w h o a r . c o . n z

“..Meanwhile, all paled next to Stevie Wonder: …

… a man wowing festival audiences for decades traced heritage in the upper echelons of pop.

Acts like these, or Shakira, or Seasick Steve, or the timeless professionalism of Willie Nelson … and even Rolf Harris …

… kept the familial contingent happy;…

… goodwill seeped into any cracks like Polyfilla.

After-dark shenanigans were the next phase, played out in the dance arenas, like Arcadia and Shangri-La …

… these two often shut of an evening as they quickly reached capacity.

They benefited from the Balearic climate; intense, shape-shifting arenas of flame thrown into the sky by sculptures … skeletons …

… the shells of military vehicles.

“Belgian electronica with twisted beats” has never been so enlivened by girls in hot-pants climbing fifteen feet into the air …

… or men dressed like Rubik’s Cubes…”

go to source/story>>>Glastonbury: the best and the worst - Features, Music - The Independent

“… There are only two artists in the history of pop upon whom the epithet “genius” has been bestowed …

… and it is a peculiar quirk of coincidence that both have been blind black soulmen who played piano.

Or maybe not such a coincidence.

There’s every chance that Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, was deliberately trying to establish a connection in the public mind between Ray Charles, the original genius of soul …

… and his new protégé, “Little” Stevie Wonder … when he titled Wonder’s 1963 breakthrough album The 12 Year Old Genius.

It wasn’t the first time he had tried to link the two talents: …

…a year earlier, Stevie’s debut album had been A Tribute to Uncle Ray, a collection of Charles covers which made little impact on the public consciousness …

… but which did enable the child prodigy to meet his hero.

Ironically, until then he had not realised that Brother Ray was, like himself, black - but then, how could he?

Perhaps the even greater irony is that both these entertainers, for whom colour was essentially just a concept, would become significant figures in the emancipation struggles of the civil rights era -

- Charles leading by example in refusing to play to segregated audiences …

… and Wonder creating some of the most articulate (and popular) musical commentaries on racial inequality.

As Wonder once said, “Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.”

In such songs as “Living for the City” and “You Haven’t Done Nothin’”, he robustly confronted the ignorance and negligence of the Nixon administration’s attitude towards the black community.

Rarely, if ever, have black anger and black pride been as eloquently fused as in the string of extraordinary recordings he made between 1972 and 1980 …

… which includes at least three albums - Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life -

- that can stand shoulder to shoulder beside the pop landmarks of Pet Sounds, Revolver and Blonde on Blonde…”

(hear..!..hear…!..well said that music critic..!..)

go to source/story>>>Stevie Wonder: The vision of a genius - Profiles, People - The Independent

“…It started the day after Jimi Hendrix died in 1970, with a mere 1,500 attendees and costing just £1 to enter - including free milk from the farm.

Forty years on and the festival is going stronger than ever …

… so we take a look back at the most memorable performances to grace Worthy Farm…”

go to source/story>>>The 10 most memorable Glastonbury performances - Features, Music - The Independent

“… we thought it would be fun to take a look back at the first phase of the World Cup … and compile into chronological order every goal scored from group play.

32 teams, 48 games, and 101 goals scored in total (103 if you happen to include a certain two USA goals that were controversially discounted).

Without further ado, we now present to you… every single goal scored in the World Cup, up until now.

Enjoy!…”

go to source/story>>>World Cup 2010: Every Goal Scored In Group Play (VIDEO)

reasons to support germany over england:…

my lineage/make-up is scots/irish/welsh….

…so just that is more than enough reason to support virtually anyone against england…

..pus…’the boy’ is half-german…

so..y’know…!

..it was a good day on the football-field….

(here are the grisly-details…)

go to source/story>>>Millions watch England’s worst World Cup defeat | Stuff.co.nz

after their widely reviled/panned quizz-show attempt at a celebration of 50 years of local-telly…

..tvnz had another ‘go’ last night…

now..my view on programmes of this nature…is that usually you have an abundance of historical-footage to play with…

and that this should make up most of any such programme….(this is what people want to see….not a bloody ‘compere’ banging on..to camera….)

so imagine my dismay last night..when i tuned into their latest 50 yr ‘do’…

and there was not one compere…..there were three…!

paul henry wasn’t enough…they also wheeled out the tvnz news-readers…dallow…and ?…(sorry..!..don’t watch tvone news..eh..?..)

that was enough..after my first gape-mouthed reaction…i ran away to prime….to catch the entertainment-chapter of their much more workmanlike/competent retrospective ‘take’…

i wd return to one..in the ad breaks on prime….and my worst fears were confirmed…three comperes balthering cliched-drivel..

and just showing those same stock-shots we have always seen…

(whereas..in contrast..prime played fascinating little vignettes…. (perhaps the best from a private-party of the time…featuring an impossibly young chicks/ray columbus etc..)

now..another reason i don’t watch one news…is their weather-coverage…

long a bane of mine…puffed-up/inflated weather bulletins..and tvone are the masters of this…and hickey hoving into view..has me diving for the remote…)

and one part i caught..in the ad-breaks..was hickey doing fifty-years of weather…(!)…aarrgghhh…!!!)

and that..more than anything else…proved my ’stinking pile of dog-do’ thesis…

(i wd recommnd that viewers stick with primes’ offerings on this ….

to date they have been light years ahead of any offerings from tvnz…)

..and last night..difficult as it may seem..tvnz achieved a new nadir….

“…If only there was some sort of club I could join to celebrate my whiteness … I’ve wondered many times …

… while masturbating over paintings of Hitler.

Well there is!

It’s called the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (or ABT), and it’s celebrated in a documentary called Inside The Aryan Brotherhood (Wed, 10pm, Discovery).

Heavily tattooed, spouting hate speech, bragging about their appetite for violence …

… and openly boasting about their crystal meth-smuggling business ..

… they’re the kind of people you’d expect to find in prison.

Which is probably why they’re in prison.

Despite being in prison, they’re a force to be reckoned with, according to this documentary, which in no way glorifies them …

… unless you think intercutting violent CCTV prison fights with menacing soundbites from masked members of the Aryan Brotherhood …

… underscored with dramatic music … counts as “glorification”.

Anyone who thinks those sequences look like precisely the sort of thing the ABT might edit together themselves is mistaken.

For one thing, the captions are spelt correctly.

And for another they’re not allowed to use Final Cut Pro in prison.

They’re allowed to do push-ups, though.

Lots of push-ups.

We see one of them doing push-ups in his cell and he looks pretty cool …

… if you ignore the seatless metal toilet in the corner which he has to piss and shit in every day with no privacy because he’s in prison.

They’re not all in prison.

Some remain outside, including a one-legged member called Lucky …

… and a man who wears a bandana to protect his identity …

… but fails to cover up the huge, immediately identifiable tattoos on both his arms.

Maybe he thinks a black man invented the sleeve.

The programme hasn’t noticed how funny this is;…”..(cont..)

go to source/story>>>Charlie Brooker’s Screen burn: Inside The Aryan Brotherhood | Television & radio | The Guardian

“…Video can capture science in action like nothing else –

- and New Scientist has scoured the web to bring you the 10 best clips posted this month…”

go to source/story>>>New Scientist TV – Best of the web - 21 June 2010 - New Scientist

“…BP’s oil-spewing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has raised people’s awareness of the hazards of undersea drilling.

Now a new movie called “Gasland” documents problems being created by natural gas wells being drilled on land across the U.S.

The film’s director, Josh Fox, tells how he was approached by a drilling company who offered him $100,000 to drill on his Pennsylvania property.

The representative told him the ultimate result would be little more than a “fire hydrant in the middle of your field.”

Instead of jumping at the money, Fox started personally investigating the experiences people across the country have had with natural gas drilling …

… and a process known as hydrofracking (or “fracking”) on their land.

Beleaguered homeowners showed Fox their water — cloudy, bubbling and fizzing right out of the faucet —

– and told him how their kids got sick.

One man told how his water well exploded spontaneously on January 1, 2009, after he allowed drilling on his land.

The natural gas had pooled inside his well … and his electric pump ignited it.

In another scene, a man holds a lighter up to a stream of water coming out of his kitchen faucet.

The water explodes into a fireball.

Fox discovered chemicals like benzene, toluene and xylene had leached into people’s household water, making them ill.

The natural gas industry insists that such chemicals in water wells … are naturally occuring…”

go to source/story>>>“Gasland” Movie Explosive for Drilling Industry | Center for Media and Democracy

“…Pixar and other studios at the forefront of digital animation and effects are dealing with something very comparable to the problems solved by artists in 15th-century Italy.

In the current exhibition of Italian Renaissance drawings at the British Museum you can see a drawing of a goblet by Paolo Uccello to which the natural reaction is “it looks just like a computer graphic”.

The reason it looks so digital is that artists such as Uccello were trying to turn their minds into computers….

They did not just strive to paint “what they saw”;…..

… they wanted to create a completely convincing three-dimensional simulacrum of it …

… by plotting the contours of a virtually real space into their pictures.

If you watch the “making of” features on your DVD of the original Toy Story you will be told the story of a modern Renaissance.

The Pixar team did not accidentally hit on a new way to make toys apparently come to life on screen.

After seeing earlier attempts at digital animation they actively theorised that it was possible to perfect this technology …

… and to use it to create “real” animated worlds of an intricacy and vitality that would amaze and move audiences in a completely new way.

Toy Story and its successors are colossal artistic achievements.

There is, perhaps, nothing happening in “fine art” today to match what the whizzkids who created them have imagined.

Just as the great Disney films of the 1930s and 40s stand equal to the best of modern American painting …

… so does Toy Story tower among the aesthetic inventions of our time…”

go to source/story>>>Where are today’s Leonardos? Toy Story | Jonathan Jones | Art and design | guardian.co.uk

“…Apple promises that its new iPhone 4 will “change everything, all over again.”

While Apple’s “new baby,” offers some promising new features, like multitasking and a front-facing camera …

… it also has some major drawbacks.

Before you sign up for two years with AT&T, camp out in front of an Apple Store, and fork over $200 (minimum) …

… check out our rundown of the worst things about the iPhone 4.

(For an alternate take … be sure to browse the 9 best iPhone 4 features next!)…”

go to source/story>>>iPhone 4 Review: The WORST Things About Apple’s New iPhone (PHOTOS)

“…Toy Story 3 is easily the best film of 2010.

Toy Story 3 is possibly the finest ‘part 3′ ever made, give or take a The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King.

It is thrilling, funny, and scary, alternating between bouts of inspiration and heartbreak.

Whether it is or isn’t the best Pixar picture yet is a moot point.

It fits in their canon as another glorious mediation on their core themes (existing in safety vs. living with risk, letting go of that which is lost and cannot be recovered, the inevitability of time, the nature of ‘home’).

If the first two pictures took Woody and Buzz to ‘infinity and beyond’, this one takes them to hell and back.

It absolutely must be seen in 3D if possible, if only because the glasses will be useful in hiding the stream of tears during the first and last reels.

A token amount of plot - Eleven years have passed since Toy Story 2, and Andy is just about ready to leave for college.

The last several years have been difficult ones for Andy’s toy collection, as they have grown accustomed to being played with less and less …

… as Andy has grown from a child to a young adult.

After a cleaning mix-up nearly sends our beloved playthings into a garbage truck, Buzz, Jessie, Ham and the gang take refuge in a box intended for donation to a local daycare.

Woody however refuses to believe that his beloved owner intentionally abandoned him … and quickly attempts to make his way back to Andy’s house.

The others take comfort in their apparently joyful new digs, a colorful and exciting world filled with new toy friends …

… and an unending parade of children who will play with them constantly.

But when the dark underside of the daycare center is uncovered … will the toys choose to remain there …

… or live forever in Andy’s attic … in the hopes that Andy’s children may one day play with them again?

It goes without saying that the film deals with some harsh truths about life …

… especially what happens when we grow up … and our children grow up before our eyes.

When we are no longer constantly needed by the ones we’ve loved … where will we go for happiness and fulfillment?

After the fantastically exciting and funny action sequence that opens the picture (I could have watched a whole action thriller set inside Andy’s imagination), director Lee Unkrich wastes no time laying out the grim picture.

Andy is all grown up, many of the toys have been lost to donations or yard sales … and the core group that remains faces a most uncertain future.

The film picks up and lightens up quite a bit once they get to the Sunnyside Daycare and the emotional drama takes a backseat to caper hijinks.

Still, amidst it all, these toys are basically exiles searching for a new home.

The fear and resentment that goes with that is always under the surface (every facial expression from Jessie is a reminder that she’s been through this before).

Emotional turmoil aside, the film is still filled with rich comedy … and delightful new characters…”

go to source/story>>>Scott Mendelson: HuffPost Review: Toy Story 3: An IMAX 3D Experience (2010)

“…in such seminal literary publications as The New Yorker, Esquire, Saturday Evening Post, The Atlantic, The Paris Review and Harper’s.

America was uncomfortably settling into its role as a nuclear superpower …

… riveted by the revelations of Joseph McCarthy’s Un-American Activities committee, Freudian psychoanalysis, the Beats, rock ‘n roll, racial genocide and the bomb.

Such fertile territory seemed impossible to replicate and many of those great literary magazines have since faded to oblivion, others no longer regularly publish short fiction.

Yet a recent explosion of literary quarterlies and online journals have heralded a renaissance of this classic American form.

Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy … and Charles D’Ambrosio’s The Dead Fish Museum …

… are examples of contemporary American short story collections by young writers working at the height of their powers.

The great American short story is dead;…

… long live the American short story…”

go to source/story>>>The roads sometimes travelled | Stuff.co.nz

“…Now starts the analysis and breakdowns of everything that was on show at E3.

It was an interesting year, to say the least, and Nintendo scored a coup with its 3DS, an ingenious device that, as we all know, lets you view 3D without wearing the glasses.

Microsoft’s big presence this year was definitely Kinect.

And after having hands-on with it I’m quite impressed with how well it functions, especially when it comes to the dance game, Dance Central.

While there’s no denying that Kinect Sports is very Wii Sports-like (a Microsoft exec that I spoke to admitted as much) …

… the standout games on show were definitely Dance Central and Ubisoft’s Your Shape: Fitness Involved.

They show what the system is capable of.

And could Video Kinect, with will let you video chat with not just other Kinect users but anyone with Windows Live Messanger …

… be a Skype killer?

Another feature of the Kinect that is sure to appeal is the ability to use voice commands to select applications and activate commands.

Microsoft is using the mantra: “If you can see it, just say” with the Kinect, meaning if you see the Zune movie service …

… you can just say “Xbox Zune” and the application will start up.

It’s pretty impressive…”

go to source/story>>>E3 2010: A retrospective | Stuff.co.nz

“… The smallest sibling of the Mac family just graduated.

Little brother has some new smarts and a sharp new suit.

I’m talking about the Mac mini, and the “sharp” part is literal: …

… this tiny desktop computer now has an elegant aluminum case with edges so defined they can scrape your skin off.

Apple released a new mini on Tuesday … and it’s the biggest redesign of the product since it was launched in 2005.

It adds some much-needed features and a less-than-necessary … but very appealing, design flourish.

So why would you get a Mac mini?

It doesn’t have the horsepower of the full-sized Mac Pro desktop … or the portability of the MacBook.

Well, for one thing, it’s still the cheapest way to get access to Mac software.

If you want to do video editing or graphic design … the Mac rules.

The new mini starts at NZ$1299.

That’s without a keyboard, mouse or monitor … but it’s still a pretty good value…”

go to source/story>>>Review: Apple’s Mac mini - gadgets - technology | Stuff.co.nz

“…Within its concrete edifice, the Barbican has built a marvellous monument to the world of the surreal.

Surrealism is always coming round, and every time it becomes more and more normal.

So if we still believe in it at all … we should hold out for something surprising.

And this time there is a surprise.

It’s a fun house, a crooked house, a haunted house.

It is the name for The Surreal House, which has just opened at the Barbican.

Though when you think about it, it shouldn’t be such a surprise.

Our dreams are often set in houses, and Surrealism believes in dreams.

It just hasn’t been done.

Specifically speaking, The Surreal House has a twofold lesson: Surrealism and the house, and Surrealism and architecture.

And the usual artistic suspects are certainly here: Magritte, Dali, Max Ernst, Giacometti.

But the cast is spread much wider.

There are obscure Surrealists, and historical pre-Surrealists, and contemporary post-Surrealists, and film-makers and architects too.

Surrealism has become – by this date, why not? – more of a mood than a movement.

It could mean almost anything.

You don’t quite know what to expect.

But enter.

Enter into semi-darkness.

And at once, you’re in Freud-land…”..(cont..)

go to source/story>>>Welcome to the mad house: A monument to the world of the surreal - Features, Art - The Independent

“… Take a look at your game collection.

Now imagine all of your games mixed into one … and based around a fairly standard beat-em-up.

The result?

A mess?

Confusion?

Chaos?

Pure genius?

Well, the answer is all of the above and much more.

May I introduce No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle.

Its tagline could easily be “The hardest game in the world to review”.

It took about 14 hours to play through the game … and after finishing it I sat there for about five minutes …

… and found myself thinking “What the hell just happened”.

If I had to break it down, then I would say think Killer 7 meets Afro Samurai meets GTA meets softcore hentai meets SNES meets 8bit arcade meets…

…aah it’s hopeless, there’s just no way to accurately pigeon-hole No More Heroes 2 … without doing every other game in that genre an injustice.

It’s hard to say whether the game is an ode to all things video game or a piss-take.

Either way, it’s easy to see that the developers had an absolute ball making it…

..(this) shows through in the fact that despite several flaws that would prove fatal for many other games …

… No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is virtually impossible to put down from start to finish.

Grasshopper Manufacture have produced an ambitious sequel that could so easily have turned to custard …

… but instead strangely gels into a game that is so varied in style …

… that you just can’t wait to see what will happen next…”

go to source/story>>> Review: No More Heroes 2 - games - technology | Stuff.co.nz

“…The sticker on Devo’s first album for 20 years declares “focus group approved”.

While you’d expect nothing less from the original pop conceptualists from Akron, Ohio ..

… the idea the Devo should have enlisted what they call “corporate consensus building” methods to fine-tune the contents of Something for Everybody is doubly ironic.

At Nirvana’s height Kurt Cobain praised the “subversive” qualities of the band best remembered for their 1980 MTV staple Whip It!

Lady Gaga is apparently a fan.

Even Neil Young’s self-sabotaging 1982 album Trans — the one on which he became a one-man Devo —

– sounds pretty good these days…”

go to source/story>>>Devo: Something for Everybody review | CD reviews | Music - Times Online

“…What are Apple’s favorite apps of the year?

At the 2010 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the company announced the winners of the Apple Design Awards…

… revealing what Apple considers to be the best apps for iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches.

The Apple Design Awards “recognize iPhone OS applications that demonstrate technical excellence, innovation, and technology adoption.”

So what are Apple’s picks for the ten best apps of the year?

Check them out in the slideshow below…”

got source/story>>>The 10 Best Apps: Apple Design Awards Honor Top Apps (PICTURES)

“…Perhaps Hitchens’s most surreal encounter was with the highly distinguished former prime minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher.

Having just written a piece for the New Statesman, in which he infamously claimed that Thatcher was “surprisingly sexy,” ….

… a claim that, by his own admission, received more anger-mail than any other piece he had written …

… he found himself at the same party as the gallant former Prime Minister.

In true Hitchens fashion, he approached the then prime minister in an effort to discuss her Rhodesia/Zimbabwe policy …

… one with which he strongly disagreed.

Just as soon as he attempted to initiate a policy debate, Thatcher ordered Hitchens to bow.

Not one to refuse an order from the second most powerful person in the UK, he obliged …

… only to be ordered to “Bow lower!”

Hitchens, now feeling self-conscious about the whole ordeal is ordered once more to bow “Much lower!”

Seemingly content with the arc of his bow, she began to walk a slow circle around him as if she were stalking prey …

… and continued to do so until she took her hands from behind her back brandishing a rolled up parliamentary order-paper …

… and spanked Hitchens directly on the buttocks and walked away from a freshly embarrassed Hitchens.

He straightened his back, struggling to comprehend what had just occurred …

… only to see Thatcher glance back in his direction and flirtatiously remark: “Naughty boy!”

(ew..!..eh…?..)

hitchens also calls clinton a ‘hypocrite’…he tells us that clinton ‘didn’t inhale’…but that he liked to take/was very fond of..

… his pot cooked in brownies/cookies…(!)…)

go to source/story>>>‘Hitch-22′: 6 Juicy Celebrity Bites From Christopher Hitchens’s New Memoir (PHOTOS, POLL)

“…iPhone 4 reviews are streaming in as tech bloggers post their first reactions to Apple’s new iPhone.

Steve Jobs boldly claims his new gadget will “change everything–all over again.”

So will it?

Although they have mixed feelings about the phone’s glass exterior, reviewers have thus far heaped praise on Apple’s “totally new animal,”…

… which has been called “so thin it’s kind of mind-boggling,” “elegant,” and even “sexy.”

The iPhone 4 won’t hit stores until June 24th–and we can expect a slew of new reviews then–

- but in the meantime, here’s an early look at what techies are saying about Apple’s new iPhone…”

go to source/story>>>Apple iPhone 4 REVIEW ROUNDUP: Lavish Praise For The New iPhone

“…TVNZ’s controversial host Paul Henry - famous for lampooning everyone from Susan Boyle to overweight children to Greenpeace activists -

– has had a taste of his own medicine after falling victim to a prankster on this morning’s Breakfast show.

The state broadcaster sent out a press release apologising for screening Mr Henry’s interview with a young man …

… purporting to be a whaling supporter named Jay Pryor …

… who said he was launching a pro-whaling petition…”

go to source/story>>>TVNZ’s Henry falls prey to prankster (view video) - National - NZ Herald News

“…As many expected, Steve Jobs unveiled Apple’s new iPhone 4 during his keynote address at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Jobs was full of praise for the iPhone 4–Apple’s “new baby”–

– calling the new iPhone an “extraordinary” product … that is “going to change everything, all over again.”

Apple hype aside, what does the new iPhone really offer?

We’ve put together a guide to the iPhone 4’s features … and everything you need to know about Apple’s new device…”

go to source/story>>>Apple iPhone 4 Features: 15 Things You NEED To Know About The New iPhone

“…”His Dark Materials” author Philip Pullman takes on Jesus in a new book that isn’t as anti-religious as he thinks…

“If I know your sect, I anticipate your argument,” Emerson said …

… and those who know Philip Pullman’s sect will readily anticipate the argument of his latest novel, “The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ.”

No doubt the same applies to many readers of my sect …

… for whom Pullman’s title will have roughly the same emotional resonance as “The Good Woman Janice and the Slut Your Mom.”

But to leave it at that is to miss an important point, which is that Pullman actually has an argument.

The commonly held notion that we are in the midst of a great public debate between atheists like Pullman and so-called believers like me is a fine construction for radio talk shows …

… but a rather sloppy way of cutting the ideological cake…”

go to source/story>>>A famous atheist reimagines the gospels - Fiction - Salon.com

“…Jean‑Luc Godard’s masterpiece remains a startling example of the French new wave …

… and marked the arrival of one of cinema’s most influential directors…”

go to source/story>>>Film: 50 years of Jean‑Luc Godard’s Breathless | Film | The Observer

“…The bestselling author’s ongoing effort to balance the books he’s bought … with the books he’s managed to read…

Last month after a much-deserved hiatus, Nick Hornby resumed his celebrated column for the Believer magazine, “Stuff I’ve Been Reading.”

It appears courtesy of McSweeney’s.

Books bought:

* “
Austerity Britain, 1945–51″ — David Kynaston

* “American Rust” — Philipp Meyer

* 
”Puzzled People: A Study in Popular Attitudes to Religion, Ethics, Progress and Politics in a London Borough, Prepared for the Ethical Union” — Mass Observation

* “The British Worker” — Ferdynand Zweig

Books read:

* 
”One third of Austerity Britain, 1945–51″ — David Kynaston

* “Red Plenty” — Francis Spufford

* “American Rust” — Philipp Meyer

It’s never easy … returning home after failing to make one’s way out in the world.

When I left these pages in 2008, it was very much in the spirit of “Good-bye, nerdy losers!

I’m not wasting any more time ploughing through books on your behalf!

I have things to do, places to go, people to see!”

Ah, well.

What can you do … if the people don’t want to be seen?

I have now become that pathetic modern phenomenon you might have read about … the boomerang child —

– the kid who struts off … (typically and unwisely with middle finger raised) …

… spends a couple of years screwing up some lowly job on a magazine or in a bank …

… and then comes back … tail between his legs …

… to reclaim his old bedroom …

… and wonder how come his parents have more fun than he on a Saturday night…”

go to source/story>>>Nick Hornby: Stuff I’ve been reading - McSweeney’s - Salon.com

“…If all you know about Iceland are its unpronounceable, un-spellable volcanoes, the musician Björk, and the fact that it’s near Greenland (but not as icy), then maybe you should read a bloodcurdling social history of the island nation.

The Economist has a short and sweet (or maybe not-so-sweet?) review, which includes this choice passage:

‘..The story is not wholly pleasant.

Even readers with strong stomachs will find them tested.

The book opens with an account of a man who rips his own testicles off with a cord after a tantrum involving allegations of infidelity.

The pressure-cooker of emotions induced by isolation (the road round the island was completed only in 1974) dispel any stereotypes of Nordic stolidity.

The dank squalor of the turf-built hovels in which most Icelanders lived is described with disconcerting relish …

… along with the suppurating sores, stoically borne, that resulted.

Clothes were boiled in urine occasionally … but were otherwise worn without washing…”

go to source/story>>>A Social History of Iceland

“…TVNZ spokeswoman Andi Brotherston said the channel received mixed feedback yesterday …

… but what was important was the excellent ratings.

She said staff thought carefully about the format and decided a trivia show would be more entertaining than a chronological trawl though old clips -

- many of which were slow-paced by today’s standards.

“If it was poor, people wouldn’t have stayed with it.

People don’t stay watching terrible television,”

The show pitted two teams of four television personalities against each other by posing a series of questions about television shows.

Many of the shows featured were overseas offerings, such as 1970s American sitcom Mork and Mindy.

Geoff Lealand, an associate professor at Waikato University’s school of screen and media studies, was one of those who complained to TVNZ.

“To put on a trivia game show to celebrate such a significant anniversary really was a missed opportunity.”

Dr Lealand said it was ironic that Prime, which is owned by pay television company Sky …

… was putting on a seven-part documentary series later this month … celebrating 50 years of television …

… when the state broadcaster had celebrated it so poorly.

“Nowhere did you get the voice of the viewer.

It was like a club of insiders all busily rubbing each other’s backs,” he said…”

go to source/story>>>Viewers pan TVNZ’s 50-year celebration - Entertainment - NZ Herald News

i was actually looking forward to that 50 yrs of television show.

..it wd have had me at tv1 in the evenings for the first time since..ages…

(i don’t ‘do’ crime/forensic shows..so..y’know…!..)

i thought it wd be a serious look back at the/our cultural/societal-story …

… that a halfway decent look-back could provide..

..with much humor/horror/insight(?) to be had from those glimpses…

..(and i admit..hearing jason gunn was ‘compere-ing’ it..did cause me to don full-body protection before approaching..

..(i am allergic to him..i come out in bumps/wild-aggression…it’s ugly..!…)

..instead we got this vile/abysmal worst excuse for a tv show..perhaps ever…

..i lasted for about (a gape-mouthed) 30 mins…’till the sickening realisation this was not just a set-up…

..this was the show…

whoever had anything to do with it…

..should be driven from the building..

..and i recommend that everyone go to tvnz on demand…

..and watch about five minutes of it…

..(it is a milestone..in its’ own right..)

so..the field is wide open for someone else to do what everyone expected…

(and..can you imagine how this idea was ‘pitched’…?)

“..ok..we’re doing the fifty-years of telly thing…

..and what we’re gonna do..is we’re gonna have a quiz show..!

no..!..no..!..ride with me here..hear me out..!

we’ll wheel in some of the tvnz-furniture..y’know..!..dallow..?..jackie clark..?

..and some of the young ones we want to promote..as contestants…

..(with me..?..with me..?..cheaps as chips so far..!..eh..?..)

..and..and..what we’ll do is..

..jason gunn will be the compere…no..!..no..!..hang on..!

..and..get this…!..we will give away tins of paint..!

..it’ll be so camp..!

..and will cost us nothing..!

..whaddayareckon..?..”

“…Would you shell out $5800 for a book?

It may be worth it in the case of a new collector’s edition atlas called “Earth.”

The book weighs 63 pounds, stands 2 feet high, and includes some incredible photography from all over the world.

The maps in the atlas, put together by over 100 international cartographers …

… are accompanied by some beautiful pictures from the National Geographic archives …

… a few of which are in the slideshow below…”

go to source/story>>>14 Amazing Images From $5800 Atlas (PHOTOS, POLL)

“…There was a time, long ago, when the words “Sex and the City” did not fill us with weary loathing.

When the romantic — and sexual — escapades of four witty, sophisticated New York City women served as an amusing commentary on modern-day relationships.

But this week, Michael Patrick King fixed all that …

… by delivering the worst reviewed piece of cinema … since that John Travolta Rastafarian alien flick…”

go to source/story>>>This week in crazy: Michael Patrick King - This Week in Crazy - Salon.com

“…In this animated comedy by “South Park” writer Pam Brady, demons discover that life on Earth is hell..

As young adults, we try to distinguish ourselves from the conformist herd.

As old adults, we try to squelch our uniqueness just enough to keep our jobs …

… and prevent our children from being ostracized by their peers … for mumbling Kraftwerk lyrics to themselves at lunchtime.

But the irony of concealing that “carpe diem” tattoo on your ankle at the church picnic …

… or turning down that growly Slint album in the elementary school parking lot …

… is that such quirks of taste can’t even touch the bizarre rituals and behaviors that pass for normal in mainstream America.

From the aggressive displays of machismo at little league baseball games … to the vaguely menacing etiquette of PTA meetings …

… the freakishness of suburban life far transcends the freakishness of … well, freaks like you and me.

Whether we’re straining to appear unfazed by the oddly sexual undertones of songs at our kid’s Christian day camp …

… or struggling to stomach the fried delights of the local themed chain restaurant …

… it can be a challenge to remain unfazed by the madness around us…”

go to source/story>>>“Neighbors From Hell”: The perversion of the suburbs, unleashed! - Heather Havrilesky - Salon.com

“…Like most movie buffs, we’ve been enjoying the onslaught of deliciously terrible reviews for “Sex and the City 2,” which currently ranks just above the “Nightmare on Elm Street” remake on Rotten Tomatoes —

– but a bit below “Letters to God” and “The Tooth Fairy.”

So Salon staffers started thinking about other ginormous Hollywood releases that became critical punching bags ..

… movies where reading the reviews was a lot more fun than actually seeing the damn thing.

This isn’t breaking news, but there’s no necessary connection between big-time critical hatred and a film’s commercial fate: …

… Sometimes bad publicity can destroy a movie at the box office (”Gigli,” “Glitter,” “Howard the Duck”) …

… but just as often a picture loathed by the literati is a huge hit anyway (”Battlefield Earth” or “Cocktail”).

And then there’s “Showgirls,” and to a lesser degree “Hudson Hawk” — movies that wear their bad reviews like medals into a glorious afterlife.

Herewith, at least arguably, the 10 most-trashed big movies of recent decades…”

go to source/story>>>Panned! The 10 worst-reviewed movies - Film Salon - Salon.com

“…Google has released a list of the top 1000 most visited sites on the web, as measured by unique visitors.

As Search Engine Land notes, Google is not only making this ranking available, it is also offering advertisers the option of purchasing ads exclusively on these top 1000 most visited sites.

Google AdPlanner compiled the data from “a variety of sources including anonymized, aggregated Google Toolbar data from users who have opted in to enhanced features, publisher opt-in anonymous Google Analytics data, opt-in external consumer panel data, and other third-party market research.”

Interestingly, Google has excluded some sites from the list–notably, several Google properties as well as R-rated sites.

The company provides this caveat: “Keep in mind that the list excludes adult sites, ad networks, domains that don’t have publicly visible content or don’t load properly, and certain Google sites.”

go to source/story>>>Google Ranks Top 13 Most Visited Sites On The Web (PICTURES)

“…There I have said it again three times more, one for each show … though perhaps I should not have.

Inevitably I will be accused of “tall poppy syndrome” for saying enough, enough, enough.

But to crib and tailor a gag from one of the shows Mr Darby appeared in …

.. it is not tall poppy syndrome so much as annoyingly-ubiquitous-ginger-haired-person-with-a-reedy-voice syndrome.

I, along with many other people, appreciate and applaud Mr Darby for carving out a successful career on the back of his turn as Murray the manager in Flight of the Conchords …

… a role which has led him to make a bit of splish-splash in the movies.

But to say that he is being oversold at home is a tall poppy of an understatement.

Is it just me, or is he playing Murray the manager in everything?

Perhaps it is just me…”

(talking about ‘being everywhere’…..how about that radar..?..eh..?..whoar…!..

..with his watch-me-kill-and-cook-little-creatures routine/riff…all over new zealand..!..everywhere..!)

go to source/story>>>TV Eye: Wish list - less Murray, more laughs - Entertainment - NZ Herald News

“…Last week, we posted a list of 12 literary “one-hit wonders,” authors that may have written a number of great books, but who are generally remembered for just one enduring classic.

This week, we wanted to recognize those books that are often overlooked when we’re talking about great authors.

Some of these may not be so unfamiliar, but we’re guessing that even the die-hard English majors among us haven’t read them all.

Did you know that Margaret Mitchell wrote a romantic novella when she was 15 that remained lost until 1995?

That Louisa May Alcott wrote thrillers in addition to classics like “Little Women”?…”

go to source/story>>>12 Great Overlooked Books By Famous Authors (PHOTOS, POLL)

“…St. Petersburg in revolt gave us Vladimir Nabokov, Isaiah Berlin and Ayn Rand.

The first was a novelist, the second a philosopher.

The third was neither … but thought she was both.

Many other people have thought so too.

In 1998 readers responding to a Modern Library poll identified Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead as the two greatest novels of the twentieth century—surpassing Ulysses, To the Lighthouse and Invisible Man.

In 1991 a survey by the Library of Congress and the Book-of-the-Month Club found that with the exception of the Bible…

… no book has influenced more American readers than Atlas Shrugged…”

go to source/story>>>Garbage and Gravitas | The Nation

“…Are you sick of those franchises that churn out the same boring rubbish year after year … each one worse than the last?

Does it make you question why on earth the developers pretend they’ve got a credible fanbase?

Do you sometimes wonder how publishers manage to sleep on a massive pile of cash?

Here are five franchises we think need to just go away.

1) Guitar Hero

Here’s a remarkably clever idea - grab a hunk of plastic in the general shape of a guitar, put some buttons on it …

… and write some software that encourages you to jump around like a loon.

The Guitar Hero franchise is proof that even the craziest concepts can milk a metric truckload of money for a suitably adventurous publisher ..

… and once more revived the notion that video games could actually come bundled with peripherals that weren’t complete crap.

Should have quit after…

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

The dumbed-down Guitar Hero World Tour shifted the franchise from the impossibly difficult Guitar Hero III towards a family-friendly sing-a-long experience…

… and despite the promising Guitar Hero 5, it’s never really recovered the raw, head-pounding, teeth-gnashing and controller hurling angst that defined the series from the outset.

If Activision and Red Octane had stuck to a guitar-centric experience and pushed out multiple track packs based on the Guitar Hero III engine …

… (whilst subtly removing the ridiculous boss battles) … they’d have provided a much better experience for gamers.

The Rock Band franchise was always more than capable of providing the band experience for those who wanted it, and in the case of Guitar Hero, the diversification to group play moved the spotlight away from what was good about the game in the first place -

- massive lines of alternating hammer ons, hammer offs and nasty chord changes.

Plus, you know, Dragonforce.

The quiet release of Guitar Hero: Van Halen this year is evidence that the bottom of the barrel has indeed been scraped …

… and that gamers have probably had enough of music peripheral games for at least another decade…”

go to source/story>>>Game franchises that need to retire | Stuff.co.nz

“…Shit My Dad Says” is ready to make the leap from Twitter to TV.

CBS released a preview of the much-hyped, much-Shatnered sitcom last week, and the jury is still out on the results.

On the one hand, it looks like the unique account of one man’s crazy father has been turned into a traditional, run-of-the-mill sitcom - laugh track and all.

On the other hand it has William Shatner … which is awesome…”

go to source/story>>>CBS Releases Preview Of ‘Shit My Dad Says’ (VIDEO)

“…”Exile on Main St.’s” rerelease is revelatory … but even better is the concert film quashed for four decades…”

The remastered sound of the Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main St.,” reissued this week to much carefully orchestrated fanfare …

… brings the decadent double album out of the dank basement and out into the light.

The clatter of Charlie Watts’ sticks on the rim of his drum kit rings out like horse’s hooves on “Hip Shake,” …

… and Mick Jagger’s voice rises out of the famously murky mix on “Torn and Frayed.”

But “Exile’s” sonic polish is small potatoes compared to what awaits on the DVD available only with the album’s “super deluxe” (and super expensive) edition.

Sandwiched in between excerpts from Steven Kijak’s making-of documentary, which screened at Cannes this week, and a pair of clips from Hal Ashby’s concert doc, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones,”…

… is 11 minutes from Robert Frank’s legendary and elusive “Cocksucker Blues,” the quasi-documentary that the Stones have effectively suppressed for nearly four decades.

Owing to ongoing legal difficulties, the rest of “Cocksucker Blues” is unlikely to see legitimate release …

… but many of those who’ve seen it regard it as one of the greatest rock movies ever made.

The Stones hired Frank, the still photographer best known for the stark monograph “The Americans,” to document the run-up to “Exile’s” 1972 release and the accompanying tour, the band’s first U.S. jaunt since their disastrous free concert at Altamont Speedway …

… a would-be Woodstock where a man was fatally stabbed in the middle of “Under My Thumb.”

After holing up in the basement of Richards’ chateau in the south of France, where much of “Exile” was recorded, they were ready to meet their American public again, and they wanted Frank along for the ride.

It’s hard to know what the Stones expected from Frank, whose previous films, including the Beat landmark “Pull My Daisy” (1959), showed little interest in conventional narrative of either the fiction or nonfiction variety.

(At one point, Frank theorized he was chosen because his friend Danny Seymour, who appears in the film, was adept at procuring hard drugs, which made him a valuable commodity in the Stones’ circle.)

In any case, the Stones didn’t like what they saw — or at the very least considered it unwise to release.

According to one account, Jagger told Frank he liked the film but worried that “if it shows in America, we’ll never be allowed in the country again.”…”

go to source/story>>>The Rolling Stones’ forbidden documentary - Film Salon - Salon.com