Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Really good, actually

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  • Jackie Clark,

    I'm looking forward to coming into the studios to watch this thingie you work on, live, in the holidays. I very rarely get to see TVNZ7 except online, and then only when I remember. As for The Little Yellow Digger, I remember very clearly when I was working at Owairaka Kindergarten and the lovely Betty and Alan Gilderdale came in to talk about the book to our kids. Who were mostly from refugee/migrant families, and it went completely over their heads, but I enjoyed the explanation anyway. They were a very lovely older couple who seemed a bit bemused, and chuffed to bits, that so many years later, their stories about the Little Yellow Digger were as popular as they were.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    Case in point: last night’s The Good Word, which you can see here.

    "This video is only available within New Zealand due to international rights agreements."

    Darn.

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Jolisa,

    "This video is only available within New Zealand due to international rights agreements."

    Arrgh. AFAIK, that shouldn't be the case. It just keeps happening. I'll let Emily know and she can chase it up.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • recordari, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I'm looking forward to coming into the studios to watch this thingie you work on, live, in the holidays.

    Might try join you, if that's Ok. Wednesday is designated sports day round here, so would have to get a special hall pass. Have been a few I would have loved to attend, but couldn't.

    EAT: That was one of those replying to Jackie, while pointing at Russell, fails.

    ETA2: Caught some of the Good Word debate on the New Zealand Novel over weekend. They do intelligence good, them lot, eh?

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Anonymous Author,

    characterisation of the writing as “epigrammatic"

    Write a wise saying and your name will live forever – Anonymous.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2010 • 64 posts Report Reply

  • recordari, in reply to Anonymous Author,

    "A wise saying".

    Immortality beckons.

    <the literal school of droll>

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • linger,

    If, with the literate, I am
    Impelled to try an epigram,
    I never seek to take the credit;
    We all assume that Oscar said it.

    -- Dorothy Parker

    Tokyo • Since Apr 2007 • 1944 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    how can four people discuss a novel about The Rapture without alighting on the Left Behind series, which must surely have been in the author’s mind?

    I have read the first Left Behind book, and the only thing that sticks in my mind is that every female character is described in terms of attractiveness and hair-color: ie she was a stunning blonde, she was a gorgeous red-head, ect, so the whole thing had this weird porno vibe even though it's a book promoting evangelical christianity.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Danyl Mclauchlan,

    so the whole thing had this weird porno vibe even though it’s a book promoting evangelical christianity.

    I think you'll find a correlation between concentrations of evangelical Christianity in the US and consumption of cable porn.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I think you’ll find a correlation between concentrations of evangelical Christianity in the US and consumption of cable porn.

    i lived in East Texas. the secret to getting the playboy was simultaneously pushing two buttons on the cord-connected remote control.

    this required two hands.

    sneaky damn born-agains.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa, in reply to Che Tibby,

    the secret to getting the playboy was simultaneously pushing two buttons on the cord-connected remote control.

    this required two hands.

    But two of anybody's hands, right?

    sneaky damn born-agains

    Something rather apt about being required to adopt a prayerful posture, though...

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby, in reply to Jolisa,

    But two of anybody’s hands, right?

    well, that did occur to me. but, having someone to help might just have made the TV redundant anyhow!

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Anonymous Author,

    Immortality beckons.

    My immortality decreases as I write.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2010 • 64 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa, in reply to Che Tibby,

    As they probably say in East Texas, diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • recordari, in reply to Anonymous Author,

    My immortality decreases as I write.

    I very much doubt that. You write, while many are left floundering in the well of lost plots. A story untold is not a story at all.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    i am pleased to see that the Screen Directors Guild of NZ is mounting a campaign in defence of TVNZ7 bevcause someone bloody well should be doing so. If this sodding government (in cahoots with TVNZ) gets its way we will be in the unique (but hardly enviable) position of being the only Western nation without a broadly available, public broadcasting service.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Matthews,

    Heads should roll at TVNZ over its Tivo investment. It was clear from the start it was going to be a disaster -and after TVNZ refused to divulge numbers, it has now been confirmed it has now affected TVNZ's income to the point where bad decisions like the TVNZ7 one will be easy to make.
    This story today reports: Television New Zealand Ltd. posted a 45% slump in first-half profit after the State-owned broadcaster took a $14.8 million hit on its ill-fated TiVo investment. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1103/S00716/tvnz-profit-slumps-45-on-tivo-write-down.htm
    I hope Russell you will tackle them on your show about it as yoou did give Tivo a nice plug at the start -or will this be too close to TVNZ to allow.

    Auckand • Since Jan 2010 • 6 posts Report Reply

  • Jan Farr, in reply to Geoff Lealand,

    Hear hear Geoff! I'm steaming about it. I'm not getting Sky again. 'Pay TV' means I pay and they deliver very little that I want.

    I tried to find kids' programmes for grandchildren one Saturday at 10am and there was nothing that I could get on Free Box. And in case you think this is good because they should have been out in the fresh air exercising their bodies - they'd been doing that since 8am.

    I was thinking that I could go onto NZ on Air and transmit programmes from my computer to my tv. The only problem is I don't know how. Can anyone help?

    Carterton • Since Apr 2008 • 395 posts Report Reply

  • Graham Dunster, in reply to Geoff Lealand,

    Plus don't forget that everything in TVNZ's archives (whether owned by TVNZ or not) will be able to be broadcast (free to air or pay) with $300 per half hour of material to be shared between everyone involved irrespective of the contracts agreed at the time of creation. That's $300 between writer/ director/producer/actor(s)/ voices/technicians etc etc. With lawmakers like this I now understand the attraction of doing an FTA with the USA et al.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2009 • 184 posts Report Reply

  • Morgan Nichol, in reply to Richard Matthews,

    I was really excited about TiVo… in 2001. Launching in 2009, long after it’d become clear the future of this stuff isn’t recording a programme when it's played (which is soooo 1980s), but downloading it when you want? Utter madness.

    Auckland CBD • Since Nov 2006 • 314 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Richard Matthews,

    it has now been confirmed it has now affected TVNZ's income to the point where bad decisions like the TVNZ7 one will be easy to make.

    And of course, Henrygate and Darkiegate. If TVNZ hasn't learnt its lesson from those, then I'm afraid to say Orwell was right.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    so the whole thing had this weird porno vibe even though it’s a book promoting evangelical christianity.

    Nope, it’s just astoundingly bad writing – because every female character is described in terms that would have an editor at Mills and Boon sharpening a blue pencil before jamming it into the hapless author’s carotid artery.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Ooo Craig! You have encapsulated everything I feel about M&B* AND the “Left Behind"* series in one memorable sentence! Thankyou!

    *I have read 2 pages of one M&B effort (writer lost me when she mentioned the hero’s ’granite eyes’**) and 2 chapters of one of the ’Left Behind” dreck (cant remember title. Was – thickernpigshitplotting & characterisation & very badly written.)

    **Yes, this could’ve been a subbing error rather than the writer’s mistake. Possibly.

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Case in point: last night’s The Good Word

    I’ve finally caught up on this series, and enjoyed it enormously except for that bloody Basquiat-meets-McCahon-in-The-Matrix set. Put it this way: It should be impossible to tear my eyes away from the impossibly soignée Jennifer Ward-Lealand or the tall glass of Manic Pixie Dream Girl Juice that is Emily Perkins. Someone pulled it off, and I am not pleased.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Islander,

    Thankyou!

    You’re welcome. Now, I’ve got to finish two blog posts and a radio piece before bed time. The wages of sin are death; unfortunately, procrastination pays out in more fiendish ways.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

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