Time Capsule: November 2014

Reading – Ladysmith by Giles Foden

Obviously most Australians know about the Boer War because of the famous – or is that infamous? – tale of Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant, who was executed after a controversial trial for shooting Boer prisoners.

Shortly before that, and with only a few mentions of Australians to be found, comes the events in Foden’s book, about the siege of Ladysmith, where Boer artillery and infantry hemmed in a British force in the titular city for the best part of three months before they were rescued by a column of British infantry that took major punishment getting to the entrapped city.

I really enjoyed the descriptions of life in the besieged town, and the cameo scenes of a young Winston Churchill and, surprisingly, Ghandi, but found that the narrative switched too often from a fiction account of an actual event to something more like a history book-type account. There were too many instances where crucial events were recounted rather than having the characters there living through them. Still, an interesting read.

Watching – Last Man Standing

If you know me, you know how much I love Toy Story, The Santa Clause films – well, the first two, anyway – and the classic 1990s sitcom, Home Improvement, so it’s fairly obvious that I’m a big fan of pretty much anything Tim Allen does, including his newest effort, a show that hasn’t seen much publicity here in Australia, but is fun: Last Man Standing. 

Now into it’s fourth season, Last Man Standing is the reverse of the premise of Home Improvement. Rather than Tim Allen’s character Mike Baxter – University of Michigan alum who lives in Denver, Colorado and works at a superstore called Outdoor Man – being surrounded by three sons, he’s instead the only man of the house, with three daughters and a wife who graduated from Ohio State. 

Actually, that’s not quite true, as their eldest daughter Kristen fell pregnant in high school and has a precocious son, Boyd, and his father is a Canadian. Cue plenty of anti-Ohio State jokes, a anti-Obama quips – not hard to see which way Tim Allen leans politically – and a generous serve of kinda awkward Canadian jokes.

I really love all the cameos from former Home Improvement alum Jonathan Taylor Thomas (who plays the restaurant manager where Mike’s eldest daughter works) and Richard Karn, who is certain that the last time he saw Baxter, he had three sons. A not-so-subtle nod the old days.

Last Man Standing is harmless, easy fun. I like how it’s tipped the Home Improvement model upside down, and whilst not as witty and laugh-out-loud funny like the antics of Tim ‘The Toolman’ Taylor used to be, Last Man Standing is well worth checking out. I just wish they’d throw in a few Christmas episodes, like Home Improvement used to.

Listening To – Rock or Bust by AC/DC

  

The greatest rock and roll band in the history of the world is back with their first studio release since 2008’s excellent Black Ice album and despite missing Malcolm Young from the line-up due to a shocking case of early-onset dementia and drummer Phil Rudd finding himself embroiled in legal trouble in New Zealand, the album is top notch. If you didn’t read the newspapers or watch TV, you wouldn’t even know the band wasn’t it’s old, harmonious self.

With a run-time of just over half an hour, Rock or Bust is all killer and absolutely no filler. It’s not a return to form because AC/DC haven’t ever fallen out of form, but it is as good a rock album as has been released this year or in recent memory. 

The unmistakable, hard-driving AC/DC sound has been well looked after by veteran producer Brendan O’Brien (whose production credits include rock giants like Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen) and there’s not one bad song on the album. In the world of AC/DC, the riffs are still as heavy as ever, the lyrics stacked with double-entendres and delivered at breakneck pace by Brian Johnson, with Angus Young solos dotted throughout.