NZBC

Quotes of the week (and it’s only Wednesday)

“The average multiplex is surely not long for this world. Already, 85 percent of Hollywood’s business comes from home entertainment—DVDs and the like. Suits me. Or so I thought until, on the way home from the hell of Harry Potter, I stopped to buy the third boxed set in the “Looney Tunes Golden Collection.” Loved the first two: Daffy, Bugs, Porky, beautifully restored, tons of special features. But, for some reason, this new set begins with a special announcement by Whoopi Goldberg explaining what it is we’re not meant to find funny: “Unfortunately at that time racial and ethnic differences were caricatured in ways that may have embarrassed and even hurt people of colour, women and ethnic groups,” she tells us sternly. “These jokes were wrong then and they’re wrong today”—unlike, say, Whoopi Goldberg’s most memorable joke of recent years, the one at that 2004 all-star Democratic Party gala in New York where she compared President Bush to her, um, private parts. There’s a gag for the ages.”
- Mark Steyn in the Chicago Sun-Times

“Can you report it happened at the cheap end?”
- Resident of Paritai Drive to Herald reporter after a P lab exploded there on Friday night.

“Due to changing climatic conditions, 1-in-100-year events can now happen at any time”.
- Radio NZ news

“Florence in the 15th century – the quattrocento – must have been a lot like New York after the Second World War....”
- Teaser for article on Slate

“It was indeed a revelation to learn that half of the most popular cookbooks sold worldwide are inspired by British cuisine (“Books for cooks”, November 5th). But isn't it sad that very few Britons appear to have actually read them.”
- Letter to the Economist

Reading list

Spotted, in the leafy precincts of a central Auckland suburb, the lissome figure of Anita McNaught, just around the time when TVNZ is casting around for a newsreader supremo, or possibly suprema.

The fragrant McNaught is probably too English for local tastes, though the anglification of Radio NZ continues apace, without any apparent shrieks of neo-colonialism.

The smart money’s on Simon Dallow, though we suspect his legal background could make him harder to nail to a employer-friendly contract than some. And we have a soft spot for some of the other contenders for the post. People named Bernie, Wendy, Kate and Peter have also been spoken to.

Of course, many are assuming Ralston himself won’t be puppetmaster for a whole lot longer.

Nanny capitalism and not so ID

There's a good discussion on Air New Zealand's and Qantas' seating practices for kids over at Frogblog. Is it PC or just an old fashioned moral panic? Choice quote from Sam Buchanan:

It interests me, however, that the National Party are trying to tell companies how to run their own businesses. This seems an example of how nanny capitalism demands even stricter regulation and the right to interfere more in people’s lives than the state.

Meanwhile, all hell has broken loose in Truth Laid Bear's blog ecosystem, proving once and for all that intelligent design is a crock. Blogs have been evolving and devolving like crazy. Farrar is a Marsupial, Sir Humphrey's too.

And us? Having clawed our way over the corpses of other blogs for three months to get to Flappy Bird status, we're now a Lowly Insect! We weren't that low when we launched.

NZ Bear, aka God, asks for patience.

Update: According to Farrar, Keith Locke has referred the seating issue to the Human Rights Commission, presumably to defend every man's fundamental right to have a kid seated next to him on a plane. Maybe we can make it compulsory? Or have it included in the Bill of Rights?

This is offensive to men, but for the life of me I can't see how it's a human rights issue. That's just political correctness gone mad.

Battleship Potemkin by The Pet Shop Boys?!

Tennant/Lowe/Dresdner Sinfoniker
(EMI/Parlophone)
CD Review: ***
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein’s silent film masterpiece Battleship Potemkin (1925) was re-scored in 2004 by Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe for a free performance in Trafalgar Square. Titles such as ‘The Odessa Staircase’ echo those of Edmund Meisel’s original score, but now hints of Underworld complement the bass drones and swirling strings. It’s all going swimmingly until Tennant’s mock-Al Stewart kicks in, halfway through. A brave project, nonetheless. Find it here.

Lit tiff 2005

There's nothing like a good literary tiff, and the one shaping up between experimental writer Ben Marcus (pictured) and Jonathan Franzen promises to be a goodie. Marcus recently attacked literary realists, and Franzen in particular, in a piece in Harpers. Is it just a clash of "two new young, embittered male egos?"

Personally I like Marcus' argument. I think he finds something, a weakness, in Franzen that is not obvious. Is he a failed experimentalist? We await Franzen's response. But in the meantime here's another less favourable view and Slate gives its rather sober take here.

Lighten up guys and get into it. Fight! Fight! Fight!

Dance, dance, dance

Photographer David LaChapelle, noted mostly for his high fashion shoots with celebrities such as Madonna, takes us deep into the jungles of Los Angeles in his fabulous documentary Rize, a film about dance; dance as a cure for drugs, gangs and drive-bys. It's a journey worth taking, because it is so unlikely and in the end inspiring. More here

Ten questions

Well, that took a while, didn't it, and don't the Aussies hate it?

Will the All Blacks really fall apart if Tana spends more time with his family?

Worried a few of our grand slam tries were the result of forward passes?

Don't you wish that you could tell the Herald to report that "it happened at the cheap end of the street"?

Do you worry that TVNZ's programmers don't know anything about what people want to watch?

Or that 300-odd, or 300 odd, peoplemeter homes decide just that?

That The Alice was a piece of glossy shite even before it hit the screen?

Did you really think summer was here? You fool

Why are NZ drivers so inconsiderate and incompetent? Yes, that includes you

Did you already know that you paid too much to Telecom and Vodafone and your power company?

Mixed lollies

Yes folky wolkies, it's that time of the week again. Grammarian Mark pointed to this about Lynn Truss, author of the unexpected best seller on English grammar, Eats Shoots and Leaves. This about Helmut Kohl on his encounters with a certain Iron Lady.

He also ferreted out these instructions on how to build the perfect paper plane. And this on why belief in intelligent design might be an inherited trait. He also likes this on how Europeans work less and riot more.

Christopher "Tax 'em High" Bell has a softness for hobos. And this, via Onan's Tutor: Teen charged with having sex with dummy. Uroskin loves the use of the French phrase 'sans pants' to describe the perp’s sexual technique.

“If the reporter had been really historically aware he could have written 'sans-culottes'. But the horny guy really impressed me by shucking his slacks completely because usually, for a quickie, boys unbutton and only slightly lower their pants so their arses remain unexposed.”

He also brings glad tidings about Auckland's Academy Cinema. France is the country du jour with this on French responses to 9/11 and beyond (registration required).

From me, just this on the new face of justice in Iraq.

Don't forget, vote for us early and vote for us often. Ciao!

Peak oil

The ABC had a very good documentary on the discussion about "peak oil" last night. Peak oil is the idea that at some point production peaks and then falls while demand continues to increase, driving the price of oil up beyond acceptable levels.

It's a different kind of crisis scenario, not about when we run out of oil, but when we just can't get enough of the stuff.

Now a week or three ago, and I can't remember where I saw or read this, someone made what I think is a great suggestion. That we start thinking of issues such as peak oil and climate change in risk management terms. What are the chances of this happening, what are the risks, what would the cost be if those risks eventuated and what can we reasonably do (and spend) to minimise the risks.

To my mind such an approach might take us beyond discussions about whether humans cause climate change to thinking about it in a similar way to thinking about insurance. It could lead to outcomes such as the Perth Ecobus trial.

I think if a corporate risk management model were to be adopted, you might see a gradual alignment of environmental and corporate thinking in these otherwise highly politicised debates.

So long, George

When NZBC first posted a tribute to George Best on 30 October, it didn’t look as though he’d survive the day, let alone four weeks during which he was to enjoy a brief, almost Lazarus-like recovery. Perhaps sensing that it would be bad form to speak ill of the dead, the hacks were swift to dismiss Best while he was still hanging on. James Lawton of the Independent claimed Best was “guilty” of a wasted life, which to me doesn’t sound all that far removed from the “righteous indignation” of which he accuses those who said he hadn’t deserved a liver transplant. Others said he’d been in the “dead box” for years. One called him a waster and the “patron saint of drunks”. Characteristically, George wasn’t listening. His struggle over the last month was as wilful, unpredictable and captivating as the rest of his life. But he’s gone now, and pretty much everything else I have to say about my first hero is here.

Critical Mass: Shopgirl

Shopgirl, a comic love triangle starring Steve Martin and written by him (from his own novella), has advance screenings this weekend. Should you go see it? Listen to what the American critics said.

Bush's approval rating blues

From Daily Kos

Walk, Winston, walk

Chris Trotter, writing in New Zealand's best business weekly, has called on Winston Peters to resign immediately:

But to take the job of Foreign Minister, and with it the obligation to be the international face of another political party's policies, was to step away not only from the undertakings he gave to the nation on 7 September, but to turn his back on the hopes and aspirations of the movement he founded and still purports to lead.
Peters owes his followers something better than this bizarre, lip-synched swan-song, written and performed off-stage by Helen Clark and Phil Goff. Yet, if he attempts to sing his party's own song, the results are likely to be disastrous. Not only will he confuse and alarm our friends and neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region, and around the world, but he will also provoke a full-scale political crisis back home. And that can lead only to his humiliation, a new general election, or both.
He should resign immediately.

This arrangement is seen as a joke in Australia, where Peters has developed some notoriety over the years, being equated over here by some (perhaps unfairly as he's much better dressed) with Pauline Hanson. I can't imagine how this arrangement can get any better.

Does Helen Clark have a plan B? If so, maybe she should just sack him.

The Edukators: Some people never change

Film review

Capitalism sucks, or does it? Every now and again, you see a film that doesn’t make much of an initial impression but which infects you like a virus, and you find yourself thinking about it days, weeks, months, even years later. German film The Edukators has a stupid name (its original title, Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei, was far more appropriate but sadly doesn’t translate well), is politically naïve and steers a course recklessly close to sentimentality, but it still succeeds in being memorable, worthwhile and entertaining. More…

Muslims, the PC BBC and WP

There are a couple of worthy posts around the local blogosphere this fine morning. First up is one from Farrar on New Zealand Muslims, which has the kind of balance many bloggers fail to deliver on this subject. The comments are well worth reading too.

Second is Russell Brown of Public Address on the BBC and its imaginary use of the term "malicious criminals" as a PC substitute for the term "terrorists". He also notes a further development in the white phosphorus case. The Pentagon itself once classified WP as a chemical weapon.

Just run that one by me again, would you?

I thought I’d heard this on TV One Breakfast yesterday morning and nearly choked on my Coco Pops, but figured I’d missed some crucial, expounding point of the man’s harebrained argument at the time. Apparently not:

“…A big argument for the flat tax is that it’s fair — you treat everybody equally.” Daniel Mitchell, The Heritage Foundation

It would seem that under the flat tax system proposed by the Heritage Foundation we’d all start off with the same amount of cash, just as you do on Blogshares. I’d be all in favour of that, but then I’m a Blogshares multimillionaire, as well as a professional fantasist.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, could someone humour me and explain how flat tax would treat everybody equally?

Upside down (2)

Further to Mark’s recent post about TV-Land (or, more accurately, the comment I made in reply to it), the following is the complete entry from the Sky Digital TV onscreen guide for a programme recently shown on the Arts Channel:

“Boris Akunin is interviewed by the famous French TV journalist Christine Ockrent, producer and anchor of the weekly current affairs programme France Europe Express on France 3 Television.”

Now, call me as old-fashioned as Rob O’Neill, but wouldn’t it be helpful for Sky/the Arts Channel to give their viewers a few hints about the man being interviewed? Or has TV’s cult of personality become so dominant that the identity of the host has entirely eclipsed that of her guests?

And yes, I am ashamed I didn’t know that Boris Akunin, a.k.a. Grigori Chkhartishvili, is a fellow writer. That and $2.95 will get you a cup of coffee or a week’s subscription to the Arts Channel. Whichever you’d prefer.

Congratulations Maxim

The Maxim Institute has bounced back from its recent plagiarism scandal and won second prize in an international award - for initiative in public relations!

The Atlas Economic Research Foundation, whose aim is to "achieve a society of free and responsible individuals, based upon private property rights, limited government under the rule of law and the market order" and who support "intellectual entrepreneurs" worldwide made the award.

There is simply no organisation more deserving of an award for intellectual "entrepreneurship" than Maxim. Well done.

Upside down

More cat and mouse for video content providers and users. Digital recording company TiVo is to let its customers download TV programmes to replay on their video iPods and PlayStation Portables.

TiVo's service, which is sadly only available in the US, UK and Canada, has lots of bits of cleverness that let you record TV shows digitally and play them how you want, on TV or your laptop. But now that the digital rabbit's out of the portable hat, the pressure will increase on other providers to also let you play Desperate Housewives on the road.

It could, however, upset the applecart, says The Guardian. ABC struck a deal with Apple in October to sell certain TV episodes through its iTunes store for $US2 each.

The video content companies and broadcasters would rather you buy another version of a DVD or CD you already own – for instance, UMD versions of films are coming out that you can play on your PlayStation Portable.

It's apparently still going to be a tricky business to copy a TV show to your portable device – it has to go via your PC first. But this sort of stuff is tricky anyway - yes, it's technically possible to do this with your DVDs right now. (No, I haven't the foggiest.)

Why am I interested in this? Not because I'm likely to hack a DVD to play on a PSP I don't have. But I naively believe you should be able to use your property exactly as you like, as long as it's for personal use.

And late to this, but good news is good news. Australia is to let NZers enter the same customs channel, as we have let them for yonks. It should be like travelling domestic, of course, as CER philosophically promised. As long as we could still buy duty-free, like we do when do when we travel to the South Island.

Of course, in a quid pro quo, we might have to let the Aussies have GST refunds...

The Guardian and Chomsky

Here's a mainstream media scandal local wingers don't seem to want to report. UK paper The Guardian wrote a large profile of US academic/philosopher Noam Chomsky on October 31. It was pretty scathing.

A load of Chomsky hating bloggers climbed on board. Despite their usual loathing of The Guardian, it seems they loathed Chomsky more. Sir Humphrey's, a purely random example, which is relaunching itself as "The Department of Unspin", was pretty keen on the story.

Now The Guardian, whose circulation contrary to some reports (see comments) appears to be rising strongly since its relaunch in the European Berliner format, has apologised and withdrawn the story.

Full story here.

Is this the end?

Nothing on NZ Pundit.

If you were to do a blog family tree of the New Zealand right blogs, NZ Pundit would be at the top. I think David Farrar has acknowledged as much quite recently.

As most of you will know I'm not a right winger, but I did enjoy the occasional stoush with those boys and felt those debates were all carried out with a certain generosity, hopefully from both sides.

Five minutes with Peter Gordon

In continuing the NZBC’s series of interviews with food legends we thought it was time to redress the salad, as it were, and talk to a Kiwi. Peter Gordon (author of Salads – The New Main Course) was born in Wanganui and moved to Melbourne in 1981, where he cooked for five years before travelling through South-East Asia, which helped to inspire his fusion style. He returned to New Zealand to set up and run the kitchen of The Sugar Club in Wellington for owners Ashley Sumner and Vivienne Hayman, before moving to London in 1989. The Sugar Club in London — in Notting Hill and later in Soho — won prizes, including “Best Modern British Restaurant”; “Best Central Restaurant” in the Time Out Restaurant Awards; and “Best Pacific Rim Restaurant”. In 1999, the New Zealand Society in London named him “New Zealander of the Year”. He left to work on various projects before opening his widely acclaimed restaurant The Providores and Tapa Room in Marylebone High Street, in 2001. In 2005 the Restaurant Association of New Zealand presented him with its Westpac-sponsored Innovator’s Award. Peter joined NZBC for a virtual ristretto on the tail-end of yet another gruelling Auckland to London flight. More...

A Mt Rushmore for rejection

As George W. Bush equals Jimmy Carter's disapproval rating, Bruce Reed on Slate writes how both Bush presidents would earn a place on a "Mt Rushmore for Rejection". Very funny.

But I'm not much on conspiracy theories. I prefer to give conservatives the benefit of the doubt: They don't set out to fail, they just happen to be good at it.
So, don't be so hard on President Bush. He wasn't born with a 60 percent disapproval rating in his mouth. He earned it.

Pissed off Kiwis, English - and a Sri Lankan

There was no coverage at all of the All Black/England game here in Sydney over the weekend. Not on free to air and not on Foxtel, apparently due to "copyright problems". Needless to say that means there are a lot of pissed off Kiwis and English.

But a mate of mine, originally from Sri Lanka and now living in Melbourne, might just be the biggest All Black fan I know. He's asked if I know anyone who has a tape of the match. He's desperate to get his hands on it.

If you can supply a tape, he (and I) will be eternally grateful. Send me an email in the "Director-General" link top right and I'll send the address.

Christian charity

Adolf Fiinkensein talks the talk about the value of Christianity in the modern world over at Sir Humphrey's. I was wondering about his possible religious affiliations last week when I read this post about a pipe bomb found in a car in Sydney:

Only a pipe bomb and some incidentals this time. A couple of likely lads from Lilyfield. Of course the coppers couldn't mention any names or allude to any ethnic or religious connections. That just would not do.
I wonder how far Lilyfield is from the Lakemba mosque.

Why on earth could he not wait a day for the pair to appear in court? Predictably, he was wrong again:

A man has pleaded guilty to possessing an explosive after police allegedly found a home-made pipe bomb containing 30 nails in a car he was driving in Bondi. Police arrested Troy David Moffatt, 20, of no fixed abode, on Thursday night. He will be sentenced later this month.

No, Adolf, not all bombers are Muslim. Christian values, such as tolerance and charity, are great. You should try them some time.

Mixed lollies

Another week passes. It's been a good week for yours truly, but now I feel a cold coming on and tonight is poker night. Could be a fatal combination ahead of the weekend.

Still, my bloggies have come through with some entertaining reading matter. Mark points to this about the obsessive list man Ben Schott. And this on why Hollywood isn't in any hurry to make decent movies. Because the big studios are actually doing very well thank you. He also like this on whether God is an accident (and muses whether he's covered by ACC).

Stephen got this, on the Wizard of Oz, from Pop Bitch.

NZBC cub reporter Joe Bowman (11) has uncovered some scary anti-Catholic, anti-gay, anti-Muslim tracts from so-called Christian cartoonist Jack Chick. And NZBC interviewee Douglas Rushkoff, has blogged the second in his series of "Thought Viruses" from his forthcoming book, Get Back In The Box: Innovation From The Inside Out.

Evolvetv.tv, Chris says, is an interesting idea from these guys. They've been piloting what they describe as "reality-based broadcasting", which involves experts debating topics in the news in video-blog format. As they say, "When CNN is more painful to watch than Fox … there quite simply must be a market for an alternative." Co-founder Jeremy also has a blog, of course.

The Aboriginal art industry is now worth billions to the Australian economy, but the bubble seems to have burst. That may be no bad thing, says Germaine Greer.

And, via Arts and Letters, this, by J. Peder Zane, at triangle.com - today's kids might think we're shit and past it, but what are they doing about it? Nothing, it seems, because they just don't care.

Ciao.

Coming home

Review: The Constant Gardener

What a stroke of brilliance to convince the Brazilian Fernando Meirelles, who was behind the terrifically compelling City of God, to direct a John le Carré thriller. He finds vitality in Kenya's brilliantly colourful, crowded busy markets, shanty towns, open sewers. He finds hope in its dry red soil, which is everywhere, blowing over windscreens and the instant railway-side bazaars, everwhere except where the foreigners are, where pockets of lush plants grow in cool courtyards or champagne is guzzled in smart hotels at which security checks for car bombs with mirrors. His masterful storytelling frames first-rate acting from Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. More

We won

Against pretty good odds, northern TV time zones, population size and 120 million other things, New Zealand has won the rights to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

What a shock. Everyone, put up your hands, was thinking it was between South Africa and Japan, but the votes clearly came from IRB council members' hearts at least as much as their heads.

It's the payoff for being a rugby-mad country, which is a, uh, mixed blessing at times.

This is our Olympics. We'll never host that particular tournament. That means we have to make our infrastructure - our roads, public transport, venues - much, much better. Brilliant. Make them world class? Well, who would have thought we'd have won the thing in the first place?

According to Bloomberg, it's worth the investment. It's the third-biggest sports event by TV audience, attracting over 3b pairs of eyes. It returns hundreds of millions of dollars to the economy, so if even at 55,000 capacity Eden Park isn't big enough for a final, perhaps we should build another stadium.

Congrats to Jock Hobbs and the team. We may have average managers because we don't have enough big companies to up standards, but we obviously have some kick-arse negotiating nous.

Good news for the Net

ICANN, reporting to the US Department of Commerce, remains in charge of internet administration. China and Iran wanting a bigger say in this is enough to raise a few alarm bells.

Pointing to the interest of authoritarian countries like China, Iran and Saudi Arabia in switching to a UN-based system, US officials warned that such change would increase the risk of censorship and slow technological improvement.

Left-wing bias warning: report from The Independent.

Update: Asked how this all became an issue, Paul Twomey of ICANN said the term "governance" (as in "internet governance") only has a clear meaning in French and English. In other languages it translated as "government". So there was a large degree of misunderstanding about what was really being talked about.

He said at a high level there was a clash of ideas between traditional top-down approaches to development and new network, multi-stakeholder and evolutionary approaches. Even the more savvy diplomats involved, some with experience of the telecommunications industry, were not used to the more organic model of development that the internet represents.

White phosphorus and other stuff

First, the US has corrected itself (again) on using white phosphorus in Falluja, now admitting it was used as an incendiary weapon there.

The BBC's defence correspondent Paul Wood says having to retract its denial has been a public relations disaster for the US military.

Just as Sir Humphrey's predicted it would be. Well done guys. The truth will out.

There's some other interesting stuff kicking around today as well. First Fred Kaplan, a "lefty writing for the MSM" on Bush's pushback strategy: "I was wrong, but so were you".

Here's some good news for the Girlie and other boomer haters. How to tell when the boomers lose control of the media. The "shocker" link is, well, a shocker.

Bye, bye Viley

Miss Vile has shut up shop. It's such a shame. The Vile File has become one my favourite online watering holes and from the comments from my bloggies, theirs too.

But with her out of the way, you can all vote for us in the Netguide Awards!

No 3G network for NZ: Telstra

Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo, among a raft of announcements today, confirmed there would be no investment in building a 3G mobile broadband network in New Zealand. He said the regulatory framework was the opposite of Australia, return on capital was not high enough for the investment and Telstra would continue to discuss those issues in an "investor friendly way" to try and influence the environment.

TelstraClear would instead focus on its business customers and look for "breakout" opportunities. Telecom and Vodafone both offer 3G mobile services in New Zealand.

Some of that old black magic

Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The fourth in the series isn’t quite a rebel-without-a-wand Harry Potter and the Gob of Phlegm, but director Mike Newell has extracted a smidgen of real pathos from his young players, some genuine tension out of the challenges that face several young participants in an interschool tournament, and even a dose of creepiness that's been pretty much absent in the earlier films. Will you flinch? Maybe once or twice, perhaps when the fanged mermaids come on the scene. This certainly isn’t Splash. More

Unintelligent design

10 examples that disprove the so-called ‘theory’ of intelligent design:

1. The human birth canal

2. Cancer

3. Asthma

4. The Sun will die

5. Male pattern baldness

6. Oil is concentrated in the Middle East

7. Chocolate and alcohol are bad for you

8. Mosquitoes

9. Entropy

10. Windows

Underworld’s ‘lovely broken thing’

As you may have read in last week’s Mixed lollies, a new selection of download-only music is available from the NZBC’s favourite audio alchemists, Underworld. ‘lovely broken thing’ was released online on 9 November 2005, so New Zealanders can still be among the first in the world to hear it. You’ll find some short, QuickTime audio samples here, and I think you’ll agree that they augment Underworld’s existing broad palette with some new experiments in sound. For just £5 (that’s less than NZ$13) you get nearly 30 minutes (28’36”) of music, a gallery of 177 original photographs and the cover artwork for your photo iPod. Even if we do get a New Zealand iTunes store early in the New Year, you won’t be able to buy this from Apple because it’s available exclusively here. I think you’ll agree, ‘lovely broken thing’ represents great value for money even if it is broken — the definition of which is up for discussion. More…

Five minutes with Don McGlashan

Don McGlashan (photographed here by Lisa Lark), the subject of the second of the NZBC’s interviews with local music legends, has five entries in ‘New Zealand’s Top 100 Songs Of All Time’, compiled by the Australasian Performing Rights Association. Dominion Road, Anchor Me and a number of other McGlashan compositions have become radio standards and, by extension, part of the nation’s cultural fabric and emotional memory. It isn’t just a Kiwi thing: when the Mutton Birds released the album ‘Envy Of Angels’ in 1997, it made it to the UK Sunday Times’ top 10 list. After the release of ‘Rain, Steam & Speed’ in 1999, those sneaky Brits came over all Australian and tried to claim Don as their own when the same newspaper described him as “one of Britain’s most intelligent, poetic songwriters”. Well, we’ve stolen him back, and the Auckland-resident singer, songwriter and sailor recently dropped by for a virtual cappuccino, during which he scored bonus points for mentioning both Frank Zappa and Christmas turkeys. More…

NZ wages fall behind

A few days ago "Darren" made a comment on this site that wage and salary growth in New Zealand had fallen behind the CPI for the last quarter. I thought I'd have a look at that and hunted out the figures for the last two years. Then I decided to do a similar exercise for Australia, and here are the results.

It's not pretty. New Zealand wages have not grown in real terms over the period and certainly have not kept up with Australia's (2.5 per cent real growth).

FYI, the figures used are the CPIs of both countries and the New Zealand Labour Cost Index and Australian Wage Price Index. Quarterly figures were compiled and added, so there could be a small rounding error in there, but nothing significant.

I'll leave others to provide their analyses ...

Mixed lollies

I sense a blogmate of mine disagrees with me about my baby boomer analysis — he just can’t stop talking about Steely Dan, in particular this examination of the band’s classic Doctor Wu.

Chris also recommends you all register here to get Underworld’s ‘lovely broken thing’, released on 9 November, and the first in a series of bundled releases from the band, containing audio, a gallery and cover artwork. For £5 you get a zipped MP3 file containing the audio section of ‘lovely broken thing’, made up of seven new tracks worked together into a single piece; almost 30 minutes of music, including jal to tokyo, billy goat, peggy sussed, dub shepherd, lenny penne, monkey wink and witness. The gallery is made up of a selection of Karl Hyde’s photographs, and artwork by tomato’s John Warwicker.

He also recommends this “first word” on King Kong, and this item from the Guardian archives at the time of the release of the Sex Pistols’ ‘Never Mind the Bollocks’.

London-based blogger Richard Cooper of Thoughtcat asks whether this is the perfect example of double-speak, “or is Blair just the most deluded man on the planet?”

Mark is also into Blair with this, and points out that the people have spoken on intelligent design.

From me it’s good to hear BBC news chief Helen Boaden say the corporation could afford to take a bit more of a risk in breaking stories. Especially after being pinged by Andrew Gilligan for not reporting on the export of military trucks to Sudan when they had the story in the bag.

Mostly, I feel, the damage done by not reporting is greater than from reporting and getting it wrong. You just don’t ever hear about it.

Ciao-orama.

White phosphorus in Falluja

The US Army has admitted it used white phosphorus, a chemical that eats flesh, in the battle of Falluja. A few days ago allegations were made on Italian TV that the substance was used as a weapon and killed civilians. The US military denied the allegations.

Over at Sir Humphries, a Lemur huffed, describing a military source of the story, Jeff Englehart, as "just the guy you should trust as a source for an anti-war story with major ramifications for international goodwill towards the Bush Administration and the United States."

However, the March edition of Field Artillery (PDF) magazine, published by the US Army and a must read for the artilleryman in a hurry, admits white phosphorus was used as a weapon in Falluja.

WP proved to be an effective and versatile munition. We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fight, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes when we could not get effects on them with HE. We fired 'shake and bake' missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out.

So much for that international goodwill. The documentary is here in low res.

Hat tip Daily Kos.

Update: Scoop has an article here. The US has corrected its original statement (correction now in Scoop story at end) that phosphorus was only used for illumination, saying it was used for creating smoke. Antarctic Lemur points out the BBC has said the Italian report "may have at its heart an important truth, but it is factually inaccurate and misleading."

Debate goes on over whether phosphorus can, or should, be called a chemical weapon and its effects on humans. However, it should be noted at least two other reports from the battlefield appear to back Englehart's claims. This from the Washington Post:

Some artillery guns fired white phosphorous rounds that create a screen of fire that cannot be extinguished with water. Insurgents reported being attacked with a substance that melted their skin, a reaction consistent with white phosphorous burns.

Me? I'm going to wait till the smoke clears ...

The Girlie hates boomers

The Girlie can't wait for the baby boomers to die off. As she hits 19 herself, she's counting down.

"I give them thirty years,” she says. “You’ll probably only last twenty,” she adds, looking at the glass of wine in my hand.

May a giant bat shit on your head, Girlie. More

What a rip-off

I thought new technology was supposed to make stuff more affordable. Not when it comes to passports, says New Zealand's best business weekly. Passport costs are set to double. But at least we'll all have money to pay for it as NZ pay packets surge. Until those killjoys at the Reserve Bank step in and raises interest rates, at least.

In other items of interest we have a Gaymobile, that's a phone, not a car.

Arnie Schwarzenn .... Shwarzenigg, you know the guy, the governor from Enron, has just been called on almost his entire agenda. As has Tony Blair over new anti-terrorism laws.

More on the alleged Sydney terror plot here.

Meanwhile, in Paris, it isn't radical Islam to blame for the riots, or poverty, or racism. It's the bloody bloggers!

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Quotes of the week (and it’s only Wednesday)

Reading list

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Nanny capitalism and not so ID

Battleship Potemkin by The Pet Shop Boys?!

Monday, November 28, 2005

Lit tiff 2005

Dance, dance, dance

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Ten questions

Friday, November 25, 2005

Mixed lollies

Peak oil

So long, George

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Critical Mass: Shopgirl

Bush's approval rating blues

Walk, Winston, walk

The Edukators: Some people never change

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Muslims, the PC BBC and WP

Just run that one by me again, would you?

Upside down (2)

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Congratulations Maxim

Upside down

The Guardian and Chomsky

Is this the end?

Monday, November 21, 2005

Five minutes with Peter Gordon

A Mt Rushmore for rejection

Pissed off Kiwis, English - and a Sri Lankan

Christian charity

Friday, November 18, 2005

Mixed lollies

Coming home

We won

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Good news for the Net

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

White phosphorus and other stuff

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Bye, bye Viley

No 3G network for NZ: Telstra

Some of that old black magic

Unintelligent design

Underworld’s ‘lovely broken thing’

Monday, November 14, 2005

Five minutes with Don McGlashan

Sunday, November 13, 2005

NZ wages fall behind

Friday, November 11, 2005

Mixed lollies

Thursday, November 10, 2005

White phosphorus in Falluja

The Girlie hates boomers

What a rip-off