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Hello everyone. It’s been a while since I wrote. I’ve had some personal issues that have really affected me as of the year before, and haven’t been resolved. It was a traumatic experience that I didn’t intend to happen, and that’s why I decided to seek help. Between televisits (no, not BetterHelp) and physical therapy for my chronic condition, it’s kept me busy. As of late, I now have two part-time positions that are taking up the majority of my time during the week, which is why I’ve had little time for reading, and having to postpone videos for the weekends. I’m trying my best to complete an online writing course, working on my stories, and reaching out to other avid readers and authors to hopefully get my podcast up and running again. When one door closes, another one opens. ‘. I’m trying my best to complete an online writing course, working on my stories, and reaching out to other avid readers and authors to hopefully get my podcast up and running again. When one door closes, another one opens.
That’s what happened as of late. One author was kind enough to reach out to me earlier in January, and had the publicists send me the arc of this recent publication. I was in the middle of reading and was hoping to hear back as this author was abroad and seemed to agree to be interviewed. Suddenly, I was told this author was completely booked throughout the year. I wrote them and the author back to let reiterate what was stated, and I hope to finish the book and be able to interview this author once there’s an availability. Out of the blue (literally), I heard back from another author of many months ago in silence, and we’re looking into a future interview in late July. (fingers crossed). Hearing back from this author in particular made my evening last night. Her first story is one of the best stories next toe Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”.
On April 4, 2024, the Audible Original of 1984 premiered. This audio drama- I can’t express how incredibly AWESOME this was to listen. I’m not a fan of audio book recordings, but this novel was “dramatized” by Joe Wight, and had the best performers as the main characters- my favorite actor, Andrew Garfield as Winston Smith, (the use of “exaggerrated breath” is his specialty to add emotional trauma); Cynthia Erivo as Julia (like the character “Trinity (The Matrix) she’s very direct and precise); Andrew Scott as O’Brien (like the late actor, Cyril Richard as “Hook”, sinister voice choreography on his part); Tom Hardy as “Big Brother” (Commanding Dictatorial Voice); I was just introduced to this actor-comedian, Romesh Raganathan as Parsons (character appears to be positive, but like Winston, very unsure of his position. Like Carol Burnett in “Friendly Fire”, I didn’t see this coming. A comedian has just as much power to make people laugh, and even more powerful to make people cry.) The music was cowritten by Matt Bellamy and Ilan Eshkeri- this reminds of music by Hans Zimmer- very apocalyptic, epic themed techno-orchestrations that build-up to cliff hangers.
I read this story to my former students, and so after listening to the audio drama, I decided to make a video combining both of them together. I introduce the viewer with a performance “hook” based on a rhyme the character Winston Smith recalled, and sings in this version. Then I go into the story, including how certain story elements relate to other sci-fi stories, like “The Hunger Games” and “Fahrenheit 451”. I then tell a little of my own history growing on the audio read-along stories, and the power of voice actors behind the microphone, both for audio and animated films. I then go briefly over radio drama history before discussing my review of the Audible Original premiere, detailing each actor’s unique theatrical power to their character, and a brief stint on the power of propaganda, a universal tool for empowering division amongst people. As I state in the video, “they pulled out all the stops” and this was “a stellar performance”. I give this 5 stars.
The last part I posted was the hardest for me. I just hope the right person reaches out as I got scammed twice, which caused me emotional trauma.
Becca B. | The Book Dragon 