Month: January 2017

Podcasts – the new radio

There was a time when I habitually listened to the radio – magazine shows, music, and even – in darkest times – talk-back. Nowadays, it’s podcasts.

At best, radio is immediate ( it usually beats TV to breaking news, for example ), and can be a mine of information. It’s a companion by proxy, and there’s a low-level intimacy with favourite hosts.

At worst, it’s full of aging-remedy ads, and dinosaurs whining about ‘PC gone mad’ . Wealthy breakfast hosts masquerading as ordinary blokes make soothing noises and cheer on callous right-wing governments.

podcasts - the new radio But for me and many others, podcasts – an audio format only available online – signal goodbye to all that.

So What’s the Attraction?

Tags ads, audio content, companionship, infomaniac, lifelong learner, marketing tool, podcast, podcast popularity, radio

Seen and Heard

Ernest Ranglin

Via a friend, who sent the link with this explanation;

Ernest Ranglin pretty much invented Ska guitar playing. Most famous for his guitar playing on ‘Little’ Millie Small’s ‘My Boy Lollipop’ in the early ’60s. He’s also played guitar for Prince Buster, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Jimmy Cliff & a heap of others This is the album of his I have entitled “Below The Baseline” – an amazing performer. Saw him when he supported Massive Attack & Horace Andy back in the early ’90s .

Food Random Thoughts

Beware First Reactions

In a grumpy bid for privacy, I went op-shopping today for curtains.

I live within rolling distance of a river which is a regular fishing and swimming spot for some of the landlord’s whanau. It’s summer Down Under, so school is out, which means they visit regularly, which means I sacrifice some privacy.

Tags assuming the worst, fish, generosity, goodwill

Food

Healthier Eating via Embarrassment

Post author By Rosencrantz O'Dowd
Post date January 26, 2017
No Comments on Healthier Eating via Embarrassment

chapati bread with avocado lettuce tomato and garlic

For the last year or more, in an attempt to make up for past excesses, I got fastidious about diet.

The excesses are a back-story for another time. Enough to say for now that apart from quaffing way too much, I’d been a smoker for years. So in addition to low-level neurosis, I was below-par physically. The ( even ) older version of me was in for Grim Times.

So when a friend loaned me a copy of T Colin Campbell’s The China Study it lit a spark. The back cover quotes The New York Times’ reaction – to the original study – which it says ” … can be considered the Grand Prix of Epidemiology…”.

My txt reaction was briefer.

Tags avocado, cancer, chapati, drinking, farting, pita, smoking, The China Study

Dad Fashion Music

Aging Less Disgracefully – Iggy Pop gets his gear on

Post author By Rosencrantz O'Dowd
Post date January 26, 2017
No Comments on Aging Less Disgracefully – Iggy Pop gets his gear on

The above is Iggy Pop, performing for a US talk show audience, recently.

Note the understated suit jacket, and white shirt. Along way from the famous 1970 image at the top of this post – blue jeans, topless, black boots – a signature look he sported right into the 20-teens.