SunnyO by the Sea - available to rent

Yes that's right, experience SunnyO first hand.



After this weekend, sunnyO by the Sea will be available as a homestay, $150 per night for the first two nights (2 night minimum), and $100 per night afterwards.

3 bedrooms & a sleepout, sleeps 8.

Extensive lawns, paddock & forest. 3 minutes walk from the beach, 1.5 minutes walk to Byron's Bar & Restaurant...

Free Advice from a Nobody

And worth every cent!

1. John Key - I have mixed feelings about the anti-smacking bill (I looked up what it is really called & it is so boring that I immediately forgot it), but where is your spine man? Get out there now & announce that you will repeal it the moment you gain power. Whether you mean to or not, is frankly irrelevant, but any MPs wavering on the vote may well decide to go with their conscience rather than bring in a law that will be repealed at the earliest opportunity. I feel you're sitting on the fence not quite believing that more than 80% are against the bill. I don't quite believe it either but those sort of figures are worth a punt.

2. Pita Sharples - Gag Tariana & brazenly woo the pakeha party vote, you could be deputy PM next year, taking voters from both Labour & National.

3. Helen Clark - um.. I have no advice for you, except should you bring interest rates down sharply you will successfully buy my vote.

Meanwhile, this is very, very, cute.

Spare Room » Blog Archive » The Brightener: Baby Hamster Munches Broccoli

alick shaw - Google Search

Heh heh... now, when Councillor Shaw googles his own name* - what's the word for that again? - SunnyO is what heads the list, and what does he find when he clicks through all the links?

Heh... he finds his evil doppelganger

alick shaw - Google Search

*As someone from the city council did 5 minutes ago.

black cheerleader search naenae - Google Search

Hmm... here's an inexplicable one. From Lorain, Ohio.

black cheerleader search naenae - Google Search

Particularly as I don't feel inclined to click on the last entry of the first page... I bet that's not the Naenae I went to school at.

Some recent photos from here & there

Who says we don't bring you all the BIG news?

Olsen twins plan matching nose jobs - Stuff.co.nz

Photos will phollow

As will a complete post to the Wellingtonista - And it is now online!

I craned my neck out of the office & watched the Anti-Snacking protest. Or maybe it was the Pro-snacking protest, I get confused.

I can sympathise with those who believe that snacking is one of the foundation stones of a family upbringing. But given the alleged obesity epidemic, I can also see the opposing point of view. Snacking can be bad for you.

And I saw some guy arrested, I think he was from the anti-snacking crew, he was wearing a New Zealand flag, and he ripped up someone's placard. We shouted to the police to taser the guy, not least because I had a camera on me & i thought that'd be a pretty great thing to record & blog about. But they dragged him off down towards Kirks. There are a few places down that way where the police could give him a really good snack.

Should we be allowed to snack? I dunno really, I should probably pay more attention, but I'm not much of a snacker myself. The young 'un is, particularly after rowing practise, and when a kid is hungry, I fail to see the harm in a light snack, or even a reasonably heavy snack.

I guess it's over to you & your conscience.

BTW - that's not Zelig standing behind Blumsky & next to Farrar, should footage be shown on TV. It's someone else. Who left early to go find a snack before he got labelled a National Party Stooge.

Tale a little too tall for some dog lovers

This is some far fetched theory that you can tell if a dog likes, or dislikes you by the direction its tail wags. If it wags right, the dog likes you, if left, it doesn't.

However, as the lady pictured notes, a dog's tail wags right, left, right,left... etc.

Tale a little too tall for some dog lovers - Stuff.co.nz

So anyway, what caught my eye was "Walking her retrodoodle, Sheeba".

WTF is a "retrodoodle"?

Update!

It is the spawn of a retriever & poodle.

How to store apples for ever

Got a few apples to pick sometime soon, I'm told that if stored correctly, they can last through till August or September. Problem is, how do you store them correctly?

Google to the rescue - New Zealand must be a giant fruitbasket worth of information on the topic. Right?

storing apples nz - Google Search

Luckily, removing the NZ gets us something more relevant:

storing apples - Google Search

We'll be individually wrapping them in newspaper, and storing them in the shed.

What's in a name #1 | the wellingtonista

Over at Wellingtonista HQ, Noizyboy is soliciting possible names for Wellington's new A League soccer team.

Best suggestion so far by miles, is from Zippy Gonzales

The White Canes

Pure brilliance. Although I wonder if it might be a more appropriate moniker for the referees. By all means head on over & make some suggestions yourself.

What's in a name #1 | the wellingtonista

Google Searching

scrotum tightening surgery - Google Search

Eeeh.... heh. I'm 7th in the list. Hope the poor guy found what he was looking for.

Meanwhile, "Nicky Watson Topless" continues to be the number one search string visiting this site, but over the last few days since I mentioned "Britney Spears"... the gap is closing.

Oddly, about 2 people per week come here looking for "Tanya Horo Porn Movie" (that's Miss Lucy to you), & I would hazard a guess that searching for such a movie or clip will prove fruitless. But if I'm wrong, please do drop me a line.

And from the very obscure search list comes "phillip alford, actor, where's he now?". The search doesn't answer the question (as far as I can see) but if you're wondering, Philip Alford was the child actor who portrayed Atticus Finch's son in To Kill a Mockingbird. And that information WAS available on SunnyO all along.

The Kiwi Herald: BUSH PANICS UNDER PM'S STARE

Tee hee...

The Kiwi Herald: BUSH PANICS UNDER PM'S STARE

Showing all Corvettes for sale

Bwaha! I have no idea why the title is "Showing all Corvettes for sale".

NZ is too small for me to poke fun at this site.

But I think, judging from who is on there, that should you appear in the ranks of available speakers (Hamish!)... you have made it.

Speakers.co.nz

Actually, only some of them are cringe inducing. And as far as I can see, only one of them is dead. And they do admit to that.

it's possible that one of them is currently in jail, but I won't link to him in case I'm wrong.

Blog of the Bat

Hey, it turns out I know who The Batman is, I've actually met him once or twice, & traded one or two emails.

Of course, at that stage I ddn't know he was The Batman.

Apparently gets hit on in the comments fields by female supervillains. Haven't come across those yet, maybe he's bat dreaming :)

Batblog

Britney Spears romps in bushes of rehab centre - NZ Herald

What the hey, I have better things to do, but can't resist asking myself, and anyone who cares to answer... how long do you think she's got? I mean, before she suffers an event a la Anna Nicole Smith?

Britney Spears romps in bushes of rehab centre - 20 Mar 2007 - NZ Herald

That's a great photo through the link.

Urban Legends

Are Karl & Keith related?

Anyway, that's a red herring.

Anyone know any good (or bad) urban legends/myths about Wellington? Or even interesting urban facts. Why I'm asking may become apparent later.

Sage advice

Hmm... maybe I should blog about the best sage bush in the world! But I guess it got sold with the house it came with. Oh well. It was lovely though.

Anyway, I'm dispensing good advice today:

No matter how proud you are that you are displaying some primo backbone... I DO recommend that you have finance arranged BEFORE you go unconditional.

No matter though, my spine trusted the universe to come through & it did. Two days before settlement... And the low level headache I've had for the last month, does in fact seem to be getting better.

You can all take consolation, when you hear Dr Cullen, or Dr Bollard (he's a doctor too isn't he?) lambasting irresponsible property buyers, in the knowledge that he is talking about me. Or me by association with Mrs Llew anyway.

We have set rules now though - no more open homes, no more homes Fullstop.

And today's (not quite) random BlogThis hails from the land of Chow Yun Fat, and concerns a young married couple having to sell their home & presumably put their names on the Housing New Zealand waiting list. Personally, I'd not begrudge Alison Mau a cent if they paid her whatever was necessary to don the sequins & trip the light fantastic* on Dancing With the Stars. I'm sure that would cover it. And when I say "cover it" I mean the costs of their renovations - not... well you get the drift.

Failing that, they could do like the rest of us, who have severely overburdened themselves with old, rundown, houses in expensive areas - live in overpriced squalor for the rest of their lives.

By the way, anyone who has ever hankered for a small, or large, parcel of (very close to) coastal land... feel free to contact me (Just reconstruct the email address that I just put under the photo of the dog).

Cactus Kate: Media Paupers

* WTF does "trip the light fantastic" mean anyway?

Aussies develop brain-driven game

How ironic! I thought at first. Then I saw the names of the two Australians in question.

former Young Australian of the Year and Emotiv president Tan Le and her partner Nam Do

So OK, it's sounding more credible...

Emotiv said its system worked by detecting electrical activity generated by brain cells, known as neurons, using a process known as electroencephalography. Similar technology is used in hospitals to detect epilepsy and sleep disorders in patients.

The company's interface captures and wirelessly transmits information about brain activity to a processor, allowing interaction with video games.

The more a person uses the technology, the more adept the system becomes at recognising the person's intentions and emotions.

After a series of training sessions most people are able to move objects in a virtual world through force of will. The sensors also pick up on facial expressions such as smiles, grimaces and winks, portraying them on the face of the player's avatar - their on-screen representation.

The sensors are also said to be able to detect emotions such as fear and excitement.

Aussies develop brain-driven game - Stuff.co.nz

Meanwhile, a German company has unveiled an interface to allow users to compose messages on their personal computers and play simple games using only their brains.

The Guger Technologies device works along similar lines to the Emotiv system, monitoring brain activity.

Also under development is a thought-controlled robotic wheelchair that would allow paralysed people to move freely through their environments.

Fantastic! I want one.

And headlines that don't...

91-year-old German glued to roof - Stuff.co.nz

Cries out for a YouTube clip though.

Headlines that say it all... # 1

Matador's chances of fatherhood hurt by goring - Stuff.co.nz

Presumably it's an occupational hazard.

Mmmmm...rebecca singh...

I note she's back on TV3. We really don't see enough of her.

tv3's rebecca singh at the bollywood dance competition | Asia New Zealand Foundation | Asia NZ

Hell, put her on Celebrity Treasure Island & I might tune in...

Britney finds love in rehab

Britney calls him Mr Secret Underground Guy and J-Sun.

Britney finds love in rehab - Stuff.co.nz

Let's be honest here guys, she really calls him "Jason" right?

Mess with your doctor's mind #1

Urine sample required? May I suggest that 4 hours before the sample is... delivered... you take 2 multivitamin pills, eat half a kilo of asparagus & wash it down with a litre of beetroot juice.

That should do it.

Do not be alarmed by the colour & odour of the sample. Tell your doctor that you fasted as per instructions.

But confess to the jape before surgery occurs.

nicky watson topless - Google Search

No. 2 for this one, which probably accounts for more hits on this site than all other google searches combined.

nicky watson topless - Google Search

sandra oh looks like bull terrier - Google Search

Well. Seems I'm no. 1 for that particular search. Where do they get them from?

sandra oh looks like bull terrier - Google Search

All Spice Girls agree to reunion

Obviously Posh & Scary need the money for clothes that fit.

All Spice Girls agree to reunion - Stuff.co.nz

Save the Cheerleader, Save the World.

Isn't that a neato tagline. I caught up with Heroes last week, all the episodes so far. ANd I'm hooked.

Although I haven't the faintest idea what's going on beyond the broad brush - ordinary people are waking up with superpowers & spurning lycra (so far anyway). We have a cheerleader who can't be killed, a Japanese tourist who can travel in & manipiulate time & space (without a tardis!), a congressional candidate who can fly, and an online stripper with super strength & fighting ability, amongst many others.

And somehow they have to save the cheerleader to save the world.

It's cute. And let's hear it for Ali Larter in a thong!!

The other appointment viewing I caught up with was Life on Mars. This concerns a 2006 British detective, Sam Tyler (John Sim) chasing a serial killer, who gets run over while listening to David Bowie on his car stereo & wakes up in 1973 where he finds he is a policeman investigating an eerily similar killer, and STILL listening to David Bowie on the car stereo... can he catch the baddie in 1973 & save his girlfriend in 2006? Is there life on mars?

Sam also has moments when the future intrudes on his consciousness, so that we & he suspect that it's all a dream & he's actually in a coma in hospital. Although the show plays with us sometimes & these voices & noises have valid 1973 reasons for being audible to Sam.

The really fascinating thing about this series, is that our man appears to have woken up in the middle of an episode of the Sweeney. And if we needed anymore reminding that policing a few decades ago was a different kettle of sexist, racist, corrupt & low tech fish... this series provides it. Although it's not as black & white as that, anyone who fondly pines for the old days will find that these sexist, racist dinosaurs do have some redeeming features.

Oh, and the music is great.

Wanda Harland: Martha at Webstock

Ouch! A Must See Video

Hat tip to Spare Room again. I have tears in my eyes from laughing so much.

Spare Room » Ouch!

Wow! Stuntcasting at its finest.

Mills may play Poppins onstage - Stuff.co.nz

That's Heather, not Hayley.

Out of the night....

When the full moon is bright...
Comes a horseman known as Gorro
This bold renegade
Carves a G with his blade
A G that stands for Gorro

Al Gore, liar and now hypocrite | Whale Oil Beef Hooked

It's obvious!

The Clintons know that Americans might be ready for a black or female president (say, Condi... up to anything next election?) but won't vote for a fat one, and so they are watching Al Gore closely for any signs he may have joined a gym.

Gore knows this, and so has built a state of the art gymnasium in the naturally formed limestone catacombs beneath his Nashville Mansion (which was bought from the Wayne family some years ago) complete with olympic size heated swimming pool, solarium & sauna. And assorted pinball machines because Al's always liked pinball machines.

At some stage, the buffed & tanned El Gorro will don black mask, sword & cape & ride out onto the election trail on his faithful steed Gorenado (who during the day is in charge of fertilizing the grounds).

Corby to serve sentence at home

Please sir, can I have my boogieboard back?

Corby to serve sentence at home - Stuff.co.nz

Is this for real?

Maybe the photos are deceptive, but they look like an unlikely couple.

Teacher-student affair all over the internet - New Zealand Herald

The letter E

That title automatically appeared when I hit the BlogThis button. I kind of like it & so it shall stay.

I haven't seen Elektra, the Jennifer Garner Daredevil spinoff... but Vern has, and has assumed for the sake of argument, that it is a Carmen Elektra biopic...

Who knew she was a ninja assassin?

The OutlawVern reviews Elektra

What we need right now!

Maybe it's because like Martha, I've recently been attending to taxation matters, and before I get onto the meat of this post, let me just say that IRD are my friends!

Yes, friends. They contacted me not so long ago (one of those occasions that I have read David Slack describe, in his case referring to being scowled at by the Prime Minister, as "scrotum tightening"). But lo! They had rung to say that some years ago, we had overpaid our PAYE & they were ringing to ask what did I want them to do with upwards of $1500 that rightfully was mine!

Of course, I said "Give it all to Dr Cullen. He knows best what to do with it."

BWAHA! As if.

So anyway, for no particular reason, other than I was perusing the news, which offers lots of candidates for what I'm about to propose... and Martha's taxation rollercoaster, which has no relevance other than tax & stuff makes me really restless & bored... and I thought that what this town could do with right now, fire bans permitting, is a good old fashioned Effigy Burning.

How long since we had a good one of those? Have we ever?

I'll offer that I can think of 3 people right off the top of my head whose effigies would look pretty good perhaps, blazing on a punt or something, out in the harbour. Or effigies, (and isn't that a wonderful word) representative of the cast of Grey's Anatomy? Or...

...I'll take suggestions & pass them onto the Effigy Burning Sub-Committee of the council.

Wanda Harland: The rollercoaster of tax

Dancing with the Stars lineup confirmed

I knew there were more than 6... the last two in the lineup have been announced, and they are... (drumroll please, and the envelope...)

FRANK BUNCE and MEGAN ALATINI

Woohoo!!

Watch Buncie carefully, he's notorious apparently, wasn't he knobbing one of his Celebrity Treasure Island co-stars? A co-celebrity that ironically, I either can't remember or had never heard of in the fist place.

Anyway, should be interesting to see who he's paired with. I presume Nerida is off limits, so he'll be gagging for Krystal or Rebecca.

On that note, does anyone else think that d'Artagnan would be the most appropriate for Michael Laws?

Dancing with the Stars lineup confirmed -Stuff.co.nz

I'll be there....

Not so long ago, the radio played the theme to Baywatch. Everyone was astonished, gobsmacked, that I recognised it.

Not that I was a fan, or even in on whatever night it screened, but you'd have to have been on Mars or somewhere similar to have missed that music, and even the opening credits, being indelibly burned into your brain.

Anyway, one of the very best practical jokes I have come across involved Baywatch.

Way back in the day... that'd be the day when James Bolger had a steady hand on the country's helm... I worked at Parliament. And in those days, they had an emailed newsletter that got sent to everyone in the complex each day. I think they called it POLI, Parliamentary On Line Information (should probably have been POI, but I wasn't around to point that out when it started), which was the name of the unit I worked for, and so they should have called it POLI Newsletter (or POI Newsletter perhaps).

The newsletter was a public forum for POLI users to make announcements and/or requests. Typically you'd have the Bellamy's menu for the week, complete with healthy heart ticks where appropriate, some guff perhaps about staffers getting engaged, married, retired, etc, and there would be a few please "Did anyone tape last Wednesday's Coronation Street, please contact... etc.

One day, I heard the laughing travel around the office as people opened & read their POLI Newsletter. And I did the same when I came across:

"Did anyone happen to tape last week's Baywatch? I missed it unfortunately & would love to borrow the tape for a few days, contact J--- S--- Ext XXXX or email."

The guy then proceeded to field poisoned emails for the rest of the day, and I believe, more than a few abusive phonecalls from those who had read his plea & disapproved of his viewing pleasure.

I emailed him to say that while regretfully I had not taped Baywatch, I did have the entire series of Xena Warrior Princess on VHS. Which was a lie as it happened.

The payoff was the next day, when the next POLI Newsletter included an apology from the man's PA, it seems that the day prior had been his birthday & his devoted PA took the opportunity, when the hapless fellow went to the bathroom without logging off, to sit at his PC & compose his heartbreaking plea for slow-mo Pammy footage.

The laugh that went around as that one was read was even louder than the day before.

A Dog's Life

She's not actually allowed 1) in the bedrooms and 2) on the furniture.

And she knows it.

Pretty Green!

My favourite colour.

A few things to reinstall, obviously.