Posts by Richard Llewellyn
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Mind you, this thread posits an interesting question, should we judge someone now on what they did or did not think of something that happened 25 years ago?
The common theme here seems to be that the most telling thing is not that John Key had an opinion about the Springbok tour, it is that he didn't have an opinion. Or if he did he wasn't going to tell us for fear of upsetting a voter segment. Which has led some to a conclusion that a politician of conviction is much more valuable than one without.
I dunno about that conclusion. Having lived in John Howard's Australia for a long time, I can certainly vouch that he was a politician of rare conviction, but jeez I longed for someone who was more easily swayed on matters of moral and ethical import. For someone who was, well, less of a prick.
The political ends of election victory should never justify the social cost of moral division - heck, I'd better stop there, I can see I'm starting to head down a slippery path that can only lead to Godwins law being invoked.
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Back on the rugby topic, yes I know that they are trolling, but jeez I get heartily sick of hearing poisonous celtic anglophiles like Stephen Jones, Eddie Butler and Brendan Gallagher bitching and moaning about the All Blacks.
If they aren't moaning about the polynesians who play for the AB's (gosh who would have thought that a Pacific country would have, like, pacific citizens), they are moaning about the haka, or disparaging our players as either cheats - laughable in the context of the English RWC winning team who by comparison were 'professional' - or as one-dimensional yeomen somehow not worthy of the subtlety of the British artisan.
I'd normally give them the benefit of the doubt on the nationality of players debate - given the number of non brits who play for british teams they are either hypocrites or racist, but for the sake of rugby relations they can bear the lesser of two evil labels.
F*cking hypocrites.
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Heh - loved the duck-speak.
Richard Llewellyn is looking forward to seeing how Mr Key goes in forming a more *inclusive* opposition, but is neither stirred nor shaken by the fact that his first speech is writ in large letters with a lite touch.
He's got some post-Don fences to mend with large portions of the electorate, so he can't start off sounding like a complete policy wonk, he just needed to sound like a bloke who anyone/everyone could have a drink with.
Honeymoons are supposed to involve sweet-talk, aren't they?
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Haven't seen it, but depending on quality of doco and quality of holiday experience, I have absolutely no problems with people taking their digital cameras on their holiday with them, and making their travelogue into a doco.
Hell, I'd pay good money to see some of my own misspent backpacking adventures from decades ago on video, and now that I am not in a position to do it quite so readily myself, I'm happy to watch someone else try and define the difference between a tourist and a traveller and suffer in the name of my entertainment.
So Johnno, exactly how good is your surf trip to Ngawi anyway? Worth watching?
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Off the rugby or stadium topic, but still on sport, did anyone else see the superb Chosen Ones last night?, it's a Sky Sports show that copies the award-winning ABC Australian Stories format, and features in-depth interviews with kiwi sporting legends.
The interviewer is Ian Smith, who I rate as one of the better interviewers in NZ, as he actually asks intelligent and open questions rather than shout declarative statements at the interview subject.
Last night the interview was John Walker, and it was superb. I had completely forgotten just how damn good John Walker was, and what a complete icon he was during the mid to late 1970's. It brought back my own memories of his gold medal in 1976 and how I was too nervous to watch the race.
Walkers complete candour about his relationships with contemporaries like Dixon and Quax, his attitude to the psychology of racing, the fact it was all done for pittance, the step-by-step breakdown of his winning races, and his complete lack of nostalgia made for a great interview.
And of course the perspective he has been afforded after being diagnosed with Parkinsons also made the interview stand-out.
Not sure who else features on the series, although I do know Tawera Nikau is next week, and touch wood I'll be watching.
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Couldn't agree more on the Beatles doco, I can appreciate that they didn't have the rights to the music, but in the end the lack of any actual Beatles music in a doco about the influence and context of the Beatles is just a bit too much to overcome.
Makes you wonder why they bothered, particularly compared to something like the Bob Dylan doco made by Scorcese, which is absolutely dripping with essential Dylan.
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All in all, I'd much rather be in our position that any other country going into next years World Cup.
In a perfect world the likes of Carter, McCaw, Collins and Hayman will remain bulletproof, but even if they suffer serious injury - god forbid - I'm with Neil in that someone will step up.
One of the beauties of having more depth than anyone else is that if it comes down to a massively high-impact game of last man standing, we should win. No its not guaranteed, and on their day the Aussies, Springboks and the French could beat us, but I have faith that 7, 8 or even 9 times out of 10 we will win, and frankly I like those odds better than the alternative.
Note: I put the Jerminator in the same illustrious company as Dan, Richie and Carl above, because even though our blind-side flanker stocks are a little more healthy, there is just something about the way Jerry plays the game that makes me as a fan feel a little more safe. As Inky calls him, Jerry is the Taxman.
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"I am always reminded of that scene from the movie "Go" where the protagonists believe they are being set up for "swinging", but it is actually the network marketing pitch
And really, how different is the outcome?"
Ha! - yes other than the semantic difference of who is screwing who, no difference at all
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BTW, I didn't see the Tupperware doco but wish I had .... someone close to home spent a long time as a *Tupperware Queen* and by the end I was starting to think of them as a little, well, cultish.
And as with many similar marketing schemes, the true costs of selling are not always made apparent. I'll keep an eye out for the repeats .....
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I didn't actually get a bag. Just got a bit of a red face from a glorious evening sun and excessive Babich.