Leisure and Boredom

Mangonui Panorama

 There’s leisure and there’s boredom.

Boredom is Norwegian television where viewers watched two hours of wood being chopped followed by another three watching the wood burning on an open fire.  Apparently the only complaints received related to the wood stacks not being done correctly; not the sheer paralysis induced by the programme content.

Leisure on the other hand is what I am doing now – another trip to New Zealand’s Far North, staying once again in Kerikeri.  This time we are using it more as a base to explore points further north.

Our choice of motel this time around is Kauri Park and what a beautiful spot it is.  A free glass of wine upon arrival is the norm, tuis singing outside our back door and a deal well done for an executive unit for four nights.

Our hosts, Dallas and Delphine are a convivial couple; he an ex fire-fighter from Wanganui  I discovered.  Looking after picky customers must be somewhat akin to putting out a scrub fire.

We took a little over four hours to get here as there were considerable delays for patches of road works enroute.

Lean To - Mangonui

On this our second day we venture 66 kilometres further north to Mangonui, passing briefly to buy a lottery ticket in the rural settlement of Kaeo. I am working on the theory that the largest jackpots seem to be won in the smallest hamlets although come Saturday this observation will no doubt prove to be unfounded, as it has been in the past.

Mangonui is famous for its fish and chips but a quick visit to the shop was all we need to realise that fame has its price -  and the price was not one we were willing to pay on this occasion.

It is a remote but pretty little town with some historic buildings from the 1890’s that have been renovated and put to alternative uses.   For example, the old courthouse has become an art gallery.

The Yellow Boat

But the visit made a pleasant half day and we have now returned to the cool sanctuary of our motel room.  Tomorrow we will drive to Paihia and take the ferry across to the historic town of Russell.

Cutey Yellowish

Cutey Yellowish

There are some fairly bizarre shows on television but none more so than a Korean programme which brings to the fore people with grotesque habits and attributes.

All exhibit some form of pride in their peculiarities which makes the show even more compelling viewing; a Korea's Got Talent spin-off perhaps?

The latest expose is a young lady who goes by the nickname of 'Cutey Yellowish'.  The hue in question refers to her teeth which haven't been subjected to a tooth brush for the past decade.

Ms Ji Hyun Ji, aged 20 labours under the mistaken belief that "As food scraps pile on, they will actually protect my teeth."

Evidently on special occasions she has been known to wipe her front teeth with a tissue but that is the extent of her oral hygiene.

I am surmising that despite her looks she has few close friends, both literally and figuratively.

The TV show incidentally is called 'Martian Virus' which seems a rather apt title considering its content.  Other highlights of this programme have included a man who married his pillow (video below).  No doubt he did so in preference to someone who didn't want to clean their teeth.

Own Goal

Welcome to the world of SingHub; an amalgam of two separate telcos who in the process of vying for the Soccer World Cup rights, managed to alienate most fans and FIFA.

The upshot thus far is that most of soccer-mad Singaporeans will not be able to see the World Cup.

Enter the government with a new set of rules to try and avoid this type of situation ever happening again. The new law means that even if one of the telcos will have to carry exclusive content purchased by another player.

The forces of the open market have not been in the best consumer interest so it will be interesting to see what impact this law has. At the very least it will mean one less box on top of the TV.

Not that any of the above is much interest to me, as I have studiously avoided subscribing to any cable offering, either in New Zealand or here in Singapore.

I hold out for free to air television although the entertainment fare here in Singapore is very patchy and the acting pool severely limited.

A Marconi Moment

Marconi watching associates raise kite antenna at St. John's, December 1901

I can only image Marconi's excitement and sense of achievement when he made the first successful wireless transmissions in Italy in 1895, changing the face of human communication forever.

We have come a long way from then but in recent times the age of open communication has been suffering some king hits.

For those expatriates living far away from their country of birth there are times when one wishes to catch up on what is happening in their nation of origin. For me these occasions are rare but I do like to keep in touch with antipodean developments.

From 1979 to 1981 I lived and worked in Goroka in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Shortwave radio was a boon and many an hour was spent listening to Radio Australia to learn what was happening 'down south'.

Radio New Zealand International with its ever decreasing presence in the Pacific was not much use and I recall that in the evening it was the Chinese stations that jammed the airways.

This is my fourth year living in Singapore and the only radio that we listen to is the BBC. At least there we get a balanced menu of international news and opinion. The Chinese stations still dominate the evening airways as they did thirty years ago.

With the advent of Internet radio you would have thought that listening to radio stations in New Zealand would be an easy matter and for the first couple of years it was. I could also catch up with the local television news which was streamed live from the two main NZ channels.

No more.

This year has seen a great leap backwards for internet radio with most of the stations I used to listen to in NZ are not longer available. The reason given: international copyright of content.

The upshot is that open radio or television access to an All Blacks rugby game for any New Zealand expatriate is now a thing of the past. With media now largely in the hands of a few international conglomerates this trend is likely to continue and it is the culture of a country that suffers.

The Aussies though are still beaming their internet radio around the world which makes me wonder if New Zealand is not being just a tad politically/commercially correct when it comes to transmissions?

I am a person who believes in open international communication and views the commodification of culture and media as something distasteful. And yes, I resent the fact that I can no longer follow my favourite sport on internet radio and now have to pay to get streaming rights to a rugby match.

Mr Marconi is no doubt be turning in his grave when the subject of 'international copyright issues' are mentioned.

Or perhaps not .... as interestingly Marconi became a fascist in his native Italy in his later years and the fascists were all in favour of media control.

In this respect it would appear that little has changed.