Howie's Hot Five

Final one for the year…so we couldn’t resist a couple of ‘best of’ recommendations…

5. 39 years and 4 kids later…

You are now (finally) a lawyer my good Sir.

For those of you thinking what the hell do I do with my life… meet Duncan McKee.

Big Duncan first walked into the gates of Victoria University when the Vietnam War was still going…  He went to too many parties and drifted off…met his wife at a party (her husband had died in a car accident and had one child ), they fell in love and went on to have four kids -and he kept bashing away at his Uni studies  – missing one exam to help in the home delivery of his second child.

This week at 57 years of age he finally graduated with an LLB.  He said he was one of the only students to take notes with pen and paper…

Source: Stuff

4. Three Simple Steps to Make Money from Your Passion…

If you’re feeling a bit bewildered with jobs and vocations give Zen Habits.com a visit…

‘Zen Habits is about finding simplicity in the daily chaos of our lives

(people follow this blog to simplify their lifestyle…cool man)

And we liked a column from this week’s Zen: Living off your passion...
(N.B. It’s the end of the year (tether for some) and combined stats from NZ, Australia and the US that put those who hate their job anywhere between 60-80% of the workforce)
3 Steps to live off your passion

1. Separate passion from reality  - First up brainstorm your idea  or passion projects in a positive way.  Most people do the opposite cos as humans our first reaction is to ‘critique’ an idea or get negative….instantly come up with all the reasons it won’t work.
So whiteboard your idea positively as a serious business concept… in a totally non critical way.

2. Be the Expert you already are;  Big barrier is a belief that you don’t know something well enough to get paid for it… Wrong! If you dig something so much you have actually diligently kept at it – you know more than most.  Find what you have specialised in and identify why people want this and pay for it.

3. Do the impossible;  We are conditioned to think you can’t build a career out of what you love… proof is so many people in jobs they simply persevere with … and some who completely hate their jobs. 

Big idea: Surround yourself with people who are already doing it… living off what they love doing!
2nd Big Idea: You have to get paid – $1-$100 that’s what takes it from a hobby to your life’s vocation.

Source: Zen Habits

3. Self publish or be damned…

The Book: The Mill River Recluse

The Plot: A Wealthy Vermont Widow who bestows her fortune on town residents who hardly know her.
Rejections: 100 publishers

Decision: Digitally Publish herself….just to get some readers and feedback you understand.

Price: 99 cents (very strategic price this- enough for readers to take a punt on)

Outcomes: Success? 400, 000 sold, on several best-seller lists and attracting requests from foreign publishers, movie studios and audio book publishers.

Self publishing success is taking off with 12 authors selling over 200, 000 copies and 30 authors over 100, 000 copies of self published books via Kindle…. with e-book sales forecast to hit $2 billion in 2013.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

2. The Night Circus

Our book of the year – and there’s been several ( The Marriage Plot by Jeffery Eugenides is one other) but the one really stealing our heart is….

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern! 

The book came about in 2005 due to the National Novel Writing Month – where you challenge yourself to write 50,000 words in one month – ‘no plot no problem’ approach.

Erin’s book was rejected by 30 literary agents…. then when she got an agent the book sold in a week and the buzz started up she got an unheard of 7 figure advance and a first printing of 175,000 …it’s now sold in 30 countries.

The Plot – magic and romance in 19th century England… centered around an incredibly elaborately designed circus.

“The circus arrives without warning.’ (the first line) … and she doesn’t mess about from there it’s ‘inventive and haunting… and very ‘filmic’ so the rights have been snapped up and everybody’s waiting… it’s just very well written!

1. The Ukulele Album …

Who would have thought one of the original leaders of ‘grunge’ (so old fashioned that term now) would put out a Ukulele album… my album of the year … or the one I kept returning to amid the deluge… For me this was sparse and emotionally brittle and one I found I played as an album (rare)

To quote Pitchfork “You either instantly know you need 35 minutes of this (Ukulele songs) in your life or are already backing slowly away.” “They are casual, sweet, and disarmingly unaffected…”

5. The 12 Days of Christmas …will now cost you…

Forget the Big Mac Cost of Living Scale (for those of you who don’t know it – it’s measuring the cost of living in any country by the cost of a Big Mac….

The ITEMS in 12 Days of Christmas would now cost you US$101, 119… according to the yearly Christmas Price Index… up 4.4% on last year.

An outfit called PNC Wealth Management do it every year…

So you got the 12 drummers drumming, 22 pipers piping, 30 lords-a-leaping, 36 ladies dancing, 40 maids-a-milking, 42 swans-a-swimming, 42 geese-a-laying, 40 gold rings, 36 calling birds, 30 French hens, 22 turtle doves, and 12 partridges in pear trees

Only good news is that the wage of 8 maids a milking is the same as in 2009 at $58 per hour.

We quote: Eleven pipers piping will set you back $2,427, but that’s a relative bargain compared to seven swans-a-swimming, which cost $6,300. That’s a 12.5 per cent rise over last year.

The partridge is still the cheapest item, at $15, and swans the most expensive.

4. One for the ladies (said in smarmy voice)

Tube Crushes…evidently for the females of London and New York they are a way of life… so some savvy Interneters have created a couple of forums to share pics of their tube crushes and posting them on TubeCrush.Net…. and SubWayCrush.Net

e.g. a guy called Norman who works out found a pic of himself surreptitiously taken on a London tube… Popeye Guns – in black tee shirt reading the paper.

Fact: younger generation have dwindling interest in privacy concerns (only 9 photos taken down by request in hundreds taken…ok here’s some examples:

3. The Real Greek Bailout…

With much of Greece heading to poverty status many donkey’s are being abandoned… but get this some are being rescued and sent to the Donkey Palace in England…

e.g. Christoforos and Fotis have just made five day journey to the south of England in a special transport truck… and now live on 11,000 acres living on fresh hay and ginger snaps and sleep in a heated stable with view of the English Channel.

English people love Donkeys. Some Donkeys are used to help emotionally troubled children and visit the elderly…

As well the English are funding a Donkey sanctuary raising over NZ$250,000 a year…

Cute video here…
http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/VideoPlayerMain.swf

Source: http://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/

2. India’s Got Talent…and lots of blood…

India’s Got Talent…this is the most violent things you’ll see… love the female judge spending most of the time looking through her fingers… while they eat glass and draw blood… May we introduce The Warrior of Goja… and thank God they won! (although it was only about NZ$6000)

1. Ok let’s end sort of positively – Amy Winehouse…

Here’s the conundrum – do you buy this album…even listen to it…?

Fact: Lioness represents NINE YEARS of work… and half a decade after Back to Black…

For an excellent overview read this Atlantic Monthly Article

that makes the point while her voice was big – her force was how she loved documenting her big extremes in emotions… wretchedness, waking up lonely etc. But the article ultimately sums Lioness up as patchy noting you can tell where her voice is worn out.

Have to say we at Howie’s Hot Five find it hard to ‘dig’ Rehab anymore – what was once a defiant bop, rocker …is now only kind of sad.  You see our love affair with Back to Black was all about the strut, the ‘tude and the backbeat…

OK, we’re back…

5.  It’s not the music – it’s how you look listening…

‘What we listen to is becoming irrelevant …it’s how we listen’… (stereo peripherals business executive).  Queue hipsters walking around all day and night with headphones around their necks (anyone remember sunglass on heads….all ‘night’ long)

HMV, once a heavyweight UK music seller is now selling gadgets and plenty of headphones…with CDs and DVD floorspace being given away to gadgets.

Sales of headphones are up 80% and in US over holiday season one pair will be purchased every minutes with Dr Dre’s being No.1 choice and Dre means business. Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has just paid $300 million for a 51% stake in his headphones biz… .at US$300 a pair try these babies right here…

(one tech reviewer has said the sound is extraordinarily bad but that hasn’t stopped them selling like hotcakes) Rappers Ludacris and 50 Cent have also produced their own lines and now the suing has commenced on infringement of patents etc. And Jimmy Iovine whose idea it was to invest with Dre says you can thank crappy, compressed music for the jump in headphones.

More info: Dr Dre’s Monster Headphones

4. Niche Dating…Internet dating is so, well, just so general…

Fact: US$4 Billion is the value of the internet dating industry.

But where to go if you have that ‘detailed list’ of needs, wants and likes… you go niche!

Muddymatches.co.uk - the site for rural people.
Lucy: “I’m obsessed with chocolate box villages and long walks. I moved to the Peak District and got involved with the Conservative Party. I wanted to meet someone who hadn’t been married before and has had a private education. Nick emailed me and said he loves rugby and shoots.”

EcoLovers.co.uk and singleparentdatinguk.co.uk and, um, ah sugardaddy.com
Linda: “I was very specific. I wanted to weed out the rubbish – no one unemployed, couldn’t live at home with his parents, couldn’t be a smoker, no children, no alcohol, no drugs, had to be clean, had to love animals and had to really like cats…and didn’t like going to the pub.”
“Our first meeting was at a service station, where I knew if it got weird I could get out and he wouldn’t know which car I’d come in.”

Forcepenpals.co.uk: a site for connecting with people in the armed forces.
Ellen: “It was a British pride thing, speaking to people who were away serving our country, and supporting them. Bradley sent me a message and he made me laugh.”

Article Source: The Telegraph

3. I’m so stressed, I’m working harder than ever (yawn)

We are working longer hours than ever – fact or fiction?

FICTION!

“Over the last 10 years the proportion of us working long hours has been dropping.” says Professor Mark Wooden of the Australian Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research…who’s

research the link between hours of work and life satisfaction: There is none!

People may complain but that doesn’t mean they really want to work less hours … it’s all just part of the general whining for some.

And the adage: technology is eating into private time? “Crap again – according to the Prof ‘people allow this to happen’. Those who don’t have smartphones.”

2. Gum chewing is brainy…

It’s unclear why but chewing gum has a positive effect on your mental state…

159 Students – a battery of tests (e.g. repeating random numbers back) – half chewing half not… Result: Those randomly assigned to chew gum all outperformed those who did not chew gum in 5 of the 6 tests.

BUT – positive effects only last 20 minutes -after that chewers and non-chewers are equal.

1. The new spirit of Argentina…

Howie’s Hot Five spends a lot of time in Buenos Aires …and we’ve spent a lot of late nights at a place that can only be explained as a massive run-down warehouse full of punks, tattoos and tango dancers… it’s out there – and one night six months ago at 2 am in the morning this woman got up and took our hearts away….  She is the perfect symbol for the ‘new Argentina’ a country that’s been ravaged by dictatorships, hpyerinflation, banks going bankrupt, a country going bankrupt…oh and a dirty war in the ’70 where thousands were executed… but now there is a wonderful,  young creative community that is simply ‘wow’.

Howie’s Hot Five is lost in deepest, darkest, exotic South America….

Back end of November….

ps… listen out for Howie’s H5′s Latin Report next week…

Wow ..what a week – 7 billion of us and I’m off to Buenos Aires and The Andes for a three weeks…

5. Geek Hackers vs Mexican Drug Cartels…

Every time we read something like this we think…the time of Bladerunner is finally here …

A international group of hackers is now going head-to-head with the most powerful group of bad-asses in the world – a Mexican drug cartel…who’ responsible for thousands of murders and favours be-headings.

Enter the Anonymous Hacker group from Veracruz, Mexico who has a member of the kidnapped in an anti-drugs demonstration by the Cartel. (Aren’t those V for Vendetta masks scary!)

The Geeks have said …’we’ll bring you down’. They are vowing to release name of crooked journalists as well as cartel member names….let the games begin.

If this ain’t a Tom Cruise movie – we don’t know what is!

Source: The Washington Post

4. Bait and Hook Hombres – caused by man shortage…

The Atlantic Monthly started it…and the Sydney Morning Herald’s  love columnist ‘Ask Sam’  backed its claims… so here goes…

The Atlantic published a story called All The Single Ladies by Kate Bolik…

“Recent years have seen an explosion of male joblessness and a steep decline in men’s life prospects that have disrupted the “romantic market” in ways that narrow a marriage-minded woman’s options: increasingly, her choice is between deadbeats (whose numbers are rising) and playboys (whose power is growing).”

Now this is what the Aussie columnist is extrapolating…

Single, randy men have discovered that, with so many of these “hopeless” women desperate to get hitched to just about anyone, their chances of a pick-up have never been easier.

You see, when a man tells a woman that he wants to settle down, get married and have kids … and tells her on the first night, on the first date or very early on in the courtship process (yes, it happens), it’s like balm to a woman’s ears.

Ladies beware…! the newest form of “bait ‘n’ hook” on the dating block – the new, fool-proof pick-up line that modern men have realised will be guaranteed to get them attention, a second date and, most importantly, to get them laid the fastest.

How to spot the bait and switch merchants?  The bigger his bank account the less interested he is in commitment.

In fairness we need to quote email feedback to the SMH article…

Love the hypocrisy of women. No wonder i don’t bother. Yep, we are all deadbeats or playboys, and all you women are just perfect stepford wives material.
At least i will never be some woman’ slave. Have fun with your cats, and drinking $15 breezers in those wank city bars with your dull sex in the city clones for mates.

Sources:  The Atlantic
    The Sydney Morning Herald

3. Porches and Greece – now here’s a conundrum…

Fact 1: There are more Porches registered in Greece than taxpayers who declare more than €50, 000 (NZ$80,000) Euros a year in tax.

Fact 2: Larisa is a rural city of 250,000 has more Porches per head of population that New York or London.

Fact 3: The Germans are not happy (Germans of course make the Porches and are bailing Greece).

Source: The Telegraph

2. The good oil on a new Auckland cafe…

At intersection of Garnet Road and Westend Rd in Westmere there were two ok cafes… we saw a third open on the ‘fast bend’ where once just an ok but failed bar was…. another cafe opened…oh no we thought…. but it was oh YES! We love Cafe Catroux – quality – service – good value…yes reasonable, so not the usual rapacious rip-offs we Aucklanders are so well educated in accepting…. just go!

Info: Cafe Catroux

1.  The guaranteed feel-good tear jerker documentary of the year

The voice of Elmo on Sesame Street is a 51 year old, six foot tall African American man who’s dream from primary school was to be a puppeteer on Sesame Street…his story…

He took on Elmo who was failing as a puppet and turned him into youngest viewers favourite creature….Tickle Me Elmo!

Source: LA TIMES

5. Drop Out and… money up

Great little article in NY Times this week entitled “Will Dropouts Save America”…

The Captains of the Dropouts-Losers Club

Steve Jobs – Dropout = Apple
Bill Gates – Dropout = Microsoft
Mark Zuckerberg – Dropout = Facebook
Biz Stone + 2 others – Dropouts = Twitter
Larry Ellison – Dropout = Oracle
Ted Turner – Dropout = CNN
(25 of the US Billionaires are dropouts)

The National Bureau of Economic Research  – in detailed research found it’s not small businesses – but small business Start Ups that are creating new jobs. AND the formal job market (resumes, job interviews, ads etc) only accounts for 20% of the job market!

And schools are all about exams then you get an MBA (But I’ve got an MBA!) -Not teaching skills like sales, networking, creativity and comfort with failure… but dropouts on the other hand know this stuff especially the failure bit…

For more reading: NY Times
The Education of Millionaires: It’s Not What You Think and It’s Not Too Late by Michael Ellsberg

4. Dropbox… it’s a rave

If you haven’t heard or used Dropbox….it’s time – and you haven’t heard it from us, but what a wonderful way to send music and movies to your mates…  especially now where you have to deal with Android, Ipad, iPhone oh, and a computer.

Dropbox… sits ‘out there’ and makes it easier now than ever to just drop stuff in it so you can access that dance track on your girlfriend’s, flatmate’s Ipad…capeche?

- An Italian watch designer shares designs with their joint designer in Argentina
- Haitian relief workers kept up-to-date records of deceased on Dropbox
- Law students file notes on it in case their laptop gets nicked

Just the facts:
This week valued at - $4 Billion
Number of staff: 70
Number of customers: 5o million users and adding one every second
Fun fact: Will I. Am and David Guetta wrote a song sharing beats and ideas on Dropbox:
(I Got a Feeling) – (lame song…sorry)

AND allows you see your stuff (music, movies, photos etc)  from any device.…and get extra storage if you refer people to use it.

Starts with free storage in the cloud – and then you’re hooked.(96% are free users)

Back-story: Dropbox Will Simplify Your Life

3. Good things come from being a jerk at work?

No Eitquette…the new trend…

A woman decided to ‘never thank’ and never apologies programme and she got respect…

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology has found that disagreeableness in the workplace pays off…especially for women!

The journalist decided to make two small changes: no chipper ‘thanks’ and no apologies – verbally and in emails.  In fact edited out all nice phrases from her emails.

The effect was immediate: Colleagues began to treat me with more respect.

What’s more the journalist found she gain more inner confidence….

Source: Why Being a Jerk Pays Off

2.  Mexican in Kingsland…

Highlight of the NZRWC  -  El Camino! Tiny, slightly rustic, laid back – non-spanky Auckland place…. just go. What a breath of fresh air not to be served by usual surly Auckland waitron… the young woman working here has that rare combination for an Auckland waitress – personality and delightfully natural …

Made the whole ‘game night’ atmosphere even better.

El Camino Facebook Page

1. Willy Nelson and Arlo Guthrie’s Daughters… are playing on the road again…

This week touring Australia are the daughters of Messrs Nelson and Guthrie’s  – and they sound a hoot. The band is Folk Uke…Amy Nelson and Cathy Guthrie

We were worried we might suck and not want everybody to look at us.” Pause. ”Then we realised no one was paying attention anyway, so we’re fine.”

PLAY VIDEO HERE (Shit makes the flowers grow)

Source: Folk Uke Profile

Read on or listen to the podcast here: Howie’s Hot Five

5.  You don’t want to talk to me in the morning before I’ve had my placebo…

We are fixated here at HH5 on the power of the mind and that word ‘placebo’- and we’d stick out neck out and say it’s the reason for the success of many a kookie ‘self-help’ alternative medicine theory.

Last week it was the Anglo-Saxon’s brain and alcohol – how we expect to get ‘pished’ so when told it’s alcohol (when it’s not) ah, well, we feel ‘pished’ anyway…

This week the stuff that white people love – Coffee!!! Stuff White People Like #1

“You do NOT want to see me before I get my morning coffee.”

STOP PRESS: It’s all in ya mind. (or could be)

Take nearly 400 self-confessed coffee addicts between 18-47 -deprive them of coffee for a while then tell them they’re all being given coffee each morning – but actually only half are. All felt very up and said that darn coffee man I need it!

The Finding: No you don’t. All reported ‘it picked me up mate’ while those who got decaffeinated still said that BUT did a whole lot better on a series of concentration-based tests.

Source: The Daily Telegraph

4.Ozzy Osbourne’s Advice for Life…

What’s your favourite children’s book?

Anything with pictures. I’m very dyslexic, so I ain’t exactly one to be reading theHarry Potter books to my grandkids. They’d be drawing a f—ing pension by the time we got to the end of the first chapter.

3. Spin Cycling…

Fastest growing fitness craze on US Eastern Seaboard is – Studio Cycling

The main company Flywheel – is busy trying to raise more capital as so many are suddenly doing it their bikes are wearing out too fast due to the huge amounts of sweat dripping into the mechanics.  The company started 20 months ago and now has 7 locations…

You’ve got your choice – Flywheel – sporty, competitive or SoulCycyle – ‘more yoga’with the studios being candlelit.

This is classed as ’boutique fitness’ and is taking on yoga and pilates…as you pay for classes rather than that ghastly business model – ‘contracts’….BTW demand for Gym personal trainers is in decline.

2. Men in the military are eyebrow grooming….

You want to read any news story which starts: Military Rules Forbid a Pluck Too Far; Some Try ‘Threading’ for Perfect Arch

The craze amongst US military in Afghanistan is male soldiers with eyebrows professionally shaped into slender arches. Yep – Eyebrow shaping.

“Using a straight-edge razor, the barber sculpts his eyebrows into thin arches, tapering into points at the flanks.“

And this bit we love:

“These threaded, plucked or shaved young soldiers are proving befuddling to an older generation of bushier warriors. Army regulations are silent on the subject of male eyebrows, except to say that one’s hair must not reach so far south.”

Read it here: Wall Street Journal

1. Best job in TV = The Soundtracker for…

Entourage, Treme, True Blood – are all pretty hip and they always have a perfect little ‘just unkown’ enough song to end each programme to leave you in a state of ahhhh that is so right…while the credits role and you make a date in your head to watch it next week.

You’ve got the soundtracker to thank… the hip dude at the moment is Scott Vener or ‘Broke Mogul’   His job…to know the hottest old and new music and get it in the show.

His advice – he lives on the Net following blogs etc and ‘never be too obvious.

And the song he’s dribbling over at the moment on his blog  is:

Source: Wired Magazine

Also follow this dude on http://brokemogul.tumblr.com/