We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender (Winston Churchill)

Dunkirk. You've got to see it.

Preferably on a big screen. With a great sound system. That's essential.

Spoiler alert - we won the war, it's in the books, but not before some rum doings. And Winston Churchill was a great leader!

Sorry, it had to be said.

As to the film, Christopher Nolan and Hans Zimmer are a brilliant combination.

If you're worried that it's a war movie and therefore a bit of a tired genre, don't fret. Nolan and Zimmer combine to make an extraordinary film which will leave you buzzing, says I.

Even as I watch this trailer I tense up again, as it gives a real sense of the power of the film via its sound and fury. 



You need to see this film!

Love and respect - WNP

Does she walk? Does she talk? Does she come complete? (J Geil's Band)

This post by Seth Godin is super scary.

First, here's the post...

An audience of one

More than ever, people, lots of people, hordes of anonymous people, can watch what you do.

They can see your photos, like your posts, friend your digital avatar.

An essentially infinite collection of strangers are in the audience, scoring you, ranking you, deciding whether or not you're succeeding.

If you let them.

The alternative is to focus on the audience you care about, interacting with the person who matters to you. Your audience, your choice. One person, ten people, the people who need you.

Everyone else is merely a bystander. 

What's scary? Everything.

The realisation that I'm being watched. That this is increasing. That I choose to be watched via this blog. That it's essentially infinite. That I'm judged. At all times. That the alternative means walking away from digital platforms. That Seth is right. That there are people who need me. Who are they? Am I embracing them? Why? Why not?

AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now, today's post..............................................................

I love this photo.

Why do I love it so?

It feels real, and yet she's posing, right? The coffee table looks right - the angle of the paper (she's a writer); the cord to the right, sockets above the pictures, and dinged skirting board to the left are left in the picture. 

Pose is leaning and direct. She's at work, yet she's a girl interrupted. A super girl. But she wouldn't actually work on her tele-play on this couch. Half annoyed smile, half smug smile. Enigmatic.

The couch itself is a beautiful rich blue. Solid. Yet spungee. Not comfortable, but looks comfortable.

Pictures on the wall are a weird mix. She writes for Supergirl. But those others? Depth! Or maybe not. Is she a girl angel?

And, there's an elephant in the room! Love it!

Love, peace, embracing hug - Wozza.

Arrows of neon and flashing marquees out on Main Street (The Grateful Dead)

Welcome to a Fun-Packed cultural corner! 

Time for an update on what is motivatin' me over the hill this week.

Look and Learn article: Excellent piece on Sherpa Tenzing. Loving too the old ads in these magazines from the sixties. I think I remember Sky Ray 3 iceblocks (cool name), or something very similar... memory plays tricks.

The ad for some girls' mags, June and Princess Tina (cool names), that I used as the feature image above is a complete, gay hoot!

TV: Blacklist on Netflix is real fine. We are currently munching our way through season 3.

Sport: I signed up to Sky's BEIN sports channels in time to see all the drama of Arsenal's to and fro battle with Leicester last saturday. So great to have the premier league back in my living room in living colour.

Literature: I believe I'm at week 28 in my mission to read 50 books in 52 weeks. The last item on the list I mentioned was book 29 from week 24 - Warren Ellis' Gun Machine.

Since then, I've chewed through book 30 Assessment Strategies for Self-Directed Learning (Costa, Kallick), sexy title huh, book 31 - Up In The Air (Walter Kirn) and now I'm on book 32 - Nick Hornby's Juliet Naked.

Gun Machine was superb. Warren Ellis (no, not the musician in Nick Cave's band, but yes, the guy who did Castlevania) is a terrific writer with a mind and imagination like the tip of something very sharp, like a razor or a pin or a, um, sword - you know, like rilly sharp! 

Up In The Air was a tad disappointing. Another case of the movie version taking the lead character and writing a completely different story around him. Bizarre.

Somehow I missed Juliet Naked when it came out. It's pretty good - not up there with his best but sitting nicely under About A Boy. I have a nagginly vague feeling that I have read it before but I've now put that down to Nick's familiar prose style.

Record find of the week: Robert Hunter's debut from 1974 - Tales of the Great Rum Runners. I've kept an eye out for this ever since seeing the cover in an album cover book. What an amazing cover right?

Being a Grateful Dead fan means I'm very familiar with his stuff. So I was thrilled to get my mits on this in the $10 sale bin at Real Groovy while in Auckland for Jerrrrrrey!

K. You're up to date!

Love and peace - Wozza

My theory is 98 percent of all human endeavor is killing time (Jerry Seinfeld)

I came into close contact with Jerry World last week. 

I had some time to kill and Jerry was all around me.

Jerry reckons that there are only two parts to his world - 'sucks' and 'great'. And actually, as he points out, they are pretty close.

Certainly, I didn't do my best work last week. Had to let that go. 

Because the weekend was great, so let's focus on that. 

It started off well with signing up to Bein Sports (via Sky TV) just in time to watch the thrilling second half of Arsenal's 4-3 win over Leicester.

Pootling off to pick up DLG at Auckland Airport we saw an accident's aftermath just before Te Hana. That sucked.

Spark Arena in Auckland was buzzing for Jerry (the air was electric that night my friends).

The warm up comedian was good. But Jerry was GREAT. An hour and a half of continuous laughter. Joy to the world!

Jade and I polished off a couple of donuts on the way back to the hotel where SWMBO had settled in and we all awoke refreshed.

Small things like Jade's flight being delayed for a few hours just meant a more leisurely Sunday morning. It all evens out for me.

Next big adventure - Macca on December 16. Ooh baby!!

Love and peace - Wozza

Ooh child, things are going to get easier (The Five Stairsteps)

I was a huge fan of Look and Learn back in the day, as I've mentioned before a few times.

SWMBO and I went into Cowboy Junkies - a great second hand place in Whangarei on Saturday and found a few things we wanted - a lovely old firescreen and a pile of Look and Learns from the sixties and seventies for 50 cents each.

SCORE. I bought the 32 copies they had from 1967 to 1969 and immediately felt better about the fact mum threw away my collection around 1970.

I've been delving into them and have been really impressed with the writing. Not only that, there is something for boys AND girls - role models, potential careers, heros to appeal to both sexes.

Admittedly, the Ranger section predominately features males [apart from the Trigan Empire, there is Dan Dakota (the Western), Wildcat Wayne and schoolboy Rob Riley with comic strips] but there are interesting articles for both girls and boys, like how girls have been educated through the ages.

Impressive!! Here's to looking and learning!

Love and peace and look and learn - young Wozza

You’re giving me the ‘It’s not you, it’s me’ routine? (George Costanza)

DLG and I are off to see Jerry Seinfeld this Saturday night in Auckland. Father and daughter time!

It seems we bought our tickets years ago! But it's nearly here and I'm freakin' out maan. 

Seinfeld is a big part of our lives. The TV show is easily the greatest comedy of all time. It's official. On this issue there's no debate. We know the lines, baby.

But it's more than that - I would use at least one reference from the show every day (or think it). Not that there's anything wrong with that.

He's a close talker; she's a low talker; would you like a high lighter; ah that's a shame; everything evens out for me; signals Jerry, signals; I'm on no sleep; Jeer-rey; you've got to see the baby; Vanderlay Industries; the sea was angry that day my friends; but I don't wanta be a pirate...I could go on!

This will be my third comedy show. The other two were: Billy Connolly in the late seventies with Phyllis Omand at the Auckland Town Hall; Rowan Atkinson with Jacky Smith in the early eighties in New Plymouth.

My face hurt for days after those shows.

Saturday night...freakin' out!

Yada yada - Wozza

I held your trembling hand (Focus)

Time to celebrate the whanau (a.k.a. The Purdettes) again (haven't done that in a while). In reverse chronological order:

DLG (a.k.a. Taylor Swift, a.k.a Jade) and William announced their engagement recently. Jade rang me early in her dating career with William with an 'OMG - I'm dating my father' so no problems there then. To be clear - William loves/obsesses over football and is a teacher. 

Cheeky Face (a.k.a. Daisy Ridley, a.k.a. Fanfa, a.k.a. Samantha) has moved to Los Angeles from San Francisco to work on The Goldbergs TV show. It's a new adventure and that's sometimes scary but trust the maple leaf, always.

Mr and Mrs Adam and Ashleigh Purdy are in Melbourne going through all the crunchy and the smooth life throws at us. In their case, a traffic accident was a temporary setback.

Keegan is also on a new adventure in China, working as an English language teacher and adapting to being a stranger in a strange land. To say nothing of the early starts! That maple leaf again.

I am extremely proud of them and so pleased SWMBO and I raised such a resilient, adventurous, intrepid, feel-the-fear-and-do-it-anyway bunch of individuals. Just saying.

Love and peace - Big Daddy