Monthly Archives: April 2008

Low Carbon Show – No-Fly Holidays

What will holidays be like in a low carbon world? Will we feel the need to escape so much if we are living less stressful, more community-focussed, local lives that give us greater well-being? We speak to Laura Burgess, editor of a new directory called Ecoescape which brings together sustainable accomodation, eateries, and environmentally-focused places to visit in the UK. We also speak to artist Lottie Child who has been developing the practice of “street training” with people of all ages and exploring creative approaches for interacting with, and feeling at home in, our own localities. Continue reading →

Reality Check: Ian Fleming and James Bond

Reality Check: Ian Fleming and James Bond
Originally podcast on Sci-Fi London

Alex Fitch talks to James Taylor, head researcher at the Imperial War Museum about the museum’s new exhibition For your eyes only: Ian Fleming and James Bond. The exhibition puts Fleming’s writing into a historic perspective, from his days working for Naval Intelligence to his later life living the life of Bond in far flung locations from Las Vegas to Jamaica. Alex & James talk about Fleming’s career and legacy plus the public’s fascination with the glam and the gadgets of the Bond movies, some of which are represented in the exhibition such as beloved mini-copter Little Nellie and props from Thunderball.
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Six Pillars – we mean it when we say experimental.

This is the most work we’ve ever had to do for a show: collating the sparse and little known threads of modern Persian music. Mostly Persian music is tripe, with little but the language or a few musical notes to differentiate it from other trash music. In fact so abundant are the cheap imitations by Middle Easterners, that Middle Eastern pop, hip hop, house and dance have developed into their own sub genres and even spawned a stereotpye anti-appreciation movement (Kill Iranian Kitsch)...

Happily however, we do not linger on that here, instead we leap from Jew’s harp to percussive experiments to nu-fusion jazz: we’ve searched far and wide to bring you some of the best sounds in alternative Iranian modern music. Listen out for the distinct Iranian vocal technique employed by Mamak Khadem. Also listen out for the throat sound experiments with a Jew’s harp (Morteza Esmaili pictured) and the wonderful Sitar piece by Omid, (but he should have called it Se tar).

Thanks to all the artists, who gave permission for this podcast.

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Panel Borders: The UK Web and Mini Comix Thing

Panel Borders: The UK Web and Mini Comix Thing
To be broadcast 24/04/08 as part of Strip! on Resonance 104.4 FM

Guest presenter Oliver (Tales from the Flat) Lambden interviews various fans and small press creators who attended and boycotted the UK Web and Mini Comix thing including Jake Harold, David Baillie, Mike Rouse-Deane, Dan Lester, Laurence Powell, Sean Azzopardi, Oli Smith, Adam Cadwell and Anna Petterson (Marc Ellerby’s girlfriend!)…
Edited by Alex Fitch
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Hooting Yard : Duffel Coat Cuffs

Dear Mr Key : I was minding my own business, sitting on my bench in the attic room of the Mercy Home For Abandoned Infants Made Of Wood, when my attention was drawn to your article entitled Wooden Child And Fiery Serpent And Trees. I should at once make it clear that I am a wooden child and that I often run errands along the very same lanes of your bailiwick such as the one shown in the picture, and that on numerous occasions when running such errands I have been menaced by serpents belching forth flame from their mouths or from their fundaments and sometimes, terrifyingly, from both.

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The Low Carbon Show – How To Be Free

Could doing nothing be an easier and more pleasurable way of saving the planet? We discuss this contention with author and editor of The Idler, Tom Hodgkinson.

Making the transition to a low carbon economy necessitates a fresh look at the skills we have and the jobs that we do. What activities are going to be most valuable in a world without fossil fuels? How will we organise ourselves in a world that is less wasteful, more local, and more about self-sufficiency and community resilience?

What interested me in talking to Tom Hodgkinson was the fact that the ideas he had been exploring about freedom and a life of leisure matched increasingly closely to some of the visions that are emerging of what our low carbon future will look like. In a sense, Tom has been beavering away on the development of a philosophical justification and historical precedents for environmentally-friendly lifestyles.

Check out Tom’s books – “How to be Idle” and especially “How to be Free”.

Freedom Manifesto