Senses working overtime #545

1 This week:

2 Reading: Unreel: A Life in Review - Diana Wichtel

Clever idea - writing a personal memoir and combining that with her television viewing history.  Great reviews too!

3 Listening: WTWMC - Tragically unhip

The amigos treat Spotify listeners to a playlist of their guilty pleasures.

4 Watching: You Don't Know Me

5 Visiting: Bluesleep in from Melbourne

Great to have Adam at Maple Grove for a few days while he visits to meet Ivy. You can listen to his latest Bluesleep album - Ghost Chatter, here.

Overtime: Anatole France

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

Senses working overtime #544

1 Term 4, week 1:  

2 R.I.P. John Lodge

Remember me (My Friend) - on Blue Jays (Justin Hayward and John Lodge) is my obvious choice to remember him by.

3 Reading: Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens

4 Listening: Frog City - Southern Comfort

Try - Get Back Home

5 Listening: Diana Wichtel and Ali Mau

Jacky and I attended a Readers & Writers event as part of this year's Hawke's Bay Arts Festival. Both authors read from their recent work - Unreel (Diana), No Words For This (Ali). 

It was great to see an old friend (Diana) and hear them both talk about their creative process. I had previously bought both of Di's books, but I also bought Ali's about her family history.

Overtime: Robert Orben

Time Flies. It's up to you to be a navigator.

Senses working overtime #543

1 The second week of the study break:

Photo by jesse orrico on Unsplash

2 Reading: Suzanne Lynch - Yesterday When I Was Young

3 Listening: Wozza - Yesterday When I Was Young

I'm compiling this playlist as I read through Suzanne Lynch's wonderful autobiography. So many great photos and I can hear Suzanne's voice as I read.

4 Reading: Mojo Magazine #374

5 Listening: Wozza - Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs!

I finished reading Dennis Dunaway's book - the very enjoyable Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs! It focuses on his days in Alice Cooper (the band). The playlist was a lot of fun to compile.

Overtime: Gillian Anderson

"I believe people are in our lives for a reason. We're here to learn from each other"

Senses working overtime #542

1 First week of the study break:

2 Reading: True Grit - Charles Portis

I read this about 40 yours ago. Re-reading it now and enjoying its clipped prose style a lot!

BTW - John Wayne makes a better Rooster Cogburn than Jeff Bridges IMHO.

3 Watched: La Palma

This is a four-episode mini-series on Netflix. Jacky's choice!

4 Reading: Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs! - Dennis Dunaway

The bassist in Alice Cooper writes his autobiography (with some help from Chris Hodenfield)

5 Listening: Feel the Noize - Slade

I've been listening to all my Slade albums this week. Feel the Noize is a singles compilation and hard to beat. One of my first ever records - Tak Me Bak 'Ome

Overtime: Erica Jong

If you don't risk anything, you risk even more.

Senses working overtime #541

1 The feeling - last week of term

Photo by Ian Stauffer on Unsplash

2 Listening: Fenne Lily - Big Picture

I bought a bunch of albums for $5 each from JB Hi Fi. This was the pick of them - an extraordinarily good indie folk record by Fenne Lily.

3 Reading: Lightning Strikes and Kafka on the Shore

I always aim to read two books simultaneously and it's rare that I love the two books equally. Lenny Kaye's Lightning Strikes is a non-fiction look at ten memorable moments in rock (I'm up to number 8: London 1977) and Kafka is a novel by Haruki Murakami. I read a chapter each and struggle not to continue into the next chapter each time. A good discipline exercise.

4 Listening: Wozza's Lightning Strikes

My companion playlist to the book.

5 Watching: Our Souls at Night on Netflix

Jane Fonda and Robert Redford in glorious synchronicity.

Overtime: 

Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching.

Satchel Paige

Senses working overtime #540

1 This week

I had three days fasting for a routine medical procedure that people of my age need to endure - a colonoscopy. No big deal - they are a bit unpleasant but necessary. Anyway - it does give you a kind of outside-the-body experience which is interesting - hence the fragmented image via Pablo Picasso.

2 Watching: Supacell

Four episodes in (of 6) and while I often have no idea what Tazer and his Tower Boys gang are saying (we had to use the subtitle function innit), I'm enjoying the story line. Rapman has created an interesting premise. He's a talented guy!

3 Listening: Boz Scaggs - Silk Degrees

A five-star classic.

4 Creating: Wozza's Lightning Strikes playlist

As I'm reading Lenny Kaye's excellent book (Lightning Strikes) about ten transformative rock'n'roll moments, I'm adding key songs that he mentions to the above playlist.

5 Reading: still enjoying Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami.

That Picasso image is again relevant as Haruki enjoys piecing together various elements, like talking cats, into his narrative.

Overtime: Ann landers

'Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognise them'.

Senses working overtime #539

1 Spring rain this week

2 Reading: Lightning Striking - Lenny Kaye

Lenny writes about his choices for the ten transformative moments in Rock'n'Roll.

3 Listening: Joe Satriani's What Happens Next album

If you only want one track - try Headrush.

4 Watching: The Marlow Murder Club

Similar to The Thursday Murder Club (great books by Richard Osman, but the movie version on Netflix falls flat) - The Marlow Murder Club is a bit of fun with its quirky female leads. 

5 Inspired by: James Clear

Photo by Product Photography on Unsplash

"Use the best idea you have right now. Claiming you need to 'learn more' or 'get your ducks in a row' is just a crutch that prevents you from starting. Education is a lifelong pursuit. You will always need to learn more. It's not a reason to wait."

Overtime: 

Priest and philosopher Desiderius Erasmus reminds us of the power of concentrating on a single target:

"He who chases two hares catches neither."

Courtesy James Clear

Senses working overtime #538

1 The feeling this week is...

...not the best as I suffered my second virus of the year, leading to the week off school. Unprecedented. I can't recall ever needing five days but I did this time. I kept testing negative for covid but this virus had all the same symptoms. Weird.

2 Spring's emergence at Maple Grove

The Maple Grove tuis love this plum tree's blossom. At one point this week we watched as three of them feasted.

3 Listening: Borboletta - Santana

4 Reading: Mojo Magazine #378

5 Reading: Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami

Overtime: Asher Purdy-Hodge

'Creepy I like teeth because he likes time'.

Senses working overtime #537

1 Looong working week

The PPTA teachers' strike on Wednesday and two late night parent teacher evenings either side of the strike made this seem like a fortnight. By Friday night I was cream crackered!

Today (Saturday) - I have a solid 12 hour day ahead of me marking student work. Just saying'.

2 Reading: the hut builder - Laurence Fearnley

3 Listening: Riverside - Shine of New Generation Slaves

4 Reading: Look Wot I Dun: My Life in Slade - Don Powell/Lise Lyng Falkenberg

5 Listening: WTWMC - Spring in their steps

Overtime: Emma Meakin

This week has largely revolved around my Emma discoveries on Wozza's Place. More to come next week.

Overtime: R.I.P. Mastodon's Brent Hinds.

Tragically, he died in a motorbike crash this week. His legacy is secure with an amazing catalogue of music behind him. My Mastodon reviews on Goo Goo G'Joob are here.

Senses working overtime #536

1 Crisp mornings this week

2 Reading: Fay Wray's On the Other Hand

Fay's autobiography (no ghost-written help for her) is pretty amazing. I guess, like many actors, she drifts from role to role while the human drama of her life plays out.

Her role in King Kong was one of seven films she did in 1932 alone.

3 Listening: Nadia Reid - Out of My Province

4 Watched: The Dry

5 Listening: WTWMC - Spring in their steps

Overtime: Will Ahmed (entrepreneur)

"Success is being excited to go to work and being excited to come home."