These are tough times, and everyday there seems to be another sign that the world has gone barking mad.

This week I have a whole pile of music for you, an unreasonable amount in fact, and a new word – just one – but first we go to the movies for the latest indicator of global insanity.
As you've probably noticed, I'm a big fan of film. It is, arguably, the most complex of the various art forms including, as it does, visual, spoken and musical elements. A great film can reach an extraordinary level of complexity. I still watch Citizen Kane and most of Stanley Kubrick's output annually and still discover fresh resonance in the complex interplay of image, language and sound.
The problem with film though is it is very expensive and many, with good reason, lambaste the triteness of subject matter. In recent years the full potential of this medium seems to be geared largely towards big screen versions of comic books and video games. Comic books? Well, OK, they have a certain amount in common with film and at least have stories. Video games? They make money. There has never, from Mario Brothers to Max Payne, been a good film of a video game.
Latest off the line is toys. This winter expect to see the second Transformers movie and G.I. Joe. Can things get any worse? Hell yeah!
Toy and game company Hasbro, obviously excited by the dollars rolling in from the giant robots, have now started licensing their games to become films. Sadly this is not an April Fool's Day joke, so expect to see: Gore Verbinski's Cluedo, Michael Bay's Battleships and, saddest of all, Ridley Scott's Monopoly.
Ridley Scott, or should I say Sir Ridley Scott, the man who made Bladerunner and Gladiator, now making… Monopoly. Who, dare we ask, gets to be the shoe?
But, enough of such things. I'm sure that as Hollywood plunges still further down the toilet of its commercial dreams others will still make great movies. On to music…
Every year I get a list from a South African music fundi, and an amazing list it is too.
(That was the new word, by the way. Fundi. Very common in Africa to describe a craftsman or expert. And with the ever-increasing South African population of Tauranga I expect we'll all be using it here before too long.)
His name is Richard Haslop and every year he sends out a list, or in fact a few lists, of the best music from the year before. But this isn't any ordinary list. No. A while ago I got Richard's dispatch from 2008 (I've been saving it). First list is the 50 Best Albums. Then there's a list of Best Compilations, then there's a list of 50 or so reissues and historical live albums, then there's a list of the next best 150 or so new albums (with numbers 50 to 100 highlighted). Damn!
This is clearly a man who knows no life outside music. In his introduction he mentions that he 'personally invested in another 35 running meters of CD shelving”. I'm hardly surprised…
So what's on the list? Well, a pile of stuff I've barely heard of and – thankfully – a few things I really like. Richard's Album of the Year is the self-titled debut from Fleet Foxes. Like many others he is bowled over by the band's majestic harmony work and pretty songs. Second up is Portishead's difficult third album, Third and behind that is the isolated folky charm of Bon Ivers For Emma, Forever Ago. In fourth place is one of my favourites of last year, Nick Cave's Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!, and rounding out the top five is jazz guitarist Bill Frisell's History, Mystery.
As you can tell, this is both a comprehensive and eclectic list. Richard seems to listen to albums from absolutely anywhere (though I don't see any releases from New Zealand in his selection). But what a way to discover new music! For instance, I own only one album by one artist in his remaining top ten. The others I've never heard of (though I intend to check them out). They are Deerhunter, Toumani Diabaté, Alejandro Escovedo (got him!), Blitzen Trapper and Dave Douglas & Keystone.
Not all are so obscure. Lower on the list are Randy Newman, Emmylou Harris, Calexico and Drive-By Truckers. But this is meant to be a voyage of discovery lead by the astonishing dedication of this music fundi.
If anyone wants a copy, email me.
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