Download the Best Full Audiobooks in Classics

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day trial. Contact me for any questions: inforeq17@gmail.com

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day trial. Contact me for any questions: inforeq17@gmail.com

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day trial. Go to http://audiobookspace.com/free Title: The National Lampoon Radio Hour, March 13, 2004 Author: Richard Belzer Narrator: Richard Belzer Format: Unabridged Length: 36 mins Language: English Release date: 03-13-04 Publisher: The National Lampoon Radio Hour Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 2 votes Genres: Comedy, Classic American Publisher's Summary: Enjoy this kind of sick, twisted humor? Well, there's more where this came from! Check out the National Lampoon Radio Hour archives by clicking on under periodicals. ©2004 Network One Radio Contact me for any questions: inforeq17@gmail.com

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day trial. Go to http://audiobookspace.com/free Title: The National Lampoon Radio Hour, November 27, 2004 Author: Richard Belzer Format: Unabridged Length: 33 mins Language: English Release date: 11-27-04 Publisher: The National Lampoon Radio Hour Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes Genres: Comedy, Classic American Publisher's Summary: We apologize for the delay in bringing you this week's edtion of the National Lampoon Radio Hour After the holiday weekend, things are running smoothly once more. Contact me for any questions: inforeq17@gmail.com

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day trial. Contact me for any questions: inforeq17@gmail.com

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day trial. Contact me for any questions: inforeq17@gmail.com

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day trial. Contact me for any questions: inforeq17@gmail.com

Listen to the full audiobook free with a 30-day trial. Go to http://audiobookspace.com/free Title: Jonathan Winters in Character Author: Jonathan Winters Narrator: Jonathan Winters Format: Original Recording Length: 29 mins Language: English Release date: 09-14-17 Publisher: Phoenix Books Genres: Comedy, Classic American Publisher's Summary: Emmy Award-winner Jonathan Winters proves once again that he was one of the greatest performers to ever grace this galaxy. His impersonations of famous personalities, from Jimmy Carter to Marlon Brando, will put you away - which Jonathan said is, after all, what they did to him. We thank Jim B. Contact me for any questions: inforeq17@gmail.com

What we cover: "Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." -- Samuel Beckett   I have known Elle Wild for the better part of the last two decades. She and I were ad copy writers together in Vancouver. And what I most admired about Elle, was that she always had a side project on the go. She always had a screenplay underway, a radio show to produce, or a treatment she was drafting. At a time in my own life when I desperately wanted to be living a more creative life on my own terms, which is one of the pitfalls of a career in advertising – for as fun and exciting as the work can be, at the end of the day, it’s a business and you are working for your client -- Elle felt light years ahead of me.   I have been so proud to sit back and watch her blossom into this incredibly well-respected figure in our nation’s literarti scene and this past fall with the release of her debut novel Strange Things Done, a title inspired by the opening lines of the Robert Service poem "The Creation of Sam McGee", I was one of the stoked attendees at the book’s launch. In the days since, Strange Things Done has gone on to be a #1 best seller on Amazon in Canada, for its genre – which, if you know Elle, is all about “noir”. The afternoon she and I chatted, she was on her way to a glamorous event to witness the unveiling of the nominees for the prestigious Arthur Ellis Awards, and sure enough, Strange Things Done was indeed shortlisted, and she will find out on May 25th at a ceremony in Toronto if her book is the winner of Best New Novel. Ironically, and a little bit of background, in 2015, Strange Things Done won the Arthur Ellis Award in the category of Best Unpublished Crime Novel. Well, now, it’s published and it’s out there doing its thing, and it was nominated again. Ours is a conversation less about the specifics of the book, although we certainly do cover that, and I assure you, it’s a page-turner and a nail-biter, and all those other things we say about books we just can’t put down, but more than that, ours is conversation about what it requires to take a creative risk. To leave a career trajectory behind and to throw caution to the wind, and to head to Canada’s north to write a crime novel. Writing a book is the ultimate metaphor to tackling any big goal – much in the same way that running a marathon serves as a symbol to life’s big undertakings. So whether you have artistic longings, or athletic longings or entrepreneurial longings, this is a conversation that is universal in nature. "There are strange things done, in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales, That would make your blood run cold." -- Robert Service's The Creation of Sam McGee   MJDionne.com

What we cover: "Just take one small step --- every day." -- Matt Hill   There are some people on this amazing planet who you just know when you meet them are the ones who are on a mission to make it an even more spectacular place than it already is. Undeniably, one of those people is Matt Hill.  A much sought after voice actor, he’s well known as having played Raphael on the Ninja Turtles, he’s Tender Heart the Care Bear, he’s Ton Ton on the Netflix and DreamWorks series DinoTrux, he’s Ed on Ed, Edd, and Eddy. He’s kind of everywhere. Which is no surprise because he is tireless. But he’s more than just enthusiastic and energetic -- he is joy filled, he oozes integrity, he is kind, and he takes action.  In May, 2008, he and his friend, Steph, embarked on an unthinkable journey; on a tour they named The Run for One Planet Tour, which would ultimately see them run from Vancouver, on the west coast of Canada, to St John’s Newfoundland on the eastern most tip of Canada, down to the state of Florida across to the state of California, and back home to Vancouver 369 days later by running a marathon each day, every one of those days. The purpose? To connect with kids, and to remind them to be kind to the planet. By that end of that gruelling yet joyous and unparalleled year, they had connected with more than 50,000 students and completed more than 22,000,000 steps… Thereby serving as the real life reminder that every great goal requires a commitment to taking that one next step, and then that one next step, and then that one next step.  You don’t have to be a runner or an athlete to get that what Matt has accomplished is a metaphor for us all – for anyone who is playing with the idea of a Big Hairy Audacious Goal. No matter the objective, it’s about taking that first step… and then not stopping until you’ve taken 21,999,000 more. This year, nearly 8 years after the initial tour wrapped, Matt and Steph were recognized with a Governor General Meritorious Award – for bringing honour to their home country, Canada. And on the day this posts, Monday, May 8th, 2017, in the city of Vancouver, it is the official Run for One Planet Day – a day set aside to get active, and to take action.  Matt being Matt, an unstoppable force, will be running through the streets of Vancouver from 8am to 8pm. If you’re in Vancouver, swing by the Terry Fox Monument in front of BC Place for his 8am send off or for his 8pm finish at the same place – an intentional location, in light of the fact that Terry remains to this day the single biggest inspiration in Matt’s life, just as he is to so many people across Canada and around the world.  A quick admin item about Terry Fox, Matt and I talk about him and the work of the Terry Fox Foundation, the uber-well-respected organization dedicated to cancer research. We were unsure of the amount that has been raised in Terry’s name and we made a guess and we were way off… When you hear us talk about it, just know the actual amount is closer to $750 million.  If you can’t join Matt from where you are, send him a shout-out on social media. Reach out to him on Twitter at: @MattHillInspire. Or on Instagram at: @MattHill_Inspire. Cheer him on from wherever you are. We are posting this episode a day earlier than we usually do, so that we can rally as much support for this stellar human and his “Let’s Be Good to Ourselves and to the Planet” message as is possible. MJDionne.com

What we cover: "You can do this. You will do this." -- Gary Robbins Every once in a while you have a conversation with a person – a person so exceptional, that’s the only word for it – that the stories they tell are universal in that they tap into the humanity of it all. Gary Robbins is one such person and the conversation we had is one such chat. Despite the fact that Gary is as decorated an ultra-distance runner as they come, this is an episode that explores deeper themes. A one-time self-admitted professional partier, Gary eventually traded in the cans of beer for a pair of running shoes, and embarked on a journey of personal transformation that is astounding to say the least. He walks us through what it felt like – the courage it took – to walk the road less travelled, to leave his home in Newfoundland in search of a non-traditional life and the decisions he had to make in order to stay true to that journey. He talks about the value in being in the right relationship when it comes to achieving an authentic life. And more than all this, he gives us a candid and inside look at quite likely this planet’s most mysterious adventure race, recently popularized by the Netflix documentary of the same name: The Barkley Marathons, a 5-lap, 100-mile course through the most unforgiving Tennessee terrain and in often-times the most bleak conditions imaginable. Gary, a two-time racer in this sadistic endeavor, walks us through the gritty details, what goes into preparing for it, how he handles the times of darkness – and his mantra: “You can do this. You will do this. You can do this. You will do this.” It will be a while before my fingernails grow back. He is an epic storyteller, which comes with being an east coaster, I suspect. To give you a sense of just how arduous the Barkley is, in its 30 years of existence, it has seen only 15 finishers. Fifteen. And yet today, people around the planet clamor to be selected as one of the 40 athletes who participate each year. And while he certainly shares some vivid and heart-stopping imagery, the details which actually occasionally made me feel physically ill on account of the sheer depths of suffering one has to subject themselves to in order to even finish one lap of this event – at the end of the day, this is a conversation about what it takes to create the person we want to become. And isn’t that something we can all relate to? This is, without a doubt,a peek into the mind, the toughness and the motivation of someone who is truly exceptional. That’s the only word for a guy like Gary Robbins. Well, that and titan, of course. MJDionne.com

What we cover: "Everything is perspective." -- Jennifer Heil A few months ago, my friend Susanne Biro, Guest Titan Episode #6, put together a dinner party of six people who didn’t necessarily know one another, but who she all thought would hit it off. And guess what? It worked! Jennifer Heil was one of the people seated at the table, and I instantly fell in love with her. She’s a three-time Olympian – both a gold medalist and a silver medalist – and she’s wise and humble and approachable. I obviously pounced on her and begged her to be a Guest Titan. Better still, turns out, she lives not far from me at all – so getting her here was all the easier. She walks us through the chronology of her time getting to Salt Lake in 2002, Italy in 2006, then Vancouver, in 2010 and the life lessons she picked up along the way.  This is a conversation about focus, about commitment to the process, about the power of visualization, about getting back up when you’re going through times in your life when the way you feel emotionally and psychologically might instead dictate you’d rather curl up on the couch. It’s about having the tools to know that if you want something bad enough, it’s up to you figure out how to make it happen. It’s about being grateful in the moment, and experiencing joy in the moment. It’s about pushing yourself beyond what you ever thought was possible for yourself -- Jenn is truly one of the most driven, accessible, inspiring, intelligent, big thinking people I’ve ever spoken with. To this day, she is the only skier to have completed the Skiing Grand Slam, winning every title in her sport. Yes, she’s a gold and silver medalist. But she’s also a four-time world champion, she’s had 58 World Cup podium finishes, and she’s won five overall World Cup Championships. She knows what greatness is – and she gives us a candid, behind the scenes look at the psychology behind what that takes. MJDionne.com  

What we cover: A few years ago, a friend of mine made me a mixed CD. One of the songs was Snow Patrol’s “Just Say Yes”, and it resonated the most for me on that playlist. “Just say yes. Just say there’s nothing holding you back.” We are so conditioned, as planners, and as a Type A list-makers, and as do-ers with goals and full daytimers, to say “no” when something we hadn’t necessarily seen coming is presented to us. If it is going to require exertion we hadn’t planned on having to exert, or thinking we hadn’t planned on having to think, or making plans we hadn’t planned on having to plan, we say “no”. We come up with reasons why it won’t work or why we can’t. I’m not talking about having the ability to avoid biting off more than we can chew. When you say no to things that do not serve you, when you say no to that which depletes you, that is a whole other story. That is to be commended. I am talking about having an ear that is so finely tuned it can tell when the sound you hear is opportunity knocking, and the time to answer the knock with a “yes!” and not a “no” is now. Because sometimes that happens – sometimes something so big, so exciting, so ginormous lands in our laps, only we’re too caught up in the weeds to notice the potential for the blossoms. We say: Oh, how can I possibly squeeze that in?! How can I possibly go along with that?! How can I possibly, with all I have going on right now, make room for that?! Our job, however, as they say, is not to ask “how?” our job is to say “yes”. Like Snow Patrol. Just say yes, just say there’s nothing holding you back. So, when a dear friend of mine, called me on the weekend and spontaneously let me know of an opportunity that had presented itself, my first reaction – on a visceral, gut level – was to think “no, this isn’t the right time for me.” That opportunity? Well, due to the last minute cancelation of a fellow participant, one spot had become available for one person to join a group of approximately 20 entrepreneurs and thought leaders for a week of big thinking and unforgettable life experiences on Sir Richard Branson’s private estate, Necker Island. Did I want the spot, she asked me? If I did, she would put my name forward to the decision makers, but I needed to act fast.  When I talked about it with Chad, and we quickly identified the logistics of what we’d need to solve for me to take off to an exclusive and remote locale in the British Virgin Islands, Chad said something that changed it all for me. Knowing that I’d love to do a trip of this nature “someday”, he said: “Jo, you’re not getting any younger.” Ugh. Now – I know for a fact he didn’t mean it in a derogatory way. Neither of us begrudges or bemoans the aging process, it’s a privilege denied to many. But he meant it in a way to remind me that time is finite. Maria Beyon Ray says: “Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in an eternity. We have only this moment. Sparkling like a star in our hand. And melting like a snowflake.” So, in just a few weeks, I’ll be boarding a plane to Dallas, and from there, one to San Juan, and from there one to Tortola, and from there, a small boat will zip me through the Caribbean Sea to Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island, where for one week, I will be surrounded by a group of the most formidable do’ers and dreamers: The change makers and rule breakers and forward thinkers – those people who know what the German poet Goethe said is all too true: “Anything you believe or think you can, do it. Boldness has genius, magic and power in it.” So, this weekend, one a weekend equated with rebirth for so many, Easter Weekend, no less. I made like Snow Patrol, and I just said yes. Because there’s nothing holding me back.  MJDionne.com

What we cover: "The cave you fear to enter, is the one that holds the treasure." -- Joseph Campbell   A few years ago, Chad and I were with another couple at the Vancouver attraction called Playland. We were in our ‘20s and we thought that going on the famously rickety old roller coaster would be a good idea. And it was,… until, about 90% of the way through the ride, the engine – or whatever it is that lies at the heart of a roller coaster’s propulsion – broke down, and we were essentially stranded on the tracks. If I had to estimate today, I’m pretty sure we were only there for about 10 minutes or so. And thankfully, we were right-side up, and not suspended, head-down in some sort of horrible inversion when this happened. Nonetheless, I suffered a debilitating panic attack. In that moment, everything for me changed. I went from being the kind of person who felt completely free to try anything and do anything, to the kind of person who first needed to consider how long I might be in an enclosed space without the ability to take my exit at a time of my own choosing. Because what happened on the roller coaster turned out not to be a one-off. Rather it would be the first in a long-line of what I can only call panic attacks, because I’ve never figured out what else to call them. What I have endured all these years, isn’t claustrophobia, per say. If I am in a small space and know I can come and go as I please, there’s no anxiety. If I’m in the same small space and someone else is left to decide when I can leave – it’s a significantly different outcome. I have an irrational fear of being “stuck”. Last week, when Chad and I were in Mexico, we made the decision to experience what is called a Temazcal; a beautiful and ancient spiritual ceremony conducted by a shaman in a sweat lodge type environment. A Temazcal is meant as a purification process: Purify the body, purify the mind, purify the soul. The Temazcal is essentially a cave – it’s like a circular dome – and hot volcanic rocks are placed in the centre with participants seated around the rocks. Leading up to the ceremony, in my mind, I was sort of prepared for a 90-minute sauna, perched above the ocean, on a backdrop of native Mexican drumming. When we arrived, I casually mentioned to the shaman that I certainly meant no disrespect but I might need to come and go a few times throughout the ceremony, if I were to experience any panic. This woman, who exuded all the calm and wisdom of the ages, gently and lovingly and firmly explained to me that what we were about to experience was a very intricately designed healing ritual. It was important for me to feel and acknowledge the negative emotions, not to run from them. When I run, I give those feelings permission to return. In short, in many ways, she was inviting me to stare my panic down. I trusted her – nothing about this setting was physically unsafe. The Temazcal was expertly constructed, this wasn’t just some makeshift structure sort of thrown together at a whim – for all intents and purposes, it was a miniature church -- and the heat itself would not be unbearable. The only obstacle I might face would be the darkness of my own mind. And sure enough, there it was. As soon as the doors closed – that awful wave of dread. The thought of sitting there for 90-minutes in the pitch black, unable to leave was too much. In the quiet, before the ceremony even began, I said: “I’m so sorry, I can’t do this. I have to leave.” And while I most assuredly could have, I wasn’t being held against my will, and there were no locks on the doors, she instead invited me to stay: “Breathe through what you’re feeling. Inhale and exhale. Focus on your breath. And remember,” she said: “Fuerza! Fuerza! Fuerza!” Strength, strength, strength. Every once in a while, the perspective shift hits when we least expect it to and when we most need it to by a trigger we just didn’t see coming. For me it was “Fuerza! Fuerza! Fuerza!” Suddenly I was in a staring contest with this monster that I had allowed to follow me for the last 18 years, and I knew I was going to win. Strength, strength, strength… Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Joseph Campbell said: “The cave we fear to enter is the one that holds the treasure.” And here I was, not in a figurative cave, but in a literal one, experiencing a miraculous shift from the height of anxiety to the height of euphoria. MJDionne.com

What we cover: “Surf the cosmic wave.” – Nancy Johnston Not long ago, I had an email from a good friend in London, Jennifer Cameron, letting me know that her good friend, Nancy Johnston, would be coming to Vancouver for Vancouver Fashion Week. And that not only did she have an incredible story – one that would shape her as someone who can rise time and again in the face of adversity – but that she is the creator of a brand that is literally knocking the fashion world on its socks. (Mixed metaphor?) Before we get into the awe-inspiring brand, Tengri, we get into what makes Nancy – Nancy. With a past straight out of an Oscar winning movie, she is the personification of self-made. Her family fled Vietnam in the mid-1970s, taking up in a Malaysian Refugee Camp for a full year just before she was born in Los Angeles when the family first arrived in the United States.  Her life in LA wasn’t easy – she and her siblings didn’t have toys, violence was right outside the front door, high school stabbings weren’t unusual. And in her early years, when her parents couldn’t secure childcare but still had to earn a living, Nancy was brought to the sweatshop where her mom was employed and she too was put to work on the factory line. But as she tells it, even at the age of 4, she was excited to be there – to earn her own money. This is a woman who gets the notion of owning her perspective. It’s this perspective, this taking life by the horns, this propensity for not looking back but for instead just focusing on moving forward, on being a do-er, that has bode her well. And, after initially pursuing an education in pre-med, landing instead in pharmacy, then ultimately in social work and in the charitable sector, and making her home in London with her British husband, she acknowledged a long-time pull to the vast and desolate terrain of Mongolia. She arrived as a traveller, and soon, the idea for Tengri was born. So, what is Tengri?  Well, you’re going to love the concept. While staying with a nomadic yak herding family in Mongolia, she saw firsthand their struggles. She understood that combed yak fibre was a commodity that was simply not being utilized in the way it could be. She knew she had to do something so that these combings, these fibres, typically considered “waste” could be deemed of value in the fashion and luxury goods supply chain.  So she got to work and created a brand. Launched in 2014, Tengri is a London-based globally-conscious company that creates sustainable luxury knitwear and yarns from the Mongolian yak fibres. It’s as soft as cashmere, it’s breathable and hypoallergenic. Yet it just wasn’t being used to the degree it could've been.  Today, Nancy and her team work directly with more than 4,500 nomadic herder families in Mongolia, and with the best designers back in the UK, and the result is a 100% transparent supply-chain process.  Tengri has been listed as one of the Top 100 businesses in the Sustainai100 guide. Tengri fashion pieces are now carried in Selfridges. The brand has a presence on Saville Row, which is pretty much as big as it gets. And Nancy herself was listed as one of 20 Women in Luxury to watch as well, as presented with the Asian Women of Achievement Award in the category of entrepreneur.  When I ask her which of her pinch me moments feels most surreal – having a window in Selfridges? Designing luxury bedding for The Savoy Hotel? – no, it’s none of that. It’s seeing the lives of these 4,500 yak herding families in Mongolian improve dramatically.  That’s the kind of person Nancy is. She’s self-made, and she’s bringing thousands of others along on her rise. And she’s not even 40-years-old. MJDionne.com