OUCH! Podcast :: BBC Takes Disability Into Flying Circus World

ouch! Finally, a podcast about disabilities that you can laugh with - not at - and not feel guilty.

Irreverent comedy, by people with disabilities, where no topic is safe. I have not been this happy in a long, long time. Finding the ouch! podcast is a special treat. For me, this is as if Monty Python took on the issue of disabilities and gave it proper comedic respect. Yes, I imagine this podcast will not be received by everyone with the same glee as I’ve expressed here. In fact, in show #2 the hosts report some rather unhappy listeners have shared their unhappy thoughts.

Actor Mat Fraser (on left) and comedian Liz Carr (on right) are the hosts. You will laugh. They are brilliant. Both Mat and Liz have disabilities. Actually, the site says that vitually all of those involved with the Web site and podcast are disabled individuals. A recent listener comment on the site stated about the most recent show, “Even better. Coupla ‘Oh my God, you did not just say that!’ moments. Fantastic.” Please listen to it - now!

Mat is, in his own words, “a thalidomide survivor.” Liz is “a wheelchair user.” You have likely never heard a more satirical view of disabilities. Some might call the program a dark comedy. I don’t. It is refreshing, actually. A social satire that, probably, only British comedy can pull off. They poke fun at all of the disability related programming that the BBC has produced in recent years. In particular, they speak of the BBC series of programs called “What’s Your Problem.”

In show #1, Mat and Liz take aim at the Paralympics. Terms like cripple and spastic are tossed about with ease. The show has old-style radio jingles interspersed. One says, “Confined to wheelchair. The ouch! Podcast.” A monthly podcast, Liz and Mat also conduct a gameshow like contest. They describe it on the site as “Another outing for our fiendishly unpleasant quiz, Vegetable, Vegetable or Vegetable. Can Mat and Liz guess ‘what’s up with’ a genuinely disablified member of the public on the end of the phone?”

Mat, in particular, likes to say, “You are very, very brave and special.” Another jingle-like aspect of the podcast is a “buffer/bumper” of someone with a very un-politically correct speech pattern providing the URL to the show’s Web site - “bbc.co.uk/ouch“. Trust me. This podcast has (or will have) all of the socially unacceptable references and parodies of disability. It is not for the faint of heart. Still, I hope you will check it out.

From the site: Ouch is a website from the BBC. Its aim is to reflect the lives of disabled people right here and now in the third millennium.

It’s not a help and support site. If we were to give it a label, it would probably be closest to lifestyle. We pride ourselves on not being a resource for useful information, though I’m sure you’ll find most things you’re looking for here. There are many help and support sites out there that do a fantastic job, far better than we could, so we in the BBC’s Learning & Interacitve department felt it would be good to do something completely different.

We’re about personal stuff, minutiae of everyday life and that fantastic dark sense of humour and inevitable cynicism that we disabled people tend to have. Oh, and we don’t shy away from subjects that other people might be a bit wary of.

The show is barely two months old. Both episodes are available from the BBC site and in iTunes. Go listen now. The shows last about thirty minutes each. I’ve listened to both twice. Best two hours I’ve spent in a long time.

What do you think. Could I get away with this at the Camp ASCCA Podcast? Would I want to even try?

Ben Saunder’s $100 Ticket To Antarctica :: Bloggers Funding High Adventure (Were laws broken?)

Ben Saunders has embarked on a new adventure - and he hasn’t even left for Antarctica, yet. I like and respect Saunders, having written about him several times in this blog. Of course, I only “know him” through his blog.

Saunders sent out this email to all those that have visited his blog and commented in the past. He wants us all to visit South - his new blog which promotes the new expedition. The effort is part Houdini act (no one has done it before - on foot) and also a realistic effort for Saunders. I imagine that if anyone can do it, he’s the guy.

Many of you already know what I’m planning - the first return journey to the South Pole on foot: a two-man, 1,800 mile trek from the coast of Antarctica to the Pole and back. The Norwegian Roald Amundsen made this journey in 1912, using dog sledges. His rival, Captain Scott tried to make the same journey on foot - and died in the attempt. In the 93 years since, it’s never been done.

Every other South Pole expedition has either been flown out from the Pole, or used dogs, kites or vehicles. Ours will be by far the longest unsupported trek of all time, and we’re calling it SOUTH.

In the past I’ve been lucky enough to have some amazing corporate sponsors, such as Serco. But for this expedition we thought we’d try something new. I want SOUTH to be owned (at least in part) by the people who’ve sent messages when I’ve been out on the ice, the people who never need to ask why, the people who believe in dreaming big.

I do not mind receiving email from Ben Saunders. I don’t want to opt-out of his future mailings. I admire him and all of his wild adventures.

Sadly, Ben may have violated the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Pub. L. 108-187, S. 877). Why? It is commercial. It is marketing. It does not contain an opt-out function. And, I didn’t request it. I’ve commented in his blog before and do not remember any disclaimer stating that he might write to me - even solicit me - via email. There isn’t one there now, that I can find.

Hey, his email doesn’t bother me. It does, however, point out the need to understand all of the ramifications of our actions when using information we compile in our blogs. Just because someone shares their email address with you, it does not mean you can use it for anything. Ben Saunders needs a coach. And not one for his athletic pursuits. He needs one for his online activities.

The IP of the email is from the UK. Ben is a Briton. I searched back for the IPs, etc. and it ’seems’ legit. Certainly the promotion is for real, as it is promoted on his sites.

Strange thing is, his blog is probably one of the best implementations of a blog for PR that you will ever see. It is a beautiful Web site. It is compelling and entertaining. The story is unique and allows visitors to live vicariously through Ben’s writings. (His writing is good, too.)

And, his appeal seems genuine and honest, at least to me.

I’ve never been much of a salesman, and I feel especially awkward writing this - because essentially I’m offering you a slice of the biggest dream I’ve ever had. I hope you’ll look beyond the ice and the cold and the machismo, and see this for what it really is: a story about daring to dream really big dreams, and being daft enough to open your heart and ask everyone else to join in and help out.

I hope Ben gets his $100 contributions. Of course, he only offers 1,800 for sale - the length of the trek. And I bet he gets all $180,000 in contributions. He’s already received takes on 10 of them, with the last mile ‘reserved’. $1,000 down, $179K to go.

Good luck, Ben.

Ben’s quote of the day:

“Courage or ambition may take you to the Antarctic but it won’t take you far inside without being found out; it is courage and unselfishness and good temper and helping one another and a willingness to put in every ounce you have.”

- Sir Ernest Shackleton

Web as mass entertainment medium? Not yet … but, closer to realization.

MediaPost :: Live 8 Sets Web Records

EARLIER THIS YEAR, YAHOO!’S MEDIA group head, Lloyd Braun, lamented that the Internet still hadn’t had its defining “I Love Lucy” moment, the turning point that would transform the Web into a mass entertainment medium. That moment might have arrived Saturday, with America Online’s live streams of Live 8 concerts in six cities worldwide.

The streams, available for free and in real-time while the performers were on stage, set records for Internet viewing. America Online reported over the weekend that 5 million users visited the site at some point during the live feeds, while 175,000 users streamed simultaneously at the height of the day’s traffic.

Live 8 certainly made a big splash, but I am not too certain that this was the “I Love Lucy” moment that everyone is seeking.

Lucy was, after all, a series with long running power and synidcation power for years and years. (It is still on the air.) So, show us that kind of power and then the Web will have arrived as a mass entertainment medium.

Is there any example of that kind of mass entertainment staying power in anything that is, or has been, on the web? I don’t think so. Tell me your best examples of such mass entertainment examples. There is streaming sports audio … taking all examples into one group could be one example. But, in the music / comedy /drama area I don’t know of anything that comes close. Live 8 was, after all, a one time event. Aren’t we all looking for sustained continuing content? Or, am I being too old world, broadcast method retentive?