ambiguity

Let's talk about the thing that everybody thinks about but nobody talks about, society's dirty little secret, yes of course what I'm talking about (as if I need to spell it out) is: apathy.
I always thought apathy was bad, and action good. But then I went to a seminar where a student showed us pictures of bored, unsmiling models which mesmerised us into thinking that while high fashion capitalism was glamourising apathy, if we took the message to heart and started being as apathetic as possible, we would stop buying stuff and capitalism would collapse.

So is the answer anti-apathy or action-antipathy? Is it ambivalence? To paraphrase The Simpsons: Are we being ironic? I don't know anymore...

It isn't doing a very good job then.
After walking past the second sign at the top of Albert Park, I got hungry and walked down to the Korean place on Lorne St for a sweet $2 pancake. (Is the road to hell paved with apathy or good intentions?)
And what should I see but this:

The small writing says: "The simplest solution to everything is apathy".
It's true. But ousting Paul Henry and installing Len Brown is far more satisfying.

rhema in drag

For once, I have no few words. Someone else has already done the commentary:

Did you see what it says there?

Man, that's a pro job! See how well that "a" is lined up, and the font is near-perfect. Whoever you are, you are my Hero! You deserve a Parade!
The only possible problem is that it now sounds attractive - a men's event full of "gays", whoop whoop.
In other news, Radio Rhema might lose its commercial frequencies.
PS was I the only child who thought of 'Ribena' when I heard 'Radio Rhema'? I never liked blackcurrants.

Reservoir Banks

So. Banks. No, not that one, these ones:



And because recyling is a good thing to do, you'll remember this one from waay back in the early days of this blog:


And then there's BNZ and Westpac.
Now. Scroll back up again and carefully examine all items. Can you spot the difference?
No, neither can I. Obviously one can create a bank ad in three easy steps: 1. Words, 2. blank background, 3. logo/picture bottom right hand corner. Voila!
I can think of three explanations:
1. They are actually all operated by the same shady outfit, and are known to each other by their colours - Mr Seabreeze Cyan, Mr Eco Green, Mr Burnt Custard Yellow. Just like in Reservoir Dogs.
2. Some wise guy who has a beer fridge at work and goes to Showgirls at lunchtime (ie, works in the ad industry) has sold them all the same do-it-yourself Adshop2000 software kit for $$$$.
3. A different ad agency has laboured over every inch of each handcrafted ad to show the individuality and true personality of each bank: "The text will be left-justified to impress upon the reader that this has been typed by a real person, someone just like them..." "The font will be slimline, sans-serif ("calibri") in white, to impart to the viewer that we are not a bank to bowl them over with heavy-handedness..."

I despair of the dearth of creativity in a society in which (3) is most likely.

So. These things above belong together, these things are kind of the same. But one of these things just doesn't belong here:

Actually, it looks too similar, don't you think? You could easily pass this and not read it because it looks like it's for, not against, the ANZ.
Also, I'm sure finsec actually means that even in an imperfect world, banks would pay their staff properly.
Still, pleasing to see a poster campaign from a union against a particular issue! I don't remember seeing that before.
Still, a pity that it's necessary.
Still! and extremely happily, finsec announced today (15 Sept - the dates on my blog are some overseas time) that their campaign "for a different and better offer from ANZ National" has worked! Congratulations!
PS, don't forget that all the banks here save Kiwibank have been investigated for tax non-payment.
PS2, OMG do not type in 'Banks' into google images unless you want pix of Miss Tyra!

interlude

A photographer with any skillz whatsover (ie, not me) could make this look fantastically dramatic I reckon.

The graffiti throw-up is in the empty void where there used to be a water reservoir at the top of Symonds St. The church behind it is on Khyber Pass.
I like the contrast between the prim (yet unusually coloured) church and the energetic writing. But this tableau, which I've passed numerous times, also reminds me that both religion and "tagging" have something in common: they're both easy targets at the moment. Religion is portrayed as the butt of cheap jokes (at best) rather than a phenomenon worth explaining; tagging (which the piece above isn't really an example of) can get you killed.
Maybe the world is divided into two types of people: those who think tagging is worse than religion and those who think religion is worse than tagging...

beauty and the brute

The science building is arguably the University of Auckland Building Most Likely to Harbour a Communist Bloc Dictator, uglier even than the engineering one.
And you see some weird things sticking out of it sometimes - tubes at awkward angles, first year chemistry students etc - for important experiments that Arts students like myself couldn't begin to understand.
But wait - what's this?

That's not an alum crystal, it's a baroque, fripperied, fol-de-rolled and curlicued chandelier! It's ruining the brutalist lines and transforming the building from an imposing behemoth in its own right to merely a contrasting backdrop for prettiness. Huzzah!

Twenty metres further down the road, outside the Information Commons, students go about their business in ignorance of such annexation and colonisation of the Science podium by frothy aesthetics:

But wait - again, what's that?! A battle seems about to begin:

More chemistry fume induced hallucinations? Maybe one of the armies wants to cover the stone wall with some lacy fretwork to go with the chandelier. One can only hope!

artists unite

It was an action-packed weekend, because we also went to the Museum. The Museum is great, but these days is insisting that every visitor wears a sticker for some corporate KPI kind of reason, even though it's free to visit.
Well, we knew where we could stick those stickers:
Thanks to whoever started this communal totem pole, on a busstop post outside the Museum's main doors (we contributed 3 red stickers). Now that's a piece of real "public art".

a girl's guide to bras

Wow, it looks like Girl Guides are a go-ahead organisation these days. On the down side, it means the girls don't know how to bake a good biscuit anymore but on the plus side, they're getting out there and snowboarding all the time, right?

And - I'm not making this up - they're doing really go-ahead, enlightened stuff like getting 5 and 6 year olds at a recent Mt Eden pippins (junior Guides) meeting to decorate secondhand bras with ribbons and sticky tape. Bras! Something they can all look forward to owning with excitement, as a sign they embrace their true final destiny as fecund women. I guessed they move on to getting badges in knickers, suspender belts, corsets and pole dancing in the older grades.
Then I saw this at the Mangere Bridge Walk:

Again with the girly-girliness of the response to the horror of breast cancer.
I hope Boy Scouts are collecting jockstraps for prostate cancer.

baffling poster

This one has me a little perplexed:

The BP logo dripping in oil is a great image. These posters were up for a couple of weeks and came down just before BP plugged the hole late last week, although that plug may not work. Incidentally, it took them three months - 87 days - to seal it off.
My puzzlement is because the poster creators are anonymous. Googling the tiny tagline to the left - 'beyond pollution' - doesn't reveal who they are. Is this the work of some shy environmental group or could it be the work of another oil firm, or even six of the seven sisters, gloating over their scapegoat sibling?
While I'm pleased to see someone is angry over something worth being angry over, I hope nobody is feeling virtuous by avoiding BP and going to Shell and Mobil.

all rights

Saving this blog from being all grumpy all the time and saving me from being Crabitt Mc Crabby-Crab is some anonymous, non-corporate citizen. With a wall:


How endearing is this? It was our own live neighbourhood scoreboard. The little smiley went up with the Slovakia score; the HEROS and big smiley went up when Italy went down, and was coloured in with the Paraguay score. So exciting to see it evolve. Proud as? Of my neighbourhood, totally.