Voices in My Head

There are a number of vices that have plagued humanity from the beginning. Sung in tales and sagas since music was invented in the night of history—Macbeth’s ambition, Othello’s mistrust, Jack Sheppard’s obsession to fix everything but himself—that allowed stories to unfold and audiences to be moved and entertained. If I were to convert myself into the dramatic, I would have to give myself a flaw along the lines of Frankenstein, Nemo, or Faust, who possessed a desire for knowledge that fuels a self-destruction if unchecked. I hope that fictional me would be more like a Batman or Doc Savage, able to use that drive for good while keeping the self-destruction in check. Elijah Snow would be ideal, a man whose curiosity worked for the greater good. The real me’s flaw is much more minor, wanting to know more than I have time to consume.


As mentioned before I discovered that in 2010 I was infected with Anglophilism (?) And as any good imaginary medical doctor, I went off to investigate this flaw/ailment. After some unmedically sound thinking, I have come to conclude that the source of my unconscious desire for paper products of the Enchanted Isles of Britain are the podcasts I listen to.

If the Internet has provided anything to me is giving me on demand radio. There is much to be said for video/movies/television, but to get one’s head wrapped around something, nothing fits the bill more than a group of people chatting around a table somewhere, recording it and posting in on the web so they can be reheard via my headphone in a different time and space. My only exception would be a well written book.

Over the past year I have followed a number of podcasts on ideas. What I have found that the podcasts that engage me are American (Ted, Big Think, NPR, CSPAN, Entitled Opinions), Australian (ABC Radio, Clive James, Natalie Tran), and largely British (Guardian, BBC). The result is that most of the books I hear about are British (or ancient Europeans). So when I go looking for something read I end up reading Robbie Burns or some other bloke from the limey islands.

My lack of Canuck is sad, but I really have only two programs from Canada about books that I listen to— Writers and Company (which is really about international books anyways) and The Next Chapter (which I don’t really like the format). I also enjoy Allan Gregg and company, but it seems to have a short season as I go through them very quickly and find myself waiting for episodes. Also, there are British people on W&C and AG&C which sort of stops the flow of Canuck really.

There must be more than just the CBC, CPAC, and TVO doing long format radio discussions in Canada. I have attempted to Google and Bing for such topics. The problem is that I find one shots or very poor quality discussions. Any suggestions on where I can find Canadian idea/book talk content?