Continuing our spurious anniversary month, tonight’s show coincidently coincided with the 8oth anniversary of the release of Hitchcock’s film ‘The Lodger’, so, to celebrate: having teased you with excerpts of our interview with Matthew Sweet – the writer and presenter of Silent Britain and Shepperton Babylon – for the past two weeks, “I’m ready for my close-up” is proud to podcast Alex Fitch’s full interview with him on the subject of silent movies.
If you’re wondering whether the title of tonight’s show is a contradiction in terms… Well, you’ll just have to tune in to find out!

Links: BFI page on ‘Silent Britain’
Matthew’s episode of Back Row on Radio 4
Article by Matthew on the late Ernest Dudley
Transcript of BBC Four interview with Matthew
Wikipedia page on Hitchcock’s ‘The Lodger’

N.B./ I’m ready… podcasts are now housed at archive.org, so click on the link for more info on this show.

It’s the one year anniversary of “I’m ready for my close-up“, so to celebrate the occasion we have a couple of shows about the birth of cinema and how it is still relevant and appreciated today.
In the first show, Alex Fitch is talking to Alex Hogg from the band Minima who are touring the country with a print of the 1928 film ‘The Seashell and the Clergyman’ written by Antonin Artaud. The film was infamously banned on first release in this country with the BBFC quoted as saying: “This film is so obscure as to have no apparent meaning. If there is a meaning, it is doubtless objectionable“.
Minima provide a terrific new soundtrack to the film and there will be extracts in tonight’s show which concludes with the start of an interview with Matthew Sweet, author of Silent Britain and Shepperton Babylon, and this will be continued in the next installment.

Links: Info about tonight’s performance at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol
Watch excerpts of The Seashell… with music performed by Minima
Watch the 30 min silent version of The Seashell… on youtube
Minima’s myspace page which has info on forthcoming performances
IMDb page on ‘The Seashell & the Clergyman’
Wikipedia page on Artaud
Director Germaine Dulac’s battle for authorship

Originally broadcast 1st February 2007 (mp3 format, 27mb)

Originally broadcast on Imbolc day (Groundhog Eve if you’re American) which means we’re half way to Spring… To celebrate this minor event, Alex Fitch is sticking his head out of his metaphorical burrow and looking forward to various events in the cinema and home entertainment. Tonight’s show includes interviews with Matthew Sweet (Silent Britain) about his Doctor Who audio plays, Tom Purcell (animator) about winning “Best Imaginative Response to the Subject of War” at the IWM student film festival and Geoff Andrew (BFI) about forthcoming screenings at the NFT.

Links: Out of the shadows – 50 cinematic masterpieces @ the NFT
Geoff Andrew’s favourite films of last year
Watch Tom Purcell’s The Long Weekend on youtube
Info about events in the IWM cinema this month
Buy Doctor Who: Year of The Pig from Big Finish
Matthew’s episode of Back Row on Radio 4
More info on Imbolc and Groundhog Day at Wikipedia

Originally broadcast 1st February 2007 (mp3 format, 27mb)

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Duncan Nott & Alex Fitch conclude their interview with Paul Gravett, talking about such topics as ‘the graphic novels of Chris Ware & Raymond Briggs’, ‘the future of British sequential art’ and ‘things to hate about comics’!

Links; Wikipedia pages on: Chris Ware
Raymond Briggs
Gotthold Lessing
and Philippe Druillet…

Originally broadcast 18th January 2007 (mp3 format, 27mb)

Continuing Comic Book Month on “I’m ready for my close-up”, we have the first half of Alex Fitch & Duncan Nott’s interview with Paul Gravett, author of “Manga: 60 years of Japanese Comics”, “Graphic Novels – Stories to change your life” and “Great British Comics”. Alex and Duncan discuss with Paul the continuing appeal of British Comics, the evolving market for Graphic Novels and monthly ‘pamplets’ plus the changing censorship of the medium in general.

Links: www.paulgravett.com
www.greatbritishcomics.com
Buy Paul’s books from Amazon

Originally broadcast 11th January (mp3 format, 26.4 mb)

In a follow up to our show on Norman J. Warren Alex Fitch speaks to Norman’s contemporary and collaborator David McGillivray about the horror film scripts he wrote in the 1970s such as Satan’s Slave and Frightmare plus his new series of short films, Worst Fears…

Links: ‘Worst Fears’ website
David’s filmography on the IMDb

Originally broadcast 16th November 2006 (mp3 format, 26mb)

It’s the start of comic book month on I’m ready for my close-up, so in the first of a series of shows on four colour periodicals, Alex Fitch and Duncan Nott are talking to Charles Brownstein, the director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. So, why not listen in and support a charity that protects comic book creators and shops from the vagaries of American law regarding the first amendment…

Links: CBLDF website
Wired article: When comics and laws collide
The Comics reporter article: Withdrawal of comics from a Missouri library
Baltimore City Paper article on the CBLDF
First Amendment Center website, re: Freedom of Speech and comics
Wikipedia article on ‘The Millar Test’ (US equivalent of the obscene publications act)

Originally broadcast 4th January 2007 (mp3 format, 26.3mb)