Random Play: The Seduction of the Strange
37 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 2 Newer→ Last
-
What is the poet said, "I contain multiples"? We all do.
Multitudes... and yes, Song of Myself is one of my favourite poems ever.
The microTaj should make for an interesting landmark on the way into town.
-
It will be a vulgar tacky piece of shite that shouldn't be allowed IMNSHO.
OK for Las Vegas, but not here.
-
Austria has a little Taj - and a whole lot of other shrunken stuff - but at least they have the decency to quarantine it in the service of a worthy cause.
Re. Melbourne and Sydney. It's hard to visit Melbourne without being asked if you've ridden the trams yet. In Sydney, though, no-one asks if you've ridden the ferries. If there's a better public transport experience than a Port Jackson ferry on a good day I'd love to try it.
-
Agree with Michael. Maybe if we added sequins..?
I'd love to see something unique and as beautiful as the Taj Mahal that responds to its environment, i.e. the site, the Indian community in NZ, etc.
Robyn tells me the one in four stat is wrong, but it may depend on what's being measured. If molestation, physically-forced rape is being assessed the figure might be lower. If the parameters include not feeling able to say no then, based on anecdotal evidence from friends, one in four might be correct.
-
Jono,
Being very modest about hotel accomodation I have used the Quality/Comfort Hotel in Cuba St several times and have enjoyed the made-over heritage building (its a registered Historic Place) in a relatively central/convenient location.
-
I’m surprised the Minister for Tourism hasn’t been his normal creative self on this.
A replica of Edinburgh Castle in Dunedin. Cathedral Square could do with Big Ben. A Golden Gate bridge across the entry tro Wellington Harbour.
Hamilton could become our own Vegas (or was that Rotorua?) . Tauranga could be made to look like Surfers. The new bridge across the Waitemata could be modeled on Sydney Harbour Bridge, which is a replica anyway, so there would be no copyright issues there.
Quick, get some Swedish architect in to design Party Central.
And make sure the national cycle way is dotted with plenty of windmills and dykes.
-
Just what is the believable statistic on sexual abuse? In the past few days I have heard one in four women, then one in three. To me, innocently asking, these seem extremely high ratios not to mention significantly different.
The one in three in a lifetime figure wouldn't surprise me. Most people will never talk about their experiences with anyone but those they are extremely close to, and even then they often don't.
-
When I lived in the US the federal and state income tax forms would have check boxes "would you like to give 1$ to <insert cause here>"
I think it's about time we had a similar check box labeled "Rugby" - that way we can create a Ministry of Rugby, fund them with a yearly budget from the check box and hold them to it, no cost overruns. If they want to do really big things they can save up for them like the rest of us.
-
a vulgar tacky piece of shite
So out of keeping with Auckland how, exactly?
(Just keeping the Auckland / Welly thing going. It's like LA/SF. Or Melbourne/Sydney - although those two are much more alike than the inhabitants care to admit).
-
If we do build a Taj who would be buried in it?
-
The one in three in a lifetime figure wouldn't surprise me. Most people will never talk about their experiences with anyone but those they are extremely close to, and even then they often don't.
If the parameters include not feeling able to say no then, based on anecdotal evidence from friends, one in four might be correct.
The truth is probably a mixture of these - the number who have been sexually abused depends on the parameters you use, and a lifetime is, well, a pretty long time. It might not be as high as 1 in 3 but it woudn't be a whole lot lower.
Think about domestic violence stats - I think they're also estimated at 1 in 3, over a woman's lifetime, and if you include all the women who have been in situations where they didn't say no to sex they didn't want because they knew there was a high chance of violence if they did...you're going to get quite high numbers quite quickly.
-
Culture critic Alex Kerr, who wrote 'Lost Japan' and 'Dogs and Demons' called Huis Ten Bosch the single most beautiful place in Japan because everything native had been reduced to mere schlock. You have probably seen or read it, but Kyoichi Tsuzuki's 'Roadside Japan' has its share of cultural appropriation for frivolous fun. Perhaps it's a bit condemning and mean spirited, but the Japanese can take it to an extreme.
-
I have used the Quality/Comfort Hotel in Cuba St several times and have enjoyed the made-over heritage building (its a registered Historic Place) in a relatively central/convenient location
I concur. Very convenient & reasonably priced. Can be noisy if you get a Cuba St side room lower down.
-
a vulgar tacky piece of shite
So out of keeping with Auckland how, exactly?
(Just keeping the Auckland / Welly thing going. It's like LA/SF. Or Melbourne/Sydney - although those two are much more alike than the inhabitants care to admit).
Rich, what are you tring to get at here? Don't be shy now...
-
a vulgar tacky piece of shite
And that is why it would fucking ROCK. Taste is the enemy of art!
-
A replica of Edinburgh Castle in Dunedin. Cathedral Square could do with Big Ben. A Golden Gate bridge across the entry tro Wellington Harbour.
Except, to be honest, it's too late to put fake Gothic architecture in Christchurch, we've already got a lot of it, especially on the Square; it's too late to try and make Dunedin look like Edinburgh, the good burghers have already tried that.
So why not make bits of Auckland look like bits of Agra?
(And seriously, if you have a problem with tacky, there's a lot of other tacky stuff in Auckland to get annoyed at & it is perfectly possible to make Mughal-esque buildings non-tacky, and in fact it is one of the traditional things for British Empire architects to do.)
-
Taste is the enemy of art!
Too right. Mrs. Skin's on the money with the sequins. Let's have LEDs too. Lots of them.
-
Why do people send an e-mail asking for your assistance but then have some weird block on your reply.
What kind of bounce did you get?
-
And make sure the national cycle way is dotted with plenty of windmills and dykes.
Dykes... on bikes? Please? I've been good all year...
-
Dykes... on bikes? Please? I've been good all year...
You see, if we really put our minds to it, this National Theme Park thing could really be the answer.
-
Except, to be honest, it's too late to put fake Gothic architecture in Christchurch, we've already got a lot of it, especially on the Square; it's too late to try and make Dunedin look like Edinburgh, the good burghers have already tried that.
So why not make bits of Auckland look like bits of Agra?
There's quite a bit of difference between adopting an architectural language and wholesale replication. I'm generally much more interested in contemporary architecture, but if a particular group wants to build in a style that has cultural meaning for them then I have no objection, as long as the planning and massing relate well to the surrounding context and any decorative elements are true to materials.
Building a cultural centre as an exact replica of an ancient mausoleum, on the other hand...
-
There's quite a bit of difference between adopting an architectural language and wholesale replication.
Um, not as much as is implied here; see the Calcutta High Court and various other Gothic Revival structures. Likewise replication of Classical originals. I mean, yeah, not exactly the same thing, but I can't see how it is any worse than a Triumphal Arch after the Roman or whatever.
(And the Taj isn't exactly ancient, it's about as old as the new St. Paul's.)
-
In my experience the people talking up Melbourne are mostly not in it, once you get there they never stop whining about the place. I didn't mind it that much, but then I liked Sydney too.
-
Just what is the believable statistic on sexual abuse? In the past few days I have heard one in four women, then one in three. To me, innocently asking, these seem extremely high ratios not to mention significantly different.
As one of those people that throws about statistics like this, and is paid to do so, we generally fudge it at "about one in four" females. Steven has linked to one of the main studies we base this statistic on, and has nailed it to say that it's "some sort" of sexual abuse; this can range from anything from being groped through to rape. Of course, not all studies ask the same questions or define sexual abuse in the same way so that's why it's difficult to get an exact figure.
I don't want to do that thing of saying 'and lots of other studies say pretty much the same thing" and then not back it up with screeds of evidence, but the late-ish hour and my tiredness from jumping up and down to Scribe last night at Vector mean I'm about to do just that. One interesting study is the Youth 2007 report. I've copied and pasted the section below as it can be a bit hard to find if you don't know what you're looking for.
Unwanted sexual behaviour
One in five female students (20%) and one in twenty male students had experienced one or more episodes of unwanted sexual behaviour from another person. About half of these episodes had occurred in the last 12 months. Among those episodes of sexual abuse occurring in the last 12 months, one-third of the students reported the abuse as severe (pretty bad, really bad or terrible).The majority (60%) of students suffering sexual abuse had not told anyone about it.
To me, the salient point is this last sentence. As George has pointed out, most people don't talk much about this - this is why these statistics often seem so shockingly high. Of course these are averaged out over the whole population, and keeping in mind that many people who offend have multiple victims, it may mean that all of the siblings in one family are victims, whilst of course all of the siblings in the next five houses down are not.
Totally and utterly anecedotally, and after going into classrooms and talking about exactly this with thousands of students, I'd say the about one in four stat rings pretty true for me. I'm sure no-one would be surprised about the number of stories we've heard about the passed out person in the corner of the party and what someone has done to them just "for a laugh".
If the parameters include not feeling able to say no
... Technically, they do - feeling forced or threatened (even with verbal threats) into having sex is not consensual.
-
And on another note, two big thumbs up to a replicant Taj Mahal.
Take that Ohakune and your giant carrot!
Post your response…
This topic is closed.