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Showing posts from March, 2021

Slartibartfast Country

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Slartibartfast would love The Sounds: "Did you ever go to a place…I think it was called Norway?” “No,” said Arthur, “no, I didn’t.” “Pity,” said Slartibartfast, “that was one of mine. Won an award, you know. Lovely crinkly edges. I was most upset to hear of its destruction."

Up She Goes

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I am always fascinated just how far up into the sky very tall people can lift other very tall people.

The Wonkshop

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Ok, so it's not quite the "Wankshop" that I read in actual real life, but it's definitely the "Wonkshop" 😜

Everything Is Awesome

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As I have expressed previously these old British Pathé video clips , especially the colour ones from the 1950s and 60s, are most spectacularly hilarious and this one stands tall and proud amongst them. Everything about it is awesome, the subject matter, the clothes, the 'actors', the multiple music choices that were made, the narration, the film colouring, the ... everything, everything about it is awesome  Can you imagine making such a movie these days, well imagine no more as you could never make something with the sheer comedic genius as the original. Enjoy

No Such Thing As A Fish podcast

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Discovery is always the issue with da Internet, just so much stuff. Which is why Google and Facebook are such behemoths, one let's you find stuff by intent and the other by what your friends think. Podcasts are a whole different issue being audio and therefore not 'static' text or images. For some reason Google is pretty good at finding video for you, probably coz it owns YouTube and has a long time to work on it. Audio and radio feels like it should be easier, it's just words. Anyway, podcasts that you might like can be a bloody hard job to find, and so here's one I think you might like. No Such Thing As A Fish is a massively popular offshoot from the long running QI BBC TV series discussing four interesting facts and delving deep whilst having a laugh on the way. The weekly podcast is hosted by four QI Elves, Dan Schreiber, Anna Ptaszynski, Andrew Hunter Murray, and James Harkin.  And the name, well the podcast name comes from a fact as seen in Series H of the

Edwardian Death

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Gothic eh, gotta love a bit of middle-class death angst.

Restful

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Whenever I've visited Nelson the view across the water has always been one of rest and peace. Just looking at this I take a deep breathe, smile, and let it all out.

Nelson Boogie Woogie

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Sometimes life is about being near a piano in the late morning sun and listening to pure talent.

Some Days Are Like This

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I believe this is a detail of something at the Department Of Internal Affairs head office in Wellington. More Pakeha Māori gloss, perhaps.

Andy Zaltzman

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April 2018 and a second gig, this time the most awesome satirist/comedian Andy Zaltzman who you may heard hosting the most excellent news bullshit & pun driven The Bugle podcast .

If You Put A Finger In Your Ear And ...

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If you put a finger in your ear and scratch you hear the sound of Pacman. Ha ha ha ha. Love it! A random fact from Sally Phillips via QI .

In His Element

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Access Granted podcast allowed Raj and I to meet so so many amazing people, visit parts of the country we wouldn't have otherwise, and to do things that reminded us of our youth. It's weird being interviewed, and now we know what it feels like, through being  B Side Stories  guests hosted by the very cool  Laura Keown   as heard on the  Wellington Access Radio  and as a podcast. Here's Raj behind their mixing desk and loving it.

That Time Adam Understood About 50%

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Back in April 2018 John Cooper Clarke toured AoNZ and my mate Adam and I went along to St Peter's Anglican Church ... I know, a gig in a church, was a most excellent venue. Now, for anyone that doesn't know of John Clarke he's a Salford comic poet harking back to UK punk in the 1970s. So there we were with Adam never having heard of this dude, certainly never seen any of his material , and no idea what was about to happen to his ears. John Clarke has a very thick Mancunian accent and does his poems at light speed. Adam says he got about 50% of it 👍

It's Been Done Before

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I do love this photo of me, not just because of the awesome photograph itself, the gorgeous subject, but more for the memory of where it was amongst so so many others on the Photonflux wall.

One Year Ago She Joined Us

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It was the weekend of AoNZ going into COVID lockdown that Meg and I had decided to go and get a cat for the home. We'd been talking about having a pet for a while, I'd like a tortoise but they're so expensive here. Maybe some fish, but I would want a full aquarium and that was also an expensive set up. I'm not allowed to have a dog in this house, one of only two rules the owners have, fair enough. So up to the Mt Vic SPCA we tootled. "I want an older cat", I said to Meg as we wandered in.  There were only three older cats, and I immediately liked the quiet ginger one. We popped to the office, signed the forms, paid the money, got the feed, and we were driving away with a ginger cat in a box. Meg and I renamed her Gladys just seconds before she took up a safe position under the bath for the next few days. She ran away, she fell from the mezzanine, she leapt off the deck, and she ran away again. She was all over Meg but was definitely wary of me and hadn't

UK War Memorial

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It's a brilliant concept executed really well: At almost five metres tall, the design takes the form of two of the United Kingdom and New Zealand’s most iconic trees. The trunks of a Royal Oak and a Pōhutakawa intertwine to form one single leafy canopy, where leaves from both trees merge to create sense of shelter - giving the memorial its name: Whakaruruhau.  But here's the most wonderful part: Standing at the plaque, between the branches a silhouette of a single soldier can be seen ... I don't have a photo of that as I had no idea. Not yet anyways. [ quotes from Pukeahu National War Memorial Park, Ministry for Culture & Heritage ]

Imperial Was Imposing

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The colonisers certainly used bricks and mortar to stamp their feelings all over the country. This is the old Dominion Museum in Wellington and if it doesn't scream, "We are the power here!" then I don't know what does. A museum holding all the trinkets of what the old world was and what the new world is to be - I remember going there back in 1992 and it stunk of old and traditional, hated it.

Becoming A Kiwi

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I remember when I became a Kiwi on 15th August 2005 and the smile on Jenns face is an exact copy of what I had back then. I still marvel at how lucky I've been settling in AoNZ.

The Hand Of NZTech

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NZTech is an advocacy /  organisation (like NZRise  and ITP) based on membership fees and running sponsored and ticketed events - Tech Week and NZ Hi-Tech Awards are their most visible examples. They also have an ever growing number of "alliances", which tbf many I have a lot of respect for. During our time hosting Access Granted NZ we had a number of interactions with NZTech with creating Tech Week TV as  probably the major one.  It's interesting that Tech Week is an event that no longer truly supports the non-Auckland or major government agencies - lost it's way perhaps. Ask me why, I can tell you what I think 👍  However, back in 2018 we were all over it  coz back then it was run by community people both nationally and in Wellington.

Jools Topp

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She's an amazing wahine in all ways, it's a pleasure to live in the same country as her and her sister. Role models for so many and for a multitude of reasons. Let the winds of heaven be that which flies between your horses ears

Let's assume you are COVID

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 Now what?

Welcome To Your Food

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Welcome to the Seashore Cabaret.

Christchurch Airport Colours

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The ever changing colours of the Christchurch Airport terminus is very pleasing to the eye. The coloured air traffic control building brings forth a smile upon the face as well.

The Royal Nail

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I am totally down with shop name puns ❤️ We're a Christchurch Nail Salon offering quality treatments including Manicure, Spa Pedicure, Acrylic Nails, Gel Nails, Gelish Nails, Shellac Nails, Nail Art and Nail Repair.

Up, Through, Over, Down

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A flight from a grey and wet Wellington, up through the clouds to the sun, and finally back down into the colourless weather in Christchurch.

A Ragtag Of A Photo

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I look confused. Brett McKenzie has a broken arm. He's leaning into me way too much. "Ack Miramar" t-shirt? And all for someone else.

Love Life

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What better message can there be than those two words taken together or separately, "Love Life".

Functional Beauty

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It's just the overflow channel for the small Korokoro Dam, but still, beautiful eh?

No Longer On Social Media

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For a very long time I was a massive advocate of social media , how it can connect people, allow anyone to publish to the Web, and share those moments that matter with the people they care about. They were simpler times. There are three facets of social media that I have I grown more and more wary of as they have each grown in power and influence. btw: if you wanna know what social media I use the answer is none. Ish. I don't have anything to do with Facebook and its many apps, I have locked down my Twitter account just to follow a handful of 'silly' accounts that if I can find RSS feeds I will. I'm on LinkedIn but don't have the app and tbh I forget it's around. The one "social media" site I use a lot is YouTube, but it's like TV for me and I Chromecast so never see or interact with comments and the like. So, why the disenchantment and moving on? 1: Social Media is all about money Twitter, Facebook, and all those that claim to 'connect people&

Lend Us Your Brain

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Yesterday I had a very different Sunday afternoon than normal as I sat myself down into a chair at The City Art Gallery in Civic Square here in Wellington. Using just the power of my brain waves I 'made' a wee robotic paintbrush create art before our very eyes. Sort of. I had 2 hours being the performer in the final day of Simon Ingrams "The Algorithmic Impulse " exhibition and to do something, anything, and 'encourage' my alpha and beta waves to create a painting. My something was to create a website all about my experience: LendUsYourBrain.mikeriversdale.co.nz I hope you enjoy both the site and the photos as much as did those 2 hours.

To All Wahine

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Hope you've had a glorious International Women's Day and that your workplace, school, university, home has taken one more step to it being a more equitable place for you. Now, men, what's the one sustainable thing you've done to help with that? I made sure a woman that had been overlooked at work today was included. Tiny step but each adds up.

Cute Or Terrifying

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On the face of it this handwritten note on the neighbours window is cute and funny. Pop some movie horror music on it, add a little backstory, and this becomes a terrifying note just before the killings begin again!

An Australian Hillbilly Goat

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Performing at CubaDupa 2018 I give you one of The Hillbilly Goats on the fiddle.

Impressed By Your Own Plane

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At the 2018 annual Life Flight fundraising open day at Wellington Airport and this pilot fella just had to take a photo of his own flying machine, gorgeous.

In Good Company

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Access Granted NZ sticker at Goldings Free Dive, anyone know if it's still there?

Shiny Tree

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"All lit up and nowhere to go, coz I'm a tree."

Boing!

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A most awesome massive blowup bouncy thing with Meg flying from a bounce.

Happy 2021 St David's Day

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Dydd Gwŷl Dewi Sant hapus Hope 1st March is a happy one for you all and that you are eating leeks , speaking Welsh and singing (just to perpetuate all the myths) to the best of your abilities. [the photo is of Monnow Bridge in Monmouth (Wales) my home town, "the only remaining fortified river bridge in Great Britain with its gate tower standing on the bridge."]