I don't remember if I've said this before, but in my opinion there can be no doubt; Lebron James is the greatest NBA player. He doesn't have the most titles, so why is that I hear you say. It's because he has such versatility, consistency, intensity, professionalism and he does what he does at a time when the game is at such a high level. Every team is good these days, there are no walk-overs, no expansion franchises to pad the stats with. James is doing it against strong opposition, all the time. His most recent game for the Lakers against the Washington Wizards is a case in point; a double-double in points and assists. Assists, not the usual points and rebounds double-double. He's not selfish, he just does the business.
What I have said before though, he's not my personal favourite, that's a totally subjective assessment and my favourite NBA player is Matt Barnes, now retired. He just looked so balanced when he played. He had a lot of bad luck and it was good to see him win a title in his final year (Golden State Warriors).
November 30, 2019
November 28, 2019
Jeremy Corbyn
Give credit where credit is due; UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is a good campaigner. He's better than any of the others by a country mile. Against Theresa May he nearly pulled off a victory from a long way back in the polls. Now against Boris Johnson he's in the same position, but this time what he's unveiled with two weeks until polling day, is that the Conservative government was negotiating a trade deal with the US with the NHS on the table. What great timing and it makes it hard for Johnson to recover.
November 26, 2019
West Coast - Word of Advice
The West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand is under constant attack from lawmakers and environmentalists. They want to lock the coast up as some sort of living museum.
Okay, that said, my advice is for the West Coast to grow up and stop voting for EITHER Labour or National. That's right, neither offers any hope for their future. Labour was born on the coast but they've long since moved to Auckland and the all-important South Auckland party vote. National for its part curries favour with the rest of Auckland and farmers in general.
The problem for the West Coast arises out of MMP and the need for blocs of party votes. Only about 35,000 people of any age live on the coast, not enough party votes to matter. What they need to do is vote for an independent in the electorate, or a representative of a minor party. Thus, they could find themselves in the role of kingmaker. With the main parties, there is no way their voice will ever be heard. At election time they're pandered to, but when in office both Labour and National do nothing for the coast.
Okay, that said, my advice is for the West Coast to grow up and stop voting for EITHER Labour or National. That's right, neither offers any hope for their future. Labour was born on the coast but they've long since moved to Auckland and the all-important South Auckland party vote. National for its part curries favour with the rest of Auckland and farmers in general.
The problem for the West Coast arises out of MMP and the need for blocs of party votes. Only about 35,000 people of any age live on the coast, not enough party votes to matter. What they need to do is vote for an independent in the electorate, or a representative of a minor party. Thus, they could find themselves in the role of kingmaker. With the main parties, there is no way their voice will ever be heard. At election time they're pandered to, but when in office both Labour and National do nothing for the coast.
November 23, 2019
Elon Musk...Again
I mean really, what a knob, the great Elon Musk and his so-called cybertruck. Turns out the window glass isn't unbreakable...
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/22/elon-musk-net-worth-tesla-cybertruck
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/22/elon-musk-net-worth-tesla-cybertruck
November 19, 2019
NBA Right Now
The NBA season is really close this season, it's hard to keep up with results, any team can beat any other team on the day and often does. It's closer than last year, which was amazing in itself.
What of Steven Adams and his tenure at OKC? Apparently he has a trade bonus clause in his contract and the management are loath to trade him while this is in place. They'd have to pay him a sum, which is something like 7.5% of his outstanding contract if he's traded (don't quote me on the percentage). However that won't apply in his last year, and that will be next year. So next year is when he'll be traded. For his sake he must hope to be traded to a team with a realistic chance at a title, and that would be Boston who need a big man in the middle, or possibly Portland who need the same.
What of Steven Adams and his tenure at OKC? Apparently he has a trade bonus clause in his contract and the management are loath to trade him while this is in place. They'd have to pay him a sum, which is something like 7.5% of his outstanding contract if he's traded (don't quote me on the percentage). However that won't apply in his last year, and that will be next year. So next year is when he'll be traded. For his sake he must hope to be traded to a team with a realistic chance at a title, and that would be Boston who need a big man in the middle, or possibly Portland who need the same.
November 14, 2019
Ford v Ferrari (2019 movie) - 3 stars
I am going to see the movie out now, Ford v Ferrari tells the story of the 1966 24hrs of Le Mans, where the Ford GT40 defeated Ferrari. It was a great moment in motorsport and a great get-even by Henry Ford II.
I'm not expecting it to be accurate however. I notice from the list of historical figures that the only New Zealander listed is Bruce McLaren. Yes, the McLaren of racing car fame. He won the race driving a GT40 along with Chris Amon, another Kiwi. Instead the movie stars well-known actors playing Carroll Shelby and Bruce Miles. Shelby led the design of the cars while Miles was a driver. Miles was second in the race, partnering Denny Hulme, another Kiwi. The following year Hulme became F1 drivers' champion (Brabham).
Do you see where I'm going with this. Kiwis are being removed from history again. For the record, Henry Ford II gave the Kiwis credit for the win, see the below photo from the winners podium:
That's 1966, Henry Ford II, Bruce McLaren on the left holding his helmet, Chris Amon on the right wearing the jacket. Interestingly, Amon went on to be a works driver for Ferrari. McLaren started a racing car pedigree still around today, with eight F1 Constructors Championships to date.
Review (3 out of 5 stars): Turns out to be okay, as far as it goes. It's principally about Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles, and to a lesser extent about Henry Ford II. I don't think it does any of them justice. In reality Shelby was more of a businessman, Miles more of a professional driver and less of the cowboy loose cannon, and Henry Ford II not the type to be easily manipulated.
The Kiwis barely get a mention. But the McLaren GT40 is pictured toward the end of the movie in its black livery, with the silver fern and letters NZ emblazoned on the side. At the end of the movie they show how McLaren/Amon were awarded the win, but what they don't mention is that the Shelby Pits believed Miles to be a lap up on the McLaren GT40. Boy, did they get that wrong. McLaren was on the same lap and as he'd started farther back on the grid he was awarded the win, he'd covered the greater distance. And for the record, McLaren crossed the finish line in first. The movie has the finishing order the other way around, a complete fabrication of the facts. If Shelby had known what lap they were on I'm sure he wouldn't have agreed on a 1 2 3 line up crossing the finish line with his driver in second (I mean c'mon).
Where does the movie go wrong? Two main ways I believe. The film shows the 1960's to be far too clean. Back then everything was dusty, oily, noisy, fenders were dented, cars lacked the bright colours you see today (they lacked the rutile additive to paints - everything was more muted in tone). The second is with the racing segments, the producers slipped up badly there. Le Mans is raced across several classes, with amateurs taking part. Through the night the fast cars have to negotiate their way past much slower cars, such as Porsche 911's. Ford v Ferrari shows none of this, unlike movies such as Le Mans starring Steve McQueen. With the latter movie you can feel the vibration, smell the burnt rubber, oil, fuel, the conditions are real.
Ford v Ferrari is enjoyable in parts, it gives some idea of what the times were like, but it is sanitised, clean-cut, respectable, less dusty, less risky. Bear in mind, drivers regularly died, not just every season, every race would see a serious injury or death. They were real gladiators.
I'm not expecting it to be accurate however. I notice from the list of historical figures that the only New Zealander listed is Bruce McLaren. Yes, the McLaren of racing car fame. He won the race driving a GT40 along with Chris Amon, another Kiwi. Instead the movie stars well-known actors playing Carroll Shelby and Bruce Miles. Shelby led the design of the cars while Miles was a driver. Miles was second in the race, partnering Denny Hulme, another Kiwi. The following year Hulme became F1 drivers' champion (Brabham).
Do you see where I'm going with this. Kiwis are being removed from history again. For the record, Henry Ford II gave the Kiwis credit for the win, see the below photo from the winners podium:
 |
| Henry Ford II with Bruce McLaren (left) and Chris Amon (right), winners of the 1966 Le Mans |
Review (3 out of 5 stars): Turns out to be okay, as far as it goes. It's principally about Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles, and to a lesser extent about Henry Ford II. I don't think it does any of them justice. In reality Shelby was more of a businessman, Miles more of a professional driver and less of the cowboy loose cannon, and Henry Ford II not the type to be easily manipulated.
The Kiwis barely get a mention. But the McLaren GT40 is pictured toward the end of the movie in its black livery, with the silver fern and letters NZ emblazoned on the side. At the end of the movie they show how McLaren/Amon were awarded the win, but what they don't mention is that the Shelby Pits believed Miles to be a lap up on the McLaren GT40. Boy, did they get that wrong. McLaren was on the same lap and as he'd started farther back on the grid he was awarded the win, he'd covered the greater distance. And for the record, McLaren crossed the finish line in first. The movie has the finishing order the other way around, a complete fabrication of the facts. If Shelby had known what lap they were on I'm sure he wouldn't have agreed on a 1 2 3 line up crossing the finish line with his driver in second (I mean c'mon).
Where does the movie go wrong? Two main ways I believe. The film shows the 1960's to be far too clean. Back then everything was dusty, oily, noisy, fenders were dented, cars lacked the bright colours you see today (they lacked the rutile additive to paints - everything was more muted in tone). The second is with the racing segments, the producers slipped up badly there. Le Mans is raced across several classes, with amateurs taking part. Through the night the fast cars have to negotiate their way past much slower cars, such as Porsche 911's. Ford v Ferrari shows none of this, unlike movies such as Le Mans starring Steve McQueen. With the latter movie you can feel the vibration, smell the burnt rubber, oil, fuel, the conditions are real.
Ford v Ferrari is enjoyable in parts, it gives some idea of what the times were like, but it is sanitised, clean-cut, respectable, less dusty, less risky. Bear in mind, drivers regularly died, not just every season, every race would see a serious injury or death. They were real gladiators.
I have a more recent post about this movie here: https://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2023/04/ford-v-ferrari-update.html
November 11, 2019
Here's the Deal
I have many readers and others who buy my books. I thought, why not combine the two by offering them a deal? Here goes:
If you buy the physical copy of any of my books, I'll reciprocate with one of the following;
What do you say? You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.
If you buy the physical copy of any of my books, I'll reciprocate with one of the following;
- I'll rewrite your website landing page for you, up to 300 words, making it SEO friendly. Google will love you.
- I'll either post a lengthy comment on your blog (up to 500 words), or blog about you on this site, mentioning you and providing a link to your blog or website.
- I'll either edit any document, presentation, corporate statement or press release (up to five pages or 1,000 words), or rewrite any of the same up to 500 words.
What do you say? You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.
If this sounds like a good deal, simply buy the physical copy of any of my books. A good starting point is Snob's Guide to New Zealand Alternatively you may choose any of my three novels
Why the physical copy? Self-interest, I make more money out of the paperback.
How to collect: take a selfie on your computer, using any of the many tools available for this, Skype comes to mind. Then email me using the contact form >>>>> over there on the right. I'll reply, whereupon you then send me the selfie image of you holding the book or displaying it (if you're bashful, conceal your face, ahem).
That completed, I'll then do as promised, you just say what you want done.
Will this work for you? It could, there are no guarantees but I've got some pretty good blog posts out there floating around. My reporting on the claims that Prince Charles and Camilla have a love child went ballistic and still drives traffic to my blog nearly four years later. I've even seen the post appearing as a rich snippet (you know, the things that appear at the start of Google search results), even though I've never bothered setting any of my posts as rich snippets or structured data - go figure.
Will I have the time to do this for you? Probably, I figure only a few will take up the offer, but the effort will be worthwhile.
November 10, 2019
Australia Fires
The bush fires in Australia are the biggest in living memory right now. It seems as if large parts of the north coast of New South Wales is on fire, as well as parts of south-east Queensland.
The effects are being felt in far away New Zealand. The hot air from Australia that has fuelled these fires has kept the temperatures over the South Island unseasonably hot. It's more like a southern hemisphere summer right now, January rather than November. The sky has turned yellow and dust from the fires is settling over the South Island, car owners in Queenstown are having to hose off the ash. I don't know if this has ever happened before.
The effects are being felt in far away New Zealand. The hot air from Australia that has fuelled these fires has kept the temperatures over the South Island unseasonably hot. It's more like a southern hemisphere summer right now, January rather than November. The sky has turned yellow and dust from the fires is settling over the South Island, car owners in Queenstown are having to hose off the ash. I don't know if this has ever happened before.
November 08, 2019
NBA Season Going to be a Blast
All that moving around in the off-season has had a real impact. Now it appears just about any team has a realistic chance of beating any other team. Look at the current standings; the Phoenix Suns are winning, partly due to their gaining some muscle, and I'm talking about Aron Baynes of course. Then over in the eastern conference you can throw a blanket over the top eleven teams. They're going to be absolutely throttling one another for a place in the top eight.
Regular readers will know I can be critical of regular season play in the NBA. I have statistically proven there is a tendency for teams to play 'I have a go, you have a go', meaning they don't contest possession often enough. This has the effect of padding individual player stats, self-interest amongst pro's is a real thing, and saves their bodies. Once the play-offs start, it's all on, do or die. But with this current spread of talent all bets appear to be off.
There is a movie just out about the betting scandal that rocked the NBA. It's called Inside Game, read about it here: https://deadline.com/2019/08/inside-game-tim-donaghy-scandal-movie-release-date-1202661501/ In the mid 2000's there were several highly suspect games refereed by Tim Donaghy, which in hindsight we now know turned out to be influenced by him. But right now, it can't happen as any calls will be noticeable, more so than back then, given the even spread of talent across the league.
I'm sticking with my picks about which team is looking good and which is not, read about that here: https://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2019/10/nba-season-201920.html
Regular readers will know I can be critical of regular season play in the NBA. I have statistically proven there is a tendency for teams to play 'I have a go, you have a go', meaning they don't contest possession often enough. This has the effect of padding individual player stats, self-interest amongst pro's is a real thing, and saves their bodies. Once the play-offs start, it's all on, do or die. But with this current spread of talent all bets appear to be off.
There is a movie just out about the betting scandal that rocked the NBA. It's called Inside Game, read about it here: https://deadline.com/2019/08/inside-game-tim-donaghy-scandal-movie-release-date-1202661501/ In the mid 2000's there were several highly suspect games refereed by Tim Donaghy, which in hindsight we now know turned out to be influenced by him. But right now, it can't happen as any calls will be noticeable, more so than back then, given the even spread of talent across the league.
I'm sticking with my picks about which team is looking good and which is not, read about that here: https://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2019/10/nba-season-201920.html
November 06, 2019
Christopher Luxon - Nah
I see that National has chosen former Air New Zealand CEO, Christopher Luxon as its candidate in the electorate of Botany for the general election next year. He sounds just like John Key, call him John Key 2.0.
Problem with Luxon though, he follows some strange evangelical christian faith, which means he has a brain the size of a pea. His views seem similar to that of Norman Jones (National, Invercargill '75-87), without the charm of Norm Jones. Does New Zealand really want to go back and deal with this again? There are a raft of issues; abortion law reform, gay rights, marriage, welfare, the list is endless and Luxon would be right there putting his stick in the spokes. They're talking about him as the future leader of the National party. C'mon National, pull your act together, you're making yourselves unelectable.
Problem with Luxon though, he follows some strange evangelical christian faith, which means he has a brain the size of a pea. His views seem similar to that of Norman Jones (National, Invercargill '75-87), without the charm of Norm Jones. Does New Zealand really want to go back and deal with this again? There are a raft of issues; abortion law reform, gay rights, marriage, welfare, the list is endless and Luxon would be right there putting his stick in the spokes. They're talking about him as the future leader of the National party. C'mon National, pull your act together, you're making yourselves unelectable.
November 03, 2019
Rugby World Cup 2019 - South Africa World Cup Champions
South Africa beat England 32-12. No tries for England who were on the back foot almost the whole game. The Springboks played to their strengths and kept field position, with the English pinned in their own half. Eventually the points came. Very sensible tactics from South Africa; kick for position, defend stoutly, put pressure on set pieces, kick the goals and seal the win with tries toward the end.
For me the decisive and most telling moment was in the first half, the Springboks up 6-3. England were hard on attack, threatening to score a try. Time and again they mounted attacks only for South Africa to push them back. South Africa eventually gave away a penalty, the score then stood at 6-6 when it could have been 6-10. England looked dejected, from that point on they never looked like scoring a try. South Africa were prepared to put their bodies on the line, several players suffered game ending injuries as a result of that defensive effort, but the team didn't buckle.
As a footnote, thought has to turn to whether England peaked too early. They played the perfect game against New Zealand in their semi-final, making it very hard for them to get back up for the final a week later.
For me the decisive and most telling moment was in the first half, the Springboks up 6-3. England were hard on attack, threatening to score a try. Time and again they mounted attacks only for South Africa to push them back. South Africa eventually gave away a penalty, the score then stood at 6-6 when it could have been 6-10. England looked dejected, from that point on they never looked like scoring a try. South Africa were prepared to put their bodies on the line, several players suffered game ending injuries as a result of that defensive effort, but the team didn't buckle.
As a footnote, thought has to turn to whether England peaked too early. They played the perfect game against New Zealand in their semi-final, making it very hard for them to get back up for the final a week later.
November 01, 2019
Snob's Guide to New Zealand
For the next two days my book, Snob's Guide to New Zealand is available free on Kindle. It's the essential guide to New Zealand and its people:
https://www.amazon.com/Snobs-Guide-New-Zealand-Horlor-ebook/dp/B07J9XRCWK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
https://www.amazon.com/Snobs-Guide-New-Zealand-Horlor-ebook/dp/B07J9XRCWK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Executive Salaries Out of Control
I liked the following opinion piece, about the ridiculously high rates of pay for senior executives that seem to be the norm these days.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/117019238/executive-pay-is-out-of-control--here-are-six-steps-to-fix-it
Fonterra is the worst offender in New Zealand. Especially considering they don't actually do that good a job. I do think that recruitment firms are partly behind the steep rise; they're paid a share of the salary and so will find reasons their candidates need to be paid more. I mean, c'mon, self interest, what would you expect?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/117019238/executive-pay-is-out-of-control--here-are-six-steps-to-fix-it
Fonterra is the worst offender in New Zealand. Especially considering they don't actually do that good a job. I do think that recruitment firms are partly behind the steep rise; they're paid a share of the salary and so will find reasons their candidates need to be paid more. I mean, c'mon, self interest, what would you expect?