Posts by philipmatthews
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There is poetry.
And then, there is this stuff.Gary McCormick does write the shit.
That is not a compliment of any kind.True, but that poem is The Waste Land compared to the one he wrote quickly after Pike River. Did you ever read that? Here it is (link):
SEVENTEEN
(In memory of Joseph Ray Dunbar and all those who died in the Pike River Mine.)
Joseph Ray Dunbar was just seventeen.
One week ago - turned seventeen.
No doubt had a few drinks out
with his mates.He'd been through a rough patch, someone said.
Who doesn't??!
A boy from the Coast, even-eyed.
But he's gotten a job now.New boots.
The making of him, someone said.
You get a lot of respect with a job.
Couldn't wait!Probably had his lunch packed.
The unlined face, the big smile.
Probably had a way with the girls.
The local girls.Couldn't wait!
The local girls are wearing black.
Mothers and sons and husbands too.
He probably ran the last hundred yards....Joseph Ray Dunbar.
Climbed aboard and headed on down.
A smile and a wave and a joke amongst men.
The biggest day of Joseph's life.You caught the train, Joseph.
You took the train too soon.
You caught the train before your time.It shouldn't be allowed.
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Philip Matthews is not only alive, but writing as beautifully as ever. Philip, if you get the chance to read this, please send me an email. Those are some great photos.
Thanks Matthew. The photos were taken on a mobile -- I wasn't sure they were going to work.
I'll drop you a line.
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More than once I've left empty handed at the first attempt. There's nothing there I want to buy.
I know the feeling. Last year I was given a $30 Whitcoulls voucher and spent an hour going through their biggest store down here (Cashel St) looking for something I might actually want. I ended up with a Geoff Dyer book that I'd already read but didn't own.
This is sad given the long history of Whitcoulls here but as many others have said, they lost their way as a bookseller years ago. Where possible I try to support Scorpio, our independent equivalent to Unity and a very good store, but for things published in Britain by smaller presses and coming in in small numbers, it has to be the Book Depository.
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Trailers for Never Let Me Go have been running for a couple of months in cinemas. Rialto is talking about a March 17 release date:
http://www.rialto.co.nz/vistait/village/Default.aspx?Control=ComingSoon
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Simon Wilson of Metro reviews on Nine to Noon, link through here:
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Gotcha. Didn't make sense to me, but okay.
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Even if the reviews were uniformly dire
No, that wouldn't be accurate, Craig. Black Swan has had good reviews in -- locally -- the NZ Herald, Sunday Star-Times, Dom Post (Graeme Tuckett), Waikato Times (Sam Edwards). Overseas, good reviews from Sight and Sound, Roger Ebert, Richard Brody, David Edelstein in New York magazine, Andrew O'Hehir at Salon, Peter Travers at Rolling Stone, Peter Bradshaw at the Guardian and Manohla Dargis at the New York Times. And there's bound to be others I haven't read. Not to say their opinions are worth more than yours, but let's be fair about its reception.
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Really good Media 7 last night.
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I assume it's the same Helen Martin who wrote (very good) film reviews for the Listener in the 1980s and co-authored the Oxford book on New Zealand Film, 1912-1996, so she's not exactly a novice on her first outing.
I didn't dislike the Almighty Johnsons as much as her, but I can see some of her points.
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Sentimental about the Maori world. Unsentimental about the gay world. Would have been better the other way round.