Posts by Grant McDougall
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Just remembered: David said it was filmed on the set of late '70s - early '80s NZ soap (!) Close To Home at TVNZ's Avalon studio. David's the young guy in glasses wearing the leather jacket in the background, btw.
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Hard News: Friday Music: The Two Sevens Clashed, in reply to
If anyone can identify the venue, I’d love to know where it is.
I've exchanged a few e-mails now and again with a bloke called David MacLennan who was a scenester on the Wellington punk / post punk scene and he was there, so I'll see if he can elaborate on this.
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Hard News: Friday Music: The Two Sevens Clashed, in reply to
The NZ charts weren’t quite so flash – top 10 songs of the year:
So what ? That doesn't negate the fact that there was a plethora of innovative, cutting edge music being made here in NZ, US, Britain and elsewhere. The charts have always been about commerce, not art.
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I heard BW was a riot.
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No surplus, Sky City asking "Please sir, can I have some more?" and Mike Sabin being investigated on assault allegations. Hmmm, must be Christmas, time to dump the bad news, it'd seem.
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Joyce has handled this "unbelievably incompetently over the past few days" Hooten has just said on RNZ Nat.
"Absolute buffoonery, these people are muppets" - Hooten again.
Crikey.
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The best non-fiction I've read this year was Robert Hilburn's magisterial Johnny Cash - A Life. Even if you're not a fan of his actual music, it's a cracking, superbly-written story. A fascinating, warts 'n' all insight to one of the giants of 20th C music and American culture.
Antony Beevor's Stalingrad was gripping. I just assumed it'd be an interesting, but basically prosaic recounting of the facts. Instead, after a few pages, it became clear it was a lot better than that.
It really got inside the character and psychology of the Russian and German armies and, especially, their commanders. It clearly and succinctly outlined the appalling conditions and brutality but without being merely gratuitous. Great read.On a lighter note, Harry Ricketts' How To Watch A Cricket Match was plenty of fun. His enthusiasm was a pleasure to follow and the anecdotes were always entertaining.
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Hard News: Word of the Year 2014: #dirtypolitics, in reply to
#dirtypolitic’s legacy...
At the end of the day
Ho-ho, very clever !
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Always a fun read, the WOTY reveal. I'm really pleased #dirtypolitics won; it was the biggest story in NZ politics for years and in years to come will taint Key's legacy. It'll continue to linger over the government for the rest of their term - and rightly so.
Also, it is all encompassing of the times and issues, whereas others like Whaledump and "at the end of the day" wouldn't have been as widely known or existed without it.
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Hard News: Public Address Word of the…, in reply to
Well they sure do seem like something invented by The Onion.