Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony
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- Date published:
8:06 am, November 13th, 2010 - 35 comments
Categories: national/act government -
Tags: murray mccully, nbr, peter jackson, rugby world cup
The NBR reported yesterday morning that Murray McCully had awarded the $8 million RWC Opening Ceremony contract to Aussie firm David Atkins Creative. Over on Red Alert, Grant Robertson was rightly appalled.
The story seems to be being largely retracted now, with McCully trying to distance his meddling hands from the affair and the NZRFU saying that the contract has not been signed quite yet. Hopefully today’s reaction will ensure that it goes to New Zealand companies – we have the creative talent here.
But despite all that creative talent the NBR are still saying that the pivotal role of artistic director will be taken up by someone overseas. Why? We must have someone who can do the job here.
For the London Olympics they have Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slum Dog Millionaire) directing. Now there happens to be a certain kiwi director of epics who owes the government a favour, surely we could get him?
But maybe this is just another case of this ‘aspirational’ government in fact not having any belief in kiwis – they can’t build trains, and they can’t organise an opening ceremony…
35 comments on “Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony ”
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It must be OK whatever is decided, because McCulley has the ultimate power, and may not be questioned. He has a royal decree which makes any questioning of his role, treasonable. Off with yer head!
Peter Jaskson doesnt owe the government of New Zealand anything. Why the fuck would he want to direct a opening cermony of a third rate sport, that no one outside our country gives a shit about, despite all the BS we get from the media, the government and the rugby loving public.
He doesn’t seem to have any trouble taking our money to make 3rd-rate movies though.
Third rate movies????
His movies may be hollywood, but they arent third rate.
Matter of opinion I suppose. I haven’t enjoyed much of his work since Heavenly Creatures.
Felix, did you not see The Lovely Bones?
Roger Ebert’s seen it, freedom, and he reckons it’s all Jackson’s fault:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100113/REVIEWS/100119992/1023
Third rate seems to be a good description of TLotR. Long winded and boring is another good description. Of course, so were the books.
I’m sure one of the reasons for Jackson’s pompous over-reaction to the AE request for a meeting is that it is many, many years since anyone has had the guts to say anything but yes to him. I appreciate that the LOTR needed many hours of screen time to do the story justice, but King Kong? 3 hours of bum numbing boredom in the cinema and even longer on the DVD.
peter jackson owes the people of NZ for being part of warner bros raid on our wallets, and for helping them to make us look like a bunch of yokels to the rest of the world.
“media, the government and the rugby loving public”
That’s a lot of people that like rugby. I venture there’s more people like it that even remotely care about your opinion.
There’s plenty of sports that I don’t like but I don’t feel the need to criticise others for playing or liking them or denigrate the sport in any way.
Your comments are both intolerant and ignorant. The bullshit doesn’t come from the rugby public – it certainly does come from the anti-rugby brigade who can’t seem to get over the fact that it’s popular and we are good at it.
You might as well go to the US and tell them that gridiron is a second rate sport cause no-one else plays it – or you could just pee into the wind for all the good it will do you.
*cough*XENOPHOBIA*cough*
It’s xenophobic to want some of the money we’re spending on this ungodly piss-up to circulate in our own economy?
Fuck it then, why bother hosting at all? We could just pay some other country to host it for us.
The post wasnt so much suggesting that, as that kiwis are somehow more talented and creative than Australians and therefore deserve the contract. I’m not going to comment on who deserves the contract because I dont know, but I dont think we should nessesarily rule out an Australian company having more expertise and being able to do a better job than a New Zealand company. To do so is xenophobic.
As for the idea that hiring a New Zealand company will mean there is more money circulating in our economy: like so many commentors on this blog you dont know the first thing about trade. Watch this video from 1 minute in and you might learn something: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0pl_FXt0eM
Nick – the point here is that this is our event and therefore, as hosts, surely we want it to best reflect our people, our culture, our place. Can someone from overseas do that? No. The Aussies would never hire a Kiwi-based company for their ceremony but I bet you wouldn’t call them xenophobes, but nationalistic.
You spin it how you like Nick, but I’m not really trying to say that we are God’s chosen race, uber alles. But we have people talented enough to do the job, and it’s our show, so we should put it on.
And I have no trouble favouring our country over others. Why support someone else’s economy in preference to New Zealanders? I don’t think anyone is going to trade with us less because we support our own World Cup…
I’m not going to watch that but I assume it’s the same old Friedman clip you get all your lines from.
Care to address the question in your own words rather than just hinting that your god has already answered it?
@ Felix and Bunji: Here is how trade works.
1) We import goods and services from overseas (in this case an $8million opening ceremony) with New Zealand dollars because thats the money that we have.
2) The Australian company doesnt want the $NZ, it wants Australian dollars. So it sells the $NZ on the foriegn exchange market.
3) Whoever buys those $NZ wants them to buy goods in NZ, as thats the only place that $NZ will buy anything. This is an export.
So basically in order for export industries to bring money into our economy it is nessesary for imports to take money out of our economy, and vise versa. Basically this means that we dont lose any jobs or money from trade, we just have those jobs and money concentrated in different industries. These tend to be industries that we have a comparitive advantage in, which means we achieve a more efficient allocation of resourses.
Or, they could use the $NZ to buy NZ companies. And next time someone spent NZ$ they might get some slice of that pie as well, instead of us. Before you know it, we have a ballooning current account deficit and all our wealth being repatriated overseas… oop, that’s already happened. Bye-bye profits, enjoy your trip to Australia.
Also, which industries do we have a comparative advantage in? Dairy? We’re already doing too much of that, to the environment’s harm.
What do we want to get a comparative advantage in, because they’re good earners? Creative industries? How better to advertise that than by showing it off when the world is watching you put on an event…
very weak Nick… very weak… another pathetic attempt from the apologists from the right… it must be true that you guys have no imaginations if all you can do is repeat buzzwords ad nausium.
CAMPAIGN, “WORLD CUP DON’T COME”
Our campaign to stop the madness of a country pretending to have some conern for climate change while working hard to get many tourists to fly the world, burning precious oil and producing greenhouse gases, to watch a game of rubgy is though too “confrontational by many environmental groups. We have provided an article for the ECO paper, ECOlink. This can be viewed on http://www.ibwswrc.blogspot.com/.
As much as I cant stand the sport of rugby, I wouldnt try to sign anything that would stop it coming.
Comprador capitalist is a fitting term for McCully and Lord Jackson. They are administering certain features of the NZ economy on behalf of corporations that then take the money and run. The RWC will be a good pressure point to stick it to some of these selfish buggers, I agree with UNITE-$15 per hour minimum rate for all hospitality workers during the cup.
so was there a tender process for applicants to submit their proposals ?
i wonder if Mike Mizrahi put one in and got passed over for pissing McCully off so much over the shed ten/party central giant maggot on Auckland’s waterfront ?
Mizrahi would do a fantastic job of it, true
I don’t see any real problem here. The “All Blacks” is a brand owned by a German company, adidas, who contract the brand to a subsiduary company, the NZRFU, to manage and take risks in New Zealand. The other “teams” attending the RWC are merely brands associated with other clothing and other companies rather than real representatives of the countries they purport to represent.
For McCully, who doesn’t believe in NZ anyway, to give the opening ceremony to another overseas company is in keeping with the whole fiasco.
Perhaps Jackson can direct the drunks in the grandstand. He might get a Mexican wave out of them, if this is too ambitious he could make a movie of how NZders handle alcohol at the rugby.
“As for the idea that hiring a New Zealand company will mean there is more money circulating in our economy: like so many commentors on this blog you dont know the first thing about trade.”
If hard currency is going out of NZ its not staying in NZ = bad for our citizens, good for another country’s citizens.
Isn’t it time people started cuttting back on opening ceremonies? I can’t remember the last time I watched one – for the Olympics, Comm Games FIFA world cup etc. They are just pissing contests where each country tries to out do the other. And they seem to have escalated the excess during neoliberal times. Why not do something different? Like a big outdoor music gig with a range of NZ music talent?
anyhoo, who gives the slightest fat rat’s about the apartheid kick ‘n clap game when you’re world champs in the real game…..beats me how anyone can ever watch elitist ra-ra again after watching a single game of league – let alone last night’s classic.
Too right, ak. World and Four Nations Champions and what does Stuff lead with this morning? The AB’s win against some lacklustre European team. Bugger Graeme Henry, if winning things is the bottom line, then the best coach in NZ is clearly Stephen Kearney.
ak
Agree, go the kiwis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, there has been a big push by rugby union people and the New Zealand sport media to say Richie McCaw and Henry should get nominated at the halbergs, I wonder if those same media people will push for Kernary and the kiwis?