Recent Posts...
Ready for the Weekend | Mar 19, 2010 09:58
I love the new Hot Chip Chip album, and I'm over the freakin' moon about the new Peter Serafinowicz-directed video for 'I Feel Better''. I won't attempt to describe it: just go look. Meanwhile, it cannot go unremarked that three of the five finalists in the...
This is a Photograph of Me | Mar 18, 2010 12:11
Emma Hart has loved her some cricket.
In some role-playing games, there's an advantage called Machine Empathy. It lets a character instinctively understand how to operate and repair anything mechanical or electronic. My partner and my brothers all apparently spent points on it. I have whatever the complete opposite of Machine Empathy is. Since I was a...
The second test and the first test | Mar 18, 2010 11:33
Hadyn Green apologises for swearing
I like drinking with Dan because he always tells me interesting stories. Sports stories usually, ones that I've never heard, that sound dramatic and theatrical. And so it was the other night. We were in the basement beer house Hashigo Zake, and Dan (with the West Ham wallet)...
This Week in Parliament | Mar 16, 2010 00:48
David Haywood from Christchurch
Public Address presents our weekly round-up of the important events in parliament. This issue: 8th March 2010 to 12th March 2010. ANYONE FOR SETI? This week in parliament the Speaker of the House revealed his role as the primary global contact for the SETI programme (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence). "What...
Property Investment Federation: Just STFU | Mar 12, 2010 02:30
Keith Ng: Fire is totally the answer
Let's not beat around the bush here. The Property Investors Federation is full of shit. Completely and utterly full of shit. (Dear Lawyers, I do not mean literally "filled with faecal matter" as a statement of fact. I mean "full of shit" figuratively, which I am confident will be considered...
Wallywood | Mar 11, 2010 12:48
Damian Christie - Cracker With Attitude
"It's what we do in New Zealand," said my friend, "we take an idea from overseas, and then just make it a bit shit." He was referring of course to the move by Wellington Airport to construct and erect a giant "Wellywood" sign on the Miramar hills. A...
The Fabians: There is an alternative | Mar 01, 2010 11:54
GUEST: Mike Smith, Chair New Zealand Fabian Society
When the International Monetary Fund says that our central bank should also focus on controlling the exchange rate and not just have a narrow monetarist focus on inflation, we know for sure that the so-called "best practice orthodoxy' of the last twenty years is now just another discredited dogma. That...
All is Forgiven, or: The Happy Consensus | Feb 28, 2010 10:02
Graeme Edgeler learns the lesson of history
1993. Winston Peters is proud to be the independent MP for Tauranga, and about to contest his first election leading New Zealand First. In the year or so before the election, the National and Labour parties arrange between themselves to support an amendment to the Broadcasting Act* so that New...
Everyone loves a quiz. | Feb 24, 2010 07:57
You have three minutes. 1. Complete the sentence: "If Radio NZ sounded like Kiwiblog…" 2. You are at Showgirls and you have a ministerial credit card in your pocket. Should you pay by the glass or get a whole bottle? 3. You have 30 dollars' worth of mining shares and...
A Tiger by the tail, but not out of the Woods yet | Feb 22, 2010 12:41
As with Fox Network talking heads, newspaper columnists and a few real people, my world came to a sudden halt when Tiger Woods made his apology. This was an event of such great import it pushed other pressing issues -- like, whatever happened to Paris Hilton? Or even Perez Hilton?...
Testing, 1 2 3 | Feb 09, 2010 17:53
Jolisa Gracewood reads very closely
Hey, I know: let's assume that the National Standards are a benevolent, well-meaning intervention, earnestly dedicated to closing a vast and unforgivably race- and income-based gap in educational outcomes. I know, it doesn't come naturally. But try this: read the press release and globally substitute "health" for "education."...
Big bang theory | Jan 24, 2010 13:24
Hello! Gosh. Long time no blog, I know. It's been so long – since June last year, in fact, that I hardly know where to begin. So much water under the bridge, so much television into the ether. How was the rest of your 2009? Mine ended with a bang...
My Imaginary Journey | Feb 03, 2006 09:27
A.R.D FAIRBURN in a strange land
If Rex Fairburn had been writing now he would surely have been a blogger. Not one whose work fell easily on the "left" or the "right", but assuredly one who would not shrink from a good argument. "He always wanted a scrap …" wrote Denis Glover and Geoffrey Fairburn on...