Listening Log - Charlie

[Charlie]

560127 - Brave New World (Part I)

This is the first CBSRW broadcast. The host is the late William Conrad of "Cannon" fame.

The author of the book of the same title narrates this parable about the dehumanization of human beings - a "negative utopia." At the outset he mentions that he wrote the book 25 years earlier than this audio presentation (in 1956) and that had he wrote the book at that time, he would have changed the time frame from 600 to 200 years into the future. Now, nearly 50 years later, I think he would shorten his time frame even more - maybe to [b:13e3d39080]now[/b:13e3d39080].

Society in this bleakly forecast future is dominated by control and order. Children are created mechanically and thought is tightly controlled.

Give this excellent program a listen.

[Charlie]

560203 - Brave New World (Part II)

Only a few "reservations" in places such as New Mexico remain where people marry, have children, and live in "primitive" ways. Mothers, fathers, children ... all of these things are repulsive to the new society. These places have been preserved as bad examples.

All of the "civilized" people take a mind-numbing drug named "Soma" and are promiscuous - but do not have children. No one marries, has a home, family, reads books (they are "smut"), is allowed to enjoy nature, or even to think. Everyone belongs to everyone else and must conform.

People live until about 60 and die and then are recycled.

This sounds a lot like society today!

Start your CBSRW listening experience with these programs. What an excellent lesson to be learned.

[Charlie]

560210 - Storm

This program is an adaptation of the book "Storm" by George Stewart.

A young meteorologist in San Francisco grows tired of the mundane, but pleasant weather which seems to have changed little for quite sometime. But, he begins tracking a storm that has formed just West of Japan.

Looks like it could be a [b:82211280f2]big[/b:82211280f2] one.

[Charlie]

560217 - Season Of Disbelief/Hail & Farewell

Ray Bradbury is the author of these two studies of the "Rope of Life." Everyone has the chance to grip the rope. It's what people do with it that matters.

The first drama, Season Of Disbelief, is the story of Mrs. Bentley, a 75 year old woman who meets two little girls and buys them an ice cream cone. She tells them about her youth but they doubt her and accuse her of lying about ever being young. They do not believe that a person of that age was every really a young person. Mrs. Bently learns a valuable lesson from the experience.

The second, "Hail & Farewell", is the story of Willie, a 12 year old boy - born 43 years ago. He doesn't get any older and travels from place to place staying with people who take him on as a son - until people start to realize that he isn't getting any older.

Great stories - give a listen to this program.

[Charlie]

560224 - Colloquy #1: An Interview With Shakespeare

An interviewer is joined by William Shakespeare to adress the controversy over who actually wrote the works attributed to Shakespeare. During the course of the broadcast they are joined by a number of other contemporaries who also claim to have produced the works.