Daily review 20/08/2019

40 comments on “Daily review 20/08/2019 ”

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1. Robert Guyton 1

   20 August 2019 at 5:54 pm

   I really want to say, "face-palm".

   But can't.

   https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/115146280/wellington-public-react-to-terrifying-and-gross-sculpture-quasi#comments
   • Incognito 1.1

     20 August 2019 at 6:04 pm

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thing_(The_Addams_Family)
     • alwyn 1.1.1

       20 August 2019 at 6:23 pm

       Which one would you have chosen? Morticia would be my choice.

       Personally I would have said it was based on Kim Dotcom.

       I won't be unhappy if Wellington ships it on to someone else though. It doesn't really have the class of Rodin's The Burghers of Calais, does it?
       • Incognito 1.1.1.1

         20 August 2019 at 6:50 pm

         I always had a soft spot for Thingy, I’m afraid. That sculpture reminds of the works by Ron Mueck.

         TBH, I find KDC’s face rather uninteresting and lacking features and character. But that’s just my opinion of his face, not his persona.
         • greywarshark 1.1.1.1.1

           20 August 2019 at 8:48 pm

           I think it can be regarded as satirical considering it is in the capital, the seat of government. It represents the white man in NZ, the capitalist coolly calculating his next profitable move. What he will make if his project is a success, and what he will receive anyway, if it doesn't succeed because as we know the entitled get large farewell sums whatever the outcome.

           It is a view of a neolib economist, or a lackey of Crosby Textor calculating his next move, seeing in his mind's eye the advantages that will arise when the theory is implemented, and the externalities dealt with. The Addams family walking hand has been mentioned, and like that he is calculating how many moves from Point A to Point B which is your pocket.
           • Incognito 1.1.1.1.1.1

             20 August 2019 at 9:24 pm

             That’s very good.
             • greywarshark …

               20 August 2019 at 9:31 pm

               Thanks I found it unpleasant to look at, and then unpicked what it reminded me of.
               • Incognito …

                 20 August 2019 at 9:35 pm

                 
           • Drowsy M. Kram 1.1.1.1.1.2

             20 August 2019 at 11:30 pm

             Original – provoked reactions which I (like you) attempted to unpick.

             Not all art does this – more than just entertainment, and a great conversation piece I reckon.

             https://ocula.com/artists/patricia-piccinini/

             https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beth_Cavener_Stichter

             https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/729540 [Bill Hammond]

             https://www.art-newzealand.com/Issue102/jb.htm [Joanna Braithwaite]

             https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Bourgeois
     • soddenleaf 1.1.2

       21 August 2019 at 1:47 pm

       Douglas. So here's the way I see it, the cheap high energy density fuels were about to freely flow out of Arabia 35 years ago, western govt saw that regulation was in the way. There was no ideological there, it was just reality. Those changes aren't going to be revoked, less govt will remain, nobody is arguing for a return to gift controlled economies. Well except where needed, green stuff. So here's this guy, sounding like he did something, and was not just a cog in the inevitable. But it's worse, the interviewer made the false dichotomy, that its all about less govt or more. When it's always been about the best legislation for the time. now what we need is some rightretard to fix a new ideology around the new energy reality, renewables, circular economy, etc, so we can move on a least to fixing the climate crisis. Because, we all know surely, if there isn't a balding old white guy somewhere declaring themselve the next saviour, despite reality dictating them their life's work.
       • Incognito 1.1.2.1

         21 August 2019 at 2:00 pm

         Are you talking to the hand?
   • Patricia 1.2

     20 August 2019 at 7:00 pm

     We have a similar sized sculpture of a young pakeha boy walking – by the same artist. Placed in Potter's park in Balmoral, Auckland and not in any way representing the people who live and work in the area.
     • roblogic 1.2.1

       20 August 2019 at 11:25 pm

       There are no Pakeha living in Balmoral? News to me
   • weka 1.3

     20 August 2019 at 7:49 pm

     The face-hand sculpture Quasi was supposed to attract more people to Te Ngākau Civic Square, where it sits on top of City Gallery Wellington.

     Someone needs to have a talk with every person that was involved in that decision.
     • Pat 1.3.1

       20 August 2019 at 8:13 pm

       $74000 was a bargain

       https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/regional/285715/christchurch-artwork-appears-in-avon-river
       • greywarshark 1.3.1.1

         20 August 2019 at 9:00 pm

         This brought a lot of controversy in staid old Nelson. It has rusting sails and body, reminiscent of the old ships that have been toiled over as men try to conserve these artifacts from our near past. But it can also bring to mind a nikau frond!

         (I can't put the image up – I got the message that it makes the comment too long. I guess I need to put it up in another form but don't know how. So tried again and you can use this link.)

         

         The steel sculpture was inspired by the base of the Nikau palm frond. It refers to the waka and ships which brought waves of people to Aotearoa New Zealand. The 1998 work by Dominique de Borrekens and Grant Scott honours the Nelson settlers who planted these beautiful gardens over 100 years ago.Jun 21, 2011

         Sentinel sails in the Queens Garden pond. The steel sculpture was inspired by the base of the Nikau palm frond. It refers to the waka and ships which brought waves of people to Aotearoa New Zealand. The 1998 work by Dominique de Borrekens and Grant Scott honours the Nelson settlers who planted these beautiful gardens over 100 years ago.
       • weka 1.3.1.2

         20 August 2019 at 9:33 pm

         I'm ok-ish with the spend so long as it's not creepy in a public space. The one in the Avon makes sense. The Trump hand was never going to make people want to be in that space, what the fuck were they thinking?
         • Pat 1.3.1.2.1

           20 August 2019 at 9:40 pm

           tis in the chequebook of the beholder…..it was originally on the roof of the Christchurch art gallery….didnt appear to deter anyone from visiting there…and didnt collect rubbish nor cost half a million
           • weka 1.3.1.2.1.1

             20 August 2019 at 10:20 pm

             "Quasi is not a pretty work and that is part of what Ronnie was trying to achieve. It's very unusual, it's of a really large scale and will sit over the Square and be on the Wellington skyline.

             "I think people will be arrested by it."

             If they want to put up a disturbing piece of work that will arrest people that's different than putting something that will attract people. They need to get their story straight.

             Not sure if the Chch installation was in a similar kind of space

             https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/exhibitions/ronnie-van-hout-quasi
           • Pingau 1.3.1.2.1.2

             22 August 2019 at 1:49 am

             I quite liked it when it was in Christchurch. It moved a couple of times and seemed to me to be a playful piece. There were and are quite a few pieces of public art on walls of damaged buildings (and new buildings) and in open areas where buildings once stood so it seemed in keeping with that. All the sculptures and murals and even the tagging on the tops of derelict buildings feel like an expression of defiance in the aftermath of the earthquakes.
2. In Vino 2

   20 August 2019 at 6:20 pm

   Rather amused by Granny Herald's front-page news yesterday about a major return to the old phonics teaching of reading method, then today's full retraction and admission of error, after the Ministry pointed out that this year's review was the same as previous years', with the same questions, and no major changes actually being proposed.

   What witless reporter failed to research that, and, more important, what abysmally ignorant Editor made it a front page story?

   And, oh dear, if I remember correctly, this story was behind that paywall – that bastion of superior-quality journalism. I read the paper for free in a café, and am delighted not to have paid to go behind that paywall.
3. weka 3

   20 August 2019 at 7:50 pm

   Thanks for that picture Micky.
4. joe90 4

   20 August 2019 at 7:56 pm

   Old habits die hard.

   Two Russian n-test monitoring stations that are part of the @ctbto_alerts system went silent after the explosion at a missile test site, spurring concerns that Russia is trying to restrict evidence of the accident. https://t.co/JVGiL0OoT5 via @WSJ with comments by @DarylGKimball

   — Arms Control Assoc (@ArmsControlNow) August 19, 2019
5. Kat 5

   20 August 2019 at 7:59 pm

   The axe is falling on the necks of the deserving…bye bye Bennett and Tolley.

   Two national party politicians about to join the dark karmic hall of fame of Richardson and Shipley.

   https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12260304
   • Pat 5.1

     20 August 2019 at 8:17 pm

     Karma IS a bitch
   • marty mars 5.2

     20 August 2019 at 9:06 pm

     must be another factor contributing to why bennett is doing the election campaign – she can read the writing on the wall
6. Fireblade 6

   20 August 2019 at 8:04 pm

   "In 1952, in preparation for a Royal visit by Her Majesty the Queen, the Auckland City Council, in a misguided attempt to beautify the city, evicted the local Ngāti Whātua people from their village at Ōkahu Bay and burned it to the ground".

   ALIEN WEAPONRY – Ahi Kā (Official Music Video)
   • A 6.1

     21 August 2019 at 7:03 am

     Thanks! Awesome track + kaupapa
7. mauī 7

   20 August 2019 at 8:25 pm

   First night of Right Wingers Anonymous…

   "Please tell the group your name, where you were when Ardern presented the trophy at Eden Park and lastly, tell us how seeing any politician disparaged in public makes you feel."
   • marty mars 7.1

     20 August 2019 at 9:19 pm

     i felt terror within my bones as if a huge hand had reached in and shock me from the inside out and then I realised it was my heart – I was feeling. Feeling like a big boombox of stolen music pounding within me again and again – I was FEELING something – I tried to cheer, to shout out but my inarticulate sounds were almost subsonic and low, deep felt. And that may be why for some it sounded like booing – it wasn't, I was booming like a free sperm whale. My heart was booming with feelings.
8. joe90 8

   20 August 2019 at 8:32 pm

   Lotsa RWNJs losing their shit over this sobering NTY piece on the effects of slavery on US society.

   “The iron entered into our souls,” lamented a formerly enslaved man named Caesar, as he remembered the shackles he had to wear during his forced passage from his home in Africa to the New World. Used as restraints around the arms and legs, the coarse metal cut into captive Africans’ skin for the many months they spent at sea. Children made up about 26 percent of the captives. Because governments determined by the ton how many people could be fitted onto a slave ship, enslavers considered children especially advantageous: They could fill the boat’s small spaces, allowing more human capital in the cargo hold. Africans were crammed into ships with no knowledge of where they were going or if they would be released. This forced migration is known as the Middle Passage. As Olaudah Equiano, the formerly enslaved author, remembered, “I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste anything. I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me.” Overheating, thirst, starvation and violence were common aboard slave ships, and roughly 15 percent of each ship’s enslaved population died before they ever reached land. Suicide attempts were so common that many captains placed netting around their ships to prevent loss of human cargo and therefore profit; working-class white crew members, too, committed suicide or ran away at port to escape the brutality. Enslaved people did not meekly accept their fate. Approximately one out of 10 slave ships experienced resistance, ranging from individual defiance (like refusing to eat or jumping overboard) to full-blown mutiny.

   https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/19/magazine/history-slavery-smithsonian.html

   https://web.archive.org/web/20190820081741/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/19/magazine/history-slavery-smithsonian.html

   #slavery
9. Anne 9

   20 August 2019 at 9:58 pm

   Yet another virulent right wing bully is claiming victim-hood:

   https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12260376
   • weka 9.1

     20 August 2019 at 10:22 pm

     Hear that tiny squeaky sound? World's smallest violin.
10. marty mars 10

    20 August 2019 at 10:01 pm

    What does treating people with respect mean?

    Not like this – thank you for this report

    The Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has released a report highly-critical of conditions at Northland's Ngawha Prison.

    …He found the Northland Regional Corrections Facility had changed focus.

    High security prisoners were transferred out of the prison in 2013, and it now housed prisoners with lower security classifications.

    Almost a quarter of the prison population with those on remand awaiting trial, Mr Boshier said.

    "Yet many of the processes and practices were more suited to a high-security setting and were impeding achievement of the prison's vision to develop a Kaupapa Māori, based culture to support tāne to take their proper place in the community."

    …One example was an instruction that cell doors were locked while prisoners were exercising in the compound to reduce prisoner-on-prisoner assaults.

    "My inspectors found that prisoners were resorting to urinating and, on occasion, defecating in the compound because of a lack of toilet facilities.

    "This is pretty uncivilised in modern New Zealand," he told Checkpoint.

    Inspectors were advised by staff of a restriction on access to drinking water in the yard – prisoners were not allowed to take water bottles or drinks containers there and instead to use the drinking fountain, which was integrated into the yard's lavatory.

    The prison director was unaware of the situation and immediately revoked the restriction, Mr Boshier said.

    "Restricting prisoners' access to toilets and water is unacceptable and current mitigations were inadequate. I consider this to be degrading treatment and a breach of Article 16 of the Convention against Torture."

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/397109/northland-s-ngawha-prison-taken-to-task-by-chief-ombudsman-over-conditions
    • millsy 10.1

      20 August 2019 at 11:18 pm

      That is what you get when you let Garth McVicar write prison policy.
    • gsays 10.2

      21 August 2019 at 7:28 am

      It was a grim story on RNZ.

      This sounds like it might be one of the issues the opposition try to make mileage from.

      When the new focus for corrections was announced a few days ago, the Nats signalled a concern that the prisoner would come first.

      I would have thought that a prisoner centric policy is the way to reduce recidivism and improve rehabilitation.
      • marty mars 10.2.1

        21 August 2019 at 7:37 am

        Yes – very grim. Which I think is why the new proposal has been put out there – things have to change.I hope the experts have the support to change things – time will tell. Right wingers and gnats will always oppose – they aren’t interested in making things better – they don’t really care.

        https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/396988/hokai-rangi-the-plan-to-reduce-maori-in-prison-from-52-percent-to-16
11. marty mars 11

    20 August 2019 at 10:29 pm

    get used to more of these lines in the sand

    Hapū in Northland are willing to occupy a mountain in Hokianga, and be arrested if necessary, in order to stop the construction of a cell phone tower.

    …Meanwhile, a new Whakarongorua Action Group – made up of members from the six local hapū – has been formed to stop the build.

    Mr Rapana is leading the group, and said most hapū wanted better cell phone coverage in the valley too, they just didn't want the tower on their maunga.

    "We're not opposing a cell phone tower going up in the Utakura Valley, we are opposing the place in which they are proposing to erect the cell phone tower which is on our maunga.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/397122/hapu-ready-to-occupy-mountain-to-stop-cell-phone-tower-construction
    • weka 11.1

      21 August 2019 at 9:42 am

      this is what some people are scared of. Where will it end if we look at land injustices in the face and accept them as real? We might end up with justice (better justice anyway).
      • marty mars 11.1.1

        21 August 2019 at 9:59 am

        I'd hope so. I think worlds are colliding. And things are changing – and there are different way of looking at things, for example

        The hearts of the people will determine when a treaty grievance has been settled, not the Crown labelling a settlement 'full and final', says a leading treaty negotiator.

        https://teaomaori.news/hearts-people-will-decide-treaty-justice-not-crown

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