The Finndego's Greatest Hits

There are memorable and unmemorable songs. Memorable songs invariably take us back to one of three things. These are a time, place or a person and most of the time all three. Not long ago Pearl Jam came to New Zealand. I didn't go, but the build up meant that the radio stations were playing a lot of Pearl Jam songs an it took me back to my time in Korea when I first heard of them and also to Holland where they HUGE and where I did get to see them in concert. Good on them for still being out there and doing it.

Anyways, this got me to thinking of my own music anthology. Just like everyone else certain songs put me into certain places and I started putting those songs into a list. I've had different phases in my life and some are music rich(Holland,for example) while others are music poor (Colorado). I also discovered that most of the music I know was "given" to me by someone else. If I trace my own music history I can easily see the music that I learned from other people that were in my life at the time. Pearl Jam, for example, was from my roommate Brett who also gave me Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana and They Might Be Giants. My mate Dave gave me Iron Maiden. Luckily, it was easily curable with Penicillin and a dose of David Bowie. Leonard Cohen, I remember, was Dr. Bart. We were at someone else's house actually and going through their CD collection,as you do. Anyways, we came across Leonard's Greatest Hits album and Bart said "what a great album"and I said "never heard of him". Bart gave me a look somewhere in between "are you serious?" and "are you an idiot?". Dr. Bart put it on and gave me the ol' "what a great songwriter Leonard Cohen is bla bla bla..." speech. Don't get me wrong, I like having Leonard in my life but that's just the thing. Cohen is a divisive figure, in the sense of people either like him or hate him. If Bart hadn't "given" him to me I might not have ever met him. It's sort of like the people who have either heard of Jeff Buckley or not. If you know of him you like him. I've yet to meet someone who didn't like Jeff Buckley, so thank you Merijn. Just a side note on crusty ol' Cohen. If you have a copy of his greatest hits, on the inside cover he has little notes for each song like: "I wrote this song while watching a sunset on a ferry from Sardinia to Corsica while making love to two Swedish tourists who taught me all I needed to know about love and politics. I'll always be grateful to them for that...and the sandwiches." I made that up, but geez, what a tosser!

Some songs take me more to a person. I can't hear "Peaches" without thinking of Thirza and Tivoli and the first column on the right or Rob wanting to be able to play "Wish You Were Here" on guitar or "Happiness is a Warm Gun" and Michiel.

Some are just time. Black Sabbath was just hammered on the the boats in Alaska over and over and over again. Little Feat, Harry Chapin and Gordon Lightfoot are just representations of the music that was being played in my house in the 70's. We weren't a musical family" in any sense of the word but I do remember having Elvis Presley and Elton John albums in the house.

Some have a sense of uniqueness like KISS which was the first album I bought because a friend of mine at school liked them and we used to rock out in my bedroom playing air guitar on the tennis rackets or Guns and Roses Appetite For Destruction which I bought in Guam for no reason in 1987 a good year or two before the album took off. I was quite proud of that one!

The last type are a bit more abstract. Tori Amos, for example, is just a representation of learning to be friends with women platonically instead of being friends with women hoping like hell to have sex with them. There is no direct connection between the two but somehow they are linked and even I don't know exactly why. Tori is also a bit twofold. I like playing music that reflects how I feel at that moment. If I'm happy, something like the Beatles work. If I'm going out for the night, Chemical Brothers are usually good. Canned Heat is good for a long drive. If you're bummed out and got some heavy shit to work through Tori Amos is really good for that, for some reason. Other people like music to put them into a mood but I can't do that. If it doesn't fit where I'm at, it doesn't work for me.

Going into the new year and having gone through my 40th birthday this year I'm probably guilty of being a bit retrospective but I went and made a musical anthology on Grooveshark that covers a lot of these songs which I've put here. Listen if you like and see if it puts you anywhere but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't, but then again everyone has their own list anyways.

Cambridge, New Zealand. Where Nazis go to party

Going into 2010, can we officially proclaim it totally uncool to dress up in Nazi gear under any circumstances? It's just not funny or cool anymore, people! I don't believe that we should legislate against this sort of tomfoolery, but I would like to see these mental deficients taken to their closest RSA, VFW or synagogue and let the old boys have a go at them like they used to back in the day. It might be these boys last chance to kick some fascists asses, even if they are poseur pussy fascists.

Merry Christmas!

These Christmas cards are available from http://www.esty.com/.

Here is a bit of brain candy if you've got some spare time:

Here's a cool little piece NZ Book Council using text from New Zealand writer Maurice Gee's Going West. The funny part is that I've never seen this in New Zealand but found it on one of my favorite websites Boing Boing.

Here's another piece from Boing Boing that I found. It's a lecture from primatologist/anthropologist Professor Robert Sapolsky from Stanford University about the "Uniqueness of Being Human".

And the hits just keep on coming from Boing Boing. Two quircky pieces about God and Adam at the Sistine Chapel.

Everyone I know knows I love guns as much as I like a good kick to the nuts. Here's a good story about gun nuts spreading their wings into other policies. Here is a related story that starts to make me scared. And here is a video that definetly scares me.

Down with the sickness

The other day my beloved Red Sox went out and signed Marco Scutaro from the Toronto Blue Jays. Before he could be signed he had to go through a special workout to ensure that he was fully recovered from plantar fasciitis‏ that had plagued him the at the end of last season. I didn't know what that was but it sounded serious. I'm not so sure my team should be signing a guy with an affliction that sounded so serious. So I looked it up on medicinenet.com. Turns out it's an inflammation to the foot. The name is actually overrated when compared to the seriousness to the affliction. I then proceeded to get distracted by medicinenet.com and went looking for other cool disease names and which ones I might like to get. Here are some of the ones I've found:

- Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm : Next time I call in sick to work I'm using this one. "Ah, yeah sorry boss I've got abdominal aortic aneurysm and I won't be coming in today."

- Aches Pain & Fever : The Trifecta! Every other commercial in America tries to sell you a pill for this. God forbid they should every find one that works. They might lose profit margin.

- Amenorrhea : We wish

-Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Otherwise known as Lou Gehrigs Disease. How cool is it to have a disease named after you? Mine would probably be lame. Mark Anderson's Disease would likely lead to the chronic inability to shave or something.

-Landau-Kleffner Syndrome: Doesn't have the same ring as Lou Gerhig's does it?

-Hydrocephalus: Sounds like an allergy to Greek Mythology

-Agoraphobia: You mean it's not the fear of 70's carpet?

-Latex Allergy: Also known as "Catholics"

-Achondroplasia: Just a side note on this. I refuse to be offended by the idea of Dwarf Tossing until the dwarfs stop allowing themselves to be tossed. (The clip is a must see. A 9.5 on the unitentional comedy scale)

Anal Fissure: What happens between a man and another man is really none of my business.

Ankylosing Spondylitis: I don't know what the hell it is but it sounds serious.

Paroxysmal Supraventricular Tachycardia: Even better! (...or worse.)

Binswangers Disease: I don't know who this Binswanger is but he's no Lou Gehrig!

Bioterrorism: It's actually listed on the website (probably American). They thought Saddam had this but it turned out he didn't but it is contagious and has apparently spread to Iran.

Black Plague : Get all medival on your ass!

Mad Cow Disease: Has to be one of the best names ever. Simple yet sounds really serious but yet somehow funny at the same time.

Gilbert Syndrome: One of the syptoms is the urge to sing showtunes.

De Quervains Tenosynovitis: Can a brother get some help with the pronunciation?

Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis: My winner for the most serious sounding disease. I much prefer Mad Cow.

Discogram: Easlily cured by listening to The Clash 2/3 times daily until syptoms clear.

Guess who's coming to dinner part III

My first two guests (Noam Chomsky and Helen Clark) are a bit too serious for a full evenings entertainment. I, on the other hand, will be in need of diversions through the evening. In order to keep the balance right I'm choosing Wim T. Schippers as my third guest. To be perfectly honest, I only know a few things about Wim (I find it hard to call him just Wim, I always call him Wim T. Schippers). I know that he is an artist ( I've since learned that he is related to the Fluxus movement. Whatever the fluxus that is about!) and that he was the voice of Ernie on the Dutch Sesame Street. I came to know him as the irreverent host of the National Science Quiz and he was just perfect for the part.

I've always considered him a bit of a modern man. I know he's done art. I know he's done television (even though his shows from the 70's and 80's were before my time) and that he's done screenplays and poetry. I know he sings and does cabaret too. What I didn't know was that he had done a play where all the actors were trained dogs! Here is the youtube clip if you'd like to watch. The dogs bark in dutch but I think everyone can figure out what's happening so I won't translate it for you. One of his other art pieces was a floor covered in peanut butter. It seems that a few students got some bread and threw them onto his piece. The public were outraged but apparently Wim T. came out and said that it was all cool and that at the end of the day it was just a floor covered in peanut butter. I always tell that story when discussing the pretentiousness of art. Just a side story here though, I once went to a modern art museum in Belgium and one piece was a thimble full of lint collected from under the artists bed. Value? You betcha!

Anyways, back to Wim T. He may not connect with Noam or Helen ( although the two do look a bit alike) but maybe he might. I imagine that he's so interesting enough, with so many ideas and such a cool history that he would fit in just about anywhere. I've picked him with future guests in mind too so you will have to keep an eye out to see who they will be.

Your place or mine

The Minister of Energy and Finance Gerry Brownlee came out a few weeks ago and decided that he wanted a stocktake done of all the mineral resources on protected crown land which includes national parks and reserves. Now granted, it was only a stocktake but you don't do that unless you planning to do something with that stock do you? Even though no future plans have been announced, it was no surprise that it caused a bit of a stink here in clean green New Zealand. Here is where my quandary starts. I work for a gold company and a fairly big one too, that happens to pay my mortgage. That gold mine is based in Waihi at the beginning of the Coromandel Peninsular which has a long history of gold mining and forestry but has also become the spiritual home of the green movement in New Zealand. Pro-mining and anti-mining interests walk hand in hand around town here. A few weeks ago, I was visiting friends at an arts fair and Harry Parke, the husband of the founder and former co-leader of the green party(Jeanette Fitzsimons, above in the photo on the left), was there with an anti-mining petition. Friends and I were out the back and Harry came out for a smoke. Quite quickly the conversation switched to mining in Waihi. I let Harry know that I worked for the mine and he said "I guess you won't be signing my petition then?".We had a bit of a chat and it was nice to have a discussion with someone who was so passionate about their point of view and was obviously used to debate. I can honestly say that while I am pro-mining for obvious reasons, I'm not nearly as pro as Harry is con. It's a great job, and an unique one in really interesting industry with lots of different types of people in it. That said, I've also have, in my former lives worked for the US Air Force, on deep sea trawlers in Alaska and in the forestry industry. I've always joked that after this mining gig that I'll be clubbing baby seals in Canada. OK, it's not a very good joke, but they can't all be winners. The point is, that regardless of my work history I do have a greenish tinge to me that is concerned with what is happening to my planet and what my kids are going to inherit. Like probably most people we are not manning the ramparts of the green movement but we aren't excessive and probably have a low carbon footprint. Now back to my quandary, should I be supportive of more mining on the Coromandel. Part of the conversation with Harry was mining in Waihi specifically and we both agreed that as long as there is gold in Waihi there will be gold mining. I've been with the company long enough to trust what they are doing and confident enough to say to Harry that he should be glad that they are here instead of someone else who may not value their social contract as much as their bottom line. Of course, the company benefits greatly from the gold and silver they extract but there is also great benefit to the community by having this company here. That may not have been the case with another company. Now, would I like for the company to explore other options for extending the life of the mine. Hell yes! Do I feel that we need to tread carefully exploring outside of Waihi. Hell yes! Why? Because, I don't see the benefit for Oputere if we start mining there. That ore will come to Waihi and benefit Waihi. Do I have a solution for the this apparent conflict? Not really. In the bigger picture, what will Minister Brownlee do once his stocktake is complete. He has stated that the lesser valued crown land with protection in place would be under consideration for reclassification if the mineral assets were significant. Where is all this coming from in the first place? In my opinion, it's a bit of Aussie envy. The National party, when they came into power just over a year ago, made it one of their stated goals that they would close the gap with Australia. "The Lucky Country" has large mineral assets that has in part enabled it to become one first countries in the world to recover from the recession. Lots of Kiwis have and continue to emigrate there for the work and better pay. We are not really that keen to go to Aussie. Nevermind the snakes and spiders and crocodiles, even the kangaroos there are cold blooded killers and I'm trying to avoid getting killed. Maybe the National Party needs to promote that more. "Don't go to Australia, the locals want to kill you!" or "Please stay and we promise you won't get hurt" could be their slogans. Even the killers we do have in New Zealand just like to play. Anyways, back to the point I was trying to make. If we have the assets why shouldn't we use them. In the bigger picture, we may be asset rich but cash poor and somehow it seems to me that a great majority of New Zealanders would feel like they are selling their souls if they open up their protected land to mining. That said, in other areas, I've seen where the locals are quite open to industry moving into their town (I'm thinking West Coast with the coal,mining and forestry) but it is the non-locals who are most against it. The mayor of Thames District Council (Coromandel) came out last year and said she would welcome mining back onto the Coromandel. This was after several hundred jobs in the district were lost including at the sawmill where I used to work. The government must decide if they want to risk the backlash of opening protected areas to mining and damaging New Zealand's "clean,green image". It is clearly a case of short term gain over long term benefit. Personally, I feel comfortable with where I am at right now and hope that we can continue mining indefinitely. Ideally, New Zealand would just discover huge oil reserves and we could become a southern hemisphere Saudi Arabia and we could all drive around in Mercedes and pay $0.25 for a gallon of petrol and I could get a Filipino maid for my mansion and buy a football club and wear a sequin suit and smoke a big pipe, but I digress. That fantasy ain't happening. Damn!

In conclusion, this is one of the few times where big decisions like this have so directly influenced what I have been doing at that time. Small Picture, lets just find lots of gold in Waihi and not worry about other options for now. Bigger picture, ?????....Don't know. What... you don't think I have all the solutions of the world do you? It is a tough one though isn't it.

New Playlist

I've posted another playlist on Grooveshark. There is no rhyme nor reason to the songs. They just come from a mental list I've been making lately when I hear a song or artist that I like or haven't heard in a while. I've been thinking of making themed playlists but we'll see. I've got a few more posts in the pipeline and normally I sit down and just write them without too much more thought than that but these are demanding more time and research so you'll have to wait a few more days.

Anyways, the list of Dutch artist named after an animal may be small, but this is one of my favourites and she has mentioned me on her website(click on her blog). Feel free to have a look around, but remember, if you break anything you buy it! Mark

The Sporting Life- Greatest Sporting City in the World

A lot of cities claim to be great sporting cities but there has to be a greatest doesn't there? There aren't a lot of contenders. New York,Boston,Chicago and L.A. in the States maybe London and Rio although they are probably too dominated by soccer (they each have like nine professional teams) but the one that sticks out above the rest is Melbourne. Actually, the more I think about it it's not even close. Let's put New York a far second but here are the facts that stick Melbourne out from the rest.

-The AFL (Aussie Rules) is a Victorian thing and Melbourne is the heart and soul of the AFL. They have teams in New South Wales,Queensland and Western Australia but that is due to expansion. Melbourne is the epicentre. In any one week 50,000+ fans are selling out any of several stadiums that dot the the city. You cannot discount how big this is for one city as far as dominance of one sport in one town.

-The MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground or the "G") is one of the 7 wonders of the sporting world. It also hosts the Boxing Day Tests which draws a 100,000+ for each of the five days.

- Melbourne hosts the Australian Open at the Rod Laver Arena. I've always wondered how how the Australian Open became a major. It seems, to me, to stick out. Obviously, Wimbledon is an easy number 1 followed by the US Open and Roland Garros needs to be there for the change of surface but why then Australia? It's in a crappy time zone for it's major market, it doesn't offer any particular point of difference besides maybe the heat, but these days they have covered stadiums and late start times.

- Melbourne Cup. They call it the race that stops the nation but in reality it stops two nations because New Zealand also holds it high regard. The only comparison would be the Kentucky Derby and I would put them on even standing as far as prestige and relevance but just different hemispheres.

- Formula One comes here every year. It is slowly losing relevance through poor management but is still surviving on reputation. Melbourne usually kicks off the yearly schedule.

- Random facts.Melbourne has hosted an Olympic Games and a Commonwealth Games. Did you know that up until the LA Dodgers hosted the Boston Red Sox in an exhibition came recently that the largest attendance record for a baseball game was in Melbourne in 1956! 114,000+. That might be a bit disheartening to Americans but did you also know that the largest haka was also in Melbourne (2200 people! the old record was 800).

- The body of evidence is just too great. The scope of the fanship means to me that Melburnians are really the greatest sport fans in the world. Really, to be honest, I think you could tell people in Melbourne "Hey, you going to the game?" and you wouldn't even need to tell them what sport it was they would just show up. It sounds like my kind of town.

Point of Disclosure- I've never been to Melbourne but to be honest it would be number 1 of cities to visit that I haven't been to yet. Besides sports it really does have a lot to offer. Before the Aussies get too full of themselves though they shouldn't forget this.

Sand Art

One of the websites I like to visit is mental_floss. They have this bit called Feel Art Again which is just a quick summary of all different artists from all over the world and all different genres. I caught this recent clip from Ukrainian artist Kseniya Simonova. Enjoy!

I too will not be meeting with Dalai Lama

I'm not into conspiracy theories normally but here's one for you. This week Prime Minister John Key decided against meeting the Dalai Lama. Recently, the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also elected not to meet with the Dalai Lama. This was not long after Barack Obama decided that he too would not be meeting with His Holiness. Wow, this guy must either be very controversial or have some severe halitosis. I'm sure it has nothing to do with pressure from China not to meet with the man. Now here's the conspiracy, John Key has worked in Asia as the head of Merrill Lynch's foreign exchange and met with the Dalai Lama when he was in opposition but now refuses to. Kevin Rudd, who speaks mandarin by the way, has met with the leader of China, Hu Jintao, 5 times since coming into office but won't meet with stinky ole Dalai. Obama (can he go by one name now like a Brazilian footballer?) has a half-brother who lives in China, who is busy promoting a book right now. Never mind that the US owes the Chinese like a trillion dollars in bond debt, he doesn't want upset his new friends and affect book sales.

Now, I've also decided to follow example and I have decided that if I ever have the opportunity to meet the Dalai Lama I will choose not to. If he's in the shop buying smokes and I come in I'm just going to pretend that I didn't see him and go down the back where they keep the milk and wait until he's gone. If he comes into a bar that I'm at, I'm just going leave and I guess I'll find another place to go. If he rings me up to go out, I'll just say that I'm sick or something and that we'll have to catch up next time. It could get a bit awkward but what's the man ever done for me? I mean, can I get shitty tools that work only once before they break from Tibet? No. Can I get pyjamas for my kids that spontaneously combust in Tibet? No. How about kids toys that contain lead paint or toothpaste that contain arsenic? How much does tainted baby formula that kills kids cost in Tibet? I bet it's a lot.

These are tough economic times and it's a dog eat dog world out there. OK maybe that's not a good metaphor but they used to say that a healthy US economy was good for the world economy but these days it's a healthy Chinese economy that's important. I'm mean, where are The Wharehouse, Walmart and Hema going to get all their shit from. It ain't Tibet.

Guess who's coming to dinner part 2

I spoke in this earlier post about having a dinner party where I could get to invite anyone I wanted to. Noam Chomsky is already in. If Noam is in, I really should have a politician as a foil. I really wanted one anyway, but the problem is that I can’t think of one I actually like or admire. Obama at this point is a bit too obvious and for the same reason as Ali. I won’t be inviting him. He is just too big at this moment. John Key (the current Prime Minister of New Zealand) might be next on this list but I’m still not happy with that choice. While he seems to be a likable guy and everything, he’s not a lifetime politico and actually came out of the wonderful world of high finance which isn’t the most likable profession right now. Politician/Financier is too synonymous with murderer/rapist these days. No John is out. I want a lifer. The other problem with having a politician is that I cannot completely trust that I’ll get a straight answer to a question all night. So I need to find a political lifer who will answer a straight question with a straight answer. Wish me luck on that one. How about then someone who was a lifer but is only recently out of politics? Bill Clinton then becomes an obvious choice but I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving him alone with the womenfolk. That’s a bummer because I’d like to have Hilary come too. Unfortunately, I don’t think given current US foreign policy that Hillary and Noam would hit it off at all. I could almost envisage the two getting into a scrap where Noam starts off with something like “Madame Secretary, I believe your policy dealing with the economic threat posed by China and India is flawed until you at least begin to deal with them as equals” Whereas Hillary responds with “Chomsky, get fucked!” and smashes him over the head with an empty wine bottle. She then yells for Bill to get their coats because they’re leaving and Bill comes out of one of the bedrooms like a demented Basil Fawlty with ladies underwear on his head and a dirty sanchez going “Yes dear, coming.” No, no couldn’t have that, although it is tempting. Where does that leave me? I tried to think of an interesting Dutch politician but gave up before my head wanted to explode.I thought about inviting Ruud Lubber's eyebrows but they to like Ali or Obama would dominate the evening Their politics are too full of compromises anyway. They would always try and meet you halfway in any discussion you had with them which is almost like having a discussion with yourself. No thanks. So it sort of brings me back to New Zealand really. By a process of default I’m going to chose the former prime minister Helen Clark. You’ll hear an audible groan from my New Zealand readers but give me a chance to explain my rationale. In the first case, this choice is not a compromise. Sir Helen ticks all the boxes really. She is a lifer who has totally been committed to the cause since the early 70’s. She has only ever wanted to be a politician. I admired her while she was Prime Minister even though my opinion of her party comrades has never been that high. At the end of her reign she was sort of like a captain on a ship of fools. She’s now moved on to 3rd in charge at the United Nations but I am sure that she would have a lot to say on past, present and future New Zealand which is important to me. She is really intelligent and well spoken and can form ideas without an advisor and would, I think form an excellent counter to Chomsky in regards to the fact that while it may be easy to throw tomatoes from off stage but she may be able to give a point of view as to how the decision-making process is made at the highest level. So that my friend is my 2nd guest Helen Clark. Added bonus, I’m sure her husband Peter is really good at washing dishes!

Can you guess what Willie Nelson's middle name is?

Here's Snoop Doggs guess.

Head in the Clouds

Did you know that there was a website dedicated to the appreciation of clouds? Neither did I.

Rockin' with the Finndego

I talked in this earlier post about trying to get music incorporated into the blog through Grooveshark. A playlist that I created six weeks ago as a test has now appeared on the site. It was only a random list but it's here now. It's a bit of mix of older and less old and somewhat newish Kiwi music but by no means complete. Now that I know that it works I hope to post more playlists with lots of different sounds. Kia Ora (that's Maori for Aloha).

How to listen to punk music

All folked up. Scroll down for songs.

Why do the Dutch love their bookcases so much?

The Dutch have an unhealthy love affair with their bookcases. It's not a very well known fact but then again it's not something that's spoken about very much either.It's sort of like that uncle that's not invited to Christmas dinner anymore. It was something that I noticed when I first got there. My girlfriend and all her friends were students and they all had their tiny little flats and their bookcases. Some of these rooms would be 12-15 square meters and would have a big ass bookcase on the only wall available. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against bookcases, I have two myself , it's just that the Dutch make such a big deal out of theirs. It's almost like the room is there for the bookcase instead of the bookcase for the room. The bookcase is almost always the centerpiece of the room. Alternativly, the Americans make the TV the centerpiece of every room of the house so I guess that's probably worse. The other thing is the bigger the house, the bigger the bookcase. It's almost like, once you get a bit sucessful you go out and get more books but then you need a bigger bookcase but your new bigger bookcase won't fit in your room so you end up needing to move into a bigger place etc. etc. In my time in Holland, I've seen some big ass bookcases my friend. Scary big. Like your glad that they are on the ground floor big. Luckily too, they have no qualms about using some endangered tropical hardwood to make sure their shelves don't collapse. (I'm just kidding about that last one, but the Dutch ARE the 2nd largest importer of tropical hardwood in the world behind Japan. Where's all that wood going?). So to me it was no surprise that I was able to find this website. As a matter of fact, I knew before I started looking on Google that I would find something like it. Actually, there are probably more but I quit looking quite quickly. Too easy. For you non-Dutch speaking readers, the website is dedicated to showing off peoples bookcases. My reasearch has indicated that typically these bookcases will contain some,if not all, of the following books: Donna Taart's The Secret History, David Susskind's Perfume, Umberto Eco's In the Name of the Rose, Salman Rushdie Anything but The Satanic Verses (too cliche) probably Midnight's Children( and probably only half read), Gabriel Garcia Marquez either 100 Years of Lonliness or Love in the Time of Cholera, Khalil Gilbrand's The Prophet, Roald Dahl anything and probably bought at a book market or second hand store, and Connie Palmen's IM (ladies only).There will also be some art books or a book on architecture and then a few leftover university books from whatever chosen profession their bookcase owner has chosen. Remember, this list will be 8 years old as I left Holland in 2001 but I'll stand by it. Just as a sidenote: one of the owners of the meanest bookcases I've ever seen used to read a book 4 or 5 times in a row just to make sure he didn't miss anything. He wasn't thick or anything he was actually probably one of the smartest most respected intellectuals I've ever met, but there is no way I'm reading the same book twice never mind 4 or 5.

Guess who's coming to dinner?

I'm planning down the track to do a list of the top 5 people I'd like to have over to a dinner party but I've been unable to settle on a final list. For now I'm just going to settle on the 1st guest for now. I'd been mulling over a few ideas in my head lately trying to create a good dynamic amongst the guests. Some people got put in and then later taken out and some are in and that's it. Noam Chomsky is in. He is my number 1. I would have normally have had Muhammad Ali here as the 1st because I am a huge fan of Ali but I just can't get myself to put him on the list. Ali would have dominated the night. His personality is just too great and respect for him too universal. I don't care who your other guests are, all eyes are on Ali. Plus, the temptation to serve Jello for the dessert is just too great.

Noam on the other hand, I imagine, would be a quiet,respectful guest and after dinner when the table was cleared would start to tell his story and everyone would be quiet and listen with the respect he deserves. Then again I could be wrong, he might come in , drink all my booze, get all mouthy, insult a few people and challenge me to go outside to see who's got the bigger brain (he'd win).

I think that it is the force of his intellect that is most well known. He is actually a linguist but he is more well known as a critic of US government policy. I first saw him in a documentary about himself and it was his ability to convey his massive intellect into words that I would never be able to that I loved. It's always one of those things to have a discussion with someone and then afterwards to think "shit, I wish I had said that". I don't think Noam ever has one of those moments.

A while after that I came across a YouTube video of a debate (you can see Part I and Part II here) between Noam and William F. Buckley where ,well basically, Chomsky hands Buckley his ass on a platter. It's one of those old-fashioned debates that we don't see any more and I don't mean the smoking in the studio. Remember that Buckley is the more renowned intellectual in this period and this is his show (Firing Line) that Chomsky is invited to. Buckley was a thinking man's Rush Limbaugh, a republican intellectual (there aren't many these days!) but even here these ideals are all to easily exposed by Chomsky and it was(is?) a problem for republicans then and even more so now. What I love the most about it is how the visible smugness gets wiped off of Buckley's face quite quickly and he struggles from there on to recover. I also wonder what Freud would have to say about his use of his pencil, 'cause it ain't for writing. Anyway, Noam is invited. I'll sit down and have a think about the other four and get back to you.

If all of that was a bit too much for your brain, enjoy this mother of all beatdowns by Jamie Foxx on some poor dude at a roast for Emmitt Smith. Ouch!

The Sporting Life: The Dutch Years

Sport in Holland is dominated by soccer. The Dutch are a great sporting people and they always punch above their weight in the Olympics and stuff but in the end it all comes down to soccer. It's almost like having a lot of friends but one of them is really famous like say, Mick Jagger. If Mick calls you up to go to a party but you were supposed to play poker that night with your normal friends, what are you going to do? Of course, you party with Mick! To carry this analogy further, Mick Jagger is to rock and roll as Johan Cruyff is to soccer.
I got to Holland about 1991, but didn't start following soccer until about 1993 so I was a bit spoilt that the first team I ever followed was probably the best team I'll ever see. Learning to watch soccer from Ajax of the mid-90's was probably unfair. They were just so good. Van Der Sar, Reizeger, Davids, The De Boers, Rijkaard, Kluivert, Overmars and my favourite Jari Litmanen. They were all homegrown talent and probably should have won more in Europe than they did. I remember them absolutley dismantling Real Madrid in 1996. I think the score was 2-0 but a fair score would have 6-0. They were just so dominate. The Boswell decision(basically free agency) would come few years later and the team would be broken up and the players went to the bigger European clubs). Anyway, soccer peaked for me right here. One of the great sporting moments for me ever, right down to Jack Van Gelder going all Peter North on his call.
Like I said, there are other sports and there is a great club system for people who want to play. If you want to play a sport, join a club, it's that easy. I even got to play American Football for a couple of years while I was there. The same club also had a baseball team. It's a lot easier to play these sports in Holland than even in America! The only other sports that I really did was volleyball and skating. Skating is great and there is no better place in the world to skate than in Holland. Because of all the canals you can skate anywhere. From the middle of your city, out to the country and onto the lakes. If soccer is a religion than skating is like yoga. It's a release, if you like or an exatentennsial experience. Of course you don't race or compete in Yoga but the Dutch do and the Grandaddy of all skating races is the Elfstedentocht. It's a 200 km race through eleven cities that anyone can enter (as long as your pre-registered with the club). The only problem is that the race only happens if the ice allows which isn't very often. When I watched there had only been 11 races run in the last century. I got up at 0430 in the morning and watched until midnight when the last rider came in. In a cruel twist, if you were to skate the 200 kms and came in at 1 minute after midnight you weren't allowed to finish or get your stupid medal. I think the rules may have been written by a German.

The Dichotomy of the New Zealand Parrot

While not as diverse as a lot of places in the world, the wildlife of New Zealand is usually unique in some shape or way. This is, of course, usually due to geographical isolation. I didn't even know that New Zealand had parrots before I came here. The Kea and the Kakapo represent this uniqueness in somewhat opposite fashion. The Kea is like the rambunctious teenager while the Kakapo is more like an older refined gentleman. I've never seen a Kakapo and I probably never will. They were thought to be extinct for many years until a population was found in the remote West Coast of the South Island and are now making a slow recovery on a remote island but remain one of the most endangered birds in the world. The Kea on the other hand use to be plentiful but they are headed towards endangerment but somehow this might actually have a lot to do with there own recklessness. I have had the chance to see a Kea and they are just wild!
We were camping in our van down in the South Island down by Fox Glacier when we were awoken by a bird on our roof. We weren't too concerned until were heard Keeeeeaaaaa!. When we opened the door we found one running off with a jandal. We chased him down until he reluctantly gave it up. I watched for the next 20 minutes as they tore into other parked cars. Wipers, rubber seal, external lights etc. They ripped into it! They then moved onto an out building, they started on the roof and worked their way down. They will tear into anything out of curiosity. I watched one on top of a Stop sign. I thought he had worked one of the bolts loose that held the sign in place. I didn't believe it so I walked over to check it out. He jumped off as I approached but stayed nearby. He hadn't actually worked it loose but as I grabbed the nut to check it he hopped over to right under my feet. I swear that he was telling me " Yeah man, go for it, let's fuck this shit up!" like he thought I was joining in. He was that enthusiastic! Here are videos of the Kakapo and that Kea that represents these opposites. You can watch the whole Kea video if you like it's actually quite good but the part I'm trying to show is in the fourth video about three minutes in. You can skip through the videos on the right hand side.

My Happy Place

I've finished the Bill Bryson book "The Thunderbolt Kid" which is almost cause for a celebration in itself. The book itself is really good don't get me wrong. I like Bill Bryson and he's also the author of one of my favourite books of all time "A Short History of Nearly Everything" which if you didn't read it in 2006 when it was chic you should still read it anyways because it still has the ability to make you a little bit cooler than you are right now. No, I need to celebrate because I finished a book at all and it been a long time coming. I feel literaturely relevant again. I know I'm getting ahead of myself but it's a big deal to me. Bryson can be laugh out loud funny which is pretty hard to do. A mental snigger,ok, or a little audible giggle, maybe, but he really cracks me up which is really hard. "The Thunderbolt Kid" is about him growing up in the 50's and 60's in Des Moines, Iowa and he relates all these different stories to how it was and how idyllic it actually was. There is a part of the story where he talks about staying over at his grandparents tiny house and having to sleep on the "sleeping porch" which was freezing in the winter. I've picked out a bit that I really liked:
"The only heat that the sleeping porch contained was that of any human being who happened to be out there. It couldn't have been more than one or two degrees warmer than the world outside - and outside it was perishing. So to sleep on the sleeping porch required preparation. First, you put on long underwear,pyjamas,jeans, a sweatshirt, your grandfathers old cardigan and bathrobe,two pairs of woollen socks on your feet and another on your hands, and a hat with ear flaps tied beneath the chin. Then you climbed into bed and were immediately covered with a dozen bed blankets,three horse blankets, all the household overcoats, a canvas tarpaulin and a piece of old carpet. I'm not sure they didn't lay an old wardrobe on top of that just to hold everything down. It was like sleeping under a dead horse. For the first minute or so it was unimaginably cold,shockingly cold, but gradually your body heat seeped in and you became warm and happy in a way you would not have believed possible only a minute or two before. It was bliss".
I loved that little section because, I'm going to let you in on a little secret of mine because we're friends here, I love sleeping in the cold. Like freezing cold, albeit all wrapped up and snuggly. My mother says that when I was a baby I had colic and she used to lay me to bed next to an open window even during the winter to help my coughing. That may have had something to do with how it started. I can remember being about 10 or 12 in Worcester and having the bedroom window wide open ,which was just above my bed, and it started snowing during the night. The window had a screen on it, so the snow didn't get in but I can still remember being gloriously warm/cold under my blankets. My grandmother had a sleeping porch off the lounge of her house and when I stayed with her for a while I got to sleep in there where it was absolutely freezing. I loved it. I would love for it to be freezing cold and just have ten blankets on top of me. The only downside was, your body only warms the area where it has direct contact with. Once you've warmed a particular area, that's it. You can't move for the rest of the night without getting shocked by the cold that lies only inches from your body. Don't get me wrong here, I don't like the cold per se, I like being warm in the cold, if you know what I mean. Unfortunately, I don't get to feed that beast much anymore. Mrs Finndego is decidedly the opposite. I'm typing this post from my bed and I can see the heat waves rising from her side of the bed where she has her electric blanket on the "Chernobyl" setting. She's not even in bed yet and the heater is on and the house is a comfortable 18C. So, you know what I do now? When I go to bed and I start to nod off and I enter that half awake/half asleep subconsciousness I go to my happy place. Do you know where my happy place is? A snow cave. A fucking snow cave. Sometimes, I imagine that I'm on a sailboat in the middle of the Southern Ocean with 30ft waves and howling winds. A while back I saw this doco where a guy slept out in the middle of the Gobi desert in the middle of winter by burning wood to heat some stones and then covered the hot stones with dirt that was heated by the stones. That would be friggin cool. A human Hangi.

No Comment

I've had some feedback about placing comments with the posts. I'm going to try and leave a comment after I post this and see how it goes. I've already responded to comments back when I first started last month and I can't remember it being a problem. I would like everyone who reads this in the next couple of days, if they could, to also have a go and leave feedback on how it went. I've had reports of people not being able to leave a comment or "being held up at customs". If you are unable to leave a comment please email me at coolbreezenl@hotmail.com and let me know what happened. I'm not sure if you need to follow the blog to leave a comment so that would be interesting to know, also. Mark

Bob The Oligarch

I've banned Bob the Builder from the house. I've come to the realization that I have no wish for my children to espouse his peculiar trade practices. I have no doubt that Mr Builder is a capable tradesman who is committed to using green technologies. "Reduce,Reuse,Recycle" is his 2nd most used rallying cry. No, it is his use of unpaid labour and dodgy tender practices that most upset me. It is, to me, clearly evident that he uses his unique position in Bobsville to repress competition and has established a monopoly. He was clearly under qualified to enter a bid into Sunflower Valley development, but not only was his competition more qualified than he was, but he only decided to put a bid in the night before the deadline. A project of this scale would have run into the hundred of millions of dollars and he won!!!! I'm supposed to believe that one day he's fixing the drain over at Farmer Pickles barn and the next day he's overseeing a project of this size! That brings me to my next point. I can see that on everyday building jobs that his workforce would allow him underbid any rival bids. This unpaid workforce gives him an unfair advantage. Scoop, Muck,Dizzy,Lofty are basically slave labourers. I have seen Bob on several occasions work through the night to deliver a project on time. Is there anyone checking on the welfare of his helpers? Is there anyone making sure that they are properly maintained and not being overworked? I've never seen it. Clearly, he is using his unpaid workforce to allow him to maintain a unfair market share. When Scoop goes looking for another builder to run Bob's workshop while Bob is away on the Sunflower Valley project he consults the local phonebook down at the library and there is not another listed builder in the whole of Bobsville and surrounds! How do you think that this has come about! I wonder.

Also, can anyone tell me what the hell Bob is on about here? Maybe I'm not taking enough drugs when I'm watching this.

Lastly, don't get me started on these guys.

Don't believe the hype. Mayan edit

Apparently, the world isn't ending now on Dec. 21 2012. I wish these Mayans would make up there mind. My mortgage is coming up next month and I want to know if I should fix long term or just float. In other apocolypse news, God has taken to tickling unsuspecting pedestrians in an attempt to rebrand the Catholic church as the "Fun" church.

Some things I like to do in my spare time.

While I can't describe my life as absolutly hectic, I do have some interests outside of work because, as they say "all work and no play makes something,something,something".... While my interests are varied I believe it all starts your health because as they say the body is a temple. Once the body is fit it good to exercise your soul. I've been busy working in India trying to help the pagans but that can be hard,as one would expect, but if that work helps my in my other love, music, well then so be it. Be sure to check out some of these products which would make great gift ideas with Christmas coming up. I give 0.01% of all proceeds to the needy so that you can feel good about yourself too! Passing my passion on to others also gives me great satisfaction. I love sports as you know now from my previous posts and I used to play a little American football but my greatest loves are golf and women so it's great that I get to combine these two. After giving the body and soul attention, I also like to exercise my mind and when I get the time I like to do this or this. If I can be honest with you though, if I still have any time left in my day nothing relaxes me like getting away from it all with just me and my camera but it's not just about me all the time. Some work that I do is in servitude of the people. I may not be your typical Republican (I am lower middle class,I don't own a gun, I can find Arizona on a map and I believe in evolution) but I serve all my constituents...as long as their white, of course. Did you know that Arizona was the only state to vote against making Martin Luther King's birthday a holiday? It was a long time ago but we're still proud of that. Just remember, it's not about me it's about us.

My Top 5 Places in New Zealand

We're pretty lucky to live in New Zealand. I can't really deny that nor can I find much to complain about. People I talk to who have never been here know how beautiful it is here. It has that reputation and it is well deserved. Here is a quick Top 5 list that I put together. I really could have done a Top 20 or a Top 100 and it wouldn't have been complete. It's really quite relative, so don't be jealous. Everyplace has it beauty spots and beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say. That comment excludes Worcester, of course , that place is just a shithole really.
1. Wharariki Beach : At the top of the South Island west of Puponga lies my favourite spot. It isn't even close really as this spot is far and away my favourite. It ticks all the boxes for me. It is a wild west coast beach that is immense in scale and wild in weather. We were only here for three or so days but it's always stayed with me. When I go to a beach I often get bored. I like to beachcomb, climb rocks, explore rockpools and caves etc. Wharariki has all of that sort of stuff. It's at the end of a dead end road in an isolated part of the country off the tourist track so it's never going to get busy and it's a twenty minute walk to get to the beach anyway. You can only get there at low tide and you shouldn't swim in the ocean because of the rips. These are actually all plusses for me. You can see in the photo that at low tide you get these tidal pools for swimming anyways so that's not a problem. There is also a local seal colony and when I was there, I was sitting on a rock above a pool where two seal pups from the other side would swim past and check me out. Nevermind, that everytime I got in the water they would get out it was still great fun. To top it all off, there are massive beds of green lip mussels that you can even score yourself a feed! Really hard to beat that for me.
Kenepuru Sound/Portage : We actually spent more time here, about three months or so, because we had summer jobs at a resort. We pulled up for a beer at the bar because it was so beautiful and it was a nice day. We loved it right away and when we got talking to the staff and found out that there were jobs on offer well it didn't take us too long to decide, even though we had only really just arrived in the South Island.
Tairua : It's about 45 minutes up the coast from where we live now but, we've always gone here in the summer wherever we've lived. Mrs. Finndego's aunty has a bach here so it's always an easy choice. It's a small beach community that's just really easy going and I love it everytime I'm there. It has a nice inner harbour where the kiddies like to go and a great ocean beach where I like to go.
Sailor's Grave : Actually just over the hill from Tairua, it's a really nice beach that's a bit more secluded than Tairua. Whenever you go to the beach in New Zealand the biggest issue is the sun. It's just so harsh that the burn times can be as less as 10 minutes so you need cover. Sailor's Grave back's onto a cliff that has overhanging trees that provide good cover. We found a little path that leads down to a secret part of the beach that's cut off from the rest because of a rock outcropping and we've been able to spend the whole day there all by ourselves. We've had many a good day here. Yes, there really is a sailor buried there that drowned of the beach many years ago.
Abel Tasman National Park : There were so many places vying for the last spot but I don't really have any problem giving to Abel Tasman. Golden beaches , crystal clear water and some great bush make for a great spot. The weather wasn't great when we were there but it only enhanced the beauty of the forests that edge onto the beaches. We spent a whole day walking along a portion of the walking track that runs north to south through the whole park and every time you'd come around a corner it was a WOW! moment. Truly great spot.

The Sporting Life

It's hard to explain what sports mean to me. Mrs Finndego certainly doesn't understand it after 11 years. I've been a sports fan for as long as I can remember and a lot of my earliest memories have something to do with a sporting event. Whether it's going to Fenway Park with the old man and sitting in a different seat every inning while he had a few beers up in the Standing Room Only stand or watching softball with my grandfather at Kendrick Park. He died in 1976 when I was seven but these are things that can be connected by something. In his case, I can tie that memory of him with the help of a trigger. Sports. I've probably had way more meaningful moments with him but they don't have an "event" that triggers that memory for me. Sports does that. I think it's perfectly normal for kids from 8 to 18 to become obsessed with sports. Sports can be everything for a kid and it was for me. As we get older, we put sports in it's place, wherever that may be. Women, work, kids, mortgages all become more important but usually, if sports had a place in a kids life, they keep a place within it when they get older. Of course, the wife , the kids the job and the mortgage are all more important to me right now but sports are and always will be important to me. The Sporting Life will be a series of posts that will try to explain how this came about and in some regards how sports have shaped some of what I am.

It all starts with the Red Sox - For me, everything starts and ends with the Boston Red Sox. They have managed to define how I live with sports and all the emotions that go with it. I'm not going to try and explain what it means to have been a Red Sox fan pre-2004. Nick Hornby does a much better job of explaining this obsession in his book "Fever Pitch". The analogy from Arsenal to the Red Sox works very well. Unfortunately, Hollywood executives thought the same thing and adapted the book into the totally forgettable movie "Perfect Match".

For me, it all starts right here. I certainly wasn't actually awake at the time it actually happened, but I was already drinking the Red Sox Kool-Aid during this series. My dad(he'd been drinking the Kool-Aid back since 1967) has recapped the game itself for me a hundred times. He always reminds me that Fisk never would have got the chance if it wasn't for Bernie Carbo and that everyone forgets that. It was the greatest moment in Red Sox history from 1918 to 2004. Robin Williams and Matt Damon do a much better job explaining the emotion around this game than I could. Unfortunately, I'm Damon in this scene. Damn you Robin Williams, damn you!!!!!!!!

I actually miss the pre-2004 Red Sox fanness. Suddenly, everything hasn't become life or death and when the Red Sox have the bases loaded with no outs I'm not busy thinking how we can screw it up. Strike out, double play was always the obvious one. Now, I know we'll do something and that we'll be alright. Subconsciously, 2004 creeps in and negates the negativity. The problem with that is that I've already been hard wired to expect the worse to happen and I need to channel that somehow. For example, the Red Sox played today against the Anaheim Angels in the playoffs and lost to go down 2-0 in the series. I'm bummed out, but any fan would be but it's not the end of the world. Actually, it was almost expected but you know we could come back and win the series. We've done it before in 2004 and 2007 and that gives us hope. The problem is that I don't know how to deal with hope. That's not how I was brought up. This is how I learned about the game. As great as the Red Sox winning the World Series was in 2004 they have changed things irrevocably and this was the moment it happened. This is the moment that that karma changed forever. The really fucked up thing about the whole thing is that the Red Sox ran out of ways to break my heart by losing that they had to go and do it by winning! Damn you Red Sox damn you!!!!!

P.S. For those who know, you may have noticed that I didn't even mention this. For those who don't, just nevermind. It's still too painful.

Tron Guy

The more I look the less I understand.

Look out! Links

I've been telling people that I was going to put up some sporting links but I haven't had the time. Instead, I've been watching the most disappointing "Fight of the Century" (note: link has already been pulled from You Tube. That's how bad the Tua-Cameron fight was!) thatI have seen, well ,so far this century really. So I thought I'd put some links on that you might like.
Here, quite frankly, is a buskers wet dream. Do you think this guy was shitting himself or not? I'm not a big Bruce fan but he seems like a cool guy. It was his 60th birthday this week so here's to him.
There was a doco made a few years back about people who jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. They put camera's at both sides of the bridge and watched the people walking across. It's a sort of indictment of the San Francisco City Council who are not taking any action to prevent jumpers. The bridge to them, is a Mecca where they come from far and wide to jump. While beautifully and respectfully done it could be disturbing so please don't watch if it's not your cup of tea.
Ted Williams was one of my hero's. Weirdly, his death has taken on a life of it's own. There are so many other levels to this story but this is really rock bottom. Only in America.
Speaking of America, here is another reason for more gun control! Way to go Jethro!
If you have either this or this at your next party ,well, quite frankly I'm not coming.
Greg Easterbrook writes a column about American Football and will mix other things in that I find interesting (science, technology,current affairs etc.). I don't always agree with what he says even though he is more intelligent than most people I know of. He often writes about ignorance in America ,which is ironic, because he often holds a point of view that is out of touch with the rest of the world too. His TMQ column is quite interesting,
but maybe only to me.
I threw a link in my last post to Liam Finn. Here is his dad and uncle from around the time he was born.
If you have any links you'd like to be seen, feel free to share. Meanwhile, I'm watching the beginning of New Zealand and Pakistan match while I'm doing this and they have a midget singing the Pakistani National Anthem in a deep Barry White voice while the women who sang the New Zealand National anthem just made a hash of the whole thing. Welcome to my world!

Little bit of music

I've been working for the last hour trying to get a playlist into Grooveshark that you would be able to access with little success. I'll work on it again tomorrow. In the mean time here is Liam Finn on Letterman from a few years back. P.S. Coming soon: some sporting memories.

Two Women in Auckland Part II

On Sunday we went to the Auckland Art Gallery for a cultural aperitif after Saterday's show(see part I). We were rapt to find that a Rita Angus collection was being shown. We were always going to go, so we had never bothered to check what was on display, so this was a big bonus. We thoroughly enjoyed the collection. It was nice how they incorporated sketches from the artist next to the completed piece for comparison. Then on top of that there was another collection being shown of New Zealand's history through art. Here, some of the big boys in NZ art were also being shown. The Goldie's and the McCahon's are part of the permanent collection and we had seen them before but there were also other iconic pieces that we hadn't seen in person, but knew of. I guess the big winner of the day was being able to seen Shane Cotton's iconic piece Te Wai Whariki in person. I was surprised by the size (it was massive) and the brightness of the blue. Another one that stood out for me was Marian Maguire's Attic Volute Crater, 1779, Depicting Scenes from the Odyssey of Captain Cook. The drama came just before we were going to leave. There was a piece. I forget who it was from but it was titled 3.33. It was twelve axes hanging in a line and above each was a bishops cap. It was a representation of twelve axes that were traded by the English to the Maoris for 30,000 acres of land. The piece was hanging in a corridor between two galleries and I was standing there reading the description of the piece. This guy came along to look at the piece and grabbed one of the axes, I suppose to see if it was real. I gave him a "what the fuck, dude!" glare. Don't get me wrong, I'm not elitist when it comes to art but you don't touch them do you? I went around to the other side of the wall to have a look and there was an almighty clang on the floor. When I came back around, the axe and the bishop's cap were on the floor and the cap was broken. The guy I had seen was gone and there was an older gentleman and his wife were standing there absolutely mortified. A crowd gathered and the older man swore he hadn't touched a thing. I went to look for the guy I had seen and found him upstairs in the Rita Angus collection. I told him what happened and said that I thought that he should go back down and fess up to what he had done to at least let the other guy of the hook. I don't think he believed me until he went back down and saw everyone gathered around the piece on the floor. Bummer, dude.

Eddie Izzard and the Death Star Canteen

Rena Owen, the subject of my last post, also played a role in Star Wars II Attack of the Clones. Here's Eddie Izzard talking about the Death Star Canteen. I can't quite figure Eddie out. All I know is that he is fucking funny!

Two Women In Auckland Part I

Mrs Finndego and I went this weekend to Auckland for a getaway. We went to see Bruce Mason's "The Pohutukawa Tree" which is an iconic New Zealand play about the European and Maori relationship in the 1950's. The lead role was played by Rena Owen who you may know as Beth Heke from "Once Were Warriors". The whole play is quite a slow burn which made it quite intense and I gave myself quite a headache by the end of the play. I intentionally stayed away from too much information about the play itself before we went because I didn't want any preconceived notions before I got to see it and I was glad. I just got very focussed on not only the play itself but also the craftmanship of the actors and watching their every move and how they delivered their lines, how they picked up their cues and how they behaved when they weren't talking. I hadn't been to a play for a few years and that side was part of the kick for me. I guess in the end the most important thing that I got out of it was that pride can be a good thing or a bad thing and too much of it is definetley a bad thing. It was kind of ironic but in a lot of ways but the pride displayed by Rena's character Aroha was similarly destructive as that of "Jake The Muss" in "Once Were Warriors".

A Piece of Work

It was my 40th birthday recently (thank you, now let's move on) and I decided to buy an art print from the artist Kitty Kilian who is from Utrecht in Holland where I used to live. I think it's a beautiful piece (http://www.kittykilian.nl/collageoppaneel/cputrechtschecourant.php) that will go nicely in our house. It was a bit of a drama getting it here but now that it's here we need to get it into frame and get it on the wall. It is based on the work of C.C.S. Crone(http://www.inspiringcities.org/index.php?id=1&page_type=Article&id_article=18146) who was a writer in Utrecht from the 1930's who wrote about normal everyday life.

Where is the love for the Hermaphrodites?

First is was South African runner Caster Semenya (http://deadspin.com/5356717/caster-semenya-is-a-hermaphrodite-ballsy-aussie-paper-reports) then Lady Gaga (http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2009/08/lady-gaga-hermaphrodite-picture-sparks-rumors/). Neither of them wanting to claim the title of Worlds Most Famous Hermaphrodite which still remains vacant. Do I really care? No. Do I get excited by the thought of a Hermaphrodite? Not since I was 15. What I'm more worried about is Lady (if that's her real name!) Gaga's fashion sense (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRV0w7aW8vI).
And since we're lowbrowing it at the VMA's do you think that after Kanye's music career is over that he'll hire himself out to be a personal event interrupter? Would he do weddings and interrupt the groom's speech? Kanye: "Yo Doug, I'm really happy for you and I'll let you finish but Brad would have been a much better partner for Sally!" More Hennesey for that man!

Grooveshark

One of my favourite websites is Grooveshark (http://listen.grooveshark.com/). note: I haven't completely figured out hyperlinking yet but I'm getting there but the posts can't wait so bear with me. Anyways, Grooveshark is a free online "radio player"where you can create playlists from the songs they have and stream online. You're not downloading them ala iTunes but streaming so it just cost you bandwidth. To be perfectly honest, I prefer Last FM (http://www.last.fm/) but they require a fee after a trial period and I'm just not into that. Grooveshark falls into that gray area where they do have some agreements in place with record companies but not for all of the music that they have listed. They do have a lot of music. I have some pretty random tastes and I have been able to find most of the songs that I've gone looking for. Right now I'm into everything from the Rolling Stones to The Specials to Horace Andy to Gypsy/Roma music to New Zealand music not made by Flight of The Conchords. My goal is to make up some playlists that I can attach to posts so that you can listen to a selection while reading my blog. I'm not going into the whole argument about whether it's right or not. The way I feel at this stage is that it has been around long enough (music downloading) without a suitable solution either way that I'm just going to wait for a decision either way and then stick to that. But in the meantime if bands are going to stream songs on their myspace site or radio stations are streaming live online or I can find videos on youtube then I will stick to streaming and not downloading. You can make the choice when I put a playlist on whether you want to listen to it or not.

What to pack

In a former life I used to read books. Before computers and Sky TV I could read two or three books a week. I consider myself well read just not relevant because I haven't read anything lately. The last good book I read was "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson about five years ago. Anyway, my reading is now done vicariously through Mrs Finndego who does manage to find the time (how, I don't know) and likes to share.
Also, in a former life I used to travel and I've done a bit of that too. Just like Peanut Butter and Chocolate backpacking and good books are two great tastes that go great together. Having a good book or two is essential while travelling even if you're not travelling alone. The worst thing that can happen is getting stuck with a crap book while on the road or reading through everything while your still out there. I have managed to swap books with other travellers with little success but sometimes, something is better than nothing. Here is a link (http://www.bookride.com/2009/09/backpacker-classics-for-journey.html) to backpacker classics and if your a traveller or a reader I think it's a good list to compare to your own booklist. Some are a bit pretentious (Ulysses, War and Peace(puleeeze) and The Prophet, for example). Some are no-brainers (Catch-22, The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings , Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Repair or even The Beach) and a few local favourites (again, The Beach=Thailand, Snow Leopard=Nepal). It's a good list and I don't disagree but there are a few glaring omissions. First of all, and it's mentioned in the comments, is that there is no Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I would have put a top three at Catch-22, Zen and Hitchhikers. Secondly, there are very little biographies. At the least, I would have thought that Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom or Anne Frank's Diaries, for example, would have gotten a mention. Then again, no list is perfect or complete. I suppose that my top three that I've taken on the road would be 1. Wrestling with the Angel/Michael King (South Island,NZ) 2. The Exodus/Leon Uris (Spain) 3. Hitchhikers/Douglas Adams(London).

Manifesto

I want to use this first post to set up some goals for this blog. I've just turned forty and my life is work and family. In the evening, I get to spend a few hours behind the computer and I thought that maybe it was time do something more useful with my time.I don't expect to get many followers outside of people I already know but since they are spread out everywhere from Florida to Massachusetts to New Zealand to Holland it seems like a good way for me to connect to all those people at once. I don't trust Facebook and I will never Tweet and in reality a blog is either "new old school" or "old new school" as far as connecting with people goes, I just can't decide which. As far as content goes, I expect it will be a little bit of just rambling, links to good things I've seen or read and probably a few top 5 lists (I just love top 5 lists) and some trivia thrown in. I love sports and they will probably feature but I'll try to keep a balance that will be of interest to just about everyone. All I can say is that I'll post things that are happening or things that are going through my head and hopefully you'll enjoy it. All I can say is that I hope we can share and I hope it's fun. Mark