A trio of Neanderthals struggle to live in modern day America. Based on the characters featured in a series of television ads for Geico Insurance.

A TV show based on ads? And starring…

It really is about time Canterbury formed its own break-away republic.

What? And narrow our talent pool. lol

Re non DRM mp3s on iTunes.
Does this mean I will be able to download songs from iTunes and play them on my Creative Zen mp3 player?
Finally!

Damian... what settings do I need to have on my Final Cut Pro sequence so that I don't have to render the whole 21 minutes or so?

Ah, yeah, that'd be a technical question. I'll put you through now caller. Please hold.

(I don't know, maybe just leave it overnight…

It's the old role of court…

Thanks for the reminder -like Yes, Minister, I can't understand why Frontline was so popular with the very people it was painting as venal half-wits with the manners of a guinea-pig and the morals of a gangster. (Virtual chocolate fish for the person who picks which venomous satire of…

im more interested to see when Bain gets hooked into online gaming

And heres me thinking prisons are stacked with ps2 and xbox stuffed full of grand theft auto. What WoW character he be? HuK

Selective Tv viewing is the answer, good archaic vcr.

And anyway as we all know…

As in Paying attention to Wishart is the new dissing Wishart?

Oh God, let's not go crazy here.

Watching television is the new dissing television.

As in Paying attention to Wishart is the new dissing Wishart?

Trent Reznor's rant about overpriced cds in Australasia bordered dangerously on interesting at times (at least…

I can't seem to get tvnz new articles to play back on my mac. do I need to down load something?

Yes. You need to get the free WMV components for QuickTime here:

http://www.flip4mac.com/download.htm

That makes Windows Media video (but not DRM-protected stuff) playable via QuickTime and it works very…

So that wasn't you asking to come round and watch Stargate: Atlantis?

That's so he'd continue to not miss it.

as i've mentioned before. abandoned tv 8 months ago.
haven't missed it.

So that wasn't you asking to come round and watch Stargate: Atlantis?

Television, drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

Mr Franti is indeed a master.
"Yell Fire" is a classic IMO

Someone send him a World of Warcraft trial pack asap

He's already playing the most extreme Second Life that there could be.

Someone send him a World of Warcraft trial pack asap

Television, drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

Maybe that scrum was just the disposable heroes of hipocracy...?

the only people it need concern are his family, and himself, surely?

Err, what family? Jeez, it's Arthur Allan Thomas all over again...

for my money he's been on a diet of Hard Rain, All along the watchtower, Hey Joe, We are family and Oh daddy

did he go in before or after the Spice Girls split?

Anyway, the guy in theory should be a true-blue Otago man.

I suspect that whatever potential audience there is for high-brow current affairs has probably abandoned TV altogether in favour of other media.

as i've mentioned before. abandoned tv 8 months ago.

haven't missed it.

well put.

__I suspect that whatever potential audience there is for high-brow current affairs has probably abandoned TV altogether…

Apropos the long-format interview show: I would have to start a television habit again. I rarely watch television at…

Society has become grey. The legal system is black and white.
How can the two be reconciled? Who has new ideas on this?

Well, if we executed them immediately, without allowing any appeals, then it would all be over wouldn't it? Save a few bob on prisons too I bet!

Hadyn, I know this is terribly po-faced but you do recall Bain might well be facing another trial? He's on bail, not acquitted.

I suppose this also explains why his lawyer and PI are so keen to discredit the entire Dunedin police establishment, including it would seem, those that are…

sir humphreys

tom, you've made my day.

maybe they'll have to apply for the artists dole to get it back online.

www.sirhumphreys.com

"This Account Has Been Suspended. Please contact the billing/support department as soon as possible."

Tamihere is in prison for the Swedish Tourist murders; the evidence in this trial was even more dodgy than the Bain case

I imagine that one of the Solicitor General's arguments for a retrial would be to pre-empt Tamihere, Scott et al from getting to the same point.

I can…

It has this afternoon, but due to the lack of a Joe Karam, can't see the poor bastard will ever be released.

(In…

I'm... between jobs at the moment. ;)

Innocent. Guilty. Works for both sides of the equation.

well with respect Damian, because what i've seen of your work i think is very good, that's a pretty standard industry defence. but for one thing it conveniently ignores the fact that viewing trends and tastes take a while to develop and build. the rare…

Hadyn, I know this is terribly po-faced but you do recall Bain might well be facing another trial? He's on bail, not acquitted. And if he does it's going to be hard enough to…

Just to play the devil's advocate for a moment, I'm a bit more worried about the media bitch pack baying for blood after the death of the Kahui Twins.

Yeah I noticed last week that the Kahui case is approaching the date set down for depositions hearing (which I didn't…

Heh – that reminds me of the methods Gordon Strachan uses to deal with stupid questions (you've probably seen them before)

Reporter: There goes your unbeaten run. Can you take it?
Strachan:…

I guess it depends on whether you think the dissemination of information ...carries with it any responsibility to society, or whether it's just another revenue stream…

People SAY they want long form current affairs interviews a la Kim Hill, but then they don't watch it.

Isn't it rather that the intelligensia say they want long-form current affairs, but the proles don't watch it? As for whether that equation should dictate content, I guess it depends on…

People SAY they listen to National Radio because they think it's what they should say when really they listen to ZM etc.

Is that true? I would start watching TV again if TV1 ditched the ads. I cannot listen to commercial radio for the same reason.

I know stacks of…

All lost in translation, I guess you had to be here, inside my head.

Ah stink buzz. I'd hoped for a second there was at least one person bored enough to mash up my open source story after I'd gone to the trouble of uploading all the component parts.

Actually…

Oops, the percentages on the non-DRM were wrong:

DRM, Local DRM, NZD Cheaper? Non-DRM, local Non-DRM, NZD Cheaper? Rate (16-05)
US 0.99 1.35 24% 1.29 1.76 29% 0.7317
EU 0.99 1.85 -3% 1.29 2.41 3% 0.5356
UK…

That's what at least one reporter would have asked in Australia, USA, UK, ... anywhere else I guess ...

I didn't mind the 'how do you feel' questions in this case. It's when it's more like; "You've just found your daughter's bloodied corpse hacked to pieces in your living room HOW DO YOU FEEL?" That makes me sick.

and

"Well, my groin's a bit sore..."

Go quite nicely with…

Good points about "but it's pretty easy just to call someone "a dork" and sit smugly back in your office chair..." and "All I'm saying is that it's not always as easy…

And Don, no I didn't, I haven't seen any mash-ups yet

Sorry Damian, I was joking. My point was that you did such a good job that even Mark Sainsbury (whom I recognise as a good guy and streets ahead of Paul Holmes or that lady that followed him) seemed…

The next question was "How do you feel?" to which he replied...

"Well, my groin's a bit sore..."

"why did your dad shoot the house up?"

Yeah, see that's the stuff I think most people want answered, even if he's not going to. We want the tell-all tale. Tell us what the hell was going on in that apparently very messed-up household.

I suspect we're not going to…

Given that he made it clear he wasn't going to answer anything about the judicial process (and presumably therefore the case itself).

someone should have challenged that presumption

"why did your dad shoot the house up?"

I think the most inappropriate use of a 'How do you feel?'

Mike Gatting was asked that question in an interview where he was sporting a mighty black eye. His only response was to laugh resignedly and point to his face.

tried to find a clip without suucess

I think Emma's nailed it for best question.

I also once nailed an Investigate reporter...

But it's what I was thinking when I was watching the media scrum. I wasn't thinking about what they were asking at all, I was thinking that if I'd been in the middle of all…

Like I said, the barrage of…

Damian, I think 3410 got it right – if that was the best your lot…

"david, it's been many long years since that awful day. in all that time, and in all the times you've had to reflect on the tragedy that struck your family, your loved ones, who have you missed the most?"

A very succint description of blogland. We reserve the right to sit in our office chairs and call anyone a dork.

Seriously though....perhaps if our MSM representatives, especially the Television lot, were…

Stands to reason though. Most criminals don't give a shit what people think of them, other than other criminals, and being fashionable would…

Ironic, because it seems to many NZers it was one of the deciding factors in his guilt. Any…

has anyone come up with some serious questions that would have beaten the media scrum that you're all having a go at?

Will you be applying for another gun license?

What's on David Bain's iPod?

After a week in the company of Joe Karam, especially spent in the Waikato it'll be Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

I guess we've all gotten used to crap TV "journalism", but what really blows me away is that it was clearly going to be the live media event of the year, and still no-one bothered to come up with a decent question.

You haven't answered the question though 3410, what…

I imagine…

Bain has not been found innocent.

riddley, but he has not been proven guilty. that's the gist of the "substantial miscarriage of justice stuff'.

he is currently accused of a crime, but he is not guilty of it (yet).

and hadyn. i'd say, "indelibly".

.

I guess we've all gotten used to crap TV "journalism", but what really blows me away is that it was clearly going to be the live media event of the year, and still no-one bothered to come up with a decent…

Do you think David Bain actually gets all the jokes about his sweater?

woo hoo!

yeah i think he does, he laughed (although maybe in exasperation) at john campbells question, and hes wearing that fabulous red and black…

No, and having done my time on the police/court beat, I've got to say the standard of couture among the criminal fraternity is not…

Up to…

"who is your wool-yarns supplier?"

Do you think David Bain actually gets all the jokes about his sweater? Do you think he even remembers what he wearing when he was arrested?

The UK figures: CDs are bloody expensive there too.

Only on list price...out of Amazon UK I can usually land a new release CD for less than NZ$30, and a catalogue, or reissue CD for much less. I just grabbed the first two New Order albums for $27 total for…

i agree, it's pretty foul. this is about a mass murder of almost an entire family.

and the Privvy Council's report went to considerable lengths to emphasise that while a "substantial miscarriage of justice" had taken place with…

Here are the converted prices, based on todays NBNZ tourist rates:

Thanks Rich – I was hoping someone would do that.

But on those figures, isn't the Euro non-DRM price slightly cheaper than NZ?

The UK price isn't surprising: CDs are bloody expensive there too.

BTW, how does iTunes work…

DRM, Local DRM, NZD Cheaper? Non-DRM, local Non-DRM, NZD Cheaper? Rate (16-05)
US 0.99 1.35 24% 1.29 1.76 2% 0.7317
EU 0.99 1.85 -3% 1.29 2.41 -35% 0.5356
UK 0.79 2.15 -20% 0.99 2.69…

The Message – Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five

[Chorus:]
Don't push…

one question before being shouted down by the others, what would you most want to know?

How much would you like everyone to take one big step backwards?

quite hard to ask and answer the 5w's and h in such a "we're gonna need more angle ladders here people!" melee

even more astounding to me was the petrie dish and sainsburger stalking clearwater estate, with astonishing revelations such as "well david bain has…

But…

where a cameraman reached his hand forward and moved JC's immaculately-coiffed head several centimetres

My televisual highlight of the year.
In the spirit of the politics of envy and spiteful whinging. where was Holmes?

one question before being shouted down by the others, what would you most want to know?

"david! have you been getting regular action?!"

what?... tell me you aren't curious christie.

I like Morgan's question earlier. But if you were in that scrum, and were only going to get one question before being shouted down by the others, what would you most want to know?

Um ... are Guns and Roses still relevant?

But seriously, I understand what you're saying -…

Wha? Too soon?

I enjoy your columns, but the rest of the team seem to have scarpered. I know they've all got to earn a penny somewhere.
Can't you get some new writers on who will post regularly?

Well, five of us have posted in the last week, and Russell probably five times…

No – if you're buying the album, it will (it bloody better be) still $NZ17.99, which is significantly cheaper than buying a disc at retail in most cases. It's individual tracks they're stinging us on.

oh, ok....I have to be honest, iTunes and I don't spend a lot of time…

Russell, your link to the tv3 web site is broken. It's mangled the public address url in there as well. As is Dave's above to the Stuff website, but people can just copy and paste that in.

Thanks – the Campbell link had a stray space in it – should…

On the DRM pricing, as with the USA, $37 for a digital copy of a 15 track album I can buy at the Warehouse for $24, rip to my heart's content at whatever bitrate I want, peruse the sleeve, and then sell at Groovy later on.......

No – if you're…

2. Fuck what you heard

Ben,

Somehow I don't take him for a DNB/Breaks fan, and if eh was, I'm not sure if TC and Scratch Perverts would be his thing :-P

Good track though!

Welcome to the Jungle by Guns n Roses

Ian Wishart: Dont Believe the Hype by Public Enemy

John Campbell had the biggest grin on his face last night, and earlier…

It all seems like…

How about Excitable Boy by Warren Zevon?

B/W "Lawyers,Guns and Money" by the same artist.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/0a17216.html

And the Stuff website: "New jumper for Bain"....

And the Herald headline "Bain spends first night of freedom partying" – like he'd downed a dozen E's and a box of alcopops and was having it large with the…

Someone buy the man a copy of Nelson Mandela's autobiography.

Yeah right.

I know it's tiresome – and pretty crap television – when the Police have to build a case before they lay…

Take it as a mark of praise – I really enjoy the stuff that comes up here – don't agree…

etc..

Poor taste...he might be innocent.

Can't you get some new writers on who will post regularly?

I've posted once a week (on average) ever since I started on Public Address.

You may not read it (or like it), but I certainly post it!

The last few weeks have been science articles (which…

I think 'F*ck the Police' by NWA would probably be on there.

Maybe also Frenzal Rhomb's 'Who would be a f*ckin Cop?'...

the rest of the team seem to have scarpered

I'm incarcerated in a studio at the Michael King Writers Centre wearing a large, colourful jersey. Once my publishers have their book, I will have my life back, and that shouldn't be too long now.

Seeing I have momentarily surfaced, what…

(Not that 13 years in jail is entirely getting away with it... But it's the thought that counts, right?)

or on a less controversial note

Dead Kennedys – I fought the law (and I won)

spot the sad old punk!

ok, you're right it is too easy...

Have to say…

What else has changed out of recognition while he has been inside?

Shortland Street?

Ha – no doubt he'll be as perplexed as the rest of us at the reality TV phenomenon.

He's probably still looking for the cassette player that comes with it, and wondering why the headphone plug is soooo big.

Yeah, the question should've been: What's on David Bain's mix tape.

SNAP – I got the Power

And did anyone else think that Bain looks a deadringer for Dick Hubbard... just me then

Yeah, someone did

but to answer the question.

"none of us are free" – solomon burke.

First?

Not even close Rogan

Bain's iPod:
Public Address podcast?

Seriously though, it must be a bit of Rip Van Winkle experience for him. What else has changed out of recognition while he has been inside?

It's going to be an ad-supported world.

Peter Gabriel seems to think so.

WoDBi?

We Are The Champions is definitely on it.

David Bane's iPod...hmmm...so many easy gags...hard to resist...

Off topic Russell, where have all the other writers gone?

I enjoy your columns, but the rest of the team seem to have scarpered. I know they've all got to earn a penny somewhere.

Can't you get some new writers on who will post…