A Question

Im a fan of the redevelopment of our major sporting facilities ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup and the 2015 Cricket World Cup, but I have a question.

Auckland's Eden Park is getting a big flash new Buck-Rogers-Stand and will be the main stadium during the Rugby, and the newly named AMI Stadium (Previously Jade/Lancaster Park) is also getting an Athfield designed new eastern stand (pictured).

The budget for Eden Park is approx NZD190 million. The budget for AMI Stadium is NZD60 million. Now granted the Eden Park stand is about 7000 seats bigger (24000 compared to 17000), but surely there can't be that much difference??

Why is there a NZD130 m difference between a Christchurch project and an Auckland one? This of course begs the question - why not get more bang for your buck and spend your NZD190m between Wellington and Christchurch? - you would get a hell of a lot more.

Clear choices

The chart below is taken from the 2decide.com site and covers the positions of the various candidates for the Presidency on several key issues including, abortion, Iraq etc etc.

The candidates to look out for are - Clinton, Obama and Edwards for the Dems and Giuliani, Thompson, and Romney for the GOP - the others will likely fade.

Click on it to make it bigger etc

(Update: Just realised that this is the same night as Bob Dylan - d'oh!)

Hot

The new Apple iMac is out now, picture says it all really

Luggage

Ive been meaning to put this down since the weekend, but hadnt got around to it - What is wrong with people?

Why do people insist on taking so much carry-on luggage on flights? Any flight you go on, I guarantee that half of those on board will have those small bags with the extendable handle and two wheels that they then have to force into the overhead locker - why not just check it on? What could you not possibly do without during the flight? They never seem get anything down mid flight - so why do you need it?

There's always that person too, who tries to roll their bag down the aisle - and it generally takes them till the fifth row before they realise the 30cm aisle gap isnt really wide enough for what they are trying to do.

Carry on luggage - its up there with comic-sans font for sheer annoyance factor

Money, money, money

Of late a few people "in the know" had talked up former Tennessee Senator and Law and Order TV star, Fred Thompson, as a real contender for the GOP presidential nomination, going so far as to say he could actually beat Clinton or Obama.

So I raised this with a few people including a friend of mine who is based in New York and works for a polling company - he put it bluntly - "he hasnt formally announced, and he doesnt have the cash. At the moment he has nothing." My initial thought was that, well once he announces, the cash will come - its not like there is a shortage of cash in the Republicans.

Last night Thompson's "exploratory committee" (its what you set up to lay the foundations for tilt at the nomination) announced what they had raised over their first two months - USD3 million. Now by our standards that would be enormous... but when Clinton has raised USD46m and Obama is in the 40s as well, Thompson is soooo far behind that it isnt funny. This is at a time when previous GOP favourite, Senator McCain's team is falling apart having only raised USD12m!

And while time is on Thompson's side - he's going to be pushing it up hill from here and will need to quickly build momentum.

I guess this leaves one huge problem for the Republicans - who else? Giuliani is too liberal (pro-choice, anti gun, pro gay) and allegedly has soo much crap in his closet he is going to have to do extensions. Mitt Romney is a hypocrite (pro choice while running for Governor in the liberal leaning state of Massachusetts/pro life now he is trying to woo the red necks) also (with due respect to certain readers) he is a mormon which doesnt go down well with many given its minority status (he also wears the underwear). John McCain is bleeding senior staff, who seem to be jumping ship, and he is strugling to raise money.

So it may be that Thompson comes through as the best of a bad bunch, but with the huge funding headstart that the Dems have, the GOP are going to have to really pick it up and unite behind a candidate to stay in the game. As an indication of how huge the Dem war chests are - USD20m was considered a "large" campaign in the 90s and early 2000s - as I said, both Clinton and Obama are plus 40m.

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

Robots in disguise

I went and saw Transformers last night... it pretty much is the TFU film of the year. What is TFU you ask? The Fuckest Uppest - it kicked so much ass its not funny.

The action is awesome, its actually pretty funny and it has the same camp quality that Star Wars had.

Three guys had dressed up as Transformers in the audience too which kicked ass - the Optimus Prime and Megatron guys were pretty good - the third guy was the lesser known "dishwasher-box-with-tin-foil- around-the arms-a-tron" but good effort all the same... cant have been comfortable sitting for about 2 hours in a box though??

Its a real fan-boy film, anyone who ever played with Transformers will just love it - you should have heard the nervous squeals of excitement as the theatre lights dimmed (and that was just me!).

Oh and in answer to Trey Parker and Matt Stone's question in Team America, yes Pearl Harbour sucks, but this is why Michael Bay gets to keep on making movies.

John Clarke and the Games

Angus queried what exactly the TV show "The Games" was about, and given the star, John Clarke (better known to NZers as Fred Dagg and the voice of Wal in Footrot Flats) has just been awarded an honorary doctorate from Victoria University, I thought its probably the perfect time to mention the show.

Unfortunately I couldn't find any clips on You Tube, so ill just have to explain it. The Games was a mockumentary style show (three years before Gervais did it) supposedly following the bureaucrats organising the Sydney Olympics. It starred Palmerston North's John Clarke as the head of Liaison and Logistics, Bryan Dawes as the accountant and Gina Riley (Kim in Kath and Kim) as the Marketing head. Episodes focussed on things like why the 100m track was only 93m and that Bryan and John were able to set a world record while pissed.

The coolest bit about it though was that series 2 finished about a week before the actual Olympics began, with the finale featuring the cast standing in for the Seekers singing The Carnival is Over at the Closing ceremony.

Its probably the best Australian show ever.

The most controversial bit though was when they got the actor John Howard who has been on shows like All Saints and Always Greener, to apologise on behalf of Australia to the Aboriginal people - this of course was happening at the same time as people were calling on the PM to say 'sorry'. This of course was accompanied by the classic line -

John Clarke: that's not the Prime Minister

Gina Riley: he never said he was. He said he was John Howard

Full text of the apology here

Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger

Turns out that sometimes drugs are a really, really good idea.

Ive spent the morning listening to Ryan Adams' new album Easy Tiger. After two listens Im thinking its more like his Gold/Love is Hell works - very very good, but also maybe a little bit safe?

I was a big fan of his 2006 series of three albums in one year. In fact I would go as far as to say Jacksonville City Nights is probably my favourite album by him, but it was also the most difficult to get my head around. It is way more country than it is rock n roll, and till then my country roots has mostly consisted of the Byrds.

After listening to Jacksonville a lot recently I guess I was hoping for something along those lines again - that pushed the comfort boundaries a little. Im not sure that Easy Tiger does that.

Don't get me wrong I think its a very good album, and there are some stand out tracks - Halloweenhead, with his call for a "guitar solo" is fantastic. And there are moments that remind you of parts of 29 and the guitar work in Tears of Gold does draw on Jacksonville, but for me it mostly harks back to his earlier works.

This is probably an album that could have slotted in between Cold Roses and Love is Hell. Which is where the drugs come in. It turns out he was off is nut during the 2006 series - for all intents and purposes it sounds like he wasnt far from being a junky.

But this raises the question - do people make better music when they're out of their minds?

Canberra a go go!

Well finally here are the pics from Canberra

Ive started one of those Flickr things here

But fans of the Castle should recognise this place.... Its the vibe, its Mabo...

Go you good thing

To be honest when flicking between the All Blacks and Team NZ's first America's Cup race on Sunday morning I thought we were looking at another 5-0 loss.

But oh no - Team New Zealand has fought back and now lead 2-1 after what is being lauded as one of the greatest Cups ever - in that its a competition this time, with the last three cups being 5-0 routs.

Of course the Cup has a great history of close competition. In 1983 Australia II came from behind to win 4-3 over dirty Dennis Conner's Liberty - the first time it had been won by someone other than the US. In 1987 off Fremantle in Western Australia, NZ entered for the first time and somehow it captured the imagination of the whole country. That year we sailed KZ-7 - who could forget the huge spinaker sail emblazoned with the logo of the BNZ? Our boat that year was the first to be constructed from fibreglass - all the others were made of the conventional aluminium, leading Conner to quip - "why would you build a glass boat, unless you wanted to cheat." We lost the challenger series to Conner's Stars and Stripes who went on to win the cup for the US again.

In 1988 there was dumb NZ Challenge with the big boat (KZ-1) - essentially we got cocky, rocked up to New York and said "lets have a race with whatever boat you've got" - they pulled out a catamaran with Stars and Stripes livery - and we got smashed. This lead to more famous Conner quotes - "Im sailing a cat..... somebody else is sailing a dog" and of course the subtle press conference dig "Get off the stage losers, this is for winners". This whole debacle led to all sorts of court challenges which saw the cup awarded to New Zealand, and then given back to the US on appeal. This led to a new class of yachts being born - the International America's Cup Class, which is what we currently have.

In 1992 we challenged again, this time with a red boat - NZL20. Again we made the Louis Vuitton Challenger final, and after leading 3-1, our innovative bowsprit was deemed illegal - and we lost to Il Moro di Venezia of Italy. Il Moro went to lose in the America's Cup anyway to Bill Koch's America3 4-1. This all of course set it up for the Black Boat - NZL 32 to take the cup in crushing form in 1995, 5-0.

So anyway after intending this to be a short "hey we won again" post - ive managed to blah on about all the Cups I can remember!

Is one bovvered though?

The Lauren character from the Catherine Tate show winding the Queen up at the Royal Variety Show. "Who's minding the corgi's? She ain't even bovvered."

AFI 100 10th Anniversary

10 years ago the American Film Institute did their top 100 all time films (although it was actually released in 1998 - but lets not be picky).

You can get the whole shebang over at the AFI Site, but here is the 2007 top 10 (with their 1998 ranking in brackets) I have also noted whether they were nominated or won the Best Picture Oscar in their year and the film that won if top 10 film didnt in brackets.

1. CITIZEN KANE (1) - nominated for Best Picture 1941 (How Green Was My Valley)
2. THE GODFATHER (3) - Best Picture 1972
3. CASABLANCA (2) - Best Picture 1942
4. RAGING BULL (24) - nominated for Best Picture 1980 (Ordinary People)
5. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (10)
6. GONE WITH THE WIND - Best Picture 1939
7. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (4) - Best Picture 1962
8. SCHINDLER'S LIST (8) - Best Picture 1993
9. VERTIGO (61)
10. THE WIZARD OF OZ (5) - nominated for Best Picture 1939 (Gone with the Wind)

The Graduate and On the Waterfront dropped off the top 10 from 98.

43 new films were eligible this time but only LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring at 50, Saving Private Ryan at 71, Titanic at 83 and The Sixth Sense at 89 made the cut. All the President's Men missed out last time but made it at 77 this time, as did The Shawshank Redemption at 72.

The only top 10 film I havent seen is Lawrence of Arabia - to the video store Robin!

Potential Potter spoilers

Some hacker clown apparently got hold of the final Harry Potter instalment.... now while its likely the guy is talking out his arse here is what he claims are the big twists etc

Snape kills Hagrid
Voldermort kills Hermione (who saves Ron)
Harry kills Voldermort
Draco is evil

Draco will have to pick things up substantially - up till now he's just been a dick.

Anyway there you have it. The publishers are saying its bollocks and personally I thought the much speculated Harry sacrificing himself to kill Voldemort would be better.. but hey I dont even read these books!

Poor little Gingers

Im back from a week in sunny Canberra. It was cold, wet and full of bureaucrats.... so not that different to Wellington. At some point I'll blog photos etc.

But for now to ease back into blogging - I got sent this article while I was away, and it was one of those things where as soon as you see it - you have to blog it. So here goes

And before the hadwringers amongst us get going - Yes bullying isnt a laughing matter - but these are gingers...

Headline from BBC News - Red-haired family forced to move (WARNING - there are images depicting Gingers at the linked site)

"The family also say they have endured their homes being daubed in graffiti. Mr Chapman said: "The abuse we get is unbelievable. It started more than three years ago, when the kids started getting bullied by lads over the colour of their hair. "They've been punched and kicked and thrown over a hedge."

Absolute bloody show stopper

The London Olympic organisers have unveiled their new logo for the games (pictured).

Already it has been likened to grafiti and a stylised swastika - which isnt far off huh?

But the best development has to be that they have had to pull all their flash animations and video from their website as the graphics will cause epileptics to fit!

Now granted epilepsy is no laughing matter, but think about the potential for the opening ceremony. Now that would grab the headlines.

Never thought id hear that

This happened a couple of days ago now, so its more quote-of-the-week than of the day, but anyway. This is what one of my colleagues said to me the other day - their words say it all.....

"Oh guess what, guess what.... This is soooo funny! I just have to tell you! I had a 'There's Something About Mary' moment this morning!"

Isn't that just lovely.

10 Crap Places

Ive just been reading a guide to the 50 Most Crap Places in Britain. Number 1 is Hull, Liverpool came in at 6. I thought it would make for a great tour of the UK to travel around the top 10 or 20, but it also got me thinking - what are the 10 crapest places in New Zealand.

So here goes, Ive only included places Ive been to and spent time in rather than places I just passed through

10. Wanganui (Shit hole, who would live in this god awful dump? The mayor is Michael Laws...)
9. Timaru (this was a close call with Greymouth, but even that has something to do - Timaru is the Hamilton of the south).
8. Invercargill (The best bit of Invercargill is the air bridge at the airport - they dont need it as only small planes go there!! Obviously such hope for the future? Cold wet and poos).
7. Masterton (not even its close proximity to Greytown and Martinborough can save it - smells like cabbage, ugly rural people).
6. Levin (to be fair if anyone else was making the list - it would be lower. It is kind of getting better - but its all relative. What the fuck is that statue of a chinese market gardner? Would anyone notice if they just didnt bother and closed for a few weeks?).
5. Whangarei (always fucking raining - apalling mess of a town filled with yokels)
4. Palmerston North (Just try to find something to do - only the windmills keep it from a lower ranking - used to have nice tree lined avenues....... they chopped those down).
3. Christchurch (why? why does it exist? Wellington has government depts and quangos, Auckland has business..... Christchurch has...........?)
2. Whakatane (absolute low point of 2005 was a whole day in this shit hole, made worse by the airport being a glorified skyline garage. You spend all your time willing White Island to erupt and end the pain.)
1. Hamilton (just try navigating this bollocks - it feels like its the size of Western Australia and there is litterally nothing there that you couldnt do elsewhere the epitome of the shit hole. A huge complex network of nothingness ).

Close - Auckland (proving that a million people can be wrong), Gisborne (as depressing as Whangarei), Hutt Valley (the lighthouse and Dowse save it), Stratford (Levin of the West), Foxton (the "fox-town of NZ"... if thats the best you've got...) .

Others that I just know are shit - but I havent been there or have just passed through; Gore, Dargaville, Te Awamutu, and Kaitaia.

How about them All Blacks eh?

Rugby's always a good topic when you're wanting to avoid other things isn't it?

So I thought I would look ahead to the World Cup and predict some upsets etc.

Pool A - in theory England and South Africa should finish on top, but I have a feeling Samoa could throw the proverbial cat amongst the pidgeons by beating England.

Poll B - Australia and Wales should qualify for the quarters, but who finishes first could be interesting - on current form my money would be on Wales.

Pool C - New Zealand will win easily. But Scotland v Italy could be interesting, historically you would have to back the Scots, but Italy did beat them earlier this year.

Pool D - The closest pool, and a pool that could fuck everything up properly for the hosts. France, Argentina and Ireland. On paper you would say Ireland and France, but bear in mind Argentina are ranked ahead of England now, and have beaten both teams in the last year. Could very well be any combination of the three. One of the three should have been in Pool C.

So say Italy qualify from C, England get up against Samoa, Wales beat Australia and Ireland and France go 1 and 2 in D the quarter finals will be...

Wales v England (or Samoa)
New Zealand v France
South Africa v Australia
Ireland v Italy

Lets say England keep it up and stumble to victory over Wales. NZ should beat France, South Africa should win, as should Ireland so it will be

England v New Zealand
South Africa v Ireland

So in theory a New Zealand v South Africa final. Which are the best teams at the moment. Simple.

I guess this also shows the potential implications for losses by Australia and England in the early rounds as that will determine who NZ plays later on (assuming we keep winning).

Business time

HBO have put video of the first episode of the Flight of the Conchords new show up on their site - doesnt air in the states till June 17, and god knows when here.

HBO Conchords site here

In the meantime das robots

One for the geeks

Let's fuck it up some more!

Jesus, God, No.

George Lucas has apparently hinted that there is going to another Star Wars film. There was a time when this would have been greeted with great excitement - more additions to the holy trilogy, but not since Jar Jar, Lucas and Anakin went about destroying my memories.

Anyway its going to be another prequel, this time telling the story of how the Jedi over came the Sith originally. Now on paper for Star Wars fans like myself that does sound mouth watering, however given that we have the knowledge that 90 per cent of the film will be cartoonish CGI, I expect it will be rubbish.

What is with Lucas - youre involved with two of the greatest trilogies of all time (Indy being the other one) why return years later to fuck them up? (Indy 4 is currently shooting).

What a shock!

Remember when these things didnt seem quite so contrived? Maybe Im getting a little more cynical as I get older, but Im sure there used to be a little more class to things like this.

Its the week after the "bold" budget and surprise surprise the Police announce that they are going to try and charge Taito Phillip Field with bribery. Now don't get me wrong, the media speculation suggests he's as guilty as sin but still, the timing does look a tad convenient.

At the very least this clears the way for Labour's new candidate in Mangere - running a campaign against Field could have got ugly and wasted a lot of resources. Most people think that Manukau City Councillor, Sua William Sio, will be said candidate and when Ive heard him speaking on radio he has sounded pretty good and by all accounts he has quite a following in the Samoan community.

I only hope we get to actually have a by-election as I think that could be just the kick up the ass thats needed.

Hey Mr Tamborine Man

Rock the casbah! Bob Dylan is coming to Wellington on August 10 this year, also playing gigs in Auckland and Chch.

Question has to be asked - why do only old men come to town these days?

Bowie, Stones, Elton.... now Dylan. I only hope Macca doesnt come - I would have to go but im not sure I could sit through two hours of his solo bollocks (although yes granted his last album was pretty good).

Scratch that

David Bain Day 08 is on hold!

Just read a pretty compelling post on good ol' KiwiBlog based on the comment someone named "Dave" posted on the site about David Bain.

As I feared, things may not be as simple as Karam would have us believe. Here's some key points

1. Why did Stephen (who put up a strong fight with his killer) have fibres from David's jersey under his finger nails?

2. Robin (Father) had a full bladder after sleeping all night - why not take a piss before your murderous rampage? Or more to the point there was a time lapse between the mother and three children being shot and Robin being shot - why not piss then, you would be busting?

3. David's bloody finger prints were found throughout the house on light switches and on the bo of detergent in the laundry, where David supposedly just washed his paper round clothes when he got back - why the blood then? Was it something like "Oh look my family's all dead, best get out of these clothes with newspaper marks on them"? hmmm.

4. David's gloves were used by the killer and found on the floor in Stephen's room. Why use gloves if you're going to kill yourself? And if you're big on gloves - why not use your own?

5. David's clothes including underwear were soaked in blood, apparently consistent with splatter from close range shootings. The only blood on Robin was his head wound.

6. Robin was shot through the top of the head. While this is possible as a method, why not take the easy option and shoot up through roof of the mouth? Being shot down through the head while kneeling is consistent with David shooting while he prayed (as he did everyday on his knees).

7. The gun was smeared after being wiped down, the only print on it was an old hunting print of David's. Why wipe the gun down if you're going to shoot yourself? And how do you wipe the gun down after you've shot yourself in the head?

Now im sure Karam could hit back with half a dozen things, but this does at least answer how the Police arrived at their charges, and does raise a load of questions.

He has served 13 years, and from memory was eligible for parole soon anyway, but this does make you think that maybe a new trial could be worth pursuing to decide once and for all.

Front row baby

With all the Bain stuff and todays budget I forgot to talk about Dylan Moran.

I went along to Dylan Moran's stand up show at the St James on Tuesday night. For those who don't know him by name, Moran is 'Bernard' from the excellent BBC series Black Books.

It turns out Bernard isnt so much a character, but rather he is Moran - which made for a very funny evening.

I particularly liked his bit about quiting his job like a toddler would saying - "Im quiting because I hate you, and I I I hate your stapler and stuff" while kind of waving a stuffed toy elephant behind your back awkwardly.

Also his bit about Invercargill - "There's nothing there! Even the cows are queueing up to throw themselves off the cliff that isnt even there!"

But the kickest arseist bit had to be our seats - front row centre! He was litterally like 2 metres from us. Fantastic.

Bain of our lives

Was anyone else surprised how normal David Bain looked following his release on bail yesterday? Where was the knitwear??

As shallow as it sounds, you have to wonder why his defence team didnt allow him to appear at any of his previous hearings. I think he would have actually gained a lot of public sympathy if people thought of someone normal - rather than a funny looking 22 year old with weird jerseys and a paper round when thinking of 'David Bain'. I kind of hope now the crown let it go and dont pursue another trial.

But now we all like Bain, we shouldn't just let May 15 go by in future - somehow I think we should annually mark the day David Bain was freed. David Bain Day if you will. Next year on May 15 I urge everyone to pull out there most 'Bainest' piece of knitwear and wear it with pride!

Also another idea, why doesn't Te Kauwhata follow the great kiwi tradition of building big stupid "icons" - and build a huge David Bain jersey now its going to be his new home?? You could even make it a community event, get all the locals to each knit a square metre patch to make up the jersey! (You would have to ensure everyone did different - unmatching patterns though).

NB. The Second picture is an artists impression of what Angus or"Cosby" may look like on David Bain Day 2008.

Profiles in Courage

In the latest NewsWeek, they asked some of the leading Presidential candidates to name which President they thought displayed courage - the answers actually give some insight into the candidates.

John Edwards (D): Lyndon B. Johnson (over the Civil Rights Act)
John McCain (R): Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt (for regulating resource barrons on Wall St)
Barack Obama (D): John F. Kennedy (over the Cuban Missile Crisis)
Rudy Giuliani (R): Ronald Reagan (for walking out of the Reykjavik Conference)
Mitt Romney (R): George H. W. Bush (for serving in WWII)

The others are all nobodies so lets not worry - no Hillary though - maybe they thought she would just say Bill over the Monica Lewinsky thing??

Anyway, interesting all the same I thought.

10 Years since a low point

August from memory is actually the NZ anniversary, but still!

10 years ago this month was the turning point for the "britpop" phenomena. Oasis released the hugely anticipated Be Here Now.

In short the album was a shambles - average song length was around 5 minutes (so very long), culminating in the incredibly average All Around the World (fuckin 10 minutes long). If nothing else the album proves that you dont need a guitar solo between every verse and chorus.

To be fair there were some classics, Do Yer Know What I Mean was a fantastic anthem, Fade In Out (with Johnny Depp on slide guitar) kicked ass, and the title track came alive when they opened their ill-fated Wellington concert with it in 1998. I've also always had a soft spot for one of the most slagged off tracks - Girl in the Dirty Shirt - not entirely sure why (bad taste?)

But the album ultimately sufferred from Oasis' arrogance and drug taking (Noel Gallagher blames cocaine for the album). Its not their worst album though, and like Q say in their Be Here Now anniversary issue, its probably the last album by Oasis that people had a strong opinion on - which is true, a lot of the later stuff im completely indifferent to.

I guess the worst thing for Oasis was that only a month later, one of the greatest albums of all time was released by Radiohead, completely pushing the boundaries and taking listeners into what could have been uncomfortable territory.... but thats another anniversary on June 16 which will be covered then!

So this May, break out your copy of Be Here Now (if you dont have one - look in the $2 bins at Real Groovy lol!) and revisit what was one of the greatest follies on 90s music.

What happens when you get old

I thought given upcoming events this weekend this was very appropriate.

Click here to see what a group of preschoolers wrote in response to the question "What happens when you get old?"

My favourite has to be "They have gray hair and wrinkles and they die". That they do!

Fair to say, Im quite glad that certain readers of this site havent worked out how to post comments.

Shit

Pretty disappointing to read that Andrew Little has decided to not stand in 2008 and look to 2011 instead.

One columnist suggested recently that rather than Shane Jones, Little could be the next Labour Prime Minister. He has all the leadership skills, is fantastic in the media, and is prepared to not always toe the party line. Goff may take over from Helen at some point, but that will only ever be an interim measure, Little is far more likely to lead Labour to victory.

Labour needs to regenerate itself, and unfortunately the only stand out new candidate that I can now think of is Grant. Phil Lewin of Positively Wellington Business (who has been talked up as a future candidate since 1999) is also not standing according to the Dom - although the way it is written as a throw away line at the end, I'm hoping they've reported that wrong.

While Grant is a great guy and will one day be Foreign Minister, there need to be others. Swain will probably stand again as a backbencher in Rimutaka as there doesn't seem to be anyone better - which of course isnt the worst result, he should still be a minister, and is far from being one of the problem backbenchers.

I can't help but think a difficult challenge just got a whole lot harder.

Predictive text

17 May is of course the 2007 Budget, and its probably the most important of the Clark Government. Why the most important?

Government's often change on the basis of a mood swing in the electorate - at some point people just 'change channel' and when that happens the gig is effectively over. Take 1999 for example, after 9 years of Tory rule, people said thats enough, we're having a change.

Now, I don't think we are quite there yet - but this Budget could be the final straw, so to speak, if it is like the 05 Budget - which lets be honest was a "bit of a let down".

So, what do I expect to be included in said budget to get the government back on the front foot?

Now I should point out - this is all based on my personal speculation, im of course not privy to any information.

Climate Change: Something small, that will be talked up as though its something substantive? Probably. There are indications that a "Cap and Trade system" for carbon emissions has cross party support - but what level is the cap set at? Hopefully Budget 2007 will tell us.

Business Tax: First up, Dunne is kidding himself if he thinks this will save his "party". Govt will cut Business tax from 33c to 30c, matching (but not bettering Australia). Hand outs for R and D will also feature according to most media.

Transport: Electrification of the Auckland Lines - finally (gauge still too thin). Regional Transport levy, local authorities will be given the authority to slap on a localised petrol tax in their area - Herald speculated this would be 10c/litre in Auckland. If this is as I suspect - left to local authorities to implement, it's a little smart arse. "We didn't increase it - your local council did".

Savings and Tax: I'm predicting this is the biggie, and Im thinking (hoping!) this will be twofold, Government will offer a 5 per cent tax cut which instead of being given back (that would be inflationary!! ARRGGH) will go into KiwiSaver. The Government will also offer tax free employee contributions. This is essentially salary sacrifice like in Australia - basically if you earn 50k pa, and you put 5k into KiwiSaver, you will only be taxed on 45k of your earning. This is very common in Australia and actually effectively increases your net earnings.

So there we have it. NZ Institute's David Skilling recently said that savings and infrastructure need to be the two main government priorities and I would agree. This would definitely help with savings, but infrastructure... hmmm. Still this would be a start and I think would be overall a popular budget.

Vision

In what may sound like an oxymoron UK Labour have started a You Tube site called Labour:Vision.

Its an interesting tactic, Im not often convinced by these sorts of things, who other than junkie/geeks like myself watch these things?

Anyway its good to see parties trying things with the ol' interweb (the information superhighway).

Plus they also have their own tv set - which looks like TV One in 1987.

Back from the dead?

I know, I know Ive been quiet this week. Anyway I thought id share this fantastic spam I got today

George is back! my favourite line has to be that my email was "picked randomly by software powered by the Internet"

MICROSOFT INTERNATIONAL
2007 PROMOTIONAL PROGRAM
20 Howard Barking London,
7UA11G UNITED KINGDOM
REF: OYL /26510460037/02
BATCH: 24/00319/IPD

Dear Winner,
Your ticket number: 023-0148-790-459 with Serial number 5368/05 drew
the lucky number: 29

Congratulations!! you have just won yourself the sum of 'ONE
MILLION,FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND GREAT BRITAIN
POUNDS' in the satellite software email conducted by MICROSOFT
in which e-mail addresses are picked randomly by software powered by
the Internet. Your email address was amongst those chosen in this
quarter.

To file for your claim and more information on how you became a winner
of this sweeptake draw,do contact our claims agent:Mr.George Harrison
Contact Email: georgeharrison_2007@hotmail.com
Our special thanks and gratitude toBill Gate and his associates.
We wish you the best of luck.

Yours faithfully,

MRS: TESSY ANDERSON
MICROSOFT CYBER ANALYST
UNITED KINGDOM.

All gratitude to Bill Gate indeed!

PS Note its addressed - "Dear Winner" - they know, thats right baby im a winner!

May the 4th

May the 4th is of course International Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you - geddit? Oh forget it.... you people...)

Anyway make sure you make time to acknowledge the holy trilogy at some point today! Break out A New Hope, Empire, or Jedi - theyre always worth revisiting!

May the force be with you.

Sad Kermit

Some of you may have already seen (or heard) this, but I thought it was worth chucking up here in any case.

SadKermit.Com is a site set up by a Kermit the Frog impersonator who sings sad depressing songs - in Kermit's voice. Fantastic

The best two are Radiohead's Creep and Nine Inch Nails' song about heroin addiction, Hurt, which is probably more famous now for the incredibly haunting version done on Johnny Cash's last album. The version of Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah will have you wee-weeing yourself too.

Kermit singing Hurt
Kermit singing Creep
Kermit singing Hallelujah

There was apparently a Hurt video as well but the Jim Henson Workshop were a little dirty about their icon being associated with such a song, so thats been pulled.

Remarkable

Audrey Young said she was "flabergasted" at the turn of events today around the Anti-Smacking Bill - and I feel much the same.

But I think its a good flabergasted. Normally in ours and other Westminster style systems oppositions and governments often seem to oppose each other for the sake of it, rather than at least appearing to work towards what is best for the country.

Following discussions in Sydney at the Leadership Forum between Michael Cullen and National Leader John Key, the Prime Minister went to former PM and President of the Law Commission Sir Geoffrey Palmer to try to come up with some sort of middle ground that upholds the intent of the original bill, whilst recognising that it would be stupid if the law were to create a situation that led to tons of parents being prosecuted. Clark then got the Greens on board followed by United Future and most significantly National.

This was a welcome change of tack from the extreme positions that have dominated this debate thus far. While I admit it was odd seeing images of Helen Clark and John Key standing side-by-side announcing this, it was also somewhat exhilirating. Proving that actually yes, our politicians do have it in them to be constructive.

Often politics is more about different approaches to problems rather than solving different problems. I think we saw today that when people and parties realise they have the same goal, solutions can be found. Theres a lot to be said for locking people in a room and telling them to solve a problem!

This is a good day for politics.

Just plain mental

Tacked on the side of of Melbournes brand new tallest building the Eureka Sky Deck88 (what sort of name is that lol!) is a new attraction - The Edge

Its a three metre long glass box that hangs off the side of the building (pictured).

The best part of the media launch had to be the sound effects they included on the first extension of the box (it moves in and out) - they had cracking glass and groaning metal sounds playing in the box! If the media was anything like me - there would be quite a clean up required!

Story here

Best of the best

Last month the DomPost laid the smack down on some of Wellington's more hopeless property developers naming their top 10 worst Wellington buildings. I had a thing or tow to say about it here (as Im sure you will recall!).

Yesterday the Dom decided to be nice and did the top 10 best buildings.

And they were (not in any order)

Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University
Wakefield Appartments (that box on top an old building opposite New World)
Te Puni Kokiri (my favourite)
Futuna Chapel Karori
Freyberg Pool (has aged incredibly well!)
Hannah Playhouse (Downstage Theatre - agree externally, but the theatre itself has some awful sightlines)
Oriental Bay Changing Sheds and Toilets (These rule - and not that I normally hang out at public toilets at night, but with their lighting you should check them out at night - the kinda glow, would blow your mind if you were high!)
Conservation House (polar opposite of Environment House - a fantastic redvelopment of the old Mid City Cinemas into Wellington's most eco-friendly building)
Public Library and Civic Square
Westpac Stadium (agree actually has brought Wellington alive and while the design isnt that outrageous, it is difficult to imagine that structure anywhere else)

Other buildings that I thought could have been included
The Old Defence Headquarters on Stout St
Creative NZ (Old Public Trust Building)
The new and yes unfinished Meridian Energy Building
The Beehive, love it or hate it its iconic
Dixon St Housing NZ Flats - the ones that were made to look like a cruise chip, fantastic!

Virtual insanity

Well the State Virtual Cricket finished with the World Cup final on the weekend and it turns out that in the Virtual Sports world, I may have found my niche.

After all those years losing bets (I owe Nath roughly $300 - if he thinks im honouring those bets he can think again! lol) on the Virtual Rugby (Super 14 and NPC) Ive finally come through with a half decent result.

50th in New Zealand in the State Virtual Cricket, and frankly I owned Dinah and her shambolic selections.

Now while far less people play the Cricket than the Rugby - Im still pretty happy with the result. Not to mention the fact that this builds on the Football slaughtering of Angus "Mr Football" White last year! (had to get that in there)

PS. Yes, yes everyone is kicking my arse in the Virtual Rugby again.

Time and place

Today was of course ANZAC Day which saw lots of people get up in the early hours to attend dawn services. I missed the services this year to watch Sri Lanka slaughter NZ in the Cricket World Cup semi finals. Over the last few years there seems to have been a growing interest in remembering our war-dead and the deeds of our forefathers (as Americans would call them!).

However this year the Wellington Dawn Services was disrupted by idiot protestors who reportedly blew a horn through the speeches and one set fire to a New Zealand flag. Naturally like most extremist protests they had mixed messages as to what they were protesting, and were frankly ill-informed.

The protest was organised by rent-a-protest group Peace Action Wellington (that nutty American woman leads them) and a new group Radical Youth (how very). They were protesting (and I quote) "New Zealand's War Machine" and how they had "invaded" Afghanistan, Timor Leste (East Timor) and the Solomon Islands and also protesting that "Sedition" should be removed as a criminal offence.

Firstly, Timor Leste only exists as a nation because of the work New Zealand and Australia put in, and the force we sent there - it would still be part of Indonesia if we hadn't gotten involved FFS. Secondly the other two "invasions" by our "War Machine" are actually UN sanctioned Peacekeeping missions - aimed at reconstructing the two nations. Retards. What should NZ have done instead? Left the Solomons in turmoil? Just stand on the sidelines like Switzerland turning a blind eye to injustices?

What pisses me off more though is their timing. Frankly I don't care if people want to protest anything and everything the government does (or doesn't do). But how dare you use a solemn occasion like a dawn service to pull off some lame stunt like they did. The New Zealand forces in both World Wars made the ultimate sacrifice for us and to act like such ignorant fools in front of veterans make me sick.

If you want a laugh - go and read about our vicious "War Machine" on their daft site here

Dare I say it - Farrar actually had quite a good idea - locking the leader of Peace Action Wellington in a room with Fred Phelps (the extreme right-wing US "Rev" who goes around protesting the funerals of US servicemen - as the US army now allows gays - so all servicemen deserve to die). Farrar's right - what's the difference? Phelps aptly named website is here - godhatesfags.com

Empire Australia's 100

Empire Australia have done their 5-yearly top 100 all time films. These always tend to be dominated by the two trilogies - Rings and Jedi, but hey they're still fun.

I dont agree with much of this top 100, the top 10 is a little obvious and some of the films that missed out should have easily be in there - Raging Bull, The Graduate, Chinatown, Fargo, Easy Rider, Exorcist, Trainspotting hell even Blue Velvet missed out!

So here goes the top 20 of Empire Australia's 100 all time films 07 (2002 result in brackets)

20. Back to the Future
19. Fight Club
18. A Nightmare on Elm St
17. Braveheart
16. Grease
15. The Godfather
14. LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
13. POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl
12. American Beauty
11. The Matrix
10. Goodfellas (2002 - Shawshank)
9. Amelie (2002 - Gladiator)
8. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (2002 - The Godfather)
7. LOTR: Return of the King (2002 - Titanic)
6. Donnie Darko (2002 - Empire Strikes Back
5. A Clockwork Orange (2002 - Silence of the Lambs)
4. Aliens (2002 - The Matrix)
3. The Shawshank Redemption (2002 - Pulp Fiction)
2. Pulp Fiction (2002 - Schindlers List)
1. Star Wars: A New Hope (2002 Star Wars: A New Hope)

And the stats! (the best bit)
Number of Empire 100 films I have seen - 85 (Ive seen the whole top 20)
Number of Best Picture Oscar Winners - 20 (Note Return of the King is the only top 10 film to win this)
Number of Best Director Oscar Winners - 18
Number of films by decade - 00s - 21, 90s - 22, 80s - 25, 70s - 18, 60s - 5, 50s - 4, 40s - 3, 30s - 2
Actor with most films on the list - Harrison Ford (6)
Director with most films on the list - James Cameron and Steven Spielberg (4)
Number of new entries compared to 2002 - 38

Nevermind the Sex Pistols Here's the Bollocks

While grazing in Slow Boat Records yesterday the wonderful staff put on a new album by California band, Artichoke - which on the basis of hearing two tracks, I bought!

As you can see from the cover - its a full cover version of the Sex Pistols seminal Nevermind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols - in a kind of folk music style!

Their version of Anarchy in the UK is what sealed the deal for me - listen to a sample here. God Save the Queen is also an absolute ripper - sample here

Fantastic - check it out!

Armageddon

While on comic books etc, I went along to the annual Armageddon Expo at the TSB Arena today. Naturally I bought some merchandise that I didnt necessarily "need" but hey its all good! I picked up a hard-copy version of Frank Miller's 300, and a Voltron t-shirt. Kick ass

Also while there I wasted nearly an hour listening to the Q and A session with Billy Dee Williams. Billy Dee who? you ask?? Lando Calrissian from Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi thats who. Frankly the guy's a nutter. Apparently there was life after Lando (although his IMDB file might beg to differ) Lady Sings the Blues was "very sucessful" and then there was his art, and fragrances which he spoke at length about. Yeah, he claimed he had a fragrance a few years back and is "going to work on another" his first was as popular as Liz Taylor's Obsession (sic - I think he means Passion). He was entertaining on one answer - Q. Were you annoyed that you didnt get to use a light-sabre? A. No because I had a cape! Other than that he was incredibly boring and un-interesting so much so - we were literally laughing out loud at how painful it was!

Anyway not a bad one overall and less smelly than previous years - so every cloud eh?! (normally the abundance of teenage geeks tends to create a somewhat unpleasant aroma).

Prepare for Glory!!

Last night I checked out a film that after seeing the trailer some time ago I wasnt that excited about. Oh how wrong I was.

300 absolutely rules and kicks the living shit out of Gladiator! Stylish, beautiful, brutal I think best describes it.

Of course 300 is the famous (and true) story of the Battle of Thermopylae (of course if you dont know the story clicking that link could be a spoiler). Spartan King, Leonidas, lead only 300 men against around 2 million persians under Emperor Xerxes. Now its true there were only 300 Spartans, but modern consensus says there were around 6000 Greeks in total - the Spartans did lead them though and pretty much all that was left in the end.

Anyway Thermopylae is still looked at as the way for a small force to defend itself against a large army. Basically the Spartans positioned themselves in "the hot gate" at Thermopylae, which is essentially a gorge. They drew the Persians into the thin gorge, where the huge size of their numbers didnt matter.

Of course this film is based on Frank Miller's graphic novel (comic book), and while it obviously glamourises a lot of the action, and is pro-Spartan, you really appreciate the heroic element of the battle, and the idea of serving one's state before oneself.

I thought this was a great telling of one of the great heroic stories. I definitely recommend it.

Thats not mine... honest

Oh how unfortunate, the "suspicious" package that caused a bomb scare at the Auckland Airport international mail centre actually turned out to be a "harmless" sex-aid.
Herald story here

And in other news (and you know its funny) Heather Mills, formerly Mrs Paul MacCartney fell over during her routine on the US version of Dancing with the Stars (her latest money-making venture). Thats karma baby!
Stuff story here

Lastly, John Key showed his hypocritical side this morning on bFM in his interview with Mikey Havoc. Havoc was actually pretty good on the smacking bill stuff, but it was the party pills where Key really shone. Apparently we should ban them now as BZP is bad. However three or four weeks ago they were all the rage with Matt Bowden, the main party pill lobbyist in NZ "popping" up in almost all the gossip column photos of Key's fundraiser in Auckland for hip-young under 40 year olds. One can only assume that Matt didnt offer enough of a donation?
Listen to the bFM interview via Scoop here

You daft racist

The good old Herald eh? Their frontpage headline is a classic today (unfortunately theyve obviously realised so I can't link to a web version).

"Gunman who killed 32 people was a Chinese Immigrant"

The gunman behind the deadliest shooting rampage in American History may have been a 24 year old Chinese man....."

No he wasn't. Try Korean- or are asians all the same? Why not go the whole hog and just say "Chinaman" instead?

God we have a lazy media.

And then there were four

Havent been on here for a couple of days - been too busy with the Wii! Let me just say the Godfather game is a hell of a lot of fun. Nothing like beating the living shit out of virtual people huh?!?!

Anyway I realised this morning that I had neglected to talk about the great Cricket tournament that is rapidly drawing to a climax at the moment. Here goes!

The real Cricket World Cup begins now as we enter the knockout phase - New Zealand still has one game to go (against Australia) before the semis which we have already qualified for. We're pretty much through all the bullshit rounds, and left with only the games that matter.

England were again an embarassment this morning getting done by an underperforming South African team in what was effectively a quarter final. Meaning the top four will be Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa.

All going well we will overcome Sri Lanka, in the semis - they have stars but overall NZ is a better balanced side so I think we should win and then in theory we will face Australia again in the final.

Australia are of course head and shoulders above everyone else as favourites, but they arent unbeatable. If we forget about how great they are focus on the fact that we can beat them and that in reality we are only two good games of cricket away from being World Champions.

As the Chappell Hadlee series proved - anything can happen in the crazy nonsensical great game!

A moment of madness?

In one of those spur of the moment decisions that will shock some people - Ive entered the world of gaming... well kind of. Ive bought a Nintendo Wii!

What's more - I love it! Ive only played the free sports games that came with it so far, but loving the boxing and tennis. I got owned in the golf by a friend of mine though. Still, Ive recorded 5 knock outs in the boxing - 5-0 win-loss record so far! Kick ass.

Big ups to Nintendo too for broadening the gaming market by coming up with a console that anyone can use!

Im loving the Wii. If you havent tried one or hate conventional gaming consoles (like me!) I definitely urge you to check it out - You look like a prick jinking and jiving around your living room pulling off mac-daddy aces in the tennis - but its sooo much fun.

You just know its gonna be good

LaToya, Tito and Jermaine Jackson are going to be judges on some new show in the states based on American Idol - but looking for the next "family act". Brilliant! Michael and Janet aren't involved though... unless of course youre counting LaToya as Michael - It is a little hard to tell the difference!

Jermaine is my favourite Jackson, he's the one who always gives his opinion and "the family side" when ever Michael/LaToya or Janet fuck something up, he also looks like he sprays Armour-all on his face. Thats what we need on TV!

Top 5 Beatles albums

Angus laid down another of his challenges today - top 5 Beatles Albums, so here we go. Starting at number 1.

Chuck Maurice

Hat tip to the Spare Room for finding this little gem!

Jeans designed to have an extra hidden gusset between the legs so you can kick people in the face more easily! If only Chris had these back in 1994 - his huge round house on that poor little 8 year old might have come off and wouldnt still be a laughing stock to this day!

I just know Angus is cracking up in Japan just thinking about the roundhouse!

The Worst of Wellington

Todays Dominion has a feature on the Worst Buildings in Wellington. Most of them I agree with so I thought I would list them here with some of the comments from the paper and of course a few of my own!

11. Circa Theatre (adjacent to Te Papa), criticised for having its back to the city, and not making use of its 360 degree site. To be fair the new paint job makes it look worse than it did originally and I think there are worse buildings - the Museum Hotel! (Disagree)

9th Equal. Environment House and Defence House, these are awful and completely lack any sort of design at all - brand spanking new and are basically just boxes with windows - missed opportunities. (Agree!!!)

8. Lyall Bay Megacentre, I disagree with this, its better that buildings of this kind (Warehouse etc) are tucked away in an industrial area like this - if it were closer to the city I would agree but in this case its harmless. (Disagree)

7. Renaissance Apartments, these are probably better known as the weird plain box style apartments on top of Burger King in Manners Mall. So plain and boring on top of a stunning building. (Agree)

6. Galleria on Tory, the ugly building tacked on top of Harvey Norman and the gym. The balconies have picket fences - ridiculous. (Agree)

4th Equal. Marickian and City Lodge Apartments, ugly box-like characterless structures built very cheaply - targetting students. Cheap and nasty the sad thing is there are plenty of other examples - the ones next to the Southern Cross! (Agree)

3. Courtenay Apartments, you will know this by sight if not by name - the ugly mint green apartment building with its crude attempt at blending in with the heritage listed building below. Prime site - awful building. (Agree!!)

2. Queen's Wharf Events Centre and Shell Office Complex (previously the Retail Centre), I always think criticism of this is a little harsh - yes its not pretty as such, but neither are the old sheds in the same area! I like the way Shell are using the old retail centre as their NZ Head Office - all open plan, very cool. Still this could have been built elsewhere, or at least built in a way that wasn't quite so inward looking. (Agree but further down the list - Overseas terminal is worse)

1. Wellington City New World, criticised for being built the wrong way around. If you swapped the carpark and building around you would have a direct view from the Basin to the waterfront. Poor use of space, plain characterless warehouse on a huge prime site, just blocking views. A supermarket could have easily been incorporated into the bottom of another development. Just plain ugly. (Agree!)

A joke that got peoples heckles up

I just read an interview in this week's Listener with Ana Samways of the Herald's Sideswipe column and the Spare Room blog (see the links column in the side bar) . In the interview she tells a joke that apparently led to all sorts of outraged emails and letters - I thought the joke was fantastic.

Here goes: Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail, and with his odd diet he suffered from bad-breath.

This made him a super-callused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

Apparently Gandhi jokes are a bit of a no-go area!