Public Address | Cafe | Muse: Rugby World Kitsch

st ephen

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:52:04 +1200

In 1999 the French themselves installed a bouncy castle with inflatable rugby goal posts in front of the Eiffel Tower. They also had several other rugby-themed amusements on offer including horizontal bungies for practicing try-scoring feats and a row of plywood players for practicing swerving and stepping. Feel free to…

Kumara Republic

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 13:44:15 +1200

what can you do with a load of balls?

Add one of these.

Leopold

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 13:39:52 +1200

Funny. All I can remember of the Giant Rugby Ball Icon is it being parked in front of the Eiffel Tower with Parisians laughing at the NZers huddled inside the thing...

3410

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:21:47 +1200

what can you do with a load of balls?

Heh.

linger

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:13:35 +1200

I was saying, we don’t know, but it’s possible, as Frizzell has done a fair amount of advertising/ branding work, and his art has in the past served to reclaim some of his own commercial work.
In this case, even if the ball logo isn’t his, then it’s still very…

3410

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 10:52:52 +1200

might that have been the eponymous graphic designer?

Not quite sure what you're saying, but if it's that Frizzell himself designed the rugby ball logo, then I must say that I'd be just as surprised if that was the case as I would be if it was the case that…

linger

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 09:56:38 +1200

the anonymous graphic designer who created that rugby ball symbol
might that have been the eponymous graphic designer?

3410

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 09:52:18 +1200

As for the lovely Dick Frizzell gear! I nearly spit my coffee all over the screen! Seriously – $72 for a t-shirt?!!! Yikes!

Well, you're also getting the work of a serious artiste, I suppose.

Frankly, I've always thought his work was crap; borderline offensive, to be honest. Not so…

Tamsin6

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:08:02 +1200

Craig Ranapia, about 22 hours ago

Email Twitter

Honestly, Russell, I'm just looking at this and weeping softly.

Hmmmm – well, I guess things look EXCELLENT in the lovely brochures and so on, but us cynical East London dwellers are not really expecting to benefit a great deal from any…

Sacha

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:25:23 +1200

sealant.

noice

Jackie Clark

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:00:00 +1200

Oh yes! I love him. So much.

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:48:27 +1200

Obviously, I was sadly mistaken.

Perhaps, but isn't it nice? (You have to picture Tim Curry for the full effect.)

linger

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:21:16 +1200

I'd get rather narked having to scrape seal goo out of the detailing.
One word, Craig: sealant.

Jackie Clark

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:16:19 +1200

I just always figured I was the filthiest. Obviously, I was sadly mistaken.

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:08:47 +1200

You’re all very filthy people.

It took you four years and change to figure that out? Silly poppet.:)

Andre Alessi

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:27:38 +1200

You’re all very filthy people. I don’t see a dido in that at all – rather uncomfortable if it was.

Well, the handle is a nice touch if it iss. Two-handed jobby.

recordari

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:23:44 +1200

I don't see a dido in that at all

What's she doing in there?

Jackie Clark

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:18:56 +1200

You're all very filthy people. I don't see a dido in that at all – rather uncomfortable if it was.

Isabel Hitchings

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:10:32 +1200

But isn't it pretty?

Objectively I can see that it's a lovely object but my brain is doing that thing where having seen it one way it cannot now interpret it as anything else and my lips keep doing the twitchy thing.

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:35:48 +1200

I am not actually looking at a prehistoric dildo.

I’ve been told in no uncertain terms that dildos are NSFW, regardless of the vintage. Prissy wussies… But isn't it pretty? I'd get rather narked having to scrape seal goo out of the detailing.

Isabel Hitchings

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:08:29 +1200

(Link to image SFW but may offend as it educates those of a seal-loving disposition.)

Cue much confusion as I misread seal as self and then realise I am not actually looking at a prehistoric dildo.

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:10:31 +1200

There's cream for that

Most entertainingly delivered externally, on the business end of one of these. (Link to image SFW but may offend as it educates those of a seal-loving disposition.)

Sacha

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:02:59 +1200

My middle-class outrage is tingling and throbbing!

There's cream for that

Andre Alessi

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:36:35 +1200

I think we're all missing the real story here: how will all these RWC thingies affect my view of the harbour from Devonport? My middle-class outrage is tingling and throbbing!

Or maybe not. But anyway, I think that the term "plastic waka" encapsulated enough topics that outrage the uninformed that…

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:23:04 +1200

Bob Parker, Sir David Gascoigne, Bob Harvey, Sharon Hunter and Wally Stone were appointed by the minister to consider the applications, which ran to about four times the available budget.

Can I just say this one more time:

I have no reason to believe anyone connected with the REAL New…

recordari

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:41:40 +1200

We could have little signs on our fences, and distribute a map of Mount Eden with all the safe havens marked.

Contrarily, I'm planning a sign that says 'garage grandstand, taken projector from work, coffee and beverages of choice at hand'.

Note: Rugby heads on Craig's blog? It just seemed…

Jackie Clark

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:06:54 +1200

What a jolly good idea, James.

James Butler

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:03:40 +1200

Our house will be a RWC free zone in the midst of the suburban chaos.

Likewise! We could have little signs on our fences, and distribute a map of Mount Eden with all the safe havens marked.

Sacha

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:00:52 +1200

but it cost two arms and half a leg

maybe RWC is the perfect time for a disability recruiting drive :)

Jackie Clark

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:39:14 +1200

Pop in for a bevvy, Geoff. Our house will be a RWC free zone in the midst of the suburban chaos. Well, my bit of the house will be, anyway.

Geoff Lealand

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:45:44 +1200

Phew! It is going to be a busy few weeks getting all these events + a game or two. We have two tickets to the AB vs Japan game but it cost two arms and half a leg.

Russell Brown

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:35:50 +1200

Long time listener, first time caller here. I just wanted to say that I went inside the rugby ball when it was in London and thought it was fantastic

I won’t be missing it, for sure. It’s a rare treat to see the large-scale installation work of Mike Mizrahi and…

Geoff Lealand

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:32:35 +1200

Welcome, Chris.

Russell Brown

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:30:45 +1200

OK, I know there was never a hope in hell of New Zealand doing anything on the scale of London next year, but there seems to have been some joined up thinking going on where arts wasn't a "nice to have" afterthought. (And they're having a recession too, Bill.)

Well,…

Chris Bowden

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:18:57 +1200

Long time listener, first time caller here. I just wanted to say that I went inside the rugby ball when it was in London and thought it was fantastic. In fact, I immediately joined the rather long set of tourists from all over the globe and went and did it…

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:14:31 +1200

Honestly, Russell, I'm just looking at this and weeping softly.

The culmination of the Cultural Olympiad, the Festival will open on 21 June 2012 – Midsummer's Day. It will run until 9 September 2012 – the last day of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

At the heart of the festival…

Russell Brown

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:05:08 +1200

Can’t disagree with you there, but plenty of people are and there’s a faint whiff of concern-trolling and political opportunism in play. Did The Herald cover the REAL New Zealand Festival Lottery Fund Committee announcement at all?

It appears not. Nathan Guy made the announcement on March 31 – 175…

3410

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:03:35 +1200

I’m not not up in arms about the waka plan, but it does seem poorly executed in comparison to the other projects you’ve criticised.

I keep imagining the brief: "Okay, we want an auditorium that's at least five times as deep as it is wide. Also, fully one quarter of the…

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:46:53 +1200

The full list is here as (why? why?) a Word document. It’s quite an amazing array of projects, with lots of smaller grants, many local Maori projects, etc.

Quite, which is why I said there are plenty of totally unexceptional projects – and a half dozen or so I find…

BenWilson

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:40:29 +1200

That's always been my favourite piece of opera. I'm still, to this day, amazed that it's actually a human voice doing all the work. Some of the notes sound like they're coming out of a flute, and in these days of autotuning, that's an automatic assumption.

It most certainly is…

Russell Brown

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:17:51 +1200

And when it comes to two dollar shop kitsch, Ngati Whatua is going to have to epically pimp out that plastic waka to out-tack this load of old balls the Auckland City Council will hold a publicly-subsidised tea-bagging with.

No need to knock the ball. It’s something of a technical…

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:06:13 +1200

Grant:

To be fair, if ACT wasn't having its middle age spread in public, Hide could take the consistent position that the state shouldn't be funding arts/culture (or commercial sporting events) at all. Why it isn't is well outside MUSE's remit, or my expertise in political pathology.

And when it…

Grant McDougall

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 08:52:49 +1200

election year "damn Maari" dog-whistling

As indulged in by that toe-rag Rodney Hide the other day, when he whined about the waka. Hmm, guess he's conveniently forgotten about the $25m that went down the drain getting Don Brash to spout ACTisms under the guise of the Aussie 2025 sinecure.

Public Address

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 08:52:49 +1200

Discussion from blog post.