Modelling Behaviour
You're about to take a psychoactive substance with which you have no previous experience. You don't know how strong it is, but you know some people have had real problems with it. Do you (a) Hoe into it, or (b)…
Recent Posts
The Messenger God
Two weeks from today, on Thursday June 6, I'm hosting one of Auckland Museum's 2013 LATE series, Gods and Men, with Judge David Harvey, Rosabel Tan of the excellent Pantograph Punch blog and the New Zealand Herald's switched-on social media…
Ans Westra - Ngā Tau ki Muri (Our Future)
Published by Suite Publishing ¶ Available through their website; www.suite.co.nz ¶ A new book of photographs by Ans Westra is due for release at the end of this month, with 137 photos, accompanied by poems and words from Hone Tuwhare, David Lange,…
Auckland Festival of Photography
The Auckland Festival of Photography kicks off on May 30 and runs until June 21. With three weeks of events and exhibitions across more than 75 venues, there is no way we can touch on everything that is happening -…
What Andrew Geddis Said, But Shorter and With More Swearing
During the Budget lock-up last week, an old hand from one of the law firms said that I should ask Bill English about all the legislation that was going to get rushed through immediately after the Budget. I gathered, from…
A Golden Age for the Arts?
This seems to be a bit of a week for government ministers being snippy on the socials. On the heels of Judith Collins unloading on her critics on Twitter comes this today from arts minister Chris Finlayson: ¶ Admit it, @grantrobertson1,…
Friday Music: In the neighbourhood
Last week, I saw Lawrence Arabia play solo on a Tuesday night. This week I saw SJD play solo on a Wednesday. And I didn't have to go into the CBD or stay up stupidly late to do it. I…
Budget 2013: Bringing Down the House (Prices), but not really
Update: Tool is live! ¶ "On track to surplus" ¶ That's not really true. Revenue projections are down on the 2012 Budget, and the Government would be in deficit - except they cut the Operating Allowance for Budget 2014 by $200m. ¶ I…
In The Face of Global Terror: 9/11 Cakes, Costumes and Lego
Like almost everyone in the Western world, I remember 9/11 vividly. I woke in the morning to the rolling TV coverage and the collapse of the Twin Towers on repeat. Terrorism met the Age of Spectacle in a purpose-planned event.…
On Consensus
It appears that there will be no major changes to our MMP system before the next election. ¶ I'm okay with that. While I support each of the recommendations in isolation (I think the 5% threshold is too high, and the…
SpinCity
As part of the deal with the government announced this morning, SkyCity will -- along with a range of other concessions and favours -- be allowed to install 230 more pokie machines in exchange for building and operating an international…
Media3: Parliament Live
I doubt that anyone would have anticipated that one of 2013's television hits would have been captured by the cameras of Parliament TV, yet that is what happened. In concert with a level of social media chatter usually reserved for…
$420,259.33
On 9 May 2013, the Labour Party Secretary filed a donation return with the Electoral Commission, in respect of four payments it received via The Public Trust, from the Estate of Brian James Dalley: ¶ $411,500.00 received on 23 April 2012,$7,250.00…
Friday Music: A lovely evening with Lawrence
Fiona and I celebrated her birthday on Tuesday night with dinner at Coco's Cantina (free-range veal Milanese ftw!) and then Lawrence Arabia's show at Golden Dawn. We literally walked into the venue just as he started playing, and gee, it…
Competing for Auckland
It was never likely that Len Brown would stand unopposed for the Auckland mayoralty this year. Indeed, he wouldn't want to: being a consensus candidate is all very well, but it's a lot easier to claim a mandate when you've…
Spread the Noise
The recent Boston Marathon bombing and the events that followed it were a predictable, unpredictable news phenomenon. More people died in another soulcrushing purge in Syria and in the bewildering series of assasinations that were engulfing the Pakistani elections, but…
Friday Music: No longer compulsory fun
Statement of the obvious: New Zealand Music Month, May of every year, plays no role at all in the current government's political branding. The New Zealand Music Commission is pretty much left to get on with it. Although Arts minister…
Pinhole Workshop 2013 - Photo Post
Sunday 28th April was Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, and we had our second workshop at Minnie Street Studio. It went extremely well, thanks to the efforts of Petra, Jonathan and Sophie, and the great group of people who attended. ¶ The…
Satire's shooting star
Last week was both a bad week and a good week for 22 year-old Ben Uffindell, the founder of the fledgling (eight weeks old!) satirical website The Civilian. It was bad because he was threatened with legal action by Conservative…
You can Roughan but you just can't Hide
One of the things I try to do when I blog is to know what I don't know. I don't always keep to that maxim, of course, and when I do it tends to limit the scope of the blog.…
Friday Music: Heavy Metal's Dark Secret
Heavy metal has a dread secret: the majority of people who play and enjoy the music are actually really nice. But please don't tell anyone. And especially don't publish any career-ending tweets like this one from John Campbell. ¶ Dear All,…
The War Stories
As most of you will know, Maori Television's Anzac Day coverage has become one of its broadcast taonga -- and they're all lined up to do the job again tomorrow. Note that at 7am tomorrow, they'll be screening Cameron Bennett's…
Autumn lite
From where I sit, autumn is always a long time coming. Summer hangs on, and on, and on... In the end, three changes combine to suggest it's autumn in Auckland. Shorter daylight hours, a subtle change of leaf colour here…
Dressing for the Road
I understand why London Mayor Boris Johnson pitched his city's near-billion-pound plan for cycle infrastructure as a bid to "de-Lycrafy cycling". The idea that cycling takes special clothing isn't particularly helpful in emphasising riding a bike as a normal, everyday…
Friday Music: Record Store Day
Tomorrow is Record Store Day and I need to make a confession. I don't go to record stores. Well, not much anyway, and more often to browse than to buy. Which is odd given that over the years I've not…