CBC: Day 6 – Ray Bradbury interview from 1985

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CBC - Day 6CBC’s Day 6 blog has a lengthy, November 1985, interview Ray Bradbury (conducted by Vicky Gabereau for her self titled Gabereau show). This is a terrific long-form and ramblingly awesome interview – as Bradbury himself puts it, it’s a “discussion about ideas.”

In it Bradbury talks about:
Moving out to California as a kid, how he gets around Los Angeles, his appearance on Groucho Marx’s You Bet Your Life, movies, directing vs. writing, Fahrenheit 451, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ross Macdonald, James M. Cain, Norman Mailer, a discussion about ideas, bad male drivers, Blackstone the magician, Paris, France, the American Revolutionary War, architecture, Federico Fellini, Amarcord (1973), horror movies, The Fog Horn, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, Godzilla, dinosaurs, Moby Dick, William Shakespeare, John Houston, The Carrot People, The Horror Of Dracula, Christopher Lee, The Omen, Diabolique, Jean Harlow, Burns and Allen, The Trojans and sporadically his then current novel Death Is A Lonely Business.

And here’s that appearance on You Bet Your Life (featuring Ray Bradbury in a crew cut):

Posted by Jesse Willis

CBC: As It Happens – Ray Bradbury

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CBC - As It HappensCBC’s long-running interview show, As It Happens, just finished airing a segment on Ray Bradbury, which consisted of a brief obituary, a vintage interview (from May 1992, with Eleanor Wachtel), and a broadcast of Dimension X’s Zero Hour – the streaming audio edition omits Zero Hour, (we’ll find out about the podcast edition tommorow) – in the meantime the segment as it exists begins at 9 minutes 30 seconds:

Podcast feed: http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/asithappens.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

CBC: Spark #178 (the proto-internet show)

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CBC Radio - SparkBack in April CBC’s Spark #178 did a show all about the proto-internet.

There’s talk about lots of cool pre-web, pre-internet precursors, but the most interesting among them, for me, was the segment on Pump Up The Volume, a 1990 comedy drama starring Christian Slater. I hadn’t seen the film, but became intrigued by it’s description as being very “internety.” Now, having tracked down a copy and having seen it, I agree, many elements of it will remind you of both blogs and podcasts.

|MP3|

Podcast feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/cbcradiosparkblog

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

CBC: Spark: Interview with David Fewer about Bill C-11 (Canada’s awful new copyright legistlation)

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CBC Radio - SparkHere’s Nora Young’s full interview with David Fewer (of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic) on Bill C-11: |MP3|

A shorter version appeared as a part of Spark #183

From the interview it seems clear that Bill C-11 (like Bills C-32 and C-61 previously) includes a fatal flaw that makes the ordinary activities of Canadians illegal whenever a digital lock is put upon a work. The mere presence of a digital lock will, in actual fact, trump any and all rights that the C-11 looks like it will otherwise provide.

C-11 forbids fair dealing. It forbids satire and parody. It forbids format shifting. Even after a work enters the public domain, if it has DRM on it, it will be illegal to circumvent DRM to get at it.

Bill C-11 is some really fucked up shit.

Posted by Jesse Willis

CBC: Nightfall: Assassin Game by John G. Fisher

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One of the very few legitimately Science Fiction stories in the CBC Nightfall series was this one, Assassin Game by John G. Fisher. It’s set in a then future in which all university students, in the top fifth percentile, are required to play an assassination game. Exceptional players are recruited by all the best transnational mega-corporations which offer free, but illegal, training in the summers. Chris Wiggins, a great voice actor best known perhaps for his role on Friday The 13th: The Series, plays the school’s president. And a very young sounding Saul Rubinek plays the protagonist, a student, and star player, who is unwilling to pick a sponsor. There’s a whole lot going on in this half hour show – with a big back-story, a vintage future sound design (Star Trek and Pac-Man), and a noirish plot.

Devoted readers may note some strong similarities to Robert Sheckley’s Seventh Victim and derivative tales.

CBC - NightfallNightfall #74 – Assassin Game
By John G. Fisher; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC
Broadcast: November 5, 1982
Source: Archive.org
In the future, your career will be determined by now many students you eliminate at university. Assassin was just a game at first, then it got real.

Cast:
Saul Rubinek … Joel Unson (a computer science student)
Nicky Guadagni … Wendy Hirsch?
David Ferry … Martin (a political science student)
Ralph McPherson … Alex (Joel’s AI)
Peter Jobin … the computer and the man
Chris Wiggins … university president
Barbara Kyle … Miss and the PA announcer

Posted by Jesse Willis

CBC: Nightfall: Late Special by Clint Bomphray

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Early last morning I played a Nightfall episode expecting it to be an adaptation of a William Hope Hodgson story – but it turns out I had selected the wrong one – what I got instead was a surprisingly surprising story – I kept expecting a stone ship to turn up, but it never did – instead there was a horrific car accident, some truly terrific voice acting, and a set of uniquely creepy circumstances – all of it optimized for the audio medium – this episode typifies the entire Nightfall series – it’s great audio drama – it’s truly frightening and it’s highly recommended!

CBC - NightfallNightfall #06 – Late Special
By Clint Bomphray; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 26 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: August 8, 1980
Source: Archive.org
A car crash during a late season blizzard strands a young woman in an abandoned train station, where she meets a mysterious stranger who obliges her to make a singularly existential choice.

Cast:
Terry Tweed … Claire Acton
Chris Wiggins … Tom Parker, the Conductor
David Hughes … Vic
Trisha Allen … the Telephone Operator
Judy Sinclair … Claire’s Mother
Richard Donat & Frank Perry … Dick & Frank, the Police Officers

Recording Engineer:
John Jessop

Sound Effects:
Bill Robinson

Production Assistant:
Nina Callaghan

Story Editor:
John Douglas

Producer:
Bill Howell

[via, in part, Nightfall-25.com]

Posted by Jesse Willis