Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Any excuse for a party

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  • Rich of Observationz,

    It's a fact that not only have all of Elisabeth Windsor's children's marriages ended in divorce, so did her late sister's. And her own marriage, per Kitty Kelley, involves quite a lot of playing away.

    I guess this may have a lot to do with their general wierdness. Expecting to be called 'sir' by close friends doesn't exactly make relationships easy.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle, in reply to Lilith __,

    I loved them. I like people wearing unexpected things. (Insert hashtag about being one of three people on earth who loved Bjork's swan dress here.)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to Danielle,

    I did enjoy all the tweets. You did a fine job.

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

  • Jacqui Dunn,

    OK well how's this for missing the boat? Better late than never, and it's all Emma's fault because of her blog, which has made me exceedingly guilty about contributing when I'm supposed to be doing other things.

    Happy Birthday, Craig, but I thought you were a Leo!

    Russell doing a curry from whole spices - now, important question Russell - exactly where do you get the best whole spices from? There's a local Indian "supermarket" with much things Indian in my neighbourhood, but I didn't see a whole spice (all ground) anywhere there.

    Reading quickly through, and having missed (deliberately) watching anything to do with the you-know-what in London, reminds me of when there was some sort of royal tour through Wellington, and iirc on a Friday night. My brother was an regular in the "Duke" on the corner of Willis and Manners Sts, where all the revolutionaries and other non-conformists hung out. Apparently the bar emptied just as the cars came along, with all the patrons out on the street to see them drive past! (There's a similar sort of feel to this thread. Makes me smile.)

    Deepest, darkest Avondale… • Since Jul 2010 • 585 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    Sadly, Bronagh Key has let New Zealand down – Julia Gillard was wearing a much sillier hat.

    John Key let us down too. You don't get many occasions to dress up really fancy, and he declined to take it up.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,

    McCully probably bullied him into it on the grounds that an ordinary suit would do more for NZ's foreign trade promotion. #righto

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Jacqui Dunn,

    Russell doing a curry from whole spices – now, important question Russell – exactly where do you get the best whole spices from? There’s a local Indian “supermarket” with much things Indian in my neighbourhood, but I didn’t see a whole spice (all ground) anywhere there.

    Really? The best place is probably Mahadeo's, next to the Mahatma Ghandi Centre in Eden Terrace -- they have their dals and spices in open plastic rubbish bins -- or one of the shops in the little India cluster on Sandringham Road (I go to Khyber Spice), and the Fruit World chain has whole cumin and coriander etc bagged up for sale and usually pretty fresh. The aroma from whole spices ground with a mortar and pestle is lovely, both when you're pounding it and in the food.

    I do wonder why it's taken me so long to cook aloo gobi. I made it for the first time yesterday and it wound up being the best dish of the lot. Simple and seriously delicious. The only way to eat cauliflower, imho.

    So anyway, it all wound up with me and my crazy-assed friends dancing to some funky tunes on the deck at 2.30am, which probably did not impress the neighbours. Sorry neighbours. We just had to boogie.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Look, Key is simply embodying the standard NZ male abroad experience of being invited somewhere and feeling like an under-dressed clod.

    Also, if he were to wear a morning suit and someone got a clear photograph, it would provide a great base for riffing on early 20C capitalist caricatures a la the little Monopoly mascots.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Rex Widerstrom,

    So The Chaser lads gave up, sadly. Instead we got repeats of their "War On Everything" which relied for its funniness on the events covered being current. Jokes about John Howard... in 2011?

    Sandwiched between, though, were the pre-records they'd done to drop into the dull(er) bits of the ceremony, so we get a glimpse of what might have been, like Prince Phillip's speech:

    and "The Consummation"... apparently the bride must be checked to see she doesn't have an "anus horribilis":

    Check the "related videos" for more.

    Perth, Western Australia • Since Nov 2006 • 157 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    Ffion

    Is it wrong that I think that’s a lovely name?

    Look, Key is simply embodying the standard NZ male abroad experience of being invited somewhere and feeling like an under-dressed clod

    Reckon you’re right. Also, and excuse my complete ignorance on these matters, does NZ have many “name” menswear designers? When I last live in NZ, a suit from Mandatory was considered pretty cool.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    So... what exactly did Key say on the BBC about Kate?

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,

    John Key let us down too. You don’t get many occasions to dress up really fancy, and he declined to take it up.

    To be fair, the invitation was (by royal wedding standards) downright informal: "Uniform, Morning Coat or Lounge Suit.” While it would have been nice to see him in full morning dress, I actually think he got it about right. My personal bug bear is men wearing black to weddings -- it's not a funeral. And unless the invitation specifies black-tie, you really should try not to have people asking you to fetch drinks at the reception.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,

    John Key let us down too. You don't get many occasions to dress up really fancy, and he declined to take it up

    One has become accustomed to being let down by JohnKey

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __,

    It's a fact that not only have all of Elisabeth Windsor's children's marriages ended in divorce

    Uh, Edward and Sophie?

    And must we pour scorn on newlyweds for daring to get married? Who knows, it might even work out, they know each other well and seem well matched. They probably have as much chance of making it work as any of us do.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    It's a fact that not only have all of Elisabeth Windsor's children's marriages ended in divorce

    Uh, Edward and Sophie?

    And Charles and Camilla.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,

    Charles and Camilla

    the cause of that tear-wipe in the replayed footage of his wedding to young Di

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Michael Savidge,

    So anyway, it all wound up with me and my crazy-assed friends dancing to some funky tunes on the deck at 2.30am, which probably did not impress the neighbours. Sorry neighbours. We just had to boogie.

    Ah yes....that damned aloo gobE...goes straight to your feet.

    Somewhere near Wellington… • Since Nov 2006 • 324 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle, in reply to 3410,

    So... what exactly did Key say on the BBC about Kate?

    I may have been slightly distracted by waves of powerful retching, but it was something like ".... and of course Kate's a very attractive young lady <smirk>..."

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Danielle,

    a very attractive young lady

    ..like that Liz Hurley..

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • recordari, in reply to Sacha,

    a very attractive young lady

    ..like that Liz Hurley..

    Are you saying they're not?

    <mightbebaiting> ;-)

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Parks, in reply to Geoff Lealand,

    Please, please reassure me that there will be other people here NOT watching. Just when I thought PAS might be a royal wedding-free zone.

    I wasn’t intending to watch it myself, but after the Breakers game I switched over to 3 for a “quick look” that ended up lasting till the end of coverage. From a production and staging point of view it was very well done. The pageantry made for good spectacle, they made the most of a huge range of camera angles, and the Abbey looked great, as did London in general. And those crowd scenes were quite impressive.

    I was only interested the visuals, so I had the whole thing on mute. I put Active 88.6FM on (techno/dance music), drank beer and followed the twitter feed. That’s the way to watch a royal wedding. Just slightly surreal.

    Wellington • Since May 2007 • 1165 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I do wonder why it's taken me so long to cook aloo gobi. I made it for the first time yesterday and it wound up being the best dish of the lot. Simple and seriously delicious. The only way to eat cauliflower, imho.

    Aloo Gobi is very tasty. But I have wondered how ultra tasty it might be without the cauliflower. :-)

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Lea Barker, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Craig might particularly like this exchange from PBS Newshour on Friday night between the host and two regular pundits:

    JEFFREY BROWN: But what is it about royalty, and particularly British royalty, that grabs so many people, so many Americans?

    JEFFREY BROWN: Didn't we throw them off...

    DAVID BROOKS: Well, yes. That was a mistake, maybe.

    (LAUGHTER)

    JEFFREY BROWN: OK.

    DAVID BROOKS: No. I mean, there are a couple of things.

    First of all, this is a wedding of really good-looking, really rich people with great real estate. And so people tend to like those things.

    (LAUGHTER)

    MARK SHIELDS: Donald Trump's next nuptials.

    DAVID BROOKS: Yes. No, he wouldn't have had a gown that nice.

    (LAUGHTER)

    The full transcript is here: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june11/shieldsbrooks_04-29.html. New Zealand even gets a mention in respect of President Obama's birth certificate.

    Oakland, CA • Since Nov 2006 • 45 posts Report Reply

  • Lea Barker,

    As for NZ becoming a republic, Russell--try living in one for a decade and you'll soon change your mind. There is absolutely nothing good to be said for a form of government that separates a powerful executive (president/governor and cabinet) from the legislature. Far better to have a parliamentary democracy in which ministers, including the prime minister, have to answer for their actions to the people's representatives on a daily basis.

    Oddly, most people I've broached this topic with in the US favour the US system precisely because you can't get rid of a president/governor once they've been elected, except by the extreme measure of impeachment/recall (or assassination if you want to be really extreme). People here think that makes for stable government and that parliamentary democracies are inherently unstable.

    Give me a hereditary monarch with extremely limited powers any day over an elected one with real power and no-one to answer to. Even if the chief executive is voted out after four years, they can do a lot of damage in the meantime.

    Oakland, CA • Since Nov 2006 • 45 posts Report Reply

  • Lea Barker, in reply to Lea Barker,

    Oakland, CA • Since Nov 2006 • 45 posts Report Reply

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