#beverly cleary podcast

[tabby-shieldmaiden]

You don't need 70+ episodes of a podcast to teach you how to write good. All the advice you need was already laid out in Beverly Cleary's Dear Mr Henshaw when she said that you needed to read, look, listen, think and write.

[uovoc]

2022 media consumption year in review

God tier

Matthew Swift series and Magicals Anonymous duology by Kate Griffin (reread). London sorcerer is raised from the dead and accidentally gets fused to the blue electric angels of the telephone lines along the way. Luscious prose, best urban magic I've ever read, and wickedly funny sense of humor.

Kane and Feels - podcast. Paranormal investigators go around London poking the mystic forces with a sharp stick. Surreal. Funny. Moderately comprehensible. There's nothing else quite like it. Someone described it as "the anti-TMA: you cannot form any theories about it no matter how hard you try."

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North (reread) - two time travelers, defined as people stuck in time loops of their own lives, attempt to unravel the mystery of their existence. Suspenseful and beautifully constructed piece of nonlinear storytelling.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (reread) - Rose tastes people's emotions in food. Her brother disappears into thin air. Their parents are fine. Surreal and haunting pearl of a story.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson - after a family tragedy, the surviving Blackwoods live in isolation from the village. A little Piranesi-ish subverted horror: the sense there's a secret at the heart of the world, and the secret is both joyful and terrible.

Our Flag Means Death - the crangst-filled pirate show that it seemed like the internet lost its mind over, for good reason.

Bee and Puppycat: Lazy in Space - Bee travels between the island and fishbowl space working temp jobs with Puppycat, until their pasts catch up with them. Dreamy, bittersweet, and gorgeous. Season finale was a banger.

Vesper Flights by Helen MacDonald (reread). Nature essays on humans and birds. Quiet, luminous, and filled with love of place. Faves were "The Human Flock", "High Rise", "Eulogy", and "What Animals Taught Me"

Natsume's Book of Friends (anime) - Technically about boy who can see youkai, learning how to navigate the world of human relationships. But really about masking, healing from trauma, and learning to trust.

Decent entertainment

The Deep by Rivers Solomon with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes

Encanto (2021) - movie

The Witcher, season 2 - show

What We Do in the Shadows - seasons 1-3, got bored afterwards

The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (reread)

The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

Touch by Claire North (reread)

Sing - movie

Notes from the Burning Age by Claire North

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (reread)

The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren

Moon Knight - show, season 1

Moon Knight comics - 2011, 2014, 2016, 2021

The Batman (2022)

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts (reread)

The Bad Guys (2022)

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (reread)

The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker

The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North

Johannes Cabal series by Jonathan L. Howard (reread): Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, Johannes Cabal the Detective, Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute, The Brothers Cabal, and The Fall of the House of Cabal

The Owl House season 2

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (reread)

Strider by Beverly Cleary (reread)

Loki - show, season 1

Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman

Paprika (2006) dir. Satoshi Kon (rewatch)

Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar (reread)

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

Supernatural - seasons 1 – 6, selected episodes

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman - comics (reread)

The Sandman - show, season 1

Microcosmic God: The complete short stories of Theodore Sturgeon, volume II by Theodore Sturgeon

Various Dick King-Smith books (reread): The Merman, Harry's Mad, and Harriet's Hare

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Girl From the Other Side - anime

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

The Farewell (2019) dir. Lulu Wang

Horatio Lyle series by Catherine Webb: The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle, The Obsidian Dagger, The Doomsday Machine, and The Dream Thief

Mononoke (2007) dir. Kenji Nakamura - anime

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson. Fave: "The Beautiful Stranger"

The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson. Faves: "Like Mother Used to Make" and "Flower Garden"

Legend of Nezha (哪吒传奇) - the 2003 cartoon

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Lucie Babbidge's House by Sylvia Cassedy

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

Pinocchio (2022) - dir. Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson

Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore

You Suck by Christopher Moore

Bite Me by Christopher Moore

Disliked and usually DNF

Guardian (cdrama)

The Gameshouse by Claire North

Kim's Convenience - show

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

Victoriocity - podcast

Sporadic Phantoms - podcast

Guardians of Childhood series by William Joyce - okay I finished it out of loyalty but it was no rotg that's for sure

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Keep Your Hands off Eizouken - anime

Arcane - show

The Girl in the Flammable Skirt by Aimee Bender

Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender

The Color Master by Aimee Bender

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire

Megan's Island by Willo Davis Roberts (reread)

First Light by Rebecca Stead

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy

To Your Eternity - anime

Bloomability by Sharon Creech

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) dir. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

Malevolent - podcast

Midnight Burger - podcast

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

Carter & Lovecraft by Jonathan L. Howard

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

M.E. and Morton by Sylvia Cassedy

Forty Stories by Donald Barthelme

Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson

The Bird's Nest by Shirley Jackson

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow

The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison

The Stench of Adventure (podcast)

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

Assorted nonfiction

Songs of the Gorilla Nation by Dawn Prince-Hughes

The Organized Mind by Daniel J Levitin - nothing new except for the part about using your spatial memory to hack organization.

The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker - how to organize social gatherings for meaningful and memorable experiences

Rust: the Longest War by Jonathan Waldman - investigative journalism book about corrosion, the hazard it presents to physical infrastructure, and how we mitigate it

Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8 by Naoki Higashida

Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life by Yiyun Li - DNF

The One-Minute Manager: The World's Most Popular Management Method by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson - techniques for one-minute goal setting, one-minute praisings, and one-minute reprimands

The Chinese Language: Its History and Current Usage by Daniel Kane. Good concise history of the development of written Mandarin Chinese and the underlying structure of the characters.

A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold - essays on the American landscape and conservation ethics ca. 1950. Neat from a historical standpoint, but nothing to write home about these days. Which kinda is the point I guess.

Oregon Salmon: Essays on the State of the Fish At the Turn of the Millennium, ed. Oregon Trout

Caring for your Parents by Hugh Delehanty and Eleanor Ginzler

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat by Oliver Sacks - DNF

The Grid by Gretchen Bakke - history of how the physical and regulatory infrastructure of the American power grid was developed, and how it needs to be reimagined for the future.

Wildlife Wars : The life and times of a fish and game warden by Terry Grosz. Tales from his career as a California game warden catching poachers.

The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. DNF. author's writing voice was supremely annoying

Wilderness and the American Mind by Roderick Nash, 3rd ed (1982) (reread) - history of Americans' changing attitudes towards nature and definitions of wilderness. A classic banger.

Black, Brown, Bruised: How racialized STEM education stifles innovation by Ebony Omotola McGee - good summary of what the successful programs for STEM students of color are doing right, everything else is the same old same old

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb. Account of the experience of going through therapy while working as a therapist. Excellent look at how we construct our personal narratives, and how to change them.

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Gremmy, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler. Strategies for having effective high-stakes conversations and managing your emotions. Good stuff.

Engineering and Social Justice by Donna Riley. Pretty entry-level, but it's a good bibliography for further reading.

Send in the Idiots by Kamran Nazeer

Why Are We Yelling? The art of productive disagreement by Buster Benson - DNF. disliked his writing style.

[thinking-in-broken-scenes]

I was tagged by @emiliosandozsequence

What was your first ever story idea? What happened to it?

I would say probably some kind of adventure story probably with witches. It's likely written in some sort of journal somewhere but i don't remember exactly.

The oldest story I have a good chunk of is a slice-of-life drama about a kid with mental health struggles who also has visions into other people's lives. It's written entirely in poems, it's in my google drive. I still think it's an idea I might rework.

What’s your writing routine?

Music, I have specific writing playlists for some of my stories and trying to prop up pillows so I'm not hunched over.

Are you a plotter, a pantser, or something in between?

I usually have outlines of a broad timeline of the stories. And I do keep records of dates/ages/magic systems to refer to. So definitely do a lot of plotting. But often if I get into a story I will veer off from what I planned lol. Or I realise what I originally planned doesn't make a lot of sense with how my character is anymore.

I do write a lot of poetry from just what I'm feeling without thinking.

Do you try to tell moral stories throughout your work, or any other life lessons? What are they?

I won't go into a story trying to teach a life lesson or base it around proving a point. I mean my opinions come through in my stories. So there is implicit morals in the story. My POV characters do tend to have strong views, so you will pick up on certain things, but it's not meant to convince people I just like opinionated characters. But some of my characters have buck-wild opinions.

What do you prefer, character development or worldbuilding? Why?

Character development definitely. My worldbuilding is generally in service of the characters. I like Worldbuiling! And I try to have rich worlds with some degree of constancy so no one is thrown by shit making no sense. And I do enjoy creating things, like religions, but characters and relationships are what I'm best at and most invested in.

Do you have any tips for budding writers?

Nope! I don't feel like I have enough experience.

Who inspires you to write the most?

Stephen Chbosky, Beverly Cleary, Suzanne Collins,  E.L. Doctorow, Gillian Flynn, Ellen Hopkins, Tamsyn Muir, Matthew Stover, Ned Vizzini, Hanya Yanagihara, and Markus Zusaks are my literary inspirations. They are some of the writers I admire the most in how they convey complicated emotions.

Angie Sage is another writer who has always been a favourite. For her, it is the emotions as well but the sheer ability of her to construct an immersive world with consistent magic and world-building really expanded my imagination as a kid.

I would say Inn Between, The Magnus Archives, The Penumbra Podcast (Juno Steel Story), Welcome to Night Vale and Where The Stars Fallalso all inspire me! These podcasts are captivating and all have very interesting story mechanics! The surrealism of Welcome to Night Vale is also something I really like.

Doctor Who is something that inspires me as the amount of time I've spent dissecting that show I think has really made me think of the bones of my stories. ATLA & She Ra as well.

Web Weaves! Reading all the ways people are struck even by just fragments.

Mythology! Folk Tales! History!

And also like the amount of bullshit I'm going through in life. I need to get my pain and loneliness out somewhere. The way stories have always been my lifeline through all of my life! I need to create, the urge to tell stories is in my soul. And the way it saved me I hope others will feel seen by my writing as well.

[mydogatemybookreport]

My Dog Ate My Book Report is a podcast where two weirdo thirty-somethings take turns introducing each other to a formative book from childhood the other has never read to see if the magic has held up!

This episode we read: “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” By Beverly Cleary.

The transcript can be found here: Episode Three Transcript.docx

Content Warnings:

In the book: Casual Sexism

Mention of animal death (no gore, past tense)

In the episode: We start the episode off with two icky stories about injuries to feet.

Links to things we mentioned:

Some of the many cover differences throughout the years:

Illustrations: Darlings style vs some more recent work:

What we are reading next!

Brandon has selected the book for next week: “The Tower Treasure” the very first Hardy Boys Book. 

Credits:

My Dog ate My Book Report is hosted and produced by Wren and Brandon, and edited by the fabulous Derrick Valen. 

The music used in this podcast was licensed by Epidemic Sound. Transcripts were generated by Otter.ai. Our icon image was illustrated by Cindy Lau. 

Have a question or comment for the team? 

You can find us on our website which links to all of our socials at: dogatemybookreport.blubrry.net or by emailing at DogAteMyBookReport at gmail. 

We would be super excited to know what books you loved growing up!

Thanks for listening!

[personinthepalace]

Klickitcast - A Beverly Cleary Podcast

This is a podcast that I accidentally stumbled upon recently. If you enjoyed any of Beverly Cleary’s books, whether it’s Henry Huggins or Beezus and Ramona or Ralph S. Mouse, then I would highly recommend this podcast. The hosts, Phil Gonzales and John McCoy, go through all of her books in chronological order and discuss how the characters and Clearly’s writing develop ed over the years. It’s such a fascinating listen and such a lovely way to reconnect with some childhood stories- I can’t recommend it enough!!

[dulcetash]

In Which I Claw Off My Blinders So That I May Examine Them

So, I’ve been having a high old time with Dracula Daily, and I’m learning fascinating new things along the way.  A dear friend shared how formative Jonathan Harker’s May 16th entry in Dracula had been for her from earliest memory, in response to my reblog of this post, wherein I’d encountered an enlightening, new-to-me definition of “swoon.”

Her words led me to confront something about myself that has been creeping around the edges of my brain for awhile.  I’m truly bothered by my lack of awareness and lack of-, of impressionability, in my own youth, to this kind of formative influence.  To put it bluntly, I am a basic, basic bitch.

I started to respond on the original post, but my thoughts rapidly spun out in a way that would derail that post’s thesis, so I’m giving them their own space here.  I rarely share of myself in public this way, but it seems necessary tonight. So here is my reply:

... it’s a fantastic passage.  And the first time I read it, probably when I was in my 20s, it went right over my head.  So many things that I’m now finally learning to see as queer-coded, or even just sexually coded, were a gigantic blind spot for me until, well, pretty much my 40s (likewise, some of these meta posts on DD are teaching me to see anti-semitic coding that I had NO IDEA about: separate issue, same source).  And this “bit of well-known shorthand,” with regard to swooning?  It certainly wasn’t known by me, AND I WAS AN ENGLISH MAJOR.  

All those jokes you see today about those dense heteronormative scholars who say, “these women who wrote about the joys of undressing each other, you must understand it was merely a form of social bonding that indicated emotional closeness and the discomfort of corsetry, blah blah blah...” I have been that dense reader for most of my life.  My own formative coming-of-age literature went from Beverly Cleary and Laura Ingalls Wilder and Louisa May Alcott and even friggin’ Sweet Valley High, directly to rapey 80’s bodice-rippers and Stephen King.  There was no transition or middle ground between tender/sweet/romantic/sexless and titillating/explicit/traumatic.  And for whatever reason, I never thought to imagine any.

In that Jane Eyre podcast I’ve been listening to, one of the hosts mentioned Rochester’s threat to rape Jane, and I was like, *record scratch* -wait WHAT?  She referred to this:

“Jane! will you hear reason?' (he stooped and approached his lips to my ear) 'because, if you won't, I'll try violence.”

And I… I never thought about what that meant.  I was raised without physical violence (thank god), but I was also raised to feel that a man being angry at me was the most terrifying possible circumstance.  I never once imagined what the anger might lead to; the anger itself was The Bad Thing to be avoided.  So if I HAD been asked to imagine what form Rochester’s violence might take, it would have been, like, hurling crockery or some similar tantrum.  Jane Eyre fell into the tender/sweet/romantic/sexless category for me, so anything else was literally unthinkable. 

Later, In the same scene, he gets more explicit:

"Never," said he, as he ground his teeth, "never was anything at once so frail and so indomitable. A mere reed she feels in my hand!" (And he shook me with the force of his hold.) "I could bend her with my finger and thumb: and what good would it do if I bent, if I uptore, if I crushed her? Consider that eye: consider the resolute, wild, free thing looking out of it, defying me, with more than courage--with a stern triumph. Whatever I do with its cage, I cannot get at it--the savage, beautiful creature! If I tear, if I rend the slight prison, my outrage will only let the captive loose. Conqueror I might be of the house; but the inmate would escape to heaven before I could call myself possessor of its clay dwelling-place. And it is you, spirit--with will and energy, and virtue and purity--that I want: not alone your brittle frame. Of yourself you could come with soft flight and nestle against my heart, if you would: seized against your will, you will elude the grasp like an essence--you will vanish ere I inhale your fragrance. Oh, Jane! come, Jane, come!"

And STILL.  I’m like, yeah, Rochester’s a drama-llama all right, he imagines that tearing her chest open to get at her spirit might just be a fresh alternative to locking her in his attic, what a character.  It never occurred to me that he was thinking, “I could sexually compromise her, and then she’d be ruined and have no choice but to stay with me.”  It’s not like you even have to squint to see it, I just… had these huge blinders.  

For fuck’s sake, I’m one of those sweet summer children who thought for way too long that “Netflix and Chill” literally meant to relax and watch movies together.  Thank god I was never really on the dating scene; I thought “inviting someone up for coffee” was literally an invitation to sit around and drink coffee and converse about life.  In a previous century I’d have been that ditz nerding out over the chance to see etchings.  I NEVER KNEW ABOUT THE SEX CODE.

I find that I am angry and disappointed in the culture that raised me not to see, much less analyze, various forms of physical desire.  This culture was also deeply homophobic, not in an openly hostile or aggressive sense, but in a true “fear of” sense that manifested as nobody talking about it.  Ever.  Sometimes there were hushed whispers, quickly shut down by firm denials.  It was just weird.  Not a reason to be MEAN to someone, oh no, but as a default, Don’t Think About It; it’s an embarrassing affliction, and it’s not polite to point.  So I didn’t.  And what you don’t think about, you don’t see.  

But I also find that I am angry and disappointed in myself, about my own lack of curiosity about all of those locked doors.  About my own complacency - complicity? - in Not Thinking About Things.  As I became an adult and started to encounter People On the Internet who avidly DID think about queer romance, I was perplexed by all of these folks who seemed so determined to see things in media that - *tsk* - just weren’t there.  “People can love and care about each other without it being SEXUAL,” I’d think, because for me, the sweetest, least-problematic examples of love in media had always culminated in a kiss. And apparently, I need things explicitly spelled out.  I mean, clearly, who I am today versus who I was 20 years ago means I can learn and evolve, but also, clearly, I am the walking cautionary tale on Why Representation Matters.

*sigh*  Without knowing the code, I’ve missed out on so much.  And my own self-concept has been stunted.  Once I’m done processing and mourning that, I can look forward to rediscovering old literary and cinematic favorites through a more enlightened lens.  No wonder Wizard of Oz and rainbows are queer touchstones.  It’s like seeing colors after a greyscaled lifetime of dismissing them as a vanishingly rare phenomenon.

[therogerclarkfanclub]

Transcript of Roger's interview with Monsters, Madness, and Magic.

For those who prefer to read (or read along with) the interview.

WARNING: SUPER LONG POST AHEAD

"Alright folks, welcome to the Monsters Madness and Magic Podcast, I'm your host Justin here with a quick word before we dive in. In this episode I chat with actor Roger Clark about life in Ireland, theater, Arthur Morgan, Frankenstein, Rockstar Games, Red Dead Redemption, motion capture and more. Also if you're listening to this and you feel so inclined, please leave us a review really helps out a lot. Anyway that's enough of the bulls*it, without further ado, here you go."

────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────────

"Hold up there, son. Now, this here town is filled with all kinds of monsters, madness, and magic so, how about you just leave the killing to the killers, and just get out of my damn way!"

"Greetings boils and ghouls, this is your comrade the Crypt Keeper here, reporting dead from the Sanctuary of the Strange.

Tonight's macabre myth is a fright-filled feature, one overflowing with Monsters, Madness and Magic."

MMAM: Take us back in time to when you were a youngster, you know, were you a book reader, fort builder, troublemaker, or all the above?

ROGER: Man well, when I used to go to the library all the time in summer vacations. I would read Beverly Cleary a lot, I'd read Roald Dahl, I got big into adult books so I was reading Stephen King by the time I was nine or ten, it was a little weird.

When I was in Ireland some of the books they wouldn't let me take out they'd be like “Oh no you can only take this out you only take books out with with the purple sticker on it that comes from the child section” So of course I went and got the purple sticker and I just popped it on Mario Puzo's The Godfather and then they checked— I'm a 9 year old reading The Godfather. I loved books, I always— I still do although I don't— now it's mostly for professional reasons I read, I don't read for leisure as much as I used to.

MMAM: When did you start the audio book venture?

ROGER: I started it when I was a kid. My dad used to do— before we moved to Ireland, my dad used to do newspaper for the blind, for the Star Ledger in New Jersey— in the state of New jersey and I would often help him as a child you know, 7-8 years old, go over to— he would record and they would— I remember the machine that they had, it would record about 6 cassettes simultaneously, it would read the star Ledger newspaper for people who are blind or visually impaired and they would get the cassette in the mail weekly and I would help cut out the articles that they chose to record, and then when we moved over to Ireland my dad brought it over there and joined up and on the West Coast of Ireland to for the Sligo Champion.

So that was my first foray into it, but as far as narrating is concerned I started that a little bit over a decade ago.

MMAM: When you made that initial move to Ireland was that a culture shock for you, was it— do you remember it being difficult for you to transition?

ROGER: I remember— we were there every summer. So I knew the place, but it was a culture shock still. We were only there for summers I never went to school there, I never spent more than a couple of weeks at a time there before

But I was too young to really appreciate how much of a culture shock it really was, that was probably for the best, I stuck out like a sore thumb so much so that I kind of got rid of the Yankee accent as quickly as I could, but still there's still some left you know there's enough left that when I'm in Ireland I sound American and when I'm in America I sound Irish or in some Americans don't they don't even know where the hell I'm from.

MMAM: I could definitely pick it up. Is there a Eureka moment that you can point to early on, maybe a play or performance you saw that sort of ushered you into the art?

ROGER: You know that I don't remember any one specific moment but I do remember first time I performed for kindergarten, there was 26 students in the class so for some reason, [the teacher] decided to do the personification of the alphabet and everyone was a specific letter and I was "Z", at first I thought that sucked but then I realized I got to close the show.

There was a lot of Eureka moments, I can't say any one stands out more than the other but I was always involved in amateur dramatics all the way through high school and before.

We used to do this stuff called the pantomime in Ireland which is a very popular Christmas show that they do in the UK and Ireland, it's a lot of like fairy tales with a lot of songs and dance and lots of musicals, lots of cross dressing.

There's always the Dame, who dresses up like— there's a guy who dresses up as usually the mother of the hero and then the hero is usually a woman playing a boy, very long tradition in the UK, we started doing that in the West Coast of Ireland for an organization called The Clear Dramatic Society that I would say it was if anything that was maybe one of my larger influences.

I started out in theater, now everybody calls me a voice actor which I'm very proud to be a voice actor but the funny thing is that Red Dead wasn't voice acting! Everybody says it's— but you know, everybody calls performances and gaming "voice acting" [and] 10, 15, 20 years ago, that was the case but it's kind of not the case any longer you know, the performance capture is as much of a part of it now if not more so, but when your work gets misrepresented though that can be problematic.

Everybody thinks if I was just in a sound booth from doing Arthur for five years you know that can actually impede my opportunities for on camera stuff because they don't understand the similarities of the performance capture and film have with each other, it's actually quite a bit in common, much more so than voice acting and film, you know.

One of the reasons Red Dead that took so long to make is because we were putting on those spandex suits with the shiny balls on and we were doing those scenes, and we rehearsed them, and we perform them until the director was happy, so it was very very similar to film or TV in that, you know, your colleagues are there, and you're you're bouncing off of each other just like you would on stage or in front of the camera and you keep doing it until it's right, that's why it took so long. Had we just been in a booth, it would have done up been done a lot quicker but, I think a lot of the little idiosyncratic details and they would have been glossed over, you wouldn't necessarily have discovered as much stuff in the sound booth by yourself as when you're out there with your friends and colleagues working on the “organicness” so the scene, for lack of a better word, I know “organicness” is not a word.

MMAM: Specifically with Red Dead I was just telling Ben, you know, I think the reason that "Voice Actor" comes out of people's mouths initially is because that's the most common practice you know, what Rockstar did and what you guys with Red Dead is not necessarily common, that's why it’s so good.

ROGER: And it’s still changing now I mean, voice acting is not going away, and some of Red Dead was voice acting I would say maybe about 10% of my work was in a booth, but that was a lot of in-game dialogue like with when you're traveling on horseback from one location to another, that would have been done in the booth. But more and more of it now is being done by Performance Capture.

Myself and Ben, you know, we've tried to do what we could to help spread awareness about that, ‘cause if you guys are kind enough to say, "I loved what you did, I really appreciated the work" you know at least we could say is, "well here there's a little bit more about what the work actually was" 'cause I love it! I love performance capture, I think it's such a fascinating medium, you know, it's in many ways it's got more freedom than film and TV because the same location can be so many diverse, vastly diverse places. I mean we would be— when we were doing Red Dead we'd be in Colter in the morning and then that evening— afternoon we're doing scenes in Saint Denis and it's the same stage, it's the same sets where [there] would be pipes and scaffolding you know all the sets would be dimensionally accurate. But we wouldn't know what it actually looked like until they animators would show us on a computer screen, but then that was invaluable, it gave us reference and then we were able to really create the environment, create the atmosphere you know, you wouldn't be swatting flies away from your face if you're up there in Colter.

Colter is the place where you have to be wading through the snow, and you have to walk accordingly you know, so we found lots of little tricks to bring forth those details to make it more authentic and to make it more immersive for the player, I think.

MMAM: We appreciate it for sure. Just to back up a little bit Roger, you did mention that you studied stage in Wales, what was the catalyst that made you eventually come back to the States?

ROGER: I had been working in the UK for about a decade. Most of it was theater with a lot of voice over thrown in too 'cause like you know having lived in so many different places I was able to do a few different accents but the impetus to move back to New York, you know, I felt like I had kind of plateaued in London I felt like you know I was booking Irish roles and I was booking American roles I wanted to get my teeth sunk into Shakespeare and it was really hard to book those jobs because the English would, you know, they stick to their own really, and they would sometimes you try to be honest and you walk into the room and your natural accent and they would think “No, this guy this guy obviously can't do it”, but so I thought “You know what? I've still got this US passport, I was still born there, why not go back and have a little bit of a stab at it over there?” and I never looked back 'cause it opened up my pigeonhole quite a bit 'cause then instead of just doing Irish and American roles now I was getting the British roles too and I was able to do Shakespeare [and] my opportunities expanded, not just because of, I think, there was more work but also because of the type of roles that I was being offered.

So yeah, I started off-Broadway and I moved back to New York City in ‘08 started working off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway pretty quickly, which was great and then you know, the voice over never really went away, those jobs always were coming and going and whatnot and in 2013 is when I first started working for Rockstar Games.

MMAM: Was Broadway a goal of yours?

ROGER: Yeah, I love to do Broadway. I've done off-Broadway a few times now, never quite— I've auditioned several times for Broadway, I'd love to do Broadway yeah.

MMAM: As someone who worked in London a lot, is there a major difference working on stage in the US as compared to the UK?

ROGER: All audiences are different culturally. We would tour Europe a lot and I would always be fascinated to see which jokes the French would laugh at as opposed to the Germans you know, and I think there's definitely a bit of that going on with the Brits and the Americans to you know.

Broadway is a great place and I think what London has in comparison would be— probably be the West End, so it caters to tourists a lot. You know, you've got some really really high-class productions in both places.

You know the American audiences are wonderful, but I found like, gosh you know, I've been doing it now for over 20 years and I have found that the advents of mobile phones and I'm getting more and more popular it's funny you'll see all the flashing screens or what what's even worse is you'll see their their faces lit up in their phones.

I remember once I was doing a show in Florida, and you know we all know Florida is pretty well known for this retirement community.

This particular show we would walk on in a blackout and the curtains were already drawn at this stage and I would always see all the lights flashing from the oxygen tanks, but they were great! they were great you know because these are all educated old folk you know and they probably lived in New York half of their lives, they're all half of them are snowbirds you know, right so they would actually be really great audiences! it was just that first moment where all the flashing oxygen tanks.

I hate to say it no the worst audiences are probably schoolkids, they’re the most honest too though, if you suck they'll they're the first ones to tell you, so in a way that they can be quite unruly when they want to be yeah.

MMAM: So what were some of your favorite roles to play personally on stage?

ROGER: Well, I did Macduff for a very long time, I enjoyed that immensely that's the problem with my favorite Shakespeare play. You know I got to have a big fight at the end of it with claymores chop off Macbeth’s head.

I also did a stage adaptation of Frankenstein I've played the monster that was a lot of fun cool yeah 'cause some of it was taken verbatim from Mary Shelley's book and there's this great scene then that where the monster grabs Dr. Frankenstein and drags him up to this mountain up in the Alps and he basically gives them the ultimatum he says, "you made me and then you just abandoned me" which really was a sh*tty move, and so he gives him the ultimatum he's just create a mate for me that's what you owe me, you just created me and abandoned me and I'm so lonely now if you don't create a girlfriend for me I'm gonna kill your family, it's quite a crazy scene and it's brutal and it's one of the most interesting things about this scene is that unlike the cinema versions of Frankenstein that we're so familiar with, is the monsters very articulate and he's as intelligent as Frankenstein himself at this stage, and he has learned to become eloquent and his vocabulary is it's on the same level as Doctor Frankenstein, so it becomes quite a philosophical argument that was one of my favorite bits.

I like doing Biff Loman from Death of a Salesman, that was a lot of fun, and you know I have to spend a lot of roles, Arthur really is, I mean I think I'm always gonna be known for that one, I'm very grateful for that.

Unlike a lot of stage stuff, that one was made out of thin air between myself and the writers and the animators, that one was created out of thin air, nobody had done Arthur before so there was a lot more freedom involved in creation of it or at least you were starting from scratch anyways which was an exciting thing.

MMAM: What were you into creatively when it comes to movies and stuff that you would consume growing up?

ROGER: Well, Abbott & Costello was one definitely. I loved movies, me and my dad would watch movies all the time, he got me into westerns, he was a John Wayne guy and me being rebellious obviously I was a bit more into the spaghetti westerns with Clint Eastwood. As I've gotten older I've learned to appreciate John Wayne and I think actually there's more John Wayne in Arthur than there is Clint Eastwood, because Clint Eastwood was kind of too stoic, he hardly said anything so I think John but John Wayne had that kind of dry, sardonic wit that I think Arthur took a page or two from that, and John Wayne you know he just had to kind of drawl […?????...] the way they would speak and move it was a bit of a swagger I think that I thought Arthur took from that.

Another really big influence was, a lot of people don't— Toshiro Mifune, I don’t know if you heard of him but he was in a lot of Kurosawa movies, he was in the Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, he was like Kurosawa's go-to leading man, he played a lot of samurais. He was amazing 'cause he could be terrifying one minute and then funny the next and you know samurais and outlaws and a lot in common specially wandering ronin samurai's, the ones that were like clanless and leaderless, you know, they're just walking from village to village, there's a lot of similarities between that and the Wild West, and I think George Lucas picked up on that and the Yojimbo and Sanjuro they eventually went on to become remakes and in the spaghetti western world they went on to become A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More, so the comparison between samurai feudal Japan and the Wild West in the US is definitely has been picked up by a few people.

Another big influence too is Rob Wiethoff who played John Marston, you know, if for no other reason I know I couldn't really do what he had done or at least try to recreate it word for word I thought I thought “no that that's not gonna work”. Cuz I was a huge fan of the first Red Dead myself and (MMAM: great voice!) I loved it! And don’t get me wrong, I mean Jack Marston great too but I sure didn't like playing as him, I miss John! I miss John, and it really changed my playing style too 'cause like once John - spoilers! - you know meets his end at the first Red Dead Redemption I just became a total outlaw bastard as Jack, I was on the rampage you know, I was an angry young kid you know, my parents are dead and I've gotta get these feds you know for what they did, so I was nasty and I thought to myself “You know, I hope people don't feel the same way about Arthur” and that second trainer came out and introduced Arthur Morgan as the lead in Red Dead Redemption 2, I did see a few comments and “Arthur who?!”, “we don't get to play as John man this sucks!” and to be totally honest with you I fully understood their feelings on that. Thankfully a lot of the fans seems to have given me a chance.

MMAM: So Roger how did your first screen opportunity, professional screen opportunity happen for you?

ROGER: Well I trained in the capital of Wales, which is part of the UK just West of England, and I went to drama school there in Cardiff, and I think my first foray into film was in Cardiff, first like doing student films as much as you do, and then some extra work for the local television there, there was a channel called S4C, they did a lot of stuff in Welsh which is kind of a Celtic language, it's like Irish Gaelic [but it's] Welsh but I would be an extra and a lot of those, I wouldn't have a clue what anyone was saying, I was just standing there they told me to stand, and then eventually I migrated to London you know because that's where more was the work was.

I started working on some British TV shows, you know bits and bobs really, most of my experience has been theater and performance capture, and voice over I would love to get into film and I am I'm starting to produce some of my own stuff now.

You know it's a very different beast the lens like the tiny focal point where millions and millions of your audiences is. On stage the audience is there, but I'm on camera the audiences right there, it's the tiny tiny pinpoint then you have to conscious of that I think when your performance where your audience is looking at you, you know.

MMAM: I've spoken with a lot of actors that started in theater that initially struggled with that transition of toning themselves down because they don't have to reach the background anymore.

ROGER: That's true, yeah, and you really do, is that's exactly everything, the camera picks up everything, sometimes you just have to think it and then the eyes will show it. On-camera less is definitely more it does take some work but I still think that theater is the best place to start off because you learn in real-time what works and what doesn't, you've learned and the timing is still similar you know if you're doing comedy or whatnot the timing is still similar, it's just the grandioseness of your performance like as you say, to make sure that guy in the back row can hear you.

Any aspiring actors should start off on stage, there's no filters between you and your audience they see exactly what you're doing and you can learn— if you if you learn to listen to them as much as they're listening to you, you can't help it get better because of that.

MMAM: I'm looking at your credit list Roger and something that— a show that I haven't thought about in a long time, I Shouldn't be Alive, I think they used to come on Discovery Channel, am I right? So were you one of those dramatizations where you know you got eaten by a shark, or a lion, or something...

ROGER: Mine was sharks yeah along time ago now. We filmed that in the Canary Islands and in Malta, it was nice locations, but yeah, that was a while back now, that was done when I was in the UK and came out on the Discovery in the US, I believe, that was when I was in the UK.

MMAM: So let's talk right [there] a little bit. Was that your typical audition or was it a 'right place, right time' situation for you?

ROGER: My agent knew that I like performance capture for gaming, cuz I had done it before so when she saw the breakdown she said “Are you up for this? I think you are” and I said yeah, I didn't know what it was. They're all the same title when you're auditioning, they're all called “Untitled Videogame Project”, and sometimes even they don't even tell you the studio, and in this particular case I knew it was Take Two but I didn't know it was Rockstar Games.

I was a little bit suspicious when they said to come in wearing cowboy boots and to have kind of a West Texan drawl, ‘cause it's just by pure serendipity I had just finished the first Red Dead Redemption about a month before this happened so I was like, “huh that's funny, I wonder if it's Red Dead” but I didn't get an answer to that question until maybe the second or third audition, by that point I knew it was Rockstar Games.

You know, it was it's very similar to a lot of other auditions, except one of the few differences was, usually you get the sides, or the lines, in advance, but with this one; no, you had to you showed up and then they gave you the page once you signed in, which has its advantages and disadvantages you know, and I think from their perspective they wanna see how quickly you can learn copy because a lot of the times you getting last minute rewrites you know, that happens a lot so I think they wanted to see how quickly you could learn something and also, of course, you know confidentiality is so important in the gaming industry they don't want— especially if it's for an existing franchise, you know, they don't want anything spoiled for the fans I want the fans to enjoy it as much as they possibly can when it first comes out, you know, so that was one of the differences from a typical audition.

And then we were working on it a while before I even got offered a contract you know, because you know, performance capture in a video game as much as it is similar to film and TV, there are a lot of differences too, and one of the differences is that as an actor, your contribution to a video game takes up a smaller piece of the whole pie than it does on film or TV, you know; what the animators do, and what the designers do, and what the engineers do, and even down to the QA guys, the guys who were looking for bugs day in, and day out, all of that stuff is vital for the development of the game and you need a bigger— a much much bigger team than on a film— most films, so that's another big difference.

But I'm just I'm so passionate about performance capture because I love the freedom, and I've seen the technology get better and better over the years too and as the technology gets better, more freedoms are given to the actor and you can do more, and as long as you learn to appreciate your animators 'cause they're— the animators on Red Dead 2 were just as valuable to me as the directors were, because they were able to answer all the questions that I had like what time of day is this? where— what's the geography? what's the weather like? so often the animators were answering those questions instead of the directors, so you know I just love the whole premise of working on a game, it's different from film you know.

In film the audience is a spectator, but in gaming the audience is a participant you know, it's more immersive in my opinion, [I don’t think many] people would argue with that.

23:29

MMAM: No, I mean you don't get to control the guy in the movie, you don't get to decide if he shoots the guy in the head. So were you given much direction for the voice of Arthur? where they kind of guide you? Or did you nail it?

ROGER: I was doing theater at the time during the whole audition process and my dresser, one of my fellows have helped me out with costume he was from Flagstaff, AZ, so he helped me a little bit and the only thing I heard from them was kind of like a West Texan, and I think some West Texan did end up with Arthur but there's some southern in there too like Louisiana, Arkansas, and I figured that was OK to have a bit of both you know, because he had traveled a lot from a young age and considering that the Red Dead the world is kind of like our world but not geographically the same, I mean it's funny you know there's references to New York and Tahiti and whatnot, but when you look at the map it's totally fictional.

So I figured that consistency was more important than any geographical accuracy to our country— to the real United States you know. He's got the soft R’s sometimes, you'll say “shoar” you know, but then other times he's quite Texan, he's kind of hard on the [R’s] you know, and that's I was going for Lubbock 'cause I've been— I'd worked in Lubbock for a while, and this feller from Flagstaff, AZ helped me out a lot too. We were doing it for five years, I would often get a little paranoid I'd be like “oh God, do I sound the same as I did three years ago?” and I'm like well let's see, and then we replay something from three years ago and I’d been like “Oh OK thanks, thanks, yeah” that was a valuable asset.

And then you got people like Rob Wiethoff and just talks in his normal voice, he's from Indiana I mean he is John Marston, he opens his mouth and that’s John. So he didn't have that problem you know.

Right. And you hear Ben Davis talk and he sounds almost exactly like Dutch

ROGER: There are similarities, yes, there are definitively.

You guys did a five years of motion capture? that's what you said?

ROGER: For Red Dead 2 yeah, and for the original cast even longer yeah, but for me five years.

Five years. Were you ever a bit worried or nervous when the game comes out we get like man I hope this is good just playing the game.

ROGER: Yeah I was terrified. ‘Cause we had no idea, we're working in complete secrecy, our NDA's were so strict and [????] that was a double-edged sword, because the advantages of that we were able to work completely unhindered, we were able to focus and concentrate just on the work and there wasn't really any distraction like people weren't calling me up 'cause they didn't know who I was so I was able to focus on it, but then the Con part of that is you know, what we did the amount of footage we put down, I think cutscenes alone, or you know or all the footage that we got as close to 9 or 10 hours they said about five maybe five seasons of a TV show? But we had no idea how it was gonna be received, there was no audience input, it was just all dumped on October 26th, 2018 for the world to enjoy or not. So we had to trust each other a lot, I had to trust the Rockstar team who had been through all that before with GTA and the first Red Dead and what and all their other amazing titles. So I had to trust them but yeah we had no idea.

I mean I remember thinking at the time as long as it's regarded as a worthy successor to the first one I'll be happy you know, as long as it's sold like as many or close to as many copies as the first one I'll be happy, and we far exceeded that.

MMAM: Oh yes. So when you first start playing, when does it finally coming over you like when you start to realize “Oh man this is really, really good”

ROGER: I don't know. I don't wanna admit to myself that it was good. I enjoyed it immensely.

Well, there was a lot of hype building up to it. I remember all those billboards popping up all over the world and people started for years you know, because of my NDA I wasn't able to tell anyone what I was working on. I would just say you know “it's a video game” after a couple of years people started to think I was he's talking out of my arse you know. [They’d go] “Are you still working on that video game Rog?", "Yeah", “How long has it been now? three years? four years? one video game?”, "OK yeah", "You know, if you're not working, we still love you pal, we think you're awesome you know, you don't have to create makeup jobs just to impress us?”

That conversation happened a few times and then the trailer came out in the billboards came out and people were like... "it's not that one, is it?" I'm like, I still couldn't say it! Once it got released— a few days after release, and once the reviews started coming in I was like “Oh OK, I guess people like it”.

28:05

MMAM:

Obviously you enjoyed the first Red Dead, you enjoy playing the game yourself. When did you when did you realize that for yourself when you're sitting there playing the game, that as a fan, that you enjoyed it?

ROGER: Oh I guess I knew I was going to enjoy it 'cause I’m huge Rockstar Games fan, I remember [I’ve always] been a fan of theirs since the first GTA, like when you were looking down from the Birds Eye view.

I remember that playing that in college, I knew I was gonna like it even if it was you know to look at the work, and not just our work, but look at all the other departments, like I mentioned before all the stuff that they had been doing in tandem with us, but unknown to us, so I was really excited to see how all of those departments worked synergized with each other, but I guess once the reviews started coming then I was like “holy cow, OK, I guess people are enjoying this” For an artist you can't ask for anything more than that, to have you work enjoyed on a scale like that it's really a dream come true to have an audience that large enjoy your work, it really is amazing.

29:04

MMAM: I mean you did a great job man, you deserve all the accolades you've gotten in regards to Arthur. I've played this sh*t out of that game and I love this sh*t out of that game and you did a great job.

Thank you man, cheers. It's probably gonna be on my gravestone and I'm totally happy with that.

MMAM: So what was the most difficult part for you about becoming Arthur, I mean aside from the five year NDA?

ROGER: Honestly, crouch running. Because you know no two studios do it the same way, but I did sometimes you'll have multiple performers during the performance capture, you'll have one guy doing the end game animations, and then I'll have the actor during the cutscenes that happens a lot, but I did everything apart from major stunts, so I all the end game animations is me and crouch-running was a *itch, that was hard.

It was like couple of days of it, because your first your crouch— you’re stealth crouch walking, then you’re crouch walking, then your crouch running, then you gotta do all those with one pistol, then you gotta do it with two pistols, then you do it with a shotgun, then you do it with a rifle, then you do it with a knife, and you do it holding a stick of dynamite, like my thighs were killing me man.

Rough on the knees….

ROGER: It’s a workout but yeah, that was the hardest part. Another hard part too, is just trying to wrap my head around— I had worked in gaming before, you know so I was familiar with the medium, but nothing at the same at this level, so I was trying to wrap my head around the differences between playing the lead in a game and a film or TV show ‘cause I knew that the player was going to be responsible for my behavior in a lot of situations, and I knew that there was going to be a 'Good Arthur' and a 'Bad Arthur' depending on on how they played and that was mostly binary, but it was kind of a spectrum too, and we did different scenes if, you know, if the player had low honor we would do different scenes and if they had high honor it would be another different scene, but sometimes they were the same scene and that was a challenge, because then I knew I had to come up with a performance that was ambiguous enough so that it would make sense either way, but yet still be truthful to Arthur.

So that was a bit of a juggling/balancing act that was kind of tricky but hopefully, I think, yeah that was but it was a great challenge, it was an interesting challenge.

MMAM: Does Roger Clark’s Arthur Morgan lean more towards High or Low Honor?

ROGER: It's called ‘Redemption’ right? I think the story is more rewarding if it's High Honor. Plus you don't have all the bounty hunters chasing after you all the time and things cost less in stores, if you have High Honor you don't pay as much for stuff. I think, you know, the beauty of it is Rockstar gives you the freedom to do it whatever way you want, but I think a High Honor playthrough is encouraged, and that should be too, I think it's more rewarding, the hint is in the title of the game you know?

MMAM: And if things do get hairy you can always resort to what you have to do you know.

ROGER: Oh yeah, and then you know and sometimes it's fun to shoot up Valentine and just leave no survivors, but if you do that just go to Saint Denis and say hello to everyone for 20 minutes you'll be fine, throw a few [fishtag?], pet a dog, no problem!

MMAM: You just mentioned you know you've worked with other video game studios before, so you can compare and contrast a little bit for us? You don't have to name a specific studio, but what is the level job from video game "Studio A" to Rockstar.

ROGER: Rockstar was is definitely top shelf. I was blown away by their level of technology compared to other studios that I have worked with.

Of course time had a factor of that too it been like a couple of years and the technology was advancing very fast, but the team all the team behind Rockstar, all the creatives and all of the tech guys and women are so talented, and so intelligent, and they we were all there and we all had a common goal and that was to create the best video game that we could so that was awesome.

Of course you know it's a very large organization too, you know sometimes it would take a while to get a clear answer from someone you know sometimes they had to go through the the levels to get an answer for some stuff you know, in other studios you don't— you can get a bit of a quicker response but for the most part I was just blown away by everyone's talent and commitment.

MMAM: So five years as Arthur. Can you take us through when you guys are recording those final moments? 'cause I believe been said before as he's walking away he's Dutch, he's actually crying, what was that moment like for you?

ROGER: We did those four endings for Arthur's you know right we did them in the fourth year I believe, and I had known it was coming for four years 'cause pretty early on we did the Thomas Downes mission— the debt collecting mission with Downes when he coughs in Arthur’s face, and that was a very specific stage direction so I was like [heck on him?] here and I'm Googling when the cure for TB was found when I put two and two together and they confirmed.

So for four years I knew what was going to happen to Arthur but I didn't know specifically how we would get our sides and usually a week or two in advance usually like a week in advance we would get our sides so I got them after four years of waiting to see how it would happen. I was very nervous 'cause I wanted to give the this characters goodbye justice, you know, I've been working on him for four years at this point. I was attached.

The first ending we did was the one where Ben was bawling his eyes out, he says he was I didn't see it, I was too busy dying! That one was that one was pretty nerve-wracking, I was very very nervous ‘cause I wanted to do it justice. It was the one High Honor helping John up on the mountain and then shortly after we did the Low Honor version of that where Micah gets you in the face and then we did the two alternative endings for when Arthur goes back to get the money. That was done in about a week and we might have returned back to do a one or two tiny little bits a few months afterwards.

But the first one the high honor helping John that was really hard, but then once I did that the other three were easier.

MMAM: Have you seen influx in your audiobook opportunities since the release of Red Dead?

ROGER: You know it's funny, yeah lot of— I'm just— I'm very— I love to work and I am hugely grateful for any and all opportunities that come my way, the opportunities that have come my way post Red Dead or not the ones that I was expecting but at the same time I'm very grateful for them you know if it weren't for audio books I don't know what I would have been doing during COVID ‘cause there was nothing else going on!

So I was very grateful for that and then I was able to work from home and be with my kids, do all those zoom school classes, right Colin?

Oh yeah! My wife is a teacher, we know all about those...

ROGER: Oh my gosh, I mean, let me say to your wife, after kind of helping her do her job for two years my I take my hat off to [her].

Oh I’ll let her know!

ROGER: Yeah, and a lot of a lot more gaming opportunities has come which I love, and I love working on— I love performance capture so much so I'm working on a game now with Troy Baker as a matter of fact, and oddly enough I mean there's some stuff I can't discuss, but this one was funny because the NDA wasn't as strict.

It's a Sci-Fi thriller set on Mars it's called Fort Solis and you can catch a trailer for it right now on YouTube. Solis is spelled S O L I S just so you know.

There was a lot of fun working with Troy we're still working on it, I don't know when it's gonna be out yet, there's talk of next year but you know, nothing official has been sent out yet, but it was a real joy working with Troy and I think hopefully we're gonna knock your socks off when it comes out.

But I just love working for on all of those opportunities that have come my way. I missed being in front of the camera though you know, it's funny I had more auditions on camera before Red Dead came out back when nobody knew who I was. The funny thing is that again I think a lot of people still think it's all done in a booth, that's one of the reasons why we've been trying to raise awareness about it because it's what Andy Serkis did on Lord of the Rings and Planet of the Apes it's the exact same thing.

MMAM: We're raising motion capture awareness here, so we're doing.

ROGER: The funny thing is like something you know some people get angry when I tell them though, that's the weird thing. It's like, "Thank you so much! Would you believe it you know most of it actually wasn't voice acting?" [and they're] like, "what do you mean? what are you talking talking about?!" They get angry— they get angry at me then! And then they tell me what my job was, 'cause they've been like, you know, some people— we still save voice acting it's like, I still call Pepsi 'Coke' sometimes.

MMAM: Yeah it's just a traditional term you know people think cartoons, guy standing in a booth doing voices, it's just that kind of thing.

ROGER: You know and there is nothing wrong with that either, and I do that a lot and I love it you know, but it's just a totally different beast, totally different beast.

MMAM: Right. Motion Capture sounds closer to theater than voice work.

ROGER: Yeah I would say so. The challenging thing voice acting is, it's usually just you, especially since COVID, it's just you and your life experiences and you've only got one tool to come up with a character and that is your voice. So in many ways I find P-Cap easier but I love the challenge of voice acting too, I really enjoy that as well.

MMAM: So Roger what's the best acting advice that someone has given you throughout your career?

ROGER: Oh man. I’ve heard so much. You gotta learn how to deal with rejection. Every ‘No’ brings you closer to your next ‘Yes’, and you book 100% of the roles that you were meant to book, you know.

It's hard, you can't take it personally, even though it is kind of is personal. You have to figure out a way not to take it personally and you know it's a fickle industry, talent is no guarantee, hard work is no guarantee, it's mostly luck and you still you know even [with] luck there's no guarantee, sometimes you need a certain combination of all three.

Now the best advice that I had ever been given is just “Work Begets Work”, that's where I've always stuck to, work begets work, because if you throw enough sh*t at the wall something will stick, eventually.

Well said. Have you seen any movies recently that have moved you?

ROGER: I liked The Batman, that was great. I watched it in IMAX and when that Batmobile starts up man, my seat was vibrating! What else? I saw Elvis, it was OK, Elvis was OK, the music is great.

But something that really blew me away? You know what I really enjoyed recently? It was Severance. It's on Apple+, Apple TV, it's a great show, that's awesome. Ben Stiller directed the whole thing, I really enjoyed that TV series’ first season, it's got nominated for loads of Emmy’s, Severance was awesome.

I had my wife [going like]: “How many things we got subscribed to now?” Oh well, OK I might check that out.

Yeah, we just had to get Hulu to watch Pray, I don't know if you've seen that but that's really good.

Pray?

It's new predator movie.

OOOOOOH YES!! And it's set in the past, right?

Mmm-hmm. 1700s. Is very Red Dead-y. You’d probably like it yourself.

ROGER: I’m gonna check that out. You know I really like— I love all of those ones, but the one that I enjoyed the most and didn't expect to was the one with Adrian Brody, I think it's called Predators.

MMAM: Yes, most recent one before this one I believe.

ROGER: That one was a lot of fun. We gotta do Predator v. Aliens next. I know there's been quite a few graphic novels of that, and I've enjoyed all of them, I think it's only a matter of time we should get out on film though.

MMAM: I think there was a Predator versus Alien movie that had Lance Hendrickson in the early 2000s.

You’re right, there was, there was!

MMAM: Another one. Why not another one?

Only one Predator survived.

MMAM: Yeah yeah yeah, giant—

And then the woman, right?

MMAM: Yeah, the giant alien brood mother at the end, they were running from it I think that's how they ended it.

And the jet just burned her, I remember it now, yeah. Those aliens are nasty.

MMAM: So Roger, is there anything on the horizon that you can tell us about without getting in trouble?

ROGER: Fort Solis! And there’s a couple of other games too, but I can’t talk about. But watch this space, if you wanna watch— keep an eye on my socials, I’m at rclark98 on Twitter and rollingrog on Instagram, and I just started Tiktok ‘cause gosh, you know, life isn't interesting enough without [more] social media and I'm RogerClarkActor on that one and I make a lot of announcements of my upcoming stuff on there.

I've started producing some short films, and we're doing the rounds with festivals with that right now and yeah, there's a lot of stuff coming up and I'm excited for y'all to see.

That's good news, but Roger has been great talking to you I'm gonna let you go get back to your family and go eat dinner and all that good stuff.

ROGER: Awesome! Yeah, I enjoyed it. Thanks for asking Justin. Alright you have a great evening.

Take care.

[goblin-gardens]

Good and right that Caldwell is a Beverly Cleary fan and sad and wrong that he's the only one on the podcast who's read the Mouse & the Motorcycle series.

[fightingoverthecardcatalog]

Ep 61 Ramona Twerks

This week we pay homage to the wonderful Beverly Cleary with Ramona and Her Father. We discuss how relatable the Quimbys are, childhood anxiety, and just...so much smoking!

Thanks for listening!

Hey, if you’ve been enjoying our show, please share it, tweet it, tell your friends and enemies. Word of mouth is the best way podcasts grow, and we would really appreciate it!

Rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and all other podcast places.

Find us on Facebook Instagram Tumblr YouTube Pinterest at Fighting Over the Card Catalog

and Twitter @ CardCatalogPod 

Jess on Twitter & Instagram @ jessdigress

Email us at fightingoverthecardcatalog@gmail.com

Check out this episode!

[hold322]

409 A sorcerer is just a wizard without a hat.

409 A sorcerer is just a wizard without a hat.

This week on The World’s Greatest Comic Book Podcast™: We remember George Segal, Jessica Walter, Larry McMurty, and Beverly Cleary. Black Widow will debut on Disney +. Pierce Brosnan will play Dr. Fate. Zack Snyder wants a sequel. On TV: Wellington Paranormal heads to the CW and HBO Max. The Battlestar Galactica reboot’s showrunner has quit. Netflix is developing the live-action BRZRKR. In…

[nwnreports]

NWNreports-weekly podcast #1

Presenting NWN’s new podcast “NWNreportsweekly” (hosted by Nathan Wayne Guerrero) in a kick-off segment that reviews the week Beverly Cleary passes away, President Biden meets the press at his first press conference, world trade meets trouble, and fiery objects fall from space. Segment: https://anchor.fm/nwnreports/episodes/NWNreportsweekly-1-etk5io Page:…

[mydogatemybookreport]

Episode Two: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

My Dog Ate My Book Report is a podcast where two weirdo thirty-somethings take turns introducing each other to a formative book from childhood the other has never read to see if the magic has held up!

This episode we read:From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweilerby E.L. Konigsburg

The transcript can be found here: EpisodeTwoTranscript.pdf

Content Warnings:

Links to things we mentioned: https://youtu.be/8jnfsldTS9o

Amy Robsart

Works of Donatello

What we are reading next!

Wren has selected the book for next week:The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary

Credits:My Dog ate My Book Report is hosted and produced by Wren and Brandon, and edited by the fabulous Derrick Valen.

The music used in this podcast was licensed by Epidemic Sound. Transcripts were generated by Otter.ai. Our icon image was illustrated by Cindy Lau.

Have a question or comment for the team?

You can find us on our website which links to all of our socials at:dogatemybookreport.blubrry.net or by emailing at DogAteMyBookReport at gmail.

We would be super excited to know what books you loved growing up!

Thanks for listening!

[firstdraftpod]

The Golden Age of Tone with Ben Blacker

First Draft Episode #239: Ben Blacker

Ben Blacker is a writer and producer known for The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Supernatural, Hex Wives, and the new Audible audio series CUT + RUN. He also hosts The Writer’s Panel and Dead Pilots Society podcasts.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

Hear Ben’s writing partner, Ben Acker, on his episode of First Draft here!

Beverly Cleary, author of Beezus and Ramona, and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 was one of Ben’s early favorite authors

Zilpha Keatley Snyder, author of The Egypt Game and The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case was another early influence

Three’s Company

The Love Boat

Ben wrote fanfiction for the TV show Scarecrow and Mrs. King

Francine Prose, author of Reading Like a Writer: A Guide For People Who Love Books and Those Who Want to Write Them, told Ben Blacker he would never become a writer

Ben and Ben wrote two spec scripts for Buffy the Vampire Slayer as some of their first collaborative

Ben wrote a spec script for Mad About You and his teacher at Emerson (who wrote for Roseanne) sent it to Paul Reiser

Dharma and Greg

Meanwhile, Ben Acker was working as an office PA for Will&Grace

Marc Evan Jackson, Paul F. Tompkins, and Paget Brewster were part of the constant cast of Thrilling Adventure Hour

Ben’s interview with Traci on The Stacks Podcast is great and you should listen to it! In fact, you should listen to all of The Stacks Podcast because it’s ALL great and Traci rules.

Len Wein who created Wolverine, Swamp Thing, editor of Watchmen, and more

Bewitched (TV show)

In this episode of Comic Book Commentary, colorist Marissa Louise explains her process for coloring Hex Wives to Ben

Hear director Maggie Levin on a recent episode of First Draft, as well as an episode of the Writer’s Panel podcast!

The Writer’s Panel started 826 LA

Ben recommends the recent episode of The Writer’s Panel featuring Mark Frost (co-creator, Twin Peaks), Steven Canals (co-creator, Pose), Harley Peyton (Project Blue Book; Channel Zero; upcoming: Child's Play) as a jumping off point to get into the podcast

Ben also loves this recently re-released episode with Carlton Cuse (LOST, and Bates Motel), Mike Shur (who got his start on The Office and then created Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn 99, and The Good Place), and J.J. Philbin (New Girl, creator of Single Parents)

The Sopranos and Mad Men are some prestige shows that ushered in a time of “showrunner auteur”

Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad

Damon Lindelof, co-creator of LOST

Marc Evan Jackson hosts The Good Place podcast, which was running concurrent to new episodes of The Good Place, the TV show — and now he’s doing one for Brooklyn 99’s podcast, too!

Andrew Reich, writer for Friends and Worst Week, created The Dead Pilots Society podcast

Dexter

Fargo, Weeds, and later seasons of Breaking Bad are shows that Ben says are representative of he and Ben Acker’s writing tone

Weeds creator Jenji Kohan (side note, I really loved the Emily Nussbaum feature profile about Jenji featured in The New Yorker and her book, I Like to Watch)

Edgar Wright (Baby Driver), Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums), Rian Johnson (Knives Out), and Greta Gerwig (Little Women) are all filmmakers Ben cites as great examples of people with very specific individual tones

Humphrey Ker and Katie Wood were staff writers for CUT + RUN, and you can hear them talk to Ben and Ben about the writing process on The Writer’s Panel!

Hear Janet Varney, comedian, writer, and co-founder of SF Sketchfest, on her episode of First Draft!

The cast of CUT + RUN is amazing and includes: Meg Ryan, Sam Richardson, D’Arcy Carden, Rachel Bloom (listen to the episode of The Writer’s Panel where Ben sat down with Rachel and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend showrunner Aline Brosh McKenna), Ed Begley, Jr.

Why would I miss a chance to mention The Princess Bride? And why not link to the book, written by famous screenwriter William Goldman

Aimee Mann and Ted Leo recorded “Dynamite Lady,” an original song to play over the credits of CUT + RUN

  I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

Listen now!

[tvguidancecounselor]

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 380: Margaret H. Willison

September 7-13, 1991

Today Ken welcomes librarian, podcaster and best all around Margaret H. Willison.

Ken and Margaret discuss shortened versions of your name, feminine flowers, post it notes, ribbons, splitting the bill, The Appointment Television podcast, Northern Exposure, Homicide Life on the Street, Highlander the Series, Twin Peaks, The New Leave it to Beaver, Murder, Murder She Wrote, Permeable vs. Impermeable, Amateur vs. professional, Bringing Up Baby, Who's that Girl?, screwball comedies, Totally Hidden Video, being a family of nerds, Larry's thievery, classic radio, model train people, pretending to be somebody else, alter egos, Spaulding Grey, Herman's Head, Avonlea, Anne of Green Gables, Little House on the Prairie, Judy Bloom vs. Beverly Cleary, being a Private Eye, focus groups, Colombo, The Charles Stuart Murder case, Rescue 9-11, the late Mayor Menino, sidescrapers, cults stealing babies, The Last Prostitute, Night Court, Quantum Leap, The Simpsons, pop culture blind spots, The Office, Poirot, being accused of thievery, why Ken is a monster, Ferngully, yuppie aspirations, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Dragnet, The Ultimate Challenge, and the Legend of Spanky Spangler.

Check out this episode!

[popofventi]

The 20 :: Your Daily Cup of Culture

"Do you remember the nights under disco lights? And the songs we’ll be singing For the rest of our lives?"  -- Son of Caesar, "Die on a Friday"

Your Daily Cup of Culture...

Hello my pretties, here's The 20 things I found on the internet worth sharing today. As usual, Your Daily Cup of Culture has a bit of everything today...including one about a little dog too. (#99 ON AFI'S 100 GREATEST MOVIE QUOTES OF ALL TIME)

1. Shh! Don't Tell The Principal - Fourth grader who skipped school to go to the Chicago Cubs' home opener with a sign saying 'shh! don't tell Principal' bumps into his PRINCIPAL at the game

2. Jared's Worst Nightmare - Introducing Bear, a Seattle Police Dog That Can Sniff Out Porn

3. Feel - "I'm just going to remember how happy I was to see him." 

4. Culture - Apparently, it takes 90 hours to make a new friend. Who has that kind of time?

5. TV - Instead of making a new friend, you could binge watch all seasons of Breaking Bad in only 62 hours. Find out how long it'll take you to binge your favorite show with this Streaming Consumption Calculator.

6. Podcasts - The 50 Best Podcasts to Listen To Right Now

7. The Worst Song In The World - But possibly one of the best ads in the world:

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8. Obligatory Coffee Link of the Day - 4 Coffee Hacks that actually work.

9. Culture - This years "most romantic trend": Smudged Lipstick

10. Social Experiment - Leaving a hopscotch game on a Seattle sidewalk to see who plays. (Most people didn’t; those who did are truly alive.):

11. Food - 'Mayochup' is now a thing. Thank you, Heinz.

12. Song of the Day - "Die on a Friday" by Son of Caesar (@SonOfCaesar :: Official Site)

2018 New Songs You Should Hear :: The Ventipop Playlist

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13. Typo - Which one of these is written correctly? (Hint: It's the seventh letter of the alphabet.)

14. Word O' The Day - 'Moasting'

15. Books - 23 Big Books of Spring

16. Interview - "I don't look a day over 80". Author Beverly Cleary turned 102 yesterday. Here's a feisty and funny interview published around the time of her 100th.

17. TV - TLC's reboot of Trading Spaces returned to record ratings.

18. Test Takers - For the SAT and ACT, pencils are no longer required.

19. Culture - Where does the Pope get his socks?

20. Facebook-Free - Embrace your Facebook-Free life the Conan O'Brien way:

If you find any peace and value in what I do, any donation, big or small, means a lot and helps keep spreading the positive vibes.

ONE-TIME DONATION

You can make a single donation in any amount you choose by clicking the button below.

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Grind #179

[bookjawn]

Ep 52: (Writer Jawn) "I didn't set out to write a book about grief." (Melissa Jane Osborne)

Sarah interviews Melissa Jane Osborne actor, screenwriter, and author of The Wendy Project about her gorgeous and devastating adaptation of Peter Pan. 

 Books discussed: 

Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Patterson

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

The Complete Works of Shakeseare

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama

SEND US COOKIE RECIPES:

Book Jawn Website

Book Jawn Twitter

Book Jawn Tumblr

Book Jawn Facebook

Theme music written exclusively for Book Jawn Podcast by Joe DeGeorge. Visit him at joedegeorge.com and tell people about him!

Art by Ramsey Beyer, see more of her work at everydaypants.com