Tintin Coincidences - #2 in a series

This one from Flight 714, where Tintin, Captain Haddock and the Professor hitch a ride with eccentric millionaire technologist Laszlo Carreidas from Djakarta to Sydney.

Our CEO at Lonely Planet is Matt Goldberg, New Yorker, and a true champion of the telephone as a communication device.

Wellington's Cafe L'Affare Turns 20 in 2010

One of the institutions that led Wellington NZ into being the coffee snob capital of the country is Cafe L'Affare. We were there this week on our last day of our annual kiwi Christmas holiday, sitting at a table that has been part of the place since early days - including a massive amount of graffiti - and we noticed this wonderful bit of coffee art carved simply into the surface.

It is hard to believe they are turning 20 this year - but among our friends we can put together an oral history of their various phases (even back to the original days with Askew's design store taking up half the space), the people and events that have made it world-class for food and coffee.

In my R+R days we spent many an hour noodling ideas at the tall table in the window, or out the back by the coffee machine retail area. I hope I'm ordering a petit pain, Caesar with chicken and extra anchovies, with a latte to follow, in 20 years from now.

Blues Brothers - 30 Year Anniversary in 2010

I've written about Breaking Away as an important movie in my life, inspiring a fascination with racing bicycles, Italy and la dolce vita.

That was 1979. Here comes 1980. Last year of high school, and The Blues Brothers hits our NZ screens.

A year ago I rented the original 1980 movie to watch with Noah (with handy ear covers ready for the obvious bits), and was pretty disappointed. Sound was so-so, the picture was grimy, and the story hinged on the high points of musical performance, plunging into dull periods of conversation and inaction.

I recall yawning and reminding myself that memories can play tricks on you.

We rented it again tonight.

And discovered to our joy that John Landis has managed to pull together an extended edition with remastered sound, new scenes and extended dialogue in various places. It's back to being a classic!

What a tragedy that the original cut, tested in a movie theatre in Los Angeles and declared by studio executives as "only going to attract a black audience", has been lost forever. They forced Landis to shorten the movie so it required no intermission.

With its 30th anniversary next year, it's time to celebrate what the Blues Brothers did to create an interest in the blues for people like me as far from Chicago as it is about possible to get on this planet. This must be the greatest B-movie ever made, with more superstar cameos than the V&A museum cameo collection.

And to file under 'subliminal influence', Ray's Music Exchange (with the subsequent 'Shake Your Tailfeather' dance spectacular) has always been my favourite scene - check out which guitar the kid is trying to steal when Ray shoots 2 well-placed warning shots into the wall from the other end of the shop!








That's pretty much how I would have looked if I hadn't been able to take my black stratocaster that fateful day in April! And why going into music shops can be such fun when there are people browsing the shelves around you who, despite not being Ray Charles, Steve Cropper or Donald Duck Dunn, could highly likely still light the place up in an instant.

“It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.”

“Hit it.”

Why I ride a motorcycle to work in Melbourne - a series.

Crazy old guy on cellphone at the top of his voice explaining to his Mum how he gets 100 minutes of talk time with the new phone he had to buy after the other one stopped working when he slept on the street in the rain at the weekend and he gets 150 texts per month for free as well and he's now just by City Road but going to St Kilda...

Wish his Mum would tell him to use his inside voice.

10 people tightly squeezed around me, all on iPhones and iPods trying to not hear crazy guy. MX newspaper with massive photo of Katy Perry's boobs falling out of her dress with headline "Has Katy got a bung eye?" based on a 2 line vox populi. 290,000 people in Melbourne read this crap every day?

Mouth "excuse me" with walking finger mime 15 times to headphone escapists just to squeeze past and get out at Albert Park. I'll take 40 degrees on the Gixxer in leather any day of the week thanks.

Favourite things - Herge illustration of Australia and NZ

Tintin was always a favourite character for me, although returning to them with Noah I have to say they are hard work to read out loud - they need the voices and accents I hear in my head but cannot reproduce. The pen and ink drawings are captivating enough on their own.

This illustration in 1959's Explorers on the Moon caught my eye - look which tiny part of the blue planet Herge has chosen to show.

Vintage Cycling Postcards - 1958 Corriere dello Sport

Corriere dello Sport was a main Italian sporting newspaper, and this card promotes the 1958 motorcycle and bicycle show. I've seen this card on eBay for up to 40 euros, I got it in the same batch as the Bartali and Coppi cards in 1994.

On the reverse it has a lovely stamp and postmark.

Vintage Cycling Postcards - Totosport 38th Giro D'Italia

This card is from the 1955 Giro, won by Fiorenzi Magni for the 3rd time. The card promotes Totosport, the Italian betting agency.