Posts by Robyn Gallagher
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I'm at home, sick. I just watched Gloss and I loved it!
The big thing was just the pleasure of being able to enjoy an entire episode. Previously I'd only seen clips, and most of them were presented in a "Gah! Look how crazy things were in the '80s!!!!" So it's nice to be able to just get over the giant hair, shoulder pads and glasses and gleefully wallow in the drama.
It's fun seeing famous names popping up. Brad Refern is The Guy Who Did The Telecom Voiceovers For Years, Carla the lawyer is Diedre Chambers from Muriel's Wedding ("What a coincidence!"). The episode was written by Rosemary McLeod, with Maxine dressed by Trelise Cooper (in her pre-flowncy days).
Technology. We know Chelsea is a badass cool girl cos she's listening to a yellow Walkman. Every desk in the Gloss office has a typewriter. There's only one computer (probably the designer's!). In one scene, Magda is hung up on and does that phone hook tapping thing that people used to do in movies. You don't see that any more. Oh, and Commodore is one of the sponsors.
The show seems to be filled out with many actors who speak in lovely mellifluous actorly voices. I think it wasn't until Shortland Street came along (a mere 5 years later) that people felt more comfortable speaking and hearing more ordinary NZ accents on the telly.
Worst acting - Alex, played by model Brigette Berger. Especially in the scenes when she was arguing with Alistair Redfern, it sounded like someone had underlined the words in her script that she NEEDED to EMPHASISE. But she was very pretty and glamourous.
I'll tell you what's weird - seeing panoramic shots of Auckland city and not quite being able to figure out where it is because the Sky Tower isn't there as a handy becon.
Best lines:
"Brad, when are we going to tell your mother about the baby?"
"Who did your hair? A progressive kindergarten?"
"God forbid that Paris fashion should cater to a Nigaraguan [Bianca Jagger]! They're barely out of the jungle!"
Also, I love the crazy/motivated Gemma. She was my favourite back in the '80s too.
My only complaint - the split between the end of part 4 and the closing credits. It totally ruined the dramatic underscoring that the closing theme tune provided to the shocking final scene!
Also: MOAR EPISODES PLZ!
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Actually, I've seen that in the paper several times, so clearly it works for someone.
It seems to happen every year! I'm sure that there are people who genuinely are robbed in the lead-up to Christmas, and I can imagine how tempting a stack of presents must be to would-be crims, but I wonder how many robberies of presents are genuine.
Though, if you're a little kid whose parents would stoop to faking a burgarly, maybe you do deserved a nice Christmas.
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Margaret Mahy has a little tattoo of a skull on one of her shoulders. So if she's having tea with the Queen, she can easily cover it up with a nice top without having to get out the Thin Lizzy. And then if she wants to get bad-ass, she can just roll up her sleeves.
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Christ. I completely overlooked that. What do the readers wish?
LOL GREENZ
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Lying about your age never works. In fact, if you're truthful about your age and others lie about theirs, it actually works to your advantage.
If lots of women who are 50 say/imply they're 40, then we come to expect that the physical look of 50 is "40". So if you're really 40 and are open about it, then you'll look much younger than what people are expecting.
Gloria Steinem's a big advocate for being truthful about age. I saw her on Oprah recently - Oprah was all "You look so amazing for 74!" And G was all "This is what 74 looks like."
Meanwhile, I'm 33, which is a peculiar age, neither here (young!) nor there (old!). I'm really looking forward to 35, when my fertility will apparently start fucking up.
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A book full of splendid writing! It's about time. Well done, Mr Hayward!
I was reading the preview selection, when I came to the description of Boston's finest: "If you have ever paid to see a fat person at a circus, then you will be kicking yourself-". It suddenly ended, leaving me on edge, with visions of fat ladies, po-po mans and cars parked in Harvard Yard all trying to finish the sentence.
Obviously the only way to find an answer is to buy the book, so I've placed an order.
By the way, if you want to make Christmas special for Bob, in mid-December just arrange for your "uncle" to make it look like your house was broken into, then tell your local freebie community paper that all your Christmas presents were stolen and your Christmas will be ruined unless local businesses like the Warehouse and the $2 Shop don't give you heaps of replacement tat. Then it will be proper Christmas after all!
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about a woman snubbed at a party for not knowing how to pronounce "Camus"
That must have made her feel like an outsider or even a stranger. (lolz!!!!)
Speaking of books called The Outsider/s, when I was in the 4th form we had a choice of two books and film adaptions to review: SE Hinton's "The Outsiders" or Barry Hines' "A Kestrel for a Knave" (filmed as "Kes"). All the cool kids were reading The Outsiders, so I picked that but found it to be dull and vapid, so I switched to Kes and was much happier with the tales of grim northernness.
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Here's an observation - most main street music shops now seem to have more of a focus on DVDs rather than CDs. The DVDs are the exciting displays up the front that lure the punters in, while the CDs are the specialist section down the back.
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I remember visiting Real Groovy in the '90s, when I was a teen living in Hamilton. It was this amazing behemoth that ate all mai money on many occasions.
But over the past few years, living in Auckland, I went to Real Groovy less and less. It wasn't cheap (JB Hi-Fi did that), its staff always seemed too holier-than-thou to approach (the internet became my musical knowledge/recommendations centre), but it was always fun trawling through Real Groovy's second hand records, especially the diabolical $2 bins.
Curiously, my Wellington pals aren't so glum. Quite a few Wellingtonians see Real Groovy's arrival in the capital as the cause of many second-hand record shops shutting down.
I'm not sure if this is true cause and effect. When I first moved to Auckland in 1997, there were about half a dozen second hand music shops around K Road. Now Real Groovy is the only one left, but I'm not sure if it had much to do with the demise of the others.
While nothing can replace the experience of buying vinyl, for those of us who aren't quite so precious about our music formats, if you can get a decently priced mp3 album online, that beats an expensive import CD or a scratchy second-hand LP.
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I have been hanging out at film premieres [Guitars From The Leafy Suburbs]
I once read that "leafy suburbs" was Queensland slang used in newspaper "flatmate wanted" ads, to show that it was a certain kind of flat - what would probably be called "easy-going" or "open-minded" here...