5 titles that'll either make me detest - or like - Bob Dylan even more

"A poem is a naked person...Some people say that I am a poet."
- Bob Dylan

I've been listening to Bob Dylan's self-titled début album, which was released 19 March 1962. If I had to choose three words to sum up his voice and lyrics, they'd be these: Sparse. Raw. Evocative. Two weeks ago, I would have said: Irritating. Overrated. Nasal. What prompted this about face? Just the other week I realised that Bob Dylan released his début album 50 years ago. I was equal parts impressed and confused. Impressed because his appeal has lasted so long and had such a huge impact on the music industry. Confused because I don't understand why or how. I don't really know anything about the man, his music or his life. In fact, here's a confession coming up. This is what I know about Bob Dylan: He and Joan Baez were an item once. That's it. Truly. And that only because I remember my parents, years ago, discussing his relationship with Baez and how their careers took quite different paths. Quite a heated discussion, too. Mum was a Baez fan, dad was a Dylan fan. For some reason, their love of either artist never transferred itself to me. I could never see either of them as anything other than poets who also happened to play a guitar. Thanks to one of dad's brothers, I heard the album Infidel played too many times for my sanity to comprehend, and the only song that stuck was Jokerman. Today, I remember it fondly. At the time, I thought my ears would bleed. Seriously, there were days I wanted to yank the ribbon of the tape out and dance around the lawn with it if it meant I never had to hear it again. And then, over the weekend, I had this strange idea that it was perhaps high time I took Bob Dylan for a spin, and requested (by employing my usual on purpose/random selection process) a combination of titles about Dylan's life and his music, most of which I've finished, all of which made for fascinating viewing/watching/listening. All serving to show me how little I really knew about him. Like the fact that Dylan had roughly 27 albums between 1962 and 2001 and, that out of those (roughly) 220 songs, I know 13. (I can add a few more since I now have his first album). Some of those I only know because other people had versions. Do I like his music more, now? I'm not sure. Certainly I admire his ability as a writer. I don't want to make my mind up until the end. And so! 5 titles that'll either make me detest - or like - Bob Dylan even more :) (Although I'm leaning towards 'like,' but not quite willing to topple totally just yet).

5 groundbreaking Māori DVDs (as picked by Wairoa Film Festival director Leo Koziol in Mana magazine's 100th issue)

List by Leo Koziol, director of the Wairoa Film Festival

My dad is from Nuhaka in the Hawkes Bay area, although he spent his childhood growing up in the Wairarapa region on family land. My experience of the Wairarapa family home is from summer holidays spent there: miles from anywhere, longdrop toilet, cows wandering the paddock, a creek down the back for bathing (in the mornings), fishing (during the day) and eeling (by night). My memories of a visit to Nuhaka are hazy. I was a child so what I remember is coloured by sentimentality, a longing for 'home' (which is rather ambiguous when you're Māori, after all, home is any one of a myriad of places I whakapapa back to), and a distinctly unsettled and constant feeling I have that I need to go back more often. But like I said, being Māori means that I have that same feeling of 'loss' when thinking of Wairarapa, Wharekahika (Hicks Bay), Kaikoura and Waimanoni (the various places my grandparents all come from). Dad and I had made plans to head back to Nuhaka earlier this year to help plan for a whanau reunion, unfortunately his ill health prevented either of us from doing so. I've decided, though, that I'm going back next year on my own and have made tentative plans to set aside some time to take in the Wairoa Film Festival. The festival, which began in '05, is held on Queen's Birthday Weekend every year in various marae in the Hawkes Bay region, and is a great way to see NZ films by both up-and-coming talent and established directors/writers. I'm really looking forward to it. I haven't told my siblings of my plans, though, for a couple of reasons: 1) I'm worried they might want to come with me and yet 2) I'm also worried that they might not want to come with me. Either way, I hope to visit my grandfather's marae and mountain and river and, hopefully, feel a bit more settled afterward. And yes, I'm absolutely aware of how airy fairy and whimsical that sounds. Although, maybe not so much when I consider that my paternal grandfather was raised with some scary-spooky tohunga-type beliefs/practices that he refused to pass on to his children (that I managed to hear about, anyway, and which, I might add, scared the stuffing out of me).

I do have an explanation for how this list idea came about and, as usual, it's as convoluted as you've probably come to expect from me. Back in June I read Mana magazine's 100th issue (with its very distinctive cover) and even recommended it in a post (specifically Top 5 items I took out that are totally worth sharing). There were a few articles in that particular issue that caught my eye, although it's one in particular that I'm going to concentrate on today. At the time I read the magazine, I made a mental note to add Koziol's five most groundbreaking Māori films of all time as a list to this blog. Unfortunately, my self-notes to 'add a mental note' are like my promises to old friends and family to 'catch up': well-intentioned, heartfelt at the time, and forgotten as soon as the person is gone from my sight. Which was what happened with this list *shamefaced look* So, finally, two months later here it is: 5 groundbreaking Māori DVDs, as picked by Leo Koziol, director of the Wairoa Film Festival. And maybe if you're in the area at the same time, we'll bump into each other.

My top 5 confessions about library items I've read/watched this week

List by Tosca

"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it."
- P.J. O'Rourke

This list will not have much in the way of an introduction. It's a list of confessions - things these books/dvds made me think, do and/or feel. What have I learnt about myself? That I'm not a particularly complex person :)

Top 5 items I took out last week that are totally worth sharing

List by Tosca

"When I got my library card, that's when my life began."
- Rita Mae Brown

A while back I lost my book mojo and, for someone who lives for books as much as I do, it was a weird time. To say the least. I went from reading/enjoying anywhere from 30-40 books a month to pretty much zero. It was extremely frustrating. I would see books come and go and feel not a twinge of interest. Then, bit by bit, it came back. Admittedly, it's not even close to the level it was at a year ago, but I'm taking it a book (or a DVDs or a magazine or even a CD) at a time. And you know, I think I'm ok with that. One thing I've started to do since my book mojo came back is, at the end of each week, make note (mental note/written note/whatever) of the top 5 books I liked enough to want to share. To date I've never actually thought to share those particular lists but I think I might make it a regular post. So, here's a top 5 roundup of books/DVDs I took out last week that I really enjoyed that you may have missed.

Top 5 documentaries that have changed the way I look at food

List by Tosca

"As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it."
- Buddy Hackett

About a month ago I watched the documentary Mardi Gras : made in China [DVD] which explores the production and consumption of the mardi gras beads that are so famous in New Orleans, Louisiana. What I saw made me feel incredibly guilty about having such a careless attitude about plastic beads that a group of people slogged their guts out in a foreign country to produce while making next to no money for it. Some documentaries just hit you that way. I updated my Facebook status making reference to how the DVD made me feel and a colleague responded by saying that she would watch this one if I watched her recommendation. Blithely unaware, I agreed, and watched the most shocking footage detailing the treatment of animals - as pets, food, clothing and entertainment - that will, I am sure, stay with me for life. Hidden cameras showed inside footage of slaughterhouses, puppy farms, circuses...you name it and it was there. It made me wonder, how much do I know, really, about food? The answer was a combination of two things: nothing and only what I want to know, please and thank you. So out of curiosity I requested a pile of foodie documentaries from across our libraries. Finally, after two weeks of non-stop nightly watching, I have picked the top 5 documentaries that have changed the way I look at food.

Top 5 motorbike journeys

List by Tosca

Please note: This top 5 list has been transferred across from our Manukau Libraries website.

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."
- St. Augustine

About four or five years ago I read and watched 'Long way round: chasing shadows across the world' by Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman and Robert Uhlig and it struck a chord. The idea that two men, both of them actors, decide to travel the world on motorbikes with a camera crew seemed like a crazy trip - but I envied them the freedom to be able to make that decision. At the heart of it this book is about two guys who always dreamed of riding around the world but this memoir also manages to entertain and inform at one and the same time, and allows readers to get a frank and honest look at life on the road in all its exhaustion and glory.

Which got me thinking, what other great books do we have about people who head off to see the world on two wheels...?

We'd really like to hear from you if you know of books that would fit this theme and, if you've experienced your own two wheeled odyssey, leave a comment and tell us about it :)

Top 5 authors, dvds, musicians, songs and tv series that remind me of Trace

List by Tosca

"No one can confidently say that he will still be living tomorrow."
- Euripides

On 11 March 2009, staff at Manurewa Library lost a much loved friend and colleague to cancer. I remember the day we received the phone call. I remember what we were all doing. Most of all, I remember that we were numb with shock and pain and grief. It was a heartbreaking and devastating blow for all of us. This post is nothing more than a chance to remember a friend.