Posts by Mark Cubey

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  • Cracker: Dinner and a Show (Everybody’s…,

    Meanwhile in Wellington, folks who know about such things say the sound in the Town Hall for the Bon Iver shows was the best they'd ever heard. And that's with a nine-piece band and all. A gig that even impressed Simon Sweetman ...

    Wellington • Since May 2008 • 66 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Thanks, Steve. For everything., in reply to Russell Brown,

    Actually, Apple mice in general. I can’t recall a good one, and some of them were/are basically unusable. I use a Microsoft one!

    So do I. And a Magic Mouse. But mostly with Apple kit these days my primary interface is with the fingers... (so much so that I'm having all sorts of issues with my new Kindle. But I digress....)

    It's the mid-80s, and the first Apple I use is an Apple II, writing green text on a black screen doing work for the visionary Sue May at OnFILM. I'd worked on Linotype and Compugraphic typsetters (input all the typsetting code as you go, no memory, print out galleys and if there was a mistake, do it again) and so the Apple II was revelatory.

    My flatmate bought a DOS PC, and I got to play on that, but then a friend suggested going into business doing a thing called desktop publishing so I bought a Mac 512KE. We loan financed an SE20 (massive 20mb hard drive) for $18k, but the work it generated soon paid it off and the rest is history... proving on the way to the design companies, ad agencies, typesetters etc that their scoffing naysaying about how these Apples would never replace REAL design tools was flat out wrong. Heh.

    I wish I still had the SE30 that for so long was my favourite machine: sturdy, luggable, fast and able to do whole magazines inside the box. Freehand 3. Pagemaker 4. Greyscale. Those were the days.

    Now I'm at work, on a PC (sigh), having just talked to designer Tony Parker about the Best Design Awards, which he'll be reporting on for the programme tomorrow morning (there'll be a minute's silence at the Awards tonight's for Steve...)and wondering if the 4S stands for "for Steve", if they kept the design of the new phone the same so that a revised design could come out from a post-Steve company and keep the faith... and thinking how much one visionary leader can do to enrich the lives of many, like my kids, whose love for the laptop, the Mini, the phone, the iPad and (even more) the Pixar catalogue, is wholehearted.

    It's been a great quarter century. Thanks, Steve.

    Wellington • Since May 2008 • 66 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: The Politics of Absence,

    BTW, I should phrase an earlier remark more as a request: I think Melissa Lee is standing again in Mt Albert, but does anybody know who the Green candidate is? Russel Norman’s profile doesn’t even mention that he ever stood in the by-election.

    Russel Norman is standing in Rongotai, Annette King's electorate. Chris Finlayson is the National candidate.

    Wellington • Since May 2008 • 66 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Guess that Prince thing was…,

    RIP Sylvia Robinson. The Motown stuff AND Sugarhill...

    Wellington • Since May 2008 • 66 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Friday is for ..., in reply to Tim Michie,

    LBGP, sigh. I remember them playing a shredding version of Buffy St Marie's 'Codeine' one night at Paisley Park in Wgtn. Would pay good money for that.

    Wellington • Since May 2008 • 66 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Friday is for ...,

    I'm listening to the new Thrashing Marlin album, a lovely dark piece of work from Steve and David of Plan 9... The cover (Thai visions of hell) sets the tone for 14 tracks of unusual instrumentation, solid tunes, and lyrical Kiwi gothic. I really love this song, A Rock to the South, and may play it tomorrow morning if I get space between interviews and feel that the "shithole" in the chorus won't offend too many listeners.

    Wellington • Since May 2008 • 66 posts Report Reply

  • Field Theory: Four Years Ago,

    Meanwhile, aren't Wales making some dragon magic right now? Go the youth!

    Wellington • Since May 2008 • 66 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Heads up for music,

    Just had a brief chat with James Hansen, who'll be talking to Kim Hill from around 8.15am on Saturday Morning. (Then it's nonstop Auckland Writers Festival guests, including A.A. Gill and the marvellous Rives.)

    And have been listening to the rather excellent new album, Est. Twothousandaneleven Lyttelton, from Harbour Union (a conglomeration of Lytteltonians including The Easter, Delaney Davidson, Lindon Puffin, Al Park and others..) On Social End Product thru Rhythmethod. Check it.

    Wellington • Since May 2008 • 66 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: The Wall and the Paper,

    Just cancelled my SST sub.

    SST subs guy: "Can I ask why you're cancelling?"
    Me: "Why do you think?"
    SST SG: silence
    Me: "Okay, Michael Laws"

    I got that "fair enough" feeling from the other end.

    Now (sorry Ian) we''ll have to rely on the Saturday DomPost - I need something for those non-news tasks that newspapers are so good for. And there's the Property section. And David Burton.

    Wellington • Since May 2008 • 66 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Nothing important, just some tunes,

    And man, I'm looking forward to this.

    Wellington • Since May 2008 • 66 posts Report Reply

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