Posts by John Armstrong
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Hard News: Winning the RWC: it's complicated, in reply to Russell Brown,
You can buy a 720p set with built-in Freeview and various other do-dads (like playing your internet files off a flash drive) for under $500 now.
Mmm, do-dads. I'd probably have gone ahead and bought one if it came with the cool documentary they were playing in the shop. Galapagos lizards swimming underwater in HD was just ace.
As it stands, we will have to recast our box ownership as evidence of our impeccable eco-warrior credentials.
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Having said that, I was this close to buying a flat-screen jobby the other day solely for the purposes of seeing the outside two inches of the semifinal coverage. Mercifully my anticonsumerism and general tight-arsedness stayed the madness just in time.
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Hard News: Winning the RWC: it's complicated, in reply to Russell Brown,
the dreadful picture quality has precluded me watching any big games there.
As the owner of a box-shaped TV, this has not been so much of a factor for me:)
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Hard News: Winning the RWC: it's complicated, in reply to Jackie Clark,
I enjoyed their commentary very much. I found them entertaining, and very genial.
Absolutely. I've developed a strong loyalty to Maori TV's coverage during this tournament, which was only strengthened on Saturday when I heard (during TV1's buildup to the first semifinal) Tane Randall claim that he had 'a sneaking suspicion that France might play like France'. Those are your tax dollars paying for such insights folks. Give me Glen Osbourne's constant teasing self-promotion any day.
I've also been quietly enjoying Peter Fitzsimon's apparently sincere attempts to plug his fellow commentators' for insights into Te Reo and various aspects of Maoritanga in general. Given the general thrust of the opening ceremony, Maori TV has just felt like the natural place to watch the Cup. Capital 'C' intended..
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Field Theory: All Blacks v Wallabies Tensionfest, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Cory Jane chasing the high ball and seeing Cooper was going to take it, slowing down a fraction so that he could be accelerating as he hit Cooper
I'm pretty sure that was Richard Kahui. Just to give credit where it's due.
All Blacks were great, but I still think that performance was about seventy per cent of what they are capable of (opening twenty minutes aside, which was probably about ninety per cent). I hope to see fewer up-and-unders next week and a lot more ball in hand for the backs. If it clicks against France we'll win it by thirty points..
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I completely agree that the particular songs being played at games are rubbish, and represent a missed opportunity to generate some exposure and funds for local acts.
But, I also think that as a package, the poppy atmosphere, the mariachi, the ole, the ominous TMO sound and everything else are contributing positively to the overall vibe of the events. At the Wales - Fiji game in Hamilton, the thing I aware of more than anything else was the degree to which the crowd bought into the overall sense of theatre and fun, quite unlike any other game I've ever been to before. Admittedly, this might have been due to the onesided nature of the game, but I also wonder if bringing the pop isn't helping to diffuse some of the darker aspects of nz rugby fandom.
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Hard News: About Occupy Wall Street, in reply to Angus Robertson,
Steady State is based upon the premise that the Earth is a closed system. What if we wish to leave, go to Mars or Venus or Jupiter?
Given the immediacy of some of the issues we are facing I'm going to go out on a limb and discount mass interplanetary colonisation as an option, for now.
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Hard News: About Occupy Wall Street, in reply to Richard Grevers,
The Guardian story linked to by Russell (I think) included a link to an article on the 'Steady State' economy. Worth a look.
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Looks like I'll just have to keep praying for Radiohead..
Unless something radical turns up in subsequent announcements I'll be giving this a miss too, although seeing Battles again is a most tempting thought (even though Braxton has left, apparently.)
For what it's worth, I loved Soundgarden all those centuries ago, but Chris Cornell's dodgy solo work since then just makes me nervous. I really don't want to have those wonderfull memories tainted by, you know, reality. The first sign of old age, me thinks.
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I guess we can put this one down to good old intractable differences of opinion. But my final comment would be that most of the disagreement seems to arise from beliefs about whether restrictive anti-smoking measures should be viewed as punitive. I don't think anyone here has demonised smokers as people, and those of us who support such measures probably don't see them as punishments at all, but as ways of creating conditions that make quitting a more attractive option. I guess you could argue that smokers feel coerced or punished by those measures, but given the addictive nature of the product, you could also see it as assistance.
I'm sorry if this point is subtle. I figured an intelligent crowd like PAS denizens would probably get it, and some clearly did.
Ben, nothing kills goodwill in a conversation faster than painting people who disagree with you as stupid or drunk.