Posted by Dan Misener under
Episodes
On this episode of Spark: Blogs get unplugged, photos get real, and government gets visible
This episode features Creative Commons music and sound effects:
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You can download this episode as an MP3, or receive Spark automatically by subscribing to any of our totally free podcast feeds:
For more information (and instructions) visit cbc.ca/podcasting
Posted by Nora Young under
Help Us Out!
Original Image by Crystl
I got an interesting email from a member of the Spark community the other day, and it inspired this question:
Is there a “technology gap” in your home?
You know, where one half of a couple is forever blogging, podcasting and geeking out with the latest gadget, and the other half has a completely different set of interests? Perhaps you’re on Facebook and your partner isn’t, and you end up fielding Facebook invites for your honey. Or maybe you wonder what the heck that person you love does all that time she or he is online, and how someone can consider people they’ve never met “friends”.
For our upcoming Valentine show, we’re wondering how you negotiate that technology gap. What tradeoffs do you make? Is it a source of tension, or are you happy to have some separate interests?
Thanks for the help!
Posted by Dan Misener under
1-877-34-SPARK,
Help Us Out!
Each week, Spark starts with a robot saying, "This is your life. This is your digital life." But why should a robot get so much airtime?
Starting next week, we’re going to try something new. We’re going to put some voices from the Spark community front and centre in the opening of Spark. And we need your help. Remember all those sitcoms that announced that they were filmed in front of a live studio audience? You know, "Cheers was Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience?" Well, we want to do something similar for Spark next week.
Here’s what we need you to:
- Dial 1-877-34-SPARK (1-877-347-7275 toll free in Canada). For best results, call from a quiet room with a landline.
- Wait for the beep, then say who you are, where you’re from, and give us your most creative re-imagining of the opening to Cheers. "Hi, I’m _____ from _____. Spark was taped before a live _____ _____."
So, for example, I might say, "Hi, I’m Dan Misener from Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. Spark was taped in front of a live studio audience… of robots."
Be creative! What could Spark be taped in front of?
- A live fail whale?
- A litter of LOLcats?
- A benevolent creature from the seventh dimension?
So what are you waiting for? Give us a call, and we’ll put some of the best entries on the air.
[Original image by uberculture]
Posted by Dan Misener under
Help Us Out!
When I go to the movie theatre, I always check metacritic.com first. My pal Phil swears by Rotten Tomatoes for his film reviews.
These sites are “review aggregators” — they take many different reviews from across the web, assign them scores, then produce a kind of super-review. I think these can be useful for a quick temperature reading (so you can avoid, say, The Love Guru), but not everyone agrees with the practice. Nicholas Deleon over at Crunchgear, for example, thinks these sites are “dumb” when they apply this thinking to video game reviews:
I dislike the practice of aggregating review scores, be it on Metacritic, Game Rankings, Rotten Tomatoes, etc. You can’t quantify opinion to begin with, assigning a numerical value to how you feel about a game—if you can tell me the difference between an 9.0 and a 9.1 you deserve a biscuit—but then to average several opinions together and wind up with a nice, neat “metascore” is absurd.
As the Oscars approach, we plan to take a look at the effect of review aggregators — how they’ve changed the ways we make decisions about our entertainment dollars, how they impact our expectations of films, and what professional movie reviewers think of them.
What about you? How do you decide what movie to see at your local theatre? Which do you trust more — aggregate film scores or individual reviews?
[Original photo by Hryck]
Posted by Nora Young under
Audio
Original image with permission of Jenova Chen
Yesterday, I interviewed Jenova Chen. He’s a video game designer, about to release a much anticipated new game, Flower.
Jenova’s games aren’t any old adrenaline-pumping, first person shooters, though. He’s trying to create a sophisticated emotional journey. I love his earlier game, fl0w, and was eager to find out what he has come up with.
A shorter version of this interview will air on the Feb 4th and 7th episode of Spark, but you can hear the full, uncut interview below, or download the MP3.
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If you like hearing these extended interviews, why not subscribe to Spark’s enhanced podcast? You’ll get regular weekly episodes, plus additional blog-only content like this. [Subscribe via RSS] or [Subscribe with iTunes]
Posted by Elizabeth Bowie under
Help Us Out!
On an upcoming episode of the show, associate producer Hannah Classen will be looking at ways to food-proof your computer when you’re cooking in the kitchen.
Here’s Hannah:
“I really love to cook, and even though I own approximately 426 cookbooks, I cook from food blogs all the time. I find the fact that people can comment on whether recipes are any good, suggest adaptations or substitutions, and actually show you the process via video really awesome. But what to do when you’re a really messy cook and your very expensive laptop is your most-used recipe book? Do you cover the entire thing with saran wrap (my solution) or write out the recipe by hand or run back and forth from the kitchen to the computer?”
Do you have a solution for keeping the flour, water and chili flakes out of your computer?
Post your suggestions below or send us an email, and Hannah will try to work your comments into her story.
original photo by striatic
Posted by Elizabeth Bowie under
Audio,
Interviews
Polaroid lovers, turn those frowns upside down! I know you were bummed last June when Polaroid stopped making its analogue instant film and shut the doors to its factory in the Netherlands, but things are looking up. A group of former Polaroid employees have leased the abandoned factory and are flipping the switch on all the old machines in the hopes of re-inventing the instant film. The men are calling their venture The Impossible Project.
On this week’s episode of Spark, Nora talks to André Bosman, the director of the Impossible Project. André worked for the company for 28 years, and together this group of men has over 300 years of Polaroid experience.
We’re playing a segment of this interview on the show, but it’s such a lovely chat, we’re posting the whole thing here. André’s affection for the iconic film, and his excitement about this adventure make it one of our favorite interviews of the year.
You can listen below, or download the mp3 here.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
If you like hearing these extended interviews, why not subscribe to Spark’s enhanced podcast? You’ll get regular weekly episodes, plus additional blog-only content like this. [Subscribe via RSS] or [Subscribe with iTunes]
original photo by SqueakyMarmot
