Kia ora everybody, this is just a quick check-in with you, because I’m still on my mid-winter break. I know, how selfish of me! The world is still turning, with Spain conquering the world, bird flu is spreading, Trump and the United States have become the guardians of the Strait of Hormuz, and Nigel Farage is slowly regretting his decision to resign. It takes a special person in the House of Commons to rally against you.

Bin for the Win

Before I go back to playing board games with UMC1 and UMC2, I want to quickly acknowledge the death of Sam Neill, as he was one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s favourite sons. In all seriousness, I never met him, but his passing still saddens me, as he was one of our proudest exports to the world.

Whenever I saw him on screen, I would often think, “Hey, what’s that Kiwi boy doing there?” He was a fantastic actor, and again, having never met him, I always held the impression that he was a fantastic person as well. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to re-watch some of his films, as I have already started with Sleeping Dogs. Sam, cheers mate.

I also want to quickly acknowledge the death of Sir Garfield Sobers, the great West Indian all-rounder cricketer. He retired before I was born, but I’ve seen footage of him destroying teams, including New Zealand. He was an idol for millions, and in New Zealand, he was highly respected, since he was so damn good.

I’m glad he wasn’t born later on, because I would have had mixed feelings watching Sobers take New Zealand apart. As a New Zealander, it would have been awful to watch, but as a cricket fan, he would have been glorious to see live.

Thanks, Garry, you were amazing.

And with that, I’ll leave you, but my Twitter and Mastodon accounts are still operating, because what else am I going to do?

So, that’s it for today, and I’ll be back next Monday for a much longer blog, which will be in the form of The Odyssey Movie Preview. Take care, and I’ll see you next week.

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