On yet another sparkling Auckland day last Sunday, my riding route took me out on the Queen's Wharf; the reclaimed jewel of Auckland's waterfront and home of "Party Central". To say it was quiet would be an understatement; it was bloomin' deserted.
I caught a glimpse of a security guard and a puzzled tourist, but otherwise I was left to explore Shed A, look at the outside of the other shed (B?) and get a feel for it.
I'll tell you this: the sheds are rubbish. They are in quite poor condition, and I cannot see any intrinsic merit in them. I'm not convinced saving them for their own sakes would be the best use of the money.
On the other hand, I can appreciate the point of view of Mike Mizrahi, who contacted recently to express alarm at the potential loss of the kind of waterfront shed space that has been used for events and installations in Wellington, Sydney and other cities.
And I'm still not wild about the "temporary structure" that wound up as the government's Plan F for Party Central: mostly because it's not temporary enough. It's just enough of a building that that our new council will be tempted to kick for touch and just leave it there. For years. Which would be a classically half-arsed Auckland solution.
Somewhere along the CBD waterfront, there does need to be a cruise ship terminal; ideally one that is unobtrusive and multi-purpose. But for the time being I'd really just like to open up the wharf for a year or five – get rid, at least, of Shed A, which is plonked hopelessly in the middle and dominates the view from the red gates.
Anyway, I took some pictures with my iPhone and I've loaded them into the gallery for this post. Have a gander.
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Last night's Media7 Future of TV special is online for your information and entertainment.
There's quite a bit in the show (I'd forgotten how much work these long shows are – did we really use to do them every week?), but the interview with former Mediaworks CEO Brent Impey is, I think, the core of it.
It was strange seeing both Brent and Sky CEO John Fellett (there for the Heartland channel launch) at the TVNZ mothership on successive days. But not as strange, I guess, as the unflinchingly practical plan to sell TV3's current building in Flower street and move into TVNZ's TVC South buildings on Hobson Street – which would allow the sharing of some resources and allow TV3's owner, Ironbridge Capital, to knock off some of the debt it has loaded onto the business. It'll be funny when they start pinching each other's car parks.
Heartland – an all-New Zealand retro channel now part of the basic Sky offering – will doubtless leave some people thinking they're being charged again for programmes they paid for first time around, and they'd be right. But there was no prospect of these old shows being screened on One or 2, and they'd deliver no return on TVNZ 6.
On the terms on which the government now requires the TVNZ board to run the business, Heartland is the right move. Rather than relying wholly on advertising revenue, it means that TVNZ will receive a share of overall Sky subscriber revenue, based on audience. It may not be the last venture of its kind. If it ameliorates the largely destructive rivalry between TVNZ and Sky, I think that's a good thing.
Oh, and Wednesday wasn't the first time Brent Impey's been in at TVNZ lately. If he does it again, people will talk.
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On Twitter? Try this.
Click here to go through to the Hype Machine listing for Lawrence Arabia's 'Look Like a Fool'. Click "Tweet this track," and we'll see if we can get Mr Arabia to #1 on the chart. This will prove to be his crucial career break and he will subsequently make millions and return home to play a free concert for everyone at Eden Park, buying off complaining neighbours by handing out gold Rolexes.
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And, to conclude, a couple of clips. The first is the trailer for Scoundrels, the American Outrageous Fortune adaptation that premieres on ABC Sunday June 20:
It certainly looks better than the deeply wrong Brit adaptation, whose name I have deliberately forgotten.
And Gemma Gracewood emailed from New York (and the UN!) to tell me of this tremendous version of Randy Newman's 'Short People' by the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, with Conchord Bret McKenzie on lead vocals:
Have a good long weekend, everyone. Try not to get washed away in a flash flood.