ahhh the elusive iPhone is here... except NZ. It's very very desirable, but sadly, unless a deal is signed with Vodafone or Telecom suddenly go GSM it will not be seen in our shops... however it's re-set the benchmark for everyone else

All this talk of The Verlaines reminded me of another Flying Nun moment, being present at the 21st anniversay recording session and interviewing various people for Xtra. I can't remember everyone that we spoke to that day, but we did manage to get time with Graham Downes that run on for longer than we should - an image of a furious looking recording person running around with a clipboard looking for Graham and Stephen Malkmus. The writer I was with was not a FN buff, so most of the questions were being fired at people from me behind the cameras. It was a fun relaxing afternoon and I learnt a lot from Graham about music and education, along with history of the label and how it's all intertwined with various people and bands.

BDO - 1986, Bailter Space in the pouring rain - a roaring sonic that swept across the stadium with the field ankle deep in water. I swear the water was moving away from the stage in waves back into the crowd!

Rock 'n Roll - without doubt!!

Also have fond memories of late night listening to a certain AM radio station DJ playing The Chills, Toy Love, The Verlaines and The Clean as I huddled under the covers when I was supposed to be asleep and thinking this music was sooooo different to what they played during the day, Cheap Trick, REO Speedwagon and Australian Crawl... Barry Jenkins, you are my hero! I discovered NZ music because of you... which of course led to Radio With Pictures and videos shot on 8mm... that seems so long ago, but those memories live on.

I'd have said whales & dolphins...

Be-jay-sus Damien you are a cranky so and so...

However I'll freely share my Internet dating experiences. I started out trying Internet dating as I'd returned from working in the UK, spent a year on full-time study and had essentially a limited pool of friends to introduce me to new people. For me it was a case of jumping in and seeing what happened, the key to getting attention online was to be honest and treat it all with a bit of humour, the more earnest you or anybody else was, the more likely your profile would be consigned to the back of the cupboard behind the tin of Oak beetroot.

When it came to the actual meeting of people things became a little more wayward, this is when you find that the labelling often does not match the contents. Sometimes you'll be missing an ingredient or two, something may have been added that was not originally in there (occasional an ingredient you suspect that should have never been added under any circumstances) and it's amazing how often the contents did not match the expiry or use by date.

Saying that it I kept at it for a good while, had a medium term relationship and when that ended, leapt back online for another round of checking contents against the labels, so much so that I was beginning to feel that I was working for the Consumers Institute.

Then after many email exchanges I met Carla, who was pretty much as described, with the one exception being that she was taller than perceived on the labelling... or maybe I'm crap with perception vs. actuality when it comes to height.

Our first meeting got off to a good start, it was during work time and I said I'd be away for 20mins... two hours later I returned to my desk. It's been almost five years since then a house purchase, a sale and another purchase, a wedding and yes Damien impregnation and resulting children.

The bit we both still marvel on is without online dating we'd have never met, our lives would be different and Olle and Rose would not exist - cheesy, maybe, but I'm happy with my life.

itunes in inz - given the very closed sate of the inz imusic iindustry, ivery ihighly iunlikely

in all seriousness, the local representatives of the global labels need to get bold and defiant of their bosses in LA, Tokyo and Paris... of course that is not going to happen when your mortgage payment is dependent on your salary, so don't go holding your breathe for itunes

essentially digital distibution rights and payment is negotiated in each region with all the major labels pushing each region to grab as much money as they can, they'll hold off itunes in NZ as long as they can, otherwise they'll have to negotiate new deals with Vodafone, Telecom, Coke Tunes, Digirama and the rest so they can compete

I'm still keener to see a lower asking price on Apple hardware, I mean $2.5k for the entry level MacNote... it's just not good enough I tells ya!

waaahhhhh... then I'm stuck in affordable PC hell

Will an Apple run business mean more keenly priced hardware?

The iPod range has become steadily more affordable, but the PC's have not kept in-line, esp the portables.

Streaming video and audio at Xtra - Telecom may be evil, but NZ'ers love the Xtra Portal. It may not strictly be a website, but Xtra Mobile and Vodafone live bring lots of information directly to a very mobile audience.

Oktober had the most amazing interactive website when I was learning who to build webpages, but who in NZ could use it in 1999!

Why did Flying Pig get it so completey wrong... and more importantly half a decade later, why had nobody managed to get it right? It's retail and it's on-line, this is not rocket science!

Soundsnz was a very ambitious idea when it launched - and it worked.

SmokeCDs wins teh best customer service award for when I could afford to buy CD's (2 children = no random music purchases)

Hate or love it... Trade Me has conquered all and encouraged many NZ'ers to really get online.