Categories
Random Thoughts

Losing Patience With A Friend

He weaves around the corner,  grinning and ragged in the rain, like a familiar smelly dog you don’t want to touch.

He is pleased to see me. I am not pleased to see him.

His left hand wields a can of something that will make the average person barf after three or four. He wears dirty cut-off blue jeans and a wet white shirt.

Categories
Current Events

America – still ‘the Greatest Country on Earth’ ?

Now that a man many have called a clown is running his Oval Office Show,  how much less might we hear the old line,  “America – the Greatest Country on Earth”?.

Aside, that is, from wealthy ‘liberals’ who claim to be leaving in Trump’s wake,  and American Democrats unable to stomach the loss.  There are no doubt many others mulling over –  at least in private – whether the Orange-haired One is a signpost on a downhill road.

Categories
Random Thoughts

The Kindness of Strangers

adult waifMaybe I looked like an adult waif, a figure who commands pity sooner than  anything else.

Categories
Current Events

America – still ‘the Greatest Country on Earth’ ?

Now that a man many have called a clown is running his Oval Office Show….

[ This article is complete but on hold pending publication elsewhere ]

Categories
Seen and Heard

The Mysterious Secrets of Uncle Bertie’s Botanarium

This comic audio series, with its strong New Zealand influence,  is a welcome change to the teeming US-influenced content on offer.

Featuring Jemaine Clement (Lord Joseph Banks), Lawrence Arabia (Solander) and Jonathan Brugh (Narrator). Written and directed by Duncan Sarkies. Music by Lawrence Arabia. Original artwork by Stephen Templer.

Categories
Podcasts

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 radioBut for me  and many others,  podcasts – an audio format only available online – signal goodbye to  all that.

So What’s the Attraction?

Categories
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 .

Categories
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.