Category Archives: True stories

The Girl Chewing Gum

Posted on 17 July, 2012 by jb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57hJn-nkKSA&feature=player_embedded The Girl Chewing Gum (1976)  12 mins. B/W. Sound. 16mm. “In The Girl Chewing Gum a commanding voice over appears to direct the action in a busy London street.  As the instructions become more absurd and fantasised, we realise … Continue reading →

Posted in Too good to miss, True stories | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A load of bull

Posted on 13 July, 2012 by jb

“Sideswipe” is a daily column in the New Zealand Herald, edited by Ana Samways and featuring the obscure and interesting, interspersed with geriatric and self-righteous ranting. Very much like YMBFA, come to think of it.. This ad was featured during … Continue reading →

Posted in Observations, True stories | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A day …er… 22 minutes in Istanbul

Posted on 12 June, 2012 by jb

This is a true story. My young friend Lena (of the Bosporus)  was finishing her time as an exchange student in Istanbul and discovered – shock!horror! – that all the clothes/books/shoes/stuff she’d magically acquired was neither going to fit in … Continue reading →

Posted in A day in, True stories | 5 Comments

It must be spring….

Posted on 12 June, 2012 by jb

A few years back, I wrote one of those posts that satisfies my puerile id. Something about a man charged with bestiality with horses and donkeys not having a …errr….stable address….. It went unnoticed for all this time until last … Continue reading →

Posted in I'm very sorry about this, True stories | Leave a comment

9 lives used up?

Posted on 7 June, 2012 by jb

Not a problem! Become a helicopter! This is a true story: Dutch guy’s pet cat dies, so he puts it in the freezer until he works out what to do with it. Has a brainwave, involving a taxidermist, a quadricopter … Continue reading →

Posted in Too good to miss, True stories | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Apocryphally speaking…

Posted on 21 May, 2012 by jb

In 1987, Miles Davis was invited to a White House dinner by Ronald Reagan. Few of the guests appeared to know who he was. During dinner, Nancy Reagan turned to him and asked what he’d done with his life to … Continue reading →

Posted in Too good to miss, True stories | 2 Comments

One of the good things about Mapua….

Posted on 6 March, 2012 by jb

..is Portrait Mapua, a year-long project a la Daily Photo run by photographer/graphic designer couple Neil and Jane Smith of Chocolate Dog. We stumbled over each other via mutual friends and met a few times, twice intentionally and once by … Continue reading →

Posted in Away, Too good to miss, True stories | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The official explanation….

Posted on 26 December, 2011 by jb

  …..is that it was Stage 3 of a Soyuz rocket burning up on re-entry. We saw it and we know different, because 3 guys wearing golden crowns in the car next to us at the traffic lights told us … Continue reading →

Posted in True stories | 1 Comment

I’m not a mechanic …..

Posted on 19 December, 2011 by jb

..but I’ll try and fix it. I once had an MGB (preceeded by an MGA and succeeded by an MGB GT) which was  constantly in need of SOMETHING to be fixed and traditionally involved large amounts of money. So I … Continue reading →

Posted in True stories | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Strrrrrodel is my name…….

Posted on 13 September, 2011 by jb

Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford in 2005 should be required reading for anyone in business. Or life, for that matter. “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust … Continue reading →

Posted in Geriatric ramblings, True stories | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments