Intercollegiate Quidditch

I chucked this on the facebook a while ago when I wasn't bothering posting on here.

But anyway, did you know there is an Intercollegiate Quidditch league in the US? How awesome/dorky is that? It's a whole step up from US Civil War re-enactments and medieval jousting contests... at Manakau.


That's some logo huh? But the best bit has to be running around with a broom like a six year old. I think you know you've hit rock bottom when you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror, dressed up in your quidditch gears holding your broom - you would just think to yourself; 'what the fuck is wrong with me? what the hell am I doing?'

Anyway, check it out, I'm sure it will catch on...

Christmas tree

Shameless promotion really, but this is pretty cool I think - I'm off to Auckland today for the launch of our Christmas tree. Wellingtonians will have also noticed that one has popped up in Frank Kitts Park as well this year which gets switched on from Tuesday night. (hard not to notice a 30m or seven storey tall tower)

There a phone boxes at the base of the tree for kids to call santa from - their wishes shoot up the tree to the star. For the older kids you can just sit on the beanbags underneath it and gaze at the lightshow.

So check it out - Western Park, Ponsonby Rd Akld or Frank Kitts Park, Jervois Qy Wgtn.

Vid gives you the idea

Looking for Eric

Tonight I went and watched the very good comedy drama, Looking for Eric at the Lighthouse. It's about a middle aged guy named Eric from Manchester who has hit rock bottom in his life. He is bringing up two little shit teenage boys who both hate him and a daughter (and grand daughter) by another woman whom he still longs after. Basically, Man U legend Eric Cantona appears to him as a hallucination, acting as a desperately needed life coach and personal trainer.

It's essentially like mixing the Premier League with the Full Monty - along the same lines as numerous other gritty British flicks, but still very funny and definitely worth checking out. The strong cast is made up of several well known faces from shows like the excellent, Shameless, but Steve Evets is particularly strong as Eric.

Oooh ahh Cantona! Check out the trailer.

So anyway, while we're on Cantona - here are a few highlights (all of which are of course referenced in the film). The amazing goal from the 1996 FA Cup final against Liverpool that he powered into the net off a Beckham corner that rebounded off the keeper. The kung fu kick against a Crystal Palace fan (which was later used by Ash as the cover of their single 'Kung Fu'), and lastly the subsequent press conference where he blew everyone away with his genius philosophical insights.

The goal


The kick


The press conference

Will it blend?

An oldie but a goodie. I'd forgotten how cool these were - basically he blends stuff and it's badass

BB Gun


and the iPhone3G

Fkin Nazis, nothin changes

I watched the over hyped Boy in Striped Pyjamas the other night and I'll be blunt, I thought it was nonsense.

It's from the director of feel-good classics like Little Voice and Brassed Off. Turns out that brass bands and show tunes are more his thing.

I'm no fan of flippant treatment of the holocaust which meant this tosh tried my patience. It annoys the hell out of me when people try to find 'beauty' in war - actually war is ugly and it's no source of hope.

This film is the story of the nine year old son of a Nazi Commandant who runs a concentration camp. The son makes friends with 'the boy in striped pyjamas' who is on the other side of a rather flimsy and unguarded wire fence that would look more at home keeping bobby calves penned in.

Cut to the chase, we are all supposed to feel warm and fuzzy as the boys play together and eventually the Nazi boy simply burrows under the fence so they can kick about like normal kids and have a gay old time. SPOILER ALERT. Then tragedy ensues as, sure enough, they both end up in the gas chamber and are killed before the Commandant realises his son is in there. You know, forget the other 100 people in there - it's really shocking the Nazi kid got dragged into all this...

Why should killing the Nazi kid accidentally be any more shocking than butchering everyone else deliberately?

Why do we need to humanise the Nazis? Why do we need to look for humanity or some sort of beauty in the fucking holocaust? Six million people of different races and creeds suffered horrific deaths - end of story - and frankly I don't need some sentimental schmaltz to help me reflect on how there are no real winners from conflict or that we could all learn from the supposedly innocent children.

All White Motherf@%kers!

Well it still doesn't quite seem real but the All White's are in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

I've never seen anything like last night. The crowd was amazing - almost entirely in white, chanting and carrying on the whole night. Unbelievable noise - my ears were ringing when Fallon scored from Leo's cross and yet it still got louder and crazier when Paston saved the penalty from the spot.

Wellington is the only place where you could pull off that atmosphere in New Zealand - it was epic.

Watts and I were both kitted out in our All White gears and we were still carrying on well after the final whistle.

How badass would it be if we had England, Australia and the All Whites in one pool? How badass is it that we can even talk about which pool we are going to be in!?

Time to book some flights to Africa!

Labia you dumb mole

I know I've blogged about this film before, but I watched again last night and shit it's funny.

In case you havent seen it, Hercules Returns is pretty much the best Australian film ever. It's about these people who try to reopen an old Melbourne cinema - The Picture Palace. But on opening night they are sabotaged by the local multiplex owners who swap the English version of Hercules for the Italian one. So they set about re-dubbing the film - and it's hilarious.

MMP Poll

In an excellent use of the Facebook, UMR research did a preview of a poll that it is releasing tomorrow on MMP.

It is based on the referenda we will undertake at the next election. My feeling is that it will be a tight race and a lot will depend on peoples satisfaction with the Government going into the election.

The poll puts MMP on 48 per cent support with 40 per cent saying they would like a change of system (I assume the remainder don't know).

I think most peoples disatisfaction with MMP arose when a large number of people didn't end up getting the government they wanted after a minor party shifted its support around. Like for example in 1996, when NZ First went with National after saying it would never do that, and NZ First accepting those baubles in 2005 with the relatively popular Greens missing out altogether.

But currently we have a popular government, so not surprisingly, most people are opting to stick with the status quo. So this could change obviously - especially if the Government continues to "do nothing" as Rodney says.

As I've said before, I think we need to keep MMP, but I would like to see a few improvements.

Sing us a song, you're the piano man

Very cool subway stair installation

What it sounds like when doves cry

Yesterday I made reference to Kevin Smith's Prince story. He told the story as part of his campus Q and A tour he did a couple of years ago. So anyway, its one of the funniest anecdotes that I've ever heard and leaves you in no doubt as to Prince's sanity. Luckily someone has posted in four parts - so here it is - a great watch if you're bored at work!

The penguin

Ok so I admit, I have been to see This Is It twice. I wouldn't say I loved it - but I think it did offer some interesting insights and totally worth seeing if you are a fan.

He kind of reminded me of Kevin Smith's descriptions of his interactions with Prince - just detached from any kind of reality, but pretty fucking talented all the same. Like how Prince's PA said he had spent the last 10 years in Prince-world, I think Michael had spent the last thirty years on Planet Michael.

Some of it like the uber-naff Earth Song was a bit of a drag, but you couldn't help but get into it when he broke out Smooth Criminal, Billie Jean and my favourite - Beat It. Is it just me, or would it be totally badass to break out the Beat It dance in the office? Go to the 3:50 mark on this video clip if you embarrassingly don't know the dance I'm referring to.

Of course with a nutbar there were some funny bits - like when he talked about loving the trees and what not, but the best WTF moment had to be the penguin flap thing during the painful, Human Nature which has turned into a bit of a youtube phenomenon. (see below) I think the Captain Crunch jacket only adds to it.

Mama-se mama-sa ma-makusa, indeed

You have no power over me

I got home from the pub tonight and chucked on Jim Henson's classic Labyrinth... as you do... and in doing so, I finally realised who Rodney Hide reminds me of - he looks like Hoggle!

Separated at birth? Seriously - the cheekbones, nose, forehead, eyes, lips look identical!

It's a virus - nothing we can do

Unruly Media in the UK have come up with some of the coolest campaigns in the last 12 months and I thought I'd share a few

Pot Noodle wanted to do a spoof of this -



So Unruly came up with this -



They came up with a yodeling XBox game - Alpine Legend - to promote a snowboarding festival in Austria



And of course my favourite - they pulled together T-Mobile's karaoke sing along in Trafalgar Square