Great work Keith, and well worth paying something for. I'm with Ian on the alternative payment options though...

I watched the show this morning on TVNZ7 and love the idea of Maori TV becoming the state television station of choice. They've shown they can do inclusive, intelligent television that represents a wider New Zealand perspective.

And soooooo not surprised that Rick Ellis jumped back into IT (with a media twist), but it will be interesting to see what does happen to TVNZ after the election.

I went shopping with a bloke for underwear once... never again (and I'm a marathon shopper by any stretch of the imagination). He bypassed pair after pair in shop after shop (and eventually country after country) decrying seams in unfortunate locations, the tightness of fit compared to his not-so-tiny thighs, the interplay between undies and suit pants, and was doomed to roll out his hole-y favourites until he discovered a pair of Bonds that did the trick. Whew!

It wasn't until then that I realised the sheer mechanics of finding a pair of mens undies that didn't scrunch everything up, ride up your crack, or make you sing soprano because the seams were in the wrong place. I'm with Jackie though - Bendon still works for me.

@Matt, a team of Japanese rescue staff flew in this morning to Auckland. Originally the flight was scheduled to go into Chch first, but that was when it was carrying a load of tourists, not rescue workers (and the airport was open).

More will be on their way soon. CNN played TV3's coverage live in Japan so people there were as up-to-date as we were. Amongst the missing are Japanese language students, so they'll be conscious of that as well.

I have a friend who has to go down as his mother is in the middle of all that, suffering from dementia. I feel so helpless to be able to do anything productive for them at the moment.

I agree with you, Craig. I went into a shop in Greenlane this afternoon to get some veggies and they said their eftpos terminal was down because of the earthquake. WTF?

Glad to hear Emma, David and the extended PAS family are okay so far, and fingers crossed everybody else calls in/makes it home safely.

Great post, Jolisa, and big ups to Ben for his stance too. I've ventured into the bowels of TVNZ on occasion and always managed to depart feeling slightly icky. I could never quite put my finger on it.

It's not only PH spewing forth. I picked up the latest copy of The Listener (oh, why did I bother?) to discover the Black page perpetuating sterotypes about "smiling bowing" Japanese. *Sigh* One day one of my 'sleeper' daughters who don't look remotely Asian (but lay claim to a quarter of their DNA coming from their Japanese grandmother) will catch a racist by the tail and give them a good shaking.

"Sub prime" does it for me

Bugger! It was inspiring to read such eloquent writing, well formed arguments and wit! You'll be missed in the Land of the Long White Cloud, so please tantalise us from time to time with missives from (redacted)... even if it's just so we can keep Russell's ticker going!

You've been a pleasure to read so far... I can't wait to see what's next.
Cheers
Sonia
(I used to be called a Eurasian... not sure what the new-fangled term for a half Japanese, half multi-ethnic-but-Protestant-white-in-there-New Zealander is).

Yeah - congratulations! I'm probably off chicken for a while though...

It will be interesting to see if they hoist La Codding*ton for letting rip yet again.