A Round-Up of HogPro ‘Hunger Games’ Posts!

June 27, 2010 by 8 Comments

HogwartsProfessor.com is best known for its discussions of Harry Potter and Twilight artistry and meaning. Recently, though, the boards here have been lively with posts and conversation about Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy, the last novel of which series, The Mockingjay, comes out this August. If I say so myself, the speculation and insights here are the best of any website going (if there is a real absence of guessing about which teen actors and actresses should be chosen for the movie parts…).

For those of you who have come late to the HogPro examination of Ms. Collins’ brilliant work, here is a round-up of the key posts by John Granger, Elizabeth Baird Hardy, and Louise Freeman with topics and dates spelled out. Please join in the conversations! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Hunger Games

Dickensian Names and Victorian Sensibilities

June 27, 2010 by 4 Comments

On Thursday night last week, James Thomas, Travis Prinzi, and I, the Potter Pundits collectively, did our first live PotterCast program with video feed. It was a lot of fun, as always, with the usual laughs, insights, interruptions, and graciousness of three friends talking about books they love.

The format of the show, fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you feel about listening to some one else talk at length), does not allow any of us to explore any particular topic at much depth. We’re volleying like a three-way tennis match rather than running marathons solo. I hope this week, consequently, to write out two or three things about names here that I could only touch on in the show last Thursday before we veered off what I was trying to get at (to talk about goblin names and flower references and other fascinating stuff we had to squeeze in).

Before I do that, though, I wanted to share a wonderful letter I received this week on the subject of names from Miriam Greenwald (great name!). She’s reading Harry Potter’s Bookshelf and wrote to share what I think is a key insight about the humor and satirical quality of Mrs. Rowling’s names most Americans almost certainly don’t ‘get.’ [Read more…]

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes

Mrs. Meyer says Twilight is Meaningless?

June 26, 2010 by 11 Comments

Two times in the last week Mrs. Meyer has all but denied that her Twilight Saga has meaning worth exploring. Let’s take a quick look at what was reported about what she said before discussing what it might mean: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Twilight

Moaning Myrtle, Minerva McGonagall, Mad-Eye Moody, and Quirrius Quirrell: Leaky Cauldron’s Potter Pundits Ponder Names LIVE Tonight!

June 24, 2010 by 1 Comment

Live-Stream Video PodCast Tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern time! Travis Prinzi, author of Harry Potter and Imagination, James Thomas, author of Re-Potting Harry Potter, and John Granger — that would be me — author of The Deathly Hallows Lectures, will be discussing the meaning of names in Harry Potter.

What is with all that alliteration and reduplication after all?

Tune in tonight to find out!

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes

The Potter Pundits ‘On Imagination’

June 22, 2010 by 2 Comments

James Thomas, Travis Prinzi, and I talked earlier this year about the central place of imagination in Harry Potter. As Travis explains in his introduction, we recorded this show very soon after our Luna Lovegood segment — just about the time PotterCast decided to go with live, video Potter Pundits discussions for their show. That format will start this Thursday night when the Pundits talk about “Names in Harry Potter.” but the move to live video meant this audio-only segment ‘On Imagination’ was lost.

Almost lost. Travis has just posted it at TheHogsHead.org and it’s a keeper. Folks at TheHogsHead are saying that the Pundits don’t get more profound than this. Let me know what you think!

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes