Jesse Willis – Page 163

James Moore, MP (and Minister of Heritage) on digital locks: He Says He Doesn’t, But He Does

SFFaudio Commentary

As a former junior employee of The Province, Vancouver’s morning daily newspaper, I know how hard working in the news business is. First you have to get up at five o’clock, six days a week. You have to walk the half-kilometer, or so, to where someone from just up the totem pole has dumped the bundles. Next, you have to peel the all the bale bindings, shove their inky contents into your shoulder bags and schlep the damned things from door-to-door, up and down hills, in rain and ice and snow.

When you think about it, it sounds like an ennobling profession!

As a newspaper delivery boy I brought the news, sports and a little entertainment to the citizens and residents all along on my route. At the time I was mostly only interested in The Province for Hägar the Horrible, but I presume the people I was delivering the paper to wanted to learn about all the important goings on in the society all around them.

I’m pretty sure that they don’t hire kids to deliver newspapers anymore.

They ALSO don’t seem to hire much in the way of investigative journalists or journalistic editors either.

For more than a year I’ve been scouring The Province daily. There’s been hardly a mention of the one issue that affects every single British Columbian:

—>Bill C-32, Canada’s proposed copyright legislation.

Have a look for yourself! A search of TheProvince.com‘s website turns up just a couple OP-EDs and and a couple of Postmedia News pieces.

I was willing to let it go, but then they ran one Postmedia News piece. It’s a particularly annoying article, as it features Heritage Minister James Moore claiming:

“I can say for myself, in terms of my own personal digital media consumption habit, that I personally choose to buy products that don’t have digital locks.”

Now as unbelievable as that sounds it also contradicts the facts. Moore has been trying his damnedest to keep the digital lock provisions in this bill. And now he’s turned to outright lies! Nobody that I’m aware of has called him on it. I will.

According to this Maclean’s article, Moore owns two X-Box 360s (one in his riding and one in Ottawa) and has multiple copies of his favorite games including Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. That’s DRM folks, those games have TPMs in them – he’s buying media with built in digital locks and he’s having to buy multiple copies of those games precisely because they have digital locks.

I can’t believe a professional editor, working at The Province, and running that story would be unaware of such glaringly obvious bullshit, or that an editor at a professional news-gathering newspaper would run a story that put such unbelievable guff out unchallenged – or at least, followed it up with a Google search and another story. It’s been nearly a month now with no follow up story.

I must therefore conclude that the editors aren’t reading the stories that they are buying, and that The Province is no longer capable of being Vancouver’s newspaper of record.

I would love to tell you that I’m going to give up my subscription to the The Province – but I can’t. It comes free with the purchase of a cup of coffee, and I’m not willing to give up the coffee just yet.

Apparently investigative journalism and editorial comment will be increasingly found on blogs and YouTube. Here’s some:

Posted by Jesse Willis

CKNW: The Mike Smyth Show talks to the leader of the Pirate Party of Canada

SFFaudio Online Audio

The first eighteen minutes of this |MP3| file is the only mention, that I know of by a Vancouver based radio program), about copyright reform in 2010. In the podcast CKNW‘s Mike Smyth (he’s also a Province columnist) talks to Mikkel Paulson, the leader of the recently created Pirate Party of Canada, and Carmi Levy, a Toronto Star journalist and blogger, about Canada’s current copyright legislation, Bill C-32, media levies and the ethics of torrents.

Here’s the relevant section from the official description:

“IS THE NEW COPYRIGHT LAW ‘FAIR’?
MIKKEL PAULSON
PARTY LEADER AND DIRECTOR, PIRATE PARTY OF CANADA
CARMI LEVY
TECHNOLOGY JOURNALIST
Re: if you download music, movies or television, listen up. Canada is in the midst of copyright reform, how can you protect the rights of artists, while not handicapping consumers in their use of digital technology?”

Posted by Jesse Willis

Uvula Audio: The Rocket’s Shadow by John Blaine

SFFaudio Online Audio

Uvula Audio‘s James Campanella, of Uvula Audio, has just completed an unabridged reading of the 1947 adventure/mystery/science novel The Rocket’s Shadow by John Blaine. The Rocket’s Shadow was the first in a 24 book series which used “realistic science” and, according to the Wikipedia entry, the publishers were averse to “any suggestion of the supernatural in the series.” Sez James:

“The Rocket’s Shadow follows the adventures of Rick Brant and is the first in a long juvenile pulp series that was published from the late 1940’s until the late 1980’s . Rick is young (~19 since he just finished high school in the first book), but not a kid. This first exciting book in the series introduces readers to Rick , the son of a famous scientist, Hartson Brant. As with all the Brant series, quite a bit of actual down to earth science was the basis of the books– unlike Tom Swift, for example. Hartson brant is trying to win the $2 million Stoneridge Prize for the greatest scientific accomplishment of the year. The group of scientists headed by Rick Brant’s father works desperately to complete their moon rocket experiment before the deadline of year is up. But, someone in that closely knit group is a traitor – unknown and unscrupulous – who menaces the success of the experiment at every turn.”

Sounds fun hey?

The Rocket’s Shadow
By John Blaine; Read by J.J. Campanella
7 MP3 Files – Approx. [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Uvula Audio
Podcast: December 2010
Rick Brant is the son of scientist/inventor Hartson Brant and they live on an island called Spindrift. The island houses a research facility and several scientists also live there. Some of those scientists are descriptively similar to members of Doc Savage’s group. Rick has as his sidekick Scott, an ex-marine, capable of physically defending himself when necessary. This story, the first in the Rick Brant series has Rick’s father trying to build a rocket to hit the moon. A large monetary prize has been offered for the first group able to do so and the Brant group is the leading contender. However, there are other groups in the chase and one of them is a criminal group that does everything it can to sabotage the Brant effort.

Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 | MP3| Part 3 |MP3| Part 4 |MP3| Part 5 |MP3| Part 6 |MP3| Part 7 |MP3|

Podcast feed: http://www.uvulaaudio.com/kids/Kids.xml

And, for those looking for something a bit more xmasy, look out for more files in the feed. Uvula will be presenting a Christmas special “covering L. Frank Baum’s Life”, the Adventures Of Santa Claus and Kidnapped Santa Claus!

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: The Skylark Of Space by E.E. Smith

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Skylark Of Space
By E.E. Smith; Read by Richard Kilmer
19 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 9 Hours 22 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: December 16, 2010
The novel begins with the accidental discovery, in a Government laboratory in Washington D. C., of a form of clean nuclear power. Our hero, Dr. Richard Seaton, uses this power to build first a flying belt and then an interstellar spaceship. He later discovers that the process operates by generation and manipulation of gravity fields. When his government coworkers do not believe him, Seaton acquires rights to his discovery from the government and commercializes it with the aid of his friend, millionaire inventor Martin Crane. A former colleague, Dr. Marc DuQuesne, joins with the unscrupulous World Steel Corporation to try to steal Seaton’s invention. The resulting conflict escalates, as Seaton and Duquesne develop greater and greater technical capabilities and enlist more and more powerful alien races as allies.

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/4865

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Thanks also to mim@can and Barry Eads]

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Asteroid Of Fear by Raymond Z. Gallun

SFFaudio Online Audio

Asteroid Of Fear
By Raymond Z. Gallun; Read by Gregg Margarite
2 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 1 Hour 32 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: December 15, 2010
John Endlich needed to clean up his act. Gambling, drinking, a hot temper and wanderlust were the last things Rose and the kids needed. So he went to the Homesteaders Office and signed up to terraform Vesta, a chunk of a once thriving alien planet that had exploded from within; a flat lump of crust which was now the remains of a farm on one side and a mining operation on the other. The miners hated Endlich and sabotaged his plans at every opportunity. They were going to kill him and his family if he didn’t find a way to stop them. First published in the March, 1951 edition of Planet Stories magazine.

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/5014

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|

[Thanks also to Betty M.]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Commentary: SFSignal Mind Meld on the best of 2010

SFFaudio Commentary

JP Frantz, of the wonderful SFSignal blog, recently asked me to participate in their annual year end “Mind Meld.”

Here’s the topic:

Q: What were the best genre-related books, movies and/or shows you consumed in 2010?

Here was my answer:

Audiobooks in 2010:
The year isn’t over yet, and I’m really enjoying the new Brilliance Audio (Audible Frontiers) reading of The Speed Of Dark by Elizabeth Moon. Of the audiobooks I’ve reviewed this year I’m pleased to report the first audiobook released in the Gabriel Hunt series, Hunt: Through The Cradle Of Fear |READ OUR REVIEW|, and it’s bonus short story “Nor Idolatry Blind the Eye” have really scratched the Fantasy Adventure itch that I occasionally get. Another pair of novels released by Blackstone Audio, written by the recently deceased John Steakley, were designated SFFaudio Essentials. As read by the powerful Tom Weiner Armor |READ OUR REVIEW| and Vampire$ |READ OUR REVIEW| make for a very interesting pair of novels – they have multiple character names in common and yet one is Science Fiction (in the tradition of Starship Troopers) and the other is Fantasy (with vampires). Similarly, Full Cast Audio’s unabridged reading of Robert A. Heinlein’s Red Planet is, in my mind, now the definitive telling of the novel. It features a full cast of actors performing the entirety of the novel’s text (minus attributions). This brings the story to life in a way no TV or movie adaptation ever could – it doesn’t change a single golden word. Finally, George R. Stewart’s Earth Abides, available through Audible.com and Brilliance Audio, was perhaps the highlight of my audiobook year. Earth Abides had me reconsidering much of my outlook on life – that’s a powerful piece of SF.

Audio Drama in 2010:
In the audio drama department BrokenSea‘s expansive adaptation of Escape From New York |READ OUR REVIEW| blew my socks off! It’s a hardcore retelling of the movie of the same name with enhancements and inspiration from the novelization of the script. And, as always, the ever dependable Red Panda Adventures |READ OUR REVIEW|, now in it’s fifth season, is ramping up to a wonderful World War II arc – turning Toronto superheroes against the baddest baddies of them all – those evil Nazi scum. 2010 was a very good year for audiobooks and audio drama.

In the 2010 comics department:
I’ve been swept up in Eric Shanower’s epic quest to retell the entirety of the Trojan War in his Age Of Bronze series of graphic novels. I am also currently reading The Walking Dead and enjoying it very much. But I am not yet ready to admit that either The Walking Dead comics or on the TV show are even half as great as the zombie freaky awesomeness in the Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows series Crossed (which I read in the spring). Crossed is one scary good comic. I also thoroughly enjoyed Logicomix: An Epic Search For Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou. It’s kind of about Bertrand Russell and kind of about the only part of philosophy that I am really bad at, natural deductive logic.

Movies and TV in 2010:
The only movies that I’ve seen, worthy of the designation Science Fiction, in 2010, were Moon and Inception. If you made me pick which was superior I’d take Moon over Inception and not just because I root for the underdog. In TV, Spartacus: Blood and Sand turned out to be well worth wading through – it’s 300-style green screen visual effects nearly drowned me, but I stuck with it, and the story and acting paid-off supremely.

You can read it |HERE| along with a bunch of other folk’s own lists.

And, I participated in the 2009 Mind Meld on the same topic too!

Posted by Jesse Willis