Posts by Stuart Coats
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: How about that cricket, eh?, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Every club has teams that compete in social grades. A bit like Ben I didn't get into the teams at high school but I am now in a 40-over per side league that plays on Saturdays. We are very mixed ability! There are also tonnes of 20/20 teams out there if you want a shorter game. The nature of cricket, however, is that the better players always get a better game. I can bowl, so I get to open the bowling (I'm also captain this year so I get to choose to bowl with the wind!) and I'll generally bowl my full quota so I get to be a bit more active in the field. However I can't bat to save my life (imagine Chris Martin but worse) so I bat at 11. This means that for half the game I am unemployed unless I umpire. Our best batsmen bat at the top of the order and use up most of the overs, as is only right and proper, and you have to accept that will be the case. The worst days - you bat at 6, get out for a duck and then don't bowl. Those days suck!
-
Hard News: Comedy Festival 2: The Genius…, in reply to Te Radar,
Totally seconded. Kraken was one of the funniest shows I've seen, and a great antidote to all of the stand-up (I love going to stand-up but it is nice to have a change). It contains one of the greatest entrances I have ever seen on the stage at Bats.
-
From down in Wellington: give Tighty Whiteys a go when it gets up north. Really funny stuff from a couple of great performers.
-
Hard News: Oh, Auckland, in reply to Pete Sime,
I just wanted to second Peter's recommendation of Bookbinder. I saw it in the Wellington Fringe and it is remarkable. A deserving winner of the Best of Fringe award. The show works in very small venues (here in Wellington it was 15 people per show) so when it comes to your town BOOK!
-
The nastiness happens at an individual level too, where the competition is between colleagues for the best jobs, the chance to present, be an overseas correspondent, or even to get off the intern desk just once and do a story. It turns friends into rivals, even enemies, remarkably easily. Just this week I heard another case of a ‘friend’ betraying another’s confidence, effectively stomping on the fingers of their colleague as they climbed up the ladder.
I remember years ago a media friend of mine and I busted each other gossiping about the other. We genuinely liked each other – still do – so why? It was part envy, part mischief, and sometimes just going along with whatever the group might be saying. We had it out one day over lunch, then made a pact. It’s one I’ve stuck to, and extended to others, never to criticise each other, and if someone else was to say “don’t you think so-and-so is awful?” to explicitly disagree and stick up for your friend – an act so uncommon and unexpected in media that it often elicits an immediate backdown.
I don't think this is just a media thing. It happens in all industries, in all walks of life. I guess that the big problem is that what is said "in the media" becomes news and/or a part of the national conversation.
I have worked in a few industries now and I'm happy to say that I think the cream rises. In all walks of life there are people who try to get to the top via scheming and backstabbing. That works for a while, but I have found that the people who truly "make it" are those who act in a generous manner and care about other people. -
-
It does depend on what the minister is refering to. Are there great artists out there producing terrific work? Yes. Are they being fairly recompensed for their work? No.
-
Showing my age, but this match has always been a favourite, especially as it was played on Australia Day
-
Off-topic....
Graham, are you worried that people might think your book is a detailed account of the Balloon Boy saga?
-
Wellington is actually quite a good town to live in
I know, I live here. I'm just saying that it's cold today.
I thought in his non-scripted bits he sounded a little bit like he was begging/desperate to have tourists to come over
Don't they call this "keeping on message" in politics?