Archive for the ‘Media issues’ Category
The predictable unsavoury and racist kerfuffle that greets Waitangi Day
This, from local Twitter luminaries @ColeyTangerina and @Megapope, is a wonderfully world-weary and efficient summary of the tripe that’s scooped out of the racist bucket in New Zealand around Waitangi Day and spread around thick like the ugly goop that it is. In many cases these tired tropes are trotted out as ‘debate’ or ‘talking […]
Let a little air in, @BarnsleyBill
This evil-looking device (right) is a Trocar self-piercing ventilation tube, used in medical procedures where inserting one of these into a patient’s infected body will help save their life through ‘aeration’ or by helping with ‘drainage of secretions’. I bet inserting one of these hurts like hell. But it beats suffocating … or festering in […]
Spoofing David Fisher
Some malicious drongo with too much time on their hands is pretending to be NZ Herald reporter David Fisher on Twitter, closely mimicking his real Twitter account @Fish_NZH, which is one I follow. (UPDATE: As you’ll observe in the comments below, David Fisher renamed his Twitter account to @DFisherJourno … And the deceitful impostor renamed […]
Farewell Aaron Swartz. RIP
I’m so sorry to read of Aaron Swartz’s suicide. Whether you know his name or not, Aaron Swartz made an impact — a ‘dent’. If you don’t, and you’re interested, do some research. 1 I offer my sincere condolences to those who knew Aaron and loved him, and those who mourn his death now. Naturally, […]
A small update: now I am ‘a sanctimonious twat’, too, apparently.
Earlier this year, in discussion with Cathy Odgers (Cactus Kate) about certain RWNJ’s affecting to foam with outrage (see Wailing about death threats, forgetting what they’ve written themselves) I noted National Party hate blogger Cameron Slater’s marked tendency to spit insults at those who disagree with him rather than make the effort to mount an […]
‘As playful as he is psychotic’
I read this wonderful line in Michele Manelis’ preview of Skyfall, the latest Bond movie: Javier Barden stars as Raoul Silva, and brings the sinister-yet-comedic element to the story. This over-the-top baddie is as playful as he is psychotic, but of course, underneath it all, he feels that he’s simply “misunderstood”. Which reminded me of […]
All in a good cause, we assume?
Gawd, I loved The West Wing … this ‘star-studded’ campaign ad for Bridget Mary McCormack uses the members of the ensemble and some of Sorkin’s visual ‘vocabulary’ (including cliché e.g. ‘walk and talk’) combined with what I’ve for so long thought of as ‘Mad About You’ whip-snappy dialogue and, mannered lecture-ettes. That I have such […]
Parasitic bloggers – yes, John Armstrong is right. Exactly
It was good to see some ‘pushback’ from the NZ Herald‘s veteran political columnist John Armstrong against second-guessing armchair critics (who happen to be bloggers). In an article originally titled:Blogging parasites don’t let the facts get in the way with the subtitle: Cheap shots at press corps based largely on ignorance and show no regard […]
Stumbling across a meme
I’ve been cleaning up files and stumbled across this photo someone sent me to enjoy in February 2011. Wow! I think it’s a flea. Or a bedbug? (Is it?) And I thought, I must put that on the Paepae. As is my habit, I wanted to credit the source, if possible. So I put the […]
Bill Clinton’s still got the shine. Unlike some.
I’m too young to have observed at first hand the way the US media was [supposedly] swept up in a love affair with John F Kennedy. Sure, I’ve read contemporary accounts like LIFE magazine fawning over the Kennedys etc, and looked at the phenomenon historically, but that ain’t the same. As an observer I was […]
The D-word. Name-calling in place of intellectual debate
A nice line from Stanley Fish’s New York Times review of right wing polemicist Dinesh D’Souza’s ninety minute anti-Obama campaign ad masquerading as a feature film … … While a viewer could certainly disagree with D’Souza’s analysis of the genesis and emergence of Obama’s views, it is nevertheless an analysis to which one could respond […]
