eric: No, how did you come up with that segment? How do you - can you intro it? Like how you came up with it, because this is like the only real segment I ever really had, but it was a complete rip off of - the [unintelligible] by Jane Jack.

Andrew: But it really wasn't. Jane Jack did this too, but it really wasn't! Somebody - I don't know, I can't remember how we came up with it. But I remember somebody - people complained about that and I was like, no I didn't even know they did it.

Eric: Same name, though. Same name, different stuff.

Andrew: Same name, okay. Same name, sure.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: All right, well - so I actually had to search through deep into the Gmail inbox because, you know, people haven't been sending these in, but I did find a good one. This comes from Kate, 22, of Wisconsin, and she writes:

"My crackpot theory is that Harry Potter..."

Oh wait. [laughs] Are you ready, Eric? [laughs]

Eric: Well, she's probably 23 by now so we should wish her a Happy Birthday.

Andrew: Yeah, true. That's... [laughs] Yeah, that's true. Anyway, okay, so here's the crackpot theory:

"My crackpot theory is that Harry Potter is real. Jo is a squib who is breaking the silence between the two worlds. There is a Diagon Alley, Hogwarts, and a Quidditch World Cup. Once more, our favorite people, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore. etc. are/were real. Of course names have been changed; it's like details altered for the sake of literary effect." Eric, go.

Eric: Wait, what part of this was the crackpot theory?

Andrew: Harry Potter - generally, Harry Potter is real.

Eric: Yep, but it is.

Andrew: No, but you know what I mean.

Eric: No, but it is. It's real, dude. What are you talking about? What's the crack part? I'm waiting for the crackpot part.

Andrew: Real, like we could actually, physically meet Harry Potter.

Eric: Oh, okay, okay. So if we can really physically meet Harry Potter I think that what would...

Jamie: Eric, stop giving yourself thinking time.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly. [laughs]

Eric: No, I think this - I think that what would be happening - I think that Draco would be working at a Starbucks somewhere, maybe in San Francisco, and Harry on Ministry business would go and meet him. I think that's - I think that's totally right. So all the people in the downtown L.A. area - or San Fran, sorry, San Fran area, just check your Starbuckses, I think that Draco Malfoy is secretly working undercover at a Starbucks.

Andrew: Okay, fair enough. Is that your crackpot theory?

Eric: Yeah, it was actually one of the - it is also one of the only fan fiction references I think I've ever done in my life, so I'm pretty happy about that.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: Had to get one of those in the show.

Andrew: All right, so here's some of the reasonings that Katie provided: the characters in the world of HP seem so life-like to so many people. That's because it is.

Eric: It's called an allegory.

Andrew: How do Squibs make a living in the magical world? Jo solved that problem by using the proceeds of the HP books to set up a fund to help needy Squibs. Another reason: lots of unexplainable things happen in real life. How come they can't be explained by magic? Another reason: Dementors cause hurricanes and tornadoes, which we've seen a lot of in recent years, and ever been to Wal Mart late at night? The people who come out look like wizards who are trying to dress up as Muggles.

Eric: [laughs] I really like...

[Laura laughs]

Eric: I really like that second one about the funds from the Harry Potter books going to sort of employment, security, welfare for Squibs. I really like that one.

Matt: Well, I'm curious, what are the people who look like - that work at Target? Laura?

Laura: Hey.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Laura: Don't be mean to me.

[Jamie and Matt laugh]

Dueling Club

Andrew: There you go. There's Crackpot Theory! All right, let's move on now to Dueling Club. This is another segment we haven't done in a while, and we have a couple submissions. I think they're good ones. First one comes from Brady, 14 of Manitoba, Canada.

Jamie: Andrew!

Andrew: Yeah?

Jamie: I have a Dueling Club for afterwards as well.

Andrew: Okay.

Jamie: This one is amazing.

Andrew: Okay, cool. He says:

"Hi, you haven't done Dueling Club in a while, have you? I have a suggestion. Michael Gambon versus Richard Harris. No, not that same old endless argument of who is the better Dumbledore..."

The answer is Gambon, by the way...

Matt: No, it's not.

Andrew: "I mean two old Muggle men, one on one, fisticuffs! Also, I love your show and Andrew is not hot..."

Okay, I'm pretty sure that said hot.

[Matt laughs]

Laura: No, no, don't think so.

Matt: That was me.

Andrew: Okay, thank you. So, Michael Gambon versus Richard Harris. If they had to duke it out, let's say in their golden days, when, you know, they were actually in good fighting condition.

Laura: I would say Gambon, and I mean I'm not just saying that by virtue of the fact that I'm a huge Gambon fan, but...

Jamie: I agree, I agree.

Laura: I don't know, he's just seems like he has more of an attitude than Richard Harris did, you know?

Andrew: Yeah, I agree too. I always saw Richard Harris as a very frail man, no matter what age.

Matt: Well, wait a minute. There's...

Jamie: He really was.

Matt: Okay, well, there's a ten year difference between the two actors too.

Eric: That's a good point. I'm trying to think - I'm looking at the Richard Harris Wikipedia here, and he was kind of - he did have some kind of fierce roles going on for him. But I'm willing to say that Michael Gambon could out-scream Richard Harris and, therefore, would probably win in a duel.

Matt: [laughs] Richard Harris would probably not win in a fight with Michael Gambon, because Michael Gambon would just run down the stairs, grab him, and push him to the side of the wall and says, "Did you know I played you in the Goblet of Fire?"

[Laura laughs]

Eric: Shaking him, shaking him. And he'll say, "No, I didn't."

Matt: "No sir!"

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: All right, the second one comes from Anlise - Analise:

"I really miss the segment, so I thought I'd send a new topic in. Molly Weasley versus McGonagall. You had a previous segment where Minerva beat out Umbridge, so considering Molly's new found power, I wanted to see where this would go. And for the sake of being original, I love the show. Eric, you're my favorite."

How cute.

Matt: Awww.

Eric: Had to get at least one of those e-mails before the end of the show.

Jamie: Molly would just, like - she'd just make cakes and stuff and cook food, and McGonagall would just blast her down.

[Everyone laughs]

Jamie: That's not sexist, that's just...

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: That's just taking stuff from the books, because, you know, it's what she does, Molly. She cooks and makes onion soup and bread.

Andrew: Yeah, but we also saw her kill...

Jamie: She'd try and do that to try and placate McGonagall, but...

Andrew: We also saw her kill Bellatrix.

Jamie: Well, we did, that's very true. And she did find a lot of power. I...

Andrew: I mean, have we ever seen McGonagall kill anyone?

Matt: No, we haven't seen her kill anyone...

Eric: McGonagall's just very stern to people.

Jamie: I don't think she's that kind of person.

Eric: She just glares at them.

Matt: But she's been in battles all the time. Do you honestly think that Molly Weasley could have beaten Bellatrix Lestrange if the fact that she almost killed her daughter didn't influence her, you know, filled with rage.

Jamie: No way. She couldn't have done. No.

Matt: No, I think the fact that she killed Bellatrix means that she has the potential, but it doesn't mean that she can kill - she could just duel just off the drop of a hat.

Eric: Going back to what Jamie said about the cooking thing, I think that it's very likely that Molly Weasley would have a sort of sit down dinner, you know, and invite McGonagall to it, if the two were on bad terms, and, you know, maybe just slip a little arsenic...

Jamie: Talk about it, yeah.

Eric: ...into the little pumpkin juice, you know, sort of thing.

Jamie: But also, Eric, the - even though Molly has killed a human being, when Professor McGonagall transforms into a cat, every single mouse that she's killed more than adds up to Bellatrix, because she's a demon when she's a cat.

Eric: That's a good point.

[Everyone laughs]

Jamie: She goes around killing every single small vole animal.

[Laura laughs]

Eric: That's a lot of mice waiting for that McGonagall animagus in the afterlife, I'll tell you that.

Jamie: Don't you think it's weird when people talk of snake venom and stuff like that, when they always compare humans to mice. Like, I swear there's one snake that has enough venom to kill, like, a hundred humans or 250,000 mice. It's just a weird comparison.

[Andrew and Eric laugh]

Andrew: Yeah, but I think there is some potential here.

Matt: Yeah. Wait, so are we men or are we mice?

[Andrew laughs]

Andrew: Micah, what do you think? Molly versus McGonagall. Who would win?

Micah: Probably McGonagall. I mean, she's just more learned, I guess you could say. She seems like she's much more powerful. Even though Molly did kill somebody, I think it was more out of a protective nature than anything else, whereas I think McGonagall would probably be more apt to kill, just sort of overall, I guess you could say. Just - and I think being a Transfiguration teacher, obviously, she spent a lot of time around Dumbledore as well...

Eric: That's true.

Micah: ...so I'm sure she's learnt a few things from him.

Eric: Even as a teacher she seems more educated in spellwork than - I mean, Molly's got a lot of charms that apply to the home, and - but McGonagall seems to be a lot more educated, more experienced.

Andrew: Elysa, how about you? What do you think? Who would win?

Elysa: I'm going to go with McGonagall too. I mean, I was sort of on the fence about this, but I agree with Micah. I think Molly Weasley, she was able to kill Bellatrix because she was instigated. I don't think - I think in terms of skill and talent McGonagall would still beat her out, so...

Laura: Yeah. You know, I think it depends on the context. I mean, if McGonagall were about to fail Ginny in Transfiguration, I think Molly would say, "Not my daughter, you bitch."

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: Oooh.

Matt: And then McGonagall would be like, "oh no you di-int."

Laura: [laughs] But otherwise, I would have to agree that McGonagall definitely seems to be trained better.

Micah: Wait. Andrew, what was the line you used back in an older episode about McGonagall sitting on the...

Laura: [laughs] Oh yeah.

Micah: ...bricks all day?

Andrew: Was it "mmmm, girl"?

Eric: Yeah, yeah.

Laura: It was something along the lines of...

Matt: "You'd be sore too if you had to stand on that wall all day."

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: What was it? "You'd be..."

Matt: I remember...

Andrew: ...what too?

Matt: I remember because I transcribed that part.

Andrew: "Mmm girl, you'd be sad too if you had to sit on that bridge all day."

[Laura laughs]

Make the Connection

Andrew: Something like that. Well, let's keep moving the show along now. [laughs] Here's another segment we haven't done in a while. Well, we've been doing Make the Music Connection, but since Jamie's back we're going to do his original idea, Make the Connection.

Jamie: I have some crackers for you guys today.

Matt: Oh no.

Laura: Aw man.

Jamie: You're going to be struggling.

Matt: God, I love crackers.

[Laura laughs]

Jamie: Andrew, you have to make the connection between Harry Potter and the extremely narrow possibility of being struck by lightning twice.

Andrew: Oh God. Okay, let's see.

[Jamie laughs]

Andrew: Well, you know, the possibility of Molly Weasley killing Bellatrix was - what's the chances of being struck by lightning twice, like one in a trillion or something?

Jamie: Something like that, yeah.

Matt: Okay. Yeah.

Andrew: Anyone who expected the - if MuggleNet had - you know how MuggleNet had the predictions in the book - you know, like, Dobby die, a thousand to one. Well...

Jamie: Yeah. [laughs]

Andrew: ...the chances of the prediction that Molly Weasley would kill Bellatrix, the chances would be about one trillion to one.

Jamie: That's pretty good.

Andrew: [laughs] Thank you. I thought it was.

Jamie: Wait. Isn't that saying that - aren't you insulting us though? [laughs]

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: No, I'm not insulting us...

Jamie: Saying that we get odds wrong.

Andrew: No. I'm just saying that, you know, nobody would've ever predicted that.

Jamie: That's good though, that's very good. Laura, do you want this one?

Laura: Aw, man. I guess so.

Jamie: All right. You have to make the connection between Harry Potter and being water boarded by Will Smith.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: As seen in I Am Legend? Or Hancock. Sorry.

Laura: [laughs] Oh my God.

Jamie: No, no, just any Will Smith. Any Will Smith water boarding, you know? An advanced CIA interrogation technique by Will Smith.

Laura: [laughs] God. I don't know. I guess that's what would...

[Jamie laughs]

Laura: ...have happened to you if you had got an advanced reader copy of a Harry Potter book and leaked it. I assume that something along those lines would have happened to you. So...

[Jamie laughs]

Laura: Yeah. Exactly. Go to Guantanamo Bay.

Andrew: Hancock style.

Jamie: Eric, you have to make the connection between Harry Potter and Incubus front man, Brandon Boyd, chillaxing in Hawaii.

Eric: Chillaxing in Hawaii? I - okay.

[Jamie laughs]

Eric: Harry Potter - well, see, I think that's a likely vacation, you know. We've seen several times people vacationing in the Harry Potter books, right? We've got Aunt Marge vacationing in Majorca. We've got the Weasleys going to Egypt. We got Hermione going to France. I think it only makes sense that at some point they might cross paths with, what was it, Brandon Boyd of Incubus chilling in Hawaii. Yeah, yeah. People go on holidays.

Jamie: And, Eric, what - what song would he sing? What's the greatest Incubus song?

Eric: The greatest Incubus song? Hang on, let me pull up my iTunes library.

Jamie: Everyone needs to listen to Incubus "Dig." "Dig" by Incubus. You will absolutely re-invent music for yourself. Listen to it. Matthew? You next?

Matt: Yeah, I guess. I'm going to get it wrong anyway, Jamie, like I always do, so it doesn't matter.

Jamie: You have to make the connection between Harry Potter... [laughs]

Laura: Awww.

Jamie: All right. You have to make the connection between Harry Potter and Bugs Bunny writing his own self-help novel.

[Micah laughs]

Matt: Okay. Well, due to the hundreds and thousands of suicide letters that Warner Bros. was given from the Harry Potter fans from the Half-Blood Prince release date, Bugs Bunny has put it upon himself to to write his own self-help...

[Jamie laughs]

Matt: ...book to keep all the Harry Potter fans from killing themselves to having to wait another eight months.

Eric: Very timely and very brave.

Laura: Wow.

Eric: I like that.

[Everyone laughs]

Eric: Nicely done.

[Laura laughs]

Jamie: Very lucid, Matt, as well. Very good. All right, Micah?

Micah: All right.

Jamie: Ready?

Micah: Yup.

Jamie: All right, this is quite a topical - well, not really topical but you'll appreciate it. All right, you have to make a connection between Harry Potter and "The Downeaster Alexa" by Billy Joel.

[Matt laughs]

Micah: The one thing that I can think about. "The Downeaster Alexa" is really about the start of the hard times of fishermen and all sorts of people who work on the ocean and, you know, trying to provide for their families, and the only person that comes to mind for me is Arthur Weasley. He's always going to work trying to provide for his family, doing whatever he can. So - and he's not on a boat, I get that, but that's about as best as I can do.

Jamie: No, that's good, that's good.

Eric: Arthur Weasley works at a grocery store.

Jamie: Elysa, okay, this is quite a tough one, sorry. [laughs]

Elysa: Oh great.

Jamie: Okay, make a connection between Harry Potter and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation being turned into a safe house for Werewolves. Oh, actually, werewolves is kind of an obvious link there. Okay, turned into a safe house for starfish.

Eric: Are you making this up as you go along?

[Everyone laughs]

Jamie: No, I had a few notes down.

[Everyone laughs]

Jamie: Werewolves and starfish.

Elysa: Wait, turned into a safe house for starfish?

Jamie: Starfish, yeah. [laughs]

Elysa: All right. I'm going to say that Bill Gates is Voldemort's public relations manager and he's doing this as a facade to cover up all his evil doings.

Eric: Wow, you're really anti-capitalism, aren't you?

[Jamie and Laura laugh]

Elysa: If it makes anyone feel better we can say that he's been put under a curse.

Laura: That works.

Jamie: All right, yeah.

Andrew: All right, well, that's how we play Make the Connection. Thank you, Jamie.

Jamie: You're welcome, that was fun.

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