Posts by mark baker

  • Regard Auckland II: WTF?,

    Personally I think it would be cool if Public Address focussed less on the Nat/Act/Lab political nuances of what is happening and more on the soical cost and obscene tilt toward the purposes of big business that this represents.
    Has nobody said it out loud? This is Rodney paying back his BRT and EMA sponsors, and it will disenfranchise one third of the population of New Zealand while in the process padding the pockets of a few old rich white men.
    Now where has that theme cropped up before? Oh yes, a certain unelected Prez of the USA who screwed his country into the gutter all the while pandering to Big Oil.
    But - o the irony - little Rodney doesn't even have to get the top job to do his sordid little deal.
    I note the lack of governance experience among the named stormtroopers on the transition board and the addition of a Supercity lobbyist to the Local Government Commission, there to report back to the Natpolitik if there's even the mere hint of free thought.
    I think when the borders and boundaries are confirmed I'll up stakes and move slightly north or south of the new Supercity.
    Oh, and Tui billboard of the year? "we don't know if it will mean people's rates go up". Good on ya mate.

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Field Theory: Handle the Scandal,

    O Craig, "pious sanctimony"? Ouch.
    Difference being: in LOTR we KNEW it was fake. Opening just LOOKED fake, and the knowledgable Kiwi voiceover on TVNZ somehow omitted to mention it. So we were expected to ooh and ahhh at the pretty lights and not question their existence. Sorry, not me!
    As for the Western wet dream of a pretty wee Chinese girl "singing" while her more "plain" counterpart's voice got projected, that's just too sad for the girl who actually sang and time for the organisers to hang their heads.

    Shame, shame! In fact stink ow!

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Field Theory: Handle the Scandal,

    O Craig, "pious sanctimony"? Ouch.
    Difference being: in LOTR we KNEW it was fake. Opening just LOOKED fake, and the knowledgable Kiwi voiceover on TVNZ somehow omitted to mention it. So we were expected to ooh and ahhh at the pretty lights and not question their existence. Sorry, not me!
    As for the Western wet dream of a pretty wee Chinese girl "singing" while her more "plain" counterpart's voice got projected, that's just too sad for the girl who actually sang and time for the organisers to hang their heads.

    Shame, shame! In fact stink ow!

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Field Theory: Handle the Scandal,

    Ummm. Two aspects of this. First up the frowny serious bit. Original post (tongue in cheek?) attempts to excuse what the Chinese have done - in faking aspects of the opening ceremony.
    1. The "virtual" helicopter flypast of the non-existent fireworks: are we saying it's okay to fake that one because it's smoggy and the air's toxic in Beijing? Question: what country has allowed - caused - the smog? Question: were the Chinese so naive as to think nobody would notice, or that it somehow didn't matter?
    2. replacing one Chinese girl signer with another. I was one who looked at the pretty - and fairly idealised "western" version of Chinese - girl signing and noted her chest wasn't rising and falling a lot, dismissed it as simply a lip synch. But what the Chinese have apparently chosen to do is present a fantasy cutey cutey girl singer who conforms with Western notions of what pretty Chinese girls should look like. How dare they?
    On a more cynical and less serious view: isn't fakes what China's all about? fake Gucci bags, fake running shoes, fake CDs, fake fireworks (they did invent them after all!) and fake singers...oh, and the rtishest irony of all, they had to fake the air there, and didn;t do a very good job!

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: This just in: Sky over Tasman…,

    ...oh, and one last thing if I may...the Ministers of this increasingly shonky-looking Government were NEVER "blindsided" by the "revelation".

    Apart from the fact it was not a Wishart scoop, nobody "blindsides" these people...it's much too easy to simply "dumbside" them. Shooting fish in a barrel, though the nats don;lt look much more appetising.
    Proof positive, if it were needed, that third term Governments are just a bad idea.

    ...I'll shuffle off back to my cave now if you don't mind...

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: This just in: Sky over Tasman…,

    Ummm...and just a minute.
    We are morally outraged that Air NZ flew Aussies TOWARD Eyerack, but we don't care that Rakon is more directly involved in the War on Terrur, making wobbly things that guide smart bombs used by the USA in the same part of the world?
    That's so muddled it's not even a double standard.
    Ahhhh, Big Gay Hel, you twist and turn like a twisty turny thing...

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: This just in: Sky over Tasman…,

    Richard L, I have one for you: from the following:

    "and an arrogant wanker with very much the white man's burden on his ample shoulders

    Heh - the Scottish phrase I liked was (used in reference to a similarly dislikable twerp - Rob Andrew) "He's got a face like a smacked arse".

    to one I heard last year that made me snort flat white out my beak most undecorously:

    "a face like a dropped pie"

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: This just in: Sky over Tasman…,

    I gotta come back to the Air New Zealand thing, and our ongoing confusion over what Air NZ is.

    Not a national carrier. Not for years.
    Not a troop carrier. Except when there's a $ to be earned.
    Not brave enough to front its majority shareholder and say "well, Big Hel, sorry but we are in the business of making money, and the Aussies seem to have quite a bit of it. So what would you prefer, Ma'am; ethical purity and righteous indignation or a good fat dividend into the consolidated fund?"

    Now if they were carrying that bloke Al Quaeda or his hairy mates, or that pervy old boob-fondler Rudd I'd get REALLY annoyed...

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Random Play: Diana of Wails: The…,

    We can only thank Di for one thing: she added some much needed fresh stock to the royal gene pool.
    As for the rest, well she was a product of her time and could probably not exist in these post-Paris and Britney days.
    I somehow can't imagine the Princess getting her knickers off for a night out with the gals, can you? But that, it seems, is what it takes to be a "celebritney" these days.
    Oh, and where was I when I heard? Home alone, watching sport on TV...got a phone call from friends telling me to change channels, did and then phoned them back to ask (best impression of dry journo/PR hack cynicism), "did Di die? Too right she did die!"
    Obvious she'd been smacked around far too much to live.
    I think I was more affected by Ayrton Senna's death - at least he actually achieved something in his life.
    One of the things observed about Senna's death was that it is almost impossible to actually die at an F1 race these days, the critical care is simply too good. It was fairly obvious in Di's case that the same applied: get the body out of the car and off to hospital then let her go.

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: This just in: incumbent…,

    The button and bumper sticker apply: somewhere in Texas there's a village missing its idiot (with thanks and apologies also to Green Day and the Dixies).
    We all knew Bush was bent, he got elected on oil money and hasn't ever missed a chance to fill the wallets of himself and his friends, but now we know just how bent eh?
    And now his lap-dog in the Uk's gone, what ever will he do for politicial support...[edited]?

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

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