Alarm für Cobra 11: a 15th birthday celebration

Today marks the 15th anniversary of Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei, a German show I have followed for just over a half of its run.    I’ve watched it through budget cuts and some naff storylines of late. It’s of some interest to chart the course of the show over these many years.   […]

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Parts of Japan are decimated, and I think back to my grandfather

My grandfather, Col. Tung Wan Yan, of the Chinese Constitutional Army, had a very interesting war.    He was on a Japanese hit-list and was hiding in trees when some soldiers opened fire on him with automatic weapons. By some miracle, he escaped unharmed.    It’s one of the close calls he had in China […]

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Hannah Gordon and Robert Vaughn, four decades on in Hustle

This is the sort of thing that would normally wind up on my Tumblr, but it’s a tad hard to do two images without a bit of clever HTML programming.    Whomever did the casting for Hustle was very clever with the final episode of the season. To play Robert Vaughn’s old flame, actress Hannah […]

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My holiday as a car anorak

Since New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are about the only two days I actually take off, I spent some time adding entries on Autocade, a site that doesn’t seem like “work” to me. It’s my hobby.    The randomizer, which my friend Peter Jobes installed for me on the site’s home page, came […]

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My John Barry top 10: ready when you are, J. B.

What are my top 10 John Barry picks? The man had done such a variety of compositions that it’s hard to pick them out without qualifying a top 10 with genres. But for me, these stick in my mind as being the most significant, often because they are tied to important moments in my life. […]

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The music of goodbye: farewell John Barry

It was with great sadness that I wrote an obit about my favourite composer, John Barry, today, and published it on the Lucire website.    While Barry didn’t have to do with fashion per se, his music was often fitting themes to each era. Who can write a complete history of 1960s’ music without some […]

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One for the Japanese-car buffs

And with this, all the Toyota Coronas are on Autocade, with the exception of the Corona Mark II models (really forming a line in its own right). Toyota Corona EXiV (ST200). 1993–8 (prod. unknown). 4-door hardtop sedan. F/F, F/A, 1838, 1998 cm³ (4 cyl. DOHC). Larger EXiV, still twinned with Carina ED, continuing the same […]

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There’s got to be a morning after Quora

This blog post was originally published at Social Media NZ. Michael Moore-Jones has written a post in response here. I read with interest Michael Moore-Jones’s review of Quora. He is very enthusiastic about the new website, and with some good reasons.    I’m still in the “wait and see” camp. I joined, part of that […]

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How will Chevrolet go down in Korea?

Last week, GM announced it would drop the Daewoo marque, as it has done through Europe, in its native Korea, in favour of Chevrolet.    The company will also be renamed GM Korea, a name it once had nearly four decades ago.    While most will think this makes sense, so GM can concentrate on […]

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Opel is not a snob brand

Arthur Daley, Opel’s last New Zealand spokesman: ‘Never mind the Capri, Tel: I sell Opels now.’ In the Fairfax Press, General Motors has apparently confirmed it will bring in Opel-branded cars to sell alongside Holden-branded ones.    It’s an obvious move. For years, a good part of Holden’s range was Opel-designed. Like Vauxhall, the model […]

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