Posts by Robyn Gallagher
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Do you know what's awesome? I'll tell you.
There's a new American TV series called the Next Great American Band. It's kind of a cross between Idol and Rockstar - it's bands competing for the prize, not individuals.
This in itself is, like, totally awesome, but it gets even more awesomer: it's hosted by Dominic Bowden.
I think this has set a world reckon for televisual awesomeness.
-
How I fucking hate it when my DSL connection goes slower than England v South Africa, or just bloody crashes and burns altogether
It sounds like things here in Mt Eden are moderately better. I'm on holiday this week and I'm shocked at the novelty of having reasonably speedy DSL at home. Normally when I use it in the evenings it craaaawwwllls along (though mysteriously seems to jump back up to speedy at midnight...)
But I know that my parents DSL is in the sleepy seaside settlement of Raglan is faster than what I get here.
These old city suburbs weren't built for these modern times.
-
On the subject of YouTube and music videos, The Onion's AV Club has a list of Cop Rock: 21 (Mostly Negative) Songs About Law Enforcement. Most of the songs have an embedded YouTube clip of the song, but because few had a music video made, the YouTube clips tend to be fan-made, and either photo montages or some video footage set to the song. And that's good enough if you just want to hear the song.
-
I can't find the one where Brooker politely suggests that Brits who like to sneer at American television should pull their heads out of their fat, stupid fucking arses
Word. It's interesting to look at the origins of the "quality" British TV that gets shown on TV here. We might like to think it's all from BBC 1, but you'd be surprised at how much of it comes from the more populist channels like Channel 4 and the fruity tooty Five.
-
dammit, I can't tell if you're joking or not :D
Semi-joking... I think.
Along with Heather, I remember all the discussions on NZmusic.com like, "Waaa! Why did X get funding but my hard-working rock unit didn't!" And the subsequent explanation about NZOA's requirements for a song to have commercial potential.
But as Robbery noted, bands that make music that is traditionally unpopular and non-commercial in New Zealand can find an audience overseas.
The internet is going to see more of this happen, and NZOA (or the government) needs to ensure their music-funding strategy reflects the current and future world of music.
-
they hardly ever name-check CreativeNZ as a potential alternative - even to say they applied but were rejected.
I suspect that some of the dudes in this position would like to think that even though NZOA has rejected them for not being commercial enough, that their 10-minute feedback solo/excusion into sonic chaos does actually have commercial potential, it's just that the dumb-arses at NZOA can't recognise it.
-
Interesting that most stories involve eating away from home. Does anyone have a tale involving a really amazing bowl of Weetbix they had for breakfast one morning. (I don't!)
My memorable food-related moments:
* Ireland, 2003. Driving with the whanau down the coast to this little seaside village where the B&B lady said there was a good restaurant. We arrive, expecting a greasy spoon diner. I turns out to be a really nice restaurant with a good varied menu. I order some fajitas and they arrive with the usual sizzling-plate extravagance. Best fajitas I've ever had. (And funnily enough, a friend of mine also had a good experience with Mexicali food in Ireland.)
* Maui, Hawaii, 1991. At the Dole pineapple plantation on a tour. It's all a bit touristy, but then came the bit where they gave us some pineapple to eat. It was fresh off the plant and I had a total mouthgasm. Best pineapple ever. Kind of ruined all other pineapple for me.
* Village 8, Hamilton, 1996. Watching a movie, I was about halfway through a box of popcorn. I picked up one piece and put it in my mouth. Somehow it was the perfect combination of popcorn, fake butter and salt. I almost groaned in pleasure. The rest of the bucket was shit, though.
* An abandoned mattress showroom, Mt Wellington, 2006. I was filming there with my team for the 48Hours film competition. We'd been working hard all day and we were hungry. Someone had ordered some shitty pizza - the kind with the evil cheese-filled dough. It arrived and I was so hungry I just picked up the neared slice to me and ate it. It was the best thing ever. That pizza got in my mouf fast.
* Waikato Uni student union cafe thing, 1996. I had a hazelnut latte and for the first time I realised that coffee didn't have to be instant and could be quite enjoyable.
-
But mostly, NZ On Air has posted We're All in This Together: Public Broadcasting in the Digital Age, a discussion paper I wrote with the assistance of Andrew Dubber.
I finally got around to reading this (in bed this morning, yay).
I found myself most interested in the part about NZ on Air's relationship with music. The fact that NZOA funds music videos and music production is all based around television and radio - bands have to be able to get videos of good enough quality to get played on TV and music of good enough quality to make it to radio playlists.
But now that so many of us are happy to watch low-res music videos on YouTube (and apparently US record companies are no longer happy to spend millions funding music video extravaganzas when videos like those made by OK Go are more popular), and that bands don't need commercial radio play in New Zealand to enjoy overseas success, is there still a role for NZOA to play in funding these types of artists?
If bands like the Checks and Shapeshifter and Fat Freddys Drop can find degrees of success overseas without having NZOA propping them up all the way along, why should other bands need it? Does it create a Feelersization; a welfare state for bands who wouldn't normally work hard enough or be good enough to survive without NZOA?
While radio and television still plays a huge part in music promotion in New Zealand, I like the levelling of the playing field that the internet is starting to create.
The music I've bought in the last couple of years or so is rarely a result of radio or television. It's more likely to be some web-based, whether a band's MySpace, a video on YouTube, an mp3 blog, a regular blog, or something unexpected (like the Klaxons song I heard played in one episode of the last series of UK Big Brother, that I was watching on YouTube).
I reckon there is still room for NZOA (or the government) to support music in varying ways, but the old system of music video and recording grants seems to be heading into obsolescence.
Merci beaucoup.
-
I think you'll find this was a dry run for a massive brainwashing operation that will be put into effect in next year's general election.
One day there'll be a Speaker post. "Lolz!!!", it will read. "Vote for Labour!!!! i can haz 4th term!!!!!"
We will vote for Labour, but yet be not quite sure why we voted.
-
Just pausing to remember Alan Coren, passed away from cancer at 69.
I was checking his Wikipedia entry to see if he was Giles and Victoria's dad (he is), when I saw this:
__On The News Quiz, Coren said that he edited his own entry on Wikipedia every morning just so he could change his date of birth to make himself appear younger__
That's how you do it.