Posts by Peter Darlington
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While not a Christian myself, to me it's an important Christian holiday and can be enjoyed by us heathens in the same way we enjoy Diwali (while not being Hindu) etc... Anyway, as there was just ourselves over at my Mum and Dad's this year we decided to go to their Christmas Day church service with them. Well, what a strange experience it was.
Now, I haven't been to a Christmas Day service for years but this was an Anglican service so I was expecting a few carols and a cheery message of the Good Will to All Men variety.
As it turned out I didn't recognise any of the carols, they seemed to be some horrible newbie Christian tunes that didn't invoke any kind of Dickensian charm. Instead of an old lady on an organ there was a full band of well meaning people producing tunes that were as disturbing as they were bland.
And the message was kind of mean spirited and a bit paranoid. The Minister told a story instead of doing a sermon and it was all about 'building walls' (I kid you not) to keep the bad dudes out so the children of God can get on with the business of living in paradise. Nothing along the lines of welcoming one and all, taking the message forth etc... Just pull up the wagons so no badness can seep in. There was only one other family there with young kids, otherwise the congregation was mainly the elderly and the infirm.
I have vague memories from my youth that these Christmas services were about welcoming everybody and having a jolly old sing-along, sadly not any more judging by this experience.
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I've just sent a reporter around to what we believe is the master spammer's home address.
Bugger me if he doesn't have a NO HAWKERS sign on his door and a NO JUNK MAIL sign on his mailbox!
LOL.
Well, he's a busy man. I expect he doesn't want to be receiving unnecessary time-wasting junk if he doesn't have to.
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Hey hey hey! Now it's my turn to be an offended minority. Watch your stereotypes, pal. Hillbillies with banjos aren't a purely Cantabrian phenomenon.
:-)
It's part of my strategy to make 'offensive' the PA word of the year for 2008.
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Meh. You may be a bearded drug dealing biker bloke who goes by the name of Emma Hart but that's not the real problem for PA System readers is it!?
No, the real horror story is that you're a Cantab. And that means you fight in the streets, marry your own children, own a banjo and have just purchased a season ticket at Telstra Stadium.
Shame on you, Emma Hart, if that is indeed, your real name.
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Will Todd Blackadder and Grizz Wylie really be turning up to Lancaster Park wearing the Green and Gold, waving inflatable wallabies?
So are you saying that TB was threatening to boycott future All Black games? Or is it just an easy beatup to tar him with the same brush as a bunch of Canterbury talkbalk wallys on Radio Sport?
The only quotes I've seen from Blackadder basically say that he's disappointed with the decision and disappointed for Deans. That seems entirely reasonable coming from someone who is a longtime mate and colleagues of Deans. I would expect Henry's closest friends and allies to have come out with something similar had he not been successful.
I've not heard the interviews so I don't know what he said but I have met him a few times (his kid goes to the same school as mine) and he seems a genuinely pleasant and reasonable man and remarkably lacking in ego considering he's been a recent All Black Captain. He's an altogether different character to Grizz and I would be surprised if he wanted anything but what was best for the All Blacks.
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The parochial peak was struck on Morning Report today when both Fergie McCormick and Alex Wyllie appeared to say they would support a Wallabies side coached by Deans over an All Black team. Good grief.
I heard that as well (in case you didn't hear it, that other towering intellectual, Todd Blackadder, was also interviewed).
Speaking of parochialism reaching its peak....
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Some of the hysteria coming out of Chch has been ridiculous, but lets face it, the reappointment of Henry has been pretty shabby...
Yes, like the article you refer to, I feel both jaded and apathetic towards the 2008 rugby season. Super 14? Maybe later...
In terms of the NZRFU, Steve Tew is starting to appear more and more like Cigarette Smoking Man in the X-Files.
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To get old fashioned for a moment, could I offer the following grade: "B.
Or as the kids say nowadays, 'Achievement' or 'Achievement with Merit'
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...anyone else see the Filth and the Fury on C4 last night. Bloody good. I wasn't into the Sex Pistols, and I think Rotten is a bit of a wanker, but it was a really honest look at the whole phenomenon, I thought.
Well I'm a huge fan of the Sex Pistols and still consider them to be the best of all the punk bands. They worked the media, had the look, had the sound and when I first saw them on Radio With Pictures in hot boring Blenheim in 1977 they took my adolescent head off. I still reckon Steve Jones has one of the best guitar sounds ever.
Anyway, the Pistols movies are like a tale of 2 lies, but I much prefer the Rotten one in F&F to the McLaren one in R&R Swindle. Still own both of them though!
The interview with Sid in F&F is heartbreaking and shows a picture of a young man that we never got to see when he was alive.
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I've just finished The Kite Runner too so have been enjoying reading your blog, Damien and yes, I thought there was something very familiar about the Wazir Akbar Khan district you mentioned. It's a great read, very sad but possibly the saddest thing was how Kabul sounded kinda cool (in a rough and robust sort of way) in the 1960s and early '70s before the nutters took over.