Posts by Ethan Tucker
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My non-fiction highlight of the year has been Simon Garfield's To The Letter, which aside from stitching together a compelling narrative of the influence of the now-waning art of personal correspondence on world culture, also contains vignettes of actual correspondence between a WW2 British Army soldier in North Africa and his sweetheart interspersed throughout the chapters. Those letters in particular are utterly gripping and I approached their conclusion with both keen anticipation and a growing sense of dread that some military mishap might stand in the way of true love.
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He joked to me that he was thinking of turning his exquisitely-crafted Excel doc into an “interactive rock star accountant” – you put in the contract terms and it spits out net income. I reckon there’s a video game in that.
Something similar's been done, most amusingly in this 1988 C64/Amiga classic. Publicity stunts to launch your budding artist's new single generally resulted in grisly deaths for the starlet concerned.
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I've gorra lorra time for Sheridan Smith, who is big on the London stage and amusing on Twitter. Gave a charming performance in Gavin & Stacey as the onscreen sister to her then-boyfriend James Corden, like in this scene, a carpark rendition of Kanye's rap from Estelle's 'American Boy' single. Actually I prefer Corden & Smith's version:
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Hard News: Why we thought what we thought, in reply to Hilary Stace,
At the time of his resignation in 2011 Darren Hughes was a list MP.
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Hard News: It was 30 years ago today, in reply to linger,
Yeh, but school pupils generally are anti-establishment whenever this is an option (regardless of the establishment's political hue).
Good point, although I doubt the same could be said today?
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...to be paid off at $123 a month as part of our electricity bill with Nova over five years
Does that mean you're stuck with one electricity provider for five years though? Is there an affordable way of going 'off-contract'?
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Enormous changes to society were kicked off that day. One of my most eye-opening political experiences was when the Deputy Principal announced to the Onehunga High School assembly that David Lange had resigned (so that would be 8 August 1989). To my surprise, most of the students cheered loudly at the news. This in what had for generations been a safe Labour seat.
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Good time to be a cyclist, it looks like - substantially increased funding was also proposed in Wellington in December. Now all I need to do is... actually get a bike.
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You had me worried, reading that review. Having seen the gig, I wouldn't say I welcome Hunter's focus on particular issues, but I'd note that he's a trained actor who knows how to play his 'rich, white, uptight' audiences to get a reaction and test what's acceptable. I enjoyed the gig, and would recommend it.
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Seeing Reginald D Hunter tomorrow night! Looking forward to it, but rather nervous as we're seated in the front row. Mustn't be late.