Blend
Last night's Great Blend event began with the discovery that the event was not held at the Grey Lynn Community Hall on Great North Rd, but rather at the Grey Lynn Community Centre on Richmond Rd. Oops. Upon arriving, I was pleased to see Amanda and Darren first off. Then Heather and Karl showed up, and I met Caron.
Starting the proceedings with the statement, "I hate Wellington," didn't impress me terribly, but when Russell explained his eXtreme concern that guest speaker Danah Boyd might not make it to due to closure of Wellington's airport because a return of the Dread Fog, I figured his harsh words were excusable. I've suffered the Dread Fog myself on occasion.
We were shown the short film mash-up 'Starlords', which was pretty funny, and made me wonder whether I ought be more interested in Star Wars. The film's creators were then prodded by Russell for answers on why, how, why and why. After that someone called William from TVNZ gave a brief commercial on freeview, much of which was lost on me although I expect it was highly relevant to some in attendance. And then Danah Boyd spoke. (I know she's not down with teh caps but I got my style to consider.) She talked about online communities and the thing that I found most striking was the apparent total lockdown on social interaction for American teenagers outside of supervised situations. What a drag! While it's good that they have some means for self-expression, I can't help but be bemused by the concept that a large proportion of socialising at such an important age is done via the net.
There was an intermission, during which I was pleased to meet Robyn. After that was a panel 'discussion', which was rather dominated by Russell's firm grip on the wheel but still managed to be interesting. Ups to Justin Zhang of Skykiwi for providing the humour. Other participants included the aforementioned Danah and Robyn, Peter McLennan, and the late addition of a caricature of an emo kid called Matt, who turned out to actually be a caricature of an emo kid.
Once the talky part was over, SJD played a rocking and quite lovely set, even if the setting did feel a bit like a school social. The band were set up at floor level, and I noticed the drummer and I wondered if he was new, who did it use to be? (Apologies to former drummer, Tom Atkinson, away on Breaks Co-op duty). A bit later Sean introduced him as Chris O'Conner - of course, the Chris O'Connor - who was playing with the SJD band for the first time that night. He was and is awesome.
Starting the proceedings with the statement, "I hate Wellington," didn't impress me terribly, but when Russell explained his eXtreme concern that guest speaker Danah Boyd might not make it to due to closure of Wellington's airport because a return of the Dread Fog, I figured his harsh words were excusable. I've suffered the Dread Fog myself on occasion.
We were shown the short film mash-up 'Starlords', which was pretty funny, and made me wonder whether I ought be more interested in Star Wars. The film's creators were then prodded by Russell for answers on why, how, why and why. After that someone called William from TVNZ gave a brief commercial on freeview, much of which was lost on me although I expect it was highly relevant to some in attendance. And then Danah Boyd spoke. (I know she's not down with teh caps but I got my style to consider.) She talked about online communities and the thing that I found most striking was the apparent total lockdown on social interaction for American teenagers outside of supervised situations. What a drag! While it's good that they have some means for self-expression, I can't help but be bemused by the concept that a large proportion of socialising at such an important age is done via the net.
There was an intermission, during which I was pleased to meet Robyn. After that was a panel 'discussion', which was rather dominated by Russell's firm grip on the wheel but still managed to be interesting. Ups to Justin Zhang of Skykiwi for providing the humour. Other participants included the aforementioned Danah and Robyn, Peter McLennan, and the late addition of a caricature of an emo kid called Matt, who turned out to actually be a caricature of an emo kid.
Once the talky part was over, SJD played a rocking and quite lovely set, even if the setting did feel a bit like a school social. The band were set up at floor level, and I noticed the drummer and I wondered if he was new, who did it use to be? (Apologies to former drummer, Tom Atkinson, away on Breaks Co-op duty). A bit later Sean introduced him as Chris O'Conner - of course, the Chris O'Connor - who was playing with the SJD band for the first time that night. He was and is awesome.
posted by Jessie at 00:22
7 comments
7 Comments:
I was pleased to meet you too (though I didn't make the connection between you and *here* until later!). It was a cool evening.
Definitely. I had a great time - perhaps I should have made that more clear in my post. THANKS RUSSELL!
The dread fog was a right pain in the ass. Not that I was trying to get anywhere, but it must have descended about 4am, and from then on every 5 minutes a boat would blow its fog horn. Not the nicest way to wake up to a hangover.
chris really is a very rad drummer. We played the wellington show this time (the b.o.p not t.p.f) and to be honest we were a bit shit and didn't enjoy the environment. It had its perverse merits;ie, watching everyone leave as picked our instruments. And the sound guys were hilariously ill equiped.
But the actually debate part of the night was great. Russ le Roq really does do a goods job of spreading a bit of intelligent thought about.
Sour note of the night; Mark Cubey=shouty boozy dick.
I heard a whisper that you were a little boozy yourself!
Neat to see the different permutations of the Seven Sisters. I'm finally getting used to the fact that Don McGlashan can have somebody besides Ross Burge on drums.
Aw Sam, you sensitive muso types ... Sean was convinced they'd been a bit crap on Saturday night too. But no: you were really very good. It *is* tricky getting all the people to stay for the music (which I think is an important part of the whole vibe) though, especially on a week night.
I thought Robyn nailed it with Emo Matt - you should despise him for his fakery, but he's so cheerfully brazen about it that you gotta like him (his journal account of the evening is hilarious). danah interviewed him before she flew out, and he got several offers of work building corporate MySpace, so he must be happy.
Cheers,
RB
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