I’m reading a terrific graphic novel called Laika. That’s writer/artist Nick Abadzis’s fictionalized history of the little Soviet dog who became the first Terran in space. The art is nicely stylized, the colours are wonderful, and the story is very moving. Here’s a vintage podcast interview (2007) that was broadcast on CiTR and podcast by Inkstuds |MP3|. Here’s the description:
“To celebrate 50 years of the Space Age, Nick Abadzis joined us to discuss his new book, Laika. Laika is a wonderful piece of historical fiction, looking at the history of the first animal in space, the Russian dog, Laika. Published by First Second books, Laika is a great insite in the world of coldwar USSR and some of the unique characters that surrounded this special event.”
The Philosopher’s Arms is a new BBC Radio 4 program that moves the Café Philosophique movement into the English pub. All four episodes have been uploaded to RadioArchive.cc |HERE|!
I particularity like episode two in which one gentlemen says “it’s self evident” to a question that was not in the least self evident to me. Episode four is perhaps the most disturbing, it is an attempt to examine the feeble and disgusting groping that we feel for reasons we cannot explain, disgust (moral and physical). In another episode a participant suggested that having quick answers to these sorts of questions is likely because the answerer hadn’t thought very much about them. That sounded right to me, but I think I’ll have to think about it a bit more before I make any conclusions. To join in the fun go grab it.
The Philosopher’s Arms
Hosted by Matthew Sweet
4 Episodes – Approx. 28 Minutes (per episode) [DISCUSSION]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: Sept 6 – 27, 2011
Welcome to the Philosopher’s Arms – a very special pub where moral dilemmas, philosophical ideas and the real world meet for a chat and a drink. Each week Matthew Sweet takes a dilemma with real philosophical pedigree and sees how it matters in the everyday world.
Each week in the Philosphers Arms Matthew is joined by a cast of philosophers and attendant experts to show how the dilemmas we face in real life connect us to some of the trickiest philosophical problems ever thought up. En route we’ll learn about the thinking of such luminaries as Kant, Hume, Aristotle and Wittgenstein. All recorded in a pub in front of a live audience ready to tap their glasses and demand clarity and ask – what’s this all got to do with me?
So questions such as should the government put prozac in the water supply? And my daughter is a robot, how should I treat her? Lead us into dilemmas, problems and issues from the treatment of mental illness to the structure of financial markets, from animal rights to homosexuality. And they will challenge a few of the assumptions and intuitions about life that we carry round with us.
Episode 1 – The Experience Machine (September 6, 2011)
This week he’s been offered an Experience Machine. It’s a device that guarantees the sensation of a happy and fulfilled life. But it’s not real. Should Matthew plug in? David Willets, Jo Wolf and David Geaney join him for a drink to explain the big thinkers behind this idea and debate the nature of happiness, drugs, reality and the role of government.
Episode 2 – A Robot Daughter (September 13, 2011)
This week Matthew discovers that his adopted daughter is a robot. Should he treat her any differently from before? She’s indistinguishable from a human so should she have the same status as a human? Philosopher Barry Smith, Autism mentor Robyn Steward; Artificial Intelligence creator Murray Shanahan and all join Matthew for a drink and a bit of advice.
Episode 3 – The Ultimatum Game (September 20, 2011)
Where do we get our sense of justice and fairness from? Is it hardwired in us? Are we nakedly self-interested creatures, or are we, at least partially, altruistic? These are questions philosophers – from Plato to Hobbes, from Rousseau to David Hume – have pondered for hundreds of years. And a famous game invented by economists- called The Ultimatum Game – may help provide some of the answers. All this is up for discussion and debate this week in The Philosopher’s Arms.
Episode 4 – Moral Disgust (September 27, 2011)
And is there anything morally wrong with having sex with a supermarket chicken?
Guests in the series include:
David Willets, Universities Minister; Val Curtis, Hygiene Expert; Peter Tatchell, human rights activist; Barry Smith, Director of the Institute of Philosophy; Jo Wolff, professor of philosophy at University College London, Robyn Steward, mentor people on the Autism spectrum and their families; Murray Shanahan, creator of intelligent machines; Anders Sandberg from the Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University.
I’ve been hankering to read A Princess Of Mars ever since I heard Ray Bradbury explain how John Carter got to Mars. Bradbury described the scene in the novel saying:
“He wished himself there.”
I love that.
I’ve extracted and abridged the scene itself from the audiobook (it runs over three chapters) into this eleven minute |MP3| (the narration is by Mark Douglas nelson).
Here’s the newspaper strip’s three panel explanation:
Here’s Jesse Marsh’s six panel explanation:
Here’s the old Marvel Comics explanation – [update: art by Gil Kane] (done in an eight panel flashback):
UPDATE: Here’s a 14 panel explanation as appeared in DC Comics’ Tarzan Family No. 65 (1976):
The trailer for the 2012 film version (currently called Disney’s John Carter), has none other than Michael Chabon working on it. The soundtrack written by Arcade Fire and performed by Peter Gabriel is entitled My Body Is A Cage:
Naxos Audiobooks, is offering a couple of free audiobook downloads this month!
Here’s part of the description of the first one:
Bierce’s ghost stories are not among the best-written but they are unusual and distinctly ‘modern’ in their definition of what constitutes a ‘ghost’. They enjoy a popularity today that eluded them during Bierce’s lifetime, perhaps because the late twentieth century reader is more prepared to accept his psychological approach to the genre. The stories resist neat classification, no conclusions are offered. Whatever the true nature of the entity in The Damned Thing, Bierce offers no tidy answer. One of the protagonists offers his theory but it is no more than that and you are left with the feeling that perhaps the entity wanders the earth to this day and that Bierce merely recorded one episode of its existence.
The Damned Thing
By Ambrose Bierce; Read by Jonathan Keeble
1 |MP3| – Approx. 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9789626344941
First published in 1894.
The Damned Thing has been adapted as an episode of Masters Of Horror as well as for the comics in Graphic Classics: Ambrose Bierce, 2nd Edition:
The second audiobook is longer, but not huffduffable. It’s wrapped in a zipped folder with 12 MP3s (and also includes a wonderful 8 page PDF with story notes by Chloé Harmsworth).
The Canterville Ghost
By Oscar Wilde; Rupert Degas 1 Zipped MP3 – Approx. 77 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9789626349748 “A terrifying ghost is haunting the ancient mansion of Canterville Chase, complete with creaking floorboards, clanking chains and gruesome disguises – but the new occupants seem strangely undisturbed by his presence. Deftly contrasting the conventional gothic ghost story with the pragmatism of the modern world, Wilde creates a gently comic fable of the conflict between old and new. Rupert Degas’s hilarious reading brings the absurdity and theatricality of the story to life.”
The Canterville Ghost has been adapted to film more than a dozen times! Here’s the trailer for the first such, from 1944:
The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor
By Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga; Read by Fred Berman
10.5 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: 2011
Themes: / Horror / Zombies / Survival / Post-apocalypse / Evil /
“It may be confidently asserted that no man chooses evil, because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.” — Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men
Because I enjoyed the TV series so much, I was eager to listen to this. My expectations were not too high because (1) it’s a media tie-in and (2) it’s an origin story. Those are not a pair of my very favorite things, but I’m delighted to report that this is a very good novel. There is plenty of zombie mayhem, but foremost this is a horror story in the tradition of Stephen King. In other words, it’s not about the zombies but about people and what monsters bring out in them.
It’s also a satisfying origin story. I knew going in that The Governor (Philip Blake) was an exceptional bad guy. The story of his journey from normalcy to that level of bad could not have been an easy story to tell, but job well done. It was both compelling and surprising. Most importantly, I found the characters and their actions believable. Often reprehensible, sometimes jaw-dropping, but believable. As Philip Blake, his brother, his daughter, and others make their way to Atlanta in their suddenly changed and extremely violent world, I was forced to ask myself what I’d do in their situation, and I wasn’t always comfortable with my answers.
As far as I know, this is the first time I’ve heard a Fred Berman narration. There’s a lot of grisly uncomfortable stuff here, and I can’t imagine another narrator handling it better. I look forward to hearing him again soon. I’m not ready for another intense zombie novel, though. Maybe he’s narrated something with puppies.
The Habitation of the Blessed
By Catherynne M. Valente, Read by Ralph Lister
11 hours 10 minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio Published: November 2010
ISBN: 1441870245
Themes: / Fantasy / Creatures / Monks / Quest / Immortality /
Publisher description: This is the story of a place that never was: the kingdom of Prester John, the utopia described by an anonymous, twelfth-century document which captured the imagination of the medieval world and drove hundreds of lost souls to seek out its secrets, inspiring explorers, missionaries, and kings for centuries. But what if it were all true? What if there was such a place, and a poor, broken priest once stumbled past its borders, discovering, not a Christian paradise, but a country where everything is possible, immortality is easily had, and the Western world is nothing but a dim and distant dream? Brother Hiob of Luzerne, on missionary work in the Himalayan wilderness on the eve of the eighteenth century, discovers a village guarding a miraculous tree whose branches sprout books instead of fruit. These strange books chronicle the history of the kingdom of Prester John, and Hiob becomes obsessed with the tales they tell. The Habitation of the Blessed recounts the fragmented narratives found within these living volumes, revealing the life of a priest named John, and his rise to power in this country of impossible richness. John’s tale weaves together with the confessions of his wife Hagia, a blemmye — a headless creature who carried her face on her chest — as well as the tender, jeweled nursery stories of Imtithal, nanny to the royal family.
Full disclosure – I am an unrestrained, shameless fan of Catherynne M. Valente. She ranks among my top three favorite authors, Palimpsest being my favorite novel, and I have read practically everything she has written. The only exceptions are Labyrinth, her first novel which she has made available for free online, Deathless, and some of her short stories. Valente’s prose is beautiful, and her knowledge of mythology and the classics is apparent in every story. Some of her earlier works read more like poetry.
The Habitation of the Blessed is the first book in a trilogy called Dirge for Prester John. The next book will be out before the end of the year, and the third is set to be published in 2012. It is based on the medieval legend of Prester John, and Catherynne Valente has created a website called PresterJohnOnline where you can read more. Check out this video demonstrating the medieval legend as acted out by action figures (also created by Valente).
Of all of Valente’s works, this reminds me of The Orphan’s Tales, the way there are multiple stories that are loosely connected in an overarching narrative. But somehow, it is much more intricate, and I was drawn in by this tree of books that is encountered early on by Brother Hiob of Lucerne. The interweaving stories in the book come from this tree, but they may act more like fruit than paper.
“This tree bore neither apples nor plums, but books, where fruit should sprout. The bark of its great trunk shone the color of parchment; its leaves a glossy vibrant red, as if it had drunk up all the colors of the long plain through its roots. In clusters and alone, books of all shapes hung among the pointed leaves, their covers obscenely bright and shining, swollen as peaches, gold and green, and cerulean, their pages thick as though with juice, their silver ribbon marks fluttering in the spiced wind.”
My imagination was captured in that moment, and it only got better. The creatures in this book are bizarre and enchanting, and stretch the limitations of the reader alongside Brother Hiob. It is impossible not to start longing for the imaginary landscape of Pentexore, and I look forward to the future books in this world.
Ralph Lister also does a wonderful job with the audio, and the subtle differences in voices help the listener know where one is within the story.
I’m reading a terrific graphic novel called Laika. That’s writer/artist Nick Abadzis’s fictionalized history of the little Soviet dog who became the first Terran in space. The art is nicely stylized, the colours are wonderful, and the story is very moving. Here’s a vintage podcast interview (2007) that was broadcast on CiTR and podcast by Inkstuds |MP3|. Here’s the description:
The Canterville Ghost
