Rolley Derby in Wgtn


Just a quickie, since I’m late for school: on weekend went to the local roller derby for the first time, an event called Skate Highway One. The local Richter City women took on the Pirate City crew from Auckland. City-vs-city rivalry at its peak!
It was hella fun. Seeing the local team skate out to a thunderous welcome from the home crowd – yeah, it felt good. And the skating was intense and furious and competitive. Wicked fun, even though Auckland smashed Wellington – the Aucklanders were consistently bigger, stronger, smarter and more skilled than Richter City, and it showed. The locals showed a lot of heart by continuing to skate their guts out right to the end, though, and the crowd loved them for it.
I’m definitely going back.
The photo shows one of the winning banners. Heaps more photos of the bout here.

[mediawatch] *Sigh* DomPost does it again

In today’s DomPost, an article by Paul Easton about John Key’s decision to go to Copenhagen, as blogged extensively here last week.
Boxout section headed “Tackling The Environment”, in its entirety:

Lucy Lawless, actress: “There is no planet B. Let’s go about the business of tackling climate change. Our Government needs to sign on to a 40 per cent reduction target by 2020.”
Gerrit van der Lingen, New Zealand Climate Science Coalition: “I hope no agreement will be reached. After all, there is no scientific evidence human greenhouse gas emissions are causing dangerous global warming. Actually, the planet has been cooling for the last 10 years while CO2 levels kept on increasing. I call it the greatest scam in human history.”
Joe Milne, 19, shoe salesman, Wadestown: “It’s going to be a problem for my kids, and their kids. It’s good that Key’s going; you need the top figures there.”
Angelica Vestin, 27, mother, Tawa: “Hopefully it will not just be talking, and it will lead to some real action. Climate change does have an effect on the Earth, and it’s something that everyone can do something about.”

Why did Paul Easton feel the need to invite comment from the Climate “Science” Coalition?
Why did Paul Easton think it was fine to include that comment without any contrary scientific voice?
Does Paul Easton understand the implicit messages that result when you balance the concerns of three laypeople against the contrary views of someone identified with science?
Just… for heaven’s sake. Paul Easton – or, of course, the subeditors/editors who achieved this result – you get a big fat FAIL for this.

On The Telly Linky

So I was only on for a flash, but I was on, and more importantly the show I wrote and am co-directing got a big glamour play. So good! Can’t sell tickets if people haven’t heard about it, after all!
Anyway, some hasty linky for your Friday:
Re-creating a Matrix scene with Lego:

Incredible short piece of journalism about restorative justice in action – not glowing, not snarky, just completely real. Kudos to Stuff.co.nz for running this with such prominence, it’s the kind of thing that gets buried or ignored all too often.
Mother Jones article on NZ’s climate change refugees from Tuvalu.
The AV Club’s been doing their decade best-of. Best films of the decade, Best TV of the decade, Best Books, and more. Check it all out for some smart commentary about what culture has been doing the last ten years.
Historical photos with superheroes ‘shopped in. But kinda good.
And finally… Celestial Soul Portraits. Whoa.

Key is going


“Prime Minister John Key has done a U-turn and confirmed his intention to fly to Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change conference.”
I am pleased, and surprised, and pleased, for all the reasons discussed here (including comments).
Congratulations are due to the Greenpeace crew who really drove this campaign – although there was certainly some high-level pressure as well, e.g. at the Commonwealth Heads of Govt talks, the grass-roots definitely got the message out enough that Key heard.

Marie Antoinette on Nightline

Edit: we’re on tonight!

Yesterday the afternoon was spent in the Hippopotamus restaurant, filming a segment for TV3’s Nightline late edition news show. Nightline does like its quirky culture bits to round off the evening, and we’re lined up for Monday’s show tonight’s show!
We had five costumed performers enjoying High Tea, improvising like mad and gesticulating for the cameras. Eric (of the “how to behave” video) was interviewed, then a couple of the performers (one in-character, one out). The whole experience was good fun, and low-stress once it got rolling. Reporter Tova and cameraman Dan made smart decisions fast and pulled good signal out of a lot of noise; it was obvious they were both building the piece up from nothing in their heads as they went. Nice to watch.
And the Hippopotamus was amazing – very accommodating and helpful. Their high tea is wonderful! I mean to go back and check out the evening menu some time, executive chef Laurent Loudeauc spent a while watching what was happening and he seemed to be a nice gent, and the food definitely sounds amazing.
So, nice work everyone! There’ll be more photos up on the Flickr photostream soon, I hope. And we should be on Nightline on Monday!
Homepage: Affair of the Diamond Necklace

Ignorance is Priceless


Yeah, I know, I’m about to rant about advertising again. Sorry.
The new Mastercard Moments “Pebble” campaign bothers me more than any other ad in recent memory. I saw it first as a print spot (see it here), then discovered it had a TV incarnation as well.
The print ad shows a lush landscape, with a timeline superimposed. The timeline describes geological activity over millenia that led to a particular pebble sitting beside a lake. A dad has just skipped the pebble across the water, impressing his son. The clincher: “Not knowing what goes into a moment: priceless.”
The campaign is by McCann Worldgroup (warning: their website is really poorly designed). They helpfully outline the reasoning behind the campaign here:
“Show MasterCard Moments as the enabler to making having priceless experiences easier, without you having to worry about a thing… Unbeknown to him is everything that gone into making that [moment] happen for him.”
Oooh I hate it so much. The phrasing they use is just so obnoxious. “Not knowing what goes into a moment”, i.e. being ignorant. In this case, ignorance of the natural world and the scale on which it operates, of the massive interconnectedness of the global eco-system, of the many complex contingencies that led to life playing out as it did. The less you know about this stuff, the better.
They could have phrased it differently. “Not needing to know”, say. “Having all the hard work done for you”. There are lots of other ways to keep the same general solution to the brief without saying ignorance is the neatest thing. We didn’t get those ways, though, we got “ignorance is priceless”, straight up. The fact that none of the copywriters or editors and Mastercard approvals people thought this was an issue just goes to show how little people think about ensuring they are really saying what they mean. Or perhaps that’s being charitable, and they actually mean to deride an awareness of the bigger picture.
Argh, it’s such a horrible, horrible spot. While I’m upset about it, consider: this ignorance of geological scale and interconnectedness, this fundamentally self-centred view of the world, is exactly the same affliction that is leading us to massively overexploit the natural world and underprepare for the consequences. The dude who is ignorant of all these things is surely driving a big ol’ Humvee, right?
Also: this priceless moment is all about a dad showing off to his son. That’s the one! Show that kid you’re way better than he is at skipping stones! Proving to him that you are still the man! Surely an experience to be cherished universally.
Y’know, if Dad wasn’t ignorant of all that history, maybe he could explain it to his son. Blow the kid’s mind a bit about how big time is and how small we are in comparison and how amazing it is that time shakes out a whole lot of chances into one specific result.
I know I’d find that a whole lot more priceless than watching my dad skip a stone across the water.

Key might go


The poll I linkied yesterday is gone to wherever those polls go (I guess they just get deleted, nice on Stuff.co.nz) but TV3 at least is reporting that Key might go after all:

“There’s a case that might be able to be put up that is if it looks like a deal is going to be concluded,” he says, “then obviously I might need to react to that and get on a plane.”

That’s our master statesman at work. Still, as I’ve written before, I think it’s very important to get as many top nobs in the same room as possible for Copenhagen. The climate change problem needs to be addressed through the nation-state (that is why the I in IPCC stands for Intergovernmental) and that makes John Key a player, our % contribution to the overall problem notwithstanding.
I hope the reportage is accurate, and the campaign that I talked about before has achieved an unexpected success. Go John Go!
(Hey, just checked that link, and the image of Reptilicus is gone from Photobucket! I’ll go add in a different Reptilicus photo. Go Reptilicus!)

Bohemian Linky

Alan Moore’s new zine Dodgem Logic has an online space with lotsa free music and stuff. But it keeps jamming up my internets something chronic. Maybe you’ll have better luck?
Brizzly, the service that jams together Twitter and Facebook, is now open for everyone to sign up. So I signed up. Interesting. Don’t know if I’ll stick with it, but interesting.
You mighta seen this clip of the dude swimming with the leopard seal – but have you seen this clip of the penguin being chased around by the pack of orca?
The 50 most interesting articles on Wikipedia. Haven’t even read the list yet myself, let alone followed the links, but there must be some cool stuff there.
Creepy Albert Einstein robot.
Lady Gaga performing back when she had a normal name, before the marketers got a hold of her.
The next two have been all over the net, for very good reason. I’m gonna embed here so y’all have no excuse not to watch these.
First, NZ’s own book council has an incredible trailer for Maurice Gee’s “Going West”:

Second, brand new Muppets: their take on Bohemian Rhapsody. Divine.

An acid trip – illustrated.
Matt C’s Murray the Sex Machine (nice work Matt!)
The Event – a collaborative fiction by five Wellington writers, including the abovementioned Matt C – is now complete, and it seems to be a wild and creepy tale. I need to catch up on the second half of it, but it looks amazing. Go check it out.
And finally… the Daily Bunny, which is exactly what it sounds like.