buffy - in our own time

I'm a massive fan of Melvyn Bragg's Radio 4 series In Our Time. It's absolutely the best of what public service broadcasting should be. Melvyn and three experts gather in a studio and explain exactly what's important and worth knowing about some vastly important subject. The last series included an hour on things like: Greek comedy, the heart, carbon, negative numbers and the Carolingian renaissance. It's brilliant. You feel cleverer just listening to it.

Except I never know enough about any of the subjects to have my own opinion, or to feel I could add something, or to argue with the radio. It's simply too clever and high-brow for me.

So I began to think about those conversations you have with your friends about stuff you all know about, the stuff of pop culture, not high culture and I thought how much fun it would be to replicate those kinds of chats in an In Our Time format. So it's not professionals talking about an area of expertise, it's enthusiastic amateurs, talking about something they love. With the passions, conceits and errors that entails. I thought of calling it In Our Own Time to signal its amateur status.

And today, a couple of friends of mine were kind enough to come and do a bit of a demo with me. To see if it'll work. I play the Melyvn role, since it means I don't have to know much, and I've got Helen Castor (who's a bit of a coup, since she's been on the real In Our Time, in an expert capacity, she knows about history) and Jeffre Jackson to come and talk with me about Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

I really enjoyed doing it, Jeffre and Helen are smart and interesting people and I learned a lot. Huge thanks to them. The audio is a bit quiet, but OK. And I think it worked out well. Love to know what you think. Is this at all listenable? What other pop culture subjects would we like to see covered?  Do any of you fancy being amateur experts in something? I'm looking for people for programme two.

(It's about an hour, and 60MB)

MP3

Comments

[Colman]

Very enjoyable. Do more please.

I'd like to learn about; comics, graffiti, and fishing.

(And loads of other stuff that I can't quite think of now.)

[Holycow]

Ah - the beginnings of (or at least modern equivalent of) Radio Russell. How quaint. Didn't you used to write for the Beeb as a comedy writer? Perhaps this is your natural home... Love it though - more please about 'Britishness' if at all possible.

[Alex]

Ditto. Very nicely presented. I like the hipcast thing. Letting people talk about things they like is great.

As for other stuff, comics and graffiti are a great place to start, I say. Niche/ specific genres of music would be nice too.

[neil]

Punk rock. I'd be up for that.

[MarcusBrown]

I'd be up for:

1. TV Cartoons of the 70's
2. Airports of Europe
3. Superheros

[MarcusBrown]

...sorry, it's lovely by the way. I think the sound is quite good. Well done.

[dan at innocent]

I never got Buffy. But I would listen to radio shows about

1. The Sopranos
2. Motown vs Stax
3. Gardening for idiots

And pretty much anything about specific genres of music, as mentioned above by a couple of people.

[russell]

Gardening for Idiots is a great idea. We could get Richard (Guerilla Gardening) Reynolds to join in. Anyone else know a lot about gardening?

Plus I think music genres and comics seem to be coming out favourite. Any volunteers for talking?

And cartoons. I'd love to talk about that.

[MarcusBrown]

Here a quick list of my absolute favourite cartoons:

1. Ulysees 31
2. Catch the pidgeon
3. Wacky Races
4. Wait till your father gets home
5. Battle of the planets

(This actually reminds me of wasted school holidays watching the TV. Does anybody remember the old B&W Robinson Crusoe that used to run on "Why dont you"?)

[Richard Buchanan]

"In our own time" is a classic title.

The goonies or Waynes world or even big trouble in little china.

Brilliant idea!

[Holycow]

Marcus - not only do I remember it but I put up a link to the theme music and a still from the opening credits on my blog:
http://holycow.typepad.com/holycow/music/index.html

It is under Lemon Jelly Inspired Nostalgia. Hope you enjoy it - cheers. Mark

[MarcusBrown]

Mark - That's perfect. What a lovely nostalgic day.

[Holycow]

Gosh - isn't it just - I have just re-listened to the Robinson Crusoe piece and have been transported back to gentler times myself - nice one Marcus! Also - just to tip you completely - check out http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/ and tell me the next hour won't be fun!

[Marcus Brown]

Mark- that's great. How lovely.

One word: Fingerbobs

I'm actually near to tears.

[Faris]

Cities of Gold

Metatextual exegesis of modern cultural artefacts - like Buffy.

Also see Lost - movie references, Simpsons - movie and everything else references, 3 Feet High and Rising - samples and indeed any aspect of the emerging remix culture.

O and Dungeons & Dragons. That rocked ;-p

[Holycow]

From Fingerbobs to 'Metatextual exegesis of modern cultural artefacts' - I feel like I am reading a draft of Finnegans's Wake! What a day!

[Holycow]

OK on a more serious note - please can you do something about what the British public like to collect - stamps, coins, mugs, thimbles etc - (but not antiques please), and talk to real enthusiasts about their collection of 'stuff' - record collectors particularly. Cheers.

[Marcus Brown]

My mum collects frogs (not live ones). Has done for about twenty years.

[Holycow]

Russell - interview Marcus's mum please about her frogs.

[Fa]

Collections are really interesting - I was involved in a thing about that a while back that never happened - kind of fusing the Japanese Otaku culture with English eccentricity.

[mike]

I was discussing the gay connotations of the film top gun with friends the other day and started to talk about different films from the 80's and early 90's that talk to different cultural aspects of the timeframe. Waynes World is a great but more funny example. I think looking at humour that movies have used to cover cultural changes in society would be interesting. look at Parent Hood which was funny but really started to highlight a cultural shift in the parents role in the household. PS: the Buffy movie failed, because they used Luke Perry from Beverly Hills 90210 as the main dude

[beeker]

Thundercats and Dangermouse. And amen to City of Gold. Not listened to it yet but love the idea.
I wonder if there could be a crafts one. Knitting. Gardening sort of comes under that for me. Although whilst you could have a whole programme about gardening, knitting on its own might struggle.
And hip hop.

[Lebowski]

Bit late to this, but if anyone wants to learn about American alternative music 1985 to the present day, I'll happily chat about that for a while.

I'd also like to learn about folk music, how planes can actually fly given how heavy they are, and Greek and Roman mythology.

[Carol]

Heavens! The Buffy movie failed because the casting was awful and the story pretty much sucked.

The first TV episode beat the movie by twenty miles - "seize the day", "you forgot your....stake", "pepper spray is just so passe"...I'll have a listen to your discussion in a moment.

[Maggie Brinkley]

As a fan of both 'In Our Time' and 'BtVS' all I can say is - this is terrific! If you care to do similar works, I would certainly listen. You have the same balance that Oor Melvyn's programme has of telling newbies the basic info but not patronising those who are in the know. I suddenly realise just how much the world needs an 'In Our Time' for Popular Culture. Popular Culture is academically underrated.

Best Buffy joke is that Spike the Vampire, once an Edwardian poet, is known as 'William the Bloody' not because he's an evil vampire but because his poetry was bloody awful.

Thank you for this.