Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Funky Seaside Village Revisited

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  • BenWilson,

    I can't get bitter on 91. It was the year I first got laid.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • andin,

    I, for one, welcome the baby boomers as my overlord.

    Did your knee just jerk then Ben?

    And having observed the baby boomer phenomenon close up. At a time when the moribund state of a section of this thing called humanity (thats western culture, the thing thats going tits up at the moment) needed to grow up. What did my contemporaries do? Hmmm

    They just fell into the old trap of hanging pretty baubles round their neck and going awww look at me. Now you lot have to do what I say.
    As if this is an effing sandpit.

    *puts on best Jon Stewart impish tone*
    And having observed Kevin Roberts close up I can tell you that his head is so far up his arse.
    That thing sitting atop his shoulders....*sly smile*
    That is his haemorrhoids.

    Kapisi an atheist, dont think that can be called irrelevant.
    More likely those who fall for the childhood indoctrination we are all subjected to havent grown up yet.
    But then some people never do.

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report

  • Rich of Observationz,

    Yes, I prefer "bourgeois ninnies" myself.

    Go Craig!

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Last i heard, kapisi was a fat old atheist irrelevent to the current generation.

    Just saw him at Pasifika flogging his clothing line. He seemed in good form.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    __where did you come from if not Auckland?__

    Timaru! :)

    It must be true if it says so in Wikipedia ...

    Actually, dubmugga and I were teenagers in the same town.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Kapisi an atheist, dont think that can be called irrelevant.

    It's a part of that family's identity, really. The Urales were among the 5% of Samoans who didn't go to church in the 1970s.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • dubmugga,

    PS: I took out an unnecessary and probably defamatory reference to someone else from your post. Chill out dude, feel that sunny Nelson vibe


    ...oh i'm chill and yeah if i saw him i'd say it to his face too. We gots history

    and if i did have a complaint, its that polynization gets glossed over so much in the mainstream...

    btw Churtown sweet, TIMARU ???..hahaha GTFOH !!!

    and Kaps is all good but i bet he cant throw down a hoop like he used to.

    We have no punk, reggae or non-commercial roots music to combine our up-yours attitude into something vaguely organised.


    you got dubstep though its hardly upyours, its more a defeatist navel gazing. Thank fuck i'm first gen hiphop. I gots attitude for africa...

    the back of your mind • Since Nov 2006 • 257 posts Report

  • dubmugga,

    The Urales were among the 5% of Samoans who didn't go to church in the 1970s.

    ...and why would you ???

    The ministers used to yell and scream and rant trying their damndest to put the fear of god into you then alternate that with sweet humble pie.

    No wonder poly gen xers are so confused and their kids embraced hiphop wholesale...

    the back of your mind • Since Nov 2006 • 257 posts Report

  • Heather W.,

    It must be true if it says so in Wikipedia ...


    Wikipedia
    now says you were born in Lower Hutt.

    Brown was born in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, and now lives in Auckland, New Zealand with his long-term partner, journalist Fiona Rae, and their two sons.

    North Shore • Since Nov 2008 • 189 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    Did your knee just jerk then Ben?

    Yes! How did you know? I also salivated when you wrote Kapisi. Not really sure why. Now I'm flinching involuntarily at the thought of your next post.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Emma Hart,

    Wikipedia now says you were born in Lower Hutt.

    My favourite version is this one:

    Initial reports indicate that the success of Hard News was partially predicated on Brown's alarming ability to sound exactly like Bill Ralston, a then-popular TV show host.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    Emma, lol classic. I guess Wikipedia's got a problem with people using it for satire, though? Especially since the satire is more about Wikipedia than it is about Russell.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Wikipedia now says you were born in Lower Hutt.

    The stub about me does, but I'm still claimed as one of Timaru's own in the Timaru article. I get fidgety about something that might have been a joke by one of my friends standing as fact. (Although it's cool to be sharing the journalism alumni category with Allen Curnow.)

    I mentioned it to one of the local Wikipedians but didn't hear back. I suppose I could remove it myself, but it seems better that someone else should do it.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Emma Hart,

    I guess Wikipedia's got a problem with people using it for satire, though? Especially since the satire is more about Wikipedia than it is about Russell.

    Actually, Ben, I think it's a classic example of how well Wikipedia heals 'damage'. That version lasted twelve days before it was replaced by the boringly factual. Nevertheless, the history preserves all the 'Russell is a Ralstonite pirate from Timaru' glory for posterity. The more people care about the topic, the faster it gets reverted.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Emma, lol classic. I guess Wikipedia's got a problem with people using it for satire, though?

    It's a terrible idea to use Wikipedia for satire. On top of all the other filters you need to run to assess an article, asking people to spot and parse irony is just going to end in tears.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Joe Wylie,

    Being born in Lower Hutt carries a greater long-term potential for scarification than being shot in Soweto?

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    It's a terrible idea to use Wikipedia for satire. On top of all the other filters you need to run to assess an article, asking people to spot and parse irony is just going to end in tears.

    Well it hurts the main purpose, for people to find what Emma call the "boringly factual".

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Joshua Drummond,

    __Kapisi an atheist, dont think that can be called irrelevant.__

    It's a part of that family's identity, really. The Urales were among the 5% of Samoans who didn't go to church in the 1970s.

    Good on him. He played at the Orientation last year at Waikato and was bloody good. We met him afterwards and bought some clothes off of him. One of the coolest, most chilled out people I have ever met. I had no idea he was an athiest, but I think it's brilliant.

    Since Nov 2006 • 119 posts Report

  • Sam F,

    Will Mace wrote:

    I think it's fantastic that I have no idea what generation i'm supposed to be in, apart from the perennial whine that we are the "lazy" generation which is easy to ignore (perhaps because i'm lazy).

    As someone who left secondary a year later than you, I can heartily second this. Gen Y (the closest fit for me, from what I've read) seems to be defined as being either "after X" or by consumption of electronic media. The first is meaningless to me, and despite my persistent presence here I don't actually define myself in any sense by IT or gadgetry - the defining media that I identify with has been and still is print.

    Although the more I think about it I wonder whether the e-age has quietly rebuilt my brain anyhow, in terms of habituating me to constant access to information and discussion - for instance, I used to hear music when I was younger, and missing the name and title I would lose the song's source for a decade - then upon the arrival of the Internet and searchability in my life all of these half-remembered things suddenly came to life in charming (or terrifying) detail. Maybe I'm less electronic in outlook than post-print - with an electronic overlay doing novel and unexpected things to the world of printed words I grew up in.

    I've digressed a long way here, which in a bizarre way makes another point - it's usually not that instructive to try and work out how generation labels might apply to you. Better to take a look at those who try to push the labels upon you, and why. Which I haven't done here, more through the 'flu than laziness (I think)...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report

  • Jason Kemp,

    Slpendid writing, almost timeless. I might also have a copy of one of thos Planet magazines somewhere in storage. That was another ary of light at the time.

    We all have a lot to be thankful for. Thanks also to your helpers for getting a copy back out there.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Russell, do you still have any originals of the photos from Planet? Some great stuff, I recall.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Russell, do you still have any originals of the photos from Planet?

    No, but you've got me going now.

    It would be nice to be able to present not just the photos but some of the pages, including the ads.

    As of now, I have no idea what still lives in digital or photographic form, but there are certainly copies of the magazine. I'll talk to Grant Fell, Gideon Keith and Marcus Ringrose. At least one of them must have original work and/or page files.

    Thanks. It's now officially now a project.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Cool. I do admire the continuity between Cha Cha, Planet and Black and bringing rare content back into our national conversations sounds like a fine idea. To name but a couple, I wonder if Barney or Kane could do domething similar with Pavement and Stamp?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • andin,

    Now I'm flinching involuntarily at the thought of your next post.

    Thats the spirit!

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    To name but a couple, I wonder if Barney or Kane could do domething similar with Pavement and Stamp?

    Is this the right to to get back on my perennial heritage hobbyhorse?

    It is this: a modest contestable fund for the digitisation of works held in public archives (where copyright is not asserted to the contrary, obviously). Anyone could apply for it.

    So people like the wonderful Jonathan Ah Kit could actually cover their costs in scanning and uploading heritage works. The Mazengarb Report is referenced widely in school and tertiary studies now. It's only possible because Jonathan got off his arse, retrieved it, scanned it and put it online. He also had a big hand in the Mazengarb Wikipedia article.

    Unfortunately, funding for digitisation tends to be captured by institutions, because institutions dominate the discussion.

    I bring it up every time I'm on one of these committees, but nothing ever happens.

    <dismounts hobbyhorse>

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

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