Posts by Grant McDougall
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Fox News declared that Gore "hasn’t stopped believing he can get special favors for being a political figure" (ie: Gore blagged a copy of the Sopranos finale because he was going to be on a long-haul flight when it aired);
Whereas Bush dishing out "special favors" to Scooter Libby is acting with complete integrity, isn't it? Fox really are scum.
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I'm back in New Zealand, where it is cold
You Auckland softy... ;) It's real freeze-yer-nuts-off here in Dunedin. Snow on the hills and ice everywhere.
I was in Chch over the weekend to hang out with The LEDs (they played Lyttelton on Fri, The Dux on Sat).
Russell, they sampled you saying "Christchurch's best kept secret, The LEDs..." in their opening song.
Also, the bassist's Dad told us how he was a sub at The Star and knew you as a cub reporter.
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It is precisely these sorts of envy politics that force great entrepreneurs such as Fay and Richwhite...
That's got nothing to do with why people hate Fay and Richwhite.
They're hated because of the complete lack of integrity with which they pursued their ruthless greed. They shafted people and businesses left, right and centre forv thjeir own ends.
I know loads of people that are successful businessmen. I don't begrudge them their success at all - all power to them, etc. But they've acted with integrity.
Fay and Richwhite did not. That's why they're disliked.
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I gotta admit I'm enjoying a good run in the old schadenfraude stakes over the past week or two.
Last week a particularly odious, stuck-up-his-own-arse former staff member of the local branch of a well-known music retailer was done for "theft as a servant" and now that buffoon Holmes has to wipe up a big mess.I suspect that the reason the media is giving it such high priority is nothing to do with any actual news value but everything to do with setting scores with Holmes. Oh the glee that must've erupted when they found out it was Holmes' daughter. Can you see the media wetting their pants with that much excitement if the accused was, for example, Cameron Bennett's kid? (I've no idea if he's got teenage kids, he's just the first name that came to mind).
This all to do with payback, no two ways about it.
Also, while the judge did say that the charges Millicent faces were very common, let's face it, she's also deep in the crap: not only 'P', but over $30,000 worth of stolen goods. Given how loaded her folks are, surely she would've had no trouble acquiring the stuff legally?
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I suspect that this column / blog will go down like a cup o f cold sick with Herald readers. (Not that hot sick is any nicer, but anyway...).
Hunkin's probably a nice enough individual and an ok journo. But the type of inane twaddle in such blogs comes into the "who the hell cares" category. I expect most Herald readers will give the column / blog a cursory glance for a few days - then the novelty of such irrelevant drivel will fade and they'll won't bother reading it at all.
What's the bet Metro will take the piss out of it big-time as well?
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Good post, Graeme.
I used to write music reviews back in the '90s and got a bit of personal, verbal abuse now and again in pubs as well. It was never much skin of my back.
I would sometimes get disgruntled musicians / fans whinging "you're not a musician, so you don't really know what you're talking about." To which I would reply "You're not a chef, but that doesn't stop you criticising a bad meal in a restaurant, does it?" or "You're not a politician, but that doesn't stop you from having an opinion on issue 'X', does it?". That usually shut them up. :)
Also, one thing I did notice was that the more insecure a person / musician was / is, the more prone they were to abusing a critic, even if the criticism was valid.
A couple of times, if I dished out a bad review, the act involved wouldn't get upset or harass me. Conversely, the more insecure individuals would lash out. That says a lot more about them, than about me, I reckon.Also, musicians often fail to put it in perspective. A critic is one person giving their informed opinion about a band - dozens, hundreds more people still turn up to that band's gigs regardless.
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Shooting fish in a barrel I know, but emo and grunge are both crap.
Emo is just commercial punk dressed-up in goth clothes, while grunge was sheep-in-wolves clothing music - "alternative" music for people that would crap themselves if they ever heard anything truly adventurous.
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Good call on Paul Henry, Russell, I agree.
When the "No Asians, no gangsters" comment was made, it was interesting to see that he picked up on the obvious meaning of "No Asians", but seemed to think that "no gangsters" meant the Mongrel Mob, Black Power, etc.
I think it may've actually meant Maori / Pacific Island street / youth gangs that model themselves on the Bloods and Crips, etc, rather than actual "gang" gangs, as such.I was flicking between Close Up and Campbell Live. It was interesting to see that the witnesses spoken to on Close Up were stereotypical "white trash bogans" while other witnesses spoken to (on other shows / media) went to some of the more posher schools in Chch.
To me, this shows the powering of texting and the range of socio-economic backgrounds it spread to on Sat night.
I loved chugging booze as much as anyone when I was a teen, but these days I can't help but think we're an appallingly immature country when it comes to drinking.
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Again, as an aside, great to see Goo refered to in the thread's title. The 2cd deluxe edition is a cracker. According to SY's website there's a - drooooool - 2cd deluxe edition of Daydream Nation coming out soonish. It's a classic of course, but I gotta say that EVOL is pretty under-rated...
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a national magazine once held in high esteem by the bourgeois-intellectual set (before we were all lobotomised by interest rates and pinot noir, and the likes of Steve Braunias and Ian Wedde suddenly became far too difficult for us to understand).
Slightly off-topic I realise, but said magazine really has turned to custard since Pamela Stirling took over, hasn't it? The reviews and some columns are still ok, but the features are mediocre.
If they run one more cover with the words "How to improve / get more from / increase..." I'll bloody well scream.
Why don't they just change their name to Self-Help Weekly and be done with it?
Also, Sonic Youth in Beijing! Excellent!