Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: We interrupt this broadcast ...

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  • Islander, in reply to Jackie Clark,

    Yeah.
    I got whacked once because my father thought coming second in a primary school exam was somehow insufficient. WTF!!
    Did I love my father? Nope.
    Do I love my mother? With all my heart, mind- and especially - creative nous-

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

  • Islander, in reply to Islander,

    Well, that's certainly interrupted that broadcast eh?

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

  • thegirlstefan, in reply to Russell Brown,

    kia ora Russell

    yes, WHAT was that Act party song?

    I felt worried for the Maori party- their ad looked like a bad public access programme from the 1990s. anyone know who is doing their media strategy?

    Aotearoa • Since Oct 2011 • 42 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Russell Brown,

    And the patriotic folk song is just weird.

    The only thing missing was the banjo.

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

  • Islander,

    The twangy song?
    Gah!
    And the invite at the end- seemed like an invite to commit communal suicide-

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

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to Islander,

    Your mother sounds like the mother I wish I had had growing up. (Not that there's anything wrong with mine.) I'm always searching for people to adopt me - what would I have to do to get into your mum's good books?

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

  • Islander, in reply to Jackie Clark,

    Come visit her! Us! In wonderful Oamaru!
    Long as you pass the leetle dog's check ( a harmless wee bichon frise - who will accept all your family dogs as a given) you're home and - um, hosed!

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

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to Islander,

    That's my dream. It really is. Can't tell you how much. It would be shaming.

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

  • Kracklite, in reply to Islander,

    I got whacked once because my father thought coming second in a primary school exam was somehow insufficient. WTF!!

    You know what Buzz Aldrin’s father said to him when he came back from the moon?

    “So you were second.”

    I'm glad that my father wasn't like that.

    The Library of Babel • Since Nov 2007 • 982 posts Report Reply

  • Kracklite,

    I must confess that I haven’t sat through the party addresses in their totality yet, but Labour’s focus on its heritage is… <strain in voice akin to the effects of constipation> potentially… gratifying… </strain in voice akin to the effects of constipation>

    Thinking of heritage, my father and my mother were lifelong Labour voters and their pitch does resonate, but I find it hard to overcome my scepticism, considering Goff’s own history and the party’s own woeful performance as an alleged “opposition” and its rudderless, focus group driven spineless cynicism. This is all very good, but very, very late in the day - maybe too late. My mother’s now voting Green, my father’s dead, I’m leaning Greenish, maybe, now that the worst Luddites are leaving.

    It would be nice to think that this presentation represents the real heart of the Labour Party, but they’ve spent so much of the last three years demonstrating that there’s no-one they won’t throw under the bus, no principle they won’t compromise, no cock that they won’t suck (such as the members of Brian Tamaki and his Blackshirts). I’m yet to be convinced, to put it mildly.

    If this is all about film criticism, then I’m voting for Stanley Kubrick.

    The Library of Babel • Since Nov 2007 • 982 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Kracklite,

    I think my parents, for real historical reasons, were totally mismatched BUT- their genes have been good. My mother is Kaitahu/Scots – my father was English
    (but born here.)

    What that means for me is, I acknowledge and respect the qualities & support I receive from each parent = buggerall from my father(that I acknowledge), and a huge amount from my mother & her side of the family.

    Ooo - film criticism?
    Have to be Gaylene Preston, when she was feeling sad!

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

  • Sacha,

    Key's dorky handshake, the gift that keeps giving.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Kracklite,

    strain in voice

    not enough roughage in that 80s neoliberalism

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Kracklite, in reply to Sacha,

    Key's dorky handshake, the gift that keeps giving.

    This is so much better:

    The Library of Babel • Since Nov 2007 • 982 posts Report Reply

  • Kracklite, in reply to Islander,

    Have to be Gaylene Preston, when she was feeling sad!

    Ah, Mr Wrong - I saw that when it first came out. I'm old...

    The Library of Babel • Since Nov 2007 • 982 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Kracklite,

    Hey, I saw it while it was a-making!
    MUCH older!

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

  • Kracklite, in reply to Islander,

    You know you’re old. I’m suffering ( suffering , I tell ya) the realisation that I’m old. Since I consider that significant, that must mean that there’s still some emo teen in me yet. :)

    The Library of Babel • Since Nov 2007 • 982 posts Report Reply

  • elsketcho, in reply to Hayden East,

    Nationals entire campaign will be based on Keys personality, because they have nothing to lose, based on that, and nothing to gain by focussing on their other MPs. Bill english anyone? Key is key. And by a comfortable margin to boot. I despair of the fact that the average voter is, well, average, and tied to a personality based decision. Thusly, Labour are screwed. We stand to gain by slinging our votes in the direction of Green...

    Auckland • Since Aug 2007 • 35 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Go emo teeno eh!
    (That should boil-or at least discombobulate
    a future dictionary-)

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

  • Paul Campbell,

    I was disappointed by the lack of a Pirate Party showing arrgh!

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    Why not make one?

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

  • Islander, in reply to elsketcho,

    Run that past me again? I cannot see, vis a vis your inchoate reasoning, voting for the Greens actually does anything.

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

  • Christiaan,

    Labour's address reminded me of this from Monbiot:
    http://www.monbiot.com/2010/10/11/the-values-of-everything/

    So we must lead this shift ourselves. People with strong intrinsic values must cease to be embarrassed by them. We should argue for the policies we want not on the grounds of expediency but on the grounds that they are empathetic and kind; and against others on the grounds that they are selfish and cruel. In asserting our values we become the change we want to see.

    Portugal • Since Dec 2006 • 121 posts Report Reply

  • Kracklite, in reply to elsketcho,

    Well, watching them now…

    Key’s (not National’s, because according to that ad, National is Key) is astonishingly lazy.

    Act: quaint. Superficially, I agree with their principles, as I agree with all of the principles grouped under the label of “nice stuff happening if you wish hard enough”. They can talk about chocolate and kittens and unicorns… but, by the way, plutocracy is the only way is the only way that I… I mean you… possibly, if you win the lottery… (I forget the rest). Don Brash smiles a lot, I see, and he doesn’t wear a tie all of the time.

    Green: Earnest, which sums them up. Earnest, always. We used that as a euphemism for students who were competent but fundamentally unimaginative.

    Labour: I have to say, it is a striking move… rather depressing that it took such extreme circumstances to force this apparent rediscovery of heritage and heart, depressing that it took so damned long… and because it has come so late, under such extreme polling disparity, I have to wonder how sincere it is.

    It seems to be a quick and astute response to the Occupy X movement – it won’t directly name it, for fear that it might be a mere flash in the pan, or eventually characterised as extremist, but taps into some impulses that motivate it. Risky, maybe, but now only a risky move would have any hope, since the “safe” gestures have been so pitiful/utterly vile so far.

    I wish that they’d started thinking and talking this way three years ago. Why now, why so late? How deep, how intractable is that commitment?

    Some people are saying it’s about Key’s smarm versus Labour’s policy, but while Labour presents well, their record under Goff is not that of a party willing or able to deliver any more than Key the weathervane populist.

    OK, Kubrick’s dead. Werner Herzog, maybe. Cave of Forgotten Dreams showed that he thinks in the long term.

    The Library of Babel • Since Nov 2007 • 982 posts Report Reply

  • Kracklite, in reply to Christiaan,

    Well put. Something that has to be said. More than once, more than once in the last month.

    The Library of Babel • Since Nov 2007 • 982 posts Report Reply

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