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I was 32 and distracted when that came out, so other than to note that little "Russ le Roq" seemed to have had some success, as an actor, I didn't pay it much heed. By distracted I mean, I had discovered Thailand.

I'm no fan of Russell Crowe. Seems to be an arrogant hot-head. I did quite like Romper Stomper though. Remember that one, Coss? Caused a bit of a furore when it was released....imagined it would be even less well-received now.

Sleeping Dogs - 2024 - 1h 50m A film starring Kiwi Russel Crowe. An ex-homicide detective with memory loss is forced to solve a brutal murder, only to uncover chilling secrets from his forgotten past. This very good, Crowe has learned how to act well and the director Adam Cooper's debut, is phenomenal. Gripping. Mind you, I remember when Crowe was "Russ le Roq" and was sniffing around my sister in the Auckland in the '80s. Interesting wiki info: Through his paternal grandmother, he is a direct descendant of Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, the last man to be beheaded in Britain. Wiki The above is not to be confused with another good movie: Sleeping Dogs - 1977 - 1h 47m Also with Kiwis, A New Zealand man recently estranged from his family gets unwittingly caught up in a revolution. Sam Neil when young.

Just thought it worth mentioning, the doco is not about Blondie

Parallel Lines (1978) broke the band into the rock mainstream thanks to hits such as “Picture This,” “One Way or Another,” and the disco-influenced “Heart of Glass.” Eat to the Beat (1979) was similarly successful Blondie were mainstream in America in 1978 Source

The one that always tickles me is that a UK radio DJ Sarah Cox named her son Isaac. Fortunately for the poor little blighter she later married the boys father and he took / was given his surname

Reminds me of the unwanted attention Amin Yashed received The Indian name Swastika, as it appeared on ridesharing app Uber, was deemed offensive due to its fascist connotations. Uber reportedly did not allow Sydney-based Swastika Chandra to use her first name on its app. But, according to The Australian, it has now backed down and made an exception in this case. It said that Swastika’s name, which in Hinduism means spirituality and divinity and is also a sacred symbol, got caught in the middle of their goodwill policy of banning certain terms after the recent unrest in the Middle East. A distressed Swastika reached out to the Hindu Council of Australia, who then through the NSW government, took the matter up with Uber. Chandra, a regular user of the app, said the Uber booking system’s flagging of her name was a violation of its terms of use and called for a change. Uber said initially that it understood the “cultural significance” of her name but noted the “sensitivity surrounding historical events … and the symbol’s appropriation by the Nazis”. Good sense however, soon prevailed. A spokesperson said, “Uber is committed to facilitating a safe and welcoming environment. For that reason, Uber has a policy of restricting access to users whose names entered into the app contain potentially offensive words.” She added that the company understands that there are cultural nuances to names, and it evaluates such instances case by case, and has decided “to reinstate Ms Chandra’s access to the app.” https://www.indianlink.com.au/uber-invalidates-then-reinstates-indian-name-swastika/

Yes but none of the mainstream stations would play them. They are only 2 of the list you mentioned. Record labels would not release a lot of "new" music locally so Denis McNamara used to import them and wait at the airport for them to arrive

as an aside... Rock the Boat: The Story of Radio Hauraki 1965-1970 https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/rock-the-boat-radio-hauraki-1996 They got a small ship and spent their time slinking about, between the islands off Auckland, to give us, music unapproved by nanny state...

Well Talking Heads and Blondie were American, are you trying to tell me a “Cutting Edge” radio station in NYC had only just picked up on them in 1982, doesn’t sound very “finger in the pulse” to me unless checking the pulse of a corpse. in 1977 when the Buzzcocks released Spiral Scratch on their own label was the birth of Indie, half the bands listed were pop music not new wave. Typical American pap

Not really a good review by IMDB. A lot of who you mentioned had never been heard of in Amerika and it delves a lot more into the politics and influence of the record labels. The music component is on a small portion.

Not sure that I would TBH, checked the IMDB write up U2, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, Blondie, Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, The Clash, The Cure 1982, a small group of radio visionaries knew they couldn't compete with the mega-stations in New York City. By 1982 U2 had already released Boy and October, Talking Heads had previously released Psycho Killer and Once in a Lifetime the Eno years were over, Blondie had already split up as did the Clash in 82 after 6 years. The Cure had also been together for 6 years by then, so far from being visionaries WLIR were essentially playing mainstream UK pop music since that is what Depeche Mode, Duran Duran and Tears for Fears were. Indie music 1982 included The Smiths and Durutti Column (that’s just Manchester) or REM stateside

'Dare to Be Different,' Documentary about the revolutionary New Wave radio station WLIR Kong would enjoy this based on many discussions we have had over the years.

or a G&T in some Thai dives...

Probably as risky as buying a bucket at a Full Moon Party in LOS

I retract - it transpires that the woman who died was a Kiwi.

Why would you attack the Police and Paramedics who have come to assist the injured. They did get some retribution though. Parishioners held him down and cut off 2 of his fingers 😳 The bishop is a bit of an extremist nutter and Assyrians in general are hard to feel sympathy for given their misogynistic culture. There is no universal timeline for evolution.

Found an interesting North Korea news site - https://www.nknews.org Some amusing stuff - including this gem: North Korea lauds event with pro-regime groups on promoting ‘Juche idea’ High-profile seminar aims to convince North Koreans that foreigners admire state ideology of Kim regime, experts say... https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/north-korea-lauds-event-with-pro-regime-groups-on-promoting-juche-idea/

An interesting collection of Iran photos https://www.yahoo.com/news/25-photos-show-iran-looked-190806215.html

NZ has ‘huge opportunity’ in Thailand, PM says. (NZ PM) Jury is out here, on NZ Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, very short. Not as short as the Lao guy, but still very short...

Further to the above post, some more: Stabbing attack at Sydney church as police counter angry crowds:: Seems the 15/16 yr old boy stabber, had to be shielded inside the church by police as an Assyrian mob turned up to Lynch him, but then had to be satisfied with clashing with the police outside. Bondi Junction stabbing: Australian citizenship offered to French bollard hero in attack :: remarkable. One dead, two hospitalised over suspected ‘mushroom’ drink poisoning in Australia :: The death occurred at the Soul Barn, an “alternative and holistic health service” business that operates out of a property in Fraser Street, Clunes, 33 kilometres north of Ballarat. :: *note to Australians- Don't consume mushroom drinks or any other "alternative and holistic" health remedies, unless you've seen the practitioner, consume them first and then survive for 24 hours...

I remember that. As the saying goes a poor tradesman always blames his tools. I am guessing your ability to combine light, subject, and composition to capture a great image is still a work in progress which was the point of the comment. I encourage you to keep at it and aspire to produce images like I was able to with my Nokia 7650 (see below?

Can't remember if I posted this before but 😊

Most likely, he did not. I recall him once saying his Nokia phone took better pictures than my Nikon DSLR and film SLRs…anyone with such logic should always be given special treatment…now if he had said Apple IPhone, or the Samsung A15, I might give him some cred… 555