Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: My Mum and other good things

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  • Craig Ranapia,

    t's a TV shot during a radio show, and there are one or two awkward moments in tonight's opener

    Like you losing your AutoCue virginity? Poor darling, you looked like it was going to chew your face off. :)

    Oh, and happy birthday Russell's Mum!

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

  • Russell Brown,

    Like you losing your AutoCue virginity? Poor darling, you looked like it was going to chew your face off. :)

    Er, yes. I watched our first show and thought that guy needs to relax ...

    My goddamn shoulders were up around my ears!

    Although it's not the autocue per se, so much as the fact that the room is full of people who need you to do your job so that they can get paid.

    Now, of course, I'm as relaxed as all get-out. Although I do like to keep the crew on their toes by occasionally threatening to bust out some Bill O'Reilly ...

    Our studio director deeply loves that clip, and I'm scared to ask why ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Nice gams, Rhythm and Movement ladies! I feel a bit hot and bothered... (Note: I would have been bummed out if I was the poor woman at -4.44 who showed her underarm sweat to the nation.)

    Happy birthday to your mum, Russell. Mine turns 65 in October, which I find rather unbelievable.

    ETA I love that clip. Fuck it, we'll do it live!

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Megan Wegan,

    So do I, Danielle. As I go to read the news, I often mutter some of Bill O'Reilly's choicer phrases in my head. Here's hoping they never come out on air.

    And happy birthday to your mum, Russell. Mine turns 60 this year. This freaks me out.

    Welly • Since Jul 2008 • 1275 posts Report Reply

  • Raymond A Francis,

    Nice to able say those things to your mum,have a dance and have the good news from your sister
    One of the joys (about the only one) of old age is not having to travel with your kids
    Mind you I am looking forward to travelling through France with two sons, a sister and one of the son's new wife. And of of course my own dear wife/map reader/ driver
    Hopefully not all in the same car, at the same time

    45' South • Since Nov 2006 • 578 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    And happy birthday to your mum, Russell. Mine turns 60 this year. This freaks me out.

    Mine turns 80 in February. And when she does, I'm going to have to steal this bit of Russell's speech:

    I think some people might have become bitter through all that, but she never has.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Happy birthday to your mum, Russell. Mine turns 65 in October, which I find rather unbelievable.

    My Sweetie turns sixty five on Sunday, then our fifteenth anniversary on the 20th. Don't you wonder where the days go?
    (Yes, I know the video is a danger to the lactose intolerant, but Kirsty MacColl is seriously FTW.)

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

  • Cecelia,

    Happy birthday to your mother, Russell. And best wishes to your sister.

    Hibiscus Coast • Since Apr 2008 • 559 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    Best b'day wishes for your mother, Russel!

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Martin Lindberg,

    Yep, hotel internet is such a rip-off. I guess the hotels are trying to recoup some of the money they can't make from guests using their phones anymore, now that everyone has a cellphone.

    Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    At $29 a 100M it's cheaper to use a phone anyway even at current rip off rates. Not for foreigners, though.

    Are there *any* hotels in NZ with free wifi? Think I've been given it as a Corp rate bonus before but can't remember where.

    A mayoral candidate wants to spend $$$ on free citywide Wifi in Wellington. Which seems a waste of resources when we already have 3G. And what will stop people using it instead of home internet to download petabytes of movies?

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Are there *any* hotels in NZ with free wifi?

    I can think of several motels that have free wi-fi so long as you make reasonable use of it, which seems acceptable to me.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • jeremy gray,

    Do iPhones not allow tethering? The 2.2 android update comes with an app which lets your phone act as a modem and router with its 3G connection.

    point chev • Since Apr 2008 • 44 posts Report Reply

  • Joanna,

    And what will stop people using it instead of home internet to download petabytes of movies?

    Can't sysops put restrictions in place to stop peering? (Did I really just advocate for internet restraint? Crikey!)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 746 posts Report Reply

  • Jimmy Southgate,

    Do iPhones not allow tethering? The 2.2 android update comes with an app which lets your phone act as a modem and router with its 3G connection.

    You can tether an iPhone via USB or Bluetooth, but unless jailbroken you can't set it up as a wireless router.

    Wellingtown • Since Nov 2006 • 103 posts Report Reply

  • Neil Morrison,

    Mind you I am looking forward to travelling through France

    where abouts?

    Since Nov 2006 • 932 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    I also told them about Mum. From childhood, my mother has faced a series of challenges. She has lost loved ones in such terrible ways; she had to find such courage in my Dad's last years. I think some people might have become bitter through all that, but she never has. She has always maintained her good and loving soul. I think that I consciously seek and value in others the lack of malice she has always showed.

    We have the same Mum. Spooky.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Do iPhones not allow tethering? The 2.2 android update comes with an app which lets your phone act as a modem and router with its 3G connection.

    Dammit. I did not think of that. I never use up my phone's data allocation.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    What a genuinely lovely post, Russell. Thankyou. Best wishes to your Mum, and I am so sorry to hear that your sister is having a hard time. Kia kaha to her.
    My mum is 70 this year, and I am always amazed at how young she is. She has had a reasonably easy life - apart from having breast cancer at 40, and the love of her life and social buffer dying a few years ago - and so has aged very well. She has always been a very shy and private person (god knows how I happened - oh, that's right, I carry my father's personality through life) and has not always had the most positive or grateful take on life but in recent years, since Dad died really, she has become more outgoing, and less judgemental. I so enjoy spending time with her now, and a measure of how close we have become is that when she goes away, I deeply miss her. She was highly amused when I went to meet her at the airport back from 4 weeks away and she saw I had teary eyes. She was secretly pleased though, I think. And she's also quite gracious these days. In her case, aging has definitely softened those edges. And Craig - congratulations to you and your lovely lovely partner. 15 years? Time does go fast, and I bet he could tell some stories!

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    I also told them about Mum. From childhood, my mother has faced a series of challenges. She has lost loved ones in such terrible ways; she had to find such courage in my Dad's last years. I think some people might have become bitter through all that, but she never has. She has always maintained her good and loving soul. I think that I consciously seek and value in others the lack of malice she has always showed.

    We have the same Mum. Spooky.

    And also, Emma - did you doubt that?

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    My Grandpa post from 2006 covers some of the things my mother had to handle. I really don't know how she did it.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Ka mihi koa ki to ha-kui Russell! And, strength & better health to your sister.

    My ha-kui is 83, and looking forward to being 84 next year. She has survived so much (nearly died of scepticaemia when she was 31, my father died at the end of that year (leaving her with 6 kids under 12), has had a lot of illhealth over the years, and spectacularly divorced her second husband when she was 72!) Through it all, even the death of one of her children in 2007, she has remained a very caring, hospitable & gracious woman - with a wicked sense of humour.

    To the good Mums of the world - all joy-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Andre Alessi,

    petchakutcha

    I think you misspelled "Pikachu".

    But yes, hotel internet tends to be terribly managed for a pretty simple reason: most hotels will think it's economic to get a couple of ADSL connections off their existing phone lines to deliver to patrons. Because of the low bandwith limits and relatively slow speeds, they're effectively trying to share something that isn't really meant to be shared between that many people. It'd be much more effective (and customer-friendly) to purchase a mid-range dedicated data circuit (from someone such as, as you note, Citylink fibre) but the accountants just see the high setup and higher-than-ADSL monthly fixed fees and think it's not worth it.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    Oh. I just read your Grandpa post again, Russell. It brings to mind my mother's childhood with a manic depressive mother. I know that's where all her stuff comes from, but how much more damaging it must be when your mother commits suicide, and your father loses it for a while. My grandad (also named Jack, and also born in 1911) was a lovely man, and it was he who cared so for the children when my grandma was in Oakley or Carrington or wherever it was she went when it was all too much. I know that much of my mum's penchant for depression may be genetic (thank goodness for Dad's cheery genes). Your mum really did go through the mill, didn't she?

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    petchakutcha I think you misspelled "Pikachu".

    I think it is Pecha Kucha. I am doing my first ever PK on Tuesday night and it is a little daunting--constructing a 6 minute story around 20 slides. Mine is titled 'Mary Who? Einstein in Hollywood'; about Albert Einstein's 1931 visit to Hollywood (he was introduced to Mary Pickford and didn't know who she was) and is all about the scientist-as-celebrity, based on a article in a 1931 issue of Photoplay magazine (which my lovely daughter found for me in the local Browser's Bookshop)

    A lovely story about your mother, Russell. My mother died a few year back, aged 90something (we don't know exactly how many years, as she regularly changed dates on her records!); still dyeing her hair and having boyfriends in her 80s!

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

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