Posts by Russell Brown
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Oh, wow. This editorial. You know "Don't read the comments"?
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Hey guess what? It’s my turn to write the “This Herald Editorial is Batshit” column.
Welcome! But to be fair, that's The Herald on Sunday, which has its own editors.
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Hard News: Media3: Watching the Fourth Estate, in reply to Kyle Matthews,
Also the guardian published an article on potential European involvement in the whole thing, and then withdrew it. Someone kept it and has posted it here.
Total screw-up. They published and then unpublished the story online – but it stayed as the front-page lead of The Observer’s printed edition.
The problem with the story is that the source, Wayne Madsen, is a conspiracist nutbar. Birther and the rest.
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Hard News: Media3: Watching the Fourth Estate, in reply to Jonty,
Let's hope the Russkies, who apparently don't have an extradition treaty with the Yanks, will offer poor old Snowden sanctuary. Though I suspect Putin is wary of upsetting Uncle Sam ... refusing to co-operate over Syria is one thing but harbouring a US fugitive is something else.
I'd be hoping Putin doesn't decide to just help himself to whatever Snowden has. Russia's record on press freedom under Putin has been vastly worse than that of any western country and continues to deteriorate. In the 2013 World Press Freedom Index, Russia has fallen to 148th place. The US is 32nd.
It's worth remembering these things for context.
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Well, David Saunders with Street Chant was, by general acclaim, a highly successful experiment that should be repeated.
And Flying Nun nerds will doubtless be excited to know that they covered the Alpaca Brothers' 'The Lie':
Yay!
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Hard News: Friday Music: Full-on First Person, in reply to Kyle Matthews,
I suspect her music producer has been well chosen, he’s using her talent and voice well.
It's Joel Little, formerly of the fairly derivative local pop-punk band Goodnight Nurse, who really seems to have found his niche. He co-writes and produces.
I'm told that when Lorde was younger, it was Rikki Morris who suggested she write her own songs -- and she told him that, yes, she had songs in her head but had no idea how to write one. So he was the first one to show her how to start.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Full-on First Person, in reply to Max Rose,
It’s hardly as if they’re going for the Humbert Humbert market.
Quite. I don't think that's the case at all.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Full-on First Person, in reply to Tom Semmens,
I am not sure what the whole fuss about Lorde is all about. She is a talented teen, no more. There are tons like her out there, there is nothing in her music yet that screams superstar to me.
Billboard seems pretty excited about her US radio debut.
And as The Corner noted:
Following the success of ‘Royals’, Lorde has just debuted at number one song on the NZ Top 40 singles chart with ‘Tennis Court’. It’s an achievement that sees her become the first local female solo act to ever have two number one songs, and she also becomes the first local act with a total of four songs in the top 40 chart at the same time – ‘Tennis Court’ (1), ‘Swingin’ Party’ (10), ‘Royals’ (11), ‘The Love Club’ (18).
I think she's going to be big.
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Hard News: Kitchen Hacks, in reply to Carol Stewart,
My favourite kitchen tool is apparently known as a French oven.
The Dutch will be livid. :-)
I have a Chasseur roasting pan, which I don't use that much because it's so effing heavy, and thus a bit of a pain to clean. Purchased and lugged back from Australia, where quality cookware is so much cheaper. Even Le Creuset is available at prices which will require you to sell as few as one of your children.
I have two "French" ovens, one big, one smaller, both from Stevens. They're a bit lighter than Le Creuset, and the outer and inner finishes aren't quite as good, but they're bloody handy -- and as little as a quarter of the price of the French lines.
I'm going to stop here, because this should be another thread.
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I also have a well-seasoned small cast-iron pan for toasting pine nuts, cumin seeds, etc. It is precious.