debate issue 5, 2010

Issue 5 2010

issue 5 march 2010

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Put yourself at the centre

POSTGRADUATE OPPORTUNITIES AT VICTORIA Postgraduate study at Victoria University of Wellington puts you amongst New Zealand’s best and brightest in your chosen field.

You will be at the heart of New Zealand’s thinking capital working alongside influential people and organisations.

Whether you’re looking at extending your degree or contemplating a new career path, find out more about our postgraduate programmes at www.victoria.ac.nz/postgrad To discuss your study options call our Postgraduate Liaison Officer, Charlotte Deans, on 0800 VICTORIA, Option 2.

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VICTORIA

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POSTGRAD

Inside

Issue 5 2010

On the cover Illustration by Hayley McGehan

editor

Samantha McQueen samantha.mcqueen@aut.ac.nz

design

Nonavee Dale ndale@aut.ac.nz

sub editor

Jared Van Huenen

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Material contained in this publication does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of AuSM, its advertisers, contributors, PMP Print or its subsidiaries.

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P

eople like to complain a lot. This statement is not an accusation and it’s not pointing out anyone in particular. It’s merely an observation I’ve made over the last few years. Complaining seems to bring people together because it means you share a common interest.

Think about it: when you are forced to interact with someone you don’t know well, you usually resort to idle chit-chat about the weather, current affairs or the price of petrol. If you live in Auckland, it’s usually a complaint about all of the above.

“It always rains when I want to walk to work/do my washing/go outside. When was the last time Auckland had sunshine?”

“Did you feel the cold this morning? It’s only mid-March. Auckland weather sucks.”

“Did you see BP and Shell have put their prices up? Petrol’s $1.80 a litre. I’m going to start taking the bus.”

“Auckland’s public transport sucks. I had to wait 15 minutes for a bus to arrive in the pouring rain. I’m driving to work from now on.”

“John Key wants to mine/kill whales/de-friend people on Facebook. What a dick.”

Yes loyal readers, I can see you chuckling silently, acknowledging that you too have committed one or more of these conversational complaints. Those of you who went flatting in the great economy bust of 2008 will remember when petrol peaked at more than $2 a litre and food became so expensive that you learned to live without it.

I remember a friend of mine once managed to spend 30 minutes talking to a cute boy about the price of cheese while in town one Saturday night. Yes, we were possessed.

Students had resorted to dairy inflation to pick up the men. It proves my point. People need to complain to someone about their abysmal lives in the hope they’ll a) get reassured that life really isn’t that crap, b) form a lifelong friendship with someone just as pissed off with life as you are, or c) argue your complaints, sparking some good old fashioned debate. Wait a second… that is what this magazine is called. Coincidence? I think not.

At debate we are supposed to inspire the readers (that’s you) to argue amongst yourself (and with me) about university issues, the perils of living in Auckland and life in general. You’re supposed to rush to your computers and furiously type a substantiated argument about why students should protest against John Key’s whaling stance, or why Harry Potter would kick Edward Cullen’s ass in a fight. Very few of you have done this though. The sole letter in this issue is about how students are not lazy and don’t have “commitment issues” when it comes to protesting and voicing their concerns.

It’s almost an oxymoron, because only one person out of a university of 24,000 felt the need to point this out. Have we become a silent university? Across the road at the University of Auckland, Craccum (their student magazine) had two and a half pages of letters to the editor last issue, raging about the lack of paper recycling, the racists in the quad or the girls who wear singlets or boob tubes (seriously, do people still wear these?) with their bra straps blatantly showing. I’m sure AUT students have plenty to complain about: the technical issues at the beginning of every lecture, the dickhead who talks on his cell phone in the library, the price of food… I could go on forever, but I won’t. You should though. Don’t have anything to complain about? Send me your thoughts about the magazine. We just had our first themed issue. Did you love it or did you loathe it? We’re obviously not afraid of getting our opinions heard, since we’re bitching on the bus about the amount of inconsiderate drivers causing traffic so you’re late to your first class.

On a final note, this is your last week of classes before a much needed two week break.

It’s not even a full week either, since Friday is a public holiday. Bonus! Congratulations, you made it through your first month at university. Rest up over the holidays, indulge in a mountain of chocolate and prepare for more awesomeness when you return*.

Sam

RECEPTION City Campus Level 2, WC Building 921 9805 8am-5 pm Mon-Thurs 8am-3.30pm Fri North Shore Campus Level 2, AS Building 921 9949 8.30am-3pm Mon-Fri 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 David Victor Events Team Leader 921 9999 ext 8931 david.victor@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 Kate Lowden Sports Co-ordinator klowden@aut.ac.nz CLUBS Ryan Waite Clubs Development Officer 921 9999 ext 8911 ryan.waite@aut.ac.nz VESBAR Zane Chase Vesbar Manager 921 9999 ext 8378 zane.chase@aut.ac.nz

*by awesomeness, I mean prizes.

For a full list of contact details plus profiles of AuSM staff and student executive visit: www.ausm.org.nz issue 5 march 2010

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s r e t t e L

LETTER OF THE WEEK

It’s official; I am a proud student of “dip shit tech over on Wellesley”. At first I took a light-hearted approach to this university ‘rivalry’ between AUT and Auckland University, but the prevalent superior attitude of UoA students is now driving me up the wall. As a first year student who is studying Business, imagine my school teachers’ dismay last year when *shock horror* I told them that I was going to be studying at AUT, not studying a BCom at Auckland University. I also enjoyed the subsequent shit that I copped from my classmates for my choice to study at AUT, and the not-sosubtle derogatory remarks. I was faced with many a “why?” from my teachers, who, like many parents, have adopted the stance that because AUT is New Zealand’s newest university and wasn’t a university ‘back in their day’, it’s not a university at all. In fact, a group on Facebook also exists – “AUT isn’t a real university” – so UoA students can make ‘intelligent’ remarks such as “HAHAHAHA it doesn’t make sense coz it’s Auckland University of Technology University! It has university twice OMG HAHAHAHA” and leave general insulting comments in order to make themselves feel superior. (Currently the group has 1,133 members – unfortunately you have to join the group to leave a comment, but by all means I encourage you to join, fight back in a civilised manner, then leave the group…).

For the record, I chose to study at AUT because I was impressed with the interactive learning style in the Business school, and I can learn a lot better in a classroom with a lecturer who I can actually approach rather than being just a nameless face sitting in a massive lecture hall. I’m also fond of the interdisciplinary ‘real life’ approach and the co-operative education in third year. Contrary to popular belief of UoA students, this does not make me a dipshit.

So why do students at Auckland adopt the holier than thou approach and think they have the right to blatantly flog off AUT students? Yes, Auckland University may be the best university in the country but just because you go there and I attend AUT, you as a person are not in any way better than me. I guess what I’m trying to say is this: in this world, no one is better than anyone else and the

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Yay, we got mail! But we want more! Send us your thoughts on the magazine.

What is grinding your gears at university? What do you want to see more of? Tell us your thoughts! debate letters policy: Letters longer than 250 words may be subject to editing. Letters are printed as they are received – spelling and grammar will not be corrected. The editor reserves the right to decline letters without explanation. The views contained on the letters page do not necessarily represent the views of AuSM. Send your letters to PO Box 6116, Wellesley St or debate@aut.ac.nz

only ‘university rivalry’ should be occurring during uni sports games and other inter-uni competitions.

So UoA students: for the love of us all, get off your high horse. Some people attend universities; others polytechnics. Either way they’re all tertiary institutes – so start accepting the education choices of others. /end rant.

Victoria Baird First year Business student Has anyone actually stopped to think about the consequences of raising the minimum wage to $15?

The extra money isn’t going to grow on trees, and businesses won’t just sit back and absorb the cost. Notorious B.I.G. definitely had his economist hat on when he said “Mo’ money mo’ problems”.

Remember how pissed off everyone gets when cafes put a surcharge on during public holidays to cover the increased cost of wages? Well if wages go up permanently, then so will prices. If employers can’t afford as many staff members anymore, they will make people redundant, and more of your tax money will go towards the unemployment benefit. Newton was next smartest after Biggie when he said “for every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction”.

Fair enough if unskilled labourers and entry level jobseekers feel they deserve more money, but I would prefer it didn’t come out of my pocket.

The Unite attitude (and one of my lecturers for that matter) of “Want more pay? Just sign our petition!” is, in my personal opinion, about as ridiculous as John Key running around pre-election saying “Want lower tax? Vote for me!”. Well the promised tax cuts were avoided for two years (“oh... um..... sorry guys... recession!”), they are finally coming at the expense of higher GST. I feel simply demanding more money is selfserving, greedy

and short-sighted. If we want to have more money for the same amount of work, we should be lobbying for better tax cuts for low income earners, and then provide more support for people who really need it (ie single parents - Working For Families/D.P.B, students easier student allowance eligibility etc etc).

Moral of the story? There are two sides to this story. Maybe 95% of AUT students have in fact considered this, and are not just “lazy” with “commitment issues” as Debate last week decided.

Lance

Every week on a Monday morning I come into Uni at 9am to start my lectures for the week and always look forward to picking up my new issue of Debate, it keeps me company on the bus or while waiting for class when my I have no friends [they stall out at Wendy’s all the time- anyways, I digress].

Upon picking up my Debate last Monday, I was extremely titillated to see the theme for this week was “Internet and Social Media”, something thats right up my alley.

I spend approximately 8-12 hours online, everyday of the week. Most of this time is allocated to thorough Facebook downtime, about 6 hours a day, commenting friends, updating statuses, checking news feeds, etc etc, all those familiar with Facebook would know (or FB as those Facebook-literate like to call it). So being a member of FB since December 2006 and spending as much time as I do online, I like

to think I know the ins and outs of Facebook etiquette-THAT THERE ARE NO RULES. I don’t know about any other person here at AUT, but I REALLY don’t like to be told what to do, maybe it’s youngest child syndrome or maybe it’s too much watching “Keeping Up With The Kardashians”, tryna be a fia rebel like Khloe. I didn’t realise there were rules for using Facebook? I would like to reserve the right to friend request somebody I’ve met once or twice to perhaps further my relationship with that person.

As an avid user of farmville (my farm is SO the bomb!), I too am guilty of sending multiple neighbour requests, but anyone who plays this game will know that if you want to expand your farm and plow and harvest your crops faster, it is IMPERATIVE to add more neighbours to your farm.

If you don’t like recieving these updates- SIMPLE SOLUTION: block the application.

I could go on and on all day about this subject, for some reason I’m writing this when I should be as enthusiatic about writing my 3 essays dues in two weeks, but what I have observed through my many years of FB use is that there simply are no rules to Facebook. Come and go as you want, do as you please, however ‘cool’ or ‘uncool’ it may seem, Facebook is a friendly site where you can chat, communicate and socialise. It’s networking, that’s how it works.

Yours truely, Kiva

Students left in the cold after renting discrimination

by Sacha Molloy Auckland university students are struggling to overcome landlord prejudices and find flats in the current economic climate.

AUT engineering student Kevin Robinson, 20, has been looking for a flat since early February and is frustrated by a steady stream of rejections.

“We are denied just because we are students.

There are students who only want to party but many students are normal people just looking for a place to live,” he says.

Emma Grant from Property Rental Managers says when it comes to students, landlords are worried about age, maturity and money.

Her agency recently dealt with a group of students who left a Remuera property in ruins and still owe more than four weeks in arrears. The repair bill has already

exceeded $800.

But Grant acknowledges that many students are house-proud and take care of their flats.

“Unfortunately there is this whole bubble thing that goes around students, associating them with wild parties and trashing places,” she says.

Business student Alice Page, 20, has been flat hunting for three months and says the recession is to blame.

“More people are turning to renting and when students compete with families, the students always lose out.”

Pich Copeland from Harcourts agrees

that students can be disadvantaged.

“The ideal tenants are a professional couple because landlords can then ask for a long term rental and be rest assured that there is a steady income,” she says.

Grant says the current shortage of flats may be because of John Key’s recent announcement he may be cracking down on property tax loopholes.

Under the current law landlords can claim depreciation on their rental properties.

Grant says landlords are panicking.

“Landlords are up and selling because of the property tax,” she says.

“Your normal $400 a week family home…they’re the ones that are the first to go.”

She advises students to get family input and use as many references as possible when applying for a flat.

Men still bringing home more bacon, study shows

by Judy Ingham Men earn up to 20 per cent more than women within the first five years after graduation, according to a study by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs.

Based on the study’s findings, on a $50,000 salary, a man could be earning $3000 more than a woman after one year and up to $10,000 more five years later.

The study used data from Inland Revenue and examined close to 80 percent of students leaving tertiary education in the past five years.

Results show any gender pay gap isn’t only caused by women leaving to start a family as a six per cent gap is evident within a year of graduation.

“It’s actually blatant discrimination,” says Sophia Blair, national women’s rights officer at the New Zealand Union of Students Associations.

Hannah Fredricson, a third-year business student at AUT, was disappointed at the results.

“I think it’s really unfair. We’re just as issue 5 march 2010

capable as them, aren’t we?”

However, the study does not consider hours of work or occupation so it can’t clearly say how male graduates end up earning more than women.

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs plans to conduct a 10-year study of graduates from this year to provide more insight into the area.

Blair says the research will be useful, but it’s not enough.

She would like to see a law passed to hold large businesses accountable for their pay rates.

Blair is lobbying the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Ministry of Labour to make the issue a priority, and encourages others to do the same.

For the meantime her advice to women entering the workforce is to aim high.

“Always ask for more than what you’re worth,” she says.

“You’re probably undervaluing yourself.”

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Deep South not worried about student sporting mayhem

by Talia Blewitt It seems there is little concern of a repeat of the 2008 Rotorua Uni Games debauchery when an expected 1200 students descend on this year’s host Invercargill from April 13-16.

Victoria University students were accused of trashing accommodation and leaving thousands of dollars of debt when the University Games were held in Rotorua.

“As it turned out the court ruled in favour of those students,” says Executive Director of University Sport New Zealand, Louise Burns.

Burns feels competing student athletes should not be “tarnished with the same brush” over what was a “media beat up”.

Invercargill City Mayor Tim Shadbolt shares the same sentiments with his council having won the highest bid to host the country’s second largest sporting event.

“I’m delighted to be involved in the Uni Games. I’m enrolled as a student learning how to drive a computer and I’ll be competing in the bowling team,” says Shadbolt.

Burns says the isolated incident in Rotorua encouraged

the University Sport team to review its approach on student behavior.

“There is a cohesive plan in place. There’s the code of conduct, a bond system and disciplinary action. We have a good relationship with the police and accommodation providers. Really, we have their confidence and excitement about the event.”

New Zealand University Games is a finalist in this year’s Sport and Recreation Sector awards, an achievement Burns says proves what happened in Rotorua was a “one-off” for what is always a successful event.

“The after-competition activities will keep the students under control,” she says. “Pubs are pitching in with their version of a highland games and we have Opshop playing for the closing ceremony.”

Southland is a long way to go particularly for competing North Island students. The executive director says that it adds to the excitement and adventure with many competitors having never gone that far south before.

AUT student scoops top honours at Business Awards

by Talia Blewitt

AUT’s Xavier Black cleaned up at last week’s AUT Business School Award ceremony held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Black was presented with three awards during the ceremony; the Pearson Award for the Top Maori Graduate in the Master of Business, the IAS New Zealand Award for the Top Master of Business student majoring in Management and the Lexis Nexis Award for the Top Overall Graduate in the Master of Business.

The 24-year-old received high praise from AUT staff for her critical thinking on completion of her Masters of Business degree.

Black’s Masters’ year consisted of course work and completing her thesis, looking at how public corporations engage with the community.

The future looks promising for Black who is currently works as a research officer for the Institute of Public Policy.

“I think I’ll continue to work this year and then go back to study my PhD,” says the graduate. “After that… I have no idea.”

Black did not expect to scoop what are considered the highest postgraduate business awards.

“I worked hard to get good grades but getting the awards wasn’t something I’d really thought about.

Hopefully it’ll make me look good to employers,” she says.

This is the second year in a row where Black has been recognised for her high academic achievement. Last year she won three awards for her undergraduate Bachelor of Business degree.

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AUT student fights “unfair fine”

by Leigh Stockton A wrong turn onto the Grafton Bridge during bus hours has left an AUT student fighting a fine he believes is unfair.

James Bennett, a 21-year-old Criminology student, who was fined $150, says he was unaware of the recent changes of the revamped bridge, which is now bus-only from 7am – 7pm.

He also claims a work colleague, who had crossed the bridge at a similar time, was only given a warning.

Auckland City Council spokesperson, Rick Bidgood, explains that a “passive enforcement” had been put in place the first two months of the bridge’s opening in October last year, and during that time drivers were

only sent letters warning of their infringement.

“With passive enforcement, we allowed people time to modify and change behaviours,” says Bidgood.

“Two months is quite a significant time and so when it went live in December, infringement fines were given out.”

James was travelling up Symonds Street in the far left lane last December when it “suddenly changed into a bus lane”.

When he approached the lights at the Symonds Street and Karangahape Road intersection, he saw that he could either turn onto the bridge or go onto the motorway, instead of going straight which he had originally intended.

“I had buses and trucks behind

and around me,” says the AUT Criminology student.

“It was very busy and I didn’t want to cause an accident trying to merge across the lane.”

He says three cars drove in front of him and three behind him, which added to the confusion on whether only buses were permitted.

“I hadn’t even planned to go over the bridge,” James says.

“It didn’t help that there weren’t any obvious signs saying I couldn’t.”

Mr Bidgood says that there was significant media coverage and public attention on the bridge.

However James, who lives in Kerikeri during the university holidays, was unaware of the changes.

OUSA will swallow the CoC

by Julia Hollingsworth (Critic) The OUSA Exec has voted to drop their appeal against the 2009 High Court judgment which ruled that the University Code of Conduct (CoC) applies outside of the University.

The Exec’s decision to drop the appeal comes after much discussion with the University Council, which has held out promises of a more convivial relationship between OUSA and the University.

OUSA President Harriet Geoghegan says the appeal was never a definite decision. “We were given a 30-day window to lodge an appeal, and the Executive resolved that it’s better to lodge it and then look into it later and then withdraw it if we don’t want to appeal.”

Although Geoghegan now thinks that having a CoC is a good idea overall, she still has her reservations. “As much as I was happy with the High Court judgement in terms of the fact it gave some legal clarification which we didn’t have before, it’s a bit disappointing that it’s still too open, and that it’s a case-by-case thing.” According to the judgement, the CoC applies only if the incident has

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a sufficient nexus to the University, and would bring the University’s reputation into disrepute. Geoghegan says that this definition is still not a clear precedent.

“The difficult thing is that it’s defined by what brings the University’s reputation into disrepute, and then it becomes defined by if things blow up in the media.”

In addition, Geoghegan is concerned about the lack of student representation on the appeals board.

“The main thing we are concerned with is that students are excluded from the appeals board.” The lack of student representation was one of the main reasons why OUSA took the University to court in the first place.

However, Geoghegan says there are two major benefits to dropping the appeal. First, the relationship between OUSA and the University has been damaged by the court proceedings, something that the two parties can now seek to rectify. In the light of recent political developments, Geoghegan says “we need to start working with the University to make sure we’re getting

the best outcomes for the students. It’s a total disservice to the students if we’re still stuck on all this stuff with the Code of Conduct.”

Second, Geoghegan believes there are other ways to achieve student representation on the appeals board outside of court, such as through negotiation.

The University’s main reason for refusing to allow a student representative on the appeals board was due to conflict of interest. The alleged conflict of interest is due to a motion that was passed in 2008, which stated “that OUSA opposes the Code of Conduct.”

Therefore, Geoghegan says, the next step is educating students and getting them to overturn the motion so that it reflects the reality that the Code applies, and so that students can be represented on the board.

“It’s not about bowing down to the University and rescinding the motion totally, it’s about getting something that reflects that we want to work with the University to get the best outcomes for the students and to be fair.”

“I was on holiday up North and wasn’t paying much attention to the media,” he says.

“So I was surprised to visit Auckland and leave with a fine.”

The Auckland City Council admits there was a spike in numbers since the bridge’s reopening and has looked at other means of getting the message across, putting up additional signs in the past two weeks.

“It’s signage overload now,” says Mr Bidgood.

James Bennett’s first letter of appeal to the Auckland City Council was turned down but he plans to take further action.

Seasonal flu vaccine now available for AUT students

by Ben Campion “You’re never too fit to get hit” is the message of this year’s seasonal influenza vaccination campaign, as AUT’s Health, Counselling and Wellbeing announce availability of the 2010 flu vaccination for students at their centres.

“It doesn’t matter how fit and healthy you are, the flu is just as likely to affect you,” says practice manager Stella McFarlane. “It causes epidemics every year during the winter months, with one in five people getting the flu.”

Stella says influenza is a severe and sometimes lifethreatening infection, usually striking from May to September.

The virus is spread through the air through infected people sneezing, coughing, sharing utensils or from surfaces they have touched such as shared textbooks or computers.

“Students miss classes, assignments and exams when they get the flu, and spend days or even weeks in bed. The flu vaccination is a practical way of preventing yourself from getting seriously ill during winter,” says McFarlane.

Stella explains that the most common concern about the flu vaccine is about contracting the flu from receiving the vaccine.

“It is not possible to get the flu from the seasonal influenza

vaccine. Although there is a new flu vaccine every year, it’s made using the same ‘tried and tested’ methodology used by the World Health Organisation for many years.”

This year’s vaccine also contains protection against swine flu, or pandemic influenza [H1N1] 09. Swine flu has been in the news a lot because it is a new type of flu which we have not been exposed to before.

As most people will not have immunity from swine flu, getting protected is even more important than in previous years to avoid getting very sick.

Students can receive the vaccination for the subsidised price of $10 (PHO-enrolled students) or $25 (non-enrolled, ‘casual’ students) at the Health, Counselling and Wellbeing centres. Those people aged 65 and over, pregnant women, those who are morbidly obese or who suffer from certain diagnosed health conditions such as chronic asthma can get the vaccine for free under government subsidy.

You must wait 20 minutes before being able to leave the medical centre after the vaccination and immunity can take up to two weeks to develop after the vaccination.

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Sports Money, money, money

by Scott Moyes In an ideal world, there would be peace, harmony and Mitchell Johnson would be limited to the bowling skills of an angry chimpanzee (assuming there is a difference between the two). In an ideal world, sports players wouldn’t succumb to injury and would deliver on the multi-million dollar deals they collect. In an ideal world, Tiger Woods would find the delete button on his cell phone. Instead, we have the real world, complete with Mitchell’s verbal diarrhea, Rafael Nadal’s wobbly knees and Tiger’s lack of teenage nous.

In an ideal world, our sports stars would honour their contracts, and thrill us only with the magic of their skills, and not those of their agents.

In our neck of the woods, it would seem that one of the most pressing issues in sport at present is the lure of lucrative overseas contracts and endorsements. The heroes and idols of many are taking what is perceived to be the easy route and are abandoning loyalty. I think it’s fair to say New Zealand is amongst the heaviest hit by this dilemma. It’s no secret we are an incredibly competitive and proud nation in terms of sport. With gritty determination and often the advantage of Polynesian athleticism, we produce genuine sporting stars as often as Sachin Tendulkar scores test match centuries for India. However, being the relatively small nation we are, we’re often found punching above our weight and regularly cannot retain our talents with big dollars thrown around overseas. I think many people don’t realise just how lucrative these overseas contracts are in compared to what New Zealand has to offer.

Who would you think is the highest paid New Zealand sports star? It’s not Daniel Carter, nor is it Richie McCaw. Exact figures aren’t splashed across the internet, but it’s actually Steve Williams.

Steve who? Steve Williams, Tiger Wood’s caddy.

Although he hasn’t much to

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do at the moment, a man who carries around clubs on a golf course earns more than our much celebrated rugby Gods that infest every Powerade advertisement you see. There is no doubting the money is abroad. Scott Dixon, Ryan Nelsen and Russell Coutts also rate highly and, to be honest, I doubt anyone in the top five is home-based.

In fact, as New Zealanders we associate with very few of the sports attached to these men. On the most part, we are pleased they have made it in the competitive environment of more universal sports. However, there seems to be hysteria whenever our rugby, league and cricket players cast their eye for a fraction of what Steve Williams earns. When Daniel Carter is in talks with Perpignan, we immediately react and question his loyalty and supposed thirst for cash. When Brendon McCullum plays a spot of cricket for New South Wales, he is the scum of the Earth. Naturally, we don’t want to see our home-grown talent passed around like various substances (or people) at a party.

I say, give them a break. If you are a professional sportsperson, you have a very limited time to make money before age renders you useless.

The most durable souls wouldn’t last much over 15 years, unless you’re Steve Price or Richie Benaud. Why would you not pursue your true market value, on top of the opportunity to go and see the world? AUT is a wicked place, but if Harvard offered me a scholarship then I’d probably be gone before I could finish writing this article.

These thoughts have been stirred by the much publicized contract negotiations of Kiwi star Sonny Bill Williams, who is currently playing rugby for Toulon in France. Williams walked out on his long-term contract with NRL club, the Bulldogs, in 2008 to pursue a rugby career after a fallout with management. It is interesting that as his contract comes to end, he is supposedly bound for New Zealand in an attempt to unite with a provincial rugby team in his pursuit of an All Blacks jersey. It is intriguing that being as young as he is, with ample opportunity to earn major dollars anywhere else, he favours the idea of representing his country. It makes me think that even after he wrongly abandoned his teammates midseason, national pride is still more valuable than any sum of money (for some people anyway).

However, in an ideal world, he would have just played for the Warriors.

y fellow AUTitans, It’s unbelievable how fast time flies here at university. it wasn’t so long ago that some of you stepped into AUT territory new, overwhelmed and not quite sure what to expect. Most of you by now would have had your first assignments due and I hope student life has not become too stressful.

Remember we are always here for you no matter what the nature of your concern is...you just have to make sure that you ASK! For our returning students who have somewhat become accustomed to the way student life is here at AUT I trust your road to success is well on the way. AuSM has been working extremely hard providing the various events/entertainment & activities for you all - make sure you make good use out of the free feeds, mates rates (check out the website), clubs etc.

As this week’s debate has a small focus on our postgraduate students I am happy to say that we are continuing our relationship with post-grad to help provide for their specific needs.

We have invested in providing resources/text books for some rooms, providing facilities such as microwaves etc for rooms and continuing focus groups to find out how we can better serve this group of our membership. I would like to remind you that unless you tell us how we can improve we will never know, so your feedback is always welcome and improvement is always a priority for us!

For our Titans that have been training away for our Uni Games and undoubtedly prepared to win, we wish you all the best and know that you will all represent us proudly as we head into the most crucial lead up to the games! GO AUT TITANS!!

Lastly, some of you might have seen people in orange shirts or people around campus wearing them at free feeds and asking for your support to save the services that AuSM provides. I would like to say a big thank you to all our volunteers that helped spread the word and who took time out to assist, another BIG thank you to those who did sign up and now! We now have ONE MORE WEEK left before submissions close on March 31!

Make sure you visit saveourservices.org.nz to help the fight against VSM! Remember a collective and unified voice of 26,000 students is much louder and more effective than one! So make a submission to preserve your student voice and ensure that students will always be heard in the future.

Wishing you all the best for your studies for the week ahead - Ia Manuia (Many blessings),

Veronica

Get to know your exec I welcome

all postgraduate students (level eight and above), both new and former.

This year holds great promises for all who work diligently. I am happy to represent you as postgraduate officer with AuSM, second year running. Thank you for voting for me. Talk to me not just about concerns but also in relation to areas of student satisfaction and support. The University is a great place to meet new people during research, so I maintain postgraduate students to get involved in the life of the university. This could be through the various activities and services provided by AuSM (free feeds, entertainment, postgraduate rooms, etc) or elsewhere within the university in areas of research and study.

To the students still contemplating research, study in New Zealand is a comprehensive resource for information about higher education. Postgraduate students are required to undertake research assignments and pursue theoretical studies in the form of seminars or courses. The research is intended to lead to a scholarly thesis.

To be admitted to a postgraduate research position, a student must hold a university degree equivalent to a bachelor’s degree or higher, with a major in the same subject as the intended field of study. The major must have included a degree thesis presenting the results of independent research.

A Masters degree awarded that ranks one step below that of a doctorate comprises of 120 higher education credits that require two years of study. This program includes courses and a final major degree exposition. The thesis often accounts for more than half of the total workload.

Studying towards a PhD is a demanding commitment. Much of the work is carried out independently and students need to be highly motivated. The number of students that can receive supervision and the acceptable conditions of study and financing limits the number of students accepted to a PhD programme. Applicants to the postgraduate programme may get funding with doctoral studentship (employment). However, the faculty board can also admit applicants that have other forms of financing if the faculty deems that the financing can be secured throughout the entire programme and that the applicant can complete the programme within a maximum given period.

The postgraduate centre brings to life the abundance of creativity and innovation that is within the postgraduate studies and upholds it in clear definitions of students’ experiences. In 2009 some PG students took part in the symposium that comes in the second semester that was organised by the Center and funded by AuSM. I wish to encourage everyone to participate this year.

AuSM is working hand in hand with University Postgraduate Board. AuSM is keen to see postgraduate studies as sustainable as possible by improving student facilities and incorporating many other ways that we can find to facilitate favourable experiences. Be free to contact me by email or via AuSM office.

Christine Williams issue 5 march 2010

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11

Did you want gluten with that?

Sam McConnell talks about the best thing since (gluten-free) sliced bread.

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some his isn’t the first and decided time I’ve gone on a gluten next time he would get his own. The free rant in recent months, however sandwiches and melts are now regular fixtures in my diet. as a coeliac who misses the joys of a sandwich or chocolate My world was shaken up when I was put on a new diet called FODMAPS. brownie or hot cross buns, I have a new obsession. It is a relatively new For those of you who don’t know, this diet eliminates a great deal of food shop that has appeared at the top of Mt Eden Road and has quickly made from your diet. This meant I had to say goodbye to dried fruit, onions, its way onto my ‘gluten free radar’. It’s name? The Gluten Free Grocer. garlic, apples, stone fruit, asparagus, chickpeas, beans and many I first made a trip to the Gluten Free Grocer in desperate need for a more, as well as significantly limiting my diary intake and remaining loaf of bread after having eaten the last of my heavy, crumbly, gluten completely gluten free. I went back to the Gluten Free Grocer slightly free supermarket loaf that morning. I was pleasantly surprised with what apprehensive, wondering what I could possibly eat. The staff at the shop I found within the walls of this totally gluten free shop. In fact, I found were beyond helpful, tailor making my sandwich to ensure there were no such a huge range of gluten free food that I concluded it would be silly to foods I couldn’t eat included and running through which of their foods I leave with just a loaf of bread. Therefore on my first visit I left the shop needed to avoid, which wasn’t many (just their apple pies and the fruit with numerous bags filled with bread loaves, fruit buns, hot cross buns, buns to my great disappointment). However it was a comfort to know a heat and eat pasta meals and a chocolate brownie to satisfy my sweet great deal of their food and breads are also free from dairy, soy, nuts, tooth. yeast, sugar and eggs.

On the long drive home that afternoon I was feeling extremely Despite my new diet I still managed to leave the shop with numerous peckish. Along with most gluten free people, bags filled with bread loaves (one I’m used to gluten free bread and buns only seeded, one plain), buns, an amazing tasting good once they have been toasted. I If you’re gluten free or simply banana cake, a raspberry lamington, was a little hesitant to take a bite of a fruit bun just want to try to eliminate muesli, chocolate chip cookies, more to quiet my grumbling stomach as I assumed heat and eat meals and I placed an order the bun would be dry and crumbly. My stomach gluten from your diet then check for a banana loaf. This loaf I have been got the better of me and before I knew it I was out the Gluten Free Grocer at 13 told is only sweetened from the banana munching through a delicious gluten free bun. I and primarily filled with linseed which was pleasantly surprised at how soft and edible Mt Eden Road. is a great source of fibre. Super healthy, the bread was without having to heat it up or I can’t wait to try it. Next time I’ll order toast it! I was so excited by this and made my partner try some. Now their berry loaf! he has no need to eat gluten free foods and usually he would avoid my If you’re gluten free or simply just want to try to eliminate gluten gluten free breads like the plague, however on taking one bite of my fruit from your diet then check out the Gluten Free Grocer. It truly is my bun he wanted one of his own. Next thing I know I’m sharing my precious new obsession; I’m there a few times a week! Along with the foods I’ve gluten free food with someone who is perfectly able to eat foods made mentioned, the Grocer stocks mini pizzas, little cakes, pies, spinach from gluten. Needless to say, it didn’t take long before all my purchases and feta rolls, dumplings, gluten free flours, cereals, muesli bars, from the Gluten Free Grocer were gone. pasta and more. Are you hungry yet?

Naturally, I headed back to the Gluten Free Grocer with about as much You can find all this yummy food at 13 Mt Eden Road. They’re open excitement as a child waiting for Santa. This excitement doubled when Tuesday – Saturday and I heard a little rumour they may be opening on I saw the store had added a sandwich and melt (toasted panini) menu. I Sunday’s also. All this talk of food has made me hungry. I have a Gluten couldn’t leave the shop without trying a sandwich (as mentioned before this Free Grocer mini carrot cake with cream cheese icing staring me in the was one of the foods I miss). It was amazing. No kidding. It was a delicious face, so I’m off to eat that! May see you at the Gluten Free Grocer! Ciao! gourmet sandwich that I raved about all day. Once again my partner tried

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How to find food and nutrition information online so you can fit into those jeans again

by Alicia Crocket

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o you didn’t take my advice last week and now you’re thinking that perhaps you’ve eaten too many Easter eggs after all (or about to this coming Easter weekend). You’re going to want to fit back into your super skinny jeans after the chocolate has been devoured and the foil thrown away so what are you thinking? It’s time to go on a “diet”. What’s your first point of call to work out a “good diet”? Why the internet, of course. The problem with searching for decent food and healthier eating information on the internet is that it’s like finding a needle in a haystack.

There is so much misinformation out there about food and healthier eating written by people wanting to make a buck out of unsuspecting citizens (which naturally isn’t you!). So this week I’m talking about... how to find food and nutrition information online that you can trust.

Unfortunately, I can pretty much guarantee that any “healthy eating” or “diet” webpage that promises results in days/weeks and claims that eating a food (which only they can supply you) flattens your tummy, thighs etc is a load of crap. Healthy eating and weight loss has to be about balance or else your super duper effective “diet” will last as long as a 12 pack of Tui in a student flat. Some of the pages I’d recommend to find out reliable information are: Active Smart (www.activesmart.co.nz) and the webpage for the Healthy Food guide (www.healthyfood.co.nz).

Active Smart is run by ACC and will give you a personalised training and

eating plan designed by experts all for FREE. Thanks ACC! The Healthy Food guide webpage is unsurprisingly about healthier eating. There are some great recipes (though not as great as mine) and useful tips about healthy eating and shopping. They also have a range of really interesting articles (though, once again, not as interesting as mine) on various foods and myths surrounding food and healthier eating.

These pages don’t promise results in days but you are much more likely to be able to fit into those jeans on a long term basis. You’ll also save loads of money, not only because they won’t try and sell you “weight loss aids” but you also won’t have to buy a fat and a thin version of your wardrobe. Bonus.

But moving on from weight loss, if you happen to have allergies and you’re in need of reliable information about what is and isn’t in the food you’re eating, the manufactured food database (www.mfd.co.nz) can help you out. This webpage, coordinated by Auckland City Hospital and NZFSA (New Zealand Food Safety Authority) is updated regularly and basically is an uber list of most of the foods you can buy in the supermarket and it will tell you what is gluten free, dairy free, vegan, nut free etc. There are some great search tools on this page and it’s really easy to navigate. I’d highly recommend it if you want some clarity.

So enjoy your holidays now that you’ve got your holiday reading sorted!

See you in a couple of weeks.

Kumara and hummus burgers Makes 8 patties. Dairy free, gluten free.

This recipe is an old Food in a Minute recipe, but I make it loads especially in summer when there’s nothing better than a burger for dinner. It’s very simple to make, but it can take a bit longer than you expect. But the beauty of this recipe is that you can make a batch and freeze the individual patties in glad wrap and they’re there when you need them on short notice. It’s definitely Food in a Minute then... When I make this, I normally do a double mix and that works just as well.

Ingredients 1 x 400g can chickpeas drained 1.59 OR 150 – 200g dried chickpeas 500g kumara 1.74 1 tablespoon oil 0.07 1 onion, finely chopped 0.20 2 ½ teaspoons fresh ginger * .20 1 ½ teaspoons cumin .2 1 teaspoon dried coriander .17 ½ teaspoon minced chilli (optional) 0.04 150g hummus 2.10 Directions

1 Soak the chickpeas in hot water for at least 30 minutes. If you’re using canned chickpeas drain and rinse them to get the brine off them.

2 While the chickpeas are soaking peel and cut the kumara into cubes.

3 Boil or steam the kumara until soft, mash them and put them aside for later.

4 Once the chickpeas have been soaked boil them for 20 minutes or until they are soft to bite. issue 5 march 2010

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5 Cook the onion in the oil, add the spices and cook until the onion is soft..

6 Mix the onions into the kumara along with the hummus.

7 Once the chickpeas are cooked if you’re lucky enough to have a food processor chop them up in there until smooth.

8 If you don’t have a food processor mash or bash (with a jar or a rolling pin) the chickpeas until they are reasonably fine. A few lumps are fine.

9 Stir the chickpeas into the rest of the ingredients.

10 Make into patties and cook in a fry pan in a little oil or on the BBQ. 11 Add to a burger with fillings of your choice! *You can freeze pieces of fresh ginger so they last; you can grate it from frozen.

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Put an end to student poverty… yeah right.

by NormaJean Lee Stand up for your rights to be arrogant, selfish and narcissistic – put an end to student poverty!

God, New Zealand students have it tough. You can’t fit The Fame Monster on your tiny 8GB iPod. Textbooks are the price of a gold tipped hamlet manuscript. Parking’s a bitch, your cell phone’s a brick and the minimum wage is barbaric.

Recently, I was affronted by an emotive poster depicting a flannel clad, unshaven youth protesting the hardships of university life. Violins playing and Kleenex not far from my eyes, “put an end to student poverty!” pulled on my heart strings. I myself remember the arduous dial up dilemmas of a stone aged internet connection.

On my way to pick up my own self righteous protest sign, I walked through a city full of crippling addictions, homeless, handouts and mentally abused basket cases. News depicting a Ugandan famine, an update of the 30 year war in the Congo and the ravaging HIV/AIDS crisis in the Pacific Islands slowed my sanctimonious steps. A quiet voice from the depths of my selfish shell of a soul questioned if not having broadband, for the low price of $18.95, is really poverty.

Considering most people globally live daily on the price of a pie, few get

an education and fewer still own a MacBook pro, you bitching about the price of a teapot at Cassette is fucked up. Perhaps associating “poverty” with Auckland’s metropolitan, fashion soaked, latte drinking lifestyle is slightly exaggerated.

Students marching on Parliament for the crime that is a $12.50 hourly wage might react differently had the affluence of a New Zealand life not made us a pack of whining hyenas. Your right, I feel sorry for you when compared with that six-year-old Cambodian kid forced to make your Kathmandu jacket for 18 cents a day.

So next time your ragging the price of a Starbucks grande non-fat, extra hot, low foam caramel macchiato, petrol for your VW Golf or that much desired iPhone with the $80 a month plan, don’t. Do something constructive with your menial funds. Sponsor a child, give to the blind, donate to Haiti or Chile, or tip the homeless man who plays guitar on Queen Street. Alternatively, buy something to fill the hole in your complaining, fake arse face.

Next time, use all that passion, frustration and fighting spirit to stand up for someone whose problems really are bigger than the XT network. The truth is, the only thing we will ever know about real poverty is written on Wikipedia.

We are living in a material world… and I am a material girl

by Ashleigh Coldicutt ’m pretty sure you all can relate when I say I love that “new stuff” feeling. My obsession with all things new and shiny ranges from the latest electronics (I would give my right kidney for an iPod touch…any takers?) to using a brand new blue pen in your 1B5 in Year 6. The latter may not be so exciting for some, but when it took you three years to be awarded your pen license you were on a euphoric high the first time you used one. That’s exactly how I felt when I bought my new boots last week. Not because the girl who sold them to me sprayed them with a waterproofing solution that made me feel heady and giggle when I got close. No siree, it was because I am obsessed with new stuff.

So you can imagine my excitement when I put on my new black SUEDE high-heeled fringed boots. I swear I could’ve gone to uni that day with nothing but those boots on and I would’ve felt bloody brilliant. As I strutted up Queen Street to “These boots are made for walking” I found myself stealing a few glances in StarMart windows and standing in an awkward legs-crossed-and-handperched-on-hip-cuz-I’m-such-a-model-right-now pose as I waited at the NUMEROUS traffic lights (don’t even get me started on that one…).

This got me thinking: how could a pair of boots have so much impact on how I felt about myself? I mean, it’s a bit different how you feel when you’re having a good hair day compared to when you have new stuff on. So you have good dress sense. And what? What kind of life is that if all you care about is keeping up with the latest trends? You can’t expect to still be shopping at Supre when you’re 65 can you? “Hi there, do you have that leopard print

leotard in a size that can accommodate my F-cup?” I don’t think so my friend.

Not only will you look like you’ve smuggled two wheat bags under that skintight leotard, you will look like a total cabbage.

Some people base their whole lives around how they look and they’re still not happy. I posed this ridiculously immature question to my friends the other day: Would you rather be uglier than the mutant offspring of Eliza Minnelli and Chuck Norris but have a stunning wardrobe or would you want to be absolutely gorgeous but only have enough money to shop at op shops or The Warehouse (Not like I’m hating on either, how many of you own those grey track pants in XL)? They were divided, but seemed to have options for either outcome.

If they were ugly then they would get plastic surgery and if they had shit clothes then they’d get a job. Note to self: don’t ask dumb questions to people who include arguing in their list of hobbies.

Today’s society has become so obsessed with living the dream and being perfect that in an attempt to hide our flaws we change things about who we truly are. At the risk of sounding horribly clichéd and mushy…You shouldn’t need clothes to feel beautiful. People should let their personalities shine no matter what they’re wearing or how they look (A lesson I also need to learn: I have a tendency to be in a grumpy mood if I look like crap).

So just try it. Before you leave the house in the morning don’t forget to put on your most important accessory – your self-worth (oh and clothes.

University ain’t no porno).

And if all else fails a pair of damn good boots always helps!

At the risk of sounding horribly clichéd and mushy…

You shouldn’t need clothes to feel beautiful.

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contributed by Georgina O’Connor issue 5 march 2010

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15

by Ryan Boyd

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ello mass debaters. Veterans of AUT and Debate may remember my pretty face as former Chief Head Mega-Dic(k?) tator of debate magazine. You first years missed out big time. Anyway, at the end of last year I was forced to step down once AuSM Overlord Sue discovered I was inserting subliminal messages fuelling a feudal revolution in my articles. Instead of admitting this, I wrote about how I was moving (voluntarily) to the small pacific island nation of Kazakhstan, which of course was ridiculous and no one believed me. Seriously, who would go there unless they had a gun aimed squarely at their kneecaps?

Well as it turns out, I am one such person. Yes, I actually planned and carried out an evil plan to venture to Kazakhstan. Almaty, to be precise.

Honest, look at the picture. Just after Christmas, me and my resident Kazak expert Shortround booked a first class ticket with my AuSM credit card (cheers Kathy for doctoring the receipts), boarded a plane and two days later landed in the mystical world we all know and love: Kazakhstan.

As it turns out, it is not a sun and sand-filled tropical Pacific paradise nation like Tahiti as we are led to believe. In fact, it’s almost the exact opposite. The ninth largest nation on our little planet and the largest landlocked one, population 16 million, is not small, tropical or an island.

My travel agent’s a liar. I got some strange looks from the customs officers (who look straight out an 80’s Chuck Norris Commie paranoia movie by the way) at Almaty Airport. Jandals were a big error in judgment.

So my goal here today is to promote the nation of Kazakhstan as a great destination for your post-uni OE. England’s for people too lazy to learn a new language; France is for pretentious arts students; Germany is for germ-y folk; Denmark is rotten and full of crazy royalties and incest (why yes, my entire knowledge of Denmark is from Hamlet). If you want a real challenge, if you want to test yourself, if you don’t mind looking like a bigger outsider than an antelope at a party for polar bears, and if you don’t mind living without luxuries such as seat belts and manners, then Kazakhstan is the place for you.

A good place to start is the climate. Did you realise that when it’s summer in New Zealand, it’s winter in other countries? It’s true, Wikipedia told me so. And Almaty has real winter, not like Auckland’s pussy rain and wind. Oh no, we’re talking snow, ice and average temperatures of -20 degrees Celsius. And that’s on a sunny afternoon.

Going outside even for a few minutes without jacket, hat and scarf will make you feverish and very ill, which is what happened when I thought it would be cool to take a photo in my AuSM t-shirt. Seriously, I was fucked for a week, waaay more sick than I have ever been in NZ. The nurse’s advice to me: rub vodka over my body. That’s their cure for everything I think.

One more great thing about Kazakhstan is that it’s so awesomely corrupt. This sucks in some ways, like finding a job, as they will hire their

third cousin’s daughter’s retarded babysitter with only experience in cleaning out zoo cages over you with university education. But it does come in handy, like when you get pulled over by cops for speeding or are at the back of a long line. All you need to do is pretend to be someone important and special treatment is yours. I have gotten out of both of these examples by having my local tour guide pretend to be the police chief’s nephew and a government official, respectively. True stories. (For more detail on them – they are a great read! – check out my blog).

There are two languages here, Russian (or Ruski, pronounced “rooskee”) and Kazakh. Not everyone speaks the latter, so I am trying to learn Ruski for two reasons: 1) so I can go to the shops and buy some yoghurt and eggs without accidently calling the shop girl Megatron, and 2) so I can infiltrate the KGB and bring down the Soviet Empire from within. Oh sure, they try and convince us it crumbled years ago, but that’s just another lie the dastardly liberal media has tried to feed us. You can send thanks to me for exposing the truth once it’s done. Or now if you must. And by thanks I mean peanut butter. They don’t have that here. Savages.

Ruski uses Cyrillic characters, which is just plain silly. Look at some of these letters: Were they drunk when they came up with these. Hmmm that’s probably a silly question once you visit any dairy and see how 78.3 per cent of the shop’s (the Ruski word for “shop” is “magazine”, of course) stock is some ridiculously cheap form of brain cell murdering liquid. (Brainstorm: great advertising slogan for promoting Kazakhstan: “An alcoholic’s Disneyland.

And we don’t check IDs!”.)

Not only content with inventing a new bunch of sinister looking symbols to trick us, they even stole some of our letters from the real alphabet, like “a” and “M”. But what’s worse is that some of the ones they stole have a completely different sound to how nature intended, like “B” which sounds like “V”. It is my expert* opinion that the entire Ruski language was invented to annoy the West. What other explanation could there possibly be?**

How would you pronounce “мн ”? Probably not well.

Turns out it’s that word we mentioned earlier, “magazine”. 10 points for those who remember what it means. If you can master this insanity, then you can master anything, you may even be able to get a role as a generic Russian bad guy in a spy thriller. If Karl Urban can do it, anyone can.

Just read over what I’ve written and I must say I should have paid more attention to those public relations papers. I’m not exactly selling Almaty as the great tourist destination I had hoped.

The truth is, Kazakhstan is a beautiful country and it’s developing strongly. It’s peaceful, the mountains are amazing, the cocaine snow is addictive, and with summer coming up, I’ve heard that it’s going to get even more appealing for the eyes.

There are probably a lot of preconceptions about Kazakhstan, but the truth is it’s very developed (or developing quickly in the areas not quite up to first world standards) and despite its corruption and round-a-bout ways they do things (bureaucracy is insane here), is a very nice place to live. Of course, I have no intention of living here forever, but last week Shortround and I went to Kyrgyzstan to renew my visa and saw a poor version of the same country. I was amazed at what I can only describe as slums, something I have yet to see in KZ. The thing is, no matter how run down the outside of the buildings here are, they are incredibly well built. You have to credit the Commies on that one, their infrastructure is not too shabby at all. Warm too; it’s almost shorts weather when inside.

But seeing these poor areas of Bishkek made me realise how great we have it in not just KZ, but especially in NZ. Never take for granted that you will probably never have to live in dirty, congested, and unsanitary conditions. Seeing it firsthand really opened my eyes. Once we got back to Almaty, I appreciated how much worse off things could be. So it’s pretty obvious that Kazakhstan is certainly not the worst place to venture once free from the mortal coils of university.

That was a downer. Here’s something funny: you know on Father Ted how Mrs Doyle would constantly ask guests if they wanted a nice hot cup of tea? Well it appears every resident of KZ was the inspiration for the sexy minx we all had impure thoughts about. The number of times a day I get asked if I want some tea vary depending on how often I say “no”, an answer that will only hold off the inquiry about 20 minutes before you’re

issue 5 march 2010

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asked again, and again, and again until you finally say “yes”. I hate tea, but have had more cups in the past two months that makes me fear China must surely be running out. Oh yes, Kazakhstan is a tea lover’s paradise.

By now I’m sure I’ve convinced Kazakhstan is the swellest place to spend your summer vacation, but I will leave you with the one thing I love the most about the nation I am spending a certain portion of my life. It’s the people.

In my first travel blog entry, I said, “Almaty is flat with lots of straight roads (homophobia?), like Christchurch. In winter it is cold with short days, and in summer it’s hot with long days, like Christchurch. It’s surrounded by mountains, like Christchurch. It’s also filled with bitter, rude people, like Christchurch.

I’m not sure how racist Almaty is yet though, but once my Ruski gets better I will update you.”

I was too harsh on my comments of people being rude and bitter. Sort of. A lot of people are like that. Asking someone something simple like directions is often met with a look of “what, am I your slave or something?” Unless it benefits them (by this I mean financially), some people just don’t care about helping you. But there are many great people here too. People that are great fun, smile and care about you.

The strange thing is most people are one of these two extremes. There’s not a lot of in-between, but the better side makes tolerating the other side much easier. And anyway, the bitter people are a lot of fun to laugh at.

Oh, as well as the people, the other really wicked awesome thing is the taxi system they got going here. It really does make Auckland’s look like the disease infested carcass of a 12th Century English peasant. * Your definition of this word may differ from mine. ** Don’t ruin my theory by even thinking about answering this.

For more tales of my adventure filled with daring jewel heists, explicit sex, and the odd satanic iguanodon thrown in for good measure, check out the sometimes bi-weekly blog at www.ryanboydnz.wordpress.com. It will change your life.

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Our boy is back!

AUT’s Shaun Quincey completes “horrific” trans-Tasman odyssey

by Samantha McQueen Sitting in his Grey Lynn home in a t-shirt, shorts and a pair of black jandals, with music quietly playing in the living room, Shaun Quincey looks relaxed and full of smiles.

It is a far cry from little more than two weeks ago, when the 25-year-old was battling harsh storms, broken equipment and sleep deprivation as he rowed close to 4000 kilometres over 54 days.

When he landed on Ninety Mile Beach, Quincey became the first person to row from Australia to New Zealand and the second person to row solo across the Tasman, after his father Colin completed the feat in 1977.

Back in his living room, remnants of the trip’s planning, photos and satellite maps are sprawled across the carpet in organised stacks. Before the interview begins the phone rings again – a common occurrence – and it is obvious the relaxed pose isn’t a sign of his life at the moment.

“I haven’t had a chance to put my feet on the ground yet. I’ve just been doing interviews and as you can see I’ve still got so much practical stuff to work through, sorting out all my equipments, my maps and everything.

“I haven’t had a chance to reflect on what I’ve achieved,” Quincey says.

Quincey trained for two years for the almost two-month journey, sometimes rowing up to 17 hours on Sundays and hitting the weights most mornings to build muscle strength.

Originally wanting to set off in November, delays meant he didn’t set off in his boat - The Tasman Trespasser II - until January 20.

Unlike his homecoming, Quincey’s send off from Coffs Harbour went almost unrecognised by media and he had to say a “horrific” goodbye to his partner of two years, Lisa Jones.

“A few locals had come down from Coffs Harbour but it was very low-key.

We had about five TV cameras there…and they were on the wharf with us and it was like, ‘see ya later Lisa, and hopefully see you in two months time’.”

For the first three nights of the journey he was stuck in the shipping lanes off the coast of Australia, where container ships zoomed past him all night.

“The first three nights were pretty horrific. It took me a good two and a half, three weeks to get settled and to realise that this was a reality. And it sucked!”

Another test for his mental strength was the amount of days he spent rowing, only to end up further back than where was originally. Out of the 54 days he spent rowing, he went backwards for 36 of them.

“It was probably the hardest part because you row and row for seven days and you have a great run and you try really hard because you know you’re making progress and then you’ll stop rowing and over three days you’ll lose that seven days of progress and you’ll have to do it all again. It’s quite a mind game.”

Back home, Quincey had a support team following every kilometre of his arduous journey. His New Zealand-based expedition manager and best mate Michael “Bucky” Buck was his main connection to life outside of the sea.

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Like Quincey, Buck is a proud AUT student studying a Bachelor of Finance with Honours.

“He [Buck] did so much for me and I just want to make sure he [gets thanked]. He did a bloody good job.

“He would liaise with me and we would also liaise with all the media and all the actual support like the rescue co-ordination centre, the water making people…the landing site people, customs, New Zealand police, everyone like that.”

Buck says it was difficult to separate himself emotionally during the journey, but he knew if he acted like a mate rather than an advisor, he wouldn’t make the right decisions in crisis and situations would spiral out of control.

Still, he managed to sneak in titbits of what was happening on dry land to Quincey during their twice daily satellite calls.

“We definitely shared stories and had many laughs. Friends of ours would always offer stories of the latest antics which kept him entertained,” Buck says.

“I do remember some of his stories, like slipping over when going to the toilet and making a mess!”

The weather and rough seas had it in for Quincey, who suffered storms every three days. While he had prepared for bad weather and big swells, he didn’t realise how violently shaken he would be physically, or how hard he would hit the walls inside the cabin.

“It was just like playing rugby again. You just get completely thrown around and you’ve got no control. Sitting out to have a mouthful of food you’re [swaying side to side] the entire time,” Quincey says. “It’s so painfully frustrating. You go crazy.”

It would be easy to lose your mind when you’re out at sea but Quincey says he stayed sane by listening to music, writing to do lists in his journal (he wants to learn rock and roll lessons before he turns 30) and acting out conversations with people in his head. Surprisingly, his dad wasn’t as prominent on this list of people. He only spoke to his dad three times while out at sea but every time he had the same message: just hold on.

“Those were the main words he would push. ‘Don’t worry about what’s going on, tomorrow’s going to be different. Just keep holding on and you’ll get there eventually’.”

His iPod playlist was generally “pretty relaxing music” (he uses New Zealand band Fly My Pretties and Bob Marley as examples) because “you can’t go out and row really hard for 10 minutes. It’s 18 hours – you’re cruising”. Perhaps surprisingly, he isn’t sick of the music he listened to repeatedly at sea, because of the moments associated with them. “[There’d be] days when the sea was completely flat and you’d have a few dolphins around. You’d be sitting out rowing and listening to some really cool music and you’ve got dolphins swimming around you and there’s no one else – it’s just complete freedom.”

However, the weather didn’t cooperate often. At one point during the trip, the swells were so bad his boat capsized end over end, or “pitchpoled” as Quincey explains. One minute he was dozing in his cabin, listening to his iPod, and the next he hit the cabin roof face first and was knocked unconscious, while his boat was upside down. If that wasn’t scary enough, he had also left two of the four clips on the cabin door unclipped and water seeped into the cabin.

“I woke up and I was in 40 litres of water, which is scary because you can see the water line. There was so much water in the cabin [and] I had to start rocking the boat backwards and forwards while I’m upside down to get a bit of a shake on and then a big enough wave came and popped me back up again. It was about 20 to 25 minutes that I was upside down.

It wasn’t good, it wasn’t fun at all.”

It certainly wasn’t fun over in the New Zealand camp either. In fact, Buck says it was the scariest part of the journey. He had received a call from the rescue co-ordination centre at 9.35pm saying there had been a distress signal issued from the boat’s tracking system. Before leaving Quincey was adamant a rescue would only happen if he activated a personal EPRB, and not a tracking signal. After his scheduled 9.45pm call didn’t come, Buck called his phone every two minutes until a “distressed and groggy” Quincey answered at 10.15pm to break the news.

“Basically the half hour when I couldn’t get through, knowing that there was some sort of serious issue, was extremely tough. I was quite helpless and had the power to initiate a rescue but had to keep a level head and stick to our protocols,” Buck says.

When mother nature was taking a break from throwing Quincey off course, some of his equipment decided to step up to the plate. Over the course of 54 days, he snapped two oars and his water desalinator broken down, which meant a package had to be dropped to him, organised by Taupo man John Funnell. The package contained 38 litres of drinking water, two New Zealand Heralds, chocolate and a toothbrush.

“I opened up the barrel and I cried because it was just so exciting.”

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It was another 18 days before he saw home and his original landing point of Taranaki went out the window. The northerly current got stronger the closer he got to shore and, combined with a southerly system, he was in danger of missing New Zealand altogether.

“There was a stage toward the last four days where I got a text message from my weather man saying, ‘you’ve got the same amount of distance to get to New Zealand as you do left of New Zealand, going up north’. So I had to row for 60 hours. I had a little bit of time off in between but it [basically] was nonstop rowing to get to New Zealand so I would hit Ninety Mile Beach and not miss the top.”

It did the trick. At around 6.45am on March 14, Quincey saw land for the first time in 54 days and after six hours and 160 kilometres, his feet were back on terra firma. It wasn’t without a final battle though. Quincey, who hadn’t used his legs in almost two months, had to swim the last 300 metres to shore because the swells were too big to row in. While others might worry about whether they could swim, Quincey had other things on his mind.

“Jumping in the water was fine. I’ve been a lifeguard for 10 years and I’ve swum in bigger surf and so I was confident there but it was seeing the boat shoot off down a wave and me going ‘oh, I’ve left you, sorry’. You form this relationship with your boat and I just felt so sorry for the boat and for some strange reason I thought it would be a bit angry with me.”

He didn’t have time to dwell on it, around 200 supporters and media swarmed on him when he reached shore, including his mum Nanette who hadn’t seen or spoken to her son since he set off.

“She was blubbering a little bit too much, but she was just glad to see me. It only took three seconds and then we were quite swamped by media.”

In fact, he had to fight through the media and about seven other well wishers before he could give Lisa a hug.

Everyone wanted to get the details about the voyage, but Quincey had more important issues to attend to; a shower, dry clothes and a solid Kiwi barbecue while he tried to adjust to being back on dry land.

“I did sway backwards and forwards for two days. It was just like being a bit drunk. You’re moving and everything’s normal and then you drop things or trip over.”

Even though he describes lying in bed for the first time as “phenomenal”, he lets a few yawns escape and the bags under his eyes are testaments that everything hasn’t gone back to normal.

“I haven’t really started sleeping well yet. [I’m] still trying to check the oars and check the rudder and everything. You wake up and make sure everything’s ok and then go back to sleep.”

The full on media commitments have tired him out as well. Before he landed, Buck was fielding up to 300 calls a day from media organisations around the world. Quincey says it’s starting to slow down a bit but it will be a while before he becomes “fish and chip wrapping”.

For now, he’s trying to get his head around what to do in the future.

He plans on writing a tell-all book in the next four months, and is toying with the idea of doing a bit of travel overseas with Lisa. He has a lot of ideas about organising a Tasman race for other ocean rowers and while he hasn’t hit the water since being back, Quincey says he’ll “go for a row sooner or later”. The boat’s future is uncertain as well. “Ideally it would go into the Maritime museum but a huge part of me thinks it’s still a good boat. There’s nothing wrong with it; why don’t we sell it to someone who’s going to use it again,” Quincey says.

Perhaps he’ll start crossing off a few items on his “things to do before 30 list”. Finishing his Master’s degree at AUT is top of that list. He just has to wait for the phone to stop ringing.

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The Future of Film (again)

An article with a title alluding to a much more intellectual article than what is to follow.

by Jared Van Huenen

In 2011, Frank Baum’s 1990 novel The Wizard of Oz is set to be made into a film (again) but this time it will be entirely CGI. Just when you thought you’d seen the end of that remarkably frightening scarecrow and his astoundingly un-rusty tin friend, technology came along and changed the game. I reckon in 20 years we’ll all be watching the same little girl bundle along a yellow brick road through some amazing virtual reality goggles. Maybe.

Anyway, back to the movies. In a couple of months Courteney Cox and Neve Campbell will start filming on the sequel of the sequel of the sequel of a good film – Scream. That’s right; Scream 4 is on the cards.

David Arquette will be featuring as Sheriff Dewey. Don’t tell me you’re not excited.

Releasing late next year will be the (can you say this when it’s more than 18 months away) much anticipated Transformers 3. Yes there will be giant robots turning into machinery and blowing everything up, and yes Megan Fox has signed on for another one.

Also late next year (though we’ll probably get in 2012) everybody’s favourite pirate Mr Jack Sparrow will be raking it in at the box office again.

Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides will obviously star Johnny Depp, though the next instalment may involve the effervescent presence (that nearly rhymes) of Penelope Cruz.

This one isn’t really a movie of the future but who cares because it’s crazy.

The Expendables is the brainchild (if his brain can still bear children) of Sly Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke and even Steve Austin. Sadly, it also features Brittany Murphy – let’s hope she did a good job of it a la Heath Ledger’s Batman finale.

The gamers among you will know the Kane and Lynch title as one of the first games to really encapsulate the feel of a film within a game. Well now there is a film. Releasing in 2011, Kane and Lynch will star Bruce Willis as Kane and, possibly, Jamie Foxx as Lynch. Sounds pretty badass to me.

July 2011 = the Smurfs movie. No shit! Quentin Tarantino is voice acting as Brainy Smurf, and Neil Patrick Harris and Hank Azaria are also

involved. The one female smurf? Voiced by none other than the lovely Katy Perry.

Green Lantern is also out next year (I think it’s going to be a good 12 months for films) starring Ryan Reynolds as our green hero, and a couple of Kiwis are making an appearance with Jake the Muss featuring as Abin Sur and Boy writer/director Taika Waititi also getting his mug on the big screen (with a speaking role we are told). Nice one!

Starring Shia LaBeouf and Michael Douglas, Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps is set to release late this year. Following on from the classic 1987 film Wall Street, Douglas recurs as Gordon Gekko, and Charlie Sheen also returns as a decidedly aged Bud Fox. Odds on this film being pretty awesome.

What else have we got...

TWO NEW TINTIN FILMS. The first, The Secret of the Unicorn, releases next year, and there’s an untitled sequel set for 2012.

Daniel Craig has signed on as Red Rackham in the animated continuation of the amazingly popular TV series.

Police Academy is set to return as a film, though it hasn’t been written yet. Maybe 2013?

Hopefully Eddie Murphy is still alive. Final Destination 5 is on the cards, despite the fact that the last one was called The Final Destination, and it was absolute shit. Money plays apparently.

Clint Eastwood has signed on to direct a biopic entitled J. Edgar Hoover, and Jonah Hill looks set to star in the remake of 1987 TV series 21 Jump Street. Also on the cards starring Jonah Hill is the sequel of Ben Stiller’s epic (but shit) film Zoolander. Stiller will return to the role after a number of years doing 2/5ths of nothing decent. To top it off, there’s a new Superman in the mix where the Daily Planet is suffering due to the influence of the internet!

Topical.

All this has really done is made me keen for the next 12 months to skip past so I can watch films. Hopefully it hasn’t done the same to you. But TinTin? That’s gotta get you going.

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21

Odyssey On April 10, three lucky adult crews will be chosen to represent New Zealand at the World Hip Hop Dance Championships.

Former crews that have earned this incredible opportunity have made New Zealand proud by coming back with silver and gold medals. These crews were Request and SAS in the varsity division and Dziah, now known as Prestige, in the adult division. SAS and Request are moving up a level this year and competing in the adult div ision along some veteran crews; Odyssey, Nameless and 2.0.

The Auckland regionals took place on March 6 at the Genesis Theatre.

It was a fierce competition for all of the Auckland crews, with each one bringing their A game. The competing adult crews included SAS, Nameless, 2.0, Odyssey, Trak1, Lil Munkyz, Be real and Mozaic. Although they all put on an amazing and diverse show, only five crews made it through to nationals. I was able to interview Satele Brown of Odyssey dance crew to give you the inside scoop.

designs our prints. Pretty creative guy I say.

Who is the daredevil of the crew?

Dolf. Every time we think of something crazy we just look at him, then he says, “Sweet, I’ll try it”, then we say, “So you want to practice?” then he says, “Nah, all good. I’ll jus wing it”.

Who gets mocked the most in the crew and why?

Probably Kevin cause he’s always lost. We tease him because he doesn’t get angry. His motto is “don’t get angry, get even”. Everyone else gets angry, especially Byron.

Who was the MVP of the crew while training for regionals?

Antonio. The man was never late to practice and made it to every practice as well. Well done.

How did Odyssey start and where did the name come from?

From the Bonnevie Brothers who had a passion for God and a passion for dance. They named it Odyssey, which means a journey, and in their journey with guidance from the man above, they picked up all the boys that we have in our crew today: Antonio, Jed, Byron, Kevin, Carlos, Kayc, Dolf, Andy, Bryan, Taups and Satele.

Who was the slackest?

Where do I start? Nah, straight up, there wasn’t any slackers when it came to training. It really just came down to availability. Everyone either works or goes to uni so we had to work around that, which is pretty hard because education and paying the bills is something you have to do. But, when we came to training, everyone was pretty focused.

Who choreographed for your regionals’ piece?

I think we had about five different styles; bboy, iso, chorey, ragga and krump, which came from five different guys in the crew and everyone else helped out in places that they could.

If you could recruit one person in the world for your crew, who would it be and why?

If Byron was answering this question he’d probably say Batman. So yeah, probably Batman.

How did you guys feel when you found out you qualified for nationals?

We were pretty stoked aye! That was one of our goals and we achieved it so we are happy and blessed to be able to be given another chance to showcase our skills.

Where does Odyssey get their inspiration from?

Start with a prayer and end with a prayer. Enough said.

What valuable information did you learn about making a competition piece from going to worlds last year?

We learnt to be “your crew” if that makes sense. Don’t try to be like the others. Just do what you do best and what you love and believe in.

How would you sum up your regionals set in three words?

Motivation to do better. That’s four but oh well.

Are you going to change up the set for nationals? If so, can you give us the insider on what we can expect?

I think [for] nationals we are just going to bring out more of Odyssey; really showcase the skills that we have within the crew. But yeah, definitely going to change it up – hopefully for the better.

Who is the most creative in your crew?

Hmm, that’s a hard one. I think we are all pretty good at being creative.

We all pitch in then we just feed on that. Someone says something then someone else tries to top it and so on. Then, if we can’t make a decision we just battle. Jokes. If it comes down to choosing, we do majority rules.

But yea, Carlos is mad creative cause he dances, does the mixes and

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Do you have any pre-stage rituals? If so, what are they?

Yep. Stretch, then prayer, then start slapping each other saying, “wake up.

Chea Chea. Let’s do this, boys.” And just before we go on [someone says] “I need to go toilet” then, “What the?”

What’s one piece of advice you would give to up and coming crews, dancers, or choreographers?

Always ask for guidance and always be yourself.

What is one thing you want the world to know about Odyssey?

We love to do what we do and love to show people our gifts and talents we were blessed with.

What is Odyssey’s ultimate dream?

To keep the journey going.

What is Odyssey’s proudest accomplishment?

Placing at Stomp because we were blessed so much during the year. We made sure we gave back to God and that was through our Stomp set.

And not expecting anything, he still blessed us with a placing and some money to help our funding for Worlds. Chea! And gracing the stage at the World Hip Hop Champs in Las Vegas was so mean. The experience and just being in Las Vegas was just unreal. Worlds is like the Olympics of Hip Hop. Can’t get any better then that.

Easter Break festivities without gaINING AN EXTRA 10 POUNDS

By Tim Clarkson

Well the screeching noise of the cicadas has subsided and autumn is upon us. Which means that the Easter break will soon be here! When you’re not busy devouring copious amounts of chocolate or scavenging in the backyard for delicious treats, here are some suggestions to keep you entertained this holiday break.

The Royal Easter Show at the ASB Showgrounds is something not to miss. Thousands of people flock to Greenlane to soak up the festivities of all things Easter. It varies from sheep shearing to horse equestrian stunt riding. You shouldn’t miss Chelsea and her star dogs and don’t forget to have a whirl on some of the rides. Just make sure you go before you eat. It’s on from this Friday till April 5. Visit royaleastershow.co.nz for more information.

For the more timid of heart, the World Cinema Showcase is running at the Academy Cinemas on Lorne Street from March 25 till April 14. Here’s your chance to see some amazing films from around the world. My pick is The Hurt Locker, the victor at this year’s Academy Awards. Visit www. academycinemas.co.nz for the list of film and their schedules.

Here’s one for you nature lovers. Summer guided walks on Waiheke

Island. On every Wednesday, and Sunday mornings in March and April. Catch the 10 am ferry to Matiatia Bay Ferry Wharf on Waiheke, and the Guide will meet you there. Walks are on average 1 to 2 hours and include a mix of coastal, bush and hill tracks. Go to aucklandcity.govt.nz for more information, but guess what? It’s free.

Here’s another event that won’t hurt the bank balance at all. The Gypsy travellers Fair is on at the Beach Front, Surf Club, Orewa from April 2-5.

It features a range of art, crafts and other glorious knick-knacks.

Experience Authentic Aiki Jujitsu – a Japanese style of martial arts - on March 29, April 5 and April 12. It will be held at Myers Park from 6-7 pm on Monday evenings. This is a great way to get fit; bring your friends along as well so you can work out together! Visit aikinz.webuda.com for more information, but once again it’s free.

My pick of the six is the Stardome Observatory holiday sessions. If you are interested in astronomy this is the place to go. Running from April 6-16, go and see the various shows they’ve got going on, including “Big” and “Legends of Orion”. Prices start from $7. One Tree Hill Domain, Royal Oak. Visit stardome.org.nz for more information.

Stop, Drop and Dance: The beauty of flash mob

by Jess Cann

You could be just casually walking down Rutland Street, sipping on a mocha and it would hit you. A group of bodies surround you so suddenly, coming from all directions, that you are unsure on how you weave your way out of it. Once you regain your composure, you turn to look at what the swarm of people were doing. They’re all stood, statues on the spot, miming different ways they could use their cell phones, while spray painting a logo on the concrete in the centre. Believe it or not, this is all part of an international festival some AUT students are participating in called Electrosmog, promoting the idea of “sustainable immobility”.

The festival celebrates the idea of communication over geographical boundaries, harnessing the internet and new communication technologies to connect those across the world. The festival’s website openly admits that it may sound like a bit of a paradox, however when you think about it, increasing connections via technology defers the ‘crisis’, that they believe is happening, of decreasing mobility.

“The festival wants to engage the fundamental promise of the information age that communication technologies can replace the need for physical mobility, and thus both contribute to ecological stability as well as a more rewarding both deep-local and trans local life-style.” (Electrosmog Festival website) An AUT team participating in the festival, called Electrosmob (a combination of ‘Electrosmog’ & ‘flash mob’), decided that flash mobs as an idea would help them promote their own idea of “sustainable immobility” here in Aotearoa.

“It’s not that well-known in New Zealand, so we decided to promote it” says Sam Hitchcock, a second year Bachelor of Creative Technologies (BCT) student, taking part in this year’s festival.

The team, consisting of Sam and his mates Daniel, James, Josh, Leroy, Max, Taylor and Thorsten, who are all BCT students, said they wanted to try something different as their interpretation of what the festival is all about.

“It’s off the books; we didn’t want to do too much work but we wanted have a different take on the whole festival,” Sam says. issue 5 march 2010

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So with the help of the first year BCT students, who they dubbed their ‘pawns’ in their master plan, they launched Electrosmob, which is also part of their first assessment of the year. Watching YouTube clips from around the world for inspiration, the group formulated a plan to flash mob certain areas of the Auckland CBD, starting with Rutland Street and then moving onto areas such as the AUT Businesses school building.

The group believes that being environmentally-friendly while trying to create their own interpretation of the festival’s slogan is important, so they choose to spray paint areas where they flash mob with wash-away paint.

Electrosmob recently took part in the Electrosmog festival which ran from the 18th until the 20th of March online, which included watching other teams showcase their interpretations of ‘sustainable immobility’ and an online breakfast with roughly 10,000 people all logging onto the website.

Electrosmob uploaded videos to the website of their attempts at flash mobbing for people all around the world to watch and comment on, meaning teams could get feedback and instantaneous communication from people living in different countries.

“The festival went really well, we actually received word from [from] other sources saying that our flash mobs were discussed at an Electrosmog meeting in Amsterdam which is awesome!” says Taylor Abernethy Newman.

The team says had they had more time, they would have organised Facebook groups and other ways of connecting to students, children and parents to become involved in their flash mobs. They had to hastily whip something together in time for the event but say they will definitely be entering next year.

“If we got 5000 people to block up an intersection, that’d be pretty good,” says Taylor.

If you want to know more about the Electrosmob group, go to www. electrosmob.wordpress.com or www.electrosmogfestival.net to find info about the festival itself.

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FIRST SEMESTER IN TERMS OF ‘TIME’ IS WELL UNDERWAY, and I am reminded of the wise words of my mother when I was in primary school, “I’ve wasted time and now does time waste me”!

Time is certainly an interesting phenomenon. It is measurable in terms of days, weeks, months, years and at the micro level in hours, minutes and seconds. It can be thought of as a gift that is available to us each one in equal measure.

There are few words that are so linked to phrases in our language that are as relevant and challenging as time. “Time and tide wait for no one. Time is short. There is no time left.” The list goes on and on.

The importance of time and the manner of its use is crucial for any student undertaking tertiary study at under-grad, post-grad and doctoral level. It is a gift we are all given as the first shafts of morning light pierce the darkness of the night. We are familiar of a beach at first light where our footsteps constitute the first of the day, or of the impact we make in freshly fallen snow.

For us at AUT once we receive our faculty and subject handbook we are faced with times when aspects of our work will be judged through essays, assignments, presentations (individual or group), practical work, tests and exams.

If we are wise we will mark the times of closing dates for submissions carefully and undertake a process of working backwards to set personal goals for aspects of work to be well underway and provide ourselves with the necessary time to submit work that reflects the very fact that time has been spent on it. These goals need to be marked and highlighted also so in essence we create a “time-line” to reach our end point.

What follows now then is our own personal time-management.

Many of us will have sat through discussions and classes which stress its importance and outline a number of approaches which are helpful.

We can know all the theory about making better use of our time but in the end it comes down to us alone. Another word then becomes prominent. It is self-discipline!

Unless we apply this, as and when required, to the level of work we are confronted with, then time itself will turn against us and become very much our enemy.

As I type this I am mindful that not all of us find time-management easy and I include myself in the group that realise I can do better.

Will you join me on the journey that makes the best use of this precious gift of time? Your sense of personal satisfaction and fulfilment will be in itself a reward as another word, “stress”, diminishes as a significant part of your day and indeed your semester experience.

Years back now, Bob Dylan sang, “The times they are a changing.”

AUT prides itself in being a university for the changing world. Indeed, the best use of your time now will equip you as never before to be a part of that change. Go for it!

On November 10th Arch Enemy visited New Zealand shores for the first time, and guess who got to meet the band! I was one of the winners of the Axe Attacks competition to meet the band, and I used this column as one of the reasons why I should get to meet them.

Writing for debate can get you things you would never even imagine, so if you’re considering contributing, stop procrastinating and just do it!

Back to Arch Enemy, the gig was at the Transmission room which is pretty much a square concrete box underground. It’s hot, sweaty and extremely cosy. But it does have the advantage that even if you’re standing right at the back on the venue you’re close to the band. During the second support act is when I got to go backstage to meet them. It was the typical type of meet and greet, the band sitting in a line at some tables, you get given a poster to get signed and then you get a photo with them. No time for anything deep and meaningful, but it is still an extremely awesome experience. I took two, quite shallow, things away from the experience. One, Daniel Erlandsson (the drummer) is quite easy on the eyes and two, Angela Gossow (the singer) is fucking tiny, there is absolutely nothing of that woman. This makes her even more amazing when she takes to the stage. In a band where every member is a highly skilled musician, Gossow can steal the stage with her presence and startling vocals. Michael and Chris Amott showed unison on the guitar that you can only achieve by playing together for most of your life, showing this off especially with a dual guitar solo. Sharlee D’Angelo (who is as big as Gossow is small) and Daniel Erlandsson (who eventually took his shirt off) played their parts perfectly, producing flawless performances as well as interacting with the audience.

A few highlights of the gig for me include a female showing the band her breasts, only for Angela to tell her that she was going to make the guys miss notes because they’ll get too excited. There was also someone who managed to lose their shoe in the pit, but continued to hold onto it throughout the night. He eventually got the attention of Gossow on stage who remarked “I’m a little afraid of the guy down here with the shoe.” The only low point of the night was (again) the Transmission Room, the concrete sweat box which seems to be the only place international metal bands want to play in New Zealand. This time they even refused to let my friends and I take in our sealed water bottles, so we were forced to hand over an absorbent amount to their bar for only a small bottle. Fortunately this wasn’t enough to ruin the night, and I must thank the Axe Man (aka Paul Martin) for giving me the opportunity to meet them.

Neet meets Arch Enemy

24

Lean, Green, Eco-machine

Pop N Good

By Amy Rosenfeld “There’s plenty of fish in the sea”, or so my mum

An open letter to Britney Spears’ nipples.

always told me.

So why then, did I spend half an hour at the supermarket yesterday deciding on what brand of tuna to buy?

Tuna is the student staple, the cheap bulker-upper of every meal.

From crackers to rice meals, pasta-bakes to sushi, this humble fish has gotten many a student out of some tight situations, but it may be on its last legs (so to speak).

Thanks to a whole heap of wastefulness and a lack of forward thinking by the fishing industry, our southern Bluefin tuna has now been given an endangered status similar to the Kakapo or Maui Dolphin – also known as the “oh shit” status.

All around the world governments have agreed to reduce their catch of Bluefin tuna by up to 20 per cent until the species recovers.

In New Zealand however, our ministry is planning to up our quota by 27 per cent.

Anyone else see a problem here?

We New Zealanders like to think of ourselves as clean, green and sustainable. We’ve been hassling other countries to cut their tuna catches for the last couple months, and boast on about our fancy schmancy “quota management system” (which is just another way of saying “we know what we SHOULD be catching, but don’t necessarily stick to it”) and yet our fish stocks are some of the worst in the world.

Let’s face it New Zealand, we’re just one big over-fishing hypocrite of a nation.

Nearly half of our orange roughy stocks have totally collapsed since commercial fishing began, and we’re left with about a tenth of the shrimp and snapper populations we once had.

Overfishing isn’t as ‘in-your-face’ as the leveling of native forests or the mining of national parks, but it still affects all of us. Anyone who fancies themselves as a bit of an angler knows it’s getting harder to catch a fish these days, and even those of us who prefer the ‘deep-fried with a scoop of chips’ experience have noticed the price going up. It was easy enough to see just what a state we’re in when a recent east-coast tuna fishing contest failed to bring in even one Yellowfin tuna for the first time in its history.

By our government’s own policy many species of hoki, orange roughy, snapper and tuna should have been taken off the shelves years ago.

While our government may be turning a blind eye, other countries are waking up to our inadequacies, with supermarkets in the UK refusing to stock New Zealand hoki because of our sustainability issues.

So your eco-tip for this issue? Check out which fish species are on their way out at www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/sos/red-list and avoid them wherever possible. If you’re buying fish, always ask what it is and how it was caught – if they can’t tell you, be suspicious.

And for those of you who cannot live without your tuna, skipjack is the best species to buy and Sealord is a brand with a good sustainability policy.

Because, let’s face it, where would we be without our fish and chips?

Dear Britney’s nipples.

How are you doing? I know you don’t know me but I feel like we know each other so well. Every time I read a gossip blog you find a way to make an appearance. It must be liberating to break free after all those years. You must have been tormented in Britney’s early career, your existence only hinted at. I guess her post-head shave years were the perfect time to make your foray into the world.

I imagine it can get quite tiring, always being on alert for the next paparazzi snap. There must be some real teamwork involved in making sure you both face the right way.

Winter is coming to an end, and no doubt you are glad. You would have been working overtime, trying to ensure that there was only one layer of fabric between you and the world, yet not falling off due to frostbite.

What do you both do to stay in shape? Heavens forbid one of you gets slack and pulls an innie at the wrong time.

I bet you’re glad that you’re not say, Michelle Obama’s nipples.

You get to frolic about in the sunshine while Michelle’s stay holstered in a bra behind cleavage hiding dresses. It’s not just the first lady though; you have more freedom than the average women’s shirt tic tacs.

Have you thought about pulling a Janet? I think one of you would look rather stellar in a shield. I mean if you’re going to go this far you might as well get some bling.

Though you must ensure you don’t make the mistake that Britney’s vagina did. What a flash in a pan it was! Five or six shocking appearances and then it sunk back away from the spotlight. I think the ‘poking out beneath everything’ strategy is much better. You’re keeping it classy, nipples.

I would like to end this letter by urging you both to stay safe.

Please resist the urge to poke someone’s eye out. Children and little people are especially at risk from this. I have a feeling Britney’s management would make you go away if you blinded someone. Don’t worry, Britney’s nipples, you’re not blinding anyone at the moment.

Well, not literally.

People may call you trashy and want you to be strapped in as society demands, but they’re just jealous haters. Keep making appearances at Starbucks, gas stations, and on those supermarket runs. I’ll keep following your career. Stay strong, nipples. Keep on doing your thing.

From Sarah.

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Dear Agony Aunt, If I go out at the weekend I usually drink up to 5 bottles of beer and 4-5 vodkas each night. Is this a binge? I don’t drink alcohol during the week.

From worried drinker Dear worried drinker, YUP! This amount of alcohol in one session is defined as binge drinking whether you are male or female. One of the most dangerous types of drinking is when you have a binge. That is, when you drink a lot more than usual on any one occasion. The recommended upper levels for safe drinking for men is 21 standard drinks per week and 14 standard drinks for women., with no more than 6 standard drinks in one session for men and 4 for women.

Drinking more than this puts you and your health and safety at risk. However there is no level of drinking that is safe for all people all the time. Factors like health, age, and weight directly affect how much is safe for you to drink. For some, no alcohol is the only safe option, especially women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant.

How do you know what a standard drink is? Most containers of alcohol now have a standard drinks measure on them and it is a good idea to check so that you can judge how much alcohol you are drinking. A standard drink equals 10 grams of pure alcohol. If you drink a 330ml can of beer OR a 100ml glass of wine OR a 30ml (pub measure) of straight spirits you are drinking approximately 10 grams of alcohol - one standard unit. Be careful with Ready to Drinks (RTDs) as these will vary and can contain in excess of 2 standards drinks per bottle.

So if you are drinking 5 beers and 5 vodka’s a night you are having approx 10 standard drinks in one session, depending on who’s pouring the vodka!!

This is twice the recommended upper safe limit.

Drinking unsafe levels of alcohol can lead to physical and emotional harm. Short term effects e.g. a hangover can be particularly unpleasant and is caused by the effects of dehydration. Symptoms include pounding headache, feeling sick or depressed, general grouchiness and diarrhoea.

Suffering from regular hangovers will seriously affect your study and academic success. Long term effects include gastritis and stomach ulcers, high blood pressure, anaemia, depression and other medical problems e.g. cirrhosis of the liver.

Remember alcohol is a drug and its effect on behaviour can have disastrous consequences. Women who drink more heavily are more likely to have early sexual experiences, to have sex with a greater number of partners and to have unprotected sex. Alcohol is the most common drug in date rape cases; it can make you less observant, less careful about how to get home and less able to defend yourself. Men who drink heavily are more likely to get involved in crime and risk taking activities.

There are two main ways to ensure you are making your drinking safer.

The first is to have 2-3 alcohol free days each week. This helps your body recover from the effects of alcohol. The second is to avoid binge drinking and stick within the recommended limits (as above).

Tips on safer drinking: -Keep a track on what you are drinking -Watch out for those people who keep on topping up your glass -Eat a meal before drinking alcohol.

-Alternate alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks -Avoid participating in drink games -Watch out for drink spiking.

-Don’t mix drinks with drugs -Look after yourself and your friends.

-Arrange safe transport home.

If you have concerns about your drinking or someone else’s drinking you can see one of our nurses or counsellors at Health Counselling and Wellbeing on 921-9998 (North Shore campus) or 921-9992 (City campus). Alternatively you can contact Community Alcohol and Drugs Services on 845-1818 or www.cads.org.nz.

by Samantha McQueen

week

mylifeisaverage.com

website of the

Honestly, you’d think I get no work done with the amount of websites I’ve been plugging over the past two weeks. I do work, promise. However, if you are wanting my distraction from the mundane routines of your everyday life, as well as a good chuckle, make sure you check out mylifeisaverage.com. The concept is simple but brilliant. People from around the world send in stories about their average lives. You don’t need to log in to submit your own story, but if the moderation queue is too long you have to log in to jump the line. Yes, they jump the line even on the internet. The site says it’s all about having average lives, but what they really mean is AWESOME! Majority of the posts are written by high school or college kids, and are about classes, a love of Harry Potter and a hatred of Twilight. Some of them aren’t funny at all but more often than not you’ll come across a real gem. Go online and check them out!

Some of the funny submissions I have found so far are: Today, my sister texted my mom “I’m in the splelling bee.” MLIA Today I made the mistake of reading Mylifeistwilight just to see what it was all about. Some girl spelled Edward Cullen wrong. Obviously you’re life is not twilight. MLIA Today my friend got a new cell phone. I wasn’t aware of this until she texted me. I also wasn’t aware of her underlying stupidity. The text read: “Hey, what’s your number?” MLIA Today, I watched Harry Potter in the Chamber of Secrets with my family. It was the first time my sister had seen it, so my mom, dad, and I decided that when Harry hears the Basilisk hissing, we were going to pretend like we didn’t hear anything. When Harry was walking through the halls and heard hissing, my sister said “I’d be so scared if I heard that”. We told her we didn’t hear anything, and she freaked out, thinking she could speak Parseltongue. MLIA.

Kindle for iPhone by Amazon.com

by Lynda Brendish Kindles haven’t really made it to New Zealand yet, but they’re big in America. A portable e-reader that says “Hey! I have lots of disposable income!” Luckily, if you have the iPhone/iPod Touch – you can download this Kindle app for free, and there’s a huge selection of books to choose from. The biggest immediate drawback is reading a book on such a small screen, but it really isn’t that bad. The app has options to adjust the text size and the contrast, and handy bookmarking features which allow you to jump to chapters or a specific point quite easily. It automatically takes you to the last page read every time you start the app. The real drawback is that searching for books still takes you to Safari, so unless you have a specific book in mind, it’s probably best to browse on your computer first. Most Kindle books on amazon cost money and you’ll need a credit card, but even with the exchange rate I’ve found them mostly to be cheaper than buying at a shop – and you’ll save the environment!

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Horoscopes

with Tenani French

Love it!

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

Google shoving it to the Chinese Government You gotta give Google props for having the balls to stick it to the Chinese. They may be the world’s biggest internet company but selling search ads is one thing, sticking it to the Government of the world’s most populous country is another.

Basically the Chinese censor their internet so your average Chinese Joe can’t research things like democracy. Google was all good with this until it discovered Chinese attacks on its websites. Google got pissed and said they’d stop filtering results in China and may even pull out completely. Talk about Clash of the Titans. Stay tuned.

Watch it!

Pokemon: The Movie I am the proud owner of this film on DVD and I have to say there are few things that can make me laugh like watching it.

If you were fortunate enough to grow up during the Pokemon craze you probably saw it at the movies, watched the TV show, traded the cards and played the video games. Give it another go, for nostalgia’s sake, you won’t regret it.

Protest it!

Whaling in the Southern Ocean Damn people wanting to hunt awesome animals like whales!

Talk about a step backward. A whale could kick a human’s ass in hand-to-fin combat. I think only people who are able to physically and single-handedly, without technological assistance, catch a whale should be able to eat it. You can’t do that, can you John Key? No, didn’t think so, leave them alone then.

Stream it!

Like all public holidays, the weather in Auckland will be crap this Easter. Use this indoors time wisely. Read a book. Watch TV. Build a fort.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) For you darling first years still under the legal age to drink, prepare to spend Easter with your folks while your 18-year-old mates party it up in town. For other Taureans, this Easter will be one you’ll never remember.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21) Your gluttonous side takes over this week as you wolf down every Easter egg in sight. You will also bring a new meaning to “stealing candy from a baby”.

CANCER (June 22-July 22) Unfortunately for you, this holiday break will be spent curled up in the library doing assignments that your tutors conveniently made due the first day back.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) This week, you will realise if you don’t come in to uni at all this week, you will have a three week holiday like those University of Canterbury bastards. You’ll probably fail something, but three weeks holiday!

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) You decide to throw a good old fashioned house party this week to celebrate your parents being out of town. You will post the photos on Facebook. Your parents will find out.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23)

Captain Planet Another awesome piece of my childhood is now available for free online! Captain Planet has got to be one of the coolest (and most forward thinking) cartoons of all time. Watch episodes for free online at the Mother Nature Network: www.mnn.com/captainplanet

Use it!

The Dominos Pizza website I don’t often find myself admiring the websites of fast food companies but this one has a cool little feature that actually makes waiting for your pizza when you’re starving much less painful. After you place your order there’s a little clock that pops up at the side of the page showing exactly what’s happening with your pizza and how long it’ll be until it gets there. So now you can sit there and watch it go from “Preparing” to “Cooking” to “Leaving the store” instead of doing your assignments... or writing a decent edition of Suggestions.

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.

The stars are not aligned in your sign at all this week. Jupiter is off for the week and Pluto is still pissed about not being a planet anymore that he takes it out on you. Watch out for sharp objects.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) After meeting your internet soulmate last week, you pull out all the stops to impress them on your first date. Note: Burping the entire alphabet will not impress anyone. Except maybe Seth Rogen. You have been warned.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) You will finally fall asleep during one of your Monday lectures.

Lucky for you, the lecturer doesn’t notice your sex-crazed sleep talking. Unlucky for you, the hottie from Communications will.

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You will get that last assignment into the drop box just in time, but it will be at the expense of five bystanders, a water cooler and your shins.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) You decide to forgo the annual Easter family dinner so you can attend the Easter party at Vesbar. It will be the right choice.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Your credit card will take a hammering as you delve into emergency funds to pay for those new shoes and/or PS3. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

issue 5 march 2010

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Blaire Archibald: A postgraduate fashion star and “a really, really nice guy”

L

ast year at the 2009 Rookie Show, Blaire Archibald was without a doubt, one of the most memorable exhibitors and a crowd favourite. When faced with the task of interviewing a post grad fashion student, I picked him because a) I had heard that he was an incredibly talented menswear designer, and b) I had also heard that he was “a really, really nice guy”. Both turned out to be right on the money.

He describes his collection for the 2009 AUT Rookie Show as being a chance to test himself, or an “exploration of what I’m capable of”. A lot of the time, these sorts of “explorations” can turn out to be an absolute mess of crass, avant garde ideas and basically the fashion imagination run wild. A good designer can rein it in as well as fully exploring ideas to their capacity, which is what I think Blaire achieves with his menswear designs. His collection, originally titled I shot you with my silence, was inspired by a photograph of his granddad when he was a professional rugby player back in his prime. It was the attitude of the time that inspired his collection of loose, relaxed tailoring. I especially liked the baggy trousers, which to me is a welcome change from the ultra slim leg that you still see everywhere.

His winter 2009 collection (done in his second year of Fashion Design at AUT) was inspired by Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra and their appreciation of menswear and meticulous presentation. My personal favourite from this collection was a quilted bow-tie t-shirt. I love the irony of this soft image of a padded bow-tie, which is put into menswear and loses its ‘Hello Kittyish’, girlish connotations and takes on an unexpected masculine edge.

Blaire comes across as a designer who has had many more years of design experience than the three spent at AUT. And if this is just the beginning of his career, I imagine he will go very far in his field. You get the impression from his work that he still has a lot more up his sleeve and hasn’t thrown everything at us at once. This is the mark of someone who can step back and see what is, and is not working without getting too caught up in ‘self expression’.

For his Honours work, Blaire is researching into the genre of fashion writing and how it

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works in the depiction of clothing and the industry. His project is called Reading Fashion: an investigation into the Textual Language of Clothing and investigates how people respond to written depictions of clothing and how this effects the perception of fashion in the public sphere. I asked him a few questions on this topic: Your Honours work is about fashion writing; how do you think the style of writing in New Zealand differs to around the world?

I think the style of writing really depends on the context that it is placed in. Different styles of text are written to fit specific forms of media and target a specific reader. I think the generalized way of documenting fashion only begins to touch the surface; several fashion writers and theorists internationally describe fashion in a more substantiated manner. However, in a modern society it is more likely that a reader will be more interested in who was wearing a particular piece of clothing as opposed to the piece of clothing itself.

What do you think the style of fashion writing in New Zealand says about our approach to fashion?

Because the industry is so small, the existence of fashion writing will most likely have very little impact on New Zealanders, unless of course it contains aspersions about a designer or somebody in the media. I think that is where I am trying to address a need for change and improvement; people who are interested in reading about fashion and the industry should be able to see it from another perspective, where the focus is on the clothing and what it stands for and symbolises.

Where do you see yourself in ten years time?

Well that would make me 31, so hopefully I’m not still trying to pass off for 21. I try to only think two years ahead of time, 10 is rather daunting. I guess I’d like to have travelled and become more cultured in that amount of time.

Still at university, Blaire Archibald is already making his mark on the New Zealand menswear fashion scene and is about to become a household name. His original and different outlook will set him head and shoulders apart from everyone else (and not just because he is a fairly tall guy). I look forward to his next collection and especially hearing what he has to say about fashion journalism. Keep your eyes peeled for this boy in the future!

Duncan Brown 1st Fashion Design Wears own design pants and Children of Vision Tent Top Vintage shoes

Emily Collins Graphic Design student Wears Jacket by Smoove, Doc Martens, Vintage shorts, scarf by Paris Texas, Mala Brajkovic top and sunglasses

by Karen Walker Fashion hate: “I’m really sick of lace.”

Lauren Flaherty Graphic Design student Dress from High Street, bag by Country Road, Marc Jacobs shoes, ring Georgie Scarlet in Devonport and bracelet from The Department Store.

Favourite item:”My dress because of the dancing

Lauren Nuttall 3rd year Fashion Design Cardigan by AUT student Voilet Howlett Aitkin, Vintage shoes and top, Lonely Hearts pants

Retail Mystery Shopper –Sussing it out for you first Peachy Keen – Vintage Department Store Inside Real Groovy, Queen St Open 7 days 9am-7pm

Price Range: $10 - $350 Size Range: 6 - 16 Can I wear it to uni? Hell yeah, tee’s and waist coats all the way Can I wear it to town? If you’re the arty type For guys or girls? Both

When I look at Real Groovy from the outside it always reminds of Empire Records (if you haven’t seen the movie, there’s something for you to do Easter weekend). Little did I realise that there is not only a treasure trove of music within its walls, but there’s also a treasure trove of vintage fantastic! A little dazed as I walked in, like Alice was when she fell down that hole into Wonderland, I perused the merchandise.

My first impression of the name when it said “Vintage Department Store” was of the op shops I used to trawl through when I was really poor and needed a new top. You know the ones: musty, smoky smelling clothes with questionable levels of cleanliness. Well, I was pleasantly surprised when walking into Peachy Keen; the level of smell was low and the level of cleanliness was very high. A good start!

The first thing I’m drawn to is the biggest rack of t-shirts I’ve ever seen. I read the sign, which said, “American vintage tee’s everything $20 unless labelled otherwise”. Fab! Who doesn’t like a $20 tee? They are pretty crammed in on the rack but I gallantly shove them around and take a look at the designs. I want them... I want them all. There are some great American university tees in there alongside a couple from the 80s too. I turn around and their perfect companion, the waist coat, is on the issue 5 march 2010

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rack next to them. I’m starting to like this place.

Going further in, very bright splashes of pink, blue and orange turn out to be tutus. Finally I’ve found a place that sells them! The back wall is covered in cowboy boots; again, I never actually knew where to buy cowboy boots. This shop (and the boots) is fantastic!

And then I spot the drawers; literally overflowing with silk scarves, at $10 a pop they are worth the hunt through the pile. Vintage hats are all over the place and I’m amused to find my old school’s hat is on the wall too, complete with the person’s name sewn into it. My last noteworthy find is the leather skirts. They are wonderful and they remind me of the leather skirt that Lucy Liu wears in Charlie’s Angels. As a guilty secret, I want one of those too. Take a mate to this place, I recommend it for those one off items you buy that everyone will forever be asking you…where did you get that from?

So….what did you think of our Peachy Keen review? Helpful? Hit and miss? Think you can do better. Send your thoughts and reviews to debate@aut.ac.nz, with “retail heaven” in the subject line.

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!

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Imogen Heap Live at the Juice Bar, March 19 Review by Anna Loren

I’ve been utterly, irrevocably in love with Imogen Heap’s music since I was 17 (let’s just say it got me through some hard times). So when she announced that she’d be heading to Auckland on her Ellipse tour, I bought my ticket the day they went on sale and started telling all and sundry how much I was going to cry when I saw her. I think they were a little concerned by how excited I was about this.

The other 249 people who packed into the Juice Bar on the night – a mixture of black-clad fan girls like me, curly-haired oldies and, strangely, a few bogans – seemed to be just as excited. By the time the two opening acts (both of whom had a puzzling love for doing “the robot”) finished and Heap took the stage, the atmosphere was euphoric.

There are two things that must be said about this woman’s stage presence: firstly, she’s about eight feet tall, and with feathers in her hair and mics strapped to her wrists, she was a mesmerising sight. Secondly, she’s quintessentially British. Quiet, but confidently so, she nattered away to the crowd, quipping that she “only drink[s] tea or straight vodka” as she sipped from a teacup on stage, and detailing disappointing romantic encounters to us as if we were old friends.

The set ran for two hours and featured a smorgasbord of instruments.

As well as Heap’s perspex piano and the usual guitar and drums, she and members of her backing band played the saw, the gong, the hose (which she whipped around her head to create sound), the keytar and a couple of instruments that I didn’t even know the names of, including a handheld metal spiral scraped with a stick. Beatboxing, strings of bells and even the chirps of a stuffed toy bird were used to add layers of sound. A very young and very elfin Auckland woman played the viola on ‘Aha’, and throughout it all, Heap’s angelic voice soared, resonant and pitch-perfect.

The set featured a mixture of songs from the recently-released Ellipse, as well as everyone’s old favourites from her earlier albums. While the poppy Bad Body Double and teen anthem Headlock had the crowd dancing, mostly we just stared in rapturous silence, punctuated by thunderous applause between songs.

The highlight, however, was the encore, and everyone in the bar joined in on singing Just For Now and Heap’s most well-known and, arguably, most loved track, Hide and Seek (made popular by its inclusion on The O.C. in 2005 and recently bastardised by R&B “artist” Jason DeRulo in Whatcha Say). The sound of all those voices filling the tiny space; girls (aka me) holding hands and crying openly: it was almost a religious experience. Finally, as everyone wiped their tears away, Heap finished her set with the mournful, longing The Moment I Said It, reached out into the crowd to squeeze hands tightly (including mine – oh yes, bitches) and disappeared into the night.

Five stars, A-plus, would cry again.

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Green Zone

Film Review by Catherine Selfe He’s done it again! Matt Damon has let the potential quality of another film fall by the wayside.

From the director of The Bourne Ultimatum comes the hyped up war film, Green Zone. The film follows the actions of Chief Roy Miller (Damon) in his search for weapons of mass destruction. While doing his duty in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, Miller begins to unravel a conspiracy initiated by US officials which he now sees as his duty to uncover.

The staunchness needed for this role was failed by the inadequate acting of Matt Damon, whose performance was weak and shallow. However, it would be unfair to place complete criticism with Damon who was followed by fellow mediocre actor Greg Kinnear, who played Clark Poundstone. If this duo wasn’t too much to handle already, they’ve gone ahead and thrown in a presidential public announcement from former US president George Bush Jr. It was at this point that I wondered whether this supposed “action” had turned into a comedy.

Despite the trio of doom there were a few performances that I found agreeable. First was the performance of Khalid Abdalla in his role as Freddie who, unlike Damon, was genuine and had the ability to be believable in his role. Also, if you’ve wanted to see what Mad Eye Moody from Harry Potter would look like with both eyes, legs and all his face then Green Zone would provide an opportunity for that. Just as in Harry Potter, Brendan Gleeson applied himself to the role and added some quality to the film as did fellow Harry Potter actor, Jason Isaacs, who showed such amazing versatility that he is almost indistinguishable in his part.

By this stage in my criticisms of Green Zone, it is arguable that my qualms with the film could be placed down to a personal distaste for certain actors. But it doesn’t stop there. In addition to the low standard of acting I found the music used to be clichéd and unoriginal, and the lighting was sometimes so minimal that it was near impossible to discern who was firing at whom. In some scenes a jostled hand-held camera effect was used to give a sense of realism, yet all it achieved was making it difficult to view and interpret the scene while making the viewer feel like they were on a motion master ride gone mad. The story line was interesting and had the basis to create a fantastic film but poor execution of a few vital elements brought down the tone of the film considerably.

Thanks to free tickets from AuSM, I willingly went to see this film (I’m definitely not one to turn down a free film). I’ve never been able to walk out of a film before the end (the optimist in me keeps saying “it could get better”) but in this instance I wish I had broken my habitual ways. Undoubtedly, there would be those of you who would enjoy Green Zone but if you are a bit wary of your money (and your stomach) and don’t want it to go to waste, then wait for it to be released on DVD.

The White Stripes

Green Room

Under Great White Northern Lights

Directed by Peter Feeney

CD/DVD Review by Mike Atkins

Theatre Review

by Katie Montgomerie

A decade isn’t a particularly long time for a musical act to have lasted; but for a band like the White Stripes, for whom everything happens on a smaller scale, it’s a lifetime. As a miniature scale band, it’s easy to think of them as a band who’ve never evolved musically. So at their tenth aniversery they come with something to prove.

That miniature (read:human) scale is a large part of their appeal, however. So, what they prove is that evolution is over-rated. The White Stripes are a band that were born fully formed with talent, and searing passion, and very little need to improve (just listen to their debut), and that’s exactly how their career has played out. The White Stripes play shows with the energy and intensity of the teenage prodigies that they were in 1997.

Capturing a White Stripes’ show in all its immediacy is the goal of the live album portion of this album/DVD package. The album starts with a faithfully frenetic version of Black Math, accompanied by audience screams and chants, which never die down over the course of the album.

That’s the thing about this live album (as opposed to others): it places the listener about five rows back from the stage, which adds to the immediacy of the sound.

Though evolution never happens, change is a part of life (and an inevitable result of that immediacy). Here The Union Forever morphs into an apocalyptic sermon, Fell In Love With A Girl into a heavy blues stomp, and Seven Nation Army into an epic of fuzz, buzz, and feedback. This adds to that immediacy, while at the same time rewarding fans by allowing them to feel the weight of the preceeding decade, as I’m sure the Stripes did.

The documentary DVD is hardly superfluous though. Directed by Emmett Molloy, it benefits from the same elegant simplicity as the White Stripes’ music does, and as a result never stops being fascinating. The White Stripes are interviewed, they play (always awesome), they interact with each other, they do interesting things (visit an Inuit rest-home, play a show on a bus etc), repeat. That’s about it.

If the above description makes it sound pretty but pointless, it could’ve been, but it’s not. The effect is that we get to know the White Stripes as people (something that’s rare for any doco, let alone a rockdoco). Jack comes off as witty, thoughtful, and gregarious, someone who it’s a pleasure spending 90 minutes in the company of. But it’s Meg - quiet, mysterious, and possibly troubled, who the camera really loves.

She’s so quiet that all her lines of dialogue are subtitled (“What can I say? I’m quiet”), and at the film’s climax, she mysteriously breaks down crying as Jack sings the piano ballad White Moon. There’s a whole film to be built around the footage of Meg smoking cigarettes, and staring at that breathtaking Yucatan scenery with that enigmatic look on her face, while Jack absent-mindedly taps at a Wurlitzer to a Jerry Lee lewis track on the radio.

Any film that functions as a character study of these two people, interspersed with live footage of their music justifys its existence very easily.

issue 5 march 2010

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I’m sure that all of you devoted debatees faithfully read my interview with the guys from Green Room last week, and I hope some of you have even been to see the show at the Basement theatre. If you have, you can probably make up your own mind about the show but if you haven’t (or if you need someone opinionated to tell you what to think) read on!

Green Room is set in the green room of a mega budget Hollywood film shoot that happens to be filming in New Zealand. The show tells the story of three characters stuck in a green room together and competing for a line, the make-up girl Emma, the “good hat”, and the regard of Grant Rushmore (the movie’s star). Their attempts to win the coveted line include crazy sabotage, disturbing – no, let’s make that VERY disturbing – flashbacks and shameless self promotion, especially from our very own ex-Power Ranger, Nic Sampson.

From the word go, the starting sequence of Green Room immediately sets the pace and mood for an evening full of laughs, kicking off with a hilarious Muppet inspired, and not a little disturbing, dance from Byron Coll. But don’t get me wrong lads and ladettes, Green Room is definitely not your typical musical extravaganza (ah, I hear the sighs of relief). In fact, Byron Coll’s fantastic moves only stem from a slightly psychotic desire to steal Nic’s iPod and listen to his electro music.

The show continues in an alternately slapstick and subtle fashion (very little on the subtle and huge on the slapstick) and each of the actor’s monopolize on the intimate setting of the Basement by repeatedly breaking the fourth wall and including us on their “in” jokes. Each of the actors (Byron Coll, Nic Sampson and Ryan Richards) also display their versatility and imagination by creating characters out of inanimate objects such as the make-up girl Emma (I will never look at a mop and a squeaky toy the same way ever again!) and they also each had a turn playing Bruce: the very American, very rude, crotch-grabbing cast driver.

Although the story line in the show was a little shallow in some respects and there were definitely moments in which I looked at my friend Jodie with a “Oh no he didn’t!” look on my face, overall Green Room was an immensely entertaining and very funny little foray into the world of a green room. If the characters were a little vacuous, it was well compensated for by total commitment to the roles and by the sheer force of energy that was injected into the performance.

So if you are looking to see an emotional journey that will have you reaching for your tissues and leave you pondering the philosophy of life, This definitely isn’t the show for you, but if you are after some light entertainment that will have you snorting with laughter, go and see Green Room and support some of Auckland’s emerging artists – they will love ya for it!

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the t o p S fference

di

Correctly identify the FIVE differences in the pictures below then 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 12pm Thursday. What's up for grabs? A $10 voucher for The Counter cafe. Nom nom nom!

Name Phone Email Campus

Creative Corner is now up and running!

Are you a creative person? Do you consider yourself a bit of an artist? Do you want to get your work out there for everyone to see? Well now you can! From the next issue onwards, we’ll be dedicating a section of debate for anyone and everyone to submit their creative work. Don’t worry if words are your paintbrush, short stories/poems and literary masterpieces are also eligible. We welcome anything and everything (as long as it’s not offensive or inappropriate) so use these holidays to get creating! email your works of art to debate@aut.ac.nz

by Jade Lim

by Tamsyn Solomon 32

Indoor Bowls Open 2010

Singles and Doubles Tournament

NZ UNI GAMES 2010

AUT MEETINGS AND TRIALS SCHEDULE

To be played throughout

FREE SOCIAL SPORTS

May 2010

City

Box Fit, Wednesdays 7:45-8:45am City Variety: hacky sack, skipping, table tennis, Thursdays 11:30-1 City Quad Football, Tuesdays and Thursdays 4-6pm Auckland Domain

North Shore

Handball & Korfball, Tuesdays 12-1pm Turbo Touch, Wednesdays 12-2pm Pilates, Thursdays 12:30-1:30pm Dance Studio (Thanks to the School of Sport)

Manukau

on AUT City Campus, WC202

$2 per person entry Entries close on Wednesday 28th April.

To enter, email: melita.martorana@aut.ac.nz

Netball & Basketball, Mondays 12-2pm, Tuesdays 2-4pm Touch, Mondays 12-2pm, Thursdays 2-4pm Utimate Frisbee, Tuesdays 2-4pm

One-off Events

Zumba March 23, 12-1 North Shore Disability Day- Wheelchair Rugby March 25 11:30-1 City Quad

AUT FOOTBALL CLUB

Club training is every week on Tuesdays & Thursdays from 4 to 6pm at Auckland Domain and everybody are invited to join and kick the ball around.

Auckland Sunday Football League Fixtures

Round 1. 11 Apr 02:00 PM (ASFA D6) Eastern Bobcats vs (ASFA D6) AUT FC MacLeans Reserve 1 Round 2. 18 Apr 1:00 AM (ASFA D6) AUT FC vs (ASFA D6) Bangkok City United Auckland Domain 3 Round 3. 25 Apr 03:00 PM (ASFA D6) SudAmerica FB vs (ASFA D6) AUT FC Seddon Fields 3 Round 4. 2 May 03:00 PM (ASFA D6) Harimau Malaya FC vs (ASFA D6) AUT FC Auckland Domain 1 For more info on the club please contact Club President Chris at cautfootball@gmail.com

Inter-Tertiary League (ITL)

The Inter Tertiary League (ITL) is a year long social university sporting competition in which four tertiary institutes compete. These are: AUT University, Massey University Albany, UNITEC and Manukau Institute of Technology. It is held at the Trusts Stadium for indoor sports and UNITEC for outdoor sports. The sports are: Mixed Volleyball, Men’s Football, Men’s Basketball, Netball, Mixed, Men’s Touch.

This is a social league so anyone can come and participate. If you want to find out more and join these teams please email: kate.lowden@aut.ac.nz Round 1 closing date to accept entries is Monday March 22.

Round 1 is held on Friday March 26.

WEBSITE: www.ausm.org.nz/recreation for more on Sport @ AUT

FACEBOOK: become a fan of the “AUT Titans @ NZ Uni Games 2010 – Invercargill”

FACEBOOK: join our group “AuSM Sport”

AuSM Sport Team Leader Melita Martorana melita.martorana@aut.ac.nz 021 813 428

AuSM Sport Co-ordinator Kate Lowden kate.lowden@aut.ac.nz 021 288 2586

WWW.AUSM.ORG.NZ

33

Photos

by Bernhard Dreher 34

issue 5 march 2010

WWW.AUSM.ORG.NZ

35

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