Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Hey, my weird-o-meter started glowing when the Bain house was torched. I'm no legal eagle, but you do have to wonder whether any appeal is ever so slightly hampered when the crime scene is reduced to a pile of ash.
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It's not that Neil doesn't have a point in some respects. It just a shame he has to be so bloody mean-spirited about making it.
Having said that, Russell, perhaps The Herald could find a (marginally) less obnoxious and ill-informed rentaquote than Sir Howard Morrison - and, yet again, nice to see the Your Views column remains a shining beacon of thoughtful and temperate debate. "Mean-spirited"? Christ, Finn has much to learn...
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the maori party would have a lot more credibility if she left the leadership to pita sharples
You think? :) Tariana certainly is a bigoted nitwit - but you can't fault the silly bovine for a lack of candor. Having said that, I think the Maori Party has got to do some serious thinking about the 'brown-neck' tone it so often takes on any number of issues, no matter who's fronting it.
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The most recent series was co-written with Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil, so maybe it was *their* stuff which wasn't so flash
Hey. I'm all for sharing the blame around -- but am I the only person who thinks some of the stock characters who've been around since the radio show (Emily and Vicki and Daffyd The Most Annoying Gay In The Whole Boody Universe) are showing signs of serious wear-and-tear?
There is, I think, a reason why The Simpons staggers on with a writing staff, not Matt Groening and a mountain of legal pads.
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I guess the other thing that rankles about the decline of the Listener is that we don't have any left-leaning major magazines in New Zealand anymore. It would be nice to have at least one Nation or Guardian or something.
Well, I may be in the minority here, but I wouldn't mind a domestic equivalent to The Spectator or The National Review at their best either - hell, even a 'smart right' newspaper columnist of the calibre of David Brooks or George Will would make opening The Herald less painful.
Anyway, if anyone feels the lack of a 'left-leaning major magazine' why doesn't someone start one? Ghastly as Air America is (was?), I'll give Al Franken and Co. due credit for not just sitting around bitching about the evil right-wing media and putting another voice out there.
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And there are some fans who do want to hear the same thing again and again. That's what an old favourite is.
Up to a point, Lord Copper. Since Damien brought up the Rolling Stones, they're released (by my count) six 'official' compilations and eight live albums. I own a couple of them myself, being the surperficial creature I am but you can't accuse The Stones of pretending it's anything more than old stuff in a new wrapper.
And sure, it's bloody hard writing comedy - that's why John Cleese and Connie Booth have declined some eye-watering offers to do more Fawlty Towers (which is, IMO, is a near perfect masterclass in the mechanics of how to write a situation comedy). It's why (blasphemy alert!) I thought the last series of Little Britain - entirely written by Matt Lucas and David Walliams - showed signs of *ahem* creative fatigue.
But if you're asking me to plonk down a good chunk of my discretionary income to watch you perform, please give me fair warning if I'm paying for a 'greatest hits' show rather than new material.
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Although Australian feral surfers have alot to answer for but that's a whole different can of lolrus.
Um, yes... I don't know about Sir Howard, but a pretty big chunk of my whanau are second or third-generation Ngati Bondi - they're just getting on with their lives and don;t have native wood chips of any description on their shoulders.
I'm kicking myself for missing Jonathan Lemalu's recent recital in Auckland - which by all reports I've heard was glorious. WTF would anyone who isn't a sad, bitter little troll chip at the man for (if my memory serves) being based in London? It would be nice if New Zealand was the center of the opera universe, but it isn't.
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Craig - there's a whole thesis in that question, but to boil it down to a few words, 'shit-loads and depends on who's giving it' :)
I thought so, and that's where I'm inclined to cut MPs a wee bit of slack. (I know...) I love good 'popular science' writing -- and have enormous respect for the odd good science/medical/technology writer out there in the media - partly because I don't have have a geeky cell in my body, and party because it's so hard to do well.
I think it's even more important for MP's when they're being asked to consider extremely technical bills that they have access to - and bother to digest - accessible, neutral summaries of the bill and related issues. I don't want to crap on lobbyists and sector groups who, by definition, have their own barrows to push. I just don't want them to be the only voices in the conversation.
And ditto for the public debate around climate change, or (a few years back) GE. At the risk of sounding like a total arse-kisser, I think Russell did a considerable public service when he did that series on GE for BFM where he managed to drag some actual science (complex and hotly debatable as it was) into a rather shrill and polarized political debate. I'd like to see a little more of that separation of science and politics where climate change is concerned as well.
In the end, I don't think good public policy comes out of bad, or incomplete, information. And that's a real danger I think politicians, and citizens, of all stripes have to guard against.
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Sorry, hit post instead of preview but I wanted to close with this observation:
I'm quite upfront about being an alcoholic with a long-term history of depression which I'm managing with 'mind-altering' medication prescribed (and carefully monitored) by a qualified health professional. I'm amazed that the Higher Ground Drug Rehabilitation Trust doesn't see the distinction between an anti-depressant, and self-medicating with a bottle of bourbon. I can.
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Or a government funded addiction service who sacked two workers for taking prescribed antidepressants
Thanks for drawing my attention to that, Rich - when my blood pressure has climbed-down from the roof, I think a polite e-mail to the Health Minister will be in order.
And what an abso-fucking-lutely wonderful message to send to people with a sadly all too common form of mental illness: All those government-funded John Kiriwin/ 'know me before you judge me' ads are a load of balls. If you want to keep your job, don't get help, don't be up front with the people around you, just take some herbal potion and think happy thoughts. Grr...
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