Getting Better Acquainted

GBA Edinburgh Festival 2012 Season: Three weeks of episodes related to the Edinburgh Festival 2012 GBA 71 ia the Edinburgh Festival 2012 Special! We get better acquainted with the Festival and the many and varied people and performances that I saw there. It documents my journey into the opening weekend of the 2012 festival, mixing in previews, reviews and conversations! This is the third episode of the 2012 GBA Edinburgh Festival Season (http://goosefat101twitterspills.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/around-year-ago-getting-better.html) You can hear Getting Better Acquainted on Stitcher SmartRadio, Stitcher allows you to listen to your favourite shows directly from your iPhone, Android Phone, Kindle Fire and beyond. On-demand and on the go! Don’t have Stitcher? Download it for free today at http://www.stitcher.com or in the app stores. Help more people get better acquainted. If you like what you hear why not write an iTunes review? Follow @GBApodcast on Twitter. Like Getting Better Acquainted on facebook. T

GBA Edinburgh Festival 2012 Season: Three weeks of episodes related to the Edinburgh Festival 2012 (This was last year's season: http://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/sets/fringe-festival-season) In GBA 70 we get better acquainted with Superbard (aka George). He talks about telling stories, playing instruments, the God number, developing, refining and improving work and being an optimist. It was recorded at Edinburgh Waverly Station last Sunday after a weekend of hardcore Edinburgh Festival-ing. It's the episode I've been most exhausted while recording and has had the fasted editing turnaround of the series so far, with the majority of it being edited on the train back to London. This is the second episode of the 2012 GBA Edinburgh Festival Season (http://goosefat101twitterspills.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/around-year-ago-getting-better.html) Over the next few weeks there will be conversations with people doing shows up there this year plus on Friday they'll be this year’s Edinburgh special document

GBA Edinburgh Festival 2012 Season: Three weeks of episodes related to the Edinburgh Festival 2012 (This was last year's season: http://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/sets/fringe-festival-season/) In GBA 69 we get better acquainted with the second Lucy that has been on the show. She talk about yoga for prisoners, accents, fairytales, feminism, the spoken and written word, and lot's more. This is the first episode of the 2012 GBA Edinburgh Festival Season (http://goosefat101twitterspills.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/around-year-ago-getting-better.html) Over the next few weeks there will be conversations with people doing shows up there this year plus next Friday they'll be this year’s Edinburgh special documenting my journey into the opening weekend of the festival, mixed in with previews, reviews and extra snippets of conversation. Lucy has a brilliant show. We talk about it in our conversation. And I went to see the preview a few months afterwards. I really thought it was great and I very strongly re

In GBA 68 we get better acquainted with Kit Lovelace. He talks pen-names, playing background music, trusting your love life to readers of the Guardian Newspaper, interrupting true stories, anonymous blogging, what he learnt from some people called "biscuit" and "toast" and lot's more! Kit Lovelace is the first guest to be listed by a false name but everything we talk about is real. He uses this name so he can reveal more of the truth, protecting the identity of both him and the people he has stepped out with. He embarked on a project where he trusted his dating life to readers, first on his blog and later in his newspaper column: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/series/my-love-life-in-your-hands It appears this approach may be the secret to finding love. At least for him. We discuss the practicalities, ethics, and semi salacious detail of this interesting relationship experiment. Kit Plugs: The book he is currently writing about his relationship history and experience of the blog/column. His twit

In GBA 67 we get better acquainted with Martin "the soundman" Zaltz Austwick from the podcasts Answer Me This!, The Sound of the Ladies, The Global Lab Podcast and Bright Club. But there is much more to Martin than podcasting: I talk to Martin about treating cancer with lasers, the relationship between physics and sociology, songwriting, public engagement, the relationship between class and studying at Oxford, changing your name when you get married, reverb, the history of social housing in the UK and more. This episode is part of a strand of GBA where I talk to podcast makers and radio makers: http://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/sets/podcasters-and-radio-makers For more about Answer Me This! (including reference to Martin) have a listen to the GBA I did with it's hosts Helen and Ollie: http://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/gba-65-helen-and-olly Martin Plugs: If you're interested in his music: The Sound of the Ladies: http://www.thesoundoftheladies.com/ If you're interested in scienc

In GBA 66 we get better acquainted with Iris. Sitting in my childhood home away from home we talk about Histories: personal, social, local and shared. Our conversation goes places - the excitement of London in the 60's, visiting Germany after WW2, providing educational support and assistance to disabled students, the psychogeography of cities, the use of the word chav, the beauty of immigration and discovering the heritage of a tiny part of Coventry are some of those places. Oh yeah, and we talk about what I was like when I was 12. Iris Plugs: "Don't keep hankering about going a long way away to find things out, look on your doorstep because often the answer is there, and look at your own environment and learn from it, and sortof... put your roots down where you are." And the Willenhall Local History Group that she is the secretary for and the Virtual Museum Coventry: http://www.virtualmuseum.co.uk/ She has just set up an excellent blog for the Group: http://willenhallcov.blogspot.co.uk/ This conversa

In GBA 65 we get better acquainted with Helen and Olly from the excellent podcast Answer Me This! We talk the realities of awards ceremonies, the different sides of Chris Evans, the experience and cultural position of going to Oxford, trying to make money from podcasts, meeting Paul McCartney's son the TV show Lorraine, working with friends and husbands, the legacy of Jewish comedy, reading Olde English, the entertainment industry, Big Issue sales tactics, making stags heads from old clothes and more! Answer Me This! has won both Gold and Silver Sony Radio Awards and European Podcast Award that was voted for by the public. It's a comedy/entertainment podcast where Helen and Olly (and Martin the Sound Man) answer questions of all kinds provided by its audience. The show has been named one of iTunes Podcasts of the year and is THE most popular UK independent podcast; it's been a critics choice for a variety of different magazines and newspapers. Read the full low down on the show here: http://www.answermet

In GBA 64 we get better acquainted with Coventry: It's an epic document of my return to a city I hadn't been back to in 12 years. I lived there through some dark and strange times 17 years ago. In the show I really do get better acquainted with the city. I get to know its character. With my childhood friend Steve as my co-host I take you around Coventry's Cathedrals and shopping centres and we cover how the city was changed forever by the blitz. http://www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/ Then we journey back into my past, returning to the estates that I lived in as a child and the schools that we both attended together, through a barrage of memory and new perspectives. Steve mounts an inspiring defence of the city he has lived his whole life in and tells us why he loves the city so deeply. I take a long hard look at my past, re-evaluate my relationship to it, reconsider who I am, and get to know a different city to the one I left. Or is the city the same and it's me who has changed? Have I really changed

In GBA 63 we get better acquainted with Steve. Steve was my best friend when I lived in Coventry, between the ages of 10 and 13. We talk about our shared history and catch up with who we are now we're 30. Games workshop, fantasy worlds, Stephen King's It style childhood adventures, getting into music, losing touch and then being brought back together by the Internet. This conversation is the prelude to an EPIC GBA Special that's coming out on Friday where I return to Coventry the city we grew up in. I tour the town with Steve. Both episodes are about that strange time of life: late childhood. The years before you are fully teen but when you are no longer a toddler. They are also about re-establishing and developing friendship. A friendship where we knew each other before we were fully formed. They are about the danger and the magic of being a child. And that strange nostalgic emotion that comes when you try and look back. We discuss stories that I talked about in GBA 1: http://soundcloud.com/gettingb

In GBA 62 we get better acquainted with my musical hero Darren Hayman (and his dog) in the Rose and Crown pub in Walthamstow. We talk trains, class, suburbs, music, lyrics, signing CDs, volunteering, recording, copyright and more. Darren used to be in the band Hefner and he'd be near the top of a list of singers who "sing what I feel" (if I ever tried to make such a list.) You can hear Getting Better Acquainted on Stitcher SmartRadio, Stitcher allows you to listen to your favourite shows directly from your iPhone, Android Phone, Kindle Fire and beyond. On-demand and on the go! Don’t have Stitcher? Download it for free today at http://www.stitcher.com or in the app stores. Help more people get better acquainted. If you like what you hear why not write an iTunes review? Follow @GBApodcast on Twitter. Like Getting Better Acquainted on facebook. Tell your friends. Spread the word!

In GBA 61 we get better acquainted with my partner/girlfriend Jen. We talk about writing, atheism and not having children. It's sort of a window into our 11 year relationship: what we're like when we're alone. At the same time it's one of the most microphone aware conversations I've had on the show. Jen Plugs: Her website: http://www.jadamthwaite.co.uk/ where you can find her writing, her blogs and more information about her and her work. Her twitter account: http://twitter.com/jadamthwaite Her blog: http://www.jadamthwaite.co.uk/from-the-living-room Four Wise Monkeys: http://www.jadamthwaite.co.uk/four-wise-monkeys You can hear Getting Better Acquainted on Stitcher SmartRadio, Stitcher allows you to listen to your favourite shows directly from your iPhone, Android Phone, Kindle Fire and beyond. On-demand and on the go! Don’t have Stitcher? Download it for free today at http://www.stitcher.com or in the app stores. Help more people get better acquainted. If you like what you hear why not write an i

In GBA 60 we get better acquainted with Phil Leirness. The episode is part of an occasional strand of the show where I reach out to people who make podcasts that I admire. I talk to the LA director and podcaster Phil Leirness about his documentary feature film The Truth Is Out There and his podcast Chillpak Hollywood Hour. Amongst many other topics we discuss free speech, truth seeking, 9-11, conspiracy theory, absurdism, storytelling, throwing snakes out of windows, and listening to each other. We recorded this conversation in Phil's hotel when he was visiting London from LA filming the sequel to The Truth is Out There and I had previously attended a screening of that film at Goldsmiths which had produced an interesting response in the audience I had viewed it with. The Truth is Out There: http://www.truth-is-out-there.com/ is the thread that glues this conversation together; it is the subject that nearly all the topics come from. The film's tagline is: Comedy. Consciousness. Conspiracy. It follows the

In GBA 59 we get better acquainted with Sanne. Amongst other things she talks about studying and making theatre, dance and movement, acting, making art and the roles we play within our genders. We sit in a park in the docklands area of London and compare notes, share stories and idea and get interrupted by passing families. Devised theatre, making the stone more stony, art as a lie, depictions of Ariel, boys wearing dresses, sex and sexuality, this conversation goes to lots of interesting places. Sanne is my first Swedish guest (but she won't be the last!) Sanne Plugs: The Fish and the Denim River at Accidental Festival 2012: http://accidentalfestival.co.uk/index.php/programme/saturday-2nd-june/120-the-fish-and-the-denim-river Here's the facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/243532722403101/ And this is the rest of the Accidental Festival: http://accidentalfestival.co.uk/ She talks a lot about her course and whilst she doesn't plug it specifically here it is if you're interested: http://www

In GBA 58 part 2 we get better acquainted with Radcliffe. We pick up the conversation with the story of how he came to become homeless and he continues through crime and punishment and then rehabilitation and recovery. Hear a man who has lived homeless and destitute not just talk about his experiences, but reflect on them and share what he’s learnt with you. Rarely do we listen to people with firsthand experience of homelessness and drug addiction when coming up with social policies. Here is a chance to do that. Seriously this conversation was amazing to have and I think it is really really worth you hearing. Radcliffe has seen some dark times, he has journeyed through the class system from the top to pretty much the bottom. He has lived in expensive houses and has been a crack addict in a Soho skip. He has dropped out of society and managed to climb back in. And he tells his story with humour, kindness and brutal honesty and whilst it is full of pain and violence, it is also, somehow a story about hope, b

In GBA 58 we get better acquainted with Radcliffe. In part 1 of this weeks 2 part special he talks about his relationship with drugs and his "formative" years. This includes his experiences attending and being expelled from a boarding school, his family life and his almost accidental introduction into the Edinburgh underworld. We discuss addiction and the nature and social position of drugs. And we hear a recovered addicts views on drugs policy. Part 2 : http://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/gba-58-radcliffe-part-2 comes out in Friday when the conversation will continue, covering crime and punishment, homelessness and then rehabilitation and recovery. Seriously this conversation was amazing to have and I think it is really really worth you hearing. Radcliffe has seen some dark times, he has journeyed through the class system from the top to pretty much the bottom. He has lived in expensive houses and has been a crack addict in a Soho skip. He has dropped out of society and managed to climb back

In GBA 57 we get better acquainted with my old friend Richard. (It’s a different Richard from the first previous GBA guest). He talks childhood, art, theatre, adulthood, working for the arts council, the advantages of a happy upbringing and the confidence that comes with some backgrounds. It's a conversation about how we change and how we stay the same, the considerations and compromises we make as we take on new priorities and responsibilities, and this crazy journey onwards into adult life (whatever that is.) It covers Richard’s skill at Grandparent charming, his attitude to van driving and his aptitude for analogy. It also comes out at just about the right time to commemorate the birth of his firstborn child. Congratulations to him and his lovely wife Sarah (who you can hear doing her own GBA that we referenced in this episode here: http://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/gba-5-sarah) Richard Plugs: Seeing new art and new theatre. Specifically at The Royal Court Theatre: http://www.royalcourtt

In GBA 56 we get better acquainted with Henry. He talks about doing visual effects for Hollywood movies and the HBO series Game of Thrones, going to a rather famous boy’s public school, learning how to play musical instruments and the ethics of using CGI. And if I ask him the right questions I'll find out two exciting new bits of big news. But will I ask the right questions? Along the way we also cover romance, sexuality, hugging etiquette and decanting wine. UPDATE: Henry (and his team) won a 2012 BAFTA for their work on Great Expectations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifoPkV8wBqg Henry plugs: The Iron Lady (for reasons that will become clear) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1007029/ Out on DVD and still showing in some cinemas. His Visual Effects teams nomination for an Emmy for their work on Game of Thrones - http://www.emmys.com/nominations/2011/Outstanding%20Special%20Visual%20Effects%20For%20A%20Series You can hear Getting Better Acquainted on Stitcher SmartRadio, Stitcher allows you to liste

In GBA 55 we get better acquainted with my Dad (again). Journey with my dad and me from Stansted Airport to my front door as we return from the trip to Germany that we were going on in : http://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/gba-3-dad-1 In this conversation we trace the technological developments Dad's experienced in his 88 years of life, along the way we talk about his relationship to computers and the internet, seeing the moon landing, cameramen and films, Citizen Kane, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Rupert Murdoch, computer games and more! Dad doesn't really plug anything. You can hear Getting Better Acquainted on Stitcher SmartRadio, Stitcher allows you to listen to your favourite shows directly from your iPhone, Android Phone, Kindle Fire and beyond. On-demand and on the go! Don’t have Stitcher? Download it for free today at http://www.stitcher.com or in the app stores. Help more people get better acquainted. If you like what you hear why not write an iTunes review? Follow @GBApodcast on Twi

This is the second of 2 GBA Extras that are coming out today. They are connected thematically so be sure to check out the first one: http://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/gba-extra-the-partition I tell the story of how my family came to get a dog. This one is a story I told at the Spark London open mic which is held Upstairs @ The Ritzy in Brixton. The Spark has its own podcast that is around the same length as this episode. They release them very regularly and they feature people telling true stories live on stage. Find them on iTunes, Stitcher or MixCloud: http://www.mixcloud.com/sparklondon/ http://www.sparklondon.com/ The next Spark London open mic: Is on Monday 21st May 2012 at 7:30pm The theme is: Winning The Ritzy Picturehouse, Brixton Oval, Brixton Oval, London, SW2 1JG You just turn up and pay what you like. You watch people tell there stories and if you want to tell yours then you put your name down and get up on the stage! The next curated Spark London night is: 6th June 2012 at

This is the first of two GBA Extra's coming out today. The Partition is an extended and developed version of the recent GBA submission to the Third Coast International Audio Festival ShortDocs Challenge2012: http://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/grey-areas In it we get a little better acquainted with my Dad: http://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/sets/the-dad-episodes/ We also get better acquainted with Sam, who is no longer with us. And we get better acquainted with me as we find out more about my childhood. Next wednesday's episode will be the second full length episode devoted to Dad, as we discuss technology and change on a return journey from Germany to the UK that we made over a year ago. Later today in the GBA Extra "Out of the Window" we'll hear more about how Sam came to join the family.