Podcasts about Aardman Animations

We present our Wallace & Gromit - Vengeance Most Fowl review! Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is a 2024 British animated comedy film produced by Aardman Animations and the BBC in association with Netflix, and directed by Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. It is the sixth Wallace & Gromit film, the first since A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008), and the second feature-length film after The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005). It features the return of Feathers McGraw from The Wrong Trousers (1993), who is out for revenge on Wallace and Gromit and turns the former's latest invention on the duo to do so.Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl premiered at the American Film Institute on 27 October 2024. It was broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on 25 December in the UK, becoming the second-most-watched UK broadcast since 2022; it released on Netflix internationally on 3 January 2025. The film holds a 100% rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, and was nominated in the Animated Feature categories at the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, BAFTAs, and Annie Awards.Disclaimer: The following may contain offensive language, adult humor, and/or content that some viewers may find offensive – The views and opinions expressed by any one speaker does not explicitly or necessarily reflect or represent those of Mark Radulich or W2M Network. Mark Radulich and his wacky podcast on all the things:https://linktr.ee/markkind76also https://www.teepublic.com/user/radulich-in-broadcasting-networkFB Messenger: Mark Radulich LCSWTiktok: @markradulichtwitter: @MarkRadulichInstagram: markkind76RIBN Album Playlist: https://suno.com/playlist/91d704c9-d1ea-45a0-9ffe-5069497bad59

Donate to the Trevor Project: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/CumpostingPodcastRosa & Joku discuss the recently announced 2025 Academy Awards nominations, alongside 'Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl' - a 2024 British animated comedy film produced by Aardman Animations and the BBC in association with Netflix, and directed by Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. It is the sixth Wallace & Gromit film, the first since A Matter of Loaf and Death, and the second feature-length film after The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Additionally we review 'A Real Pain' a 2024 buddy road comedy-drama film written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg. An international co-production between Poland and the United States, it stars Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin as mismatched Jewish American cousins who travel to Poland to honor their late grandmother. The cast also includes Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy, and Daniel Oreskes. Lastly, we review 'All About My Mother' (Spanish: Todo sobre mi madre) is a 1999 comedy-drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, and starring Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Candela Peña, Antonia San Juan, Penélope Cruz, Rosa Maria Sardà, and Fernando Fernán Gómez. Our Podcast Artist is the incredibly talented Vero (she/they) of Praxisstvdio who you should check out here: https://linktr.ee/praxisstvdioTwitch: http://www.twitch.tv/cmpostingThe Cumposting Power Ranking: https://letterboxd.com/cumposting/list/cumposting-all-movies-watched-ranked/Donate: https://throne.com/cumpostingSend Us a Voice Message: https://www.speakpipe.com/cumpostingReddit (Cringe): https://www.reddit.com/r/cumpostingpod/Follow Rosa: https://www.youtube.com/@ReddestRosaFollow Joku: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6MqDAGSrKEVBzHtgBBbT0wIrish Shorts Editor Rosaburgs: https://x.com/marxlsmusFeaturing music from @newjazzunderground Outro guitar solo performed by @djangoklumppguitarImage of the Week: https://imgur.com/a/s94WrvV#oscars #wallaceandgromit #arealpainChapters:0:00 Intro10:44 Oscars Nominations27:38 Karla Sofía Gascón Controversy28:56 Oscars Nominations (ctd.)29:46 Rosa's Commie Corner33:42 Oscars Nominations (ctd.)36:17 Highly Intellectual Conversation38:43 'A Real Pain' (2024) Review & Analysis59:54 Scoring & Ranking 'A Real Pain'1:00:45 'Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl' (2024) Review & Analysis1:14:22 Scoring & Ranking 'Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl'1:15:02 'All About My Mother' (1999) Review & Analysis1:31:10 Scoring & Ranking 'All About My Mother'1:31:56 Q&A1:42:02 Outro & Next Week's FilmsTags:movie podcast, comedy podcast, movie review podcast, leftist podcast, marxist podcast, communist podcast, socialist podcast, progressive podcast, film podcast, film review podcast, lesbian podcast, trans podcast, lesbian film critics, transgender movie review, lesbian movie review, left communism, leftcom, leftist film review, leftist movie review, communist film review, communist movie review, socialist movie review, socialist film review, woke movies, woke film, queer film review, queer movie review, best podcast, oscars, jennifer lawrence, emilia perez worst, the oscars, kevin spacey, worst film of the year, oscar nominees, 97th oscars, bad representation, emilia pérez, ariana grande, zoe saldana emilia perez, oscar predictions, comedy podcast, film awards, academy awards, wallace and gromit, wallace and gromit vengeance most foul netflix, nick park, the wrong trousers, a grand day out, wallace and gromit vengeance most fowl trailer reaction, wallace and gromit were, train chase, wallace and gromit vengeance most fowl, wallace and gromit were-rabbit, wallace...

This week, Eric and Josh dicuss: the Academy Awards nominations, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Gladiator II, Jack Nicholson, The Running Man, Remember Me, The Wolverine, Aardman Animations, Top Gun: Maverick, and more! They also mention the movies screening the week of Friday January 31 - Thursday February 6: The Lodger, Liza, Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Last Showgirl, The Substance, and Flow! They neglect to mention The Room Next Door, which was booked after the podcast recording. But, you can always find up to the moment listings at mayfairtheatre.ca!

This month Evan talks about the game Lethal Company, Liam talks about watching the first season of Lost, and Brian reviews the newest film from Aardman Animations, Wallace & Gomit: Vengeance Most Fowl.Thanks as always for your support! We're on Bluesky too: @lunchboxreaction.bsky.socialAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode, I interviewed artist actor and DJ Muzz Khan who voiced Anton Deck in ‘Vengeance Most Fowl' about his time on the film, Wallace and Gromit, and wider experiences. Please note this is a fan-made podcast and is not official. Aardman Animations own all characters. All clips and music used are owned by Aardman Animations unless detailed below. Intro background Music: www.bensound.com. Information sources: https://www.intertalentgroup.com/client/muzz-khan/, https://www.instagram.com/muzzkhan/p/DEFw-QkoRZt/?img_index=1 Send us a text

In the last episode of Casual Chats for 2024, Arun and Patricia discuss about the 2024 stop motion animated film Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, the 2nd film of the Wallace and Gromit franchise by British animation company Aardman Animations. Taking place decades after the 1993 short Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers, Feathers McGraw, the evil penguin who tried to steal The Blue Diamond thanks to Wallace's invention, The Techno Trousers, is planning for revenge to break out of his prison at the zoo thanks to Wallace's new invention, The Norbot. The Norbot is a robot gnome programmed to do any job, no matter how small. Can Wallace and Gromit stop Feathers for a second time? When the film premiered, it received critical acclaim from critics and fans calling it a great return of the dynamic duo with great animation, a solid soundtrack, a stellar voice cast, and an interesting message on artificial intelligence and relying too much on technology. What did Arun and Patricia think of the film?

Juan Francisco Bellón comenta sin spoilers Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, la esperada nueva película de Aardman, que revive a los adorables protagonistas en una aventura cargada de humor, nostalgia y creatividad, y que llega a Netflix este 3 de enero. Nick Park, director de Aardman Animations y ganador de cuatro premios Óscar, y Merlin Crossingham, nominado a los Emmy, regresan con una nueva y épica aventura: ‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl'. En esta entrega, Gromit está preocupado por la excesiva dependencia que está desarrollando Wallace hacia sus inventos; preocupación que demuestra estar del todo justificada cuando Wallace crea un gnomo «inteligente» que parece tener voluntad propia. Cuando se descubre que una figura vengativa del pasado podría estar detrás de todo, Gromit tendrá que luchar contra fuerzas siniestras para salvar a su dueño y evitar que Wallace pierda la capacidad de inventar para siempre. PATROCINADOR: En Fuera de Series para editar todo nuestro contenido en audio y video usamos Descript. Puedes leer sobre cómo lo hacemos en https://fdseri.es/usando-descript-1 y probarla gratuitamente a través de nuestro enlace de afiliado: https://fdseri.es/descript ENLACES: - Lee sobre todo lo que hemos comentado y ve los trailers suscribiéndote de forma gratuita a la Newsletter de Fuera de Series: http://newsletter.fueradeseries.com - Únete a nuestro grupo de Telegram: telegram.me/fueradeseries Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CHEEESE, GROMIT!! With the iconic stop-motion duo returning to the big screen, John was lucky enough to sit down & chat with Wallace & Gromit creator / director, Nick Park, along with co-director Merlin Crossingham to discuss the new movie, its origins as a half-hour short, the return of iconic villain Feathers McGraw (The Wrong Trousers), favorite cheeses, what invention Wallace & Gromit might come up with to create their very own movie, & MORE!! Vengeance Most Fowl is the second feature-length outing for Aardman Animations' beloved claymation characters following up 2005's Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit! Vengeance Most Fowl finds Wallace readying a brand new invention to help Gromit in the garden -- a Smart Gnome by the name of Norbot! But when an old foe rears his be-gloved head once more, Wallace & Gromit spring into action once again to stop the zoo's greatest jewel thief from striking again!! PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Follow Us On Socials:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/  Tik-Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereelrejects?lang=en Twitter: https://x.com/thereelrejects Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Music Used In Manscaped Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben Whitehead stars as Wallace in the upcoming film "Wallace and Gromit - A Vengeance Most Fowl", and he joins us for the very first episode of This Is My Voice! We talk about the new film, the legacy of his character, and transitioning from struggling young actor to a renowned voice actor. @aardmananimations @theatreinthebin __________ Introduction to This Is My Voice! podcast and Ben Whitehead as the inaugural guest (00:14) Ben’s childhood love for Wallace and Gromit and how it inspired his career (01:25) Insights into the upcoming film Wallace and Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl (02:14) Ben’s journey into voice acting and his “accidental” entry into Aardman Animations (07:00) The art of voice-matching Wallace’s character and evolving the role (14:03) Challenges of working with silent characters like Gromit in animation (18:52) Ben’s thoughts on legacy and his role as a custodian of Wallace’s character (25:56) Fun impersonation challenges with Rachel and Eddie (28:13) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Through his passion for stop motion and modelling clay, we have come to love his silent (but wise) dog and well-meaning owner.Wallace and Gromit are Nick Park's most famous creations, but what more do we know about this Preston born Oscar winner?He would use his mother's home movie camera to record his early films; he studied animation at the National Film and Television School in Buckinghamshire; and joined Aardman Animations in the mid-80s.Over the last few decades, Nick Park has gained critical acclaim for feature films, Chicken Run and Early Man. So, as we await the latest Wallace and Gromit offering this Christmas, Mark Coles has donned the RIGHT trousers to take a closer look at the multi-award winning animator.Archive Credits Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out directed by Nick Park (Aardman Animations/National Film and Television School) Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl directed by directed by Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham (Aardman Animations) Creature Comforts directed by Nick Park (Aardman Animations) Chicken Run directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park (Aardman Animations/Pathé/DreamWorks Animation) Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit directed by Nick Park and Steve Box (Aardman Animations/DreamWorks Animation) Wallace & Gromit Christmas Jumper Ident (Aardman Animations for the BBC) Merlin Crossingham & Nick Park on WALLACE AND GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL at AFI Fest 2024 (American Film Institute) The Bike Ride (Collett Dickenson Pearce)Production Team Presenter: Mark Coles Producers: Bob Howard and Natalie Ktena Editor: Richard Vadon Sound: Gareth Jones Production Co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele

Episode 14: Ben Whitehead Voices WallaceDescription:This week I talk to actor and comedian Ben Whitehead about voicing the iconic character of Wallace in the new Wallace & Gromit film. Ben talks about stepping into the role following the passing of Peter Sallis, what it's like to work with Aardman Animations, and how he finds the voice of Wallace.Timestamps:●0:00 - Introduction●1:00 - Ben's outdoor theatre work●12:00 - How Ben got involved in voice acting●20:00 - Finding the voice of Wallace●26:00 - Visiting the Aardman Animations studios●30:00 - The making of the new Wallace & Gromit filmLinks:●https://www.benwhiteheadvoice.com/●https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/articles/2024/wallace-and-gromit-vengeance-most-fowl●https://www.aardman.com/Guest Information:Ben Whitehead is an actor and comedian who has voiced the iconic character of Wallace in the new Wallace & Gromit film, Vengeance Most Foul. He has worked on several Wallace & Gromit projects in the past. This film will be Ben's first time voicing Wallace for a full-length film. Ben has also appeared in several theatrical productions, including a recent outdoor theatre production called Theatre in the Bin. He developed this project five years ago, and it was performed in Edinburgh in 2019.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and tell a friend! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alessia Morresi e Martina Moro raccontano la storia degli studi di animazione Aardman Animations.

This week, Michael, Jake and Steph are back with a new miniseries charting the career of animation legend Nick Park and his work at the peerless plasticine-powered studio, Aardman Animations. To start, we look at his Oscar-winning first film, the chatty zoo-themed mockumentary Creature Comforts (1989), which was his first directorial credit for Aardman after contributing to projects such as the era-defining music video for Peter Gabriel's 'Sledgehammer', and while slowly working in the background on his long-gestating student project, A Grand Day Out (more on that next week!).Subscribe to our Patreon for ad-free episodes and bonus conversations in our Library Cafe series.Follow us on Twitter or Instagram, or drop us an email at ghibliotheque@gmail.com. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On episode 258 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade and Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello talk about the Gotham Awards nominations, the world premieres of AFI FEST 2024 and two films we saw outside of the festival that will be in the Oscar race. Always considered the kickoff of awards season, the Gotham Awards nominations were revealed this week and without too much surprise Sean Baker's Anora led with four nods: Best Feature, Best Director, Outstanding Lead Performance (Mikey Madison) and Outstanding Supporting Performance (Yura Borisnov). Next up with three apiece were RaMell Ross's Nickel Boys (Best Feature, Best Director, Breakthrough Performer – Brandon Wilson) and Jane Schoenbrun's I Saw the TV Glow (Best Director, Outstanding Lead Performance – Justice Smith, Outstanding Supporting Performance – Brigette Lundy-Paine). We break down these nominations, the surprises (Challengers in Best Feature as its only nod, The Brutalist missing there) and snubs (notably, Joan Chen) and everything in between. See full list of nominations here. Then we head over to the AFI FEST 2024, which just ended last weekend, to talk about the world premieres of the fest: Music by John Williams (review), Robert Zemeckis's Here (review), Clint Eastwood's Juror #2 (review) and the new Aardman Animation film Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. It's a pretty spirited conversation as the film from two directing giants are among our least favorite films of the year, but then buoyed by the joy and fun of the new Aardman. Conversely, we venture into two films that we loved and saw outside of the festival last week, Halina Reijn's Babygirl, starring Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson, and Ridley Scott's return to the Colosseum with Gladiator II, starring Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington. You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. This podcast runs 58m. We will be back next week for a retrospective of the 87th Academy Awards, covering the films of 2014. Till then, let's get into it.

This week Dan and Chris catch up on some recent TV news including some clarification on Doctor Who's third season renewal, Aardman Animation bringing Pingu back, more Rick and Morty episodes ordered and a new show from Rachel Bloom. Plus we review English Teacher and Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft.

n this episode of Fine Tooning, Jim Hill and Drew Taylor take you on a fascinating journey through Disney's forgotten Mickey Mouse projects, including the untold story of "Mickey Columbus" and other abandoned ideas that never made it to the big screen. They also dive into Disney's challenges while bringing Mickey into the world of CGI, from his iconic ears to scrapped anniversary projects like "The Search for Mickey.” The Wild Robot's Box Office Triumph: DreamWorks Animation's The Wild Robot continues its strong performance at the box office, paving the way for a sequel. Jim and Drew discuss what's next for this hit film, based on Peter Brown's popular book series. Wallace & Gromit Are Back!: Aardman Animations is bringing the beloved duo back to the screen with Vengeance Most Fowl. Jim and Drew break down the significance of this return and what fans can expect from the upcoming Christmas release. What's Next for Animation Fans: With new releases like Transformers One and the latest from Aardman, there's a lot to look forward to in the world of animation. Tune in for all this and more on this week's Fine Tooning! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

in this episode of Fine Tooning, Jim Hill and Drew Taylor take you on a fascinating journey through Disney's forgotten Mickey Mouse projects, including the untold story of "Mickey Columbus" and other abandoned ideas that never made it to the big screen. They also dive into Disney's challenges while bringing Mickey into the world of CGI, from his iconic ears to scrapped anniversary projects like "The Search for Mickey.” The Wild Robot's Box Office Triumph: DreamWorks Animation's The Wild Robot continues its strong performance at the box office, paving the way for a sequel. Jim and Drew discuss what's next for this hit film, based on Peter Brown's popular book series. Wallace & Gromit Are Back!: Aardman Animations is bringing the beloved duo back to the screen with Vengeance Most Fowl. Jim and Drew break down the significance of this return and what fans can expect from the upcoming Christmas release. What's Next for Animation Fans: With new releases like Transformers One and the latest from Aardman, there's a lot to look forward to in the world of animation. Tune in for all this and more on this week's Fine Tooning! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of "Kingdom of Dreams," dive into the editing secrets and the magic behind the beloved stop-motion classic, 'Chicken Run.' Discover how the collaboration between DreamWorks and Aardman Animations brought this unique film to life. Join the conversation with the film editor Mark Solomon, who shares insights into the creative process, the challenges of stop-motion animation, and working with icons like Nick Park and Peter Lord. Learn about the intricate journey from storyboards to the big screen and how the characters and story captivated audiences worldwide. This podcast series explores cinema and the art of storytelling, offering interviews with screenwriters, directors, animators, and producers.CHAPTERS:00:00 - Chicken Run01:04 - How it all started01:47 - Harry's Involvement in Chicken Run05:18 - Collaboration Between DreamWorks and Aardman08:55 - Scratch Voices and On-Set Experiences13:06 - Inspiration for Filmmaking14:39 - Passion for Film Editing15:41 - Understanding the Stop Motion Process19:14 - Insights from the First Test Screening22:44 - Discussing Your Book on Animation28:54 - Favorite Animated Films and Influences32:26 - Current Role in Post-Production33:04 - Aspirations to Direct in Animation34:57 - OUTRO

Join us as we kickstart our brand new Bi-Monthly Patreon series in which we take a look at the works of Aardman Animation with Nick Park's first Wallace and Gromit short film 'A Grand Day Out' To access future episodes of C+C, as well as exclusive commentaries, videos, early access, behind-the-scenes, and more, become a TNQAF Patron!

Send us a Text Message.I have the privilege of interviewing the team from Might Coconut that have partnered with Aardman Animations to create an amazing new VR mini golf game set in West Wallaby Street! Childhood dreams activated!COMING JULY 25THSupport the Show.FOLLOW THE PODCAST:TikTokInstagramFacebookWATCH THE PODCAST:YoutubeDISCUSS THE PODCAST:DiscordFOLLOW ME:TiktokInstagramSUPPORT ME: PatreonTheme music by artists:https://www.instagram.com/_caineisable/https://www.instagram.com/adzonly/https://www.instagram.com/joecarnell2002/https://www.instagram.com/edward_3737/https://www.instagram.com/els.starr/

The eighth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 2000 features our animation pick, Aardman Animations' Chicken Run. Directed and co-written by Nick Park and Peter Lord and starring the voices of Julia Sawalha, Mel Gibson, Miranda Richardson, Tony Haygarth and Benjamin Whitrow, Chicken Run was the first feature-length film produced by stop-motion studio Aardman.The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Roger Ebert (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/chicken-run-2000), Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly (https://ew.com/article/2000/06/23/chicken-run-3/), and Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/jun/30/culture.reviews).Visit https://www.awesomemovieyear.com for more info about the show.Make sure to like Awesome Movie Year on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/awesomemovieyear and follow us on Twitter @AwesomemoviepodYou can find Jason online at http://goforjason.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JHarrisComedy/, on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jasonharriscomedy/ and on Twitter @JHarrisComedyYou can find Josh online at http://joshbellhateseverything.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/joshbellhateseverything/ and on Twitter @signalbleedYou can find our producer David Rosen's Piecing It Together Podcast at https://www.piecingpod.com, on Twitter at @piecingpod and the Popcorn & Puzzle Pieces Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/piecingpod.You can also follow us all on Letterboxd to keep up with what we've been watching at goforjason, signalbleed and bydavidrosen.Subscribe on Patreon to support the show and get access to exclusive content from Awesome Movie Year, plus fellow podcasts Piecing It Together and All Rice No Beans, and music by David Rosen: https://www.patreon.com/bydavidrosenAll of the music in the episode is by David Rosen. Find more of his music at https://www.bydavidrosen.comPlease like, share, rate and comment on the show and this episode, and tune in for the next 2000 installment, featuring Jason's personal pick, Stephen Daldry's Billy Elliot.

The seventh episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 2000 features our foreign film pick, Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Directed by Ang Lee and starring Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun-fat, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen and Cheng Pei-pei, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was the first foreign-language movie to gross $100 million at the U.S. box office.The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Roger Ebert (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon-2000), Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly (https://ew.com/article/2000/12/08/crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon-6/), and Desson Thomson in The Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/entertainment/movies/reviews/crouchingtigerhiddendragonhowe.htm).Visit https://www.awesomemovieyear.com for more info about the show.Make sure to like Awesome Movie Year on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/awesomemovieyear and follow us on Twitter @AwesomemoviepodYou can find Jason online at http://goforjason.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JHarrisComedy/, on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jasonharriscomedy/ and on Twitter @JHarrisComedyYou can find Josh online at http://joshbellhateseverything.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/joshbellhateseverything/ and on Twitter @signalbleedYou can find our producer David Rosen's Piecing It Together Podcast at https://www.piecingpod.com, on Twitter at @piecingpod and the Popcorn & Puzzle Pieces Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/piecingpod.You can also follow us all on Letterboxd to keep up with what we've been watching at goforjason, signalbleed and bydavidrosen.Subscribe on Patreon to support the show and get access to exclusive content from Awesome Movie Year, plus fellow podcasts Piecing It Together and All Rice No Beans, and music by David Rosen: https://www.patreon.com/bydavidrosenAll of the music in the episode is by David Rosen. Find more of his music at https://www.bydavidrosen.comPlease like, share, rate and comment on the show and this episode, and tune in for the next 2000 installment, featuring our animation pick, Aardman Animations' Chicken Run.

Robin Clevett talks to two top Carpenters about their approach to design, working creating amazing structures in their client's outdoor spaces. Oli Lee talks about how his experience working for Aardman Animations informs his style, design approach and how he protects his original ideas from being stolen. Robin then talks to Simon Bowler about the design process and how the building phase can sometimes create challenges with regards to the original plan

21st April 2024 The Spokesmen Cycling Podcast EPISODE 352: Laura Laker SPONSOR: Tern Bicycles HOST: Carlton Reid GUEST: Laura Laker LINKS: https://www.the-spokesmen.com/ https://www.ternbicycles.com https://twitter.com/CarltonReid https://twitter.com/laura_laker https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/potholes-and-pavements-9781399406468/ Carlton Reid 0:11 Welcome to Episode 352 of the Spokesmen cycling podcast. This show was engineered on Sunday, April 21 2024. David Bernstein 0:28 The Spokesmen cycling roundtable podcast is brought to you by Tern bicycles. The good people at Tern are committed to building bikes that are useful enough to ride every day and dependable enough to carry the people you love. In other words, they make the kind of bikes that they want to ride. Tern has e-bikes for every type of rider. Whether you're commuting, taking your kids to school or even carrying another adult, visit www.ternbicycles.com. That's t e r n bicycles.com to learn more. Carlton Reid 1:04 I'm Carlton Reid and today's show is a chat with like journalist Laura Laker, author of an excellent new book, Potholes and Pavements. This is a travelogue featuring Laura's travels around the UK, writing on some of the best and worst bits of Britain's National Cycle network. From jaw droppingly gorgeous looking ancient military roads in the Highlands of Scotland to dark and dingy urban back streets blocked with barriers. As the books subhead warns, it's a bumpy ride. Um, so you've written a book. Is this your first? Laura Laker 1:46 Yeah, my first my first book, believe it or not, Carlton Reid 1:49 well done. Congratulations. It's a brilliant first book. One of many. I'm sure it'll be one of many. I noticed you've got a an agent. Yeah, you say in the back and thank him. So I'm guessing you're going to be doing more books? Laura Laker 2:00 Yeah, I guess so. I'm not trying to think about it too much. This one was very long in the gestation. I had an idea back in 2017 to do a basically ring around talking to people. I'd listened to the audiobook of John Steinbeck's Travels with Charlie, in which he travels across the US with his big poodle, and talking to people and he says he's most wonderful conversations, which were later question for their veracity, but it's just, it's just a wonderful format. And I love I'd kind of in that trip to America, I rediscovered my love of talking to strangers, which I had as a kid, and I'm kind of lost over the years, I guess, being British, but spending time in the US where everyone is just willing to talk to you and tell you their life story. I rediscovered this just love of cycling, is brilliant for that, you know, just talking to people you're travelling around, you might stop at some lights, or you might pass someone on a path and just get chatting to them. And it's wonderful people have the most amazing stories, I think Carlton Reid 2:59 Well, there's two teachers that you met, hopefully they will read the book. You weren't avoiding them. Laura Laker 3:07 I know Greg and Norton, they were so brilliant. And the most unexpected encounters and I was up in the Cairngorms and travelling alone and feeling a bit like oh, you know, such a beautiful, it's ridiculously beautiful up there. I'm always just astounded by Scotland, and how how it's possible for somewhere to be so beautiful. And the NCN [National Cycle Network] across the Cairngorms is something else, it's really quite remarkable. A lot of its off road, it's this dedicated path. It was an old military road. And the rest is on fairly quiet country roads. And I was pootling along on my big pink ebike, which I did some of my adventures on and I saw these roadies coming up behind me and I thought well that they're going to overtake me in a bit. And sure enough, they did. We said hello. And then I saw them stopped at this bridge and they were looking over and they just had this wonderful kind of whimsy about them this they weren't they were going a long way actually they're going from kind of Aviemore back to Preston where they were at least one of them lived and doing it over a couple of days in sort of training one of them's an Ironman enthusiastic participants, but on the way they were stopping looking over bridges, that sort of waterfalls over rocks and like looking across the landscape and just enjoying the scenery. And that for me is what cycling is about. It's about appreciating the world around us and the people around us and so they said we'll ride with us for a while and as you know ebike your Aberdeen bought a bike mine included, maxes out at 15 and a half miles an hour which these guys were obviously capable of exceeding quite easily. So but they they rode with me for quite some time and we chatted and they were just fantastic. And then yeah, they they stopped for a week and I had to run inside for a week. And then I came out and they'd gone Carlton Reid 4:51 but it's quite a nice way to say goodbye. Are you are you are you taking notes as you're going along? So you wrote their names and what they did. And or you coding stuff. How are you physically? Laura Laker 5:02 Yeah, so I get back at the end of a ride and write stuff down. And I do think it's best that way, especially with travel writing, because you forget so much so quickly. And the big three Cornwall, I think is, you know, in the early parts of the book, when I first started the exploration, further afield, you know, writing stuff down as you experience it, or very soon after is really important because you lose a lot of the detail and the texture of what you're experiencing. And I think it just makes for much richer story that way, but also difficult to do because you're having to memorise and maybe that's why Steinbeck was getting criticised because he wasn't writing No, no. As he was going along, he's remembering it. Well, memories can do. Memory is really interesting, actually. Because we we probably most of us think that our memories are fairly good, or the way that remember things is correct. But actually, it's very, very subjective. And the longer time goes on, the more we forget, or the memory gets warped, or things get introduced that didn't exist, maybe and it's really very, very subjective. I've got I don't know for some things, I've got quite a good short term memory so I can remember to a certain extent, but obviously, as Homer Simpson once said, you know, one thing comes into your brain another thing has to leave it so. Carlton Reid 6:23 That's 100% me though. So this book Potholes and Pavements, a bumpy ride on Britain's National Cycle network, it comes out May the ninth published by Bloomsbur. £16.99. Excellent, excellent book. I read it yesterday and got up early this morning to make sure I finished it before I spoke with you. Now normally when when I talk to people for this podcast, I always get them to send me a photograph so I can do the you know, the socials and the thing that goes on the show notes. What have you with you, oh, an hour and a half to do that. Because I have ridden with you ridden with you on bits of the ride that you are right that you mentioned in your book. So when you mentioned that, you know the cycle superhighway. You make an item was like, I've got that photograph because I was holding my camera photographing you behind me? Laura Laker 7:20 Yeah, with Brian Deegan. Carlton Reid 7:21 There's knowing smiles when I'm reading your books like I was on that ride. Like I know, Laura. Oh, my word. It's also like me on that ride. And when you describe windmills, yes. But the windmills and it's a cute book for me. Also cute because I know lots of these people who you're describing. And I know in the book, it says he didn't want to be described as a hero. But he is a hero. And because it's about the National Cycle network, then clearly that's got to be the guy who not single handedly founded it, but certainly pushed it through with those with those early innovators. So that's John Grimshaw. So he comes in, he's, he's in at least three or four parts of the book, you've clearly gone to speak to him a number of times wonderful. And it's fantastic that he's in there, because he really doesn't get the recognition he deserves. Laura Laker 8:16 Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, he I obviously have to speak to John Grimshaw. Because a lot of people as he points out, and as I tried to convey in the book, a lot of people and probably, you know, uncountable numbers of people were involved in the foundation of and development of the National Cycle network. And then it's maintenance ever since many of whom are working for very little, in fact, nothing, because they loved it. But John really seemed like, talking to people and talking to him, was the driving this real driving force behind it and his kind of self belief and single minded determination, I think was a major driver and he is such a character. I mean, a bit of a Marmite character, I think, but, you know, it seems like you need people to kind of drive things forward. Carlton Reid 9:05 Cos you need somebody like that. He's a visionary. Yeah, you know. I love Malcolm Shepherd. I love Zavier Brice, the people who are in charge now and Malcolm was the guy who came in after after John. But Malcolm wasn't a visionary. Malcolm was an accountant. And when when the organisation any organisation any business gets big, then you very often need somebody else to take over. And there's lots of faction there at the time. You don't go into it in a great detail. That was enormous friction there and there's still enormous amount of bad blood between people. Laura Laker 9:46 Yeah, and it's interesting because Caroline Lovatt. Here's another key figure from fairly early on and still works with John today. On there, they're still building cycle routes under a different organisation, cycle routes and greenways and Um, she says that, you know, for for years, according to her, John kept disappearing from the kind of record of that of the history of the NCN on Wikipedia, she kept putting him back in. And um, yeah, I mean, the story was, and that was a difficult part of it to tell. But it was one that had to be mentioned, I didn't want to go too into it. But obviously, you know, John, leaving Sustrans under fairly strange circumstances, and really against his will, was was part of the story that needed to be told. And it was a different and I spoke to a number of people and nobody really, I think, you know, there were potentially nondisclosure agreements. And so nobody really talks about what exactly happened, which is why I call I mentioned the omerta. Because it really seems like everyone has a slightly different story, or, and I and again, I, you know, it's memory and it was a painful time. And it was a long time ago. And it's quite common, as you say, with new organisations, you've got this big driving force, but then sometimes they're not the person to carry on leading an organisation once the first major thing is done, and, you know, they might not be great with people is, you know, having a skill to start and drive something is not the same as being a sort of manager of people and diplomats. And it's, yeah, it's quite often it's a painful process, certainly not unique, I think. Carlton Reid 11:16 No, it's very common for that kind of thing to happen. However, saying that it's very important to recognise who was that visionary? And I think he lost an awful lot of that. So, so wonderful to see John. central to that. So that's really nice part of the book because I, you know, John, John is a wonderful, wonderful guy, and absolutely, this would not have happened without him. I know, there's lots of other people you know, David Sproxton, all these kind of people were there at the same time, George Ferguson. So So Sproxton was Aardman Animation. So people who know admire animation, George Ferguson, Mayor of Bristol, at one point, all these individuals were there at the time, but it needed that guiding force that needed that. Just somebody who woulda just said no, and just went ahead and did it. That was that was the ethos of Sustrans in the early days. So that Laura Laker 12:12 Yeah, yeah, because the status quo then as it is, today, is very much stacked against cycling routes happening. And so you kind of need a rebel who's not willing, who's you know, not willing to take no for an answer? Who's going to be able to make things happen? And I think in a way that kind of, I guess, you know, being from a fairly well off upper middle class background, you have the confidence really the education that kind of gives you that confidence and and then the character and self belief to just to drive that forward. Carlton Reid 12:47 Mmm. That you didn't mention not even once Cycling, Touring Club CTC cycling UK. Because the book isn't in all cycling, you are you are laser focused on the National Cycle network. But there was also friction between those two organisations, you know, stranden effect was an upstart organisation, then it got for £42.5 million with Meatloaf handing that over on TV or that kind of stuff. And there was there was an awful lot of friction between still is between strands and and what is today cycling UK. So you haven't got into that at all. What Why didn't you go into that? Is that just because you wanted to just stay laser focused on the cycle network? Laura Laker 13:36 I mean, I mentioned that not everyone felt that Sustrans was being helpful because they felt that cycle route should be delivered by government and charities stepping in. And taking that role almost allows the government to say, well, you know, someone's doing it. Now. We don't need to get involved. But I mentioned the kind of tension between certain types of cyclists. I think I might quote to you, I think I've got you in the references on that. But I mean, I don't know if I just don't know how. I don't know. It's yeah, it's a tricky one. It's how much to include, and you always have to make these decisions, what to include and what not to include, and I guess I just didn't feel like that was a key part of the story at all. There was some thinking at the time around that but and I'm aware that there was tension and I know that Mark Strong for one who gets quite a mention in the book, talked about Sustrans being too successful and not successful enough in that, you know, they were doing this job notionally? No, they were doing a great job for with what they had and who they were and ie not the government and with not very much money but they were doing enough just to allow the government to just say, You know what, well Sustrans is delivering the National Cycle network, tick, job done. Let's get back to the serious business of roads. Carlton Reid 15:01 because there is there is you meant we will get on to the very positive points, you've got like a bunch of what what do you call it in the book where you've got a whole bunch of asks basically? Oh, yeah, the manifesto, the manifesto. There you go. Number one, we'll go through these points. 10 point manifesto. So there's some positive stuff to talk about that. But you don't really mention that there's this that, you know, you're talking about, you know, this should be funded nationally, and there is that struggle, bear with you know, this is a charity, etc, etc. But then you've also got the weakness of you have actually got to at least have British Cycling as well, three competing organisations, going to government and asking for money for various things. And wouldn't it be nicer and more practical and may even get more stuff? If there's only one organisation so there is that there is the absolute fault line running through cycling? That is one of the reasons why it's very easy for the government to not do stuff because they're getting told different things by different organisations and one organisation saying don't back them back us. So there's that kind of friction there. Laura Laker 16:22 I don't know if that's if I see it that way. I mean, Sustrans cycling UK, and British Cycling, and things like livable streets are all part of the walking and cycling Alliance. And I think what that what that's trying to do is to unify the voice, because ultimately they want the same thing. I mean, British cycling's coming at it from a sports point of view. But recognising that its members also need safe roads to cycle on. And that means a whole host of other things, safe protected routes in cities. And that's popular with members. And then cycling UK, originally a touring group, now a charity that lobbies for Safe Routes, safe conditions, and also delivers stuff for government, such as what to fix your ride, and a bunch of other things. And then Sustrans is a National Cycle network and behaviour change programmes. So there are overlaps, but I do think they are distinct. And I don't see I don't see it as I mean, they probably have internal, you know, perspectives on things and perhaps don't always agree with what the other one was doing. But I think I think they tend to present a fairly unified front these days. Carlton Reid 17:30 They're not as bad nowadays. I mean, it's when you get rid of it certainly did not get rid. That's the That's the wrong phrase. When individuals leave organisations, it can change because a new people come in, and you know, those alliances are, that's what you're just used to. But you know, before that alliance was put in place, they were cats and dogs, they were really hating on each other and slagging each other off to government as well. So that's why government was able to go up. This cycling is just mad look, these these, you know, what they, these three cats in a sack just fighting each other. Laura Laker 18:03 And then you saw, I mean, I think I talked about, you know, Malcolm Shepherd, who was the CEO after John Grimshaw. He went to ministers, and he was saying, why aren't we getting the funding we asked for? Or why are we getting taken seriously, I think was the question. And he was told, Well, you don't ask for enough money, basically. So they were thinking and perhaps this kind of historic infighting is also a function of the fact that these were kind of fledgling organisations to an extent for some time, not very much funding. They were run by enthusiasts probably, who all had their own ideas. And of course, let's not forget that there were also the vehicular ISTS who didn't even believe that we needed cycling's of which I think cycling UK early on was one and that might explain why they disagree with Sustrans who were trying to yes, no, there was a whole cohort who stands for that reason, absolutely. 100%. So maybe that, you know, it perhaps is a function of just the whole movement being in its infancy. I mean, it's been going for a good 40 or so years, but I don't know, maybe it was maybe it was just run by enthusiasts for a very long time. And that's why it's taken a while to kind of mature but also I think it was going I mean, our cycling lobby, organisations were kind of leading the way for much longer than a lot of European countries in a nice talk about this in the book in countries like France and in the Netherlands and in Denmark, they all started their calls for National Cycle networks or at least safe routes, thanks to charities and voluntary organisations. And then fairly quickly, were all taken on by the government who saw this as a piece of infrastructure firstly, quite often for leisure, but then they realised people were using these routes for commuting trips, and it was it needed to be part of the infrastructure and was taken up with great enthusiasm and in Sweden as well. By the various local departments and regional governments and delivered quite quickly and at quite a kind of scale. And that hasn't really happened here. And so perhaps those kinds of just the longevity of those cycling groups being so crucial to anything that happens for cycling, has kind of made this whole, I don't know, split more important than it would have otherwise been. Carlton Reid 20:24 Yeah. And like in the Netherlands, the the organization's tried to fight against this, but the government tax cyclists, and cyclists actually paid for the roads. Laura Laker 20:34 They did, that's right. Carlton Reid 20:37 But it's the very fact and this was a cyclist at the time were fighting against, they didn't want to be taxed. In the UK, and the Netherlands, they were taxed. And then cyclists became national infrastructure. And that became critical, as you say, and the fact that you know, there wasn't, there was some national infrastructure, obviously, I've done this the 1930 cycleways project. But the CTC is the British Cycling as of the time fought against all of this, they fought against taxation, they fought against cycle routes. And so there is there is some argument to be made that cyclists have been their own worst enemy. So I know in the book, you're saying, you know, it's just such a no brainer. And it is to back, you know, for want of a better word or phrase active travel. Now, in the book, you've got various people are saying we should call it something different. Laura Laker 21:27 Yeah, Lee Craigie. Carlton Reid 21:27 yeah. Yeah. But, you know, cycling has been difficult, at the same time. And it's like, what's happening in Wales, and in Scotland, is inspiring, possibly, because it's actually coming from above. A lot of it, you know, there's obviously enthusiastic people working on the ground, etc. But a lot of this is coming from government ministers. So that helps. Yeah. And, Laura Laker 21:54 I mean, we have this idea, and I'm sure we're not alone. And this point you just made and the example of the taxing of the cyclists in the Netherlands, which is something I learned during doing the research for the book, I didn't actually know about this, but I, you know, the reason we lost the railways that then became a lot of these greenways was because, you know, we see transport as needing to wash its own face needing to fund itself. And the railways at the time, were losing money for most of the routes. And so that was the reasoning. And, you know, with roads, obviously, drivers are taxed it's not sort of ring fence funding. It's not a road tax, it's, but you know, it is making the Treasury money and cycling has never really done that. And I, I think fundamentally, the way that way of thinking about transport is wrong, because of the benefits, the much wider benefits that transport gives us in terms of, you know, being able to access education and health and social opportunities and for our physical and mental health. And it's, its benefits span far beyond its own kind of silo. But we don't really see it that way. And I'm not really sure actually, if anywhere managers to think of it this way, but I think post pandemic, things like free bus services and in different countries has maybe illustrated that people are starting to think about it differently. But ultimately, I think it's it's a very tricky one. Because like you say, we in a way we weren't, we were own worst enemy in terms of our predecessors in the cycling world. But we were working within philosophy that's that dictated that actually, if you're going to build something, you know, who's making money from it, or, you know, how is the Treasury getting that investment back and not really seeing it as this makes people healthier? Or this gives them opportunities or promotes businesses, local tourism? And all of this? So yeah, I mean, if we'd done it differently, who who knows of cyclists in the UK? So fine, we'll pay a tax. Who knows? We might have an NCN now, but, and even today, it's a little bit of an uncomfortable conversation, isn't it? Because, you know, nobody wants to be taxed. Carlton Reid 24:02 So the book is, it's a polemic in many ways, not not all the way through. But there are definitely bits in there that are strident. And I cannot argue with at all I'm reading it nodding along. And certainly the bits about like the national infrastructure, right, and it's all being spent on roads. And it's it's the so many reasons why that is crazy. Yeah, and why spending even just a fraction of the roads budget on on a national cycle network, you know, genuinely joined up one high quality would bring many more, many more benefits. And then you've got and the irony is, and I did a new story on this is, you have a government minister, who has written the foreword to your book, and he said This is not government minister, a former government minister, a former Transport Minister, Jesse Norman, and then it's like, why don't you do this when you're in power? It's great. You've said it. It's wonderful that you're saying all these things. But you could have done this, you could have pushed for this. And he was also the Financial Secretary of the Treasury. Yeah, he could have released money. Yeah, let me see what he says. But Laura Laker 25:26 it's so difficult, isn't it? And it's, again, it's kind of facing it's the status quo. I mean, it's, I think, maybe important to remember, and I'm not making excuses for anyone. But, you know, he was a junior minister, certainly in his first round is cycling minister. And so he would have had to tow the party line. So I don't know how easy it is for. I mean, he's a very intelligent guy. He cares about cycling. But then he's part of a system, which ultimately, I guess, maintains the status quo doesn't want to upset the applecart. And that's why, in the manifesto, I, you know, I think it's so important that people speak up for these things, because I think until there's an outcry for it, it's very difficult for any one minister, unless we have a cycling Prime Minister, to change all of this. There's a lot of vested interests in maintaining, you know, roads for cars, keeping car manufacturing, going and, you know, taxation on cars is going to be very problematic, because obviously EVs electric vehicles don't pay, you know, drivers with EVs don't pay cortex. So what's gonna happen there? But yeah, I mean, it's difficult, but I think people need to speak up for this kind of thing. We get a lot of kickback pushback from people when there's cycle routes coming. But those are the minority. And one thing I tried to highlight in the book is that most people want this once cycling routes, they they want other options and to drive. And, you know, between two thirds and four fifths of people in representative polls say that they'd support this and many of them, even if it meant taking road space away from motor vehicles. But that's not what politicians listen to. And I think increasingly, politicians are listening to angry people on Twitter. And you know, if Mark Harper's comments about LTNs and 15 minute neighbourhoods is anything to go by, which was straight out of the kind of conspiracy theorists, Twitter playbook, you know, they're listening to the loudest voices. And I think until people say, you know, we actually want choice. We don't want to have to breathe polluted air, we don't want to have our neighbourhoods dominated by motor vehicles. We want our kids to be able to go to school safely. I think it's gonna be difficult for things to change. Carlton Reid 27:45 Hmm. So you have mentioned a variety of routes that are actually pretty good. So yeah, Keswick one is one of them. Laura Laker 27:55 Threlkeld, yes. Carlton Reid 27:58 And that's why I know, I know the route well, as good as now, you know, a cycleway there because that was that was long in gestation. But basically, it's it's it's, it's popular. You know, people say, oh, like, but that's a popular route now, isn't it? Laura Laker 28:15 Yeah, yeah, people drive there. And I mean, that was that was interesting for a number of reasons. I mean, incredibly beautiful. It sort of weaves through Greta gorge, which is just this kind of just this amazing landscape, this sort of rocky river which meanders through this very deep wooded valley. And it's on a former rail line. And it was, which storm was it was it 2015, there was a big storm, which basically crumbled a couple of the bridges with the sheer volume of water that ended up going through this narrow gorge. And then it was out of action for a couple of years. And that was an important, crucial route and a tourist attraction for local businesses. One pub owner apparently offered the local council, I think it was the national parks something like 30 grand out of his own pocket, reopened the route, but it was actually a sort of 2 million pound job. So that wasn't going to go all the way. But you know, this was a really important tourist attraction for people and people drive there because there aren't safe routes to get to and from the ends, so people drive and park and then cycle along it and cycle back. But yeah, it's popular, it's really popular. And they when they put the bridges, the new bridges in Sustrans with various parts of funding, they resurfaced it and there was a big hoo ha about putting tarmac on instead of the gravel that had been there before. But that actually opened up it up to far more people, including people who use wheelchairs and mobility scooters, because any sort of rough surface or uneven ground can tip someone in a wheelchair and it effectively makes these routes unusable. And this is something that I really learned in the book and feel very strongly about now. And there was a big outcry nationally about tarmacking this path because it's in the Lake District and everyone's He has an opinion about the Lake District even if they've just been there once and we all feel like we own it because it's such a beautiful place and I guess rightly so. We all care about it. Carlton Reid 30:07 The Lakers. Laura Laker 30:09 Lakers, my people. Yeah. The people who holidayed in the lakes were known as the Lakers. Yeah, which is brilliant. So yeah, they, you know, they held their ground and they tarmac it and you know, the numbers increased drastically. And this story plays out all over the country, wherever there's a improve surface on a path. Suddenly, it's open to everyone. And this is what this is what cycle rich should be in, in my opinion, it should be open to everyone. Carlton Reid 30:37 Yeah, it's like the cinder path. That's the Sustrans route national cycling group from from Whitby to Scarborough. That was the one that had a load of of people complaining because Cinder path you know, they were going to be tarmacking just parts of it. And lots of people are saying you know but this this this will you know, destroy it or whenever lots of yobs in and it just never got done. And then it's it's impossible for a lot of the year because it's just it gets just too rutted into mud into too horrible. And this is, you know, we discard it would just be so easy. You know, between these two conurbations and small conurbations, if you could ride there on an all year round an all weather path? Laura Laker 31:21 So yeah, I do. I do worry about this, because it's, you know, they say it's an effect gentrification. And you're you're bringing, you know, urban into the countryside yet. There's roads everywhere, and they got tarmac on, and nobody seems to be kicking up a fuss there. What's What's your problem? Yeah, I know. And I think it's just we have this idea about what the cycle routes should be or could be, and we see them as leisure routes quite a lot of the time, we have this kind of set idea about cycling, that it's not, you know, it's not a commuter option, or, but you know, it is, but it goes beyond that. And it is about who can access these parts. And quite often, having an uneven surface will lock a lot of people out. And you know, we're an ageing population in this country. And as we get older, we will all have disabilities, and mobility issues. And it shouldn't be that you know, these paths are any open to a few people. But yeah, it's a difficult one. And we would like to say we've never think twice about it for roads, we've never think about having a road as a dirt path. And I can you know, visually tarmac is not a beautiful thing, but I think if people understood that actually, it's it's not just about the visuals. This is about people and this is what these parts are for they're for people. Carlton Reid 32:34 Well you can make if you want it to be just that colour, you can make the the asphalt you can you can you can dye the asphalt. So it's it's more expensive. But you can you can do all sorts of treatments you can do to make it all weather doesn't have to look, you know, black. Yeah. So anyway, so let's go to another assessment. That's some negative ones. Where they tried to be certain, but then you point out the Polgate one, between Polgate and Glynde, which is almost happened to you by by mistake. Not mistake, but it's certainly a by accident. Yeah. And you're talking about it being just brilliant. So describe that one. Laura Laker 33:11 That's amazing. Yeah. So I was told about this. And then I know someone who lives in Lewis, which is at one end of it. And so we we we met at the station and cycled along this path. And so it's beside the A27, which is a national highways road. And it's right by the sales downs, which is hugely popular with cyclists. And basically, there were so many people cycling on this incredibly terrifying road. It's one of those narrow and winding A roads with huge volumes of traffic. I mean, I went on a walking trip near Louis the other day, and I had to cross it with no crossing and it was it was genuinely terrifying. I can't imagine people cycling on it, because it's, you know, six months. So yeah, anyway, people were being held up in their cars because of people cycling. And so national highways decided it was going to build a path alongside and it's this this was a real eye opener for me because they had done what needs to happen around the country. They had built a path behind the hedge row, which is wide and tarmac and smooze with lots of planting and culverts and bridges over rivers and and they just laid it you know, very little problem. I don't know if they owned the land or perhaps compulsory purchase probably a mixture of I think it was a mixture of both. And so they built this amazing kind of 10 kilometre joyful route, which is just you know, it's just like a road. It's like no stress. You just carry on. There was someone on the mobility scooter the day I was there, a couple of people on bikes, but it was basically hadn't opened yet. And yeah, it was just there. But it's quite funny because at either end, it just stopped because then that's the local councils job to kind of deliver it beyond. But you know, it shows what's possible if you have a national body with the power and the funding, and they have, you know, multi year funding pots which helps plan and deliver this stuff and they just did it, they just sort of swept aside all of the normal problems that I talked about in the book that usually dog these cycle routes. And yeah, it's quite, it was quite marvellous, quite Carlton Reid 35:11 I found it fascinating because one of the things you say is, as we just mentioned there, it, it was an effective bill to get the cyclists off the road. We made enough nuisance of ourselves, that is 1930s to a tee, you know, the transport, you know, built those 500 miles of cycle tracks in the 1930s to Dutch standards laced around the country. Some of them weren't brilliant, but some of them were amazing, you know, 12 foot wide Dutch Dutch level, concrete curbs, you know, perfectly brilliant bits of cycling infrastructure that are now just some of them are white elephants, because they didn't link up to anywhere. But, you know, the government at the time said, Oh, we're doing this for the safety. No, they weren't they were doing it to you know, get cyclists on the road because we're slowing down motorists, but you kind of almost don't care if if if you get a really superlative route behind the hedgerows. Yeah. Okay. It's such a difference. Yeah. That's the difference. It's got to be good. You can't just fob you off with shared route pavement, which is what yeah, the criticism of Sustrans has been is like there's so many shared route pavement. And that's why Sustrans got a bad rap, even though it wasn't their fault. And they were just trying to fill in the gaps. Laura Laker 36:28 That yeah, yeah. And yeah, they just have to use whatever was there, which was quite often a pavement along what would have been a not too busy road in the 70s or 80s. But it's now a sort of thundering highway and being on a pavement with no barrier between you and or no, no sort of space between you and the 60 mile an hour traffic is far from pleasant, and no, no, no parent is going to choose to cycle on that. If they have any other choice, you know, they're going to avoid that like the plague because you know, one little wobble or mistake and then you know, it's horrific there, you know, possible outcomes. But yeah, it's you know, it's, it's fantastic. Because you don't even barely know the roads there. It's just cool. It's just gorgeous. I'd like to go back actually, because it's been a good year, I think since I saw it. At least actually. Maybe Yeah, I think it's at least a year and yeah, let's see how the trees are bedding in and because it was brand new at the time it just been done. But yeah, it is. Ultimately it is possible. And regardless of the motivations it just goes to show what's possible. I liked recently because Andy Streets and his Walking and Cycling Commissioner Adam Tranter he's on my podcast. They announced they're going to deliver the HS2 cycleway alongside in and around HS2 between Coventry and Birmingham. And when they get to Kenilworth, they're basically connecting up to one of their 1930 cycleways into Coventry. So I quite like that, you know, it's sort of linking something that's already there. And Carlton Reid 38:01 yeah, and that's also a John Grimshaw project, wasn't it? That was that was a John Grimshaw. Laura Laker 38:05 Yeah. He cycled the whole thing. Yes. Yes, he's been he's been trying to get that one, you know, for a lot for a long time. And yeah, it does stand alone. No, you need really, you need the HS2, of course, just stand alone without it. Carlton Reid 38:21 It does. Yeah, saying that, it would have absolutely been put in at the same time, that would not have been the difference. So that is point three. So in your 10 Point manifesto, that's basically work together a behind the hedgeroq Act, compulsory purchase orders, all these kinds of things that only government can do. Yeah. needs to be brought in into play. Yeah. And then you you've said and it's very ambitious. But when you think about it's like, yeah, you could do this easily. And that is you know, if if this was done and if money was provided, and compulsory purchase orders were put in like you would do for roads, you can have an unbelievably fantastic truly superlative national cycling in four years. Laura Laker 39:02 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Brian Deegan active travel England reckoned reckoned on this, because, you know, they have such a huge amount of power and to take go to build a cycle, which basically takes three years generally you do you have a year to kind of plan it a year to consult and tweak and then a year to build it. And for that you need multi year funding, because without that, you can't plan anything, basically. And that's why we've ended up bits and bobs of improvements, because it's like, you get the money, you have to spend it pretty much immediately. But yeah, I mean, the amount of funding a body like national highways has would be enough to you know, link these existing routes. Sometimes there are quiet roads, you know, I guess, in the Netherlands, you have through roads and access roads, things like low traffic neighbourhoods, in the countryside. That is a that is a kind of measure that you can do. And some of it it doesn't all have to be Are these sort of high quality pieces of massive engineering cycle routes, either behind the hedge row or on main roads? Some of it can just be tweaking kind of existing infrastructure so that it's not not every road as a through road. But yes, it's some it's amazing. And I kind of did a double take when I heard this. But when we put our mind to something, it's amazing what's possible. Carlton Reid 40:24 And potentially, we will see the fruits of this in Scotland, and Wales, Scotland, Wales are putting in some really ambitious stuff. And Mark Drakeford going, you know, will they backtrack on the 20 mile limit? And will they, you know, reverse a lot of stuff that Lee Waters that all this kind of stuff is potentially up in the air? We don't know yet. Yeah. But Scotland does seem to be, you know, putting their money where their mouth is, you know, that the amount of money that's going in there, per head, dwarfs what we see here in England. So the potentially you've got, you've got like, in five years, you could have something incredible. In Scottish cities in Glasgow. Yeah. You're talking about Glasgow? Laura Laker 41:09 Yeah. And yeah, Glasgow was amazing. I mean, that was the first time I'd been to Glasgow, on that trip. And I was blown away, actually. So they're developing a city wide network of routes, they're lowering in bridges across, they've got this very kind of, I guess, I guess they had this, at the time, they were building roads, they had a very ambitious programme of building like highways. And maybe that's about the culture of the city that when something comes along, when an idea comes along, they kind of embrace it. Whereas Edinburgh has historically been much more conservative. And so when, when highways when sort of urban highways came along the bond level load of those, and now cycling is seen as this big sort of saviour of health and climates and all of these important things, they're going all out on cycle routes, which is fantastic. And yeah, I was really blown away by what they're doing really high quality protected routes with planting alongside, you know, for extreme weather, it's really important to have permeable and green planting on tarmac. And, yeah, and these beautiful bridges and this massive bridge that I saw, and you know, they're really, really ambitious, I think, I've got a piece coming out about Edinburgh in the next week or so. And it talks about the difficulties that Edinburgh has faced very, very different than the city very conservative. But similarly, it's had a huge amount of funding. And I think they're finally getting to the tipping point there where they're starting to deliver real change, you know, hopefully. But yeah, it's, you know, the money's there, I think there's still difficulties with politics. So they've got these active freeways, which would be a kind of National Cycle network for Scotland, these rural routes, you know, the plan is there, or at least the idea is there, but it's not being rolled out yet. So who knows what's going to happen with that, but definitely, the funding and having that long term funding does make it much easier. I'd really love to see Scotland, you know, doing big things. And I think Scotland and Wales have been very, very forward thinking and a lot of things got maybe Scotland particularly, and more consistently than Wales, because as you say, there's a bit of a question mark. Now over Wales, they've, you know, they had the active travel act, they arguably took term coined the phrase active travel with the active travel act about a decade ago. And yeah, but stuff, you know, they have the policy, they had the money, but again, it's very, very slow to change. And I don't know, maybe they maybe if Westminster were a bit more proactive and supportive, it will be easier, who knows, but you're always going to come up against these kinds of difficulties, local politics and stuff, but I think money talks, you know, the money's there for it local investment, which Council isn't going to want public realm improvements, and you know, health. Carlton Reid 43:49 Money is number one, in your manifesto, so it's funded, and okay, we get the money from it. Here's what you say, stop expanding road capacity, and we have delivered a comprehensive network of cycling and walking routes. Hallelujah. Yeah, exactly. It's just like, you know, we've got so many roads, why can't we have more and more and more and more, as we know, it just fills up with traffic if we're gonna have build it and they will come Okay, let's do it for bikes. Now. You know, roads have had eighty years of this, let's have 10 years for for bikes, but walking and . It's just, it's a no brainer. And the LTNs thing kind of like it's so frustrating. Because we're only talking like a few streets. We're not we're not talking. That's when you hear you know, the the shock jocks you'd think is every single road in the country is going to be catered and you're going to hand it to cyclists. That's, that's how it's portrayed. And we're actually you know, maybe maybe a fraction of 1% of roads. really, genuinely is all too Talking about is currently got anyway. Yeah, having safe cycle routes, you know, don't get it get blown up by us people like us journalists, Laura, we're to blame for misrepresenting this. That's that's, that doesn't say good things about our profession, does it? Laura Laker 45:22 No. And I think I think I mean, it speaks to the kind of economics of journalism that, you know, people want eyeballs on stories nowadays because it's that's what makes advertising revenue funding for journalism is fallen off a cliff. And I think this is sort of desperation about the industry at the moment. But, you know, I think it's important to remember that the people shouting against this stuff are a minority, and most people want this stuff or are willing to try it and see, and most of us want quiet, safe streets, we want our kids to be able to play out in safety, we want clean air, we want, you know, peace and quiet. And I think because we haven't seen it, a lot of cases, it's difficult to imagine. But you know, ultimately, these things happen. There's, there's a pushback from a handful of people who are noisy, but I think if we have conversations about, you know, what we could, what we could get from these improvements from these schemes, then it's much positive way of talking about it. Of course, that's not how news works. And I think that's why we need leaders who are willing to sort of look beyond that short period in which a lot of journalists are shouting, and a few people, some of whom have genuine concerns and need to be listened to a shouting and listen to them. But you know, this is something that people want actually, and, you know, the benefits so enormous. Once it's happened, I don't think people would want to go back. Carlton Reid 46:46 Yeah, this is the thing. It's like, a good example is Northumberland Street and Newcastle, which is a pedestrianised street used to be the A1, you know, really the central state through the centre of Newcastle. It's I think, outside of central London, Mayfair on Oxford Street. It's the highest grossing per square foot retail zone in the country, because it was pedestrianised. And it just made it easier. And nobody in their right mind would say, we need to make that the a one again, guys, you know, let's get the cars and buses soaring and you just wouldn't do it. But Newcastle spent the best part of 20 years doing this, it wasn't an overnight thing. We had to spend a long time, a lot of angst getting it done, but nobody would wish it away now. And that's what when we're not getting with all these LTNs and all these cycles, if only if we put them in, nobody would complain about them. Not really not once they see it, it's just if people don't like change. Laura Laker 47:47 yeah, none of us like change just a thing. And it's hard to picture. And I think it's easy to dismiss people's concerns. Because you know, it's normal for us not to want change, it's normal to be concerned about something if you can't picture it. And you're, you know, many of these are genuine worries about businesses, and how will I get from A to B and, and all of this, but yeah, I think what's been lacking in this conversation is just some sort of grown up honesty about, you know, this is going to be a change. But ultimately, it's going to be one that's positive for these reasons. We, you know, we are going to listen, but ultimately, this is a an agenda that most of us support. And we know it's beneficial for these reasons. And I think we've I don't know, I think there's too much government in this country, and in many English speaking countries, kind of almost government by fear of what the Daily Mail might say, in response to this policy. And even the the recent announcement by governments about you know, stopping anti motorist measures was all caps. You know, it was like almost a Daily Mail headline. Carlton Reid 48:52 Yeah, it's quite scary and sad. Yeah. But then, you know, like you say, if you know, for the ones that hold their ground, you know, stuff dies down, people say actually, that actually is much better. So you know, where I'm coming from, I know where you're coming from. And you're saying people want this, but I'm gonna play devil's advocate here and say, Well, no, they don't people want to drive around. And if you're a woman at night, and you describe a lot of the routes, the Sustrans routes, the Nationals, you wouldn't want to go there at night, and probably no matter how much lighting security whatever you put in, you probably would still feel that way. In. Yeah, yeah. On a bicycle, you're not protected. Whereas a car, a woman, a single woman can get into a car can lock the door, can maybe have, you know, dark windscreen even so nobody knows who's in there. You then become this powerful individual who can get around in safety at the end of the day. But bicycles aren't like that, Laura. So you're you're basically making it more insecure for women to go about as independent beings. Laura Laker 50:11 Well, so as a as a woman who cycles on her own at nights that that route from Arnhem to Nijmergen in the in the Netherlands, so I ended up leaving that event and it was dark and cycling home on my own however far it was, it's a good hours ride along these routes, but because you don't have to stop, you actually feel safe. It's only when you have to stop that you start to feel unsafe in my experience. I mean, there's certain routes like along the canal, I live in East London, along the Li River that I have cycled at night, but wouldn't do now. Because you know, that is very isolated. And people have been known to jump out with bushes. But I think for the large part, if they're well designed, and other people are using them, then cycling at night for me isn't a problem. You know, you're moving you're Yeah, I don't Yeah, I very rarely felt in danger of cycling through London at night, for example. I mean, it's been the odd park where I felt a bit sketchy, but I think if you design them, well, not every path is going to feel that way safe at night. But I think in urban places where a lot of people will be cycling to and from at night, it will probably be fine. I mean, you probably feel quite safe. It's about kind of eyes on the streets in a way having people they're with you. Yeah, and I think if a route were well used enough, and don't forget, you know, if you're, if you're, you know, you're not going to necessarily, you're not going to drive home after a night out if you've had a drink. And so you will have to sort of walk a section of your journey. Most likely, if you're in a place like London, you hate taking public transport, maybe you take a taxi, but I feel I don't feel like if I'm on a busy road, walking alone at night that I am safe with those other people around me because I don't feel like people who are driving through again to necessarily stop and help me if something did happen. So I think kind of busy streets can feel unsafe, even though they're very highly populated. And, you know, theoretically, and this kind of, there's been research on this, you know, people who live on quiet streets, no more of their neighbours, this sort of social safety element, and people start looking out for each other. Whereas if you have a traffic dominated environment, it's people tend to turn away from the street. Carlton Reid 52:28 Yeah, I don't disagree. But if it is looking at the motivation of many, many people, I mean, humans are generally lazy. Yeah. They generally want comfort. They want their own things, and they want security, all of those things you have in spades in cars. The downside is, because everybody wants that. And everybody's in a car, it means you don't get anywhere. Unknown Speaker 52:57 Yeah, I don't think that's a whole story. I mean, I think a lot of the time people drive because the alternative is either aren't there don't feel possible, or they don't feel safe. So cycling on the road wouldn't feel safe, you wouldn't even most people wouldn't even consider it. But we've seen I grew up in rural West Somerset, and you had to learn to drive as soon as you turn 17, you would take your test, you buy a car, and you drive everywhere, because the buses mean the buses are even worse. Now. They were okay at the time, but not great. But they just took longer, and you couldn't get everywhere you needed to go my friends as a teenager lived in variable kind of communities. And so you had to drive there was just no other option I would have loved to cycle. And you've seen in London, where we've got a growing network of roots, suddenly, all these people from all walks of life, all kinds of demographics. Laura Laker 53:48 genders, you see a much better one gender split, but also all types of people cycling. And that kind of speaks to the fact that actually, people do want to do this and they may want to convenience but they also want to enjoy their journey. They also want to save money. Cycling can be incredibly convenient, no parking worries, it's so much cheaper you know you don't have to stress of finding a parking space or you know, paying vast amounts of money. I think something like I forget the number who in transport poverty in this country because of cars basically. They spend something like 19% of their income on their car with finance lorry, using facts to convince me that's Carlton Reid 54:36 Anybody can convince with facts, come on. At that juncture, I'd like to go across to my colleague David in America. Take it away, David. David Bernstein 54:45 This podcast is brought to you by Tern Bicycles. Like you, the folks at Tern are always up for a good outdoor adventure by bike—whether that's fishing, camping, or taking a quick detour to hit the trails before picking Unknown Speaker 55:00 up the kids from school. And if you're looking to explore new ground by taking your adventures further into the wild, they've got you covered. The brand new Orox by Tern is an all-season, all-terrain adventure cargo bike that's built around the Bosch Smart System to help you cross even the most ambitious itinerary off your bucket list. It combines the fun of off-road riding in any season with some serious cargo capacity, so you can bring everything you need—wherever you go, whenever you go. Plus, it's certified tough and tested for safety so your adventures are worry-free. With two frame sizes to choose from and a cockpit that's tested to support riders of different sizes, finding an adventure bike that fits you and your everyday needs has never been easier with the Orox. Visit www.ternbicycles.com/orox (that's O-R-O-X) to learn more. Carlton Reid 56:04 Thanks, David. And we are back with Laura Laker the Laker people. And she's the author of potholes and pavements a bumpy ride on Britain's National Cycle network. It's not actually out yet, isn't Laura. It's actually middle middle of the next month, middle of night. Hmm. Yeah. So you having a launch day what you're doing? Laura Laker 56:28 Yeah, I've got some. You've got like, You got speaker a bank and tell us tell us what you're doing? Yeah, so I've got I'm having like a bit of a party for some friends and family. And then I've got a talk in Stanford's in Covent Garden. I'm speaking in Parliament. But I think that's more of a parliamentary event. And I have got an event at Stanfords in Bristol with Xavier Bryce, we're going to discuss the future of the NCN. I've got one I'm speaking in Oxford, at a bookshop. I'm going to be interviewed by Emily Kerr, who's a green Councillor there. I have got a there's a literary festival in Wantage in November. And we're looking at other events as we speak. Carlton Reid 57:16 Excellent. And this is two hundred and .... All right, I'm going to deliver the end of the book. We're talking 264 pages, and then you've got references back. I mean, one of them. Thank you very much. Laura Laker 57:32 Yeah. Carlton Reid 57:34 Thanks. as well. Yes, at the back there, but there's, there's lots in this. So who's gonna be? Who's your audience? Who's gonna be reading this? Who do you think will be reading this? And what might actually could it start something big with with in politics? Can we could we get this like your manifesto? Can it get out there? What do you hope to happen with your book? Laura Laker 58:00 Yeah, well, obviously, I want everyone to read it. I mean, my editor at Bloomsbury was saying, you know, it's probably going to be cycling enthusiasts, people who I guess already, maybe listen to your podcast, my podcast, read our articles about cycling. But I would like to think that you know, these people, these two thirds to four fifths of people who want more cycling people who think, you know, why do I have to drive everywhere? Why aren't there safe cycle routes? Why can't my kids cycle to school, and see that might see this book and think, Oh, this is going to tell that story, this is going to explain it to me. And so I hope that it's going to give people a sense of kind of why we are where we're at, with the history of the NCN and the stories, but also, you know, how wonderful it could be if we had this thing, this network of connected routes, if it were possible for all of these people who say they want to cycle and more who maybe don't even know they want to cycle could do so. And I hope that, you know, my perhaps naive hope is that people will read it and think, you know, this could be such a wonderful thing, why aren't we doing it? And how can we get it to happen and I hope policymakers you know, we've got an election coming up I think this speaks to you know, forget the culture wars. I think this speaks to all sides, you know, of politics, I think, you know, individual freedom and choice is a conservative value, right? Cycling, cycling delivers on that. Carlton Reid 59:26 Cycling is so libertarian is a form of transport I've had many conversations This is freedom. Why is this left wing? Why do people always assume it's just this thing? Laura Laker 59:42 Yeah, it's become a cultural thing. And it's only for I think, you know, certain factions of the right perhaps see this as a wedge issue. And a way of you know, rallying people around them on based on kind of outrage like false outrage really, untruthes. and you You know, in terms of the left, this is, you know, great value for money, the Labour Party is very, very keen on showing they're working and proving to people that they can be trusted with the economy. It delivers on the green agenda, it's so beneficial in terms of cutting carbon emissions, it delivers on health, pretty much every department that we can think of this offers people access to work, you know, so many people who are out of work, especially in rural communities can't even afford to go and find work or stay in a job because the transport is too expensive, or it's too patchy doesn't go in and they needed to go. So there's like barely a thing that this doesn't touch. And I really hope that you know, along with kind of griping, which is, I hope not too much of the book, and the polemic side that this shows actually, you know, this is great for tourism, this is great for our mental health. This can bring us together, you know, it's about in Scotland, I saw that a cycle route can be a linear park, it can be about artwork and community. It can bring people together from different walks of life around a space. And, you know, cycling delivers on these things. And, you know, if we kind of dropped the culture was narrative, which is nonsense. You know, we could see all of these benefits fairly quickly and for very little money, and have a far better country for it. Carlton Reid 1:01:18 Many people would baulk at having Boris Johnson back. And you do mention this in the book of what he and Andrew Gilligan were able to do. Hopefully, it doesn't seem like I want him back. But will it that that is what you need. I mean, you do talk about having a cycling Prime Minister, we had a cycling Prime Minister, we had a Prime Minister who said it was me a golden age for cycling. So we need we need him back. Laura, that we just we need we need Boris back. No, we don't like that back there. Are there other other politicians are available? We just need people to believe in it. And you know, I hope that people read the book and think, actually, this is something we can believe in, but don't need one of the good things about Boris Johnson. Not only did he you know, talk, the talk, walk the talk, all that kind of stuff. But he was right wing. So he could he just instantly takes away that that part of this oversight is a left wing things like well, here's this right wing politician who's pushing for this Andrew Gilligan, Telegraph writer. These are not left wing people in any way, shape, or form. So is that what we need we actually need and then we'd like all politicians to do this, but by the same thing, you need somebody almost on the opposite side to be doing this, they've got more chance of pushing this through. So that's why Boris Johnson did so well, because he was right wing and the Mail isn't gonna, you know, rail against what Boris Johnson was doing. They never did. Laura Laker 1:02:46 They did though. They did. They totally did. I don't think they discriminated against him because he was towards their political leanings. I mean, it's unlikely we're going to have another conservative government, right, when we've got the election coming up, it's going to be Labour by all likelihood. And so they're going to be the ones in power delivering. So I don't know, Carlton Reid 1:03:09 But they backtracked over their green policies. I mean, what hope do we have? Laura Laker 1:03:12 I know I know. I know it's incredibly disappointing. And the thing is this this stuff like the green agenda, more broadly investment in insulating homes, for example, is such great return on investment and if they're thinking about finances and showing they're working insulating homes is just a total no brainer. You know, we all pay far too much for our energy bills. We live in draughty leaky homes. So many houses are mouldy because of the cold walls are damp Yeah, I just think you know, and green technology, huge growth industry. Solar and wind where you know, we're windy little island, but a lot of coastline. Offshore wind is fantastic. Carlton Reid 1:03:55 But in your in the book, you show how national highways basically is an organisation set up to build roads. And once you've done something like that, and that's their raison d'etre. Guess what they're going to build roads. Yeah. So yeah, it's that oil tanker you know having to put the brakes on and change a whole culture so we're not talking about you know, Cuz your manifesto is saying you know, stop funding this and yeah. Laura Laker 1:04:28 Wales did this basically with their no more roads or no more roads and less they increased active travel and public transport policy. They basically have kind of repurpose their national highways body around this agenda, you know, fill in the potholes. We've got a road in a dreadful state and, you know, develop use all their skills and power and funding for active travel. You know, public transport in this country is drastically underfunded. Buses are so important, especially in rural areas, especially people on low incomes, especially for women and Do you know buses are so important? We're really, really not kind of reaping the power the massive power of the bus.? Carlton Reid 1:05:08 Yeah, that's in your book as well, because you're talking about how buses, you know, need to be able to carry bikes. Yeah. And that's, you know, that's a small part of what they could do but the broader transport perspective that's that's so impor

Even if you don't recognise Aardman Animations by name we're certain you'll have fond memories of their work. Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep. Now Canterbury University will be involved with their work.

For years, Steve Kaplan has been one of the industry's most respected and sought-after experts on comedy. His first book, The Hidden Tools of Comedy is a best-seller in its field, and his second book, The Comic Hero's Journey: Serious Story Structure for Fabulously Funny Films was recently released in an audio version. In addition to having taught at UCLA, NYU, Yale and other universities, Steve Kaplan created the HBO Workspace, the HBO New Writers Program and was co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan Punch Line Theatre. In addition to development projects for HBO, he has taught workshops at companies such as DreamWorks, Disney Animation, Aardman Animation, NBC's Writers on the Verge, and others. For more info about Carole Dean and From the Heart Productions please visit www.FromtheHeartProductions.com.

Watch the video version of this podcast on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5G0INWwQe4 Enjoy Film Courage and want to support, please visit our Patreon here - http://www.patreon.com/filmcourage. BUY THE BOOK - THE HIDDEN TOOLS OF COMEDY: The Serious Business Of Being Funny - https://amzn.to/3HlcVsC BUY THE BOOK - THE COMIC HERO'S JOURNEY: Serious Story Structure For Fabulously Funny Films https://amzn.to/3F7A0fB Steve Kaplan is the author of The Hidden Tools of Comedy and The Comic Hero's Journey, best-sellers in their field. He's working on a third book about writing comedy for television. In addition to having taught at UCLA, NYU, Yale and other universities, Steve created the HBO Workspace, the HBO New Writers Program and was co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan Punch Line Theatre. In addition to development projects for HBO, he has taught workshops online and around the globe and at companies such as DreamWorks, Disney Animation, Aardman Animation, and NBC's Writers on the Verge. Steve has worked as a script consultant and script editor for productions companies, studios, directors and individual writers. UPCOMING COMEDY INTENSIVE ONLINE CLASS WITH STEVE KAPLAN https://www.kaplancomedy.com/product/the-comedy-intensive-online-2023-spring MORE VIDEOS WITH STEVE KAPLAN https://bit.ly/3P8FoUj CONNECT WITH STEVE KAPLAN http://kaplancomedy.com https://www.facebook.com/KaplanComedy https://twitter.com/skcomedy https://www.instagram.com/skcomedy52 https://www.youtube.com/@stevekaplan1170 MORE MICHAEL WIESE PRODUCTIONS AUTHORS https://mwp.com MORE VIDEOS LIKE THIS Why Beginning Artists Shouldn't Analyze Their Work When Creating - https://youtu.be/GeBQM32zIX8 What It Really Means To Write For Money - https://youtu.be/7-FQe10nnZA 99% Of Books Won't Make Their Money Back - https://youtu.be/yXWSPE6xTxk Fears And Doubts That Hold Artists Back - https://youtu.be/2s5mp1RY5yQ Artists Don't Have To Believe In Themselves To Have Success - https://youtu.be/F137IANXaF4 Big Difference Between Success And Failure - https://youtu.be/liwPpUr5eVE CONNECT WITH FILM COURAGE http://www.FilmCourage.com http://twitter.com/#!/FilmCourage https://www.facebook.com/filmcourage https://www.instagram.com/filmcourage http://filmcourage.tumblr.com http://pinterest.com/filmcourage SUBSCRIBE TO THE FILM COURAGE YOUTUBE CHANNEL http://bit.ly/18DPN37 SUPPORT FILM COURAGE BY BECOMING A MEMBER https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs8o1mdWAfefJkdBg632_tg/join SUPPORT FILM COURAGE BY BECOMING A PATRON https://www.patreon.com/filmcourage LISTEN TO THE FILM COURAGE PODCAST https://soundcloud.com/filmcourage-com (Affiliates) SAVE $15 ON YOUTUBE TV - LIMITED TIME OFFER https://tv.youtube.com/referral/r0847ysqgrrqgp ►WE USE THIS CAMERA (B&H) – https://buff.ly/3rWqrra ►WE USE THIS SOUND RECORDER (AMAZON) – http://amzn.to/2tbFlM9 Stuff we use: LENS - Most people ask us what camera we use, no one ever asks about the lens which filmmakers always tell us is more important. This lens was a big investment for us and one we wish we could have made sooner. Started using this lens at the end of 2013 - http://amzn.to/2tbtmOq AUDIO Rode VideoMic Pro - The Rode mic helps us capture our backup audio. It also helps us sync up our audio in post https://amzn.to/425k5rG Audio Recorder - If we had to do it all over again, this is probably the first item we would have bought - https://amzn.to/3WEuz0k LIGHTS - Although we like to use as much natural light as we can, we often enhance the lighting with this small portable light. We have two of them and they have saved us a number of times - http://amzn.to/2u5UnHv *These are affiliate links, by using them you can help support this channel.

On this week's episode, Sylvie and Chris look back at the mid-2000s flirtation with martial arts cinema and wonder aloud what exactly a legendary claymation company from jolly ol' England was doing collaborating with Decode Entertainment. It's Aardman Animation's Chop Socky Chooks (no, that's not a slur! It just Aussie for Kung-fu Chicken). A high-concept tribute to martial arts cinema from an innovator in claymation that is neither A). interested in martial arts cinema, or B). claymated. This was Flushed Away era of Aardman Animation we're dealing with, people. Episode covered for the podcast is Episode 14 "Karaoke Zombies." Directed by Sergio Delfino. Written by J.D. Smith. Original Canadian airdate June 14, 2008. If you liked what you heard please and wish to support the show, please consider subscribing and leaving a nice review on your podcatcher of choice. Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CartoonNightPod?s=20 Chris' Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cinemacreep Sylvie's Twitter: https://twitter.com/sylvieskeletons Theme song by https://soundcloud.com/hvsyn Logo designed by https://www.rachelsumlin.com/

The Last of Us Season 2 Gets Directors, Netflix and Studio Ponoc Make Deal, Netflix's Ripley Trailer, Aardman Animation's Future Plans. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is a 2023 stop-motion animated film by Aardman Animations, and serves as a sequel to the hit movie Chicken Run from 2000 (Not 2002, like Brian guessed on the show!) The film features the voices for Thandiwe Newton, Zachary Levi, and Bella Ramsey, and follows the story of our main chickens, Ginger and Rocky, as they try to save their daughter Molly from a high security poultry processing plant/prison.The movie is currently available on Netflix.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This year marks 5 years since our maiden episode with Richard Shotton in February 2018. To celebrate Call to Action® turning 5, we asked the …Gasp! team to rummage through all 130 episodes for us to re-release some of their favourites.  Back in January 2020, we kicked off the year with fizzy, fuzzy energy. The fizz and fuzz faded come March 2020, but before that, we packed our plasticine and carried out a search of The Avon to pick up Bristol's finest maker of noise, Gavin Strange.  By day, Gavin is Director and Designer at the beloved Aardman Animations, the Academy Award winning studio behind Wallace & Gromit. It is probably easier to ask what Gavin does not do, a sucker for a night-time side project, under the pseudonym of Jam Factory, he's also an author, toy inventor and speaker on the global circuit. In one of the …Gasp! team's all time favourite episodes, Gavin talks to us candidly on having car parts thrown at his head, pixels, plasticine, what Morph is really like, the unlikely crossover of Maya Angelou and Dragon Ball Z and why we need more wonky things.  Feel better about marketing with Episode 28 of Call to Action® with Gavin Strange.  Follow Gavin on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn Check out his website And get his book: Do Fly Timestamps (01:59) - Quick fire questions (02:40) - First jobs, having car parts thrown at his head, getting a job in design (10:00) - Tinkering and creating his alter ego JamFactory  (13:15) - What it's like working at Aardman Animations  (16:39) - Pixels vs plasticine and long standing characters like Morph  (23:30) - Being time buddies with Beyonce and how he gets so much done  (33:10) - Doing silly stuff and his directorial debut (41:50) - Writing his book Do Fly  (53:00) - Listener questions  (1:00:00) - 4 pertinent posers  Gavin's book recommendations are:  Feck Perfuction by James Victore  Draplin Design Co: Pretty Much Everything by Aaron Draplin  Why? How? What? The First Big Book of Art by Brosmind  Cabinet of Curiosities by Guillermo del Toro  Anything by Shepard Fairey 

In this episode of Casual Chats, Patricia and special guest Arun Mehta from The Arun Mehta Show discuss about the 2023 stop motion animated film Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, the sequel to the 2000 stop motion animated film Chicken Run animated by Aardman Animation. Taking place after Chicken Run, the chickens from Tweedy's farm have settled in a bird sanctuary. Ginger and Rocky have gotten married and had a daughter named Molly, who is just as rambunctious and adventurous as her father and wanting to know what's outside the sanctuary for freedom as her mother. However, due to their upbringing, they overprotect her. Molly runs away from the sanctuary and is captured by a farm that is happy, fun, and friendly, but has a dark secret. It's up to Ginger, Rocky, Bunty, Babs, Mac, Nick, and Fetcher to rescue Molly from the farm by breaking into it. When the film premiered on Netflix, it had gotten positive reviews from critics and viewers calling it a good successor to the first film with its animation, characters, and story, but not without bringing up the controversy behind replacing Julia Sawalha as Ginger because of ageism. Was it worth the 23 year long wait? What did Arun and Patricia think of it? Listen and find out. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/old-school-lane/support

Just a few more sleeps, and one more @EchoChamberFP https://www.instagram.com/echochamberfp/ before you stuff your faces and unwrap gifts!!! So we finally have Christmas fun from 87North Productions & Universal Pictures then Lucasfilm, Walt Disney Pictures & Paramount Pictures bring us the last ride of a classic hero. Aardman Animations return to their first film, and The Stone Quarry, Grand Electric go intergalactic. THEN, we have the future of childbirth from Quad Productions, Scope Pictures & Lionsgate! Today we have: Violent Night Watch Review: Here. https://youtu.be/F5GuL8JcpZk New York Comic Con: 7th October 2022 Theatrical Release Date: 2nd December 2022 Digital Release Date: 6th November 2023 Director: Tommy Wirkola Cast: David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Edi Patterson, Cam Gigandet, Leah Brady, Beverly D'Angelo, Ray Strachen, André Eriksen, Brendan Fletcher, Mike Dopud, Alexander Elliot, Mitra Suri, Can Aydin, Phong Giang, Finn McCager Higgins, Rawleigh Clements-Willis, Stephanie Sy Credit: 87North Productions, Universal Pictures Genre: Action, Comedy, Thriller Running Time: 107 min Cert: 15 Trailer: Here. https://youtu.be/a53e4HHnx_s?si=q8g7oyRgodr26CB6 Website: Here. https://www.uphe.com/movies/violent-night -------------- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Watch Review: Here. https://youtu.be/RN8VALfwsWA Cannes Film Festival: 18th May 2023 Theatrical Release Date: 28th June 2023 Digital Release Date: 6th December 2023 Director: James Mangold Cast: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Boyd Holbrook, Olivier Richters, Ethann Isidore, Toby Jones, Antonio Banderas, Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Thomas Kretschmann, Martin McDougall Running Time: 155 min Cert: 12a Trailer: Here. https://youtu.be/eQfMbSe7F2g?si=Oftv8M5igcIucXmt Website: Here. https://www.lucasfilm.com/productions/indiana-jones-and-the-dial-of-destiny/ -------------- Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget Watch Review: Here. https://youtu.be/rS35WO3tSq0 67th BFI London Film Festival: 14th October 2023 Theatrical Release Date: 8th December 2023 Digital Release Date: 15th December 2023 Director: Sam Fell Cast: Thandiwe Newton, Zachary Levi, Bella Ramsey, Romesh Ranganathan, David Bradley, Daniel Mays, Jane Horrocks, Imelda Staunton, Lynn Ferguson, Josie Sedgwick-Davies, Peter Serafinowicz, Nick Mohammed, Miranda Richardson Running Time: 98 min Cert: PG Trailer: Here. https://youtu.be/_-Kz67kea8Q?si=R1DNQDEnC6t08aqj Website: Here. https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/chicken-run-2-cast-guide -------------- Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire Watch Review: Here. https://youtu.be/rN1h00fh9PA Theatrical Release Date: 15th December 2023 Digital Release Date: 21st December 2023 Director: Zack Snyder Cast: Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Charlie Hunnam, Michiel Huisman, Staz Nair, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Cleopatra Coleman, E. Duffy, Anthony Hopkins, Dustin Ceithamer, Alfonso Herrera, Jena Malone, Ed Skrein, Fra Fee, Ingvar Sigurdsson, Charlotte Maggi, Corey Stoll, Stuart Martin, Cary Elwes, Rhian Rees Running Time: 134 min Cert: 15 Trailer: Here. https://youtu.be/fhr3MzT6exg?si=BBY_QySZHxEL02w- Website: Here. https://www.netflix.com/tudum/rebel-moon -------------- The Pod Generation Watch Review: Here. https://youtu.be/KBGzmVnnMyM 2023 Sundance Film Festival: 19th January 2023 Theatrical Release Date: 11th August 2023 Purchase Release Date: 26th December 2023 Rent Release Date: 1st January 2024 Director: Sophie Barthes Cast: Emilia Clarke, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rosalie Craig, Vinette Robinson, Kathryn Hunter, Rita Bernard-Shaw, Megan Maczko, Anne-Marie Agbodji, Benedict Landsbert-Noon, Jelle De Beule, Jean-Marc Barr, Eliza Butterworth, Alix Dunmore Running Time: 109 min Cert: 12a Trailer: Here. https://youtu.be/G5zPkR-5bh4 Digital Platforms: iTunes, Amazon, Sky, Google, Rakuten, EE TV, Virgin and Microsoft (Xbox) ---------------- *(Music) 'Da Joint' (Instrumental) by EPMD - 2020 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eftv/message

Not since 1998's Babe 2: Pig in the City has a sequel to a cherished family film contained such unapologetically dark moments as Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. Not literal darkness as the film is as bright and cheerful looking as anything Aardman Animations has ever done.

This time they're breaking in! Directed by Sam Fell, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is the stop motion animated comedy film produced by Aardman Animations. It is the sequel to Chicken Run (2000) and is out now on Netflix. Having escaped from the farm, Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) and Rocky (Zachary Levi) welcome a new little adventurer into their lives (Bella Ramsey). Back on the mainland, the whole of chicken-kind faces a terrible new threat.

In which the Mister and Monsters join me in reviewing ARTHUR CHRISTMAS (2011) which you can find on Max,. Prime Video, TBS and TNT but also to buy/rent on Prime Video. Directed by Sarah Smith and Barry Cook, from the screenplay by Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith and is brought to viewers by production companies Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation and Aardman Animations.  The unthinkable happens when Santa and his heir apparent fail to deliver a child their gift. The only man willing to correct this mistake is Santa's other son, Arthur, who embarks on a wild quest to make sure no child wakes up to disappointment on Christmas Day.  This film clocks in at 1 h and 37m and is rated PG.  Please note there are SPOILERS in this review. Opening intro music: GOAT by Wayne Jones, courtesy of YouTube Audio Library --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jokagoge/support

This week, it's our bumper Christmas episode! Amon speaks to Lee Child about bringing his hero back to the small screen for REACHER season two (5:49), and CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET director Sam Fell about the return of Aardman Animation's pluckiest fowls (1:48:23). Meanwhile, we travel to a galaxy far, far away for Zack Snyder's REBEL MOON – PART ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE (27:37), the concert hall for Bradley Cooper's MAESTRO (57:22), and the shores of Japan for  Hayao Miyazaki's THE BOY AND THE HERON (1:18:56) and Takashi Yamazaki's GODZILLA MINUS ONE (1:34:25).  Plus, in our HOT TAKE (2:04:42), we debate the best non-Christmas movies to watch at Christmas. If you would like to donate towards humanitarian aid in Gaza please visit https://www.map.org.uk/ https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/children-gaza-desperate-need-lifesaving-support  If you'd like to join the conversation or suggest a Hot Take for the gang to discuss tweet us at @FadeToBlackPod Follow us: @amonwarmann, @clarisselou, @hannaflint If you like the show do subscribe, leave a review and rate us too!

It's that time of year. You're busy shopping and you haven't had much time to sit down and enjoy a movie or TV show. Plus Hollywood's flood gates are about to open right around Christmas and there will be even more choices to make. Luckily we've got some films worth checking out before they get lost in the Christmas shuffle. First there's "Eileen" which stars Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie. It's what happens when a woman's friendship with a new co-worker at the prison facility where she works takes a sinister turn.Then there's "The Zone of Interest" which is getting all sorts of critical praise. It depicts how the commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.And for those who like family dramas there's "Th Iron Claw." It's the true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s.There's even a Julia Roberts move - on Netflix no less. It's about how a family's getaway to a luxurious rental home takes an ominous turn when a cyberattack knocks out their devices, and two strangers appear at their door.And there's the British drama "All of Us Strangers."It's about a screenwriter who is drawn back to his childhood home enters into a fledgling relationship with a mysterious neighbor as he then discovers his parents appear to be living just as they were on the day they died, 30 years before.Wnat some lighter stuff? we''' tell you about "Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, a sequel 20 years in the making from Aardman Animation which specializes in stop-motion clay animation. And "Migration" in which a family of ducks try to convince their overprotective father to go on the vacation of a lifetime. So before you hang the stockings by the chimney with care check us out!This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4137244/advertisement

This is our spoiler-free review for Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. Join us as we discuss our shared love of Aardman Studios and our thoughts on this sequel thats been 23 years in the making… or should we say molding?Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget premieres globally on Netflix on December 15th. Check out Geekcentric onYouTube | Instagram | Twitter | TikTokJoin the Geekcentric Discord HEREJoin Nate on Twitch at - twitch.tv/nateplaysgames

In the summer of 2000, celebrated animation UK animation studio Aardman Animations released their first feature-length film in cinemas around the world. Chicken Run was a phenomenal success, becoming the highest-grossing stop-motion animation movie of all time. We're going back 23 years to look at the game based on that very movie. Yep. We're talking Chicken Run.On this episode of Stealth Boom Boom, we look at the Oliver Twins and their journey from bedroom developers to Blitz Games (the studio behind this particular movie tie-in). We also talk about the Game Boy Color version because why not, and how Chicken Run is the game that beat Colm's research methods.In our review you'll hear some chat on Metal Gear Solid But For Kids, the efficacy of confusing dogs with brussel sprouts, Harry Gregson-Williams, thieving from other games, the very odd choices made around the exceptionally awkward camera, losing quest-pivotal items when you're caughts, happy running around vibes, love for '00s style mini-games, disdain for '00s style mini-games, International Track & Field, the Bunty Eggs-Press, SPALL FACT, the realisation of Tweedy's Farm, an awful retelling of a great story, whether or not people might've played the game without seeing the movie, the little hits of joy when you play sequences that are only briefly mentioned in the film, Enter The Matrix, loading screens and the lovely-looking main menu. After all that, the lads take you through what some of the critics were saying about the game around the time it came out, and then they give their final verdicts on whether Chicken Run is a Pass, a Play, or an Espionage Explosion.For those who would like to play along at home, we'll be discussing, reviewing and dissecting every single game we've reviewed this year on the next episode of Stealth Boom Boom. Because the next episode of Stealth Boom Boom is going to be our Game of the Year 2023 episode, otherwise known as the inaugural edition of the Boomies!IMPORTANT LINKS TO THINGS

Join in as we dive into the fascinating story of the production company behind Wallace and Gromit, and their unexpected challenge of running out of clay to make their beloved films. Could this be the end of the beloved franchise? Get ready for a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process and the resourcefulness of the team behind the claymation magic!Aardman Animations: https://www.aardman.com/ More about the Hall and Oates Lawsuit: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/hall-and-oates-legal-battle-details-1234896848/amp/  #LifeisShortso is featuredSupport the showIf you have questions or comments email ebonezonepodcast@yahoo.com Follow the Ebone Zone on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OfficialEBZLike the Ebone Zone on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ebonezoneofficial/Visit www.ebonezone.com for more content!

This week on Stream It, we're delving into the world of Chicken Run! To celebrate the new movie, Chicken Run 2: Dawn of the Nugget, Hebe was on the red carpet of the premier chatting to all the creative geniuses behind the new film and Conor is going back in time to explore the history of Aardman Animation and all your favourite plasticine characters! Plus Pete is here to give us some gaming expertise too!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Wrong Trousers is a 1993 stop-motion animated short by Aardman Animations. The 29 minute film features the characters of Wallace and Gromit, who first appeared in the 1989 short A Grand Day Out.This film finds the duo short on money, and with bills to pay, Wallace decides to rent a room to a chicken. Unbeknownst to him, the chicken is none other than a criminal penguin in disguise, who plans on using a pair of techno-trousers to steal a large diamond from a museum.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's Week #4 of Patreon Request Month 2023, and the randomizer is going all the way back to 2023 to pick Tony Cogan's request for two specific episodes of the second volume of the series that boldly combined the two most reasonable fandoms known to man, Star Wars and anime! In season two, this series expanded its scope from just anime to animation styles from around the world, including, in these two episodes, those two countries that have always gotten along swimmingly with each other, Ireland and England!. Ireland's Cartoon Saloon studio, of The Secret of Kells and Wolfwalkers fame, brings us a striking, dark, violent, morally ambiguous fable about everything one must sacrifice to obtain one's goals in life, and England's Aardman Animation brings us a bright sunny claymation romp through what can only be described as "we have podracing at home," complete with slinky droids, Vader hairstyles and freaky-deaky claymation hippie wookiees! Join Tony Goldmark, Kyle A. Carrozza, Santana Maynard and Luke Ski as they take some powerful Star Wars hallucinogens and see some trippy STAR WARS: VISIONS, season two, episodes two and four, "Screecher's Reach" and "I Am Your Mother!" Watch my Star Wars videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXVC39FA6kPdnWdA3dOsmE3VPVmVzDYNP  Check out my guests' stuff! KYLE A. CARROZZA Website: https://www.kyleacarrozza.com Podcast: http://kyleandluke.com Bandcamp: https://tvskyle.bandcamp.com SANTANA MAYNARD Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/santanamaynard  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@santanamaynard  Website: https://www.santanamaynard.com LUKE SKI Portfolio: https://www.luke.ski Bandcamp: https://lukeski.bandcamp.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegreatlukeski And check out this show on social media! Twitter: https://twitter.com/efvdpodcast Host's Twitter: https://twitter.com/tonygoldmark Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/972385353152531 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tonygoldmark Hear new episodes early by supporting this show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tonygoldmark

Today on the show we have comedy legend, author, and writer Steve Kaplan. For years, Steve Kaplan has been the industry's most sought-after expert on comedy. In addition to having taught at UCLA, NYU, Yale and other top universities, Steve created the HBO Workspace, the HBO New Writers Program and was co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan Punch Line Theatre. He has consulted and taught workshops at companies such as HBO, DreamWorks, Disney, Aardman Animation, Sony Pictures Network India, Globo Brazil, and others.In New York, Steve was co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan Punch Line Theatre, where he developed writers such as Peter Tolan(Analyze This, The Larry Sanders Show), writer and producer David Crane(Friends, Episodes), writer/producer Tracy Poust (Ugly Betty, Will & Grace), Michael Patrick King(Sex and The City, Will & Grace), David Ives(Venus in Fur), Howard Korder (Boardwalk Empire), David Fury(The Tick, Buffy, The Vampire Slayer), Lisa Loomer (The Waiting Room), Tom Donaghy (The Mentalist), Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)and Mark O'Donnell (Hairspray) and introduced such performers as Lewis Black, Mercedes Ruehl, Oliver Platt, Helen Slater, Fisher Stevens, Veanne Cox, Sam McMurray, Vickie Lewis, and Illeana Douglas.In Los Angeles, he created the HBO New Writers Project, discovering HBO Pictures screenwriter Will Scheffer (Big Love), and performer/writer Sandra Tsing Loh (Aliens in America),; and the HBO Workspace, a developmental workshop in Hollywood that introduced and presented performers such as Jack Black and Tenacious D, Kathy Griffin, Bob Odenkirk and David Cross (Mr. Show), Josh Malina and Paul F. Tompkins. At the Workspace, he was Executive Producer for the award-winning HBO Original Programming documentary DROP DEAD GORGEOUS. Steve has directed in regional theaters and Off-Broadway (including Sandra Tsing Loh's ALIENS IN AMERICAat Second Stage).In addition to private coaching and one-on-one consultations, Steve has taught his Comedy Intensive workshops to thousands of students in the United States and countries around the world, including London, Toronto, Galway, Athens, Paris, Tel Aviv, Sydney, Melbourne, Rio, Munich, New Zealand, and Singapore. This year, he will be presenting seminars and workshops in Los Angeles, Brussels, London, and via Skype, Sweden.His new book The Comic Hero's Journey: Serious Story Structure for Fabulously Funny Films. I can't recommend it enough.A comic hero or heroine also goes on a journey, but for the comic hero, it's often quite, quite different. The hero decides to go on the adventure; the comic hero often has no choice. The hero has a wise old man; the comic hero often meets an idiot who inadvertently says something that can teach him a thing or two. Steve Kaplan will show you the diverse paths that comedy takes in The Comic Hero's Journey.This interview is EPIC! If you want to learn how to create "funny" in your screenplays or projects this episode is for you.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/2664729/advertisement

Comedian Ally Ryan joins us to talk about Aardman Animation's first feature film, Chicken Run (2000). We talk about feminism, communes, revolution, loads of stuff. We surprised ourselves at how much we took from it really. It was a good time. Ally is @UpYourAllyRyan. You can find all her upcoming gigs there. Alan is ⁠@alan_maguire⁠. He does a bit of standup but Juvenalia is his main thing right now. Sarah is ⁠@griffski⁠. Her books are in all good bookshops. Her newsletter is at ⁠griffnotes.ghost.io⁠ Thank you to Dee McDonnell for our artwork. We have a Patreon! You can get bonus episodes including our fortnightly show Started/Finished where we talk about the pop culture we've started and finished recently. We also have some free lil bits of merch. It's ⁠patreon.com/juvenalia This episode was produced by Cassie Delaney Juvenalia is a Tall Tales podcast. Thank you Cassie.

Aardman Animation's world famous animated sheep is being adopted by Natural England to teach children how to behave in the countryside, in a new campaign which aims to teach how to 'respect, protect and enjoy' it. The UK's first indoor salmon farm could be built in Cleethorpes. The company behind it says it's a safe and efficient way to produce fish and avoids the potential problems of sea lice, pollution and escapes faced by farms at sea or in lochs. Opponents say it's factory farming. All week we're looking at growing the ingredients for medicines. Today we hear about animal products in pharmaceuticals. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

Two Dudes head back to a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away to check out season two of Star Wars: Visions. Joined by friend of the pod, Ashton O'Malley, the gang revisits Disney+'s animated Star Wars anthology series with all new stories from revered studios including Cartoon Saloon, Aardman Animations and Studio Mir. Follow Two Dudes Watch Cartoons on socials and Subscribe to the pod

On this installment of The PAPER STREET Podcast, co-host Shawn Talley flies solo, recapping Paper Street's recent run of film releases before a fun chat with Franklin Ritch, the filmmaker behind our latest release THE ARTIFICE GIRL. Serving as the writer, director, and one of the lead actors, Franklin discusses wearing multiple hats, as well as the origin of the film's premise, the prescience of the subject matter, working in Florida, and filming during the pandemic. Also on the program: a nerdy round of 'Rapid Fire 15' with the guest, plus artificial intelligence, Aardman Animations, anime, and more! THE ARTIFICE GIRL is now in select theaters and also available to rent or buy across VOD/Digital platforms. For show notes and more on this and previous episodes, please visit paperstreetpodcast.com.