Archive for the ‘Encouragement’ Category
Jon Stewart’s closing remarks at the ‘Rally to Restore Sanity’
I was impressed with this (I’ve left it out of blockquote to help readability. It’s all Jon Stewart, including his description of the media as a “24-hour, political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator”): “And now I thought we might have a moment, however brief, for some sincerity. If that’s okay — I know that there are […]
The superlatives still run hot for Leonard Cohen
Another night, another happy and satisfied bunch of Leonard Cohen fans. My pal Graeme went and sent me a text at the intermission, saying ‘Now I know what you were talking about!‘ Cool.
Cher Lloyd: Good on her
A friend of mine spotted this young woman on YouTube — Cher Lloyd — she’s a contestant in the current British ‘X-Factor’. Watch her audition. I like it that she credits the artist, Soulja Boy … and the Keri Hilson ‘version’ of Turn My Swag On she performs. Nice. I like her a lot. She’s […]
Walk out. Yeah.
Apropos our discussion of Paul Henry’s ‘No, I’m not giving you an interview’, watch how WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange warned a CNN reporter he wasn’t prepared to talk about his personal legal issues as part of an interview about the latest tranche of military leaks… and walk out he did. Fair enough too, in my opinion. […]
Words that may not be spoken
Last week I wrote to the local Howick & Pakuranga Times about a long-running local issue of importance to me and my family. I was intrigued by some of the deletions and alterations in the resulting published Letter to the editor. See what you think: My family and I fully support the moves to rebuild the […]
Ain’t this the truth?
An old saying and a true one … but we often learn this the hard way. (Spotted in an Italian warehouse/cafe in Wellington this afternoon.)
Homemade space program
Nice project by Luke Geissbühler and son Max, as reported by NY Mag … from my ‘reading’ of the video, I think the iPhone was used to track his ‘space capsule’, but the video itself was taken with a different (unspecified) bit of kit — not the iPhone, despite the report. In a burst of science-is-fun […]
Interview with John Sculley about the genius of Steve Jobs
This transcript of a recent interview by Leander Kahney with former Apple Computer CEO John Scully about founder and rescuer of Apple Steve Jobs is fascinating, if you care. Just one clip (seriously, go and read it): Sculley: It’s okay to be driven a little crazy by someone who is so consistently right. What I’ve […]
Sailing or just being blown?
Overhead at the Bucklands Beach Yacht Club… … At that point you’re not sailing, you’re just being blown. Interested to know more, I stopped and asked the slighty battered-looking yachtie what he meant … He recounted how he’d recently been sailing in heavy weather and found himself with too many sails rigged. (He gave me […]
Paul Henry: gracious in victory
So, in keeping with my general policy of confronting and directly answering criticism, here’s a response… OK, that’s actually what I said (sorry to quote myself) but it seems Paul Henry subscribes to the same philosophy. Henry’s acceptance speech at the Qantas Awards is worth watching (video below the fold) because his delivery is almost […]
Good ideas, well expressed
I’m reading the fascinating and cleverly written book about the worldwide spread of the English language: Globish by Robert McCrum. Gosh it’s a good read. I am learning a lot, and I’m really enjoying the care he takes with his writing. He uses long sentences (like wot I do) and carefully, sometimes exquisitely chosen words. […]
Taking a direct approach
Remember my comment from ‘When ‘gurus’ attack …’ I was encouraged by a comment recently in a BBC interview with John Podesta, former Clinton chief of staff and Obama administration transition head… Podesta says he sets out to be an independent even critical voice, and adds this proviso: “If you’re going to be critical of […]
BBC – ‘The Interview’: Tony Blair
I listened to this interview twice last night (as a podcast). I was impressed with Blair and his argument, I have to say. I always thought he was a great communicator, but didn’t expect to be struck, even inspired by his reasoned resoluteness and his thoughts about the challenge of radical Islam and Iran’s […]
