RobiNZ Personal Blog

Is George Bush stupid, or clever?

I’ve just started reading Ben Elton’s book “High Society”. It’s too early to judge but this line had me thinking… “Clever is fine in politics as long as you know how to act stupid” Read more →

A delightful "Long Lane with Turnings" - LJK Setright

When I wrote a tribute to LJK Setright - Goodbye to a Genius I thought “Drive On! : A Social History of the Motor Car” would be his last book. He was working on a biography which has been published... Read more →

Recent Reading

In response to Peter’s post here is my recent reading list Read more →

Car Magazines Vs The Web Part 2

This was published back in August but I only just found it today, honest! It’s similar to my own recent rant on the same subject. Car magazines: Don't write them off yet | Independent Online Edition Indeed, Car Magazine has adopted a new square format to focus more on the journalism and photography, while its website, www.carmagazine.co.uk, will concentrate on supplying readers with breaking news and information. "We have stripped the magazine of all the elements which a website can handle better," says the editor, Jason Barlow. Read more →

Auto magazines, Print vs Web

I’ve long been a reader of CAR Magazine and have read, subscribed to, a New Zealand car magazine Driver from it’s first issue. I still regard CAR as the best “World Title”, Driver the “Best local”. It’s strange that both have dabbled with the web in the past but have not really had much presence, certainly no match for their print editions. Recently, almost simultaneously, both have re-launched heavily revamped websites. It’s like they suddenly realised that the web was not going away! The Driver website is part of a company site, they publish several titles, and it’s approach is... Read more →

Jack Yan: Super Human Persuader!

Happy 3rd blogging birthday to Jack Yan. I originally found him on the Beyond Branding Blog but he’s since started his own and The Persuader Blog is a must read. He’s a complete car nut with an interesting view of the auto industry, posts like "Trim milked", but that’s only one of many topics covered. When not blogging, running his virtual company, publishing Lucire, writing, speaking, creating fonts, appearing on Radio and TV*, or meditating he somehow even finds time to comment on this blog. One thing I’d like to know, with only 24 hours in the day, how does... Read more →

Phil Llewellin on "The Road to Muckle Flugga"?

The Road to Muckle Flugga is collection of articles about “Great drives on Five Continents” by the late Phil Llewellin. He was a wonderful writer, who happened to write about motoring, for CAR Magazine (U.K.) among others. His articles were captivating as they conveyed his impressions of the country & characters he met as much as the vehicle he happened to be travelling in. This collection spans several decades so some of the, now irrelevant, technical/marketing detail has been removed. This lets the stories, people and places, which Phil conveys beautifully, shine even brighter. I read it on the plane... Read more →

LJK Setright - Goodbye to a Genius

I started writing this post after hearing the sad news back in September 2005 but couldn’t finish it then. I wanted to write about one of my favourite authors and now I’ve finished reading his last book the time is right. It was going to be a review of the book but in the introduction, LJK Setright outlines his motivation for writing Drive On! : A Social History of the Motor Car: Extract from “A Preamble”, Drive On! LJK. Setright "We need a book to show us - especially those of us too young to remember - what good and... Read more →

Malcolm Gladwell Blogs

Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point & Blink , has a blog! Blog: gladwell.com - http://gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom/ Feed: http://gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom/index.rdf via Full Metal Blog Read more →

Are Angels OK?

The series “Are Angels OK?” is now available on the Radio New Zealand website. What happens when you combine the worlds of writers & physicists; Are Angels OK? Radio New Zealand - Are Angels OK. Produced by Phil Smith, First broadcast January, 2006 A series of programmes arising from a collaboration between eminent New Zealand writers and physicists. Are Angels OK is the work of The Royal Society, The MacDiarmid Institute and the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University. The lectures were recorded in November, 2005, by Radio New Zealand at the Te Papa Marae in Wellington. Read more →