Debate Issue 20, 2010 by Debate Magazine

issue 20 2010 i

a look at mayoral candidates

issue 20 2010

stranded at karikari

iv with twtwbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s caitlin stasey

the earlybirds

Issue 20, 2010

on the cover Crossed the Line by Hayley McGehan

printer PMP Print Ltd. all rights reserved This publication is entitled to the full protection given by the Copyright Act 1994 (“the Act”) to the holders of the copyright, being AUCKLAND STUDENT MOVEMENT AT AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED (“AuSM”). Reproduction, storage or display of any part of this publication by any process, electronic or otherwise (except for the educational purposes specified in the Act) without express permission is a break of the copyright of the publisher and will be prosecuted accordingly. Inquiries seeking permission to reproduce should be addressed to AuSM. disclaimer Material contained in this publication does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of AuSM, its advertisers, contributors, PMP Print or its subsidiaries. DEBATE IS A MEMBER OF:

4 AuSM Gig Guide 5 Editorial 6 Letters 9 Sport 10 Advocacy / AuSM Update 11 Super City Debate 12 How To / Recipe 13 Whale Stranding at Karikari 14 Caitlin Stasey (TWTWB)

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20 21 22 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 33 34

Interview One Chicken, Three meals Super City Guide The Fight for Super City Mayor - A Look at the Leaders Tenby Powell / Rob Thomas Super Cool, Super Suck The Early Birds Quiz / Retail Review Columns Agony Aunt / Website of the Week Suggestions / Horoscopes Fashion What Are You Wearing Reviews Spot the Difference Micro-celebs

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The AuSM AWESOME Awards Your opportunity to vote for lecturers and other AUT University staff that you think provide outstanding service to students.

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Mon 30 August Free Feed Manukau 12pm Tues 31 August Free Feed North Shore Campus 12pm Pub Quiz Vesbar 6pm Wed 1 September NZ Blood Drive 10am - 4pm WA224 City Campus

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f you’re reading this in a class or lecture, congratulations; I know the will power you must have had to drag yourself to uni during the last week of this term. Perhaps it’s that onslaught of assignments and tests that got you here, but never fear – in less than five days you can collapse onto your bed and submerge yourself into a two week stupor of eating, drinking, sleeping and doing as little work as possible. I too have been counting down, because while I still have to come to work on all the days that you’re on break, debate gets a much needed two week break. Then we’re all into the final countdown; you count down the last six or so weeks until summer holidays, I count down the last six issues of debate. Time flies, huh? It flies so fast apparently, that the other day I noticed the word Christmas being flailed about; as in “we’re about to announce the Christmas specials”. No, no. We’ve still got another season to conquer before we can think about pine trees, clashing decorations and a million versions of Silent Night being played throughout crowded malls across New Zealand. What about all the goodness spring has to offer? The newly born lambs that frolic in the farms, or the adorable ducklings that swim in the domain. There’s the overwhelming hit of floral patterns and pastel colours as shops reduce their winter stock to 70 per cent off, and people flock to pad out their “in between season” wardrobe. An abundance of birthdays and newborns pop up, as the result of people getting a bit too merry over the holiday season. What about the annual spring clean, where you finally thrown out all those unwanted presents from last year, including all those unnecessary trinkets that people think are such a good idea at the time? It’s a bit overwhelming that in less than four short months, we’ll be tackling mountains of Christmas ham, turkey and undoing all the good work we tackled during spring. Then there are the New Year’s plans that have been formulating since June this year. I’m sorry, but I can still remember ringing in the New Year in an Irish pub in Taupo, which was followed by winteresque conditions and a McDonald’s cheeseburger. Good times. I’m not one of those people who plan out their elaborate bashes to the hottest festivals around New Zealand. The mind boggles that festivals like La De Da and Corogold sold out before the first line up was announced, and Rhythm and Vines’ pricing escalates based on the more you know. I have no idea what I’m doing next weekend, let along four months down the track, so how can I be expected to make a decision on the supposed “biggest night of the year”. What happened to the supposed spontaneity of student culture? When you made plans to go on a road trip to Wellington mere hours before you were all sitting in a cramped car on the motorway? The last time I made a “spontaneous” decision I ended up doing the Taupo swing (this was a separate Taupo trip. It’s just the place to be). I started this editorial off wanting to talk about celebrity culture and The Situation’s 29 abs but all these whisperings of the holiday season really threw me off. It made me realise that we’re all running through life at a fast-forward pace. Whether you’re planning to have fun four months in advance, or ticking off another deadline every week, stop and take a moment to breathe. There are 365 days in a year, and contrary to what people feel, we do go through every single one of them. So the next time you’re rushing off to book accommodation for the year 2012, remember to have a look at the world around you today. And remember that now is the time to throw that hideous clown ornament out.

PS My sincerest apologies go out to Natalie Hampshire, whose article was unfortunately miscredited in the last issue of debate. Her article “Important and Possibly Life-changing Ponderings was written by her, not Catherine Selfe, as it was credited.

North Shore Campus Level 2, AS Building 921 9949 8.30am-3pm Mon-Fri Manukau Campus MB107 921 9999 ext 6672 9am-3:30pm Mon-Thurs MANAGEMENT Sue Higgins General Manager 921 9999 ext 5111 sue.higgins@aut.ac.nz REPRESENTATION Veronica Ng Lam AuSM Student President 921 9999 ext 8571 vnglam@aut.ac.nz ADVOCACY Nick Buckby Liaison Manager 921 9999 ext 8379 nick.buckby@aut.ac.nz MARKETING Rebecca Williams Marketing Manager 921 9999 ext 8909 rebecca.williams@aut.ac.nz EVENTS Barry Smith Events Team Leader 921 9999 ext 8931 barry.smith@aut.ac.nz MEDIA Samantha McQueen Publications Co-ordinator 921 9999 ext 8774 samantha.mcqueen@aut.ac.nz SPORTS Melita Martorana Sports Team Leader 921 9999 ext 7259 melita.martorana@aut.ac.nz VESBAR Zane Chase Vesbar Manager 921 9999 ext 8378 zane.chase@aut.ac.nz

For a full list of contact details plus profiles of AuSM staff and student executive visit: www.ausm.org.nz issue 20 2010

Dear Debate, After reading the article on Love & Marriage, by Andrew, it was like a relief to know that there are still others out there who believe in honourable relationships. I admire those who have taken the leap of faith, provided it’s done with some sense of maturity of course, as it is evidently something that’s getting kind of rare to see these days – are we afraid of sacrificing even just a little? Though what struck me most in that article was the word *sharing*. That word is of sporadic presence isn’t it. Nearly everything in society has a gimme gimme gimme attitude. I think the attitude to our relationships is becoming the same at least on surface. Many of us seem to hold our partners responsible for our happiness and insecurities. Like a quick fix to deal with the disease of silent repression that city rat-racers breed around us. Relationships of any kind, should be *massively* about sharing shouldn’t they? That simple act that can make you feel better than a millionaire on crack, or pretty sweet anyway. Even when walking down town, giving someone sketching something up a moment of appreciation is bound to put a smile on their face, and it can make you feel great in turn, after all, we all seek appreciation. Anyway, that article was a refreshing read.There’s too many news bulletins out there of even married couples, arguing over money, possessions, and even their children. Let’s change this attitude. Peace, Karl. Response from ICT Services regarding a complaint last week: Apologies for any issues that you have been experiencing with the Macs on campus. In order to resolve this issue, we need to know the location of the machines you have had problems with. It would be appreciated if you could please log a call through ithelp.aut. ac.nz providing further detail and we will have our technicians investigate. Many thanks, ICT Services.

Hi~ Just wanted to let you know that I really liked the colour pictures of the recipes in the healthy living issue, I think you should make it colour more often because it’s much more appealing than black and white... just a thought. Am a regular reader and was actually meaning to mention this little thing. Kind Regards, Maggie Response from debate: Hi Maggie, Thanks for your feedback; we’ve had quite a few comments like that from students and over the two week break we will be looking at how we can mix up the distribution of colour. Look out for these changes over the coming weeks and keep reading debate! Dear Debate, I agree with Oriel! Some changes could be made to debate in order to improve it’s quality. I can see that debate has struggled this year with the lack of contributions but the magazine has potential. AUT trains students in magazine layout, design, journalism, photography, creative writing,professional writing and visual art (among other things). This should mean that debate is a pretty decent piece of work. I am not an expert on spelling or grammar but debate often has mistakes. It also has articles which are just extended rants which have been typed up. If the rants are going to be just that, maybe they could be exposed as rants rather than disguised as stories. However, my real suggestion is that debate does its own thing. Debate should no longer attempt to be traditional, it should should go in a direction of it’s own. It could have creative rants, profile articles on the fashion and art students and their work, AUT sport news from the university teams, journalism from journalism students, and interesting layout. Debate team, I know your job is hard and you are trying to introduce new elements to debate. I know some of us students have a gigantic chip on atleast one shoulder which makes us feel as though we are too good for a student magazine. But if you have a good crack at lifting the editing and design standard then maybe some of the students will pluck up the courage to help make debate reach its potential. Marie-Claire

Dear Debate, I am one of those people who skims through reading debate or just read the Agony Aunt page for a quick laugh but Issue 18 really did the trick for me ..enjoyed reading ‘THE TOKEN LISTICLE’ article Cheers Jared for making my day your piece of writing was hilarious and Selena La Fleur for your ‘My Virtual Man’ story - kraked me up.. to my fellow class mates my bad for laughing exceedingly during ‘study time’ oh well can’t wait for the next issue Recently new fan of debate mag Dear Debate, I was reading Little Kiwi, Big Pond, and it totally made me miss home! I am from the US (Texas to be exact; moved here in Feb to study), and it is true that a lot of people are just generally nicer and will talk to you. I worked retail, and to be honest chatting up customers and talking to them was the highlight of my job. Service is totally different as well. I think the main part of tipping in

the US is that it drives incentive for servers to do a good job and keep customers happy. In the US, dining out is an experience, and it can really suck to have a rude waiter/waitress. I just wish service here would catch on a teeny bit, because I am sick of getting my food after an hour because the chef went on break and no one bothered to tell us. Or the naan not coming out after asking 5 times, then being charged for it. But, it does seem like NZ is a whole lot less stressful in that regard. Thanks for the article, it is nice to see that not everyone hates us Americans! Erica

Hey! its my first time writing this so I don’t know if I’ve sent the email to the correct place. Anyway, I really want to bitch about the new wifi system of aut. Last semester my laptop could connect to the internet fine but this new system (a ripoff of UoA’s) where you try go into a website and it redirects you to the cache.aut.ac.nz to login, fails. I disconnect after 2 minutes EVERY SINGLE TIME! ITS SO STUPID!! Makes it pointless to bring a laptop.and no, I don’t consider myself a computer newb. Second thing I want to bitch about, I really wish that lecturers who give out homework (e.g. for finance degrees) PLEASE post the answers on autonline. You having us do the questions and send it to you is a complete waste of time. Why? Because its finance, it takes too much time trying to find the signs for something like (x-y)to the power of 4 and worse of all, it takes you a long time to reply back to us. Have an ausm day debate! TobyZ

Hey debate thought I would give a poem that might inspire students to do better this semester. 7 Secrets of Success......I found the answers in my room. The CEILING said: Aim high FAN said: Be cool CLOCK said: Every minute is precious MIRROR said: Reflect before you act WINDOW said: See the World CALENDAR said: Be up to date DOOR said:Push hard to achieve your goals BEST WISHES FOR THE REST OF 2010;) and always keep in mind that”If your mind can conceive it and My heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it” so study hard!!!!!! Hi! I really liked the poem “Promo Girls”, very funny :D I always go straight to the creative corner, I just like to

issue 20 2010

sit in awww at the talent at AUT :) I really like that there is a section devoted to it, I think it gives students a chance to do art for fun without the stress of the work being approved by lecturers. I don’t do art or any creative subjects at uni, but I used to at high school, and the stress of whether my painting was liked by my teacher, really discouraged me from carrying on with it. So I just like to say thanks for having the Creative Corner. Thanks Good Morning Debate, Just want to say that thank GOD someone finally pointed out how bloody ugly and prostitutelike those leggings as pants are. It’s not attractive, its just sad. Also, I looked up on google about how to make an ice igloo. However I fail to see how its going to snow here, so what was the point? Also liked neet’s metal article. It is something that needs to be realised! Not all of those into heavy metal are that way, some have

degrees, high paying jobs, or don’t subscribe to any of the cliches of rock. And most are good dudes, you just need to chat with them. Unrelated to debate, I just want to say Í’m all for legalising cannsbis! Lets see how many debates we cann get out of this. I mean, the two biggest drugs in the world, alcohol and tobacco, are legal. And do you know why? Because the government can tax it and get money. Marijuana? Too easy to grow yourself, so it becomes a problem where the government can’t gain anything from it. But look at the Netherlands. It’s legal in certain places there. The crime rate is lower, and their GDP is higher. They know control. People here do not. Ok that’s my 2c worth for the week! Anon

Horror Movie by Rochelle Battad

Untitled by Shaye Thompson

Say Cheese Photo by Karl Waters

by Jared

Over the last month or so, it has become increasingly obvious to me and, I’m sure, a majority of you all, that the All Blacks, our national rugby team, are quite good at rugby. In the paradigm of sporting achievements, I consider ‘good’ as being the proficiency of a team in relation to the amount of times they win, compared to the amount of times they play. So far, in the Tri-Nations, the All Blacks have played five games, and won five games. That’s quite good. Perfect, in fact. Well, not really because of

those five wins we’ve only picked up three bonus points; making us two points away from perfect. In either case, the All Blacks are still leading the tournament by an embarrassing amount, and the fact that we’ve already won the cup with games to spare kind of says something about how shit the Australians and South Africans are. The win against South Africa (I actually brought myself to watch a game because it was right before Chelsea were playing) was pretty decent with the whole Coach Carter/Remember the Titans comeback to win. Brad Thorn, who is the coolest All Black by 300 per cent (he won the beep test and he’s 35) said it was better than when he won an origin match for Queensland back in 1834 when he first started playing. That’s pretty good. So we’ve won that and we’ll win the Bledisloe and unless something really fucking odd happens, a New Zealand team will probably win the ITM Cup. That’s three wins out of three, which is also pretty good. What isn’t good is that Dan Carter hurt his leg and needs surgery. Not because he’s going to miss games, but because hospitals aren’t very nice, even if you’re Dan Carter. I was once at McDonalds at Starship Hospital (back when that used to be allowed) and I dropped my chocolate sundae on the floor. That wasn’t very good. Hopefully Dan Carter doesn’t face the same troubles. Speaking of troubles, some commentators are now saying that because we did well this year we’ll probably lose the World Cup. That’s a pretty funny sentiment considering we don’t actually have the World Cup to lose. I actually said that in an article I wrote about three months ago before we won all these games (though I did predict that we’d win by the way). Now I’m not so sure. Irrespective of our form going into 2011, I don’t really think any of it matters until you get on the field at the actual Cup. Then again, what would I know? Did you know that the Adidas All Blacks deal is worth $200 million over nine years? They’ve signed on till 2019, which is good for us because we need balls and shirts and that. Apparently Nike was going to pitch for the All Blacks a few years ago, but they went with Tiger Woods instead. Good move. Though doesn’t that make us seem a bit shit? That our best team at our favourite* sport isn’t even worth one dude playing golf? Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Dan Carter getting injured is that little boy Aaron Cruden’s going to get a run at first five. Cruden holds the world record for the smallest rugby player – being only four foot six and weighing 32 kg, so I hope he doesn’t get hurt by any real sized people. Although apparently Graham Henry isn’t going to let him play a whole game just in case he gets scared. So now, rugby fans, we can look forward to the traditional end-of-year tour. Where tens of thousands of English people turn up to Twickenham to watch their team get absolutely destroyed by the All Blacks before leaving early to beat the traffic and catch Emmerdale. I guess. That should be a good laugh though (the tour, not Emmerdale) because we get to play Ireland and Wales again, which was a right bloody laugh at the beginning of the year. And if there’s anything I love more than sports, it’s a good laugh. issue 20 2010

Also, before all that northern hemisphere stuff happens, we get to play Australia in Hong Kong. Which is still northern hemisphere but it doesn’t count. Apparently eight billion people showed up to watch the last one, so they should make a bit of money out of that at least. Maybe they can use some of it to buy me a chocolate sundae. Just saying. *maybe it’s your favourite I don’t know. It’s not mine (cardboard tube fighting is).

AUT Wellesley Campus Campus Conference Room WA 224 A & B Wellesley Street Auckland

Opening hours: Wed 1st September 10am – 4pm

Thur 2nd September 10am – 4pm

Look, It’s the liaison team’s time to shine! Hoorah! Hello one and all! Who the hell are we, eh? Well, we’re Nick and Becky. And what do we do, you might ask? I guess the obvious answer might be “liaise”, but who with and why? Part of our job is to get to know as many AUT staff as we can so we can point you in the right direction and help you scurry like a happy bunny through the rabbit warren that is AUT. We are also advocates and generally useful people to know when you’re in a pickle with your studies or life generally. We can: • Help you with AUT’s complaints policy if you are not happy with something (we can liaise [geddit?] with AUT staff about the problem). • Help you with any trouble you get into at uni, say plagiarism and academic dishonesty allegations. What?! Heaven forbid, right? But if you’re busy trawling the internet for cool-sounding stuff to pad out your latest assignment, remember your tutors are more interested in what you have to say yourself rather than re-hashed plagiarised content. So use other people’s work fairly and reference it’s ass properly. Otherwise you get in trouble and will need to see us. • Help you with writing to exam boards if you are declined enrolment or need a favour from them.

• Help you with exam result appeals if something very strange has gone wrong and if you fall into one or both of the two appeal criteria (which are detailed in the Academic Regulations online). If in doubt, ask us. We get paid to know this sort of stuff. • Be someone who can help you through life’s hassles, such as evil landlords and slave-driving bosses. If we can’t help, we can refer you on to government agencies and bodies who can. Or we can hook you up with our friends at Vallant Hooker and Partners, who are real lawyers and generously offer discounted services for AUT students. • Be a point of contact for harassment issues. Harassment in a nutshell is someone saying or doing something that causes you offence. • Hook you up with a food parcel if you are on the bare bones of your ass. Most of the time we live in the AuSM offices on the second floor of WC building on city campus. If you’re on the North Shore we have a drop-in session between 12pm and 1pm every Tuesday and Thursday during the semester or we can come over and see you if you make an appointment with us. If you live on the Manukau campus, gives us a ring and we’ll come and see you. Best of luck for the challenges ahead people. Our door is always open. Often we are even inside.

IT Update The AuSM Facebook and debate letterbox is all a flutter with IT comments and questions. All of the feedback we receive is passed to IT management directly in our monthly meetings so keep it coming in. The IT department is listening to you and doing everything possible to improve services, reduce costs and up skill staff. Since our last meeting, internet rates have been reduced by 30% and will be reviewed again in October/November when they may be reduced even further! They told us that AUT provides the internet at the lowest possible cost and makes no profit whatsoever from it. The current user pays system is the fairest way to ensure you only pay for what you use as opposed to having a flat rate built into fees that you may never get the full benefit from. By the end of the year, the self-service kiosks for uploading printing and internet credit will be touch screen, so you can log in without swiping your ID card. You told us the printers around campus sucked and we passed it on. Happy to report that all printers will be replaced over the coming months with top-of-the-line Canon printers. Did you know there are computers available in Lime Café and The Hub? If you don’t start using them they may disappear. Log onto our Facebook and let us know why you don’t use them so we can let IT know how to use the resources more effectively. NZ Blood drive Our friends at NZ Blood Service will be back on City Campus Wednesday and Thursday. Visit WA224 between 10am and 4pm to donate.

Visual Arts Student Exhibition You can check what the Bachelor of Visual Arts students have been up to at their exhibition September 3 to 5 at Shed 10, 77 Cook Street (see ad in this issue). There will also be an opening night party on September 2 from 6 - 8pm with DJs and support from Cassette 9. The students have organised this event themselves, so pop down between lectures and show your support! Entry is free. Missing Persons NZ Police have launched a website to jog people’s memories of new and historic missing person’s cases including former student Srikanth Rayadurgam. Visit: www.police.govt.nz/service/missingpersons-listings Blues Awards Nominate student athletes for the highest sporting accolade that can be attained at university level – a University Blue. Closing date for nominations is September 8. Visit: www.aut.ac.nz/ community/sport-at-aut/aut-sport-awards 2011 Elections If you missed the nomination declaration in the last issue visit our website and checkout the student voice section. That’s all for this half of the semester, enjoy your break and don’t forget Father’s Day on September 5.

SHOULD AUCKLAND REALLY BECOME A SUPER CITY?

by Jared Van Huenen

We have a long tradition,

both in Auckland and nationally, of attempting to fix things by breaking other things, or by looking in the wrong direction. When the road toll goes up we look at raising ages and stopping drinking instead of making people better at driving. When child abuse goes up we stop smacking instead of stopping idiots having kids. We have this tendency to try and look to far ahead instead of just fixing what’s wrong. Our current local government system isn’t perfect, but the Super City is a ridiculous solution. So the main problem I can find with our current system is the unnecessary convolution involved with having a bunch of regional councils, all entitled to their own mayor, their own board and, inevitably, their own costly bureaucracy. It is confusing, that’s not in debate. I’m not saying we should keep things the way they are, I’m just saying this whole dramatised, extravagant Super City shit is no way to solve things. The ‘race’ for Super City mayor has become something of a soap opera. With the ever-present Andrew Williams pissing in the bushes, Len Brown sufficiently debilitating his chances by smacking himself in the face, John Banks being the insurmountable cock that he’s always been and a host of celebrity (a term used loosely in this instance) nominees looking for their big shot, it’s a complete joke. The biggest issue I’ve got with our city donning a red cape and chucking a big S on its chest is that nobody even asked me. Or you. It’s little surprise that our dickhead Minister of Local Government Rodney Hide (who has never lived in Auckland by the way) was the one rushing through legislation with minimal public consultation and dollar signs in his eyes. You see, having a number of electorates is a costly process, especially considering they all fight with each other. So we’ll save millions by squishing them all together which, with our current economical position in mind, doesn’t sound like a terrible thing. Well it is a terrible thing. One mayor and twenty electorates means that whether you’re a 50-year-old multi millionaire living in Orakei or a poor family of six in Mangere, you’re dealing with the same people at a local government level. Sure, there will be representatives from each ward on the council, but their scope for real change is dramatically reduced by the fact that they’ve got to run everything past a council who may not give a fuck. I don’t want to play the whole “where’s my democracy” card (too cliché for a student) but had I been asked about this Super City deal, I most definitely would have said no. What would your answer have been? I guess the price of informing and asking everyone just outweighs the price of political freedom down there in Wellington. When you start saying stuff like that, people just give you the old “well young people don’t even vote when we give them a chance!”, which is based in truth, but considering nobody has even told me what the Super City is, I think it’s a pretty decent reason for me not to have a clue. And not everyone has the time or the interest to research local government, why should they be discriminated against?

issue 20 2010

by John Probert

In supporting this contention

contention and concept of one city for greater Auckland in terms of governance, I want to completely steer clear of debate and comment with regard to the soon to be held elections for Super City mayor, councillors, community boards, and merits or otherwise of candidates who have come forward. Let’s focus on why I believe that combining the present eight local councils with their mayors, councillors, community boards and executive and support staffs into one entity will be a good thing. First I turn to the city of Brisbane, Queensland. In 1859 it was controlled by 20 local authorities and boards. From 1925 it became one unified City of Brisbane and is internationally viewed as a benchmark for what this type of consolidation can offer in terms of service delivery for a population approximately that of Auckland. Since the 50s, the eight councils have spent over $20 million in taking each other to court over one issue or another! Ideas for effective urban transport such as rail and a second airport have been put forward over the past 40 years. But what has happened to them and to any hope of implementation? When the harbour bridge was built, were not additional lanes added at the time? However, factional interests within the boroughs of the time defeated these visions for petty political reasons and so things limped on as the population grew and services and especially public transport struggled to keep pace. Put simply, Auckland as it currently stands, with so much natural beauty to commend it, is a shadow of what it already could be today if competing and bleating voices had not drowned out real vision and created opportunity. What is now envisaged is that Auckland should become one ‘Super City’. It should give us confidence to embrace a path forward to articulate one vision, prepare one strategic plan, and as always, allowing for the reality of fiscal restraint. It should get on with the job of making this city begin to realise its true potential within our nation, and be seen as a benchmark of a modern metropolis internationally! Already the ‘no case’ keeps hammering on about the loss of the individual voice and that democracy will be the loser. But we live in a representative democracy at the national and local level, with the reality that unless we revert back to small collective groups gathering together, then the reality is that to make any progress at all, representatives are elected to do just that, represent us! When the Super City becomes a reality the absence of duplication of services, potential for savings in terms of a city wide plan for infrastructure alone, is more than significant. The initial stages as it takes over will have moments of tension and all will not just fall into place. But for this proud geographical region that will be united as one, the potential is before us to embrace and to ensure shattered dreams of the past that floundered in the mire of sectional groups, remain in the past. This opportunity is taken on board and begins to deliver to the Super City all that a modern city can desire and require.

So if you’re wondering what B12 is, you’re probably not the only one. B12 is not talked about much, but it’s very important for certain groups to keep an eye on in their diet. B12 is extremely important for cell function and regeneration of new cells, especially in the intestines, bone marrow and nerve tissue. If you don’t have enough B12 you get easily tired and have no energy for anything, and over a long period of time not enough B12 can cause nerve damage. So where do you get B12 from in your diet? B12 comes from animal products so if you regularly eat meat then your B12 levels are probably fine. If you eat a vegetarian diet you need to think carefully about how much B12 you’re getting in your diet. If you’re vegan and don’t eat any animal products you may need to have a supplement to get their B12.

If you don’t eat meat you should get your doctor to check your B12 status about once a year to make sure you’re getting what you need. If you eat dairy products and eggs you will get some B12 from these foods, as long as you include them in your diet most days. If you don’t eat any animal products your only real chance for getting B12 from food is through marmite which has B12 added to it. You’d need to eat about a 2 tablespoons of marmite every day to get the B12 you need so you might need to take a supplement. Look out for vegetarian B12 capsules because some B12 supplements contain gelatine so they’re not suitable for vegans. So that’s B12, the animal vitamin, something to think about if you’re not a meat eater.

by Alicia Crocket Serves: 4

Cost: $2.33 per serve

Gluten free if you use GF stock powder or a GF soup mix (chicken or vegetable) This recipe comes from the Popular Potatoes cookbook by Simon and Alison Holst. Initially I was a little sceptical of this recipe, but I thought, hey I like scalloped potatoes and I like tuna why not put them together... So I gave it a go and it’s super delish. This recipe is really quick to prepare, great cold or hot and it’s really easy to make a half or a double batch. I tend to put another layer of vegetables in there for a bit more colour, sometimes I use carrot, at the moment I use pumpkin because it’s super cheap, but kumara would also be nice. directions 1 kg floury or all purpose potatoes, scrubbed 2 medium onions, sliced 400g (approx) of canned tuna in springwater, flaked ½ cup milk 250g lite sour cream 1 packet onion soup mix 1 cup grated cheese Pinch of paprika to dust

instructions

1 2 3 4

Turn the oven on to 220°C to preheat Cut the scrubbed potatoes into 2-3mm slices Sprinkle half the sliced onion into a casserole dish

Cover with half the sliced potatoes (or other vegetables)

5 6

Crumble the tuna over the potatoes

Sprinkle remaining onion onto the tuna then put the remaining potatoes on top

7 Combine sour cream, soup mix and then mix in the milk. 8 Pour evenly over the layered potato mixture then sprinkle the grated cheese on top

9 Cover the dish with foil (or a lid) and cook at 220°C for 40 minutes, take off the foil when the potatoes are nearly cooked and allow the top to brown.

Words by Katie Montgomerie Photos courtesy of Claire Vesco On Friday August 20, 73 pilot whales were found on the shores of Karikari beach in the far north. Only 15 whales were found alive, leading DOC workers to believe that they had perhaps beached on Thursday night. Volunteers and DOC workers worked through the night to save the remaining 15 whales. Pip is a member of Project Jonah, which is a whale rescue programme designed to train people how to help whales in the event of a stranding. She and other volunteers worked with DOC to attempt to refloat the 15 surviving whales. Pip, how long have you been part of project Jonah? Since late September, early October last year. Previous to that I was doing a similar sort of thing in England called the British Marine Divers. In the event of a stranding, Project Jonah sends texts out to its members asking if they can help with the stranding and you just reply with yes or no. Why do you think the pilot whales became stranded on Karikari beach? There could be lots of different reasons. One could be sick and become disorientated, or strand themselves on purpose. The rest of the pod tries to help and sends out distress signals which call in other pods who also try to help. It’s like a vicious cycle. But it could also be that a whale’s sonar wasn’t working properly or that Karikari beach has a really shallow gradient of the sea floor so it takes a long time for the sea to get deep from the beach. This can also affect sonar as it has trouble bouncing back from such a shallow gradient. There is also the fact that the pilot whales migratory cycle passes right by Karikari beach.

When we started to refloat the whales, usually you would take one of the strongest whales out first and then refloat the others simultaneously so the whale already out there can call to them. Then the volunteers make a chain and with the help of some little boats, herd the whales back out to sea. But this part was really disorganised and there was only one DOC boat trying to herd 13 whales back out to sea. Some of the locals had offered to let DOC use their boats but because the DOC workers were not clearly identifiable they didn’t know who to speak to. There also weren’t that many DOC people there and the whole refloating process was rushed and disorganised. Had it not been so disorganised perhaps more of the 13 whales may have been successfully refloated, but as it was we had to put down four of the whales because they wouldn’t swim or would keep coming back. Nine of the 73 pilot whales found on Karikari beach were successfully refloated at Matai Bay. Pilot whales often spontaneously beach themselves on New Zealand shores for largely unknown reasons. The last mass stranding happened in February of this year at a remote Stewart Island beach. In that instance, not one of the 28 pilot whales survived. If you would like to become involved in Project Jonah so you can help with the next stranding, the number to call is 0800 4 WHALE – they can always use more trained volunteers.

What were you doing in order to keep the whale you were assigned alive? Keeping it wet and cool. We had wet sheets over most of its body, except the blow hole, and were really trying to keep the dorsal and the tail fins cool as most of the heat comes in through their extremities. Just like a human, if our hands and feet are hot, we are usually feeling hot. We had to dig holes under its pectoral fins to make sure there wasn’t too much pressure on them and we had to keep it upright. We also talked to our whale to keep it calm because they have their eyes open a lot of the time and can see you and check out what’s going on. But you can’t make any loud noises. I hear many people named their whales. Why do you think this is? Claire [Vesco] had the idea to call our whale Mel because I was being Mel off Flight of the Conchords when we did the Birdman festival. I guess people name their whales because you are with them for so long that you feel an attachment to them. And it’s also easier to talk to the whale when you have something to call it. How did you feel when Mel survived? Fantastic. We had been with Mel for about 20 hours or so, so it was nice that all of the hard work paid off. We were cheering her, saying “go on Mel!”. it was definitely a good feeling when she swam off. What will happen to the whales that didn’t survive? They will be buried near the beach. The local Iwi did a blessing and seemed pretty happy that they were to be buried. There was one lady there from AUT who wanted to take lab samples to try to see why they stranded but I’m not sure what happened with that. Was there any part of the whale rescue that you weren’t happy about? When we got there, DOC was trying to turn people away, saying that they didn’t need the help but it was night and there were only two people per whale [approximately 40 people] so they obviously did. Project Jonah had already told me that they were doing this so I just told them I was from Project Jonah and they let me in. But there must have been a miscommunication there. Also the DOC workers were hard to indentify because although some had reflective vests on (other people did as well) and there were no visible labels on their vests saying that they were from DOC that I could see. This made it difficult because people weren’t sure who to go to. issue 20 2010

An interview with Caitlin Stasey by Samantha McQueen

Twenty-year-old Caitlin Stasey is starting to feel the effects of a 24 hour whirlwind promotion tour. The petite actress, best known for her role as Rachel on Neighbours, is sitting in a hotel room on Auckland’s viaduct harbour, dressed in a ripped light blue denim jacket with black leggings. This is one of her final interviews of the day before she gets on a plane to go back to Australia. She’s been up since 7am doing the media rounds, and that’s after a 4am wake up the day before to catch her flight to New Zealand. And let’s not forget a trip to Albany for the fifth and final premiere of her debut feature film, Tomorrow When the War Began. The film, based on the first book of John Marsden’s seven part series, follows the journey of 17-year-old Ellie Linton and her school friends, who return from a camping trip to find that their families have disappeared and their small country town has been turned into an unexpected war zone. With no contact with the outside world, these eight different teenagers must band together to survive and fight back against this heavily armed military force. This includes learning to fire a gun, blowing up a petrol tanker and throwing your previous morals out the window. First released in 1993, the Tomorrow series has sold more than 2.5 million copies, been translated into seven languages, and has earned its author, Marsden, a slew of writing accolades. Signing onto the challenge of bringing the film to life is first-time director (and also screenwriter) Stuart Beattie, who has previously written the screenplays for the Pirates of the Caribbean series, 3:10 to Yuma, Australia and G.I. Joe. Stasey plays the lead role of Ellie, the strong unspoken leader of the group, who guides them not only to their ominous camping destination, Hell, but also leads the frontline of war. I spoke to Caitlin Stasey during her short trip to New Zealand about the film, working with Stuart, the questions she’s sick of hearing and what books she’d like to see on the big screen.

Hey, how are you? Tired? Yeah. It’s been quite an exhaustive process, just having to talk about the same things again and again and again. You just sound a bit like a parrot. In the press notes it mentions how Ashleigh Cummings [who plays Robyn] undertook some really intense research to get into character [she rewrote the first book from Robyn’s perspective, and read parts of the bible]. What research did you undergo to get into the character of Ellie? I just read the script and I read the book. I think I kind of just had to go off exactly what I had. I suppose there was no sort of process that I went through. I think different actors respond differently to different methods. Some like being method actors, some like doing a lot of research, but I find that if I sat down for hours deliberating over how to do a scene, it wouldn’t make a difference in the end to me. It’s kind of one of those things that I’m going to be the same regardless of the research that I do, not that I didn’t try. Stuart Beattie has worked on some pretty high-profile productions. How would you describe his working style when it came to directing this and how involved were you in the direction of your character? He was incredibly generous, with interpretation, with his time, with everything. And because he’s the writer as well there was no middle man between us and the script. It was like “we can change it what we think teenagers would say”. It was just an incredibly collaborative experience and he was really kind; he had such a clear vision and he’s so talented. He’s very, very brave and I think he’s got real courage of his conviction. We couldn’t have done it without him.

There were a couple of changes from the books to the movies, like the scene where the soldier shoots a man in the face… Yeah the thing is a lot of things because of the visual medium you need to exaggerate and add a few things for the sake of cinema otherwise it gets lost, so yeah it’s more violent than the books. The language is more colourful, but teenagers are completely desensitised to it now. I think when you do it in vast amounts, like if we were literally hacking people up in the film, it would be wasted, but when you get that one bullet in somebody’s head before anything has happened, I think that just really set the tone of death comes at a consequence and it’s hard to come to terms with it. Were there any particular scenes that were physically or emotionally draining to film? I think all of them, because they had to reflect something that you’d seen in the scene previously and so it was just a constant sort of battle for character and battle for yourself to portray that. It was exhausting just starting at 5pm and finishing at 6am. Every single scene post-war was really hard. Out of the eight main characters, was Ellie the person you could relate to most in terms of your own personality? I think Fi’s probably the one I can relate to most in terms of. I’m not a country girl; I’m a city girl really. That’s sort of a shameful admission but it’s true and you have to own those things about yourself. I’m naïve when it comes to things about petrol bombs, and about this or about the other, but I think I’m probably a hybrid between – a hybrid? – a mixture between Ellie and Fi. What were the other actors like to work with? Fantastic. They’re a really talented bunch of guys and girls. They’re a lot of fun. I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t laughing with them. And they were really easy to work with and bounce off. You said you read the first book as part of your research, but have you read the other books? No I haven’t. There sort of wasn’t any need for me to. Other than the fact that they’re great books I just a) haven’t had time and b) it kind of felt like I was pre-empting what was going to happen to Ellie so I needed to not really know. You’ve had five premieres now and have been promoting this film for the last few weeks. What has the response been like from people that have already seen the film? So far positive, but I mean when you’re only exposed to positive reviews in the early stages, you can only go down in people’s estimations I think, because they go in with an expectation. I’m kind of curious to see what happens after it gets released, but so far people have been really, really great about it. Looking at it now from a viewer’s perspective, are there any parts of your performance that you would change? Yeah – you watch it and you’re like “why did I deliver that line like that? Maybe I could have done this more”… there are a million things. If I was to sit here and talk about how much I would change we’d be here all day, but in the same breath I would say I wouldn’t change anything because for what it was, it worked.

What questions are you sick of hearing in interviews? Describe Ellie, describe the film, that kind of stuff. It’s like *groan* “I can’t be bothered anymore. I sound like a complete moron repeating myself”. Or what’s it like bringing a well loved character to life? It’s like “it’s obviously hard”. You didn’t read the books as a child, so what sort of books and films were you brought up around as a child? Because I travelled around a lot with my parents – I think I grew up a lot with things that they loved. When I lived in Singapore and Dubai there wasn’t much in the way of children’s entertainment back then. So I remember watching Gone with the Wind and Wuthering Heights with my parents and my dad read me stories like Curious Lobster and My mum [would read] Gobbolino the Witch’s Cat, you know all these kind of English books. A lot of Enid Blyton, like The Magic Wishing Tree, and Beatrix Potter. I read a lot of English books because I lived there for a while and the best… I remember at that time… the best children’s stories, I mean of course other than Possum Magic, which I loved… I’ve never heard of that… You’ve never heard of Possum Magic?! It’s an Australian thing. My baby book is covered in it. Anyway, so England sort of has the best young children’s stories at that time. They had their Jemima Puddleducks and your Peter Rabbits and stuff like that. And I love Disney, I’m such a Disney kid. Little Mermaid was my ultimate heroine. Is there any sort of treasured books that you would like to see turned into movies? Everybody always wants to see Catcher in the Rye made into a film to see what it would be like but at the same time it’d be blasphemy really. I think they should make The Faraway Tree stories into films because they’re so fantastic and so magical. After this whole whirlwind dies down and the film is released, what is next for you? Just sleeping and trying to make any which way I can so I can pay my rent. I’m moving to LA; just going over there hopefully and naively and hoping something happens somewhere. While Lincoln and Stuart also made it over to New Zealand for the premiere, a lot of the cast mates did not. So before I wrapped up this interview, I asked Caitlin if she could describe each of her cast mates in one word. Here’s what she came up with. Rachel Hurd-Wood (Corrie): Fiery, no… blunt. Lincoln Lewis (Kevin): Uh… enthusiastic Phoebe Tonkin (Fi): Awkward Deniz Akdeniz (Homer): Alpha male Ashleigh Cummings (Robyn): Wise Chris Pang (Lee): On the phone all the time Andrew Ryan (Chris): Hilarious Stuart Beattie (director): Idol

Tomorrow When the War Began opens in New Zealand and Australian cinemas on September 2. issue 20 2010

Your parents are coming for dinner Tuesday night, you promised your other half you would cook them dinner Wednesday night and the very thought of another Thursday night meal of two-minute noodles leaves you nauseous. The major problem? You only have $30 left in your bank account until Thursday when your Studylink payment comes through and your cupboards are bare. BUT did you realise you can buy a whole chicken, size 18, on special for $10 from the supermarket? And did you know that said whole chicken can be turned into three delicious, nutritious and cheap meals? It may sound too incredible, implausible, but here, my fellow cash strapped students, is how. by Ashleigh Muir Skin and bone the chicken. Sounds like a scary concept. But once you’ve done it, I guarantee you will think water under the bridge and become a regular whole-chicken-butcher. Skinning a chicken is quite simple. A small knife and rolled up sleeves is all you need – I do not recommend doing this in your largest jumper, the one with the sleeves that fall past your fingertips. I tried. And then I took it off. Simply start at one end and peel back the skin, using the knife to knick any stubborn bits. The skin should come off pretty easily, leaving a rather naked looking chicken. It’s kind of like taking a wet shirt off a small child. Now it’s time to pull out the big guns. I mean knives. Pull the leg away from the body and position your large knife so that it is aimed for the middle of the hip joint. Cut. You now hold a chicken thigh and drumstick. Try not to get too

carried away bending the knee joint backwards and forwards. It may be fun, but you’re far too old to play with your food. Now cut through the knee joint to separate the thigh and drumstick. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat until all the limbs are separate. Finally we remove the breasts. Down the centre of the bird is reasonably hard tissue. Avoid this and cut slightly to each side. Personally I found the smaller knife easier to use here; making small cuts down the side of the breasts. How does this pile of meat become three meals you ask? Well, we will turn the thighs and drumsticks into a casserole that will knock the socks of your parents, the breasts into a chicken lasagne to impress your other half and the wings and the carcass... that will make amazing chicken soup. Three meals, one bird. And then there are the leftovers.

A few tips: 1 Buy at least a size 18 bird. Any smaller and there won’t be enough meat to get three meals out of. 2 Whole birds can be bought fresh or frozen. 3 A frozen bird must be thawed before you start but can be frozen AFTER it has been cooked. 4 A fresh bird can be frozen before or after being cooked, but only once. 5 If you’re having trouble finding the middle of a joint, bend it. Sometimes snapping it backwards creates a larger space within the joint. 6 Don’t worry too much about skinning the wings. They’re fiddly and will be used in the soup anyway. 7 Don’t worry about trying to get all the meat off the bird. The more meat left on the bones, the better the soup.

Serves: 4 - 6

Serves: 6

Serves: 4

ingredients Chicken thighs and drumsticks ½ tsp crushed ginger 1 tsp orange zest 1 onion, diced 2 carrots, grated 1 courgette, grated 1 cup chicken stock 2 tbsp tomato paste

ingredients Chicken breasts, diced ½ onion, diced Lasagne sheets 1 jar pasta sauce 1 carrot, grated 1 courgette, grated 1 cup grated cheese 1 egg 150g cream cheese

ingredients Chicken carcass and wings 1 onion 2 cloves of garlic, chopped ½ tsp chicken stock powder Flour and water to thicken

directions

Brown the onion in a frying pan. Add the chicken and cook until white all the way through.

directions

In a crock-pot or casserole dish place the thighs and drumsticks.

Add the ginger, orange zest, vegetables, stock and tomato paste.

Cook casserole for approximately four hours at 100˚C or two hours at 150˚C.

If using a crock-pot, cook all day on slow.

Serve with rice, mashed potatoes or couscous.

1 2

Add pasta sauce and grated vegetables, simmer.

Layer lasagne sheets and chicken mix in an oven proof dish.

In a bowl, mix with a fork cream cheese, half the cheese and the egg until combined.

Spoon over lasagne and top with remaining cheese.

6 16

Bake at 180˚C until cheese has melted and lasagne sheets are cooked (approximately 30 minutes).

directions

Boil spare bones and meat until cooked thoroughly. When cold, pull meat off the bones and separate juices. In a pan, cook diced onion and garlic.

Add to chicken juices with stock powder.

5 6

Thicken with flour and water. Add meat and heat through.

Super City! WTF. by Jared

In the (small) number of conversations that us young people are having about the Super City and the mayoral candidates, one question has emerged as a decidedly prevalent indication of just how informed we all are: What the f**k is the Super City? Relax, fellow students, you’re not alone. Because the government has been to useless to tell us what the Super City is, I will do it instead, only without the confusing language and the token brochure.

1 Our current electoral system is composed of eight councils: Auckland City, Manukau City, Waitakere City, North Shore City, Rodney District, Papakura District, Franklin District , and the Auckland Regional Council. Those are the people who control every council decision in your area – so you have a mayor and a board for each one. The Super City will have one mayor, and a total of 20 councillors made up from each ward. What is a ward? It’s just like a council but smaller. So the North Shore City council includes the Albany and North Shore wards. Bigger wards get two councillors, smaller ones get one. Chances are you’ll be in a ward which will send two councillors to the super council (you can find out by checking the full list at www.elections2010. co.nz). You need to vote for these people, and that vote is probably more important than your super-mayor vote because they’ll actually be representing the things that YOU want to put to the super mayor and his super friends. 2 You’re also required to vote for your local board, which is the last remaining bastion of real local government. These are the people that you see on all the advertising around your house. The government hasn’t really decided what they’ll be good for yet, but it’s good to pick someone who believes (at least in part) the same stuff as you, so probably worth having a look online for their profile. 3 On top of these three votes, you’ll need to vote for your District Health Board, which we’ve always had to do but I never even know what it means. There are three in Auckland, Counties-Manukau (south), Auckland (middle) and Waitemata (west and north). The DHB site has a good summation of how the voting works because it’s kind of weird. You have to rank people from most support to least support, and once someone gets past a certain threshold of that support, they get first place. Cool but confusing. Even if you’re completely confused by all this voting stuff (I tried to be clear) the instructions they send you with your voting packs are designed for people with brains made of apple sauce, so they’ll be nice and explicit about EXACTLY what you need to do. Still, I’d recommend you look around to at least try and make a decent decision about someone who you’ve heard of, instead of just voting for the guy with the funniest name or the picture. issue 20 2010

The Details

If you haven’t enrolled to vote yet, you’re screwed. Which is pretty average of you to be honest, they send you the forms and it’s free post and everything. All you had to do was fill out a form. Lazy. The deadline was August 20 by the way. And just because you’ve missed the deadline doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enrol anyway. You’ll need to be enrolled to vote for in the general election next year. You’ll get you forms sent out in the week beginning September 17. From then you have until October 9 to get them back again, though you should probably do it a bit earlier because that’s the day they count them. Once all the votes have been tallied, winners will be announced in the following days. In November, they will all be sworn in. You will have to tick a few people, and rank a few people. Don’t screw it up or you get arrested. That’s not true, but you’ll look stupid. You can check out all the nominees for all the boxes you have to tick (some of which will have views very similar to yours if you’re prepared to look) at elections2010.co.nz. It’s an average site, with a useful google map where you can find your house and it tells you who you have to vote for.

by Courtney

Hon. Andrew Williams Independent Progressive Leadership

CV: Mayor of North Shore City Council. Former non council roles: Trade Commissioner for Belgium and Luxembourg Why he wants to be mayor: Williams wants to be Mayor of the Super City to get the city moving along and completed. He says he is the man for the job because he has delivered everything he said he would on the North Shore, such as reducing rates. “You need a leader who is going to action things, get things done.” Some of the issues he wants to address: Williams believes the Auckland region needs better public transport and economic growth.

Hon. Len Brown

Independent CV: Mayor of Manukau City Former non council roles: He attended the University of Auckland to study law and arts in the late-1970s. Joined the Auckland law firm of Wynyard Wood, where he became a partner before being elected to the Manukau Council. Why he wants to be mayor: Brown says he is standing for mayor because there was a major ground swell of support for him in Manukau and the wider region. He also loves being mayor and wants to be ‘the uniter’ of the eight councils. “I have a real passion for the community,” he says. Some of the issues he wants to address: Public transport, tourism and focussing on the community. He aims to improve public transport by providing rail to the airport, building a tunnel and rail through to the North Shore, and providing an inner city loop. Brown believes rail to the airport is an important step to increasing tourism in Auckland. At the moment tourists only spend 1.9 nights in

Williams’ idea to decrease congestion is to introduce a flat fare of around $2, that passengers can use to move easily between the different transport systems. “I’d like to have a big incentive to get students using public transport;” he says. “Forty per cent of traffic is school-related.” By offering cheaper fares he hopes to improve congestion on Auckland’s roads. Williams has 30 years of international business and trade experience. He wants to use this knowledge in the supercity to foster export trade with countries such as Korea and Japan and create job opportunities for graduates. He wants to foster opportunities in America, Canada and Australia in creative industries and Smart IT. “Auckland region is a major IT area and a lot of this needs to be harnessed and moved along. “We have an opportunity to be a big player on the world market even though we’re a small country.” For more information: www.andrewwilliams.co.nz

Auckland; Brown plans on extending this to 4.5 nights by encouraging visitors to go to Waiheke and other islands in the Gulf and to Matakana for the cafes and art. Talking to people in the community, Brown says a lot of people have said they’re going to lose their identities. “They [the community] are really worried about this change,” he says. Brown plans to focus on initiatives already in place by other councils to ensure Auckland’s different identities are not lost. For example, the North Shore has had a major focus on cleaning up the beaches by sorting out wastewater to clean up beaches, which Brown will continue. From Waitakere he will continue to invest in film, further the Twin Stream project and incorporate the eco-city model - “the great aspiration of the West”. In Manukau the community is worried they are going to see too much urban sprawl so that will also be managed in the new Auckland Council Similar to the old council structure, he will also create a youth council and an ethnic council. He says it’s not me that will see the evidence of this, it is the students. “Get involved in this,” Brown says “vote like hell.” For more information www.lenbrownformayor.co.nz

Hon. John Banks Independent

CV: Mayor of Auckland City Council for two terms Former non council roles: Member of Parliament (National) (six terms as a member of parliament, six years in cabinet), minister of local government and former minister of police. Banks is a partner of several New Zealand and Australian companies, including a KiwiSaver provider and a Trans-Tasman business consultancy. Why he wants to be mayor: Banks says it would be a privilege and an honour to be the mayor of the new Super City. He believes the first three years of the new Auckland Council are going to be critical to this nation’s economic sovereignty. “We’ve got to make it work, I’m the only candidate that from day one, believes this can work, must happen, and with consistent and decisive leadership will be great.” Some of the issues he wants to address: Banks wants Auckland to be the cultural, musical and arts capital of New Zealand. “A city with a heart and soul building on the fact that Auckland is a university town and has been for the last 75 years.” He wants to create a city that has world class facilities and opportunities to stop the brain drain. 750,000 New Zealanders live overseas and 60 per cent of those have tertiary qualifications. “We need them back here growing the New Zealand economy,” he says. “I want Auckland to be so great that my 22-yearold daughter will continually be thinking about coming home for the renaissance of opportunity here in Auckland.” “I’m very excited about the prospects of Auckland becoming a truly international competitive metropolis built on a platform of investment, growth and jobs, producing opportunities, prosperity and security.” Banks says there are a lot of issues that need to be covered in the new Auckland council but we agree on more issues than the ones that divide us and students are really aware that what they need most of all is a place for their families that they are proud to call home and has working opportunities in the place that they studied. For more information: www.johnbanks.co.nz

Simon Prast

Independent CV: Actor; currently in Go Girls, founder and former artistic director of the Auckland T h e a t r e Company. He produced and/or directed over 60 main bill productions including The Graduate, Hair, Death of a Salesman and 12 Angry Men which was voted “production of the decade” by ATC subscribers. Graduated from the University of Auckland Law School. Why he wants to be mayor: Because he felt he couldn’t vote for any of the other candidates. He wants to bring the spotlight back to the Royal Commission’s report and its focus on “place not politics”. The Royal Commission says, “Overwhelmingly Auckland is now ready for positive change.” Prast subscribes to this view. Some of the issues he wants to address: Prast is standing for local democracy, creative solutions and positive change. “We have the talent to solve our problems,” he says. “It doesn’t seem like rocket science what we have to do.” Action means action, a budget means a budget. “I think that people are just throwing their hands up. It’s a conspiracy to get hands on public assets.” “Vote for the future, not for the gargoyles of the past.” For more information: http://simonprast.com

Penny Bright

Shannon Gillies

CV: Public watchdog for 10 years. Also a qualified tradesperson, with Advanced Trade in Sheet metal Engineering, and became NZ’s first CBIP (Certification Board for Inspectorate Personnel) female welding inspector.

CV: Currently studying an Honours in Communications Studies at AUT. Has worked as a chef and a journalist in Wellington and the central North Island.

Why she wants to be mayor: Unlike the rest of the candidates she is standing to stop the Super City. “I believe it is a corrupt, corporate coup,” she says. “This is an opportunity for the public to have a say. “If you are opposed, vote for me.” Some of the issues she wants to address: She is currently not paying her water, council and ARC rates and is calling for people to join her. She believes, “No say, no pay”. Bright says the bottom line is that the Council Controlled Organisations, which will cost billions, have never been subject to any cost benefit analysis. She does not understand how a public policy has been pushed through parliament that is not fiscally responsible. “If I asked a financial backer for money without being able to present a cost benefit analysis I would never get funding”, she says. Bright says if she is elected to mayor she will find the most internationally trust-worthy anti-corruption auditors to go through the books. “I believe there have been massive conflicts of interest.” If she finds these she will nullify all the Super City contracts. “I’m making a stand on behalf of the public.” For more information: http://waterpressure.wordpress.com

Why she wants to be mayor: “I believe I have policies and ideas that would be beneficial for Auckland,” she says. “It is any citizens’ right in a democracy to run for public office and I encourage anyone eligible to run and who has an interest in politics to take up the opportunity.” Some of the issues she wants to address: She proposes moving many of the council’s functions, for example sewage into CCOs, “to cut out bitching and moaning”, and to try minimise costs and maximise efficiency of Auckland’s utilities. She would also like the council to investigate and implement some sort of super travel day pass that could be sold for a nominal fee of $5. The short time plain is to lessen congestion for the Rugby World Cup. She also thinks making a public transport a CCO it may run on time. “I feel if we use a CCO we’ll have Key Performance Indicators to encourage our public transport to work.” Gillies wants to increase the cost of liquor licenses to try to stem the amount of violence that results from alcohol, such as family violence and vandalism of council property. “During my time as a reporter the majority of domestic violence being relayed by the police was down to alcohol,” she says. “As part of its guardianship role council will make the abusers pay one way or another.” She would also like to raise rates and says she will not listen to community boards unless they come up with ideas that benefit the whole Auckland region. She says half of her salary will either be going to a charity of Auckland’s choosing or a street party. The street will be chosen by council staff and organised by them. If Gillies gets 3000 likes on Facebook, her or a friend who runs a motocross company will do a motocross jump hopefully through fire and crash into water. For more information: like “Shannon Gillies” on Facebook

Mark Ross Independent

CV: 27 year old courier driver in Christchurch Why he wants to be mayor: He is a working class man who is sick and tired of politicians that constantly make bad decisions and do not get anything done. “I want to bring back common sense and accountability to the city that has lost both, and I really have my doubts for Auckland’s future unless I do something about it when all the other decision-makers are asleep at the wheel waiting for Auckland to crash and burn.” Some of the issues he wants to address: • Common Sense • Accountability • and taking the “crap politics” out of the local government system and giving locals the only true voice in decision making. “Every member of the community will benefit from common sense decisions across the board. Specifically for students though, probably nothing as I don’t believe in bribing you good folk with endless political rhetoric, even though I went to AUT back in the day.” For more information: like “Mark Ross for the Auckland Mayoralty 2010” on Facebook issue 20 2010

Information on some of the other candidates: Aileen Austin: Ran for mayor of North Shore City and received 5633 votes

Hugh Chapman: is an architect who heads a company promoting a monorail system, but says he would not push that interest if elected mayor. He wants to spend $600 million to unclog roading bottlenecks in the region. He says traffic congestion is costing the region $2 billion per year. Colin

Craig: Direct democracy campaigner, millionaire businessman

Vinnie Kahui: Unemployed father of three who has no background in politics

Alan McCulloch: Zone director for Grey Power Auckland Region

Steve McDonald: Two-time failed Waitakere mayoralty candidate, who received 3924 votes in 2007 Vanessa Neeson: Waitakere City

Councillor, wants money to evenly spread

out among the communities. “What really concerns me is that we do not get the money back to spend in our region,” she says.

Phil

O’Connor: is the Christians Against Abortion candidate who stood for the Auckland City mayoralty in 2007 and received 1087 votes.

Raymond Presland: Another 2007 Auckland City mayoral candidate, he received 497 votes. Annalucia

Vermunt: The Communist League candidate. “I am standing on a programme to defend the rights and living standards of workers and all working people,” said Vermunt, a meat worker, who is an active union member and campaigner for Maori rights.

Wayne Young: Believed to be the

country’s first leaky homes victim to have been left homeless when his apartment in the upmarket Auckland suburb of Parnell was sold by mortgagee sale in December.

Tenby Powell Age: 50 Position Running For: Council candidate for Waitemata Gulf Current Occupation: Full-time focus on running for candidacy Previous Experience: Chief Executive of the NZ Rental Group from 2003 2009, formed Hunter Powell Investments Limited, senior management positions in Fletcher Challenge and Skellerup. Served in the Regular and Reserve forces since 1983 and currently holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Why have you decided to run for a position on the Super City Council? I’ve served my country, now it’s time to serve my city. I was a professional solider for a long time and… I care deeply about Auckland and I’m worried about Auckland. I’m worried that the decisions that we haven’t taken and the inertia as a consequence of not having taken those decisions is not only costing us our international reputation, but it’s also costing us millions –literally. What were your initial thoughts on the super city council when it was first debated? I was thrilled because if you look at examples overseas where there is a single administrative establishment, they’re able to get things done.That’s what I’m hoping to do; get things done.The Super City is going to be the largest administrative body in Australasia. So a current population of 1.4 million, or thereabouts, and it’s a huge entity. It’s $29 billion of assets to manage [and] $3.2 billion of revenue. What are your key policies and goals if elected? Public transport is Auckland’s number one gripe. By the year 2050, it’s believed that the population in Auckland will have doubled… to around 2.5 [million]. If we continue with the same amount of car usage as we do today, it’s going to be another one and a quarter million cars on the road per day. We can’t do it. [It’s about] making sure that we’ve got a single ticket system for buses, ferries and rail, for students particularly, at a discounted rate and in proportion to that, to enable students to be able to move freely together. How long have you been working in politics and what sparked your interest? What sparked my interest is exactly the antithesis of what politicians have delivered to us over the last few decades, which is a ball tied up in a string tied up in a huge knot. We not only have to try and undo [that], we’ve got to try throw some of the thinking away, particularly the political thinking. I care enough about Auckland to want to see some common sense prevail in the decision, and the only way common sense is going to prevail is if there’s less politics. How would it benefit students if you were elected onto the council? There are three clear things that have come back from [students I have spoken to]: Public transport and access to it, safety and finance. Public transport; We can come back to this single ticket system. Safety; I’ve talked to a number of people (not just women) who fear for their safety in and around the campus and the inner city. I’ve worked with the police a lot, both here and overseas, [and] when I look at the thing that is written on the side of the police cars - safer communities together - the police aren’t leveraging it and we’re not doing anything to assist that cause. Do we need a community constable dedicated to the universities? Or do we need cops that live on campus? Do we need postings by the police at Auckland University and at AUT? Finance; Interest free loans are all fine until you’ve got to start paying back the principal and then it’s a massive crunch. I reckon the banks can do better for students with A) a longer term loan – more than five years and B) starting to pay principal with that interest so it’s a true P&I at the same time. It would benefit students hugely if it could be done properly. When you’re not working or campaigning, what are you likely to be doing in your spare time? I’m very family-orientated. I’ve got two children and I spend a lot of time with them. I live a very active lifestyle so I’m out paddling, wave skiing and stuff like that. Or I’m out in the bush with the kids or at Lake Rotoiti skiing. I have a lot of fun; I’m not your classic, boring politician by any means. Why should people vote for you? You’re going to get common sense, can-do action-orientated truth. I’ve got a background in leadership in the military and at corporate level, it’s pretty leading edge leadership. This interview has been edited for space restraints. Go onto www.ausm.org.nz to find the full version of this interview.

Rob Thomas Age: 29 Position Running For: Council candidate for Waitemata Gulf Current Occupation: Business planning co-ordinator for Auckland City Libraries Previous Experience: Chaired Youth Council for two terms, worked on the council Britomart project, Wellington City Council and worked in strategy and performance at the City of Westminster (London) Why have you decided to run for a position on the Super City Council? I’ve wanted to stand for council the last 12 years of my life. That passion and drive started when I was on the Auckland City Youth council representing my school. I saw the amazing impact that council and elected representatives can have on a community and what a positive impact that can be. That’s why I’ve decided to stand. What were your initial thoughts on the Super City council when the idea was first debated? I thought that for regional governments it would be a very good thing. However, I was concerned about the local representation within communities. The Royal Commissions proposal indicated that there would still be the retention of the councils but more authority would be given to the region. What are your key policies and goals if you are elected? The first thing that I would do is meet up with each of new local boards appointed and start developing strong relationships with them. I think that’s an essential part of the role as a councillor is to work with the different government boards. My number one campaign issue is zero sewage in the Hauraki Gulf. When it rains heavily here in Auckland we get sewage –waste water – going out into the harbour. It’s absolutely disgusting. I think that’s probably our number one regional challenge and it’s a major environmental challenge. There are no short term solutions for it but we need to develop a long term strategy to help solve that issue, regionally. My second campaign policy is improving public transport and, in particular, rail to the airport. I worked for three and a half years on the Britomart project so it’s something I’m quite passionate about. I’m also a huge cycling and walking fan, and I want to see more cycling and walking initiatives, especially around the inner city. Forty-one per cent of inner-city residents here walk to work and it’s unsafe to cross on lots of the streets around Auckland. I want to see a lot of the cycle improvements around schools to make it safe for kids to cycle to school and start developing a generational change. How would it benefit students if you were elected? The fact that I’m young helps. I’m going to be one of the youngest candidates standing and with that brings a lot of vibrancy and youth to the inner city. One of the things I’m also campaigning on is to develop an arts and culture strategy for the inner city to make it more vibrant and alive. Our inner city at the moment doesn’t represent the cultural diversity that’s there. It doesn’t represent the youthfulness that’s also in the inner city, so I’ll really be pushing for a lot of youth initiatives. In your opinion, what is the biggest issue facing Aucklanders? You can’t go past the Super City. One of the big challenges in the first term of council will be managing the escalating costs of transition; at the moment it is $112 million. One of the biggest challenges of the new council will be setting a new direction and also redeveloping every policy that exists and I see that as being a big challenge – pulling together the staff and also the public. And as I said, also my big challenge is the sewage that goes out into the harbour. What do you do in your spare time? If I’ve got time I like to go camping and hiking. I’m into cycling and I’ve done the around Taupo race twice now - that’s a good challenge. Hang out with friends, I’m a big movie buff and I’m a member of Rotary so there’s a whole range of community projects we’re involved in. Why should people vote for you? To have some fresh new blood and an independent young person on the council. Someone who is going to bring vibrancy to the inner city. What has been playing on your iPod recently? Since the concert, I’ve just been playing Shihad all the time.

There are some things that are super cool about Auckland and there are some things about Auckland that super suck. Here are a few things that stand out in my mind.You might relate to these too.

SUPER COOL The roosters in Cornwall park on a nice summer’s day If you’re like me, you hate waiting for summer. One thing that makes the wait worth while is walking past all the wild roosters perched in the eastern side of the park. These guys are the random bachelors of the city. They sit around preening their feathers and crowing for chicks; much like blokes do at the waterfront on a Friday night. Chatting with old people on public transport Now I know that some of you still haven’t got over how cool you are, but for the rest of us, spinning a good yarn with a nice old lady reminds you that the world hasn’t turned to crap. If you haven’t tried it yet, do this… As soon as you/they have seated, quickly give them a smile and politely say “hello”. If they smile back it’s time to use the applicable old-person conversation starter… “Nice day today isn’t it?” or “The weather isn’t very nice today is it?” This is code for “I’m friendly”. You’ll be chatting in no time. Ice creams at Mission Bay on the grass There’s nothing quite as relaxing as watching someone try to catch his hyper nine-month-old Labrador puppy while his kid wanders in the other direction to soak a shoe in the fountain. Watching this while eating ice cream in a waffle cone from the Movenpick shop is even better. Tame-as Pukeko in the suburbs Did you know Pukeko are not naturally tame? It’s only in Auckland where they will run up to you for bread (kind of like ducks do). If you didn’t know this, you are a true blue Aucklander. If you’re from the Waikato, you already knew this because you are sick of the Puks eating your maize. The Pukeko in Auckland are cooler than those down south. The Chocolate boutique in Parnell If you think you’re a chocoholic, you can prove your mettle in one of the most hardcore of chocolate shops in NZ. They serve a deeeelicious cup of hot chocolate. It is literally hot melted chocolate, in a fancy teapot. Flipping amazing. Good library system There have been times when I have wanted to read a book but didn’t want to pay for it. I do like the setup of the Auckland City libraries. It’s pretty cool that you can search their entire catalogue, every library in Auckland, and have it delivered to your local library for just $1. I’ve used their system many times now and it’s brilliant for a mid-winter ‘snuggle up in bed for a read’ kind of day.

“I’m just going to Pak’N’Save”, you inform you flatmate. “You want anything?” “A pie would be nice.” Only a noob would suggest attempting traffic in these conditions. You get in your car and take the motorway because “it’s quicker”. Thirty seconds later you’re in the parking lot. No this is not the Pak’N’Save parking lot… this is the Southern motorway, at rush-hour in the rain on a Friday arvo and it looks like a parking lot. Fifty minutes to do an eight minute round trip. “This pie is cold!”, says your flatmate as you re-boil the jug. If only they knew the hell that you’ve been through. Unpredictable weather I left the house this morning, a beautiful crisp morning, almost a frost. I intentionally left my umbrella at home. Big mistake. I think the reason it rained is because I had left my umbrella at home. Yesterday I brought my umbrella but it was not required because the weather was trying to trick me. Auckland weather tries to trick you. Auckland weather – not cool, just suck. Auckland Human Resource personnel and their job interview bureaucracy South of the Bombays, a job interview goes something like this: “What sort of thing have you done in the past?” “Well, I’ve done a lot of driving.” “Can you drive one of those?” “Yep.” “Okay. You’ll be working with Frank tomorrow so come in at 7.30am and he’ll sort you out.” A job interview for the same thing in Auckland would take two weeks to process four pages of details, the typing test, full medical, police records, pee in the cup, bend down touch your toes, the works. You think I’m making this up? I’m not. And the attitude HR interviewers take. To them, you’re worth about as much as the gum stuck in the boardroom carpet. “Hi, Andrew? It’s Jen here from HR. How are you? That’s good! I’m sorry, we’ve filled the position now but I would be happy to tell you where you could improve your interview skills.” Parking in the city Finding a park, paying a billion dollars an hour for a park, getting a parking ticket two minutes after the meter runs out. Did you know there are towns in New Zealand that don’t have parking meters? Enough said about that.

Rob Thomas

SUPER suck Bus drivers that abuse their powers We’ve all experienced it. You’re minding your own business, obeying the law, being a good and moral citizen when all of a sudden, the 680 Howick & Eastern bus cuts you off! “He saw me and just pulled out!” You scream. But it is of no use. He is bigger than you. Not cool Mr Auckland bus driver. God is watching you. Traffic on a rainy Friday afternoon You boil the jug for a cuppa but there’s no milk. You don’t want to pay double at the dairy.

issue 20 2010

Creating a vibrant inner city and better public transport Join me at a community meeting: 1 Sep, 5-7pm - Grey Lynn Community Centre 2 Sep, 5-6pm - Parnell Community Centre 3 Sep, 5-6pm - Leys Institute 6 Sep, 5-7pm - Pioneer Women & Ellen Melville Hall

RobThomas.co.nz Authorised by Monique Bond, 6A/14 Emily Place, Auckland 1010

Interview by Mike Atkins

Left to Right: Kane ter Veer (guitar, backing vocals), Mike Cannon (lead guitar), Filip Kostovich (lead vocal, keys), Sean Patterson (drums), Jared Aisher (bass).

n the day two young men (born in 1989 and 1990 respectively) released their debut album, you’d think they’d have better things to do than be interviewed by a publication that won’t even be published for another week. The record shops that sell the album, had only opened an hour before I met Filip Kostovich (lead vocalist and keys) and Jared Aisher (bassist), and an hour before that, they had played live at Bfm. Yet here they were, having coffee, at an eerily tranquil Freeman’s Bay cafe. You’ll know them from the single I Killed A DJ, and their coinage of a new word for unresponsive, seated audiences: “penguins” (or maybe those were two separate thoughts). Why don’t you like DJs? Jared: That’s not the point of the song at all. Filip: It’s not that we don’t like DJs Jared: It was written as a joke on how pop songs are formulated. Like how when a DJ is playing a Miley Cyrus song (not to name names); you can tell the song that she’s singing has been written according to certain rules, so that it will be huge. Kids will latch on to it. It is a candy coated song. It was a pisstake on that. It’s a tongue-in-cheek social commentary on pop-culture, and how pop-music is getting younger. Miley Cyrus is, what? Like 16? Filip: ...Or Ke$ha. Jared: Ke$ha’s older than us, dude. We’re not the ones to be talking about the industry getting younger… but it is. We’re saying that it’s expendable. In 20 years time, who’s going to remember these songs that have a two month shelf-life? Filip: Anyone can write a pop song these days. Jared: Exactly, all you need is a computer, and a knowledge of the English language. All you need is enough synonyms for “baby”. Filip: It’s not like we’re bragging, we’re just saying that that’s what they do, and we do something different. Jared: Yeah, a lot of pop-music I like. I like Lady Gaga. I like one of Miley Cyrus’ songs. I’m not afraid to say that I like Party In The U.S.A; I hated it when I first heard it, but it is a good song. But it was written to be popular, and that’s what I Killed A DJ is about. It wasn’t meant to offend at all.

download music, go and buy the music. There are a higher percentage of people who download and buy, than of people who don’t, because they’re the ones who love music. If you can give them something for free, that they enjoy, then everybody wins. We’re very conscious of being able to give something to our fans for free. I mean, it’s an acoustic version, but we went into the studio and recorded it properly, for the purposes of giving it away. It sounded to me like the sort of thing that would’ve been a B-side in the pre-downloading days. Jared: We’ve always wanted to do B-sides, but we’ve never had enough songs for that. We’re very picky as a band; we throw out any song that we do not like. Filip: The point with it being acoustic was to make something that was a little bit different to the original. That’s why we slowed it down at the beginning. Jared: …So we can have a B-side, without having a B-side. Filip: We look quite clever doing that, but we’re not. It definitely wasn’t throw-away. Sounds like the sort of thing that a fan would want to have. Jared: Songs become more of a song when you can play them acoustically, and give it more feeling, and dynamics. It’s a test to the song if you can play it acoustically. That’s something that I feel we’ve been missing lately, having the studio version, and the live version be two different things, that are their own thing in their own right. People get pissed off when it doesn’t sound the way that it does on the record. Filip: That’s something that we wanted to do. When we recorded the album, we made sure that there was nothing on there that couldn’t be done live, apart from strings, which we have on a backing track. Jared: We went into the studio wanting to make an album that sounded exactly as we sound live. So, we’d have all the energy, and all the impact. We never did anything that was too out of our own reach.

So, what sets you apart from pop is that you attempt to make music that’ll last?

But the album is a physical thing that’s there, that exists, and won’t change. Changing the songs for future shows, is that a possibility?

Jared: We want people to, when they’re older, say “I remember The Earlybirds, I liked them”. If they do that, that’s a huge compliment; if they don’t, they can get on with their lives, and talk up other bands. It’s comforting to have in your mind that you’re just writing senseless pop tunes, and that people know that there’s meaning to the music.

Filip: We’ve talked about that. But the album’s only [just out]; we want to wait till people know the songs first. It would be funny if we played the songs differently every night, without people knowing them. Jared: First impressions last. People could hear a song, and go “I really liked that”, then come to the album, and go “oh, it’s not on there”. We could go “yes it is, it’s that one”, and they could go “oh really? I don’t like that one”. Filip: We’ll wait till people know them, and then start to change them. Jared: Sometimes, when we’re tired, we’ll piss around during practice. Once we turned one of our songs into a really beat-heavy thing. We’re gonna wait till people know the song, and play it that way, and see if people enjoy it. It’s really cool slowed down.

You have the free download on the website. What do you think of that as a way of getting your name out there? Jared: It’s a good draw card. As a band, if you can give away free stuff, then... Albums are leaked all the time, but I read that 68 per cent of people who

What is it? A sort of raga dirge?

Are you doing an independent tour in support of the album?

Jared: Sort of. But without the weed, (or that depends on who’s in the audience, I suppose). We don’t like to leave genres out. Filip: We always jam reggae stuff, eh. Jared: We are a band that can jam any kind of music. We have metal, and funk, and a lot of reggae jams. You gotta have fun with what you’re doing.

Filip: Hopefully. We’d love to do that. Jared: We’ve got plans to tour more extensively, after the Opshop tour, on the back of our own album. That’s important to us, and it’s important for people who hear the album to come and hear us live, because that’s where we perform best. We are a live band. We want to play as many places as possible. There’s a lot of places that we’ve missed out, and we need to get to those places on our own tour.

You guys opened for Opshop... Filip: We’ve got a tour coming up with them.

I know this is a bit of a hoary old one, but can you describe your sound? I only thought I’d ask because I heard so much in the album.

So, that’s a past and future thing? Jared: We’re really good friends with them. They’ve been great supporter of ours. We did a mini-tour with them for their Pins and Needles single. They actually got Sean [Patterson], our drummer, up on stage with Bobby [Kennedy, Opshop’s drummer], to do this… Filip: Drum battle. ...But Bobby had his whole kit, and Sean just had a tom tom. Jared: Well, he did need to look better. They are good guys, and we have a lot of fun going out on the road with them. How is it, with them being such a big band, and putting on these gigantic shows? Jared: It pumps us up to play better. Filip: It’s interesting, because we’ve had some good reactions from people, there hasn’t been any negative feedback. Which is weird, because their crowd is a bit older than our typical one. On this upcoming tour, they’re playing some pretty podunk places, aren’t they? Jared: Yep, Potararu, Kerikeri, Hastings, places that we’ve never been to. But it’s always good to play to places that you’ve never been to, because you get your first impressions all over again. And you can see what they really think. Filip: With smaller places, more people come. Because not many bands come. Jared: and they will tell you exactly what they think, which is really good.

Jared: We pull influences from a lot of different places. Each one of us has a different group of influences that we enjoy; but there are influences that bridge the gap between us, like The Killers and the Kings Of Leon. Individually, we have Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against The Machine, Radiohead, The Roots. We don’t like to limit ourselves when it comes to genres. I think it’s easier to let people tell you what they think you sound like. We don’t want to be like “we sound like so-and-so”, only for someone to come along and say “no you don’t”. Filip: If you stick to one thing, you can get stuck to that, and keep doing the same thing. But with us, every song’s different; we like to try new stuff. Jared: Every song on the album was influenced by a different set of bands. One song was The Roots, one song is Band Of Horses. It covers a wide spectrum, so we don’t want to put a label on it; because, as Fil says, it just sections you in. You don’t want to limit yourself. I wouldn’t have thought that would’ve been possible, limiting yourself. After all, I can’t imagine someone starting out with “we sound like this”, and going forth from that. Jared: It can happen. If you go, “I want to write a Radiohead song”, and people say “you sound like Radiohead”, you say “hey cool, that worked, let’s do it again”. Before you know it, you’re stuck in this linear progression. Not that Radiohead is linear; they’re one of the greatest bands of all time. We’re very conscious of having our own sound at the moment. We know what we want to sound like, we’ve achieved that with the album, and now we can progress the sound, and start trying new things.

So, you’ve done shows in those weird little places before? Jared: Timaru, Oamaru... Filip: Not that they’re weird... just that they’re different to us. Jared: because we’ve never been there. Filip: We did an awesome show at Oamaru, at the Penguin Club. Jared: That was fun. Filip: Yeah, and there were actually penguins there. Huh? Jared: Yeah, it was actually Fil’s idea, when we started the show, everyone was sitting down. As a band you don’t like to play to a seated audience, so we sat down too. We got on stage, and sat cross-legged on the stage, and said “we’re not going to start playing, until you guys get up too”. They were like [mimes getting up quickly]. Filip: We were like, “we should remember that one for later on”. Jared: It could go either way. It could work, or it could be really awkward, and we’d have to go “ok, we’ll play anyway”. They would always do it if it became your thing – your gimmick. Then everyone would know what they were meant to do. Jared: We’re not into gimmick... Sean has his incense on his drum kit, but that’s not a gimmick, that’s for good times. Filip: It’s for eliminating bad odours. Jared: He got the idea from a Rug Doctor ad. You sound like you’ve learnt this from experience. You sound like you’ve had gimmicks, and that’s how you know they’re not a good idea. Jared: When we were younger, and not very serious, we’d come up with all sorts of things. Like, I wanted to dress up like a tiger. Filip: You just can’t do that. Jared: No. I would just look stupid. Now that we’re more serious about the music, we save that sort of thing for joking around at practice.

issue 20 2010

2. Who was crowned Miss Universe in Las Vegas last week? a) Miss Mexico, Jimena Navarrete b) Miss Australia, Jesinta Campbell c) Miss Philippines, Venus Raj d) Miss Jamaica, Yendi Phillipps 3. Which electronics company plans to launch a 3D TV, which will not require 3D glasses, later this year? a) Sony b) Panasonic c) LG d) Toshiba 4. In US currency, how many nickels make up a dollar? a) Two b) Four c) 10 d) 20 5. Where in the world would paella be a popular national dish? Argentina a) Portugal b) Spain c) d) Italy

Covet

(by Recycle Boutique) 2A Kent Street, Newmarket Monday – Friday: 9.30am – 5.30pm Saturday: 10am-5pm Sunday: 11am-4pm

Covet is Recycle Boutique’s ‘pre-loved’ designer

clothes shop, based behind the Rialto Cinemas in Newmarket. It’s a small, old, brick building on the outside, and I’m not really sure what to expect at first. Walking in, the shop is tidy and well-organised, with items on neat racks and shelves. The clothes are clean and carefully displayed, and I’m pleased about the absence of that stale, moth-ball smell you sometimes get with second-hand gear. The pieces they sell are in pretty good condition and there’s a wide variety of options, though it’s not a very big store. Walking around, I find quite a few items I like. Digging through is quite fun, I find a gorgeous blouse by a label I don’t recognise, and a cute Guess by Marciano dress, both of which really tempt me. I’m attracted to an $8 rack next, but there’s not a lot there – a pair of shorts and a t-shirt really (though I didn’t think I’d get much for that price anyway). Most of the stuff is fairly well-priced, at around $70 for most dresses, jackets etc. But, as is typical of me, I would fall instantly in love with the $220 Marc Jacobs cream jacket. Hmmm... “investment piece”? Nope, I just can’t

6. Which heavy-hitting rapper is set to open for U2 in November? a) Kayne West b) Jay-Z c) Eminem d) Snoop Dogg 7. What sport does not feature in the Commonwealth Games? a) Triathlon b) Synchronised swimming c) Lawn Bowls d) Boxing 8. If you suffer from ophidiophobia, you are afraid of what? a) Snakes b) Crowds c) Amphibians d) Light 9. Which female tennis star has pulled out of the US Open because of a foot injury? a) Venus Williams b) Serena Williams c) Maria Sharapova d) Caroline Wozniacki 10. Which celebrity couple tied the knot recently in a secret ceremony? George Clooney and Elisabetta Canalis a) Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt b) Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin c) Katy Perry and Russell Brand d) answers:

1c 2a 3d 4d 5c 6b 7a 8a 9b 10c

1. John Barlow, who was convicted of double murder, was released from Rimutaka prison last week after serving how many years behind bars? a) Five years b) 10 years c) 15 years d) 18 years

Price Range: clothes $40-$90, shoes & bags $50-$150 Size Range: 6 - 14 Wear to uni? Yep Wear to town? Could do For guys or girls? Mostly girls, small men’s collection. justify spending that much right now, even given how much that would retail for new! Quite a saving, but not overly cheap. There’s a selection of jeans, Ksubi, Miss Sixty, sass & bide, and more. These are pretty cheap, if you can find ones to fit. Obviously, being a second-hand store, there’s a limited range of sizing, mostly on the smaller side, but if you can find something right for you, there’s some pretty cool pieces in here. Not a lot of really big-name labels though, and some quite unknown ones, but that could be just me. Bad news for the guys; the men’s range is very limited, a couple of pairs of shoes and a small rack of clothes. Looking at the ladies shoes, they’ve got quite a variety, from boots to flats, but none really call out to me (and I swear sometimes shoes do that). There are five handbags hung on a rack; I’m disappointed that there’s such a small collection and none of them are special. I have one more walk around, keen to find a bargain but I leave empty-handed. There’s nothing that catches my eye this time but I’m keen to come back at some stage.

This review was written by a graduate in Retailing. If you are interested in retail and why people buy, take a look at papers in the Retail major in the Business School. You don’t have to be a business student to take the papers, so check out the website today!

by Vinny Francesco by Selena La Fleur Your language Language is a bit of a mystical thing. All together there are about 4,400 languages in the [human] world. I remember a quote from the Malay movie Sepet; it translated as: “Isn’t it fascinating, a man may speak a different language, still we can see what is in his heart”. In my last column, some of the ills of language were explored i.e. how confusing the name with the actual occurrence, we can become locked in inertia. However, it’s not all Armageddon; there is a brighter side to life and language. Liberation is the gift of language. Through systematic language, we can connect with other [people], and as a result life becomes more enjoyable. Who wants to be alone? For example, let’s say you are seeking romance in your life, or whatever impulse is there when we are unaware of the name “romance”. Imagine going on a date without speaking a word? It’s a bit redonkulous. On the other hand, the world of words can enable us to feel connected with the reality, even though we may “be by our self”. For example I may be situated in a crowd of thousands, and feel lonely by myself among an impersonal sea of people. Conversely, I may be “alone” with myself, yet feel connected and fulfilled (while reading a book or writing an article for instance). Language liberates us from ignorance; this is arguably humanities greatest feat. It is a fact, within our own direct and individual experience, we as individuals are limited and easily remain in our default position of ignorance. However, as stated previously, language can help connects us with the world at large. For instance, we are living in New Zealand at the moment. Through language we can learn that there are numerous countries alongside this one. Most of us will recognise Australia as actually existing, though how many of us have actually been to Australia? We can say the same for any country or portion of this planet. This is an example of the human being placing their faith in the unseen and non-experienced, and this faith or belief is the product of language. It needs to be said that humanity is not the only one with language, even though we may be the only beings with systematic language. Take for instance a dog. Domesticated dogs are often barking at each other from beyond each other’s fence – this is a type of communication. This may appear to simply be noise, however appearances can be deceiving. Let us pretend we are all living together in a small village, and we all speak English. All of our oral communication is based on sound, which produce thought by associating particular sound with actual occurrences. Now let us say that another human comes along to our village, he is speaking Mandarin, a very popular language in his village. To us villagers, we give his communication the name “jabberwocky” or noise; because to us it is simply sound. Similarly, the canine population may understand the thought behind each other’s barking, even though to us it appears as sound. The fact that human language can be translated, reveals that though we intellectualise sound differently, what’s in our hearts is very similar. The title of this column is lexicographisation, the act or process of measuring and engaging with the semantics and significance of words to any and every individual. Language can often seem very banal and boring, but there is something mystical behind it. The title of this article is “your language”, which conveys that you have language and that you are language, or expression. For instance, you may give some money to charity, which is an expression of your inner desire. In that way all our actions are a kind of language which expresses our inner intentions. To speak allegorically, if nature is a language, you’d be the word.

issue 20 2010

New messages: 2 New Smiles: 1 I’ve hit a bit of a brick wall in my virtual world of online dating. After my blind date with ‘oddkevin10’ I hoped that not all users on this site were nuts. Boy, was I wrong. As a sort of guinea pig in this virtual experiment, I would love to come out with a success story by the time this column comes to an end. However, with the sort of shit that filters through my inbox, I highly doubt that. Nutter #1 Let’s call him Frank. Frank sent me this delightful message this week. “Hi dear I am in Massey and want to meet and have a fun .I like you and saw your picture. I am loving and caring and like the fun. I am not the one who only like the sex. I am a bit differnt. I want to love and give love and spend some time. I am married but at the moment I am alone and not having even any girl friend to dance on me. I saw your profile and I don’t know why I am writing you.” Did anyone else read that with a slight Borat accent? Well, it’s great to know I won’t only be used for “the sex” but I’ll have Frank’s wife to answer to when she catches me “dancing” on him. Seriously though, isn’t that what AdultSpace is for? Nutter #2 Let’s call him Simon. Simon had contacted me a while ago asking if we could be friends. I politely responded saying no, and that I was here essentially to meet a potential partner and he didn’t seem to be my type from what I saw on his profile (he was 32 and listed his Jabba The Hutt collectables as things he couldn’t live without). Simon went ape shit. “I don’t understand how someone can have “too many friends”. I don’t understand this world, what is so vulgar and repulsive about me that you don’t want to be my friend. How do you know I’m not your type huh? I pity people like you who make the world the place that it is. Fuck you.” **BLOCK** Simon needed to realise the world wasn’t all double rainbows, and that people looking for long term dating have “looking for long term dating” on their profile, and people wanting just friendship have “looking for friends”. So if you message someone who is looking for a partner not friends, don’t get upset and whine like a two-year-old that no one wants to be your friend. It’s that simple. So, with my trash bin full and my inbox empty I’m beginning to understand the new breed of people on this site – Borat impersonators and Star Wars freaks. We’re coming out of an economic crisis now, but the more serious crisis here is the biggest man drought I’ve ever seen!

Dear Agony Aunt It hurts when I go for a pee and I seem to want to go all the time. Someone told me it could be a UTI. What is this and what can I do to fix it? From hurts to pee

Dear hurts to pee

UTI is an abbreviation for urinary tract infection. This is a very common infection, especially in women. Usually if you have a UTI you will experience symptoms such as burning or pain when going for a pee. You may also find that you are going more frequently and you may even see some blood in you urine. My advice is to see a doctor or nurse as soon as possible and get checked as you will more than likely need to take some antibiotics. Once treated it goes away very quickly. Unfortunately some women are prone to urinary infections and get recurrent UTI’s. There is some evidence to suggest that drinking cranberry juice can help prevent re-infection. Some other things you can do that might help are making sure you wipe yourself from front to back after going to the toilet, going for a pee after having sex and making sure you drink plenty of water. If you are a man and have symptoms of a UTI then you must see a doctor as soon as possible as it is potentially a more serious condition.

by Melissa Low

I’m one of those people that like to plan in advance what I’m going to wear each day. I like to know what accessories can go with what, which top goes best with which jacket, and which items I should attempt to make next with my sewing machine (I like to sew clothes when I get the time). But whenever I’m stuck with what to wear, I turn to one of my favourite fashion sites, polyvore.com. Something a little more for the ladies, Polyvore keeps me updated on what’s trending in the world of fashion. Its Zeitgeist list on the homepage ranks the current brands, online stores, fashion items and celebrities which are popular according to site users over the world. Their ‘Top Products’ featured collection each day gives me my daily drool over the hottest fashion items from international stores that I would never own on a student’s budget.

Dear Agony Aunt My girlfriend just told me she has chlamydia. She got some tablets from her doctor and told me to get some from AUT. Where do I go for this? I ‘m too embarrassed to tell anyone. Also does this mean my girlfriend has been sleeping with other people? I’m a bit confused and upset by all this. From confused

Dear confused

You can get treatment at Health Counselling and Wellbeing

by calling 921-9998 for North Shore campus or 921-9992 for city campus; make an appointment to see a nurse or doctor. If your girlfriend has had a positive Chlamydia test you will be given treatment without having to have any tests yourself. Two antibiotics taken immediately will clear the infection. It is important that once you have both taken the medication that you have no sex for a week. If you do use a condom, continue to use condoms for the next two weeks. This does not mean that your girlfriend has been unfaithful to you. Either one of you could have picked up the infection from previous sexual partners so blaming each other is pointless and could cause a lot of hurt. It’ always a good idea to use condoms every time you have sex as they will protect you against most sexually transmitted infections as well as protecting your girlfriend from an unwanted pregnancy.

www.polyvore.com Their ‘sets’ feature helps with deciding what items of clothing and accessories work best together to create fantastic outfits. You can create this yourself, or look at the thousand of others created by others inspired by their favourite celebrities, music or movies. My favourite feature is the Ask section. Having a fashion dilemma? Ask for help from the Polyvore community. Over the world, people seek advice to such issues like “What can I wear with my yellow chucks?” or “What outfit is best to wear to a fashion show?” (The advice I’d need with New Zealand Fashion Week is on the way). So stop struggling with those “what to wear” moments in front of the closet. Try something different and head on to Polyvore to be your fashionable guide.

26 26

See it!

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

Tomorrow When The War Began

So last week I talked about reading a book series by John Marsden called The Tomorrow series. This week we continue with those incredible stories, but this time on the big screen. The first book in the series about a fictional military invasion of Australia has been turned into a film and comes out this week! Exciting stuff. The book series was hugely popular among teens during the 90s and promises to transfer explosively to the big screen. The perfect blend of action and drama, this movie will be a sure fire hit and hopefully the first in a series of films.

Start practicing your lineout passing in the back yard. You may just make it into the All Blacks for next year. If you’re a girl, gutted.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Eat more ham. It’s good for your brain and stuff. I think.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21)

While great creative ideas may escape you for the beginning of the week, just remember, holidays are coming up lolz!

CANCER (June 22-July 22)

Love it! Free Wi-Fi

As we speak I’m sitting in Esquires checking my emails and Like-ing funny Facebook statuses and doing it all for free over Wi-Fi. It’s really a brilliant idea to offer everyone free Wi-Fi and keep them coming back. Not only is it convenient to be able to connect where ever you are, but studies show it actually keeps people around (and if you’re in a mall this means spending more). So come on Westfield, let’s get free Wi-Fi up and running. Let’s get it in Britomart and on trains, ferries and buses. And for fuck’s sake AUT don’t we pay you enough already? Free internet, please and thank you.

Anticipating it! iSky

Just had a bit of a read up about Sky TV’s upcoming online service (think TVNZ On Demand on steroids) and it truly sounds awesome. First off they’re going to be offering streaming sports and news channels (streaming as if you were watching the TV version), on demand shows from heaps of Sky channels (including Prime... finally), and rental and pay-per-view movies. Initially the service will only be for Sky subscribers but the company says the second phase of the service will include opening it up to everyone in New Zealand. Eventually the range of movies and programmes available will balloon into the thousands and they are looking at launching iSky on internet-enabled TVs, PlayStation 3s, iPads, iPhones and even their very own MySky HDi box. Does anyone actually watch TV on TV anymore?

This week you’ll be forced to face your dormant claustrophobia, aka you’ll get stuck in a lift.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

Sports will become very important toward the weekend. Especially cricket. Learn to play it and you’ll prosper.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Your lucky food of the week is canned peaches! Try new and exciting ways to use them; why not spice up your sex life with them?

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23)

The Libra constellation reckons you should find a new star sign. You’re not performing to the high Libra standard.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21)

Struggling to impress someone? Why not listen to music really loud on your phone in public when nobody in the fucking world would want to listen?! Sounds like a winning plan.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

A racial joke will get you into trouble this week. Try fat jokes or Yo Mumma jokes instead.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Hate it!

Holidays are nearly here! And it shall be spring! Why not travel to the countryside and steal a baby lamb for the flat?

I don’t know about you but I always seem to leave my planning for New Year’s Eve to the very last minute. Even if I start talking about what I want to do around July I still don’t get anything sorted and locked down until Boxing Day. This always leads me to disaster because I’m running around the city (and the internet) trying to find people who haven’t already filled their tents, cabins and cars and jumping on their plans. Lame, I know, but inevitable. This year, however, I’m determined to change all that. Anyone got any cool new year’s plans or tips for me?

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

New Years Planning

Your holidays are going to suck. Depressing, but true.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

You’re too predictable. Try chucking a few silent letters in your name this week.

If there’s something you think the student masses of AUT need to know about, send us an email to debate@aut.ac.nz with Suggestions in the subject line.

issue 20 2010

BLURRING THE LINES

between fashion

& technology by Heather Rutherford

ashion and technology are two topics that not many people would think to discuss in the same conversation. However in fundamentals they do share quite a bit of common ground. For example, both change at an incredibly fast pace, and both have a tendency to reflect the world in which we live. These similarities in mind, it is also important to note the extent to which technology can aid fashion in its change and evolution. Advances in production and textile technology means that fashion is advancing in more ways than just seasonal trends. I spoke to two second year fashion design students about advancing technology, and how they are using it in their designs. Second year fashion student William Szu found the combination of fashion and technology to be instrumental in his vision of the portrayal of human emotions. His first assignment, called the dark compression jacket, looks at the emotion of ‘depression’ and uses the folds and crumpling of black fabric to portray the harshness of this emotion. As a follow on to that jacket, his next assignment that he is currently researching is a dress that focuses on the idea of finding hope and happiness after depression. He took his inspiration from the idea of a kaleidoscope with its perpetual changing colours and patterns as a visual manifestation of happiness and hope. What sort of technology are you using to create the effect of the ‘kaleidoscope’ in your dress? William: I decided to combine textile printing and lighting technology into my dress. As this technology has been developed so well, it allowed me to consider different lighting media such as electroluminescence (EL), photoluminescence ink, LED and fibre optics. I chose LED light technology as it only consumes small amount of energy and its small size. This is a big task to attempt! How much research has been needed to attack something as complex as your ‘kaleidoscope dress’? William: A lot of research. I have had to research every single detail involved in connecting LED lights successfully. From the types of LED lighting, types of conductive thread, types of power supply to building a right circuit to light the LED. I have found it quite difficult to find the information to research as well as finding the materials in New Zealand. To finish this project I will need to combine engineering knowledge as well as fashion.

Second year fashion student Monique Lynch has also decided to explore the concept of fashion and technology in her ‘Hikoi dress’ which is controlled by remote control to retract into itself changing the dress length and silhouette. The ‘hikoi dress’ was developed (with the help of her brother) from the mechanisms of a remote control car. It is based on the work of revolutionary fashion designer Hussien Chalayan who specialises in the combination and fashion and transformation technology (one of his most recognisable pieces is a skirt which can turn itself into a coffee table). Can you see a place for this technology in fashion in the future? Monique: Yes definitely. I think that the merging of technology and fashion is the next new thing that’s happening, seeing as it’s said that everything has already been done that can be done in the fashion design industry. The work of Hussien Chalayan has really opened people up to the idea of technology being combined aesthetically with fashion. Also there are possibilities of linking sensor technology with clothing so that it can be a way of showing the different emotions of the wearer, or also possibilities of enhancing the wearer’s experience. For example, a jacket that heats the wearer up when they get cold. All of these are ideas that are currently being developed around the world and are still in the experimental stages. Is that a direction in which you intend to design? Monique: Yes, I intend to research and look further into this area of technology and fashion, and carry this study on into my third year project. To do this, I want to look into more hi-tech mechanisms, so possibly may have to collaborate with my brother or the AUT engineering department; I don’t know what will happen there yet. The ‘chandelier dress’ which you are currently working on is an interesting concept. Care to explain it in your own words? Monique: With this dress, I wanted to explore a different function of a garment, so instead of moving, the technological part will be lighting. So it will not only a wearable garment but also something that can be part of the interior décor. Instead of hanging the dress in your wardrobe, you can have it as a centre piece in your room, hence the name ‘chandelier dress’. When hung up, my intention is that it doesn’t look like a dress, but like a light installation. In terms of the design concept of the dress, I find myself always drawn to things that have the ability to transform. The chandelier dress and other garments in my current collection represent light coming from within, letting beauty come from within. I plan to show this by having the light glow through the dress, as well as having glass crystals on the under garment of the dress that act as reflectors to refract the light. This ties in the duality of this dress in function and design concept.

What are the problems you have come across in your research? William: I have come across many problems when combining this technology with fashion, mostly involving the practical care of this technology. The owner has to pay attention and extreme care to the dress as it is not able to be put in the wash. However the LED part of my dress design is detachable so I have found a way around this issue.

hikoi dress by Monique Lynch

Mary Winnington

Ashley Nathan

Bachelor of Maori Media (1st year)

Bachelor of Graphic Design (1st year)

Dress: Topshop Shoes: Doc martins

T-shirt: Jayjays Jeans: Jeans West

Top: K Road Markets Everything else: Various op shops

Diploma of Fashion (2nd year)

Gabi Lardies

“...bloody good opera”

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Going the Distance

Happy Days

Going the Distance has the perfect formula for

“There is, after all, quite another audience, those in every country who do not set up intellectual barriers, who do not try too hard to analyse the message. This audience laughs and cries out – and at the end celebrates with Beckett…” – Peter Brook

Directed by Nanette Burstein Film Review by Samantha McQueen

a sweet, light-hearted romantic comedy. It has two likeable leads, a hilarious supporting cast and an underlying theme that love can conquer all, even across 3000 miles. However this formula is muddied with dirty language and cheap laughs, making a romantic comedy that is low on romance or laughs. Justin Long (He’s Just Not That Into You) is Garrett, a junior executive at a music company with little clue on the inner working of the female mind. Having just been dumped, he drowns his sorrows with his best friends Dan (Charlie Day) and Box (Jason Sudeikis) at his local bar in New York. There, he meets Erin (Drew Barrymore), an arcade-playing, foul-mouthed Stanford student, interning at The New York Sentinel for the summer. They immediately hit it off over beer, trivia, a shared bong and a fascination of Top Gun, although both make it clear they’re not looking for anything serious. Cue romantic montage and whimsical music as we’re taken on a whirlwind ride of their six-week fling, which ends with the romantic cliché of Garrett running through an airport confessing he doesn’t want to end things. From here, the film goes cross-country, with Erin in San Francisco and Garrett in New York. Communication is limited to short texts, early morning phone calls and a couple of sneaky visits, and both are pinning their hopes on Erin landing a job in New York. It all sounds hopelessly romantic but Garrett’s friends and Erin’s sister Corrine (Christina Applegate) don’t do much to reassure the couple that their relationship can, in fact, last the distance. Barrymore and Long’s obvious chemistry is aided by the fact that their relationship continues off screen but unfortunately, due to the film’s geographically challenged nature, most of their interactions are limited to the first half an hour. Still, in that fleeting time we get to see why they’re obviously made for each other, with their similar sense in music, pop culture, and humour. It’s disappointing when they’re at opposite ends of the country, because their happy-go-lucky relationship morphs into something the film is trying so hard not to be; serious. Special mention must be made about Christina Applegate (Samantha Who), who’s dry wit and humour brings out the best in every scene, and prevents it from lagging in places. Director Nanette Burstein and screenwriter Geoff LaTulippe seem determined to make a film that will satisfy both genders in the audience. However, most of the time sweet and sentimental is ruined by vulgarity and lewd humour. No wonder it garnered an R16 when conversations about female oral sex and dry humping are sprinkled among genuine moments between Barrymore and Long, such as their date at a cheap Italian restaurant. The language will surely upset those looking for a clichéd ridden chick flick; the excessive use of the f-bomb, particularly by Barrymore, almost looks out of place, even in a hardened city such as New York. This obvious attempt at butching the movie up means any genuine moments are lost in translation. If you’re looking for light relief, easy humour and don’t mind a slew of swear words, then Going the Distance might just be the ticket. However, those looking for a great Drew Barrymore romantic comedy might as well just distance themselves away from this film

Written by Samuel Beckett / Directed by Michael Hurst Theatre Review by Katie Montgomerie

This was quoted in the opening pages of the

Happy Days program in order to remind the audience that Samuel Beckett’s work is not necessarily abstract in order for the audience to “analyse” his work. Rather it is abstract in order for us to enjoy it without the complexity of searching for hidden meanings behind every word and action. When reading this excerpt I thought myself in for a witty black comedy, one that I could walk away from with little but the jokes to ponder. However, I did not get quite what I expected. The play opens on the comical image of an unconscious Winnie (Robyn Malcolm) buried up to her waist in earth. The first act proceeds with Winnie speaking to herself about her “happy day”, the fact that she is buried in earth being barely mentioned and not at all explained. Winnie makes constant reference to her husband Willie (Cameron Rhodes) but with little response as he ignores her for the majority of the act. The first act is rather funny but always in a slightly uncomfortable, should-we-be-laughing, sort of way. As the play opens on the second act, Winnie is now buried up to her neck in the earth, rendering her completely motionless. This was acted fantastically by Malcolm, limited to only facial expression and her voice to carry the entire second act. Unlike the first, this act was almost entirely depressing. Winnie’s mind seemed to be progressively deteriorating as she struggled to remember things that happened since she was buried in the earth. What’s worse was that her constant questions went unanswered by Willie who, being free from the constraints of the earth, could at least have answered, let alone have dug her out. Winnie’s constant pleas for Willie’s attention seem to work by the end of the play when he painstakingly crawls out of his hole to be in view of Winnie. She exclaims that “this is indeed a happy day!” and the play ends with Willie striving to reach either Winnie, or the gun positioned beside her; which one we are left to ponder. Although the commentary from Peter Brook tries to persuade us to take Beckett’s work purely at face value, I found this easier to say than to do. Happy Days seems to be a metaphor for so many different things: a woman losing her mind, a frustrated housewife in an unhappy marriage or even a paraplegic struggling to come to terms with their lack of mobility. It may seem easier to write the whole play off as absurdism, but I believe that the stories we derive from the abstract are what makes the piece relevant to us. If I were to take the play at face value I would say it was beautifully acted nonsense. However, trying to delve deeper in order to discover the meaning behind the comic lines and ridiculous setting has left me having an emotional connection with the otherwise absurd characters. This is a play that is not for the fainthearted. It is not action packed and though visually striking, the harsh bright light is hard on the eyes. Go to Happy Days if you are in the mood for a thought provoking theatre piece performed by two New Zealand greats.

Back to The 90s Various Artists CD Review by Mike Atkins

The idea that the 90s was the age of one-hit-

wonders sounds to me like one of those things that people say, despite having no evidence for it, just because it sounds correct. But this CD definitely makes a case for that. That’s the way compilations go; it can be difficult to get all the songs you want because of licensing issues, and since most of them are cash-ins, they are often heavily weighted toward the deservedly forgotten, rather than the art. Then again, there’s the theory that all songs are one-hit-wonders, because they’re like Heraclitus’ axiom that “you cannot step into the same river twice, because both you and the river change”. That theory would go a long way to explaining this compilation too, as it is so heavily populated with one-hitwonders, that the existence of one-hit-wonders starts to seem like something more commonplace and natural. I was handed the CD by our lovely editor, who said “I haven’t heard of any of these, I might if I actually listened to it”. A music nerd hears a sentence like that as a challenge; I picked it up, and scanned the back, I did recognise a few by name, not many, but better than none. “Yay”, I thought. “I know more than someone else, I get to keep my job”. Sam was right though, you will know almost all of them if you listen to them. The first song I heard when I slipped it in was What Is Love? by Haddaway. I hadn’t heard this since it was a running joke in a little-loved Will Farrell film (the 90s were a simpler time, when the only racist joke Americans knew enough about Arabs to make about them was to suggest that they really like this song). That’s the other thing about the recognisability of these songs; don’t be surprised if you recognise them in connection with jokes. The Power by Snap! was a joke on The Fresh Prince of all places (it seems that pots can accuse kettles of being any colour they like), Another Night by Real McCoy was a smart arsed sample on a Bloc Party song. And Blue by Eiffel 65 was a joke to everyone, as immediately as it was released. The effect of this though is similar to the effect of so many of them being one-hit-wonders; you stop laughing, as it becomes more natural, and commonplace. You forget that every song hasn’t, at one point, been a punch line. That must have been the intention though. If this were meant to be laughed at, it would’ve been shorter and snappier, so that the joke wouldn’t wear out its welcome. So it’s not the best of what the decade had to offer, and it’s not the worst (by design anyway) – so what is it? It’s a warts and all survey of what the decade had to offer in electronica, or what these guys could get licences for anyway (I suppose Born Slippy by Underworld, or Groove Is In The Heart by Deee-Lite would be too much to ask). There are gems, likely, and not, but they are scattered so randomly, that the marketing concept must have been “a sampler box to fill out your iTunes”. Is Jason Nevins’ remix of Run-DMC’s It’s Like That really worth 60 other songs that you’ll never listen to again? Put them on separate playlists, and it’s not an issue.

issue 20 2010

Piranha 3D

Directed by Alexandre Aja Film Review by Jared

I hate movies that pretend to be something they’re

not. Normally they come in the form of ‘thrillers’ that run low on budget and turn into something resembling a film student’s best effort. I have been looking forward to Piranha for about a month. Not because it was going to take an Oscar off Inception, but because it appealed to the basic, most gory aspects of my soul. The trailer showed blood and death and explosions and boobs and a plethora of equally exciting prospects, but the movie itself was a billion times better. The film opens with an old dude getting sucked into a whirlpool in a lake, and then getting stripped down to his bones by an angry mob of ancient piranhas. From this point, I knew Piranha would deliver. We’re introduced to Lake Victoria, a massive party spot for thousands of American teens on their spring break vacation. Think every stereotype of spring break, double it, and put it on water. There are parties, drinking, drugs, sex and some dirty, dirty dance music. The amazing experience these teenagers are experiencing works as a beautiful contrast to the ensuing piranha attack(s), and while you’re constantly following the journey of our young hero Jake Forester (played by Steve McQueen’s grandson Steven R. McQueen), the party scenes are by far the best. Young Jake begins the film by disobeying his mother (the sheriff) and leaving his siblings to fend for themselves as he goes out on a boat ride with his new friend Derrick (Jerry O’Connell) and a few girls who like to get naked. And so we run into trouble when the piranhas, released after an earthquake opened a massive underground lake, start running free. Jake has to save his friends and blah blah blag. Who cares. In my pre-viewing research I noted that the token girls who get their boobs out are actual porn stars. It’s that kind of attention to detail that makes Piranha 3D amazing. It knows it’s a stupid film about fish eating a whole pile of people, but my God does it embrace that fact. All the reviews love to recall the scene where a fish eats and then regurgitates a penis, but my favourite by far is the Final Destination style death where one girl, safely on a boat away from the deadly fish, gets cut in half by a cable which snaps and whips her. The cool thing is that it cuts in such a way that her head and one boob (she’s topless) slide off the rest of her. Awesome. Actually my favourite is a girl who’s going kite surfing, and the kite pulls her up out of the water and the bottom half of her is gone. She’s also topless. Despite the often-comical dialogue (one guy actually screams out “Nooo. Nooo. NOOOOOOOOOO!” when his friend dies) there are a few names in and around Piranha. Interestingly, the most famous of them have minor roles. Christopher Lloyd has a small cameo as crazy fish enthusiast Mr Goodman, and Inglorious Basterds’ Eli Roth is the host of a wet t-shirt competition. It’s like they heard how awesome the film was and just asked for any part they had left. The ending leads rather nicely into a sequel, and Piranha 2 has been forecast for 2012. The only downside of that is that the sequel has been booked for 3D as well. The 3D in this film is terrible. It doubles up and doesn’t sync and it only gets properly used about five times. Another 3D afterthought and definitely the only down side of a really, really awesome film. It’s a boy’s movie but everyone deserves to treat themselves to some genuine brutality now and then.

he t t o Sp e c n e r Diffe

Correctly identify the FIVE differences in the two photos (this week is a Hussein Chalayan fashion-technology design), circle them and drop your entry into your nearest AuSM office, or the box on the side of the red debate stands, or post to debate PO Box 6116 Wellesley St before 12 pm Thursday. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up for grabs? A $10 voucher for one of the cafes at your campus: the Counter, Beanz Cafe, Lime Cafe, the Hub Cafe or Manukau Cafe. Congratulations to last weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s winner, Sam Nepia! (City Campus.)

issue 20 2010

Cameron Jones

Bachelor of Communications (TV) What do you think about Auckland becoming a Super City? I don’t see how one council will know what everyone’s needs are Why do you think students are so apathetic towards voting? Our votes don’t get taken into consideration. We are usually an afterthought in parliament Who is the hottest politician in the world? I seriously don’t know anyone. I’m sure there are but I can’t think of them. They don’t normally go hand in hand. What is the biggest issue facing Aucklanders in your opinion? Employment and money

Adam Dawson

Diploma in Electro Technology What do you think about Auckland becoming a Super City? I don’t really see why they’ve doing it. My opinion is, if it aint broke, why fix it? Why do you think students are so apathetic towards voting? I think they are disillusioned by politics. Politicians promising and not delivering. It’s like, screw this, let’s vote for Bill and Ben Who is the hottest politician in the world? I don’t really think of any politicians as hot. Obama is the one who looks the least like a politician, but that doesn’t mean I like him. Maybe Sarah Palin What would be your goals if you were elected mayor? I’d focus on reducing crime but also implementing a subway system in Auckland What is the biggest issue facing Aucklanders in your opinion? The crime and another one would be alcohol abuse. Some people do it more than others, way more than they should

Monica Patel

Certificate in Applied Science What do you think about Auckland becoming a Super City? I haven’t really thought about it Why do you think students are so apathetic towards voting? I don’t really care Who is the hottest politician in the world? I don’t think politicians are hot. I haven’t seen any that are What would be your goals if you were elected mayor? I don’t know What is the biggest issue facing Aucklanders in your opinion? Employment

Nik Petrovic

Certificate in Applied Science What do you think about Auckland becoming a Super City? It’s a good thing but it’sprobably going to turn to shit for the first 10 years at least Why do you think students are so apathetic towards voting? Because we’ve got enough shit going on anyway Who is the hottest politician in the world? No idea. I would say the [French prime minister’s wife] but she’s not a politician What would be your goals if you were elected mayor? No idea What is the biggest issue facing Aucklanders in your opinion? Broadband

Suzanne Whitlock

Bachelor of Graphic Design What do you think about Auckland becoming a Super City? I don’t really have too many thoughts on it Why do you think students are so apathetic towards voting? For me, it’s because I don’t know enough about it to make an informed decision Who is the hottest politician in the world? No one really jumps out at me What would be your goals if you were elected mayor? I don’t know… un-elect me What is the biggest issue facing Aucklanders in your opinion? I think it’s probably traffic

Jacob Essuma

Diploma of Electro Technology What do you think about Auckland becoming a Super City? It’s awesome. It’s got everything that it needs to be, compared to Welly Why do you think students are so apathetic towards voting? I’m not too sure. Probably because of their age Who is the hottest politician in the world? I have no idea What would be your goals if you were elected mayor? I’d probably make everyone a robot What is the biggest issue facing Aucklanders in your opinion? Crime. Crime rates are just too high

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issue 20 2010

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