Jack Yan on Vox

Flight of the Conchords gets three Emmy nominations

2008-07-18T05:56:24Z

Great news! Flight of the Conchords has received three Emmy nods for directing, writing, and original music and lyrics. It didn’t get an Emmy nomination for best comedy series, which I think is a sin. Not bad for a show conceived by a bunch of ...

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How has New Zealand changed since last century?

2008-06-21T01:57:25Z

Can fellow New Zealanders give Janette any advice? She’s a Kiwi who has lived abroad since 1999 (in Canada and Costa Rica) and is due to head back there. What changes will she see, especially in Dunedin, where she’s heading? Please hop over to he...

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Kiwi troops greet First Lady Laura Bush; race debate emerges on YouTube

2008-06-14T08:13:07Z

Finally, one of the Bushes meets some New Zealanders—the First Lady is greeted by New Zealand soldiers and police officers in Afghanistan. The haka is a customary greeting, borne from Māori culture. I was going to go in to a bit more depth on t...

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Buy a Toyota, destroy your marriage

2008-06-05T02:55:22Z

When I go on YouTube, there are a lot of commercials that the posters claim are ‘banned’. I’ve spotted quite a few that weren’t banned, which is rather annoying. It’s like going to Wikipedia and finding the car pages are wrong (about 90 per cent, ...

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Billy T. James: the learning Japanese gag

2008-06-04T06:33:10Z

To Jessica and my other Japanese friends, please forgive this post: it’s not meant to cause offence. This is the late Billy T. James, regarded as New Zealand’s greatest comedian, and a clip from his show in 1984. It was regarded as one of his most...

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Classic Kiwi TVCs

2008-05-30T00:51:03Z

New Zealanders, remember these? Bring back the great Kiwi jingle! The latter first ran in 1982 or 1983, I believe, and it continued into the late 1990s. I hope my friend Chloë, whom I met in 2002 but was actually at law school with prior to that, ...

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Dan Chan, a great Chinese New Zealander

2008-05-24T01:29:44Z

I learned quite a few things about Dan Chan at his funeral last Wednesday in the eulogy delivered by historian Dr James Ng. Dan was born in China in 1907 but was educated in Australia, where his father worked, from 13—both at a state school in ...

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Gene Hunt is a law unto himself—even in real life

2008-05-10T23:50:18Z

The first time I read about Philip Glenister getting his driver off for speeding (35 mph in a 30 mph zone) I chuckled, as he adopted his Gene Hunt persona. The cop saw the actor and said, according to Glenister, ‘I’m terribly sorry about this sir...

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At the barbecue: too cute

2008-05-04T09:41:39Z

I know, cute, huh? My friend Bevan’s kids, Andrew and Jessica, at the barbecue yesterday, raiding Bevan’s cousin Sonia’s costumes (no, Chinese people do not regularly walk around like this). Remember when you went to family functions and there ...

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The slings and arrows of remakes

2008-04-12T00:58:00Z

First there was Kath & Kim, the US version, for NBC. Now, ABC brings you … from the maker of Veronica Mars … the American version of Outrageous Fortune! I can see OF work in the US though no doubt the hard-out Kiwi fans of the show will join al...

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