Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: Cranks, self-seekers and the mayor, in reply to Martin Lindberg,
Sigh. What do these people want?
They slate Brown for hiding away (during the New Year break, to be fair) and then slate him when he makes a public appearance. It's confusing.
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Hard News: Cranks, self-seekers and the mayor, in reply to Mike Graham,
What I meant was that there was another individual named Cameron (not Cameron Brewer) at the opening – he was apparently using his duck caller whenever the Mayor spoke.
Duh. Misread you.
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Hard News: Cranks, self-seekers and the mayor, in reply to Mike Graham,
I’ve seen reports of another Cameron being present at Panmure which seems appropriate to mention given the title of the post.
Ah. Transport Blog was saying he wasn’t there. I've amended the top of the post.
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Hard News: Big Friday Music: Counting…, in reply to Sacha,
it felt unsafe.
not so well-run then
Given the enormous number of things to be run -- including a ton of compliance that wasn't an issue at Mount Smart, it would be unfair to say that. But I'm surprised they didn't get a handle on bridge capacity before the day. It wasn't an issue all the time, but I was on the other side of the bridge around the time Simon was trying to get out. It looked like this.
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Even given some very obvious logistical issues – terrible queues for toilets and bars – the Big Day Out was amazing in its new venue.
The sound was was a testament to modern PA systems – loud and clear in front of the stage yet within its consent limits at the boundaries.
And, with the exception of access/egress for the Lakeside Stage, which got completely swamped at times (meaning I missed Ladi6), the site works really well.
Probably the loveliest moment was when Arcade Fire shot foil confetti out of a cannon during ‘Here Comes the Night Time’. The wind meant that the foil flakes swirled overhead for quite a while afterwards, all lit up in the late sun. Some of the pieces swooped over us where we sitting on the steps, and it was just ridiculously beautiful.
I hit the wall during Major Lazer (who were great), and thus missed them bringing Lorde onstage (which I kinda knew was going to happen). No regrets, though – the walk home seemed freakin’ endless as it was.
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Radio NZ's story:
Dotcom warned over party plan
The Electoral Commission says it warned internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom that his birthday and album release party could break electoral law.
On Thursday afternoon, Mr Dotcom cancelled the free party for about 25,000 people scheduled for Auckland's Vector Arena on Monday.
The birthday bash was originally intended to include details about his planned political party, the Internet Party, which will contest this year's general election.
However on Wednesday, Mr Dotcom tweeted that those details would be released on a separate day at another event.The Electoral Commission says it emailed Mr Dotcom's legal representative that night, saying despite attempts to distance the event from his political movement, Monday's party could still be seen to be influencing voters.
The commission warned it could expose those promoting and attending it to the risk of prosecution.
It strikes me that the "those attending" warning is really ill-advised.
But mostly: I don't think the Electoral Commission would have bothered here had not Bomber's dumb free wi-fi plan come to light. He's quite the political strategist.
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Hard News: Crashing the party before it starts, in reply to Dylan Reeve,
So it seems that the Electoral Commission are the source of the legal advice?
I’m guessing it went like this:
- Party yay
- Whaleoiil leak with free wifi detail
- “Free wifi is a bribe”
- “If free wifi is a bribe, what about a massive party for 25,000 people?”
- “Shit.”Exactly.
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Hard News: Crashing the party before it starts, in reply to Hebe,
Will those 15,000 young people vote at all? If Kim had 15,000 old people turning up, that would signal large-scale change.
Part of the aim is to attract the people who don't usually vote. I think that makes more sense than trying to win over National voters.
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Hard News: Crashing the party before it starts, in reply to alobar,
This is the message that people who'd registered to go received:
FROM KIM DOTCOM:
I apologize, my friends. Sadly we must cancel my birthday party after we received advice that the event could risk breaching electoral laws.
Because the tickets were free, we were advised that the purpose of the event could be misunderstood.
I would like to thank the 25,000 people who registered for my birthday party. You are all amazing!
I was looking forward to an awesome event with great live music and other surprises – but the future of New Zealand is more important to me than one night of fun.
I hope you agree. So we are moving forward with the Internet Party!!
It was pretty inept to have not sorted this out in advance.
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Hard News: Crashing the party before it starts, in reply to Paul Williams,
If this ‘splash’ was what was sought by Dotcom, his problem isn’t his consultant, it’s his ambition.
The guy has 15,000 young people turning up to his album launch party on Monday. I think he has ways.
I really do think that a lot of people -- including Whaleoil, who I appear to have angered, and Bradbury himself -- have misread the nature of Dotcom's cut-through.
