Public Address: Muse

MUSEing on the BBC: Asking The Right Question?

Craig Ranapia — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +1200

We're all hip, cynical, sceptical-to-a-fault media types around here, right? Oh, sod off. For all it's flaws, the British Broadcasting Corporation is still the kind of brand that has an authority you can't buy, spin or fake with a social media strategy. So, when I got an e-mail from Polly Proctor, who produces Word of Mouth for BBC Bistol asking if I'd like to contribute to a show on referenda, the art of the leading question and how you make sense of it all I did two things. Say yes. Then have a wee panic attack.
The context-slash-inciting incident was…

OPEN HOUSE: Margaret Mahy, The Storyteller in The Meadow

Craig Ranapia — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 07:51:00 +1200

The only story on the local cultural front today is the death of Margaret Mahy yesterday, at 76 . I don't think I'm the only reader who was shocked, but shouldn't have been, that this intensely private woman (despite her vivid public persona) was diagnosed with cancer in April.
Others can write with more authority about a career that ranged from children's picture books and poetry, through "Young Adult" novels every bit as fine as "real literature" (gag!) through to a singular (and under-rated at the time) foray into science fiction-ish television writing that makes me wish she'd done more.…

Postcard from Cylon-Occupied Caprica: Signs and Portents

Craig Ranapia — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 02:53:00 +1200

It was Bernard Shaw who said the English and Americans were divided by a common language, but there's no place in the world where something won't make you giggle like a dirty-minded infant...

...Though it's more unusual for a ferry ride to trigger an existential crisis.

Public art is kind of depressing...

('The Words Don't Fit The Picture' by Ron Terada. Vancouver Central Library, South Plaza, 350 West Gerogia Street)
....or creepy...

(Detail, Vancouver Police Department Memorial, 240 W. Cordoba Street)
... or simply worng in ways that defy human comprehension.

If that does anything for your appetite, please get…

Postcard from London: Lines Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, May 25, 2012

Craig Ranapia — Sat, 26 May 2012 20:15:00 +1200

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I’m sure there’s many things more fair:
The smell of burnt caramel nuts drift by
As gaggles of giggling chavs seek their destiny:
This City does, like a sweaty garment, wear

The beauty of the twilit evening; here
A perplexed gentleman from Mumbai tries
To take a photo; there, a baby's cry;
A tour party isn’t sure where is here.
The last rays of the sun beautifully peep
Round The Eye the South Bank lion ignores still.
The exhaust fills me with a lethargy so deep!
You stop and start and…

Postcard from Cologne: Willst Du Mich Verarschen?

Craig Ranapia — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:42:00 +1200

I've always found it impossible to walk past a bookstore, even if there's nothing in it I can read apart from the imported pornography (don't ask unless you have serious cash-money in hand).
But anyone who cares to explain this, seen eariler today in a bookshop in Cologne, will have my eternal gratitude. (There is a law of tourism that you can only do two museums and one department store, or three cathedrals and six department stores in a single day without mental gridlock.) Perhaps.

Yes, I should be feeling a patriotic glow of some description but the woman giggling…

What The Frig, Police?

Craig Ranapia — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 09:43:00 +1200

I'm not a huge fan of hip-hop and am ever so slightly prone to panic attacks in large crowds, so it shouldn't be a surprise KRS-One's Auckland show last night wasn't terribly high on my bucket list.
But this, if this is true, should have even the most fervid rap-haters tapping their feet -- with impatience and irritation.

Rapper KRS-ONE has been forced to move his concert from Auckland’s Cloud venue at the Viaduct, allegedly after concerns over the mix of rap and alcohol.
A liquor licence for the venue was denied, forcing the concert to move to Studio on…

Confound The Ignorant, And Amaze Indeed!

Craig Ranapia — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 06:00:00 +1300

UPDATE: Had confirmation from The Edge that the dodgy weather forcast has triggered a move to the rain day venue: Auckland Town Hall's Concert Chamber. Since the venue seats a maximum of 450 please get there early to avoid disappointment.
As part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London is staging the 2012 Globe To Globe Festival -- 37 companies have been invited to stage all of the Bard's play in 37 languages from Urdu to Sign.
If hip-hop Othello or Coriolanus in Japanese isn't your cup of matcha, Ngakau Toa are kicking off the globalized Bard-a-palooza…

The Good Word, Bad Numbers and The Fake-Fact That Won't Die

Craig Ranapia — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 15:40:00 +1300

The New Zealand Herald, like a good dose of the clap, is the gift that never stops giving no matter how much you want it to.
The final series of local book program The Good Word started last night on TVNZ 7 (and can be seen on demand here), and The Good Word Jr. begins today (Saturday, March 3). So, cheers for it getting a nice valedictory write up in the Weekend Herald today - though it would be nice if Rebecca Barry Hill got a well-earned by-line in the on-line version.
But I can't help but share Russell's partially…

Freakanomics (TVNZ Edition)

Craig Ranapia — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:57:00 +1300

I'm sad, but not surprised to read in today's Herald that Television New Zealand doesn't intend to mount even the most token attempt to save public service channel TVNZ7. It's dead, stuffed with garlic, beheaded and buried at a crossroads in the middle of the night. If you find my words roaming the streets crying, please send them home.

Last year the Government decided not to renew funding for the digital channel, meaning it will go off air in the middle of this year.
TVNZ's acting chief executive Rodney Parker has told a parliamentary hearing that remains the case.
"No…

The Curmudgeon's Guide To The Oscars (In Five Easy Bullet Points)

Craig Ranapia — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:51:00 +1300

The Oscars have come, gone, and like the peace of God surpasseth all human understanding for another year. I don't care, neither do you but just in case you need something to curmudgeon over here's some bile-starters.
1) I have no idea if Bret McKenzie is Man Or Muppet, but he's an Oscar laureate for Best Original Song. Congratulations! (Weta's sublime work on Rise of The Planet of The Apes went down before Hugo's close to clean sweep of the technical awards. But that's an honourable loss - even if you think Scorsese's vaguely kiddie-friendly valentine to the movies was…