With a mere ten days until Voyage of the Damned, the Radio Free Skaro crew waxed on about the building media blitz prefiguring the Doctor Who Christmas special, including a great behind the scenes article in the Times of London, and ran through what little other news there was this week, though the power of digression pushed us towards the 43 minute mark. W00t! (feed, web, direct download)
Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria points out in his latest column that while America cowers from perceived threats, the rest of the world still sees it as an aggressive bully. In order for the US to regain its standing in the world, they’re going to have to get past their sense of fear and deal with a rapidly changing world. Zakaria suggests one bright idea might be spending less time on the Middle East and more on China and India.
The pickings are a little sparse right now (and by a little, I mean there ain’t a hell of a lot besides Corner Gas, Robson Arms and South Park to choose from) but the Canadian iTunes store finally has some television content. On the one hand most of the TV I watch is from the UK, so this doesn’t do me a hell of a lot of good, but on the other hand spending $15 for a virtual box set doesn’t look like that bad of an option compared to torrenting a show for a week. Beats cable, at any rate.
According to the Times, the recent declaration by American intelligence agencies that Iran doesn’t actually have any nukes and froze plans to get them a while back isn’t going over too well in Washington. And in an ironic twist of fate, war with the United States is probably about the only thing that’ll keep Ahmadinejad, Iran’s increasingly unpopular president, in power.
The Third Guy had a first rate week, and he recounts to both Warren and Steven (and you, dear listeners) how he met Doctor Who scribe Steven Moffat, Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, superfan Ian Levine, and many many others in his ongoing adventures in the UK. We also have some bits of news and commentary, speculation about the upcoming Christmas special, and the usual tomfoolery and nonsense. All this and there isn’t even anything Who related on the air…except us, of course. (feed, web, direct download)
Radiohead recently gave away their latest album, “In Rainbows,” online with the caveat that listeners could donate whatever they found appropriate. The NY Times examines both the band’s decision and the larger trend of musicians splitting off from their labels and going out on their own.
In this episode, Jonny Vancouver checks out the East Van Culture Crawl, a yearly exhibition of East Vancouver artists that recently took place here in Vancouver, and interviews Phillip Stephen and Grant Mercs, two of the artists involved in the Crawl. Special thanks to Beyond Robson for featuring the East Van Podcast, and to everyone who went above and beyond to help us put this podcast together.
“We Are The Strange” is, as the title would imply, a deeply weird animated story featuring puppets, 8-bit video game graphics and a whole lotta oddness. The movie recently showed up on numerous torrent sites, but instead of going ape and demanding the Internet be shut down, the film’s creator, M dot Strange, praised pirates for getting his film distributed via a message he posted on Youtube. The filmmakers behind “The Man from Earth” also recently thanked the torrentsphere when their movie went from obscurity to minor download hit.
I think these isolated incidents are pointing towards something bigger. Most movies don’t ever make their money back, aren’t played at festivals, and can’t find their audience. The Internet is changing that, and P2P networks are a great way to distribute content that wouldn’t otherwise be seen. Just look at Infest Wisely, the no-budget Canadian film from Jim Munroe and friends that ended up playing at two different festivals BECAUSE it was released on the internet and via bittorrent. Films are rapidly spinning out of Hollywood’s stranglehold on distribution, and not a moment too soon.
Yeah, it’s a total shocker to me that the Iranians aren’t actually ready to trot out a nuclear weapon, though it is amazing to hear it from American intelligence agencies. Looks like the y might have finally grown a set and not just told Bush what he wants to hear, like they did in the “slam dunk” days building up to the Iraq war. Still, the sterling record of spot-on analysis from the American intelligence community leading up to both 9/11 and the war means Iran probably DOES have nukes.
The biggest news by far this week was the impending return of Billie Piper in Series Four, a development that has us scratching our heads and debating at great length as to its cosmic significance. That, and the usual yandering on about things Who (of which there was otherwise sparse pickings this week) signify yet another episode of Radio Free Skaro for your listening pleasure. (feed, web, direct download)
