Posts by Mikaere Curtis
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Muse: The High Aesthetic Line, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
I can understand why Jar Jar won;t get get an NAACP Image Awards in this or any other galaxy, but was it strictly necessary for the eeevil Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray to sound like George Takei with a three pack a day habit?
At least in ep IV, the WMD-wielders were British, so he's capable of spreading it around.
The thing I appreciated most about ep I to III was the propensity of the jedi to problem-solve using light-sabres. Oh, and the fact that clones are all Jake The Musses.
Here's the first part of a very funny review of episode I:
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Cracker: Gimme Shelter, in reply to Damian Christie,
There should be an option for normal ticket holders to be able to drink and watch the main stage reasonably comfortably (by BDO standards of course, which isn't that comfortable)
I agree that the one down the bottom at the back of the stadium is a bit of a zoo and I tend to avoid it, but if you want a better view you could always go the upper section of the eastern stand. The sound is a bit muddy but you can see both stages OK. It does mean having to go for a bit of a walk, but you do get a seat out of the rain, and the queue in the eastern stand bar is minimal and very unzoo-like.
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By the time I got to the bag check, around 1:45pm, they were only doing cursory checks for alcohol. At least it's not like Aussie, where the cops bring sniffer dogs so as to maximise their day-spoiling activities.
I really like having specific bar areas. They are hardly ghettos, and the one at the back of the stadium had a good vibe and plenty of little bars with hardly any queue at all. I went to a BDO in Adelaide once, and found that having free access to alcohol in all areas apart from the D meant wading through layers of beer cans. Yuck, trying to dance in the boiler room with cans everywhere really diminishes the experience.
Getting the wristbands was unnecessarily difficult, and the queues were just too long. A ran into a friend, aged 31, who was denied one because she didn't have ID. Luckily, when I reluctantly queued up, one of the wristband workers had the insight to walk up the line doling out wristbands to anyone who was obviously over 25.
The only issue I had with security was when I was meeting up with a friend in the stadium bar, and the bar had just closed (it was about 9pm). My friend had my phone, so I explained my predicament to the security guard. He told me I couldn't go in, regardless. So I nipped around the back of the tents, where another guard, who was having a nice social time with his mates, was a lot more understanding.
Coincidentally, Airbourne was the first band I saw as well. Given that I expected them to be good-time Aussie cock-rock in the AC/DC style, I enjoyed the songs that I saw. But the Birds of Tokyo were better.
The two jaw-dropping moments of the day were:
* Catching the end of the Crystal Castles set, with the woman singer jumping up and down and fully rocking out. When the set finished, she picked up her crutches and hobbled of stage. Wow.
* In Rammsteins first song, the lead singer had a light in his mouth.Tool were great, but not as good as last time. Maybe it's because the bass player has cut his hair. They had the best light show I have ever seen at BDO, and the barrage of green lasers played nicely against the falling rain.
I was too wet and tired to hang around at either MIA or Grinderman for any length of time, but they were both good ways to cap off the BDO.
You could just tell that getting a taxi was going to be an exercise in persistence, so I happily gave a lift to a couple who were vainly trying to flag down taxi.
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It is harder for the smaller parties, because they will inevitably get fewer policy wins and risk being associated with a party whose policies do not largely align with their own. I imagine, for example, that ACT voters are generally more comfortable with a National government than most Maori Party voters are.
A moderating factor, for voters who give their party vote to a smaller party, could be whether the their is a change of government. Voting out a disliked government is quite a fillip in its own right.
Anyway, there seems to be a convention that the party that gets the most party votes is the first cab off the rank when it comes to post-election negotiations, and if they can't cobble together some kind of arrangement, then they really don't deserve to govern, do they ?
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Spent the last two weeks in Nelson at the parents-in-laws, where the weather has been fantastic. It's foodie-central here, so we've spent a fair amount of time creating some delicious meals.
Some of my whanau came down for Xmas this time, which was fun. We all went to the Abel Tasman (which, as ever, was breathtaking) and lunched at Awaroa Lodge. It's under new management, and the food isn't as good as it used to be.
Xmas day was a large affair, with 29 in total. The santa-sack present-swapping game took ages to resolve, but it was a heap of fun with so many playing.
Nelson is very pretty, and I've spent a fair amount of time contemplating the view over Guppy Park and port. Finally made it to the WOW museum. Very wow.
We're heading back to Auckland tommorrow, but not before we put on a final act of foodieness. As has been somewhat of a tradition for the last few years, we're doing a spit-roast mutton (it seems you just can't get hoggets or two-tooths these days). This time we're doing a turkish rub for the beast, and because I can be bloody-minded about theses things, I'm cooking the mutton over charcoal.
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The idea of a rail tunnel through the Auckland CBD is disliked as paying assistance to the rich, well paid, productive workers of the CBD is disliked.
What about the students of AUT ? They will most certainly benefit from the envisaged Aotea station.
What about the punters going to a gig at the Edge, or the clubbers hitting K Rd ?
Tourists ? Queen St shoppers ?
These groups are all distinct from your putative well-paid CBD works (not all, it has been pointed out, will receive the average wage or above). Yet they will all receive a benefit from the CBD rail tunnel, and all users of the tunnel will be paying for the privilege. There is an element of user pays to this.
I'm just glad that the political stars have aligned on this concept at a local government level. We just need to spook Key enough for him to reign Joyce in. Next year's election is a prime opportunity to make this issue one of the big election issues, at least in Auckland. Nicky Kay would be an obvious pressure point, as MP for Auckland Central she needs to be very clear about her support for this, and more importantly, what she intends to do about progressing this.
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strangely, no labour seats among them. very very strange indeed
Not really. National won just about every rural electorate, as this map shows.
What's more concerning is that branch lines are being closed because they're under-used due to their shit condition, which takes away the option of rail delivery of freight right at the moment where road freight is going to start getting incessantly more expensive.
Plus the fact that road freight pays only 56% of the cost it imposes on the roading system (wear & tear), whereas rail pays 82%. It's hardly a level playing field, and the consequences are predictable.
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Speaker: It's called "planning" for a reason, in reply to Mark Rickerby,
Personally, I find it very difficult to understand what seems not just reticence, but outright hostility towards funding a rail loop and a CBD tunnel. In my view, that's the *least* possible work that can be done to build a viable long term transport system.
Given the downsides of building yet another motorway extension north (it lowers our population density, spreading infrastructure costs over a wider area), and the imminent end of cheap oil, it would seem obtuse to favour roads over rail at this time.
My working theory is that Joyce et al know exactly what they are doing: building infrastructure for the wealthy while they still can. They know that only the wealthy will be living in the lifestyle blocks and gated communities that will inevitably be created along the Holiday Highway. They also know that oil will still be available, only more expensive. They also know that the wealthy can afford the extra cost, and that motorways with fewer cars (due to higher fuel prices) is, peversely, a Good Thing For Them.
As soon as peak oil hits (estimates are before 2020, with 2013-2015 being a strong possibility), roads will be off the menu because it will be clear that we can't afford to continue with 20th century attitudes towards transport.
Remember, Joyce was behind National's racist rhetoric during the 2005 campaign, and is one of the key Hollow Men. This guy is quite capable of astonishingly cynical actions.
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Ben, you are assuming that the only people who use St Lukes are there to go shopping and will necessarily trundle home with bags and bags of consumables. In my experience, most shoppers I see are typically carrying very little, except, of course, those coming out of the supermarket. But that's no different to the other supermarkets - cars will always be useful when doing large supermarket shopping expeditions.
It also has services (movies, food court) and I expect, as part of the upgrade, it will get a bar/restaurant precinct like the Westfield Albany mall, and the users of such amenities have no requirement to take a car there and back.
Lack of integration with the train system is a major oversight. The system is currently being upgraded to electric, and once we get our CBD loop, it will be a major transport mechanism. Allowing car-oriented service centres is both short-sighted and counterproductive.
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When this thing is done, traffic will be a fully-fledged debacle.
Totally. I live in Morningside, and I avoid driving past St Lukes, the traffic is a nightmare.
And their solution ? To turn Aroha Ave into a major through road. It's a quiet residential road with a lot of bungalows. Westfield's insane plan is to include egress into Aroha Ave which will likely require another set of traffic lights on Sandringham Road, and probably remove all on-street parking as well.
Here's a picture (1.6Mb) of what the plans mean for the residents of Aroha Ave.
I'm all for St Lukes being expanded in a sensible, considered way (especially if they invest in public transport infrastructure such as some kind of connection to the Morningside train station). After all, there is a sizable empty field adjacent to the carpark which ought to be developed.
However doing so by wrecking Aroha Ave is both stupid and unecessary.