[SereneChaos]

The Sign of Birtwhistle By Sauerkraut_poet
Narrated by AlexG2490 and Snitchsista
Link to the story on the archive

Quote

Draco and Ginny are destined for each other - it should be obvious. Why, then, is Luna Lovegood the only one who realizes it? And will she be able to convince them of their destiny? Watch Luna's eager attempts at matchmaking in a bizarre parody on the D/G ship.

Your Reviews Here


It makes sense this was written by saurkraut_poet. I can't see it written by anyone else, and she is indeed my hero from back in the day, when she used to validate my stories.

I have read this story on the archive, if I recall, and liked it very much. While I think I am not one for podcasts (although I've enjoyed the ones I've listened to so far, I think I prefer the text a little more) the female voice is perfect for Luna. She has the exact lilt and dreamy air to her voice that I exactly imagine Luna to have. While I understand Alex's need for fairness in editing so that both readers can have their share of the podcast, I found it to be sometimes distracting when a change in voices occurred, unless it was for when the male characters spoke, because it became perfectly necessary then. Despite that, they both did an excellent job.

Also, the music in the background suited the mood very well. It helped to give the story a dreamy feel that one would only find in Luna's mind.

And no, I don't think Harry would approve of a Luna/Voldemort ship. <img src="http://www.harrypotterpodcast.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

This post has been edited by LovlyRita: 12 August 2010 - 03:11 PM

[iloveblack]

I love this story And the podcast is amazing, too.
I have to disagree with SereneChaos, I think the music doesn't really fit, it's so calm. It actually make me slightly agressive. But that's me
At the beginning I also found the switch of speakers somewhat confusing but after the second switch I found it actually quite cool . Both readers are amazing speakers , whenever I have to read a long text out loud I stumble over each word.
Quick question: The readers are Alex ans Snitchsista, right?

This post has been edited by iloveblack: 25 May 2009 - 07:56 AM

[AlexG2490]

Yes, we're the two readers. The choice to duet-ify this podcast was made because Snitchy and I both submitted an mp3 of our reading of that story within, I think, two days of one another, and Jay suggested we use the best of both to make this one a bit different.

I'm sort of in agreement that this didn't work out as well as it could have, mostly because it was a decision that was made afterwards, necessitating that we make cuts between speakers at somewhat odd places. But I'd like to do it again some time when we've actually planned to have two readers ahead of time and see if that makes a difference. So, look for that as an experiment sometime in the future.

[iloveblack]

I actually quite liked hearing two different voices It just made the whole podcast more interesting -unique. And you both are great speakers, so it wasn't that I was wishing that only one of you had done it.

[SereneChaos]

I'm in agreement with iloveblack. It's not entirely that I think it should have been one speaker, but that it should have been one speaker at...different parts. Because this story was in first person...with Luna speaking, I kinda thought it was a little weird hearing her narrate in a male voice (no offense to you, Alex, because you really do have a lovely voice. ). But for areas where there IS a male speaking, I can't imagine how Snitchsista would get her voice to sound masculine enough for me to believe it.

I'll look forward to any re-do's of this podcast though, because I still think it was excellently done.

Also, for the music, I think calm is the way to go. Because...it makes it seem more normal. And since this is in Luna's point of view, of course everything would sound completely normal to her.

This post has been edited by SereneChaos: 25 May 2009 - 05:19 PM

[Potterholic]

I, too, love the duet. It makes the podcast interesting. I thought the background music fit Luna's dreamy personality. I did find it a little strange to have Luna's voice narrated by a male, but in Ron's and Draco's part, it was perfect. Both readers are great.

The story's amazing, I could just picture the look on Ron's face when Luna told him she was planning the wedding. Lol, Harry definitely won't approve of Luna/Voldemort.

Oh, and Alex's evil laugh in the beginning cracked me up.

[eternalangelkiss]

OH MY GOODNESS! That was probably the funniest pod cast I have listen to so far. I absolutely loved the veiled sarcasm that the author used and the reason why she choose to write a story like this. I thought she characterized all the characters splendidly and found it perfectly suited Luna to come up with such wild ideas such as Ginny/Draco and Luna/Voldemort.

Now the podcast made this story really shine and brought all of the funniest parts out even more. I loved the use of the song in the background because 1.) it suited Luna's personality and 2.) suited the would be romantic story element in this story. I also loved how accurately Snitchsista got Luna's voice. It was perfect. The editing of the two parts was flawless. Yet another wonderful podcast!

[Haniewall87]

Oh Luna. I thought this story was hilarious and the author managed to bring out Luna so perfectly. This was also helped by Snitchsista whose voice was amazing. I can't imagine why Luna wanted to plan someone's wedding let alone Ginny and Draco's. The number of creatures that would have been present, good heavens. Anyway I think the story was well told.  I could easily imagine some of these scenes happening especially Ron's, Ginny's and Draco's expressions. Luna and Voldemort!!!!! only Luna could think of that.

HA HA HA *cough* nice flare.

Wonderful job guys.

[Broomsticks]

Hahaha! The reasons for the author writing this were hillarious, and it did indeed create a hillarious story!

I thought the duet was really fun, and very well edited by Alex (I tip my hat to you!), as the flow between the two podcasts was nice and smooooth. I also worship Snitchy's ability to do voices, her Luna voice was PERFECT - the accent and the dreamy quality of it was great, completely Luna. And Ginny's voice was great too! It was a little confusing switching between podcasts, but I liked it - especially at the parts when they spoke to each other! It was like a mini play! I thought the recorders for this podcast were great, and though the duet could have gone horribly wrong - it didn't! Also listening to Clair de Lune in the background was lovely and relaxing (I'm going to look like such a fool now if it wasn't that song that was playing.)

And I have to say, the author of this story was a genius for inventing this haha! The reason she got inspired to do it was great, and I loved that instead of just having the idea she went ahead and wrote it! Also, Luna/Voldemort cracked me up. The whole idea was very creative, and lead to lots of fun.

A very amusing podcast!

[JLHufflepuff]

Story: I thought this was a very cute idea. It's so completely random and quirky and weird that it really does seem like it could have come only from Luna Lovegood's mind. The concept of Ginny and Draco being perfect matches because of their hair colors makes me laugh so much, as well as Luna's weird conclusion that the same philosophy would pair her with Voldy. HAHA! I'm not that familiar with all of sauerkrautpoet's writings, but this definitely makes me want to read more of them!

Podcaster(s): I liked the dual reading. It worked for me for some reason, though I expected that it would be kind of confusing when I heard what was going to happen. Snitchy, your Luna voice is almost exactly like Evanna Lynch with the slight difference erring (in my opinion) to the side of actually sounding what Luna REALLY sounds like! Alex, I liked your parts as well. Like I said, they both blend together well.

This post has been edited by JLHufflepuff: 28 June 2010 - 04:16 PM

[melian]

Review of the podcast: This was an interesting production because of the splicing between different versions of the story being told by different people, but I think it worked really well. The female voice sounded like Luna in the films – no doubt deliberate – and as a result I really felt like I was in Luna's head. Alex's narration interspersed between the trains of thought also worked really well, I thought. The editing was done really well so as to make it seem almost seamless.

Review of the story: The very idea of Luna planning Draco & Ginny's wedding, based only on seeing them hex one another in the hall, is brilliant. She can get an idea into her head and then nothing stops her, and this is a great example of that. Of course, telling Draco outright that he's destined for Ginny Weasley is probably not a wise move – hilarious, but not wise. The same goes for saying it to Ginny, too. The reactions are spot on and make for a very funny story. And Luna marrying Voldemort? Even better. Only she would come up with the rationale based on a bird which may or may not exist. Loved it.

[lia]

Podcast: Whoever read this podcast needs a large plate of cookies! The idea of the duet was brilliant but I guess, like some of you said, with Alex doing the male's lines while Snitchsista read the female's.

Story: This was absolutely hilarious. I love how Luna's character is portrayed, with the casual mention of all these magical creatures. People's reactions to Luna's idea of the wedding is priceless, Ron's was written the best in my opinion especially when Hermione came down the stairs at the same time. And lol at Alex's reading of the author's note.

Another job well done guys

[Celtic_Dreamer7]

OMG that was absolutely hilarious!! I was laughing so hard! Luna definitely sounds like herself in the movie. The reader got it right! I also like the way it was edited together with two different readers. It made it much more interesting to listen to. Great job with the story. It does sound like something only Luna could come up with! Absolutely brilliant!

~Celtic~

[Singularity]

This story was very fun. I give the author props for writing such a convincing Luna. I find her so hard to capture, so usually try to steer away from writing her, but the author did a wonderful job. I enjoyed reading about how the different characters reacted to Luna's suggestion. But the ending, with the comment about Voldemort was definitely my favorite part. lol

The duet reading was a little strange for me. I love listening to both Snitchsista and Alex create these podcasts, but the combination of the two didn't work so much for me. I think it was, as Alex said, because it wasn't really planned in advance. Well, that and Snitchy sounded so much like Luna that it was a bit distracting for a moment when Alex began speaking again. I don't have a problem with males reading female POV or vice versa, but the combo was just a little distracting.

That being said, you both did amazing jobs, and I thought the editing sounded good. The pacing was well done with no real stumbles. Once I got used to the duet reading, it was far less distracting, and I think it might be interesting to try again at some point in the future

[jazzeh turnip]

The two podcaster thing is unique, but really odd. Snitchsista's Luna voice is amazing then it goes onto... MAN VOICE! Haha! It's hilarious.

And so is the story, so I suppose that fits, especially because Luna is a bit of a crazy so she quite possibly does have a man voice and a lady voice going on in her head at the same time. I really can see Luna doing something like that, but as for asking RON for help with Ginny and Draco's wedding... haha, that's just too funny.

All the new creatures the author made up were good too, especially this Balkan Birtwhistle thing. And the mentioning of them all really fits in with Luna's characterisation, which was perfect. I'm quite amazed. Luna is a pretty hit and miss character. Sometimes people go too overboard or not overboard enough. This was so spot on though.

The romantic music in the background definitely complimented the whole piece, and made it all so much more funny.

I actually really like this, despite the 2 different voices. I think the fact that the podcast is so odd just compliments Luna's weirdness

Lorren.

Ca-CAW!