Posts by Russell C
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Oh enough already, what blasphemy.. I have never understood the witless obsession to 'remake' great things - resurrect - sure, extend - okay, continue - fine but saddo remaking - never. Survivors and Blake's Seven are wonderful examples of a certain time and style of SF. But why do people seek to diminish such wonderful things by remaking them - it almost always ends up as a minor tragedy.
What I'd much prefer to see is the Survivors set 20 years on - continuing the original series, expanding on the story. Better yet, repeat the original series first then run the 20 years on series. What happened to Greg and Jenny. Ditto B7 - or at lest that universe (maybe they really are all dead 'Blake...Avon, is it really you...you betrayed...us...me..no bang..bang..bang etc').
It works for Doctor Who (okay okay there are other factors at play there) but imagine for a second that the BBC sat down in 2004 and said, bugger it, lets just remake thee whole thing from the beginning again with some current stars - lets say Michael Palin as the Doctor and one of the kids from Britain's got taken as his grand daughter Susan, Russell Brand as Ian, and Jill Graham as whatever the other teacher was called.
Isn't it a sad sign of the lack of imagination, the tired recycling (in bad sense of recycling) that there is so much retreading. Colourise Casablanca, refilm Brideshead, gadd, I hope I'm not around to see the remake of Bladerunner.
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Hmmm, if you're after a homegrown song that the crowd might actually sing I think we'd be on firmer ground with 'Gutter Black' or 'Bliss'. Very chantable by a liquored or even non-liquored crowd, much stronger (less woosy than Slice of H) and Gutter Black even ticks the colour box.
All together now, ...
My luck in the gutter black
I guess I'm running back
To you
You in my brain; you in my heart
You in my brain; you in my heart, -
Craig said
You'll excuse me if I wish the IRD staffer who wasted over an hour of my time this morning would die a lot. Or is it an unreasonable expectation that someone you've made an appointment to see be competent, well-trained and civil?
I'm not so sure that you can generalize basic poor customer service as the sole domain or norm of the public service, it's an unfortunate human condition that can be found in all walks of life, be it tradespeople (whatever happened to that Landscape Gardener who repeatedly promised me a quote 18 months ago), insurance companies, banks, retail stores, etc.
As the other Russell points out, it's disingenuous of Key to throw the term bureaucrat around in the nebulous and negatively toned way he is. Just as it is disingenuous to try to justify his dog whistle spray by rolling out anecdotes of poor service from state agencies.
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Of course more accurately he'd probably say - 'Why are you agin it? because he reads his stuff before he presses send.
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I'd vote for administrivia (that's all the stuff you do at you job that isn't really the core stuff you're paid to do), also I have do kinda like blamestorming.
In a related vein, am I the only person who find Radio NZ National's new favorite word incredibly grating - 'agin' as in Geoff says 'What are you agin it?' WTF what's wrong with against?
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The Clean AND Billy Bragg!, the eighties and nineties are certainly back then. Frankly reckon it might be worth it just to BB (and hopefully Wiggy as well).
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The 70's, which appears to be the golden age of children's television mainly being referred to (says somthing about the contributor demographic) was a rich period for sci fi TV.
Those were the days - i don't think anyone has mentioned that great british classic 'Time Slip' yet, or even Terry Nation's finest moment - no not the daleks but 'Survivors' (okay okay, it wasn't a kid's programme in any shape or form but it was something special).
Otherwise my personal top five children's series from the 1970's would Doctor Who, Time Slip, Vision On, Blakes 7, & Space 1999.
I noticed a few people mentioning B5 - a magnificent achievement and to my mind the greatest modern Sci Fi television series but I can't personally count it as a childhood show.
NZ - Under the Mountin and the Fire Raiser were fab - gotta love anything from Maurice Gee.