Posts by philipmatthews
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I found the anti-German message very hard to stomach, probably through long association with Germans, who are just people. It hid behind "anti-Nazi", but there was not one single German character in it who was not a Nazi. Which was clearly meant to make it OK to commit revolting atrocities against them.
But given that it was set in Occupied France not Germany, we were unlikely to encounter Germans who were not Nazis and/or in the German Army. My problem, and I think we talked about it on PAS last year, was around Tarantino's position on the "Jew-hunting" character, who he seemed to admire and endorse.
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the idea that physical deformity is just a sign of moral turpitude that wasn't even in the source material
Did the Spartans have quite enlightened views on deformity and disability issues?
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I suppose it could be worse. We could go Otorohanga's way.
But then I'm quite a fan of Rakaia's giant salmon (scroll to the bottom of the page).
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So... unless somebody comes up with a better alternative, Wellywood stays. Even though the most obvious better alternative is the hill with the trees. So much for a backdown.
That's what I thought. How about ... I dunno ... nothing.
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Speaking of things Ecan, PAS contributor Matt Littlewood got a revealing quote out of Nick Smith in the Timaru Herald this morning. Chew on this one for a second:
Dr Smith said part of the reason he replaced the council with commissioners – rather than appointing a commissioner adviser to oversee water management issues, as ECan suggested – was he was wary of the outcome of the October elections.
(emphasis added)
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OK - I admit that I have always had a soft-spot for the original. I was living in Hungary at the time it came out and despite its cheesyness, with its easy-to-understand lyrics and its video montage of news footage, the song really hit the spot with the youth of Central & Eastern Europe.
Well, given that this was the other big fall-of-communism anthem, I can see why. (Warning: easily one of the 10 worst rock songs ever written)
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We were talking about Jonathan Lethem earlier. The Guardian has a really great 12-minute video up at the moment in its author interview series. Opens with Lethem reading one of Chronic City's many pot-smoking scenes; talks also about the way quotes from others make their way into his work. Worth a look.
Lethem, of course, wrote the plagiarism essay "The Ecstasy of Influence" ...
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Or: Don't Fight it Murray, it's Bigger than Both of Us
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It is more about the fact that it is a non local composition that was chosen. local composition could potentially have generated decent royalties for a local artist.
That's the thing. They could easily have got a McGlashan or a Dobbyn or a Runga to write something to order.
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Smashproof doing a rousing rendition of John Cage's As Slow as Possible.
Derty Sesh doing a version of Cage's 4' 33" wouldn't be uncalled for either.