Additionally, by including extra material along with the main story, we’re able to test the idea of using one programme as a jumping-off point to explore further content, something which will be useful to our friends in the BBC Voice + AI team. In general, college is a hard adjustment for most people but all things can feel too difficult without a solid foundation. Sahara’s struggle with her mental health was heavy and made me cry! Chukwu's style and format were incredibly creative and pertinent . . . I'd like to petition universities in America + Britain to give this out as a "Things You Should Know Before Applying"' 5* En el que la desintegración ya aparece nombrada y se convierte en uno de los letimotivs dominantes, a partir de ahí mi experiencia me ha llevado a estos textos; a estos momentos íntimos en los que el británico es capaz de describir desde la variación de las pausas el progresivo deterioro por la enfermedad; nada hay común en lo que cuenta, y no le importa opinar sobre la inutilidad de la compasión:

Chukwu meticulously and brilliantly balances tough topics like depression with biting comedy, crafting a narrative about a young woman trying to survive and help others do the same' ShondalandI wasn't sure where the book would go and it almost felt inevitable, but I think that the narrative is carefully handled, making Sahara's experiences seem realistic but also probing the depression-fuelled idea that there's no support out there. Some of the real ridiculousnesses of university and especially in the way that elite institutions deal with tragedy and injustice are very pointedly depicted and The Unfortunates really shows that the dark side of academia many people experience isn't some "dark academic" plot, but mundane inequalities, unfairness, and bigotry.

Christopher Fowler (18 October 2009). "Forgotten authors No.40: BS Johnson". The Independent. Archived from the original on 20 June 2022. While we were thinking about this split, I happened to have a chat with creative technologist and friend-of-R&D Tom Armitage, who mentioned BBC Radio 3’s 2010 dramatisation of The Unfortunates, originally a 1969 experimental novel by B.S. Johnson. We dug into it a little more, and found a perfect example of a story we could bring to smart speakers, creating something which would sound and interact like a traditional radio programme but also take advantage of new technology.Coe, Jonathan (2005). Like a Fiery Elephant: The Story of B. S. Johnson. Pan Macmillan. p.257. ISBN 978-0-330-35049-5. Deze meneer kan dat niet, die heeft zijn jeugd al ver achter zich gelaten en daarmee zijn fantasie en inbeeldingsvermogen, als hij die al heeft gehad ooit. De volgende zin was voor mij doorslaggevend: 'De ham, even het belangrijkste nu, vetvrij, openvouwen, vochtig wit en roze, ah, en dan happen, zoute genietingen.' While he’s due in court for the final hearing which is likely to acquit him of any charges, Grant has other plans.

i think: yes this book in a box certainly raises many questions, but in this case questions that are a pleasure to contemplate. to fully appreciate this novel is to recalibrate what usual readers value in lit- this is prestige literature- this is not plot, not setting, not theme or characters, independent of how it is told, the ceaseless conversation within the narrator's head, the monologue that is not edited or organized, that has perhaps found its correct form in randomness... This book was so thoughtful and I truly loved my entire reading experience. I heard comparisons to Disorientation, one of my favorite books so it makes sense why I loved this. Sensitive topics such as body image, depression, and micro-aggressions were explored well. The author is also a visual artist so this book features art and multi-media aspects which I found very powerful.

The Unfortunates

Our other main challenge was managing the sheer number of audio assets necessary to render the skill’s interface. We decided early on that using the system Alexa voice wouldn’t work for this skill - we needed to use a human voice to talk to the listener. We wrote a script for the skill, derived from the VUX flow work, which broke down into 48 separate spoken chunks. We then had to record, edit, master, encode and upload those sections of speech while keeping them tied to the script so that the skill could play the correct chunk of speech according to where the user was in the conversation flow. We ended up writing a set of simple tools to do this that relied on a master script held in a shared spreadsheet. As audio assets moved along the production pipeline, we edited and updated the spreadsheet, which was then read by the tools to generate data files and encode and upload those assets. hij had een uitstekend hoofd voor zulke historische trivia, is dat het goede woord, nee, details ook niet, voor mij misschien trivia, voor hem belangrijk, of vermeldenswaard, als dat belangrijk is, wat ik betwijfel, voor mij, maar hij had een uitstekend hoofd voor zulke details, zijn hoofd zat er net zo vol mee als het Rijksarchief met documenten, kijk, een fraai beeld, misschien wat goedkoop, maar het was ook ongeveer even efficiënt, ordelijk, zijn hoofd, (...) terwijl het in hem heel regelmatig opborrelde, scherp geformuleerd, constant, met een hoge constante: kennis, geleerdheid, informatie, soms misschien traag, maar hoe gretig hij een gesprek aanging, bedenk een beeld, nee.' Por primera vez parecía realmente enfermo, había síntomas exteriores, físicos, se le veía diferente, no era él, estaba peor. La cara parecía seca, la piel como empolvada al descuido, en ciertas partes, de repente tenía menos pelo, había grandes copos de caspa de un gris amarillento y se le notaban un poco más los dientes, porque había perdido peso, seis kilos o más. La respiración, también, le había cambiado, hablaba haciendo grandes pausas, para suspirar hasta el límite de los pulmones, pausas antinaturales, asintácticas, que daban a las palabras énfasis y dramatismos extraños, un patetismo trivial, además de esas otras pausas para sorber un trago y humedecerse la boca, para ejercer manualmente la función de las glándulas salivales. Cuando todo le iba sobre ruedas, cuando acababa de lograr lo que siempre había querido, eso creo yo, la podredumbre, todo un proceso de podredumbre concentrado en dos años, menos de dos años, para qué, caray, ¿con qué fin?” The Unfortunates is a boxed series of stories between the first and last chapter. It does not matter how your stories are placed, the story will be the same. I have read The Unfortunates twice, each reading revolving the stories; and in each revolution I received the same conclusion. This is the point of B.S. Johnson’s intention, to take the chronological method away from the norm of reading a novel. He does so remarkably.

Een uitspraak die voortkomt uit een beperking, als je het mij vraagt. De stelligheid waarmee de bewering wordt geponeerd maakt bovendien dat het neigt naar een testimonium paupertatis. Ni cómo murió, ni de qué murió, ni mucho menos por qué murió tiene interés alguno, para mí, sólo el hecho de que murió, que está muerto, es importante: la pérdida para mí, para nosotros” When you think of an Alexa skill you don’t necessarily think of visuals, but we did need some artwork to represent the sections on devices like the Show and the Spot, which have screens. Andrew and Joanna created some beautiful artwork, using abstract photography and projection to create images that reflect the feel of each section without destroying the ambiguity of the piece. Als ham eten op een bankje het belangrijkste is, dan weet je dat je definitief hebt verloren van het leven. Our version of The Unfortunates is free to use. You can find it by asking Alexa to ‘enable The Unfortunates’ or on BBC Taster.The book is absorbing, and author J.K. Chukwu uses great sensitivity when exploring things like sexuality, body image, depression. That really puts a cramp in any attempt at review, since to review is to generalize, don’t you think? And, hey, isn’t Johnson generalizing by saying that generalizations are lies? Not how he died, not what he died of, even less why he died, are of concern to me, only the fact that he did die, he is dead, is important: the loss to me, to us"