Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Safer Communities Together

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  • Steve Parks,

    I agree; fifty posts per page seems just a tad excessive; 25?

    Compromise: 27 and a half it is, then.

    Wellington • Since May 2007 • 1165 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    The man with the appropriate spanner won't be able to get to it till Monday, but let's try 30 then.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • George Darroch,

    So, we just got $9 billion in a currency swap from the Federal Reserve. Interesting.

    Key part at 2.30

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Clarke,

    Wow, Alan Grayson sure gets around. And so creepy!

    -36.76, 174.61 or thereab… • Since Nov 2006 • 164 posts Report Reply

  • HORansome,

    I think we should stop being so very base ten and use primes.

    Tāmaki Makaurau • Since Sep 2008 • 441 posts Report Reply

  • George Darroch,

    Wow, Alan Grayson sure gets around. And so creepy!

    I didn't even twig that Grayson was the chart-man. I thought I was threadjacking. Accidental win.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

  • FletcherB,

    Can't look at the clip right now, but: if it's an indoors one, the Michael Fowler Centre and Chch town hall are identical,

    Your observation may be accurate, but MFC wasnt completed until the early '80's and the clip is from the '70's so its moot...

    West Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 893 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    RB, 50-instead-of-20 posts per page is making refering back to older comments, IMO, much harder.]

    I'll just throw in upgrade on the search engine. I am finding it most difficult.
    Alright then ,30

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    Your observation may be accurate, but MFC wasnt completed until the early '80's and the clip is from the '70's so its moot...

    What, you expect me to remember stuff that happened before I was born? That's, like, youthism.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Your observation may be accurate, but MFC wasnt completed until the early '80's and the clip is from the '70's so its moot...

    The spherical fountains give it away at the Christchurch Town Hall. But there's also a shot looking out from the Fisherman's Table in Auckland, and the shot up the street is Wellington.

    The party scenes resemble those in This is New Zealand -- down to the presence of an exotic dancer. Perhaps it's even the same NFU crew?

    At any rate, we seemed terribly keen to sell what were bloody thin offerings for nightlife.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Clarke,

    At any rate, we seemed terribly keen to sell what were bloody thin offerings for nightlife.

    Never confuse sales with delivery.

    [Edit]: and I should add, the 'quietness' is still a big draw for some, me included.

    -36.76, 174.61 or thereab… • Since Nov 2006 • 164 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov,

    I trust this allays your concerns.

    Thanks for that Stephen, sounds hilarious, I'm not clear was this real or reenacted?

    The point is about the words - or rather the sentences. He could have used quote marks if he liked. Which would have shown how lazy he was being (part of the problem) rather than disguising it (a lot more of the problem).

    Mark, the underlying cultural assumption behind 'plagiarism is bad' is 'credit where it's due'.

    Yeah, sorry I woke up on the wrong side of the bed..

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    when I see his evil eyes

    I see pompously rheumy. The smell of camphored cardies and certainty untroubled by an open mind.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • DexterX,

    Cringe Worthy - NZ is Yours - Nightlife Light

    This is why we really really needed punk rock.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report Reply

  • Jake Pollock,

    Aside from the fact that it has dated so poorly, I wonder if the weirdest thing about that Nightlife video is that it's entirely urban. They may exist, but I don't think I've ever seen a New Zealand tourism promo that didn't focus almost exclusively on the nature's wonderland side of things.

    I can't imagine seeing a poster in Murray Hewitt's office with a picture of a Fat Freddy's Drop gig, saying 'New Zealand, it's hip', is what I'm saying.

    Raumati South • Since Nov 2006 • 489 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    The party scenes resemble those in This is New Zealand -- down to the presence of an exotic dancer. Perhaps it's even the same NFU crew?

    Did they have more than one crew back then?

    It's civil service cinema verite, from the time when Ian "God Boy" Cross was running the Film Unit. Cross became NFU supremo after holding PR positions with the police and military. In a radio interview from around 1976 it was put to him that the Unit's productions lacked "relevance*" to contemporary NZ. Cross rejected the claim, citing the example of a recently completed project for the police that had featured actual real-life policemen (no mention of police women). You couldn't, he suggested, get much more relevant than that.

    *Relevant was something of a mid-70s buzzword.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    This is why we really really needed punk rock.

    Trust me, little improved after Punk. Thank Peter Urlich and Mark Phillips for the first real jump into the 20th Century around '81.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    I wonder if the weirdest thing about that Nightlife video is that it's entirely urban.

    "Look! We have restaurants now!"

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Martin Lindberg,

    he man with the appropriate spanner won't be able to get to it till Monday

    Could you also ask the mechanic to put in a favicon for PA? The bookmark looks so bland without one.

    Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    a shot looking up Willis Street with a long lens (making the Council housing block at the top of Willis Street seem closer than it actually is). You can see the neon sign for the old Majestic Theatre

    I was thinking that too. And if you look right at the end of the street, I'm sure those tall buildings are the old hotel that was on Tinakori Rd, and the Chinese Embassy. The Sharella Motor Inn, I remember it well. You can tell it's Welly cos of the hills and bush directly behind those tall buildings.

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

  • dc_red,

    So he's regarded as merely having done what he often does -- padding out huge stretches of his column with quotations he doesn't even need to retype.

    In some ways I'm grateful it's not Darth's standard offering of trite quotations from the Bible. Me thinks, though, he locates the quotation marks on his typewriter with ease when that is, indeed, the original source.

    Come to think of it, his column sure could be made spicier if he'd quote the more repugnant parts of said book: the divinely-commanded genocide, infanticide and incest; the war-mongering; the racism; the bit about marrying your brother's wife, etc.

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    That voiceover at the end of the tourism video is... oddly threatening. I feel as if there's an unspoken 'or ELSE!' lurking somewhere.

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

  • Joe Wylie,

    That voiceover at the end of the tourism video is... oddly threatening.

    The geri pranksters version has a kindler 'n gentler tone. Also the song has been de-funked, without the Leon Russell-ish Mad Dogs & Englishmen-era piano:

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Beard,

    Aside from the fact that it has dated so poorly, I wonder if the weirdest thing about that Nightlife video is that it's entirely urban. They may exist, but I don't think I've ever seen a New Zealand tourism promo that didn't focus almost exclusively on the nature's wonderland side of things.

    And whenever they do appear (like the Auckland "Big Little City" campaign) they get slapped down, because liking urban life is elitist and Eurocentric.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Wasn't it more that the particular vision presented might as well have been from Europe rather than the biggest polynesian city in the world, and missing a fair few Asian faces too?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

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