Five minutes with Andy Lark
If you’re after a considered and expert opinion on Skype; Really Simple Syndication (RSS); print-on-demand publishing; podcasts; journalism in the information age; books and literature; food and drink; or even underground music, chances are, Andy Lark’s your man. How he finds time for all of these interests (and then to blog about them, as well) seems to be just one of the many keys to his success. Between his trips to New Zealand and China we caught up with Andy for a chat, and tried to crib from his notes on time management.
Andy, one of the categories on your blog is ‘Eating, drinking and travelling’. What’s your favourite place to eat while you’re in New Zealand?
“Anywhere serving fresh seafood. Love Vinnie’s in Herne Bay. The French Café is world-class. Really enjoyed Soul a few times. Bottom line is that it is really hard to get raw oysters wrong, so I’m the wrong person to ask — I’d be just as happy with fish and chips from the fish shop on the wharf in Tauranga. I tend to really dine out well in the US, Europe and Asia, so when back in NZ tend to look forward to Kiwi basics. Vogel’s bread with NZ butter and Marmite is just a killer meal when you’ve been suffering through US bread and dairy products...”
You’re a big proponent of e-zines. Are there any you’d particularly recommend NZBC readers to check out?
“Flavorpill and Good Morning Silicon Valley are ‘must subscribes’. You want to read Om Malik’s blog.”
You’ve said that the traditional publishing vehicles of newspapers and morning news programmes are under threat. What exactly is the threat, and is there any way in which they can save themselves?
“They serve a basic utility — timely dissemination of information. The threat is that their time-to-market advantage is being diluted by the web, and the simplicity of publishing via blogs and wikis has broken the traditional barriers to anyone becoming a reporter (which is different to being a journalist). I’m hoping that the growth of blogs and wikis will spur people to read more and in fact reinvigorate interest in mainstream publishing. They will need to change, though. Today they are for the most part really dull and uninspiring. Saying that, NZ has some of the best publications on the planet — Urbis, Unlimited, Cuisine are all world beaters.”
You’ve also said, “media sites that don’t allow subscription-free access to content are dead”. The New Zealand Herald has recently gone over to a premium-content model for some of its opinion columns. What message would you like to give the Herald’s publishers?
“Stupid is as stupid does. Your opinions aren’t worth the price you are asking. Be more innovative. You are taking away the one of the things that bought me to you. Might as well force me to subscribe to the whole paper. There would be more chance of that — in fact, I’m really surprised they haven’t, given their monopoly position. The New York Times is trying to do this, but they have Thomas Friedman. Who does the NZ Herald have? I haven’t subscribed to the New York Times, either.
“They are just predictably boring and way out of tune with the next generation of readers. They are constantly framing themselves as ‘publishers’. Yawn. Why not break the frame? Charge for podcasts; build wikis that cause people to participate with them; produce v/casts; develop unique programs; get into micro search. They are in the content game, so this stuff won’t be that hard for them. They just need to use the imagination they have.”
If visitors to NZBC only read one book this year, which book should it be?
“There are so many... Read Thomas L. Friedman’s latest, The World Is Flat. Also Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Also, for fun, The Traveler: A Novel by John Twelve Hawks is entertaining — it will be the next Matrix.”
Which tracks do you have on your iPod’s ‘On the go’ playlist at the moment?
“Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Abattoir Blues; and The New Pornographers, Electric Version. BTW, my favourite is Goldenhorse. Their latest album, ‘Out Of the Moon’, is a stunner. And a ton of podcasts — tune into stuff on IT Conversations.”
You reckon New Zealand is the best place on Earth. How much of the year do you get to spend here these days?
“Not nearly bloody enough... I guess about four to six weeks a year. I’m going to come more so I can use Air New Zealand’s new business class — it’s the best in the world.”
Andy, one of the categories on your blog is ‘Eating, drinking and travelling’. What’s your favourite place to eat while you’re in New Zealand?
“Anywhere serving fresh seafood. Love Vinnie’s in Herne Bay. The French Café is world-class. Really enjoyed Soul a few times. Bottom line is that it is really hard to get raw oysters wrong, so I’m the wrong person to ask — I’d be just as happy with fish and chips from the fish shop on the wharf in Tauranga. I tend to really dine out well in the US, Europe and Asia, so when back in NZ tend to look forward to Kiwi basics. Vogel’s bread with NZ butter and Marmite is just a killer meal when you’ve been suffering through US bread and dairy products...”
You’re a big proponent of e-zines. Are there any you’d particularly recommend NZBC readers to check out?
“Flavorpill and Good Morning Silicon Valley are ‘must subscribes’. You want to read Om Malik’s blog.”
You’ve said that the traditional publishing vehicles of newspapers and morning news programmes are under threat. What exactly is the threat, and is there any way in which they can save themselves?
“They serve a basic utility — timely dissemination of information. The threat is that their time-to-market advantage is being diluted by the web, and the simplicity of publishing via blogs and wikis has broken the traditional barriers to anyone becoming a reporter (which is different to being a journalist). I’m hoping that the growth of blogs and wikis will spur people to read more and in fact reinvigorate interest in mainstream publishing. They will need to change, though. Today they are for the most part really dull and uninspiring. Saying that, NZ has some of the best publications on the planet — Urbis, Unlimited, Cuisine are all world beaters.”
You’ve also said, “media sites that don’t allow subscription-free access to content are dead”. The New Zealand Herald has recently gone over to a premium-content model for some of its opinion columns. What message would you like to give the Herald’s publishers?
“Stupid is as stupid does. Your opinions aren’t worth the price you are asking. Be more innovative. You are taking away the one of the things that bought me to you. Might as well force me to subscribe to the whole paper. There would be more chance of that — in fact, I’m really surprised they haven’t, given their monopoly position. The New York Times is trying to do this, but they have Thomas Friedman. Who does the NZ Herald have? I haven’t subscribed to the New York Times, either.
“They are just predictably boring and way out of tune with the next generation of readers. They are constantly framing themselves as ‘publishers’. Yawn. Why not break the frame? Charge for podcasts; build wikis that cause people to participate with them; produce v/casts; develop unique programs; get into micro search. They are in the content game, so this stuff won’t be that hard for them. They just need to use the imagination they have.”
If visitors to NZBC only read one book this year, which book should it be?
“There are so many... Read Thomas L. Friedman’s latest, The World Is Flat. Also Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Also, for fun, The Traveler: A Novel by John Twelve Hawks is entertaining — it will be the next Matrix.”
Which tracks do you have on your iPod’s ‘On the go’ playlist at the moment?
“Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Abattoir Blues; and The New Pornographers, Electric Version. BTW, my favourite is Goldenhorse. Their latest album, ‘Out Of the Moon’, is a stunner. And a ton of podcasts — tune into stuff on IT Conversations.”
You reckon New Zealand is the best place on Earth. How much of the year do you get to spend here these days?
“Not nearly bloody enough... I guess about four to six weeks a year. I’m going to come more so I can use Air New Zealand’s new business class — it’s the best in the world.”
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