Bad taste motorcyclist
....who wears cherry red desert boots?
Tai Chi Cows in Britomart
Not sure of the monetary value of the stunt but I am sure the ad agency are counting in the story being picked up by broadcast media and their subsequent video going 'viral'. Hey, you never know.
Still, thanks for the JellyTip - had it for lunch. Full of milky goodness
Where are the Avengers?! Portal opened over Auckland tonight
Biggest moon of the year.
It made the news.
I wouldn't write home about it.
Street people - love the long lens
I liked the kid with the flag at the march against asset sales - almost a flash back to the rugby world cup - backing your team.
The bloke with his arms up was interacting with the video installation in the Britomart. He seemed to be having a good time and I don't think he was drunk. Digging my Sony Nex 7 DSLR. Light aand easy to use.
I should be dead...apparently
According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 50's, 60's, and 70's probably shouldn't have survived!
Our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.
When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip flops and fluorescent clackers' on our wheels.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the passenger seat was a treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle - tasted the same.
We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no one actually died from this.
We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no one minded.
We did not have Playstations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet chat rooms. We had friends - we went outside and found them.
We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits. They were accidents. We learnt not to do the same thing again.
We had fights, punched each other hard and got black and blue- we learned to get over it.
We walked to friend's homes.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate live stuff, and although we were told it would happen, we did not have very many eyes out, nor did the live stuff live inside us forever.
We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. And you're one of them. Congratulations!
How you doin'? Jersey Shore hotel.
Visit to New York has been truncated by a side trip to New Jersey - which has been a surprise. What comes to mind when you think of Jersey Shore? I would guess The Situation and Snooki would be up-there for most people with even an inkling of popular culture. In truth the part I am visiting is quite genteel. The town is called Long Branch. It has an almost Californian vibe. The beach is on the Altantic ocean, rather than the Pacific, but the weather is quite warm with the onset of spring and the beach is full of people enjoying the sun and even playing beach volleyball.
I'm holed up in a boutique hotel called The Bungalow. The rates are low because it is the off-season. The hotel is fabous for having been designed by celebrity couple Robert and Cortney Novogratz, who star in their reality/design show Nine By Design, which has showed on New Zealand television and has something of a deicated following (so I am told - they have a book too Downtown Chic). The couple are not only prolific property developers but also have seven children (hence the name of their show). You can see for yourself from my pictures that the accomodation and public areas are a little funky - bordering on twee if you ask me. But the effect is pleasant and comfortable and, for the price of a Kiwi motel I rest my head is a terrific location a block back from the ocean. Prior to yesterday I came up from Manhatten to visit with friends and stayed at their place in Shrewsbury, NJ - small town USA but close to Manhatten and a tolerable commute by ferry to downtown. A tiki tour of nearby towns and streets revealed some spectacular piles made from the piles of money 'earned' by the 1%. Notably Bruce Springsteen is a local and, apparently, hosts a pretty decent trick or treat event at Halloween for the district's kids (presumable not the spanish speaking ones who are children of maids and yard-workers. That said, the people are nice and quite civil - though I still find the linguistic quirks between Americana English and our own to be baffling at times - for example the use of the term 'over there' when what is mean is 'right here' - like voici and voila in French. I stand staring into the middle distance assuming I am either blind or mad while an irritated shop-girl wonders why I can't see what is right before my eyes and wonders if I am blind or mad. Here for a few days, kicking back, writing, strolling - then back to Manhatten for the last week. I'm hoping to get Away With Words™ running properly - so far Wordpress has baffled me and Bloody Mary's seem a more productive use of energy.
