Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Unexpected Generosity

Had some lovely surprises today.
We visited our friends Richard and Helen over in Devonport today.
Lois and I have know Richard for at least 30 years.
Their dining room has just had its tiles polished...
So they took our family out to lunch at Mecca, round the corner!
Wonderful!
Thanks guys!
Told you about the butter chicken thing.
Nipped out to get some tonight.
As well as the usual order, they gave us a bottle of Lindauer champagne!
Loyalty has its rewards, "my young apprentice".
Unexpected, unlooked for, generosity.
The joys of Christmas!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

A Hot Tuesday

Open all the sliding doors.
No difference in temperature or air pressure.
Work outside.
Is it sweat or is it rain?
The rain eventually streams down.
Sky a grey blanket overall, all day.
Jump in the pool.
Refreshing, energising.
Take in a movie.
Air conditioning cools me down.

"Julie and Julia" (movie review)

...dir. by Nora Ephron, starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams.

By now Meryl Streep is a veteran, a wonder, a delight.
I remember seeing her in the movie about Azariah Chamberlain and the dingo.
In this one she is Julia Child, and performs her role with zest and conviction.
The relationship between Julia and Paul is wonderfully portrayed - warm and loving.
Amy Adams also performs delightfully, and one finds oneself comparing the French Flashbacks to the Queens Contemporaneity (which do you prefer - old Paris or now New York?).
Amy's character is Julie, a woman who decides to cook all of Julia's recipes within a year (what's your favourite recipe - Lobster thermidore, boeuf bourgignonne, boned duck?).
The movie is chock full of delightful scenes, shot through with Ephron's dry, savvy wit (favourite scene?).
With a deft hand and a crackling script, gently simmered, Ephron brings an unlikely tale to the screen, and serves it up with gusto and relish.
The onion scene, the lobster scene, the boeuf bourgignonne disaster scene - many, many inventive episodes.
Time for a second helping!

Monday, December 28, 2009

Life in the Summer

Saving the trees.
Working up a sweat.
Afternoon coffee in a softly shaded Mt Eden courtyard.
A pre-lunch swim.
Walks around the block (and up the steep driveway).
Lapping up the new Atwood.
Trying to spot the deadly white tailed spider.
Warbling through the old songs.
Communing with Bach.
Celebrating my niece Rebecca's 10th birthday...

Singing with tuis.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Domingo's Discoveries

Domingo = Sunday.

1. a set of songs from 12 years ago (more of which later).
2. unpleasant physical sensations, giving cause for worry.
3. 4 commands in 2Tim2: be strong, entrust, endure and reflect.
4. return of Samson the cat.
5. it's hot!
6. Margaret Atwood doesn't just write sci fi!
7. I am a BBQ genius!
8. Our driveway is VERY steep.
9. Kavanagh QC's wife has pancreatic cancer (TV series).
10. Bach can be played in any tempo and still make sense.

Gnight!

"Oryx and Crake" (book review)

...by Margaret Atwood.

So, once I'd read The Year of the Flood, imagine my joyful surprise when I found this treasure lurking in the library.
The narrative is much more conventional in structure than TYotF, and focuses on the character of Jimmy, who, post-meltdown, has become "Snowman".
The story of how the meltdown occurred is narrated in more detail here than in TYotF, and the element of surprise/realisation is weaker once one has read the companion novel.
I found the journey through Jimmy's nightmare world an "enjoyable" and gripping one, all the same.
Having read both books, I had a sense of having been given a stereo, or even 3D, account of the world of Oryx and Crake (by the way, Oryx and Crake are the 2 other central characters in the story).
There is the usual wit, incisiveness, and morality, shot through with detached irony so as not to become cloying (as it would in "lesser hands").
The basic question being asked through both books I suppose is whether mankind should play God, and if what happens when we do?
(Reminds me of a lesson plan/report I read once in the UK: "With 7R today we played Chopin - Chopin won".)
I found myself wanting a bit more detail on the character of Oryx.
And in spite of the dire situation humanity finds itself in within the pages of this book, there are many instances of LoL humour.
I wonder what Atwood will write next?
My next reading will be Lady Oracle - slightly different in scenario and tone, I think.

9/10.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

"The Year of the Flood" (book review)

...by Margaret Atwood.

I have developed quite a brutal approach to reading over the last year, based on the philosophy that life is too short to waste time worthily reading a book that has not ignited my spark (my approach to relationships is quite different, mainly because people aren't books!).

So when I heard that this book was released, I thought I would check it out in the bookshop and see if it grabbed me by the end of Page 1...

It did!

Page 1 of TYoTF was the first Margaret Atwood I have ever read, and I was enthralled by her evocation of place and character, her imagination and her deft use of colourful and pungent language...that was all in the first page!

I ordered the book thru my local library and finally Peter Beyer finished reading it and the library let me know...

As mentioned on a previous posting, TYotF is an equel to Oryx and Crake, Atwood's previous novel.

The story is told by Ren, a sexy trapeze artist at Scales'n'Tails, and another woman whose name currently escapes me - Ren tells the story in first person singular, and the other woman is in 3rd person.

The "flood" is not a physical flood, but a metaphor for a deluge of civilisation-destroying manmade events that turn the world upside down.

We are re-introduced to the Oryx and Crake principals, creating many "a-ha" instances (except for me it's the other way round 'cos I read TYotF first).

The literary landscape of TYotF is much brighter than that of the Handmaid's Tale, and the tone is much more humorous - there is a real sense of playfulness with the language.

Readable? Absolutely.

The amazing thing is that God's Gardeners (an apocalyptic, environmentally friendly religious sect) and their philosophies actually make quite a bit of sense.

On the darker side, the "future" that Atwood depicts is, in many cases, already all-too-present.

I wish she had written the script for Avatar - THAT would have been interesting!

Read the book, and be constantly amazed at the imagination, wit and skill used to create such a gripping story.

10/10.

"Avatar" (movie review)

...directed by James Cameron.

You have to see this movie.
And you have to see it in3D at Imax.
Not necessarily because it is a stunning movie, but because it is a stunning technical achievement.
The opening sequences caused gasps of awe and wonder from the packed audience who attended at 8.30pm last Tuesday, and at the end of the movie the audience applauded (I know this seems very silly on one level, but it felt like the right thing to do!).
The movie is one of those cutting-edge, breakthrough phenomena.

As to the movie itself....

One never really escapes from the overwhelming power of the visuals...
James Cameron tells a good yarn, and there are strong performances within fairly defined roles by Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver (still building relationships with aliens!) and the "blue girl" with the interesting (lack of) costume.
The plot is formulaic, however - Pocahontas set in outer space.
Once you've been introduced to the characters, you know which way the story's going to go...

I got the feeling that Cameron, having spent the equivalent of NZ's GDP several times over to make the movie (and having contributed in fact to the GDP by his use of Weta Inc. for so many things in the FX department), had to have a plot that Americans, in general, would "buy into".
Here's the hero, the love interest (albeit blue and gigantic), the jealous rival, the monsters, the mystic rituals (very much like the sloth dances in Ice Age II, I'm afraid), the baddie, the environmental theme (if only the Americans would take climate change seriously and put their money where their mouths are - no offence to my American friends!!) and, of course, the EXPLOSIONS!!
The music, by James Horner (Titanic), is also by-the-numbers (could have used a John Williams or Howard Shore score and saved money) heroic music, baddie music, love music, ethereal mystery music and the now-obligatory Vedic/Gregorian chanting to denote New Age spirituality - the end song, "I See You" (the catchphrase used by Pandoreans to acknowledge other living creatures who have died or with whom they are about to mate - also Sauron's catchphrase in Lord of the Rings) is appallingly mawkish, and should be left off the DVD release of the movie.

Impressive: visual effects, cinematography and Ms Weaver.
Unimpressive: plot, characters and soundtrack.

I would go and see it again, but probably with my ears plugged into some Beethoven or Dvorak.

6/10.

"The Handmaid's Tale" (review)

...by Margaret Atwood.

This felt like a feminine version of 1984 (Orwell).
The future....not characterised by any major technological advances - in fact, it feels like technology, and certainly reading/literacy/literature have been deliberately done away with by the New Order.
We experience the future society through the eyes and indeed body of Offred (because she's a handmaid, we never learn her real name - her Man is Fred, hence Offred being her name/designation).
Women have been given several distinct roles in the new society - Wives, Handmaids, Marthas, Aunties or Unwomen.
Due to general chemical/genetic/nuclear deterioration, only wives or handmaids are in positions to give birth - in fact, this is the sole function of a handmaid.

As Orwell does in 1984, Atwood creates a claustrophobic atmosphere of tension and paranoia, given emphasis by Offred's flashbacks to the Time Before.
Offred finds herself not knowing who to trust, till in the end she makes some decisions with a kind of resigned courage or carelessness, leading to a dramatic conclusion.
Typically of Atwood (as I'm discovering through an intensive read through of other novels), relationships are explored fully - the power play between the Handmaid and the Wife who "owns" her makes for a fascinating study.
The structure of the novel is unique - the flashbacks merge smoothly with the "present day" narrative, and both build to a climax; in particular, the passage in which the nature of the "revolution" is related sends a chill of recognition and fear down the reader's spine.
There is also the transcript of a lecture given about the authenticity and identity of the tale itself, set yet several decades beyond the tale - terrific!

Sound complicated?
It isn't - the style is sharp, light, beautiful and captivating.

Once hooked, you won't escape.

Love, Colonialism, Suicide...

...all to be found in the score of Madame Butterfly, which is surely one of the truly sublime achievements in Opera/Music Theatre.
Never mind "Miss Saigon" with its helicopter and Vietnamese fungirl choruses...
MB is the real thing.
Maybe I have been poisoned with an MB drug, but every time I hear it, it makes me feel all kinds of things...love, sadness, disgust, gentleness, horror...
Puccini was a genius, and this opera proves it (as do Tosca and La Boheme! - by the way, if anyone is still holding on to my copy of Tosca, with Maria Calllas in the title role, PLEASE can you get it back to me???).
I like Andrew Lloyd Webber (especially Superstar), but you have to admit that "Memory" from Cats is a blatant ripoff of Un Bel Di Vedremo (One Fine Day).
So, what better way to spend one's overheated Boxing Day then listening to MB in its entirety, punctuated by dips in the pool and a blog here and there, accompanied by a fresh strawberry or 2?
The children are both away at present (A to cousin's, S to friend's), the wife is "resting"....and YT is exercising his brain, contemplating the gamut of human emotions presented in this cherished musical masterpiece.
More reviews coming up (this wasn't a review so much as a rave!)...

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas is Coming...

Christmas and New Year, so close to each other.
Jesus, God's gift to us all...

A gift that costs everything, but which is offered freely.
A gift that grows and grows, and doesn't break.
The Gift of Peace on earth, and Good Will to all.
If only...

One King to rule us all...
One Healer...
One Warrior...
One God...

A baby in a smelly, dirty cattle trough, mixed in with the hay and animal smells.
Born to socially suspect parents, out the back of the pub.

Who would ever have thought it?

Wherever, whoever, whatever you are this Christmas, may the Peace, Joy and Love of God be with you, inside and beside you, this Christmas and into the rest of your life!

A New Year is coming soon!

Love,

Gerald.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

AVATAR AWAITS

Shortly we will be heading off.
IMAX, 3D...what more could you want?
Today has been a day of sustained industry in the forest that surrounds our earthly dwelling.
Surprised myself by getting up at 6am!
Samson has been a bit of an outsider lately.
When we returned from Whitianga he had a cut on his head.
Being Samson, he runs away if we walk towards him with an air of...purpose...
So I hope he will heal naturally or eventually come in and succumb to our ministry.
DJ Alex has accommodated my tastes more on the stereo today.
So I was able to blast out "Australia" by the Manic Street Preachers.
Great song!
Tomorrow...fishing!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Walrus Gumboot...

Thanks to John Lennon for the above.
Um...the red trousers didn't fit!
Yikes!
I have gained weight since the last weeks of chemo.
About 10kg...I am determined to lose this...it is no fun feeling gluggier than I have to!
Perhaps it was the hot chocolates and lattes at work?
Did some serious damage to the surrounding flora on our section today, tho.
We are surrounded by vegetation - some of it fantastic - native, floral, noble.
And some real mongrel stuff too - tradescantia, ivy, "wild" jasmine, woolly nightshade.
We even have stuff growing in our top guttering (now I can't see myself getting up THERE with a hernia and 10 extra kg!!).
Tomorrow...AVATAR!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

The work was done this morning.
Our final Advent-ure: a sketch exploring Love within the Christmas story.
Challenge: to keep things simple yet meaningful, and create a bit of a new spin.
Tempted to throw in a punchline: "God IS a hard act to follow".
For the overseas blogpeople, this would have been an allusion to a HUGELY controversial picture which appeared outside St Matthew's-in-the-city.
Joseph and Mary appear in bed together, and the caption reads "Poor Joseph - God's a hard act to follow".
My responses (emotional/internal) have ranged from thinking "how crass, inane and insensitive" to "what an amazing way to draw the focus of everyone to the implications of the Virgin Birth".
I'm sure if you haven't seen it yet you will be able to google and goggle at it, and see what you think.

As the hose sprays its way into the pool to top it up not for the last time this Summer, and DJ Alex's music sprays its way from the family stereo into my laidback consciousness, I sup on Lois's latest batch of muffins (carrot cake) and the last of the vacation apricots, subconsciously preparing myself for the Family Christmas "Event" this evening - "Not A Silent Night".

Tonight will be a night for red trousers....

And I am aware that I need to catch up with my book reviews - Margaret Atwood keeps dragging me away without fail into her dystopias.

I'm currently into reading Oryx and Crake, which is an equel (neither sequel nor prequel) to The Year of the Flood, and which I also cannot put down - marvellous!

Catch you later!

G.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Return From Whitianga

No days without sunshine.
Sun blazing, sky blue.
Days of lazy awakenings.
Leisured strolls, peaceful rests.
Children playing in harmony.
Streets devoid of traffic.
Elusive second hand bookshops.
Nina's Cafe. thumbs up!
Alexander talking till late.
Cathedral Cove without stress.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Going Away!

Tomorrow we head down to Whitianga, a very pleasant beach on the Coromandel Peninsula.
The children and I, and Alexander's friend Thomas, will form the advance party.
Lois has a medical appointment in the morning and will follow later.
Our friend Andrew will sit the house and look after Samson.
I don't know if I will have access to the internet over that time.
Today I visited my GP to check out a few spots - a reassuring time.
Also heard that my mo-in-law, Lorna, is free from hozzy visits for half a year - yay!
All 4 of us are now on holiday, so we'll have plenty of time to get on each other's nerves!
Aah, the luxury of being annoying!
So, speak to you later everyone!

Gerald.

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid (book review)

...Bill Bryson's latest.
Apologies for the late review of this.
A delightful and highly charged autobiography of his childhood and emerging adolescence in Des Moines, Iowa.
In calling up his childhood, Bryson somehow manages to call up many similar events/scenarios in the reader's childhood.
Long summer holidays, adventures with chemistry sets, early encounters with the opposite sex, grandiloquent movie theatres, unfenced lawns, black and white TV (and heroes equally monochrome in character), mythical and venomous beasts and funguses.
The sense of exploration is stunning - the sense of humour as powerful as ever.
BB harks back to the Age of Innocence (the 50s) with detail, wit and the power to make the reader laugh out loud (thereby waking up any nearby individuals who have chosen to go to sleep at a more sensible hour).
As with all other BB books I have read (and they are now beginning to create a bit of a trail) I have been sorely tempted to breach copyright in the interests of entertaining the visitors to this blog.
But that might let you off "doing the work" and reading the whole thing for yourself.
Doing the work?
If reading a BB book ever got to seem like work, I would have to take myself off to a Workaholics Anonymous group therapy course...thankfully, I don't see that happening in the near future.

The Wheel is Turning and You Can't Slow Down

Collage of Sophie
(by Sophie, Feb 2009. Before this blog was born)


I am leading a titillating life.
I am watching the Big Dipper ladle his milky goodness into the hole in the ozone.
I had a perky little toy cat once, Jumpy Haddock. He retreated to my top shelf to gather dust when I was about seven.
I had a certain interest for cookie dough ice cream, but that faded when I was introduced to Saucy As.
I thought that material things could quench my soul's thirst.
And now at 11 years, 11 months ...

I have seen many a rainbow pass without a pot of gold,
I have heard the cicada's incessant aria rendering me sleepless,
I have smelt the excuses for dinner burnt to a crisp in the oven that was turned to grill by accident.

I know that the wheel is the most useful invention yet.
I know that things pass and die, but I don't think anything ever really ceases to exist.

I don't know why the Earth is round, although it is what we have been told since we arrived in it.
I despise people that need scientific proof for something to be tangible.
I hate how there is only one answer to each maths question, and how flowers lose their beauty with every silken petal that droops.
I love the fresh, sweet vibes of musical creativity.

I used to love flying in aeroplanes, but have grown to detest the turbulence and the foul smells of the processed foods.
I've lost my room under cluttered mounds of obliterated, discarded items.

I'm looking for this year to be one of undying prosperity and harmony.
And my heart is wandering, stumbling, relentlessly searching for the last safe place.

(published with permission, more or less ...)




For Sophie, in response
(by Sophie's Mum, Dec 2009)


My heart wanders, too, and is glad of your company. There is no place without challenge.
But the safe place is inside of me, and I carry it with me everywhere.
I'm looking forward to next year, to more complexity, learning, experiencing and unjumbling.

I've lost my innocence under tangles of living and learning. It was a starting point, fragile and temporary.
I still love flying on aeroplanes, getting off and being in some other, more vulnerable place.

I love the scent of hearts, minds and souls on fire, burning for the sake of the new.
And, too, the completion of real life puzzles, chaos settling into painful, mathematical beauty.
Loss is gain. Boundaries inspire creativity. Hurt forces direction.
And the earth is any shape at all - it depends on the viewing-point.

From where, to where, why, and for whom?
The world is charged, God's grandeur flames out, flashes of brilliance, full of danger and exhilaration.

Sustenance, carefree moments,
Happy disturbed sleep,
Treasure made valuable by its rarity.

And now, at 47 years, 3 months
I know that all souls and bodies thirst
Turning and turning and turning and comforted and comforting.

(with love )

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Sinead as a Starter

CD: Gospel Oak (an EP).
Song: This is to Mother You.
One of the most beautiful and comforting pop songs ever.
One of my counsellors lent me this at a very difficult time in my life.
Playing it reminds me both of the crisis and of the comfort to be gained from songs, from God, and indeed from Sinead.
She is a thoughtful, deep, emotional and centred person.
I love both her "out there" rampages and her quiet, reflective soothings.
Her latest offering, "Theology" is well worth a listen.
Today has been a lovely warm day with a house full of young people - 14 yr old boys and 12 yr old girls.
Amazing how much time can be spent in and around a swimming pool!
G'night!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Butter Chicken Night

It has been our habit for a long time now to eat butter chicken "of a weekend".
Lois and I usually eat it on a Saturday - the children eat earlier, something different.
We usually have a martini around 7pm - with Bombay Sapphire gin or vodka.
We then sit down to watch a dvd, with martini and little snacks.
Our current "staple" is "Ally McBeale" - an earlier version of "Boston Legal".
Towards the end of the episode I take up the phone and ring Santoor Restaurant.
Usually either Suresh Nama or his wife Githa answers.
By now they know me well enough to ask how I'm doing, and they know exactly what I will order.
Butter Chicken, medium hot, with a garlic naan - pick up in 10 - 15 minutes.
When I get back, Lois has the broccoli cooked just right, and away we go!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Siesta Time

Summer is definitely upon us.
It is early afternoon, and the heat is baking.
The animals inside and out are quiet and still...ennervated.
Yesterday L and I walked at this time - today we will wait.
My day's routine is ahaking down to this...
Morning = "work", i.e. gardening, cleaning, logistics, errands.
Afternoon = Creation and recreation (many small and big dreams at work here).
Evening = socialising.
I am definitely enjoying the lack of external pressures that the Holidays bring.
The birds, blackbirds and mynahs at present, have begun a recital.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

A Night On the Town

Tonight Lois and I went out to Tabou, a "bar and bistro" in Kingsland.
We celebrated the fact that I'm still here!
Earlier today Lois had a towbar fitted...to her car, of course.
A bit later than that Sophie spoke on behalf of the graduating Year 8s at her school - she likened the years of Intermediate School to being "a pit stop in the speedway of life" and took valedictory speeches to a whole new level (I thought, and of course I'm not biased!).
I had my first splash in the swimming pool today - the weather was sunny and warm and Lois had taken me for walkies just prior to that.
I guess one thing I will miss in these long holidays is the contact with the staff, especially my close colleagues Kerry and Theo.
Kerry is still in Ak, so we will get together, though he is on a Fellowship Year next year - an exciting year for him, but I will miss him at school...
And Theo is heading to Europe in a few days with Els - so I won't see him for about 6 weeks.
Another colleague of mine, Eileen, is flying to the UK to teach indefinitely.
And I'm still here and apart from feeling/being a little too flabby, feel pretty darn good!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Assembly Fatigue

I copied this title from Sophie's blog - it sums both of us up!
My assemblies - does church count as an assembly? - have involved a singing assembly yesterday, 2 year assemblies (an hour each) today, a singing assembly, a pantomime assembly, and tomorrow...carol service, junior prizegiving, staff farewells, drinks by the school pool, drinks at the Cock and Bull (I will of course be moderate if not abstemious regarding my intake)...
And Thursday I get to see Sophie's graduation assembly!
Highlights for me since last blog have included...
Psalms Concert on Sunday (great having a smaller crew - piano viola, and 3 vocals including Jo McG and Patricia M, plus guest group The Dreamers)...
Pantomime today for Years 9 and 10 (amazing how many teachers managed to find their own wigs!!)...
Sketch in church on Sun (Fawlty Towers characters preparing a table for The Lord).
Alexander getting 2nd in Science.
Sophie getting Proxime Accessit ("runner up" to Dux) at her school, and excellence award for her class.
Lois's exam results (more details later).
Etc, etc.
Samson did his bit, or tried to - he brought a live mouse into the house (I didn't realise that they actually do squeak like a plastic toy).
These are indeed busy times for YT, and mostly fun, but I need my rest!
Goodnight, dear readers!
Gerald.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Holidays? Really?

I like being busy in the sense of having projects to look forward to.
I don't like that manic sense of events running me.
The busy end-of-termoil is well upon us.
If I am reporting "fit for work" then some things are expected of me.
And some things are things I have chosen.
I WAS going to itemise these things, but decided not to.
Let's just say it's a busy time.
Many things to look forward to.
I am looking forward to the Psalms concert.
I have invited 2 vocalists to join in - Jo and Patricia.
Both have lovely voices, in quite different ways, so it will be nice to listen to them.
We are doing Psalm 38 as a Blues.
Psalm 39 is extremely intense - it will be a challenge.
And the day after this we go into the Panto season at school!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Starting point "Peter Grimes"

Back from walk around the block.
Peter Grimes, by Benjamin Britten, on stereo.
Samson the cat miaows up at me - his voice is high-pitched and plaintive.
A hot humid day today.
Not ideal weather for teaching 9J in the afternoon.
Trying to guide them in notating pitch.
Difficult when most have no exercise books, and none have manuscript paper (both items are on the stationery list).
Still, a sense of achievement from identifying accurately a sequence of 2 pitches - A and G.
It is possible for kids, even "slow" ones, to notate music and therefore turn out compositions.
I remember some Professional Development I attended recently, where someone outlined some teaching strategies, and thinking, "Where is the MAGIC in that lesson?"
No magic, no memorable lesson.