by cameron | Jul 22, 2008 | Podcast, Uncategorized
Yeah I know I’ve been quiet for a few weeks. I expected to have more time / bandwidth in France than I ended up getting. And I’m currently editing a podcast that I recorded in Ajaccio with an Israeli historian Allon Klebanoff about J. S. Bach which will be up soon. Meanwhile, I’m crazy busy with client work and family stuff.
This week I’m also interviewing pop star Leo Sayer (who’s “Living In A Fantasy” album was the first LP I ever bought and it’s still a favourite) and I want to do a show about American anti-war activist Howard Zinn who I was recently introduced to by a new friend I met in Ajaccio.
My trip to France was AMAZING by the way. I should do a show on that as well at some stage. I wish I’d kept my video camera on all the time so I could record the “Buskers Of Paris” podcast. I met loads of new friends, many of whom you’ll meet via the show over the coming months. I met a couple of Israeli historians (in addition to Allon) who will come on to discuss the roots of anti-Semitism and a Swiss-Cuban ballet journalist / historian who will come on to debate the legacy of the Castro regime with me. And much much more.
Of course I also recorded all of the Napoleonic Society’s congress in Corsica and shot a bunch of video in Paris with my Napoleon co-host David Markham, all of which will be coming out on a DVD pack in the near future (yes, you’ll have to pay for it you cheap bastards).
So…. I’m BACK with a fury, ladies and gentlemen. Get ready to rumble.
by cameron | Jul 17, 2008 | Podcast, Uncategorized
So while I was in France I was presented with the quite-prestigious “Legion Of Merit” award by the La Société Napoléonienne (aka the International Napoleonic Society) for my “contribution to the promotion of Napoleonic history” via the Napoleon podcast I produce on TPN.
As you can see, I’m the 97th person to receive the award. It’s quite a thrill for a long-time Napoleon enthusiast such as myself, especially considering I’m neither a scholar nor a historian.
On my first trip to France four years ago, I visited all of the Napoleonic sites and dreamed of one day making a contribution to Napoleonic history. That was before I’d even heard of podcasting. So to be presented with this award four years later is pretty cool. Let that be a lesson to all you kids out there – you too can wear big gold bling around your neck. No wait, wrong lesson. Hmmm, let me refer to “CAMERON’S BOOK OF LESSONS”… oh yeah, here it is – “What You Conceive and Believe You Can Achieve”.
I think there are some videos and photos of me receiving the award which I’ll post up when I get them. Currently I’m still sitting in Changi Airport on my way home. It’s a SEVEN HOUR stopover. Unbelievable.
by cameron | Jul 8, 2008 | Cuba, Uncategorized
Today is day three in Ajaccio and I’m having an awesome time. This is my 2nd trip to Ajaccio (the first time was in 2004, just after I left Microsoft and before TPN) and I absolutely am in love with the place. Think Cuba but with modern cars and without the economic sanctions, and you’re pretty close. It has lots of old, beautiful but dilapidated buildings, lots of cobbled laneways filled to the brim with outdoor cafes and restaurants and bars, a hundred Cuban cigar stores (“Tabac Le Havana”), breath-taking mountain views across water filled with yachts, folk musicians playing bawdy French folk songs in restaurants, etc. I’m here with a terrific bunch of people, academics from around the world, scholars, musicians, and they are all wonderful, passionate, and hugely intelligent. I’ve spent many hours discussing Judaism, Israel, the Holocaust and the Palestine question with a party of Israelis scholars in their late 80s, who were alive during WWII, and I hope to get them recorded for the show before I leave.
We’re all staying up very late each night, drinking chestnut whisky, smoking Cuban cigars, in outdoor bars, debating religion, politics, history, art, you name it. I’m in my element.
Internet access is spotty though, so I’ve hardly been online and haven’t churned out any podcasts yet, but I hope to before I leave.
by cameron | Jul 7, 2008 | Podcast
Subscribe now to the weekly update email (fill in the below box) to get a weekly list of all of the new episodes on TPN in one easy-to-read format!
Enter your email address:
======================================================
My guest today is Matt Norman.
Matt is an Aussie actor/director/producer who has a new documentary coming out called “Salute The Movie” (watch the trailer here). It tells the story of his uncle Peter Norman. Now, if you’re like me, you probably haven’t heard the name before but you probably do recognize this photo:
Peter Norman is the white guy. He was an Aussie Olympian who won the Silver Medal in the Men’s 200 metre race at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico. The two athletes with him on the podium were Tommie Smith and John Carlos. They both raised their fists in the “Black Power” salute. Peter gave his support by wearing the OPHR (Olympic Project for Human Rights) badge.
All three were booed when they left the podium and then ostracized in their respective countries for having the audacity to use this opportunity to make a political statement. All three were punished severely by their respective Olympic organizations and in Peter’s case, he was not picked for the ’72 Olympics, even though he came third in the trials.
This story is, of course, extremely relevant today, when Australian and American Olympic athletes are again being gagged by their respective organizations with respect to using the Olympics as an opportunity to speak out about China’s human rights abuses in Tibet and Darfur. Will any of them athletes have the balls to speak out? Or will they allow themselves to be gagged?
The G’Day World theme music:
Conquest
“Secrets of Life” (mp3)
from “End of Days”
(Dark Star Records)
More On This Album
by cameron | Jul 5, 2008 | Uncategorized
I nearly missed my connecting flight from Changi but, apart from that, the 28 hour trip (door to door) here went smoothly. It took me an hour to get through customers, an hour to get to the Latin Quarter where my hotel is… and then another 90 minutes while I walked around LOST because the map I’d printed out from Google Maps was WRONG. I’m bad enough following directions as it is, but it doesn’t help when the map you’re using is about 5 blocks out.
After I checked in, had a shower and a nap, I headed out to Notre Dame for a quick look. I was planning on sketching it – I have a goal to complete one sketch a day while I’m here – but it was raining. I bought a book from Shakespeare & Co (Henry Miller’s “Quiet Day In Clichy”) and ended up sketching the Pantheon when the rain finally stopped.
Now I’m sitting in an Aussie bar not far from my hotel (Hotel Home Latin), using their free wifi, before I head out to catch some jazz at Cafe Universal.
It turns out Nick Randolph (former TPN host) is here as well so we’re going to hook up tonight for a drink! We just hooked up over Skype when he saw my status message.
Paris is brilliant. This is my second time here and it is seriously the most beautiful city I’ve ever been to. I’ve got to live here. Soon.
