Up Front by Emma Hart

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Up Front: Whimsy Is an Extra 5 Cents a Word

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  • Lyndon Hood,

    Just because it happened to be around today – Neil Gaiman repeatedly mentions the ‘changing the world’ thing:

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    This is all a very round-about way of telling you all something: I’ve been working for Telecom. Well, alright, I’ve been working for Scoop...

    One never graduates from The School of Hard Nokias...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Tim Michie, in reply to Lyndon Hood,

    Auckward • Since Nov 2006 • 614 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    Family gotta eat. Cheers for this Emma.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    Scoop is pretty impressive. I'm a long time fan. Alistair Thompson is a quiet New Zealand hero. Having said that it is quite unnerving seeing you (and other Scoopies) on the masthead of The Standard and asssorted websites.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I'm pleased people pay for some of what you do.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    Scoop is a good place.

    I take my cue from Welsh cultural critic/novelist Raymond Williams who became, as he argued one should, more radical (of a left persuasion) as he aged. Drifting to the centre/right is such a lazy option.

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

  • andin,

    A bit later, he went to work for Telecom. I could not have won more: more decisively, more clearly, more pettily.*

    I hate/love that Me I was talking about.
    Fucking great read

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen,

    texting while I was shaving my legs

    So who did you feel the need to text at that moment????

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen,

    And surprisingly there is nothing in this post that I needed to google or fear to google. Yes I did notice that tweet.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    So who did you feel the need to text at that moment????

    Um. Megan.

    Scoop is a good place.

    Al is good people. And my contact at Telecom is also a lovely guy I may have previously conversed with on a completely different topic.

    Drifting to the centre/right is such a lazy option.

    I just don't get it. But then I am also the person who calls "Middle-class wankers!" during prolonged discussions on the pricing and availability of limes.

    And surprisingly there is nothing in this post that I needed to google or fear to google.

    Earlier, I was playing word games on my phone, and got Quite Cross that it wouldn't accept the word "felch". You're welcome.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    I’ve been working for Telecom. Well, alright, I’ve been working for Scoop, but that doesn’t make as neat a punch-line.

    I had similar issues when I started working for Telecom Xtra. I thought I was totally selling out to the man, but once I started my new job, I realised I was in a workplace full of smart, bright, creative people who were doing cool things. And yeah, dirty old Telecom were paying me, but they weren't telling me how to spend the money.

    So yeah, Telecom might be making your paid writing for Scoop possible, but that doesn't make you Telecom's bitch. As I read this post, I saw an ad with Taika Waititi shilling for Steinlager. What do you bet his cheque for the ad is going towards a future creative project?

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Emma Hart,

    Don't be silly you made me look up that ages ago ... Do you think I'd be silly enough to ... Oh god no...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,

    I had similar issues when I started working for Telecom Xtra. I thought I was totally selling out to the man, but once I started my new job, I realised I was in a workplace full of smart, bright, creative people who were doing cool things. And yeah, dirty old Telecom were paying me, but they weren’t telling me how to spend the money.

    I figure the ground rule for not selling out is basically “don’t work for anyone whose business model requires them to be evil” (i.e. arms dealers, tobacco companies, American mortgage brokers.) Everything else is at least potentially mitigatable.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • linger, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    Oh yes. The horror!

    Tokyo • Since Apr 2007 • 1944 posts Report Reply

  • Brodie Davis,

    Isn't selling out more about just giving up on being objective starting to be miss-leading. Or just throwing your integrity to the wayside to do what the market/customer wants?

    As long as your still objective and maintain your integrity, then its just work for pay, and not selling out :)

    [edit] Just gotta say, that note 2 review there isn't really a review. Looks like a press release :) (not emma's doing though)

    Since Aug 2008 • 54 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason,

    Its all words.

    Its about time Nokia got a (not bad but pretty good) review. They missed the bus on the smarties but are catching up.

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Ross Mason,

    Its all words.

    Its about time Nokia got a (not bad but pretty good) review. They missed the bus on the smarties but are catching up.

    Both Nokia & Microsoft got caught napping by the smartphone boom, and their recent collaboration can only be logical.

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

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Geoff Lealand,

    Scoop is a good place.

    I take my cue from Welsh cultural critic/novelist Raymond Williams who became, as he argued one should, more radical (of a left persuasion) as he aged. Drifting to the centre/right is such a lazy option.

    Others to have inverted the "I was a teenage X" cliché include Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs fame - he was vaguely WhaleOil-ish when he started blogging, before he woke up and broke with his compatriots; and to a lesser degree Francis Fukuyama. Closer to home, Bernard Hickey openly declared his apostasy a couple of years ago.

    Still others have kept the faith all along, like Bruce Springsteen, Brian Edwards and John Campbell.

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

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,

    So yeah, Telecom might be making your paid writing for Scoop possible, but that doesn’t make you Telecom’s bitch. As I read this post, I saw an ad with Taika Waititi shilling for Steinlager. What do you bet his cheque for the ad is going towards a future creative project?

    I am reminded of Johnny Rotten's shilling for British butter producers. Or if your mileage varies, taking the piss out of it all.

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

  • Don Christie,

    Dunno. I am way less accepting of the status quo than I was at the age of, say 25 or 30. In some things more radical, in others much less.

    This condition is also known as being an angry, middle aged, white man.

    Which is not so aspirational :-(

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    Some "fair and balance" to add to your Nokia / Microsoft gig :-)

    "Christmas gift for someone you hate: Windows 8"

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Don Christie,

    ome “fair and balance” to add to your Nokia / Microsoft gig :-)

    “Christmas gift for someone you hate: Windows 8”

    Heh!

    I once gave an earlier Windows programmed- computer to a tedious distant cousin who basically a family scrounger. Havent heard from them since.

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

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Don Christie,

    Rhodes rage...

    This condition is also known as being an
    angry, middle aged, white man.

    Wait till you thrill to the
    buzzkill of the WASP
    - White Anglo Saxon Pensioner

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Telfar Barnard,

    If I were to do that, you’d all stop telling me about “that one time…” (It’s never at Band Camp. Did none of you go to Band Camp?)

    I went to Band Camp. Nothing happened. Nothing whatsoever. Based on my general track record at the time, and all those other "that one time..."s that happened everywhere but at Band Camp, I am of the opinion that if nothing happened at my Band Camp, then quite possibly nothing ever happens at anyone's Band Camp. Which would be pretty disappointing really.

    However, if it were true (that nothing ever happens at Band Camp), we could all just make stuff up, and say it happened at Band Camp, and it would be like secret code for "this didn't actually happen but I think it would make a good story".

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 585 posts Report Reply

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