ThoughtSpurs

I saw the premier of ToyStory at a theatre in London's Leicester Square in the mid 90s. My girlfriend worked for Disney, so - as ever - I was the imposter, sitting a couple of rows away from Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman - I'm not sure what their connection with the film was. I hadn't been primed about the film. I knew little about it and would have probably given it a miss. My days were filled with running around London completing freelance assignments I had stacked on top of one another - the English had a way of booking me for a week at time but I had a way of nailing the problem in the first couple of days. But a week booking was a week booking and the ad agencies who hired me never thought to reassign me to another task - it would never happen here. So I was tired and would have simply stayed at home - the up side was that I thought I could 'rest my eyes' in the darkness. It didn't happen. From the short before the film to when the lights came up I could...

If there is one thing I hate it is intermittent faults. Like when sometimes your car won't start and the rest of the time it starts and runs just fine. When you take it to the mechanic there's no symptom - nothing to diagnose. When my 10 ferry trip concession card passed through the red laser beam this morning the portable display unit read 9 trips remaining. "9 left" reinforced the man attached to the portable scanner, beaming. "Impossible I said - it should only have three trips left." I said. "Consider it a bonus." He chimed, filled with the beneficence of those who favour others with other people's money.Clearly the matter was above his pay-grade and, in any case, it was the last run on the route for the morning and his mind was on a well earned cup of tea. I'd like to report that I did indeed think of it as windfall but it just troubled me all day. If the digital scanner could get it so wrong, even apparently in my ...

Ushio Shinohara and his wife Noriko are both artists in New York. They love a bohemian life. Shinohara is well know for his work but is not commercially successful. He migrated to the US after finding fame in Japan for his riff on pop art. Noriko arrives in the US, a young art student, meets Shinohara and falls for his manic charms. It's not long before he is sponging off her family allowance to pay rent. Time passes. They marry and have a child. It seems Noriko is destined to become her husband's assistant - he is much older than she is, though neither are young anymore. She harbours her own dream of artistic recognition via her created persona of Cutie. It is a meticulously shot piece, akin to the documentary classic Gray Gardens. Most of the observed narrative is in Japanese but it doesn't matter. We understand. When Noriko steps back from his work to see it in toto he seems to be looking back on his life as he utters 'crap' between words in his native...

I can't say that I like panhandling very much  - but here I go again. The charity fundraiser for Lifewise is fast approaching and my fundraising has been a little slow. That's not to say donations haven't been made - I have a network of generous friends and the ball is definitely rolling. I've made this message to include stacks of cash - because that dilates the pupils of 36.5% of Aucklanders and places them into a more receptive state. Add in a picture of a member of the royal family and if you find yourself on the brink of St Vitus dance and begin to ululate, you'll know why. You are powerless to resist. So, while I have you in this compliant state - follow this link - make a donation to help end homelessness and I promise the next flat white is on me.

If you can help with a donation - click here for my official donation site.

The Big SleepOut is a fundraiser to raise awareness and money to help the LifeWise Trust to help ease homelessness.  The Weather in Auckland has been atrocious. I hope it is milder on June 3, the night that I will be sleeping rough with a number of other Auckland business people and public figures - everyone fundraising from their friends, family and colleagues.  This year the focus is helping homeless youth. In Auckland 50% of all homeless people are aged between 16-24. It is a shocking statistic - those should be the best years of their lives. If you can help - please visit my fundraising page  Donations may qualify for tax deductions. Collection of money is independent and securely managed by GiveALittle - a Telecom Trust project. The LifeWise Trus t