Posts by Hilary Stace
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Kerry
That probably sums up the current state of humanity.Robbery
TV7 on Freeview covered the New Year, showed the fireworks on the skytower. -
Some trivia for today. Stephen Fry is in Wellington filming a TV series following up on Douglas Adams' book and series' Last chance to see' of 20 years ago. (It's about endangered species). Fry is here to look at wetas (lucky him) and kakapo. But also on his list are AMAZONIAN MANATEES. (They are the most similar sirenians to the Florida manatees, while dugongs have fluked tails and the males have tusks).
So manatees are going to become fashionable! -
Just watched Backbenchers and Media7 summer specials as they were screened, on a proper screen with no frustrating buffering or other hiccups. Caught several of those quirky Simon Pound pieces I missed during the year. Now when people say there is nothing to watch on TV, I can happily refute them.
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A bit like a PA thread? No, sounds more like thestandard.
But I'm sure they had great fun doing it.
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The family Christmas present has just arrived and been installed and gives us even more reason to stay at home. After years of a second hand TV we now have HD and most exciting of all Freeview. So we can now watch live and in glorious detail Media7 and Backbenchers and those promised arts programmes, instead of having to endure the endless downloading on my little computer. So whatever 2009 brings will be in HD and we'll be watching.
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David, exciting to hear about the nascent dugong story. Dugongs are the Australian version but very closely related to the Florida ones.
For those who are interested I have read 'Naked Came the Manatee' and don't think it is worth making a huge effort to track down, unless you fancy a disjointed thriller set in a corrupt mid 90s Florida featuring not only several criminal types, various beautiful and clever women (including an interesting 102 year old greenie), several Fidel Castros, and surprisingly, Jimmy Carter.
The star is Booger, the not very clever manatee, who has 'Flipperian fantasies' of heroism.
Here's a sample from the chapter by Carl Hiaasen'Thirteen hundred pounds of saucy sea cow nooky had paddled into Booger's life, and he was serene beyond distraction.'
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www.savethemanatee.org
tells you all about manatees and you can even 'adopt' one and get a photo and reports of sitings as they roam around the shallows of Florida avoiding dangerous boat propellers.
Emma - I've just borrowed that book 'Naked came the Manatee' from a friend who bought it at one of the Wellington Public Library's sell-offs. It is a 'wickedly funny Florida suspense thriller, written serially by thirteen of the state's most talented writers' ! Not sure how the manatee features but apparently Fidel Castro makes an appearance.
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Can I recommend a great movie for a wet summer day or any other time - the Black Balloon - which I've just finally watched on DVD after hearing about it for most of the year. I don't think it got a general release here in NZ so must be in video stores. Its basic story is a teenage boy and his older brother who has autism (at the more severe non-verbal part of the spectrum), so lots of sibling angst, anger and embarrassment, particularly when the girlfriend is around. A very good portrayal of the issues around autism with the inevitable supermarket scene, meltdowns, the disapproving neighbour, the school bullying, and general prejudice and ignorance, and acceptance. But it has something for everyone: Toni Collete as the mother, some Crowded House on the sound track, even a baby. Best of all, some of the actors actually have autism.
Won lots of awards in Australia.
If you can't get it my second recommendation would be Snowcake which is a very good portrayal of an adult with Aspergers Syndrome (the other end of the spectrum), and stars Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver (but no autistic actors as far as I know).
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To change the subject rather drastically, I have one more Wellington beach to report on. Princess Bay today was hot and beautiful and while some of us sat in the shade on the grass below the cliff others happily swam in that intense Cook Strait water.
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Vineyards - unfortunately a very pollutey industry - unless organic.
Balaena Bay is on the way to the airport between Oriental Bay and Evans Bay - tucked in a sheltered sandy (by Wgtn standards) little bay.
BTW there is a great post on climate change from NZ's answer to Al Gore - Steve Maharey - on www.pundit.co.nz today.