a "more wig gin" gig

Admirable.

Oh and seeing how the Brits build things on the Living Channel – largely unreinforced brick and mortar held up largely by gravity – I pray they never have an earthquake over about 5 on the Richter scale.

Plenty of Victorian two story villas in Dunedin built the same…

That would have been the Law Awards – the Grammys of the legal fraternity.

kind of a "more wig gin" gig, huh?

Ah, so we all watch Ax Men too? Beats those blokes in the Crab Boats, are they insane?

I was thinking more Monty Python...

Or lumber-jacks? ;)

Ah, so we all watch Ax Men too? Beats those blokes in the Crab Boats, are they insane?
Meanwhile some unreality for a Friday arvo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VYgmkgJGIo

they were only pushed into using that space (the room where they put the T Rex) because there was a Law Society do in the events centre end of the building

That would have been the Law Awards – the Grammys of the legal fraternity.

(They're not run by the…

I just said he found wood sensuous...and then...

As someone said upthread, PAS is basically guaranteed to be full of Grand Designs fans. Don't worry, it was out of your control.

The Mother of all Thread-Jacks ...

Or lumber-jacks? ;)

Has anybody commented on beautifulpeople.com yet?

Folks with NPD (Narcissistic personality disorder) need love too — and the internet is the only place they're likely to go looking for it without getting punched in their pretty faces?

On Monday, www.BeautifulPeople.com, the elite dating site for beautiful people only, went live across the globe.

The site has one clear mission: to create a perfect worldwide community of beauty.

...

Everyone is welcome to apply to join BeautifulPeople.com; yet with a 20% success…

The Mother of all Thread-Jacks ...

And on the shortlist of the nicest ... :) But to get back on tpopic, nice show though I really did not need a definition of "cankles". Thanks for that brainworm...

Has Grand Designs done Cobb & Log constructions with load bearing walls?
I know they've done thatching and a fair bit of heritage work.

There was one a few weeks ago with a log cabin of Finnish design – this one.

I reckon "Ecowood" – fast growing, carbon fixing and renewable thrice within your lifetime!

Don't we already have an ad on TV featuring a grumpy British man won over by the eco-friendliness of wood?

(Which makes you wonder: why are they showing it *here*?)

Memo to NZ radiata pine marketing department – ditch "softwood", it sounds limp. Go with "Gymnosperm".
Memo from Marketing – OMG yes! We can totally work with that! But do we need the "no" in there?)

"Gymsperm" brings a whole set of problems of its own to the table.

I…

As an aside SJD was great tonight at the Auckland Museum. Gotta go if you haven't done the late night stuff. It has become my reason for visiting the Museum, and Vanda Vitali is so cool. I think so anyway.

That was very cool — they were only pushed into…

Memo from Marketing – OMG yes! We can totally work with that! But do we need the "no" in there?)

That episode was sooo heading in the same direction my Dad built his house in the 80's Aboot 87 . The frame is all steel of I beams. The walls…

Even Kevin McCloud on Grand Designs just called wood sensuous.

Yes, but he'd just been talking about how steel framing was long, and rigid and strong, and wood was....well...cheap. Makes you wonder what he got up to during the commercial break.

(Also amusing to hear the long, detailed explanation of…

And I also love the Huf house epi too (the ultra-efficient black&white German kit house).

He revisits this one next week on TV3.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who has a bit of a thing for Grand Designs – and the ever-lovely Kevin. I don't think I'd win in a battle for him with Joanna tho'. Damn!

My fave ep ever (along with Craig…

The idea of a cruisehip terminal was pretty silly as well. Cruiseships are floating cities: their passengers want for…

Here people believe they have right conferred directly by the almighty himself to chop…

Does anyone remember the episode where they got a home made in a German factory that was so clean I felt dirty just watching it, and just three efficient Germans…

I like the way this conversation is going.The promotion of British architectural critics as a stereotype of hotness is relevant to my interests.

Roffleshire.

I'd rather watch a show that gave some tips on how to build a really sustainable house at a low cost

Also check out the episodes about the couple building the rammed-earth-and-tyre house in Brittany, or the Revisited ep last week about the ones renovating an old farm shed in…

Rich people farting on about sustainability and then building massive houses.

Not always. One of the best for me was the forester/ charcoal maker who had the rights to build in the forest and used materials mainly from the forest. When he was revisited it was cool to see the…

that's one aspect of the show I don't much like, and am glad that McCloud doesn't play it up in true reality porn fashion.

That was one of the reasons I started to watch it originally – that they didn't do the whole "OMG disaster has struck, come back after…

Then you watch the build go from an easy project to an 18-way clusterfuck, see the people weeping over the problems

Having had this happen to me as a young man, I can't bear to watch it. But I will say this about such a venture – it teaches you…

Watching him watch people try to manage their own projects is always value for money, too (especially when they turn out to be surprisingly competent.)

And control-freaky in a good way. :)

Then you watch the build go from an easy project to an 18-way clusterfuck, see the people weeping…

* Middle class wish fulfillment. Who among us hasn't watched at least one episode and thought, "God, I'd love to give that a go?"
* What my wife refers to a schadentelly: watching unpleasant people get themselves into trouble.

Not each episode…

While it's a pretty subjective label, I've not noticed any gargantuan McMansions in the episodes I've seen.

There was one that was a bit McMansion-y a couple of weeks ago and he was pretty scathing about it (the Brighton one). Some of the houses are quite small, two or three…

What's with the fascination with that show? I saw one episode on the plane back to NZ and I wanted to jump out.

Big Bang Theory? It is Sheldon, Sheldon, Sheldon!

Big Bang Theory is about the only current show I can think of where the geeks look like geeks.

Fair call in its way, but just as all women are real, so are all geeks. There are plenty of subtypes that entail rigorous physical activity, such as those passionately into…

(I do rather enjoy watching him, but he makes us pause the MySky to roll our eyes and snicker a hell of a lot.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg7g9NTm4UI

When you see Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour you will see that he is also built for engaging and enthusiastic knowledge sharing in the Reithian tradition of public telly that informs as well as entertains.

Oh yes sure, but in my fantasies, mostly he's telling me off. As I mentioned before.

he's really built for voicing narration and for delivering stern tellings-off to people.

When you see Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour you will see that he is also built for engaging and enthusiastic knowledge sharing in the Reithian tradition of public telly that informs as well as entertains.

I started watching…

He is absolutely NOT posing, he looks uncomfortable and embarrassed

Actually I've seen him with his shirt off before, diving into a loch on which a house was built. I just meant that while he's fine in a swimsuit, he's really built for voicing narration and for delivering stern tellings-off…

He is absolutely NOT posing, he looks uncomfortable and embarrassed. This series shows that he is not in least bit precious about himself and is happy to send himself up. There are a series of what in another program would be bloopers, edited out of the program at the…

You can see how buff he is then, if you aren't gagging that is.

Oh be-have! I don't want my thinking crumpet to be all posey, just as I wouldn't want my eye-candy to talk.

Um, also, objectification is bad, mmmkay kids?

Point of interest: the forthcoming Next magazine (whose new editor, Christina Wickstead was on the show) has Robyn Malcolm on the cover, Photoshop-free (apparently at her own request, but in line with Wickstead's vision for the…

In his Grand Tour series in one bit he gets his kit off down to his shorts to take a dip in a hot pool that Grand Tourists bathed in. After telling us about the delights of travelling in a cramped hot carriage and dipping a cloth in vinegar…

One of the best bits about Grand Designs is when they go to Foreign Places and Kevin can always hold a conversation (or at least make a game go) of the local language

OH MI GOD that is the thing that makes him insanely hot despite all the reasons for…

Kevin McCloud has just finished a series over here in the UK on the Enlightenment Grand Tourists and the influences their 'discoveries' had on architecture and culture back home. It is fascinating telly as he shows you the bits that got essentially stolen in IP terms from bits…

I too am a bit concerned about the UK thing of wanting women completely hairless. I want a woman,…

Even Kevin McCloud on Grand Designs just called wood sensuous. That is about as sexy an image one can imagine and he is talking about a building.

I would very much like to plough Kevin McCloud, although the spelling of his last name will have to change if we marry…

Even Kevin McCloud on Grand Designs just called wood sensuous. That is about as sexy an image one can imagine and he is talking about a building.

We have an addiction to Grand Designs in our house. McCleod is the ultimate presenter-knowledgeable, humourous, slightly cynical and according to some, thinking…

Pecs like dinner plates, and gods forbid men should have body hair.

I remember when Sean Connery was Bond and hairy chests were dead sexy. I also remember a quote from one of Connery's ex-wives who, while commenting on his infidelity, said something about the only thing he kept her…

So I guess that means models are normal too.

They can be surprisingly normal. Second from the left is a popular NZ model.

It was odd to see a school girl in the local rag and instantly have "royally screwed by Kate Sylvester" pop into my mind.

Models don't have to be demonstrably sexy to heterosexual men, they just have to be invested with prestige and glamour, and then they will still be sending messages to viewers about what they should look like.

Their original function was also to make the garments themselves look more attractive, and…

if aliens are tapping into our tv networks, they will assume the whole place is populated by clean-cut young 'uns with oddly smooth skin.

Whhhaaaat ......ya mean those interstellar space ship with aliens thingies dont have a communications device (Im dizzy now) that can get "The Biggest Loser".

Big Bang…

I do not find 13 year old girls particularly sexy now, but a fully grown woman who reminds me of one in her look reminds me a great deal of my sexual youth.

I do think it is really refreshing to read your take on that Ben.

I don't know…

Beowulf as he appears in the film...

Aaaand the actor who plays him as he actually looks...

It cracked me up the moment he opened his mouth when I saw it...I instantly recognized the voice.

people who look like Beowulf

Beowulf as he appears in the film...

Aaaand the actor who plays him as he actually looks...

I sometimes think the issue isn't really that the models are tall and thin (so long as they're healthy etc), more that "we" have decided the fashion model is meant to be some kind of sex object/desirable form.

I'm pretty sure the market decided that one. Sex sells, and fashion…

..."we" have decided the fashion model is meant to be some kind of sex object/desirable form.

But when we see models selected purely on grounds of sexual "desirability" (eg. "glamour" models and porn stars), they tend to look very unlike a walking coathanger. Not that I'm endorsing the way they…

So I guess that means models are normal too.

I sometimes think the issue isn't really that the models are tall and thin (so long as they're healthy etc), more that "we" have decided the fashion model is meant to be some kind of sex object/desirable form.
If tall and…

What exactly does "look like geeks" mean?

Fine, how about "where the geeks look like average human beings who don't go to the gym every day, as opposed to chisled Adonises"? Doesn't quite roll off the tongue – how about "where the geeks look like me", which was the point…

where the geeks look like geeks.

I wouldn't claim that my workplace is a showcase of masculine or feminine beauty, but it is definitely mostly programmers — about 100 of them, which I'd say is a reasonable sample size. When I look around, I see what I think of as…

Big Bang Theory is about the only current show I can think of where the geeks look like geeks.

Beauty and the Geek.

Dwight and Kevin in The Office.

Frank from 30 Rock.

Andy from According to Jim.

A bunch of characters from The Simpsons and American Dad.

Yeah, the heavily-photoshopped cover of Men's Health magazine would disagree with you.

It's just not really a look that I aspire to, and just doesn't contain those psychological triggers. Also, I don't really experience any judgement from real people on those criteria.

Ah, the Listener scooped again.
*applauds*

With more clapping from the back seats! Perhaps they could do a feature on the correlation between body size and house prices.

wouldn't it be both cheaper and faster to invest in a roll of sand paper and frottage the night away?

then this...

every man is hung like Nelson's Column. Back on planet Earth, the prick that couldn't do with a bit of muff moss to cover up the…

I think porn's had quite an influence there ...

I should note that I am not being judgeypants: if said Brazilianing, as a woman, floats your boat, go right ahead and god bless you. But if someone I was bonking asked me to do that, I'd be saying an emphatic…

Pube derail: I recently read a UK advice column in the Times which noted that most heterosexual men nowadays pretty much expect a full Brazilian of their partners. To which I say: owwweeeeeeeee.

I'd say: "You first." And I'll tell you this for free: There's noting erotic about going down…

Pube derail: I recently read a UK advice column in the Times which noted that most heterosexual men nowadays pretty much expect a full Brazilian of their partners.

I saw a British let's-talk-about-sex TV show in which it appeared that most of the men also considered it necessary to at…

Yeah, the heavily-photoshopped cover of Men's Health magazine would disagree with you. (It's the reverse of the women: the heads are too small for the bodies.) Pecs like dinner plates, and gods forbid men should have body hair.

I do find the covers of Men's Health kind of confronting, I…

looking like a hairless child

Pube derail: I recently read a UK advice column in the Times which noted that most heterosexual men nowadays pretty much expect a full Brazilian of their partners. To which I say: owwweeeeeeeee.

ETA: a pox on your edit, Ranapia! :)

If you count reaming men as a victory for feminism, then giving them our preoccupation with completely unnecessary grooming is pretty much FTW. We've gone from 'run the country? not with those nasal hairs'…

Pecs like dinner plates, and gods forbid men should have body hair.

Yeah — and personally, I find that about as disturbing as the whole heroin chic "waif" trend in catwalk models. Am I the ony person who finds a very high squick factor in the ideal of sexual desirability…

So I guess that means models are normal too.

A qualified yes, if a) all the models we see in media are not digitally altered; b) all the models we see on catwalks do not have eating disorders or speed/cocaine problems*; and c) all the models on catwalks just happen,…

Not really. Our equivalent pressure is money/success.

Speak for yourself, darling.

Yeah, the heavily-photoshopped cover of Men's Health magazine would disagree with you. (It's the reverse of the women: the heads are too small for the bodies.) Pecs like dinner plates, and gods forbid men should have body hair.

But.…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJQuZXoyc5U

Rumba, Saraghina! Rumba!

I'd be interested in knowing if many males feel the same pressure that many females seem to feel?

I don't feel any pressure, but I do notice that there are bugger all men on TV my age who look like me. Big Bang Theory is about the only current show…

Brilliant 25 minute documentary on the female body in the Italian media.

Speaking of whiich, is Sophia Loren gorgeous here or somewhat unnerving? (it's like she just walked off the set of Pret-a-Porter, which was made fifteen years ago.) Personally, I prefer Judi Dench being a snarky old hag, chain-smoking…

Ah, the Listener scooped again.

*applauds*

Seriously, can someone stab me before we have this conversation again? Unpacking all the wrong takes so long, and is so frustrating and (apparently) pointless.

And wouldn't it be nice if we could get away from" here's what a normal person looks like".

Most of the people I know are…

Not really. Our equivalent pressure is money/success.

Speak for yourself, darling. Let's just say that when you're a gay man in your mid-twenties and your partner is significantly older, you get a certain insight into how the laydeze have no monopoly on the fetishisation of "youth" and not particularly subtle…

The current edition of rather awful Beautiful You magazine has an article in it stating that Botox can be a cure for depression.

Ah, the Listener scooped again.

The current edition of rather awful Beautiful You magazine has an article in it stating that Botox can be a cure for depression.

I wish I was making that up.

We feature that magazine in the show.

I'd be interested in knowing if many males feel the same pressure that many females seem to feel?

Not really. Our equivalent pressure is money/success.

and I still wonder if they really like what they see in the bathroom mirror every morning. Which makes me sad more than angry.

What concerns me is the normalisation and use of plastic surgery etc. as a response to issues that are more about one's mental state. The current…

Most of the people I know are 'normal'. And they all look different.

One of the coolest things I've seen was the mini-fashion show at the Attitude Awards last year. It was so amazing seeing young people who not only didn't look like fashion models, but didn't look like even…

If the media had as great an influence on body image and eating habits as is claimed we wouldn't have a population that was ~50% overweight or obese

Yes Danyl, that's a reasonable measure. Because wanting to be thin automatically makes you so. There's no media pressure to be young,…

If the media had as great an influence on body image and eating habits as is claimed we wouldn't have a population that was ~50% overweight or obese.

Oh really? Ask the fast-food advertising "police" if they think TV has no influence on eating habits :P

It's rather peculiar, actually,…

If the media had as great an influence on body image and eating habits as is claimed we wouldn't have a population that was ~50% overweight or obese.

Seriously, can someone stab me before we have this conversation again? Unpacking all the wrong takes so long, and is so frustrating…

And then there's the recent Glamour magazine "revolution" predicated on, er, getting your kit off ...

And there was a gratifying amount of fan snark when some brain box at Sci Fi decided nobody would notice if publicity photos of BSG's Mary McDonnell (58) and Edward James Olmos (63) were…

And then there's the recent Glamour magazine "revolution" predicated on, er, getting your kit off ...

Sas has written eloquently about this.

Just to prove that you can't make everyone happy... know what phrase I'd like to see die in a ditch? "Real women have curves." No, actually, I think…

Very under-rated in terms of his influence over NZ radio history. Most famous for his promotion of Paul Holmes, but his impact was far greater than that.

There may have been an extended argument a couple of months ago about whether to photoshop…