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Episode 9 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Pod with Hoai Trinh
10 Plays1 year ago
This week we are joined by the Queen of Copper Kettle Hoai Trinh. We learn a little about her childhood, get a behind-the-scenes look at Copper Kettle Chocolate Factory, and learn how she swiped Ryan from the clutches of another. Along the way, we discuss every millennial's favorite, movie/book series Harry Potter. We learn some interesting facts about the films and debate the best characters. This is an episode you don't want to miss.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:12
Speaker
Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight Gonna grab some afternoon delight My motto's always been, when it's right, it's right
00:00:25
Speaker
Good afternoon, Delights. I am your host, Matt Lattimer, just trying to bring you a smile on this Wednesday, but I couldn't do that alone. So I brought on a very special guest, Ms. Whytrin. How are you doing tonight? Why? I'm good. I'm good. How are you? I can't complain. It was a sunny day here in Columbus. Those are few and far between, so you got to take them when you can get them. That
Whytrin's Background and Houston's Appeal
00:00:50
Speaker
is fair. It was super foggy this morning here in Houston, Texas. It's rough.
00:00:54
Speaker
All right. Why, why don't you tell the guests a little bit about yourself? Where are you born at? How'd you grow up? Uh, I was born in Boca Raton, Florida from South Florida. Came to Texas. My dad worked for IBM. So when I was fresh out the womb, probably two months old, we moved to Texas. So I consider myself a Texan. I lived in Austin for a long time. I attend 12 years and then moved to Houston. And yeah, and now I'm here. I'm back here after college. So where am I? I bought a house, put some roots down, not going anywhere anytime soon.
00:01:21
Speaker
So you spent no time in Boca? None. I go back and forth to see family, but now. Okay. I mean, I was gonna say Chris spent time in Boca at FAU. I heard, I heard. I haven't been back to Boca in a few years, actually. My grandparents still live in West Palm, so visit when I can. What do you prefer, Austin or Houston? Where'd you live in more? Now, probably Houston, but if it was still old school Austin, back in like 2010, I would be back there. It's just so populated now and a lot of crazies have
Connections and Relationships in Houston
00:01:46
Speaker
moved there.
00:01:46
Speaker
fair enough now for our listeners out there miss why she somehow puts up with mr Ryan kasuji famous guest the candy man himself why is the candy lady as some people have dubbed her the queen of copper kettle and a lot of people are really wondering you know
00:02:02
Speaker
how the heck you put up with Ryan but we kind of got like the crazy small world thing going on where Ryan obviously moved up here moved down to Houston that's how you do met and established the chocolate shop 10 minutes from my aunt that lives in Houston and then my cousin Thomas ends up dating a girl and miss Paige Williams who was one of your best friends in high school
00:02:25
Speaker
I don't know middle school, actually. I've known her since we were like, I think, sixth or seventh grade. Crazy. What a small world. What a ridiculously small world. Moves across the country, then dates a girl that ends up being best friends with the girl that Ryan is dating. Yeah. What are the odds, right? I wonder what the odds are on that. I think they say, you know everyone through six different people. Yeah. I mean, that tracks for us. Yeah, it kind of does. Pretty accurate.
00:02:45
Speaker
Now, I've never gotten the whole story, so me and the people we want to know, how did you and Ryan meet? Oh, gosh. Um, so I used to work at a bar called Pluckers. It is a wing bar. Roosters is better, I can say. Anyways, he was a frequent flyer. He was a regular because he coached lacrosse across the street four days a week. So he was at my bar top four days a week.
00:03:08
Speaker
He would come in and get a beer and five wings. It was a quick in and out in like 30, 45 minutes. It doesn't talk to anybody. I didn't know his name, but I always knew his order. What was his order? He would do five wings Cajun with blue cheese and celery, and then he would have a tall Miller Lite. Nice.
00:03:24
Speaker
Yeah, no water. I literally had his beer poured as soon as he walked through the door. But that was just how I was with everybody. And I became all the time. I tried to have casual conversation. Never talk. Never talk. That's our Ryan. Yeah. Quiet guy. And then say six months after I initially met him, I didn't realize that Scott and Carrie Ryan's parents were his parents.
00:03:42
Speaker
So I knew them as the Chocolatiers, you know, like a couple who owned the shop and never realizing that Ryan was their son. So actually I knew Scott and Carrie by their name, but I did not know Ryan. And then one day at the same bar, I hosted Trivia. A girl that I worked with, she was bartending. I was hosting Trivia and she goes, this guy is so cute. I had the biggest crush on him. And this girl's name is Teresa. And I was like, who are you talking about? She's like, regular. He comes in all the time. And I'm like, I have no idea who you're talking to.
00:04:07
Speaker
And then she was like, oh, his parents own the chocolate factory. And I was like, they have a son, not connecting anything. And then he comes in, she points him out and I'm like, oh yeah, he is pretty cute, right? Like, yeah, he's a good looking guy. And then she's like, yeah, like we chat all the time, blah, blah, blah. He doesn't talk to me at all. And I'm like, okay. Well, next time he comes in, I'm like a little ballsy, a little competitive. I'm like, okay, he's cute. Like I'm going to talk to him and see what he's about. And he was like, yeah, I'm coaching a game practice tonight, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, when my friends and I are going to this bar, when I get off of work, you should come meet us.
00:04:35
Speaker
He was like, yeah, I'm down, so we exchanged numbers. And I was about to get off work, so I asked to sit next to him, and I did. And he saved the seat for me. We chatted for 15 minutes. Somehow God knew he wanted Ryan's practice to get rained out. So it poured rain. He texted me like a picture of him soaking wet sitting in his car. And he's like, well, practice is canceled. And I was like, well, I'll go to this bar early. And my friends never showed up. So we went. It was just us two. But I initially asked him out. And I paid for our bill. I paid for the check. And the rest is history.
00:05:02
Speaker
I mean, this makes all the sense in the world because we all know that Ryan isn't capable of wearing the pants in the family. He definitely needs to be led. At first, yeah, I would say so too. Yeah, he took me on, I think, six dates. And then, yeah, it was just movies after movies. I'm like, this guy really likes movies.
00:05:20
Speaker
and like we didn't kiss or anything and I was like he's being respectful right then a few times later I'm like are we just friends now like we've hung out for the last month and a half like we haven't kissed like I'm asking you out we're texting all the time like what's the deal he was like I just want to take things slow because I initially was like hey I live at home with my parents like let's hang out I don't really want to go out I can make you dinner like we can hang out and he didn't tell me he was embarrassed to tell me that he had moved back in with his mom and dad because he was trying to find a new apartment even though that's not embarrassing
00:05:48
Speaker
but he was so humble about it and didn't want to, you know, I guess hurt his reputation. And so that's why we never like hung out or he never told me where he lived or what part of town he lived and he was very secretive. And I come to find out he was just embarrassed that he lived at home at 27 for a month. And I was like, oh my gosh, this guy. That's Ryan for you. He acts tough, but you know, he's just. Big softy. Yeah, he's a big softy. I mean, you work with that much chocolate and that much sugar. You can't help
Life at the Chocolate Factory
00:06:16
Speaker
but being sweet.
00:06:16
Speaker
funny is that now looking back, he told me that he actually was going to ask Teresa out to before or after. Yeah. That's what's funny is like, we still bring her up from time to time. I still talk to her, but she liked him so much. It was so awkward when we first started dating because I didn't tell her you swiped her from your friend.
00:06:34
Speaker
I didn't mean to. It wasn't on purpose, but life happens in mysterious ways, right? I mean, I watch out if I were around her. She might be looking to get some revenge. Maybe. How long have you two been together? Four or five years now? This August will be six years. Oh, dang. Okay. Yeah. That's a long time. I think that's about how long me and Breein have been together, too. Yeah, it's a very long time. It happened so fast. I mean, I'm like, it's flown by.
00:06:57
Speaker
Yeah, it doesn't feel like that long ago because we probably would have met the first time. COVID. Maybe time after. Just after COVID. Probably just before our wedding, so about two and a half-ish, three years ago, somewhere like that, coming up on three years. Sounds about right. How much time do you spend at Copper Kettle? We first started dating all the time, but it was because it was my excuse to go see him without his parents knowing we were dating. Okay, but he didn't ever bring you back to make any of the chocolates. Have you made any chocolates at Copper Kettle?
00:07:20
Speaker
Oh yeah, after his parents found out we were dating, I came around a lot more. Um, I used to hop out during the holidays, Valentine's, Christmas, I'd bag stuff. They let me dip some strawberries one Valentine's day. That was intimidating. Cause I literally dropped three strawberries in the melter. It came off my fork and Ryan was like, move, just like push me out of the way. He was like, I got it. I was like, Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And then he burned, burned me once on accident.
00:07:44
Speaker
No, I don't believe that. Ryan doesn't make mistakes when making chocolate. He does when he gets nervous. He doesn't get nervous. He's the candy man. He's an expert. He's a professional. Willy Wonka looks up to him. I am telling you all his secrets because he definitely gets nervous. He gets so intimidated by new stuff.
00:07:58
Speaker
What's the hardest thing you've ever made, that copper kettle? Dipping the apples is when he burned me and that was pretty hard because it's like, it's so hot, you're so close to the kettle that like this liquid caramel, like hot molten caramel is in a hot copper pot, you know? So I'm like dipping it and then like you have to shake it a bunch of times to get the excess off and then Ryan flicks some on my hand. It was the most excruciating pain. That sounds terrible. Yeah, it was pretty bad. He just does it so fast and so like easily. I'm like, okay, you're made for this.
00:08:24
Speaker
I've seen his TikTok videos. He knows what he's doing. He's definitely an expert. We're trying to get into the lab and collab and come up with some new products, get some new ads going for the CKL pod. That would be nice. He's also opening up another shop. I don't know if he told you guys that. Oh, we know. We're aware. There's big news on the pod this year. Very excited. Well, we knew also because me and Chris had to go and move his entire shop forum out of. That's right. That's right. That's funny. That was fun. Good friends you guys are.
00:08:51
Speaker
Yeah, I guess so. He told us, hey, help us come move a couple things, like heavy things from the Golden Turtle, and we show up, and it's a chocolate factory five times the size of Copper Kettle. You know what's funny is that whenever he got back to, he was like, man, if my friends asked me to move shit, I wouldn't go. He's like, I wouldn't help anybody. It was only me and Chris. He asked everyone. I know. He asked all of us, and two of us went. That is funny. Hopefully you guys got some good food or beer or something out of it.
00:09:18
Speaker
We got some copper kettle out of it, and that's all that matters. To be a lifetime of copper kettle. I do get a lifetime of copper kettle. Oh, that's right. He hooks me up. That's my advertisement pay. The ads drum up a lot of business for him. He won't admit it, but they do. I think they do, too. What's your favorite copper kettle product? Oh, it depends on my mood. So he does these almost like caramel grams. It's basically like a Twix. I love Twix. But then during the holiday seasons, he'll dip strawberries and stuff, you know? But I am obsessed with chocolate covered pineapple. Sessed.
00:09:48
Speaker
Does he make chocolate covered pineapple? No, he only does it for me and it's so good. Something about it is just good, but the chocolate's even better and the fact that he does it is the best, you know? I need to put in a special request because Brianna's favorite fruit is pineapple.
00:10:02
Speaker
Yeah, so is mine. She'd lose her mind at some chocolate covered pineapple. Need to get that going or even like to make it easier. Let's get him a big dehydrator and let's do some dehydrated pineapple. We actually have a dehydrator. We have one. I should try it. A new recipe. Now there's that, but he makes a bunch of stuff. I love all of his chocolate.
00:10:21
Speaker
He doesn't make a bad thing. Toffee's a hit, the brownie melt. That's why I can't lose weight since I've been with him. Because I'll go through cravings and I'll just bring a bunch of stuff home. It's tough. I just leave copper kettle. It's always at my house. And then I have to like parse it out. And once I open it, like I eat it every day until it's gone. I have to stop myself from just not opening and I wait for special occasions.
00:10:41
Speaker
That's the good part about it. It doesn't ever go bad. So I did find out though that some of the products do have a shelf life. The buckaroos and anything with like the Rice Krispies or the cereal has a shelf. Oh, it goes stale. Oh, that's unfortunate. Yeah. Found that out the hard way. Oh, I do love the Rice Krispie Cheats with the caramel peanut butter and chocolate. I don't know what the heck those are called. Is that the buckaroo? The buckaroo doesn't have carbs. It's just rice, crispy peanut butter and chocolate.
00:11:06
Speaker
Oh, maybe that's it with a sea salt. Well, he has one that's just Rice Krispie caramel and chocolate and has sea salt on top.
00:11:13
Speaker
Maybe that's the one I'm thinking of. And the buckaroo is the peanut butter, and I can't remember the name of the other one. And then he just made the peanut butter marshmallow graham. He brought that home to me, and he had like three different consistencies. And I took a bite, and like one of it was a good texture, and it was like three bears, right? One was good texture, one was too soft, and one was too hard. Like the soft one like was kind of already oozing out, and so it was all over the place. It was so messy. I'm basically his test subject. Like he just brings stuff home for me to try, and I told him yes or no to keep making it.
00:11:40
Speaker
That sounds like the best job ever. I've been trying to talk him into closing Copper Kettle in Texas, moving up to Columbus so that I can be the taste tester. You know what's crazy? We talked about going back to Columbus at one point. I totally would. I would go. It's a great place, except for in the winter. Which is half the year.
00:11:57
Speaker
It's not really so cold, but the wind does suck. The biggest thing is how much it rains. There's just like no sun for four or five months. Cause it just rains ever. It just rains all the time. Sounds awful. I mean, you can't blame me though. Cause every time I've been to Columbus or Ohio in general, the weather is always sunny and 75 every time. Yeah. Then it's perfect. It's great to be there. But that's the only time I've ever been was when the weather's like that. So I don't believe that it rains or snows or anything like that there.
00:12:23
Speaker
Maybe if you moved to Columbus, it just never would rain anymore.
Harry Potter Enthusiasts Unite
00:12:27
Speaker
Magical place. Alright, now I have heard Ryan complaining because he thinks that you watch too much Harry Potter. Yes. I'm obsessed. I love Harry Potter. Through and through. Yeah, have you seen all the movies, read all the books?
00:12:40
Speaker
I have read majority of the books. I had to buy it on my own allowance as a kid, and I just stopped buying them because the books were expensive. So I read up to five, but I've watched every single movie multiple times. And Ryan told me that you were a purist, so you didn't watch Fantastic Beasts, and I told him every true Potterhead has watched Fantastic Beasts. Have you seen those? No, I have not.
00:13:01
Speaker
Why I know and I've been told that as well, but it's just basically it's before Harry Potter, right? So it's not what the story is now It's like how Dumbledore became Dumbledore and like all that stuff, but Harry Potter is Harry Potter, you know, like it's about him So I also think cuz I grew up with the same age. So just watching them grow as I'm growing up, too I think that's why I prefer that over Fantastic Beast stories
00:13:23
Speaker
I mean, that's going to wrap us into a little bit of afternoon delights place at the table, but this is a special afternoon delights place at the table where we're just going to discuss some wacky Harry Potter facts. Okay. So fact number one, when J.K. Rowling wrote the original book and before releasing them, she changed or had different original names for some of the characters. Hermione Puckle, Draco Spinks, Neville Puff, and Lily Moon were some of the names that she was going to go with.
00:13:53
Speaker
They kind of sound like they should be on trading cards. I was looking at the names and I was like, if the main villain, Draco Malfoy, if it was a Draco Spinks in the first two movies, it just wouldn't have the same ring to it. It sounds like an animal. It sounds like it should be an animal. You're a Draco Spinks.
00:14:08
Speaker
I'm glad she changed this. I made the right call there. I agree. Here's another fun fact that whenever we saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione doing schoolwork in the movies, that Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson were doing their actual homework for school on set. I knew that. I actually knew that one. All right, you've been watching the director's cut.
00:14:26
Speaker
I did and then I also had read an article about the movie I know I'm a nerd about Harry Potter but I actually read a couple like articles they wrote about her idea behind you know Harry Potter and everything but the cast was chosen based off of obviously their age and they weren't big-time actors at the time so they still were going through homeschooling the whole time and Harry Potter took a long time to film so you're doing homework
00:14:46
Speaker
Fact number three is that the Harry Potter series could have been much different because originally Steven Spielberg was set to direct the first movie and he actually got into an argument with JK Rowling and ended up backing out but he wanted Haley Joel Osment to play Harry in the film and at one point he wanted the film to be animated and not live-action
00:15:09
Speaker
And part of the argument was that JK Rowling refused to cast anybody that was not British. She wanted an all British cast for Harry Potter, which is why Robin Williams, who wanted to play Hagrid in the films, wasn't cast. And the original casting of Harry was a boy named Liam Aiken. He was 10 years old and they cast him to play Harry and they told him that he got the part and everything. And then they found out that he was American and they fired him and went with Daniel Radcliffe.
00:15:36
Speaker
Oh my gosh, that's crazy. That'd have been a whole different storyline. I don't know if I want to watch it then. You know what would have been really crazy for what we know from Ryan's episode and everything that we know about Copper Kettle, Steven Spielberg, he eats Copper Kettle chocolates. Golden Turtle chocolates could have been on the Harry Potter set. Oh, that would have been sick. It's definitely possible. Imagine if they would have used that as like a product instead of the chocolate fraud. They had the Copper Kettle chocolate turtle in the movie.
00:16:02
Speaker
That's so crazy. Cause Ryan actually makes the chocolate frogs and that's just the irony behind all of that. They could have, they could have really had it. I'm shocked. You ready for my fourth crazy fact? Shirley Henderson who played Moni Myrtle. Well Myrtle was a 14 year old girl. Shirley Henderson was 36 years old when she was cast. Oh my God. Full grown woman.
00:16:19
Speaker
That's like a scary movie. She's a ghost, but... Obviously, all ladies know that the bathroom and the bar are at the club. The women's room is a sacred place and a safe space. Well, J.K. Rowling based moaning Myrtle off of all of the crying girls that she had run into in bathrooms at bars and clubs growing up. That's funny. That's a lot of women and what an impact on her life.
00:16:44
Speaker
Fact number five, that director Alfonso Cuaron, who directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, asked Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint to write essays about their characters. Daniel Radcliffe wrote one page, Emma Watson wrote 10 pages, and Rupert Grint didn't write anything. That fits them perfectly in the movie.
00:17:02
Speaker
Yes, a perfect symbol of all their characters and how their role was. My next fact, the Killing Curse, Avada Kadava, comes from an Aramaic phrase, Abhada Kadabra, which means to disappear like this word, which when I was a kid growing up and watching the movies before I'd got to the books and seen how it was written down, I 100% thought that the Killing Curse was pronounced Fa-hala-kadabra. Was that where probably the phrase abracadabra comes from?
00:17:29
Speaker
That's kind of what I was thinking, but I was totally wrong as a dumb kid. Well, it made sense to me, but I would have thought the same thing, to be honest. Okay, my next fact, Richard Harris, who was the initial Dumbledore in the first and second movies, he declined to play the role because of Aileen Health. And when his granddaughter found out that he turned down the role of Dumbledore, she had such a love for the Harry Potter books, in order to convince him to do the role, she threatened to never speak to him again if he did not play Dumbledore.
00:17:57
Speaker
She loved Harry Potter that much. I need to meet her. See, Christopher Columbus, who directed the first two Harry Potter movies, in the first movie, he decided to use actual food for the feast rolls. All that food is real. Oh, I knew that too. Did you know that because of all of the lights and everything keeping the food up and how long it had to sit on the table and how hot everything got, that the food was becoming too rancid too quickly and nobody could actually eat it and that the set smelled disgusting the entire time that they were doing those scenes? I did not know that.
00:18:27
Speaker
They all said that it was just gross. So, you know, after doing it a little bit and for like the future films, when it got to the second film, they would make the food and then they would freeze the food hole and then make molds out of it and produce like exact replicas to look realistic. Oh, wow. Now you can just 3D print everything.
00:18:44
Speaker
Times are different. And then my last fact is that all of the plants in Harry Potter, their names come from a real book called Culpeper's Complete Herbal written by 17th century English botanist, Nicholas Culpeper. Wow. Those are all real plants. Those are all real plants, which I found out growing up in the US that all of the stuff that we thought was, oh, this is so magical or such a funny name and how'd she come up with this creative name? It's just British.
00:19:12
Speaker
wasn't magic or anything. It was just British and we didn't know it. Oh wow. Yeah. I mean, I guess it makes sense with the British cast, right? She's taking everything from Great Britain and trying to get into what it was. That's your Harry Potter wacky facts. I want to go visit that castle. I wish that it was real. Have you been to Universal Studios? I have not. That's like on my bucket list for sure. Me and Brienne will go to Harry Potter Universal Studios with you. It's the most magical place on earth. Don't look anything online. Leave it as much of a surprise as possible. Are you ready to get into this draft and continue our Harry Potter talks?
00:19:41
Speaker
I think so. Okay. You wanted to draft the best Harry Potter characters, not including the main characters. You want the best side characters. So Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, and Voldy are off limits. You got any others that you want off limits or are you sticking with those five? I'm sticking with those. I'm sticking with those, yeah. Not choose them.
00:20:02
Speaker
You wanna pick first or second? I'll pick second. You wanna pick second? Okay. Well, my first pick, I am taking one, Rubious Hagrid. Interesting, okay. My favorite, most lovable non-main character. You know, he's a half giant. And for Hagrid, he is the first person to bring Harry onto the screen and into the book, flying him in. So he's really, he's bringing Harry to us. You know, his introduction, he's also bringing Harry back to Hogwarts and back into the wizarding world. And he can't spell, but he's lovable. He bakes him a cake, spells happy birthday wrong.
00:20:30
Speaker
He's a lovable guy. He really pops on the screen. He's like the biggest character. He introduces us to like a lot of the great creatures that everybody loves. So he buys Hedwig for Harry. He brings Buckbeak in in the third movie. He has Norbert the dragon, you know, Fang. He's got Fluffy. Every cool beast that you see is pretty much brought in by Hagrid. And he's the one who takes Harry to the dragons and the Goblet of Fire too.
00:20:51
Speaker
All the cool creatures is because of Hagrid and then he's also just the most loyal character. Like he got kicked out of school and Hogwarts, you know, threw him to the side and that didn't matter. He stayed as the groundskeeper. And then at the end of the film of the seventh movie, he's carrying Harry's dead body back from the battle of Hogwarts. And really just from start to finish, he's there taking care of everybody being a team player. And you know, you just can't get Hagrid down. Hagrid is the personification of what afternoon delights is trying to be. Just be a little bit of smile on a cloudy day. That is Ruby.
00:21:21
Speaker
Hagrid. That was beautiful. It's very true.
Delving into Harry Potter's Side Characters
00:21:25
Speaker
Give me your first pick. Oh, Laura, now I feel like I want to change. Now I'm going to go with Minerva McGonagall. She's wise. She's smart. She's very logical, how she thinks. But again, I think she's also a very loyal character in the whole film because she defends Harry whenever his name gets pulled from Goblet of Fire. He's just a boy. And like, she's like, he can't do it. Put him out to bait. Like she says all this stuff about him. And then we have Dumbledore who's just like take, just take him kind of thing, you know? But she, at the end, the last movie, she riles up the troops.
00:21:50
Speaker
And she puts this giant protective spell over the castle, right? And she's a lot stronger than I think what people think. She's a badass. I think overall, she's a badass. And then she turns into a cat, who doesn't love a animal, you know? And the first one, gosh, I love her.
00:22:02
Speaker
What I love about McGonagall too is in the seventh movie when the Death Eaters kind of like step in and Snape steps up when Harry and them sneak back into the school that she throws herself in front of the students and duels Snape. Oh, yeah. In her own life to save the students. Like she wasn't going to put it down. She did do that. And then the actual actress that played Minerva McGonagall, she was going through cancer treatments for the last two movies and still came and acted and performed because she knew what Harry Potter meant to the fans.
00:22:31
Speaker
Oh, I love that. I didn't know that. Makes me love her more. Okay. I'm gonna go with Luna Lovegood. No, I love her. She's so bubbly and just positive all the time. And she is a little bit of an airhead, but she's not stupid, you know? She knows what she's doing. She also, I think, is an underdog for a long time because people would make fun of her.
00:22:50
Speaker
She sees things a different way. Yes, and I really like that about her because it's not all about the negatives. And then when they were putting Dumbledore's army together, you know, I don't remember what she did on that one. She did something like a spell, she has to have a spell and people were just shocked. Noodle Lovegood's just, her dad freaks me out a little bit, but I like how positive her spirit is, just her aura about her. She's just... She always keeps a great outlook on life even though, you know, her mom died and all that kind of stuff. And she's also comes in and is able to relate to Harry when... Not everyone else can.
00:23:20
Speaker
All right. My second pick is Sirius Black. He did his waiting 12 years of it in Azkaban. But yeah, Sirius is, he's often mentioned as the closest thing that Harry ever had to a parent, which I think could be a little bit argued because of Molly Weasley, but I agree with that. Still a lot of love there.
00:23:38
Speaker
I can agree with that. He's just, his character turns good too because you see him in Prisoner of Azkaban and obviously he doesn't, he lets Harry figure out for himself that he's on Harry's side kind of thing. He's not giving him the answers, you know? What I love about him is that like he still listens to Harry and is willing to, you know, not murder the guy that killed his best friends and made him spend 12 years in prison because it's what Harry wanted. And I mean, the biggest thing for him is obviously like he was a pure blood family. Everybody in his family was in Slytherin house.
00:24:06
Speaker
And during the first war, like his whole family was fighting on the other side. His brother Regulus was a death eater and he stood up and fought against Voldy. You know, he's also a marauder, so he helped make the marauders map. Even though he lived a life of pain, he fought to make the world a better place. So that's why I'm taking Serious Black.
00:24:22
Speaker
I love that. Yeah, till death for him. It was all about honor and like, you know, the right thing to do. Pick number three. I'm taking Severus Snape. Dang it. I'm not going to not take Severus Snape when we're recording on Alan Rickman's birthday. Oh, we are. It's a big day. I mean, obviously his performance of Snape the entire series is just great. He played the tortured soul.
00:24:42
Speaker
perfectly, you know, obviously he had to pay with his own life to go against, uh, Voldy, but even in the first wizarding war, when he came out and Voldemort was like taking out and leading, I mean, he was like a new student out of school. He was only 22. So it's not like he was out that long and he was still one of Voldemort's best death eaters and like trust the companions because he was such a talented wizard. Like he was that much better than everybody else. He was the potions master. He's the half lead prince and a Severus Snape has to be on any top five list always.
00:25:08
Speaker
I can agree with that very much. Also with him, though, too, he was so mysterious, like, other than his agreement with Dumbledore, nobody knew. All right, let's do this. I'm picking Dobby. Damn. Okay. You got him. Dobby. I love that. That little elf. Really didn't make sense to me when I first, obviously, in the movie. I'm going based off the movies here, too. So whenever you showed up in Chamber of Secrets, you kind of scared me, initially.
00:25:38
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I wasn't a big fan of Dobby initially, but over time, especially going into the, was it Half Blood Prince in the last one he was in? No, it was the Deathly Hallows part one. When he died, I just, there was no living left in me because he was loyal. He, honestly, I didn't realize elves had crazy powers as well. They can transfer.
00:26:02
Speaker
Yeah they can do magic without wands and they used to have just as powerful magic as wizards in like the Harry Potter world but there was like a war between like the human wizards versus the elves and they like killed a bunch of them and that's why they kind of like forced them to stop using wands and like they're not supposed to use magic and stuff but like they could have just as much magic as wizards.
00:26:22
Speaker
Yeah, I just want to know what the rule if your master gives you clothes, then you're a free elf like how that is such an odd rule and then Harry gave up his sock for him and then he forever owed Harry Potter, you know, like forever was in his like debt in favor to him like
00:26:36
Speaker
I mean, that's what I love about Dobby. I mean, even before he was free, he risked his entire life to save Harry. I mean, he was a slave and it didn't matter. And he, and he wanted Harry to be protected and free. Like this boy that he had never met. He worked to keep other house elves free. And relating to like the movie and the book in the book, he's in every book.
00:26:54
Speaker
I think from Chamber of Secrets to Deathly Hallows, at least for a little bit. So his presence in the book is like way bigger. You build even like more of a relationship. But even just in the movies, you see him in the second movie and you don't see him again until the seventh movie. And it's like he's such a powerful character in the second movie that when he dies in the seventh, you're like still just crushed. Lost. Yeah, I was so lost. But what's great now is that Travis brought his collection of books to us and now we have all of them and I'm going to reread them. What do I want?
00:27:23
Speaker
Molly Weasley. She's nurturing. She's strong. She takes care of the whole house. She juggles everyone's schedule. And even when the twins were talking about how expensive the schoolbooks were in the first movie, she's like, we'll manage. She wants to take the stress off of everybody else. And she's a real mom. She does everything right. And then the last one, she's like, against, who is it? Bellatrix.
00:27:46
Speaker
she was like, not my daughter, you bitch. And like just zaps her. And she's like, the thing is that that threw me off because I'm like, what spell does she use? She's gone. Who does she use? She just zaps her wand and then she's gone. Right. But she's a strong witch too. I love her.
00:28:00
Speaker
She is. And it's especially like in that moment too, in the last movie is they had the slight break and her son had just died. So like she was distraught and dealing with the loss of, of one of her kids. And she still stepped up in order to protect other people and protect her daughter. Absolutely. All the times that she protected Harry. Yeah. And took him in. Yeah. Took him in, knitted him a sweater for Christmas. Like she's just an all around good person. I'd want her around forever.
00:28:26
Speaker
Okay, so it's my turn for my last two, huh? I am going to take the potential boy who could have lived, Neville Longbottom. He was born around the same time as Harry. He could have been the boy who lived, but Voldy decided to choose Harry for the prophecy. So I mean, he's right linked there to greatness.
00:28:44
Speaker
And Neville, he was raised by a non-loving, very strict grandma that didn't inspire any confidence or anything in him because his parents were left insane when they wouldn't give in to Bellatrix Lestrange. And he destroyed the last Horcrux. He helped Harry survive the Black Lake, even though he had
00:29:01
Speaker
zero happiness growing up or anything, he was still able to make a Patronus charm. And the biggest thing is in the first movie when he's a picked on kid, the absolute like just loser of losers, no confidence, worst wizard of anybody. At the end of the film when he was getting nothing, he stood up against the main three and he said, you're not going to leave and do anything to hurt Gryffindor. I'm going to stand up to you even though it's three on one. And then he found his voice.
00:29:26
Speaker
Hermione whips his butt but he stood up to him and he earned Gryffindor those last 10 points and he got them the first house cup win over Slytherin.
00:29:43
Speaker
Because he was, like, shocked, right? Like, he was like, man, I'm out late, like, I'm doing this and you guys are already in bed. But he was, like, shocked for himself. And I think he's just a humble character, too. And at the end, especially, he was like, I have the hots for her for Loona. He's like, where's Loona? Have you seen her? I have the hots for her. And he's like, I'm going to go tell her because he thinks he's going to die. And then, like, they both survive, you know, but I love them as a pairing anyways. But he grew on me. I didn't think he would last. There's some characters I liked initially at the beginning and who aren't here now. So.
00:30:08
Speaker
Yeah, he definitely grows on you as he goes and he just becomes a better character. The beast, yeah. The more that goes on. And it just kind of happens, you know, in the fifth movie, he's still the worst member of the pack of Dumbledore's army in the school. And by the time that you get towards like the end of the sixth movie, he's really one of the better kids.
00:30:26
Speaker
You don't get to see it on like screen or in the book because it's all from Harry Potter's point of view. But like when Harry and all them leave and the Death Eaters take over the school and everything, it's all in shambles. He's the one taking beatings, spells, and stepping in when the younger kids are like getting picked on or like abused by the Death Eaters. Like he's protecting everybody in Gryffindor. He's the leader while Harry and them are gone. He's a very selfless character.
00:30:49
Speaker
Well my last pick I'm taking Alistair Mad Eye Moody. He is such a great character. He has an awesome wand. I mean he's like really the reason why Goblet of Fire is as good as it is. He's maybe one of the most badass characters in all of Harry Potter.
00:31:06
Speaker
wizard fighter. He lost an eye. He lost the leg fighting the dark wizards. He's just got this like presence about him and this like unwavering path of justice. And his time on screen is just great, even though not him, but it is him in the Goblet of Fire. He still just does a great job in all of his wacky antics and everything. And Brandon Gleason does a great job playing him. So I'm taking mad eye with my last pick. I think it's funny, especially whenever they're like changing all the Harry Potter's, they're all changing into Harry Potter's taking the apologies potion.
00:31:34
Speaker
All right, pick number five for you. I'm not gonna lie. And you said I could pick objects, right? No, you can't. You have to pick a character. I mean, it's technically a character. Not really, but it is. I would just say the sword of Gryffindor, but that's just me. That is not a character. That is an item. It shows up when you need it. That's not a character. Okay, I tried. I'm not gonna lie. I think I would choose Draco Malfoy. Okay, I mean, that's a good pick.
00:32:00
Speaker
only because he's only following what his parents are telling him but even in the end he knows it's wrong he doesn't want to do it but it's all about like pressure from the family you know and like getting the respect from your dad and your mom and even like his mom at the end saved Harry right yeah
00:32:15
Speaker
So they come from a good place, like the family does, and he is really only a dick because of how his upbringing was. At the end, he's a good guy. He's a good person. He turns into a good character. Over time, he grows to understand the rights from the wrongs, and I think he made that choice on his own, and I praise him for that.
00:32:31
Speaker
I agree. Draco's on my list for sure. What's interesting too is it feels like he's in the movies just a ton because they talk about him so much, especially in the early films. But Draco only has like a total of 26 minutes of screen time in all of the movies combined. So he makes a pretty lasting presence, even though he's not actually ended a ton. They just talk about it a ton. But I always feel like on these lists, you can always like the bad guys because without the bad guys, it doesn't make the movies as good. So.
00:32:56
Speaker
Yeah, I just always think about the Half-Blood Prince when he was supposed to kill Dumbledore, you know, and he chose not like, I mean, he froze, but he chose not to. He couldn't do it. He still had a heart. And then same with what was at the Deathly Hallows part one when he was fighting with Harry to get the wand back, but he like could have casted a spell and did something, but then he didn't because Dobby was on the lamp, you know?
00:33:17
Speaker
Yeah, he lied about not being able to recognize that it was scary when his face was messed up and they're like, hey, can you confirm this is scary? And he just said no. He knew what he was doing. He knew. He became good deep down. There's one that I wanted to choose, but I'm going to talk about anyways.
00:33:32
Speaker
Who's your honor? Yeah, we get honorable mentions here that you couldn't pick. Who's your honorable mention? Professor Lupin. Yep, he's on my list. He was good. He was on my list. Bellatrix was on my list. Really? I love Bellatrix Lestrange. I think that she's like such a great villain and how Helen Baum Carter plays her is just like perfect.
00:33:50
Speaker
Yeah, I think also with her husband being, what's his face? You know who her husband is? Tim Burton. Yes, with her husband being Tim Burton, I think it helps her characters in other movies too because she always plays a dark person. I mean, she's a great actress, right? She scares me in Harry Potter. That's what makes her great. And then the Weasley twins are another honorable mention.
00:34:07
Speaker
You know who I didn't really care for in Harry Potter? Who? Jenny Weasley. Didn't care for her much. Yeah, she was not, like, great in the films. She kind of gave me the, I don't know why, in the movies at least, in the films, I'm just, no. They really, like, took out a lot of her personality in the films.
00:34:21
Speaker
They did, they did. I remember reading the first couple of books, but yeah, she just was not great in the movie. That's a common complaint. I'll learn to love her in the books again. Are you ready, Hawaii,
Book Recommendations and Show Closure
00:34:30
Speaker
now? We've been talking about Harry Potter and all this stuff, but now it's time for Afternoon Delights Book Club. So what book would you recommend to people? What are you reading right now? Oh, man. Ryan and I were talking about this, and I don't read a ton. I should. I should start picking it up again.
00:34:43
Speaker
Go favorite book of all time, whatever you would recommend to anybody. This will make me sound so dumb but I'm actually reading a lot of like self-help and therapy books because I don't have a specific one. There's one it's about like called sex talk too but it's about couples and like therapy on that side of things as well as like intimacy and then your emotions. It's about a bi-sex therapist actually and her husband and so much of stories of other other people too but I don't know what it is about those self-help books. It makes me want to do better in my life and my relationships and everything else. Sounds kind of stupid but
00:35:12
Speaker
It's just called Sex Talk or it's called Sex Talk 2. No, it's called Sex Talk. It's like a pink, yellow, and white cover. Okay, it's on there. I mean, we get, it's whatever you think people are gonna like. We had Jen Knave, she recommended Screaming on the Inside, which is like a parenting book for new parents. It's whatever you think people are gonna enjoy.
00:35:28
Speaker
Um, well, Ryan and I listened to a lot of books, but I do a lot of like the crime thriller. The silent patient was really good. I don't know if you've heard of it. Yeah. I know the silent patient. Silent patient was good. I also believe that behind closed doors was also really good, but I don't know. I don't really read a lot. I'm trying to get into it. So. Yeah. I gotta get back into it too, but it's okay. I did like make the, make the bed. Sorry. Have you read that? What book? Make the bed. No, I have not.
00:35:54
Speaker
or make your bed. It's a Navy SEAL wrote it, and it's just about getting through training and then just your discipline. Well, Ploy, you were a great guest. You showed a lot of a plum, and I think the people are really going to love the energy that you brought to this episode. I hope so. Thanks for having me on. It's fun. All right. I'm glad that you enjoyed your time. Ploy, once again, thank you for joining us. I think the people are really going to love this episode. Thank you. I'm your host, Matt Latimer, and I'm just reminding you that it's a good day to have a good day.
00:36:24
Speaker
I'll be your Saint goodnight. I hate to go and live this pretty side. So long, farewell, I'll be your Saint Andrew. I do, I do, to your Andrew Andrew.