September 14, 2005
Lion, C&CF, NZ History
To the right is a tribute to Sokky's tiny lion.
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One of the nice things about the mighty Interweb is the unexpected things that it throws up. Like the blog of the chap who wrote the screenplay for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (This is a link to the bits about the movie -- he writes on a variety of subjects.)
I think the thing I most valued was finding out the words to the German version of the "Willy Wonka" theme song, as it was used in the trailer (comment #15), e.g.:
"Kaugummi ist ekelhaft.
Kaugummi wird abgeschafft!"
Which apparently translates as, "Chewing gum is disgusting. Chewing gum will be abolished." Lovely.
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I do not dream of Sussex downs
or quaint old England's quaint old towns --
I think of what may yet be seen
in Johnsonville and Geraldine.
-- "Home Thoughts", Denis Glover (1936)
I finished reading Michael King's Penguin History of New Zealand a while ago; and I'm glad I did. I'm not sure how much I absorbed, rather than read and promptly forgot, but I found it interesting how much I didn't know -- how recent a development the Waitangi Tribunal is, for example, or that the top tax rate used to be 66% until a few decades ago. And there was this passage that he quoted about the formalisation of the link between the Ratana Maori seat MPs and the Labour government in 1936:
Ratana... placed on the table before him four objects: a potato, a broken gold watch, a greenstone tiki and a huia feather... The potato was the ordinary Maori, needing his land. The watch was the law relating to the lands of the Maori. Only the machinery of the law could repair the law. The greenstone tiki stood for the tradtions and the mana of the Maori. And the huia feather, the sign of a paramount chief, would be worn by Mr Savage if he would look after his Maori people. The Prime Minister accepted the proposal.
Unfortunately, I couldn't work out whoh he was quoting, so I can't attribute it properly.
Posted by svend at September 14, 2005 10:10 AMWow, I had forgotten about Denis Glover almost completely. I remember learning his poetry in Primary School... This one in particular:
"When Tom and Elizabeth took the farm
The bracken made their bed
And Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said.
Tom's hand was strong to the plough
Elizabeth's lips were red,
And Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said. "
We have that poem in one of our school exams, and we get some hilarious answers to the question:
Q: What does the phrase "the braken made their bed" tell us about Tom and Elizabeth's lifestyle?
A: They're all lazy and spoiled, 'cause they don't make their own bed, they get their braken to do it for them.
Posted by: Matt at September 14, 2005 11:36 AM