Posts by Mikaere Curtis
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I got my moko three years ago when I was 36. My cousin married an artist, so I kept it in the whanau.
My moko is large, running from shoulder-blade to wrist and took about 15 hours. It's not visible if I'm wearing a suit, but on dressdown Friday's it's very visible.
as much as body mods are becoming more mainstream and accepted now, there are still seemingly restrictions around
In my experieince, non-facial (and non offensive) moko and tattoos are fully mainstream. And Aotearoa is very chilled out to them, they barely raise an eyebrow these days.
I'm always a bit suspicious by any tattooist who doesn't have a waiting list.
Last year my 17 year old Americano nephew came to stay, with the explicit intention of gaining an arm moko (with his Mum's permission). My artist (Tim Worrall) was unavailable, so I contacted Gordon Toi Hatfield and arranged an appointment, no waiting list.
My nephew had just flown in from Switzerland where he lives, and it turns out that Gordon does a lot of moko work in Europe. There, his waiting list is typically 80 + !
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I use a manual grinder. It's an antique Spong #1 similar to this one.
It set me back USD 60 about 6 years ago, not sure what the price is these days. The grind coarseness can be set, and it makes an excellent plunger coffee.
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Yeah, see I could see possible reasons for her being neutral etc, and struggling to come out against him.
I suspect it came down to whether:
1) Minimising action against Winston whilst hoping that most people (or at least 5% of the ballot) will conclude that the crime wasn't that major i.e. that National and Labour both receive anonymous donations, and Winston should have had more control but really it wasn't a hanging offence
is worse than
2) Labour's government comes down in a screaming mess with Winston as an enemy and National making capital about Labour/Helen's inability to maintain control during the dying days of a tapped out, has-been government.
So, perhaps it was seen as was WIN-WIN for National, and LOSE_SMALL - LOSE_BIG for Labour.
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My favourite was Norm Jones' speech declaring that New Zealand would become "the sodomy capital of the South Pacific".
And my favourite was some middle-aged gent at a town hall meeting declaring that:
"If this bill is passed, then we might - I not saying we will, but we might - see the advent of Gay Bars !"
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I just think that your statement the only way to get to full marriage rights for all was to have CU for long enough for the bigots to detect that the sky hasn't fallen in is, at best a wee bit naive. Here's the reality check: Brian The Bish is now, has always been, and always will be a moral Chicken Little. You're never going to change that, and wouldn't waste my time trying.
Of course you'll always have disagreeable bigots, and I'm sure there plenty today who think gay sex should be criminalised. My point is that society has moved on, and the concept of criminalising gay sex is completely untenable.
And being blunt for a moment, you and I have "a generation" to wait. My partner (who is sixty-four next birthday) probably doesn't.
Look, I'm not being prescriptive here, just offering an opinion on a potential timeline on when parliament will finally grant equality on this issue. MPs are typically worried about how they viewed by their electorate, especially on issues which provide passionate (if misguided) feedback.
Sometimes, Mikaere, the hoi polloi deserve a little more credit than they get.
But it's not the hoi polloi who vote on the issues, it's the MPs. IMO, it's when the vociferous elements of the misguided hoi pollio chill out to the reality that the sky didn't fall with CUs, and won't fall in with equal marriages that a majority of MPs will have the nous to do the right thing.
And I certainly believe that no civil rights battle can be won when you're too chicken shit to even start to fight without a green light from pollsters and a focus group.
Heh. The Greens might be a lot of things, but "chicken shit" we are are not.
And I do hope all candidates are asked they question on marriage equality, it's an important issue.
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And that strikes me as wrong. Not exactly the most pressing issue in the world, granted; but something I'd like some straight answers to if anyone bother asking a straight question.
Craig, the Green position is that marriage should be allowed for non-straight couples. We supported the CUB because it was a step in the right direction.
IMO, the only way to get to full marriage rights for all was to have CU for long enough for the bigots to detect that the sky hasn't fallen in. No idea how long that will be, but if the Homosexual Law Reform Bill is any guide, it'll be around a generation before the status quo is institutionalised, and we can be successfully the envelope again. But who knows, maybe sooner ?
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Question for the panel:
Whether they support the compulsory filtering of all data by the ISPs, as the Aussies seem rather keen on.
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I'd like to take a moment to thank Peter Shirtcliffe: we couldn't have done it without him. That's one of the things I really like about the Kiwi psyche: any time someone spends obscene amounts of money telling us we're stupid, we really like to tell them to get stuffed.
And getting his daughter to front it was so laughably transparent.
I was so glad when MMP won. I'll never forget Rod Donald rubbing Shirtfcliffe's nose in it when discussing the 54%/46% result. He pointed out that if the referendum was decided using FPP by electorates, then MMP won 70/97(?) seats. Pwnd !
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Makes you wonder what 'bad' things they associate with 'Kiwi' for them to assume that it's an insult.
Possibly they associate it with being a bit "fruity" (an wholly amorphous term if ever there was one), on account of kiwifruit generally being known as "kiwis" overseas ?
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I'm still trying to figure out what message you're sending by colloquially describing the people of your nation with the name of a near-extinct nocturnal bird that resembles a distended liver with an upholstery needle poking out the end.
Isn't it about "eats, roots and leaves" ? ;)
Seriously, I think it is part of our national coolness that we are known as "kiwis". I can't think of another nation that has an animal-derived nickname, apart from France's rather impolite one.