Posts by Ethan Tucker
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
(This after being forced to stop writing her anonymous newspaper column after her son [either Jake or his younger sibling] had to find out about it from his friends -- who she had told without telling him!)
I often enjoyed the anonymous Living With Teenagers column in the Saturday Guardian and was disappointed when I heard it was ending. Reading it, it never seemed 100% kosher - I was fairly confident that there was an element of exaggeration at play. The kids she portrayed seemed so... well, vicious - semi-criminal even. I remember thinking, 'no matter how antsy NZ teens can be, I'm sure they're not as bad as this column paints British teens to be'.
I remember the end of the Living With Teenagers column slightly differently to you. (Forgive me if I'm incorrect but) I think Jake found out from his schoolmates when they laughed at him for some risible and deeply personal remark his mother had made about his pubes or lack thereof (can't remember). Turned out his pals had all put two and two together and had been following the column, and Jake was almost the last to know. So the column was wrapped up.
I was disappointed when the column ended, because it was often amusing and wittily written. But when the real world intruded and it became obvious Jake was humiliated and betrayed by the secret scribblings of his mother, I realised that this wasn't just some imaginary sitcom thought up for my reading pleasure. Myerson has shown that she regards her right to write as far more important than the rights of her children to a decent quantum of privacy and dignity. The success of the book she wrote, springboarding from the interest in the defunct column, seems to have taught her that this modus operandi was the route to success. It's a pity she views trading the trust of her family for success as a price worth paying.
-
With this scenario you'd have the captain have to decide "do I think I can get the other side all-out or do I need to bowl Daniel Flynn's over now?"
I like your suggestion of ten bowlers in ODIs, Stuart. At the rate the ICC is flailing about these days, I give it three years before an official trial.
But let's give Daniel Flynn his due: his left arm slows have brought him six List A one-day wickets. Maybe he imparts a vicious spin by gouging the ball on his teeth.
-
Thanks to Media7 for resisting the temptation to play 'Born To Be Wild' when a motorbike appeared in the item, which appears to be mandatory in TV reports. I live in hope of one day seeing a piece about motorbikes soundtracked by the Manic Street Preachers' 'Motorcycle Emptiness', but I don't like my chances.
-
Re: the Herald article, I like to think that many of the majority of New Zealanders who still refer to themselves as religious in Census forms have more generosity of spirit and plain commonsense than John Roughan appears to have. He's missing the point rather dramatically. A little pray, even with the best of intentions, won't sort out Waitangi even if it does make Roughan happy.
-
Hi all - an enjoyable discussion, this one. I'm only a casual rugby fan, someone who enjoys watching a game with mates but is turned off by the relentless deluge of matches. Particularly in the aforementioned Feb/Mar cricket zone, because I'm more a fan of that sport.
I've only been to a couple of All Blacks tests in my life due to the expense involved (both v Eng: Twickenham in Dec 97 and Wellington Jun 03), and have never been to an NPC or S14 match.
I think my casual interest in the game could have grown through the years if rugby had moderated its money grab and limited the number of matches played - the S14 being a prime culprit. I'd much rather watch an NPC match involving real teams with historic rivalries every week or two than a contrived intercontinental league. Similarly, the Tri-Nations needs to be scaled back because even solid fans are getting a bit sick of the flogging-an-ailing-horse modus operandi. Sure, it's nice 'n convenient to play Australia regularly, and the rivalry with SAf is interesting, but just look at the numbers of tests played against those two nations (130 and 75) as opposed to other interesting rivals: England 31, France 46, Scotland & Wales in the 20s, Argentina only 13. Familiarity breeds contempt.
And sure, I agree with those who call for more afternoon matches and a shift away from night matches. It's a winter sport! Call me soft if you want, but I'm not wearing six layers of clothes to go for a night out (bearing in mind that I used to live in Wellington, in which a night trip to the Stadium could be balmy but would more likely involve Antarctic breezes shooting up your trouser legs), and I certainly don't want every Fri or Sat evening out with my mates to revolve around a TV screen with a rugby match on. V is the S of L, and all that (where V=variety, etc.)
Lastly, one thing that occurred to me: in scanning this thread I don't think I saw the Ranfurly Shield mentioned. Now there's a bit of history that's worth reminding people about: a chance for the minnows to put one over on the moneybags teams. That's the sort of competition that breeds legends and keeps the spirit of the game alive.
-
And why should they not? They've paid large amounts of money (my season ticket was GBP300 a month at one stage) to travel on the railway - why can't they have a bit of refreshment on the journey home
Because we have already established a direct correlation between Englishmen drinking on public transport and the likelihood of them dressing up as man-sized beer bottles or streaking? :)
Seriously though, you've got a point. Middle-class Johnny Banker types are not likely to cause a great deal of woe on their way home unless there's a squadron of them travelling together and getting raucous, which would be uncommon. Or if they were schooled at Eton, in which case they seem to start shouting the minute they get near alcohol. Which would be the opposite of common, but still annoying.
-
The thing I enjoyed about the concept behind the Tube booze flash-mobbing was that in their eyes Boris had somehow *compelled* everyone to launch forth onto the Underground and get completely munted. National pride demanded it, apparently.
A friend said she saw a gaggle of drinking buddies staggering along the platform at Liverpool Street all dressed as man-sized beer bottles. This was certainly an improvement over the chap behind them who had disrobed entirely and spent several lively minutes doing laps of the platforms whilst being chased by frankly unimpressed rozzers.
I like to think that after Saturday night's bacchanalian orgy things will settle down. If people want to have a sly drink on the Tube here and there no-one will probably care, as long as they keep it to themselves. Eventually they'll get it out of their system and late night journeys home on public transport won't be made worse by eedjits continuing to swill and getting even more tanked than they were before they boarded.
Coming from the comparatively prim and proper NZ public transport environment - Wellington schoolkids even stand up voluntarily to give their seats to full-fare passengers! - it was something of a shock to see suited City businessmen board the train at Waterloo, place their briefcase carefully in the storage rack above, and then crack an extra-big can of Heineken to keep them company on the long journey back to Surbiton or Strawberry Hill. Sacrilege!
-
I'm wondering what would happen if a concerned Pakeha tried to debate the New Zealand Chinese protests with some of the participants.
'Your invasion and annexation of Tibet is reprehensible, and your ongoing colonisation of the territory with your own people, swamping its original inhabitants and suppressing their culture, is simply intolerable in the 21st century', Concerned Pakeha might say.
What's to stop the Chinese student replying, 'Well, it seemed to work pretty well for your ancestors coming to New Zealand in the 19th century, didn't it?'
(The counter-argument would be that they brought parliamentary democracy with them. The counter-counter argument is that they also brought Peter Brown)
-
Thanks for posting the splendid mole from days of yore - however did you find it (he asked, rhetorically)?
I often wonder what interesting things TVNZ's former penchant for bargain basement job-lots of Eastern European programming have done to those of us who grew up watching more TV than was probably good for us in the 80s. Perhaps they paid for the programmes with a bale or two of prime NZ wool smuggled through the Iron Curtain under cover of darkness.
Now all I need to complete my misty 80s reverie is a clip of the bizarre Scandinavian live-action TV show called 'Mika' in which a Lapp boy takes his reindeer across Europe to a zoo in Paris. And wears a silly hat. I consider myself lucky to have seen such worldview-expanding televisual riches from my dingy bedroom in Onehunga. Of course the kids these days, bah, what would they know about reindeers and Bohemian moles; back in my day... (etc.)
The website TV Cream summarises it thusly (throwing in a mention of the pop singer by the same name for good measure):
MIKA (MID 1980s)
FINLANDONE-HIT WONDER Freddie Mercury rip-off merchant who Steve Wright played to death in early 2007. Also, another summer holiday morning ITV fillers revolving around titular pest from Finland, whose pride and joy was a reindeer called Ossien, who was on some kind of quest, and whose arrival on our screens was always heralded by a chorus of sickly-sweet kids shouting "Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikaaaaaaaa!". One episode featured Mika betting on a pigeon race along with some locals in backward reindeer-roasting village; ends up quids-in, but nearly doesn't turn up to collect winnings. That was the level of excitement.
TV CREAM immortality rating -
XXXXXXXXXXXX ...BARELY LESS COMATOSE THAN HEIDI