Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

When Jack Tame was the US correspondent for TVNZ travelling in Des Moines for the US election, all he could think of was one of Bill Bryson’s most famous lines: “I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.”
It’s exactly the kind of acerbic first lines of a book you’d expect from the writer, whose best-sellers have covered everything from travel to the English language, as well as foray into “a short history of nearly everything."
Bill Bryson is in New Zealand later this year for a show that sits alongside his upcoming book, The Body: A Guide for Occupants.
Listen to the interview above as Bill Bryson speaks to Jack Tame.

LISTEN: Best-selling author Bill Bryson speaks to Jack Tame
I came from Cashmere. Somebody had to.
No, not Kashmir as in the Northern conflict-ridden mountainous region of India at the edge of the Himalayas. Alas, I came from the Cashmere of the Port Hills in Christchurch. The good schools and nice views.
But I wrote that line “I came from Cashmere. Somebody had to.” In my first ever travel diary. Why? Simple, It was a little hat tip, a little shout out to my favourite author at the time.
Bill Bryson started his autobiography, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid’ with that line... “I came from Des Moines. Somebody had to.” When I first read it, I don’t even think I knew where Des Moines was. I don’t know whether I could have found it on a map. I certainly didn’t pick that 6 or 7 years later I’d be there in Iowa, covering an election race. My first meal in Des Moine was some sorry breakfast in a Des Moines diner. I spent the whole time thinking about Bill Bryson.
Isn’t it funny how a little line like that, a little sentence, can stick with you. Can make an impression on you, for whatever reason. I mean it’s hardly a moving sonnet, or a profound philosophical insight. But there’s something sweet, and humble and self depreciating about Bill Bryson’s words that have stuck with me for all these years.
The truth is, I’m absolutely hopeless at quoting literature.
Apart from ‘Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York!’ I can’t recite any Shakespeare by heart. I could give you a single psalm or a bible passage from memory. The closest thing to conventional poetry I could read to you from memory are lyrics to my favourite hip hop songs.
I can only quote two lines. That little phrase from Bill Bryson, and a phrase written just a couple of years ago by my all-time favourite author, friend of the show A.A Gill.
When he was diagnosed with terminal illness, not long after he spoke to us on this show, he took to his newspaper column to share the news.
“I have an embarrassment of cancer, the full English.” He wrote. Damn.
Is it realistic to know more than those two simple sentences? Am I a just an un-cultured heathen? People always do it in the movies! They’re always quoting Keats or Rumi and winning over the love of their life.
I don’t know about you, but I’m a simpler man.  If remembering and quoting someone word for word is just the way our subconscious holds on to authors who’ve impacted our lives... then I’ve held onto the words of two men.
Only one of them is alive. He came from Des Moines, somebody had to. His name is Bill Bryson.

Every Saturday morning, movie critic Francesca Rudkin joins Jack Tame to take a look at what is playing at the movies this weekend.
The Hummingbird Project
In this modern epic, Kim Nguyen exposes the ruthless edge of our increasingly digital world. Cousins from New York, Vincent (Jesse Eisenberg) and Anton (Alexander Skarsgård) are players in the high-stakes game of High-Frequency Trading, where winning is measured in milliseconds. Their dream? To build a straight fiber-optic cable line between Kansas and New Jersey, making them millions. But nothing is straightforward for this flawed pair. Anton is the brains, Vincent is the hustler, and together they push each other and everyone around them to the breaking point with their quixotic adventure. Constantly breathing down their necks is their old boss Eva Torres (Salma Hayek), a powerful, intoxicating and manipulative trader who will stop at nothing to come between them and beat them at their own game.
Rocketman
ROCKETMAN is an epic musical fantasy about the incredible human story of Elton John's breakthrough years. The film follows the fantastical journey of transformation from shy piano prodigy Reginald Dwight into international superstar Elton John. This inspirational story -- set to Elton John's most beloved songs and performed by star Taron Egerton -- tells the universally relatable story of how a small-town boy became one of the most iconic figures in pop culture. ROCKETMAN also stars Jamie Bell as Elton's longtime lyricist and writing partner Bernie Taupin, Richard Madden as Elton's first manager, John Reid, and Bryce Dallas Howard as Elton's mother Sheila Farebrother.

These are so economical, easy and quick to make, like all of mum’s baking! Makes about 30-36. 125g butter1 cup brown sugar plus 1 tbsp1 cup oats1/4 scant cup broken/chopped almonds1/2 beaten egg 1. Set the oven at 180 C & line 2 baking trays.2. Melt the butter and sugar gently then add the beaten egg, oats and almonds.3. Mix all ingredients really well then place teaspoons full onto lined trays. Leave plenty of room forthem to spread. Each tray should take about 10-12 evenly spaced.4. Bake for aprox 6-8 minutes, watching as they can burn very quickly. They are ready when goldenbrown.5. Remove from the oven and as they cool slip off onto a rack. Repeat with the last of the mixture.6. Keep in an airtight container , they will last for at least a week.

Artist: The National
Album: I Am Easy to Find
Quite an album. The film is a killer. The songs are wise and observant but with the female voices singing in The Nationals familiar style it adds so much texture to a well trodden National path.  Mike Mills has pulled out the hackneyed musical tricks that threatened to "Coldplay" the last album.  The addition of a vast orchestra means the album has a familiar yet fresh new sound. I've always been a fan but this is the best thing they've done for a decade. 9/10

The Note Through the Wire - Doug Gold
An extraordinary true story of a love that emerged, against all odds, between two young people from opposite sides of the globe fighting for freedom during World War II.In the heart of Nazi-occupied Europe, two people meet fleetingly in a chance encounter. One is an underground resistance fighter; the other a prisoner of war. A crumpled note passes between these two strangers and sets them on a course that will change their lives forever.The Note Through The Wire is the true story of Josefine Lobnik, a Yugoslav partisan heroine, and Bruce Murray, a New Zealand soldier, who, due to a succession of near-impossible coincidences, discover love in the midst of a brutal war. Woven through their tales of great bravery, daring escapes, betrayal, torture and retaliation is their remarkable love story that survived against all odds. This is an extraordinary account of two ordinary people living through the unimaginable hardship of Hitler's barbaric regime. 
Redemption- David Baldacci
Detective Amos Decker discovers that a mistake he made as a rookie detective may have led to deadly consequences in the latest Memory Man thriller in David Baldacci's #1 New York Times bestselling series.Amos Decker and his FBI partner Alex Jamison are visiting his hometown of Burlington, Ohio, when he's approached by an unfamiliar man. But he instantly recognises the man's name: Meryl Hawkins. He's the first person Decker ever arrested for murder back when he was a young detective. Though a dozen years in prison have left Hawkins unrecognizably aged and terminally ill, one thing hasn't changed: He maintains he never committed the murders. Could it be possible that Decker made a mistake all those years ago? As he starts digging into the old case, Decker finds a startling connection to a new crime that he may be able to prevent, if only he can put the pieces together quickly enough... 

Don't discount silverbeet!
That's a lesson Jack Tame learnt the hard way after dissing the plentiful, easily-growing vegetable on line. Gardening expert Malcolm Rand set him on the right path, and also gave him some tips on how to easily grow vegetables with minimal maintenance.

People may not be familiar with the ‘Monty’s Surprise’ apple, but this old variety, discovered a few decades ago, has a number of wonderful advantages.
It’s relatively resistant to diseases and pests, it has the highest levels of quercetin flavonoids as well as high levels of procyanidins in the chemical analysis, which are anti-cancer compounds.
People can also use Monty’s surprise as a tangy cooking apple. From mid-April onwards, when the fruit ripens further, it becomes an eating apple. Tastes great!
The tree itself can be grafted on dwarfing root stock – it has a habit of growing fast and furiously, so on dwarfing rootstock it’ll go somewhat lower and more manageable; yet it still is a vigorous grower that produces lots of upright branches.
It is important to realise that this variety tends to bear its fruit on the young, new wood (as opposed to the typical apple fruiting spurs! So correct pruning is important.
Firstly, take out the ventral leader that grows skyward.  Try to aim for a low-growing tree with horizontal branches, basically like the “vase method” of pruning: creating a framework of 4 or 5 main branches that create that “vase” under about 45 degree angle. The young fruit-bearing branches then come off the leaders more or less horizontally.
Some people advocate the use of sturdy string to weigh down branches that want to grow upwards: make them go outwards and keep them in that position for a year or so, until they got the message to grow “outwards”, rather than “upwards”.

Generously studded with a wealth of cultural and leisure attractions, as you’d expect from any self-respecting big city, San Diego’s crown of temptations is overlaid with that infectious SoCal spirit of carefree informality. It’s been a few years since I was last in town and I was awestruck by how the Waterfront district is in a state of grand-scale transformation. Beautiful new pedestrian-centric and bike-friendly promenades wrap their way around the waterfront, bracketed by meticulously maintained gardens, while a forest of ultra-contemporary glass buildings backdrop proceedings. The USS Midway continues to hold high court, swooned over for its rich military history and the 29 restored aircraft parked up on its deck.
After savouring the world’s most visited ship museum, I tootled along the bustling waterfront to the equally enthralling Maritime Museum. From sailing ships to submarines, this is a nautical headrush that underscores San Diego’s proud legacy as a commercial seaport. The collection’s towering jewel is the Star of India, which was built in 1863 and made 21 trips around the world in the late 1800s – including various voyages to New Zealand, carrying immigrants from England. Saved from the scrap yard and painstakingly restored, the windjammer is the oldest active iron sailing ship in the world. The recently constructed San Salvador is a detailed historic replica of the original ship first sailed into San Diego Bay by explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo back in 1542.
As an incurable plane-spotter, I was transfixed by the roll call of aircraft touching down and taking off from San Diego Airport. This waterfront vantage point is a lip-smacker for av-fans. The airport is just ten minutes from downtown – true to San Diego’s oh-so-effortless urban spirit.  Feeling peckish? You can’t beat a pulled pork sandwich from Carnitas’ Snack Shack. From the waterfront, I struck out down Broadway into the heart of the city, passing some of the old theatre dames like the Spreckels Theatre and the Balboa Theatre.
They’re housed in the city’s historic district, better known as the Gaslamp Quarter, a 16-block blockbuster of charming architecture, independent shopping and jam-packed with exciting eateries and bars. Feeling suitably envious that I had so little time to graze from its greatness, here’s a few fleeting tips. Stuff yourself stupid on Spanish tapas at Café Sevilla, enjoy Greek fusion at Meze, Volcano Rabbit is the place to head for divine street tacos and wash it all down at Tivoli, the oldest bar in town. As a history-hound, I also staked out San Diego’s oldest wooden house, which is home to the Gaslamp’s Historical Foundation. This prefab saltbox-style house was built in Maine in 1850 and shipped around Cape Horn before being assembled in town.
The gilded lungs of the city were soon calling. Balboa Park is not just a natural wonderland on the edge of the city centre, but the USA’s largest urban cultural park, spanning 1200 acres, beckons as an architectural and cultural masterpiece as well. Established in 1868, it’s the grandeur of the architectural confections and follies that first had me drawing deep breaths. Had I been spirited away to Seville? A riot of Spanish Renaissance Colonial-style architecture is the prevailing theme. The show-stoppers include the ornately domed California Tower with its trademark blue and yellow tiles, the 1500-foot Cabrillo Bridge and the soothing redwood-lath Botanical Building nestled around a sprawling lily pond.
One of the largest wood lath structures in the world, it’s remarkable to encounter a vast open-air conservatory, thronging with thousands of exotic plants, built with no glass. Then there’s Alcazar Garden, for the ultimate Seville-like experience. You may feel like royalty here as you rest on the benches by the artfully tiled fountains, feasting your eyes on the luscious landscaping.  Inspired by the gardens surrounding the Alcazar Castle, its...

We may not think much about our air quality here in New Zealand, but our medical expert says we should be more careful about lung health.
Asthma New Zealand and NIWA have partnered up in order to report daily on air quality around the country in a bid to help those with respiratory problems make better lifestyle choices,
Dr Bryn Thompson told Jack Tame about the other new methods making a big difference for asthma sufferers.