Unlikely but would be great

With all the speculation around what the Cabinet reshuffle will hold - here's my twopence. It isnt so much a prediction but more about what Id like to see!

Cabinet
1. Helen Clark - Prime Minister, Arts Culture and Heritage
2. Phil Goff - Deputy Prime Minister, Finance
3. Annette King - Education, State Services, Transport
4. Trevor Mallard - Leader of the House, Justice, Treaty Negotiations, Sport and Rec
5. David Cunliffe - Economic Development, Auckland Issues, Communications/IT
6. Ruth Dyson - Health
7. Pete Hodgson - Labour, SOEs, ACC, Broadcasting, Building Issues
8. Jim Anderton - Trade Negotiations
9. Clayton Cosgrove - Police, Defence, Corrections
10. Lianne Dalziel - Social Development and Employment
11. David Parker - Conservation, Environment, Energy
12. Damien O’Connor - Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry
13. Nanaia Mahuta - Maori Affairs, Youth Affairs, Customs
14. Chris Carter - Immigration, Ethnic Affairs, Senior Citizens, Disabilities
15. Shane Jones - Commerce, Tourism, Small Business
16. Steve Chadwick - Housing, Internal Affairs, Local Government
17. Maryan Street - Tertiary Education, Research Science & Technology, Food Safety, Archives, National Library
18. Charles Chauvel - Attorney General, Pacific Island Affairs, Land Information, Statistics

Outside Cabinet
19. Luamanuvao Winnie Laban - Community and Voluntary Sector, Women’s Affairs, Consumer Affairs, Associate PI Affairs
20. Harry Duynhoven - Transport Safety
21. Darren Hughes - Associate Economic and Regional Development, Associate Transport
22. Mahara Okeroa - Associate Arts, Associate Maori Affairs

What becomes of the broken hearted?
Steve Maharey - Chief Strategist, Labour Party President
Michael Cullen - Speaker of the House

Goneburgers
Wilson, Horomia, Burton, Barker, Benson-Pope, Tizard, Samuels, Ririnui

Of course this is purely fun and about what I would do - I would be hugely surprised if the reshuffle looked anything like this!

Wellington Computer recycling day

On Saturday 29 September between 9am and 3pm you will be able to safely dump all your old computer/mobile phone gear.

The 2020 Communications Trust are running their annual recycling day at the Westpac Stadium carpark - so be a tidy kiwi!

Better late than never

I had a week off blogging last week - it wasnt intentional, just usual laziness but anyway, The film festival is of course on at the moment, and Ive seen three films (plus another non-festival film - unacceptable infidelity I know).

Last week I went and saw Wellington (represent yo) director, Taika Waititi's (of Two Cars/One Night fame) new film - Eagle vs Shark and god it was good. Granted, it is basically a NZ Napolean Dynamite - but fantastic all the same. Some of the Velvet paintings of Tigers, Sharks and Unicorns are definitely from the Rhodes school of design.... (i know the whole minimalism is really a cover for the velvet wall hangings). One of the best bits has to be the video game where there is a Maori warrior firing lasers from a Taiaha, or the "best computer hacker in town" who uses Windows 95 (with full YNANG YNANG warming up grinding and porn site pop ups) -"Theres porn on your computer bro".

Yesterday I did a back-to-back double feature - starting off with the disturbing Jesus Camp which was all about kids going off to be indoctrinated into fundamentalist christianity. Pretty scary stuff (Harry Potter = evil, Abortion = evil, Gays = evil and so on - you get the idea). On the whole it was pretty good, but at times the movie also tells you what to think - there is a radio interviewer rambling in parts providing bridging clips, telling us how fundys and bad, and George Bush is bad (they pray over a life size carboard cut out of him btw) etc etc. This was unecessary though - you couldnt help but arrive at those conclusions anyway - so why force it down peoples throats?
Watch the trailer

And lastly the second part of the double feature was Severance which has been billed as The Office meets Deliverance. Its about a group of seven or so office workers who go on a team-building exercise in the Hungarian wilderness. Obviously things go awry with people getting killed etc but its also pretty damn funny too. The best bit has to be when one of them gets caught in a gin trap - and they try unsuccessfully to free him by pulling it open, only for it to slam shut again..... five times.
Trailer here

On the whole three pretty good films out of three. Next up is Manufacturing Dissent on Wednesday which started off as a positive piece about Michael Moore - only to turn into quite a negative piece about him, the holes in his films etc etc. Im sure its as biased as well.... a Moore film but should be a good watch all the same!

Harry is a Horcrux

What ever could that title be in reference to?

George Martin

Ive been watching the Beatles Anthology and it reminded me of a skit on Big Train about George Martin going on and on and on about the Beatles. here goes.. very funny

This has to be a joke

China is to fire rockets into the sky to disperse rain clouds during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Apparently the Chinese Government guaranteed good weather.... and this is how theyre going to do it.

It reminds me of an episode of The Games when John Clarke offered to move the hole in the ozone layer for the duration of the Sydney Olympics ("out to sea or something") to appease European concerns over skin cancer and exposure to the sun.

Story on Stuff here about the Chinese. The headline is - China to zap rainclouds with rockets. Fantastic!

Further anniversary weekend goodness

Today we have a new anniversary weekend feature... albums of year*

This year we only have three that have made the cut as follows

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare

Jarvis Cocker - The Jarvis Cocker Record

*To be eligible the album has to have been released between 16 July 2006 and 2007.

Anniversary Weekend Top 50

As this weekend is of course Anniversary Weekend, its time for the annual Top 50 tracks!

50. Pulp, This is Hardcore
49. Belle and Sebastian, Act of the Apostle
48. Badly Drawn Boy, Once Around the Block
47. Beta Band, Dry the Rain
46. Elastica, Stutter
45. Ocean Colour Scene, Travellers Tune
44. Ben Harper, By My Side
43. Ocean Colour Scene, You've Got it Bad
42. Radiohead, High and Dry
41. Oasis, Do You Know What I Mean?

40. Smashing Pumpkins, 1979
39. Mazzy Star, Fade into You
38. Radiohead, Climbing Up the Walls
37. Belle and Sebastian, Boy with the Arab Strap
36. Ryan Adams, The End
35. Oasis, Songbird
34. The Smiths, This Charming Man
33. Ocean Colour Scene, The Day We Caught the Train
32. Blondie, Atomic
31. Ben Harper, Where Could I Go?

30. Aimee Mann, Save Me
29. The Beatles, Sexy Sadie
28. Johnny Cash, Hurt
27. The Beatles, Here Comes the Sun
26. Skunk Anansie, Hedonism
25. The Smiths, There is a Light that Never Goes Out
24. Arctic Monkeys, A Certain Romance
23. Ben Harper, Forgiven
22. Fleetwood Mac, Landslide
21. Ryan Adams, Blue Sky Blues

20. Pulp, Common People
19. The Flaming Lips, Do You Realise?
18. The Beatles, Blackbird
17. Radiohead, Street Spirit (Fade Out)
16. The Smiths, How Soon is Now
15. Marvin Gaye, Lets Get it On
14. Radiohead, Air Bag
13. Oasis, Live Forever
12. Nirvana, All Apologies
11. Radiohead, Creep

10. The Byrds, The Ballad of Easy Rider
9. Badly Drawn Boy, A Minor Incident
8. Oasis, Cigarettes and Alcohol
7. Marvin Gaye, What's Goin On
6. The Beatles, Two of Us
5. The Byrds, Eight Miles High
4. Aimee Mann, Wise Up
3. Radiohead, Pyramid Song
2. Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit
1. Oasis, Supersonic

A bold prediction

Right so we're about 12-14 months out from the next election and currently the Nats are unquestionably in pole position with a good 15 point lead. However its my feeling that their lead will only hold up until they start releasing their fundamental policy positions ie will we have cash registers back in hospitals? will they scrap the KiwiSaver tax credits? what state assets will they sell off? will we have widespread roadtolls? (in Sydney for example average car users can pay around A$100 a week in tolls - so will the Nats reduce taxes but slap on new ones in the form of tolls? will that make anyone better off?) what happens with interest free student loans? and so on and so forth. At some point they will have to release policy.

I think in all likelihood National will be the largest party, but there is an element of over-inflation in their polling.

So what will happen? Here's my prediction for the election night result in 2008

National 43 per cent (51 seats)
Labour 38 per cent (46 seats)
Greens 8 per cent (10 seats)
NZ First 5 per cent (6 seats)
Maori Party 2.5 per cent (5 seats - they will win Te Tai Tonga as well as their current 4)
ACT 1.5 per cent (2 seats)
United Future 1 per cent (1 seat)
Progressive 0.8 per cent (1 seat)

So this is how it will line up (total seats 122)
LEFT
Labour (46) + Greens (10) + Progressive (1) = 57 seats
RIGHT
National (51) + ACT (2) = 53 seats
CENTRE
NZ First (6) + Maori (5) + United Future (1) = 12 seats

The simplest government would be Labour + Greens + NZ First + Progressive (63 seats).

The key thing for the remainder of the year and early next year is Labour staying competitive. For me 35 per cent is the crunch point. If they are below it - theyre goneburger. If they are above it and in the late 30s, its game on.

Its rising

Last night I went to a cocktail function at Century City Developments for the launch of the Wellington Phoenix FC's chairmans club. I got to meet some of the players including the captain Ross Aloisi (who captained Adelaide to consecutive A-League finals), the coach the hero himself, Terry Serepisos, and the All Whites captain from 1982 (one of only two NZers to score goals at a World Cup).

It costs 5k to join the chairmans club (limited to only 100 members) - so thats clearly not happening, but the other packages actually look quite reasonable.

For $180 you get a season pass to all 10 home games along with a pack of stuff including bumper stickers, pins etc... which I dont think is too bad - only $18 a game. Plus I do like the idea of having 'season tickets'. hmmm.

WTF?

I just watched the most fucked up documentary ever. It was one of those shows that is so messed up that you just cant look away.

Amputee Admirers on Sky's Documentary Channel - heres the link to prove im not making this up!

The synopsis kind of says it all as follows -

Exploring the extraordinary desires of men who are only sexually attracted to amputee and disabled women. The film follows a group of amputees to San Jose where a weekend for amputee admirers is held.

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

This week I have been listening to the new album from Chicago band, Wilco, called Sky Blue Sky.

The album is Wilco's ninth, but this is the first one I have listened to at any great length. Now im told this isnt as good as their earlier work, but regardless of that - Im loving it.

For me Jeff Tweedy's vocals are outstanding, he sounds like John Lennon during the late 60s, 'white' album era. The band clearly draw on the Beatles from that era, and you can definitely hear Dylan, Velvet Underground and alt-country influences. The album has a great raw feel to it - and I think people who dug Ryan Adams' Jacksonville or even Jeff Buckley will also like this.

Track 3, Impossible Germany has an absolutely kick ass riff that is stuck in my head. Side with the Seeds is also outstanding as is Walken and Shake it Off. But its the consistency of the album that im loving.

At this stage the album should make my highly anticipated (by me anyway! lol) albums of the year list.

Check it out - there are free previews here

Some inspiration to start the week

Hat tip to Think Geek's poster collection - you can buy your own here!

Big things

Another NZ township is about to get one of those big things. This time its a blatant plug for the Simpson's Film - but hey I love these things all the same.

Springfield, about an hour from Christchurch is to get a huge donut which will be unveiled by Homer and Bart.

I think someone should pull together a NZ big things website and suggested driving tour to go around them all - my favourites are the big L&P bottle in Paeroa, the Carrot in Ohakune, the Kiwifruit in Te Puke and of course Mary in Paraparaumu.

Australia is bigger on big things than NZ (they have 146 of them!) - check out their site here or the wikipedia list of them here