Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Wars have different rules. In a war, one man’s criminal is another man’s freedom fighter.
Must...not...Godwin. But I'm sure there are plenty of far-right theo-con folks who feel exactly the same about abortion... I mean, baby-killing scum. I guess abortion clinic workers who've found their addresses, phone numbers and the location of their kids' schools need to suck it up and remember inter arma enim silent leges.
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Are we saying that all these entities are accessories after the fact (legally / morally) to the hacking?
Would you be asking the question if this was a Murdoch tabloid publishing the credit card details of Greenpeace donors? As Russell said, I fail to see even the most feeble public interest defense of publishing anyone’s credit card details.
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Up Front: One, Redux, in reply to Deborah,
Yes, because there’s not a lot we can do, except listen, and listen, and listen, for as long as people in Christchurch want to talk. Or not, just as suits each person living in Christhchurch.
Keeping the biscuit barrel full and the good tea pot on perpetual standby is never the wrong response. Whether your guest then wants to chew your ear or feel the serenity is up to them. Sorry for sounding like a fucking hippy, but being genuinely present and attentive to someone in pain, however they express it, is a real blessing. For all the shit over the last year, I’ve been humbled by the constant reminders that small acts of simple human decency are heroic.
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Up Front: One, Redux, in reply to Emma Hart,
“Hey why don’t we have a Public Address Great Sleepover” turned into flying me and my family to Wellington and giving us a night off. And giving me a sense that I could still be of some use, some relevant function.
At the risk of turning this into a Public Address circle jerk, you (and David and Blair) were pretty fucking awesome too. I still feel kind of stink that I was a bit stand-offish, but what the hell do you say that’s not complete canting foofy-tosh? Under the circumstances, Megan playing to her strengths and dragging you off to get tits-up wrecked was more useful. :)
Agree with your sentiment, Emma. And on top of everything, it seems that all I talk about to “outsiders"of Christchurch are the earthquakes.
And why the bloody hell not. I get really fucked off at the occasional "hey, guys, it's really time to move out, move on and generally get over it" commentary, because... well, people aren't fraking robots. Emma's put it more eloquently than I ever could, buit nobody grieves in exactly the same way and that kind of nonsense is pretty abusive..
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Up Front: One, Redux, in reply to Geoff Lealand,
I had some of my most important film moments in Chch ( The Life of Brian, 2001, the Chch Film Society...
Sorry if this comes across as a rather tacky thread-jack, but the Canterbury Film Society's 2012 season starts on March 12th at the Hollywood 3 in Sumner. Don't think I was the only member of the Film Society/Festival whanau who had some anxious days and sleepless nights until we heard everyone was alive-and-as-well-as-anyone-could-reasonably-expect.. You can grieve for a venue, and re-jig a schedule but not bring people back from the dead.
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Hard News: CELEBRITY DRUG SHOCK NEWS! AGAIN., in reply to Hebe,
Rupe is the problem; or perhaps its the people who buy his products that are the problem.
A LOT from both columns there. A shit is a shit is a shit, as Gertrude Stein might put it. At least you can see the upfront and shameless ones coming. It’s the pious ones who pretend their panty-sniffing is a public good you’ve really got to watch out for.
It’s too convenient to say “Kill Rupert Murdoch and all his works, then all things will be well”; and it would be wonderful if it was that simple. Unfortunately, it isn't.
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Hard News: CELEBRITY DRUG SHOCK NEWS! AGAIN., in reply to Russell Brown,
Huh? Really? Vanity Fair? Are you quite sure about that? Because that description doesn’t make any sense to at all to me.
Oh, come on – it isn’t just been Annie Lebowitz covers and celebrity hand-jobs profiles that shift Vanity Fair. Plenty of salacious stories about drugging, drinking, screwing and occasionally murdering glitterati have graced that august tome. Several members of Mr. Kennedy Lawford’s family among them.
Hey, I’m not hypocritical enough to pretend I never spent way too much time, back in the day, gobbling Dominick Dunne’s 1% schadenfreude like candy. I just don’t think it was any less troubling because Dunne was a better writer than your average National Enquirer hack and got printed on better stock. Alleged uxoricide Klaus von Bulow and his self-medicating wife may have been tonier subjects that Whitney and Bobby, but IMO it’s part and parcel of the same deeply exploitative, harmful and toxic media culture.
Of course, this may just be one more thing on which we will agree to disagree.
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Hard News: CELEBRITY DRUG SHOCK NEWS! AGAIN., in reply to Hebe,
And Vanity Fair is a big part of the problem. Having Christopher Hitchens on the masthead was pretty impressive window-dressing for a magazine whose stock in trade is wallowing in human misery and degradation while pretending to be awfully concerned about it all. Feh… For all his sins, at least Rupert Murdoch is an upfront scumbag. If shit sells he'll cheerfully and shamelessly cover the Earth in booby-shaped septic tanks.
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Hard News: NZ On Screen: The…, in reply to Hebe,
It’s a funny uneasy day today in Christchurch: Tuesday, and – completely irrationally – I don’t like Tuesday lunchtimes after you-know-what.
Irrational, perhaps, but totally exquisitely human.
Tomorrow is looming even though I’m trying hard to keep it all in perspective. I mean, do earthquakes follow the Gregorian calendar?
No, but I have a friend in Christchurch who says she's been on a self-imposed media blackout for weeks. Can't blame her -- when the media did so much right in the immediate aftermath I'm personally squicked out by a disturbingly large proportion of the anniversary build up.
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Hard News: CELEBRITY DRUG SHOCK NEWS! AGAIN., in reply to Ross Bell,
I’ll introduce you to Chris too – he’s a nice guy…. for an alcoholic.
I'm faintly surprised any member of the Kennedy family is at all functional. I had enough of a time getting sober and staying there, without being part of an extended family that's been soaking in the tabloid goo for the better part of eight decades. Where does your head end up when it seems every private unhappiness and act of squalour in the clan eventually ends up being dished up for public consumption?
I've read a lot more about his Uncle John's *cough* not exactly chivalrous conduct with women not his wife than the domestic policy of his Administration. YMMV, but that strikes me as a sad and unhealthy state of affairs.
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