Posts by Danielle

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  • Hard News: From soundbite to policy,

    Wow. Ben's comment on the previous page about high-functioning slackers has justified my entire lazy, procrastinating way of life, and moreover made it sound almost admirable!

    I feel vaguely awesome now. Heh.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Hard News: From soundbite to policy,

    Having gone all the way through Allan Peachy's school, and coming from a middle/upper (depending how you define it in NZ) family, some of whom vote National, I can't think of anyone who thinks that's part of the purpose of the education system, consciously or subconsciously.

    Middle-class people accept that there are 'good schools' and 'bad schools' and they don't want their children to go to 'bad schools'. That's an unconscious way of accepting a two (or more)-tier system, and wanting the advantages conferred by the upper tier, surely? Do you think our parents would have been totally stoked to send us to the erstwhile Birkdale College, or Hato Petera College, instead of Rangi?

    This conversation is reminding me of season four of The Wire, which just about broke my heart. There's a really terrible/wonderful subplot about standardised testing which manages to explain, in a few scenes, just how fucked up it is for kids to be 'taught to the test'.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Hard News: Debacles and Disgraces,

    Also we weren't supposed to warn people that the companies might collapse, because that would have caused a loss of confidence, and then they could have collapsed.

    The economy is just a big pyramid scheme, isn't it? You've all been trying to keep this revelation from me with smoke and mirrors, but I think I finally understand.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Hard News: A news site where you can…,

    I'm trying to get the name FreeVo off the ground.

    I call the MySky the 'TiFaux' for the benefit of American friends. For a NZ-related pun, I can also break out 'Faux 'vo'. Although that's a bit more obscure.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Hard News: Birth of the Nasty,

    Jeanette Fitzsimons owned Rodney on Morning Report this morning

    I liked the way she said 'this is not a matter of religious belief' and broke out the science, while Hide was all 'but I just don't dig the idea, man!'

    (Yet somehow, in this weird political narrative we've got going, the *Greens* are the crazy unreasonable ones. Oh, those wacky hippies, with their concern for our future and their reliance on scientists - of all people! - to explain scientific things! What *will* they think of next?)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Random Play: Following The Songlines,

    Can't Get You Out of My Head ... is credited to Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis, who have also done hits to order for Britney et al.

    'Toxic'! Britney's finest hour by a long shot. I see Cathy Dennis, erstwhile pop star (I vaguely remember her two hits in 1990 or so) also wrote Kylie's 'Come Into My World' (remember the great Michel Gondry video for that, with the multiple Kylies?). And... the American Idol theme tune, says Wikipedia! Huh.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Random Play: Following The Songlines,

    If I'd had any spare cash I would have gone to Kylie in a heartbeat. Frocks! Costumes! Back-up dancers! 'Love at First Sight' (an underappreciated song of beauty)! Bopping! Spectacle!

    I couldn't agree more that snark about fun pop events from Cred-Obsessed Nerd Friends is tiresome. I went to Justin Timberlake last year and (when he wasn't being meaningfully slowjam) I enjoyed the fuck out of myself. Bite me, hatahs.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Hard News: Go Us,

    Let's be honest here: if they ever made a film about you, they would have to entitle it "The Man Who Calls Bullshit".

    Are we envisioning this film all lush black and white, Coen Brothers-style, Craig as a tormented Billy Bob Thornton, not knowing whether to call bullshit or not? Or is Craig starring with a 'Que Sera, Sera'-trilling Doris Day in a Hitchockian production, in which he shouts the bullshit-calling odds in a crowded Albert Hall? What about a John Ford western starring a Jimmy Stewart-esque Craig with John Wayne, which ends with a climactic bullshit-calling in a dusty main street (Gene Pitney could sing the theme tune)?

    (Huh. There are a *lot* of movies called 'The Man Who [something]', when you start thinking about it.)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Southerly: Busytown,

    Is New Zealand TV and radio giving the topic some air-time that I can't detect from here?

    They're *always* nattering on about it on NatRad. Perhaps it's just that I'm always in the shower listening to the radio during the just-before-7am business report, though.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Southerly: Busytown,

    Oh, so it's an Australian accent.

    I once had a woman at a party in Houston get *annoyed* with me for having what she deemed to be a 'fake' accent. Friends leapt to my defence: 'she's from Noo Zealand! That's how they talk!'

    Ah, my time as a circus freak. So delightful.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

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