Author Archive
Insurance against DISGRACE? Really? You can get that?
Disgrace insurance? I didn’t even know such a thing existed! Live and learn, I guess. From this article in the Herald on Sunday: The documents revealed a year after [Comedian Mike] King was recruited as the face of pork in New Zealand, officials became nervous when the comedian left an obscene phone message* for the […]
Nostalgia … Chris Rea – On the Beach
A friend and I were shootin’ the breeze earlier about more songs that are the soundtrack of our lives. (In the last little while we’ve discussed James Taylor, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan here at The Paepae — who all easily make the list.) Graeme and I recently went with our wives to dinner and […]
Q: Is this a Shaun Stenning product? A: Er, cough. Well, yes and no …
There’s not a lot of pride evident in this. A friend recently emailed me a link to this mealy-mouthed interchange on the Sni.pr support FAQ page — about the founder(?) and chief salesman of the new ‘internet marketing’ scheme, Shaun Stenning. It seems to back up my earlier thoughts. Presumably this Frequently Asked Question (!) flows […]
“Analyst” pfah!
John Gruber, talking about something completely different (a rumour Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer was due to speak at an upcoming Apple event) says something I’ve thought myself over the years about the property market: It never ceases to amaze me the sort of crazy speculative bullshit people will take at face value if it’s attributed […]
A good (simple) retrospective look at Europe’s economic woes
I heard from a friend of mine who works in Banking (with a capital B) in Geneva recently that things ain’t good in Europe. ‘European economies are in real trouble. I have had a deep sense of foreboding about the global economy recently’ he wrote to me — which is alarming considering what he and […]
Off to a good start?
Oh boy. This guy is off to almost as good a start as Brian J Hogan the iPhone prototype finder-keeper/thief/seller … Brian Corman, Columbia Valedictorian, PLAGIARIZED Patton Oswalt In Graduation Speech … leaving the university, home of the famed Columbia School of Journalism, embarrassed… It has come to our attention that a portion of our […]
Speak up
REAL ESTATE ALERT from Neil Jenman Thursday May 27, 2010 Dear Subscriber A few weeks ago, my wife and I got an extortion demand – take down your web sites, abandon the publication of your book, Stitched! or your children will be targeted. On Friday May 14, Channel Seven ran a story about the threats […]
If you missed him last time …
Leonard Cohen and his nine-piece band will return to New Zealand for three shows later this year. Concerts in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch will form part of a nine-city Australasian tour in October and November. — NZ Herald today If you know who he is, I can’t recommend this highly enough — it was an […]
RIP Paul Reynolds
Farewell Paul Reynolds. A genuine ‘internet expert’ and a good and generous human being. He died on Sunday, unexpectedly. I was so sorry to hear this today. What a lion he was! I recall a seminar where Paul gently, quietly, affectionately, but oh-so-effectively pierced some hyperbole that had been released into the room by yet […]
Ranting and raving? Oh yes, but sooo right!
I had lunch with my good friend Graeme today after he picked ‘the best song ever written’ on National Radio … and he hadn’t yet seen this absolutely wonderful recent rant and rave, telling-the-truth criticism of Glenn Beck by The Daily Show’s acerbic commentator, my hero Lewis Black …
Best song ever written …
Here’s my pal Graeme’s ‘best song ever written’ interview with Jim Mora on Radio NZ National today … [Audio clip: view full post to listen] … which I mention in the post above. Here’s Every Grain of Sand covered by Emmylou Harris (if you can find a Dylan version on the web, let me know. […]
‘Little known internet marketing expert’ ‘Mr X’ is actually spruiker Dean Letfus. (Oh, really?)
Less than 12 months ago Dean Letfus breathlessly told the world via YouTube how excited he was to have “discovered” the power of the internet through attending Shaun Stenning’s Geekversity weekend course — which it appears Dean Letfus and his mate Steve Goodey promptly started to promote far and wide as affiliates … ‘twisting Shaun’s […]
Living with a mountain in your backyard
I’ve just spent a weekend in the shadow of Mt Taranaki, with family on matters to do with our season of grief, and throughout that time I found myself ‘checking in’ with the mountain from various angles. There’s a kind of ownership — does the mountain belong to the people? … Or, more likely, are the […]
