Posts by Rich Lock
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Hard News: A week being a long time in politics, in reply to Russell Brown,
I'm not sure whether it's fair to equate the population at large with the denizens of the Trade Me forums .... given those forums' extensive history of flouting court orders, it's not where I'd be going for legal opinions.
Wasn't the point more that if one is (possibly) too close to the action, and thus wants to try to get an idea of what's on the mind of the yer average punter on the clapham omnibus/outside the beltway, then the TM forums are a good place to take the temperature of public sentiment?
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Heyyy, you're on EPSM, Radio Epsom, where Fridays are all about the music.
We've had a request from a Hilary Calvert to play a special song for her ex-bestie Don. Says he'll know how much it means to them both, and something about revenge, cold dishes, schadenfreude and laughing last that I didn't fully understand (hey! I'm only a radio DJ, yeah?)
Stay classy Epsom, and don't touch that dial: you know it's your objective self-interest!
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Hard News: Criminalising Journalism, in reply to Stephen Hill,
So you're saying he's been running the country like that guy from 'Memento'? Explains a lot.
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There's that old saying about being careful what you wish for.
So, there I was thinking that this was the dullest election campaign ever, and wouldn't it be great if something happened to liven it up.
Nek minnit...
Knew I shouldn't have been holding the evil three wishes monkey paw when I thought that.
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Darth George says no.
His argument spirals off-point so fast that it is indeed like watching Darth spin off into the distance at the end of the first Star Wars film. But I didn't expect otherwise. I'm just mildly surprised he didn't manage to wrangle an anti-abortion rant into it somehow.
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Yes, what's offensive about Bella is her total lack of offensiveness. Or personality. Or character traits.
...and it's been argued that that is more or less exactly what makes them such a runaway* success.
I've been seeing Twilight everywhere lately, especially with New Moon's release, so I thought I'd break down why chicks go apeshit for it.
First off, the author creates a main character which is an empty shell. Her appearance isn't described in detail; that way, any female can slip into it and easily fantasize about being this person. I read 400 pages of that book and barely had any idea of what the main character looked like; as far as I was concerned she was a giant Lego brick. Appearance aside, her personality is portrayed as insecure, fumbling, and awkward - a combination anyone who ever went through puberty can relate to. By creating this "empty shell," the character becomes less of a person and more of something a female reader can put on and wear. Because I forgot her name (I think it was Barbara or Brando or something like that), I'm going to refer to her as "Pants" from here on out.
So after a few chapters of listening to Pants whine about high school, sucking at volleyball, and being the center of attention, the second major character is introduced. Imagine everything women want in a man, then exaggerate it by ten thousand - and you've got Edward Cullen. The level of detail that the author goes into while describing Edward's appearance is remarkable. At one point while reading I started counting the number of times the author used the expression "Edward's perfect face," and it was far into the double digits. The author excruciatingly details his muscular pecs, clothing, hair, eye color - even his goddamn breath (I'm not joking).
Edward intensely listens to everything Pants has to say, even if she's bitching about she had diarrhea on Christmas or her preferred method for cutting a sandwich in half. As far as the reader is concerned, Edward cares about nothing in the world more than Pants. What the author has done is created a perfect male figure - a pale Greek statue which the reader can worship and in turn be worshipped by.
Which does not necessarily make it A Deliberate Crime Against Feminism. Although, no, it doesn't help The Cause.
*see what I did there? Awesome.
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WRT the teal coalition: The Greens might want to think very carefully about how the LibDem/Tory coalition is working out for the LibDems in the UK.
The general consensus of opinion seems to be that the LibDems are coming across as a bunch of naifs who are getting played like stone cold suckers by the highly experienced, ruthless Tories, who haven't had to break sweat in order to outmaneuver them at every turn, while giggling at their clumsy attempts to push back. Rather like a cat playing with a mouse, eventually they'll get bored and break it's neck, but mildly divertingly entertaining in the meantime.
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there was a really good, packed, well-organised, cross-party meeting on social policy issues in Wellington last week organised by various NGOs, but no Act or National MPs attended.
The organisers should put a male shop window dummy on their chairs. Y'know, a hollow man. Geddit? Or a tub of lard.
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Muse: Linky Love, in reply to Emma Hart,
hate the living fuck out of Bella.
What's to hate? In the films* at least, she's slightly less blandly inoffensive than a pot of natural yogurt. Or is that the point?
We grew up with Buffy.
Mmmmm, vampire Willow.....
*Yes, I just admitted to watching twilight films. Bite me.
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Not film releated, but for those who like piano music, may I recommend 'movement', by Module, on Wellington's Loop Recordings.
You can listen to it here.