Brian Price – författare

Considers the films of Michael Haneke, who has emerged as a major figure in world cinema over the last fifteen years.

Austrian director Michael Haneke is recognized for films that explore the most pressing social questions of our time while simultaneously pushing the boundaries of style with innovative visual and sonic practices. On Michael Haneke is one of the very first and most extensive considerations of Haneke’s work. Editors Brian Price and John David Rhodes have gathered contributors whose own work combines critical inquiry and close formal analysis to explore the philosophical, historical, and stylistic complexity of Haneke’s films.

This volume is divided into three parts, beginning with "Violence and Play," in which contributors explore the relation in Haneke’s films between violence and playfulness that complicates questions of media, representation, and morality. Essays in part 2, "Style and Medium," investigate Haneke’s stylistic innovation and the ways in which he can be seen as indebted to previous traditions and filmmakers, including the Italian neorealists, Alfred Hitchcock, Antonioni, and Robert Bresson. Part 3 addresses questions of "Culture and Conflict" by looking at the cultural and historical problems suggested by Haneke’s films and exploring the relation between culture and film style.

On Michael Haneke is both an introduction to the work of a major figure in world cinema and a model for modern media criticism. Scholars of film and television studies, cinephiles, and anyone interested in contemporary film culture will enjoy On Michael Haneke.

Since we first arrived on the planet, we’ve been telling each other stories, whether of that morning’s great saber-tooth tiger hunt or the latest installment of the Star Wars saga. And throughout our history, despite differences of geography or culture, we’ve been telling those stories in essentially the same way. Why?

Because there is a RIGHT way to tell a story, one built into our very DNA.

In his seminal work Poetics, Aristotle identified the patterns and recurring elements that existed in the successful dramas of his time as he explored precisely why we tell stories, what makes a good one, and how to best tell them.

In Classical Storytelling and Contemporary Screenwriting, Brian Price examines Aristotle’s conclusions in an entertaining and accessible way and then applies those guiding principles to the most modern of storytelling mediums, going from idea to story to structure to outline to final pages and beyond, covering every relevant screenwriting topic along the way.

The result is a fresh new approach to the craft of screenwriting—one that’s only been around a scant 2,500 years or so—ideal for students and aspiring screenwriters who want a comprehensive step-by-step guide to writing a successful screenplay the way the pros do it.

Since we first arrived on the planet, we’ve been telling each other stories, whether of that morning’s great saber-tooth tiger hunt or the latest installment of the Star Wars saga. And throughout our history, despite differences of geography or culture, we’ve been telling those stories in essentially the same way. Why?

Because there is a RIGHT way to tell a story, one built into our very DNA.

In his seminal work Poetics, Aristotle identified the patterns and recurring elements that existed in the successful dramas of his time as he explored precisely why we tell stories, what makes a good one, and how to best tell them.

In Classical Storytelling and Contemporary Screenwriting, Brian Price examines Aristotle’s conclusions in an entertaining and accessible way and then applies those guiding principles to the most modern of storytelling mediums, going from idea to story to structure to outline to final pages and beyond, covering every relevant screenwriting topic along the way.

The result is a fresh new approach to the craft of screenwriting—one that’s only been around a scant 2,500 years or so—ideal for students and aspiring screenwriters who want a comprehensive step-by-step guide to writing a successful screenplay the way the pros do it.

A full-cast comedy production recorded live in Minneapolis

Cyber Bob is the ultimate old-school computer pro. There isn’t a system out there that he can’t hack with just a couple of punch cards, so he’s ideally suited to answer the question the Silicon Kid and Nadia, the most super of all supermodels, want answered: Is the Kid a boy or just another $200 billion android?

A full-cast comedy production from the Great Northern Audio Theatre

Linda Kim Shelmerdine discovered her considerable powers during her hormonal years (the Sun was having similar problems then). But she read the superheroes’ guide books, and her years in 4-H helped too.

Now fifty-nine, SpaceGirl is somewhat disillusioned with the way superheroism is viewed these days, both by the public and by other superheroes. But she takes her job seriously and enjoys the occasional vacations at her crater-side retreat on the moon.

Her PR guys, the Hungarian Dwarf Parade, take her side at the hearings and fight for her when the lawsuits start, but there’s only so much they can do to keep her morale up.

A full-cast comedy production recorded live at Convergence in Bloomington, Minnesota

Villains on Parade, starring Chuck McCann, Wally Wingert, and the rest of our usual troupe, features an evil sorceress, bumbling henchmen, the annual Storming of the Castle, the Plunderers Day Parade, the Lost Orc Commentaries, and other extreme silliness. The bad guys have their say, and the pros take the stage and bring down the castle.

Additional pieces include a closeup of the Plunderers Day Parade and “Unrelated Random Short Form Bad Guy Cliché Community and Dinner Theater” (the title is almost longer than the bit itself).

A veritable cornucopia of silliness and misinformation, Jokes in Space will give you the latest on abandoned warehouses, dead Tribbles, interstellar disasters, Internet get-rich scams, and tips to sell your planet in today’s competitive marketplace.

Jokes in Space was performed before a live audience, and the listener is assured that no plots were used or harmed during the making of this production.

A full-cast comedy production from the Great Northern Audio Theatre

David Ossman of the Firesign Theatre returns one last time to the live, raucous stage to play Cyber Bob, who leaves his position as cart-wrangler at the Mart to lead a digital expedition into the digital glade in search of the beautiful yet elusive Digital Nymph.

There’s a history between the two, and they aren’t playing … well, they are playing games. And when the Nymph asks if Cyber Bob wants to “take the leap,” there’s only one answer for the old campaigner.

A full-cast comedy production from the Great Northern Audio Theatre

A stolen dream-driven dirigible, an evil steam-powered spider, and a Styrofoam grail all have the fair dream mistress Princess Doyle à la Carte and the decidedly bubbly Count Pierre d’Orc on the run beyond the overtaxed capacity of their Heisenberg Hyperextended Reversal Dream Drive.

Steampunk and other steam-like stuff take a bath in this Brian Price and Jerry Stearns satire. Thwack That Dirigible features special appearances by the Tonight Show’s Wally Wingert, Transylvania Television’s Gordon Smuder, and the Hungarian Dwarf Parade.

A full-cast comedy production recorded live at Convergence in Bloomington, Minnesota

What does it take to jump-start an economy? Why, consumers! So what do politicians do to jump-start an economy? They create millions of new consumers by emancipating creatures and monsters, real and fictional. But is the public ready to accept creature-made entertainment features? What do politicians care?

A full-cast comedy production from the Great Northern Audio Theatre

Treasure hunters board a three hundred-year-old generation starship, the Professor Irwin Corey, in search of legendary jewels. As usual, they find pirates, adventures, adorable children, and plenty of squeaky toys.

A full-cast production recorded live at Convergence in Bloomington, Minnesota

The Ramon Raquello Orchestra was supposed to get their big break that night in 1938, on Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater show, but they kept getting cut off. The rest of that program became famous. Still is. But what happened to the band? We join them many years later at a reunion, and it seems that they can’t seem to escape the influence of the Martians.

A full-cast comedy production recorded live at Convergence in Bloomington, Minnesota

Peter Galaxy and his sidekick, Dr. Simon, used to be big stars on the radio. Now they’re just two retired actors playing cards on the front porch and riding herd on the grandchildren. But can these two old-timers find work for three hundred billion illegal aliens? Yeah, we wondered about that question too.

We’ve always wondered what would happen if two of our favorite worlds were to collide. When Star Wars veteran and Dr. Who alumnus the late Michael Sheard joined David Ossman of the Firesign Theatre (and the voice of Mark Time himself) on stage, we found out: the universe got funnier. That’s valuable information.

A full-cast comedy production recorded live at Convergence in Bloomington, Minnesota

Pangborn arrives unexpectedly on a lighthouse in space, startling the caretaker and his wife. Then Ripley shows up, looking for Pangborn. Then Ripley’s father, space pirate Captain Squid, arrives looking for his daughter, and he doesn’t like finding Pangborn there too.

Soon they all discover that the lighthouse is about to be smacked by an approaching passenger space cruiser unless they can do something. A hot bath is suggested.

Will they all escape destruction? Will they find out who the father of Ripley’s baby is? How much of this can actually happen in only a half-hour show? Only the listener knows for sure.

A full-cast comedy production recorded live at Convergence in Bloomington, Minnesota

The rogue comet Skippy is headed right for Big City. The mayor is looking for a superhero to save everyone, but most of them are busy at the moment. Super Pal is discussed, but he isn’t their first choice. In this superhero mockumentary, we hear about Super Pal from his friends, his agent, and his girlfriend, and we find out about his childhood.

A full-cast comedy production by the Great Northern Audio Theatre

Drummer Crowley is finally able to build the house he always dreamed of, a geodesic dome in the woods. That’s because they finally released on CD the three albums his band, Bent Sunshine, made back in the 1960s. He hires a carpenter and enlists his son and daughter-in-law to help, but they find that the inside of the dome seems to contain a different world. Drummer is feeling better than he has in years, and that carpenter? Well, she’s starting to look awfully cute.

A full-cast comedy production by the Great Northern Audio Theatre

Mack Brown remembers all those old Tumbleweed Roundup movies he saw as a kid and wonders what happened to them; they don’t show up on late-night television or in video stores anymore. Driven by nostalgia, he begins to search for the missing films.

As he hunts down this elusive piece of his childhood, Mack visits an old friend, finds one of the cowboys who made the original films, attends a gathering of the Tumbleweed Roundup Reenactment Society, and finds himself caught up in a conspiracy.

Permafrost is an unincorporated (and entirely concocted) town on the logging road, off the gravel road, off the county road from Big Falls, in Koochiching County, Minnesota. It went into the unusually hard winter of 1887–88 and never came out. Oh, it isn’t frozen in time, it’s just frozen.

There is what is called a “microclimate” around Permafrost. About two square miles around the town and a lake are below freezing all year round. It doesn’t get bitter cold even in winter, or warm even in summer, just freezing, all the time. It’s no wonder Permafrost is the ice-fishingest place around.

Permafrost, MN is an audio serial in thirteen three-minute episodes about the people who live and work in the town. Together they tell about one important event in the history of the town, and each episode tells a part of this tale with a short story of its own.

You’ll meet Finch Shelmerdine and her parents who run the Frozen Filet Cafe. You’ll hear from Bux Hootkins, who lives in Permafrost but has a place in Texas that he visits in the summer because he likes the extremes. You’ll find Melody McCleod, Permafrost’s mail carrier and town gossip who, if there’s not enough to gossip about in a small town, just makes it up. Then there is Les Decksia, town historian, who claims he remembers the threat of a thaw back in ’69. And they are all a little nuts to live in a remote and frozen place like Permafrost, Minnesota.

This is a very Minnesota program, with likable characters and humorous situations and events, written, produced, and performed by Minnesotans and richly enhanced with original music and sound effects.

Permafrost, MN is one of the plays from the Great Northern Audio Theatre, which creates its own unique, original brand of lighthearted, comic stories that evoke the inventiveness of Firesign Theatre and the sophistication of Norman Corwin, celebrated American creator of radio drama.

Permafrost, MN performers include Irene Ruderman, Donna Alexander, Don Cosgrove, Rebecca Fay, David Hennessey, Dean Johnson, Carolyn Press, Mark Sulander, Jerry Stearns. Original theme music is by Mike Wheaton. Radio music is by Darren Callahan.