Posts by Craig Ranapia

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  • Hard News: Ready to Fly,

    I was shocked at Ryans ref to Maori & Asian as THEY have THEIR own media.
    Is she proposing Apartheid or justifying the exclusion from the mainstream?

    I was listening to the item with one ear, and I don't think Ryan was doing any of the above - just stating a fact. This might give APN and Fairfax the shits, but they're not the only voices out there - and, frankly, why the fuck should the 'mainstream' be the be all and end all for minority writers? As Wallington fairly pointed out, why should educated Maori want to be the token 'Maori issues' go-to, especially when there are more satisfying and lucrative career paths out there. (And I don't think that's a minority issue either - I'll put it this way, how many ministerial spin doctors or PR flacks have you seen leave the profession and go back to journalism, as opposed to the other way round?

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

  • Hard News: Ready to Fly,

    Legally Blonde the musical was nominated for 7 Tonys...

    And got thoroughly spanked by Spring Awakening - another left-field winner, so double justice!

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

  • Hard News: Ready to Fly,

    Had to pinch myself too, Russell. OTOH, Xanadu: The Musical is in previews (based on the film the director of Outfoxed etc. quietly leaves off his CV nowadays, and tests even my appetite for high camp), so this may be the exception that proves the rule.

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

  • Hard News: Ready to Fly,

    Completely random reason to be cheerful, from the (London) Times

    The Coast of Utopia, Tom Stoppard’s eight-hour trilogy about intellectuals in pre-revolutionary Russia, has won seven Tony Awards to become the most acclaimed play in Broadway history.

    The British playwright’s epic topped the previous record of six Tonys for a drama set by Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesmanin 1949 and Alan Bennett’s The History Boys last year.

    See where THINKING and trusting your audience can do the same gets you Debs? :)

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

  • Yellow Peril: Asian Angst: is it time to…,

    Mr Rapania, we can pontificate on whatever jingoistic shit there happens to be anywhere in the media world. Anyway, my intended focus was to be grateful that we have a Press Council. Minority groups in other countries, even developed ones, are not so fortunate.

    Well, fair enough as far as it goes. I just have to wonder how much use the Press Council will be when the likes Peters and Turia start ramping up the brown neck rhetoric as election season approaches, and both National and Labour start shamelessly kissing up for coalition partners? Deserved as Debs bitch-slapping was, (and on another front, Government kinda admitting this week its last round of pandering to Peters was a miserable failure) I'm just respectfully suggesting there's very little cause for self-congratulation here. There's a deeper issue here: Jingoism, economic nationalism and immigrant-bashing not only sells newspapers and magazines, it gets votes. Don't confuse the symptom with the disease.

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

  • OnPoint: Cooked goose, chicken, etc.,

    I doubt that North & South will. To sack Coddington would be an admission of guilt, which would put Robyn Langwell's head on the block, too. [...]The HoS, though... they should sack her for writing such shit, but she's an op-ed columnist - they're beyond the law. In fact, the more she's hated, the more valuable she becomes as a columnist.

    You can dream, Keith - but the Herald on Scumday seems remarkably disinclined to sack anyone who can't tell the difference between news and fiction. Not that the Scummy Smear-Lies is any better. I didn't notice anyone connected with the Operation Leaf debacle (you know, the Wartergate-ish spy scandal that wasn't) become persona non grata at Fairfac.

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

  • Yellow Peril: Asian Angst: is it time to…,

    On a side note, here's a novel solution for race-hate offenders: maroon them in Tokyo or Hong Kong for a couple of weeks, and they might understand what prejudice is about.

    That's a bloody good diea - though they should be in line behind everyone who voted for the respectable faces of xenophobia - because you're either blind or lying to yourself if you think there isn't a big constituency (from the Greens through to Winston First) that responds to muttering about dirty foreigners turning everything to shit.

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

  • OnPoint: Cooked goose, chicken, etc.,

    If you take away Fairfax and the Herald's APN group (which also owns the Listener), then you don't have much to work with...

    True enough, but it still feels like finding out your teenage daughter has Paris Hilton as a mentor. :)

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

  • Yellow Peril: Asian Angst: is it time to…,

    I wish Japan (where I spend a fair bit of time) had a Press Council. Their media is a disgrace with regard to foreigners. Mainly Chinese, as it happens. We should send the Asia-New Zealand Foundation over there...

    With all due disrespect, Chuckie, I don't think Japan is a part of the world where we should be pontificating too loudly on the subject of jingoistic media.

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

  • OnPoint: Cooked goose, chicken, etc.,

    Is it time to make a complaint to the Press Council about the latest HoS article re its selective quoting, and the breaking of the embargo? Any volunteers?!

    I'd be more likely to complain to the Press Council if the Herald on Sunday wasn't a reliable source of long drop arse-wipe. Its the News of the World without the intellectual rigour, professional excellence and elegant prose.

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

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