Posts by BenWilson
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barnaclebarnes, thx for that OS link. That's classic Wikipedia humour, and ironically, their AI seems to have picked up on it, saying the article's tone may not be up to Wikipedia's high standards (good to see they're working on AI humour too).
As for Transformers, I'm just bitter I blew my moviegoing budget on Fantastic Four instead. Now there's a reeeally crap flick. I'm even a Marvel Fanboy, who tragically sold his precious Spiderman hoard for $50 during a moment of Student Fee induced weakness. But FF was just shite from start to finish.
Usually I get annoyed when a three year old won't shut up behind me in a movie. But the running commentary and alternative ideas that this little soul was generating were a hell of a lot more interesting and original than what was taking place on the screen in front of me. When he said at the end that the aliens should have just hurried up and destroyed Earth, I couldn't have agreed more.
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Rochelle
"It is no help for democracy, and the necessary public participation, to have yet more, typically, concentration by the media on peripheral behaviours."
I can't see that it's any particular hindrance to democracy either. If you don't trust the papers, read the blogosphere or the raw material. But don't stop others watching the TV that they want to see by claiming that it's for the public good. This is all about preserving dignity (or should I say hiding the lack of dignity?), which is our House of Misrepresentatives.
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Craig, I've found that glossy brochures are excellent for cleaning paint brushes. Something about the extra toughness. But most junk mail goes straight into the compost, sequestering all that carbon and giving me free fertilizer. The strangest thing is that the Green party ones break down the slowest...can't explain that at all. But ingenuity led me to use them for weed suppression.
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Michael, I'm not into it either, I prefer seeing people get pounded. Sick, but true.
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Michael, haven't you ever been to a cricket test? It's not only normal, it's expected.
Yes, sorry to put the kibosh on the lads. I've been in a tailspin since Saturday night, reflected in that post. *They're allowed* to be human.
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It's not like I would ever actually watch Parliament or take BZP again, but I figure I should be allowed. There's been a bit too much 'you're not allowed' recently, from having a decent stadium for the world cup to having the kind of car you want. Every little thing you're not allowed, no matter how trivial and lame (and this one is about as trivial and lame as it gets. It's not like I care about Paris Hilton either, but I *really* would rather watch that, or bang my head on a wall, than watch Parliament. I would even stoop to the America's Cup), is another victory for the 'you're not allowed' Leviathan. Which already has far too many runs on the board.
What the fuck extra information of any useful nature is to be had by actually *seeing* Parliament??? Is it the subtle nuances of facial expression? Is it the awesome grandeur of the hallowed house? I don't even want to *hear* it. It's enough to read about it. Even that is incredibly dull and bears a great deal of editing and summarization. Even after that, what is said is mostly gobshite, has already been said in numerous press releases, resaid a hundred times more eloquently and discussed in far greater detail in the blogosphere, and has no bearing whatsoever on what is then going to happen which actually matters, the voting, which we aren't allowed to see. We are even less allowed to see the way in which the decisions as to what to vote are made, the whipping, the threats, the negotiations, the endless board meetings, the focus groups etc.
That is what is a circus about it. I'm not even referring to the ridiculous behaviour in the house, the gesturing, yelling over the top, falling asleep, yawning dramatically, slandering people etc. That's all normal human behaviour and could at least be entertaining or funny for a couple of minutes, in summarized soundbite form. I'm referring to the circus that is the actual proceedings of the house, what it is that makes it onto Hansard, what we are all supposed to feel so fucken grateful about hearing, and take so seriously.
That such a farce looks like a farce on TV is what our politicians dislike. All of them. Which is why it's not allowed. *YOU* are not allowed, you, whoever is reading this, are one of the people not allowed to make up their own mind about whether they get to see what is already a meaningless circus, in case it might make you more capable of making an informed decision on the meaninglessly trivial decision as to which one of the farcical fuckwits you throw your worthless vote at so they can tell you what you aren't allowed next.
The Alll Blacks really need to pull finger.
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"So it's completely trivial and the only thing worth televising? Do you bother voting, Ben?"
I do, but I have to wonder why. It's never made the slightest difference to NZ or me. Old habits I guess.
And yes it can be both trivial and the only thing worth televising. There's no contradiction there. It just means the rest is even more crap. I have never been any the wiser about politics from hearing about one single thing that happened in Parliament. It never gave me insight or inside knowledge. It only made me bitter that what might once have served some purpose no longer does. Now the only useful purpose is that some slander laws can be circumvented, no matter how rich the slandered are. Otherwise the whole house is a farce, a spectator sport to hide where the decisions are really made, behind closed door. That televised coverage makes this plain is exactly what blocking televised coverage is all about.
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Russell,
"But how much of that perspective has been shaped by the fact that almost the only time Parliament is actually news is when bad clowns playact? Do you pay attention at any other time?"Should I? What's actually happening in there that is more important or interesting than bad clowning? Does it actually affect me any more than exclusive interviews with Paris Hilton? It's certainly a lot less interesting.
If I really wanted to know what was going on in a boring geeky kind of way, I'd read Hansard. That way I skip the irrelevant a lot quicker. Which would probably be the whole thing, since only the votes on legislation count for anything, and all of the voters have made up their minds well before they walked in.
The only value in televised Parliament that I could see *is* the bad clowning. And I don't personally want to see it, but like most things in life I think it should be allowed for me to see it, if it harms no-one who wasn't already harming themselves.
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Weston
"The result is that the television news cannot be relied upon to provide worthwhile coverage of what happens in Parliament."
That doesn't mean it should be stopped. I personally think coverage of Paris Hilton *is* more worthwhile than Parliamentary footage, but the conclusion of that is not that Parliamentary footage should be curtailed. Those who care to watch such dull stuff certainly should be allowed, and if they can spice it up with something actually interesting happening, like a nose-picking, or perhaps, horrors, someone falling asleep, great. They might crack 1% viewership, good on them.
That it trivializes what is already trivial is merely honesty. Which should *always* be allowed. Parliament has been a ridiculous circus full of bad clowns playacting for a long time, and for the public to see it is important.
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I *am* without sympathy. When you choose a public life you have to get over the fact that a lot of it will be public, especially what you do in your actual place of work, especially when that is meant to be representing your electorate.
Not that I'm the least bit interested in what they do there. Like most of the population, I can barely summon interest in the actual legislation itself, much less visual representations of the process in glorious slow motion technicolor inaction. They could be shagging each other rotten and I still wouldn't watch it.
Why shouldn't the media call a circus a circus, and show the clowns? Parliament is all for show anyway, it's not like any actual decisions are ever made in there. It would be the rarest of occasions when anything happened there of more interest than an MP scratching their balls.
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