A podcast about global cultural explorations. We venture into the unknown to discover more about the world and fill in some blanks in our atlas of culture, art, history, entertainment, literature, technology and much more. Each episode we choose a new theme to inspire our explorations.
Episodes
Sunday Feb 09, 2020
Sunday Feb 09, 2020
In this first In Brief interview of the Northern France series, James speaks to Bean, one of the Woodyard co-ordinators in Calais. They distribute around 50000 kilos of firewood every month to refugee camps in Calais. We talk about how Bean came to be there, why firewood, and how the situation seems to them currently.
Tuesday Feb 04, 2020
Tuesday Feb 04, 2020
Welcome to our new format! "In Time" episodes will react the events in the moment. "In Depth" will continue our thematic explorations into culture, and "In Brief" will be bursts of short form content: interviews and audio moments.
In this first "In Time" episode, we start a special mini-series on Northern France. James is between Calais and Dunkirk, working with refugee organisations and taking a look at the situation there, and reporting back directly to Wolf, and also to you, dear listener.
In this episode, James sets out how he came to be there - involving some theatre (of course), a little chance, and a message on a toilet wall. Listen in to hear the full story, and and to find out about what's coming next in this special mini-series.
À bientôt!
Wednesday Jan 15, 2020
Wednesday Jan 15, 2020
In the final episode of Season 1, we explore the intense physical world of Contact Sports. We hung up our boots shortly after realising we weren't cut out to be bashed around, so we sit in the studio and muse on others who put their bodies on the line in the name of sport. We chat to Alex, the founder of LFC - Lesbian Football Club, and how she and her team-mates embrace physicality at a community level. Plus a little science behind aggression in sports, and a look at some sports new to us: Kabbadi and Roller Derby. Tune in and have your ears pummeled by the physicality of our mighty podcast!
We'll be back later in 2020, with some new topics and new ideas!
Friday Oct 04, 2019
Friday Oct 04, 2019
Bonus pod time! Announcing Episode 6: Contact Sports, and how you can get involved, plus rounding up some feedback from episode 5.
Wednesday Sep 18, 2019
Wednesday Sep 18, 2019
In this episode we explore alcohol. Don't worry it's not just us jabbering away after a few drinks, we have been looking into the complex cultural role alcohol has around the world. Plus, Homer Simpson, Terry Pratchett, Homer's Odyssey, Moldovan wine cellars, and the World Health Organisation. We explore the history of alcohol, how human beings discovered it and developed it. We look at how important alcohol is socially, whilst looking into the health costs of alcohol and how dangerous it can be, as well as what different societies are doing to counteract that. How do we choose to live alongside? Let's find out.
Thursday Aug 08, 2019
Thursday Aug 08, 2019
In this episode, we explore what Time means to us, by looking at science, and the practical side of time, and then exploring real time in the moving image, by looking at Christian Marclay's legendary video installation 'The Clock', as we all Run Lola Run and High Noon. We also explore To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, a novel that explores the incredibly minute details of life in time, and contrasts them with huge events in world history. We look at perceptions of time in the Denis Villeneuve film Arrival, and in T.S. Eliot's 'The Four Quartets'. Plus! The Cricket World Cup, Gojira, and Bernard's Watch for a fully eclectic episode. Join us to explore Time, and share your feelings on Time with us!
Monday Jun 17, 2019
Monday Jun 17, 2019
In the third episode, we explore A.I. past, present and future. We run through a brief history, and a cultural history to take us up to the present day. We speak to Sheila Hayman, a documentary film-maker who has been making films and conducting research about A.I. since 1985. We explore the limits and the possibilities of AI currently and things to watch out for in the future. We take in Asimov's I, Robot, Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, Her, Metropolis and much more. We take an in depth look at gendering of Voice Assistants. Plus a quick catch up on Mountains, a visit to the U.K. from one D. Trump, and a few of our favourite robots. Happy listening!
Theme music by Thore Yaw
Go to our website: https://thegreatunknown.podbean.com/p/episode-3-artifical-intelligence/ to explore our research more.
Tuesday May 14, 2019
Tuesday May 14, 2019
In this months episode we will travel the globe examining the link between Mountains and us. We are very lucky to have the wonderful Te Arahi, from New Zealand, on the show talking about the bond between people and Nature. We also discuss the Romantics and the Sublime, the religious significance of Mount Kailash, the process of measuring mountains and lastly examine the seven highest summits on the seven continents. Join us as we marvel at the majesty of Rock and let us know which mountains mean the most to you and which you’d most like to visit or climb in the future?
Friday Apr 19, 2019
Friday Apr 19, 2019
In the first episode of The Great Unknown, Wolf and James explore the theme of fire, by looking at fire watch towers in the U.S.A. Arcade Fire music videos and the 2018 Korean film Burning, directed be Lee Chang Dong.
Written and Produced by The Great Unknown
Theme for The Great Unknown composed and performed by Thore Yaw