Kahukura

New addition to my walls - Gordon Walters' Kahukura (obviously not the original 0 but rather a print of it from Te Papa's fantastic redeveloped gift shop). This is to compliment Yvonne Todd's "Together" and the two Dick Frizzell cushions that I bought - but forgot to blog about last week. You can see them here in any case - Tiki and Tui are the one's I bought.

Sailing away

I spent half of yesterday sailing around Wellington Harbour on the Australian Navy's tall ship - Young Endeavour. The Young Endeavour scheme is kind of like NZ Spirit of Adventure ship or Outward Bound in NZ - except on a boat!

They took 40 or so of us for a sail around the harbour and we all had to help with pulling the sails up etc - it was a lot of fun! Below are pics - I forgot to take my camera, so the ones below are from my phone - and above is from their website (shows you what the thing looks like) We had the sails up just like it is above. A great way to spend an afternoon - smoking it around the harbour (well 17 knots anyway). The second photo is of the crew tightening the square sails after they were put away - fuck that for a joke!

World class

While its still early days, I think we may very well have found a winner.

You will remember the desk calendar that Tinks donated to the cause, where each day is a paper plane, well we have found the best one I think. The Gemini! (pictured)

The Gemini is a relatively simple design - only one cut, but it's fast, has a unique inverse nose, and has a number of folds at the front - increasing the weight etc. The best feature though is that - it goes far and straight - what more could you ask for??

Ive tried to take a photo ( I only have my mobile) of the instructions to allow readers to make their own - but frankly it isnt working out. This makes me think we need a downloads section! With daily downloads of paper planes to make... yes!

Tomorrow is the "Dragon" but frankly it will have to be something special to even equal the performance of Gemini.

When you don't know - be funny!

This is from David Farrar's tory blog - but I thought it was just so funny that I had to share!

And the winner is...

You will remember a month or so back I made my picks for the Oscars - so I know you're just wetting yourself in anticipation to know how it went - so here goes!

SCREENPLAY - ORIGINAL
Oscar - Little Miss Sunshine, My Pick - The Queen

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Oscar - Pans Labyrinth, My Pick - Pans Labyrinth

ANIMATED FEATURE
Oscar - Happy Feet, My Pick - Happy Feet

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Oscar - The Lives of Others, My Pick - Pans Labyrinth

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Oscar - An Inconvenient Truth, My Pick - An Inconvenient Truth (also won best song)

ACTRESS - SUPPORTING
Oscar - Jennifer Hudson, My Pick - Cate Blanchett (she was robbed! Although I had said I wanted Abigail Breslin to win)

ACTRESS - LEADING
Oscar - Helen Mirren, My Pick - Helen Mirren

ACTOR - SUPPORTING
Oscar - Alan Arkin, My Pick - Eddie Murphy (Although again I had said I wanted Arkin to win, I didnt think he would)

ACTOR - LEADING
Oscar - Forest Whitaker, My Pick - Forest Whitaker (incredible performance)

DIRECTING
Oscar - The Departed, My Pick - Babel

BEST PICTURE
Oscar - The Departed, My Pick - Babel (I had said I wanted Little Miss Sunshine, but thought Babel would win - wrong on both fronts!)

So 5 out of 11, frankly below par performance. Its interesting how a month ago when I made my picks, there was a lot of heat around Babel, but in the end it failed miserably! I guess like me, people were picking it before they had seen it! Basing their picks on all the talk and the cast.

Good lord

The good people over at When in Rome, well Chris, has done what can only be described as an accurate portrait of me.

Im not sure he quite gets my Afro-American complexion quite right, but all the same - its pretty funny. View here

One Woman's Mistake Is Another's Opportunity...

Last night I saw the Oscar nominated, pyscho-thriller Notes on a Scandal, which features Dame Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. Normally im not much of a fan of Blanchett - she was the worst bit of Lord of the Rings and till now I thought she was frankly a little overrated, but this film changed all that.

Notes is the story of two teachers at a high school, Dench plays the matriarch of the school, as head of history, and Blanchett is the new Art teacher fitting nicely into the naive well-to-do chardonnay socialist mould. Dench's character is basically infatuated with Blanchett, and when she finds out that Blanchett is having an affair... with a pupil, Dench, while angry at first, realises she can use this to her advantage "I could gain everything by doing nothing," she muses - blackmailing Blanchett's character into spending more time with her "as good friends".

Naturally everything spirals further and further out of control, building to an intense closing chapter that will have you on edge.

Dench is incredible as the sinister, manipulative older woman, reminding me soo much of Kathy Bates in Misery. The story, written by Patrick Marber (Closer - and of course the guy in the wheel chair in Knowing me, Knowing YULE with Alan Partridge) is incredibly dark, yet funny and very witty at the same time.

It is just a shame that this film comes at the same time as The Queen. Often the Best Actress category can be won by films or roles that are frankly not that crash hot - Halle Berry for example, yet both the Dames (Mirren and Dench) deserve recognition for these outstanding performances.

Definitely see this film

**** 1/2

Together we can rebuild our lives

Today I got free art! Im just not sure whether to put it up at home or in my office.

In 2005 Artspace in Auckland ran an exhibition called "Free NZ Art" it essentially was stacks of posters of new works by contemporary artists including Gordon Walters, John Reynolds, et al among others.

From this collection I already had Dane Mitchell's "Bubblewrap" (which is a photo of bubblewrap), but now I also have Yvonne Todd's "Together" (pictured).

I love the ambiguity of it - there is something almost dark or sinister about it, dont you think?

Im thinking I will put it up at home, and then try to get the Reynolds one for my office - which has the text - "What Kierkegaard said about God - applies to politics too: whatever we think, we are bound, in the end, to be wrong." Which I think will suit my office.

Keep your hands to yourself

Today, Sue Bradford's "Anti Smacking Bill" goes for its second reading. Obviously im all for the bill, and it does look like it will now pass to the Committee of the Whole (which is the next stage of debate in the house), before it is read a third time (and becomes law). This is a Conscience issues for most parties, although Labour and the Greens are voting as parties. The expected Ayes are; Labour 49, Greens 6, National 6, Maori 4, NZ First 3, Progressive 1, United Future 1, and the expected Noes are; National 42, ACT 2, NZ First 4, United Future 2, Independent 1, meaning a 70-51 split in favour.

You will note that six National MPs are supporting the bill to the next stage. They have said they will attempt to water it down in committee - which could in effect kill the bill, by making it unacceptable to Labour and the Greens.

On a principle level I think it is abhorent that the law deems it ok for a parent to physically assault their child, but not fellow adults - or anyone else for that matter! Section 59 of the Crimes Act, which this bill seeks to repeal, was recently used by a South Island Woman to defend her use of a metal bar, jug cord, and swinging a clothes iron by the chord on her son, this is indefensible in my opinion - but legally she was protected. This bill removes that legal protection should a case be brought to court - of course just like assault between adults, not every case will be prosecuted nor reported.

This is about the state saying that actually, we don't condone violence, at all. Why shouldnt children have the same protection and human rights as any other individual?

JFK Video

The Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas has made public another video of the Kennedy Motorcade moments before he was shot. You can view the video here. It has probably the best footage (avoiding the word 'shot') of Jackie that is around, while also shooting down (I know its bad) one element of common conspiracies with a rare close up of JFKs back - showing his jacket bunched up, which is a plausible explanation for why the bullet hole was in a different place to the corresponding puncture wound in his back.

While it doesnt shed any new light on who might have done it, its fascinating all the same and gives a good impression of the atmosphere of the visit.

Oh you just can't beat Wellington on a good day

Couldn't go without mentioning this week we're having. The weekend was stunning - now check this out - the view from my office today, not a cloud in the sky!

Movie of the week

Ok ive seen some pretty good flicks of late - the fantastic - Last King of Scotland, the arthouse (read sex people film) Shortbus and the slightly disappointing but funny all the same For Your Consideration. But after a few beers on the weekend, there was no film I wanted to watch more than - Robocop.

Let me tell you, it was an absoute ripper. It ruled in the 80s, and it still rules now - he's a cop thats been transformed into an invincible crime fighting robot in the crazy late 1990s world of New Detroit! What could possibly be cooler? Ok yes Commando still ranks highly - but I fully recomend re-visiting Robocop - it will blow your mind!

Did I mention he gets transformed into a robot??

Good alround cricket really

I figure that while working for the Australians the chances of me getting to gloat over a series win in cricket will be few and far between - so its fair to say im making the most of it!

Friday night saw Australia lose by 10 wickets for the first time in a one dayer to NZ, and this was backed up yesterday with Aussie posting a ground record for Eden Park of 336, which NZ reached with 8 balls to spare! I watched the Friday game from the Air NZ corporate box at westpac stadium, was the first time I had been invited to a specific box, rather than just one of the bigger lounges - must say its nice to see how the proverbial other half live from time to time.

In other news - predictably im coming last in the Virtual Rugby, although I am only 6 points behind Nath (but well behind in the PMO challenge).

And lastly, while I was a big fan of the waterfront option, Eden Park has been confirmed as the venue for the 2011 Rugby World Cup Final with a new stand to be built. The Eden Park Trust Baord frankly caused all the trouble with this. When we got the cup - no one expected a $400-500 million upgrade of Eden Park, but realistically expected at least the Southern Stand being replaced - and this is what is now happening, with temporary seats to top up the remainder. Also before people start getting upset over scaffolding and planks of wood - 80 per cent of the seating at the new London stadium for the Olympics will be temporary, with the venue being reduced to hold 20 000 after the event, and also 30 per cent of the seats at Stadium Australia were temporary during those Olympics.

Retro madness

So far in my new job I have had to use the online broadcast of Radio New Zealand National (previously National Radio), but not anymore.

During my weekend shopping expedition I picked up the little gem pictured, for my desk.

Don't you just love the aerial in the middle?

Don't make yourself busy son

Australian Prime Minister, John Howard has mouthed off criticising Barack Obama, and the Democrats for saying that the US should get out of Iraq by March 2008.

The conservative leader said that Obama's pledges on Iraq were good news only for insurgents operating in the war-ravaged country.

"I think he's wrong. I think that will just encourage those who want to completely destabilise and destroy Iraq, and create chaos and a victory for the terrorists to hang on and hope for an Obama victory"
"If I were running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory not only for Obama but also for the Democrats."

To which Obama responded:

"I think it's flattering that one of George Bush's allies on the other side of the world started attacking me the day after I announced"
"I would also note that we have close to 140,000 troops in Iraq, and my understanding is Mr Howard has deployed 1,400, so if he is ... to fight the good fight in Iraq, I would suggest that he calls up another 20,000 Australians and sends them to Iraq.
"Otherwise it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric."

Kartel a go go

Check it out - my hot new bathroom cabinet, not the fish bowl now has a new home. (Two new fish to come later today).

Your ideas for the fish names would be appreciated.

But again how much does that cabinet rule?

A new campaign

Avaaz.org is a new global online movement and has been set up by the people behind MoveOn.org in the US. They are going to use the internet in much the same way as MoveOn to mobilise people at their desks.

First up they are going to be running TV ads and lobbying governments in the countries which are currently the worst carbon emitters - US, China, India, Russia, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, UK, Canada, and Brazil.

Show your support and sign their petition here.

Zack on Barack

Just a quick one today, Zack Exley, who was one of the people behind MoveOn.org and ran UK Labour's web campaign in 2005 (where I met and had a yarn with him over a beer), has done a great piece on what Obama needs to do in terms of his web campaign.

Zack compares this to the infamous Kennedy v Nixon TV debate in 1960. This was the first TV debate, and on substance it was even, but Kennedy was hailed as the winner, as he presented himself well - Nixon ignorred the visual aspect, was unshaven, his suit didnt fit etc etc. So Zack challenges Obama to begin a campaign that asks a million people to sign up on his site to support his run for the White House, in the next month otherwise he will pull out. This is a great idea, a million people will definitely sign up, and immediately Obama will mobilise the grassroots.

Well worth a read - check it out.

Poll of Polls Jan/Feb 07

As part of my new job I have begun doing a "poll of polls" and I thought - wait a sec! that would make a half interesting post!

So here it is. There have been two polls since the beginning of 2007. Roy Morgan on 30 Jan, and TV3/TNS on 5 February. The poll of polls is done by simply taking the mean results by party across all the polls in this period. Granted not that scientific, but avoids rogue polls and is quite a good gauge. Roy Morgan had Labour and National even on 41, while TV3 gave Labour a 3 point lead - the first poll Labour has led since August.

The poll with december rating in brackets
Labour - 42.5 (38)
National - 41 (43.5)
Green - 7.75 (8.5)
New Zealand First - 3.4 (4.5) - Would be a goneburger completely with no electorate seat
Maori - 2 (1.75) - Party would hold 4 Maori seats
ACT - 1.15 (1) - Hide would hold Epsom
United Future - 0.9 (1.75) - Dunne would hold Ohariu-Belmont
Progressives - 0.25 (0.25) - Anderton would hold Wigram

(Anderton and one of the Maori seats will cause the house to "overhang" by two seats)

On these ratings the house and government would look like this:
Government - 65 seats
Labour 53, Greens 10, Progressive 1 and probably United Future 1

Oppositition - 57 seats
National 52, Maori 4, ACT 1

The high rating the Greens are recording is a good sign, this is probably an indication of the coverage they have been getting over Climate Change in recent months.

While Labour and the Greens could govern alone, I would expect the PM to still involve Anderton and Dunne, as much to maintain those relationships as anything else.

Hollywoodland - bollocks

WARNING: Spoilers ahead - read it anyway you will be more annoyed going to see this knobcheese.

This was supposed to be my review of Hollywoodland, which had been talked up to me. Its the true story of George Reeves, who in the 1950s played Superman in the TV version. Reeves was typecast as Superman, and when that was canned he topped himself.

Hollywoodland follows a Private Investigator (Adrien Brody), who has been hired by Reeves (Ben Affleck) mother who suspects he was murdered! DA DA DAAA. So the whole thing turns into who-dun-it, which was reasonably enjoyable. Until the completely unfulfilling ending. He DID kill himself. So after finding out that he was having an affair with a big crooked studio boss, he seemed just the type to kill, and told all the holes in the case - and getting wound up in the suspense - oh no he did kill himself.

In short the film is: Oh my god George Reeves killed himself! But maybe he didnt?? Da Da Daaa. Oh no, he definitely did.

Dont bother with it, utter waste of time!

In other more exciting news, my package has arrived from Amazon! What was in it you ask?
- The League of Gentlemen: Are Behind You! (new live DVD)
- Little Britain: the interactive DVD game, featuring games like Name that Gay!
- Do the Right Thing - the only film from my top 5 that I didnt own, and...
- Spaced series 1 and 2 collectors edition (great show by the guys who made Shawn of the Dead).

As you can tell my week will be fairly full!

On our national day

Tomorrow is of course Waitangi Day, and to mark the occasion I will be making a purchase to finally complete the bathroom rennovations. I had been looking for a storage unit for my bathroom for sometime, and finally I have found something cool enough.

Backhouse Interiors stock the Commonbilli module range by Kartell (just nod and 'mmm' as though you know what I mean). Unfortunately they no longer do red, but all the same White will do me fine.

As you can see in the picture - they pretty much rule!

Its either the little two door or three door that im going for.

Twilight Cinema

As part of the Summer in the City programme, the Wellington Twilight Cinema is again up and running. Last year I saw the very excellent/trippy Triplets of Belleville at the Dell in the Botanical Gardens.

This year there is a change of venue - the Wellington Vellodrome of all places in Haitaitai, still theres a pretty good programme, so while the rest of Wellington is at the Sevens tonight, we're heading to the Twilight Cinema to watch kiwi classic - Footrot Flats!

Other films making up the programme - the animated Over the Hedge (at the Zoo!), An Inconvinient Truth, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Motorcycle Diaries, Little Miss Sunshine, Napolean Dynamite - plus quite a few others.

So well done to those people behind the outdoor cinema, Ive always thought that the film centre (now the Film Archive) should have set one up when they were looking for new premises.

Naive? Stupid? Right?

Ive been talking to some of my colleagues today who believe that the only reason Australia got an FTA with the US, is because of their partaking in the invasion and coup in Iraq. They also believe that while NZ continues its stance of being friendly while still mouthing off about the US, that NZ has no chance what so ever of obtaining an FTA with the US. What little chance we did have seems to have been scuttled when we didnt take part in the invasion.

So I guess the question is - was that the right decision?

Now, the Iraq situation is an absolute cock up of epic proportions. But Australia have managed to obtain the elusive US FTA, by being part of that. President Clinton identified in 1995 that regime change in Iraq was desirable, so even if things had have been different and we were in the last 2 years of a Gore administration - chances are at some point a US sanctioned coup would have happenned anyway. So I guess, while we all think things will be better once the Bush administration is gone in 2008, will it really? Theyre still the US, and the Democrats, while much better on the economy and their internal social policy, were still foreign policy bullies - blowing the crap out of a load of places.

So is it in New Zealand's long-term interests to remain one step removed from the US? Or should we look to re-establish ourselves as an ally of the US? I argued that if NZ were to take part in the invasion, it would have been electoral suicide for Clark, to which they responded that both Howard and Blair have both been returned since the invasion, and it is only now having an effect on Bush, and that Brash was pro-war anyway so voters would have stuck with Labour in anycase. (which I disagree with - people were unhappy with the govt, but wanted no part of the war more, so stuck with Labour on that basis, if war wasnt an issue, then they would have just been unhappy with the govt...).

So was it naive of New Zealand to think that we could still negotiate an FTA with the US after refusing to take part in their invasion? I think the answer is yes. Is it stupid to continually be nice one minute, and slag them off the next? Probably yes, but you have the problem of having one audience that wants to hear nice things, and another that doesnt (the electorate). And was it right to stay out of the invasion and lose that holy grail of an FTA? Yes it was. There was and still is no reason for an invasion of Iraq, and yes maybe Australia are laughing all the way to the bank - but it all comes back to the salient question - what is a human life worth? Is an FTA really worth the loss of thousands of young soldiers lives, let alone hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's? I think not, but still, it makes you think about the morality of war and politics.

Go you good thing!

I called it! My film of the year has apparently pulled ahead as the favourite for Best Picture at the Oscars. Little Miss Sunshine, like Kiwi in the Melbourne Cup, has come from nowhere in a phenomenal performance to pick up both the SAG and PGA Best Picture.

Read all about it here

In other news Harry Potter is getting his kit off for a play in London. The play about a stablehand who goes postal on some horses, features a whoolllee lot of young Daniel Radcliffe. Apparently this has upset a lot of parents, their kids could find out about what those bits and pieces really are! You can see the promo shots here - you know you want to. Dirty people.

Possibly one of the all time great gifts

As a farewell gift from the Beehive, Tinks gave me a desk calendar - but not just any desk calendar...

You see when you tear off each day, there are instructions on how to fold that into a paper plane! There is a new one everyday, todays "The Griffen" (blue one in the pic) was an absolute ripper - it does a loop without you doing anything. Amazing.

Tomorrows is called The Eagle - can't wait.

Also Tinks had suggested that I set up a Paper Plane blog to record the flights of each every day - we'll see!

Haven't we been over this?

During the 90s the National Government introduced a "work for the dole" scheme, and in short it was a failure.

Fast forward to 2007, and what is the great new policy to come out of the National and Maori parties? Work for the Dole! What else? They both argue that people on the dole need motivation, and need to learn how to work and their "new" scheme will deliver this.

Now while Im all for not letting facts get in the way of a good yarn, I feel it necessary to cast a little reality on this policy. Firstly unemployment reached record highs during the 1990s, so much so that National said unemployment would never go below 6% of the population again, and that it was unrealistic to attempt to better that. Helen Clark was mocked by the media and opposition when she set 4.5% as a target during the 1999 election campaign. Currently New Zealand has the lowest unemployment rate in the developed world (OECD) at only 3.6% only one other country has a rate below 4% and that is South Korea at 3.8%. More New Zealanders are in jobs now than ever before, and since 1999, over 100 jobs have been created every single day. So its fair to say, there is little need for a push in this area.

But of course nobody likes dolescum, do they? So what better button to push? Start by saying that this is a growing problem, especially amongst Maori (ooooo brown people), and say that they are too lazy and need to learn how to earn their living. In theory its hard to argue with it I admit. However the reality is quite different.

What work exactly do you get these people to do? If a job actually needed doing, you would pay someone to do it wouldnt you? So either, you get people on the dole to do a job - essentially for free, instead of someone who would otherwise do such a job, or you get them to do something for the hell of it - which is what happened last time.

If the government gets people on the dole to say empty the rubbish bins down Cuba Mall, well that means the person who is hired to do that now will lose their job - meaning you are extending the problem. The other option is that you get them to essentially dig a hole, re-fill said hole, and dig it again (this actually happened). The effort is better spent on providing actual job and skills training to people and growing the economy so more jobs are created and people can find a proper job rather than steal someone elses (effectively as slave labour), or dig a hole for no reason.

Don't be sucked in by the rhetoric around these sorts of schemes, in theory they sound great, but the reality is very different.

Early days but who knows?

The Democratic Primary campaign is well underway, the three front runners, Senator Clinton, Senator Obama and former Senator and 2004 Vice Presidential nominee, John Edwards have all begun strongly.

As I have said before while Clinton is clearly the favourite, and in nationwide polls has opened up a 17 per cent advantage over nearest rival Barack Obama, Im still not convinced that she is electable. The first polls in the states where the first party caucuses (primary elections) are held appear to be showing my thoughts could be on the money. In New Hampshire (where I will prob spend some time campaigning next year) Obama has a 5 point lead over Clinton and nearly a 10 point lead over Edwards, but the big shock for me is Iowa.

Iowa is a funny state, but crucial to anyones chances, if you fall badly at Iowa - youre stuffed. In 2004 Howard Dean was the clear favourite for the Democratic nomination, but from absolutely nowhere and thanks to doing the hard yards, John Kerry took Iowa, and never looked back.

On current polling, Clinton is not only behind, but is way back in fourth place. John Edwards holds a slight advantage over Obama, with Clinton trailing. This is important because Iowa is where most of the hardcore campaigning will happen in the next 12 months, and with Clinton being written off by some already, she has a long way to go to avoid an embarassing first up thrashing - which could de-rail her campaign entirely.

To have any chance, candidates have to perform strongly in the early races. If Obama and Edwards are able to open up any sort of early lead, it may well be too much for Clinton to pull back.

Battle of the Titans

There is a modern NZ version of Monopoly coming, and at the moment you can vote on which places you want to be in.

Which is where this story from todays Herald comes from. Palmerston North and New Plymouth are engaging in a slanging match over who should represent the central north island. The choice is between Pukekura Park in New Plymouth, The Square in Palmerston North and the third option is Mt Ruapehu.

New Plymouth is definitely the better city - has the best contemporary Art gallery in Australasia - the Govett Brewster, has Puke Ariki, and the wind wand! But regardless, Mt Ruapehu is definitely more significant than either.

The big question though, which the lame mainstream media have failed to ask - what about the Asian Market Gardener in Levin??? The Mall?? New World??? That kids park on the main road?? Hmm on second thought.

You too can vote here on this piece of history

Virtual Super 14

The annual Virtual Super 14 is underway again, and while my track record of late hasnt been quite what it could have been, this series does begin on the back of the domestic cricket comp, which at one point saw me at number1 in the whole comp of 11,000 people, well 1st equal at least.

So run along and sign up - my tag on there is viewaskew37 (the name refers to Kevin Smith's production company, and the 37 is from Clerks...)

What colour are you?

The Oz Politics Blog has a really good quiz of 50 questions - which determines which Australian political party you match.

Apparently Im left of the ALP (Aust Labor Party - no they dont use the u in Labour) and match up with the Australian Democrats (minor party a bit like Jim Anderton in NZ), so pretty much being left of the ALP means im NZ Labour! Who would've guessed?

On Political Outlook
I scored -45.8% meaning im Centre-Left

On Economic Policy
I scored -12.8% meaning im Centrist

On Social Policy
I scored - 33% meaning im Centre-Left

and the mac-daddy on Traditional (or moral) issues
I scored -96% meaning im Far-Left!

Now while this is for Australian Politics - the questions translate, and I worked on the basis of the New Zealand situation when answering questions about Aborigines etc.

Take the test!

Radio Supernova

My new work has all sorts of weird restrictions on what you can do on your computer - which has caused one problem - no ITunes!

I was at a loss as to how I could remedy this - granted I listen to Radio New Zealand National online in the mornings in anycase (goes with the job), but from 10 onwards (except for the midday news) I like/need music.

Well its Oasis to the rescue - you will notice under links that I have added Radio Supernova - its web based and required no downloads, you just pick what source you want from Album tracks, Acoustic tracks, B Sides, Live tracks and it plays a random selection of tracks - for as long as you are on there!

Check it out via my links section, and yes Karen not only has your link been restored - its now the New Adventures of Karen! (Just like Superman but with slightly less spandex).

Oscar 07: The official picks

Welcome to my official picks for the 2007 Academy awards. Yes true I havent seen most of these films, but that wont stop me! If you want to join in, or youre little bit bored click here to download a PDF ballot form. Ive only done picks in categories I care about, so fuck sound editing in other words. My picks are in bold, and where I think my pick wont actually win ive asterixed who i think will:

SCREENPLAY - ORIGINAL
BABEL, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, PAN’S LABYRINTH, THE QUEEN

CINEMATOGRAPHY
THE BLACK DAHLIA, CHILDREN OF MEN, THE ILLUSIONIST, PAN’S LABYRINTH, THE PRESTIGE

ANIMATED FEATURE
CARS, HAPPY FEET, MONSTER HOUSE

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
AFTER THE WEDDING, DAYS OF GLORY (INDIGÈNES), THE LIVES OF OTHERS, PAN’S LABYRINTH, WATER

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
DELIVER US FROM EVIL, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS, JESUS CAMP, MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY

ACTRESS - SUPPORTING
Adriana Barraza – BABEL, Cate Blanchett – NOTES ON A SCANDAL*, Abigail Breslin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, Jennifer Hudson – DREAMGIRLS, Rinko Kikuchi – BABEL

ACTRESS - LEADING
Penélope Cruz – VOLVER, Judi Dench – NOTES ON A SCANDAL. Helen Mirren – THE QUEEN, Meryl Streep – THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, Kate Winslet – LITTLE CHILDREN

ACTOR - SUPPORTING
Alan Arkin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, Jackie Earle Haley – LITTLE CHILDREN, Djimon Hounsou – BLOOD DIAMOND, Eddie Murphy – DREAMGIRLS*, Mark Wahlberg – THE DEPARTED

ACTOR - LEADING
Leonardo DiCaprio – BLOOD DIAMOND, Ryan Gosling – HALF NELSON, Peter O’Toole – VENUS, Will Smith – THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, Forest Whitaker – THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

DIRECTING
BABEL, THE DEPARTED, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, THE QUEEN, UNITED 93

BEST PICTURE
BABEL*, THE DEPARTED, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, THE QUEEN

Its begun - Let the dirt fly!

US Senators Clinton (D-NY) and Obama (D-Il) have confirmed they are both in the running to be President, and not even a week later the muck is already flying.

After CNN outed the fact that Obama wasn't actually educated as a radical muslim (you would think the whole Christian thing would have put that to rest!) as the Republican's would have you believe - story here.

So when all else fails out him! Da Da DAAAAA

He smokes. As Fox News asked - Would you vote for a smoker as President?????

Well they did vote for a recovering alcoholic who had a drug problem in his 20s and 30s! (And Fox News still support him!)

Blackbird Singing Ver.2

Thanks to Google's improvements Ive finally been able to make Blackbird Singing look roughly how I want it to - basically im going for full screen stretch, allowing for wider images etc, and simple colours and lay out.

Im pretty sure it will stay like this for a while at least, and it should ideally stimulate more regular updates on all the important issues like who's been nominated for Oscars, who has made my top 5 all time cover versions of Beatle songs and so on.

And who knows - This year I might even finally get around to getting that Blackbird Singing lyric tattooed...

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

His Masters Voice

This is the second attempt at blogging this - if it crashes again ill scream! (hence its post dated)

Anyway, on the weekend I picked up Oasis' best of collection - Stop the Clocks on LP from Real Groovy. At one stage in the late 90s I often bought my favourite albums on LP as well as CD - almost as some kind of mark of respect... well kind of I guess.

I wasn't going to buy Stop the Clocks - couldnt really see the point, although it did reinforce my point that Definitely Maybe is far and away Oasis' best work. I was a tad dirty about hearing that the new album due mid to late 07, will feature a song titled - Stop the Clocks, so I ask you why not feature that on the best of as the title track??

So picking this has inspired me to get back into vinyl. I was originally going to buy a kick ass red-retro turntable from Ikoiko, but then fiscal restraint got the better of me and I drove to Levin and knicked the old man's one instead!

The other great vinyl purchase of the weekend was an original Factory Records version of Joy Division's Love will tear us apart - nice! And for only $19, I cant help but think that whoever priced this didnt appreciate the importance of Joy Division and Factory in general, and if you dont - watch 24hr Party People - they invented raves basically, and taught white folk how to dance!

Globes 07

Golden Globes were last night, and I managed to pick all three of the majors!

Babel predictably won Best Picture (Drama), but I was annoyed that Little Miss Sunshine missed out in the Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) section to Beyonce's musical Dreamgirls (that just sounds like quality doesnt it?).

I had only seen the trailer for the Last King of Scotland, but on the basis of that I was picking Forest Whitaker to take out Best Actor (Drama), who went on to win! The film is about former Ugandan dictator (who had a thing for military regalia - and kilts hence the title) Idi Amin and looks great.

Predictably Helen Mirren won Best Actress (Drama) for her role as Elizabeth II in The Queen and Best Actress (TV Mini Series or TV Movie) for her title role in Elizabeth I - which must be a first to win two awards for playing both Queen Elizabeth's in a single year? The Queen shouldnt be underestimated as a film - I was expecting a Doco Chanel style biopic, but this is a great insight into the royal family and their thinking. Its also a little reminder of how good Tony Blair was - but thats enough of that!

Sacha Baron Cohen also picked up Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) for Borat which was great to see - he also had one of the best speeches for the evening too - which ill leave you with.

" I was faced with a choice - death or to breathe in the air that had been trapped in a small pocket between his buttocks for 30 years. Kenneth, if it was not for that small rancid bubble, I would not be here today."

Spreading the rock

Jack Black's novelty rock band Tenacious D are back in New Zealand this week to play two kick ass shows in Christchurch and Auckland (not Wellington though.... ass holes, still Black did have his photo taken with me and signed my copy of their first album... No wait, fuck them Wellington is where the real fans are at, fuck them why should I blog about them?)

That said.... there was a great story in this morning's Christchurch Press (one perk im gonna lose no doubt - no more copies of all three major dailies - boohoo). Jack Black saw two kids - Matt and Alex busking their kick ass tunes in cathedral square and went up to them and asked if they would like to open the D's gig tonight. How cool is that??

Alex and Matt's only other concert performance was the St Albans Primary School Talent Quest, they are apparently gonna play All Along the Watchtower - and acknowledge AC/DC, the Stones, Led Zeppellin and Ziggy himself David Bowie (which is pretty mature tastes for a couple of 11 year olds huh.

Makes you wonder what legendary Levin three piece Party Kitchen with their underground cult following could have achieved if they had busked.........

Books and more

Well my last week in the Beehive is off to a predictably slow start so im working my way through some of the books I got for Christmas.

On the present front this was a great Christmas - without even asking I got stuff I wanted.

Today I am not reading a present, but rather a book that was lent to me - Nick Bollinger's How to Listen to Pop Music. Bollinger is a New Zealand music reviewer and this tells his story of how he got into music - its like a cross between High Fidelity and 32 Songs by Nick Hornby. Bollinger makes some great points - Everyone has an opinion on pop or rock music - you know whether you love or hate Robbie Williams etc, but most people wouldnt say whether they loved or hated say a Johnny Coltrane jazz track or a Bach symphony. Primarily because we think you have to have some sort of extra informed knowldge of those forms to comment, yet pop music is no less important or sophisticated but we still all back our opinions on this. Which I think is true - pop is safe and is viewed as unsophisticated, but just like wine - being expensive or held in high regard doesnt mean you have to like it, or that your palate is somehow poorer. I'll fully review the book at some point.

I was also given a book of compiled interviews with Noam Chomsky, which I began reading in Levin at Christmas. Admittedly Levin didnt provide a particularly suitable environment or headspace for reading Chomsky, but I still found it incredibly fascinating.

And finally still on the political front - two books by Barack Obama - Dreams of My Father, and The Audactity of Hope. Dreams is basically the story of his life growing up Black with a funny name in America, and Audacity is his positioning book as he sets himself up to run for the White House in 2008.

So what better way to finish than a quote from Obama -

..... there is not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America -- there’s the United States of America.

The pundits, the pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an "awesome God" in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people.

24 Hour Party People...... well nearly

What a night

Angus had his Stag do - which kicked ass and Baxter's brother arrived

Gus to be honest laid the smackdown on macca - producing possibly the best performance of Hey Jude ever - he made Macca's pathetic solo efforts wince with envy as half of wellington joined in for the chorus.

Normally stag nights arent my fare (not much of a bloke here - obviously), but this was fun - old mates having a yarn and Gus embarassing himself.

In other news Dot and Georgia gave birth to Otto - Baxter's little bro (whom I still have to teach crciket - hey he can say my name and is too busy with Thomas the Tank Engine at this stage!). Bax rules, and im sure Otto will too!

Fly fat ass fly!

This Christmas I knew all but one of the gifts I was receiving prior to the day - which I was kind of a little dirty about, not that I wasn't happy with what I knew was under the tree for me, but you know the odd surprise is a good thing.

But said gift that I didnt know made it all ok - a four dvd set of the "An Evening with Kevin Smith" series. For those who dont know - Kevin Smith is a fanboy film director who served up two of my all time favourite films - Clerks and Chasing Amy, and the excellent Mallrats (the title of this article is of course a line from Mallrats), Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and of course Clerks II.

The DVDs feature Kevin Smith going around colleges in the US, and then shows in London and Toronto where he basically takes questions on anything from the audience. Jay turns up in parts - where we learn his charming pick up lines "Yo you want me to get up in them guts?" and his favourite moves - Half, half, whole, swirrlllll.

But its Kevin Smith who kicks ass - delivering witty annecdotes on how he and his wife met, why Prince (as in Purple Rain) is a nutbar, why Tim Burton is an ass, what the good/obvious ending of Lord of the Rings should have been (with the added extra of Sam sucking Frodo off followed by Sam "bricking" in.... nevermind), why Mel Gibson sucks and has destroyed his career, but the best bits are Smith ribbing Affleck.

When signing copies of Dogma, Smith started writing "Is Gay" with a big arrow pointing to Affleck - Affleck found out about this and started doing the same thing (obviously with arrows pointing to Smith), so now when ever Smith gets a copy to sign where Affleck has written his bit on the cover - Smith now just writes "GIGLI" with an arrow. Touche.

But my favourite burn for Affleck was when he saw some article about himself which said how Smith and Affleck no longer get on, and he rang up Smith mildly shocked to talk about it, when Smith said "No dude I havent read it, I've been too busy dodging falling stars". BURN.

If I had a Top 5 all time present list - this would be up there.

Although now I think of that getting Tomahawk and Havoc one Christmas was bad ass, and then then all four Ninja Turtles one year rocked as well. Hmmmm may have to think over that statement a little further.

2006 was, 2007 will be?

Welcome to Blackbird Singing's innaugural annual awards (categories will be made up as I go along)

Song of the Year: This was a tough one, but in the end there was a clear winner - Blue Sky Blues from 29 by Ryan Adams. Sooo good.

Album of the Year: Lots of good stuff this year - Arctic Monkeys, Ryan Adams (x3!), even Sonic Youth's new album was outstanding, but by years end there is only one left standing - The Life Pursuit by Belle and Sebastian. Man theyre just great, and they continue to grow on me.

Newcomer of the Year: Only one candidate for me - Arctic Monkeys. They are outstanding, everything Oasis was around 1994/95.

TV Show of the Year: Again another tough one - some great new shows came on the scene - Harvey Birdman, The Daily Show (new to NZ at least), Extras, plus shows like Family Guy seemed to come of age. But the one for me is Curb Your Enthusiasm. Some people just dont get it, but I love the show - Larry is my hero! And you know deep inside Larry is lurking within you just waiting to unleash socially inept skills on everyone you know.

Movie of the Year: Lots of good stuff this year, No. 2 which I watched last week was great. An Inconvenient Truth was stunning and definitely the Political film of the year. But Little Miss Sunshine takes the cake for me simply a stunning film.

So there you have it. A pretty good year all up, I should write some great introspective piece here, but frankly im not nearly drunk enough for that!

2007 should be another great year too for sooo many reasons. A new job, with any luck Little Britain Live in Sydney, and then three weddings!

First up is Angus and Karen in Foxton (according to the welcome signs it's the Fox-town of New Zealand, Karen had her heart set on a Fox fur dress, so really there was no other option*).

The second one is very exciting (not that the others arent) - Dot and Georgia are getting Civil Unionised - which is my first Civil Union ceremony, im very excited about that! and thirdly is Misty and Michael at Wharerata in Palmerston North (the only people who took my advice on venues, so I have a vested interest in saying this will be the best one!)

So bring on 2007.

* - To any animal activists scouring the interweb for animal genocide, or other such horrors - before you get the red paint ready to throw - I am joking about the Fox fur dress!

Hallmark hookers

Normally im anti Christmas Cards - well greeting cards in general.

Why you ask? well whats the point? A whole industry has been created where you effectively have to add $5 to the price of gifts - so why not just say "merry christmas" or "happy birthday" when you hand said gift over?

The only other situation you normally use the card in is when you dont want to talk to someone, or buy a gift for someone, but feel the need to keep up that annual contact. If this is you - i ask, why not pick up the phone? Jerry Seinfeld calls greeting cards - Hallmark Hookers, you basically pay hallmark to do the job for you cause basically you can't be bothered.

Well anyway against my better judgement - I have made an exception and sent cards out this year. Tinks (Antony)- a friend of mine has made some cards that feature a piece of grafiti that he saw in Melbourne earlier this year - someone had written "Santa isnt real kids" on a wall, but someone had gone to the trouble of going back and twinking out the "nt" so it read "Santa is real kids" - isnt that great that someone would go to all that trouble? Bah well I thought so anyway, maybe im just getting too sentimental in my old age?

You can see the image here currently

What a day

Well its currently afternoon tea at the cricket - and im sunburnt! Loving that, but anyway Wellington has turned on a stunner for the first day of the test match and as they say - you can't beat Wellington on a good day!

Also Kumar Sangakara scored one of the best centuries ive seen. So all in all a good day.

What an ass

Well I did my christmas shopping today (well most of it at least), and while out and about I finally remembered to get measured up for Angus and Karen's wedding (relax theres plenty of time!)

But so readers dont embarass themselves like I did - If youre trying on clothes or getting measured up - plan this trip well - ie Dont wear socks that have holes in the end! It turns out staff at such places arent afraid to make fun of your holey socks.

In other news, I have taken tomorrow off to spend the day at the Cricket - what better way to spend a day in the sun than watch the first day of a test match?

Review: Lord Don't Slow Me Down

Well I have literally just watched the New Zealand premiere of Oasis's doco - Lord Don't Slow Me Down, as part of C4's Music Doco series - The Cut.

It's not bad and serves as a reminder of how great they were and still are - at times.

Their career to date has been bookended by great albums, my opinions on their other content is well known so there is little point going on. But what I will say is that I still feel some kind of ownership of Oasis, so when I criticise them, its almost like arguing with your family.

There is little new in the film for fans of Oasis, and the doco Live Forever is far better in terms of examining their impact, but this is still fun. There isnt the wheels falling off of the Metallica/Dandy Warhols doco kind's (usual arguments are present of course!) but what stands out for are the live snippets of the Definitely Maybe back catalogue - best album ever!

If I was reviewing any other band's doco this would get a 3/5 but this is Oasis.....

****

(PS. Note my kick ass perspex christmas trees in the photo - my first decorations for years! Oh and on another note Ive sent cards out this year - another first!)

(PPS Yes Angus just like Return of the King..... before you Angus, before you.)

Review - No.2

I have just finished watching Toa Fraser's debut feature film No. 2.

After having Sione's Wedding talked up all year as the pacific culture film to see, and being largely disapointed by it - i had put off seeing No. 2. What was I thinking?

No. 2 is the story of Nana Maria the matriarch of her large Fijian family in Mt Roskill, who is making one last attempt to pull her family back together by asking her grandchildren to put on a party for her.

Fraser captures almost perfectly the nature of extended families - long-standing unresolved arguments, general envy, brothers and sisters/aunties and uncles that just don't get on, and the grand children who all seem to be on the same level.

The performances are outstanding - the excellent Ruby Dee (Mother Sister in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing) plays Nana Maria and captures perfectly the mana of the role, not to mention hiding her New York accent to convincingly pull off a Fijian New Zealander. Taungaroa Emile (Boogie in Once Were Warriors) is also fantastic, and for me almost the entire principal cast is great.

No.2 is a warm and funny story of a divided family pulling out all the stops and getting over their petty dislikes of each other to come together for their Nana.

The film transends being just a 'pacific' story, it has a real modern day New Zealand feel to it, and is well worth checking out.

****

Bravo Bravia

In the last 12 months Sony have produced two of the best TVCs ever. (As I write this on my Sony Vaio I feel like im doing an endorsement!)

First there was the excellent "Balls" advert and at the moment they are running their new building colour explosion one. In this age of CGI I had assumed that the Balls advert has fake, but it wasn't - Sony (well their agency) actuallyfired thousands of colour balls down a street in San Francisco.

So when their new advert began, I thought - hmmm i onder if they actually fired all that paint for real? Well kids they sure did.


In total it took:

70,000 litres of paint
358 single bottle bombs
33 sextuple air cluster bombs
22 Triple hung cluster bombs
268 mortars
33 Triple Mortars
22 Double mortars
358 metres of weld
330 metres of steel pipe and
57 km of copper wire

If you havent seen the ad - check it out at bravia-advert.com

Oh I almost forgot - Lord Don't Slow Me Down!

The very excellent C4 has been running a great series of music docos of late, including the very excellent Dandy Warhols doco, and of course Metallica's "wheels fall off disaster epic".

But next week - the band who "still" claim they are the most important band in the world (hmmm not sure who they're kidding!) Oasis!

C4 are playing the brand new Lord Don't Slow Me Down on 12 December, and the following the new Beatle's doco - LOVE!

What a kick ass way to finish the TV year.

The tie and Elton

The blogger thingy hasnt worked for me this week, so this is a belated update.

Pictured is the tie mentioned below. Enough said really. Mind you as gutted as I was, its funny how other developments and events continue to put things like this in perspective.

In other news - Elton John was in town this week for his one off show, and I heard quite a funny story about this.

Now a friend and colleague of mine's teenage son works for Ruth Pretty Catering who catered for Elton. Now Elton 'required' a personal waiter for the evening......

Naturally being teenagers this guy got loads of shit from his mates for acting as this waiter - along obvious lines, but im not sure you would expect your parents to be mercilessly taking the piss, and when you drop into their work having to put up with "hey rent boy" calls from just about everyone! But said mother had the best call on this - speculating on a potential Elton quote - "Errgghh, pass us another, this one's split"

And on that bombshell ill leave you again.

Absolutely Gutted

This actually happened on Thursday, its taken me a couple of days to come down from the pain to blog about it.

Listeners may recall I paid over $200 for a tie by (in my humble opinion) one of the greatest mens designers in the world - Ozwald Boateng while I was in London last year.

Boateng (pictured) is the leading British tailor - he does wicked suits. If i had 20 000 pounds lying around, or if i won lotto id totally have him make me a suit. (thats the price for a private one on one session with him).

Well my prized tie - red, orange and yellow angled stripes has been basically destroyed.

It had a small mark on the bottom of it, so i thought I best get it dry cleaned. Stupidly thinking - theyre professionals, im sure they know what theyre doing.

The silk is now all loose, and the stitching along the back has come free, on top of this the diamond shaped fold at the bottom is now ripped.

To top this off - they stapled it back together. Who would notice a two staples holding your most designer (irreplacable in NZ) tie?

This is the VandA museum description of Ozwald which kind of sums up why im so gutted:

Acclaimed menswear designer Ozwald Boateng has successfully united the skills of British bespoke tailoring with his own distinctive approach to menswear design and forged a new appreciation of Savile Row.

Self-taught, Boateng began tailoring at the age of 16 and in 1994 became the first Savile Row tailor to show during the International Menswear Collections in Paris. In 2003 he was appointed CreativeDirector of Menswear at Givenchy further securing his dominant position on the world fashion stage.

Boateng’s attention to detail and finish are most clearly demonstrated in his superb bespoke tailoring, for which he was developed a stellar clientele, amongst them Jude Law, Jamie Foxx, Will Smith and Daniel Day Lewis.

Today Ozwald Boateng’s distinguished and award winning designs are sold and celebrated internationally and his unique approach to cut, colour and detail has created a new ‘look for men’-stylish, beautiful and sexy.

Oasis Live in Paris - ROCK!

Some might call this selling out – but hey who cares MSN webcast Oasis live in Paris the other morning. It was actually an acoustic set by Noel and Gem – and it kicked ass.

How great is this songlist?
Its Good to Be Free
Talk Tonight
Fade away
Cast No Shadow
Importance of Being Idle
Listen Up
Half the World Away
Wonderwall
Whatever
Slide Away
Strawberry Fields Forever
Dont Look Back in Anger
Married with Children

You can still watch video of the concert here – I fully recommend it!

Kennedys

Ive just been watching an excellent doco on the Kennedy's - Jack Bobby and Teddy specifically.

Naturally im a big Kennedy fan, theyre what everyone in politics wants to be. Amazing orators, who do the work to match.

Teddy is kind of the forgotten one (he didnt get shot!), he replaced Jack as Senator for Massachusetts in 1962 (when Jack became President) and is now the longest serving senator and I had forgotten about his greatest speech ever - and its right up there with Jack's innauguration address. So here is my favourite Kennedy line, its taken from Teddy's concession speech when Jimmy Carter defeated him in 1980 for the Democratic nomination (Reagan of course won the election proper anyway):

For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.

The Hollow Men

I spent most of today sitting at Oriental Beach reading my photocopied version of Nicky Hagar's new book - The Hollow Men. The book is based on emails leaked from the National Party from late 2003 right through to August 2006.

Hagar (who is from Levin originally) isnt held in high regard - he has tended to exagerate in the past, and is pretty big on conspiracies (eg he was convinced the SIS were spying on the Maori Party - they werent and why would they??). So I was a little sceptical when I heard he was behind the highly anticipated Brash Email book.

But Hagar largely sticks to the facts in this latest outing - he does go off on the odd tangent, but largely he hasnt blown anything too far out of proportion.

There are some absolutely explosive parts to this book, and with the benefit of hindsight, its clear that Brash was sacked last week in advance of this. But maybe because I am in the environment which these emails were written, but some parts which are obviously meant to shock - didnt.

Things that shocked me:

Brash is a lier: He still says that he has only met the Exclusive Brethren once (August 05), when his diary and emails he wrote show he met them as early as December 2004, and was frequently meeting them. He and his whole campaign team knew exactly what the EB had planned and had signed off the pamphlets.

National were prepared to lie about their policies: Realising their policy to increase the age of eligibility for Superannuation (to cut down the numbers on it - making tax cuts a bit more affordable) would piss everyone over 60 off, Brash said "we should just keep that hidden, even possibly lie about it."
Essentially National were looking to avoid talking about anything but preferential treatment for Maori, and tax cuts.

Big big money: We've known for years that the National Party uses Trust funds to launder donations by well known business people - who dont want it known they support National (even though everyone assumes they do anyway). One donor that stood out for me though was one who gave $1m - but is friends with us. Btw the name of the Levin Trust used to launder money locally is Electoral Holdings Ltd.

Dodgy Big Money: Getting donations is fine. Getting donations in return for policies - not fine, in fact illegal. Insurance providers giving money so long as ACC is privatised again. hmmmm.

Things that didnt really shock me but probably will for other people:

Crosby/Textor involvement: Everyone could just tell this as soon as the Orewa Speech was delivered. C/T are an Aussie firm who specialise in running right wing negative campaigns- they are reknowned for their push polling (ringing people and asking a leading question to sow a seed in their mind - eg Would you still support Marian Hobbs if you found out she was a lesbian? - now thats not true, and there is no evidence to suggest that, but a seed is sown).

Orewa was a deliberate ploy: This wasnt an innocent speech that struck a chord, the book shows that Brash was advised to only use half facts, and misleading statistics - which he did.

Things that surprised me:

Level of ACT Party and Backbone Club involvement in positioning Brash for the leadership: These are the people behind the policies of the 80s and 90s which drove NZ into the ground. These people are sooo far extreme right that they even said he shouldnt acknowledge their help as that would lose support. Essentially it was a coup run from outside the party.

Too many know it alls: Brash had like 5 - 10 advisors all giving him different perspectives. No wonder he was dithering. The PM has one key advisor - sure she has others and people outside that she uses as guages basically. You cant have 10 people telling you how to operate you need one clear direction.

Brash got too tired doing visits two days a week: Not up to it basically - the PM does two regional days and then Sat and Sun in Akld - full days of visits and pressing the flesh - thats the job.

Things that Hagar trys to make an issue of which I dont think are:

Framing the debate: Its stupid to think there isnt a concentrated communications strategy prepared around issues. Framing is basically about positioning what you say and how you present it. (eg recently the latest unemployment figures came out - they were up slightly from 3.6% to 3.8% - the govt would say "Unemployment remains the lowest in the OECD and around the lowest rates for 20 years" the opposition would say "Unemployment is beginning ro rise this is an indication the economy is slowing - govt is bad").

Key Lines: Hagar trys to suggest its sinnister that their media staff were preparing what the lines are that they are running on a given issue. No thats their job - they provide good lines for MPs to say. This is the best way of getting the right thing to say out to your whole team, so theyre all singing from the same songsheet - otherwise its chaos!

Brash had a deliberate visit strategy to meet with big business: Well duh. Of course you have a visit strategy - again if there is no plan or system you have chaos, and you wont maximise the time you have available.

I do wonder how someone outside the system would react to this book. I was shocked at their willingness to just lie about their policies - people dont like asset sales so we wont mention it.

I can say with hand on heart that when it comes to actual policy, we are up front. We learnt in 1987 (where the manifesto was released - after the election) that misleading and bullshitting doesnt work (Labour got deservedly smashed in 1990), which is why this govt has had what is almost a motto - Under-promise and Over-deliver. Its better to promise a bit and give people a lot, than promise a lot and give nothing.

National come out of this looking deceitful, and misleading, whether it does any damage outside of the Wellington beltway remains to be seen.

Getting back at the scammers

I often get sent those scam emails from Nigeria and what not - basically looking for cash.

A site has been launched in the UK where basically they detail the scams and pranks they pull on the scammers. Its funny stuff, they get them to send pictures of themselves doing stupid things - holding stupid signs etc (pictured) in order to get the cash.

Here are a couple of my favourites - This one where they convince the scammer that they are running an art gallery and are looking for ethnic art - which they will pay hundreds of thousands for.

And this one - where in order to get a "donation" they convince the scammer to join their church - The Church of the Holy Tattooed Saint. Of course to join the church (and get the dosh) you have to get the official Tattoo done...........

If you've ever been hit with spam and these stupid scams, you'll get a kick out of this.

I'm just a cleaner

This is from today's Herald. A guy tried to rob the Broadway branch of the National Bank in Palmerston North on Friday.

After closing on Friday he tied up the last remaining staff member and demanded she open the vault for him. Reasonable plan to this point, except - she was the cleaner.

The cleaner just laughed at him and said - "I can't open the vault. I'm just the cleaner!"

Bank robbers are almost always dumb, I cant think of a single case where they havent stuffed it up, or at least got caught.

The "robber" fled the scene - with nothing. Awesome.

Butter Boys

North Shore band The Checks, who opened for REM in New Plymouth last year and Oasis in Australia have just finished recording theirdebut album. These guys are probably one of the first New Zealand bands whose CD I would actually buy.

The Checks were spotted by the editor of NME when he was out here for NZ Music Month a year or so ago. NME then took them on their New Music Tour in 2005 - which was being advertised while I was in the UK, which was quite surreal as we had used the Checks to open our 2005 Congress a week before I had left.

Ed the lead singer has incredible stage pressence - of the Mick Jagger kind, I rate them pretty highly.

Check out a sample of the new single Butter Boys at their MySpace page here. What You Heard is also worth a listen (pretty sure its there) this is probably their best single at the moment.

The Apocalypse will be catered

At the moment - Wellington is undergoing a major disaster practice. The situation is that Petone has been hit by a 7.8 scale earthquake. Operations are being run out of the Beehive bunker, known as the National Response Centre, and when I walked past the entrance I couldnt help but laugh that their catering trolley from Bellamys had been left outside. So dont worry when disaster strikes - Bellamys will be on hand with their concrete-muffins and disgraceful sandwiches!

In other news - Al Gore was in town yesterday, well Auckland at least and presented his slide show on global warming. Even though everyone present had seen it before it was still apparently very entertaining. The right wing are running the line that Gore is just a self-promoter who is deliberately misleading. (unlike the man they all voted for in the US?).

The stadium issue is still bubbling away. Former All Black Ian Jones summed it up well last night on Sky's Re:Union show. "This is a chance to completely re think the way Rugby is presented, we could have parades down Queen St, street theatre - have a real party atmosphere before the game begins and then carry on through the night at all the clubs and bars close by. Its a no-brainer."

Sir Ron Scott (the guy who organised the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games) has backed the new stadium also saying that this is a chance for Auckland to have an accessible venue, that not only hosts Rugby and Cricket, but like Wellington will host concerts, conferences and trade shows. Unfortunately Auckland seems divided on the issue and at this point seem to be against it - Talkback host Leighton Smith said it would encourage "lowlifes and unsophisticated types" to hang around the central city - eh?

Russell Brown has written a great piece on the Stadium issue here. Its worth a read.

Borat bashed

Apparently Sasha Baron-Cohen or Borat was punched repeatedly in the face on the streets of New York after after telling a stranger that he would like to have sex with his clothes. Baron-Cohen had to be saved by his friend and House actor - Hugh Laurie.

Wrong time and place I guess!

Wander

I spent the day wandering around, here are some pics from my travels around town. Enjoy.

Waterfront vs Eden Park

People are hilarious, NZ will be hosting the third biggest event in the world in 2011, and people dont want to spend any money on it.

Basically we are having to come up with a stadium that can hold 60 000 people for the major games.

The options are do up Eden Park or build something brand new and better on the waterfront. (Essentially what Wellinton did when Athletic Park was ditched).

Now normally the corporate sector would contribute to this - but not in NZ, basically they're too greedy. So when the organisers came to the government - the government asked, why on earth would you upgrade a venue in a residential area that has absolutely no parking, and is difficult to get to, when you could spend a bit more and have something world class, next to all the bars, clubs etc and Britomart (the suburban rail hub station) and has 30 000 car parks within a 15 minute walk.

This is why the government has come out in favour of the Waterfront "Stadium New Zealand" option over Eden Park.

As for people complaining that the govt should be spending more on health and education than this. The Rugby World Cup is going to be worth close to $3billion to NZ, the Cricket world Cup $1billion - think of how the Olympics put Sydney on the map - this is about national identity, and saying to the world we can hold world class events. I say have some pride in NZ, if the NZ economy is doing well, then government will be able to afford more joint operations, and money for schools etc.

This is about taking New Zealand to the next level. As Mike Moore once said - "Singapore is the size of Lake Taupo. Think about it."

Herald story - pictures and video

Dems in da hizzay

Yes Ive been planning that headline for sometime!

The US are in the middle of their mid-term elections today and the Democrats have won back control of the House, and at this stage it looks like they could scrape through in the Senate.

This is great news, and sets things up perfectly for 2008. CNN has the up to date details.

For those of a less politics-is-everything mindset, the Senate is the upper house and the House of Representatives is the lower house of congress, basically they are a check on the President - as anything he wants to do, has to pass through both houses. Essentially this lops his bollocks off - Bush will have to work with the Democrats to get anything done.

But on the flipside, if the Democrats are seen to do nothing in the next two years - winning the white house in 08 could be difficult, but its all there for them to do.

Some new links

Thought I should just draw attention to the new links i have added in the navigation bar.

Laurie David is a well known Climate Change activist, her background is actually in comedy with HBO, she also produced An Inconvenient Truth, and is of course married to one of my favourite commedians - Larry David. Laurie is also leading the Virtual March on Washington, which you can join at the next link down (world class segue there).

The next is Landcare Research's innovate CarboNZero site - you can work out how much emmissions you make, and then you can buy carbon credits to neutralise your emmissions (basically you invest in the forests they are planting in Marlborough).

Other links Ive added are to Zack Exley's blog - Zack was one of the people behind MoveOn.org, and I dinner and quite a few beers at a smokey pub with him while in the UK. I grabbed so many ideas from Zack in terms of online campaigning - many of which we implemented here, he also contributes to the Huffington Post and Daily Kos (leading Democrat Blogs).

I'll continue adding sites as I find them, whether they be a bit of fun (This is a Local Shop), plain nuts (Ceiling Cat), or have a serious message.

Do check them out.

Time for bold action

I was in Levin at the weekend, and the NZ Film Festival has reached there (as it always does) so I took the old man to see Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth at his suggestion.

In all there were only around 5 or 6 empty seats in theatre - which gives me hope. Climate Change has been all the rage this week - this screening was framed by the release of the Stern Report in Britain - which backs Gore up, and the NZ Labour conference where Helen set out her vision on the issue as follows:

I believe it’s time to be bold in this area.

Why shouldn’t New Zealand aim to be the first country which is truly sustainable? Not by sacrificing our living standards, but by being smart and determined.

We can now move to develop more renewable energy, biofuels, public transport alternatives, and minimise, if not eliminate, waste to landfills.

We could aim to be carbon neutral.

I believe that sustainability will be a core value in 21st century social democracy.

· I want New Zealand to be in the vanguard of making it happen – for our own sakes, and for the sake of our planet.
· I want sustainability to be central to New Zealand’s unique national identity.

And fostering our unique national identity is central to the purpose of our government, and to my purpose in being in politics.

Our country is special, and our people are special.

Oh and Brash says he's still not sure there really is an issue. Winner.

Save the africans!

Earlier this year Bob Geldoff turned up in NZ to criticise us for not giving enough to africa in aid - ignorring the fact that we're running East Timor and the Soloman Islands with Aussie - and a whole province in Afghanistan on our own! No we're doing nothing!

Well fellow Time MAN of the year and in my opinion - tosspot, Bono, who with Geldoff have been leading the Make Poverty History campaign, has been caught out being a tad hypocritical.

U2, despite having extensive tax breaks in Ireland has moved their business to the Netherlands to avoid paying tax. At the same time Bono was lobbying Mary McAleese (president of ireland) to give more money to africa in aid.

Now, Bono, how do you think the Irish govt gets money to give away in aid? How can you criticise a government for not spending enough - when you deliberately avoid paying the tax that would be spent on aid!

Wanker!

STORY HERE

100 Greatest Films? ahh no

Total Film magazine have produced a special edition 100 Greatest Movies of All Time issue

The top 10 is a disgrace frankly, below are some highlights and the top 50 films.

98 Casablanca (should have been higher)
97 Trainspotting (ditto)
96 Stand by Me (ditto)
95 The Usual Suspects (again what is wrong with these people?)
91 Dekalog (yeah you wouldn’t want to miss that one)

83 The Wizard of Oz
82 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

78 The Graduate
71 North by Northwest

69 Sideways (if it was about women, it would have been dismissed as a chick flick)

59 Blue Velvet
56 The Shawshank Redemption
54 Millers Crossing

50 It Happened One Night
49 Pulp Fiction (top 10 easily)
48 Singin’ in the The Rain
47 Blade Runner
46 Nashville
45 Mean Streets
44 Annie Hall
43 Heat
42 One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
41 The Last Picture Show
40 ET

39 Monty Python and the Holy Grail (bollocks)
38 Badlands
37 Touch of Evil
36 2001: A Space Odyssey
35 A Matter of Life and Death
34 The Searchers (never heard of 35 or 34)
33 Star Wars
32 Les Enfants Du Paradis
31 Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
30 Reservoir Dogs

29 La Regle Du Jeu (hon hon hon)
28 Raging Bull (should have been a good 10 places higher)
27 Some Like it Hot
26 The Third Man
25 Sunset Boulevard
24 Rear Window
23 The Godfather (top 10)
22 Sunrise
21 Crash (bollocks that that film is the 21st greatest film ever)
20 Apocalypse Now

19 Texas Chainsaw Massacre (oh please – its funny)
18 All About Eve
17 Once Upon a Time in the West
16 The Apartment
15 It’s a Wonderful Life (fair enough)
14 Taxi Driver
13 Manhattan
12 Chinatown
11 Persona (eh?)

10 His Girl Friday (yeah wonderful film….. ??? maybe?)
9 The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (fair enough grouping them - same director/shot all at once, and fair ranking)
8 The Empire Strikes Back (good call)
7 Tokyo Story (Gus and Karen’s fav film – theyre in Japan, so they must like it right?)
6 Citizen Kane (pretentious rubbish)
5 The Godfather Part 2 (good call)
4 Fight Club (it had meatloaf… top 4 I think not)
3 Jaws (fair call)
2 Vertigo (its great but 2nd best film? Hmmm)
1 Goodfellas (I don’t think so)

Just not a great list – no Spike? Full Metal Jacket? Dr Strangelove? Only one Coens film!?!? (54), Platoon? Too many good films for this to be taken seriously I’m afraid!