bucketFountain

I’m using Bearshare which is part of the gnutella network . I’ve downloaded some Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Creedance Clearwater Revival, Split Enz and, hallelujah, gospel. It’s cool, and as much as MP3 is a crappy format, it’s a great way to get a taste of the music – I’ll be following this up by buying a few CDs…

A New Zealander looking for local news? Please don’t go to nzoom, the self titled ‘homepage’ for New Zealanders. I usually use stuff.co.nz as my news source. It is run by a newspaper company, and while it looks a little bland, it is well coded and has good selection of news highlights. The other day I decided to start using nzoom as my NZ news source as it is slicker looking and had plenty of stories about the recent Waitangi day fiasco .

At lunchtime today when I visited the site I realised that something was wrong. The headline story related to a viewers poll conducted on Paul Holmes’ nightly show which overwhelmingly found that respondents were in favour of Don Brash’s (leader of the opposition) white reactionary policies on the Treaty of Waitangi, Maori affairs (the only Maori MP in the National Party was sacked last week), and Maori land issues.

Who is Paul Holmes? Last year he called Kofi Annan a ‘cheeky darkie’. He also once ‘threatened’ to go to Australia because he felt he wasn’t getting the respect or financial reward he believed he deserved. Luckily for the Australians he never acted on his word.

This speaks volumes about who watches the Holmes Show, indirectly a lot about the man Paul Holmes, as well as TVNZ’s editorial position.

Happily there was also a story entitled TV3 interview ruled unfair about TVNZ’s rival, TV3, and an interview they conducted with the Helen Clark. A judge ruled that the interview was impartial. In TVNZ’s eagerness to sling mud at the competition by giving a minor story greater emphasis, they have drawn attention to their own editorial hypocrisy.

I confirmed at stuff.co.nz that these were not in fact the top stories (there was no mention of either on the stuff homepage, I didn’t bother to go digging any deeper) but instead the tabloid trash that I have come to expect from TVNZ.

nzoom is not the homepage for New Zealanders. Some New Zealanders perhaps, but not the 63% who support the Prime Minister Helen Clark and her government. Like any politician, Helen Clark has her problems, but she is possibly the best leader New Zealand has had in my lifetime.

As a result of this fracas I’ve discovered scoop.co.nz – plenty of the kind of news I want to read, and at a glance, no discernible bias.

Holy crap – just read at Ben Poole’s site that Mozilla have changed the name of Pheonix/Firebird to Firefox…. How about calling it er, um, I can’t decide.

First time I’ve opened my laptop in what seems like weeks… Odd. I’ve been watching a lot of movies, working, generally in hibernation mode. It’s a good time to hibernate as it snowed here last week.

Just watched ‘Amelie’ – what a freaking awesome film! Highly recommended. Feel-good city without the mush or sentimentality.

Last night I saw ‘Lost in Translation’. Yep, it was lost on me, either that or Coppola Jnr intended it to be two hours of self indulgent, arrogant, borderline xenophobic beastliness. Two thirds of the way through the film I realised that I was trapped in a camouflaged rom-com. I don’t mind slow films, some of the best films I have seen move at a slow pace, but I am accustomed to something actually happening. Take evasive action at all costs. Wait for the DVD to come out if you’re still curious.

Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King
As long as Father O’Ryan’s Sunday sermon and about as interesting. I liked the battle scenes and settings. The thing that bugged me the most was that I felt that my emotions were being manipulated throughout the film. However, I am going to see it again and I reserve the right to change my mind….

Requiem for a Dream

This toe tapping musical depicts a jolly Staton Island adventure. But really – among the grimmest films I’ve ever seen, up there with ‘Nil by Mouth’. I do recommend it though, it is superbly made and acted – but be warned – for several hours you may experience an overwhelming compulsion to stick your head in oven.

Maidens in Uniform

One of the most fascinating films I’ve seen for many a year. Made in 1931, set in a girls boarding school, this allegorical tale of pre-nazi Germany defines the girls struggle against the authoritarian leaders of the school. It is Leontine Sagan’s only film. It has barely dated – Maidens in Uniform blew away my preconceptions about ‘old’ films, which caused me to watch….

M

Fritz Lang’s brilliant film about a child molesting murderer (played by Peter Lorre) on the run not only from the police, but also the underworld gangs. When separated from the context of the crime, the viewer feels an uneasy sympathy with the antihero. ‘M’ delivers an emotional speech at the finale. Powerful stuff, and I feel not the sort of film that would get made these days. Again, the film’s themes reflect Germany of the day.

Ghost World

Alternates between being funny as fuck and sad as fuck. Steve Buscemi rules as always.

Chinatown

Polanski in fine form. The film’s name derives from police in Chinatown never knowing what was going on due to the language barrier; who had shot whom, who the guilty party was and so on. In this noir inspired drama, Jack Nicholson’s character is at a loss to understand the increasingly complex situation growing around him. A dramatic ending as you’d expect, and super performances from John Hudson, Faye Dunaway and Jack. I recommend it.

Tokyo Story

A moving story about the relationship between parents and their grown up children – sure as hell gave me the guilts. Hailed by at least one critic as the greatest film ever made, this is definitely something out of the ordinary.

I recently finished ‘Letters to a young contrarian’ by Christopher Hitchens which is a shining example of great writing. I also slogged through the very short ‘Communist Manifesto’ by Marx and Engels. Hard work, but nice to have on the shelf as a reference. I was surprised to find myself wondering if it is an historical curiosity or still relevant today? Marxist (even communist) principles will be with humanity for a long time, and they have the power to help when wisely implemented and the power to ruin when incorrectly interpreted.

I’m presently reading Nigel Cawthorne’s ‘Vietnam – a war lost and won’. Interesting background to the war, although Cawthorne’s writing is weak in relation to Hitchens and Marx (particularly Hitchens). I find his constant use of slang is getting on my wick – it’s like he is trying to make out he is a ‘nam vet. I’ve also noticed three glaring errors, something that I’m accustomed to in newspapers, but not books. In its own right a worthy book, but in comparison to some of the great writers I’ve been exposed to recently it reads like a ten year olds rushed homework.

Hitchens makes me want to write, Cawthorne reminds me that it is not so easy.

I’ve installed FeedDemon for testing puposes. A lovely bit of work, but I’m not sure that I’d want to pay for it.

And so is bucketFountain. I’ve done some work over the weekend, tidied up the very messy backend of the application, gotten most of the pages to validate, and cleaned up the interface a little. I’ve nearly got an RSS feed on the site too, just gotta sort out an issue with the pass thru html in Domino….