tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post7152494983597925882..comments2024-03-22T21:02:55.051+13:00Comments on Bat, Bean, Beam: Leaving Middle-earthGiovanni Tisohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-82554143209889721562013-08-23T22:47:04.440+12:002013-08-23T22:47:04.440+12:00As a migrant from the USA, I am amused how Kiwis l...As a migrant from the USA, I am amused how Kiwis love to bash themselves ("We have the worst drivers" they say... umm try the 8A/E65 on the Peloponnese in Greece which ostensibly is still a first world country).<br /><br />Is NZ 100% pure. No of course not. But to bash it is pure masochism. In the East Coast acid rain has been falling for over a century. In China the sky is brown, the Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-60758702060395282012-11-28T17:17:19.118+13:002012-11-28T17:17:19.118+13:00Also in NZ becoming middle-earth, the entire count...Also in NZ becoming middle-earth, the entire country has become a film-set, with the associated labour market and mythic manipulations. So not only has hollywood manipulated labour market deregulation for cheap labour, but the actual content of the film vis a vis NZ nationalism. By this I mean the Hobbits themes of the pastoral 'little guys' taking on the evil of the world and being DIY Tim Barlowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18306508840775892206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-44112986288453563702012-11-28T15:09:42.748+13:002012-11-28T15:09:42.748+13:00Who expects advertising to be honest? Thats as chi...Who expects advertising to be honest? Thats as childish as the pride the average NZer feels for Peter Jacksons films, asif his reputation somehow rubs off on them . Absolutely pathetic and Key knows this horrible truth about NZers who stoicly ignore the law changes and grovelling at the feet of Hollywood etc Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-50354532844359160432012-11-28T15:03:49.093+13:002012-11-28T15:03:49.093+13:00Too much nature, not enough culture. That sums it ...Too much nature, not enough culture. That sums it up. And infantile glee in pretending its notAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-22068257790162318982012-11-26T20:14:17.951+13:002012-11-26T20:14:17.951+13:00"100% pure" is a tautology, "compar..."100% pure" is a tautology, "compared with the rest of the world we are a !00%" is an oxymoron." It takes a rare genius to combine the two.Brett Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01545104833037581797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-8343998508918508992012-11-26T16:14:02.473+13:002012-11-26T16:14:02.473+13:00The bells, the bells rang down,
then came down, a ...The bells, the bells rang down,<br />then came down, a silken single<br />movement that no amount of rope-<br />wrangling could have taught a <br />ringer. The library fell with them, <br />and the peal boards too, and broke, <br />and broke their fall. Chipped, <br />cracked, but not shattered, unlike, <br />I presume, the framed photo of Tom <br />Biddle, young unfortunate master of <br />the Megan Claytonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03584562106579704547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-58928526902751761582012-11-23T10:13:27.348+13:002012-11-23T10:13:27.348+13:00Oh, that's a tricky path to go down. Because w...Oh, that's a tricky path to go down. Because what we also do have is shocking social inequality statistics - but of course not on Middle-earth. Nor on our newspapers or televisions.Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-21711034152121475722012-11-23T09:55:19.984+13:002012-11-23T09:55:19.984+13:00Would people thinking of immigrating really see th...Would people thinking of immigrating really see the kind of thing that happens on our crime shows, like cops telling some guy to blow on the pie in all earnest, as worse than the comparable thing in, say, the US, where they have serious crime in every episode?Ben Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08015337296196701141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-40348706736626769872012-11-21T13:40:43.027+13:002012-11-21T13:40:43.027+13:00I don't mind the horse stuck in a ditch story ...I don't mind the horse stuck in a ditch story per se, more the small-mindedness and sensationalism of the broadcasts. It's a whole other topic, though. Let's just say that I'd love for the makers of Te Kāea to have a prolonged crack at making the national news. That I'd watch.Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-18632983118253494562012-11-21T11:37:52.328+13:002012-11-21T11:37:52.328+13:00"Justine complicated it further by bringing b...<i>"Justine complicated it further by bringing back to Italy after a visit a videocassette with some of the regular TVNZ programming. I think to this day that Immigration New Zealand could cut down on those waiting lists simply by showing the six o'clock news to its applicants."</i><br /><br />Indeed. I can remember when I arrived almost 9 years ago and saw my first six o'clock Andrewnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-84724626854957678902012-11-21T09:47:19.743+13:002012-11-21T09:47:19.743+13:00Sweet Home Matamata
Big wheels keep on turning
Ca...Sweet Home Matamata<br /><br />Big wheels keep on turning<br />Carry me home to see my kin<br />Singing songs about the southland<br />I miss matamaty once again<br />And I think its a sin, yesAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04424066726955708314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-10704371491009977552012-11-21T02:34:14.727+13:002012-11-21T02:34:14.727+13:00I'm still not sure :-)
It's been a while ...I'm <i>still</i> not sure :-)<br /><br />It's been a while since I read my Tolkien too, in long form. I read the Hobbit graphic novel to my boys a couple of months ago. They both really liked it, and curiously, they liked the movies too. I thought they'd be far too long. I should probably watch the cartoon version of the Hobbit as prep for the movie, but the chops aren't there anyBen Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08015337296196701141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-44752818747736191322012-11-20T22:15:06.696+13:002012-11-20T22:15:06.696+13:00Excellent, thank you very much.Excellent, thank you very much.Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-70782434838134270422012-11-20T22:12:38.174+13:002012-11-20T22:12:38.174+13:00Some info about the hillside with the pou is at: h...Some info about the hillside with the pou is at: http://www.newzealand.com/int/feature/mount-hikurangi/ Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-37563403730841739032012-11-20T20:29:47.530+13:002012-11-20T20:29:47.530+13:00No, I'm perfectly serious.No, I'm perfectly serious. Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-11719509441210956272012-11-20T20:27:56.855+13:002012-11-20T20:27:56.855+13:00Oh, wonderful. I was hoping somebody would stop by...<i>Oh, wonderful. I was hoping somebody would stop by with the chops for an old fashioned textual analysis - it's a while since I read my Tolkien. </i><br /><br />That's sarcasm, right? I honestly can't be sure.Ben Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08015337296196701141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-46479922611634857652012-11-20T15:52:20.062+13:002012-11-20T15:52:20.062+13:00It's also the sickening politics... Weta staff...It's also the sickening politics... Weta staff ordered to hikoi to parliament to ensure they could be better fleeced by these new NEWLINE Hollywood laws. Faux Scandanavian mythology - precised by Jackson's weak drama, over shot, over use of moving camera styled direction. Very weak-character based high techno crap film making... and what do we get? zillions of hours of WORK - making faux B'art Hommehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02247026300926791216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-52455112766112866072012-11-20T15:32:45.128+13:002012-11-20T15:32:45.128+13:00(My own preparation to coming here were Keri Hulme...(My own preparation to coming here were Keri Hulme, Janet Frame, Katherine Mansfield and nearly every feature film and short ever made in the country up to the year 1994 - which was still not that many - thanks to an excellent festival organised by the Film Commission that played to big audiences in Milan. The overall picture was complicated enough but Justine complicated it further by bringing Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-23854710686274593222012-11-20T15:09:12.961+13:002012-11-20T15:09:12.961+13:00Oh, wonderful. I was hoping somebody would stop by...Oh, wonderful. I was hoping somebody would stop by with the chops for an old fashioned textual analysis - it's a while since I read my Tolkien. <br /><br />Along the lines of that New Zealand Company imagery, <a href="http://publicaddress.net/speaker/selling-the-dream-the-art-of-early-new-zealand/" rel="nofollow">this</a> is the reason why I'm looking forward to Christmas this year. <br /Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-25825234754949946502012-11-20T14:35:24.867+13:002012-11-20T14:35:24.867+13:00Gah, I should clarify. My return to NZ meant far m...Gah, I should clarify. My return to NZ meant far more to me than my return meant to anyone else.Ben Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08015337296196701141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-77832769277721548542012-11-20T14:33:53.011+13:002012-11-20T14:33:53.011+13:00>Heartbreaking!
That was a poignant scene for ...>Heartbreaking!<br /><br />That was a poignant scene for me, too. Returning to NZ meant far more to me than it meant to anyone else. I should really have expected that, but somehow, I didn't. Are you feeling that at the moment?<br /><br />I don't think NZ is unique in that one, though. Tolkien was channeling something, probably about how soldiers felt when they came back from either Ben Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08015337296196701141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-44751643330329584022012-11-20T13:45:04.810+13:002012-11-20T13:45:04.810+13:00Following on from Ben's observation that NZ is...Following on from Ben's observation that NZ is just the Shire, small, bucolic, clannish, a little xenophobic... Also, notably, the hobbits who go and come back can never quite fit in again. <br /><br />I read the LOTR films, only half satirically, as an expat tragedy. That final scene in the pub, just before Frodo breaks down and says "SCREW THIS. When's the next boat for the west?&Jolisahttp://www.publicaddress.net/busytownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-91233785251155858892012-11-20T13:39:06.855+13:002012-11-20T13:39:06.855+13:00Ooh, Ben, I love that we simultaneously posted on ...Ooh, Ben, I love that we simultaneously posted on the terra nullius issue! Well done. Jolisanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-84163533601917842962012-11-20T13:35:50.001+13:002012-11-20T13:35:50.001+13:00The irony in the context of the LOTR stories is th...The irony in the context of the LOTR stories is that culturally, NZ is not Middle Earth, it is the Shire only. The obscure place that no-one else has heard of, populated by odd little people, some of whom do great things, so long as they leave the country to do them. The rest are blissfully ignorant. Their history is tiny, their culture bucolic. Their origin is in a giant migration, sanctioned byBen Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08015337296196701141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-91808858778315992292012-11-20T12:50:21.867+13:002012-11-20T12:50:21.867+13:00First, Janet Frame.
After that, a host of Indienoi...First, Janet Frame.<br />After that, a host of Indienoisepop groups ranging from the relatively famous (say, Chills) to the utterly obscure (This Kind of Punishment or Jean Paul Sartre Experience).<br />Then M K Joseph, author of The Hole in the Zero, the Haka, Whale Rider, and, finally, the fact that New Zealand resembles an upside-down Italy without the isles.<br /> <br />marconoreply@blogger.com