Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Hard News: The Mega Conspiracy, in reply to Geoff Lealand,
A mild thrashing at best, Craig. I have real problems with a full-time lobbyist representing the interests of a monopolistic private company, rather than the interests a broad sector of the population, such as trade unionists.
Geoff: Trade unions represent (and lobby for) the interests of their members - some better than others, and a few in ways that make me wish a bus would jump the curb and put them out of my misery. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that; but while YMMV, I don't want Helen Kelly, Tony O’Brien or whatever toss-monkey is running the NZRU pushing draft legislation in front of ministers. I didn't vote for them - and they're not bound by the ethical and professional norms of the public service -, and I'd prefer all lobbyists operate in the full light of day.
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Hard News: The Mega Conspiracy, in reply to Russell Brown,
Yes. Sky’s guy is Tony O’Brien, whose job is lunch and lobbying with MPs, officials, relevant industry managers and journalists. He’s pretty good at it.
I'm sure I'm going to get crucified for saying this, but I don't have a problem with lobbyists - whether they're corporate, unions or single issue whatevers. But I'd sure like to see a public register of lobbyists and more stringent disclosure of their interactions with Ministers and senior civil servants.
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Hard News: The Mega Conspiracy, in reply to Peter Graham,
If I run a photocopy shop and let people photocopy stuff unsupervised should I be liable for any copyright infringement my customers are committing using my service?
For that matter, should the company that manfactures the laptop I’m writing this on be liable if I use it to infringe copyright like the dirty foreign criminal I am? Hope so – just for the sheer shadeunfreude-y goodness of watching two divisions of Sony go on a litigation jihad against another. :)
And while I hate sticking up for purverors of over-priced Christmas hampers, I wonder if Chrisco are getting a little tetchy about what this case is doing to their Google search results. :)
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Hard News: The Mega Conspiracy, in reply to Russell Brown,
This is what intrigues me. Does anyone really believe YouTube management has no idea it’s hosting potentially infringing content until explicitly advised by the owners?
No more than I believe many corporations are unaware that they cheerfully (and profitably) facilitate with one hand what they condemn with the other. :)
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Hard News: The Mega Conspiracy, in reply to Simon Grigg,
And this does feel to me like another building PR disaster on the part of the MPAA and RIAA. Aside from the assets seized, there doesn’t seem to be an upside in this for them.
Quite – and I was one of the ‘Big Six’ studios who are the MPAA I'd be re-thinking whether new head ‘Senator’ Chis Dodd is really earning his keep.
"Candidly, those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake,” Dodd told Fox News. “Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake."
Shorter MPAA: “Yo ’Bama, when I buy a bitch I expect her sweet little ass to stay brought!” Really smart, guys. And small usage note: Candidly, lobbyists who speak in the majestic plural on behalf of an entire industry they have no mandate to speak for don't come across well.
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Hard News: #BDOMemories, in reply to Hilary Stace,
But something else will emerge, I’m sure.
I remember after Theatre Corporate and Mercury collapsed (showing my age!), the CW was that we'd never see a professional theatre company in Auckland again. Aren't we lucky ATC and Silo didn't get the memo? :)
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Hard News: #BDOMemories, in reply to Russell Brown,
Cave said later he thought New Zealanders were privileged to have seen a group in the process of collapse – comparing to Elvis’s final show, iirc.
Cheers, Nick. I’d respectfully submit that at the time if I wanted to see belligerent junkies implode I didn't need to pay for it.
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Hard News: #BDOMemories, in reply to Sacha,
I wouldn’t call putting Fatboy Slim at the peak of his popularity in a tiny tent ‘well connected’ either. Munterish, really.
To fair, Sacha, putting together a schedule doesn't always mean things fit together the way you'd like. Know it's not a precise analogy, but at the Film Festival last year they could have sold out twice as many screenings of the Herzog and Wenders 3D docos. And I wasn't the only person who had a raised eyebrow over their being scheduled after the festival closing night.
Basically, they had to do that because it was the only window they had for a 3D theatre.
And the year before, left-field Cannes Palm O'Dor winner Uncle Boomee Who Can Recall His Past Lives was conspicuous by its absence. Simply couldn't secure a print until well after the ship had sailed.
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Hard News: #BDOMemories, in reply to Russell Brown,
It's a model that's working better than the big-bang of the Big Day Out now.
That makes sense to me - as I said, "narrowcasting" - as opposed to trying to do a bit of everything - isn't always a bad thing. Bigger isn't always better, and while things like the Parachute Festival doesn't do a damn thing for me it seems to found a viable market in a "Christian" demographic that doesn't mean a lot to me.
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But the festival business has changed: there are more, smaller festivals.
Quite - and I don't think "narrowcasting" is necessarily such a bad thing. Is it just me and are there a lot more acts nowadays who are touring here off their own bat who back in the day would never have even considered adding New Zealand dates to an Australian tour? I’m not a big gig goer, so serious question.
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