The Canadian Federation of Students has a new video designed to rally Canadian students for the fight against the forthcoming DMCA-style copyright bill.
[via MichaelGeist.ca]
Posted by Jesse Willis
Tag: copyfight
CBC begins podcasting RADIO DRAMA: Backbencher
So I turned on CBC Radio late one evening last Thursday and discovered a new radio drama! Backbencher airs twice on Thursdays, once at 11:30 am and once at 11:05 pm.
Oh well. I figured it was just another radio drama that I’d almost never be able to catch. But, I’m very pleased to say that my assumption was absolutely and completely WRONG WRONG WRONG. The great news, the fantabulous news, is that Backbencher, a CBC Radio One radio drama, is actually being OFFICIALLY PODCAST!
Four episodes are out already, and I declare Backbencher very good. I’m afraid that Backbencher has absolutely no SFF or Aural Noir content at all, but there are a few actors you may recognize like Nigel Bennett. The show is richly produced in Halifax, Nova Scotia and features a number of CBC radio drama veterans (from shows like Vanishing Point and Clean Sweep).
It’s great to know that CBC Radio is living up to it’s mandate, specifically the requirement that CBC programs “be made available throughout Canada by the most appropriate and efficient means.” Podcasting is that.
Score one for the Mother Corp and score one for Canadians in the copyfight.
Backbencher
By Wendy Lill; Performed by a full cast
Podcast – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Podcaster: CBC Radio One
Podcast: April 8, 2010 – May 27, 2010
In Backbencher, we follow the story of Nellie Gordon, a paramedic from East Nova in Nova Scotia who decides to run for MP on a whim and, much to everyone’s surprise, gets elected. We go into caucus meetings, the hallways of Parliament and the House of Commons itself and experience it all from Nellie’s perspective each and every episode.
Episode 01 |MP3| The Nose Ring
After bragging about being The Voice of the People in her Maiden speech, Nellie’s first vote in the House of Commons is against a bill that could bring jobs to the people in her community of East Nova. Nellie’s first of many hurdles in Ottawa.
Episode 02 |MP3| What Goes Around
Nellie is swamped by applications for her riding office job in East Nova. Everyone is trying to sway her but she has to adhere to process and nepotism and patronage are not on the table. Or are they?
Episode 03 |MP3| Second Chance
MP Nellie Gordon struggles with two conflicting goods- protecting victims’ rights versus giving people a ‘second chance’. A government bill calling for longer sentences and no early release for violent offenders comes up in the House of Commons. Nellie clashes with her seat mate Herb Proctor and finds herself struggling with where she stands, even within her own party.
Episode 04 |MP3| Cutting Loose
MP Nellie Gordon finds herself on the wrong side of her party again when she supports a Liberal Private Members motion to cap MP salaries. Despite her best intentions to stay out of the media, she’s caught saying way too much and the Leader Charlie Dunn is not amused.
Cast:
Joanne Miller is Nellie Gordon
Louise Renault is Renee LeBlanc
Lee J. Campbell is Herb Proctor
Jacob Robertson is Ben Gordon
Christopher Shore is Lars Edmunds
Susan Stackhouse is Anna Dobchuck
Deborah Allen is Catherine Gordon
John Dunsworth is Earl Higgins
Nigel Bennett is Charlie Dunn, Leader of the NDP
Podcast feed: http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/backbencher.xml
iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|
Posted by Jesse Willis
P.S. Now all CBC needs to do is podcast the J. Michael Straczynski radio drama series: The Adventures Of Apocalypse Al!
LibriVox: The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James
The SFFaudio Podcast #50 is scheduled to be a discussion of The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James. If you’re like me, and enjoy self-assigned homework, you might try listening to the audiobook version in advance. There’s a very solid public domain version read by Nikolle Doolin! But, if you try to listen to Nikolle Doolin’s recording of The Turn of the Screw on her website you’re in for a massive headache. The site is almost navigable, but listening there feels like mucking through a needle-forest while carrying a massive haystack. Not fun. Plus, it sports a preposterous “terms of use” page. Don’t let that jumbo mumbo stop you!
Instead, swing on over to LibriVox‘s page for the same audiobook, there you’ll find her recording available in a handy number of instantly accessible formats, all fully public domain and all lacking any hint of eula terrorism. Or just use one of the options below!
The Turn of the Screw
By Henry James; Read by Nikolle Doolin
25 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 5 Hours 43 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 21, 2006
The Turn of the Screw is a novella written by Henry James. It is a ghost story that was originally published in 1898. A nameless governess reports the events of two ghosts who stalk the young children she has charge over. Is she reliable, or an imaginative neurotic?
Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-turn-of-the-screw-by-henry-james.xml
iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|
[Thanks Julie!]
Posted by Jesse Willis
The SFFaudio Podcast #049
The SFFaudio Podcast #049 – Jesse and Scott talk about recent arrivals, new releases, audiobooks, podcasts and plenty more!
Talked about on today’s show:
SFFaudio.com is 7 years old, So I Married An Axe Murder, San Fransisco, California, Alcatraz, recent arrivals, Brilliance Audio, military SF, Fearless: The Lost Fleet Book 2 by Jack Campbell, space opera, Gene Roddenberry‘s Andromeda, Buck Rogers, Live Free or Die: book 1 in the Troy Rising series by John Ringo, Paperback Digital, Cally’s War by John Ringo and Julie Cochrane |READ OUR REVIEW|, John Ringo can give his books away and sell books too, Time’s Eye: A Time Odyssey Book 1 by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter, it’s not a sequel it’s an “othrquel“, time is orthogonal to space (in relativity theory), Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke, benevolent aliens, malevolent aliens, H.P. Lovecraft, The Eternal Wall by Raymond Z. Gallun, LibriVox, Gregg Margarite, time travel, Blackstone Audio, Identity Theft by Robert J. Sawyer, Mars, consciousness uploading/downloading, Treason by Orson Scott Card, A Planet Called Treason by Orson Scott Card, Stefan Rudnicki, Spider Robinson, Melancholy Elephants by Spider Robinson |READ OUR REVIEW|, copyright, copyfight, the philosophy of art, The Graveyard Book |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, Harry Potter, The Dark Is Rising, A Wizard Of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin, ripping off Heinlein is legit when you are Spider Robinson, Friday by Robert A. Heinlein, new releases, Wonder Audio, The Men Return & Worlds Of Origin by Jack Vance, Brilliance Audio, The Songs Of Dying Earth: Stories In Honor Of Jack Vance, Gene Wolfe, The Book Of The New Sun by Gene Wolfe, David D. Levine, Tk’Tk’Tk’ by David D. Levine, The Moon Moth by Jack Vance |READ OUR REVIEW|, Suldrun’s Garden, The Green Pearl, Madouc by Jack Vance, Swimming Kangaroo Books, Need For Magic by Joseph Swope, BBC Audiobooks America, Great Classic Science Fiction: Eight Unabridged Stories, Forgotten Classics podcast talks James Gunn’s The Road To Science Fiction series, paperback book bags, A Game Of Thrones coming to HBO, A Game Of Thrones by George R.R. Martin |READ OUR REVIEW|, Roy Dotrice, John Lee, Shogun (the TV miniseries), FlashForward, Stephen King’s Storm Of The Century, 1408, Scott’s Pick Of The Week: Steve, The First by Matt Watts |READ OUR REVIEW|, @ the CBC store, radio drama, post apocalypse, humor, Canadia: 2056 |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Hitch-hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Jesse’s Pick Of The Week: The Chronicles Of Solomon Kane, Roy Thomas, Howard Chaykin, Robert E. Howard, The Iliad, Ralph Macchio, Red Shadows by Robert E. Howard, religion, Solomon Kane, The Punisher.
Posted by Jesse Willis
Review of Melancholy Elephants by Spider Robinson
Yet another story in SFFaudio’s 7th Anniversary Carnival of Characters!
Melancholy Elephants
By Spider Robinson; Read by Spider Robinson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 34 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Spider on the Web
Published: 2007
Themes: / Science Fiction / Art / Copyright / Human Mind / Mathematics /
The moment I realized that copyright was at the center of the story, I thought: Jesse would love this. I’m fairly certain he’s read it, though. There can’t be a lot of fiction where copyright plays a part, and besides; Spider Robinson is one of his favorites.
A law to extend copyright is proposed, and Dorothy, an artist, visits a Senator in future Washington to persuade him to vote against. The story is not dry exposition about law. It’s about art, the human mind, mathematics, and the universe. A lot to pack into 34 minutes, for certain, and it did leave me feeling melancholy, like the elephants.
It’s important to note that this story won a Hugo Award in 1983, long before copyright ran headlong into the digital age. “Melancholy Elephants” stands beside other great science fiction stories that so clearly saw the future coming.
The story was read by Spider Robinson as part of his Spider on the Web podcast.
Here’s the podcast feed: http://www.spiderrobinson.com/iTunes_feed.xml
And |HERE| is a direct link to the episode with “Melanchoy Elephants”.
Posted by Scott D. Danielson
Copyfight: Charlie Angus demands answers on secret copyright treaty
Prime Minister Stephen Harper‘s recent prorogation of the Canada’s House Of Commons has left one of the few advocates of fair copyright for Canadians without a voice in the House. Here is his YouTube (!) calling out to the PM. Of course unlike a session in the House the PM has no obligation to answer Angus or anyone else on YouTube. Which is the point of a prorogation of parliament. Shameful.
MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay) speaking out against the secretive ACTA negotiations taking place in Mexico.
[via BoingBoing]
Posted by Jesse Willis