Grant McDougall
@grantkmcdougall.bsky.social
Quite interested in music, books, film, sport and politics
So National can't afford to build new Dunedin Hospital to its original planned scale, but three months before an election suddenly find $100m for (checks notes), a gondola in Queenstown ? Utterly incompetent. #nzpol #NationalNotFitToGovern #onetermgovernment #CoC #LuxonOut
What was it like opening for John Cale each night during this current tour you’re doing together? Jonathan Richman: it was like Bozo the Clown opening for Jean-Paul Sartre.
As I said at a Book Soup event, “folks walk into bookstores and say "damn, these books are expensive" but they'll go into Starbucks and buy a cup for $5 that last them 10 minutes. For the cost of 4 or 5 coffees, you can buy a book that last forever!"
Looking forward to seeing this on the big screen when we show it at Dunedin Film Society late next month.
Andrew Male@andrewmale.bsky.social · last wk.Just realised how silimar it is to the opening Shot of Letter Never Sent. A beginning that is also an ending. youtu.be/7N9hoe9vFRk?...
Gisborne is my hometown. I was there two weeks ago and the amount of slash all along Midway and Waikanae beaches is horrendous. This is nothing more than environmental, social and economic vandalism by National. #nzpol
D Jukic She/her@dejanajuk.bsky.social · last wk.This is who they are & a vote for National/ACT/NZF is for more destruction #nzpol “A decision by Minister responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to refuse a plan to urgently tackle destructive land use practices in Tairāwhiti/Gisborne has been labelled “indefensible” by a local environmental group”
Let down a bit more by not having the really cool Savage Pencil cover some versions have, too.
Andrew Male@andrewmale.bsky.social · last wk.#NowPlaying Side One: £10?! Well this is incredible! Why isn’t it as well regarded as the other FSA albums? Side Two: Ah
best cramps news in a long time! no firewall www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/a...
Two Punk Legends Help Revive a Cult Band’s Archive (Gift Article)
The Cramps introduced the world to “psychobilly” and turned Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye into fans. Now the duo is part of an effort to bring the music back.
nytimes.com
So we've gotta stupid Education Minister. We've gotta racist Foreign Minister. We've gotta Finance Minister acting like a spoiled bratty teenager who thinks she's spending Daddy's money. We've gotta Prime Minister who can't lead. And they're arguing that they're who we need going forward? #nzpol
"Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine..." The world in 2026 is a weird place😲
Luxon's stuffed, either way. If he doesn't sack Peters it makes him continue to look weak, if he does, Peters will bring down the gov't and there'll be a snap election which National will lose. #nzpol
Kieran McAnulty has just described the entirety of Luxon's Prime Ministerial style in one sentence #nzpol
Katya@nzkatya.bsky.social · 3w agoI loved Kieran McAnulty's analysis: “I think he did it by accident, and then he got flustered, and then he ran away”
Bought this last week. Couldn't agree more.
Bbyron coley@byroncoley.bsky.social · 3w ago
rec of the day III STEPHEN COGLE/PETER STAPLETON "an afternoon with victor dimisich" (siltbreeze LP) achingly beautiful, stripped down versions of VDB's tunes, captured live as the pin group was revving up. vibes like reed's recordings at the robinsons's apt siltbreeze.bandcamp.com/album/stephe...
Geologist here who's worked in the NZ oil and gas industry. This is bullshit.
The Press@thepress.co.nz · last mo.Winston Peters claims New Zealand is sitting on “Norway-scale energy prospects”.
Madonna, I first bought records of yours in 1983 when no one knew you were white and everyone says your latest album is your best in years but go away. How would you like it if a stadium of gig of yours was interrupted midway with a five a side football match onstage?
Remembering Martin Phillipps, born on this day in 1963. "For some, the two early 1990s releases from New Zealand’s The Chills, Submarine Bells and Soft Bomb, served as a gateway to one of the finest tunesmiths in the whole pop-rock shebang..."
Graded on a Curve: The Chills, <em>Submarine Bells</em> and <em>Soft Bomb</em> - The Vinyl District
Remembering Martin Phillipps, born on this day in 1963. —Ed. For some, the two early 1990s releases from New Zealand’s The Chills, Submarine Bells and Soft Bomb, served as a gateway to one of the finest tunesmiths in the whole pop-rock shebang. But for folks who were previously clued-in to the band’s work for the Flying Nun label, these albums,…
thevinyldistrict.com
Martin Phillipps, who died two years ago, would've celebrated a birthday. Leaning their backs against the force of the music, The Chills come across as pessimists holding promissory notes on hope. wp.me/pzXeC-iWL
Martin Phillipps — RIP
One of Wallace Stevens’ least known poems has a verse that describes my relationship to New Zealand “The fire burns as the novel taught it how,” Stevens wrote in “The Novel.…
wp.me
'we're as prepared as we possibly can be' Biosecurity New Zealand: 162 jobs gone Ministry for the Environment was officially disestablished MPI budget cut, 10% job losses Department of Conservation budget cut, 143 job losses Sure Jan.
