Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Clarke Gayford has agreed to narrate the live viewing of a nature documentary at the Auckland Arts Festival next month.

BBC Studios, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and Auckland Live have announced the show, which will combine footage from Planet Earth II and music from the orchestra.
Gayord joined Saturday Mornings with Jack Tame to share what working on the documentary has been like along with how his passion for the environment has impacted his life.
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW ABOVE AS CLARKE GAYFORD SPEAKS TO JACK TAME

Every Saturday morning, movie critic Francesca Rudkin joins Jack Tame to take a look at what is playing at the movies this weekend.
Lego Movie 2
The citizens of Bricksburg face a dangerous new threat when LEGO DUPLO invaders from outer space start to wreck everything in their path. The battle to defeat the enemy and restore harmony to the LEGO universe takes Emmet, Lucy, Batman and the rest of their friends to faraway, unexplored worlds that test their courage and creativity.
Wonder Park
Wonder Park tells the story of a magnificent amusement park where the imagination of a wildly creative girl named June comes alive. One magical day, June is running through the woods to find her way home where she discovers an old rollercoaster car and climbs inside. She suddenly finds herself in Wonderland, an amusement park she had created in her mind and put aside. All of her rides and characters are brought to life but are falling into disarray without her. Now, with the help of her fun and lovable park characters, June will have to put the wonder back in Wonderland before it is lost forever.

There is this moment in Beethoven’s 6th Symphony that just gets me.
The strings cross down and up. The trumpets move in response, the horns sit and pedal, the woodwind goes high, and ten minutes of tension and pacing blooms into this magnificent passage.
Duhhh duh duh duuuh, daaah dah dah duuuuh.
I’m not doing Ludwig justice. But if you listen to the Ken Nagano and Montreal Symphony Orchestra recording, you can even fast forward to 10 minutes 32 if you want to be cheeky and enjoy the glory of that passage without all the build-up.  I know this because my Spotify tells me I’ve listened to nothing but Beethoven’s 6th symphony for about the last month.
As you’re probably aware, music streaming services are the way most people my age listen to music these days. It’s just so easy. You can access any artist you want, any recording you want, without the need to fiddle around with a CD or a disk, or dare I mention it a vinyl record and a needle.
Sure, the digital age might suck the romance out of playing your favourite album. There’s no tactile connection. No sleeve to read. No shelves of music for your friends to peruse. But for me, it’s a small cost for the freedom to explore the entire planet of music for 10 bucks a month.
I have friends who leave it all to the algorithm. Spotify works out what they like, and compiles playlists of music that it figures will excite them or challenge them, or entertain them in some way. Imagine all the artists who might never be discovered otherwise. 
But if I’m totally honest, I don’t do that. I have this weird thing where I get one song in my head and I can’t play anything else for weeks on end. Am I a music snob? Not at all. For some reason, I’ve been kind of obsessed over the last few weeks with Romantic era classical composers. But before that I was thrashing System of a Down, the Armenian-American heavy metal band who write political songs about drug policy and Iraq. Before that it was the Mint Chicks, Crazy Yes Dumb No? Before that… a Spanish pop artist called Rosalia. Before that, Jamie XX, Rebel Rebel by Bowie. For some reason I play these songs many hundreds of times. I put Spotify on repeat. The tracks buzz through me before I go to sleep, as soon as I wake up. They’re the theme music to my day.
Duhhh duh duh duuuh, daaah dah dah duuuuh.
And as it turns out, I’m not the only one. Psychologists have recently studied why we listen to music on repeat. Obviously human beings are wired to appreciate familiarity. Radio stations have always known that. The Kiwi DJ Zane Lowe would even play songs twice in a row on air, sometimes. And be honest… when you go to see your favourite band in concert, would you rather they played their greatest hits, or their new experimental music?
What’s interesting about the study though, is just how extreme we can be with our favourites. Even in this digital age, where you can choose from almost every piece of music on earth, 60 percent of the study participants admitted that if they really like a song at any one moment, they’ll listen to it at least 4 times on repeat.
It follows something called the Wundt curve. It’s a bell curve. So the more you enjoy a song, the more you listen to it, the more you enjoy it, the more you listen to it, until you reach peak saturation,
Duh duh duh duuuuuh duh duh duuuuh duh duh.
And just as quickly as you become obsessed, you drop it.
You move on from Ludwig van to Frank Ocean, and then Muse. The best three piece alternative rockers on Earth. Oh how Matt Bellamy’s falsetto sores, lingers, and haunts. Play it again! Play it again.
Honestly it wouldn’t surprise me if after this month, I don’t listen to Beethoven’s 6th symphony for a decade.

This week, Catherine Raynes reviews two new exciting books for you to read.
King of Kings - Wilbur Smith
An epic story of love, betrayal, courage and war that brings together two of Wilbur Smith's greatest families in this long-awaited sequel to his worldwide bestseller, The Triumph of the Sun. Cairo, 1887. A beautiful September day. Penrod Ballantyne and his fiancée, Amber Benbrook, stroll hand in hand. The future is theirs for the taking. But when Penrod's jealous former lover, Lady Agatha, plants doubt about his character, Amber leaves him and travels to the wilds of Abyssinia with her twin sister, Saffron, and her adventurer husband, Ryder Courtney.
Gravity is the Thing - Jaclyn Moriarty
The adult debut from bestselling, award-winning young adult author Jaclyn Moriarty—a frequently hilarious, brilliantly observed novel in the spirit of Maria Semple, Rainbow Rowell, and Gail Honeyman—that follows a single mother’s heartfelt search for greater truths about the universe, her family and herself.
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO ABOVE

Can't decide what TV shows you should be watching? TV critic Tara Ward joins Jack Tame to gives us her top picks for your viewing pleasure!
Killing Eve: the highly anticipated second season of the award-winning British thriller starring Sandra Oh hits our screens this Monday night (TVNZ2 9:30pm & OnDemand)
Good Girls Revolt: based on true events, this drama follows three female researchers at a 1960s news magazine and their quest for equal treatment in the workplace (Lightbox)
Billy Connolly’s Ultimate World Tour: Our favourite Scottish comedian takes us on a tour of his new home state of Florida, as well as a look back on his tours around the world over the past 25 years (TVNZ1, Thursday 8:30pm)

These days, musicians aren’t measuring themselves by album sales, but by the number of streams.
Anna Robinson, better known by the mononym Robinson, is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician.
Robinson released her first single "Don't You Forget About Me" in May 2017. 
Anna is back in New Zealand after a massive 2018 of travelling the world.
She joined Saturday Mornings with Jack Tame, listen to the interview above!

Every Saturday morning, movie critic Francesca Rudkin joins Jack Tame to take a look at what is playing at the movies this weekend
Pet Sematary
Louis Creed, his wife Rachel, and their two children, Gage and Ellie, move to a rural home where they are welcomed and enlightened about the eerie 'Pet Sematary' located nearby. After the tragedy of their cat being killed by a truck, Louis resorts to burying it in the mysterious pet cemetery, which is definitely not as it seems, as it proves to the Creeds that sometimes, dead is better.
The Heart Dances
The Heart Dances tracks the creation of The Piano: the ballet, commissioned by the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Following its NZIFF 2018 screenings, The Heart Dances will have a general release commencing April 4, 2019. Last year was the 25th anniversary year of the release of the film from which the ballet draws its inspiration.
Woman at War
Meet Halla, Icelandic superwoman in a woolly jumper. At 49 and single, she leads a full and satisfying life. She’s the popular conductor of an a capella choir, practices tai chi, swims laps, cycles everywhere – and unbeknownst to all bar a single tremulous accomplice, is saving the countryside from industrial pollution, one exploded pylon at a time. Dubbed the ‘Mountain Woman’ in the media, demonised as an economic spoiler by government spinners, she’s feeling the pressure when a letter arrives reminding her that four years earlier, supported by her twin sister, she applied to adopt a Ukrainian orphan.

For those of you who have felt a sense of pride at how Christchurch and New Zealand responded to the mosque attacks, I want to read you some of the comments shared publicly by our friends and relatives this week, after the Crusaders announced they will consider changing their name. 
 
Edward says, “This is New Zealand, not some Eastern country.”
 
Karlene says, “The Muslim community isn’t the whole of New Zealand.”
 
Chrissie says of the shooting, “Time to get over it.”
 
Big M in Whanganui says, ‘Hasn’t the country already paid enough respect to the Muslim community.”
 
Michael says, “Why has everyone become so soft?”
 
Helen says, “Change the name Christchurch to Muslimhood.”
 
Leigh says “I think the Muslim community should step up and give the Crusader name to the team. New Zealand has been so generous in the wake of Christchurch and it’s something the Muslim community can do in return. 
 
Oh, but this isn’t us?
 
I was 11 years old when the Crusaders won their first title. I remember being let out of school to go into town with my friend and his Mum to watch the tickertape parade through Cathedral Square.
 
What a treat! It was so exciting. We’d been the competition losers up until that point, and even though we didn’t have SKY at my house, I’d devour every word written about the Crusaders in the Christchurch Press, and then try and wrangle my way over to the neighbour’s place to watch the game on the weekends.
 
Those were the real glory days of the Super 12. The early days of the professional era. We beat the Blues in the final. Paddy O’Brien was the referee. Mehrts top-scored. Toddy lifted the trophy at Eden Park and the Crusaders flew home to celebrate.
 
The next season, as a willowy blindside flanker, I won an award at my local club, and they gave me a book about rugby leadership with the ultimate Crusader, Todd Blackadder, on the cover. Bliss. 
 
It seems like an innocent time, looking back. An innocent time. Rugby’s changed. And Canterbury has changed too. The earthquakes destroyed the old Lancaster Park. And then a man took an assault rifle, drove across the city, and killed fifty people. 
 
There was a comment on Facebook that stuck out to me this week. Not the bile I repeated to you before, but a comment by a guy called Mohamed, who has a photo standing in front of the Al-Noor Mosque as his Facebook profile cover.
 
“I’m a long-time Crusader fan and welcome a name change very much. Even years before March 15th, around the late-90s and early 2000s, I was very uncomfortable with the name combination of horses, swords, helmets. I’m still a fan and always will be.”
 
This too, is us. 
 
And I’ll tell you what, it’s a side of us I’m a whole lot more proud of than the side I shared earlier. You see all of those fans, Edward and Karlene, and Helen, and Michael, the fans telling Mohamed and Muslims in Christchurch to get over it, have one thing terribly wrong. 
 
They fear the name or the imagery of the Crusaders being taken from them. They feel that they as rugby fans are being punished, they’re being robbed.
 
But not one of them has paused and considered what a unique opportunity this is to give something. Give up a name or give up some branding – I'm personally not bothered which – as a gift of sorts. Do it as a gesture. A small, simple, easy way to say ‘ You know what, the attack on March 15th changed our city forever.
 
The Muslim community in Christchurch has been decimated. But this is a wound all of us bare, and what better way to support every Cantabrian, rugby fan or otherwise, than having the most important team in town reflect that change, and rebuild?'

This is the most gorgeous preserve! All of the ingredients are roasted until they’re sticky and jammy.
Makes 2-3 cups
1kg feijoas (about 30-40 medium)
2 onions, chopped
1 small lemon – zest and juice
1 red chilli
1 ½ cups brown sugar
2 tsp salt
½ cup red wine vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp each cumin and cardamom
Place everything in a dish overnight then cook for 2-3 hours at 180 C, stirring every 30 minutes or so. It will caramelise and thicken.
Spoon into sterilised jars.
Try this with:
Roast pork with crackling
Aged cheddar or parmesan
Stirred into a curry or stew

Professor Brian Cox has gone from being a rock star in the more traditional sense, to a rockstar of the science world.
He’s a Professor of particle science, BBC broadcaster and this year is visiting New Zealand as part of a World Tour.
His show will tackle things like the nature of space and time and the potential for other forms of intelligent life, with the help of massive video screens with images from telescopes and space probes.
Brian Cox joined Saturday Mornings with Jack Tame to discuss his career and what we can expect from his New Zealand tour.
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO ABOVE