distractions | leo koziol

the sentient islands...

coming soon...

"What is identity about in Aotearoa New Zealand at the dawn of a new century? What does it mean to be Maori when Temuera Morrison is vilified as a negative stereotype of Hispanics following his portrayal of Jango Fett in Star Wars Attack of the Clones? We sympathised with Americans post 9-11, but the impact of such earth shaking events were tempered by both time and distance -- our 9-11 was in fact 12-9. We cheered for Queen Lizzie at her 50th celebrations this year, but equally cheered when Helen Clark showed up in trendy slacks at a Wellington royal luncheon. New Zealand in 2002 finds itself in a "middle space", our children now dwelling in a global info-space, but our institutions still stymied in the notion of New Zealand as the mother-knows-best Nanny State. MMP has heralded a new age of long-haired Rastafarian MPs and social change has enabled our first transsexual Maori MP."

"Five years away allows the senses to be heightened when looking for signals of social and economic change. Returning to these sentient islands, I find a New Zealand emergent as a melange of European, American, Asian, and Pacific flavors, a hipsprawl emergent across the landscape that has brought lattes to Levin, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc to the Carterton pub, and Mother Jones and Yoga Monthly to the newsstands of Wairoa.I recall a conversation with a friend in 1992, when I was working on the feasibility study for a proposed new community centre in Massey, West Auckland, how one day the hipness of Ponsonby would inch its way out to the suburban edge. On a return visit in 1999, I found the hipsrawl had made it out there already; ordering a flat white at the new multiplex prior to immersing myself in the Australian-made uber-hip epic The Matrix. In 2002, the now completed, ultra-arty, Massey Leisure Centre won the Creative NZ Creative Places award."

"Waitakere City is at the cutting edge of this new hipness, but such symptoms are not confined to the large urban centres. You can get a great cafe lunch in Matamata (now dubbed "Hobbiton")... Chatting with friends, I'm not at all surprised to hear one has bought a new inner city apartment. In New Plymouth."

"You watch TV One news and there, amidst the nanna chat of Richard Long and Judy Bailey's serious presentation of real news, they all a sudden launch into the latest on Winona Ryder's shoplifting excursions and Rachel and Robbie's naked romps. One becomes overcome with a massive dose of "What's that all about?" until you become self-aware of the cultural cringe of remote nations. The romance and mysticism and sheer old-fashioned delusion of Hollywood drags them in and betrays our nation for the sake of ratings. And you'd think most of the kiwis who have done the Hollywood bus tour from Anaheim -- view of Hollywood sign from garbage strewn empty lot at no extra charge -- would know better than to take such regard to those empty promises of fame and money. I can already see the housewives of Stratford forming their Tom Cruise-spotting club..."

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