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Fourteen minutes this week, just under 7 MB download. I'm afraid the sound quality is a bit off, but not that bad and I can't spend a lot of time with it today. This week's topic: Jack London's The Call of the Wild and White Fang.

Note that the RSS/XML link has been revised. I wasn't happy with the one generated by Ourmedia, since it combined everything I post into a single subscription. Those of you who want Fabulous Furry Tales without adulteration will probably want to unsub and resubscribe here.
Written transcript also available upon request. Hope you enjoy it. :)
P.S. After some confusion last time, here's a bit of info for the uninitiated. You do not need an iPod in order to listen to a podcast. The 'cast is just an mp3 file and it can be played back on any device that reads mp3 files, including, most likely, the same PC you are reading this on. The XML link is used to subscribe with an RSS reader that automatically downloads each new podcast when it is released. You don't need such software in order to listen, though.
Commentary on Podcast II
Date: 2005-10-23 11:52 am (UTC)actually. You never see anyone making websites about how the
love Shrews or Catfish. XD
The music was goodly!
Jack London is one of those types that you just have to respect. He
didn't think this up, having no experience of it. Call Of The Wild
and his other works come from the things he did, real adventures
made into fiction. I can identify with the man, he did lots of
different work before he found his authorial voice. The Klondike
experience was probably ten lifetimes pressed into one.
As for the story, Buck is also an archtype for many who enjoy furry.
"Running with the Pack" sort of thing.
White Fang and Call Of The Wild seem to be opposite ends of the
same impulse...being wild but not wild...feral but good.
I suppose Jack would have enjoyed having an internet connection, he'd
have found a large audience for his ability to be wolf and identify
with the actual animal in ways that only now, nearly a hundred years
later, has become a rather common thing online.
Do you think that stories about animals that think, "furries" are now
relegated, as has been for the last century or more, to children's stories,
or have they become, with the internet, more adult fair?
Good stuff sir!
Re: Commentary on Podcast II
Date: 2005-10-23 06:09 pm (UTC)Somewhere in the intervening years, these stories have come to be thought of as children's stories, even though they are not. Fantasizing that animals can talk is somehow a childish thing, and so-called adults are expected to put such ideas aside. This ties right into the attitudes many have toward furry fandom as well. Modern writers know this just as well. Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels, C. J. Cherryh's Chanur series, Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar stories are all aimed at adults. Sure, lots of advanced younger readers enjoy them, but it takes a mature mind to really appreciate the depth of the political and social contexts presented.
Re: Commentary on Podcast II
Date: 2005-10-26 01:00 am (UTC)Even though it may be just my own experience, but I'm getting a feeling that stories about anthropomorphized animals are getting more acceptance among adult readers too, alongside with the coming of more fantasy-themed books, harrypotters and like. That it isn't just "a privilege" of the younger readers anymore. =)
Re: Commentary on Podcast II
Date: 2005-10-26 07:05 am (UTC)And need I even mention the attitudes of many toward furry fandom?
Kenneth Grahame is up next, and he's the man I give credit to for making anthropomorphic stories at least somewhat acceptable to adult readers. ;)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-23 12:53 pm (UTC)It is ironic that Chibiabos has so many times asked me if I'd read Call of the Wild, and every time I have said no, but the instant you mentioned Buck as the main character I realized I've seen at least two, maybe three different movie renditions of it.
In the line of Call of the Wild, though not written from the view of the wolves, would probably be "Never Cry Wolf" by Farley Mowat. It is a real life story of his spending ... half a year, I think, studying a wolf pack, and coming close to what I think all furs deep within seek - finding the very essence of the animal he came to love and admire.
All in all, a good 'cast, and again I look forward to the next one.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-23 06:13 pm (UTC)Here's a deal for you: You find and read The Call of the Wild (I'll bet you can even get it in Danish if you like) and I'll make a point of reading the original of Never Cry Wolf.
Did you know that Farley Mowat was barred from visiting the United States? The Reagan administration considered him too subversive, and when he was invited by colleges to come speak or act as a guest professor he was denied entrance. I don't actually know if that ban was ever lifted.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-23 01:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-23 06:18 pm (UTC)(BTW, I really do love that icon. You should record some harp music and distribute it to us here.)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-24 01:07 am (UTC)(...and as for the harp, I wish I could play it half well enough to be worth recording, but that's another story.)