CBC: Ideas: 104 Pall Mall (the Reform Club)

SFFaudio Online Audio

CBC Radio One - IdeasMy favourite evening radio show, CBC Radio One’s Ideas, had a wonderfully intimate tour of the building at 104 Pall Mall, London back in February. At that address you will find the Reform Club – if that rings a bell it may be because its most famous member was the creation of Jules Verne. Phileas Fogg, the clock-like embodiment of all things liberal and English, is like the club he belongs to an embodiment of that tradition of good sportsmanship. Indeed, it is because Fogg is a man of his word, and his every word is carefully measured, that he bets he can travel Around The World In Eighty Days |READ OUR REVIEW|.

Online listening available HERE.

Posted by Jesse Willis

P.S. It would only be sporting of CBC to release Apocalypse Al.

Radio Drama Revival: Moon Graffiti

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Radio Drama RevivalRadio Drama Revival‘s Episode #221 features a short, but very moving, audio dramatization called Moon Graffiti. It depicts what might have happened one clear summer night in July, 1969. It is followed by an interview with Jonathan Mitchell, its producer.

|MP3|

“That’s one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind.” We all know the quote, the triumphant story. It seems written in stone. But Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong came within inches of tragedy when they landed Apollo 11. Moon Graffiti imagines what it might have sounded like if things had gone a little differently. Based on a contingency speech written by William Safire for Richard Nixon titled “In the Event of Moon Disaster.”

Produced by Jonathan Mitchell
Edited by Hillary Frank

Cast:
Matt Evans as Neil Armstrong
Ed Herbstman as Buzz Aldrin
John Ottavino as Richard Nixon

Posted by Jesse Willis

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY: Saturday May 7th, 2011

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FREE COMIC BOOK DAYWhile Victoria Day is one damn fine holiday in May it has never given me one FREE COMIC in all the years I’ve dutifully observed it. That’s why I’m thinking that the best day in May is the first Saturday in May. The first Saturday in May is, of course, FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!

That’s this Saturday! I’ll be making a special trip to my comic book store, Hourglass Comics (in Port Moody, B.C.).

Which comic store do you go to?

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Phaedo by Plato

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LibriVoxBob Neufeld’s reading of the Phaedo, Plato’s account of the final day of Socrates (in 399 BC), is of professional audiobook quality. There’s no way I could overstate how impressed I am with this audiobook. Neufeld’s pronunciation and character discrimination are spot-on and the sound quality of the recording is absolutely stellar. If you haven’t read any Plato I think you’ll be amazed at how clear and compelling the dialogue is. Its an accessible introduction to the thought of Socrates (and Plato) in that it discusses a very down to earth subject: death.

LIBRIVOX - Phaedo by PlatoPhaedo
By Plato; Translated by Benjamin Jowett; Read by Bob Neufeld
8 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 3 Hours 4 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 2, 2011
Socrates has been imprisoned and sentenced to death by an Athenian jury for not believing in the gods of the state and for corrupting the youth of the city. The dialogue is told from the perspective of one of Socrates’ students, Phaedo of Elis. Having been present at Socrates’ death bed, Phaedo relates the dialogue from that day to Echecrates, a fellow philosopher. By engaging in dialectic with a group of Socrates’ friends, including the Thebans Cebes and Simmias, Socrates explores various arguments for the soul’s immortality in order to show that there is an afterlife in which the soul will dwell following death. Phaedo tells the story that following the discussion, he and the others were there to witness the death of Socrates.

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/4421

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Thanks also to Barry Eads]

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society has an awesome clubhouse

SFFaudio News

Bill Mills, of REB AudioBooks, sent me a link to an interesting video that he put together. Writes Mills:

I have been involved in helping The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS) bring this worthy new video webcast series to fruition and I had hoped that you might be willing to mention it on the site. Of course, LASFS is a non-profit organization and my efforts, as well as all those connected with the production donated free of charge to the club. We all are essentially engaging in FANAC (Fan Activity), in support of this venerable institution deservedly known as “This World’s Oldest Science Fiction Club”!

The video is basically a short history of the club and a tour their wonderful facilities and offerings. While the video’s volume is okay there is a hideous hiss in the audio, but if you can get past it I think you’ll agree that the completely crazy people at LASFS are utterly awesome. They’ve got a sweet looking library too (though I didn’t see any audiobooks on the shelves). Check it out:

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases: Second Variety And Other Stories by Philip K. Dick

New Releases

Eloquent Voice - Second Variety And Other Stories by Philip K. DickSecond Variety And Other Stories
By Philip K. Dick; Read by William Coon
WMA, MP3 or Audible Download – Approx. 6 Hours 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Eloquent Voice
Published: April 15, 2011
ISBN: 9780983089834
Available through: OverDrive, NetLibrary, Audible, CD Baby
This collection of five stories from early in his career casts a spotlight on Dick’s incredible imagination. In Second Variety robot warriors appear to have given one side the advantage in a devastating war. But a small band of soldiers begins to question just what the robots’ endgame truly is. In Beyond Lies The Wub a member of a spaceship’s crew buys a Wub (‘a huge dirty pig!’) for fifty cents, thinking it might be a good source of meat for the long journey home. Then the Wub speaks. In The Eyes Have It a man’s imagination gets the best of him, as he takes the words in a paperback novel a bit too literally. In Piper In The Woods a doctor attempts to unravel the mystery of why workers on an asteroid base begin to behave as if they have become plants. In The Variable Man giant computers indicate earth will likely win an interstellar war that will free it from the limits imposed by an aging Centauran empire. Plans are disrupted, however, when a man from the past arrives and throws off all calculations.

Posted by Jesse Willis