I feel that I should offer some stern consideration to the government's continuing ugliness in the matter of Ahmed Zaoui, or Trevor Mallard's attempt to pretend that over-long school powhiri are a pressing issue … But it's been a long week and I lack the sense of duty such a course would dictate.
So you could hop on over to Scoop, which continues to pursue the Zaoui story with dedication and vigour, or check in on No Right Turn, who does these things so much better than me. I can report that TVNZ has bumped previous programming on Wednesday, October 13 in favour of Enemy of the State, a programme for which Alex van Wel and Mike Valintine travelled to Algeria "to investigate Zaoui's life". Among other things, they use hidden cameras to "probe the allegations made against him and discover who made them". They claim to have raised "serious questions about the credibility" of the case against Zaoui.
Me, I'll just tarry a moment and knock out another coffee from my shiny, new and ever-so-treasured Vibiemme Domobar Super, which I collected last week as part of some business we're doing with Karajoz coffee (more of which soon). It's stainless steel inside-and-out and (now that we've learned to respect its power and stopped burning the milk) really quite amazing.
I'm confidently expecting a similar buzz out of another shiny new tool, the iMac G5, which I officially spec'd and ordered from Magnum Mac just before I picked up the Domobar last week. There's still no word on exactly when the G5 will arrive, and local back-orders are already well into the hundreds, but I will have mine before most people get theirs, so I can't complain. I just want it now.
Dunedin was fun, although these night-time raids on other cities never leave any time for shopping. The crowd at Arc Café for Off the Wire was good-humoured and responsive and the recording was a pleasure. It was good to meet the legendary Dougal Stephenson too.
I had intended to go and see the Lonesome Buckwhips, the country-music-comedy act featuring Hamish from Critic, who were playing around the corner, but ended up being hauled along by my colleagues on an informal survey of Dunedin's bar culture - which wasn't bad for a Wednesday. We even popped in on the Bowling Green, which was of great anthropological interest, and wound up back at the Arc to have a drink with our new friends on the staff and pump money into the jukebox.
That was quite enough late-night excitement for the week, but I will be venturing out to the all-important Auckland vs Canterbury NPC clash on Saturday, thanks to Hoani at West Lynn Organic Meats (or, as the Mad Butcher used to put it, "the orgasmic butcher"), who kindly offered me his two members' tickets for the match. Big Gay Paul and I are very grateful for this - and I hereby invite readers to head on down to Hoani's shop, throw money at him and tell him I sent you. The organic bacon and the organic chicken sausages are particularly noteworthy.
BTW, I'll be presenting Sunday morning's Mediawatch live on National Radio, and Nicola Legat and Reg Birchfield will be joining me to size up the first edition of the new Sunday "compact", the Herald on Sunday. We probably won't get as far as the industrial dispute, but I would not underestimate the resolve of the Herald journalists on this one.
I'm delighted that Damian Christie's blog here has helped him get a column with the new paper (and that, I think, his column will be accompanied by his blog address!). He'll be sharing a page with Deborah Coddington, who I'm guessing won't be touching on the unfortunate business with Roger Kerr. I feel sorry for Coddington - no one invites this stuff - but it's hard not to marvel at the rather colourful psychology at that end of the political spectrum.
MediaCow farewells Fuse and stuff at DogBitingMen. Oh, and will somebody in Wellington give David Cohen a hug? Or at least make his day by asking him to do that Bruce Springsteen impression again? Frankly, I've given up on Nippert ever making the cut as a breakdancer, no matter how long he spends hanging out in Scribe's dressing room, and I've had to give up air guitar on account of the RSI, but Cohen as The Boss might well save the reputation of New Zealand journalism. Toodle-pip!
PS: Damn! I forgot to post the following transcript from an interview with Keri Hulme due to air on Frontseat on TV One on Sunday night. Very flattering, and I'm looking forward to seeing it on Sunday:
FRONTSEAT: Tell me about Public Address where you posted a blog...
HULME: I did (laughs). It wasn’t so much a blog, it was an invited comment. Because Bill really did - erstwhile of Blerta - Bill Deakin (sp?) did turn up at my place in his specialised paraplegic van with his helpmate, and we stewed ourselves on V8 and vodka basically, on a tremendously thunderstorm night. It was extraordinary. And I’d made a comment about this to Damian Christie… and as a result they accepted what I’d posted.
I love Hard News, I love Public Address. And of course there is one Jolisa [Gracewood] … I have also enjoyed her contributions very much.
Blogging is a new literary form. The really good ones are worth keeping in more than such semi-permanent stuff as hard drives. Download them, print ‘em out please and keep them. And it’s very very new.FRONTSEAT: Is it good writing?
HULME: All of it?
FRONTSEAT: Blogging.
HULME: No! There’s an awful lot of crap out there. But the good bloggers are very good indeed. A lot of them in New Zealand unfortunately are almost purely political. We don’t have people, as you get in some of the archaeological blogs, doing semi-autobiographical stuff or coming up with musings on the whys and wherefores of humanity etcetera. Public Address is the best blog ‘portal’, if you can call it that, because it has a range of people offering material.
Nice!