blogging it real

I recall reading somewhere that the UK House of Commons spent much longer discussing the controversial issue of fox-hunting than it did the relative non-event of invading Iraq. There was a factor of hundreds involved if I recall - something truly absurd, with only about 6 hours debating the invasion. Which brings me back to all the time spent, and ink spilled, in faux outrage about Janet Jackson's hooter. Which the Onion picks up on very nicely indeed:

WASHINGTON, DC—As the nation approaches the one-year anniversary of the Super Bowl XXXVIII tragedy, an FCC study shows that millions of U.S. children were severely traumatized by the exposure to a partially nude female breast during the Feb. 1, 2004 halftime show.

"No one who lived through that day is likely to forget the horror," said noted child therapist Dr. Eli Wasserbaum. "But it was especially hard on the children."

The tragic wardrobe malfunction occurred approximately 360 days ago, during Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's performance of "Rock Your Body," when Timberlake tore Jackson's costume, accidentally revealing her right breast.

"By the time CBS cut to an aerial view of the stadium, the damage was done," said Wasserbaum, who has also worked extensively with orphaned and amputee children in Third World war zones. "I've found that children can be amazingly resilient, but this event was too much for many of them to take. The horrible image of that breast is likely to haunt them for the rest of their lives."

According to the 500-page report filed by the FCC, more than 90 percent of the children who saw the exposed breast said they were "confused and afraid."

"Mommy has dirty chest bumps," said a 5-year-old boy quoted in one of the thousands of case studies compiled by the FCC. "She's like the bad lady on TV. I'm afraid Mommy will take off her shirt and scare everyone. I hate Mommy."

Girls were traumatized as well, often expressing apprehensions about sexual development. According to Wasserbaum, one 8-year-old girl told her parents that she didn't "want to get evil breasts."

...

"The FCC imposed the maximum $27,500 penalty on each of the 20 CBS-owned television stations," Wasserbaum said. "But the government offered no recompense to the individuals exposed to the breast. And neither Jackson nor Timberlake has ever specifically apolgized to the children whose lives they ruined, or donated a penny for the adolescents' psychiatric care."

Across America, parental concern over the condition doctors have dubbed Nearly Naked Breast Disorder continues to grow.
Drawings by children who saw the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show.
Above: Drawings by children who saw the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show.

"How can my son Brandon be expected to make it through something like that unscathed?" asked mother of four Shonali Bhomik of the San Francisco-based What About the Children? Foundation, one of many social-awareness groups spearheading the fight for increased NNBD funding in Congress. "For approximately 1.5 seconds, he saw a breast. The image was seared into his innocent, tiny retinas. He can't close his eyes without replaying the whole ugly scene over and over in his little head."

"For the love of God—that breast was almost nude," Bhomik added.

[...]

Bhomik is one of millions of people facing every parent's worst nightmare: that their child will see a partially exposed breast.

Wasserbaum said there is no way to predict whether the children will recover.

"One thing is certain," Wasserbaum said. "For us as a nation, the horrific consequences of almost-nakedness have only just begun to make themselves apparent."

Wasserbaum added that children who saw the televised breast in Europe, Australia, and various other nations throughout the world were somehow unaffected by the sight.

They make kids sturdy around these parts.

We've been having a right old yarn over on the Great New Zealand Discussion Forum about New Zealand's MPs ... who we like, who we dislike, who we hate with the burning intensity of 1000 suns, and who we can't even recognize. As for the latter, I'm reminded of the "Mediocre Presidents" variety show from the Simpsons:

All: We are the mediocre presidents.
You won't find our faces on dollars or on cents!
There's Taylor, there's Tyler,
There's Fillmore and there's Hayes.
There's William Henry Harrison,
Harrison: I died in thirty days!
All: We... are... the...
Adequate, forgettable,
Occasionally regrettable
Caretaker presidents of the U-S-A!

So here is an intial list compiled by the fearless Wiremu1306 of those MPs whose names, faces, roles, electorates, and responsibilities escape even those of us foolish enough to follow NZ politics (drumroll please):

Adams, Paul
Alexander, Marc
Ardern, Shane
Catchpole, Brent
Chadwick, Steve
Duncan, Helen
Eckhoff, Gerald
Ewen-Street, Ian
Gallagher, Martin
Goudie, Sandra
Gudgeon, Bill
Hartley, Anne
Heatley, Philip
Hereora, David
Hutchison, Paul
McNair, Craig
Mackey, Moana
Ogilvie, Bernard
Okeroa, Mahara
Paraone, Pita
Parker, David
Perry, Edwin
Pettis, Jill
Pillay, Lynne
Ririnui, Mita
Roy, Heather
Smith, Murray
Stewart, Barbara
Turner, Judy
Ward, Michael
Yates, Diane

Well readers, I have to confess there were quite a few names in there I didn't even recognize - like Murray Smith? Barbara Stewart? Michael Ward? Philip Heatley? Edwin Perry? Although we're gradually working things out over on the discussion board.

Also, which of these Nat women is the really annoying, moralizing one: Judith Collins or Katherine Rich?

As for current MPs I know of, but can't stand the sight or sound of, a preliminary list includes:

Tony Ryall
Ben & Jerry Brownlee
Nick Smith
Lockjaw Smith
Jim Anderton
Deborah "the skirt" Coddington
Richard Prebble
Rodney Hide

And that annoying, patronizing National woman (no, not Jenny Shipley, but I hated her too). Is expressing utter disdain and dislike for an MP (or at least a Minister) an act of sedition? Probably! :)

Just thought I'd post a link to my other blog site that I started yesterday, which I'm going to reserve for reviews and thoughts about movies and music.

It'll probably help to streamline this site a bit if I limit my ramblings here to day-to-day crap (not that I've done a lot of that recently, but teaching kids during the brutal cold of a Korean winter freezes up your social life somewhat, not to mention your brain.....) .

Dear Air New Zealand,

I have recently had the misfortune of being a customer of your airline.

This blog details just how appalling your service has been.

Several weeks ago I endeavoured to book a flight over your website, normally a pain-free way of organising travel, however when I clicked on “purchase tickets” your website informed me the transaction had not been successful and to try again.

Having double checked my credit card details I retried – same result.

On the third attempt your website informed me I had insufficient funds available.

On calling my bank they informed me two tickets had been purchased and to call Air NZ to get one of them cancelled.

However, your customer service representative told me no way was my money in your account and no tickets had been purchased because I had not been issued with a booking reference number.

After an hour of patiently explaining the situation and seeking assistance from various, and seemingly-equally, feeble-minded staff I was told to cancel the excess ticket via my bank.

Then, in 24-hours time the money from the other ticket would be freed-up in your system and I could just ring back and I would be issued with the ticket.

Twenty-four hours later yet another uninformative customer services representative said there was no sign of any money and that I had to cancel the second ticket via the bank.

There was no apology given for having temporarily bankrupted me or for the labour involved – by now several hours - dealing with your staff and the bank to get my money back.

Nor was there any reply to the e-mail I sent to your customer services e-mail address where I said I thought your service was sub-standard.

By contrast the ASB Bank representatives did everything they could to assist me in the situation.

“What do you mean they don’t have your money? It’s sitting in their account,” my bank said.

Interesting isn’t it how differently the consumer is treated when there is genuine competition in the domestic marketplace.

It might be wishful thinking that the interest you earned on my money while it sat in your account will be invested into staff training.

I guess with your tactics of undercutting even the most token of domestic competitors it is not something you need concern yourselves with.

And still you need bailouts!

Arriving for my flight at Auckland Airport fifty mintues in advance of departure I stood in a barely-moving queue until they announced the flight was about to close.

I ran to a nearby Air NZ representative and said you’ve got help me bypass this queue and get on this flight, but to no avail.

By the time I got to the check-in counter I was informed the flight had closed and I had to book another ticket.

As I had booked on the cheapest flight available there was no refund, your staff acknowledged that I had missed the flight because of the queue - negligent level of staffing - but said there was nothing they could do.

Firstly you siphon double the cost of the ticket’s value from my account which I had to fight to get back, then I miss my flight because of impenetrable queues.

Your staff, instead of trying to help me get on a later flight by putting themselves out tell me nothing can be done.

But I guess this blog will fall on blind eyes, since when does Air NZ ever apologise or admit fault?

A royal commission of inquiry, headed by Justice Peter Mahon, found the co-ordinates of the DC-10's navigation computer had been changed incorrectly, and without ensuring the crew knew of the alterations, so the aircraft was programmed to fly into the mountain. And that the airline had briefed its pilots to fly low, weather permitting.

Easier just to lie and sully the reputation of the pilot you sent to his death - along with hundreds of other Kiwis.

They felt saddened that a Government-owned airline sent their husband and father to Antarctica, then blamed him for his own death and those of 256 others while allegedly covering up its own failings.

"If someone dies it's a tragedy, but if their integrity is questioned as well, it's much worse," says the eldest Collins daughter, Kathryn Carter, now 40 and with four children of her own."

I suppose it's always easier to blame people who are dead, and I think it put a question mark over the integrity of the airline itself."

Having exhausted every ounce of my restraint in keeping this blog voicing my outrage at your appalling service polite, I think it is best to conclude with something heartfelt:

Eat shit you fucking bastards.

Yours sincerely

Bennyasena

Back in NZ finally after a heinous 11 hour flight with no sleep with Asiana. Good food.

Been borrowing my sisters car (actually it's been given to me for nothing). Took only one day for me to be driving down the north-western when the window basically bent in on a funny angle. I pushed to straighten it and the entire thing collapsed down inside the door and fucked if I can get the panelling off to see if I can fix it. Ah well, that's what you get for free cars.

Already bought my washing machine and dryer combo ($999) at Noel Leemings. Nice one. Have to buy a double door fridge though for 2 G's. The one item the wife is insistent on murdering the bank book over. Got my Vacuum half price also from NL's also. Purchased pillows from The Warehouse, a half price iron from Briscoes along with an ironing board that it can hump my clothes on.

Next up is a comp (possibly the $1000 deal at NL's which includes a medium sized LCD screen).

Then there's the bloody tellie. Dreaming of a massive flat screen one but that ain't gonna happen. Maybe a mini flat screen?

Second hand bed. Better be hard cos all the ones I've tried at home or out so far are soft as fuck. I've been in Korea so long that I just about need a rock to lie on to be comfortable. Better for your back. Harden up peeps.

Then all I need is a second hand couch and arm chairs, and table and chairs, and book shelves and comp desk, and various kitchen items, and a car and insurance and misc items and then declare bankruptcy and go and live in dem' dere hills in a hut made from Kanuka and ponga fronds. Sweet.

Press release of the week:

Warning Against Twisting Into The Grave Monday 17 January 2005

St John regional events manager Adam Johnston says St John staff first noticed a “sharp increase” in serious collapses associated with legal stimulant abuse at last year’s Big Day Out and are bracing themselves for this year.

“Last year, we treated five people who collapsed, four of them with seizures. In some cases these people had consumed up to 10 times the recommended dose before turning up at the event.”

Increasingly since then, Mr Johnston said, partygoers and event participants have been filling up ambulances after abusing these legal stimulants, which are sold over the counter at shops.

“The message is just because it is herbal, doesn’t mean it is safe, particularly if consumed in large quantities.

People just need to ask themselves, how “twisted” do they really want to get? Twisted enough to need intensive care?.” he said.

Mr Johnston said the Big Day Out was well-run but participants needed to be aware of the demands that constant dancing and activity placed on their bodies, especially in warm weather.

“Its no criticism on the organisers. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. There is a threshold of what is safe to consume. There is clearly also an element of self responsibility here.”

Here are five essential tips from St John for a safe and enjoyable Big Day Out.

Ensure you cover up with sunblock and reapply it regularly throughout the day.

Drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration particularly if you have been reasonably energetic during the day.

If you have been taking legal stimulants or alcohol, remember that these can mask your body’s normal warning signals. Remember to take regular breaks and ask your friends to look out for you.

Don’t exceed the maximium doses listed on the packets of legal stimulants. Treat them like alcohol – too much can make you very sick and it’s the same with these legal pills.

If you’re not feeling well, come and see St John. We won’t pass judgement and we’re more interested in your wellbeing rather than what you’ve been taking.

A few months back Bennyasena made the point that it's a bit rich for the Catholic Church to be hectoring us about morality and the family. Well, the dicks aren't that easily deterred, and now the chief of Calgary's Bishopric is calling on the Canadian government to "suppress homosexuality and other behaviour deemed to hurt the family" Deemed by whom: a church renowned for its sexual abuses and attempts to cover them up? Get on with your job, dicks, and stop bothering the rest of us about "homosexuality, adultery, prostitution and pornography undermin[ing] the foundations of the family, the basis of society." In any case, trying to suppress these things using the coercive power of the state is likely to be as successful as trying to suppress marijuana using the coercive power of the state - not very. Aren't the prisons full enough without re-inventing lifestyle crimes? What a shower of wankers. Ooops, I bet wankery undermines the family too ... bugger. Damn, there I go again, buggery is no good for the family either.

The only other news story to have caught my eye of late concerns the Auckland Police being left in the wake of a 2003 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish, which has a 512-horsepower engine. The writer of this story can hardly conceal his satisfaction. Ha ha, dicks - go back to pulling over little old ladies in their Toyota Starlets doing 61kph along main arterial routes. They can run but they can't hide.

Sounds like a bloody eye test, or a current affairs show or something. But it ain't. It's this new cricketing invention taking England and soon the entire cricketing world by storm.

I haven't seen it yet but here's what one of the chappies at silverfern.co.nz thinks of it...

Twenty20 is Focking Shite
14 January, 2005 Miller v Jackson

Twenty20 is focking shite. Fuck me, and take my word for it, it is the most focking shite load of shite I have ever watched, including netball.

Last night's game was dreadful. We heard about two hours of commentary all up (from four commentators including that walking corpse Benaud) about how the penalty for slow over rates (six runs per over) was a disgrace and should be 10 runs per over.

If that's new and exciting, then so is the turd I laid last week. (Which I christened Benaud the Turd). To point out the blindingly obvious, a four runs per over difference in the penalty wouldn't matter squat in a game where you're blasting every ball for four anyway. And it wouldn't matter in a game won by 100 runs, as the one last night was.

Particularly, it didn't matter last night because each team was penalised one over, i.e. six runs. The penalty could have been 400 runs per over, a shunt up the arse and the captain's first born son and the result would have still been the same. Did that stop the commentators? Did it fuck!

That aside the game had nothing going for it. The free hit rule is shite, whether or not you can change the field for the free hit or not. If they really want to penalise no-balls, then give a four run penalty and get the fuck on with it, rather than shagging around with the free hit. And why are no-balls rewarded with a free-hit and not wides?

I could go on, but I'm going off to find the FluffyBunny who invented this game and box his focking ears.

Sound's great.

In other news the Kingz are now the Knights. Or will that become the Knightz after the Northern Knights have kicked up a fuss? They had to change their name from Kings to Kingz after the Sydney Kings basketball side moaned a few years back. Silly buggers.

With a capital fucking K.

Just fare-welled my wifes friends who I count as my own also.

Feel like a complete and utter cunt as one always does at these moments.

A real lovely bunch of people. As good as you could ever hope to meet.

And to see them cry is not a nice thing to experience.

Amazing thing is they are all Asian.

And to think, they are all supposed to be............. Asians.

The greatest thing I have learnt since travelling is that that Asian face you see walking down that street or in that lecture theater or cafe or whereever has the same fucking shit going on inside their head as you.

Ask one of em'.

Took a lot of time and effort to find that out but I'm glad I did.

Peace out luvs.

This guy gets fined US$10,000 for simulating mooning opposition fans. How good is his comeback:

"Ain't nothing but 10 grand. What's 10 grand, to me?'' said Moss, whose salary this season is $5.75 million."

And what about this poor prick? Kind of reinforces out arguments about the need for some bloggers to remain anonymous.

As yamis eloquently rapped:

Also when I become a high school teacher back home there is no real way I can see how I would be able to keep blogging. I would either be politely asked to stop by my higher uppers after blogging about how I got smashed on friday night, woke up in a gutter in front of a gas station and thought I was Xavier Rush.

We e-mailed Damian Christie defending our argument but perhaps bloggingitreal doesn't experience enough hits to warrant a reply?

Glad my employers never caught wind of this little alcohol-inspired gem from April last year:

...never go partying on a Monday night; it serves only to make the week horrifically and unbareably long, and having a boss who is an arsehole doesn't help either (that's right dickhead, yeah you, the guy sitting at the desk next to me, and you're going bald)

Interesting stuff. More ammunition for the ripped off in NZ theme or more of the same a couple of blogs down. A little more 'proof' that NZers are being forced to struggle to purchase goods due to low pay to start with and after tax much lower still. Common folks, knife to the bosses throat. Or just leave the country like everybody complains we do too much. It's the smart ones leaving in every sense of the word. Wink, wink.

NZ pay 'falling behind'
14 January 2005
By TRACY WATKINS

If you resolved on New Year's Eve to earn more money in 2005 you were probably not alone.

A new survey by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has confirmed what most Kiwis probably already know - we are a "low middle income" country, despite the booming economy. We rank alongside the residents of Spain, Israel, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, Korea [only difference is tax is 8% on an average annual salary here], Malta, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Australians are ranked as high middle income earners, rubbing shoulders with the residents of countries we might normally compare ourselves to - including Canada, Britain, France, Sweden, Italy, Denmark and Austria.

BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander said New Zealand slipped badly behind in the economic stakes between the early 1970s and early 1990s and catching up will be a process that takes decades.

On the surface, New Zealanders aren't doing without. Kiwis seem happy to go into debt for the luxury items that their counterparts in richer nations have, Mr Alexander said. "Hence New Zealand having the worst savings rate in the OECD at minus 10 per cent."

But as a country we were missing out on better health care, education and infrastructure because of our lower tax base, he said. [That's right, you've got the poor masses earning sod all so paying sod all tax, and then you've got the rich folk avoiding and evading tax. It's no wonder the guvment is coming up with bizarre gimmicks about giving the Tsunami struck countries donations based on runs scored in a bloody cricket match. Surely they should be giving every cent they calculate they can afford and leave the silly bugger games to all our broke corporates out there that are hiding under their beach umbrellas on east coast beaches].

Government duty minister Mark Burton said yesterday the figures were only current to 2002 and the economy had grown strongly since. Growth was faster than Australia's last year.

National Party leader Don Brash said New Zealand was no longer drifting backward relative to other countries, but it was still not growing fast enough to close the gap.

The only way to do that was by increasing production - and that required a more skilled workforce, a bigger investment in primary school education, and getting people off the domestic purposes, sickness, invalid and unemployment benefits and back into work. [A more skilled workforce by investing in primary school education? Does Mr. Brash have some evil child labour camps in the early planning stages or something? Or is he then going on to say that our out of work are highly skilled? I'm confused. Or is Mr. Brash? Gee that'd be a surprise. Make some fucking sense man, you're trying to convince people you can run the country.]

One immediate change that could be made was overhauling the Resource Management Act, which was an obstacle to investment in New Zealand. [Or a bloody good Act that needs support and is doing quite nicely thankyou very much. The RMA and the politically correct movement. The two favourite punching bags of wankers NZ-wide.]

United Future leader Peter Dunne said other reports had already confirmed our poor cousin status - one showed that Australians were on average three times better off than their New Zealand counterparts.

"We haven't had a sufficiently strong focus in New Zealand on growing incomes. "What we've tended to look at is how we reduce costs in business. How we smooth off some of the rough edges." [Shit, I just agreed with Peter Dunne. I'm going to take a dump.]

So how to earn more money? Head overseas, Mr Alexander suggests. But a higher cost of living might be the tradeoff. Getting bolshier with the boss might be another option. New Zealand had a generally "acquiescent" work force.

"I think that one explanation for generally low wage growth in the past 10 years is the work force not demanding it – probably because of the memories of really high unemployment in New Zealand. It was pretty bad in the early 90s and late 80s in New Zealand. So I think there's a hangover from that which has made people reluctant to chase after the big money. We have preferred job security." [Not me mate, I've been in Korea saving plenty in part time teaching gigs along with 15,000+ other weygookeuns.]

But with a tightening labour market, that would change.

This is just a quick round-up of tsunami news coverage that I've found intriguing over the past few weeks.

1) I couldn't believe this editorial by Cate Brett of the Sunday Star-Times on January 2, included this quote:

As Britain's Guardian newspaper pointed out: "Many who will have died this week or in the next month or so will have died because they were too ignorant to be able to swim, too poor to be able to live anywhere but on the shore, and lived in places with facilities too basic for them to avoid the diseases that follow in disaster's wake."

Ever tried swimming in a sizable swell or in a reasonably quick moving river?

Well its fucking hard, let alone swimming in a tsunami filled with lethal debris - cars, trees, buildings etc - which was reportedly moving at about the speed of a plane...Ian Thorpe have would be lucky to make it.

Too ignorant to be able to swim? Is the inability to swim related to ignorance, or perhaps rather the lack of oppurtunities?

Too poor to live anywhere but on the shore? Interesting, in New Zealand and many western nations living on the coast is to be aspired too its where the genuinely wealthy locate.

If you get nailed by a tsunami your luck's run out plain and simple, don't go blaming it on bank balances, or rather the lack of them.

2) This article on scoop by my old lecturer is worth reading if you haven't already. Anyone else find it telling Michael Schumacher's $10m donation to the tsunami relief aid was a third of the size of Saudi Arabia's initial pledge?

Guess those Saudi's only open their wallets when there are airline tickets to purchase huh.

Watching the World XI versus Asian XI cricket match at the MCG was truly awesome, not just for the quality of the play but even via the television you could feel the atmosphere at the game.

70,000 fans gathering to support the tsunami victims, corporations like Toyota coming to the party with $50,000 a six - and who cares if it is a calculated PR decision, Toyota's still going out of its way to help the cause.

Wonder what Ford, who had their Ford Territory advertising surrounding most of the boundary, thought?

3) On a different note - I did not need this press release on Monday when I arrived back to work having exhausting my annual leave in Auckland's shit-house weather.

Don't give up on summer just yet. MetService meteorologists are forecasting an extended period of dry weather for much of the country with an anticyclone crossing central New Zealand this week.

"Holiday makers can say hi at last to summer with this high," commented MetService Weather Ambassador, Bob McDavitt.

Bastards.

I'm just a couple of weeks away from returning to NZ to set up house so have been using my sparetime in Korea looking at NZ retailers online websites to see how much I will have to spend on the 492 different items commonly found in a house.

I'm comparing them to prices in Korea to see how ripped off I'm going to be.

This list will grow I expect.

Thus far:
Splashed out on a little wee sony handycam.
Price in Korea $1,425.
Cheapest I saw it in NZ $2,800.

Best internet available in NZ 69$ a month with Clear.
Bullet speed in Korea with unlimited allowances $49 a month.

Satellite TV in Korea with 50+ non free to air channels including 4 sports, about 10 movie channels etc $47 a month.

SKY Satellite with about 30? non free to air channels $74.93 a month

Refridgerators
NZ double door models $1,900 - $6,200.
In Korea the most expensive models $3,500 (with most being larger than anything you can get in NZ).

Things aren't impressing me too much so far :(

Obviously the bigger and more condensed market in Korea and shipping costs etc are playing a big part but the differences are pretty astronomical all the same.

Tell you what though, Noel Leeming seems to be outpricing all the competition in NZ. They are even cheaper than the online only stores such as Appliances Direct, which I have found. Much cheaper than rip off Farmers that's for sure. Dick Smiths also seems to be a bit on the steep side.

Briscoes is the place to go for the smaller things though.

And ya just can't beat the Warehouse for the cheap shit in every sense of the word. Christ the amount of money I spend there each time I go home is nuts. All those planter bags, bags of potting mix for my hobby Nikau farm and the sketchy boxer shorts :)

If I get time I'll expand this thread as I get more info, and price comparisons, plus throw in all the useful links. Shopping about sure does pay off when you start seeing some of the price differences. I'd say I've saved myself a fair bit of cash already.

Something else I've found that Korea has that NZ could do with is a website which tells you where you can buy the cheapest electronic items at. Here you simply type in what you want to buy and it does a search for who has the best price. I heard something about a site like that maybe starting up in NZ. It was successful in Aussie or something. I might be wrong though.

Anyway...