Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Funky Seaside Village Revisited

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  • andrew llewellyn,

    That's great. Out of interest, who was the 27 year old still working for his father?

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Luke Williamson,

    The word I choose is poignant.

    Warkworth • Since Oct 2007 • 297 posts Report Reply

  • Greg Wood,

    Coming as it does on the first cool blustery day of this Autumn, a year into our return from strange lands where money is everything to find myself at less than half the net income we were on over there, thanks to a four-day-week with no immediate hope of a fifth, and facing down a second winter with Baby II crawling round the place eating my Kings Arms nights out... well I'm gonna print this out and carry it around with me for a bit and see if I can remember just why I love this Funky Seaside Village so damned much. Russell - thanks man.

    Now back in Aucktown • Since Dec 2006 • 86 posts Report Reply

  • Gareth Ward,

    Magnificent and rings very very true. I'm not sure I should have LOLd at this:
    For a while last year Kevin Roberts was giving a speech in which he urged us all to shake off the "dark, brooding, gothic streak that runs through our national psyche". He then, bizarrely, went on to laud Colin McCahon and declared that Janet Frame "has big ideas", making her sound like a property developer.
    but I did.

    It's intriguing to see what's held and what's changed over the intervening eight years. The VAST majority of it seems to be the former.

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    .The truth is, you take away our moodiness and you take away a part of us. We live on moody land and if we understood that better we might understand why we are not Australians or Americans and just get on with it.

    But then we would break the spell

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Eade,

    Cool piece....and what about Ralston, that's hilarious. Auckland needs a rugby team, a train system and some loyalty.

    auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 1112 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Graham,

    That's great - always good to have a perspective on things. How about an update? I'd like you to review where you see things NOW! Puh-leeze?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 218 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    That's great - always good to have a perspective on things. How about an update? I'd like you to review where you see things NOW! Puh-leeze?

    That's the plan, along with a discussion here. I'll just need a little time to get things done.

    Apart from anything else, my iMac's hard drive died yesterday. I have backup and the nice folk at Wired Dog should have a new drive fitted by mid-afternoon, but it has interrupted my flow a bit.

    Also, going to see Greg Johnson play in the Spiegeltent last night and having wine poured most generously into my cup has left me a little sub-optimal today.

    The Spiegeltent is, as we say in rock 'n' roll, a good room. It sounds very warm, and there was a point in the gathering dusk outside when the light inside was just gorgeous.

    Funniest thing: debating whether the tall, bespectacled man in the booth next to ours was famous comedian Greg Proops. I raised it again as we left and a woman who been seated in the same booth said "No, he's not. I had to ask him."

    I mentioned to it Greg Johnson afterwards, and he said it was in fact his friend, well-known winemaker Kim Crawford. Auckland story for you.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Knightly,

    I can't believe this wasn't written today. A lot of the underlying points still stand, even if some of the details and players have changed. (Actually, maybe not that many of the players have).

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 25 posts Report Reply

  • Whoops,

    chose > chosen?

    here • Since Apr 2007 • 105 posts Report Reply

  • Whoops,

    oh - hang on. It's chosen now. wierd.

    (great piece, really looking forward to the 2009 version)

    here • Since Apr 2007 • 105 posts Report Reply

  • FletcherB,

    Some of the cheapest and fastest internet in the world?

    Wow, how things have changed.... :D

    And yes, being born in '68 myself, I've always found it strange there was no name for us..... too young to be a boomer and too old the be an X..... fallen through the gaps?

    West Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 893 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Some of the cheapest and fastest internet in the world?
    Wow, how things have changed.... :D

    Funny thing is, it was true at the time. I was probably the first DSL customer in Pt Chev, and Telecom was actually ahead of the game with 2Mbit/s service. Then it all stood still ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    I was born in '58 - for me Punk arrived the summer between 7th form and Uni - I get to claim the 'punk generation' moniker too (not just punk, we got reggae too remember) - I graduated in '78 and was in Dunedin in the golden early 80s when all that was starting - I don't think we really appreciated it at the time.

    I vaguely remember Chris Knox in the Gardens Tavern watching a bad rock-band claiming even he could do better .... (there's a lot that's vague from back then)

    If you look at a lot of 'baby boom' demographic charts there are two peaks about 5-10 years apart - the first became the hippies - my friend's bigger brothers and sisters - we grew up with their music and nothing of our own (well there was disco .... but even we had standards) - that second peak became the punks/reggae/etc rebelling against the forming rock establishment.

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole,

    I have some of the fastest and cheapest internet service in the world

    Oh how the mighty have fallen. Look upon ye works, Ms Gattung, and kindly go kill yourself!

    Russell, with the benefit of seeing just how much of a Deane clone - ignoring the obvious anatomical differences - Gattung turned out to be, I really want to see what kind of excoriating verdict your update offers on her performance.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    FFS, could they just ban whatever Kevin Roberts is on and consign him to a toxic waste dump. Or at least make him take a glass of poisoned chardonnay from Ralston... Splice those two together, and you have the ultimate party bore.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Yes. Shall we talk about Brian Edwards complaining the the country was boring? His Saturday morning radio show was excruciating. Makes Laidlaw seem like Lenny Bruce.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Look upon ye works, Ms Gattung, and kindly go kill yourself!

    Beer o'clock come a little early in your corner of the world, Matthew? Would be nice if the Demoness Gattung was personally responsible for everything wrong with Telecom, but we both know that's just not true.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Stewart,

    Happy to second Craig's evaluation of Kevin Roberts.

    "Self-obsessed blow-hard" doesn't even come close.

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Yes. Shall we talk about Brian Edwards complaining the the country was boring?

    If you insist... :) Perhaps it's just my quirky temperament, but life is always boring, everything is always kind of shitty and just getting worse, and the human race just strengthens the case that God should have gone with the roaches, but you keep buggering on regardless. If the world is a tragic joke, you might as well learn to tell it as well as you can, and avoid being the kind of boring old fart going on about how much better things were when you get wood without chemical assistance. First, you're a liar. And, second, nobody cares.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Oh how the mighty have fallen. Look upon ye works, Ms Gattung, and kindly go kill yourself!

    Keep it seemly, Matthew. That's a little untoward.

    Oddly enough, among the people to contact me in appreciation of the original essay was ... Theresa Gattung. We had a cordial exchange of emails.

    She didn't seem to have taken offence at the crack about The (Landmark) Forum, despite it being a covert reference to her fondness for sending her management teams to that particular rescue service for people who forgot to have a life when they were 23.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    Lovely shot in the arm for a dull and blustery Friday. Cheers Russell, I knew there was a reason I came back here. I've raised the possibility of moving back to Melbourne with my Melbournite wife any number of times, really as a duty to her family more than because I want to go back there, but she simply prefers here. Which leads to a constant feeling of disconnect when the number of departees is brought up as a criticism of Auckland (and NZ more generally). I left too, once, when I was young and wanted adventure. But that wasn't because Auckland sucks.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    She didn't seem to have taken offence at the crack about The (Landmark) Forum, despite it being a covert reference to her fondness for sending her management teams to that particular rescue service for people who forgot to have a life when they were 23.

    EEEEEK!! I wonder if any of the <strike>retards</strike> Telecom support people I've been dealing with for the last month have been indoctrinated. Might explain a bit.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • John Morrison,

    Wonderful RB, I often wondered what made you tick; reading rugby newsgroups during the 90's told me you were a passionate Auck, but I couldn't see why? I also remember you saying before that when you arrived back in Auckland off the plane, you arrived home even though you hail from Canterbury?

    My only other comment is that our business, especially primary industry, community is still not up to the mark even after some relatively good years.

    Cromwell • Since Nov 2006 • 85 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    Landmark Forum, urk - run away - I once accidentally washed up in a company in the US full of EST people - including some of Erhardt's family - it was occasionally surreal

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

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