Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Invisible Harblz

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  • Tom Semmens,

    WOOHOO! My flatmate informs me my expensive LCD set is also HDTV ready.


    Whatever that might mean.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I think you'll find that gift is called "practise and hard work".

    Up to a point - even Bill Clinton's harshest critics would say the man has what you can only call charisma, and I don't really know if you can learn it, or even if it says anything much about character. One of those X-factor qualities that bigger brains than mine have tried (and failed) to quantify, I suspect.

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

  • InternationalObserver,

    er ... is it only me (I guess so, since no-one else has commented on it) but:

    I'm rather creeped out by the idea that someone has taken the time to follow Key, film him, edit the film, and then post it. This is a feature of US politics I don't really want to see here. Were they hoping to catch Key saying 'Mucacca'?

    I could edit a video that would raise questions about whether RB should be allowed unsupervised access to young boys if I wanted to. This video is silly.

    ... and I thought it was only the Sc1ent0l0gists who went around filming the film crews?

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    InternationalObserver:

    Gee, You Tube is full of saddos who need to get a life (preferably their own)? I have three words for you: LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE! :(

    And before Tom Semmens gets all pissed off at me again, I'd like to think Helen Clark could occasionally scratch her arse and poke a vegetable without some freak posting it on You Tube so some right wing-nut can froth about how this proves what a dirty, heartless bitch she is.

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

  • Ben Austin,

    Freeview is currently on my angry list - tried to watch the first episode of Flight of the Conchords last night on bbc4 and the dammed reception kept cutting out. With freeview that means image lock or simply "no signal". Boo.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    And before Tom Semmens gets all pissed off at me again, I'd like to think Helen Clark could occasionally scratch her arse and poke a vegetable without some freak posting it on You Tube so some right wing-nut can froth about how this proves what a dirty, heartless bitch she is.

    Craig and I/O, this is hardly some Sunday-morning ambush.

    Key didn't go to Porirua market to buy vegetables for goodness sake: he had a videographer, a photographer, a sound guy with a huge boom mic and god knows how many advisors in tow. Doubtless, whatever PR people were involved would have created an extremely flattering edit of proceedings, but it was a staged PR event. The fact that someone else also taped proceedings does not alter the fact that Mr Key was not simply going about his private business, he was seeking to stage a public event.

    PS: I buy all the veges in my household, and I fancy myself as a fairly good judge of their freshness and quality. I don't stick perfectly good looking spuds up my nose as a reflex action.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • 3410,

    Doubtless, whatever PR people were involved would have created an extremely flattering edit of proceedings

    Make that "__will__ create..."

    I, for one, am grateful to anyone who pulls back the curtain on the PR. I've been giving the guy the benefit of the doubt, despite my general suspicion of the everyman-ness of multi-milionaire currency-trading National party MPs, but I'll not forget that cold-eyed sneer toward the housing problems of low income people for a while.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Well, Russell, if you want to be cynical about the heavily spun and processed nature of modern politics you're preaching to the amen corner. But surreptitiously taping politicians while looking for that 'Macaca Moment' - and putting one together with some "unfair editing" as you put it if your prey isn't obliging - doesn't seem like much of an advance, just the same game with a lot of disingenuous bullshit about "citizen journalism" and "digital democracy".

    But, hey,I guess we're all living in a scopophiliac world where we're increasingly comfortable with (or oblivious to) CCTV cameras on every corner, the faux intimacy of You Tube and Facebook; where voyeurism as infotainment has never been cheaper or more popular while actual newsgathering and analysis is being starved of resources and airtime.

    I guess we're just going to have to agree to disagree on whether it's one worth living in, let alone one that actually adds anything of value to political discourse.

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

  • Russell Brown,

    But, hey,I guess we're all living in a scopophiliac world where we're increasingly comfortable with (or oblivious to) CCTV cameras on every corner, the faux intimacy of You Tube and Facebook; where voyeurism as infotainment has never been cheaper or more popular while actual newsgathering and analysis is being starved of resources and airtime.

    And that has what, exactly, to do with the leader of the National Party being filmed while he's out in public having himself filmed? For goodness sake ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • John Farrell,

    What's the bet they were filming a "John, man of the people" ad for the next election?

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 499 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    But surreptitiously taping politicians while looking for that 'Macaca Moment' - and putting one together with some "unfair editing" as you put it if your prey isn't obliging - doesn't seem like much of an advance, just the same game with a lot of disingenuous bullshit about "citizen journalism" and "digital democracy".

    Sorry Craig, that's a pile of nonsense.

    Key was clearly out on public business (or, national party promotional business), and just because he brought his own camera along, doesn't mean that he no doubt wouldn't have welcomed TV news cameras, who might have been there if he was doing anything more important than snorting spuds.

    If that's OK, then why isn't some chap with a handycam and a sense of humour OK?

    There's nothing wrong with the editing done on the film. It's biased, one-sided, and clearly done to poke fun at Key. It's a private video though, not TV3 news. There's no obligation to be fair and unbiased. If the editor made 'funny', then he's done his job as far as I'm concerned.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    I'd just like to say that the above post is now owning the Google results for "Invisible Harblz".

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    Has anyone else found lolsecretz yet? a mix of lolcats and postsecret, alternately (and often simultaneously) funny, cute, sad and disturbing.

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report

  • merc,

    I'd quite like to see Mr Key sniffing some produce up the road in our own local market, we've missed him here in his electorate lately.

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report

  • Joe Wylie,

    I'd just like to say that the above post is now owning the Google results for "Invisible Harblz".

    Congratulations & max your enjoyment before the LOL-cat thang succumbs to the ever-fickle interweb's new love affair with large terrestrial arthropods:
    http://www.hugecrab.com/

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

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