The Andrew Ollie Lecture '09

I recently read the Andrew Ollie Lecture, this year given by Julian Morrow (of The Chaser) . It was a fascinating to see him speak candidly about comedy and its audience (including the Chaser show earlier in the year).

The key argument was that "independence of mind also by definition means independence from the audience and "the inevitable corollary to freedom of speech is that there is no such thing as a general right to not be offended".

time taken...

When everything is settled, when everyone has gone their seperate ways and finally stop long enough one day to glance back, one day when slowness is upon us and time allows the view, the question we ask is the question that will nags again and again and again: did we hear the music of the years? Did we see the fiddler's hand, bowing it higher and higher through days emblazoned with wonder, or were we looking away?

(The Time We Have Taken - Steven Carroll)

50 most important recordings... (NPR)

Here are the 50 most important recordings of the last decade, put together by NPR's All Songs Considered. The list is alphabetised. Anyway, a list like this is probably as notable for what it leaves out, as well as what it includes.

01. John Adams: On The Transmigration Of Souls
02. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
03. The Arcade Fire: Funeral
04. The Bad Plus: These Are The Vistas
05. Beyonce: Dangerously In Love
06. Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
07. Bright Eyes: I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
08. Burial: Untrue
09. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: S/T
10. Kelly Clarkson: Breakaway
11. Coldplay: A Rush Of Blood To The Head
12. Danger Mouse: The Grey Album
13. Death Cab For Cutie: Transatlanticism
14. The Decemberists: The Crane Wife
15. Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP
16. The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
17. Osvaldo Golijov: La Pasión Segun San Marcos (Saint Mark's Passion)
18. Green Day: American Idiot
19. Iron And Wine: Our Endless Numbered Days
20. Jay-Z: The Blueprint
21. Norah Jones: Come Away With Me
22. Juanes: Fijate Bien
23. LCD Soundsystem: Sound Of Silver
24. Lil’ Wayne: Tha Carter III
25. Little Brother: The Listening
26. M.I.A.: Kala
27. Yo-Yo Ma: Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet
28. Mastodon: Leviathan
29. Jason Moran: Black Stars
30. OutKast: Stankonia
31. Brad Paisley: 5th Gear
32. Panda Bear: Person Pitch
33. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: Raising Sand
34. The Postal Service: Give Up
35. Radiohead: In Rainbows
36. Radiohead: Kid A
37. Shakira: Fijación Oral, Vol. 1
38. Sigur Ros: ( )
39. Britney Spears: In The Zone
40. Sufjan Stevens: Illinois
41. The Strokes: Is This It
42. The Swell Season: Once Soundtrack
43. Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate: In The Heart Of The Moon
44. TV On The Radio: Return To Cookie Mountain
45. Various: Garden State Soundtrack
46. Various: O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack
47. Kanye West: The College Dropout
48. The White Stripes: White Blood Cells
49. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
50. Amy Winehouse: Back To Black

God and the state ..

Last Monday night my new local member; Joe Hockey gave a fascinating address (at the Sydney Institute, http://www.thesydneyinstitute.com.au/ ) Describing his view on how faith and politcs relate. Read it here.

One of the things he said which intrigued me was that the "Christian pie is not getting bigger; rather how it is sliced up is changing". I am intrigued why some the churches that are growing - what characteristics do they have.. The two reasons which quite often come to my mind are the community aspect; maybe tied to community is belonging. (and I'm always wondering how much church growth is believers "shopping around", and how many 'believers' chose not to identify as part of "a church" ). I have read somewhere (but can't recall where) that the Evangelical churchs are growing.

The other point made by Hockey which resonated with me, was his view leaders who are fake; will be shown to be without values.


While I wasn't in agreement with all of his views, it was interesting hearing another one of our politicians talk about 'their faith'.

Update: Interesting to read this article by the Dean of Sydney about Hockey's speech.

South Africa here we come...

So, after a break of 27 years, the All Whites are back in the World Cup. 

Last night, in front of a sellout crowd in Wellington the All Whites held on for a deserved 1-0 win. Here's the match report from the NZ Herald , BBC, and the NYT.

The next key date is Dec 4, when the draw from group stage will be made. Wouldn't it be funny if the Socceroos and All Whites ended up in the same group.
 

Notes from the Decade

Given that its almost the end of 2009, I thought that I'd put my list of my top 5 albums for 2000-2010. Perhaps lists like these are becoming more pointless, as the way we listen to music has changed. More often than not we listen to music shuffled. I'm old fashioned in that I like listening to albums from start to finish. Before I get on to my list, here's a discussion piece about the trends which have defined this decade in music (via NPR). NPR will have a list of the most influencial albums of the decade online on Monday (I think), I'll post the link once I find/hear it.

With the provisio that they may change from time to time here's my top five albums from the decade. My honorable mentions are: No Line on the Horizon and I'm Wide Awake it's Morning.

5. Limbs and Branches - Jon Foreman
During 2008, Jon Foreman the lead singer of the Calfornian band Switchfoot released a series of EPs titled Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer. The album Limbs and Branches is a compliation of songs from these EPs. The most striking thing about these albums, are the faithful yet not preachy lyrics.The album gives Foreman the opportunity to display his craft with music.

4: Good Monsters - Jars of Clay
Jars of Clay were the first Christian band. I'm not sure whether Good Monsters Jars of Clay's best work, especially given the release earlier this year of The Long Fall Back to Earth. Both albums are perhaps more complete works than the their earlier albums. Good Monsters provides an account for our capacity as humans to be equally good and depraved.

3: Albertine - Brooke Fraser
I remember when I first heard the title track. The words and music blended together to create an athmosphere of urgency -"Now that I have seen - I am responsible, faith without deeds is dead". Quite a challenge. I'm impressed with Brooke's honest and thoughtful lyric's which quite easily cross to the mainstream. At the moment Brooke is posting articles on songwriting on her blog, which are worth a read too. Brooke Fraser isn't on this list just because she is a Kiwi, but it sure helps. Aside: Brooke is in the process of writing her third album.

2: Kid A - Radiohead
I wasn't so sure of this one when I first heard it, but it has really grown on me. It was quite a change following the critically acclaimed OK Computer, but now its one best enjoyed through earphones, and perhaps from start-to-finish. "How to Dissapear.." is such a hauntingly beautiful song.

1: The Swell Season - The Swell Season
The Swell Season is a collaboration between the lead singer of the amazing Irish band the Frames - Glen Hansard, and Marketa Irglova (a pianist from the Czech Republic). The highlight of this album to me is the harmony between the voices of Marketa and Glen and how well they compliment each other. In some ways the story has been part of their (broad) appeal, Glen Hansard with the band The Frames were searching for success, and then through the film 'Once' made for less than $200k, they were thrust into the spotlight. Hansard since then has had fun dealing with how the "whole word" has turned and noticed them. more here. As I wrote earlier their 2nd album 'Strict Joy' is not suprisingly almost as beautiful - you can read the poem that inspired the title.