Posts by Tom Semmens

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  • Island Life: The resignation of Captain Worth,

    Why is Whaleoil on TVNZ commenting on this??

    I switched channels immediately. I'm not having that son of a bitch in my living room.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report

  • Island Life: The resignation of Captain Worth,

    I just watched question time... John Key looked like he had seen a ghost, everyone looked grim and the it was the silence of the stunned.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report

  • Island Life: The resignation of Captain Worth,

    I find those Kiwiblog threads fascinating in the same way I found the most recent Section 59 stuff from chuck bird and co fascinating.

    It is a window into their mindset, a carefully constructed world of mutually supporting prejudices that cannot countenance the intrusion of any reality for fear that the removal of just one prop in the web of self-deceit will bring their whole world view crashing down.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report

  • Island Life: The resignation of Captain Worth,

    The Herald is speculating that has something to do with a complaint over his actions after the assault on Jarnil Sandhu...

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report

  • OnPoint: The Super Fun(d) Shell Game,

    While I'd be quite happy if Keith won Lotto, I doubt he'd share it around us all.

    Yes, that is one fatal flaw in my otherwise flawless plan.

    Just get a baby boomer minister to tell him we are defering payment of his prize for eleven years, and pretend we will still have the money then or we'll resign.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report

  • Island Life: The resignation of Captain Worth,

    Mind you, it'll probably be threatening to slap a parking warden with his ministerial warrant or something.

    We NEVER have juicy scandals in N.Z.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report

  • Island Life: The resignation of Captain Worth,

    Criminal matter? Hasn't he also been called as a witness in the Glucina/Saunder stoush? What on earth is going on?

    One would think that a member of the Auckland elite would be free from the taint of criminality and scandal... Oh... hang on...

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report

  • OnPoint: The Super Fun(d) Shell Game,

    Anyway, nice piece Mr. Ng! You've been on fire lately.

    The Farrar index of accuracy is that the accuracy of your post is exactly relative to the speed and size of his response - so it seems on that basis you are pretty much 100% right.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report

  • Hard News: Swine flu, terror and Susan Boyle,

    I take it you never watch sports on TV, then ?

    If sports is the study of humans under pressure, surely this would cover most reality TV shows. Reality TV shows, like drama and sports shows, are about conflict.

    Really? Pressure? I recall the words of Australian cricketer and ex-WWII fighter pilot Keith Miller when asked by Michael Parkinson about pressure on the cricket field:

    "pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse, playing cricket is not".

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report

  • Hard News: Swine flu, terror and Susan Boyle,

    Geoff, most thinking people who talk about reality TV are not thinking about Time Team or The Antiques RoadShow. They are thinking about Survivor or those silly ones where a bunch of ignorant egotists are stuck in a house or on an island forever. The difference is one sort is all about the excruciating banality of the ordinary and the exploitation of fools for a voyeuristic audience only one step removed from the baying mobs of the Roman circus and one sort isn't.

    "Reality" TV is an oxymoron. Any reality is edited out. It is cheap, manipulative TV for stupid people who get given what they deserve. It mostly burns off anyone one with a brain.

    The amount of "reality" TV that most people have been subjected to over the last decade or more amounts to exercise in mind warping that has completely skewed people's values. The reason why TV news resembles the E channel is because people are now convinced the Susan Boyle is as important as the budget or an act of terrorism.

    A quote I read over at Steve Price's blog that seems appropriate here:

    From the third season of Northern Exposure:

    Maurice Minnifield (local magnate and Cicely’s newspaper proprietor): You give ‘em what they want. That’s the role of journalism.

    Joel Fleishman: No, Maurice, that’s the role of professional wrestling

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report

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