Blog
Category: Podcasts
Feel Better Little Buddy - Spoons edition
by Matt
Animals & Nature + Events + Fashion & Textiles + Health & Wellness + Home & Garden + Humour + Podcasts + Vancouver / March 21, 2011
Just after we picked Spoons up from emergency in the morning. Not sure how he did it, but broke two bones in his paw. Ouch. I think I'll submit this to Chronicle Books' "Feel Better Little Buddy", 2nd ed
Here he is getting used to his cast...doing his favorite thing (beside eating and defending his territory)
Cast comes off in 4-5 weeks. Healing time is a little longer than normal because he is 11 years old in May. 60 years old in human years. I hope my whiskers look as good!
Your ten minute window on the world
by Chelsey
Author Q & A + Podcasts + Travel / February 27, 2009
George Dunford, author of Lonely Planet's THE BIG TRIP, was interviewed by the Travel in 10 Travel Podcast, where he gives us the inside scoop on how to create the ultimate overseas adventure.
THE BIG TRIP is a practical guide for planning your first big voyage--including a comprehensive directory of essential resources. Whether swimming with dolphins of the coast of New Zealand or teaching English in Ghana is your thing, download the Travel in Ten podcast, and away you go!
In Conversation with Tom McCarthy Part Four
by Dan
Author Q & A + Fiction + Podcasts / October 11, 2007
Today is the fourth installment of my conversation with British novelist Tom McCarthy. When we met in Toronto last year, we talked a lot about music and movies between events, and I was keen to pick up where we left off when we corresponded by email...
(Read the previous installment here)
WARNING!: This conversation contains adult themes and references to avant-garde New York rock bands!
Part Four
DW: The music of The Velvet Underground features in MEN IN SPACE, and I know we share a love of My Bloody Valentine. How does music influence your work?
TM: Funnily enough (and without giving away too much of the book's ending), the last word in Men in Space is 'soon', the title of the final song on My Bloody Valentine's Loveless. It's not an accident. I'm of a generation that grew up on music, and it's shaped our whole sensibility in a really intimate way. Also, formally and thematically the best musicians are way ahead of the game: think of techniques like sampling, or the rapid-fire subcultural allusiveness of, say, Sonic Youth. It's hard to say exactly how music's influenced my work, but it's surely as inextricable from my life and work as for most people of my age.
DW: Who are listening to at the moment?
TM: Just now, Nirvana.
DW: REMAINDER - a book about repetition - was published in 2005, 2006 and again in 2007. Do you ever feel like life is imitating art?
TM: When someone hijacks an aeroplane and flies it in a figure-of-eight until it runs out of fuel, then I'll know that Remainder's found the one Quixotic reader every book potentially has, its Mark Chapman.
DW: After the struggle to get REMAINDER published, how did it feel to see your debut novel on the cover story of the New York Times Book Review?
TM: It felt nice.
DW: When you were visiting Toronto last year for the International Festival of Authors (IFOA) you met with Canadian filmmaker Vincenzo Natali. He's directing the film version of J. G. Ballard's HIGH-RISE, which has similarities with REMAINDER. Don't you live in a 60's high-rise? After reading Ballard, I think I would find using the lift either incredibly stimulating or completely debilitating!
TM: It was great meeting Vincenzo, and I can't wait to see his take on Ballard. I do live in a 60s high-rise. It's fantastic. Bizarrely (since you're talking of movies and directors), the producer who's putting together the film adaptation of Remainder came to visit me here recently - and got stuck in the lift on his way down. He got freed eventually and the project's still on. I should have bargained for a bigger percentage before phoning the fire brigade.
DW: Are you interested in film as medium? The protagonist in REMAINDER actively avoids it, and yet it seems tailor made for you...
TM: Although the hero of Remainder doesn't allow cameras at his re-enactments (effectively turning them into film sets without a film), he's obsessed with DeNiro in Mean Streets, and with heroes in movies generally. Whereas the rest of us are continually comparing ourselves to characters in movies and falling short, he reasons, characters in movies aren't comparing themselves and their actions to anyone or anything: they're 'just being' - and are therefore more authentic. His logic's skewed, but I'd say it's shared by virtually everyone who's ever seen a movie.
DW: What are your favourite movies?
Orphée by Jean Cocteau: best film ever made, all about transmission, death, love, poetry and time. The INS radio project was a direct appropriation of the scenes in that film where the dead poet C�geste sends radio messages on illicit frequencies to Orph�e, who copies and repeats them. I like Tarkovsky's work, and was thinking of it when I wrote Remainder: all the slowness, the absorption in surface and texture. Another film I hadn't seen then but have since and think is brilliant is Dennis Hopper's The Last Movie, in which a Peruvian townsfolk continually 'film' movies with wicker cameras and sound-booms after they've seen an American movie crew do it for real, making stylised events repeat ad infinitum. Lynch's latest film Inland Empire is stunning too: completely literary, labyrinthine, regressive. It's the best piece of art in any medium I've come across for years.
Click here for the Next Installment
Photo credit: David Boulogne
Riddled With Life on Quirks and Quarks
by Dan
Podcasts / May 28, 2007
Biologist Dr. Marlene Zuk, the author of RIDDLED WITH LIFE, was interviewed by Bob McDonald on CBC Radio One's Quirks and Quarks on Saturday!
It's a fabulous discussion, but be warned, there is a lot of talk of insect sex and weird parasites. Ewww....!
Click here to listen to Marlene Zuk on Quirks and Quarks
Podcasts for Poetry Month
by Siobhan
Podcasts / April 20, 2007
Roses are red
Violets are blue
April is Poetry Month
And time for podcasts, too!
OK fine, that poem was pretty lame. For much, MUCH better poetry, listen out these podcasts on the School Library Journal's website:
Julie Larios reads from Yellow Elephant. (Find out more about the book here.)
Douglas Florian reads from Zoo's Who. (Find out more about the book here.)
Denyse Schmidt Podcast
by Siobhan
Podcasts / April 19, 2007
Not too long ago, Design Klub recorded a podcast interview with modern quilter extraordinaire, Denyse Schmidt.
Denyse Schmidt has a quilt exhibition called "New Traditions" on now at the P Design Gallery in Denver, running until May 12th.
If you can't make it to Denver (I wish I could!), the next best thing might be to check out her book, Denyse Schmidt Quilts: 30 Colorful Quilt and Patchwork Projects, in which she shares some of her patterns and techniques. She's also designed a beautiful line of stationery with Chronicle Books. Here's a list of Denyse Schmidt's books and stationery.
Listen to the full podcast interview with Denyse Schmidt here (approx. 26 minutes long).
Chronicle Podcast on Bantock, Birds and Borgenicht
by monique t
Podcasts / November 17, 2006
Have a listen to Episode 14 of the Chronicle Books podcast.
In this episode, we talk to Nick Bantock, best-selling author of the Griffin and Sabine series, about his new novel, Windflower. We also hear from Les Beletsky, the author of Bird Songs, a new book that includes illustrations and audio recordings of North American birds, drawn from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Worst-Case Scenario author David Borgenicht has the week off--and while he's away, we give listeners the chance to muse about what you would do if you were trapped in!well, tune in to find out.
LISTEN NOW (file size=11.1MB)
And remember, if you have a worst-case scenario survival tip, tell us what it is. Create a short video and submit it to the “What's Your Worst-Case Scenario?” Video Contest.
Book News Round-Up
by monique t
Graphica + News + Podcasts / July 21, 2006
July 19, 2006 article on MarketWatch.com by Frank Barnako, "Why Anthony Bourdain cooked up podcasts"
Link to Article: "Almost 3,000 miles from the book capital of the world, a small Canadian company is using the Internet to compete with the industry's giants ..."
July 21, 2006 article in the Tyee on must-read books on the Middle East--includes Palestine by Joe Sacco (Fantagraphics)
Link to article, "What to Read While the Cradle Burns": "Far from dry policy prescriptions, these compelling narratives stand apart from myriad other books in the field by relating the human story behind the headlines and focusing on fundamental issues that rarely make the news ..."
July 20, 3 Drawn & Quarterly books are shortlisted for the Canadian cartooning award.
Link to Quill and Quire article: In the best book category Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle, Wimbledon Green by Seth and Paul Moves Out by Michel Rabagliati join Dragonslippers: This Is What an Abusive Relationship Looks Like by Rosalind B. Penfold (Penguin Canada) and Scott Pilgrim Volume 2 by Bryan Lee O'Malley (Oni Press).
July 19: The Art of Superman Returns give-away on Jack FM
For info visit: www.m2omedia.com and scroll down to THE ART OF SUPERMAN RETURNS
"This is a must-have for true Superman fans. Daniel Wallace's The Art of Superman Returns features exclusive interviews and background detail alongside photos, sketches, storyboards and production art covering everything from the iconic 'S' logo and Metropolis, to the Fortress of Solitude and beyond!
July 18: ELLE's best books "From serious to sexy and everywhere in between, here are some hot summer reads" by Kat Tancock.
Link to the article: Featured books include Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow by Faiza Guene (Harcourt), "... for a taste of what has been called the Bridget Jones of the Paris suburbs, pick up Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow by French writer Faiza Guene ..." and A Year in Japan by Kate T. Williamson (Princeton Architectural Press), "... Once you've browsed through her selections of Japanese cultural tidbits, from the wide selection of beautiful washcloths to illustrations of plum, apple and cherry blossoms, you'll come away with a deeper appreciation of Japanese culture--not to mention a gorgeous book to brighten your coffee table."
July 17: New York City: 4th Edition (Lonely Planet) by Beth Greenfield & Robert Reid reviewed on the BookLoons website. Link to the article:"There's a certain quality to travel guides, an element that makes these types of books informative and instructional, but rarely entertaining. Lonely Planet's New York City guide breaks that mold. It is as full as charm, energy, and engaging, provocative attitude as the inhabitants of New York themselves."
Frank Barnako Writes on Why Anthony Bourdain Cooked Up Podcasts
by monique t
News + Podcasts / July 20, 2006
Raincoast Books and the Anthony Bourdain podcasts were featured yesterday in Frank Barnako's Internet Daily column.
Read the article here.
Mr. Barnako and I had a very interesting conversation earlier in the day about Anthony Bourdain, Raincoast's online program and how podcasts fit into the mix.
Here's one of my quotes from the article: I don't see the Raincoast podcasts as a replacement to mainstream media, she [Monique Trottier] continued. I see them as an augmentation to the existing book coverage on radio, TV, and print. More people are gravitating online after hearing a book recommendation from a friend, or listening to a radio interview with the author, or seeing a TV spot. I want to make sure they can find what they're looking for, including the extras like a podcast, a chapter excerpt, an interview with the author.
What I love about the Bourdain podcasts is that intimacy you get listening into his private conversations vs. hearing him speak at an author event.
If you haven't had a chance to listen to the 3-Part Podcast: Anthony Bourdain Uncensored, have a listen.
Part Three: Not All Nasty Bits
And thank you again to Frank Barnako for his fine article on Anthony Bourdain and the Raincoast podcasts.
Final Anthony Bourdain Podcast Now Available
by monique t
News + Podcasts / July 18, 2006
Raincoast Books--Podcast Edition 7--The Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain
The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Useable Trim, Scraps, and Bones by Anthony Bourdain
LISTEN NOW (23.4 MB, MP3 Runs: 16:10)
This is the final installment of Raincoast's 3-part podcast series with celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, the best selling author of Kitchen Confidential and The Nasty Bits, and host of the TV show No Reservations.
On June 12, 2006, Anthony Bourdain spent a day in Vancouver doing media interviews and bookstore appearances to talk about his new book The Nasty Bits.
He wore a lapel microphone during the entire day, allowing Raincoast Books and At Large Media to record Bourdain's casual conversation with fans, private moments in the car, and regular interview style questions.
..........
In Part Three--Not All Nasty Bits Anthony Bourdain talks about:
- What chefs have in common
- Whether he misses day to day restaurant work
- and what he's afraid of.
Bourdain also discusses:
- Work ethic
- The Omelette of Truth
- Human nature
- Advice for the fast foodie
- Pub food
- Tattoos
- How he started writing
- and what he's working on next.
LISTEN NOW (23.4 MB, MP3 Runs: 16:10)
..........
The Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain (Bloomsbury USA, 1-58234-451-5).
Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books.