Posts by InternationalObserver
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His key objection seemed to be that some hidden group of people would become crazily rich if the US instituted such a system.
As opposed to the in plain sight crazily rich HMO's ???
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I think lad's are meant to flop their cocks out, it's the ladette's who are meant to get their tits out. Speaking of which, I didn't see the 20/20 piece on Nikki Watson under 'related videos' ....
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If anyone's interested I've seen two episodes of 30 Rock (starting this Sunday on TV3) and I quite enjoyed them. Like Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip it's a show about making a show not too disimilar to Saturday Night Live (an institution in the US, but never* seen here). I know Studio 60 didn't find an audience in the US and has been axed but I'm enjoying it. 30 Rock is a completely different type of show ie a comedy (but not a 'sit-com') and also worth a look.
[* can anyone remember the name's of those gawdawful 'Variety' shows that they tried here? One was that copy of Australia's Hey Hey Its Saturday]
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"if one of your guys is a jihadist, if one of your doctors is spending all the time online reading Osama bin Laden fatwas, someone's going to notice that. But the National Health Service is more like the Post Office, you know there's a lot of anonymity, it's easy to hide in the bureaucracy."
Oh yes, I was in London only last year and had to wait 17 hours at the local NHS while Dr Zawhahwiwwiiaa and his chums plotted their revenge on the West. And when I finally got in he made me show him my passport to prove I wasn't Australian, and wouldn't treat me until I placed my hand on the Koran and shouted "Allie Akbar" three times.
Being a kiwi I considered it a "cultural issue" and best not to mention it to anyone.
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Actress/wife/mother Jamie Leigh Curtis gives mad props to our state sponsored airline for her flight to London for LE.
Air New Zealand, never flown nicer by the way, had me in mind. They gave me my own control panel/bed/condo/entertainment unit and ...
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A blog about Auckland City council politics? Wow , I predict another 10+ pages of comments to come ....
So Banks ... does have an opening via the indifferent performance - and, in some cases, obsession with pet issues - of the current council.
Yeah, I was another of the anyone-but-Banks brigade last election; and yet sorely disappointed with the outcome. But this time round I realise there is no hope until Greater Auckland has one Council (to Rule Them All!)
Meanwhile, he was on the radio this morning accusing Hone Harawira of belonging to a "racist" organisation: ie, the Maori Party. Sigh …
John Tamihere was levelling exactly the same accusation on Radio Live this afternoon.
Speaking of which, the Australian federal government has thought the better of its poorly conceived announcement that it would be conducting forced medical checks on all aboriginal children in targeted communities.
And why not, now that they've got 'terrorist doctors on Aussie soil' to win the next election with?
The portion from Mayoral Drive to Wellesley Street is complete and looking really nice. I'm willing to put up with those awful orange barriers for a bit longer if nice wide footpaths are the end result They don't need to be "world class", just nice and wide.
Aw, c'mon. Wider footpaths will just make Queen Street look emptier! Q St really is a dog (as anyone who's been overseas will confirm), and I doubt this prettification will work. As for those orange barriers - they're just part of a cunning plan by bureaucrats to soften us up for cutting Q St down to one lane of vehicle traffic. (NB: anyone opposing/supporting the councils plan to run permanent busways thru Q St have only 10 days left to object/support)
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er ... sounds like it's the DomPost not TVNZ who should be embarrassed.
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Madonna evidently went one-up on Angelina Jolie by insisting interviewers (backstage at LE) mantain constant eye contact and not look at their notes - they had to memorise all their questions or the interview would be terminated.
The Mirror story also contains their opinion on the STARS WHO SHONE BRIGHTEST at LE.
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Some random thoughts on Live Earth ....
1. the performances were great but as a TV event it won't (shouldn't) win any prizes. There was no cohesion and omigod the finish! It just ended without warning by rolling the credits! Madness. Oh, and there were waaay too many PSA's. It would have been nice to watch 3 or 4 songs minimum without interruption, instead of one or two.
2. Madonna was a great performer but she wasn't far from imploring the crowd "If you wanna save the planet let me hear you say 'We Love Madonna!'"
3. The Pussycat Dolls were great inasmuch as they were what they were. And they hit all their marks - obviously they still rehearse alot. There was no slacking thru the routine. Obviously the camera crew had been waiting all day for them because we saw camera angles they weren't daring to use on other female performers. But I do think wearing push-up bras on push-up tits is overdoing it.
4. Australian show was pretty sad and a rather wimpy start to proceedings. Good to see that Neil Finn could get the whole stadium singing along - a feat others around the world foolishly tried to emulate without success (Keane!). Toni Collette has a great voice but putting her on meant we missed out on more must-see talent.
5. The Brazillians launched with some crazy-ass local act (Wuxu?) who proved Brazillians really love to party. The dancers on stage looked chaotic until you realised it was carefully choreographed pandemonium. Pharell schmarell.
6. The Japanese show was what we expect from the Japanese ie heavilly influenced by the West. The first hard rock (metal?) act had me wondering if they were singing in English or Japanese. It was Japanese. Another Japanese rock band was singing in English but still made little sense. One lyric I did pick up on was 'Rodney King was a pussy'. Eh? Lincoln Park are Big In Japan, which made the movie This Is Spinal Tap on C4 later even more funny.
7. Speaking of, when ST played Wembley ("Wimbledon!") and brought out the dozen or so bass players for a bass jam, I got it. Others around me didn't, which made it even funnier.
8. China took a trip back in time too, but used contemporary acts to return to the 70s. 12 Women In Yellow Dresses? Kinda like Vanessa Mae but without the sex appeal. And Sarah Brightman too. Over the course of the LE highlight spots the China reel got shorter and shorter.
9. Smashing Pumpkins? Oh, I thought it was the original line-up re-forming for LE. My bad. Good to see the original Police line-up were back, but their original 80s appeal has long gone for me.
10. Al Gore was a bit of a stage hog. A shame his son let him down, but I can't help thinking he was thinking he could use this event to 'reluctantly' be dragged back into the '08 presidential campaign. But that aint gonna happen now. Gore is portly but so what, he's not a rock star. Lenny Kravitz on the other hand ... either lose some weight or get a bigger leather jacket to match the one you are so obviously attached too. Not sure why he felt the need to walk into the crowd, unless he enjoyed watching the guards shoving everyone out of the way.
11. Beating Kravits out in The Vanity Stakes were Enrique Englaisias and Shakira. The latter won hands down (she seems to get off by thinking she's getting you off with her non-lying hips), and I'm pretty sure she lip-synched. Is it just my own whiteness showing, or are the Beastie Boys the only rap act who can master a stadium. They sounded great, unlike Ludachris, Pharell, and Snoop Dogg. Okay, Snoop wasn't that bad.
12. Is it my age showing or was the whole show a sad indictment on where we've come since Live Aid? Concerts to "raise awareness" but little else? I guess I now things I didn't know before ie Americans use a million bottles of water an hour which is worse than a million car emmissions in the same hour, and Jenifer Garner wants you to wite your Congressman. Surely an email would create a smaller carbon footprint than putting pen to paper and sending that paper in various trucks to Congress.
That'll do, there's more but others probably have others to add. Kudos to Ricky Gervais who took the stage to point out that all the stars were flying in from all over the world on private jets to get us to cut CO2 emmissions. I was waiting for a punchline but there was none.
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• Rescue Me returns on TV1 with the final episode of season two. Go figure.
Thanks for the headsup, altho' I note its not on the TVNZ schedule page. Not surprising since the previous series also started without fanfare at a new LATE timeslot so I missed the first few eps.
Gotta love TVNZ </sarcasm>
As for Live Earth well I watched the whole 22 hours!! Not live (I'm not nuts) but I recorded it to HDD and was able to FFW thru it, stopping for the bits I liked. Some random thoughts ....