Posts by Andre Alessi
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Auckland has a left leaning Mayor AND a place serving authentic NYC style 'slice' on K'Road, I may just consider a move north.
On the other hand, Paul Holmes still lives here.
-
And curiously enough, my evening began with a train ride. I happened to be near the Mt Albert station, so taking the eastbound into town was a logical choice. And it was great! For all that Auckland's bus services have improved in recent years, there's a feeling of fighting to get somewhere in a bus. The train just gets there.
Not always, I'm afraid! There's recently been a reduction in the number of trains that stop at Baldwin Ave (the closest stop to my girlfriend's place) that now makes catching one from Britomart a bit of a gamble-the conductors are so used to people getting on thinking the train will take them where they want to go that they don't even charge people who get it wrong anymore, they just advise them to get off at Newmarket and wait for a while.
But yes, overall, trains can (and should) be a great, easy way to travel. Now if Len can only manage to sort out an integrated ticketing system for all public transport...
-
And it took me all of five seconds on Google to find out the correct pronunciation of the surname of the Chief Minister of Delhi. Dix-it not Dick-shit. Doesn't TVNZ have internet access on Sunday morning?
Actually, I was listening to Coast FM news (it was on the bus, I can't claim responsibility) and they broadcast a clip of Shelia Dikshit pronouncing her name "Sheila Dik-shit" after specifically being asked how it is pronounced, so I don't think you can assume anyone who pronounces it that way is ignorant or hasn't done their research.
-
Oh, well that's an easy mistake to make.
-
What? I'm only saying what we're all thinking, right?
Well, I for one was certainly too afraid to say it.
-
And there's been a dark and long-running gag in Toronto that it has the world's highest-qualified taxi drivers.
When I worked at Pizza Hut as a teenager, one of our drivers was a top-flight cardio-thoracic surgeon from the Ukraine.
-
I used to refer to my girlfriend as my "It's Complicated", back when I used Facebook. Now I do like to un-ironically use "ladyfriend" to indicate that she is, indeed, a lady, not a girl.
-
@dc_red:
Anyone who wishes to identify as a New Zealander without further qualification should be free to do so.
Oh, I agree. I have absolutely no issue with what people call themselves, just like I'd have no issue with someone answering the question "Are you a man or a woman?" with "I'm a human being."
I do have a problem with people who suggest that being a "New Zealander" is an ethnicity, however. It's not. It's either a refusal to define oneself in terms of ethnicity at all (which is valid), or it is a subtle way of reinforcing the view that "real New Zealanders" are white immigrants from the UK and Ireland (which is not valid, and is precisely what Paul Henry's comments were aimed at.)
What I'm unhappy with is the unspoken belief that to be a "real New Zealander" you have to give up your qualifying description of who you are as a New Zealander: you can't be a "Maori New Zealander" or a "Pakeha New Zealander" or a "French New Zealander" or an "Indian New Zealander" because these qualifiers somehow make you less of a New Zealander in the process. That is, fundamentally, what I object to-I am just as much a New Zealander for identifying as a pakeha as my sister is for identifying as Maori. Our differences don't make our nationality any less valid for either of us.
Are you sure it wasn't standard practice for applicants who didn't specify their citizenship/immigration status in their application?
In one case I specifically asked why I was being asked for this "evidence" when it happened, and was told that they didn't normally need it with "New Zealanders" but that they needed to be sure I was legally allowed to work because of my "unusual name". These were low-paying hospitality jobs where a high proportion of the applicants were immigrants, so superficially it makes sense to request this sort of thing, but I spoke to more than one employee with an Anglo-Saxon name who said they didn't have to provide anything like the documents I did (in the end, I took to carrying my birth certificate around with me, just to prove I was indeed born in Lower Hutt.)
If I'd been a bit older, and a bit less desperate for money to pay the rent, I'd have made a fuss, but this was 10-15 years ago now. I'm sure that sort of thing still happens from time to time.
-
Interesting that Spartacus is looking for a Caucasian male - now there's a word one doesn't hear these days - caucasian.
I find that a little odd. Given the nature of the role, a Polynesian (or for that matter, an Arab, a North African or a Latino) would be a perfect fit looks-wise. Ah well, usual story-the producers are looking to "make things easy" on a white North American audience. Wouldn't be surprised if actors of other ethnicities gave it a shot anyway.
As for Paul Henry's comments-it's that attitude of "We'll he's not a real New Zealander" that has always made me uncomfortable when (usually) white New Zealanders describe themselves as "New Zealanders" without qualification. It's the underlying assumption that being a New Zealander means belonging to a very specific ethnic background that is nevertheless only ever implied. I still get pissed off remembering all the times I was asked to provide "proof that [I was] a New Zealand citizen" when applying for jobs for no other reason than the way my name sounds.
OT, but still in tune with the ridiculousness of the T: Did anyone else catch that letter writer on Granny Herald's letter page today (in the "Brevities" section) insisting that the reduction in violent crime statistics was only further proof that society was getting more violent? I can't even tell who's trolling anymore.
-
Is it my misunderstanding or is SAG simply a US union and mostly Californian union that is trying to dictate wages in New Zealand? That really seems very odd indeed. Why would New Zealand actors want to join a union based in, and clearly only interested in, another country? Same applies to the MEAA.
My uninformed, shoot-from-the-hip opinion is that it's really a case of the SAG trying to ensure actors in other countries receive fair representation, but not doing enough research about local conditions to back the right horse in this case. I'm guessing that either the MEAA did a bit of lobbying to put themselves out in front, or else the SAG folks just decided that New Zealand was "close enough" to Australia for it not to matter.