Senses working over time #588

1 A rainy week in Takapau

Photo by ERIC ZHU on Unsplash

2 Watching: Zappa - d. Alex Winter (2020)

I bought this BlueRay DVD a while ago from JB Hi Fi and watched it while Jacky was away in New Plymouth this week - she would have hated it, so I've been waiting for my opportunity. It was okay, but how do you cover all the various Zappas in a two-hour documentary? Impossible, but this is fine as a taster to the weird and wacky Zappa universe.

3 Reading: The Virginian - Owen Wister

After the superb Three Days in June by Anne Tyler (she is a brilliant writer - I love her books), it's change-up time - with a western and a collection of essay (below).

4 Listening: Bongo Fury - Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart.

The 50th anniversary edition came as a 5 CD set. I love the original album and the set on Spotify (3 discs) has two complete concerts - the third comes with an unscheduled intermission for a bomb threat.

Some of it is great and some is terrible. The great though, like Pound For A Brown in 2 parts, is really great.

5 Reading: The Practice of the Wild - Gary Snyder

A collection of his essays originally printed in 1990.

Overtime: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.

Senses working overtime #587

1 First week in August - chilly morning arrivals at school!

The Iona College chapel at 7.00am this week

2 Reading: Three Days in June - Anne Tyler

3 Listening: Wozza - Wonders (on our Friday night road trip to NP)

4 Watching: Alone Season 13

It's a bit painful waiting a week for each new episode but the show is engrossing, so it's worth the pain.

5 Reading: Joan Didion

I loved this passage about Joan Baez from Slouching Towards Bethlehem.

Overtime: Anne Tyler  

Someday I'd like to be given credit for all the times I have not said something that I could have said.

Lead character Gail in Three Days in June.

Senses working overtime #586

1 R.I.P. Glen Hansard

Sadly, and suddenly, a great talent is gone. I liked reading this piece about him as well as rewatching Once and listening to his work again this week. That was comforting.

2 Watching: Once

Promo for the film is here.

3 Listening: The Swell Season, The Frames and solo albums

4 Reading: Mojo Magazine 390 

5 Listening: U2 - War

Always my go to at fraught times. And the Irish connection seems especially relevant at the moment.

Overtime: Taylor Swift

It's possible to climb to the top without stomping on other people.

Senses working overtime #585

1 The working week...

Photo by Sergej ***** on Unsplash

...included two walks along Kopanga Road, as I got back into the groove after a two week break from school and a lingering cold.

2 Reading: The Guardian Weekly Vol 215 No. 3

Paradoxically, the return to work was accompanied by a slowing down in reading time and a return to The Guardian Weekly.

3 Listening: UFO -Mechanix

Try Let It Rain

4 Viewing: Alone: World Championship (season 13)

5 Anticipating: The Odyssey - Christopher Nolan

Overtime: Steve Jobs

The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

Senses working overtime #584

1 This week was all about reading

Photo by Hümâ H. Yardım on Unsplash

Three days spent reading and marking essays by four classes and two days of planning for the term ahead were accompanied by two books and a Mojo magazine.

2 Read: Borden Chantry - Louis L'Amour

3 Listening: Seven Moons - Robin Trower and Jack Bruce

4 Reading: Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion

5 Reading - Mojo magazine #389

Overtime: Albert Einstein

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.

Senses working overtime #583

1 Meet the G-kids (a.k.a. the cousin crew)

Behind Adam and Poppy: Papa; Mema; Drew; Billie; Fanfa; Asher;
Jade; Ivy; Chris; Ashleigh. Absent: Keegan and Jennifer

Sadly, Keegan couldn't make it after his back surgery, but the rest of the Purdettes and their families made it to Nu Zild to meet newest addition - Billie Kalicki.

2 Watching: FIFA world Cup 2026

We're down to the quarter finals. France are through. I'm predicting Spain, England and Argentina will progress to join France in the final four. 

3 Viewing: Gallipoli exhibition at Te Papa

It's a sobering experience, for sure.

4 Listening: Rolling Stones - Foreign Tongues

Their new album, again produced by Andrew Watt. I picked up a CD copy from JB Hi Fi.

5 Browsing: Slow Boat Records

Always a treat checking the bins and I always manage to find something I'm after. In this case a Partridge Family compilation and an Everything But The Girl 12 inch single.

Overtime: Roman expression (sometimes attributed to Cato)

A fool is someone who stubs their toe on the same rock twice.

Senses working overtime #582

1 Highlight of the week: First meeting with Billie and great reunion with Poppy, Adam, Ashleigh, Andrew and Fanfa.

Great to have Billie and Poppy's parents staying over at Maple Grove at the end of this week.

2 Reading: Wisdom Takes Work - Ryan Holiday

3 Listening: Ziltoid the Omniscient - Devin Townsend

4 Reading: Play It As It Lays - Joan Didion

5 Viewing: sport

It's all about football at the FIFA World Cup as the round of 32 played out and the All Blacks who played the French in Christchurch - winning by two points just now. Some scintillating sport!

Overtime: Christian Nestell Bovee

Doubt whom you will, but never doubt yourself.