Grim movie / Nick Drake

Went to see the film "It's a Free World" directed by Ken Loach. Very Gritty, Grim, and probably other Grr words. Its about the dark underside of the organisation of immigrant workers in the UK (both legal and illegal). GRIM is the word.

Covering the same theme, but way less grim is 'The Road Home' by Rose Tremain. One of my favourite authors. Well worth reading.

Here's some musical beauty to relieve the grimness. It was only in the last few months I acquired Drake's 1969 album Five Leaves Left. Nick was in his mid 20's in 1974 when he died of an overdose. He had released a trio of albums which did not sell very well, not helped by his shying away from the media or performing live. He had battled loneliness and depression and his lyrics reflect this. It has taken 30 years but there now seems to be growing recognition of the unique music he made. Here are 2 tracks to enjoy.




River Man here

Day Is Done



I think there has been a re-release and compilation issue of all his material in recent years.

A bit more Genesis

Citizens of Hope and Glory
Time goes by
It's 'the time of your life'
Easy now, sit you down
Chewing through your Wimpey dreams
They eat, without a sound
Digesting England by the pound


Early footage from 1974, with Peter Gabriel in a nicely strange costume and a young fresh-faced Phil on drums.

Down the tube, no Dylan

Thanks to a tip from Peter, see UnderAnotherSun, I've added a link to this fun 'Going Underground' blog. Peter was at the same school I went to (Copland High School, Wembley in the sunny Borough of Brent) in the year above me. He is a talented writer, poet and blogger and lives in Brighton.

I have a sentimental attachment to London's tube system. In a previous life I spent 8+ years commuting to St. James park tube where I was a Transport Planner at the offices above the station known as 55 Broadway, the London Underground HQ. It was very interesting work which I loved and wouldn't have left if the move to NZ hadn't put a little strain on my commute to work. One day early in my LUL career I had to travel down to Heathrow T4 station for an early start (around 4am) to make sure some contracted survey staff were up & running. The only way to get there was to flag down the staff train at Acton Town, which stopped for me to get into the drivers cab. Chatting to the driver on the way to T4 he kept insisting I take over the controls, which scared the hell out of me. Cool seeing the tunnels from the front though.

Anyhow, back to the GU blog: it appears that Tube buskers have reached a far higher standard than those I remember ...



I'm having a Dylan-free today today (a rare thing) - to and from the gym in the car I've been listening to Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Found this on Youtube - no idea who the lead singer is - they must have co-opted someone, it is neither Peter Gabriel or Phll Collins but it is the best live footage I could find, and he does a pretty good job of it too. Best played loud!

Swiss cheese and Japanese fiction

Came home from work through dreadful traffic. Cold and rainy night - it took an hour to make the 20k . John at Tai Chi classes until 7 pm so I made a log fire, put some potatoes and mushrooms in the ooven to bake, dusted off the Raclette grill for a supper of green salad, potatoes, mushrooms, german sausage and melted cheese. This simple fare was eaten in front of the burning logs, with Zappa stretched out in front of the hearth. The raclette machine was a present from Mari many years ago. There is a nice ritual involved, to do with the carving of the cheese and popping slices into the little trays which go under the grill. Each person can then monitor the extent of cooking in their tray; some like it barely melted, I like it bubbling and just starting to brown on top.

After supper I stretched out on the sofa to read Haruki Murakami's "Wind-Up Bird Chronicle". I'm only a couple of chapters in but it's grabbed me even more so than his other books. I love the understated surreal writing. If I ever write a novel I'd aspire to this type of weirdness. I can't wait to get to the next chapter to find out the significance of the missing polka-dot tie.

A Combi-Cat and other things...

Spent some time today sorting out details of our Vietnam trip. We thought all the flights were all ok but then we heard from Qantas that one of our outward flights - the critical leg from Sydney to Saigon - has been cancelled. We have been rescheduled on the only other option which goes via Sydney AND Darwin and gets us to Vietnam too late in the evening to make any onward connections to Hanoi. AaaarrrHHH! Because of this I had to change the Vietnam Air flight I had booked separately, pay surcharges for the change and organise a nights hotel in Saigon instead of 2 nights in Hanoi before the tour itself starts. Such a pain, as most of the arrangements were done at length with people in Hanoi not through a NZ travel agent. The Qantas 'helper' informed me if I had travel insurance it would cover any costs incurred. Eh! How many people book their insurance 5 months before travelling?

Apart from this, I recorded some old video camera tapes onto DVD to preserve them. In the process, I had a nostalgia trip and marvelled over how, in 1991 I looked incredibly thin and young, (I was 30) but was noticeably less confident and tended to shut up and shrink down. I'd like to have that body back but am happy with my current age in other respects.

I also found footage of BotBot as a wee kitten when she was a 'Combi-Cat'. We lived in a VW Combi van for a couple of months when we arrived in NZ, and she travelled the country with us.


A pop top combi like the one we had in 1992-93 and beloved BotBot doing what she loved to do.

To work (twice in a day)

Today was a working day. Mostly meetings, plus I spent the last hour setting up a small web survey for one of our researchers.
Got home, read the paper, had a glass of wine, made some honey mustard chicken on kumara mash. Watched some telly, was about to go to bed, looked for my iPod. Aaaaah. I had left it on my desk.

I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep, so John drove me to work in his 'Nipple' (so-named by the neighbour, it is a new red Suzuki Swift Sport that uses about half the fuel of my Airtrek). The University campus is in Glen Innes, opposite side of town, a 40km round trip. It was weird arriving there at 11pm, going through the security barriers that are normally open, the offices deserted and in darkness. I never realised the corridor lights are on sensors that light up as you approach. Safely retrieved my beloved iPod and home to bed.

Congratulations to Jaz who has a new job starting early August. Go girl :-)

Plane crash and sexual failures

Two movies this afternoon and evening.

Starting with "Stranded: I've come from the plane that crashed in the mountains" which is the the reconstruction and re-telling of the 1972 Andes plane crash. It is the detailed story of how 16 Uruguayans survived more than 70 days stranded in the snow despite hearing on the radio that the search had been stopped after 10 days. Some of the survivors tell their stories and revisit the high mountain pass known as the Valley of Tears. Not for those with a fear of flying, or snow, or unusual food.

There followed a more lighthearted tale, but also one of bravery. "A Complete History of My Sexual Failures" follows Chris Waitt, a young (ish) British filmmaker as he tries to track down his many ex girlfriends to find out why they had all dumped him. Turns out he was a total jerk and was still in love with one ex, Vicky. The scenarios along the way are quite funny. At times I missed parts of the dialogue as the audience were laughing loudly.

Home to some cheese on toast and a dip in the now functioning spa pool. A cloudless night with many stars and the moon moving in and out of the palm tree branches.

Monkeying around on the weekend

Pretty lazy day Saturday. It rained all day. Apart from some shopping not much to report. Been reading about Barack Obama: 'From Promise to Power' by David Mendell. He sounds like the sort of person with high moral standards who should be in charge - I'm interested to read one his own books sometime.

Been to the gym this morning.
Discovered the spa pool half empty again - John found a leak in a rubber valve type device (too technical for me) and has gone to seek a replacement. Two films booked for later today.... more later.

These lovely fellows we photographed in the Monkey forest, Ubud, Bali a couple of years ago. It's one of our photos up at the Alamy photo library.

Film festival report #1

Two movies today. Both documentaries. Both full of emotion.

First up: Anger and disbelief. Mo & I went to see 'No end in sight' the detailing of the political arrogance and stupidity that caused the current chaos in Iraq. Many of the accounts were told by the frustrated witnesses who were once on the Bush team, were in Iraq and whose planning and efforts to stabilise the country were thwarted by remote commands from Rumsfeld and others with no understanding of what was going down. Grrrrrr!!

In between movies we had some rejuvenating mushroom soup and then drove down to the SPCA to consider the canines, as Mo is thinking of getting a dog. I very nearly came home with a sweet little fluffy tortoise shell kitten who clung to me purring like something demented and nuzzled under my chin.

Then this evening I went back into town to the Lido with John & Mo to see 'Young@Heart' - a film about a choir of that name that tackles music by Coldplay, The Clash, Talking Heads, Sonic Youth, Prince, and James Brown. With the average age of 82, and one of the star performers (pictured below) clocking in at 92, this was a revelation.

They put in performances with such energy and life despite having to deal with cancer, chronic heart failure, incontinence and the death of 2 of their group while rehearsing for their tour. An inspiring film. Official site. Note: the clips on the site are just the music videos, the film gets behind the scenes to who these people are as well as the music they make.

Maybe I'll start a Dylan choir when I am 80. We can travel the country performing from our wheelchairs. I'll want 'Desolation Row' and 'Its Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)' on the setlist

Not a lot to say today

I'm feeling out of words. So a picture of "Peter the Piano Eater" will suffice. This is a framed print by Jamie Hayes that I have on my wall. I bought it in New Orleans when I was there in 2004 presenting at a clinical trials conference.

I enjoyed reading Alan's Hmmm about the difference between "meat wrapped in metal" and "metal wrapped in meat". Keep blogging Alan - you are a natural!