A news reader this morning (on radio live) was going on about a spare fisherman. It seemed a strange concept until I realised she meant a spear fisherman. So what began apparently in Porirua has now spread to the news media. The vocoid glide as in beer has shifted to bear.
It is among the young and beautiful that you must listen out for this phenomenon.
I heard an Australian news caster (channel 9) talking about some far farters. That got my imagination running wild, until I realised the context was bush fires. It was all so very Kath and Kim.
Kim wants to be rich so the dialogue goes:
KIM: 'I wanna be effluent, mum, effluent!'
KATH: 'You are effluent, Kim!'
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
There's no business like show business ...
Increasingly, with the ratings war between channels, the role of the evening news is to entertain rather than simply inform. Certainly these are the self evident goals of the programmes that directly follow the news, Close Up and Campbell Live.
A promo for Campbell Live on January 23, 2009 ran “Teenage comedians, too young to drink and vote but paid to make you laugh”. It is hard to follow the logic.
Close Up kicked off its 2009 campaign with an expose of a rest-home framed as a kind of detective narrative. With a display of appalling ethical standards they send someone (the producer) under false pretences (work experience) into the rest-home with a secret camera. In doing so they exhibited cavalier disregard for the clients whose home the rest-home was. Their claims, as a result of the “investigation," remain totally unsubstantiated and in one case utterly false but no doubt it was just the thing to help the ratings.
It was TV journalism at its very worst: unbalanced, unethical, and totally self-serving. In the name of defending the vulnerability of the elderly, they invaded the elderlys’ private and personal space even to the extent that the producer showered women under false pretences!
Ah, but why let the truth get in the way of a good news story!
A promo for Campbell Live on January 23, 2009 ran “Teenage comedians, too young to drink and vote but paid to make you laugh”. It is hard to follow the logic.
Close Up kicked off its 2009 campaign with an expose of a rest-home framed as a kind of detective narrative. With a display of appalling ethical standards they send someone (the producer) under false pretences (work experience) into the rest-home with a secret camera. In doing so they exhibited cavalier disregard for the clients whose home the rest-home was. Their claims, as a result of the “investigation," remain totally unsubstantiated and in one case utterly false but no doubt it was just the thing to help the ratings.
It was TV journalism at its very worst: unbalanced, unethical, and totally self-serving. In the name of defending the vulnerability of the elderly, they invaded the elderlys’ private and personal space even to the extent that the producer showered women under false pretences!
Ah, but why let the truth get in the way of a good news story!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
You do something to me something that simply mystifies me ....
It sounded like a great speech. It was eloquently delivered. It combined the common touch (81.5% of the words where from the 1000 most common words in the English language). Yet there was something for the academic with 10% of words being academic or off the main common word list. Interestingly, in the foot steps of Churchill, almost 80 % of words were of Anglo-Saxon origin.
When you actually read the speech, it is clearly flowery, lacking in substantive content. But that’s alright. That’s what these types of speeches are designed to achieve – to inspire without actually saying anything practical. That comes later. And for that reason it was a great inauguration speech.
I like the man. I wish him the very best. But the messianic fervour that has sprung up around him worries me. It leads al least to two problems. One group who may indeed attribute messianic qualities to him; another group, who in reaction, might view him in quite the opposite way – the devil appearing as an angel of light. Both reactions would be very sad.
It is time for America to stand back and gain a realistic appraisal of the man. He is another frail human being with albeit some remarkable qualities. But like you and me, he dons his underwear in the morning, and uses 2 or 3 ply toilet roll.
Respect, admiration, even awe ought not to give way to worship.
Mr President may you continue to have that sense of humilty to execute your office with fairness to all and favour to none.
When you actually read the speech, it is clearly flowery, lacking in substantive content. But that’s alright. That’s what these types of speeches are designed to achieve – to inspire without actually saying anything practical. That comes later. And for that reason it was a great inauguration speech.
I like the man. I wish him the very best. But the messianic fervour that has sprung up around him worries me. It leads al least to two problems. One group who may indeed attribute messianic qualities to him; another group, who in reaction, might view him in quite the opposite way – the devil appearing as an angel of light. Both reactions would be very sad.
It is time for America to stand back and gain a realistic appraisal of the man. He is another frail human being with albeit some remarkable qualities. But like you and me, he dons his underwear in the morning, and uses 2 or 3 ply toilet roll.
Respect, admiration, even awe ought not to give way to worship.
Mr President may you continue to have that sense of humilty to execute your office with fairness to all and favour to none.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Walkin back to happiness...
Nu Zulun shuts down over what is called the silly season. The TV networks set the tone. Morning news disappears to be replaced by endless reruns of inane programmes that numb the mind and savage the soul.
The beauty of this, however, is being forced off one’s arse. After all, one may discover that TV viewing has ceased to be compulsory. So I thank the networks for their kind reminder of this. An alternative to arse-sitting is walking. Race walking – real race-walking, not only helps to give a more shapely arse, but also get those endorphins flying around in the brain. This are opiate-like peptides that make you feel good!
And so one springs outside into the sunlight uplands of where I live and stride down to the golden sands but minutes away.
This summer, I have finally begun to learn the fine art of laziness without guilt.
The beauty of this, however, is being forced off one’s arse. After all, one may discover that TV viewing has ceased to be compulsory. So I thank the networks for their kind reminder of this. An alternative to arse-sitting is walking. Race walking – real race-walking, not only helps to give a more shapely arse, but also get those endorphins flying around in the brain. This are opiate-like peptides that make you feel good!
And so one springs outside into the sunlight uplands of where I live and stride down to the golden sands but minutes away.
This summer, I have finally begun to learn the fine art of laziness without guilt.
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