Michael Jackson's This Is It

Yesterday, I enjoyed the luxury of a nearly-empty Empire Cinema while I watched Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009). In cinemas for just two weeks, and produced almost inappropriately too soon after Michael Jackson's death (but just in time to capitalise on DVD sales of Christmas), it would be easy to view this documentary as an opportunist moneymaker. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but am pleased to report that I was absolutely blown away!

I have long been a Michael Jackson fan. I still maintain that his 1996 History tour was the best concert I have ever been to and the unfortunate yardstick against which I will measure every other show I see. At the time, and since then, I have wondered if even Michael Jackson himself could possibly top that event. This Is It chronicles three months of developing and rehearsing for the planned 50 farewell concerts at London's 02 Arena. As a musician, I was amazed at Jackson's hands-on approach in every area of development, including choreography, musical direction, video production, sound engineering, lighting and stage design, and even auditioning dancers. Surrounded by extremely talented musicians, dancers, and production crew, Jackson truly was a master of his craft and worked to make his vision come alive.

I've heard someone comment that they had no idea just how much work went into rehearsing and preparing for a concert; like sausage making, it's not always pretty and sometimes better to just enjoy the final product rather than consider what it took to get there. Whether you are a fan of Michael Jackson's music or not, I'm sure that anyone interested live concerts would be fascinated by the process undertaken in developing this one. It is truly sad that he died before being able to give the world one last opportunity to experience his talent and share in his dreams.

View the trailer here:

Cloud gazing

Life's little pleasures pass us by every day if we let them. My 101 list was a way to help me appreciate some of the wonderful things around me all the time, as long as I make myself aware of them. This weekend, about forty of us headed to Himatangi Beach to celebrate a couple of birthdays. Although we only joined the group on Saturday night, it was a great chance to get out of town with friends and escape life for a while.

We arrived at Himatangi Beach Holiday Park after lunch to find an assortment of individuals in various positions of relaxation: sitting around chatting, munching treats, lying on blankets reading books, etc. I grabbed my book, blanket, and a sunhat, found a sheltered spot and joined them.

Although it was quite windy all weekend, and we were at the beach one month earlier than last year's Himatangi trip, it was wonderful to have some time in the sun during what is currently a very temperamental spring. After a chapter or so, the rays were beating me into a gentle submission and my book was casually abandoned. I lay back looking up at the sky. The wind was rearranging the clouds into several different formations right before my eyes. It was both fascinating and relaxing to watch, orchestrated with the hum of the chatter going on around me. It was then that I realised that this was one of my more spontaneous goals: #57 - Lie on the grass and watch the clouds go by. Seize the moment! (Although, as soon as I reached for the camera, the sky miraculously cleared into a perfect shade of blue - not that I'm complaining!)

The rest of the weekend involved a barbeque dinner, wrapping up in warm clothes and wandering to the beach to let off some fireworks after sunset (no bonfire this time), then heading back to the campsite to toast marshmallows over two open braziers. A somewhat more subdued barbeque breakfast wrapped up the weekend before a leisurely drive home.

Once again, a change of scenery with friends and some sunshine has been so wonderfully refreshing. Here's hoping the Insomnia Fairy will stay away tonight!

Boys and their toys

Like most males, my sweetie likes his toys. As he told me shortly after we got together, "males don't grow up; their toys just get more expensive". He's 100% correct there!

Since the announcement more than a month ago that TiVo is coming to New Zealand, we've heard of little else. The excitement steadily built and 1 November (launch date) approached rapidly. Then 1 November became 6 November, and then there was some other complication about ordering or purchasing a unit ... the details wash over me, but there was almost a possibility that my sweetie might not be able to get his latest toy on the day it was released. Oh, the horror!

And then I get a txt this morning saying, "I have a tivo I have a tivo I have a tivo I have a tivo I have a tivo". Hallelujah! Apparently my life is that much more enriched now. As I write this, and while cooking dinner, he is programming until his heart's content.

The txt I received earlier in the week said, "I bought a helicopter". Yep, I always knew we needed one of them. The remote control helicopter arrived today, on TiVo day. Smiles all round. After unpacking TiVo from its box, it was the helicopter's turn. It crawled around the (small-ish) lounge a few times, then started to pick up some altitude, before clumsily coming to rest against the side of a speaker. Never mind - it's a calm, sunny day, so outside it was!

I stayed inside until I heard my name being called a few times, followed by "oh no, oh no!". The helicopter was airborne; no problems there. However, controlling where it went was a different story. My sweetie took off up the driveway, saying "I hope it stays on the street!". He rounded the corner, and returned a few minutes later, having rescued his helicopter from a nearby kindergarten, after being guided there by some neighbourhood kids.

The pogo stick hasn't arrived yet ...

The Cider House Rules - John Irving

The Cider House Rules (1985) by John Irving has been on my TBR list for some time. I loved the movie of the same name, but admit to having watched it several years ago in a half-asleep state; my memory of the details meant that I was almost reading this novel as if encountering the story for the first time. Perhaps it's just as well; the film has many differences from the original novel.

Described as an epic novel, The Cider House Rules is truly an old-fashioned, big-hearted tale and a champion for storytelling. Abortion is the key theme here; Dr Wilbur Larch has committed his life to doing "the Lord's work", which he argues also encompasses "the Devil's work" and cannot be separated. His orphanage at St Cloud's serves dual purposes, but either way the women enter pregnant and secretly leave soon after, sans baby. In Maine during the first half of the twentieth century, this is how things were done.

Dr Larch surrounds himself with insufferable staff in the form of Nurse Angela, Nurse Edna, and Mrs Grogan, who looks after the girls' dormitory. Their ongoing devotion to the orphans and Dr Larch himself is admirable. It is agreed that Homer Wells, the orphan who never manages to stay adopted for very long, "belongs" to St Cloud's and will inevitably continue to return. The story moves in parallel between the orphanage and Homer's new life at Ocean View Orchard. The elaborate tale is peppered with humour, sadness, and the richness that the mixture of such a diverse range of characters brings, even those who are distinctly not likable.

Literature weaves a thread throughout the novel, with ongoing references to Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, and David Copperfield. Dr Larch is also credited with coining one of my favourite phrases from a book or movie: "Goodnight, you princes of Maine. You kings of New England."

Driving the donkey

Let me tell you about a friend and former colleague of mine; we'll call him Tom. Tom is a 'big picture' person, an idea-generator, and someone who is so excited about possibilities that he often fails to see the finer details that will make them work. A few years ago, he bought a 3-bedroom house in need of renovation, quickly converted it into a 4-bedroom home (being a builder in a former life was very helpful here), then decided six months later that he wanted to move some of the kitchen cabinets 30cm across because the family needed a bit more room around the dishwasher. Oh, and he would eventually add glass to the doors of the display cabinet, and skirting boards under each of the cupboards, but in the meantime there were so many other possible projects around the house that he could move on to before then. I have the utmost admiration for his incredibly patient and understanding wife.

Tom is fond of using idioms, but his penchant for ideas over accuracy means that they often come out of his mouth in a slightly different form. For example:

"How are you doing today, Tom?"
"Oh, I'm a box of budgies!" (when he was probably, in fact, looking for fluffy ducks).

During a staff meeting, where we were being informed about a requirement to follow some new bureaucratic process, the details of which I forget, in order to do something we'd always done anyway (or possibly even had done better before), Tom became increasingly jittery. He could see what we saw: this "new" process was simply going to add to our workload and not actually achieve what we needed or wanted. However, in order to demonstrate compliance, we could blindly follow it and then eventually get down to the business we'd set out to do. Tom couldn't see the point. Many others agreed, but Tom put it in a way no-one else could: "That's just the tail driving the donkey!", he announced in frustration. Ok, so he was supposed to say "tail wagging the dog", but there was no mistaking what he meant.

From then on, donkeys became a bit of a theme in our team and the butt of many jokes. However, the message was always clear: whatever we did, we wanted it to be for the right reasons and not simply because the tail was driving the donkey. This is not easy in most workplaces.

Another colleague views blogging in very much the same way. She maintains that "a blog should be a tool or a vehicle for expression - you drive it and not the other way around". I agree; I maintain this blog because I enjoy writing and blogging and not because I feel compelled to post a certain number of times each week. However, I realised this morning that the situation is not the same for my Project 365 blog; I feel it is that tail that is indeed driving this donkey.

I was a little hesitant to start Project 365, which involves taking a photo each and every day and posting it to a blog. I was drawn to the idea of visually representing a year of my life, but not necessarily to the photography aspect. The photos I have taken have either been significant or interesting to me, but were never intended to be technically good examples of photography; they are personal, rather than taken for an audience. At times, the pressure of finding a subject to photograph every day has got me down and, as I don't tend to upload photos daily, I've been uploading 'back posts' of photos every few days. I suppose it doesn't really matter when I post, but having a photo-less week last week has now put me a week 'behind' with this project.

I've decided to stop letting the tail drive the donkey. I will still endeavour to take a photo a day, but if I don't make it on a particular day (or days), I'm not going to let it worry me. I will continue to post photos in numerical order and see where I end up on 1 June 2010, one year after beginning the project. Strange though it may seem, some days I simply have nothing much to say. Surely I don't need a picture to prove that?

Ten commandments of Twitter

I tweet occasionally both for business and personal use. My professional Twitter account doesn't get a lot of use; I'm more of a voyeur looking out for useful links or tips related to my line of work. Café Chick tweets a few times a day. I don't profess to say much that is profound. To be honest, I'm still not entirely sold on the whole Twitter idea, but continue to dip my toe in the lukewarm waters of what is known as the Twittersphere, along with all the other twits out there.

While I find Twitter to be mostly harmless, there are some aspects of it which quickly drive me up the wall, or towards the 'block' button. I block somewhere around 1 in 3 new followers. No, I don't wish to see photos of you naked or in suggestive poses. I carefully check out someone's profile before choosing to follow them, and very occasionally hit the 'unfollow' button. I know it doesn't do me any harm to have people following me, and accept that I choose to keep my tweets unprotected, but there are some accounts that I'd rather not have associated with mine. Here's how to make it onto my blocked list, in no particular order:

Café Chick's ten commandments of Twitter

Thou shalt not tweet entire television shows
Or movies. Or documentaries. Or concerts. I don't need/want a minute-by-minute update on Shortland Street, Fringe, or American Idol. I also don't need to know how long it is until each of these shows start in your time zone, ie a minute-by-minute countdown. Thank you.

Thou shalt not tweet entire blog posts
Instead of tweeting a novel in several 140-character chunks, please just tweet a link to your new blog post. I'd be happy to read it in one space, and prefer not to see it interspersed with other tweets along the way.

Thou shalt not synchronise Facebook and Twitter
If I am your Facebook friend, I'm interested in what you have to say on Facebook. If I choose to follow you on Twitter, ditto. I'd expect you to update your status on Facebook less frequently than Twitter. Please don't hit me with a double-whammy.

Thou shalt not tweet from iTunes
I don't need a notification every three minutes of what song you're now listening to, or that you have accidentally left iTunes playing while you have gone out shopping.

Thou shalt not use Twitter in place of instant messaging
In the age of Skype, MSN, iChat, and multitudes of other instant messaging applications (including direct messaging via Twitter), ongoing 1-1 messages between two individuals no longer need to be broadcast publicly. Private conversations should remain just that.

Thou shalt not tweet spam or advertising
Just because I say I've been to lunch in Lower Hutt, that's not an invitation for real estate agents to follow me and spam me with property for sale in the area. No thank you.

Thou shalt not tweet more than 5-10 times an hour
I'm interested in what you have to say, otherwise I wouldn't follow you at all, but do I need to hear from you more than 100 times in a single day?

Thou shalt not bribe followers
I have just one word for people who advertise via their blogs, newsletters, or other forums by saying "everyone who follows me is in to win a prize". The word is: sad. Surely this is not what Twitter is about?

Thou shalt not retweet more than they tweet themselves
Retweet occasionally if you feel a comment is worthy of it, but I'd rather read your original comments than have you report a whole screed of copies from other people. If I want to hear from others, I'll follow them directly.

Thou shalt not add me to your Mafia family
I don't actually know what you are talking about, so sending repeated invitations via Twitter is not going to get you (or me) very far.

Care to add any more commandments to my list?