Podcast: 2000AD - Then...

Tonight's show is now available to download... (mp3 format, 26.9mb)

N.B./ Downloads are now housed at www.archive.com

Podcast: The current state of Silent Movies

Last week's show is now available for download... (mp3 format, 27.2mb)

N.B./ downloads are now housed at www.archive.org

Tonight's show: 2000AD - Then...

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the venerable British comic book 2000AD, Alex Fitch and Duncan Nott present the first of two programmes about the popular anthology. This week's guest is Pat Mills, the founder and original editor of the comic who has written such great strips as Judge Dredd, Sláine, Nemesis the Warlock and A.B.C. Warriors.

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

Links: 2000AD Online
Wikipedia pages on 2000AD and Pat Mills

Podcast: Scoring Silent Movies

The show broadcast a couple of weeks ago is now available to download... (mp3 format, 27mb)

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

Tonight's show: The current state of silent movies

Continuing our spurious anniversary month, tonight’s show coincidently coincides 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, tonight "I'm ready for my close-up" is proud to have 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!

Regarding the podcast of last week's (and probably this week's) show... I'm having server problems at the moment, so there may be a bit of a delay. Sorry!

10.30pm GMT Resonance 104.4FM / www.resonancefm.com

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'

Tonight's show: Scoring Silent Movies

It's the one year anniversary of "I'm ready for my close-up" (I'll track down a copy of Richard's first show on William Greaves soon for podcasting) - 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.
Tonight, 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 next week.

Links: Minima's myspace page which has info on forthcoming performances
IMDb page on 'The Seashell & the Clergyman'
Wikipedia page on Artaud
Download clips from the film from 'Expanded Cinema'
Director Germaine Dulac's battle for authorship

10.30pm GMT Resonance 104.4FM / www.resonancefm.com

Podcast: Imbolc Day

Last night's show is now available for download...
(mp3 format, 27mb)

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

Tonight's show: Imbolc Day

It's 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.

10.30pm GMT Resonance 104.4FM / www.resonancefm.com

Podcast: The Magic of Alan Moore part three

The second half of tonight's show is now available for download...
(mp3 format, 27mb)

Podcast: The Magic of Alan Moore part two

The first half of tonight's show is now available for download...
(mp3 format, 28mb)

Tonight's Clear Spot: The Magic of Alan Moore parts two and three

Alex Fitch concludes his 'feature length' interview with Alan Moore, talking tonight about magic, Swamp Thing, Lost Girls, movies and saving the comics industry. The second half of tonight's show also includes clips from the Justice League cartoon: 'For the man who has everything' and 'Snakes & Ladders', Alan's meditation on history and DNA...

Links: Wikipedia entry on Alan Moore
Download comics by Alan for free from fourcolorheroes.com

7pm GMT Resonance 104.4FM / www.resonancefm.com

Podcast: The Magic of Alan Moore part one

Last night's show is now available for download...
(mp3 format, 27mb)

Tonight's show: The Magic of Alan Moore part one

Alex Fitch interviews Alan Moore, writer of stuff about The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the highs (Kev O'Neill) and lows (Rob Liefeld) of collaborating with comic book artists, his notions of magic and ideaspace and just what giant bald men in nappies had to do with American paranoia in 1950s movies!

N.B./ parts two and three of this interview will be broadcast on Tuesday from 7pm...

Links: Wikipedia entry on Alan Moore
Download comics by Alan for free from fourcolorheroes.com

10.30pm GMT Resonance 104.4FM / www.resonancefm.com

Podcast: Paul Gravett's guide to comics part two

Last night's show is now ready to download...
(mp3 format, 26.4mb)

For more info on two of the writers Paul mentioned, here're links to the wikipedia pages on Gotthold Lessing and Philippe Druillet...

Tonight's show: Paul Gravett's guide to comics part two

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

10.30pm GMT Resonance 104.4FM / www.resonancefm.com

Podcast: Paul Gravett's guide to comics part one

Last night's show is now ready to download...
(mp3 format, 26.4mb)

Tonight's show: Paul Gravett's guide to comics part one

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 will be discussing 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

10.30pm GMT Resonance 104.4FM / www.resonancefm.com

Podcast: The Horror films of David McGillivray

Originally broadcast 16th November 2006: As a companion piece to our show on Norman J. Warren Alex Fitch talks 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

Download (mp3 format, 26mb)

Podcast: Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

Thursday night's show is now ready to download...
(mp3 format, 26.3mb)

Tonight's show: The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

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.
As we're still within the season of giving (it's Twelfth Night tomorrow), 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)

10.30pm GMT Resonance 104.4FM / www.resonancefm.com