Month: March 2012

CBC: Under The Influence: Movie Marketing

SFFaudio Online Audio

CBC - Under The InfluenceCBC Radio One doesn’t normally have advertizing. But since 2005 one of it’s most popular programs has had advertizing as its core subject. Variously called O’Reilly on Advertizing and The Age Of Persuasion it is now called Under The Influence.

The show is a half hour documentary series about the history of advertizing. The host, Terry O’Reilly, is a marketing man and has a business that specializes in radio advertizing. This, along with the often interesting sub-subjects it tackles, makes the show incredibly slick, and fun to listen to.

In fact I’d argue that it is perhaps most accessibly listenable program ever aired on CBC Radio or ever podcast on the internet.

Check out their recent episode titled Movie Marketing, which looks at, among other things, the effect that spoilers in movie trailers have on box office receipts. |MP3|

But you better hurry because if you don’t download it now, before you have to buy it on iTunes later!

Podcast feed:

http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/undertheinfluence.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

Great Northern Audio Theatre: an essay on the intersection of audiobooks and audio drama

SFFaudio News

Great Northern Audio TheatreBrian Price, of the radio drama collective Great Northern Audio Theatre, has posted an interesting essay on the state of dramatized audiobooks over on the new Great Northern blog. Here’s a snippet:

So far, audiobook publishers have been going to their usual sources to produce audio theater: Commercial voice-over studios, Industrial/educational studios or the publishers themselves. Frankly, the results are really mixed. These people aren’t audio theater people. They haven’t been listening and producing audio theater for years.

My prediction is that at some point pretty soon the audiobook publishers are going to get feedback from their listeners that there’s a whole ‘nother world of audio theater out there. It’s on community radio. It’s podcast. It’s handed back and forth on the Internet. It’s sounding better and better all the time.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Metamorphosis (in German, Die Verwandlung, “The Transformation”) is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915, and arguably the most famous of his works along with the longer works The Trial and The Castle. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into a giant “monstrous vermin”.

This narration by David Barnes is really terrific! One reviewer put it this way: “Slow, dignified, fitting for Kafka.” Another this way:

“A wonderful recording … Many thanks to Mr Barnes for his wonderful reading … [a] nightmarish and chilling tale of horror and abandonment. It is one of the most powerful texts written by Kafka and quite worth listening to.”

Here are the illustrations, and a brief editorial, from the June 1953 publication of Famous Fantastic Mysteries.

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - illustrated by either Finlay or Lawrence

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - illustrated by either Finlay or Lawrence

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - editorial

LibriVoxThe Metamorphosis
By Franz Kafka; Translated by Ian Johnston; Read by David Barnes
3 Zipped MP3 Files or M4B – Approx. 2 Hours 34 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: December 11, 2006
|ETEXT|
“Already he had taken the alien loathesome shape … In all except the still watching mind – the vestige of a soul that still could suffer…”

Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3| Part 3 |MP3|

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-metamorphosis-by-franz-kafka.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Brad Lansky and the 4D-Verse

SFFaudio Review

Science Fiction Audio Drama - Brad Lansky and the 4D-VerseBrad Lansky and the 4D-Verse
By J.D. Venne; Performed by a full cast
1.5 Hours – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Protophonic.net
Published: 2012
Themes: / Science Fiction / Hard SF / Audio Drama / Dimensional space / Quantum entanglement / Artificial Intelligence /

Taking up where the previous Brad Lansky title ended, this drama has Brad and Alex exploring the 4D-Verse. They get split up while searching for MAMAI (an artificial intelligence), with Alex moving to a higher dimension while Brad figures how to get him back.

In a previous review I compared a Brad Lansky audio to Meatball Fulton’s Ruby series. This one comes from the same mold. It’s a aural feast from start to finish; among the richest audio you’ll hear. Another comparison leapt to mind this time: the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not only is the subject matter similar (hard SF involving alien beings), but the tone is similar. Just like Kubrick lingered on shots to allow the viewer time to experience awe, Dieter Zimmerman and crew linger with sound that creates images in the listener’s mind. This is very much a cooperative experience. Break out your best headphones and be prepared to provide imagination.

Lansky: I can’t wait to check out these places!
Alex: What? Are you crazy?
Lansky: No, just an explorer who doesn’t run away when he finds something interesting!

Dieter Zimmerman, one of the creative people behind the Brad Lansky series, was recently interviewed on Fred Greenhalgh’s Radio Drama Revival podcast. Find that episode |HERE|.

All of the Brad Lansky titles can be purchased at Protophonic.net!

Posted by Scott D. Danielson