Posts by George Darroch
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
The Wellington TV3 news team are pretty dynamic, think on their feet kind of people in my experience, so their footage doesn't surprise me. The fact that the police were pulling the curtains closed shortly after busting the door down indicates to me that they weren't brought by the police to film.
-
David Kirk's commentary is worth a read, and about sums up my thoughts on the matter : http://www.stuff.co.nz/4229129a1823.html
My advice would be to get some fine whiskey ;) and for the rest of the tournament just simply enjoy it with a good crowd. I know I will.
-
I was lucky enough to watch the game with some NZers at the Alliance Francaise in Canberra - and what a game! Right til the end the atmosphere was unbelievably tense, no-one in the room was taking anything for granted. A deserved win by gracious winners. I know who I'll be supporting from here on in.
One thing I don't want to hear are the familiar narratives - 'best team in the world', 'four more years' etc... can we stop the collective self-belief that winning is our destiny already?
-
Once again Danah Boyd is on the ball Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace
It's an idea that I've been aware of for a while - comments last year highlighted how it very quickly moved from being a site to network with friends, to being one where social identities are constructed.
-
In the last month, and particularly the last week or two things have gone mad...
It seeped into New Zealand through the international students, and for a while all I could find on there were fellow procrastinators.
I'm actually finding it pretty useful for keeping up with the folk back home, for the moment anyway...
-
One particular party last year springs to mind.
I was the only kiwi in a flat that had been 'the international flat' in someone's masters on flatting in Wellington - somewhat like The Spanish Apartment. It was a large and cheerful place! We had some pretty awesome parties there, but the best were simply dinner parties with 15 or so people crammed into a tiny lounge, with the best Swedish, Indian, Fijian, Thai etc. food you can imagine some fairly talented 20somethings cooking.
There are of course notable others, where friends very nearly burnt the house down, or being naked with hippies and running into the water on the beach that's killed more fishermen than any other in NZ, and of course memorable ones where everyone's favourite bands jammed til the wee hours. But they don't really compare to having a dozen friends around over great food and wine til the early morning. Just magic.
-
I know I'm late and all, but Manukau has called itself the official "face of the future" for quite some time. Since perhaps 1999, or some other time in the distant past...
Pacifico-Asian sprawling suburbs might not be as cool as the melting pot Roskill-Albert-Sandringham hyperspace continuum, but like an evil empire, Manukau has the advantage of being able to expand in every dimension.
-
Wikipedia has its strengths, and its weaknesses. And the weakness is that anyone with an agenda, if they work hard enough, and play within the rules, has a reasonable chance of compromising the content of the project to fit their particular worldview. Several articles I've edited have been taken over by a troll with more time or energy than I have to devote to the articles, and consequently are structured around dubious sources, while keeping out information that challenges these sources.
Wikipedia works because there are millions of 'good' editors, and a minority of people with a barrow to push. If useful contributors diminish however, the project will fall or fork.
Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algerian_Civil_War for just one example. It was pretty much written by one expert, who no longer has the time to contribute... the results are evident.
Is Wikipedia a success? It's far to early to say.
-
The American duck is ok too... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6283677.stm
-
On the subject of The Knife, this Royksopp tune feat Karin Dreijer is top of my books right now:
Her voice seems almost psychotic over such a monotonous meaty bassline!
Also in the favourites is almost anything featuring Seu Jorge:
Amazing voices. Why this man is not better known is incomprehsible.