Happy New Year

 2011 has been an event filled year.  Many events good and many not so good.  It's likely to be remembered as the year of the natural disaster here in  New Zealand with three earthquakes in the Canterbury region.

The reason  for these sort of posts on music blogs is always to tell you about the albums you've missed out but I've missed a tonne so won't even bother.  I didn't make it to many gigs either although my highlights are Delaney Davidson and Reverend Beatman at St Peter's Hall in Paekakariki with The Clean, The Subliminals and Surf Friends running even due largely to it being the first time I'd caught those Flying Nun bands with the Subliminals being the highlight of the trio despite it being great to finally hear a number of The Clean songs live.

I made it to a few movies:  Highlights:  Rise of The Planet Apes - A decent reworking of the Planet of The Apes origin story that put the previous remake to much deserved shame.
Senna:  A documentary that made watching a car go repeatedly around a track interesting
Cold Fish - Off-beat dark Japanese movie about a pet fish store owner and a serial killer.
The Adjustment Bureau - Sci-fi time travel-type drama
Thirteen Assassins - Enthralling Japanese period action movie.



Sports Events Highlights:

Rugby World Cup - Well done to the All Blacks but let's face it, with all the injuries, The All Blacks wouldn't have won and that final away win still eludes them.
Wellington Phoenix - another team that away wins elude but enjoyed watching the games in the stadium.
NZ Breakers - Worth missing the royal wedding to watch this basketball team play in the finals
New Zealand Warriors - The teams name no longer rolls of the tongue but this team making it to the final was a highlight
Wimbledon - Tsonga - Djokovic was the highlight of the tournament for me with the commentators continually writing the French men off only to watch him continually comeback.


Things we'd like to see less of in 2012

Earthquakes
John Campbell
Newsreaders paid to have conversations
Gordon Ramsay
Importance placed on facebook links
Overpricing on mobile phone fees and SIM cards
Unfocussed protestors

Local music frauds of the year:

Flying Nun compilation Tally Ho.



What are the reasons for leaving out harder-edged bands like The Warners, The D4, and The Hasselhoff Experiment?

  Also why release songs from the In Love These Times compilation? While the Sneaky Feelings, Snapper and Look Blue Go Purple make sense  Surely Straitjacket Fits, The Bats and The Clean have fresher material worth an airing even in these days of digital downloads.

Shihad Meanest Hits compilation:  Just buy their first two albums since they've been inconsistent ever since despite the critical gushing over The General Electric and it lacks their best song, "Stations".

Straitjacket Fits - If I Were You



Shihad - Stations