English Podcasts |

Chris Novel writer - The Last Drop

The Last Drop is a hilarious story of how oil is accidentally discovered on a small and up-to-now, unexplored island in The Persian Gulf by two bumbling brothers.

The brothers first inherit a bicycle repair shop from their father who is killed when he falls asleep on a nearby beach - it's a long story...

Then they acquire a strip of land from their terminally idle, uncle Hilaal, who is tragically killed whilst trying to cool off during a particularly ferocious heatwave.

Rashad has learnt English by watching 1970's police series, "The Sweeney" and sees himself as the incarnation of Inspector Jack Regan, seizing each and every opportunity to exercise his own brand of cockney rhyming slang and dubious English language skills.

All is pretty much ordinary in the brothers' lives, until one day, in an uncharacteristic burst of energy, Rashad takes up the work on an abandoned water well, started by uncle years before ...

Life changes for the brothers overnight.

The novel is available to buy here and there is a synopsis to give a little more detail about the book.

Chris is based in Toulouse, France - the idea for the books that he has written have all come about via a challenge that is laid down every November (Chris has done this for four years) calle NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month.

NaNoWriMo is a bit of a misnomer as it is a thoroughly international affair, with tens of thousand of people taking part from all over the world. The idea is to write 50,000 words in 30 days - easy...

If you would like to try NaNoWriMo here is a link - it is free and a lot of fun, and who knows, you could have the next bestseller in you.

Chris' second book - "The theft of Souls." will be published in early 2016.

Simon Duke Crime Fiction Writer

SIMON DUKE was born in Stoke-on-Trent (UK) in 1979. He obtained a B.A. in French with Film Studies in 2001 and has been working in journalism ever since.

He currently lives in Toulouse, France. 'Out of Bounds', his first novel, was published in 2014.

'The Perfectionist', his second book, will be launched on 19 January 2016. To find out more visit http://simongduke.blogspot.com "

Here's the back cover blurb for 'The Perfectionist':

"Iowa, 1988. An unidentified severed head is found rotting in a corn field. Confronted with this gruesome discovery, Gerry Stokes – an arrogant and obnoxious newspaper reporter – agrees to cover up the affair. But the truth can't be concealed forever. 

More than twenty years later, Stokes must finally atone for his errors as the past returns with a vengeance. Forced into an investigation to discover what happened all those years ago, he stumbles upon a sordid truth: the victim is one of many; people seemingly chosen at random across America by a serial killer at large for more than two decades; a killer with a unique and horrific modus operandi who’s flown under the radar. Still at large the killer seeks to achieve artistic perfection in his methods of execution. He is "The Perfectionist".  

While tracking the killer under the cloak of FBI suspicion, Stokes sets himself an ambitious target and potential path to fame: write a book that leads the police to the killer, a first in the history of publishing. 

The stakes are high and the pressure is on. Stokes is in the race of his life to discover The Perfectionist's identity and publish his bestseller, while forced to bend the notion of what is ethically right.

 Here's the longer synopsis for 'The Perfectionist': http://simongduke.blogspot.fr/2015/02/synopsis-perfectionist.html

The ebook for 'The Perfectionist' is already available for pre-order on Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble.

Here's a link to my first novel, 'Out of Bounds' (paperback): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Bounds-Simon-Duke/dp/1495929906

Here's a link to my first novel, 'Out of Bounds' (ebook): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/out-of-bounds-simon-duke/1118931454

Chris' Jokes - Episode 2

Back by popular demand (at least that is what Chris told us to write) is Chris with a handful of fabulous jokes in front of an adoring crowd (he told us to write that too...)

An Podcast interview with two members of the rock band The Boston Shakers, who are in France for their annual holiday, where they talk about living in a foreign country and their life and music in Liverpool, England.

The Huge Music Intros Quiz - a fitting way to end 2018 with a mega quiz that you can play with friends and family.A hundred well-know and less well-know intros of popular songs to test the most ardent music fans.Think you know music?Then try our quiz - we are sure it's going to test you.A very special guest has agreed to talk about the EFL PodBlog team and our quiz too, which was a bonus for us.How quickly can you name a piece of music when it starts playing? Within the first minute? How about after the first few notes? Welcome to the ultimate EFLPodBlog intros quiz…How well do you know your music?Well enough to name a piece after just hearing the introduction?Just like in pub quizzes everywhere, we've put together the ultimate intros quiz.Test your knowledge below – and let us know how you get on!If you would like the answers to the quiz, then leave a comment below and we'll see what we can do ;)Above, all, we hope that you enjoy it!We all love quizzes, right? But why do we love them so much?It is becoming increasingly obvious that our culture has developed an insatiable desire for new quiz formats and different types of gaming,' said Glenn Wilson, a psychologist at the University of London. 'People now feel they are entitled to their 15 minutes of fame and that, combined with the current get-rich-quick attitude, means the idea of appearing on television to compete for these huge cash prizes is appealing to our society like never before.'We must specify, that there are no prizes for this quiz, just a huge amount of kudos to those that get at least 80% of the answers correct.Enjoy this quiz? Try this quiz outPS - the introduction interview is just meant as a bit of fun - we are totally non-political

Cannes film festival 2018 opening night

Cannes film festival 2018 opening night - have you heard about the Cannes film festival ? What are the images which come to mind? Glamour, the red carpet, champagne and movie stars?

In this podcast, a cinema 500 miles away from Cannes tried to reproduce the same glitzy atmosphere and the EFL Podblog was there to enjoy the experience. Listen to what the cinema goers had to say about the glitz and glam before going into the cinema and then their impressions of the film on leaving.

The opening of the Cannes film festival is always a big event and this year the film Nobody Knows opened the festival. This film is part thriller, part family drama starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. The plot starts when Laura (played by Penelope Cruz) returns to her family home in Spain After years in Argentina, for the wedding of her younger sister, Ana. She has traveled from Argentina with her teenage daughter, Irene, and her young son, Diego, though the kids’ Argentinean father, Alejandro, has remained at home.  During the wedding celebration a family drama occurs which then ignites old scars, tensions and deep feelings within the family and notably with an old family friend played by Javier Bardem.

You can watch the trailer here to get a feel of the story line.

The Cannes Film Festival has its origins in 1932 when the French Minister of National Education wanted to set up an international cinematographic festival and the first festival was planned for 1939, however the outbreak of World War II put an end to this plan. So the first Cannes Film Festival saw the first light of day in 1946 when 16 countries were presented.

Nowadays there are 20 films in competition for the famous Palme d'Or, which is awarded for the best film. In total there are 21 awards given ranging from the usual ones for best actor and actress to the more unusual Palm Dog awarded for the best canine performance.

In general the films in competition are a showcase for European and other foreign language films in an attempt to counterbalance the power of the American blockbuster genre.

In spite of the arty seriousness of the films in competition the atmosphere of the festival is one of glamour with a capital G, and before the showing of each film the actors, directors and other members of the production team have to parade in front of a huge bank of photographers, walk the red carpet and then climb the iconic festival steps....... just as the "podcastees" did in a cinema in Toulouse !

 

See this quiz  too to learn extra vocabulary about films.

A British comedian in Toulouse

Andy Pudding (it's his stage name, not his real name) is a comedian, living in Toulouse, France who does a stand-up comedy show called "Mad in France" and another that he is refining.

His comedy revolves around his first-hand observations of living in France and especially living in Toulouse and is a hilarious mix of song and jokes, which both British (or any expat perhaps) and French audiences can identify with.

Have you ever heard of Boudouism? Not Buddhism ...

If you live in France, have you ever had to wrestle with the French administration?

Can you imagine any of the specific problems that you could run into as a non-French (or even a French) citizen?

If you don't, catch Andy's shows to find out.

We really enjoyed speaking to Andy and sincerely hope to do more podcasts with him in the very near future.

If you haven't seen Andy Pudding's shows, then have a look on YouTube or if you are in Toulouse, go to one (or more) of his shows - you won't be disappointed!

Catch him also on Facebook

Andy is also compère for an evening of stand-up comedians, guaranteed to make you laugh your worries away - in English!

Come and laugh yourself silly with stand-up you can understand 100%. All this in the cosy comedy club atmosphere of L'Entrée des Artistes, a convivial bar/restaurant attached to the famous theatre – La Comédie de Toulouse.

Discover new stand-up talents in a show hosted by "Mad in France", Andy Pudding. Andy will present brand new comic talents in a relaxed open mic atmosphere.

Andy is hoping that this will be a regular event (and so are we...)

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