#the pensieve podcast

[mistpodfics]

The Foxhole Ship - A Podcast Episode created by mistbornhero as a remixed "Pensieve Podfic" of Captain's Log, by Captain Dan "The Fox" Wilds by Opalsong

An All For The Game/One Piece Podfic

A look at one of the lesser known crews that almost got the One Piece.

Podfic Length: 16:21 minutes

[serenaew]

Serena's Masterlist: Snarry (SS/HP)

Last updated 28/12/2023

Overview

Meta:

Interview on the Fanfic Maverick Podcast, 1st half

Series:

Fateweaver Universe, and associated (WIP):

The Fateweaver (M, WIP: 4/?)

Secret Passage (T, Severus Snape (alone), complete)

Sectum Princeps (Dolorissimum) (M, Severus Snape (alone), complete)

Unspekable Mysteries Universe, and associated (WIP):

Unspeakable Mysteries (T, WIP: 1/14)

Once more (T, complete)

Hallowed (T, Harry Potter (alone), complete)

Whoso list to hunt (T, Aberforth Dumbledore & Severus Snape, complete)

Halcyon Days series (complete):

Curatio (T)

Repertum (M)

Fidelitas (T)

[Art] Flamma (G)

Ondine's Curse series (WIP):

Wish not for a soul that is full of sin (T, complete)

One-shots:

Blooming Heart (T, complete)

Homecoming (T, complete)

Flight of Dreams (T, complete)

Line by line (T, complete)

Promises, promises... (G, complete)

In darkness, there is fear and comfort (T, complete)

Carved into my heart, no knives needed (G, complete)

Podfic and filk:

[Filk] Sing for you in the dead of night (T, complete)

[Filk] Game Over (T, complete)

Art:

Kings of the Forest (G, complete)

Assorted Snarry poetry collections:

With you in mind (T, WIP: 4/?)

February Verselets: Snarry Edition (T, complete)

Weathering (G, complete)

Expand for more details on individual elements.

Details

Meta:

Interview on the Fanfic Maverick Podcast, 1st half

In which I talk about Snarry and Severitus.

Series:

Fateweaver Universe, and associated (WIP):

In which Harry is not quite the Master of Death, and travels back in time instead.

This universe is inspired by lyraonyx's Changing Fate. Thank you for letting me work with your ideas!

The Fateweaver (M, WIP: 4/?)

Summary: At King's Cross station, Death gives Harry a choice - between permanent death, return to a blissfully unaware semi-comfortable life after Voldemort, and his true destiny as Fateweaver who, together with his Guardian, will shape his world for centuries to come. As usual, Harry's saving-people-complex makes him realise that his task has only just begun, so he travels back in time to re-weave the fate of the magical world. Additional Tags/Warnings: Time Travel, Marauders Era, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Alternate Universe, Magical Theory, Spell Creation, Seer Harry Potter

Secret Passage (T, Severus Snape (alone), complete)

Summary: The origins of the secret passage from the Room of Requirement to the Hog's Head. In reference to Chapter 4: "[I]f Snape had known about the Room in the other timeline as well - which was a safe assumption… He must have known about the students who had hidden in there the year he had been Headmaster - and had allowed that - that army against him to live, to grow even…" Additional Tags/Warnings: Canon Compliant - Deathly Hallows, Secret passages (Hogwarts), Headmaster Severus Snape, Cruciatus Curse

Sectum Princeps (Dolorissimum) (M, Severus Snape (alone), complete)

Summary: The first cut hurts the most. - A canon-compliant-ish fic about how Sectumsempra came to be. Additional Tags/Warnings: bullying, domestic violence, Dark, Anger, Teenage Severus Snape, Character Study

Unspekable Mysteries Universe, and associated (WIP):

In which Harry fakes his death and finds the unexpected in the Depertment of Mysteries.

Unspeakable Mysteries (T, WIP: 1/14)

Summary: Harry Potter is dead. Or rather, he chose to inform no one of his improbable survival of 7/7, instead finally accepting the invitation to join the Unspeakables, codenamed Saven. Now a novice Unspeakable in search of a Mentor, the magic of the Department of Mysteries will lead him where he needs to be. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Department of Mysteries, Pseudo-philosophical ramblings

Once more (T, complete) and

Hallowed (T, Harry Potter (alone), complete)

Summary: Companion poetry to various, as of now unpublished, Unspeakable Mysteries prequels. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Pensieves, Grief, Pining, Deathly Hallows, Survivor guilt

Whoso list to hunt (T, Aberforth Dumbledore & Severus Snape, complete)

Summary: Those on the hunt should never judge an inn by its looks. The pre-prequel to the Unspeakable Mysteries series. Additional Tags / Warnings: Hog's Head Inn, Unspeakable Aberforth Dumbledore, Unspeakable Recruit Severus Snape, Good Severus Snape, Pre-Canon

Halcyon Days series (complete):

In which Harry finds healing in the form of a kingfisher...

Curatio (T)

Summary: curatio, onis, f noun 1. healing/curing 2. object of care 3. treatment, surgical operation, medical care At the foot of the Whomping Willow, there lay an injured kingfisher. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, inspired by Alcyone and Ceyx, taking care of an injured bird, hopeful ending

Repertum (M)

Summary: repertum, i, n noun 1. discovery 2. finding again 3. invention For Healer Harry Potter, the war is not over even years after Voldemort's defeat. As he finds himself recovering from an attack at his workplace, St. Mungo's, familiar comfort flies in in the form of a kingfisher. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Angst, Healer Harry Potter, Magical Medicine, St Mungo's, attack on medical personnel, stab wound, life-threatening injury, open ending

Fidelitas (T)

Summary: fidelitas, atis, f noun 1. faithfulness, fidelity The long-awaited happy ending to the Halcyon Days series! Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, POV Luna Lovegood, wedding, kingfishers, Matching Patronus Form, with art by both Acid and Serena

[Art] Flamma (G)

Summary: flamma, ae, f noun 1. ardour, fire of love 2. flame, blaze 3. object of love Companion artworks to Fidelitas. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, digital art, lettering, artworks by Acid and Serena

Ondine's Curse series (WIP):

The merman!Snape, partial amesia AU no one asked for.

Wish not for a soul that is full of sin (T, complete)

Summary: After all, a flighty soul could not return to the water, or to the earth, as they maintained all life eventually should. (What one did not have, they believed, could not be broken.) Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, inspired by classical music, with digital art, Fairy tale retelling, Romanticism, merfolk lore, with art by khaleesisophie

One-Shots:

Blooming Heart (T, complete)

Summary: From the very first petal, Severus knew he was doomed. The orange lily. - in which Severus Snape develops hanahaki disease, two years after he survived Nagini's near-fatal bite. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Denial, Pining, Healer Harry Potter, Magi-Physiology, Hanahaki Disease, Language of Flowers, Angst with a Happy Ending

Homecoming (T, complete)

Summary: He had no choice, inevitably Pulled back to the warmest place Even (ex-)Dementors are. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Dementors, Patronus Charm, Time Travel - sort of, Angst with happy ending

Flight of Dreams (T, complete)

Summary: There is truth in every legend, they say. It is a truth Severus has been feeling painfully since Harry Potter's return to Hogwarts as Defence Against the Dark Arts assistant professor. It is a truth he sees every night in his dreams. It is a truth his mother, Eileen Prince, has been telling him since his childhood. His Chosen One is waiting for him. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Creature Inheritance, Getting Together, Fluff, Light Angst

Line by line (T, complete)

Summary: After an involuntary exile from the Wizarding World, Harry is now Assistant Librarian at Hogwarts and part-time artist. Who is the poet of the Hogwarts-inspired verses he is creating art for? Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Artist!Harry, Librarian!Harry, Professor!Severus, light angst, happy ending, poetry, Christian themes, calligraphy

Promises, promises... (G, complete)

Summary: Healer Harry Potter has been pining after his former-professor-turned-occasional-consultant-colleague Severus for a while now, but he doesn't believe anything will come out of it. Turns out, his children, Jamie, Al and Lily, have a surprise for his birthday — will he like it? Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Harry's canon kids ship Snarry, Ginny and Draco ship Snarry, getting together, surprise party, oblivious Harry, flirty Severus, fluff, with art by acydpop

In darkness, there is fear and comfort (T, complete)

Summary: Ten years after the end of the Second Wizarding War, Severus and Harry face their worst fears once more. They have changed, and so have their fears. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, Boggarts, Medical Jargon, Healers Harry Potter and Severus Snape, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Severus Snape has heart, Angst with happy ending

Carved into my heart, no knives needed (G, complete)

Summary: Fluff and pumpkin lettering. Additional Tags/Warnings: HP:EWE, fluff, slice of life, pumpkins

Podfic and filk:

[Filk] Sing for you in the dead of night (T, complete)

Summary: In which Harry sings his heart out, Severus responds in kind, and they try to make it safely out of Hell. Additional Tags/Warnings: Filk, HP:EWE, Inspired by Orpheus and Eurydice 

[Filk] Game Over (T, complete)

Summary: As the war ravages on, they meet again, years after Snape's betrayal. Additional Tags/Warnings: AU (from DH), Unresolved sexual tension, filk, inspired by Dracula the Musical, Ambiguous / open ending

Art:

Kings of the Forest (G, complete)

Summary: There the trees, holly and oak, stood through sun and rain, always ready to spread their leaves over visitors and inhabitants of Hogwarts Castle who came their way. Additional Tags/Warnings: Traditional Art, HP:EWE, Inspired by Philemon and Baucis, inspired by neopaganism, holly and oak, they are trees your honour, with ficlet

Assorted Snarry poetry collections:

With you in mind (T, WIP: 4/?)

February Verselets: Snarry Edition (T, complete)

Weathering (G, complete)

[crowdvscritic]

crowd vs. critic single take // THE LOST WEEKEND (1945)

Photo Credits: IMDb.com

What’s one weekend away? For an alcoholic, torture.

Struggling writer Don (Ray Milland) is dreading a trip with his brother Wick (Phillip Terry), who monitors what he imbibes. He keeps a covert stash in the crannies of their New York City apartment, but it won’t be easy to sneak it out of town alongside his brother and his girlfriend Helen (Jane Wyman). Part belligerence and part willful ignorance convinces him perhaps it’s best not to go at all. A weekend spent only with himself—and a few fellow bar patrons—would be better.

CROWD // One of the reasons I love movies is they’re the closest to time travel we’ll ever get. Like Harry Potter dunking his head into the Pensieve, a screen always reveals more than the filmmakers intended because it's a literal portal into the past. The Lost Weekend’s portrayal of alcoholism feels melodramatic today, borderline heavy-handed, but in 1945, The New York Daily News called it "the most daring film that ever came out of Hollywood.” Turner Classic Movies notes it had a special relevance in a year when soldiers were returning from a traumatizing war, and it was “the first to treat drinking seriously and not play it for laughs. Gone were the inebriated Nick and Nora Charles of The Thin Man movies.” Just a few years later in 1949, Gone With the Wind author Margaret Mitchell died when she was was hit by a drunk driver. When Malcolm Gladwell explored it on his podcast Revisionist History, he observed, “The fact that his drinking might have been the reason he was speeding somehow didn't seem to occur to many people... but in the mentality of the time, the driver was irrelevant. He was as unlucky as the victim." All that to say, how we feel about alcoholism has changed in the last eight decades. 

Though the context feels foreign today, the characters do not. If you’ve ever known someone struggling with crippling mental health issues, watching Helen and Wick waffle between support for Don and total exasperation will feel too familiar. You’ll also recognize the truth in Don’s statement that there are two versions of himself—the one who would love to be a writer, and the one who believes he’s a failure. One version wants to be the man Helen deserves and a responsible brother who pays the rent, but the other cons and manipulates them, even swiping the maid’s paycheck for his habit. (Writer/director Billy Wilder would create another unstable, manipulative character in Sunset Blvd., but Norma Desmond would add a sinister edge.) Even if The Lost Weekend doesn’t feel congruent with modern depictions of substance abuse, it’s still moving because its heart is empathetic to those struggling as well as their friends and family. 

POPCORN POTENTIAL: 7/10

CRITIC // That success is largely thanks to the cast. In another film, Don could have been a villain or comic relief—here is treated with as much care as Milland took in preparing for the role. His commitment is an early example of the strategy many Best Actor hopefuls still take today, volunteering a physical transformation to become this character. In addition to changing his diet to lose weight, he took the initiative to stay in Bellevue Hospital for a time (where some of the film was shot, though Bellevue later regretted it) to experience their treatment of alcoholics. Though he was unsuccessful at achieving drunkenness, he was successfully mistaken as public day drinker by acquaintances who were gracious enough to mention it to the press. Without Milland, Matthew McConaughey might have still lost weight for Dallas Buyers Club, Brendan Fraser might still have gained weight for The Whale, and Leonardo DiCaprio might still have gone through the tortures of The Revenant, but perhaps Milland's win is the source code for actors going to extremes to show commitment to their craft. 

In addition to nominations for editing and cinematography, Billy Wilder won his first Oscars for writing and directing The Lost Weekend. (He’d already lost five times, including for Ninotchka and Double Indemnity, and he’d win four more for Sunset Blvd. and The Apartment. Yeesh, what a career!) A Best Score nod brought to the tally to 7 total nominations, though that’s less impressive when you know the Academy recognized 47 nominees in 3 different music categories for the year of 1945. (The following year each category was narrowed down to the traditional five.) 

One more indicator of the Ghost of Oscars Yet to Come: The Lost Weekend is the first social issues drama to win Best Picture. Previous winners danced around what is now a staple during Awards Season, but Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Grand Hotel were really slice-of-life character dramas, The Broadway Melody and Going My Way were really musicals, and It Happened One Night and You Can't Take It With You were really comedies, although all six of those titles were conscious of money, class, marriage, and religion. The Lost Weekend is the first winner about everyday people facing a present day challenge not set during war or a historical period. For the first time, the Academy affirmed the value of a "small" story with its highest honor, giving dignity to people and concerns that could be mistaken as unimportant.

ARTISTIC TASTE: 9/10

[alexandras-adventures]

Check out episode 6 of The Pensieve Podcast where we explore Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on https://anchor.fm/alexandras-adventures

Join us as we discuss the Unbreakable Vow, the Malfoy’s, and Bill Weasley.

Scholarly Second Source: “Film Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” by Stacy Gillis

[swiss-army-wifes]

season 2 juno steel, i love you very much

[mnalohomorapodcast]

Alohomora 'Episode 263 - Rise Above Your Anguish' - is now available! http://alohomorapodcast.com/episode-263-rise-above-your-anguish/

The students are back from the Christmas holidays and Harry already has an appointment scheduled with Dumbledore for the following day. In the memories he shows Harry, we learn the fate of Tom Riddle’s relatives and that Tom is looking for more information about something called a “horcrux.” Join hosts Alison and Katy, returning guest Irvin, and new guest Zoe as they dive into the pensieve to learn more about Voldemort’s past.

On Episode 263 we discuss…

→ Morfin Gaunt = malnourished Steve Buscemi? → Insensitive Ron is insensitive → Floo problems → Oh Harry, if only there was someone out there who believed you → Sassy Flitwick and Dumbledore are on point → When did Dumbledore start collecting memories? → Did Hagrid know that Voldemort was Tom Riddle? → Traceless Tom → “I shouldn’t have said that, should not have said that.” → Modifying your own memories vs. modifying others’ → What if Harry had not retrieved the real memory?

To listen to the show, simply click the player below or direct download the episode. You can also subscribe to us on iTunes. For more information about the podcast and to find out how to be on the show, check out our Be On The Show! page.

Skype users can send us a message to username AlohomoraMN. And as always, be sure to continue the discussion below!

[fandom]

Fandom Spotlight: MuggleNet

MuggleNet, the #1 Wizarding World Resource Since 1999, is dedicated to honoring the magic of the wizarding world by providing reliable, fun, and informative news and content to fans—all while fostering a welcoming, safe, and engaging environment. They currently produce six podcasts, have published three books, and organized two large-scale live events. The next series of events, MuggleNet Live! 2019: Into the Pensieve, will be held October 4th and 5th in New York City.  The site is run by over a hundred fans from eleven countries and thirty-one states, ranging in age from fifteen to fifty-four, all of whom are passionate about making it the best it can be. Read all about the fandom and its future from seven of them!

20 years is a long time on the Internet. What’s the biggest way you’ve seen the fandom change on the site?

In the mid-2000s, when the books and movies were in their heyday, the site was all about speculation. In addition to news on book and movie release dates, filming updates, and changes made by J.K. Rowling to her website, MuggleNet’s most developed section was what is now known as The Quibbler, where individual authors regularly wrote columns theorizing about what might happen next. MuggleNet itself even published a book called What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7? After the final book was published in 2007, and the final movie hit theaters in 2011, the fandom had to make a choice: move on or adapt. Of course, then came Pottermore, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort, Fantastic Beasts, The Cursed Child, etc. MuggleNet has been there throughout it all. We still write about the original book and film series, of course, but we also cover a whole lot of news on the expanded world of the franchise, and we maintain a plethora of sections on the site which explore subjects like Muggle quidditch, the Studio Tour, and the theme parks. —Felicia, Managing Editor

Real Talk. Books or Movies?

The movies are accompaniments to the books. They’re appetizers—satisfying enough, but if you want something filling, you'll choose the books every time. There’s a level of depth and detail to the books that cannot be captured on-screen. When you watch the movies, you’re being presented with someone else’s vision of the books, which can be restricting. When you read the books, the possibilities are as endless as your imagination: How you picture each setting, each character, is up to you. You get to create your own world.  —Victor, Creative Editorial Manager

Which moment in the series made you a Potterhead?

I became a true Potterhead when I revisited the books in high school. For me, it was the climactic scene of the final book. Harry and Voldemort face each other in the Great Hall with the whole cast of characters lined up around the walls listening in stunned silence as Harry explains how Voldemort has underestimated love, the most powerful source of magic, and that this is his downfall. Evil finally defeated, the joy and grief and exhaustion following that moment left me completely in awe. That's when I realized how powerful and important this story about a boy wizard was. That's what keeps me coming back to Hogwarts again and again. It's because of deeply emotional, profound, and beautiful moments like that one that my love for Harry Potter goes beyond simple appreciation or enjoyment. Anyone who loves Harry Potter for any reason can be a Potterhead, of course, but I became a true Potterhead when I understood all the things that make Harry Potter timeless. —Richa, Creative Editorial Manager

What’s the most memorable Harry Potter experience you’ve had at a Comic Con?

The moment the trailer dropped at SDCC 2018 during the Crimes of Grindelwald panel: the room transformed, and Grindelwald’s speech in the tomb, performed live, started booming out over everything. My jaw absolutely dropped. The anticipation at that moment, the promise that was held there…it was something to behold.  —Alison, Staff Coordinator

What’s your dream Harry Potter cosplay? 

My dream cosplay is an obscure one: Bob Ogden from The Half-Blood Prince. Frock coat over a striped bathing suit with spats.  —Meg, Copy Editing Coordinator

How do you see the Harry Potter fandom continuing to evolve?

I see it going through cycles of division but always coming back together. There will be things that push fans away, but I think that at the very core, fans will continue to LOVE Harry Potter, and generations from now, we’ll see new fans discovering it and reviving the love for it, too. Some will grow out of it, but it will continue to be loved, just maybe not in the same way as before. I will say, I’m super scared for the day they try to remake the series. That won’t go over too well! —Eliza, Content Team Manager

What do the next 20 years look like for MuggleNet?

As much as I wish I had Seer abilities to know for sure what the future holds for MuggleNet, I am unfortunately a Muggle. I don’t know where the franchise will take us after the remaining three Fantastic Beasts films, which are currently slated for release over the next 6–7 years. Will we see a Quidditch Through the Ages adaptation? Will there be an expansion of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter? Those are just some of the possibilities that we can currently imagine. At the pace they are producing content and expanding the world, we could be at this for another fifty years! What I do know, without a doubt, is that we will be here producing amazing videos, editorials, podcasts, and everything in between, all while continuing to be the #1 Wizarding World Resource Since 1999.  —Kat, Marketing Director

[speakbeastypodcast]

Podcast Question (episode 111)

Do you think that knowing a minor character’s name in a movie is important? If so, how do you think they should have been introduced?

Bonus: What would you name the Pensieve table/Seeable?

Let us know what you think in the comments, or by emailing speakbeasty@gmail.com!

[almostarchaeology]

Hogwarts Needs Archaeologists, Part 1: Fantastic Antiquities and Where to Find Them

By Adrián Maldonado

The Harry Potterverse is crawling with ancient artefacts and old magic. That doesn’t make it a story about archaeology as such – there is very little effort from the protagonists to do more than treasure-hunt (and in at least one case, tomb-raid) to collect and then destroy these artefacts. In one sense, the Harry Potter cycle is a parable of Fantastic Antiquities and How to Break Them.

Tom Riddle, Tomb Raider (source)

Which is why I haven’t felt the need to do an ‘archaeology of Harry Potter’ post on this blog. But then I went back to the books again. Well, sort of. I am lucky enough to share a timeline with the Binge Mode podcast by the superheroic duo Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion. Their breakdown of the books and films, chapter by chapter and scene by scene, with added detail culled from the wider (so wide) Potter canon, has reawakened my appreciation for the depth of JK’s creation. And, this should surprise absolutely no one by now, it makes me think there’s lessons for archaeologists in the Potterverse.

This will take more than one blog post to tease out. To begin with, we can start by looking at the vast array of antiquities which feature in the books’ own timeline. From there, we can explore how archaeology might work in the wizarding world, and then bring it back to reflections on Rowling’s uses of the past more generally. Speaking of the past, if you don’t want books from 20 years ago spoiled, well, tough look, my guy.

Medieval archaeology

Getting medieval in Diagon Alley (source)

To begin in the most obvious place, there is a lot in the wizarding world which owes its origins to the Middle Ages. According to Rowling’s Pottermore website, Diagon Alley and its major landmarks such as the Leaky Cauldron and Gringotts go back to c. 1500, retaining a ramshackle medieval aesthetic. The prison of Azkaban originated as the fortress of the fifteenth-century sorcerer Ezkidris. Even things which don’t appear obviously medieval are revealed to be medieval on Pottermore: the Quidditch World Cup has been played since 1473, and Floo powder, the magical form of transport, was invented in the thirteenth century by Ignatia Wildsmith (which, if I have another daughter, I will definitely adopt as a name).

The structural medievalism of the Potterverse includes Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry itself, a ponderous castle-university suffused with old magic. Oddly for Britain’s premier (only?) centre of magical learning, we do not seem to know exactly how old it is, but its founders all seem to have lived in the tenth century according to Pottermore. This would make it earlier than the first Muggle universities, themselves a product of the twelfth century and later. It is interesting to think that the robe-wearing denizens of Oxbridge and St Andrews are merely replicating earlier Hogwarts traditions.

Echoes of Hogwarts (source)

What is less immediately obvious is that Hogwarts’ medieval origins are communicated largely through material culture. The Sorting Hat belonged to founder Godric Gryffindor, and so is at least a thousand years old. The Mirror of Erised is also said to be ancient, though we are vague on dates. Does age confer magical properties, or have these objects survived due to the power of their magic? It can’t be the latter, as we are continually reminded of the precarious state of antiquities in the Potterverse. The Hogwarts houses retain stories about early medieval artefacts associated with the lives of their founders, including Rowena Ravenclaw’s lost diadem, Helga Hufflepuff’s cup, and Gryffindor’s Sword; Slytherin House has no equivalent relic-mascot although it does boast its own Chamber of Secrets (not a euphemism). Each of these objects is lost, stolen, or defiled in the course of these stories.

Ravenclaw’s diadem was lost almost as soon as it was made, and Slytherin’s Locket was never kept in Hogwarts, showing the somewhat less than reverential treatment of these artefacts, even among those who should best appreciate their value. More on Slytherin’s personal effects later, but it may be worth noting here that his Chamber was until lately populated with a living balrog, I mean Basilisk, which was at least as ancient as Slytherin before its murder by a student dangerously swinging another medieval artefact in 1998. Guys. Lock down your antiquities.

Days without an accident on site: 0 (source)

Of these artefacts, only the Sword of Gryffindor was curated to any extent, even if only as a wall-hanging which, let me repeat, students were allowed to handle. Hufflepuff’s cup was kept in the common room of its founder’s house, allowing it to be stolen and inhabited with cursed fragments of soul which almost led to the demise of the rules-based wizarding world order. In the end, Helga’s cup was found in a damn bank vault instead of a climate-controlled museum store. Listen, a secure, alarmed case may not have stopped Voldemort, but we could have at least saved these precious witnesses of wizarding origins from being callously destroyed in the war. Who will be the wizarding Mortimer Wheeler next time?

Excavating Hogwarts

Reading through Pottermore, it transpires that paying no heed to the medieval material world our protagonists live in is actively causing them harm. Two of Voldemort’s horcruxes, Slytherin’s Locket and Marvolo Gaunt’s Ring, date back to the early medieval period, but were kept as personal possessions passed down the Gaunt family line, allowing them to be easily stolen or sold, and, again, be haunted by evil curses. Guys. Where do I send my CV to develop a course in Material Culture Studies at Hogwarts? Better yet, let’s make it a MOOC, train members of the public, and then maybe next time someone tries to pawn an ancient relic our world isn’t threatened by cursed archaeology.

Please don’t drink from the archaeology (source)

My favourite revelation is that the Hogwarts pensieve, the expositional device in Dumbledore’s office which allows Harry to experience flashback sequences along with the reader, is a noted antiquity itself. It is said to be a stone basin inscribed with Saxon runes, and to have been found buried on the spot where Hogwarts would be built.

I can’t just pass this by. Why would a pensieve be buried? We know that wizards are buried with their wands, as recounted to plot-driving effect in Dumbledore’s case. It also transpires that, like wands, pensieves are very personal items, and are customarily buried with their owners along with any memories they have stored. What an incredible boon this would be for a wizarding archaeologist! And how well would this explain all the now-empty vessels we have found used as grave goods since prehistory, usually explained by us dull-minded archaeologists as ‘food-offerings’. Along with the spell priori incantatem, which allows one to see the last few spells a wand was used for, an archaeowitch encountering a burial furnished with wand and pensieve would have an unparalleled insight into the lives and deaths of the wizarding dead.

Back to the Hogwarts pensieve, then, we have a massive stone basin inscribed in Saxon runes, which would be rather out of place in the early medieval Scottish highlands, where Hogwarts is based. Is this a disturbed wizard’s tomb or a ritualised offering in a wetland setting? Once upon a time, this find would be taken as evidence for Anglo-Saxon invasion, but now we recognize that objects could be transported for a variety of reasons, and indeed are themselves more likely to be used in votive deposits due to the value they have accrued in the journey. It would certainly merit further investigation whether the Hogwarts loch was chosen by its founders not for its now-isolated and depopulated landscape, itself a product of fairly recent historical processes, but because it had an existing heritage as a site of ritual deposition. We can only hope, for the sake of its students, that the founders undertook some due-diligence magical remote sensing to detect any complicating factors from buried magic, dark or light, before undertaking a major construction project. But beyond health and safety concerns, I feel that we have lost something else by not recording what has presumably been a cult place.

A medieval inheritance

Pottermore also traces the origins of several major wizarding families to the Middle Ages, most notably the Malfoys. Their lineage can be traced back to Armand Malfoy,  who helped William the Bastard become Conqueror of England in the real-world timeline: “Having rendered unknown, shady (and almost certainly magical) services to King William I, Malfoy was given a prime piece of land in Wiltshire, seized from local landowners, upon which his descendants have lived for ten consecutive centuries.” In gratitude for their help with the Norman Conquest, he was granted a manor, which has passed down the family for 1000 years to Draco Malfoy. The mansion itself is said to be filled with ancient magical and muggle artefacts and priceless artwork, as so many stately homes were by the nineteenth century. Many of Britain’s museums were founded through bequests of such private collections, and these would make an interesting, if dangerous, Dark Magic wing of a Wizarding Museum. Given the spectacular fall from grace of the Malfoy family in the second wizarding war, I do worry about the status of the Malfoy collection, and whether it is at risk of being hived off in auction. The Draco Malfoy essay does reveal that he still lives in the manor with its artefacts after the war, so we still live in hope that this heritage resource has not been lost.

Even dark artefacts need curators (source)

In light of their family history, it would be easy to laugh off the Malfoys’ malevolence as the entitlement that comes from old money, but it should be noted that Harry Potter is a noted trust-fund baby himself. For all his remarkable magical prowess, Harry Potter’s destiny is also down to some serious inherited privilege. His medieval progenitor Linfred of Stinchcombe, who also lived in the Norman era, built up the family’s wealth through his famous inventions, including potions like Skele-gro. Their marriage into a wealthy family in Godric’s Hollow is also auspicious – as home to the Peverils and the Dumbledores, whose stories are so indelibly entwined in the history of wizarding Britain, this little village in England’s west country seems to have been the epicentre of magical achievement for a millennium. Something in the water, perhaps? Or a self-segregating community of elite families? It is through these connections that the Potter family came into possession of one of the Deathly Hallows, the invisibility cloak, in another form of inheritance which increasingly looks like the secret of Harry’s success.

Godric’s Hollow - in dire need of graveyard survey (source)

The Hallows themselves are the key to Dumbledore and Harry’s success, and Voldemort’s undoing, Unbeknownst to many, the Resurrection Stone, invisibility cloak and Elder Wand all seem to be inventions of the Peveril brothers in the thirteenth century. We know this partly because Harry and Hermione stumble on Ignotus Peveril’s medieval gravestone in the churchyard of Godric’s Hollow, clearly marked with the sign of the Deathly Hallows, at which point things begin to come together. Basically, Voldemort is able to be defeated because he only trafficked in antiquities, without researching their archaeological context – but in fairness, neither did Dumbledore and Harry until very late in the game. A simple bit of churchyard recording may have brought this to the attention of local history buffs much sooner, and we may all have been safer for it. Basically, folks, local heritage is all of our heritage, and is not just for tourists obsessively chasing only their own family history.

Potter’s pedigree

And so we come to genealogy, which is the secret engine of this cycle of stories, just as it seems to be in so many of our favourite fantasy worlds. The objects, people and places profiled here all seem to be the remnants of stories which seem to begin no earlier than the tenth century or so. But it is clear that the wizarding world existed before then, and the limits of our vision can be explained by the fact that the first university was established at that time, and presumably the recording of historical events as well.  In short, the narrow focus on a small pool of influential families and their feuds are the unresolved business of the formation of medieval kingdoms of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, as indeed is so much of our own contemporary politics. What if our consciousness extended to the messier early medieval kingdoms, or (whisper it) prehistory? Just how problematic would a wizarding archaeology be? And could it free us from the Great Men and Their Battles vision of the human journey? Let’s pick up our trowel-wands and find out.

***

Forward to Part 2: Excavating Magic

Follow us on @AlmostArch

[hopefullyababe]

;w;

ok obviously everyone go follow @amateur-artist bc theyre really sweet and very funny

but ALSO

@solareidolon posts about horror/general podcasts (as well as other horror content and your general funnyposting) and it is literally one of the kindest people ive met. (also sometimes it posts abt projects its working on and thas like the highlight of my month. its always doing something cool.)

@enby-catgirl is a homestuck artist and their work literally always inspires me. the colors fuck so hard, and the LINEART. *MWAH* he also posts about american girl dolls, and his many many other interests! haven has such a rich personality and u can really see it in everything they do.

@trashpremiium is literally just a guy. go follow them or else. *holds u at gunpoint*

(xes genuinely so fucking funny. xe posts alot abt dnd, those minecraft homosexuals, and also stranger things recently. xe is my bestest friend and i am so glad to have them in my life. theres just something so likeable about them. maybe im biased tho ;3)

((FUCK WAIT ALSO THEY HAVE AN ART BLOG AND THEIR ART IS FUCKING INCREDIBLE. GO FOLLOW @zephyr-draws))

@cherry-pie-bi is just a little guy. they do funnyposting, but also tmaposting and recently stranger things. august. is fucking hilarious. whatever sauce theyre on that makes them so funny i want it.

@quiplex <- this guy posts abt starwaes or soemthing idk

@crit20lesbian does lots of funnyposting, but theyre also a tma author! and theyre REALLY GOOD. genuinely their fics fuck so hard if u like tma go check them out. (also their art is so good 🥺🥺🥺 go follow their art blog -> @jevonne) also they have the best tags in the world and their whole vibe is :chefskiss:

also i know that prev also tagged tem but @purplexiasphinx is the best. guys go follow them. somehow they have all the spice of a retired homestuck veteran but they completely skipped over the homestuck part. what the fuck. (also genuinely tem is so fucking funny. they also have some kinda special sauce thay makes them hilarious.)

@bee-ideas this bitch. they have the secretest sauce of them all. the posts? fire. the vibes? immaculate. the penis? slayed. you may be asking yourself: how do they do it? satanic rituals.

(go follow them, they are hilarious. a post of theirs will cross my dash and brighten my entire day.)

@prototypeblues LITERAL BEST SENSE OF HUMOUR IN THE WORLD. the vibes are immaculate. they post abt anime alot id tell u which animes but im not an anime guy sadly :pensiev: this guy rules check them out

@werwaser is a funnyposter but also does the Gay Minecraft Guys. they are. so. So funny. they are the most >:3 ever. they are a tiny cat who got a tumblr blog. and theyre QUICK TOO literally theyre just always Like That. even in dms bestie how. how does ur mind do that. how are u so funny.

i think thats everyone. go check them out!!

(also, click prev to see all the other blogs ppl are shouting out!! cant vouch for them personally, but definitely go check those out if u have the time!!)

It's Show & Tell Time!

Reblog and tag a blog (or blogs) you think others should follow!

[alexandras-adventures]

Harry Potter Blog Post 5

Hi everyone! If you haven’t listened to the most recent episode of The Pensieve Podcast, make sure to check it out @ https://anchor.fm/alexandras-adventures or your favorite podcast platform!

Why Would Voldemort Put the Dark Mark on Death Eaters?

The Dark Mark is first notably seen in the sky after the Qudditch World Cup in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. “It was a colossal skull, comprised of what looked like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue.” This symbol also appears on the arms of Voldemort’s followers, specifically the forearms is where it can generally be seen. This mark is considered Voldemort’s version of the Devil’s Mark, which is from the Middle Ages. “Morsmorde” is the command used to make the Dark Mark appear. 

Why Would Durmstrang Students Travel by Ship?

Durmstrang is one of two wizarding schools in continental Europe. The exact location of the school is unknown, but due to the uniforms worn, it is probably in northeastern Europe. On top of “deep bloodred” robes, the students wear coats of “shaggy, matted fur.” The Headmaster’s name is Igor Karkaroff and students have names such as Poliakoff, which also suggest eastern Europe/Russia. 

The school’s name is a play on the German phrase Sturm and Drang (“storm and stress”). It is in this section of the reading that we get some insight into why Durmstrang students travel by ship. The term describes a type of literature devoted to grandeur, spectacle, and rebellion. Richard Wagner, a composer, wrote many dark operas, one of which included the famous ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman.

At Durmstrang, students are actually taught the Dark Arts, as opposed to Hogwarts where they only learn Defense Against the Dark Arts. This is said to be influenced by the headmaster, Karkaroff, a former Death Eater. Additionally, Durmstrang doesn’t admit Mudbloods, according to Draco Malfoy, whose father considered sending him there for their doctrines. 

Why are Harry and Cedric like knights of the round table?

The Goblet of Fire is a “roughly-hewn wooden cup” that would be “entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames.” The Goblet of Fire is fairly similar to another powerful goblet, the Holy Grail. Like the Goblet of Fire, the Holy Grail was probably made of wood because it was the cup of a poor carpenter. Both were magical objects. The Grail was said to heal those who drank from it, and the Goblet can sense whether or not a person is worthy. King Arthur and his knights undertook quests to find the Grail or at least to understand its significance. For Harry and Cedric, they were tasked to literally find a “Grail” or in this case the Triwizard Cup.

Source: Colbert, David. The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter: A Treasury of Myths, Legends, and Fascinating Facts. Lumina Press, 2001.

[literarydemerit]

Episode 5: And There Was Only One Coffin!

Chapters 26-33 of My Immortal. We’re getting into the Real Plot of this fanfic, in which Ebony travels back in time to seduce Voldemort to prevent him from becoming evil. This week we sexily jump into the Pensieve to meet Voldemort back when he was a sexy goth boy, learn about the addictive properties of truth serum, and (as usual) listen to some My Chemical Romance. In our final segment, we hunt down quizzes similar to Tara’s “are you a goff or a prep” quiz that has sadly been lost to time.


Content warnings: self-harm per usual, a scene in which an adult threatens to rape a teenage character, and some references to (fantasy) addiction

Available on Patreon or wherever you download podcasts!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-5-and-65794266

[wateenleventje]

The Beginning of Us

I used to write fiction. Nothing really remarkable, yet I enjoy composing fictious character's life and tell how love can change our life. Maybe because I watch too much romantic comedy. When I finally stop writing these type of writing, is I think because it does not give much impact to my personal life, let alone to bigger audience.

I decided to write more based on my real personal experience or share my thought in a blog platform. It feels different, it feels more therapeutic because I can stop bottling up what is on my mind and how I actually feel. It is also nice to have pensieve (Harry Potter vocab alert)!

I sometimes miss the good old days when I soak myself in the story of love. No matter how cheesy the story is, I believe that every person's life worth a once in a lifetime story, especially their journey of finding love. That is why I love watching movie about love story (Earlier episode of The Crown with Elizabeth and Philip's story, Felicity Jones' The Theory of Everything, Sandra Bullock's The Proposal, Hilary Duff's Cinderella Story, Lily Colin's Love, Rosie., Lindsay Lohan's The Parent Trap, Emily Clarke's Me Before You are some of my favorite). I enjoy reading hundred of pages (oh well, thousand? I even guilty for reading the whole Twilight Saga series) of how people's life twisted once love came. I kept quotes of love advice, reading and listening to random podcast, videos and blog post about love story, and I even wrote scientific paper about Long Distance Relationship couple (for my bachelor's thesis).

I have to admit that I even perceive so many things in my life happening in a way of a romantic comedy writer works. As an intro I would summed up that we started off as two strangers meeting in a destined time. We came with our own baggage a.k.a history and current situation on-going, but we just gotta meet that night and get through the labyrinth first. Even the setting could not be anymore "hollywood-like": one night, in a new city, simple hello and cheesy line, and we instantly hit if off. 

One thing lead to another, we did not just related, but we keep in touch regularly after that night. It was a memorable night and I was enchanted by him. However, it was on hold shortly after he casually mentioned about his current relationship and became supportive to my situation that time. I was not in my best state at that time, as I took so many careless choices and not focusing on what really matters in life and in love. I think, it was because I was 23 and living on the edge seems like a celebration of getting “my freedom”. 

Even when we became busy with our own circle, our own love life, and our routine, we maintain our close friendship. We came to each other naturally but carefully refraining ourselves from diving in real feeling. I somehow sense that I messed up a little too much and with him I just found a safe haven. I became so comfortable showing my actual thought and telling him how I felt, even when he frowned after hearing about it. I have to be honest, even though I was in a relationship with someone else by that time, I enjoyed his constant care (like taking the closest chair or walking beside me most of the time), his abudant encouragement (how he called me "genius" just because I told him excitedly that I passed my exam without caring the grades I have), our sweet personal talk (I remembered how he shared his "wedding theme song" to me when we were just friend), his being protective to me (not letting me out on my own during winter night) and making a big deal out of his spontaneous compliment (telling me that I made the best fried rice--just because I decided not to put chili on it, because he dislikes spicy food). I remembered that we spent so many alone time, one on one talk when our group of friends are hanging out, catching up in a short groceries walk.

By the end of our first semester, I noticed that something change between us. We become overtly friendlier but also trapped in our current situation. I was so consumed by a long distance relationship struggle back then and did not realize that he also getting close with someone else. I still think that he paid that degree of attention only to me and we have different level of closeness, so I got myself so comfortable with him. I was indulged in our special routine: taking time, just the two of us, strolling around the city in dawn, having kebab and soda when I need someone to talk to, watching the first snow shower together, and even had our best-honeymoon-trip-scenario, where he acted as if he helped me to create a honeymoon itinerary for the me and my future spouse while we just filled it with our favorite places.

I had my breakdown that year after a short holiday where we spent far away from each other as I just broke up from a relationship that I actually knew would not survive. Still, it hurts and what I wanted that new year eve was just to returned to our Maastricht and met him. I was delighted that he was eager to meet me and my parents as well, to the point he initiated it. We arranged a short trip out of the city and I can't deny how I felt about him once I found him getting along with my father. I watched them just sync effortlessly and how he made conversation with him all day long while me and my mom getting “busy” shopping. Maybe I was not rational at that time, wanting to escape from my heart break, but I swear I hear myself saying "I think, all these things happened so I can realize that Madeza is the one".

I did not pay attention or simply refute from seeing the signs, I let myself build hope that this might be a start of something new, only to find out that he had a new girl friend. I remembered that night very clearly, I remember the place when he told me casually about it. I felt like a fool and I keep wondering whether it was a plot twist in our story. Anyway, is it quite clear how our love story resembles one of that movie up until this point?

The shock and even worse heartbreak this time, I got angry and tried to find another resort. So, I chose to spend time with someone else out of the blue, making it clear that I tried to escape watching someone I am in love with enjoying a good time with someone else. I tried to run away from the fact that I have to witness them together, because we were in the same group and we lived in a small city, and I need to at least be able to "do what he do to me”. I don’t know if I am so angry at him or at the timing.

Nonetheless, I can’t keep my joy whenever we sneaked out for a meet-up. But our conversation became bizarre as we keep so much from each other. It only took us weeks to realize that our so called friendship needs a closure. We approached each other, talking until dawn and crying and laughing at how ridiculous the situation we got ourselves into. We talked about past, about our feeling, about moments we secretly keep and treasure it. I was told that he actually recognized me before we talked for the first time. He spotted me through a social media posting and he read some of my blog posts. 

I think, that moment we were too happy and got ourselves into a bubble, we were too afraid to return to the reality we were in that we did not talk about it. But morning comes and we just have to face the reality we were in. Once or twice we exchanged some difficult conversation, like a passive I-want-you-to-tell-what-is-going-on-between-us and we did not continue in the middle of our conversation because it was too hard just to straightly said how we actually feel. So, we let the distance grow, we did not really exchange news or let ourself start any conversation. It was hard, but I think by that time it was what we need for a while.

I remember the spring was around the corner when we finally reconnected. It started with a random meeting and hang out. It ended up with a text where I confessed that I miss him so badly. Ever since that day, we just know that things are escalating. Although we spend time with our friends, we cannot keep that longing stare off each other. I feel that moment very significant to our relationship because we were so close to hit that point in our romantic relationship, yet we were not so sure where we stood.

One of the most special memory in that period is related with the celebration of my 24th birthday. We did not get to celebrate my birthday together, but we went to the church that morning together. He took me to a birthday brunch and it was a lovely morning. I was not really in a good place back then, I felt a bit disoriented in between what I have not achieved in my life and where I want to walk after this. We talk about future, not as the two of us, yet, but about each of us. We learn about surrender (berserah) our life in God's hands and not give up our situation to the situation at road's end (terserah). I never had that kind of conversation with anyone before, that moment I know how much I want to have those conversations for the rest of my life.

As we only have part of my birthday together, we decided to go for a date to annual spring garden, away from our city. I bought a pinky seed of tulip, we strolled, chatted, and had dinner. He took me to have dinner in a cozy café by the pier called Plek. We stayed there long enough until the crowd dissolved, looking the sky turned black, the lights hanged warmly, and we had the bench by the pier for ourselves. We sit there, looking at pitch black far horizon, just close our eyes in silence side by side. The weather feels cool, but I cant help feeling sad for this moment, as verything is quite blurry even when we can't deny what is hanging the air. He said something though--something that replace the 3 words we have not really dare to say to each other as we just throw the badge of friendship that we used all this time. "If one day I don’t fight for us as much as I do today, please remind me of this place and this moment."

He took my breath away.

For 23 years I was falling and failing miserably, worrying that I wont come up with the love story that as magical as my parents’. I am afraid I won’t ever stop looking until I found my own great love story. Then, I met Madeza that year and I know he is my great love story. It was just the beginning and I already know how it turned out to be, and I love it. I’ve found the one and it is much more wonderful than any love story in the whole world. 

#whatalife

[livesets-dj-mixes-edm-podcasts]

Download D-Formation - Beatfreak Radio Show 214 | Almma Valencia for free now!

Artist: D-Formation Show: D-Formation – Beatfreak Radio Show 214 | Almma Valencia Quality: 320 Kbps 48000 Khz Genre: Techno, Tech-House, Progressive-House,Minimal Source: RSS

Discover more D-Formation live sets & radioshows HERE | Listen or download more Beatfreak Radio Show episodes HERE

D-Formation – Beatfreak Radio Show 214 | Almma Valencia Tracklist

1. Santiago Garcia – Vida (Original Mix), Multinotes 2. Ayan – Pensieve (Original Mix), Polyptych 3. Timble – Opposite (Clemente Remix), Nazca Records 4. Los Cabra & Lonya – Lechaim (Original Mix), Stil Vor Talent 5. Oliver Koletzki – Made Of Cashmere (Original Mix), Stil Vor Talent 6. Coeus – Rain (Original Mix), Afterlife 7. Ayan – Disjointed (Original Mix), Polyptych 8. ID 9. Made By Pete – Aikido (Original Mix), Yoshitoshi 10. Kamilo Sanclemente, Almma Valencia – Dharma (Original Mix), Beatfreak Recordings 11. Made By Pete – The Greencoat Row (Original Mix), Yoshitoshi

The podcast D-Formation – Beatfreak Radio Show is embedded on this page from an open RSS feed. All files, descriptions, artwork and other metadata from the RSS-feed is the property of the podcast owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by EDMliveset.com.

Follow us on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit & VK

[edmlivesets4u-blog]

Listen or download D-Formation - Beatfreak Radio Show 214 | Almma Valencia for free now!

Artist: D-Formation Show: D-Formation – Beatfreak Radio Show 214 | Almma Valencia Quality: 320 Kbps 48000 Khz Genre: Techno, Tech-House, Progressive-House,Minimal Source: RSS

Discover more D-Formation live sets & radioshows HERE | Listen or download more Beatfreak Radio Show episodes HERE

D-Formation – Beatfreak Radio Show 214 | Almma Valencia Tracklist

1. Santiago Garcia – Vida (Original Mix), Multinotes 2. Ayan – Pensieve (Original Mix), Polyptych 3. Timble – Opposite (Clemente Remix), Nazca Records 4. Los Cabra & Lonya – Lechaim (Original Mix), Stil Vor Talent 5. Oliver Koletzki – Made Of Cashmere (Original Mix), Stil Vor Talent 6. Coeus – Rain (Original Mix), Afterlife 7. Ayan – Disjointed (Original Mix), Polyptych 8. ID 9. Made By Pete – Aikido (Original Mix), Yoshitoshi 10. Kamilo Sanclemente, Almma Valencia – Dharma (Original Mix), Beatfreak Recordings 11. Made By Pete – The Greencoat Row (Original Mix), Yoshitoshi

The podcast D-Formation – Beatfreak Radio Show is embedded on this page from an open RSS feed. All files, descriptions, artwork and other metadata from the RSS-feed is the property of the podcast owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by EDMliveset.com.

Follow us on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit & VK