Today's Clear Spot: Benjamin Yeoh & Nakamitsu

Alex Fitch talks to playwright Benjamin Yeoh about his translation of the 14th Century Noh play Nakamitsu - currently being performed at the Gate theatre in Notting Hill - which retains traditional (and bloody) samurai drama and musical interludes but also adds a modern day Yakuza framing device set in a strip club!

5pm BST Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com

Links: The Gate Theatre website
Ben's blog
Wikipedia pages on Ben and Noh theatre in general
Preview of Nakamitsu from The Guardian Guide

Podcast: The Worlds of Bryan Talbot

Tonight's show is now available to download... (mp3 format, 28.6mb)

N.B./ as I have received 5 correct entries (3pm 30/05/07), the competition is now closed...

For more info and a selection of different file formats you can download or stream, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com

Tonight's show: The Worlds of Bryan Talbot

On this week's "I'm ready for my close-up", Alex Fitch's guests are Bryan Talbot & Mark Wright, creator and adaptor respectively of The Adventures of Luther Arkwright... Alex will be talking to Bryan about his career in comics, focusing on Luther and Alice in Sunderland and asking Mark about the challenges of converting a graphic novel to the audio medium...
There's also a competition to win one of 5 signed copies of the Big Finish audio adaptation of Luther Arkwright CDs at the end of the show...

10.30pm BST Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com

Links: Find details about Bryan's Alice in Sunderland signing tour
Read a review of Alice in Sunderland in comic strip form
Wikipedia pages on The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
and Bryan Talbot
More info on Bryan's exhibition at The Cartoon Museum which runs to the beginning of July
Buy / sample The Adventures of Luther Arkwright web comic
Buy / download the trailer for The Adventures of Luther Arkwright audio adaptation
More info on Bryan's next project Cherubs
...which is drawn by former close-up guest Mark Stafford

Podcast: The Curzon cinemas podcast #02, May '07

It's finally time for The Curzon cinemas podcast #2 featuring reviews of films released this month at the five cinemas in the Curzon network... Presented by Alex Fitch and our new co-host Jessica Fostekew, a member of the comedy improv group The Institute, who has just completed an acclaimed 6 week run in the reknowned News Revue...

The show went live on May 21st 2007 and is available from a variety of sources.
If you have itunes installed on your computer, you can download the show by clicking here or visit the Curzon Podcast homepage at itunes here...

If you don't have itunes installed on your computer you can stream the show by clicking here and pressing the play button or right click here to save the mp3 file direct to your computer...

Films reviewed include Night of the Sunflowers, Jindabyne and Joe Strummer: The future is unwritten.

Links: You can read print versions of the reviews at www.backprojection.com
Visit the Curzon's myspace page and website

(mp3 format, 14mins / 12.8mb)

Today's show: Schock! Horror! vol.5 - Daikaijū Eiga*

Richard Thomas continues his look at the best examples of 1950s and 60s monster movies including the trailers for Atragon, King Kong Escapes, Ghidorah, the three headed monster... A giant meteor crashes into the mountains and the three-headed, fire-spitting space dragon King Ghidorah emerges...

4.30pm BST Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com

Links: Listen to Richard's show on Godzilla
*Wikipedia page on Japanese Giant Monster Movies
Buy the Region 1 NTSC or Region 4 PAL DVD of these trailers

Podcast: Blake's 7 redux

Last night's show is now available to download... (mp3 format, 28.3mb)

For more info and a selection of different file formats you can download or stream, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com

Tonight's show: Blake's 7 redux

Recorded at this year's Bristol international Comic Expo - Alex Fitch interviews the makers of the new Blake's 7 internet radio series - writer Ben Aaronovitch, actor Owen Aaronovitch who plays 'Gan', sound designer / actor Alistair Lock who plays 'Zen' and producer Andrew Sewell.


10.30pm BST Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com

Links: Listen to the new Blake's 7 at www.blakes7.com
Wikipedia pages on Blake's 7 and Ben Aaronovich
IMDb page on Owen Aaronovich
Outpost Gallifrey page on Alistair Lock
Interview with Andrew Sewell at www.blakes-7.co.uk

Today's show: Schock! Horror! vol.4 - The revenge of science!

Richard Thomas continues his look at the best examples of 1950s and 60s monster movies including the trailers for such incredible monsters as Rodan, Mothra & Varan the unbelievable! Plus, the inevitable showdown: King Kong vs. Godzilla!!...

4.30pm BST Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com

Listen to Richard's show on Godzilla
Buy the Region 1 NTSC or Region 4 PAL DVD of these trailers

Podcast: The current state of anime

Last night's show is now available to download... (mp3 format, 28.7mb)

For more info and a selection of different file formats you can download or stream, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com

Tonight's show: The Current state of Anime

Alex Fitch interviews Helen McCarthy, author of 'Hayao Miyazaki - Master of Japanese Animation', '500 Manga heroes and villains' and co-author of 'The Anime encyclopedia' about the season of Japanese animated films she's curated at the Barbican which coincides with the 90th anniversary of the medium. The season continues this month with a sold-out screening of Satoshi Kon's new film Paprika, so Alex and Helen talk about the director as well as the work of his predecessors and contemporaries such as Miyazaki and Ôtomo plus the continuing influence of manga artist Osamu Tezuka.

10.30pm BST Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com

Links: If you want to queue for returns, here's
info on the Barbican Japanimation season...
...plus next month's 'Animate the World' season
Wikipedia pages on Satoshi Kon, Hayao Miyazaki, Katsuhiro Ōtomo, Osamu Tezuka and anime in general
For the latest Anime news, why not check out otakunews.com
Buy 500 Manga Heroes and Villains and The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917 from amazon.com

Today's show: Schock! Horror! - vol.3

Richard Thomas continues his look at the best examples of 1950s and 60s monster movie trailers ...

4.30pm BST Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com

Listen to Richard's show on Godzilla
Buy the Region 1 NTSC or Region 4 PAL DVD of these trailers

Podcast: 50 years of American Splatter or how I learned to stop worrying and love the grindhouse!

Last night's show is now available to download... (mp3 format, 28.1mb)

For more info, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com

One last plug for tomorrow's event...
N.B./ This year's Sci-Fi London features a special 1950s Hammer quadruple bill on May 5th, all the proceeds of which go to help Resonance FM... So, if you were intrigued by my mention of Stolen Face on our Halloween show last year, now's your chance to see it as well as: X the Unknown, Four Sided Triangle and the seminal British Sci-Fi film Spaceways! Click below for details...

Tonight's show: 50 years of American Splatter* or how I learned to stop worrying and love the grindhouse!

Continuing our celebration of Walpurgiswoche, Alex Fitch interviews Stephen Thrower, editor of the legendary Eyeball magazine about his Grindhouse festival on Saturday at the Riverside Studios cinema in Hammersmith; Stephen will be showing 6 rare American splatter movies to help illustrate his book (Nightmare USA) and introducing Q&As with the film-makers. Alex and Stephen talk about the history of Grindhouse cinema, its influence on recent teen slasher movies and reasons why Tarantino's latest is looking like a flop...

*Yeah, alright, Psycho started filming in 1959, so strictly speaking, it's 48 years of American Splatter, but that doesn't have quite the same ring to it!

10.30pm BST Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com


Links - Buy Stephen's book from fabpress.com
Buy tickets direct from the Riverside Cinema
Wikipedia page on Stephen Thrower
Kamera.co.uk review of Eyeball Compendium

N.B./ This year's Sci-Fi London features a special 1950s Hammer quadruple bill on May 5th, all the proceeds of which go to help Resonance FM... So, if you were intrigued by my mention of Stolen Face on our Halloween show last year, now's your chance to see it as well as: X the Unknown, Four Sided Triangle and the seminal British Sci-Fi film Spaceways! Click below for details...

Today's show: Schock! Horror! - Cold blooded...

As it's the afternoon of Walpurgisnacht, why not tune into Richard Thomas' new weekly bite sized (15 min) show, as he presents the best examples of 1950s and 60s monster movie trailers... Today it's the turn of primordial landscapes and lost continents and the beasts that roam within
them...

4.30pm BST Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com

Listen to Richard's show on Godzilla
Buy the Region 1 NTSC or Region 4 PAL DVD of these trailers

N.B./ This year's Sci-Fi London features a special 1950s Hammer quadruple bill on May 5th, all the proceeds of which go to help Resonance FM... So, if you were intrigued by my mention of Stolen Face on our Halloween show last year, now's your chance to see it as well as: X the Unknown, Four Sided Triangle and the seminal British Sci-Fi film Spaceways! Click below for details...

Podcast: The current state of Sci-Fi Movies

Last night's show is now available to download... (mp3 format, 27.3mb)

For more info, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com

If you'd like to buy any of the films that Louis Mentioned which showed in last year's festival:
Die you zombie bastards!, C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America and The Machinist are available to buy on PAL region 2 DVD, while
Subject Two and Recon 2020: The Caprini Massacre are only available on NTSC Region 1 DVD...

Tonight's show: The current state of sci-fi movies

Alex Fitch interviews Louis Savvy, organiser of Sci-Fi London, the capital's annual science fiction and fantasy festival about this year's event. Sci-Fi London is held from the 3rd to the 6th of May and this year features such films as Recon 2022: The Mezzo incident and Plane Dead (a.k.a. Flight of the living dead), documentaries like Future by design and also runs concurrent with Cine-excess, a conference on cult cinema that includes screenings of David Mamet's Edmond and Gyorgi Palfi's Taxidermia. Alex and Louis discuss these films, the highlights of last year's festival and (natch) the current state of sci-fi on the big and small screens.

10.30pm BST Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com

In comics news: It's the GRAPHIC NOVEL WEEKEND at the Cartoon museum in London, so why not go along to hear talks by Posy Simmonds, Ilya, Nick Abadzis, former Close-up guest Mark Stafford and forthcoming Close-up guest Bryan Talbot... Click here for more details.

Links: Sci-Fi London homepage
Cine Excess homepage
Taxidermia review at backprojection.com

N.B./ This year's Sci-Fi London features a special 1950s Hammer quadruple bill on May 5th, all the proceeds of which go to help Resonance FM... So, if you were intrigued by my mention of Stolen Face on our Halloween show last year, now's your chance to see it as well as: X the Unknown, Four Sided Triangle and the seminal British Sci-Fi film Spaceways! Click below for details...

We apologise for this distruption to the usual schedule...

No show this week, I'm afraid...

Richard has this to say on the subject:

Due to structural damage to the studio ceiling, we are obliged to close the studio effective immediately until further notice. All programmes from Thursday 19 April are cancelled including pre-recorded material. The scale of the work we need to undertake over the next few days will leave little time to arrange repeats. The nightloop will be the sole broadcast during this period. Many apologies for this. We have taken expert health & safety advice concerning this matter and they have advised us to take this course as a matter of urgency.
We hope to move to a new premises at the very earliest opportunity.
Until then, please bear with a schedule of repeats and disrupted programming.


More news as soon as I have it!

Now, more than ever(!):

Podcast: "How gay is the screen" part 2

Last week's show is now available to download... (mp3 format, 28.7mb)

For more info, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com
Read reviews of films showing at the LLGFF at backprojection.com
Listen to an episode of Midnight Sex Talk about gay bars in London
If you're one of our Californian listeners, you can catch Small Town Gay Bar at Outfest on Wednesday

Today's show: Schock! Horror! - Kong

In this new weekly bite sized (15 min) show, Richard Thomas presents the best examples of 1950s and 60s monster movie trailers starting with the Eighth Wonder of the World TM Kong!

4.30pm BST Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com

Listen to Richard's show on Godzilla
Buy the Region 1 NTSC or Region 4 PAL DVD of these trailers

Tonight's show: "How gay is the screen" part 2

Following the conclusion of this year's London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, Alex Fitch interviews director Malcolm Ingram about his documentary Small Town Gay Bar and then talks to Inigo Andersson (a film night and club promoter) and Michael Hall (a video shop manager) who are helping to encourage access to gay film-making the rest of the year when the festival isn’t on...

10.30pm BST Resonance 104.4FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com

Links: The London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
IMDb page on Small Town Gay Bar
Film Wotever's Myspace page
Michael's band Nebraska's Myspace page
MSNBC article on how TV is 'less gay' this year