There seems to have been a lot happening this past week: amazing achievements, deaths, fascinating court cases, and some musical stuff too…

The Olympics are rolling on. And, although I profess no particular interest in most of the sports on display (if indeed many are sports), the sight of people bringing such skill and dedication to their chosen disciplines is inspiring. That pretty much the whole world competes makes this possibly the most globally binding happening that exists today. Cool.

I was particularly struck when I watched some pretty young gymnast doing an unbelievable routine on the beam and a commentator commentated that five years ago no human being would have thought such a display was physically possible. Pushing the limits of human achievement – you gotta be impressed.

And, simultaneously, a bunch of the world's smartest people were putting the world's most impressive self-functioning laboratory on the surface of Mars. Incredible. And the question, not quite the one David Bowie asked, is 'Was there life on Mars?” (they're pretty sure there's none now). Within a short month the Higgs-Boson has been found and we're exploring Mars – go those scientific geniuses!

Next to that, the two (music-related) court cases I've been following seem rather unimportant.

An Auckland court is debating whether sending the full might of New Zealand's Special Tactics Group (formerly the anti-terrorist squad) to capture a rather portly billionaire accused of copyright fraud might have been a tad excessive. You think?

One of the more amusing quotes from the case was this: 'Dotcom's wealth was also considered a risk element because it meant the tycoon could buy items he liked, which might include guns.” All you rich folk out there better watch out for black helicopters in the night: who knows what you've been buying with all that wealth...

Still, at least we're not in Russia where a young - three girls, early twenties - punk band called Pussy Riot are facing years in jail for playing inside a church without permission. Of course their main crime is criticising the country's current dictator. Something like that could never happen here, could it? Certainly not unless the Americans asked us.

And a couple of my many heroes have died in recent days. French filmmaker Christopher Marker passed away at the grand age of 91. He was a ‘film essayist' creating movies that were dream-like meditations on politics, memory and cats. He made a film called Sans Soleil which I watch every year on my birthday, each time delving a little more deeply into its mysterious magic.

Chris Marker also made La Jettée, a short but brilliant film which was later the basis for Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys. He was a private, reclusive man who would often respond to requests for a photograph by sending a picture of his favourite cat.

And Australian Robert Hughes died. He was my favourite art critic, if it's not too pretentious to have a favourite art critic. His writing was sparklingly acerbic and unapologetically opinionated. He described New York art doyen Julian Schnabel as being 'to painting what Stallone is to acting - a lurching display of oily pectorals - except that Schnabel makes bigger public claims for himself”. He also annoyed a lot of Australians by casting a critical eye over their history of criminality and racial destruction, so full marks there.

Closer to home, the Jazz Society has taken one more step toward righting the somewhat listing Jazz Festival boat. Becks Chambers has been engaged as the new festival director, which is excellent news. Becks has been involved in the festival's delivery for the past few years and is friendly and skilled; with her intimate knowledge of the event's running, she seems the perfect choice.

The artistic side of things is staying in committee, so the current group will pick the acts for a festival that is refocusing on New Zealand jazz, a fitting goal for the country's national festival.

All kudos must go to Darryl Haigh, who had the job of president rather foisted on him just before this year's festival and has, along with vice-president Mike Baker, been instrumental in charting a new course for Tauranga's biggest event. Keep up the good work!

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