Podcasts about litopia after dark

As the winter solstice passes, Litopia After Dark becomes Litopia After Darker. it's time for festive cheer, certainly. But it's also the moment when the fabric (sorry) between our nightmares and our waking world is at its thinnest. A time for cosy hibernation, yes-- but also fear, depression and real-life demons. Especially in the days of glowing rectangles when the lights never completely go out. Jessica’s extraordinary handiwork is on display at most Royal weddings To help navigate this darkest part of the Northern year, we're joined by ladies Light and Wilde-- Jessica Light, one of the last remaining trimming weavers in the UK, and former Cenobite, Barbie Wilde. But which one really loves a rainbow and which one is afraid of the dark? (Hint: one of them's a real cut-up and the other will have you in stitches...) One is a horror writer who played a mutilating demon in Clive Barker's Hellraiser II. The other is a passementriere (pass-a-mon-tree-air) who helped fringe the Sultan of Brunei's throne room... and brocaded the balcony for the royal wedding! One brings zombie rapists to life in her latest book Voices of the Damned. The other makes macrame dip-bleached Taiwan tie-back tassels that retail for £95. AND WE'VE GOT THEM ON THE SAME SHOW! Follow Jessica @trimsandtassels! Follow Barbie @BarbieWilde! Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

As the winter solstice passes, Litopia After Dark becomes Litopia After Darker. it's time for festive cheer, certainly. But it's also the moment when the fabric (sorry) between our nightmares and our waking world is at its thinnest. A time for cosy hibernation, yes-- but also fear, depression and real-life demons. Especially in the days of glowing rectangles when the lights never completely go out. Jessica’s extraordinary handiwork is on display at most Royal weddings To help navigate this darkest part of the Northern year, we're joined by ladies Light and Wilde-- Jessica Light, one of the last remaining trimming weavers in the UK, and former Cenobite, Barbie Wilde. But which one really loves a rainbow and which one is afraid of the dark? (Hint: one of them's a real cut-up and the other will have you in stitches...) One is a horror writer who played a mutilating demon in Clive Barker's Hellraiser II. The other is a passementriere (pass-a-mon-tree-air) who helped fringe the Sultan of Brunei's throne room... and brocaded the balcony for the royal wedding! One brings zombie rapists to life in her latest book Voices of the Damned. The other makes macrame dip-bleached Taiwan tie-back tassels that retail for £95. AND WE'VE GOT THEM ON THE SAME SHOW! Follow Jessica @trimsandtassels! Follow Barbie @BarbieWilde! Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

The BBC – the world’s oldest and biggest public service broadcaster – appears to have a serious ethics problem. That’s the devastating conclusion from this edition of The DEBRIEFER. How else could you explain the plight of bestselling author and screenwriter M.R. Hall, whose THE CORONER series of books bears a striking similarity to the BBC’s a new television series entitled – somewhat unimaginatively – THE CORONER. Listeners to THE DEBRIEFER will be familiar with horrific accounts of rapacious Hollywood studios “borrowing” ideas from defenceless authors. The twist, this time, is that the allegations concern a public service broadcaster… not a commercial entity, but an organisation that is supposed to serve the public good. Service, not profit, is the motivator… or is supposed to be. Troublingly, this case is not unique. One of our guests on Litopia After Dark, former British ambassador Craig Murray, believes his autobiography Murder in Samarkand was plagiarized for the BBC comedy The Ambassador. “The production company had actually invited me to their offices”, says Craig, “for a meeting to ask me to sell them the rights to Murder in Samarkand. I attended the meeting but I refused to sell them the rights. They went ahead and made the series anyway.” This isn’t fair, it’s not cricket, and it isn’t in the spirit of public service broadcasting. Come on, BBC – show some leadership and get your house in order – while you still have a chance. We're happy to plug The Coroner... even if the BBC doesn't! Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes

LITOPIA AFTER DARK is back! And in typical style, our first guest for the new season spent four nights in a freezing cave in Tora Bora interviewing none other than Osama bin Laden. How’s that for openers? But that’s far from Abdel Bari Atwan’s only claim to fame. Born in Gaza, he is one of the world’s leading authorities on al-Qa’ida. Indeed, he wrote the definite book on the subject – The Secret History of al-Qa’ida. At a moment when the West seems poised for yet more intervention in a deeply unstable Middle East, this is just the right time to hear from an author, editor and journalist who knows the region, and its peoples, intimately. Bari is a regular guest on the BBC, Dateline, CNN and Al Jazeera. He has 740,000 twitter followers. His Rai Al Youn digital newspaper-- often called the Huffington Post of the Arab World-- boasts a circulation of almost half a million. He also spent four nights in a freezing cave in Tora Bora interviewing Osama bin Laden. And yet, no one seems to like Bari . He's outspoken on Israel being the enemy of the Arab world-- yet he advocates for a one state solution to the Palestinian crisis. He's blacklisted in Egypt and other Arab nations for cozying up to the infidel West, yet the state of Israel prevented him from returning to his native Palestine to visit his dying mother-- or go to her funeral. He can't even get a visa to visit the good ol' USA. Tonight he joins us to solve the Middle East crisis in 140 characters or less. He also shares his impassioned opinions on everything from drone strikes to the Alabama legal system to women's rights in the Arab World. Bari's new book is entitled Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

LITOPIA AFTER DARK is back! And in typical style, our first guest for the new season spent four nights in a freezing cave in Tora Bora interviewing none other than Osama bin Laden. How’s that for openers? But that’s far from Abdel Bari Atwan’s only claim to fame. Born in Gaza, he is one of the world’s leading authorities on al-Qa’ida. Indeed, he wrote the definite book on the subject – The Secret History of al-Qa’ida. At a moment when the West seems poised for yet more intervention in a deeply unstable Middle East, this is just the right time to hear from an author, editor and journalist who knows the region, and its peoples, intimately. Bari is a regular guest on the BBC, Dateline, CNN and Al Jazeera. He has 740,000 twitter followers. His Rai Al Youn digital newspaper-- often called the Huffington Post of the Arab World-- boasts a circulation of almost half a million. He also spent four nights in a freezing cave in Tora Bora interviewing Osama bin Laden. And yet, no one seems to like Bari . He's outspoken on Israel being the enemy of the Arab world-- yet he advocates for a one state solution to the Palestinian crisis. He's blacklisted in Egypt and other Arab nations for cozying up to the infidel West, yet the state of Israel prevented him from returning to his native Palestine to visit his dying mother-- or go to her funeral. He can't even get a visa to visit the good ol' USA. Tonight he joins us to solve the Middle East crisis in 140 characters or less. He also shares his impassioned opinions on everything from drone strikes to the Alabama legal system to women's rights in the Arab World. Bari's new book is entitled Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate. >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

It's Easter, everybody! Time for daffodils... daylight savings... and life-sized chocolate statues of Benedict Cumberbatch. So how about we put aside Ebola, Somalian jihad, narcotraficantes, the heart-wrenching demise of a literary titan-- not to mention the greatest extinction event in the history of planet earth. Let's leave those topics for past and future shows, shall we? (We've got a rip-roarin' summer planned for Litopia After Dark!) Instead let's chat with dyed-in-the-mohair mod Ian Moore, one of the UK's leading stand-up comics. Ian is living the ex-pat dream in France. Raising a family amid barnyard animals, wearing bespoke suits, gigging across the world-- and even (keep down your jealous bile) hosting the Meat and Poultry Processing Awards of 2014. Ian's latest book, C'est Modnifique!: Adventures of an English Grump in Rural France proves more of the hilarious same. Tonight he joins us to talk escaped livestock, gigs gone wrong... and chutney as a punishment for fruit. Because we could all use a laugh. Happy Easter everybody. follow Ian @ianmodmoore Buy his books! Eat his Chutney (not a joke)! >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

It's Easter, everybody! Time for daffodils... daylight savings... and life-sized chocolate statues of Benedict Cumberbatch. So how about we put aside Ebola, Somalian jihad, narcotraficantes, the heart-wrenching demise of a literary titan-- not to mention the greatest extinction event in the history of planet earth. Let's leave those topics for past and future shows, shall we? (We've got a rip-roarin' summer planned for Litopia After Dark!) Instead let's chat with dyed-in-the-mohair mod Ian Moore, one of the UK's leading stand-up comics. Ian is living the ex-pat dream in France. Raising a family amid barnyard animals, wearing bespoke suits, gigging across the world-- and even (keep down your jealous bile) hosting the Meat and Poultry Processing Awards of 2014. Ian's latest book, C'est Modnifique!: Adventures of an English Grump in Rural France proves more of the hilarious same. Tonight he joins us to talk escaped livestock, gigs gone wrong... and chutney as a punishment for fruit. Because we could all use a laugh. Happy Easter everybody. follow Ian @ianmodmoore Buy his books! Eat his Chutney (not a joke)! >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Meet Susan Blackmore, the world’s foremost expert on memes. The intro to her seminal work The Meme Machine was written by none other than genius biologist and fundamentalist atheist blowhard Richard Dawkins. Her lectures on TED receives millions of views— even despite TED's dishwater-dull format when compared to Litopia After Dark (rowr!) “Man becomes, as it were, the sex organs of the machine world,” said Marshal McLuhan. Never has this been more true. (Full quote: Man becomes, as it were, the sex organs of the machine world, as the bee of the plant world, enabling it to fecundate and to evolve ever new forms.) But do memes actually exist? Or are they simply metaphors to observe our shifting culture? And who is Susan Blackmore anyway? After an out of body experience she studied the paranormal for 24 years, only to arrive at the conclusion it was bollocks— all of it. So who’s to say she won’t soon say the same about memes? But wait, there’s more! Now she’d like for us to consider what she calls temes— technology assisted memes. Replicators so powerful they may yet turn our computers against us— and sooner than you think. Just ask Stephen Hawking. Because your Macbook Pro is spreading words, tunes, images and ideas much faster than your feeble human mind can imagine. Check everything you think you know about memes at the door. Because this show is no lecture. This show is virus inside of your mind. Spread the word. (PS - Blackmore's explosive article on fellow Litopia After Dark guest Susan Greenfield can be found here!) Check out her website! Buy her book! Do it now! Photo by zooterkin >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Meet Susan Blackmore, the world’s foremost expert on memes. The intro to her seminal work The Meme Machine was written by none other than genius biologist and fundamentalist atheist blowhard Richard Dawkins. Her lectures on TED receives millions of views— even despite TED's dishwater-dull format when compared to Litopia After Dark (rowr!) “Man becomes, as it were, the sex organs of the machine world,” said Marshal McLuhan. Never has this been more true. (Full quote: Man becomes, as it were, the sex organs of the machine world, as the bee of the plant world, enabling it to fecundate and to evolve ever new forms.) But do memes actually exist? Or are they simply metaphors to observe our shifting culture? And who is Susan Blackmore anyway? After an out of body experience she studied the paranormal for 24 years, only to arrive at the conclusion it was bollocks— all of it. So who’s to say she won’t soon say the same about memes? But wait, there’s more! Now she’d like for us to consider what she calls temes— technology assisted memes. Replicators so powerful they may yet turn our computers against us— and sooner than you think. Just ask Stephen Hawking. Because your Macbook Pro is spreading words, tunes, images and ideas much faster than your feeble human mind can imagine. Check everything you think you know about memes at the door. Because this show is no lecture. This show is virus inside of your mind. Spread the word. (PS - Blackmore's explosive article on fellow Litopia After Dark guest Susan Greenfield can be found here!) Check out her website! Buy her book! Do it now! Photo by zooterkin >>>>>> Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes

Donna and Peter are joined in the studio by special guest Ian Winn, who can (ab)normally be found hosting our sister show here on Litopia, Litopia After Dark. Links to stories mentioned: How Amazon got a patent on white-background photography Why Photographers Shouldn't Be Too Upset Over Amazon's White-Background Patent (Peter disagrees with this!) Victoria's Secret Loses PINK Brand Battle B&N Testing Espresso Book Machines Bert The Farting Hippo! FBI Agent Files Defamation Suit Against Ebony Philly Newspaper Editor Fired For Asian Slurs Why Female Writers Get Trolled The Most Florida Judge Rules That Facebook Likes Aren't Owned By Page Creators Judge Tosses Copyright Suit Filed By Makers Of ‘Deep Throat’ Against ‘Lovelace’ Biopic Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes

It started in Sochi — the most expensive winter Olympics in history. A winter Olympics which, let us not forget, saw Great Britain take the gold in curling! Then Pussy Riot— which is decidedly not a niche pornography market — were being publicly horsewhipped by men in funny hats while the world recoiled in horror and… didn’t do much of anything, really. Then, in the beating Orange heart of Kiev’s Independence Square, came the protesters — or maybe they weren’t protesters at all: maybe they were agent provocateurs from America. Next came the riot police — or maybe they weren’t riot police at all — maybe they were paramilitary thugs from the infamous mercenary force, Blackwater. Suddenly there were 70 dead, hundreds injured, a Ukrainian president forced to flee his massive gold-plated presidential palace leaving behind that most incriminating evidence of dictatorship — a private zoo. Suddenly Russian troops — or maybe they’re not Russian; the uniforms are vague —deployed inside Crimea. Suddenly, if you believe the narrative being played out on the nightly news — half of Ukraine wants an EU passport while the other half wants to strip half-naked and wrestle bears a la Vladamir Putin. On tonight’s Litopia After Dark, we have, in studio, satirist, television talking head and former Kremlin advisor Alexander Nekrassov. And folks, believe us – Alexander does not get an easy time. Download the show as video file Subscribe in iTunes Subscribe to our shows by Email If you enjoy Radio Litopia, please help us to keep going by making a donation!

It started in Sochi — the most expensive winter Olympics in history. A winter Olympics which, let us not forget, saw Great Britain take the gold in curling! Then Pussy Riot— which is decidedly not a niche pornography market — were being publicly horsewhipped by men in funny hats while the world recoiled in horror and… didn’t do much of anything, really. Then, in the beating Orange heart of Kiev’s Independence Square, came the protesters — or maybe they weren’t protesters at all: maybe they were agent provocateurs from America. Next came the riot police — or maybe they weren’t riot police at all — maybe they were paramilitary thugs from the infamous mercenary force, Blackwater. Suddenly there were 70 dead, hundreds injured, a Ukrainian president forced to flee his massive gold-plated presidential palace leaving behind that most incriminating evidence of dictatorship — a private zoo. Suddenly Russian troops — or maybe they’re not Russian; the uniforms are vague —deployed inside Crimea. Suddenly, if you believe the narrative being played out on the nightly news — half of Ukraine wants an EU passport while the other half wants to strip half-naked and wrestle bears a la Vladamir Putin. On tonight’s Litopia After Dark, we have, in studio, satirist, television talking head and former Kremlin advisor Alexander Nekrassov. And folks, believe us – Alexander does not get an easy time. Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes Subscribe to our shows by Email If you enjoy Radio Litopia, please help us to keep going by making a donation!