Escape Artists
Escape Pod => About Escape Pod => Topic started by: KevinEA on January 05, 2008, 06:18:07 AM
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First, thank you Steve and the whomever helps you make Escape Pod. It's my favorite podcast by far, and is really well done. It's obvious that you enjoy doing it. I hope you get some significant financial reward from it too; it's certainly warranted and would inspire others to get into creating such high quality programming.
One minor suggestion: when you review past episodes on your podcast, it would help if you were to give a one- or two-sentence plot summary before going into the comments. Sometimes, I'm listening a few weeks in arrears, and in any case I often can't remember an episode just by its name. Just something to jog the memory, not a spoiler (in case I haven't heard the episode in question yet), would be great.
Another comment is that some of the narrators have very heavy accents, which detracts from the experience for me. The nature of podcast listening is that it's often done in noisy places, on the run, exercising, coffee shops, etc., and battling a heavy accent is a turn off. I realize that this is an American-centric comment, but there's not much I can do (except turn up the volume).
Thanks again, and keep up the great work!
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Welcome, Kevin! Hope you'll have a chance to explore the forums and enjoy some of the discussions behind the stories. It's always amazing how people will come away from the same experience with wildly different impressions.
Like this one...
I love the various accents. For me, they often add a dimension to the story that would be lacking if Steve read every story himself. Names and examples are escaping me at the moment, and I'm FAR too lazy to go looking up my past favorites, but I can safely say that I haven't yet heard a reader who lacked clear diction or who spoke so strangely as to be indecipherable.
Of course, I used to be a military linguist, and at one point I did work for a Scotsman who had a lisp and threw "fookin" at odd intervals into every utterance. So I've had professional training at this.
But trust me, Kevin (and those who agree with him) once you have trained your ear to understand these accents, you will find that you have broadened your world in a very rewarding way.
And you won't fall for that Wayne's World "Asphinctersayswhat?" gag ever again!
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I can't say the accents bother me either. Then again, I watch BBC:A without the subtitles, even though they tell me to.
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I can't say the accents bother me either. Then again, I watch BBC:A without the subtitles, even though they tell me to.
I think that the majority of British English that is shown on TV is understandable enough to Americans that they don't really need the subtitles. The really heavy accents that some British folks have, at least as far as I've seen as an American, don't make it into the media that makes it over here.
(I don't have BBC:A, so I naturally could be wrong.)
I do watch a fair bit of British film and TV (ie, "Secret Diary of a Call Girl" and "Cashback" most recently) and while there was some "dialect", I didn't have trouble picking it up.
Perhaps because the two languages (British and American) derive from the same root (English), that makes it easier for me.
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I can't say the accents bother me either. Then again, I watch BBC:A without the subtitles, even though they tell me to.
I think that the majority of British English that is shown on TV is understandable enough to Americans that they don't really need the subtitles. The really heavy accents that some British folks have, at least as far as I've seen as an American, don't make it into the media that makes it over here.
(I don't have BBC:A, so I naturally could be wrong.)
I do watch a fair bit of British film and TV (ie, "Secret Diary of a Call Girl" and "Cashback" most recently) and while there was some "dialect", I didn't have trouble picking it up.
Perhaps because the two languages (British and American) derive from the same root (English), that makes it easier for me.
"Billy Elliot" is a great one for accent training. It's real working class coal mining town accent. My wife needed the subtitles.
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I can't say the accents bother me either. Then again, I watch BBC:A without the subtitles, even though they tell me to.
I think that the majority of British English that is shown on TV is understandable enough to Americans that they don't really need the subtitles. The really heavy accents that some British folks have, at least as far as I've seen as an American, don't make it into the media that makes it over here.
(I don't have BBC:A, so I naturally could be wrong.)
I do watch a fair bit of British film and TV (ie, "Secret Diary of a Call Girl" and "Cashback" most recently) and while there was some "dialect", I didn't have trouble picking it up.
Perhaps because the two languages (British and American) derive from the same root (English), that makes it easier for me.
"Billy Elliot" is a great one for accent training. It's real working class coal mining town accent. My wife needed the subtitles.
I would highly recommend that "Beginners" start with stuff like "Black Adder" (Rowan Atkinson NOT being the annoying Mr. Bean), "Fawlty Towers", and the Kenneth Branagh Shakespeare productions (Hamlet, Henry V, but especially Much Ado About Nothing). The comedies have very clear diction throughout, and are generally engaging enough to help you relax into the speech patterns. And even those strange folk who don't care for Monty Python tend to like "Fawlty"; John Cleese is certainly a paragon of spoken English... even when he's spluttering with rage and smiting his car with a tree. Heh, heh...
For the graduate course: Trainspotting. The film is a crash course, but so is the book; to read it, you really have to be able to hear like a Glaswegian (sp?) heroine addict. Or were they in Edinburgh (which is, of course, pronounced more like "ED-in-bruh")? looks it up Edinburgh. But I don't know how to form the possessive of a resident Edinburgh... Edinburghian? Edinburghite? Edinburghoisie?
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For the graduate course: Trainspotting. The film is a crash course, but so is the book; to read it, you really have to be able to hear like a Glaswegian (sp?) heroine addict. Or were they in Edinburgh (which is, of course, pronounced more like "ED-in-bruh")? looks it up Edinburgh. But I don't know how to form the possessive of a resident Edinburgh... Edinburghian? Edinburghite? Edinburghoisie?
Edinburgher? :)
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For the graduate course: Trainspotting. The film is a crash course, but so is the book; to read it, you really have to be able to hear like a Glaswegian (sp?) heroine addict. Or were they in Edinburgh (which is, of course, pronounced more like "ED-in-bruh")? looks it up Edinburgh. But I don't know how to form the possessive of a resident Edinburgh... Edinburghian? Edinburghite? Edinburghoisie?
Edinburgher? :)
I've eaten one of those. They're best if you get them with cheese.
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For the graduate course: Trainspotting. The film is a crash course, but so is the book; to read it, you really have to be able to hear like a Glaswegian (sp?) heroine addict. Or were they in Edinburgh (which is, of course, pronounced more like "ED-in-bruh")? looks it up Edinburgh. But I don't know how to form the possessive of a resident Edinburgh... Edinburghian? Edinburghite? Edinburghoisie?
Edinburgher? :)
I've eaten one of those. They're best if you get them with cheese.
Just don't get the Scouser cheese... it's a bit smeggy.
(Which reminds me... add Red Dwarf to my list! Duh!)
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For the graduate course: Trainspotting. The film is a crash course, but so is the book; to read it, you really have to be able to hear like a Glaswegian (sp?) heroine addict.
yeah, i put that one away after about three pages.
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For the graduate course: Trainspotting. The film is a crash course, but so is the book; to read it, you really have to be able to hear like a Glaswegian (sp?) heroine addict.
yeah, i put that one away after about three pages.
Have you tried reading Feersum Endjinn (Iain M. Banks)? Along the lines of Flowers for Algernon, it is mostly told from the point of view of a simple-minded acolyte lost in the ruins of a decaying society. I don't remember a particular accent, but trying to read an illiterate narrator was a challenge!
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For the graduate course: Trainspotting. The film is a crash course, but so is the book; to read it, you really have to be able to hear like a Glaswegian (sp?) heroine addict.
yeah, i put that one away after about three pages.
Have you tried reading Feersum Endjinn (Iain M. Banks)? Along the lines of Flowers for Algernon, it is mostly told from the point of view of a simple-minded acolyte lost in the ruins of a decaying society. I don't remember a particular accent, but trying to read an illiterate narrator was a challenge!
Well, since the spelling in Feersum Endjinn is phonetic, it's actually pretty clear that the narrator has a mainstream British accent.
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well, this topic made me give trainspotting (the book) another try. Not saying I'm loving it, but at least I got to page 80 without throwing the book against the wall ;-)
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well, this topic made me give trainspotting (the book) another try. Not saying I'm loving it, but at least I got to page 80 without throwing the book against the wall ;-)
w00t! :)
I enjoyed it very much when I read it, but then again, I was under extreme conditions; mid-watch, nothing to do, not allowed to sleep, 4 cups of coffee on a given night... and I was surrounded by British blokes (including the aforementioned lisping Scot), which probably helped key the ear in on the dialogue.
Hope you enjoy it... if not, blame ...um, Russell! ;)
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well, this topic made me give trainspotting (the book) another try. Not saying I'm loving it, but at least I got to page 80 without throwing the book against the wall ;-)
w00t! :)
I enjoyed it very much when I read it, but then again, I was under extreme conditions; mid-watch, nothing to do, not allowed to sleep, 4 cups of coffee on a given night... and I was surrounded by British blokes (including the aforementioned lisping Scot), which probably helped key the ear in on the dialogue.
Hope you enjoy it... if not, blame ...um, Russell! ;)
It's a little known fact that I rewrote all of the dialogue in that book.
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well, this topic made me give trainspotting (the book) another try. Not saying I'm loving it, but at least I got to page 80 without throwing the book against the wall ;-)
w00t! :)
I enjoyed it very much when I read it, but then again, I was under extreme conditions; mid-watch, nothing to do, not allowed to sleep, 4 cups of coffee on a given night... and I was surrounded by British blokes (including the aforementioned lisping Scot), which probably helped key the ear in on the dialogue.
Hope you enjoy it... if not, blame ...um, Russell! ;)
It's a little known fact that I rewrote all of the dialogue in that book.
Wow, that explains the weirdness. And I tried to make sense of it with Normal-people-Logic. If I had known I had to use Russel-Logic...
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well, this topic made me give trainspotting (the book) another try. Not saying I'm loving it, but at least I got to page 80 without throwing the book against the wall ;-)
w00t! :)
I enjoyed it very much when I read it, but then again, I was under extreme conditions; mid-watch, nothing to do, not allowed to sleep, 4 cups of coffee on a given night... and I was surrounded by British blokes (including the aforementioned lisping Scot), which probably helped key the ear in on the dialogue.
Hope you enjoy it... if not, blame ...um, Russell! ;)
It's a little known fact that I rewrote all of the dialogue in that book.
Wow, that explains the weirdness. And I tried to make sense of it with Normal-people-Logic. If I had known I had to use Russel-Logic...
It's Nash-Dogma. My people have founded a church in my name.
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Dang. I think we must have scared off poor Kevin. I swear I was trying to be welcoming and gentle...
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Dang. I think we must have scared off poor Kevin. I swear I was trying to be welcoming and gentle...
I think this helps explain your early dating life.
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Dang. I think we must have scared off poor Kevin. I swear I was trying to be welcoming and gentle...
I think this helps explain your early dating life.
Double dang. You've been reading my blog!
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Dang. I think we must have scared off poor Kevin. I swear I was trying to be welcoming and gentle...
I think this helps explain your early dating life.
Double dang. You've been reading my blog!
Just looking at your avatar. Mine however shows the cute smile that has always had the girls swooning.
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Dang. I think we must have scared off poor Kevin. I swear I was trying to be welcoming and gentle...
I think this helps explain your early dating life.
Double dang. You've been reading my blog!
Just looking at your avatar. Mine however shows the cute smile that has always had the girls swooning.
I don't think they were swooning. I think they were passing out from terror.
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Dang. I think we must have scared off poor Kevin. I swear I was trying to be welcoming and gentle...
I think this helps explain your early dating life.
Double dang. You've been reading my blog!
Just looking at your avatar. Mine however shows the cute smile that has always had the girls swooning.
I don't think they were swooning. I think they were passing out from terror.
oh, come on, My beady eyes and green scales work wonders on the babes.
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Dang. I think we must have scared off poor Kevin. I swear I was trying to be welcoming and gentle...
I think this helps explain your early dating life.
Double dang. You've been reading my blog!
Just looking at your avatar. Mine however shows the cute smile that has always had the girls swooning.
I don't think they were swooning. I think they were passing out from terror.
oh, come on, My beady eyes and green scales work wonders on the babes.
...if you count shudders, blanching, and loosening of bowels as "wonders"...
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Dang. I think we must have scared off poor Kevin. I swear I was trying to be welcoming and gentle...
I think this helps explain your early dating life.
Double dang. You've been reading my blog!
Just looking at your avatar. Mine however shows the cute smile that has always had the girls swooning.
I don't think they were swooning. I think they were passing out from terror.
oh, come on, My beady eyes and green scales work wonders on the babes.
...if you count shudders, blanching, and loosening of bowels as "wonders"...
Swooning, passing out, What's the difference?
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Dang. I think we must have scared off poor Kevin. I swear I was trying to be welcoming and gentle...
I think this helps explain your early dating life.
Double dang. You've been reading my blog!
Just looking at your avatar. Mine however shows the cute smile that has always had the girls swooning.
I don't think they were swooning. I think they were passing out from terror.
oh, come on, My beady eyes and green scales work wonders on the babes.
...if you count shudders, blanching, and loosening of bowels as "wonders"...
Swooning, passing out, What's the difference?
If they wake up smiling it's swooning.
If they wake up screaming in terror it's passing out.
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Dang. I think we must have scared off poor Kevin. I swear I was trying to be welcoming and gentle...
I think this helps explain your early dating life.
Double dang. You've been reading my blog!
Just looking at your avatar. Mine however shows the cute smile that has always had the girls swooning.
I don't think they were swooning. I think they were passing out from terror.
oh, come on, My beady eyes and green scales work wonders on the babes.
...if you count shudders, blanching, and loosening of bowels as "wonders"...
Swooning, passing out, What's the difference?
If they wake up smiling it's swooning.
If they wake up screaming in terror it's passing out.
If they don't wake up, then Zombie Russell ate their brains. (Should I go for the "weeping and Nashing of teeth" joke? I think not...)
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Dang. I think we must have scared off poor Kevin. I swear I was trying to be welcoming and gentle...
I think this helps explain your early dating life.
Double dang. You've been reading my blog!
Just looking at your avatar. Mine however shows the cute smile that has always had the girls swooning.
I don't think they were swooning. I think they were passing out from terror.
oh, come on, My beady eyes and green scales work wonders on the babes.
...if you count shudders, blanching, and loosening of bowels as "wonders"...
Swooning, passing out, What's the difference?
If they wake up smiling it's swooning.
If they wake up screaming in terror it's passing out.
It is right and good that the unworthy should faint, for is written in the Book of N-sh that not all are prepared to look upon His True Visage.