Tag: CBC

William Gibson interviews about Spook Country

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CBC Radio One North By North West Studio One Book Club - Hosted by Sheryl MacKay of CBC Radio and John Burns of the Georgia Straight - image credits go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmv/

CBC Radio Podcast - Words At LargeThe Words At Large podcast, an amalgam of book related tidbits from CBC radio programs, has an in-depth interview with William Gibson about his latest novel Spook Country. This originally aired in the NXNW Studio One Book Club slot on Saturday September 15th. You can download the |MP3| direct or get the file by subscribing to the podcast feed:

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

NPR - On PointAlso, there was a great interview with William Gibson on NPR’s “On Point” program, in which Gibson speaks about Spook Country. From the introduction…

“Now the man who coined the term cyberspace is writing wild fiction set in the here and now”

Gibson’s recent writing (starting with Pattern Recognition) is a swing away from futuristic science fiction – about this, Gibson later remarks, “One of the conclusions that I’ve come to is that science fiction is never about the future, really . . . it’s always about the day in which it was written.” Gibson also predicts “within a decade from now cyberspace with be a nostalgic term”; much in the same way that the use of “electric” as a prefixed adjective in the 19th century went away when electric devices became commonplace, so will the term “digital” be subsumed.

Here’s the direct link to the |MP3| file for the interview.

[Special thanks to Moriond]

And of course, this post mentioning CBC means I must mention that… Apocalypse Al must be freed!

posted by Jesse Willis

A new CBC document CHILLS all CBC bloggers

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Inside The CBC BlogThe “Inside The CBC” Blog (the official blog for the English language Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) has a frightening news story about a new CBC policy. It states:

“any CBC employee who wants to start a personal blog which ‘clearly associates them with CBC/Radio-Canada’ now requires their supervisor’s permission”

This really stinks! The whole idea is draconian, unconscionable and stupid. We must stop this.

The article also cites the same CBC document as saying:

“Further, the blog cannot advocate for a group or a cause, or express partisan political opinion. It should also avoid controversial subjects or contain material that could bring CBC/Radio-Canada into disrepute. To start and maintain a blog of this kind, you need your supervisor’s approval.”

Let’s see… does advocating that CBC should air The Adventures Of Apocalypse Al, a show that it commissioned, hired actors for, recorded and completed only to shelve count as ‘bringing CBC into disrepute’? Who’s going to make that call? The very thought of this irks me to no end. This will hurt us, the listeners (and viewers) of CBC.

I hardly think it likely that our own little FREE APOCALYPSE AL campaign is the primary target of this new CBC brass policy, but it still sucks for us anyway. We can’t let CBC start standing for “Coverup and Banning Committee.”

Please consider adding your comments to the original post – let us not allow CBC to become something less than the greatness it has always been. Long live the CBC as a great communicator.

posted by Jesse Willis

CBC Comedy Podcast skewers with Harry Potter alternate endings

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CBC Radio Podcast - Comedy FactoryMike O’Brien, of the CBC Radio Comedy Factory podcast has a funny series of six audio skitlettes right at the beginning of the latest show. All of them are inspired by the ending of the final Harry Potter novel – they’ve got some alternate endings for us (and don’t worry there are no spoilers for the real deal):

-the “funny misunderstanding” ending
-the Scooby Doo ending
-the Conrad Black ending
-the M. Night Shyamalan ending
-the Star Wars ending

Download the |MP3| direct, or subscribe to the podcast and stay funny weekly:

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

Apocalypse Al must be freed!

posted by Jesse Willis

CBC has Steve The First and Steve The Second airing daily!

SFFaudio News

Canadia 2056Lots of CBC stories and news today, and though much of it is frustrating lots of it good too. First up the best news of all:

CBC Radio One has ordered an entire 2nd season of Canadia 2056! This announcement comes straight from Matt Watts himself. That’s right everybody, we’re gonna get 15 more episodes of pure Science Fiction Comedy Radio Drama gold! But that’s a long way away yet. First up is news that may effect your schedule for tomorrow morning ….

Steve The First

Steve The Second

CBC Radio One will be re-broadcasting Steve The First and Steve The Second radio dramas, these were the two shows penned by Canadia 2056 scribe Matt Watts. The fun begins tomorrow, Monday, July 23rd and ends August 1st. The shows will air for 30 minutes on weekdays, at 11:30 a.m. in all time zones (except Newfoundland where it will begin at Noon).

Here’s the official description:

From the ashes of a post-apocalyptic world rose a slacker named Steve The First He balanced the world and brought civility back to civilization. He blew up in the process. Twenty-Five years later, dark times have returned; a military organization named the Dark Alliance is hell-bent on Provincial domination. They are one city shy of their goal, Orontonto. The city is holding up, but it is time to bring out their secret weapon. The son of Steve: Steve The Second.

There’s also Wikipedia entries on both shows: Steve I and Steve II.

Listeners worldwide can listen to the re-broadcast via the streaming radio service of CBC Radio One – you can find that RIGHT HERE.

Lastly, in accordance with the precedent set by Roman statesman Cato The Elder and his policy of ending every speech in the senate with “ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.” [“…and of course Carthage must be destroyed.”] In that I’m making it my policy to end every CBC related post with:

“…and of course Apocalypse Al must be freed.”

So…. great guns everybody, lots of good listening begins tomorrow, and of course Apocalypse Al must be freed.

posted by Jesse Willis