So, what do you feel about graffitti, Craig? Art or vandalism?

I'd still like to see the proposed sign burning, sort of a bit like those Ed Ruscha 1966 service-stations,,,*

Would work for me.

You'd get an iconic photo with that?

(*OK, may have cheated a bit on that last one.)

I have to disagree about Te Papa's interior spaces – the place is full of enormous, awkward voids which can neither accommodate more pieces nor add?

It is a huge thing, sited on the Miramar cutting to look out over Evans Bay, always in sight of?

For those unfamiliar with the ugliness of this urban design failure, the AucklandTrains blog has pictures.

Same. It's representing itself as comment on the whole city, not the airport. In fact why is the airport company?

Let's not be disingenuous about why Jackson can get big movies there – cheap skilled labour. Somehow, I don't?

You know why I don't notice that... thing?

Because upon seeing it I immediately go into denial or suffer hysterical blindness. I think that that this is the next level of stealth and the USAF should take notice: design something to awful, so banal, so ill-proportioned, so?

Yes we have a Minister of Tourism, John Key if I remember correctly. His amateurism is astounding.
A more apt sign regarding our film industry would be "Cheaper than Mexicans, but?

Since its quotarama on Hard news, here's Arthur Conan Doyle: "Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself." Hence Steve Fitzgerald imagines that he's a creative genius and has absolutely no idea why anyone should think that he's just a dick.

That man, in a future era, will be acknowledged as a deadhand and killer of?

IF NOT – well, we can do other things. Refuse – as I have done- to view their bloody nasty & crude films? Dont?

The airport company does not make movies.

What did you make of that new Sherlock show?

Culture is powerful, as are names.

I have however heard a lot of good things about it and I'm really looking forward to catching it on DVD. Since the series is?

A very smart one, I'd say

just where do you think the influence for that sign
is coming from? Hmmm?

And boycotting Jackson's shit actually works quite well-

Just watched the first, and want to see more. It's certainly not shit, Sherlock.

Madam's right Sir!

Ooh, I was really hoping it would be a struggle to fill my false equivalence bingo card. I?m not going to commission Askew One to decorate the retaining wall in the garden any time soon, but if you think?

Probably, but I do feel much better for getting the bile out of my system. :) But quite seriously, if a gnome don?t count (and?

Weird thing is Cumerbatch's performance reminds me of Jeremy Brett's, in a good way — both a wee bit camp, detached but desperately searching for something, anything,?

Well, that's complicated: there's a lot of difference between a "permitted activity" and that which is anticipated by the District Plan. "Permitted" means that it doesn't need resource consent. If it's not "permitted" it doesn't mean that it isn't allowed: far?

other matters – may I agree totally with mattgeeknz? This is how we all learn to disagree -?

The most delightful kind of disagreement. In my own defence, I really think Mr Herkt's choice of false equivalence was remarkably ill-judged considering my low?

I loved the text overlays

Which sadly renders planners impotent over the core issue (though Council always has other avenues of influence like their ownership stake in the airport company). I guess there would be nothing to stop owners putting a big sign on their cbd office block saying "Absolutely?

"Fucking JAFA" is not only a tautology but one that uses a cliché that was whiskery when Roger Hall trotted it out in Market Forces fifteen years ago.

Try 'Rangitoto Yank' instead.?

Personally, I quite liked most of Jackson?s earlier films, especially Heavenly Creatures. I thought the LOTR trilogy was okay (although despite that I have no interest in The Hobbit). King Kong was rubbish, and I haven?t?

Let us from Wellington explain this once again:

– this is not about film making
– this is not about Peter Jackson
– this is not about cultural sideshows

This is about Infratil deciding, on behalf of an entire city that a significant piece of landscape is to?

OK, Scott, I?ll shut the fuck up about the city I?ve lived in for two-third of my life and still adore no matter how often it breaks it my heart. And just between us?

You say over-reaction. I say justified reaction.

You may talk about a city you lived in half you life, I talk about a city I've lived in all my life. That doesn't matter to me. It is neither here nor there.

But, for me, it comes down to you?

Don?t even get me started on troll marketing with the chutzpah to invoke the ?civil disobedience? practised?

I have also, just recently, by DVD, discovered that Matt Smith is definitely my favourite Doctor since Tom Baker.

I slightly preferred David Tennant. (While we're at it, [[http://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2011/05/jesus-who.html|here's my take on the 10th Doctor's death, and?

It really mattered to you when you decided to come in my house and tell me?

It was still widely loathed by the ?creative community? of Paris (Maupaussant supposed took his lunch every day in the tower?s restaurant because it was the only place in Paris you couldn?t see the damn thing)?

(Though part of me would love to see someone try to get resource consent for a 325m tall lattice tower in the middle of Wellington. Just for the sheer entertainment value.)

Or a Skytower built over a casino!

...Rupert Graves very nicely plays him as The Brig to Cumerbatch?s Third Doctor...

Kewl. Casting is surely an art in itself. I've sometimes wondered what Star Trek would have been like with Stephen Fry as Spock, The Stig as Sulu and Anthony Hopkins as Bones (or Beans as he'd?

Bah, if we?re going to be shamelessly derivative, we need the genuine audacity and virtuosity embodied in this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P18XmwRKgM|this.

It can even include cycle tracks.

That it is. Apparently, the first actor who auditioned for Watson had more luck with Moffat a week later. :)

"We?d already cast Benedict Cumberbatch [as Sherlock Holmes] and the very first person we saw for Dr Watson was Matt, who came?

Well, the District Plan specifically allows the Council to consider "a building of exceptional height in comparison to every?

Nope, or at least nothing in the RMA. We assess billboard applications based upon the assumption that we can't control the content, so we would assume the?

There is the Advertising Standards Authority – though that opens a whole other argument about whether industry self-regulation is just?

I'm not so sure. It would seem to have been designed to outdo the Washington Monument.

I?m really sorry if this sounds condescending, and it?s not mean to be, but doesn?t it all boil down to I don?t like it? I?m very sorry if you got the impression I?m trying to crush anyone?s dissent. Hello, you did read my pan of Black Swan, right? :)?

Wasn?t me. (Shut up, Dobby, or I?ll let Gollum eat another finger.) Um, carry on. Nothing to see here.

It also didn't have writing on it saying "Paris, the city of cheese" or suchlike.

I understand content is beyond the ambit of planning/consent authorities (and thank you for the detailed explanation, Tom). The organisation I'd?

Excellent

I'm not sure what you mean by a massive canvas. The sign is as big as it is. Do you mean it can be seen from?

No, for nine years the tallest building on Earth was a giant billboard for Citroën — even my sense of laissez faire would baulk at the Sky Tower being turned into a giant JumboTron .?

No, it was "Paris, boasting the biggest penis in the world for 40 years". Which is cheezy, but still awesome, IMHO.

Heh, yup, they get to see that NZ actually isn't "Little England" after all, but a nation that makes its own tasteless and lame jokes. Most likely?

And whenever I came back to visit?

Whilst at the same time unavoidable since the decline of sea travel.

Anyone who can survive the traditional APEC silly shirt perp walk is not going to be terribly traumatised by that. Unless there's a headwind, in which case,?

I will bottle the first person who mentions wind farms. You have been warned.

But they are trying. I personally rate that over not trying.*

Edit: or worse, not being allowed to try.

That actually sounds even better, if the sign became like a modern ruin. There was one like it, but much bigger and more visible, in Ponsonby not so long ago. The?

One thing that doesn't sit well with me, on principle, is that the resource consent for this was non-notifiable.

Question with two follow ups –
1) How difficult would it be to change the law so?

Not really. The airport is perfectly entitled to brand itself – when they say they're wild at heart a) nobody cares and b) it doesn't reflect on the rest of the city.

One of your usual acrobatic equivalences, I assume? You'll note that Starbucks only?

Oh yeah, absolutely. Which is why I?m not arguing that the airport doesn?t have the right to do this. All we can do is tell the?

It does have a lot of big signs everywhere though. Considerably more square footage than Wellywood will ever have. They're all?

You know, Gio — I'll stop agreeing with you or making jokes at my own expense, m'kay? Shitty coffee-like beverages are one of those things I get cranky (and more than a little boring) about. Most people, I suspect, don't give a?

Mmhhh... no. People aren't dumb and generally they can tell an airport apart from the city it's in. But the Wellywood sign doesn't make a statement about the?

If the two of you are so adamant there's some sort of analogy here, start a campaign. I'll be interested to see how many people agree with you.

And another desk goes to furniture heaven...

Uniforms are imposed, not chosen collectively. Those who have to wear the things seldom get any say – so perhaps not the example you were looking for.

Is it called "WelliCoffee"? Tagline "absolutely positively beany"?
Didn't think so.

Seriously: if you can't see how Starbucks opening its shops in town and the airport putting up a huge sign that names the whole city aren't the same thing, I can't help you or your furniture. I'd add to the bung analogy that?

Does it? I thought it was talking about Peter Jackson's studio suburb, rather like the Hollywood sign doesn't represent the entire city of Los Angeles.

People aren't dumb and generally they can?

Wellywood refers to Wellington, not to Miramar. Not unlike Bollywood.

Otherwise it'd be called Mirawood, no? Or Hollymar or some such.

So what's the problem?

Seems clear to me, for one.

You might be right. Do you have anything to prove that is the intention of the sign? Isn't it actually quite close to Miramar?*

Otherwise it'd be called Mirawood, no? Or Hollymar or some such.

It's not my joke. But?

It will be in Miramar.

Yes. It occcurs to me that maybe that's what might confuse people who don't live in Wellington about this? The place where the sign will be shown is not?

There are plenty of photos. It will be visible from planes landing and taking off and from surrounding suburbs. Mirimar is *behind* the hill it is on, though the surburb's visitors and residents are not really it's intended audience.

No. Don't waste our time.

It's the road entry to Miramar but it's the air route entry to the city. And really, it's about?

You might not be wrong, but you are almost certainly in a minority.

I guess I'm happy in that place. I'm not a supporter, either. To me it's mostly about property rights. If enough people are bitter on it, then that's a reason to override those rights, and it would?

Well, no, see, the sign was intended to be humourous. So clearly if you don't get the?

I think that some of the furore comes from the fact that all this was said a year ao, when the idea was initially presented. Most people said, "yeah, nah, not your best work". The airport?

Not that practical when the theory is that's it's for the benefit of tourists.They're unlikely to know who to ask.

No, let's not. We can agree to disagree on the relevance of the author in the meaning of the author's writings. Out.

No

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIeMTqoonlo&feature=related

Now that, I can stomach

Though I would prefer:

http://www.petitiononline.co.nz/petition/donate-the-funds-for-the-wellywood-sign-to-the-canterbury-earthquake-appeal/111

Should be on the political thread really. "When two tribes go to war, money is all that you can score"? And the tribal reference.

That's the easy one. Infratil are a bunch of glorified accountants and HR people. They think that by cosying up to the movie industry, some of their glamour might rub off on them.?

Why is a hillside some distance past the end of the runway considered part of the ?airport precinct?? I imagine it may have been reserved to prevent high buildings (although there are specific rules to prevent those), as a site for some sort of aviation equipment or to prevent?

Play nice, y'all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bHJzrryb1I

And thanks in turn for wading in.

The swill that's landed in my e-mail is quite another matter, but has been dealt with.?

It has been for decades, I think. Part of that land houses the building that used to house air traffic control functions, and there was always potential for other equipment to have?

Whereas Auckland has gone for "Auckland, boasting the biggest hypodermic syringe in the world." Or maybe that's just how I see it.

Coffee plunger. What? It was only a matter of time.

Not much is sacred in Hollywood. Classics are remade; final cuts are subjected to focus groups and re-edited.

But the Hollywood sign? That is sacrosanct.

Plans to erect a ?Wellywood? sign mimicking the Hollywood sign in Wellington,?

Best we don't rile the Hollywood Insiders. It's the Illuminati, don't you know?

Fitzgerald said a few days ago that the airport's legal advice is that they can go ahead regardless, which drew a rather testy response from the Hollywood chamber of commerce. So, to sum up: what Wellingtonians think?

Wellington Airport says it is considering feedback about its controversial Wellywood sign, but will go ahead with it anyway.
...

Wellington Airport chief executive Steve Fitzgerald said the airport had been in discussion with several councillors and senior council staff this week.

"We?

Does that mean they are Shitting themselves?
;-)

Despite personally being 99.9% against "New Zealand's Eiffel Tower", with all this highly publicized controversy, it'd make an interesting tale for would-be tour guides to dish out along with the intimation that more or less everyone in?

I hope if it does get built (and I can't really raise myself to care either way), that rather than destroying it, the trend is to add things to it – a gnome, a big?

Ah, so by Wild at Heart they mean Arseholes. It's so obvious when you explain it like that.

Yes — there's another example in Freiburg (where the McD is?

And there I was thinking "Wild at Heart" was a reference to landing there, scary sometimes, well, most of the time actually.
ETA And. The thought of turning round and coming back?

@Gio. You might want to be a little more precise in your use of terms like "plagiarise".?

Are you an expert on the litigation record of the Hollywood Chamber of?

I'm imagining a horizontal bungy across the approach path, for jaded thrill-seekers.

I think we're all familiar enough with what it means to copy someone else's idea rather than have a new one of our own. It won't come down to legal arguments but to the?

Of course not ? after turning off Safe Search and looking for pictures of phallic garden ornaments the interwebz broke. Now, I?m NOT claiming any bloody expertise in a legal bog like trademark/intellectual property law.?

I'm not interested nor indeed qualified to quantify the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce's chances to prevent Wellington Airport from?

Back?

Thing is, that's what most people?

Oh, you really need to stick to the air order because (spoilers sweetie!) 'The Great Game' ends on one hell of a cliffhanger that's?

We're too small a market?

Would be interested to know what you think of the pilot though. I understand it?s the same story as the aired version, but I understand the BBC thought the storytelling and character development felt a bit rushed.

Despite obvious differences in the premise, following Guy Richie's macho update effort a?

Geographical distance may play a small part too. How does Argentina fair on the international stage?

According to IMF, New Zealand 24th, Argentina 62nd in nominal GDP per capita. Yeah, not comparing apples with apples, or even perhaps fruit, but they don't have any complaints?

Like I said somewhere else, "The world is your lobster"
I'm sure "Apple" wouldn't contemplate manufacturing in such a highly paid environment but they could sure use some of that old Kiwi ingenuity software wise. With good networking capability, ie. "UFB" and a good pipe?

I can't be 100% sure, but if it was located where the current tame replacement is, then it looks like it was?