Posts by Steve Parks
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Muse: Linky Love, in reply to Matthew Littlewood,
I still think the gold standard is Freaks and Geeks
Oh yeah, that show was so good.
And I just can’t stand how fundamentally self-serving and obsessed with winning Glee is…but that’s for another rant :)
I haven’t seen much of Glee, but from what I have seen, I’m quite impressed at how the main character (or who I take to be the main character) isn’t that likeable. She's fairly self-obsessed, but I'm okay with that. Neither are most of the other major characters, such as Jane Lynch. They’re all deeply flawed, at any rate.
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Legal Beagle: Coalition of Losers, in reply to BenWilson,
I think to suit your views, vote for ‘no change’. Because if we vote for change, MMP is not an option, it seems. I don’t see anything in the referendum itself that says MMP will be reviewed if we keep it, but I hope that will be the outcome if it is retained.
[Edit: I see Graeme has expanded substantially on his post, making all this clearer.]
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Legal Beagle: Coalition of Losers, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
There is a 2% threshold in Israel.
Ah, right. But back in the day I thought it was lower - well, zero, but I was wrong. It seems that it was (once) as low as 1%.
Germany is like us, with a 5% threshold.What do you reckon Graeme, get rid of the threshold? Does it achieve anything?
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Legal Beagle: Coalition of Losers, in reply to BenWilson,
This madness lasted about a year.
Hah. I was a fully fledged Libertarian (in the Ayn Rand sense of the term) for about two weeks, or maybe it was a couple of months. I can’t recall. We all have these moments of madness. (Not that I think there’s no value in their way of looking at things, it’s just that it is a bit … simplistic, when it comes to the way the world actually works.)
I’m certainly all for reducing the need for tactical voting. I have this notion that counties with PR and no threshold (like Israel) have significantly less stable governments than ones with a small threshold (like Germany), but I’ve done no research into this point.
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Muse: The High Aesthetic Line, in reply to Lilith __,
I think those original movies worked because they didn’t take themselves so seriously, and they didn’t try to do tragedy.
I'll give you the first part, but they did do tragedy. Just as they did comedy, and action, and adventure, humour, coming of age drama, revenge, buddy movie, family intrigue, sweeping saga...
You get the picture: the emphasis was mostly on action and adventure, but it was all there. All done with a lightness of touch. But there was still angst & tragedy. They were just quickly moved on from. (It was great for a child's attention span.)
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Muse: The High Aesthetic Line, in reply to BenWilson,
Not as farcical as Ewoks, mind.
Ah, the Ewoks: the Scrappy-Doo of the Star Wars franchise.
Even as a kid watching Return of the Jedi I saw the flaws in the whole Ewok thing. I mean, we were meant to see it as a big deal that one Ewok got killed in the “big battle” that served as the climax to the this epic saga. Yet, in turn they had defeated the mighty, feared troops of the Empire and killed many/most of the Stormtroopers.
What annoys me is I learned that Lucas was originally planning to have Wookies play that role. Now that would have made more sense, and it would just have been AWESOME. And that’s my inner child talking.
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Legal Beagle: Coalition of Losers, in reply to BenWilson,
I voted against MMP originally… My reasons for voting against it were, in hindsight, quite silly. The system has grown on me hugely.
What were those reasons, out of curiosity: the tail waging the dog thing, or something else?
I always supported MMP, but I now think even more that it suits NZ very well. I’m still giving consideration to some problems, such as the threshold. I am not sure yet if I would get rid of it as idiot/savant would have it. Certainly, I think something should be done about the fact that a party can have representation (by winning an electorate) while another party with more votes misses out. But apart from that issue, I think it has worked out well.
We may vote for a Parliament, but voters can hardly be blamed for thinking they are voting for a government when that it what parties are campaigning to be: “A National Government will cut taxes” – “A Labour Government will raise the minimum wage to $15” – “New Zealand First will ensure we only have high quality immigration” etc. Parties cannot expect to reap the benefits of campaigning for government, while absolving themselves of some of the consequences of doing so.
Seems to me those sort of promises should be read as “A Labour majority Government will…” etc. In other words, that is their policy should they not have to compromise. That’s how the public should read it (and ideally how the parties should portray it). IF Labour gets the support of over 50% of the voters, they WILL raise the minimum wage. Of course, if it’s a Labour Coalition Government, rather than a pure Labour Government, then we expect that the promises that a (pure) Labour Government would have delivered may not come about uncompromised.
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Up Front: Giving Me Grief, in reply to Joe Wylie,
...my niece
Reminded me of my dad's funeral (April last year), my 6-year-old niece was determined to read out few words she wrote down about her granddad and how she'd miss him. She seemed to be handling things pretty well, but there was still a suspicion she might change her mind when it came to the crunch, but no, she got up in front of everyone to have her say. She got to the podium and took her place behind it - and couldn't be seen. So an older niece and the celebrant got something for her to stand on, and we could just see the top of her blond-haired head. This all caused a few laughs. She pressed ahead and started reading her speech: it started well, then came the squeaky voice, then she she lost it and gushed tears. The other niece held it together, stood next to her and finished the reading, then helped her from the stage. It was extraordinarily moving, and even the celebrant looked close to tears.
I feel it most when I’m in the garden. I stopped out there the other day: moving, thinking, everything. I only realised because a spider spun a web on me.
Hope this isn't inappropriate, but that bit made me laugh.
Very moving piece Emma. My condolences to you, and to Joe. -
Muse: The High Aesthetic Line, in reply to Andre Alessi,
Or…OK, I’ll stop now.
No no, do go on. It's good that some have given thought to specific reasons that the prequels sucked, and I like to see the errors and inconsistencies that people pick up on.
Personally, I didn't like them because they were shit.
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Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
…Aronofsky has a lot to offer and has made some fine movies, including Pi (can’t find the symbol on my keyboard), the Wrestler and Black Swan.
I really liked Pi. The only other Aronofsky film I’ve seen is his second, Requiem for a Dream, which was overwrought, and not in a good way. I only liked it for Matthew Libatique’s cinematography and the score by Clint Mansell.
For some trivia, that score featured the signature piece Lux Aeterna. I recall thinking at the time that such a composition was wasted on this movie, being more suited to something more epic. Sure enough, it turned up, with a new arrangement, in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.