For long-term mediawatchers, there is a particularly tasty irony in the news that Sky Television was not aware that TVNZ was negotiating to be a partner in Coliseum Sports Media's snaffling of local screen rights to English Premier League football.…
So Lianne Dalziel has finally declared that yes, she is running for mayor. There'll be plenty of time to talk about the mayoral race later. The other thing this means is that there'll be a by-election in Christchurch East. What…
One day last week, my sons were very focused. They were, like gamers all around the world, watching the live webcast from E3, the big video gaming conference in Los Angeles. ¶ You'll probably know this if you're interested, but the…
While "watching" the game last week via texts from Megan's mum, we heard no homophobic slurs. I did notice something odd though. ¶ We were at a birthday party for a friend who had asked us all to dress up "fancy",…
There are a few key attributes to a good music venue. The room needs to be acoustically sympathetic. The sightlines must be good -- so that everyone (or nearly everyone) who has paid can see the stage. It should be…
Media3 will be taking a break for a while from the week of July 3, which is when our current season ends. Like other shows on TV3, we're funded by NZ On Air for a specified period of time --…
I've been to Eden Park eight times this year, the past five to watch rugby, and I can honestly say that abusive behaviour -- let alone the kind of harassment reported in this story in the Herald today -- is…
Somehow I got entangled in a Twitter three-way between Hooton, Rob Hosking and #heyclint over youth unemployment figures today, and my 2 Degree 3G was crapping out on me again, so I was in the Twitter-equivalent of a vegetative state,…
In 2006, I was lucky enough to get in on an analyst briefing at IBM's Alamaden Research Centre, near San Jose. It was a memorable day. The place itself -- a monumental California modernist building on a hilltop -- is…
Friends, is the answer to the question of this blog title. Chips is also acceptable. ¶ In April a group of friends and I rented a house in Martinborough while we attended a beer festival. We brought a bunch of board…
I have a to-do list. It’s not a physical list, more a nagging voice in the back of head that folds its arms, tuts, and says things like “exercise?” in a condescending and hurtful manner. At worst it can lead…
There's been a lot written about Lorde in a relatively short time, but I think the interview that revealed most about what makes her tick musically was Jim Pinckney's story in The Listener, which contains this passage: ¶ “When I wrote…
Last Friday, the Electoral Commission announced that it had cancelled the registration of the United Future Party. ¶ My immediate thought was that that was unfortunate, because I had wanted a relaxing night, and didn't want to have to write a…
In his story in this month's Metro magazine, Chris Barton characterises the media environment around Auckland's Draft Unitary plan as one where shrill, even hysterical, news coverage has been set against an official communications effort from "possibly the worst communicators…
If you ask, Paul will tell you that when he was born he didn’t breathe and it took a long time before he did which is why he has a disability. For a time he seemed to want to tell…
The noisy library of New Zealand music has opened its doors. Months in the making and years in conception, Audioculture.co.nz is live. It's more fun than an encyclopaedia and more orderly than a fanblog and its purpose is to capture…
The Auckland Unitary Plan provides us with a once in a generation choice: do we keep pursuing the failed model of car-dependent urban sprawl, or do we aspire to developing a quality, compact city? The Unitary Plan sets out the…
I know I'm not the only one feeling a growing sense of alarm at the degree of misinformation coursing around the debate on the Auckland Unitary Plan. But I went from despair to anger on Monday morning when I was…
One of the ways I can tell I'm getting old is that sometimes, when my Social Media Posse are raising hell on an issue, I find myself thinking, "Man, it's way more complicated than that." The case of Kaitlyn Hunt…
Music journalism isn't really a career for grown-ups, but it can have bragging-rights advantages. When the name of a famous international pop musician comes up in conversation, you may well be able to say, "Oh yeah. I met him." And,…
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)…
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…
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,…
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 -…
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…