My Guest tonite - Cajun Queen - Anne Savoy

Ann Savoy is a musician, an author, a record producer, and a photographer. Perhaps her most well known endeavor is the acclaimed release “Adieu False Heart”, a CD of duets with the legendary Linda Ronstadt. As a musician she, has played guitar, fiddle, and accordion and traveled throughout the world with her husband accordionist Marc Savoy and fiddler Michael Doucet in the Savoy Doucet Cajun Band, with her all-woman band The Magnolia Sisters. and with Marc and their talented sons in the Savoy Family Band.


She appears with her son Joel in the film Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood and performs three of the twelve cuts on the accompanying soundtrack on Sony Music. She has recorded twelve CDs on the Arhoolie, Rounder, and Vanguard labels. She workied with renowned producer T Bone Burnett as associate music producer for the Sony film “All The King’s Men”, composing a song for the film which is performed by Ann Savoy and her Sleeplss Knights, her vintage style jazz group. Ann has appeared in many documentaries on the subject of Cajun music, including the PBS series American Roots Music, and with her husband was the subject of Les Blank’s film,”Marc and Ann”.

She has worked as an record producer for Vanguard Records, for whom she produced the Grammy nominated tribute to Cajun music, Evangeline Made, featuring, among others, pop and folk idols Linda Ronstadt, John Fogerty, Richard and Linda Thompson, Nick Lowe, and Rodney Crowell performing traditional Cajun tunes. Her second project for Vanguard, a tribute to Creole and Zydeco, entitled Creole Bred, came out in May 2004.

In 2010 her band The Magnolia Sisters received a Grammy nomination for their CD Stripped Down.

As a writer, she is the author of the Botkin award winning book, Cajun Music, A Reflection of a People, a book which chronicles the history of Cajun and Zydeco music through interviews, biographies, historic and current photographs, and song transcriptions. She wrote the chapter on Cajun and Zydeco in the book, American Roots Music, Rolling Stone Press, as well as authoring numerous articles on Cajun music and historic CD booklets.

For more, go to www.womad.co.nz

FAB - Richard Taylor

The classic British sci-fi series “Thunderbirds” will receive a high-tech reboot at the hands of New Zealand’s Oscar-winning Weta Workshop, it was announced on Tuesday (5/2/2013).  The special effects company, which has worked on movies such as “The Lord of the Rings” and “Avatar”, said Britain’s ITV had commissioned 26 episodes of the 1960s hit show, created by the late Gerry Anderson (left).  The series, with the working title “Thunderbirds are Go!”, is scheduled to screen in Britain in 2015, 50 years after the original debuted.  Weta chief Richard Taylor said he was looking forward to introducing a new generation to the show, which depicts an international rescue organisation that thwarts evil-doers with spacecraft launched from its secret base.  “Thunderbirds was a hugely influential television series in my childhood,” said Taylor, whose Wellington-based Pukeko Pictures will co-produce the new series.  While the original used a form of puppetry dubbed “Supermarionation” to bring characters such as Brains and Lady Penelope to life, the new version will combine live action and computer generated imagery.

All about Thunderbirds (everything!)

The Thunderbirds TV series is set in the 21st century, which at the time of production was still over thirty years away. Co-creator Anderson said for the series to be set "100 years in the future," indicating a date of 2065, despite varying years showing up on various objects throughout the series. This intent was carried forward in all of the series' contemporary tie-in merchandise, such as the weekly comic strip in TV Century 21 and the Century 21 Mini-Album "Thunderbird 3", wherein Alan Tracy tells listeners that the year is 2065. 1993 vintage champagne is discussed in "Alias Mr. Hackenbacker". The feature film Thunderbirds Are Go is shown to take place in June 2066, and in Thunderbird 6 it is June 2068. In addition, the Zero X spacecraft from Thunderbirds Are Go subsequently appeared in the opening episode of Anderson's next TV series, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, which was set in 2068. 

The show depicts the adventures of the Tracy family, which consists of millionaire former astronaut Jeff Tracy (one of the first men to land on the moon) and his five sons: Scott (pilot of Thunderbird 1 and principal rescue co-ordinator), Virgil (pilot of Thunderbird 2), Alan (astronaut in Thunderbird 3), Gordon (aquanaut in Thunderbird 4) and John (principal duty astronaut on the space station Thunderbird 5) – each named after a Mercury astronaut – Scott Carpenter, Virgil Grissom, Alan Shepard, Gordon Cooper and John Glenn, respectively. Together with Jeff's elderly mother called Grandma Tracy, the scientific genius and engineer "Brains", the family's manservant Kyrano and his daughter Tin-Tin, the Tracy family live on a remote, uncharted island. 

International Rescue's London agent, international socialite Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, and her Cockney butler/chauffeur Aloysius "Nosey" Parker, are often seen chasing The Hood and other villains in the pink, amphibious Rolls-Royce FAB1, which is equipped with James Bond-style gadgets. (Rolls-Royce actually provided an authentic radiator grille to the production company for closeups of FAB-1, such as when the retractable machine gun was fired.) Lady Penelope's yacht is called FAB-2. Although credited as "London-based Agent", Lady Penelope lives in a mansion in Kent, which is actually a miniature copy of real-life Stourhead House in Wiltshire.

Some of the disasters attended by International Rescue are often the result of accident or misadventure, but on occasion involve deliberate sabotage. A recurring villain, "The Hood" (actually never named in the dialogue, but referred to as such in narration, in the comics, tie-in books and other spin-off media), frequently causes major accidents in order to lure International Rescue's vehicles to the scene and spy on or steal them. Although never credited as such, two characters would have recurring roles in the series, with London Airport controller Commander Norman appearing five times. Fireflash pilot Captain Hanson would appear five times as well, though three of his appearances were part of reused or archive footage.

The main characters' appearances were modelled after prominent actors. Jeff Tracy was modelled after Lorne Greene of Bonanza fame, Alan after Robert Reed, Scott after Sean Connery, and John after both Adam Faith and Charlton Heston. 

The Thunderbirds' radio code "F-A-B", meaning "message received and understood", did not stand for anything, it was just supposed to sound "hip". In fact, when asked what it stood for, Gerry Anderson once replied, with some bemusement, "Fab", as though it were obvious. Later, due in part to fan-submitted stories, F-A-B came to mean Fully Advised and Briefed, in keeping with P-W-O-R (Proceeding With Orders Received), a similar radio confirm code in the Stingray series.

UniformAll the Thunderbird pilots wear a common mid-blue uniform consisting of a polo-neck tunic, trousers, boots, and a simplified side cap. The uniform is accented by a sash bearing the International Rescue insignia and holding a sidearm and two pouches. Each pilot's sash is a different colour, and they have matching coloured cuffs to their boots:

Scott – Light Blue
Virgil – Canary Yellow
Alan – White
Gordon – Orange
John – Lilac
Occasionally other members of the organisation are shown in similar uniforms:



Brains

 Brains – with a brown, leather-like sash, seen only when he flies the Tiger Moth biplane in the 1968 film Thunderbird 6.


Jeff Tracy



Jeff – a metallic gold sash, carrying the logo badge for the Dr. Barnardo's children's charity. Never actually seen in the series, this was used in publicity for the film Thunderbirds are Go (1966), and later reproduced in books and the DVD boxset.



Tin Tin



Tin-Tin - for her single designated rescue mission aboard Thunderbird 3 in the episode "Sun Probe", and briefly in "The Uninvited", she wore a similar blue uniform with a pale blue belt but no sash.






MachinesMain article: Thunderbirds machines
Each episode featured model vehicles and machines primarily designed by special effects director Derek Meddings; in particular, the five Thunderbird craft:

Thunderbird 1 – Hypersonic variable-sweep wing rocket plane used for fast response, rescue zone reconnaissance, and as a mobile control base.

Thunderbird 2 – Heavy supersonic VTOL carrier lifting body aircraft used for the transport of major rescue equipment and vehicles, including Thunderbird 4.

Thunderbird 3 – Re-usable, vertically-launched SSTO (Single-stage-to-orbit) spacecraft used for space rescue and maintenance of Thunderbird 5.

Thunderbird 4 – Small utility submersible for underwater rescue.

Thunderbird 5 – Space station in geostationary Earth orbit monitoring broadcasts around the globe for transmissions calling for help; also manages communications within International Rescue.

Production - Conception

Commissioned by Lew Grade of ITC Entertainment, Thunderbirds was the fourth Supermarionation children's series to be made by AP Films. The logo of Supermarionation had previously introduced episodes of Supercar (1960–61), Fireball XL5 (1961–62), and Stingray (1962–63). Gerry Anderson's inspiration for the underlying concept of Thunderbirds was the West German mining disaster that later came to be known as the Wunder von Lengede ("The Miracle of Lengede") – on 24 October 1963, the collapse of a nearby dam left the iron mine at Lengede, Lower Saxony, flooded and 50 men trapped underground; by 7 November, 21 had been rescued. The heavy equipment required to rescue the miners was located far from the mine itself, and the time needed for transport proved to be a major hindrance in ensuring the survival of the men.
Hoping to distinguish this idea from the premises of the first four puppet TV series he had produced, with plots that would appeal as much to adults as to children and an early-evening transmission slot, Anderson retired with his wife Sylvia to their holiday villa in Portugal to develop the premise and script the pilot episode. The title Thunderbirds derived from a letter posted by Anderson's deceased older brother, Lionel, while he was serving as an Royal Air Force pilot based in Arizona during the Second World War. In his letter, Lionel had made reference to a nearby United States Air Force base, Thunderbird Field. The working title had been "International Rescue"; drawn in by the "punchiness" of "Thunderbirds", Anderson elected not only to rename the series but also the fleet of rescue vehicles, which had originally been designated Rescue One, Two, Three, Four and Five.

Many members of the Thunderbirds crew had contributed to its direct antecedent, Stingray. For Thunderbirds, the production team was expanded, and the series was shot at APF's Stirling Road studio on the Slough Trading Estate. Production commenced in September 1964 and the series premiered on UK television on 30 September 1965 in the ATV Midlands region. Other ITV regions followed, ATV London commencing broadcasts on 25 December 1965. Two series were produced, comprising 32 episodes with a running time of 50 minutes. Each episode was also split into two parts for a half-hour slot, creating 64 episodes of 25 minutes' duration.

Thunderbirds was the first one-hour series to be produced by APF. A few months into production, Grade viewed the completed pilot episode, "Trapped in the Sky", at a private screening and was so pleased with the result that he instructed Anderson to double the length of the episodes from 25 minutes to 50 minutes. This initially proved to be a headache as eight episodes had already been filmed and scripts for 10 more had been written.

Voice cast

In developing the cast of characters that would appear in Thunderbirds, the first consideration of the Andersons, Reg Hill and John Read was the series' potential for transatlantic appeal.[13] As such, while the Tracy family destined to operate the Thunderbird machines would be American, the International Rescue organisation would depend on its British field agents Lady Penelope and Parker for the purposes of intelligence.

David Holliday (the voice of Virgil in the first 26 episodes) was the only American to be cast for a voice role in Thunderbirds, the remaining members of the voice cast being British, Australian or Canadian.

Australian actor Ray Barrett provided the voices of John Tracy, operator of Thunderbird 5, and The Hood, the arch-enemy of International Rescue, in addition to many supporting roles. He had worked for Anderson before, voicing both Commander Shore and Titan for Stingray. Drawing on the experience gained from radio work in Australia, Barrett was adept at performing a variety of voices in quick succession and could also perform both British and American accents convincingly. Although Sylvia Anderson or Christine Finn, the voices of Lady Penelope and Tin-Tin Kyrano, usually took responsibility for voicing female one-off characters, Barrett made an exception when, to the hilarity of his fellow cast members, he voiced the elderly Duchess of Royston in the episode "The Duchess Assignment".

Canadian actor Shane Rimmer (Scott Tracy) went on to appear in – and on occasion write scripts for – later Anderson productions. David Graham, one of Anderson's longest-serving voice actors, had previously worked on Four Feather Falls, Supercar, Fireball XL5 and Stingray and was also one of the original voices of the Daleks in Doctor Who in 1963. Graham supplied no fewer than four of the main characters' voices – Gordon Tracy, Parker, International Rescue's resident scientist, Brains, and Tin-Tin's father, Kyrano.

Voice cast
Peter Dyneley as Jeff Tracy, Commander Norman and various supporting characters
Shane Rimmer as Scott Tracy and various supporting characters
Ray Barrett as John Tracy, Alan Tracy (in one episode only, "Trapped in the Sky"), The Hood and various supporting characters
David Holliday as Virgil Tracy (Series One) and various supporting characters
Jeremy Wilkin as Virgil Tracy (Series Two, Thunderbirds Are Go and Thunderbird 6) and various supporting characters
David Graham as Gordon Tracy, Brains, Parker, Kyrano, Captain Hansen and various supporting characters
Matt Zimmerman as Alan Tracy and various supporting characters
Sylvia Anderson as Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward and various supporting characters
Christine Finn as Tin-Tin Kyrano, Grandma Tracy and various supporting characters
Paul Maxwell as various supporting characters (Series Two)
John Tate as various supporting characters (Series Two)
Charles Tingwell as various supporting characters (Series Two)
Maxwell (the voice of Zodiac in Fireball XL5), "Bud" Tingwell and Tate received no on-screen credit in either series, although Maxwell and Tingwell were credited for the films Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) and Thunderbird 6 (1968). Thunderbirds Are Go also featured two early voice contributions by entertainer Bob Monkhouse.

It has also long been rumoured that the opening "5 4 3 2 1 Thunderbirds Are Go!" voiceover was provided by Brian Cobby in 1965, who went on for many years to be the voice of the British speaking clock. While Cobby himself long maintained this and said he had even received repeat-fee royalties from the BBC, the assertion is rejected by the surviving members of the cast and by Gerry Anderson, all of whom are adamant that the voice is that of Peter Dyneley in character as Jeff Tracy. The general consensus is that Cobby provided the voice for a Thunderbird 2 talking alarm clock produced in the early 1990s and had a clouded recollection of events, but the rumour remains in general circulation.

Design and effects

The special effects supervisor for all Anderson's productions from Supercar to UFO was Derek Meddings, who went on to produce effects for the James Bond and Superman film series. For Thunderbirds, Meddings also found himself with the task of designing the primary vehicles after it was decided that former head designer Reg Hill would serve only as associate producer.

Scale models for a number of the Thunderbird machines were constructed by a professional model-making company, Master Models of Middlesex, while others were custom-made by Meddings and his team from commercially-available radio-controlled vehicle building kits.eddings was not satisfied with the concept of Thunderbird 2, which was originally to be blue in colour as opposed to green, until he inverted the aircraft's wings. The job of sculpting the largest scale model of International Rescue's heavy-duty transporter in balsa wood fell to Arthur "Wag" Evans of Master Models. Thunderbird 3, whose appearance was based on that of the Russian Soyuz rocket, was realised as a model that stood six feet (2 m) tall, although ultimately the largest model to be built for filming proved to be FAB 1, whose miniature needed to be big enough to fit the two-foot (0.6 m) marionette puppets of Lady Penelope and Parker. Seven feet (2.1 m) in length, the large-scale plywood FAB 1 model cost £2,500 to build in 1964; post-decimalisation, this is equivalent to £30,000.

One of the latest additions to the effects department for the production of Thunderbirds was Mike Trim, who became Medding's assistant in designing the vehicles and buildings that populate the world of Thunderbirds. The existing staff, managed by effects director Brian Johncock, was further expanded by the arrival of Roger Dicken, who had previously worked for the BBC Visual Effects Department. Meddings and Trim pioneered the technique of "customising" models and sets by applying pieces drawn from commercial model kits to add convincing surface detail. For example, the air-conditioning silos visible on either side of Thunderbird 1 in its underground hangar were originally 1960s periscope toys manufactured by J & L Randall. The Thunderbirds miniatures were also "aged" with paint and dust to give an impression of work-weary vehicles. These techniques became standard practice in the special effects industry and were put to use in the building of the miniature spacecraft and other vehicles for the films of the original Star Wars trilogy (1977–83).

One of Meddings' design innovations for Thunderbirds was a cyclical, moving effects stage (termed the "rolling road" or "rolling sky") to be used for sequences depicting aircraft flight, take-off and landing, as well as motor vehicles being driven along roads. Judging that the established method – pushing or pulling scale models across a static base or against a static background – no longer provided a satisfactory illusion of movement, Meddings came up with a new solution of his own that was first deployed during production on the pilot episode, in which International Rescue's remotely-operated Elevator Cars speed down a runway to assist in the controlled landing of the aircraft Fireflash. Meddings constructed a belt of canvas, stretched over rollers and driven by an electric motor. With the help of wires, the miniature Elevator Car models remained stationary on the "rolling road" and the Fireflash model was lowered onto the stage from overhead, simulating the aircraft's descent. Another system of rollers, this one painted to represent a sky background, was erected perpendicular to the canvas belt, and both roller motors were synchronised so that the speeds of the two design elements were matched. This process simplified the work of the camera and lighting effects teams, since the models did not move and sequences were easier to film and light. For shots of airborne aircraft, the illusion was enhanced by blowing smoke across the sets from a fan to simulate passing clouds, and by connecting the canvas belt at an angle to hide what would otherwise have been a visible seam. The "rolling road" system would later feature in the effects of a number of James Bond films.

Miniature explosions seen in the series required materials such as petroleum and fuller's earth. Originally filmed at high speed, the sequences were slowed to normal speed during episode post-production to achieve more persuasive results. For higher-quality rocket take-offs and landings, the effects department commissioned a UK firm to supply thrustless, solid-fuelled rocket canisters, in a range of sizes, that would burn for approximately 10 seconds and would be fitted inside the various scale models to produce convincing rocket exhaust effects.

Impressed by their work on Thunderbirds, director Stanley Kubrick employed several of the Anderson effects team as supervisors for his science-fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Music

Music for Thunderbirds was composed and conducted by Barry Gray, who scored all TV series produced by AP Films and Century 21 Productions up to the first series of Space: 1999. Gray's original master recordings for the Anderson series were rediscovered in a storage facility in Chelsea, London in 1993 but then lost again a few years later after being returned to then copyright holders Carlton Media International. They were subsequently located and used as the basis of two soundtrack albums released by Silva Screen in 2003 and 2004. A third album, featuring tracks from the other two in addition to previously unreleased material, emerged in 2005.

The Thunderbirds March and the "5–4–3–2–1" countdown that front the opening titles were adopted by British band Level 42 for its live shows, as captured in the video release of its 1987 performance at Wembley Stadium in London. An updated version, blended with the opening fanfare to the band's own hit "Heaven in My Hands", kicks off Level 42's concert gigs to this day. Similarly, the "5–4–3–2–1" countdown has been used by the Beastie Boys for its subsequent live shows; one instance of this is the Live Earth concert in London in 2007.



Also in 1990, television producer Gary Shoefield released an album of remixes titled Power Themes 90 under the name F.A.B., which featured techno remixes of the themes to many British TV programmes, many of them created by Anderson. Among these was Thunderbirds, whose theme was remixed under the name "Thunderbirds Are Go! (The Pressure Mix)" and billed as "featuring MC Parker". The theme reached number 5 in the British music charts. To accompany this, a music video compilation similarly titled Power Themes 90 was released, and "Thunderbirds Are Go! (The Pressure Mix)" was listed, featuring footage from episodes of the series interspersed with newly-filmed shots of the original Parker puppet dressed in "era" clothing and acting as a DJ.

Gray's original theme music, with lyrics performed by Gary Miller, was ultimately not used. Titled "Flying High", the song had been intended to accompany the closing titles, was abandoned in favour of the "Thunderbirds March" only weeks before the pilot episode was broadcast. However, a modified version of "Flying High" can be heard in the closing scenes of the Series Two episode "Ricochet".

Original broadcastA total of 32 episodes of Thunderbirds were made for the British production company ITC Entertainment, and first broadcast on ITV. The title card for the first series carries a copyright date of 1964, as this was the year the pilot episode, "Trapped in the Sky" was produced; the remaining episodes were made in 1965, with production of the second series following in 1966.

Thunderbirds ceased production very suddenly in the autumn of that year, six episodes into the second series. This was a decision made by Lew Grade after an unsuccessful trip to the U.S. to sell the programme. According to published reports of the incident, the three major television networks CBS, NBC, and ABC were all bidding on the series, and Grade felt he could play them against each other to gain a higher price. Unfortunately, when one dropped out, the others immediately followed. Although it was a genuine hit by that time, Grade still felt that the programme was too expensive to continue without the US market. The programme was instead shown in the US in television syndication with reasonable success.

Film adaptations

The popularity of the series led to the production of two full length feature films, with financial backing by United Artists. During the early 1980s, several Thunderbirds episodes were combined to create three Thunderbirds television films. In 2004, a live action adaptation of the series was released, almost 40 years after the original series first aired.

Thunderbirds Are Go

Thunderbird 6 

 Super Space Theater

In 1981, many of Gerry Anderson's series were re-edited into TV movies in North America. These were aired on TV under the series title Super Space Theater. Among these was Thunderbirds, with three TV films airing on American television in 1981. They were heavily edited, with new title and credit sequences, some scenes being removed for length and the insertion of extra incidental music throughout. These have not been seen on TV since, although they have been released on home video. The rights issues of these releases also prevented the episodes being released in their original form on VHS video until the 1990s.

Countdown to Disaster (featuring the episodes "Terror in New York City" and "Atlantic Inferno")

Thunderbirds in Outer Space (featuring the episodes "Sun Probe" and "Ricochet")

Thunderbirds to the Rescue (featuring the episodes "Trapped in the Sky" and "Operation Crash-Dive")

Thunderbirds (2004 live-action film)

A live action feature film, also called Thunderbirds, and directed by Jonathan Frakes premiered on 24 July 2004. All the Thunderbird craft seen in the live action film were based upon the original designs, but with modern refinements, although a modified Ford Thunderbird was used as FAB1 due to BMW, owners of the Rolls-Royce marque, refusing to give permission for its use in the film. The live-action film had been planned as far back as the early 1990s, with the Baldwin brothers as four of the Tracy brothers and Anthony Edwards as Brains.[citation needed]



The plot sidelined the main series characters in favour of Alan, Tin-Tin, and a new character, Brains' son Fermat, who have to rescue the adults from the evil Hood. Coincidentally, both plots of the Supermarionation films Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) and Thunderbird 6 (1968) also focused on Alan, the youngest Tracy brother. The 2004 film was poorly received, by critics, fans of the TV series and at the box office, with the film opening in 11th place in North America. A North American DVD was released in late 2004. Although his ex-wife and series co-creator Sylvia vocally endorsed the film and attended the London premiere, Gerry Anderson denounced the film as "the biggest load of crap I have ever seen in my life."[17]

Merchandising Konami FAB1

Like other Gerry Anderson productions, having vehicles as the effective 'stars' of the show made it intrinsically 'toyetic'. Coming off the back of 'Beatlemania' and 'Dalekmania', the success of Thunderbirds generated accompanying merchandise that was quite unprecedented in both of range of product and diversity of its subject. Almost no form of toy, publication or food product marketed at children (peculiarly girls and boys alike) escaped a Thunderbirds related tie-in at some point in the 1960s (or since). One example, the Fab ice lolly, has been produced continuously for the UK market from 1967 to this day.

Several companies, including Matchbox and Dinky were licensed to produce die-cast metal and plastic toys based on the Thunderbird vehicles. They proved hugely popular and were one of the best selling merchandising lines of the decade. Original Thunderbirds toys are now expensive and highly sought after collectors' items.



Japanese kit forms of Thunderbirds vehicles continued to be produced into the 1980s. Toy company Bandai produced toys to coincide with the release of the 2004 live action movie in the UK. As of 2007, Japanese companies such as Aoshima, Konami and Takara were still producing new Thunderbirds toys based on the original series vehicles, including Takara's very expensive Thunderbird 2 model with lights and working motorised legs, which lift the fuselage, exposing the cargo pod.

To coincide with a BBC2 revival of the TV series in the 1990s, Matchbox manufactured a new range of toys, though they were generally marketed outside the US and in Canada. It included a Tracy Island model playset that became the UK's most sought-after toy, leading to a widespread shortage during the run-up to Christmas in 1992. It became headline news and the archetypal example of the mistake to be avoided by the whole toy industry every Christmas since. Such was the demand that the BBC children's television show Blue Peter instructed viewers on creating their own version from household materials. Remarkably, the free "fact sheet" that detailed this process also became so sought-after that it too became difficult to obtain.[citation needed] Further Matchbox toys accompanied the new movie.

In 2011, the British Royal Mail launched a commemorative Gerry Anderson stamp series, including Thunderbirds 2 and 5 and a hologrammed set of stamps displaying Thunderbirds 1, 2, 3 and 4 by tilting each of the four stamps back and forth.[18]

Possible revival (2005–2010)

In September 2005, a QuickTime video file titled Thunderbirds IR was released on several P2P networks.[28] It opens with music by Barry Gray and a few clips of the classic Thunderbirds 1 through 4 launching, then shows several scenes from an intended new Thunderbirds series from Carlton Television. The trailer made with a combination of computer-generated imagery and puppetry depicts scenes including internal sets, external settings, and a sleekly-redesigned Thunderbird 1, Scott Tracy, The Hood, and the rescue of a falling lighthousekeeper. Scott Tracy is seen to walk, and perform a backflip (making the tongue-in-cheek remark "Look, no strings!"). 
The trailer stated that a new Thunderbirds series would be coming in 2005 from Carlton Television and displays a phone number. The series was developed by Carlton with David Freedman as executive producer and David Mercer who was heading the Children's Department at Carlton at the time. Greg Johnson and Bob Forward were lead writers and Asylum did all the set builds and puppet work. Tim Field was line producer. Dave Throssel and a small team from The Mill TV Dept did the CG work. Steve Clarke directed the short. Gerry Anderson met the Carlton team in the early days of development and gave his full blessing. However, when Granada and Carlton merged, the series was shelved until further notice. 
On 29 August 2008 it was announced by The Sun newspaper that Gerry Anderson was planning a new computer generated series of Thunderbirds (after having produced a CGI reimagining of Captain Scarlet. Anderson was in talks with ITV for the rights to the original series. While Anderson believed a new series would eventually be made with his involvement, on that occasion ITV refused to return the rights.

Eleven months later in July 2009 Anderson revealed that ITV were still refusing to return the rights to allow the creation of a new series.

New series (2011–present)On 11 January 2011, a new series of Thunderbirds was announced by Gerry Anderson when he was interviewed on BBC Radio Five Live's Drivetime programme. He stated he was unable to say much as he had signed a non-disclosure agreement, but that the show was definitely being made. It will be in CGI, as opposed to puppetry, and because of Anderson's involvement as opposed to that of outside filmmakers. It would feature new locations but retain the Thunderbirds craft and characters, though it would be totally modernised. In The Sun newspaper of Saturday 15 Jan, he said that he had not yet written the first episode, but had 'fleshed it out' in his head.[34] Anderson died on 26 December 2012, leaving the future of the new series uncertain.

A press release dated 4 February 2013 confirmed that ITV Studios and Pukeko Pictures plan to re-invent the classic Thunderbirds series as twenty six, thirty minutes episodes, using a mix of CGI animation and live-action model sets, for CITV to be aired in 2015.

Heaps more on this subject is available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbirds_(TV_series)



Moa - The life and death of New Zealand's legendary bird (Craig Potton $49.99) - Quinn Berrentson.

The Moa were the most unusual and unique family of birds that ever lived, a clan of feathered monsters that developed in isolation for many, many millions of years. They became extinct reasonably quickly after the arrival of the Maori, and were a distant memory by the time European explorers arrived. So the discovery and identification of their bones in the 1840s was a worldwide sensation, claimed by many to be the zoological find of the century. This book begins by recounting the story of discovery, which was characterised by an unbelievable amount of controversy and intrigue. Since then there has been an unbroken chain of new discoveries, culminating with intriguing revelations in recent years about the moa's biology, that have come to light through DNA testing and radio-dating. This is a fascinating and important book that richly recounts the life and death of our strangest bird. Packed with a fantastic range of illustrations, Moa fills an important gap in our natural history literature, a popular but serious book on this national icon.

Images discussed in the Interview



Richard Owen and his Moa Skeleton




An image created at the Dunedin Public Gardens with Otago students




Richard Owen





Julius von Haast



A tall tale of Moa hunting - From the Otago University Website:

In the beginning of 2009, I sat between a two-foot long drumstick and a giant eagle's claw and wrote a blog about them. It was great - and at that moment I realised this was the exact reason I had rather unexpectedly gone back to university, although I'd never have predicted there would be giant eagles involved. But that's the way it works, at least in my experience - things change fast and sometimes if you roll the dice there's no telling what interesting places you can find yourself.

The enormous "drumstick" was the actually the leg bone of a 700-year old moa, and in the same hangi pit archaeologists also found pieces of the largest bird of prey that ever lived - Haast's Eagle - a flying monster with a 3-metre wing span and claws the size of a tiger's.

I was there - Wairau Bar, near Blenheim - because of the course I was doing at the University of Otago. Re-enrolling at university at the age of 35, a decade and a half after leaving it the first time, was probably a surprise to many people who knew me, but I had a plan. Rather than being a bit of a strange age to go back to university, for me it was actually perfect timing. Why should education just be some kind of phase you go through when you're young and then grow out of, like puberty? There was a new course I wanted to do, my personal circumstances meant I could handle it financially (a bit tight, but some people spend more on TVs than the fees for my Masters degree), and I had a hunch it would prove to be a good investment in my career. So far so good - the future is a crazy unknown place, but I can already see the benefits, and I'm only half-way through.

I better explain, before this gets too complex and confusing, that I work in "media" - that is in the past I have worked in things like children's television, documentary making, photography and print. Quite diverse in a way, but with a lot of instability in the workforce I could see it might be wise to learn a few tricks, and add to my skill-base. The world is changing very fast, especially the media world, and continual learning is the only way to stay afloat in my opinion. Going back to Otago has given me time to stop and consider who I am and what I want to achieve, provided me with a positive environment to expand my mind and skills, and I've formed a whole new network of friends, classmates and world experts in my chosen field. Plus I got to see a giant eagle's snapped-off wing-bone and blog about it on the net.
Link to the story

Summer Reading: Five Albums I’m Loving Right Now: Tim Gruar

Click here to read Tim's contribution to Writer Simon Sweetman's Blog - Off the Tracks : http://www.offthetracks.co.nz/five-albums-im-loving-right-now-tim-gruar/

A collection of letters sent by Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger to his secret lover in the summer of 1969 sold for around $300,000 at a London auction on Wednesday, trumping their pre-sale estimate. Purchased by a private collector over the telephone, the letters sold for £187,250 (about $301,000 or 231,000 euros) at a Sotheby’s auction, trumping their pre-sale estimate of £70,000 to £100,000.  The letters were written to black American singer Marsha Hunt, aged 23 at the time, while Jagger was filming the movie “Ned Kelly” in Australia, and were presented as a window into a different side of the rock-and-roll legend.  “We are delighted with the result of today’s sale which reflects the great significance of these letters, written at such a vivid moment in social and musical history,” said Sotheby’s books specialist Gabriel Heaton. 

“There has been enormous international interest in the letters, which depict Mick Jagger, not as the global superstar he is today, but reveal him as a poetic and self-aware 25-year-old with wide-ranging intellectual and artistic interests.” Hunt, who starred in the original London cast of hit musical “Hair” and was the poster girl of the “Black is Beautiful” movement, had an initially clandestine affair with the rocker when interracial relationships were taboo.  “1969 saw the ebbing of a crucial, revolutionary era, highly influenced by such artists as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, James Brown and Bob Dylan,” Hunt said after the sale. “Their inner thoughts should not be the property of only their families, but the public at large, to reveal who these influential artists were — not as commercial images, but their private selves.” Written after the Stones’ historic Hyde Park gig, the letters illustrate Jagger’s musings on topics like the moon landing, his future relationship with Hunt, his impressions of the Outback and John Lennon and Yoko Ono.  Hunt said: “Despite his high profile and my own… our delicate love affair remains as much part of his secret history as his concerns over the death of Brian Jones and the suicide attempt of his girlfriend, Marianne Faithfull.”  Hunt is the inspiration behind the Stones’ 1971 hit “Brown Sugar” and became the mother of Jagger’s first child, Karis. (From Inquirer Entertainment)

Anthology of New Zealand Literature. Edited by Jane Stafford and Mark Williams (Auckland University Press, RRP $75).

The New Zealand Herald and others make a lot noise about this "Doorstop anthology of Kiwi writing", especially about what's being talked about - what's missing, not what's present. And, to be honest, I find that a stupid and immature debate. Who wants yet another facsimile of the "Oxford Companion to New Zealand's Well Trodden Path To Self Flagellation"?

I am bored to death with our literature of unease, our need to discover 'Self' and our scramble for 'Identity'. I'm also sick of the commercial implications. It's still happening. The Hobbit, for example, was hi-jacked to become a massive promotion for New Zealand Tourism. How did that happen? I thought it was a little quirky tale from a retiring English Professor!

Anyway - 'We', the people, know who we are. We don't need a film about magical faeries and frolicking gnomes in capes banging on about our wondrous landscape to highlight that once again. We know we are the greatest and we live in the best place in the world. Every Steinlager commercial on telly has affirmed that since the year 'dot'.

Commercialism and national identity have been racing away for decades. Yet it seems the academics are still puffing up the hill, sweating away in their brown cardigans, walk shorts and tweed jackets, trying to catch up! Ask any publisher today and they will tell you: New Zealand Literature is about us. Not looking in, not looking out - but looking 'at'. 'At' ourselves; 'at' what we do; 'at' what we say. And this is what this Anthology is all about - the business of getting to it.

We open up at Charles Heaphy, recording an interview with Te Horeta, who witnessed James Cook's arrival in 1769, and we close at Andrew Johnston in 2007 (his poem Sol). From just last year there is an extract from Hamish Clayton's 2011 debut novel "Wulf".

Despite some omissions, credited to difficult estates, unfinished contractual obligations and the like, the editors have still managed to tick off works by most of the big names of New Zealand literature. What is great is to see many of the earlier documents reprinted here - the 1835 Declaration of Independence and the Treaty of Waitangi - but also whimsical flourishes - baking hints from the Edmonds Sure to Rise cookery book or an entry on soil from the Yates' 1897 Gardening Guide. For the historian in me I find his stuff to be much more interesting than Mulgan banging on about being alone n the bush or John A Lee picking fights with the early Tories and dispelling the myth that thre is no poverty in Godzone. I like the emphasis on the ordinary and the day-to-day, because this is the identity we know and we remember. And we want! It's where our real identity is at!

And credit should be given to Jane Stafford and Mark Williams (Victoria University English lecturers/husband and wife) for their decisions to stretch beyond the printed word, including five black-and-white illustrated pages from cartoonist Dylan Horrocks' Hicksville, for example. Coming across the strip is both a revelation and an acknowledgement that finally this is an accepted artform in the dusty halls of academia. We down here at street level have devoured Horrock's work for years. But up in the ivory towers, I wonder, what have they thought to do with this? It's good to see his acerbic, dry wit appear in the chapter drawn from the 1990s - a section the editors oddly call "playful" - "where the real and the fantastic collapse in on one another". Hmm. My memory of the 1990's was a turbulent time, where protest was high, thinking was radical and the electronic age was becoming part of our lives.

Through out this book you will find songs, book extracts, letters, journal entries, fiction, non-fiction and poetry - all laid out thematically, like the 1990's in decades, as if these were borders of intellectualism. Like a tourist bus travelling chugging around the greater and lesser known literal landmarks the sections provide a beacon for the gaze, and by their very subtitles define the thinking behind the curation of each. The 1950's, for example, is full of post-war identity, the labour struggles, the introduction of serious home baking, and the embrace of art and poetry.

What is missing in the Tiki tour is Janet Frame, Alan Duff and Vincent O'Sullivan. Duff declined - perhaps over exposed, or not wanting to be sampled, like a wine or a new yoghurt flavour. In Frame's case, her estate trust, which owns copyright and the AUP could not reach agreement on "how to represent Frame's work". That would make sense, and given that she's virtually every where, I don't miss her.

There are one or two omissions that were the editor's choice - and I have to quibble these, if only because their work is just as worthy. However space and time for permissions may have hindered this and they well could be included in a companion version down the line?

Poet Peter Bland, who I studied at Uni is a rare treat not to be savoured. He may fade to the obscurity of second hand book shops if someone doesn't collect him quickly. His observations on Wellington, in particular will be missed. I was also bemused to see Charlotte Grimshaw left out - is she not worthy, despite being a more commercial success. Do we still shun the populist writers in favour of the artists? And what of Dame Anne Salmond, Judith Binney and or Ngaio Marsh? Populist they are, too but their contribution to the New Zealand psyche is far beyond any others here. Still by focussing on some of the more obscure we get a nice mix, because these omissions have had plenty of time in the sun already - so in a way, they are overexposed.

I did find it odd that Michael King didn't make the cut, nor does Roderick Finlayson, who engaged with Maori issues 50 years before King wrote about a bicultural land. You would expect the selections have stirred vigorous discussion in literary and publishing circles, as much for the inclusions as the omissions.

It should be noted that the word "anthology" refers to 'a collection of songs or musical compositions issued in one album' (Oxford Dictionary). Not 'the definitive collection' - just a collection. So when we challenge the editorial choices, remember that it's just one collection, in the same way your collection on your book shelf is a 'collection'. And do we challenge you for not having Janey frame on Michael King on those shelves? Perhaps we should.

The other word revisiting is 'literature'. Oxford defines it as: " written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit" I wonder how much of this anthology is worthy of artistic merit? And who decides that. In this case it's to Jane Stafford and Mark Williams.

You may also be interested to know that it's origins emerge from late Middle English (in the sense 'knowledge of books'): via French from Latin literature, from littera (i.e. letter). That is, a description of leters, on a page, compiled to make sense, I guess. So literature is virtually anything. In this day and age, we should probably start to think about literature as also blogs, online articles, online poetry (of which there is plenty to find).

Finally the words "New Zealand". I started this review by challenging the sense of identity that traditional collections focus on. And I wonder how, in the future, such anthologies would work. With e-books, self published works, and the borderless world we are moving towards, how can we claim anything is actually a possession or product of New Zealand. Just as we argue that an actr who's made himself famous overseas belongs to New Zealand because he was born here, how can we claim our literature to be a possession or product on New Zealand? One has many times argued that Katherine Mansfield, who did her best stuff abroad, cannot be a New Zealand writer simply because she was born in Thorndon and lived in Karori! She may have written extensively about living here but she had to leave to trigger the inspirations. Modern Kiwis often leave and write about things that have nothing to do with New Zealand. Nicky Pelligrino, another omission (perhaps because she writes lo-brow romantic airport novels) never writes about home, always about her ancestral home Italy. If she were included what would the criteria be?

In other news, Dunedin-based Philip Temple (winner of the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement for non-fiction) has taken issue with this anthology's dust jacket claim that "for years to come this anthology will be our guide to what's worth reading and why". He feels it weighs too heavily towards graduates of Bill Manhire's Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University. Bill, whose retiring this year should be proud of that, though, as he's worked slavishly for 40 years to get literature, particularly poetry, to the rock'n'roll status it enjoys today. Take a walk around Wellington Harbour, those poems floating around the rocks could never have happened even 15 years ago. Now we look to our poets for comments on every aspect of life. The respect is growing. Bill needs his credit noted here at least.

Temple does have one point that there is plenty of terrific writing about mountaineering and sport that's been left out. I suspect this is not deliberate but simply that the editors' sphere of knowledge simply didn't extend that wide. Also thin on the ground is writing about music. Grant Smithies and Colin Hogg are absent, Simon Sweetman and other reviewers like Tom Cardy won't appear either. In fact anything journalistic is left off the table. Journalism is the populist vote and this rabble must be ignored in favour of the hight arts.

The AUP publishers have said, in their defence that this anthology will create a "conversation…Great anthologies offer just one path into a country's literature - they are 'a knife through time' as the editors say. Lose the knife, include all your friends, and you'll produce a handy doorstop but not a great book."

"At 1200 pages, this anthology is a big old waka with 'a multifarious collection of crew and passengers', as the editors write. But it's just one rather interesting, illuminating path through New Zealand writing. There are other paths and people should take them." That's the usual response when choices are challenged. Read another way, it says "if you don't like it - make your own book!." In the Ipod-Kindle world of tomorrow, where individual songs, poems and novels can be randomly picked'n'mixed with a door stop like this still hold its value. I wonder.

Mick Jagger - Philip Norman

You can't always get what you want: Norman wanted a proper Interview with Jagger.  But Jagger hates talking about himself, so Norman was forced to piece together a life witnessed and recorded in the press, on the page, in the papers and on the net. 


As I advanced wearily through this book, I could have sworn I'd already read it. That's because most people over the age of 40 could recite the two-timing-table of Jagger's life without even having to think twice. A PE teacher dad; meets Kef on the train; starts singing in that funny voice as an imitation of an American black man of a certain age; Andrew Loog Oldham; Altamont; Bianca; Jerry Hall; lifelong penny-pincher, life long rock star - won't ever give up!  i recently go hold of GRRRRR the compilation of well played hits from 4 decades and was still surprised to find them enjoyable, there's a reason why dad dances around the living room on Xmas evening, after 4 sherries.  That ass cant stop shakin'! 

From what I can gather from slightly older friends, young people mainly dug the Stones initially because parents didn't care for them. They were the grunge to the Beatles Suave.  they were the devil, and eventually sung about him, too. Blues was cool, enduring, sexy.  Twee songs about holding hands was smultz.  But, i note most parents don't care for measles, mumps or chickenpox either – so that doesn't mean youngsters should embrace them as totems of lust. And surely Jagger is one of the most cold-blooded conservatives ever to pose as a red-blooded rebel. Sure, he had his 60s flirtations with Tom Driberg and Angela Davis but he was off to the south of France like a shot in the 70s when the chance to avoid paying tax raised its ugly head.  His attitude to money as much as his idiot-dancing which renders Jagger so unattractive but still you've gotta give him his dues!  His most frequent query whenever a tour is coming up is the peevish "Are we paying for that?". The Marsha Hunt episode sums up MJ's inherent slipperiness horribly.  He sees a photo of her and fancies her: she soon gets a phone call from the Stones office, which is looking to promote the forthcoming single Honky Tonk Women by asking her to pose in "tarty clothes" alongside the whole band. She declines, explaining that she prefers not to look as if she's "just been had by all the Rolling Stones". She was sleeping with the far prettier Marc Bolan at the time (so that's a bit of a have), and finds old Liver Lips easily resistible.  Still she was won over by "shyness and awkwardness", this seemingly intelligent woman is persuaded by the slimeball to have his baby.  He called her "Miss Fuzzy" and was still shacked up with Marianne Faithfull.  But in retun he writes the 'tender' love song entitled Black Pussy  ( later changed to Brown Sugar - i can't see that making it to AOR radio, or any radio for that matter!)  Later he meets Bianca, thinks better of it, denies paternity and claims he's broke!  – this superstar, already a millionaire many times over.  A decade later he is still griping about the events on the title track of the Some Girls album – "Some girls give me cheeld-run … Ah never asked them faw" (Always looks silly when you see the phonetic translation of Jagger's preposterous Delta-blues-bad-boy singing voice is one of the book's modest delights).

Also, in the Hunt episode, Jagger's stinginess and misogyny combine to reveal him as a truly unappetising creep. But as one who stole his vocal and his dancing style from others, this most tricky of shadow puppets seems insubstantial compared to the women in his life, whether it is Faithfull making him read books, Bianca making him talk French or Jerry Hall making him look like a Lothario.  And of course, casting the biggest shadow of all, like some epic scarecrow, is Keith Richards, a man whose glamour and charisma increase at the same rate as his wrinkles!
Large though this book is, it labours in the shadow of other tomes.  Nothing new here except the cover and the font.  But If you want to combine the others into one, then you can justify the price

Still this is all we have, for now.  Because the autobiography which Jagger himself (albeit with a ghostwriter) promised and failed to deliver in the early 80s on account of the interview tapes being too boring, never comes.  It must have hurt him to hand back a million pounds but he bore it bravely: "This isn't working, is it?" he concedes to the book's distraught editor before they even sit down. It is always admirable when someone admits that they do not have a book in them; let us hope that Mr Norman learns from his subject's example!