Fordiebianco’s 10 icons of the decade.

Yesterday G2 -The Guardian’s magazine – featured their ‘Icons of the decade’. It was a rather ecclectic (‘weird’ would probably be more accurate) mix: David Beckham, Osama bin Laden,The Obamas, Madeleine McCann, Carrie Bradshaw (the one with the long nose from ‘Sex and the City’ for my male readers), Google, Tony Blair, Jamie Oliver, Harry Potter and, er, Britney Spears. I think the Guardian and I differ on the the definition of an icon. G2 must have literally meant the optic aspect of the word. They obviously chose the most depicted people of the last ten years. Whether they have ‘iconic status’ is a different matter. For me an icon represents an ‘important and enduring symbol’. Whether most of G2’s choices fit into that category I have no idea. But hey, this is ‘citizen journalism’,

so let’s try that again:

• Hu Jintao: for turning China into the most powerful nation in the world by skilfully mixing a free economy with an oppressive one party state.
• Helen Clark: for instilling some sorely needed reforms in this ultra-capitalist country and turning it into a diplomatic powerhouse.
• Dick Cheney: for turning Washington D.C. into the ultimate evil empire and getting away with it.
• George W. Bush: for being the moronic posterchild of Dick Cheney’s antics
• Tony Blair: for squandering the good will of an entire nation and not having anything to show for it in the end
• Angela Merkel: for proving that female geeks are better world leaders
• Brian Cox: for proving that you can be cool, sexy and a good communicator with a PhD and a professorship in Physics
• The Williams Sisters: for dominating a white elitist sport for a decade.
• The Obamas: for instilling hope into a frazzled humanity
• Terry Pratchett: for attempting to dissiminate a positive view of humanity and tackling Alzheimer’s in public

A pretty mixed (and depressing) bunch, but then the noughties weren’t a particular ‘good news’ decade. It’s two decisive moments, 9/11 and Copenhagen, will be remembered as the moments when things started to go pear-shaped. It’s hard to be optimistic about the next ten years, but what’s left to do then hope for the better.

So, in the spirit of the season:

Merry bloody Christmas

Today I was having a beer with a friend at Indo’s, contemplating about the state of pre-Christmas time, when, through the glass cabinet of the fridge, I saw a dark green bottle with a familiar font. I gently asked the lovely bar attendant:

‘I am sorry, but is this normal Steinlager or Steinlager Pure?’

Oh, I think it’s the normal Steinlager. No, wait: It is the pure stuff.’

I carefully took ownership of the container, checking for the details: Indeed, it was labelled as brewed in Auckland. Imported by a place in London. After trying to get hold of a bloody bottle for two years, there it was, in my own local.

This must a sign. Maybe it is a christmas miracle and god is giving me a sign to change my atheist ways?

…or maybe the Kiwi population in London has finally hit 1 million and it’s worth importing the stuff.

At 3 pound 20 it’s certainly not cheap, but as it’s christmas only once a year…

The Ocean estate in Stepney. Going, Going, gone.  It’s going to be interesting to see whether deprivation can be improved with new houses alone.

The ones that have to go:

As my little list of perfect podcasts has been untouched for some time, it’s time to re-appraise.  Some will have to go, some I gladly keep, some new ones need to be added.

 

• This week in tech: As amusing this group of merry geeks can be, this is now mainly self-indulgent banter, and if I hear Jasaon Calacanis one more time I’ll have to vomit. As there is now no knowledge gained at all, this has to go.
• The World Technology Podcast: While moderately informative, Clark Boyd must be the most annoying and whingy podcast presenter in the entire universe. Hearing him repeatedly whine about the lack of listeners completely put me off the whole programme. Maybe the lack of listeners is a sign, Clark?

The ones I’ll keep

 

• In our time: Continuing to go from strength to strength, the format is unbeatable. Take Melvin and three formidable scientists and have them discuss a historical event, physical phenomenon or person for 45 minutes. Radio at its best.
• Friday night comedy from BBC4:  The Now Show and the News Quiz continue to be the 30 minutes of comedy on the radio. So good, you need to listen to it 3 times to get all the jokes.
• Living on Earth: Now with an expanded portfolio of presenters, LOE delivers reliably excellent reporting and analysis from the (admittedly americocentric) fight for a better environment.
• NPR Environment/Technology: Solid reporting from the U.S.A.’s best public broadcaster.
• Planetary Radio: Mat Kaplan and Emily Lakdawala present the best 30 minutes od space based news, always featuring the heavyweights from Nasa, Esa or JPL. If they could just ditch the highly irritating Bill Nye.

 The new guys on the block

 

• The Film programme: Old movies, New Movies, and only the best directors and actors, being asked proper questions (instead of the usual ‘what’s your favourite colour/music’ that most red tops manage)
• The Guardian Science Podcast: Sterling guests, knob jokes and not one creationist in sight. What’s not to like?
• Radio New Zealand’s ‘This way up’: Maybe the world’s best consumer magazine. Nothing is to irreverent not to be reported on for 40 minutes. Recently: Public urination.  
• Radio New Zealand’s ‘Our changing world’: Veronika Meduna doesn’t only have one of the sexiest voices in broadcasting, the stuff she produces is amazing as well. Every week heaps of in depth reporting from the forefront of natural sciences

So, click on the links left of this window and get them all. What are ipods for?

Men’s toilet, St Pancras station. A rather disshevelled looking gentleman enters the men’s room, adressing the silent row of closed cubicles

‘Oi, John?’

Muffled grumble from the cubicles

‘They f****** arrested Trevor! He was a bit pissed on the train and the f******* coppers came and f******* took him away’

More grumbles from the cubicles.

‘They f******* arrested Trev on some f******** terrorist thing. He was just f******** pissed, he’s not a f******* terrorist? I mean, he doesn’t look like a f*******Taliban, does he?

Does he?

John?’

Grumble from the cubicles: ‘There’s no John here, dude. Just us Taliban’.

Disshevelled man runs off, in an obvious panic.

Since moving back to the UK, I have been pining to improve the listening experience in our living room. Due to the special limitations that the best girlfriend ever decided upon when it came to interior design, the choice of speakers and an amp to go with the Revo iblik radiostation was quite difficult.  After some searching, I finally found the right mix between sound and looks:

Yep, you’re right, that’s a very attractive piece of kit. And no, unfortunately it didn’t receive the acceptance level I hoped from the best girlfriend ever, but as I bought them while she was on a week long business trip and they were already there when she returned there was nothing much for her to do but yell.

They are Klipsch RF-52s, and they are just magnificent. At about a meter’s height, they are not the smallest, but what they admittedly don’t have in sublety in size, they certainly have in sound.

“Behind the horn lies a 1-inch titanium tweeter with a powerful neodymium motor structure to provide a unique combination of precision, clarity and effortless dynamics. The RF-52 employs dual 5.25-inch woofers for a solid bass foundation. These Cerametallic™ woofers with inverted copper dust caps exhibit a very high stiffness-to-mass ratio and superb damping characteristics.

I don’t really know what that means, but I know that I always wanted a Klipsch Horn since I was a pubescent git, dreaming of speakers beyond my pocket money’s reach. So when the moment came to make the dreams come true there was no question what to buy. The Infinities, Cabasses, Linns and Quadrals might be posher, but I always wanted the direct, powerful sound of a Klipsch tweeter and I haven’t been let down. Hooked up to my vintage NAD 3020i and the new NAD c525BEE they have turned the living room into a (admittedly small) concert hall.

Audiophile classics like Oscar Peterson’s ‘We get requests’, or Joao Gilberto/Stan Getz’s first Bossa Nova album suddenly sound fresher than ever and especially three dimensional. Those tweeters are amazing: each song I thought I knew by heart suddenly reveals little percussion effects here and there. Listening to ABC’s remastered ‘Lexicon of Love’, the best girlfriend ever suddenly said, in a very non-chalant way:’ I never knew that “Show me” had a bass solo’.

I’d say that’s worth the little interior design sins.

This morning I was lying in bed, in that wonderful state between sleep and full awakeness and had Radio 4’s ‘Today programme’ yelling at me gently in the background. Then, suddenly:

Evan Davis interviews Shakira.

Pardon me? On the today programme? At 7:23 am?

What followed were the most cringeworthy 3 minutes in recent BBC history. I have no idea whether the chap actually did any preparation for the interview at all (or what a pop starlet has to do in the most important News programme of the nation) but after 3 minutes I was wide awake and seriously thinking of switching to Wogan.

But the Wog won’t be there much longer either, so maybe I’d rather listen to a recorded version of Radio New Zealands Morning Report.

Dear Radio 4.

I really, really like you. You are one of the few reasons I am living in this country.

But if you ever let Evan Davis with a microphone near a pop star, I’ll leave.

Sincerely, FB

Last night I watched Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H for probably the 50th time (well, it did happen to be on, so why not watch it?). I still find it inherently funny and I’m still discovering new lines that I haven’t picked up before (thanks to Robert Altman’s habit of having 5 conversations within one scene going on at the same time) and as usual I had a wonderful time. It’s probably like seeing one of your favourite grandparents: they will always tell you the same stories, but you enjoy yourself anyway, even if you heard them fifty times before. It’s not the actual stories, it’s how they are told.

borrowed from flattland.com

Anyway, while watching M*A*S*H (btw, no comparison to the dreary sitcom that came later), I suddenly had an epiphany:  John Schuck, a.k.a. Capt. ‘Painless’ Waldowski (he who is significantly endowed) played the lead in one of my favourite seventies cop shows. I was certain about that, I just had no idea what it was called. All I knew that it was all about a grumpy policeman and his polite sidekick, an android who looked remarkably like Capt. Painless. A quick hop to IMDB confirmed my suspicions: John Schuck was indeed Gregory ‘Yoyo’ Yovonovich and the show was called ‘Holmes and Yoyo‘.

Pic from Timstvshowcase.com

According to the reviews, it was one of the worst shows ever and was cancelled after one season. My nine year old self certainly would disagree.

But John Schuck popped up again and again in my personal panthenon of risibly rubbish TV and movies: There was ‘Misfits of Science’, then a role as the Klingon ambassador in Star Trek IV AND VI, and even in Babylon 5. One might say that he appears as much as William Shatner in my DVD collection.

Which is maybe the worst thing I have ever disclosed on this blog

The (former) Hayfield