Island Life: Key and the 'nesians
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(Possibly not the best way to phrase that sentiment...)
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I dunno -- a sight better than that Black woman...
(Possibly not the best way to phrase that sentiment...)In print, without some appropriate stress, e.g. Black, it is maybe a little ambiguous. Not as bad as putting the stress on the wrong syllables in something like cider vinegar so it comes across as side of a nigger.
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Two words. Steve Braunias.
i'd need to sell more than one copy to break even.
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To the likes of Mary W, Che and James Liddell (hi James :)I would like to offer my heart felt thanks for a job well done. I am sure it ain't easy to work in an environment that is never secure, and always in the background but I wish you all the best for reemployment in a tight field.
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Two words. Steve Braunias.
I was listening to some guy waffling on National radio the other day, bemoaning the coverage of the election by the mainstream press. In his opinion (I can't remember who it was I was listening at work and i don't usually listen to National Radio) both the Herald and the Sunday Star Times, were appalling in their coverage giving the impression that the stories were "put to bed" before the results were in. He remarked that "The election specials' were , possibly, were the lowest point of NZ journalism in living memory. The highest praise went to The Otago Daily Times for it's Election Special Pullout and to, believe it or not, Steve Braunias' article "John Key, Mr Opportunity"
I have always enjoyed Steve's work and I would rate him as being "Up there" with the likes of Dave Barry and others of that ilk that escape my aging brain.
In other "news"
John Key's autobiography "From Helensville to Helengrad, my lust for power" chronicles Johns struggle to appeal to the base, which as we all know is "Al Qaeda" in Arabic, and just how hard it was to prevent the public from finding out anything about his policies and, indeed, himself, whilst retaining a high profile at the expense of all others in his party. -
Two words. Steve Braunias.
I was listening to some guy waffling on National radio the other day, bemoaning the coverage of the election by the mainstream press. In his opinion (I can't remember who it was I was listening at work and i don't usually listen to National Radio) both the Herald and the Sunday Star Times, were appalling in their coverage giving the impression that the stories were "put to bed" before the results were in. He remarked that "The election specials' were , possibly, were the lowest point of NZ journalism in living memory. The highest praise went to The Otago Daily Times for it's Election Special Pullout and to, believe it or not, Steve Braunias' article "John Key, Mr Opportunity"
I have always enjoyed Steve's work and I would rate him as being "Up there" with the likes of Dave Barry and others of that ilk that escape my aging brain.
In other "news"
John Key's autobiography "From Helensville to Helengrad, my lust for power" chronicles Johns struggle to appeal to the base, which as we all know is "Al Qaeda" in Arabic, and just how hard it was to prevent the public from finding out anything about his policies and, indeed, himself, whilst retaining a high profile at the expense of all others in his party. -
See, what great value, two for the price of one. :-( oops.
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The highest praise went to The Otago Daily Times for it's Election Special Pullout and to, believe it or not, Steve Braunias' article "John Key, Mr Opportunity"
That Braunias piece was one of the best things he had written in ages, possibly because it maintained its tone the whole way through and managed to stay on the right side of satirical without being too meanspirited.
But since he's left the Listener, I wonder whether his heart's in it in the same way. Those interviews he did last year were excellent, even if, at times, Braunias was much the subject of them as the actual person he was supposedly covering, but I always enjoyed his longer features, as he was best when he was stretching out and had something to hang his writing on. The "backpage" column he does on the back page of the Sunday pull-out are hit-and-miss.
I noticed he did a small project for North & South with Jane Ussher over the last few issues. It would be nice if he did more things like that. However, in saying that, I notice he has a writing credit for both Eating Media Lunch and the Unauthorised History of New Zealand- does anyone actually know the extent of his involvement in either?
Back to the subject of Keynesian economics, I must say that I'm a big fan of Paul Krugman's writing for the New York Times. It clear, concise, gets to the point, but doesn't "dumb" down the details. Mind you, I guess it hopes that my own politics are relatively close to his. I'd be interested to know whether there's any collected anthologies of his work that is worth picking up.
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There is The Unofficial Paul Krugman Web Page
Everything you wanted to know about Paul Krugerman and more. This guy Paul Wellstone seems like a bit of a stalker though. -
I am sure it ain't easy to work in an environment that is never secure, and always in the background but I wish you all the best for reemployment in a tight field.
jeeeeeesus... thanks for the thought, but i'm not laid off yet...
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Sorry me wrong then, and Che, thanks but,no need to call me Jeeesus :)
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no worries at all.
if i had been laid off i'd be a lot more frank about things.
*really* starting old-school blogging again would be one pro of permanently leaving the public service.
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I am a Braunias fan. He is not always on form, and he can descend into self-parody, and I find some of his posturing and tics annoying. But unlike 90% of other writers in New Zealand periodicals, he knows about timing, pace and tone, and actually seems to care about his language. For example, that chap who has the back page column in the Herald's weekend supplement would like to sound like Braunias, but can't pull it off.
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I am a Braunias fan. He is not always on form, and he can descend into self-parody, and I find some of his posturing and tics annoying. But unlike 90% of other writers in New Zealand periodicals, he knows about timing, pace and tone, and actually seems to care about his language.
Very much with you on this.
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I am a Braunias fan. He is not always on form, and he can descend into self-parody, and I find some of his posturing and tics annoying. But unlike 90% of other writers in New Zealand periodicals, he knows about timing, pace and tone, and actually seems to care about his language. For example, that chap who has the back page column in the Herald's weekend supplement would like to sound like Braunias, but can't pull it off.
I'd agree with all of this too (if I didn't make it clear enough in the post a few ones above). I think there's a real stylistic identity to his work, and not in the sense of a writer with a huge ego who whittles blustering nonsense, but in the sense that his best work builds on what he's done before. Partly it's down to some of his more quioxtic obsessions- e.g. birdwatching, tearooms, mangroves, etc- but also there's, for want of a better word, a sense of generosity in his best work.
He wants to invite the reader into his world. It's why I think these days his better pieces are the ones where he's been asked to stretch out more, most notably in the How to Watch a Bird book, or some of his more longform interviews. He understands the importance of a good narrative in column writing too, which isn't something I could say for many.
Joanne Black, in particular, is dreadful- her world is so self-centered and negative, and she often struggles to follow an idea accross a whole back page. There's little in the way of life- and no, I don't count reciting the problems with your house or your daughters as necessarily "life" if you can't bring anything original to it.
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