Posts by Russell Brown
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This is an excellent discussion. Two observations:
1. The rapid progress towards a track-and-trace society in Britain seems to some extent a reaction to the fact that for so long it was such a messy bureaucracy. Because it took so long to get a passport, you could stroll in to a post office and get yourself a temporary British passport over the counter. You could get it with someone else's birth certificate if you liked, and it was just a piece of paper with no photograph on it. Lots of people worked and signed on, no one ever seemed to get caught. I never paid poll tax and didn't pay income tax in my last year there. I briefly wondered if I'd have trouble when I went back for a visit 10 years later, but there was no problem. Tax records used to get lost all the time.
2. There are plenty of Americans who loathe what air travel has become in that country. When I was last there, in 2006, the requirement to remove shoes had come into force. Transferring at LAX, that happened in a hot, non-air-conditioned room that, of course, really stank, and there was a queue and a guy barking instructions. It was just an ordeal. Then on the way out, I got flagged for a luggage search at every possible point at two airports: twice on the way to the boarding gate at LAX, and I also had to stand in the perspex cubicle that blows jets of air at you in the hope of picking up explosives residue. (I don't think for a moment they thought I had actually been making bombs, but it was an expensive machine and they had to justify the expense by using it.)
The creepy thing was that I discovered it was a risk to catch anyone's eye, let alone smile. Only one person smiled at me: the young soldier who performed the last search on my bag and cracked a Mac vs PC joke. Photocopied bill posters declaring the current threat level were everywhere. Outside the terminals, departing smokers gave their lighters to arriving smokers, because it is no longer allowed to carry a disposable lighter on a plane.
And this, of course, all went on every day of the year.
As Cory Doctorow noted around the same time, how long till the government decides the exploding buttplug is a risk, and rectal inspections become the price of flying?
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It seems the first episode of the Survivors remake started 3 days ago on the UK.
Er, yes. As I said in my post.
Ep 2 is probably screening right now.
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__Russell Brand as Ian__
Lets have RB as far away from anything as we can, ok? He can't act and isn't funny. I can do without him gurning at the camera every two seconds.
I downloaded an episode of Russell Brand's Ponderland last week.
It was shite.
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And let's face it, I'd forgotten, but Carolyn Seymour was really hot.
She had a quite gratuitous through-frosted-glass shower scene in the original series -- which was replayed by the Abby character in the new one, but far more modestly. It's funny what you could do in the 70s.
I always liked Lucy Fleming better though.
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I'm going to give it a go. There seems to be plenty of well seeded torrents floating around internet. I'm too young to have seen the original, do you guys think it's necessary to watch the older one to really appreciate the new one?
I think it would add to the experience, but isn't strictly necessary. The original is available on DVD though -- and, as I said, you only really need to bother with the excellent first series.
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Does this mean courts now have to take into account unreal and insignificant risks?
That was exactly my thought when I heard the news item about it on the radio.
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The US have just announced a new "not really a visa" requirement for travel there, for nationals of countries with a visa waiver agreement already in place. This includes NZ & AU nationals
Americablog's Chris in Paris was spewing about it last week.
Could they try any any harder to make visiting the US a pain in the ass?
Also, when you visit the page where you apply for your authorisation number, which you need before you can apply for authorisation, and without which you'll be locked up at the entry gate, you're required to click "okay" on a pop-up with these words:
__This Department of Homeland Security (DHS) computer system and any related equipment is subject to monitoring for administrative oversight, law enforcement, criminal investigative purposes, inquiries into alleged wrongdoing or misuse, and to ensure proper performance of applicable security features and procedures. As part of this monitoring, DHS may acquire, access, retain, intercept, capture, retrieve, record, read, inspect, analyze, audit, copy and disclose any information processed, transmitted, received, communicated, and stored within the computer system. If monitoring reveals possible misuse or criminal activity, notice of such may be provided to appropriate supervisory personnel and law enforcement officials. DHS may conduct these activities in any manner without further notice. By clicking OK below or by using this system, you consent to the terms set forth in this notice.__
Sigh ...
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It's got be in the blood I reckon. Two of the best footie ones (although it helps if you know the players names):
When I would go and see Wimbledon play in their brief era of glory, the crowd would sing:
One Laurie Sanchez,
There's only Laurie Sanchez
One Laurie Saaaaanchez!To the tune of 'Guantamera'.
They weren't the only crowd to adapt the tune thus, but I thought it worked particularly well given Sanchez' Latinate surname.
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We don't really 'do' singing at sports events, do we? Bloody repressed overly-macho spectators. Quite apart from the fact that I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.
The one time I've really seen it come off was the Wellington test on the last Lions tour.
Whoever ran the PA music went for almost 100% Kiwi gold, and bawling 'Why Does Love Do This To Me?' has never felt as good as it did that night.
I think people felt they had to measure up to the glorious noise the Lions fans were making -- and the Lions fans eventually joined in singing Exponents songs.
And then, after a superb game of rugby in which Dan Carter had played possibly the best match ever by an All Black first-five, Dave Dobbyn's 'Welcome Home' struck up over the PA as the stadium emptied. It was a really lovely movement.
And then ... I got high and went clubbing with my friends. Best night out evar.
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Thanks for the AK79 reports. I generously let someone else have my ticket, and spent the evening screen industry schmoozing at the SPADA do. That got old by about 9.45, and I grabbed a cab home and had an early night.
Turned out the reason I was so tired was that I had the spring flu coming on ... blah. Gurgle.
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