Posts by InternationalObserver
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I played football in an Auckland Saturday league this season against Ahmed Zaoui and 10 other, rather younger, Muslims... does the SIS know about this?
They do now ...
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NB: The NYT story on Rubin is 10 pages long, but it contains gems such as:
In the early Metallica sessions, Rubin has been exacting about different drum sounds. "Lars" — Ulrich, the drummer — "will play two things for me, and I'll say, 'This one is great and that one is terrible,' " Rubin recalled.
"Lars will say: 'How do you know? They both sound good to me.' Well, I just know." -
NY Times story on Columbia signing Rick Rubin to turn around the company
The mighty music business is in free fall — it has lost control of radio; retail outlets like Tower Records have shut down; MTV rarely broadcasts music videos; and the once lucrative album market has been overshadowed by downloaded singles, which mainly benefits Apple. "The music business, as a whole, has lost its faith in content," David Geffen, the legendary music mogul, told me recently. "Only 10 years ago, companies wanted to make records, presumably good records, and see if they sold. But panic has set in, and now it's no longer about making music, it's all about how to sell music."
__Which I discovered via this blog on HuffPo:__
Dear Rick Rubin (or Somebody): Why Not Surf the "Velocity of Music?"
The question has two parts: 1) Can anybody save the music business? 2) If so, can Rick Rubin?
Then there's the implicit question: If by the "the music business" we mean the matrix of corporations that distribute recorded music today, should it be saved? -
What a shame you couldn't get to Valencia earlier in the year. You might have been able to pour cold water on our belief that the Amerca's Cup was the second most important sporting tournament IN THE WORLD!! (ranking just below the Olympics). It never ceases to amaze me what bollocks our Sports Bodies (via their PR lackeys, and The Sports Minister) foist upon the ignorant masses - most of whom haven't actually travelled beyond Sydney and have no idea that the world does not give two (cents) about NewZild. Or they just love sport so much they don't freakin' care and think the government (ie Taxpayer) should pay.
BTW David: there's a charming little cafe in Paris, down by the river, called Chez Touriste I'd like you to check out for me. Ask for Francoise, the tall and impossible good-looking french waiter, and punch him in the nose for me. He charged me $14 for a lemonade.
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... too lazy to dial talkback radio ...
(aaargh, why do I care about the pediantrists?)
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... too lazy dial to talkback radio ...
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it's a fairly striking example of the way that commercial radio is becoming irrelevant as a music discovery platform.
Puh-lease! It's a drop in the bucket! You digital types forget that Joe Blow is lazy and really does stick to what he knows. But do I accept that there are more and more options on how we watch and listen - which leaves me to wonder how it will all end. I suspect a modern equivalent of Babel.
There are already thousands of musicians out there crying because they can't get 'heard' and wondering 'how the F did that ahole get a record deal?'. Can you imagine what the result will be if the TV production industry goes the same way? There's a hundred channels on US cable, and now we could see a thousand more in the interweb? Crikey. How do you build an audience? Without an audience you won't get paid. Is our future Lonelygirl15? (no link, spare yourselves)
I guess the interweb really will become the opiate of the masses, the great pacifier. Already struggling musicians are posting songs to MySpace et al and feeling validated because 378 people have downloaded it and that's really important, man.
Next thing you know we'll have websites where people too lazy dial talkback radio can spiel off their thought for the day and feel self important that their world view has been 'heard'. Sure, they may not actually be sane enough to get a letter published in the newspaper but they can log on any time they like and write long posts, and fool themselves into thinking they might have made a difference. (When in reality everyone is saying 'oh, that guy' and hitting the scroll button.)I put my ipod in my pocket and use the scroll wheel through the jeans
So that's what you were doing, eh? I haven't heard such a creative explanation since a certain Senator was caught tapping his foot in a public toilet : )
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What's the point of "snipers on the roof" anyway? To take up all the good spots?
I would presume they're there to shoot the Lee Harvey Oswalds of this world. But I can't recall any actual incidence of actual snipering (by the authorities) tho'. I guess it's all about looking tough. Like those kick-ass Presidential Motorcades:
White House reporter Connie Lawn is trying to get official motorcades to slim down and slow down. -
I have very little respect for Cunliffe's actions in outing the details of this guy's case.
Didn't TVNZ's Close Up drive this one, by telling Cunliffe "if we can get Panah to waive his right to privacy, will you then release this 'secret' information?". It's not really fair for Panah to say "I want entry" but then claim right-to-privacy when the Govt wants to explain why they want to deny him entry.
I would rather give $10 to helping a third world country develop ... than give $1 to a refugee
Ah, yes Teach a man to fish.... The flip side of this is Howard giving Nauru $Xmillion to take the Tampa refugees (and we took some for free!! - damn those Aussies know how to f#ck us at every turn!!)
the best thing we can do on that front is help pick up the pieces for those who manage to escape
Yes, but by allowing ppl to 'jump the queue' you encourage others to do the same. Why follow the process if you see others getting refugee status by ripping up their passports and finding Jesus?
Prez Clinton stayed in a hotel in the Square in Christchurch
Hmmm, I could tell a similar story in Auckland but that might out me. Suffice to say I was being a smarty pants on a cordless phone, telling someone how I was surprised there were no SWAT/sniper teams on the roof of Clinton's hotel, and it would be easy to take out Clinton from where I was standing. Just as I finished the call I leaned further over the balcony I was standing on (dangerously so) and saw at least two dozen SWAT/sniper guys in full on black armageddon uniforms, together with innnumerable radio/satelite eqipment. They were on the roof alright, hidden from general view. Two minutes later there was a knock on the door of my hotel room with an SIS guy asking me if everything was okay. He was dressed to look like Hotel staff, but [duh] his blazer was completely different to the actual Hotel I was in!
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Maybe the US had it right all along, maybe we should try rendition? Okay, maybe not. But I'm not keen on ppl coming here and subverting the Refugee process. If ppl want to rip up passports in planes then they aren't helping their case.
I don't want to see anyone deported to their death, but if we're not careful we could end up with an influx of gay christians from totalitarian islamic regimes. Leaving no room for those poor white Afrikaaners.