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Dec 15 2008
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Ebert on ... writing

By Asides, Blogging, Literature

Roger Ebert writ­ing about writ­ing (and speak­ing) at his blog:

The nov­el [McCarthy’s Suttree] is writ­ten entirely with that atten­tion. You haven’t even star­ted it until you’ve star­ted it the second time. After weeks of depres­sion, hope­less­ness and regret, real­iz­ing the oper­a­tion had failed and I would prob­ably not speak again, after murky med­ic­a­tions and no interest in movies, tele­vi­sion, books or even the morn­ing paper, it was the bleak, sad Suttree that star­ted me to life again. Spare me happy books that will cheer me up. I was fight­ing it out with Suttree. I did­n’t want a condo in Florida. I wanted a fuck­ing bas­ket of coal.

Is it me or is Ebert writ­ing bet­ter than ever?

Update: Posted before I’d read all the com­ments. Read those too.

Nov 19 2008
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The Celluloid Circus

By Cinema, Literature, Reviews
The Celluloid Circus cover   They say to nev­er judge a book by its cover.

In addi­tion to filling for Graeme Tuckett on Nine to Noon whenev­er he gets a bet­ter offer, I’ve been review­ing some books. Last Friday I had the great pleas­ure of talk­ing to Lynn Freeman about the won­der­ful his­tory of New Zealand cinema exhib­i­tion, “The Celluloid Circus” by Wayne Brittenden.

The RNZ down­loads tend to dis­ap­pear after a week so I’ve taken the liberty of archiv­ing it here. Courtesy of Radio New Zealand:

Celluloid Circus Review – Nine to Noon 14 Nov 2008

It really is a lovely book and I can thor­oughly recom­mend it to any­one with an interest in New Zealand social his­tory (or sit­ting in rows in the dark).

Aug 25 2008
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It's the same wherever you go

By all blacks, Asides, Literature, Sport

It’s the same wherever you go – that des­per­ate search for a pub when the All Blacks are play­ing. Even if you are Archbishop Desmond Tutu:

We meet the irre­press­ible Anglican arch­bish­op and Nobel Prize win­ner Desmond Tutu, stran­ded in San Francisco and look­ing for a bar that might broad­cast the rugby game … (the 1995 World Cup Final)

[John Carlin’s new book, “Playing the Enemy”, reviewed in the New York Times]
Jul 07 2008
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Review: “Two Little Boys” by Duncan Sarkies

By Audio, Literature, Music, Wellington

Two Little Boys cover This morn­ing I hustled across town to Radio NZ House on The Terrace to review Duncan Sarkies’ new nov­el “Two Little Boys” for Nine to Noon. You can click here (for a week at least) to listen to what Kathryn and I had to say. As is often the case when I’m doing some­thing for the first time (or for the first time in a long time) it was not a 100% sat­is­fact­ory per­form­ance but I’ll let you be the judge. It is a good book, though, and I recom­mend it to you.

And when you’ve listened to the review (only 6 minutes and 23 seconds, although it felt a lot less…) you can listen here to the song that inspired the title of the book. This ver­sion fea­tures not only the legendary Rolf Harris (who made it fam­ous) but also Liam O’Maonlai from Hothouse Flowers. This ver­sion is from a 1993 ‘Stop the Killing in Northern Ireland’ charity/protest album called Peace Together:
[audio:https://funeralsandsnakes.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/12-when-we-were-two-little-boys.mp3|titles=Rolf Harris & Liam O’Maonlai – Two Little Boys (mp3)]

Mar 10 2008
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As good a description of art as any...

By Asides, Literature

Satirist George Saunders speak­ing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music back in January:

He aims to “take his read­er by the shirt and fling him; you send him 15 feet and you’re done. And I don’t think it’s in your power to con­trol what he’s feel­ing as he’s fly­ing through the air.” 

I first heard of George Saunders when he was inter­viewed by Jesse Thorn at The Sound of Young America. I am now on a mis­sion to find and read as much as I can.

[via Gothamist]
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