Dave Gee: Life from Right Field

I'm sure you've all seen Sony's fancy bouncy coloured balls advertisement for their Bravia TVs.

Now, a great spoof version of the famous commercial has been made to promote UK soda/soft drink/fizzy drink brand Tango, complete with the now familiar song Heartbeats by José González.

The bouncing balls have been replaced by bouncing oranges, apples, lemons, watermelons, and kiwis (the fruit - not the people ;-). The 43 crates of runaway fruit break windows, and cause havoc as they hurtle down the streets of Swansea, in South Wales.

The funniest part is the site hosting the advt... It claims to be representing the 'Swansea North Residents Association', and features downloadable versions of the "banned commerical" ("thanks to Huw's nephew David"), photos of the "destruction by the TV commercial film crew" and interviews with "outraged local residents"...
It's all part of a very clever marketing campaign by the ad company (the Residents Association site's actually registered to one CHI Advertising ;-) They've even created websites for "local paper" the Brecon Beacon Herald, and the Swansea Press Association, who both supposedly covered the event.

The Swansea Residents site makes for amusing reading in itself... basically taking the p*ss out of small towns...

The site looks like one of those really badly designed personal homepages about "My Cat", complete with flashing text and a bad colour scheme. Locals are enouraged to join the new 'Swansea North Yodelling Club', as part of a celebration with their twin city in Austria!

* Watch the "banned" Tango bouncing fruit ad here...
* Swansea North Residents Association's site...
* The original Sony BRAVIA Ad is here...

* Hat Tip: Cool Hunting: Tango Clear Commercial

Poor Dr Michael Cullen... An esteemed MP for the Labour Party seats of St Kilda and Dunedin South between 1981 and 1999 (now a Labour-lister), Deputy Prime Minister, Leader of the House, Minister for Tertiary Education, and of course Finance Minister for the NZ Government.

But it seems even fans of his own party aren't convinced by his recent financial decisions... Last year's Chewing Gum Budget almost lost Labour the election (before he pulled the swifty of "free money for all students").

Dr Cullen tried to temper expectations this year with his Bondi Budget, but despite insisting there was no room for tax cuts (they're committed to spending on the Cullen Fund, more Welfare, and Free loans) announced a surplus of around $8.5 billion.

That brought another drop in the polls for Labour, and more criticism from business groups, financial analysts, and the media.

But apparently the media aren't supposed to publish or broadcast stories saying anything bad about the Labour-led government, and when some of Labour's long-time friends joined in with the criticism, Dr Cullen decided enough was enough.

Last Thursday, an agitated little Michael Cullen lashed out at "friend of the family", State TV's Political Editor Guyon Espiner as he was preparing for an interview, accusing him and others in the Parliamentary press gallery of driving the debate over tax cuts for their own personal gain.

To Espiner's credit, he decided to run pieces from that pre-interview "chat" with Dr Cullen, in which the 64-year old MP ad makes it clear he's "quite angry about this!" ;-) It's absolutely one of the funniest political pieces seen since the glory days of Tennis-gate!

* TVNZ: Cullen attacks press over tax cuts
* TVNZ Video: One News item
* NZ Herald: Cullen accused of losing the plot after outburst caught on camera
* National Business Review: The other face of Michael Cullen

* Hat Tip: Whale Oil

* Sir Humphrey's: Cullen: Guyon Espiner, Tracey Watkins and NZ Herald staff chasing tax cuts for themselves

The wait for "Cheaper, Faster Broadband" could still be some way off for Kiwi web surfers.

The Labour-led New Zealand Government recently took the heavy handed step of regulating private company Telecom, "unbundling the local loop" and removing constraints on the UBS broadband service resold by local Internet Service Providers.

While the question remains whether any Government should be involved in the affairs of private business, at least it should eventually lead to more choice, and cheaper, better quality telecommunications services for New Zealand consumers.

The Government's full announcement could take 12-18 months to be turned into actual legislation (Western Governments like to waste their time ;-), although commentators are tipping the "Faster, Cheaper Broadband" component to be on the market by October... This should translate to Telecom and its competitors being able to offer broadband with download speeds of up to 24MB and upload of up to 1MB).

(Although you never know with Telecom... The company recently defended their TV marketing, saying the use of the phrase "Faster, Cheaper Broadband" clearly meant either Faster or Cheaper Broadband... but not necessarily both at the same time! ;-)

However, it seems many local users will penalised while they're waiting for that to arrive... Ihug have announced they'll be counting customers upload data against their monthly data allowance. Previously, they were the only local provider to provide free uploads, only counting downloads.

Ihug say the change is needed, because Telecom are now enforcing customer data limits. Their move follows the launch of the 3.5 Mbps plans earlier this year... customers moving from Ihug's old 2MBps bliink plans had their peak data allowance slashed in half.

The best spinoff from the whole regulation decision hasn't really been covered in the mainstream media... the dodgy sounding "Naked DSL". It's the part I have to admit I'm most looking forward to (although it's likely to be over a year away from reality).

Basically it means you'll no longer have to pay Telecom (or anyone else for that matter) to rent a home landline, when all you want is broadband internet access. I had to connect to Telecom when I moved house recently, and have to pay them $42.20 a month for the privilege of having a home phoneline which I never use, just because I want to connect to the internet.

I have 200 free minutes in the evenings and weekends through my work cellphone plan which does me just fine for my personal phone calls. I wouldn't even have a clue what my landline phone number is, so friends and family won't be inconvenienced when I can finally ditch the Telecom line, as I've never managed to give it out!

* NZ Herald: Ihug counts uploads
* Ihug: Changes to Broadband Plans
* NZ Government: Government moves fast to improve Broadband

Proving Disney can still cut it with today's teens, their latest hit tv movie-musical has just broken DVD sales records in the United States.

High School Musical, a modern-day Grease, has already broken records for Disney. The original TV movie was the highest rated telecast in the Disney Channel's history.

Now, with the release of the High School Musical DVD ("Encore Edition"), more records have been smashed. The DVD sold over 400,000 copies in North America on its first day of release (May 25th), making it the fastest-selling tv programme on DVD this year, and the fastest-selling television movie of all time on DVD.

The DVD features the original broadcast version of High School Musical, plus a special "Sing-along Version", so that fans can play Karaoke at the appropriate musical interludes, plus a bunch of special features and "never seen before extras. (A "dance-along" version has also screened on TV, but doesn't appear on this DVD).

A CD of the High School Musical Soundtrack (featuring all the songs from the film) is also available... It has been to #1 in the US Billboard charts, has sold over 2 million copies, and certified 2 x Platinum for sales by the RIAA. An unprecedented nine original songs from the "High School Musical" soundtrack made Billboard's Hot 100 chart... 5 in the top 40!

High School Musical stars Zac Efron from WB's Summerland, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, and Ashley Tisdale from Disney TV's The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

There are now plans for a Broadway version of the show (featuring new actors). Producers are planning it as a 3 part series, with the first movie sequel, High School Musical 2: Sing It All Or Nothing! (featuring the original cast) planned for release later this year, or early 2007.

* WorldScreen.com: High School Musical DVD Breaks Records
* The Birmingham News: Going back to High School `Musical' song and dance make winning team
* MTV News: What Is 'High School Musical' And How Did It Get To #1?

Controversial heavy metal band Lordi were the suprise winners in this year's Eurovision Song Contest, held in Athens on Saturday night. The shock rockers, who perform in latex masks and monster costumes, won the long running European song contest with their entry "Hard Rock Hallelujah".

Lordi's win is the first for long suffering Finland (after 44 attempts), and means next year's Eurovision contest will be staged in Helsinki.

The result was a surprise for many fans, although it wasn't the first upset of the week... Pre-contest favourites, Kate Ryan's Je T'adore failed to even make it through last week's semi-final.

Pop songs still performed well, with Dima Bilan coming second for Russia with Never Let You Go, and Carola coming fifth for Sweden with Invincible (in her 3rd Eurovision contest... failing to repeat her 1991 win, but a big improvement on last year's Tom Jones-lite entry, which gave Sweden the embarrassment of being relegated for the first time). Meanwhile Daz Simpson only managed to score a 19th place for the UK with his rap-pop track Teenage Life.

Lithuania managed to finish 6th with LT United's awful We Are The Winners... an amateurish little ditty where the band proclaim themselves the winners of Eurovision. They didn't win, but didn't do too bad either, considering few were picking them to even qualify for the final.

2006 winners Lordi are now planning to release their song all over Europe (including a UK release), along with some promotional concerts and tours... I won't link to their song, as I think it's pretty awful really!

Instead, check out Iceland's amusing entry... Ms Silvia Night (a fictional Icelandic star of stage, screen and music, and apparently a character on a top rating tv show over there). Her song Congratulations and performance was apparently meant as a joke, but the rest of Europe didn't get it... Ms Night being booed during the Eurovision semi-final, and failing to qualify for the final.



In the Britney-esque song, Ms Knight declares how her amazing abilities will herald Iceland's first Eurovision win... "I'm Silvia Night and I'm shining so bright, Eurovision nation, Your dream's coming true, You've been waiting forever for me to save you!"

However her behaviour before, during, and after the contest have drawn criticism from Eurovison Song Contest organisers, the Media, and those from her home country. She was warned by officials for using the "f" word in her song. She also swore on tv when describing the Swedish and Dutch entries, and had her bodyguard eject a journalist from a press conference for looking at her the wrong way. (Both actions were later described as "media stunts", with the "journalist" apparently a fellow actress).

(Even one of Silvia Night's biggest fansites has shut up shop, after declaring her "embarrassment for our country").

And here's her post semi-final antics... (Warning: Some language may disturb the more sensitive of you out there... ;-)




* DotEurovision: Silvia Night told to Mind Her Eurovision Language
* Life Style Extra: Oh Lordi! Rockers take Eurovision
* M&C: Finns hope to cash in on Lordi's surprise victory
* Mirror.co.uk: 20 Finns about the World's Strangest Little Nation

It'll probably never make it down this part of the world, but a great new film is now screening (on limited release) in the United States...

Stagedoor is a documentary which follows five different teenagers, as they attend the prestigious performing arts summer camp Stagedoor Manor, in the Catskills Mountains of New York.

I was able to work there as a Camp Counselor and Stage Manager in the summers of 2000-02, and had some of the most fun and rewarding times of my life.

Stagedoor Manor has nurtured and spawned a huge range of talent, including the likes of Felicity Huffman, Robert Downey Jr, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Zach Braff and Mandy Moore.

Stagedoor the documentary's the work of Director Alexandra Shiva... the wife of former camper Jonathan Marc Sherman, who went there for five summers in the 80's, and is now a top playwright and actor.

Those featured include a few names I recognise ;-)... Randi Kleiner (Hey Hey Randi!), Taylor Rabow (Hey Hey Taylor!), Nicole Doring, Maddy Weinstein, Robert Wright, plus the long serving staff like Barb Martin, Konnie Kittrell, Jeff Murphy, Larry Nye, Phil Shute, Doug Quinn, David Moellenkamp, Karen Lynch... and a ton of familiar old camper faces I spotted in the trailer alone!



It follows on from the success of the 2003 movie Camp, a fictional film partly based on the experiences of Writer/Director Todd Graff as a camper at the prestigious US Summer Theatre camp, Stagedoor Manor.

International youth television giant MTV Networks plan to launch a 24 hour MTV New Zealand channel from the middle of August. The Nickelodeon channel will be relaunched at the same time, customised specifically for New Zealand audiences.

The new MTV channel will be fully owned and operated by MTV Networks Asia Pacific, and will be carried on Sky Television's Digital satellite service (Channel 35).

MTV say the channel will feature local programming and presenters, while drawing on the wide range of programming already produced by their US and European channels.

It's not the first time the MTV brand has been seen in New Zealand... State TV operated an MTV New Zealand service between June 1997 to June 1998, using a feed of MTV-UK as their basis.

It was operated (badly) by TVNZ as a free to air UHF channel in the main centres, using the frequencies of the axed Horizon Pacific Television regional network. MTV-NZ was launched in reaction to CanWest's new youth-oriented channel at the time, TV4.

In more recent times, CanWest's C4 Music Television (which replaced TV4) has had a partnership arrangement with MTV, playing popular signature shows like Jackass and Pimp My Ride in a branded MTV-30 programming block. It's understood that deal will remain in the place when MTV NZ launches (at least for the time being).

MTV plan to work closely with New Zealand record labels to promote local acts, and hope to tap into the youth advertising market that C4 have successfully targetted. Warner Music, Sony BMG and Dawn Raid Entertainment have already expressed support for the new music and entertainment channel.

* Scoop: 24-Hour Localised Mtv And Nickelodeon in NZ
* NBR: MTV to launch in New Zealand

Reality television has found its way into the Theatre World, with the BBC climbing every mountain in their search for undiscovered talent in their newest entertainment show in the UK...

A nationwide search has begun to find an actress to play the iconic role of nun-turned-nanny Maria Von Trapp in Andrew Lloyd Webber's revival of The Sound of Music

The budding West End stars auditioning around the UK will be part of a new BBC TV show hosted by popular Irish comedian Graham Norton, cleverly titled How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?

Those showing promise in the regional rounds will receive further training before being reviewed by a panel of experts (including Lloyd Webber). The actresses will be whittled down to 10 hopefuls, with the public getting the chance to vote on their favourite when the series
screens on BBC One later in the year.

Julie Andrews starred as Maria in the famous film version, but producers are keen to find an unknown to open their revival of the show. Jeremy Sams (Noises Off, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) will direct the musical, which is due to open at the London Palladium in December.

* Reuters.com: How do you find a singer like Maria?
* BroadwayWorld.com: Sams to Direct London Sound of Music Revival

Fans of the hit ABC TV drama series Lost have made a mysterious novel a US bestseller.

The book Bad Twin is supposedly written by Gary Troup, one of the victims of the doomed Flight 815 in the hit television series Lost. The fictional author's name is an anagram of the word "purgatory", spurning internet chat that the characters on Lost may all have died in the plane crash, and are now in purgatory on the island.

Publicity over the show and the book have pushed Bad Twin into Amazon's Top 20 bestseller list. (The actual author of the book hasn't been revealed, although some fans are tipping Bad Twin may be the work of Stephen King). The publishers official promo states, "The author didn't survive the plane crash, but his manuscript did".

"Bad Twin is the highly-anticipated new novel by acclaimed mystery writer Gary Troup. Bad Twin was delivered to Hyperion just days before Troup boarded Oceanic Flight 815, which was lost in flight from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles in September 2004. He remains missing and is presumed dead".

* Order the Bad Twin book here now through Amazon.com...

Here's one of the latest and most comprehensive (albeit complicated and technical) theory on why everyone is trapped on the island on the ABC TV show "Lost".

The Ultimate Comprehensive Lost Theory

And here's a message board where fans can promote and discuss the wide range of theories on what's actually going on with the stranded residents of Flight 815.

Learn about the Backwards Wizard of Oz Theory, the Nine Unknown Men Theory, the Ancient Culture theory, Ockham's Razor Theory, and many more!...

Dharma Secrets: Lost Theories

American TV Network CBS is the latest to embrace the internet revolution, and launch its own standalone Broadband-only web broadcast network.

Their online channel, innertube is promoted as a "High-speed broadband channel featuring original programming, with hot new shows and cool new stars".

CBS says the channel's programming will be free to watch, supported by advertising spots and product-placement, just like regular TV.

Already online are a new frathouse makeover show Geek to Chic, a special featuring Irish Magician/Illusionist Keith Barry, and a behind-the-scenes Beyond Survivor show. CBS are promising innertube will eventually feature repeats of current shows, along with new programming. This channel can be viewed by web surfers worldwide (for the moment, anyway ;-)

CBS's offering follows the recent decision by the ABC network to offer some of its most popular television shows, including Lost, Desperate Houswives, and Alias over the internet. The episodes include three one-minute interactive advertisments, which can't be skipped over by viewers. However, their viewing is restricted to surfers in the United States.

ABC are also launching an interactive game, The Lost Experience. The web-based game will feature a parallel storyline that is not part of the TV show.
Time Warner meanwhile was the first to offer a major broadband TV network, with their channel In2TV. It boasts the largest
collection of free TV shows anywhere on the Web. The internet tv channel (run in association with AOL) features a wide range of programming from Warner's vaults, including Eight is Enough, Growing Pains, Spenser for Hire, and Wonder Woman.

The Fox TV network is also offering clips from hit shows like 24 and American Idol and original online shows like The Late Night Fox Show and behind-the-scenes talkshow, 24 Inside.

The NBC network have a range of programme promo clips online, plus extras like The Office 'Public Service Announcements'. UPN also have an online section with show clips and behind-the-scenes specials.

The offerings from the New Zealand tv networks, State TV and TV3 are limited to highlights from their News and Current Affairs programming.

All we need here in New Zealand now is for Telecom's rivals to offer surfers some decent broadband speeds, so we can actually watch all this Broadband TV content without the picture suddenly freezing, or quickly going over our small monthly data quota ;-)

* More reading: Free TV Shows on the Internet - But only in the United States.

I'm spending most of my free time outside work at the moment rehearsing for the Dunedin production of the musical "Beauty and the Beast". The set & costumes (designed by Weta Workshops) are doing the rounds at various centres around New Zealand, but most of the cast is local in each place.

Wellington held the NZ premiere in January, and Christchurch was next on the schedule. I managed to catch their production while I was working in Chch recently, along with another Dave (Halalilo) also from the Dunedin production.

We managed to catch up with Russell Dixon (aka "Russell the TV3 Weather Guy" ;-) after the show. He was playing Gaston (the self-centred comedy villain), having already performed the role in Wellington, and due to come south in June to repeat the part in Dunedin. He was fantastic - a role he was made for! - and definitely stole the show.

Check out this site for more information about Dunedin Operatic's production of Beauty and the Beast (opens June 22nd at the Regent Theatre, and runs until July 1st).

We also met up with a couple of members of the Wellington Musical Theatre NZ Premiere production, Rebecca and Claire. They'd come down to check out Christchurch's version of the show, and to catch up with Russell again.

It was great to hear about what they went through with the show in Wellington, and to get an idea what we might be in for in Dunedin ;-)

I came across this amusing image this evening while browsing around... (Although I don't really have that same smile on my face when I'm visiting the petrol station nowadays... The prices seem to keep going up every time I return to fill up!)

After being safely back in Dunedin for a few days, the boss decided to fly us over to Franz Josef on Friday to cover the discovery of a local chap who'd been missing for around five days. We flew over in a nice little fixed wing Piper Senica III.

Great scenic flight on our way over there... especially when we got to fly up and over the Mt Cook area.

The only bad part of the flight was when we came to land... the brakes locked up as were coming down to land, meaning we skidded off to the left of the runway and ended up parked in a grassy area... Luckily our pilot (Bruce) managed to hold the plane up enough so the propellor's didn't hit the ground as we were skidding in to stop.

We were all fine, so headed off into Franz Josef to carry on with our story, while they flew in an engineer from Greymouth to replace the left wheel, wheel strut, and some hopefully-not-very-important piece of metal from underneath the plane ;-)

Once it was all fixed mid-afternoon, we flew up to Greymouth for another interview and to feed our pics out, then had a slightly-less-relaxed flight back home to Dunedin again... A bit of excitement anyway...!

I've travelled quite a bit around New Zealand, but somehow had managed to avoid ever going near the busy metropolis that is NZ's West Coast ;-)

That finally changed recently when I was filling in for a few days up in the Christchurch office... One afternoon Joe (the cameraman) and I got rushed over to Westport to do an update story on the ongoing rare-snails vs. West Coast miners story.

We flew back the same day, but then had to fly back in the same general direction the next day to cover a story in Karamia (It's okay, I'd never even heard of the place either ;-) Nice little town is was tho... their only gas station was closing down, and they were having to get their own petrol and diesel trucked in, which the info centre was distributing.

Another long day... while I was tapping a script-of-sorts up on the laptop, Joe (and his son-in-law who came along as a camera assistant) took the opportunity to have a quick snooze on the way back to office ;-)

Social Development Minister David Benson-Pope can expect a rough ride in Parliament next week, after a fresh series of allegation against him.

The latest round began with Investigate Magazine's cover story last week, which detailed further incidents involving the MP, while he was a teacher at Dunedin's Bayfield High School.

The allegations, which were part of the Police investigation into the "Tennisgate" case last year, included an incident where Benson-Pope forced 14 year old schoolgirls stand outside in the cold in just their underwear and nighties, while he watched for up to an hour. The incident allegedly happened during a school camp at Tautuku in 1982.

Witnesses told Police the former Associate Minister of Education was a "sleazy" teacher... "the girls... felt he was always staring at our legs beneath the desks... he seemed to thrive on it"...

PM Clark again backed Benson-Pope following Investigate's story last week, saying there was nothing new in the claims. However, over a hundred former Bayfield High School students responded to the magazine's article, backing the allegations and providing fresh ones.

The new information could force Police to reopen the case into Benson-Pope. It was closed last year, with Police declaring they had found a "prime facie" case against the Minster, but had decided not to lay charges because of the historical nature of the allegations.

The allegations, detailed further on Investigate's website include:

* A female student who failed to count to ten in German claims she was slapped across her thigh with a ruler by David Benson-Pope, leaving a red mark... "I seriously would like to have him in a room and tied to a chair so I could knock the living shit out of him! To be quite honest."

* Allegations that Benson-Pope walked in unannounced on up to 25 girls, getting changed after a mud run at camp... "[he] lingered, staring, for 30 seconds... [the girls were ] screaming and yelling and telling him to get out"... "Me and my parents made a formal complaint about it, but nothing was done about it."

* That the former-teacher "watched naked schoolgirls while they showered, after bursting in on them in the shower block at a school camp in 1997".

* Other students backing up the 'outside in their nighties' story... "The punishment was for us guys to strip down to our grots, and stand outside along with some of the other girls... one [of the teachers] was definitely David Benson-Pope..."

Opposition parties are expected to give DBP and the Government a very hard time next week, and the question must be asked as to whether the continuing spotlight on the Minster makes him a liability in Cabinet... especially following on from the quote released from Mark Unsworth's book on MPs... Social Development Minister David Benson-Pope: "Regarded as a pompous prat by some colleagues."

* Full details on Investigate Magazine's website (and I assume their next few editions?!)
* Herald on Sunday: New questions for Benson-Pope

* Rodney Hide: David Benson-Pope Number -- I have lost count
* Sir Humphrey's: New DBP Allegations
* Whale Oil Beef Hooked: Investigate releases new DBP allegations

A few thousand students marched down Dunedin's main street on Tuesday night, in the annual "First Day Parade and Toga Party".

New sheets from the beds of first year Otago University students were fashioned into a range of Toga styles... the serious ones completing the look with a pair or sandals and a leafy head wreath.

The 2006 Toga Parade began at the Dental School, travelling along George Street to finish at Dunedin's Octagon, where the new scarfies were welcomed by Mayor Peter Chin.

A movie & lesson in Otago chanting followed, before the infamous Toga Party at the University Union...

According to the Unicol chant, "Arana takes it up the arse"... Arana seemed content with the more direct "F*** off Selwyn" as their enemy-Hall chant ;-)

New Zealand Cricket commentator, Brian Waddle, is calling for harsher penalties for people who interrupt cricket matches by streaking.

Four fans ran onto the pitch in Auckland on Thursday, during the Twenty20 match between the Black Caps and the West Indies.

Three lads and one female ran on during the course of the game, and were all tackled and carried away by security guards.

According to Newstalk ZB, the fourth streaker was a woman who ran on at a crucial time of the match. The report notes "She appeared to have been knocked out cold when tackled by a security guard".

Sounds like a rough end to a bit of high spirited hijinx. Streaking's been part of Cricket and many other sports for years. The streaks generally fueled by alcohol... the naked runs often the result of a dare by mates.
They give (most of) the crowd and players a bit of a laugh, and can liven up the dull periods in a longer game. (TV meanwhile tries to pretend they don't happen... Just listen for a sudden increase in crowd volume, while the commentators quickly try to pad time by talking over a few random graphics).

But now longtime radio commentator Brian Waddle is calling for "a crackdown on streakers". He wants to see $5,000 instant fines for those flashing their naked selves across kiwi cricket fields!

Ouch! I say Boo. Another attempt to kill the fun from a day at the cricket. The report states, "Eden Park & NZ Cricket are also trying to stem drunken behaviour which has marred several recent matches".

While I agree the offensive abuse and bottle throwing at players is unacceptable, officials are in danger of driving fans away from their live games. It's far less hassle to simply watch the matches at home on a big widescreen telly with a bunch of mates and some beers.

Here in Dunedin, Carisbrook banned couches from the old terraces a few years back to prevent the hilarious age-old tradition of couch-burning at the cricket (which was a hell of a lot of fun!)

I remember one incident where they had to take an early drinks break in a game against Sri Lanka, after smoke from a burning couch in front of us drifted out over the pitch, as well as shooting straight up in front of the tv commentary box ;-)

(At the same match, a guy dressed in a clown costume managed to dodge 2 security guards to reach the players in the middle... He then handed well-rounded captain Arjuna Ranatunga his pie, saying "You need this more than me!")

Treasury have reported an operating surplus of $4.4 billion run by the Labour-led Government, in the first half of the 2005/06 financial year... well ahead of forecasts.

Despite this, Finance Minister Dr Michael Cullen told the Finance and Expenditure Committee yesterday, “People who think there should be tax cuts on the back of big surpluses should be taken out and quietly drowned”. What a charming man(/Annunaki?)

Apparently, the $4.4 billion surplus is so small, that Dr Cullen's now threatening to cancel his highly touted "Chewing Gum Tax Cuts". (Damn, that 67 cents a week extra would have come in handy! ;-)

It seems the Labour Party are planning to lodge official complaints with Police and election bosses over the pamphlets distributed by members of the Exclusive Brethren church during last year's election campaign.

National says Hillin Cluck should pay back taxpayers, producing a mock-up of a cheque for $446,815 which they asked the PM to sign on behalf of the Labour Party.

But, in a desperate attempt to divert media attention away from their sneaky spending of taxpayers money on a "Pledge card" and glossy brochure, Labour are now hiring lawyers to try and construct a case to have the Brethren's spending including as part of the National Party's election expenses.

Ms Cluck was straining to come up with a case yesterday in Parliament... "I am sure Dr Brash thinks it is not attributable expenditure to have the Exclusive Brethren take lines straight out of National Party policy and put them in leaflets. Where is that in his party’s election return?".

On that basis, Labour's overspending must be well over $1.5 million - given the amount of money spent on their behalf by the country's Unions (at this and every election prior).

The Labour Party is quick to criticise anyone who supports other political parties, but don't see anything wrong in working with unions to coordinate electioneering propaganda on their behalf - paid for in part by the taxpayer. Where is that in your election return Hillin Cluck?

The Electoral Commission is referring the Labour Party to the Police, for possible overspending in last year's General Election, and committing an offence under the Electoral Act.

Labour spent $2,798,603 in its 2005 campaign, $418,603 more than its legal limit.

I'd suggest the Labour Party send their accounting department back to school for some basic maths revision, but given New Zealand schools now run under the atrociously appalling NCEA system, that would probably only make their skills worse ;-)

Some of the alleged overspending relates to Labour's official red pledge card and a lovely glossy letter from PM Helen Clark. The letters arrived in mailboxes around the country in the runup to the election, and featured the stamp of the House of Representatives... indicating they were paid for out of the Parliamentary Services budget, rather than Labour Party funds.

Labour's disputing the Electoral Commissions claim, despite having already been told last year by the Chief Electoral Officer that he considered the pledge cards as election activity (and therefore should have been included in their spending arithmetic).

Things are a little hazy now, but this may or may not be a copy of Labour's Official Pledge Card... ;-)

** Credit to the original creators... David Farrar at Kiwiblog, and the gang at Whale Oil Beef Hooked...

* NZ Herald: Labour's $440,000 election spend probed
* Kiwiblog (David Farrar): When were Labour told?
* Elections NZ: Election Expenses - Labour referred to police & parties slammed for lateness

Working on a story on French-based-Dunedin-born Cross country mountain biker Kashi Leuchs, who's home for the National Champs/Oceanias/Commonwealth Games.

He's aiming to win all three, and has made a good start by taking the National Title in Nelson. We went to Bethunes Gully to get him riding the tracks up there.

It's been a bumpy couple of weeks for my beloved Newcastle United...

First the Magpies sacked manager Graeme Souness, as the premier league club languised at bottom end of the table. Since the Scotsman took over at St James' Park, the Magpies had won just 26 of their 83 games. He also spent almost 50 million pounds (UK) on new players, with unimpressive results.

Former Newcastle United manager Sir Bobby Robson was critical of some of Souness's transfer decisions, and said his sacking was inevitable. He accepts a bad run of injuries didn't help him, but the calibre of his players should have returned better results. Robson also criticised his successor for letting a lot of good young player leave the club.

Robson himself was sacked in August 2004 after a five year stint at the helm, following a fifth place finish for Newcastle United. The team were sitting in 15th spot just a week after Souness was dumped following his 17 month term.
Former England captain Alan Shearer took on the role of assistant to caretaker boss Glenn Roeder. Shearer then broke Newcastle United’s goal-scoring record in a 2-0 win at Tyneside over Portsmouth, overtaking Jackie Milburn's record of 200 goals for the club.

The win was Newcastle’s first in seven league games. However, Shearer says he wishes his former boss got to see him beat the record.

"The goal was a big, big goal for me... I wish Graeme was here to see it because whatever anyone thinks of him, he's an honest, decent, hard-working, genuine man."

Souness' biggest achievement was signing star striker Michael Owen from Real Madrid for a hefty 17 million pounds. However Owen's initial impact of the team halted when he broke a bone in his foot, knocking him out of action until at least April.

Managed to get a ride in a 'Squirrel' helicopter while I was doing a news story up Mt Cook way over the weekend.

Have had a few rides in smaller choppers over the last couple of years for work, but this was my first time in a Squirrel (seats 6 people, leather seats, very cool)...

Hovering over the road just near Glentanner station, about 15 kms from Mt Cook. Just waiting for vehicles in a vintage car rally to pass by below, commemorating a century since the first journey by car into Mt Cook...

Shay preparing to shoot some scenic shots from the back seat of the chopper...