The trouserless journalist

As some of you know, I was at Cape Kidnappers last week, visiting the Napier area for the first time. (I tried getting there last October, but this was as far as I got.)    It was for the Audi A8 launch, and we at the office had a good laugh at this lovely and […]

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Let the Outrageous Fortune come

Almost any New Zealander will recognize this image: a cast photograph from the long-running TV series Outrageous Fortune.    When I first heard of this show from Antonia Prebble, before she started filming, I have to admit I didn’t think the premise would see it last five years (and counting). But for New Zealand television […]

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Chatting to TV, radio and internet journalists for the mayoral campaign

There have been a few times in the history of this blog where I stepped away from writing regularly. At the end of 2006, I had a pretty good excuse: I was in France. This time, my reasons for stepping away for a few weeks do not include: (a) I was spending too much time […]

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Warp speeds on Air New Zealand

Anyone notice just how quickly Air New Zealand planes are these days? It takes the grand total of ‘1:00 mins.’ to get from Auckland to Wellington, which equates to travelling at 18,360 mph or 29,520 km/h. I am not quite prepared to do that in case the G-forces squash me into a pulp. And if […]

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A guide to writing an Alarm für Cobra 11 episode

  Since my campaign fund-raiser on the 15th, I’ve had to take a back seat from blogging, though there is a lot to discuss about work, our city and other matters. And I would get back in to serious mode but for a nasty stomach bug that has kept me down—and taken away a bit […]

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Didn’t take long to find Sonico’s limits

I seem to be on a lot of social networks (Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, Vkontakte), so I thought I’d look in to Sonico. I can see why it’s not as big as the others.    For a start, there seems to be insufficient globalization of its features. Try entering a Chinese film in to the favourite […]

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Vista was just a duo today

Due to others’ appointments, the Vista Group meeting today was a mere duo: myself and Jim Donovan, Esq., who will give up blogging in 10 days. It meant it was the second-least well attended meeting in our history. Jim has never let us forget the least well attended one.    I have always said that […]

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I need to listen to some Fred Dagg before I go on

To be confirmed is an interview with the BBC, in my politician guise. I have not been on radio in the other hemisphere for something like seven years, and that time it went to some of the most way-out places (it was UN Radio). I have one reservation only: my accent goes all over the […]

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The Downfall of ‘Wellywood’

Necessity is the mother of all invention. I never thought some of the Der Untergang (Downfall) parodies could be topped, but I think this just happened. You may also like Cities are, or at least should be, driving globalization Steve Guttenberg shows us how a Kiwi accent is done Live from Level 3 The rise […]

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Funny how the war keeps coming up

I could guess the entire storyline but my goodness, I still think this is hilarious. (Courtesy Chris Young at C7 Design in New Plymouth.) You may also like Is your favourite 1980s’ celeb here? On the subject of copying Steve McQueen, advertising spokesman, 1980 to date Doctor Who’s Christmas ’10 special: US trailer The TV […]

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