Posts by mark baker

Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First

  • Island Life: Child's play,

    Ooops.
    Nationality ranting and insults based on that premise are getting a bit off topic, surely?

    BTW, FI stuff...Peter Sauber's team is based where again?

    For those who dont know, most of the F1 industry is based in Great Britain.

    That wonderful Kiwi (not) German (not) team McLaren, who seem likely to sweep all before them this year are British-based. As is the former BMW Williams (now happily just Williams) team. I could go on...

    The point though is where "we" mistakenly base our team allegiances on national pride the game is the loser on the day.

    Those who shunned Buttmuncher and Snooty Couttsy after they left Team New Zealand missed the point: they wanted control and wanted an in on what they perceived as the money factory, and when it became apparent they weren't going to be allowed that step up the food chain they bailed.

    So be it. Let nobody attribute national motives to their decision to stay or go, nor to that of any other sailor at that time or after the subsequent down-trou for Team NZ at the next Cup.

    Bottom line: Team NZ is a brand, created for marketing purposes, just as McLaren is in F1 and Team Kiwi is...was!...in V8 Supercars.

    Nobody should mistake the AC for a national competition, an Olympics of Yachting. F1 is not an Olympics of Motorsport. To all those sad types who relate to sport on such a caveman level, get over yourselves!

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: All stadium, all the time,

    I'm afriad I am with Andre on this.

    That is: really, really afraid, cos the sweaty men are not to be dissed lightly. They weren't BORN with ears and noses that shape you know...

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • OnPoint: Bar brawls aren't my thing,

    Ummm...so her synapses didn't spark off "tourism" then?

    Disappointed she didn't also include in her list of major contributors to the economy "failed minor-league politicians with a punishment obsession and craven need for publicity".

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Aiming for mediocrity. Again.,

    We had an event in Auckland a while ago that championed this country as the potential design capital of the world.

    I was present at some of the Better By Design sessions, and nothing I heard there is in the same solar system as this cut-and-paste "woah, we gotta do this now" proposal to build a stadium so we can host a couple of rugby games...

    I agree with Russell regarding Eden Park, its time is long past and it struggles for relevance today.

    My question is whether it's appropriate to rush this thing through simply to bail the Government out of a tight corner, or whether we should be a tad more careful with public money and understand the true potential of the project.

    At the end of the day we will have to live with this thing on the waterfront for a long time, and I don't think it's been thought through carefully enough.

    For example, does it work in the context of maritime events? Is it relevant, or useful if (when) we win back the America's Cup, or Around Alone, or the Volvo? And is it an appropriate use of public money to build the thing then try to fill it with events, or should we identify what events we want to host there and build with those events in mind?

    I'm just not sure the city of sails wants or needs a ball-chaser's wet dream on its waterfront, especially where Trevor wants it to go.

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Aiming for mediocrity. Again.,

    Paul, you've got it. If we let rugby in on the ground floor, all other uses will be subservient to that sport.

    It's not as if there's no corporate support for the sport is it?

    This is a business, and it makes money - otherwise it would be back to club level and we could all get on with our lives without this kind of malarkey.

    Stadium NZ has to be run by an elected board (not appointed by the blazer and tie brigade), and it has to be looking to book events across the spectrum - even (whisper it) arts and culture!

    There has to be a charter to guide the board that places emphasis on events that BENEFIT the nation and the community, not just the obsessive few.

    Oh, and apologies all for the typo in my last post, brain racing ahead of fingers as usual, blurt!

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Aiming for mediocrity. Again.,

    Oh, blurt. I just realised what I want there instead of a footy ground.
    I want a Burj - imagine our waterfront with a huge and proud hotel in the shape of a sail...how appropriate would that be, and how pleasant to make shopping and sopcialising precincts on the ground floors...oh, and a big hotel would also have those conference rooms and stuff...and no sweaty men with cauliflour ears...they'd be banned unless they could strong together two intelligible multisyllabic sentences in a row in less than 20 minutes!
    Think about it. Images of the current Burj go around the world. Images of stadia only go around the waterfront freebie newspapers and Granny Herald...

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Aiming for mediocrity. Again.,

    Actually, I'm with those who rail against a bloody rugby ground on the waterfront. It's a minority sport for God's sake. Most of the world shakes its collective head when confronted with our obsession with heaving sweaty men with funny shaped ears chasing a piece of pigskin around a paddock.

    Yes we should have a national stadium, no it must not be dominated by the sweaty men at the expense of everyone else, and it must absolutely, positively not be rammed through just because we made some rash promises to the IRB/WCR.

    There's some sense in not going onto the tank farm - as far as I can see that will end up being container port - but the place for the stadium IS down that end of the waterfront, beneath the harbour bridge and away from residential development.

    Then you get foot traffic right along the waterfront (and thank you, Government and AC2000, for getting the Viaduct done); people get a new ferry terminus that goes right to the venue, the current container port doesn't get disrupted (imagine the nightmare of making sure freight isn't lost or delayed while the stadium gets built!

    I maintain Trevor the Duck is having a laugh at Auckland's expense.
    With his fingers on the purse strings it's his way or no way. Haemorrhoid cushion or Eden Park - not Hobson's Choice but certainly Trevor's!

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Stink Bro,

    Yep sad but true, while many of us have struggled to escape a past that included people who came out with that "Ow" - actually as noted by others a mangling of e hoa that my classmates at Kawerau Central School might have spelled "au hore" - this show has made it all white and middle class and angsty...new popularity for old patois...

    I have a few others from that time to share if anyone's interested...

    How about "missy tore", and "patero"

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • What do you want them to play at your funeral?,

    Hmmm.

    Lots of music, which would model off what we did for my Mum ten years ago (though of course the music wasn't thie same as this...)

    The obvious:

    Live, Lightning crashes (creates sombre mood)
    Crowded House, Four Seasons in one day (makes people reflective about their own lives)
    REM, Everybody Hurts (makes 'em cry)
    Hunters and Collectors, I Believe (way dirtier than ray's original, brash horns and bellowing lyrics, a lifelong fave)
    ...and as a closer, yes I am of that generation: Rock and Roll, the Zepp; the live version I think...ironic but totally amped final thought from me to the gathered masses!

    The wake afterward has to be all Irish or Irish influenced, and nobody gets in the door without a snort of Bushmills 12yo. Musically, thinking the Pogues (I know, predictable), and our own much lamented Banshee Reel...

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: Twenty for Scarlett,

    Ha! This whole furore is just sweet revenge being taken by Wellington, and in particular Trevor the Duck, on Auckland being just too up itself for comfort.
    How dare we hog so much of the meagre wealth of this socialist paradise, and how dare we be the region where all the business decisions are made, and how dare we host two America's Cups that had journalists from around the world exclaiming on the sheer beauty of our harbour.
    "I'll fix em," thought Trev; "We'll sow seeds of doubt about Eden park - which might as well just be turned over to the apartmentistas anyway - and we'll drop a great wart on the waterfront."
    No wait, even better, something that does look like a corn plaster or - somebody remarked on this before I did - an old fogey's haemorrhoid cushion. After all only a**eholes live in Auckland, right?

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

Last ←Newer Page 1 2 Older→ First