They want to erect a huge sign on the Miramar hills which says WELLYWOOD. Just like the Hollywood sign.

I have a few words for that:

• lame
• tacky
• rip-off
• embarassing
• lame
• so so so so so tacky
• cringe

I really wish there was an article in the herald, because Stuff like to take their shit off their site within a few days and then charge you to use it. So I’ll just have to steal a few bits and pieces from them for “record keeping purposes”.

Here’s what our mayor had to say, and I’m quoting from the stuff.co.nz article:

Ms Prendergast said the Wellywood sign was backed by Weta Workshop boss Richard Taylor and movie director Jackson.

“Peter was really clear about it being an exact copy of the Hollywood sign because he wanted it to be a send-up. He and Richard epitomise creativity and innovation in this city and I’m going to go with their judgment.”

MY GOD WOMAN, ARE YOU MAD? Just because Peter and Richard say it’s a good idea doesn’t automatically make it a good idea! She’s crazy. Copying the Hollywood sign is not “creativity” or “innovation”. It’s plagiarism lady! I hope she reads the fucking paper, because most of Wellington – if not all, bar a few crazies – want us to bin this idea before it’s even started. Unfortunately the land is privately owned by our airport and they want to do it, so they get the say. But as we own a huge stake in that airport – council does anyway – does that mean we may have a chance to stop this thing before it happens?

It’s just so cringe worthy. It’s been done to death by others (see the wikipedia article on the list of Hollywood inspired nicknames). We are so much better than that, surely?

But, if they do decide to go ahead, here is a better idea!

And an even better one is courtesy of Leon, he’s so creative ^_^

There are some beautiful quotes in the comments on the stuff website. Let’s steal a few!

They should put one over the Cake Tin too saying “Cake Tin” and one over the Beehive saying “Beehive” and one over Mount Vic saying “Mount Vic” and one over any other landmark they can find. Because signs are cool. Especially when they are big like that one in Hollywood.

Think about how useful that would be if you’re trying to get somewhere. Right on the hill over to the nui WAINUIOMATA, and then we could have more that say PAK N SAVE and in Kaiwharawhara one saying THE GORGE.

Wellington 20 years behind Mosgiel!

Ouch!

They should also put a garish massive neon sign at the entrance to Rotorua that says “Roto-Vegas” as obviously NZ towns don’t have their own identity and strive to be like the US.

Haha, Roto-Vegas. So true. Or a big sign on the hill going into Stokes Valley saying “Stokes Vegas”. That’s fantastic. If we’re gonna do this, let’s fucking DO IT DAMNIT!

Just so damn lame. really cringe-worthy stuff, im tempted to become a vandalist.

Me too man. Don’t worry, if this goes ahead everyone will be up there with their spray cans. The Warehouse and Mitre10 Mega will need bigger lists of paper to put spray can names down. So many of us will buy them that they’ll never know who did it.

And, we better have a pro-sign quote I guess.

“I think it’s a fantastic idea! Let’s celebrate Wellington’s amazing successes in the film industry! C’mon, get behind it, and put Wellington on the international map as an fabulous and vibrant destination!” Trish Bullard

Trish, you are fail. I bet you live in Auckland just want us to bum ourselves out.

Man, what are we going to do? I think we’ll all have to either move, turn into terrorists or just become vandals and rip the fecking thing down.

There are a couple of groups you can join if you want to get in on the fun. This one is the biggest: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=354085372690&ref=mf

I’m gonna go lolnesspants to myself for the rest of the week now! ;D

B xx

I’ll put the photo up here once all the hoo-hah has died down eh? So you can see how smokin’ hot Willie looks in his SAS uniform with a big gun :O

[edit] Ok, here’s the photo. *drooooool* ~~~

Photo by Philip Poupin.

I’m going to link this to the Herald, even though I’m gonna paste a whole lot of Stuff quotes. Why? Because Stuff are jip and get rid of their content and make it user-pays after a short time. And I wanna be able to giggle at these comments in years to come! ^_^

New Zealand Herald – Day at the office for SAS in Kabul

Stuff.co.nz – Apiata’s Afghan exploits revealed

GGG #161 10:44 am Jan 22 2010
I’m not into beards but…….. DAYAM thats hot!

ATom1746 #136 10:18 am Jan 22 2010
Oh man, that is a cool beard. Someone needs to set up a fan-site for Willie’s beard.

BSSS #117 10:01 am Jan 22 2010
surely he looks like zach galifianakis from the hangover.

Robb23 #116 10:01 am Jan 22 2010
He looks cool, keep the beard bro. Mad styles. I dont think the SAS is patrolling streets? so calm down. If hes out in the field he is a target, the photo doesnt change that. SAS arent presence, they are awesomeness, and they fly through flames with extreme facial expressions, guns blazing and beards ready.

BD #109 09:58 am Jan 22 2010
Holy heck – a definitive depiction of a BAMF if ever I saw one…

AC #108 09:58 am Jan 22 2010
Awesome photo – looks like Rambo!

Gary #39 09:03 am Jan 22 2010
Crickey, if I was a bad old Jihadist hell bent on destruction and Willie had to walk in, I would probably shoot myself than tangle with him or any of the SAS lads

Go the SAS

hektor #38 09:03 am Jan 22 2010
Nice freakin M4. where do I get one?

Rick #25 08:49 am Jan 22 2010
It’s the uniform and gun isn’t it, i’ve got to get me one of those…..

Damian #80 09:37 am Jan 22 2010
Is it possible to look any cooler??

Holey #77 09:33 am Jan 22 2010
He looks like one tuff mother . Go the NZ SAS

Mantank #45 09:09 am Jan 22 2010
Top pic for his facebook profile. He is a true Warrior.

Steve #17 08:44 am Jan 22 2010
Willie Apiata is a frickin Badass. He looks like something out of Call of Duty. Mad Respect for the NZSAS – They are the elite!

Kelvin2 #10 08:39 am Jan 22 2010
That is the face of a guy who you’d want on your side in a dark alley.

Even Chuck Norris would be afraid to take on “Mr Apiata, to you Chuckie boy”.

Haha, this was awesome:

ohdear #29 08:51 am Jan 22 2010
I was going to write something completely sensible then realised all I really want to say is I completely agree with Karen.

Karen #1 08:31 am Jan 22 2010
Willie APIATA is hot!!!!!!!!!!

and the very best.. sheesh who is this Michelle chick

Michelle #13 08:41 am Jan 22 2010
Ohhh he looks so much better when he’s all in uniform and hairy. He’s a babe!

Government kills pay-equity inquiries (NZ Herald)

Labour women’s affairs spokeswoman, Sue Moroney, said axing the pay investigations sent the message that women were “second-class citizens at work”.

She said the gender pay gap stood at 12 per cent in New Zealand, and strong advocacy was required to close it.

That’s another step backwards for this country.

Here’s the plan:

Mr Key says his first actions on the economy include:

• The introduction and passage of National’s tax package into law before Christmas, with tax cuts beginning on 1 April 2009.
• Updating and publishing the economic and fiscal forecasts to gauge the true state of the government’s books and determine the on-going effects of the international economic crisis.
• Appointing a Minister of Infrastructure and begin implementing National’s infrastructure plan.
• The introduction of an RMA reform bill to reduce the costs, delays, and uncertainties in the Act.
• The introduction and passage of National’s transitional relief package into law to offer extra assistance to Kiwis who are worst hit by redundancy.
• Calling in public service chief executives and instruct them to undertake a line-by-line review of their department’s spending.

On Law and Order, Mr Key says National will:

• Introduce legislation to remove the right of the worst repeat violent offenders to be released on parole.
• Introduce legislation to clamp down on criminal gangs and their drug trade.
• Introduce legislation to toughen the bail laws to make it harder for criminals awaiting trial to get bail.
• Introduce legislation to tackle increasing violent youth crime by bolstering the Youth Court with a range of new interventions and sentences.
• Introduce legislation to require DNA testing for every person arrested for an imprisonable offence.
• Introduce legislation to give police the power to issue on-the-spot protection orders to help them protect victims of domestic violence.
• Introduce legislation to compensate victims by levying criminals and putting the money into a Victims Compensation Scheme.

In education, Mr Key says a National-led Government will:

• Amend the Education Act 1989 so the Minister of Education can set agreed National Standards in literacy and numeracy.
• Publish requirements for primary and intermediate schools to report to parents in plain English about how their child is doing compared to the set National Standards, and compared to other children their age.
• Begin work on allocating the additional $500 million capital investment in schools in preparation for our first Budget to start future-proofing our schools.
• Introduce a “voluntary bonding” scheme which offers student loan debt write-offs to graduate teachers who agree to work in hard-to-staff communities or subjects.
• Amend the Education Act 1989 to increase the current fines for parents of truant children from $150 and $400 for first time and repeat offenders respectively, and allow the Ministry of Education to take prosecutions.

And in health, National will:

• Instruct the Ministry of Health and DHBs to halt the growth in health bureaucracy.
• Open the books on the true state of hospital waiting lists and the crisis in services.
• Fast-track funding for 24-hour Plunketline.
• Instruct that a full 12-month course of Herceptin be publicly available.
• Begin implementing National’s Tackling Waiting Lists plan.
• Establish a “voluntary bonding scheme” offering student loan debt write-off to graduate doctors, nurses, and midwives agreeing to work in hard-to-staff communities or specialties.

Read the full 100 day action plan (498 kB PDF)

I am still a cynic I guess. Reading this I see a lot of these words: Introduce and introduction. I’d like to see more doing words

National + Progressives + ACT > Labour + Everyone else!!!

MMP sucks! If there was no MMP they could govern alone. There is a risk with ACT, while I agree with some of their policies, they are very right-wing and they have Sir Roger Douglas in there O_O He’s oldschool and old and oldschool and just plain strange. You can go to wikipedia and see him. Just the photo of him there should say it all. A read on “Rogernomics” might be interesting…

National just wiped the floor with Labour! I totally shouldn’t be saying this, but I’m really happy. I think New Zealand deserves a change. We need a change.

I just hope they have what it takes to get New Zealand through all the economic and financial crisis bullshit going on. Labour have made sure they left the coffers empty, and National are going to have a really tough time. I just hope New Zealand is not dumbarse and doesn’t vote them out after three years because we’re not having huge surpluses again. It ain’t gonna happen people, they’re gonna need more than three years to fix the mess left in the beehive for them.

Now, National, bring on your social policies and clean up the ghetto I live in!

I saw some stats on a site, dunno how relevant they are:

• 55% “European Americans” voted McCain
• 95% “African Americans” voted Obama
• 66% “Hispanic” Voted Obama

What does that mean? Is that even relevant for what I’m talking about? Who voted on race, who voted on policies?

Nevertheless, I am proud of America. For once you had a nice clean election, with a clear-cut winner. I hope to God that Obama doesn’t get assissinated by someone from a southern state any time soon, I know there are a lot of paranoid rednecks and KKK peoples etc down there who think he is Islamic… I was watching them on 60 Minutes and 20/20.

I just feel sorry for the USA too, and Australia, who are now moving into the “red movement”. Thank God you have a constitution, because we don’t and we were not protected from it.

Good luck to New Zealand,we vote this Saturday!

So the ant and the grasshopper? It’s making it’s way around NZ email systems at the moment. It’s rather relevant to what is happening in New Zealand.

The Ant and The Grasshopper

There is an “Old Version” and a “Modern Version”. Two Different Versions! Two Different Morals!

OLD VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY:
Be responsible for yourself!

MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

TV1, TV3 and Maori TV show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. New Zealand is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Good Morning with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green.’

Sue Bradford stages a demonstration in front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the group singing, ‘We shall overcome.’
Gordon Copeland then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper’s sake.

Michael Cullen exclaims in an interview with John Campbell that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share as the ant is too much of a “Rich Prick.”

Finally, the Labour Party drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

Winston gets his old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of judges that Helen appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.

The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around him because he doesn’t maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighbourhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY:
Be VERY careful how you vote in 2008!!

I read about this in Computer World (the newspaper one which arrives on my desk every Monday or so). ACTA is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement which was brought about by all the would-be powers in the world and Mexico *chuckle*. New Zealand was in on the talks, and they said the public was involved, were the public involved? Did the Ministry invollved at the NZ Government end put out requests for submissions? At any time or place has the public been asked have their say?

For something as important as this you think they would have been. I have looked high and low, around government and private websites, and on a site I know like the back of my hand and I have found nothing.

I know negotiations are ongoing, but we’re at round 4 I think, and still the public has not been asked for their input. Maybe when we get further into it we will be. I wonder if abroad they are asking the public of other involved countries what they think of joining this treaty?

So, what would ACTA mean for New Zealanders? Bronwyn.co.nz which is the blog of Bronwyn Holloway-Smith explains quite nicely what it would mean. And not just for New Zealand, but all the countries involved. For a treaty which is supposed to protect counterfeit goods such as fake Chanel purses and parallel imported goods, it has had a bad case of the “scope creep”.

Bronwyn provided some great links, so I’ll post some here and you can have a read yourself.

• Bronwyn’s post about the ACTA
• Radio NZ podcast (with Lynn Freeman & Colin Jackson) – ACTA bit starts at 4:05
• Wikipedia.org: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
• Wikileaks.org: Proposed US ACTA multi-lateral intellectual property trade agreement (2007)
• med.govt.nz: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
• it.gen.nz: Your rights on the internet at stake
• it.gen.nz: Submission on ACTA
• acta.lemming-brothers.com: Completed submission

Okay, so I need to give an opinion. The only opinion though! And that is that a copyright holder shouldn’t be able to bypass the courts and monitor your every move – even if they can prove you are copyrighting. The police – yeah maybe, but the copyright holder? It pays to know what’s happening with Government, keep your eyes and ears open and be sure to protect your privacy rights. Engage with Government, be sure to vote, and be heard. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for the opportunity make submissions in various places.

Y’know, they do need to protect Gucci bags, and Prada bags, Rip Curl t-shirts and other counterfeited goods. I applaud that they are thinking of that. And also parallel imported stuff. Although you wonder how they can do that, and if things can really sell that cheap why don’t they sell that cheap all the time??? I’m not sure how piracy of movies and music came into it all, but I do support a move to protect the value of my Louis Vuitton.

And on a side note, a really good blog post about the RIAA and MPAA, and what would happen if we imposed the same idea of DRM onto handbags. Check out Bagbunch.com for a really great insight into why DRM just doesn’t work.

Bright eco-bulb idea has dark side
5:00AM Thursday June 19, 2008
By James Ihaka

Dimming the lights for a romantic dinner could end the evening with a bang once planned Government lighting regulations kick in.

The Government wants to cut lighting energy consumption by 20 per cent by 2015 and from late next year incandescent lightbulbs will be banished.

Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons has hailed the move, saying the changes to compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) could save the country $500 million by 2020.

But while the changes are likely to benefit the environment and people’s pockets, some in the lighting industry are warning of issues people will need to get used to.

“If you try to dim the lights with CFLs you’ll probably end up blowing the switch,” said Kevin Lord, who manages Hamilton’s Lighting Direct store.

“They have developed some you can dim but at the moment they’re not on the market and if they are, they don’t comply with New Zealand standards.”

Mr Lord said things were also not so bright for chandelier lovers as the sharp white light from CFLs could not bring out the sparkle in a chandelier’s crystals.

“When you put an opaque-type lamp in it [the chandelier] it’s just a dead, dull light.

“I’m not sure what the future option will be.”

He said a quick night-time dash to the toilet could also be a problem, with some CFLs taking up to a minute to warm up and fully light an area.

And the future of heat lamps, used in bathrooms and restaurants, was also a “curly one” that would have to be sorted out.

“But overall I think it won’t be too big a problem for people and most will probably adapt pretty quickly.”

A report from the Efficient Lighting Group showed 8 per cent of the total energy used in homes was consumed by lighting.

The figure increases to 14 per cent in lighting for businesses and public areas.

But CFLs typically use between a fifth and a quarter of the energy an ordinary lightbulb uses while lasting eight to 10 times longer.

A spokesman for the Electricity Commission said an average four-bedroom home, which typically had 28 lightbulbs, could potentially make significant savings on its annual power bill with CFLs.

Based on an electricity unit cost of 20c/kWh, the cost of using a quality 20-watt CFL for four hours a day was less than $5 a year, which compared favourably with the $21.90 to run an ordinary lightbulb.

He said CFLs had minuscule traces of mercury, so the bulbs had to be carefully disposed of if broken, but the amount was about a hundredth of that contained in the average mercury tooth filling.

SEEING THE LIGHT: COMPACT FLUORESCENT BULBS

Q: How much do they cost?
A: On average about $6, although cheaper, poorer-quality options are available. They can last between 6000 and 15,000 hours.

Q: What do they cost to run?
A: CFLs typically use a fifth of the energy of an ordinary lightbulb. So based on an electricity cost of 20c/kWh, a CFL used 3 hours a day throughout the year will cost $4.40 compared with $21.90 for a standard bulb – a saving of $17.50 per year per bulb.

Q: Do you need to change your light fittings to use them?
A: No. CFLs come in screw and standard bayonet types so can be fitted in place of standard incandescent bulbs.

(from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority website and the Electricity Commission)

Well, isn’t that great. They are now telling us what kind of lightbulbs we should use. Nevermind they give off cold light, cause migranes, aren’t good for rooms where you need to get in and out quickly (bathrooms, pantry), have mercury in them (don’t go near if they break), don’t actually last the 6000+ hours, can’t be used if you have dimmer switches because they buzz, can’t fit into lamps or outside light enclosures, and I have to say it DON’T FIT IN MY FUCKING DOWNLIGHTING!

I wanna know who to send the bill to, because I’m going to need to build a big shed to store my oldschool lightbulb stash in until I can finish suing the Green party so they can come and pay for my entire house to be refitted. The stoopid eco-lights don’t fit into my light fittings. And my entire house uses those light fittings… Not to mention my outdoor sensor light bulbs, my bedside table lamps, the spotlights in the bathroom and above the kitchen sink, the heat lamps in the bathroom and the lights in the garage, or even in my mothers sewing machine. How are they going to get around this?

It’s gone too far. They need to pull their fucking heads in and start focusing on crime and alcohol, drugs and real issues facing this country.

• A lady got into her car with her 8-year-old son and a guy opened the door and snatched her bag. She jumped out and chased him to his car and he ran her down and she died.
• A shop owner was robbed and put his hands up, co-operated and let them take everything and they shot him point-blank in the chest, then other people kept coming into the shop and stealing stuff as he was dead.
• A newly-wed lady driving to work and a guy decides he wants to take a few people out so he rams into her on the motorway and she’s dead.
• A little 80-year-old Asian lady was beaten to death in her home. They are trying to say it was the Triads, because then they can blame it on Immigrants. But apparently witnesses saw some Samoan or Maori people.

We all know people WANT to go to jail. If you go to jail you get 3 meals a day, Sky TV, underfloor heating plus heating/air conditioning. And the prisons have these giant LCD TVs up on their walls, plus the TVs in the cells. I wish I had underfloor heating, 3 cooked meals a day and could get a free University education. Gee, where’s the incentive to stay legal?

There’s a bit of a story on crime in yesterdays Herald. South Auckland is the most ghetto place I know of. It’s like being in one of those slums in the US of A or being on the bad side of the tracks in Cape Town or Nigeria somewhere. What a bunch of fucking animals live in this country.

I just thought of something. Have you ever seen the Mad Max movies? That is going to be South Auckland and various other parts of New Zealand soon (if not already).

But does it really undo the damage you have done? Does it really make it okay? Or are you just compensating for something you shouldn’t be doing anyway?

wrong + wrong = wrong
right + right = right
right + wrong = ?

Here’s a site that really puts it into perspective: www.cheatneutral.com. “Helping you because you can’t help yourself”.

Read the “small print” page if you don’t get it.