Posts by giovanni tiso
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Field Theory: How's that working out for…, in reply to Russell Brown,
You'd think.
You're not going to start again, are you?
Although I suppose that two weeks of idiotic excitment leaves four whole weeks for the bitter resentment. So I guess it could work.
-
Field Theory: How's that working out for…, in reply to Russell Brown,
You see what you've made me do?
And I don't deserve a dram by way of thanks?
-
Field Theory: How's that working out for…, in reply to James Francis,
Adidas through what was then Saatchis Wellington did some quite powerful commercials in earlier days.
The ones I'm thinking of - buggered if I can find them - are the posters with a slogan along the lines of "our everything is nothing without your [platitude translating as: buying of an adidas replica jersey]". It was a series, there was one with Luke McAlister on it for ages in upper cuba street.
-
Field Theory: How's that working out for…, in reply to Megan Wegan,
Most of us are. You can tell, because we're the ones saying the ad was stupid. We're not the ones blaming the tournament and every fan for something one company does.
Nah, it's not about one company, in fact it's got very little to do with Telecom. This idea that it's your duty to enjoy the cup is not something that Stephen, Tom or I have invented. It's a major part of how the tournament has been presented.
-
Field Theory: How's that working out for…, in reply to Stephen Judd,
On the other hand, I'd say that the RWC is a cultural festival in its own right. Rugby is a genuine popular cultural expression here, no matter how commercial or professional, like football in Brazil... On the gripping hand, I am tired of the presumption in much of the commercial promotion for the RWC that it's somehow my duty to give a shit.
That's the crux of it right there, in the contradiction between the first and the second part of that statement. Can't we just make it about the game, and hope that our team wins, and hope that it's fun, without loading it with the nation's future and our sense of selves and smuggling the whole culture along with it? Although I guess the obvious issue with that view is that hosting major sporting events costs so much these days that nations really do have to stake far more than their passion for a sport into them, and mobilise so many resources that the whole thing becomes an existential threat by default.
-
Field Theory: How's that working out for…, in reply to Russell Brown,
And I'm sure you'd have have managed to conjure equivalent outrage if they hadn't been happening at all
Can I say, for the umpteenth time, that I'm not outraged? There are other things that outrage me to be honest. The rugby world cup is way down the list.
I will grant you that I have an interest in this, given that NZ On Screen will be showing New Zealanders their screen heritage with a traveling cinema (a rather stylish caravan) that tours the South Island, and installations in the fan zones in Auckland and Wellington. It has not been "subsumed" by the rugby -- it's happening because of the rugby.
Precisely - they are happening because of the rugby: so it's okay to define us as a rugby nation and a stadium of 4 million because it allows us to showcase the other things that we do, and thus justify more rugby funding, much like the subsidies to Warner Brothers are justified by the fact that they will entice more people to come here. They think they're coming to see the rugby/middle earth and then WHAM! we're going to hit them with a wallop of our culture.
But could we perhaps not further patronise or insult the people from Whangarei to Invercargill who are actually getting involved in these events, and who are looking forward to their cities being host centres?
Yes, that is totally what I am doing.
-
Hard News: Is that it?, in reply to Chris Waugh,
Nobody here, necessarily, but society does value different work in different ways, and not just through pay rates. Immigrants do the jobs locals don't want because locals see those jobs as being somehow beneath them. It's amazing how essential those jobs often are, though. And then a lot of jobs that society probably wouldn't miss terribly much if the people doing them vanished offer huge salaries and a lot of social status completely disproportionate to their usefulness or necessity to society.
Couldn't agree more. And along the lines of A Day Without a Mexican, I must report than an Italian journalist tried the same experiment last year. It was edifying. Turns out amongst other things that immigrant labour contributes to the our GDP as much as tourism.
-
Field Theory: How's that working out for…, in reply to Russell Brown,
Okay, I tried. Couldn't find anything from Adidas matching that description.
I shall endeavour to locate them.
-
Field Theory: How's that working out for…, in reply to Russell Brown,
Arrggh. It wasn't "World Cup allegiance" -- it's not a culture war.
Of course it's a culture war. Tom has just reminded us of the historical reasons why. Being a "rugby person" in this country still comes with a lot of baggage, just as not being a rugby person does. And the insistence of a lot of supporters that it's not all about the rugby (cultural festival! visitors! fireworks! magical downstream economic returns!) belies that. In fact it is all about the rugby. The cultural festival and all those other things are being subsumed by the sport in the name of the national interest. And why shouldn't this elicit complicated feelings, including misdirected irritation?
-
Field Theory: How's that working out for…, in reply to Tom Beard,
I've had to spend a lot of effort trying to stop a certain embarassing blot from ending up with a permamnent home in a very prominent location.
It was you? You are my god now.