Posts by Tom Semmens
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Amsterdam is flat and I would guess built on fairly soft mud or sand. I dunno about Seoul. Ask yourself the cost of digging through clay or volcanic rock in Auckland, and doing that up hills and down dales. Putting it all underground will be far to expensive. Period.
I would suggest that any government look at overhead cables where possible, with a 20 year plan to underground it all eventually. I guess it just depends on if people can put up with something about the size of a small hose running along the poles in their street.
But from experience - if we don't go overhead, the cost overruns will the whole thing an expensive pipe dream and it'll be dropped.
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with mash potato, boiled cabbage, carrots and gravy.
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So much for my diet, I now feel like a pork chop for my dinner.
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"...but some PAS readers want to 'bash' the parents of one prospective panelist before the show has even been aired..."
The question I really wonder about I suppose is if it points to a deeper malaise in the collective sexual pysche of our society. We are increasingly terrified of sexuality yet increasingly addicted to the commodification of sex. As a society, it seems the serious business of selling your sexuality is seen as a more legitimate expression of youngs persons sexuality than the process of learning about a fun and natural part of life.
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I am hardly a prude, but its been one of lifes little mysteries to me how parents who would die in a ditch to protect their daughters from exploitation on facebook or myspace will then suddenly celebrate the prostituting (yes, prostitute - selling yourself in a base way) of their young teenage daughters in a fashion magazine. Why? Because they are in the glamorous business of being models, apparently. Why does that make it OK for your sixteen year old girl to get her kit off? Does the fact that there is no money in their daughter flashing someone online but the "fashion" business might produce big fat cheque have a bearing?
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Things like the RAVE Act and the usual massive over-reaction to dissent policing style the U.S. authorities seem to love have done a great job of repressing dance music in the USA, although the Winter Music Festival in Miami is more fun than you can physically survive if you are not careful.
Tom Beard: There really isn't a club scene outside Auckland, and even up here it isn't quite like it was back in the day. Partially this is because Auckland is run by old men who love Jesus and a good property development, but also the club/dance scene is really the sum of the size of your city.
Rich: Dance in terms of its saleability as a commodity by commercial distribution organisations was killed by downloads. If the record companies are not behind you then you can sure as hell the programmers at ZM won't be either. DJ sets are primarily about playing to a live audience. If you want something to listen to on your iPod any reasonably good quality download from a gig will fit the bill as well as go out and paying for, say, a Deep Dish CD. The output of bedroom DJ's to chat forums is free to.
Personally I don't think sudsidising dance parties is a goer - tax payer money for those events? Many a time a time I've stood back looking at the crowd at 3am and said to myself "My God these people are all completely, utterly and unredeemably toasted". I doubt most promoters would want taxpayer money, given you'd soon have every political point scoring busybody in the land sniffing around looking to create a moral panic.
I would prefer to see something along the lines of the Redbull music academy for identified up and coming DJ's and some sort of fiscal encouragement for local DJ's to get into the studio and make original sounds.
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lets face it - if NZ on Air didn't direct most of its funding into bands that'll play well with the kids in Peoria then the lack of airtime on ZM would prompt the likes Murray McCully to label the whole thing a waste of public money and call for the scrapping of any funding for New Zealand music. I suspect that to fund to much diversity would eventually lead to any funding at all being snuffed out by free market Philistines, so its safer to fund music that gives an easily defined criteria for claiming success - commercial success. From a DJ/Dance perspective, and parking the D'n'B crew for a second, all I can see is that dance gets nothing from anyone and the quality of the DJ's - let alone getting any original production work - has slipped. Although there was a surprising level of support here on PA for Steve Hill, generally speaking dance is more or less ignored by wider industry opinion leaders who either don't understand it or dislike the culture around it. In addition, the ferocious anglocentricity of our cultural outlook means many still don't accept it as something that is more than a fad that isn't "real" music, perhaps without realising quite how big dance is in the non-English speaking world. Its a pity, because overseas dance is big business and its contribution to the economy via every DJ in a bar or club adding to the dollar spend is huge.
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I couldn't help but laugh at the Herald - under the sidebar "Democracy under attack" was the story "Parties sday ggodbye to secret cash".
Some attack on democracy that! -
"...have you guys posted/chatted about 'colourway' records the STh Aux hiphop label and alleged money laundering arm of the killa bees and tribesmen gangs ?..."
I am not entirely sure if that subject fits with the age and demographical profile of PA.
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I long ago decided that listening to or reading Michael Laws was like accidentally seeing some beastiality on your PC - before you realise it, you've lost something you can never get back.
So I don't listen to him or read his words. Simple.