tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8442430064359197279.post5783759585197299383..comments2024-03-26T10:03:51.827+13:00Comments on Karl du Fresne: Why I'm suspicious of the phrase "award-winning"Karl du Fresnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054853925940134404noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8442430064359197279.post-47915976902774393222021-04-16T13:18:54.273+12:002021-04-16T13:18:54.273+12:00"Readers of this blog, being an unusually ast..."Readers of this blog, being an unusually astute and prescient lot".<br /><br />I will now add this award to my cv.<br />Vaughanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13105760893956912855noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8442430064359197279.post-42481142613120739732021-04-15T11:30:36.992+12:002021-04-15T11:30:36.992+12:00Happy memories of watching old films as a kid on t...Happy memories of watching old films as a kid on tv...How Green Was MY Valley being one. You got sort of inculcated on social mores, class, tastes, race, sex... all manner of things that one's sponge-brain soaked up thirstily, while the olds were busy with other stuff perhaps. Reckon I learnt more from The Norman Conquests, OK, not an old film, than knocking around the neighbourhood. That & the numerous Flint movies with James Coburn, anything with Dean Martin. Ricardo, great comment, and had I not just used that exact Ockerism in another post I made elsewhere about Ockerisms! Spooky... Always read Reason & van Beynan.Hilary Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00240590567749247083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8442430064359197279.post-1596317307738464382021-04-14T08:12:30.654+12:002021-04-14T08:12:30.654+12:00Ha – You are so right, Karl. Really, it is an imp...Ha – You are so right, Karl. Really, it is an impossibility to determine just what is “best” or “most beautiful” or “tastiest”, etc. – and it is plain silly to expect a judging panel to give believable answers to such airy concepts. However, panels verifying who is “fastest” or “strongest” or “tallest” are sensible and legitimate – because here we are talking about things which can be measured objectively.<br /><br />Philosophers of old were aware of that : "De gustibus non disputandum est". But old philosophers also wrote "Mundus vult decipi - ergo decipiatur"! Freely translated as “There can be no argument about taste” and “People love fooling themselves – so let them”Andy Espersenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18391974844284751975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8442430064359197279.post-41084461947417877242021-04-14T04:00:52.327+12:002021-04-14T04:00:52.327+12:00This comment has been removed by the author.Andy Espersenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18391974844284751975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8442430064359197279.post-61093971820152784162021-04-13T18:31:42.956+12:002021-04-13T18:31:42.956+12:00The ultimate NZ platform for award quackery comes ...The ultimate NZ platform for award quackery comes around at New Years and Queens Birthday. Many awards are, of course, thoroughly deserved and speak to lives spent in the splendid and uncalculated service of others.<br /><br />However there are always those awards that entertain even the most scornful and misanthropic of has been, beaten up cynics, with opinions drier than a long-dead dingo's dessicated donga.<br /><br />How about Sir Paul Collins? New Zealand's bravest, most knowledgeable and loneliest (sports) journo (Mark Reason) wrote a scathing piece for Stuff (pre-red guard cultural revolution) in 2015 pointing out Collin's business history and questionable behaviour. No one else had or has the cojones in NZ in my humble estimation to speak such truth to power and hypocrisy.<br /><br />Mind you, Martin van Beynan did an equally forthright and challenging piece on the current GG and her utterances for Active Equities.<br /><br />The best award now is the one you can give yourself as you throw things at the TV news and lament the passing of the world as you knew it; another cold beer.Ricardohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05840390411136437843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8442430064359197279.post-48770883243773468562021-04-13T16:42:20.558+12:002021-04-13T16:42:20.558+12:00I empathize.
As possibly the only winemaker to ha...I empathize.<br /><br />As possibly the only winemaker to have ever returned a Gold medal. Achieved in an Easter wine competition, when Bob Campbell purchased one of a dozen bottles sold to an Auckland wine shop. Claiming that the wine was commercially available and thus should be entered in his show. Something as a winery we chose not to do. When I pointed out the wine was sold out and wasn't commercially available he was unrepentant and the certificate was mailed out, it was duly returned as undeserved, by us. <br /><br />As a winery we chose not to enter wine competitions relying on our bi annual wine road shows to allow customers to form their own opinions on the quality of the wine.Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00845091671307907090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8442430064359197279.post-8862747997668271722021-04-13T16:01:20.225+12:002021-04-13T16:01:20.225+12:00Ah yes, Siouxsie Wiles. No offence to her, but the...Ah yes, Siouxsie Wiles. No offence to her, but the NZer of the Year award is as arbitrary and meaningless as the Reader's Digest's "most trusted" list. And don't ever get me started on Rolling Stone magazine's Greatest Songs of All Time ....Karl du Fresnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05054853925940134404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8442430064359197279.post-25460869344083654152021-04-13T15:35:12.418+12:002021-04-13T15:35:12.418+12:00Great post Karl!
I was waiting for a reference to...Great post Karl!<br /><br />I was waiting for a reference to the - Kiwibank - New Zealander of the year awards. <br /><br />Siouxsie Wiles, Keri Hulme, The Shape of Water, "Architecturally-designed" are deserving bedfellows.Flashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06680263202897614791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8442430064359197279.post-4477449225443086032021-04-13T13:26:11.956+12:002021-04-13T13:26:11.956+12:00"Readers of this blog, being an unusually ast..."Readers of this blog, being an unusually astute and prescient lot"<br /><br />Many thanks for the complement, not often my thought processes are appreciated.<br /><br />As for the award part, anyone that takes claims of winning this or that seriously deserves to buy a disappointment. CXHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07716356211635024878noreply@blogger.com