Posts by Matthew Littlewood
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You need our permission now? Or are "the Others" a sinister cabal that secretly runs PAS?
In all seriousness, you should comment more on film/literary/arts matters. You make some interesting points.
Cheers, my comment was just a little bit of self-mocking silliness, nothing serious about it all.
But haven't you heard? PA is run exclusively a group of commie lesbian dole bludging socialist members of the Labour Party- well that's what redbaiter seems to think anyway....
In all seriousness, merry Xmas one and all!
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Merry Xmas to RB and the rest of the PA team, I've loved reading all the contributions and the insightful and goodhumoured discussion. It's been my first stop on the 'net every time I load up Firefox for sometime now. My internet resolution would be to get a bit more involved in the film/music/art/literature discussion here, if the others would let me. And if I get some time to do so.
Also, I promised to organise a proper get-together with some of the ChCh PA regulars (I've already met a couple of them, they know who they are), as it would good to finally put some faces to names. How does sometime in the new year sound?
Merry Xmas to one and all!
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Cheers for the VU boot link, RB- I remember it being mentioned on another (music and film) messageboard I frequent, but it's pleasantly surprising that it's such a good, energised set. Someone should get the rights and reissue it properly, like they did with the (excellent) Quine Tapes a few years back.
RB, seeing you're a fan of Jenny Lewis, what do you make of Rilo Kiley? I must admit, I've only been able to totally get behind them on the last record (the one their "diehard" fans were nonplussed by), precisely because it puts Lewis right at the forefront, musically and lyrically. Not sure what it was- there was something rather precious and self-consciously introverted about their earlier stuff, whereas their last record, brazen and occasionally clumsy as it occasionally was, at least went for the jugular.
That said, I like Jenny Lewis's incarnation as a "cool-and-knowing-but-rootsy female singer-songwriter", though sometimes I think Neko Case does the same thing with more heart and even more bite.
Anyway, curiously, I think I've spent less on music this year than any other year, but the TV on the Radio, MGMT, Luke Budha and Santogold, have all got extensive play, while what I've heard of by London Zoo by "The Bug" sounds super-awesome: abrasive, filthy, ridiculous, but undeniably invigorating.
Nice interviewer with the BDO promoter- his comment about Metallica reminds me that of the seven BDOs I've been to, that was the most unpleasant in terms of atmosphere. It really felt like there were 35,000 there to solely see one band and bugger the rest of the minority who were keener to catch the stuff around it. Still, it was worth it for the Flaming Lips' performance that year, for sure.
However, something's wrong with that quote:
"We kind of went to Metallica and said, `well, we are going to have to spend a lot of money to make it not about Metallica and you are going to have to work with us on that.
"And they did, that was the condition of it. They didn't force us too hard on the fee because we needed to get the Strokes and Flaming Lips and Joe Strummer..."
In case I'm misremembering it, didn't the great Joe Strummer perform at the BDO in 2000? He had passed away by the time Metallica headlined the BDO in 2004.
Btw, the Strokes performance that year was one of the more insufferable I've seen from an act there precisely because they only gave exactly what the audience wanted- no more or less. For all their spontaneity they may as well have been miming to the actual records. Certainly the renditions were note-for-note.
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Jeez, that performance from Nevil Gibson was truly spectacular. His logic was so circular and he seemed to think that if he repeated the same statement over and over again ("they're from the same worldview") it would somehow make sense.
Re: taping and "moral equivalence"Well, I recall specifically saying that things like wire taps, bugging a person's home etc (ya know, the illegal stuff) would be wrong. But what the Nat secret taper did was not illegal, in terms of recording a conversation you're involved in. How ethically dubious it is to do so is another question, but that depends on the circumstances.
I can't help but agree with that and argue that in Gordon Campbell got it (mostly) right in his piece in Scoop on the issue earlier this year. And yes, I have thought about this issue in detail- well enough to write a 4,000 word feature/research essay on, anyway....and I don't feel like dragging it out just yet, but might be tempted. Y'know, if you all wanted to be bored...sorry, enthralled to sleep. (I will say though, that both Hager and the Privacy Comissioner were both very, very useful in providing info and context for separate arguments.)
As an aside, I'm disappointed to hear that bafflingly bizarre John Key tourism video has been taken off Youtube. How did the people in charge let it through in the first place? It's not just the production that is spectacularly amatuerish, but John Key doesn't even pronounce "Maori" and "culture" correctly! And it sounds like he's making shit up on the spot, especially the stuff about Queenstown, which then leads him to free-associating about golf and whales or some such nonsense.
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And the latest Herald commentary (not editorial) from Audrey Young, where she highlights that Bill English has mildly praised Cullen for leaving them in a "reasonable position, having saved for the rainy day" is causing the most extraordinary cognitive dissonance over at Kiwiblog.
It's hilarious to read down to the end: http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2008/12/how_bad_is_labours_legacy.htmlI'm afraid the commentary is just too bile-ridden and invective-laden to make me feel anything but queasy, but I get your point. One thing, though- has anyone here met the poster who calls himself "Redbaiter"? I've been following his posts for a while, and he seems to blame absolutely everything on socialism. Even problems that have clearly been caused by either an unregulated freemarket or appalling lack of financial oversight (e.g. the subprime mortage crisis) are blamed on socialism.
And sometimes he seems to believe that "socialists" actually go around poisioning other people's minds with their agenda. I don't mean to sound nasty, I really don't, but can this guy be for real? It seriously boggles the mind and it's one reason why I don't think I could post on that board- he's just so unpleasant to read.
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Obamania
Out of curiosity, was it the Daily Show which first popularised the term? I remember they did a sketch on it back in early January 2007.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=81465&title=obamania
Actually, looking back on that video, it's amazing how many of the FOX/neocon smears in Obama were already in place. Of course, Slate would go even further and create an entire vocabulary based on the possibilities...
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What annoys me is that it will fall over, probably rightly so at this stage, and then money will be thrown at Carisbrook, which is just throwing good money after bad. No one will be brave enough to suggest that Dunedin have a decent venue for another few decades. As Legbreak notes, Carisbrook is just crap, and I've only taken my son there once.
Yeah, it's a wasted opportunity all-round, marred by poor planning, pointless infighting and a lack of perspective and foresight. I used to go Carisbrook pretty regularly actually- I don't think I missed a home NPC game in 1998 and 1999, and went to several Super 12/14 matches (although, ironically, I kinda stopped going after my second year of Uni back in '03), and attended the few ODIs we got there (Astle had a habit of scoring centures at Carisbrook!)- but in its current state, it's very, very sorry indeed. The last time I went was for the test match back in 2005 (I think), and the state of the seating was pretty appalling.
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well they've been pushing it as a "multi-purpose" stadium - but apart from rugby haven't really found someone else who will use it (it wont work for cricket) - they've suggested papal visits, big concerts (but national promoters, when asked, pointed out they couldn't fill it and wouldn't even think of booking acts that size for Dunedin).
Let's fact it planning on 30,000 people attending anything in a city of ~100,000 is, well, a bit silly - sure you might fill it once every few years but, let's assume you can fill it 10 times a year - that's 300,000 bums on seats a year - assuming you get a 20 year mortgage (pushes the $188M cost to $400M at a good rate) - that's 20M/year or we're subsidising $66/bum/seat - you can see why it's not going to be economically viable if the people who attend are asked to pay for it
I think that's the crux of it- what it's been "pushed" as isn't anywhere near the reality of what it will end up to be, and what they're expecting the ratepayers to stump for it seems, at this end of the bargain, the public was being sold if not a swindle or deception, then at least not exactly the whole story.
As I've said, I stopped following the issue in detail when I moved up to ChCh about 11 months ago, but have they actually made any guaruntees as to how it will be funded, and how much the public is expected to stump up for it?
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The real problem isn't IMHO that Dunedin needs a $2-400M stadium - we have a perfectly good ground in Carisbrook, we just spent a lot of money on it - the real problem is in the economics of rugby - no one wants to go now that they play the games at night rather than in the afternoon, especially when you can watch it on your big screen TV at home with the fire on. Besides the days of supporting the provincial team because it was full of people you went to school with are long gone - that personal connection is gone - now it's just a bunch of guys playing in your name
At the moment the local Rugby Union is in the hole to a couple of million to the city - they don't have the money and can't pay it - the solution to this shouldn't be to build them a big stadium - it doesn't really reward sensible fiscal behaviour.
Those are all good points, and part of the wider picture worth discussing, but what has frustrated me most about the stadium issue in Dunedin is that what it was initially promoted as- "Dunedin's answer to the 'Cake Tin'", more or less- is just not going to happen, and chances are it never was in the first place. I do think Dunedin would be very well served by a proper multi-purpose venue (and I'm not just talking one that could be used for a variety of sports, but one that could also be used concerts, functions, etc) with proper ties to the University (e.g. it could be used by the Physio/Sports Med departments,etc ).
And having it covered, to boot, would've just made sense in Dunedin, as the recent cricket test match has shown. (Also Dunedin has to get real and realise that the days of a 35,000 capacity stadium selling out even once a year, on average, are over as far as this city is concerned).
The trouble unfortunately, is that as it stands, the current model seems to be replacing one white elephant (i.e. Carisbrook) with oneanother. Stadiums as a general rule don't make money, but wouldn't it be great if there were some foresight to combine a lot of services at once.
Which is where they still seem to be now. After nearly 18 months of handwringing.
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On another note, did anyone ever figure out what "come home to the feeling" actually meant?