Public Address | Cafe | Random Play: This land is your land . . .

Kyle Matthews

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:18:24 +1300

Doubly ironic given this from Wikipedia:

In 1902, agents of Thomas Edison bribed a theater owner in London for a copy of A Trip to the Moon by Georges Méliès. Edison then made hundreds of copies and showed them in New York City. Méliès received no compensation. He was counting…

giovanni tiso

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:03:28 +1300

Kind of ironic, in light of the "would you steal a car" ads we're subjected to from said industry.

Rich Lock

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:48:47 +1300

I believe that in California you can swim and ski on the same day too, maybe that's why Hollywood is there.

Lots of reliable sun. Early film needed lots of light.

It's also about as far away as you can get from the East Coast and still remain in the…

giovanni tiso

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:26:24 +1300

btw, I believe that in California you can swim and ski on the same day too, maybe that's why Hollywood is there.

Lots of reliable sun. Early film needed lots of light.

And a Hobbiton – and this isn't a threatening or petulant observation, just an uncomfortable fact — can…

Geoff Lealand

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 12:04:48 +1300

I have been in Napier for a long weekend (where there is landscape) and catching up on the conversations here. I am pretty much in accord with you Graham, about the alleged 'unique' qualities of the NZ landscape/filmscape. We tend to focus on the big feature films, forgetting that there…

Leopold

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:04:46 +1300

To iterate. 'Cultural cringe' can only apply to those things we are responsible for – writers, film etc. Landscape and weather are out of our hands. We can neither apologise for them nor claim credit

Islander

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 21:17:14 +1300

Nah Leopold- while I cant speak for Jackie, 'cultural cringe' – in Aotearoa-NZ means – the apologetic -well, cringe- ANZers used to take to *anything* about our place. Weather, landscape, writers, films – you name it, we humbly apologised for it.

This has changed, more than a little bit.

Actually,…

Leopold

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:59:35 +1300

Cultural cringe? You mean that you were personally responsible for the landscape (certainly wasn't me, but I wish you had consulted me – could we have had slightly smaller mountains as a trade-off for less faultlines – OTOH you seem to have placed the latitudes nicely,tho' why you couldn't have…

Islander

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:27:12 +1300

Well for you Jackie – and me! – we are the centre of universe-
but I dont think hugely-budgeted film gigs (underwritten by the ANZ tax-payer – who, in the majority of cases- see nothing back for the investment) were ever a good way to go...

I truly think it…

Jackie Clark

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:17:39 +1300

That's right. We are shit. Everywhere else is better. I thought cultural cringe was a thing of the past? Evidemment pas.

Leopold

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 19:27:56 +1300

Finland has empty wilds and genuine Tolkienesque landscapes – after all, he based a lot of LOTR aspects (Elvish) and legends on Kalevala. Also sophisticated infrastructure. Butonr could also use bits of Provence – not too far – and , PJ had to do a fair bit of travelling to…

Tim Michie

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:46:18 +1300

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf5U0exn60U

BenWilson

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:33:11 +1300

Tim, so true, I was thinking there wouldn't be any shortage of the kind of twee countryside and old ruins that Tolkien makes constant reference to. But the empty wilds?

Tim Michie

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:06:58 +1300

As Tolkein studied and drew on northern European epic poetry to form his Middle Earht cultures then I think it could be argued NZ has been standing in for the locations filming may head to.

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:38:06 +1300

Which makes them like a French painter. Two loos le trek.

at least you won't be caught short...

BenWilson

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:32:28 +1300

OK, so Shirl doesn't look 63 in the clip either. I'd have thought 40s for her too.

BenWilson

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:24:27 +1300

Well you do know what you looked like when you were younger, whereas I can only judge you by what other people of various ages look like.

IIRC, you are quite small. That helps a lot.

dyan campbell

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:58:43 +1300

Nor sober, but I'm still surprised.

I don't think I look that young – I am often guessed to be about the same age as my sister who is in her mid 60s.

This is a clip of my sister Shirl – she's 64 – though still 63 in this…

Matthew Poole

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:26:38 +1300

And I think my cousin set some kind of record, being asked for ID to prove she was over 18 while standing under flourescent lights. .. when she was 45

Brings to mind the "Happy 40th" card which has a list of "May ..." happen, one of which is "May…

BenWilson

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:24:41 +1300

Why thank you, very gallant of you to say, though you have not seen me by daylight.

Nor sober, but I'm still surprised.

dyan campbell

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:17:19 +1300

dyan, you must have a Ring of Power stashed away. I thought you were early 40s, at the most.

Why thank you, very gallant of you to say, though you have not seen me by daylight. My sister, on the other hand, is in her mid 60s, and is usually…

Leopold

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:59:31 +1300

...and in British dramas, when a character sets off for NZ, its just shorthand for writing them out without the inconvenient tedium of having them killed and then having to screen a funeral episode

Leopold

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:56:50 +1300

Actually, don't tell PJ, but from what I remember, Provence would be an ideal place for the Hobbitt – varieties of landscape often superior to New Zealand, all the infrastructure just down the road- only prob being labour costs..

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:49:46 +1300

I have two loos, but they are at opposite ends of the house.

Which makes them like a French painter. Two loos le trek.

Rich Lock

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:43:55 +1300

Move to France: what have you got, Toulouse?

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:37:12 +1300

Toulouse: rioting, Concorde, space rockets and a Stranglers song.

It's the city that's got the lot!

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:28:54 +1300

I don't believe you would want to swim and ski on the same day in NZ unless you liked either rock dodging in slush, freezing in icy water, or both.

If one was dedicated to try such things and had the wealth of a John Key, the French ski resort…

BenWilson

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:25:42 +1300

dyan, you must have a Ring of Power stashed away. I thought you were early 40s, at the most.

Rich Lock

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:15:46 +1300

I don't think it's something people really do so much as shorthand for "Yes, we are just that awesome."

Well, if you really wanted the trifecta, you'd live in Tolouse. Skiing in the Alps, swimming in the med, and high culture right on your doorstep.

dyan campbell

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:02:49 +1300

Meh, I've never understood the attraction of being able to swim and ski in the same day.

I don't think it's something people really do so much as shorthand for "Yes, we are just that awesome."

Yeah, but if you really, really loved swimming and skiing it would be why…

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:32:53 +1300

Indeed, California is well proud of its history of snow-bound cannibalism.

hmmmm Donner Kebabs...
...I'll pass!

BenWilson

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:18:46 +1300

I actually wonder how many USians think NZ isn't an actual country, but a dramatic construct used when a scriptwriters needs to invoke a remote and rural place. Where they talk funny.

Kind of like Timbuktu? A weird, fantastic place at the other end of the earth, the end of…

Martin Lindberg

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:04:36 +1300

I don't think it's something people really do so much as shorthand for "Yes, we are just that awesome."

True, but the intended awesomeness is lost on me. There are lots of cool and awesome things about NZ, but that particular one seems a bit desperate.

ETA: Although in the…

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:52:15 +1300

As depicted in the "Donner Party Snow Globe"

There's a Maccas up there on the Donner Pass now, ensuring marginally better food choice for the Reno-SF traveller.

Emma Hart

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:47:43 +1300

btw, I believe that in California you can swim and ski on the same day too, maybe that's why Hollywood is there.

Indeed, California is well proud of its history of snow-bound cannibalism.

Lucy Stewart

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:46:52 +1300

Meh, I've never understood the attraction of being able to swim and ski in the same day.

I don't think it's something people really do so much as shorthand for "Yes, we are just that awesome."

I actually wonder how many USians think NZ isn't an actual country, but a…

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:39:22 +1300

I actually wonder how many USians think NZ isn't an actual country, but a dramatic construct used when a scriptwriters needs to invoke a remote and rural place. Where they talk funny.

BenWilson

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:13:49 +1300

I don't think Avatar was green screened. Motion capture onto a rendered world is a whole different kettle of fish. The absence of background in their sets was more to do with the total lack of need, rather than any trick played with color and backdrop. All they were interested…

Martin Lindberg

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:12:46 +1300

Meh, I've never understood the attraction of being able to swim and ski in the same day.

Kyle Matthews

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:09:15 +1300

Much cheaper to use the landscape that god created.

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:58:04 +1300

btw, I believe that in California you can swim and ski on the same day too, maybe that's why Hollywood is there.

ditto Vancouver, as Rich noted above...
I thought the Snow in California
mostly went up the nose... :- )

anyway I'm surprised they just don't green screen the…

BenWilson

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:28:27 +1300

btw, I believe that in California you can swim and ski on the same day too, maybe that's why Hollywood is there.

BenWilson

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:27:47 +1300

Whilst the scenery in LOTR was beautiful, it wasn't that which made me the most proud of the film. It was that NZ had managed to make a movie of that magnitude, under the direction of a New Zealander. I kept thinking from abroad not of the wonderful landscapes of…

Leopold

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:58:08 +1300

...and swimming in the morning and skiing in the afternoon is far more feasible in Beirut
I agree, we are inclined to oversell our attractions

Jackie Clark

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 08:52:40 +1300

I take your point, Graham, but I do wonder if there are as many places in the world where you can find all those things in one place within quite a short distance of each other. Maybe there are. I wonder, also, if there are more NZers than most other…

Rich Lock

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 07:42:56 +1300

You also don't have to be too long in Vancouver, Canada before you stumble over a Hollywood crew.
This site lists over 200 films shot there and the city has stood in for Boston, the Bronx, Chicago, Washington DC . . .

Vancover infamously stands in for the Bronx in…

Bruce Wurr

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 02:44:56 +1300

great column again graham.

Ian MacKay

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 10:22:22 +1300

On a recent trip to Scotland, Iceland, Sri Lanka, UAE we kept on saying this could just as easily have been in various places in New Zealand. Sure the building practices varied but the people were the same. Different language, different social habits but really the same in the end.…

Public Address

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 10:22:22 +1300

Discussion from blog post.