Island Life by David Slack

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Island Life: An appetite for scandal

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  • Tom Semmens,

    Sometimes you wish for Napoleon to turn up with his cannon and turn it on the mob.

    When I want honesty in TV, I watch the WWE.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    I have (rather proudly) not read anything about this story except a caption under a photo describing her as "Millie Elder". Paul can't have disowned her already?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    I wondered how come she is the spitting image of Hine, yet described as "adopted".

    But anyway, Holmesie's her step dad. The lovely Hine is her mum.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Max Call,

    I used "Breakfast" TV1 coverage yesterday as a starter to have a chat to my own children about drugs. They are still primary school age but had a lot of questions which I tried to answer honestly, at their level of understanding.
    At their age (20-25 years ago) I hadn't even heard of 'drugs'. Todays media coverage of issues means it certainly is 'in your face'.
    I read a while back in a book that we are biologically driven to seek intoxication.
    (Walton, S. (2001). Out of It - A Cultural History of Intoxication. London: Hamish Hamilton.)
    If this is true then i guess we all would fall somewhere on a spectrum of how 'driven' we are to seek this intoxication with different variables contributing also??
    Also it is interesting how often drugs are presented as a problem specific to youth. I believe that youth are only a reflection of our society - therefore any problem with drugs would be a societal issue not just specific to youth/adolescents

    Fruit Bowl of New Zealand… • Since Jun 2007 • 153 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Beard,

    I wonder if there are any soundbites or clips out there of Holmesy ranting about P-fuelled scum or "I blame the parents"?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Beard,

    I read a while back in a book that we are biologically driven to seek intoxication.

    I agree entirely, especially if you think of "intoxication" as including other attempts to escape the confines of the conscious self, from religious mysticism to lyric poetry. As is often the case, Baudelaire put it well.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    David said:

    Perhaps, nevertheless, people feel sympathy, as Paul Holmes hopes we do, when he reminds us that being the parent of a teenager is no easy thing.

    I wouldn't want to be in his place. It's situations like this that make me grateful I'm not a parent.

    Andrew said:

    I wondered how come she is the spitting image of Hine, yet described as "adopted".

    I believe Mr Holmes adopted her when he married her mum, Hine. So he's both her step-father and her adopted father.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Llewellyn,

    Haydn, on that note, I'm also proud that I could honestly say I didn't actually know who Millie is.

    I can never fully understand the rhymes or reason of editorial decision-making - just when you think you have it sussed, you get 'daughter of a celebrity on minor charge' as the front page, and in weekends NZH a factual article debunking the accepted wisdom on the biggest water-cooler story of last 4 weeks (Muliaga death) buried on page 12 or 13.

    It's like a media version of William Goldman's famous axiom about the movie industry, 'nobody knows anything'.

    Mt Albert • Since Nov 2006 • 399 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    How did you feel when your step daughter was arrested, Paul?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Max Call,

    One of the examples the author gave (in the book i mentioned above) about our biological drive for intoxication was how children will spin around and around to achieve that giddy, disorientated buzz. I have seen my own children do it many times when they were pre-school age - they loved it!
    Does anyone remember the rage for hyperventilating (on purpose) until passing out at intermediate age?

    Fruit Bowl of New Zealand… • Since Jun 2007 • 153 posts Report Reply

  • Brent Jackson,

    I also find it unbelievable that the media has such a fascination with Paris Hilton, and any other american star that comes before the courts. Our media is so lazy that they are incapable of applying a decent New Zealand filter to the predominantly American newsfeeds that they reproduce here as news.

    Sure some of them may be worth mentioning for those that are interested, but lead stories, or front page news, I think not.

    I wish there was a decent source of news in NZ, instead of the entertainment masquerading as news that we currently have.

    Cheers,
    Brent.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 620 posts Report Reply

  • noizyboy,

    Does anyone remember the rage for hyperventilating (on purpose) until passing out at intermediate age?

    Ooohhh yeah. Likewise the spinning around and around thing.

    I'll raise you one, though...

    At the age of 12, having heard many references and american movie clips proclaiming the powers of 'grass', I decided to roll up some freshly mown lawn clippings into a piece of A4 from my homework book. Despite the flames and smoke that arose upon the lighting of this magnificent creation, I managed to take a few tokes, and, naturally, spent the next few minutes coughing my lungs out.

    Put me off smoking the evil weed for ... well, a little while, anyway.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 171 posts Report Reply

  • Jonty,

    Max Call: <I read a while back in a book that we are biologically driven to seek intoxication.>

    Yes, it seems most societies have always found some means to bend reality. Yet I don't know of anything the Maori used traditionally -- does anybody know? It doesn't seem reflected in their art, which is usually a starting point. Curious with all those magic mushrooms so close to hand.

    Katikati • Since Mar 2007 • 102 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Does anyone remember the rage for hyperventilating (on purpose) until passing out at intermediate age?

    Yup. This was 1980. You had to have a helper behind you to squeeze your diaphragm in a kind of Heimlich manoeuvre after you'd huffed and puffed for a minute, in order to bring it on.

    We were discovered in a corner of the school playing field, told that one of us had a heart condition AND MIGHT DIE, and forbidden ever to do it again.

    I'm glad you brought that up. I was wondering where that came from myself.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Max Call,

    here is a page with a summary of the aforementioned book
    http://www.drugpolicy.org/library/bookstore/walton2002.cfm

    Fruit Bowl of New Zealand… • Since Jun 2007 • 153 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    I'm also proud that I could honestly say I didn't actually know who Millie is.

    Me neither till yesterday. Is she related to Gilda?

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I also find it unbelievable that the media has such a fascination with Paris Hilton, and any other american star that comes before the courts. Our media is so lazy that they are incapable of applying a decent New Zealand filter to the predominantly American newsfeeds that they reproduce here as news.

    Indeed. As Ratshit Glaucoma - or whatever the hell or name is - and her fellow panty-sniffers have amply proved, we've got plenty of no-talent, pathological exhibitionists of our own.

    But speaking of of Parlis Hilton, Christopher Hitchens has a rather interesting take over at Slate about 'creepy populism', Paris Hilton and Scooter Libby.

    Not content with seeing her undressed and variously penetrated, it seems to be assumed that we need to watch her being punished and humiliated as well. The supposedly "broad-minded" culture turns out to be as prurient and salacious as the elders in The Scarlet Letter. Hilton is legally an adult but the treatment she is receiving stinks—indeed it reeks—of whatever horrible, buried, vicarious impulse underlies kiddie porn and child abuse.

    Ouch... don't hold back, Christopher. But I have to wonder whether there's a point in there - how many of the folks who pushed those stories up the Herald's hit parade were just getting off on seeing Holmes - and presumably his spoilt rich-bitch daughter - get thoroughly humiliated in public? And not for the first time, I'd note that journalism isn't exactly known as a trade that attracts paragons of sobriety, chastity and various other social graces.

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

  • andrew llewellyn,

    Re: The magic mushrooms... could they have been introduced by pakeha?

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    how many of the folks who pushed those stories up the Herald's hit parade were just getting off on seeing Holmes - and presumably his spoilt rich-bitch daughter - get thoroughly humiliated in public?

    I'll punt that that'd be quite a few. I further punt that Dancing with the Stars has worked miracles for Holmes in the eye of the viewing public, and that attempts to sully him through his step daughter could backfire.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Ben Austin,

    Well, it is good to see the Herald is keeping with the trend to run with children of celebrity gossip stories. Classy.

    Oh and random prediction for the week's coming gossipy news in either Stuff or the Herald: WAGS! I've seen at least three big papers run with it this week alone, so its bound to circulate to NZ.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report Reply

  • Juha Saarinen,

    Have never heard that expression before, but doesn't mean much. I am told by my Brazilian errm, friend, (this comment is baldly sinking below the belt already), that the earthier variant of the expression you quoted is:

    Pimenta no cu dos outros é refresco.

    Now, how about that Pepidemic then?

    Since Nov 2006 • 529 posts Report Reply

  • Ben Austin,

    I think the expression is kind of new, but it has legs because it basically involves looking at beautiful young women who hang around with sporting icons.

    Just in case that isn't enough to get it printed, it also offers the journalist/publication the chance to sound off about usesless celebrities, sort of like what they love to do with Paris Hilton. Even better, one can write all sorts of cutting columns about why it is terrible girls aspire to being the wife of a sportsman rather than an astronaut. Failing all of that you can resort to getting angry at sportsmen being paid enough to afford such WAGS - after all, shouldn't the money be spent on lowering ticket prices for the fans?

    BTW, how is Paris, any updates?

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report Reply

  • Juha Saarinen,

    Are there HABs too?

    Since Nov 2006 • 529 posts Report Reply

  • Marcus Neiman,

    Oh come on - the comparison with Paris is flawed in that as far a I am aware Paris' father is not a sanctamonious, opinionated buffoon who as much as anyone else imaginable has been involved in the trivialisation of current affairs reporting in a given country at great personal profit.

    This couldn't have happened to a more appropriate person.

    Sydney • Since Feb 2007 • 107 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen,

    You can rail all you like at the media for putting Millie Holmes front and centre in their bulletins, but the stats don't lie.

    warning rant below

    Ok David, I know you love sarcasm but on the off chance you believe the above I'll argue with the statement.

    Womans Day/Womens weekly/New idea etc are all magazines that publish gossip and trivia (very usefull if you enjoy pub triv on a Tuesday).

    But to suggest that simply because they have a large readership then what they publish is NEWS - is bollocks.

    Equally, to argue that because lots of folks read the story about Ms Elder's drugs charges then it is NEWS - is also Bollocks.

    And frankly the news editors and "journalists" in NZ ought to be ashamed.

    The news media in NZ is full of bone idle lazy morons. I'm sure there are good journalists in NZ. They just don't get much air time. Instead we get "reporters" on-the-scene and gossip. We get sports reporters who think knowing a couple of all blacks who will give them a quote about rugby is all they need to be a sports reporter. Investigative journalism consists of asking the neighbours "how they feel" or downloading an article from the net.

    Ms Elder's drugs charge is, as the judge pointed out, NOT news, it should not have made the headlines let alone the lead story. And it is a mark of shame that it did. The irony of it all is that Mr Holmes is involved and it is his kind of celebrity journalism is typical of the intellectual poverty that infests our media.

    Told you I was going to rant :)

    cheers
    Bart

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

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