Monthly Archives: March 2006

The desolate wasteland of pop

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When a was younger, I’d amuse myself by looking at a list of the top 10 singles and mentally singing the song title the way it was sung in the song. Occasionally there’d be a tune I didn’t know, but usually by the next week I’d know it.

I was looking for some self-amusement tonight and decided to have a go doing that with the top 40. I didn’t get very far. Out of the 40 songs, I knew only four of them. Two of them (Sugababes’ “Push the Button” and Arctic Monkeys’ “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor”) I know because I’ve discovered them online, and the other two (Kanye West’s “Golddigger” and James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful”) I know because they’re everywhere (and frankly, I’d rather that “You’re Beautiful” wasn’t, but apparently The People heart vile sentimentality).

Of the remaining 36 songs, 25 are by artists I’ve heard of before, and 11 are completely unknown to me.

I don’t know who Mt Raskil, Chris Brown, KT Tunstall, Corinne Bailey Rae,
The Veronicas (twice), Hollie Smith, Bernard Fanning, Thirsty Merc, T-Pain, or Daniel Powter are.

How has this come about? Lack of exposure to places where top-40 music is played.

When I had a car, I used to listen to Mai FM a lot, which kept me in touch with most popular songs, and at home I’d watch C4 quite a lot. But I sold me car, and ever since I started working in television, I feel less inclined to randomly watch it at home.

The interweb also factors into it. Instead of just going with the flow of the status quo, I can seek out music that I know I’m going to like. I can listen to stuff on Myspace, preview (*ahem*) music that friends recommend, and seek out older music that I might have missed the first time around.

I’m also acutely aware of the ol’ windows of receptivity. I’m 31 now. The part of my brain that’s into new music is becoming less effective. Sooner or later I’m going to hear some contemporary pop music and declare it to be tuneless crap.

Thinking about this, it doesn’t really bother me. Pop music is for the young. Seeing Madonna turn into an elderly contortionist power-mother has not really been pleasant. I’m quite happy for pop to go on without me. While Thirsty Merc and Daniel Powter do… whatever it is they do, I shall be in my bedroom listening to Bauhaus.

lines, The walking of

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Today was Round The Bays day. The last time I did it, two years ago, I ran it, but this year, with diminished fitness, I decided to walk it instead.

I got up early (or not, considering daylight saving had just ended) so I could catch the early bus. I waited at the bus stop, and waited, and eventually the bus showed up 10 minutes late. But tragically it was packed full of other Round The Bays entrants and couldn’t stop. So I set off on foot.

I was planning to walk to the next major bus stop and catch the next bus, but the electronic timetable showed the next bus wasn’t coming for another 15 minutes, so I continued on foot. I was only passed by one bus on my way to Quay Street. It seems strange that Stagecoach don’t put on extra buses for an event when lots of people want to use public transport.

4.5km later, I was at the start line, only 15 minutes late. This was actually quite good, because it usually takes about 10 minutes for the masses to thin out enough to start moving. I was able to start power walking right from the start, with my iPod drowning out Helen Clark’s commentary over the PA.

I powered along Tamaki Drive, passing many walkers. By the time I got to Kohimarama, I was feeling rooted, but I had some emergency-power jelly beans and pressed on to St Heliers and the finish line, adding 8.4km to the day’s tally.

My time was 1.41, which is two minutes slower than when I walked it in 2000, but considering I started 15 minutes late and had also just walked 4.5km, it works out to be my best walked time.

After the run I headed back to Mission Bay and saw “Walk The Line” at the Berkley. I wanted some air-conditioned comfort and it happened to be the next film to screen. It was an enjoyable tale, made better by the music.

Feeling refreshed after this, I decided to walk back to Auckland. I trudged slowly back around the bays, taking about twice as long to get there. My iPod went crazy. I think it’s broken. I’m so sad.

So all up I walked 21.3km, which is just over the distance of a half-marathon (though I’m sure that technically half-marathons don’t involve stopping for Johnny Cash biopics).

But this makes me think, if I can handle that much distance in a day, then perhaps a half-marathon isn’t out of the question. Ooh.

Silence is golden

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Mt Eden (the suburb, not the mountain) is allegedly the “home of arts”, though having lived here on and off since ’98, it seems to be more the home of lost tourists and wide-load vehicles.

But to celebrate this artfulness, every year there is this Artists in Eden celebration. Various events happen, culminating in an auction from art by local artists. This year’s auction took place today and for the first time I went along to see what was happening.

There were artists sitting at tables making paintings, and that was about it.

I had a look at the paintings that were going to be up for auction and noticed that about 90% of them were landscapes of Mt Eden Village and/or Mt Eden itself. It typical way of doing it was to paint the mountain looking like a green bread roll (hey, St Patrick’s Day was yesterday!), and also common was some lettering on the painting of Maungawhau and/or Mt Eden, or some variation – yes, that includes the Garden of Eden.

It all reminded me of the local artists of Raglan, who mostly seem to paint variants on the harbour and/or Mt Karioi.

The one artist who was doing anything different was an artist by the name of Simon Shepheard, who made a series of signs about noisy cars and then hung them up around the nearby streets (here and here). Vehicle noise is a major part of life in Mt Eden for me – car stereos, street cleaning equipment, sirens rubbish trucks, wide-load pilot vehicle horns, and the ever-present hum of traffic. His works said more to me about Mt Eden than all the picturesque landscapes on display.

Anglicise this

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I love the vileness of St Patrick’s Day. I like the wearing of green shirts, eating of green food, singing of Irish songs, donning of silly hats, and drinking of Guinness.

I feel a bit guilty that I don’t do anything similar on St Andrew’s Day or St George’s Day, but there’s always time to start some new traditions. A cup of tea on April 23rd and a deep-fried Mars bar on 30 November, perhaps.

There was a special work outing to the pub for lunch and feasted on such traditional Irish fare as nachos, wedges, fried mystery meat, and hummus. The only green food was the pesto that came with some breads.

But there was Guinness, and that makes it all better.

I suppose in a way celebrating St Patrick’s Day is akin to events like the Chinese lantern festival or Pasifika – it’s a reminder of the rich ethnic tapestry that makes up this city. Cheers.

- Roibín Ó Gallchobhair

Dhique and Jehyeign

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Much merriment can be found over the the TradeMe community, where a discussion has been going about “unusal/cool names that youd name your kids”.

Highlights include:

Well these are my kid’s names – Shayd, Shaymin, Shaydin, Sheneen, Shevannah and Sheleeah…..guess they are unusal….

id this baby is a boy it will be dante chaos trent, i was thinking of going with ignatious and or socratease for a middle name but decided againsed it for the momennt

my mate called her boy ‘shickayne’

Two of my grandaughters – Nivea and Zhia

Daemyns middle name is Boy (family name on paternal side)

my son Kale which is Hebrew meaning strong after a friend of a friend (not because of the ornamental cabbage you grow!!!)

If I see a Shayenna or Bumbum in that matter, I will always think of a Bogun mum living in the Hutt Valley or probably in Palmerston North.

Remember, mums, there can be advantages to giving your child a common name. It’s much easier to google a Jehyeign than a Jane.